Information transmission method and apparatus, and terminal and network-side device

Abstract

The present application belongs to the technical field of communications. Disclosed are an information transmission method and apparatus, and a terminal and a network-side device. The information transmission method in the embodiments of the present application comprises: a terminal sending a first NAS message to a first network element, wherein the first NAS message comprises at least one target container, the target container comprises information related to a target service supported by the terminal, and the target service comprises at least one of the following: a positioning service, an IMS service, an AI service, a computing power service, an AIoT service, a sensing service, a slicing service, a V2X service, a satellite service, a proximity service, an immersive service, a data service, a short message service, a power saving service, a task service, or a security service.

Description

Information transmission methods, devices, terminals and network-side equipment

[0001] Cross-reference to related applications

[0002] This application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202411954907.1, filed in China on December 27, 2024, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. Technical Field

[0003] This application belongs to the field of communication technology, specifically relating to an information transmission method, apparatus, terminal, and network-side equipment. Background Technology

[0004] In communication between terminals and network-side devices, terminals send Non-Access Stratum (NAS) messages to the network-side devices. Currently, systems like 5G (5GS) can provide multiple services, such as location services, computing services, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) services. In NAS messages, multiple information elements (IEs) representing the same service characteristic are scattered throughout the message, resulting in inconsistent transmission of these elements and reducing the efficiency of NAS message interaction between the terminal and network-side devices. Summary of the Invention

[0005] This application provides an information transmission method, apparatus, terminal, and network-side device, which can solve the problem of low information interaction efficiency between the terminal and the network-side device.

[0006] Firstly, an information transmission method is provided, executed by a terminal, the method comprising:

[0007] The terminal sends the first NAS message to the first network element;

[0008] The first NAS message includes at least one target container, the target container including information related to a target service supported by the terminal, the target service including at least one of the following:

[0009] Location services, IMS services, AI services, computing power services, AIoT services, sensing services, slicing services, V2X services, satellite services, proximity services, immersive services, data services, SMS services, energy-saving services, task services, and security services.

[0010] Secondly, an information transmission method is provided, executed by a network-side device, the method comprising:

[0011] The first network element receives the first NAS message sent by the terminal;

[0012] The first NAS message includes at least one target container, the target container including information related to a target service supported by the terminal, the target service including at least one of the following:

[0013] Location services, IMS services, AI services, computing power services, AIoT services, sensing services, slicing services, V2X services, satellite services, proximity services, immersive services, data services, SMS services, energy-saving services, task services, and security services.

[0014] Thirdly, an information transmission device is provided, comprising:

[0015] The first sending module is used to send the first NAS message to the first network element;

[0016] The first NAS message includes at least one target container, the target container including information related to a target service supported by the terminal, the target service including at least one of the following:

[0017] Location services, IMS services, AI services, computing power services, AIoT services, sensing services, slicing services, V2X services, satellite services, proximity services, immersive services, data services, SMS services, energy-saving services, task services, and security services.

[0018] Fourthly, an information transmission device is provided, comprising:

[0019] The second receiving module is used to receive the first NAS message sent by the terminal.

[0020] The first NAS message includes at least one target container, the target container including information related to a target service supported by the terminal, the target service including at least one of the following:

[0021] Location services, IMS services, AI services, computing power services, AIoT services, sensing services, slicing services, V2X services, satellite services, proximity services, immersive services, data services, SMS services, energy-saving services, task services, and security services.

[0022] Fifthly, an information transmission apparatus is provided, the apparatus being configured to perform the steps of the method described in the first aspect, or to implement the steps of the method described in the second aspect.

[0023] In a sixth aspect, a terminal is provided, the terminal including a processor and a memory, the memory storing a program or instructions executable on the processor, the program or instructions, when executed by the processor, implementing the steps of the method as described in the first aspect.

[0024] In a seventh aspect, a terminal is provided, including a processor and a communication interface, wherein the communication interface is used to send a first NAS message to a first network element; wherein the first NAS message includes at least one target container, the target container including information related to a target service supported by the terminal, the target service including at least one of the following:

[0025] Location services, IMS services, AI services, computing power services, AIoT services, sensing services, slicing services, V2X services, satellite services, proximity services, immersive services, data services, SMS services, energy-saving services, task services, and security services.

[0026] Eighthly, a network-side device is provided, the network-side device including a processor and a memory, the memory storing a program or instructions executable on the processor, the program or instructions, when executed by the processor, implementing the steps of the method as described in the second aspect.

[0027] A ninth aspect provides a network-side device, including a processor and a communication interface, wherein the communication interface is used to receive a first NAS message sent by a terminal; wherein the first NAS message includes at least one target container, the target container including information related to a target service supported by the terminal, the target service including at least one of the following:

[0028] Location services, IMS services, AI services, computing power services, AIoT services, sensing services, slicing services, V2X services, satellite services, proximity services, immersive services, data services, SMS services, energy-saving services, task services, and security services.

[0029] In a tenth aspect, a readable storage medium is provided, on which a program or instructions are stored, which, when executed by a processor, implement the steps of the method described in the first aspect, or implement the steps of the method described in the second aspect.

[0030] Eleventhly, a wireless communication system is provided, comprising: a terminal and a network-side device, wherein the terminal can be used to perform the steps of the method as described in the first aspect, and the network-side device can be used to perform the steps of the method as described in the second aspect.

[0031] In a twelfth aspect, a chip is provided, the chip including a processor and a communication interface coupled to the processor, the processor being configured to run programs or instructions to implement the method as described in the first aspect, or to implement the method as described in the second aspect.

[0032] In a thirteenth aspect, a computer program / program product is provided, which is stored in a storage medium and is executed by at least one processor to implement the steps of the method as described in the first aspect, or to implement the steps of the method as described in the second aspect.

[0033] In this embodiment, the terminal sends a first NAS message to a first network element for transmitting NAS information. The first NAS message includes at least one target container, which includes information related to a target service supported by the terminal. This allows information related to a target service supported by the terminal to be carried in a specific container, enabling the transmission of information related to a specific target service within the same container. This achieves on-demand information encapsulation and transmission via the target container, saving air interface resources, improving the efficiency of information interaction between the terminal and network-side devices, and facilitating the flexible implementation of NAS information from the terminal. Attached Figure Description

[0034] Figure 1 is a block diagram of a wireless communication system applicable to an embodiment of this application;

[0035] Figure 2 is a flowchart of one of the information transmission methods provided in the embodiments of this application;

[0036] Figure 3 is a second flowchart of an information transmission method provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0037] Figure 4a is a flowchart of one of the information transmission methods provided in the embodiments of this application;

[0038] Figure 4b is a flowchart of an information transmission method provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0039] Figure 4c is a flowchart of an information transmission method provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0040] Figure 5 is one of the structural diagrams of an information transmission device provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0041] Figure 6 is a second structural diagram of an information transmission device provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0042] Figure 7 is a structural diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0043] Figure 8 is a structural diagram of a terminal provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0044] Figure 9 is a structural diagram of a network-side device provided in an embodiment of this application. Detailed Implementation

[0045] The technical solutions of the embodiments of this application will be clearly described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some, not all, of the embodiments of this application. All other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art based on the embodiments of this application are within the scope of protection of this application.

[0046] The terms "first," "second," etc., used in this application are used to distinguish similar objects and not to describe a specific order or sequence. It should be understood that such terms can be used interchangeably where appropriate so that embodiments of this application can be implemented in orders other than those illustrated or described herein, and the objects distinguished by "first" and "second" are generally of the same class, not limited in number; for example, the first object can be one or more. Furthermore, "or" in this application indicates at least one of the connected objects. For example, the scope of protection for "A or B" covers at least three scenarios: Scenario 1: including A but not B; Scenario 2: including B but not A; Scenario 3: including both A and B. In addition, the terms "A and / or B," "at least one of A and B," and "at least one of A or B" also cover at least the above three scenarios. The character " / " generally indicates that the preceding and following objects are in an "or" relationship.

[0047] The term "instruction" in this application can be either a direct instruction (or explicit instruction) or an indirect instruction (or implicit instruction). A direct instruction can be understood as one in which the sender explicitly informs the receiver of specific information, the operation to be performed, or the requested result, etc., in the instruction sent. An indirect instruction can be understood as one in which the receiver determines the corresponding information based on the instruction sent by the sender, or makes a judgment and determines the operation to be performed or the requested result, etc., based on the judgment result.

[0048] It is worth noting that the technologies described in this application are not limited to Long Term Evolution (LTE) / LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) systems, but can also be used in other wireless communication systems, such as Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA), Single-carrier Frequency-Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA), or other systems. The terms "system" and "network" in this application are often used interchangeably, and the described technologies can be used with the systems and radio technologies mentioned above, as well as with other systems and radio technologies. The following description describes New Radio (NR) systems for illustrative purposes, and the term NR is used in most of the following description; however, these technologies can also be applied to systems other than NR systems, such as 6th generation (6G) radio systems. th Generation 6G communication system.

[0049] Figure 1 shows a block diagram of a wireless communication system applicable to an embodiment of this application. The wireless communication system includes a terminal 11 and a network-side device 12. The terminal 11 can be a mobile phone, tablet computer, laptop computer, notebook computer, personal digital assistant (PDA), handheld computer, netbook, ultra-mobile personal computer (UMPC), mobile internet device (MID), augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) device, robot, wearable device, flight vehicle, vehicle user equipment (VUE), shipboard equipment, pedestrian user equipment (PUE), smart home (home devices with wireless communication capabilities, such as refrigerators, televisions, washing machines, or furniture), game console, personal computer (PC), ATM, or self-service machine, etc. Wearable devices include: smartwatches, smart bracelets, smart headphones, smart glasses, smart jewelry (smart bracelets, smart chains, smart rings, smart necklaces, smart anklets, smart anklets, etc.), smart wristbands, smart clothing, etc. Among these, in-vehicle devices can also be referred to as in-vehicle terminals, in-vehicle controllers, in-vehicle modules, in-vehicle components, in-vehicle chips, or in-vehicle units, etc. It should be noted that the specific type of terminal 11 is not limited in this application embodiment. Network-side equipment 12 may include access network equipment or core network equipment, wherein access network equipment may also be referred to as Radio Access Network (RAN) equipment, radio access network function, or radio access network unit. Access network equipment may include base stations, Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) access points (APs), or Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) nodes, etc.The term "base station" can be referred to as Node B (NB), Evolved Node B (eNB), Next Generation Node B (gNB), New Radio Node B (NR Node B), Access Point, Relay Base Station (RBS), Serving Base Station (SBS), Base Transceiver Station (BTS), Radio Base Station, Radio Transceiver, Basic Service Set (BSS), Extended Service Set (ESS), Home Node B (HNB), Home Evolved Node B, Transmit / Receive Point (TRP), or any other suitable term in the relevant field, as long as the same technical effect is achieved. The term "base station" is not limited to any specific technical terminology. It should be noted that this application embodiment only uses a base station in an NR system as an example for description and does not limit the specific type of base station.

[0050] Core network equipment, also known as core network nodes, core network functions, or core network elements, includes, but is not limited to, at least one of the following: Mobility Management Entity (MME), Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), Session Management Function (SMF), User Plane Function (UPF), Policy Control Function (PCF), Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF), Edge Application Server Discovery Function (EASDF), Unified Data Management (UDM), Unified Data Repository (UDR), Home Subscriber Server (HSS), Centralized network configuration (CNC), Network Repository Function (NRF), Network Exposure Function (NEF), Local NEF (or L-NEF), and Binding Support. The core network functions include: BSF (Block Network Function), Application Function (AF), Location Management Function (LMF), Gateway Mobile Location Centre (GMLC), and Network Data Analytics Function (NWDAF). It should be noted that this application embodiment only uses core network equipment in the NR system as an example and does not limit the specific type of core network equipment. If the name of the core network equipment mentioned in this application embodiment changes in subsequent protocol versions (e.g., 6G), it will still be within the scope of protection of this application.

[0051] Optionally, the core network equipment can be implemented by one or more functional modules in a single device, or by multiple devices working together; this application does not specifically limit this. It is understood that the aforementioned functional modules can be network elements in hardware devices, software functional modules running on dedicated hardware, or virtualized functional modules instantiated on a platform (e.g., a cloud platform).

[0052] To better understand, the relevant concepts that may be involved in the embodiments of this application are explained below.

[0053] The 5G mobility management capability information element (5GMM Capability IE) carries a large number of bits indicating the UE's capabilities, specifically whether or not it supports a particular service feature. For example:

[0054] Slice classes (10): Network Slice-Specific Authentication and Authorization (NSSAA), Extended Rejected Network Slice Selection Assistance Information (ER-NSSAI), Network Slice Access Stratum Group (NSAG), Network Slice Simultaneous Registration Group (NSSRG), etc.

[0055] Location-related protocols (4): LTE Positioning Protocol (LPP), 5G Location Services (5G-LCS), LCS User Plane Protocol (LCS-UPP), and Secure User Plane Location (SUPL).

[0056] Prose classes (9 in total): 5G ProSe-l2relay, 5G ProSe-dc, 5G ProSe-dd, 5G ProSe-l3rmt, etc.

[0057] Therefore, 5GS provides multiple service features, and the capability indicator bits for the same service feature are currently scattered across the 5GMM capability IEs and are not continuous. For example, for slice classes (10) and Prose classes (9) with more capabilities for the same service feature, 3 bits are used to solve backward compatibility issues.

[0058] Information elements of 5G NAS:

[0059] Taking the registration and acceptance message as an example, the IE provided in the message can be categorized, such as:

[0060] Slice types (14): Allowed NSSAI, Rejected NSSAI, Configured NSSAI, Network slicing indication, Pending NSSAI, Extended rejected NSSAI, NSSRG information, NSAG information, Alternative NSSAI, On-demand NSSAI, S-NSSAI time validity information, Partially allowed NSSAI, Partially rejected NSSAI, S-NSSAI location validity information;

[0061] MINT classes (3): Disaster roaming wait range, Disaster return wait range, and List of PLMNs to be used in disaster condition;

[0062] Satellite category (4): Forbidden TAI(s) for the list of “5GS forbidden tracking areas for roaming”, Forbidden TAI(s) for the list of “5GS forbidden tracking areas for regional provision of service”, Unavailability configuration, Unavailability information;

[0063] 5GS provides multiple services. In NAS messages, multiple information elements (IEs) for the same service feature are currently scattered throughout the NAS message, and the encoding and decoding are not consistent.

[0064] 5G Information Element Identifier (IEI):

[0065] IEI is used to identify non-mandatory IEs. IEI is used to indicate the content of a certain information element. For example, IEI = 0x70 indicates that an IE is a slice of information from a common registration group. The length of the value field is represented by a 2-byte length indicator (LI) field. Therefore, the maximum length of the entire IE can reach 65538.

[0066] There are four types of Internet Explorer (IE) for 5G: type 1, type 2, type 4, and type 6. Different types of IE have different specifications for the overall format and length, and different IEI value ranges. For example, a type 6 IE can have a maximum length of 65535. The IEI value range for type 6 IE is 0x70 to 0x7F, a total of 16 values, meaning that a maximum of 16 type 6 IEs can be represented using IEIs within a single message. The main functions of IEI currently include:

[0067] During encoding and decoding, IE is encapsulated and disassembled to identify its content and type.

[0068] How many fields should the receiver skip when processing an unfamiliar IE browser?

[0069] The current NAS message cell design can be summarized as a "patching" approach, where adding a new cell modifies the existing one:

[0070] 1. A NAS message consists of an imperative part and a non-imperative part, i.e., a mandatory part and a non-mandatory part. The non-mandatory part must be encoded and decoded using IEI.

[0071] 2. Type 1 / 2 / 4 / 6: Different types of IEs use different ranges of IEI to indicate their type. This makes it easier to carry NAS information elements of different sizes and to facilitate encoding and decoding.

[0072] 3. Capability indication information is represented using 1 bit. A new sub-feature will be introduced later, which will be represented by adding a bit to the existing 5GMM capability IE or 5G network capability IE. The bit design is not continuous.

[0073] 4. If new information needs to be transmitted, it is usually a newly defined information element, and it is basically written to the NAS message in the form of a separate IE. The IE is not continuous in the NAS message.

[0074] 5. When it is necessary to transmit a type of message / payload, a payload container is generally used to carry it, and the payload container type IE is used to indicate the attributes of the payload.

[0075] Currently, the issues with 5G capability indication include, but are not limited to, the following aspects:

[0076] 1. Repeated Interaction Capability: Except for the periodic registration update process, in other scenarios, the registration request message forces the UE to carry the 5GMM capability IE, even if the capability remains unchanged. Only during periodic registration updating, i.e., when the T3512 timeout occurs, is it not necessary to carry the IE.

[0077] 2. Bit redundancy: A large number of bits indicate the same characteristics, and the UE and NW may not support them at all, resulting in invalid interactive bits.

[0078] 3. Limited remaining resources: The current maximum setting for 5GMM capability IE is 15 bytes (octets), and 11 octets have already been used. If a new feature is added in the future, one bit will be added, and the bit resources will be exhausted quickly.

[0079] The problems with Internet Explorer in 5G include, but are not limited to, the following:

[0080] 1. Insufficient IEI resources: With the introduction of new features, more types of IEs (such as type4 IE, type6 IE) will be introduced in the future. However, the number of non-mandatory IEs represented in a message is limited. If there are a lot of non-mandatory IEs in a message, it will cause the problem of insufficient IEI resources.

[0081] 2. Insufficient information resources: The 4 bits of the payload container type have been exhausted. The introduction of new containers will require "special extensions" to meet the requirements. There is no unified and forward-looking design for the payload.

[0082] To address the aforementioned problems, this application provides an information transmission method. Regarding the IEI mentioned in this application, the following applicable descriptions apply:

[0083] IEIs can be used to identify the type and content of information elements mentioned in this application (including optional IEs, service containers, IEs within containers, etc.). For example, service container X uses an IEI to indicate that the information elements encapsulated in this container and / or the capability information it carries are related to feature X. For instance, IEI = A indicates a connection to the sensory feature, while IEI = B indicates a connection to the artificial intelligence (AI) and computing power features. This can be used to represent a single feature or a combination of multiple features. For example, IEI = B for service container X indicates a container related to AI and computing power features, and IEI = C for service container Y indicates a container related to positioning and sensory features. Features include, but are not limited to: positioning, IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), AI, computing power, Ambient Internet of Things (AIoT), tasks, sensory integration, slicing, vehicle-to-everything (V2X), satellite, proximity services, immersive services, data services, SMS services, energy-saving services, task services, and security services.

[0084] This way, an IEI can be used to represent a container, and the container can carry multiple information elements, thus saving some IEIs that represent IEs. Only one IEI is needed to represent multiple IEs, saving IEI resources. For multiple IEs, only one encoding and decoding is needed, which also improves encoding and decoding efficiency.

[0085] In 5G, IEI has different types such as type1, 2, 4, and 6. In this application, IEI can be used to identify an IE. However, in order to carry more containers, the number of IEIs of type6 IE can be increased. At the same time, in order to enable a container to carry all information elements of one or more characteristics, a super-large type of IE is introduced, such as type 7, type 8, or other names, without restriction.

[0086] This application encapsulates IEs at the service / feature level: information with the same service (e.g., computing power, positioning, AIoT, sensing) or information sent to the same service network element is placed in the same IE container (i.e., the target container in the embodiments described later), which contains information with the same features (i.e., the same target service) of various types (Type 2 / 4 / 6, etc.). 6GAMF or access nodes process a container at the service / feature level. If the UE does not support the feature, it may not carry a container; this container is specifically designed for a particular device (e.g., a service network element).

[0087] Aside from common NAS components (such as security and UE identification), devices supporting a specific feature only need to support the transmission of that feature's container. Developing and designing the corresponding container is straightforward; subsequent version upgrades only require focusing on the information elements within that container, thus achieving modular design and development. For example, a sensing device only needs to transmit a sensing container containing only sensing-related content, while task containers, computing containers, and AIoT containers can be completely unsupported. Similarly, an AIoT device only needs to transmit an AIoT container containing only AIoT-related content, while task containers, computing containers, AI containers, and sensing containers can be completely unsupported. This saves a significant amount of memory and bit depth, improving encoding and decoding efficiency.

[0088] The information transmission method, apparatus, communication equipment, etc. provided in this application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and through some embodiments and application scenarios.

[0089] Please refer to Figure 2, which is a flowchart of one of the information transmission methods provided in this application embodiment. The method is executed by a terminal. As shown in Figure 2, the method includes the following steps:

[0090] Step 201: The terminal sends the first NAS message to the first network element.

[0091] The first NAS message includes at least one target container, the target container including information related to a target service supported by the terminal, the target service including at least one of the following:

[0092] Location services, IMS services, AI services, computing power services, AIoT services, sensing services, slicing services, V2X services, satellite services, proximity services, immersive services, data services, SMS services, energy-saving services, task services, and security services.

[0093] It should be noted that, in the embodiments of this application, the first network element may include an access node or a serving network element. The access node may be used to manage the access management and / or mobility management of the UE, for example, the access node may be a 6G access node (e.g., 6G RAN, 6G AMF, 6G SMF, 6G MM, 6G AM, etc.). The serving network element may be used to provide corresponding services to the terminal, for example, the serving network element may be a 6G serving network element. Exemplarily, the serving network element includes at least one of the following:

[0094] Location network elements, such as LMF, can provide location services for terminals or third-party applications;

[0095] IMS network elements, such as the Call Session Control Function (CSCF), can provide multimedia services to terminals;

[0096] AI network elements, such as NWDAF, can provide AI services to terminals or third-party applications, including model training and model inference.

[0097] Computing management network elements, such as computing management functions, can provide computing management services for terminals or third-party applications;

[0098] AIoT management network elements, such as AIoT management functions, can provide AIoT management services to terminals;

[0099] Sensing network elements, such as sensing functions, can provide sensing services for terminals or third-party applications;

[0100] Network slicing elements, such as NSSF, NSAAF, and NSAGF, can provide network slicing services to terminals.

[0101] V2X management network elements can provide vehicle network management services to terminals;

[0102] Satellite network elements are capable of providing satellite services to terminals;

[0103] The proximity service management network element can provide proximity services to terminals;

[0104] Immersive service management network elements can provide immersive services to terminals;

[0105] Data service network elements are capable of providing data services to terminals;

[0106] Short message service network elements can provide short message services to terminals;

[0107] Energy-saving service network elements can provide energy-saving services to terminals;

[0108] Task service network elements, such as Task Management Function (TMF), can provide task services to terminals or third-party applications;

[0109] Security service network elements can provide security services to terminals.

[0110] In this embodiment, the terminal sends a first NAS message to a first network element, for example, an access node. The terminal sends the first NAS message to the access node. The first NAS message includes at least one target container. The target container includes information related to a target service supported by the terminal. This can be understood as one of the at least one target containers being related to a target service supported by the terminal; that is, one target container is used to carry information related to a target service supported by the terminal. The information related to the target service includes information elements and / or other information related to the target service.

[0111] In one implementation, a target container is associated with one of the following services, and it can be understood that a target container carries information related to one of the following services: location service, IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) service, Artificial Intelligence (AI) service, computing power service, Environmental Internet of Things (AIoT) service, sensing service, slicing service, Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) service, satellite service, proximity service, immersive service, data service, SMS service, energy-saving service, task service, and security service.

[0112] For example, if the terminal supports location services, then one of the at least one target container included in the first NAS message is a location service-related container (e.g., a location container). Alternatively, when there is a large amount of location service-related information, multiple target containers can be location service-related containers, each containing location service-related information. For instance, the location service-related container may include location service-related information elements and / or other location service-related information. This allows all location service-related information to be encapsulated within the location container, meaning that information related to a specific target service can be encapsulated within the same container for transmission. This enables on-demand information encapsulation and helps save air interface resources.

[0113] In one implementation, for example, the location container includes information related to the location service, such that all information related to the location service is encapsulated within the location container, thereby achieving modular assembly and modular transfer of functions / features. All information related to the location features is placed in this location container, avoiding information scattering.

[0114] Alternatively, in another implementation, the target container included in the first NAS message may be a container related to the perception service (e.g., a perception container). For example, the container related to the perception service includes information related to the perception service, that is, the container related to the perception service is used to carry information related to the perception service.

[0115] In one implementation, the container related to the sensing service (e.g., the sensing container) can only be used to carry information related to the sensing service, and will not carry information of other services (e.g., satellite services, computing power services, etc.). However, it should be noted that not all information related to the sensing service is necessarily carried in the sensing container. For some information that is not only related to the sensing service but also related to other characteristics (e.g., information related to both the sensing service and AI services, or information related to all three of the sensing service, positioning service, and AIoT service, etc.) or information with a large size, it may not be carried in the sensing container. Such information can be carried in the first NAS message (i.e., it does not need to be encapsulated in the container, but can be directly encapsulated in the first NAS message as an independent IE, just like the container), thereby making the encapsulation of information more flexible.

[0116] Understandably, the first NAS message includes at least one target container. The target container may also be other container types related to the target services supported by the terminal. For example, if the terminal supports AI services and IMS services, the first NAS message may include AI containers and IMS containers, etc., which will not be specifically listed here.

[0117] For example, the first network element is an access node. In some implementations, after the access node receives the first NAS message sent by the terminal, the access node can send a second message to the corresponding service network element according to the type of the at least one target container carried in the first NAS message. For example, if the first NAS message includes a target container 1 related to location services and a target container 2 related to IMS services, then the access node can send a second message A to the location network element, which carries the target container 1, and send a second message B to the IMS network element, which carries the target container 2. In this way, when the first NAS message includes at least one target container, the access node can send messages to the service network elements corresponding to each target container to transmit each target container to the corresponding service network element, thereby ensuring that the service network element can provide corresponding services to the terminal, such as providing location services to the terminal through the location network element and providing IMS services to the terminal through the IMS network element.

[0118] In this embodiment, the first NAS message is used to transmit NAS messages sent by the terminal to the first network element. Optionally, the first NAS message may take the form of, but is not limited to, a registration request message, a registration completion message, an authentication receipt message, an uplink NAS transmission message, a deregistration request message, a service request message, a security mode completion message, a security mode rejection message, a control plane service request message, and a service NAS message. It should be noted that the service NAS message is a message specifically used to transmit information related to the aforementioned target service, used to provide a service above a certain communication layer for the terminal or third-party application, and is distinct from information related to existing communication connections (registration, authentication, etc.).

[0119] Optionally, the first NAS message includes NAS information, which includes, but is not limited to: NAS information for mobility management, NAS information for access management, NAS information for session management, NAS information for computing power services, NAS information for AI services, NAS information for sensing services, NAS information for AIoT services, and NAS information for task services.

[0120] In this embodiment, the terminal sends a first NAS message to a first network element. The first NAS message includes at least one target container, which contains information related to a target service supported by the terminal. This allows information related to a target service supported by the terminal to be carried within a specific container, enabling on-demand information encapsulation and transmission via the target container. This helps save air interface resources, improves information interaction efficiency, and facilitates flexible implementation of terminal NAS messages. For terminals with different capabilities, the NAS messages of the upgrade module can be updated and upgraded more quickly.

[0121] Optionally, the first NAS message further includes first information, which is used to characterize at least one of the following:

[0122] At least one first capability, wherein the first capability is used to characterize a target service supported by the terminal;

[0123] At least one sub-capability of the first target capability, wherein the first target capability is any one of the at least one first capability.

[0124] It should be noted that the first capability is used to characterize a target service supported by the terminal, and can also be understood as a specific capability or sub-capability of the target service (or target feature) supported by the terminal. The first information can be understood as a set of capabilities of the target service supported by the terminal, including one or more capability information. In addition, the specific capability of the target service here is one of the specific capabilities or sub-capabilities under the supported target service. For example, a sub-capability characterizes the terminal's capability to support a certain target service with finer granularity. For example, the target feature (i.e., target service) supported by the terminal includes positioning, which can be understood as the terminal supporting the capability of positioning feature; while the terminal supports user plane positioning, which can be understood as a specific capability (sub-capability) under the target feature (positioning feature) supported by the terminal. Therefore, this specific capability is user plane positioning support. For example, terminal support for sensing can be understood as the terminal's ability to support target characteristics (sensing characteristics); while terminal support for uplink sensing can be understood as a specific sub-capability under the terminal's support for sensing characteristics; it can be further understood as the terminal reporting the measurement of communication sensing, and the network side (such as base station, core network) calculating the sensing results. In this case, uplink sensing can be understood as a specific sub-capability under the sensing characteristics.

[0125] It should also be noted that the first information can not only characterize whether the terminal supports a certain service or specific capability, but can also be understood as indicating whether it supports a certain module or sub-module, or whether it supports a certain feature or sub-feature. The relationship between modules and sub-modules, and between features and sub-features, can be compared to the relationship between capabilities and sub-capabilities explained above. In other words, the business purpose, service, feature, or business mentioned in this application can be understood as a module or a feature.

[0126] In this embodiment, the first NAS message includes at least one target container and may further include first information. The first information is used to characterize at least one first capability and / or at least one sub-capability of a certain first capability. Thus, the first information can characterize the specific capabilities and / or sub-capabilities of the target service supported by the terminal. Therefore, after receiving the first NAS message, the first network element can learn about the specific capabilities and / or sub-capabilities of the target service supported by the terminal through the first information carried in the first NAS message. This helps the first network element to provide the corresponding target service to the terminal based on the first capability and / or the sub-capabilities of the first capability.

[0127] Optionally, when the first information is used to characterize the at least one first capability, the target container further includes information for characterizing at least one sub-capability of the first target capability.

[0128] In some implementations, the first information carried in the first NAS message is used to characterize the capability of the target service supported by the terminal (i.e., the first capability), and at least one sub-capability used to characterize the first capability of the target service supported by the terminal is placed in a target container. That is, the target container includes not only information related to the target service supported by the terminal (e.g., information elements), but also the sub-capabilities of the first capability of the terminal supporting the target service.

[0129] For example, if the target services supported by the terminal include positioning and user plane positioning, then the terminal's ability to support positioning services is a first capability, which is included in the first information. The terminal's ability to support user plane positioning is a sub-capability under the first capability, which is included in the target container corresponding to the target service.

[0130] In this embodiment of the application, the first information and the target container can respectively carry the first capability and the sub-capabilities under the first capability of the target service supported by the terminal, thereby making the form of the first NAS message more flexible.

[0131] Optionally, each bit in the first information used to characterize the first capability is used to indicate whether the terminal supports the target service or does not support the target service, and different bits are used to represent different target services.

[0132] In some implementations, the first information includes an IE (e.g., 6G Feature Capability IE). One implementation of the IE is as follows: byte 1 represents the IEI, byte 2 represents length information, and each bit of bytes 3 to n represents whether the terminal supports or does not support a certain target service, such as whether it supports computing power services, AI services, AIoT services, task services, slicing services, sensing services, positioning services, etc. For example, please refer to Table 1 below:

[0133] Table 1. IE Implementation Method

[0134] Here, target service X can be any target service that can be added. Furthermore, when a new target service is subsequently introduced, a new bit can be added here to indicate whether the terminal supports it. This saves resources by providing service-level information to the network side about the terminal's capabilities (i.e., the terminal's primary capability to support a certain target service), rather than directly interacting with specific sub-capabilities, thus avoiding many ineffective capability interactions. For example, if the terminal does not support a certain service, it also lacks the primary capability to support that service, and therefore all related sub-capabilities will not be supported, eliminating the need for interaction and effectively saving communication resources. It should be noted that the target service X listed in Table 2 above is only an example. When more new target services need to be introduced, multiple bits can be added to indicate whether the terminal supports them, such as target service Y, target service Z, etc., without limitation here.

[0135] Optionally, in this embodiment of the application, when the first NAS message includes at least two target containers, one target container includes information related to a target service, and different target containers correspond to different target services.

[0136] For example, the first NAS message includes two target containers. One target container carries information related to AI services supported by the terminal, and the other target container carries information related to synergistic services supported by the terminal. Of course, there can be more target containers, with one target container carrying information related to one type of target service supported by the terminal. This allows information related to different target services supported by the terminal to be carried in different target containers, while information related to the same target service is carried in the same target container. This enables on-demand encapsulation of information and on-demand transmission of information through target containers, helping to save air interface resources and improve information interaction efficiency.

[0137] In this embodiment of the application, examples of the first NAS message are shown in Table 2 below, including at least one of the following:

[0138] (1) Required IE options, such as message type, security information, and Extended Protocol Discriminator (EPD);

[0139] (2) The first information, such as 6G Capability IE, is used to characterize the first capability and / or sub-capabilities of the target service supported by the terminal; for example, each sub-capability can be represented by a bit, where 1 indicates that the terminal supports the sub-capability, and 0 indicates that the terminal does not support the sub-capability.

[0140] (3) Optional IEs, which are information elements that do not belong to any target service or cannot be classified into the target container corresponding to a target service, such as UE identification information related to access management, PDU session identification related to session management, etc.

[0141] (4) The first target container, such as the computing power service container, carries information elements related to computing power services, such as terminal computing power resources, terminal computing power, computing power registration information, etc.

[0142] (5) Second target container, such as a sensing service container, carries information elements related to the sensing service, such as measurement, location, speed, etc.

[0143] Table 2. First NAS Message Format

[0144] The information elements and associated target services carried by the first target container and the second target container are different. The computing power and perception mentioned above are merely examples and do not constitute a limitation on the target container of this application. In addition, the first NAS message may include not only the first target container and the second target container, but also the third target container, the fourth target container, ... the nth target container. The number of target containers included in the first NAS message is not limited.

[0145] Optionally, in one embodiment, the target container further includes at least one of the following:

[0146] (1) The information element identifier IEI information of the target container is used to identify the information element in the target container. This target container can carry one or more information elements related to the corresponding target service.

[0147] (2) The length field information of the target container is used to represent the length of the information in the IE of the target container other than the IEI and the length field information, as shown in Table 3 below. The length of the service container A represents the length of the information in the IE of the service container A other than the IEI (IEI of the service container A) and the length field information.

[0148] (3) One or more information elements related to the target service. For example, if the target service is a task service, the information element may be task identification information. The information element here includes the length field and the value field of the information element, as shown in Table 3 below. IE 1 includes the length field and the value field.

[0149] (4) One or more indication messages, the indication messages being used to indicate whether the target container carries a first information element, the first information element being an information element having specific content and / or a specific purpose. In this application, the first information element is an information element related to a certain target service, or in other words, the first information element is any one of one or more information elements related to the target service.

[0150] In one implementation, the correspondence between each indication message and the first information element in the one or more indication messages can be agreed upon by a protocol or determined through negotiation between the parties. For example, it can be agreed that the first information element corresponding to the indication message at a certain position is what it is. More specifically, it can be agreed that the Nth bit of the Mth byte in the target container is used to indicate whether information element X is carried, and the (N+1)th bit of the Mth byte in the target container is used to indicate whether information element Y is carried. If the value of the Nth bit of the Mth byte is 1, it indicates that the target container carries information element X; if the value of the Nth bit of the Mth byte is 0, it indicates that the target container does not carry information element X. Here, M is a natural number greater than or equal to 3, and N is a natural number greater than or equal to 1.

[0151] In one implementation, the nth bit of the Mth byte in the target container is used to indicate whether information element IE(n+1) is carried, as agreed upon by the protocol. For example, the first bit of the Mth byte in the target container is used to indicate whether information element IE1 is carried, as agreed upon by the protocol, and the second bit of the Mth byte in the target container is used to indicate whether information element IE2 is carried, as agreed upon by the protocol. Here, M is a natural number greater than or equal to 3, and n is a natural number greater than or equal to 1.

[0152] In one implementation, when the target container contains only one indication message, it indicates whether information element X is carried, as well as the content and purpose of information element X. When the target container contains multiple indication messages, each indication message indicates whether a certain information element is carried, as well as the content and purpose of that information element. Each indication message includes two pieces of information: first, the content and purpose of the information element carried in the target container, which can be agreed upon by the sender and receiver, such as specifying which bit of which byte in the target container represents information element X; second, whether the information element is carried, which can be indicated by one bit: 1 indicates that the information element is carried, and 0 indicates that the information element is not carried.

[0153] For example, the first byte of the target container contains IEI information, the second and third bytes contain length field information, and the fourth byte contains indicator set information, totaling four indicator messages. These four indicator messages indicate four IEs: IE1, IE2, IE3, and IE4. These are indicated sequentially using the first, second, third, and fourth bits of the fourth byte of the target container. The other bits of the fourth byte are reserved and have no meaning. If the first bit of the fourth byte is set to 0, it indicates that IE1 is not carried; if the first bit is set to 1, it indicates that IE1 is carried. The same logic applies to carrying IE2, IE3, and IE4. Furthermore, it should be noted that if the target container's indicator information indicates that it carries IE1, IE3, and IE4, but not IE2, then IE1, IE3, and IE4 are encoded sequentially starting from the fifth byte. Therefore, IE1 is encoded starting from the 5th byte, IE3 is encoded after IE1, and IE4 is encoded after IE3, without carrying IE2 in between. In this way, the sender and receiver can encode and decode sequentially according to the instructions in the instruction information. Using the instruction information, it is possible to transmit an information element using only one bit (what the content and purpose of the IE is, and whether to carry this IE), avoiding the transmission of a whole byte of information, thereby saving transmission resources and improving transmission efficiency.

[0154] For example, the form of a target container A is shown in Table 3 below.

[0155] Table 3. Target Container Format

[0156] The target container A includes its IEI information, its length field information, an indicator set, and IE1...IEn. The IEI information of the target container A is 1 byte, the length field information is 2 bytes, the indicator set indicating whether an IE is included is several bytes, and IE1 (including its length field and value field) is several bytes...IEn (including its length field and value field) is several bytes.

[0157] It should be noted that, in the above embodiments, the target container may further include a first indication, which is used to indicate the terminal's ability to provide a first target service, and the target service supported by the terminal includes the first target service.

[0158] Optionally, the first network element may also request capability information of the target service from the terminal. For example, the terminal may receive a second message sent by the first network element, the second message including a third indication, the third indication being used to indicate the request for capability information of the target service supported by the terminal.

[0159] Additionally, the terminal can also request capability information for a target service provided by the network. For example, the first NAS message sent by the terminal to the first network element may also include a second indication, which indicates a request for capability information for a second target service, wherein the target service supported by the target network element includes the second target service.

[0160] Alternatively, in another embodiment, the target container further includes at least one of the following:

[0161] (1) The IEI information of the target container is used to identify the information elements in the target container. This target container may carry one or more information elements related to the corresponding target service.

[0162] (2) The length field information of the target container is used to represent the length of the information under the IE other than IEI and the length field information, as shown in Table 4 below. The length of the service container B represents the length of the information under the IE of the service container B other than IEI (IEI of the service container B) and the length field information.

[0163] (3) One or more information elements related to the target service, the information elements including an indication field, a length field of the information element and a value field of the information element, the indication field being used to indicate the content and / or purpose of the information element.

[0164] For example, the form of a target container B is shown in Table 4 below.

[0165] Table 4. Target Container Format

[0166] The target container B includes its IEI information, its length field information, and IE1...IEn. The IEI information is 1 byte, the length field information is 2 bytes, and IE1 (including length, value, and indicator fields) is several bytes...IEn (including length, value, and indicator fields) is several bytes. It should be noted that in this embodiment, each IE includes not only the length and value fields but also an indicator field to indicate the content and purpose of the information element. Therefore, the target container does not need to use an indicator set to indicate whether it carries a certain information element and its content and / or purpose. Instead, it indicates the content and / or purpose of the information element by adding an indicator field to the information element itself. For example, an indicator field can be represented by one byte, providing a more flexible indication method and helping to reduce the target container's capacity.

[0167] It should be noted that, in the above embodiments, the target container may further include a first indication, which is used to indicate the terminal's ability to provide a first target service, and the target service supported by the terminal includes the first target service.

[0168] Optionally, the first network element may also request capability information of the target service from the terminal. For example, the terminal may receive a second message sent by the first network element, the second message including a third indication, the third indication being used to indicate the request for capability information of the target service supported by the terminal.

[0169] Additionally, the terminal can also request capability information for a target service provided by the network. For example, the first NAS message sent by the terminal to the first network element may also include a second indication, which indicates a request for capability information for a second target service, wherein the target service supported by the target network element includes the second target service.

[0170] In this embodiment of the application, the target container can have two different design forms, thereby making the form of the target container more flexible.

[0171] Optionally, in this embodiment of the application, the type of the IEI includes at least one of the following:

[0172] Type 4;

[0173] Type 6;

[0174] The first type, wherein the length field of the information element is represented by 3 bytes.

[0175] The first type is a newly added type, such as Type8, but it could also be other names, such as Type9, etc., without specific limitations here.

[0176] Understandably, an IE is identified by its IEI, and existing IE types include Type 1, Type 2, Type 4, and Type 6. It should be noted that in the solution provided in this application, to accommodate more containers, the number of Type 6 IEs can be increased. Furthermore, to enable a container (e.g., a target container) to carry all information elements from one or more different target services, the solution proposed in this application adds a new IE type based on the existing IE types, namely the first type. For example, the first type can be called Type 8. The following explanation uses Type 8 as the first type to illustrate the range of IE values, as shown in Table 5 below:

[0177] Table 5. IEI Value Range

[0178] Among them, Type 1 / 2 represents an IE with a length of 1 byte and 8 IEIs, ranging from 0x8- to 0xF-, where "-" indicates that it can be any value (from 0 to F). Type 4 represents an IE with a maximum theoretical length of 257 bytes, including IEI, length field (LI), and value field, with 64 IEIs ranging from 0x00 to 0x3F, where LI is 1 byte long. Type 6 represents an IE with a maximum theoretical length of 65538 bytes, including IEI, LI, and value, where LI is 2 bytes long and IEIs range from 0x40 to 0x77. Type 8 (the newly added first type) represents an IE with a maximum theoretical length of 16777219 bytes, including IEI, LI, and value, where the LI length field representing the information element is 3 bytes long and IEIs range from 0x78 to 0x7F. It should be noted that Type 8 in this example is optional. For example, only type 1 / 2 / 4 / 6 can exist to identify IE, so the range of IEI values ​​for type 8 can be classified as IEI for type 6.

[0179] In this embodiment of the application, a first type is newly defined for the IEI type. The length field of the information element in the first type is 3 bytes, which is used to identify the information element. This allows a target container to carry all information elements related to a target service. The first NAS message can also carry multiple target containers to transmit information related to different target services supported by the terminal, which helps to improve the efficiency of information interaction.

[0180] Optionally, the method provided in this application embodiment further includes the following steps:

[0181] The terminal receives the second message sent by the first network element;

[0182] The second message includes the at least one target container.

[0183] For example, taking the first network element as the access node: the terminal sends a first NAS message to the access node. The first NAS message includes at least one target container, and the target container includes information related to the target service supported by the terminal. After receiving the first NAS message, the access node can determine which service network elements will handle the target container in the first NAS message based on the target container carried in the first NAS message. For example, if the first NAS message carries a target container 1 that includes information related to the sensing service, then the sensing service network element will handle the target container 1, and the access node will send the target container 1 to the sensing service network element. Or, for example, if the first NAS message carries a target container 2 that includes information related to the task service, then the access node will send the target container 2 to the task service network element, and the task service network element will handle the target container 2. In this way, the access node can forward the target containers carried in the first NAS message to the corresponding service network elements, thereby effectively improving transmission efficiency and avoiding the problem of chaotic IE information forwarding.

[0184] Furthermore, upon receiving a message carrying the target container, the serving network element (NFI) is able to determine that it needs to provide corresponding services to the terminal. The NFI then replies to the access node with a response message including the target container. Based on the received response message, the access node sends a second message to the terminal, which includes the at least one target container, in response to the first NAS message sent by the terminal. This second message can be understood as informing the terminal that the access node has sent the target container to the corresponding NFI, thereby enabling the terminal to know which NFIs available for its services and ensuring a better user experience.

[0185] It should be noted that the second message may use the same message format as the first NAS message.

[0186] Optionally, the second message further includes second information, which includes at least one of the following:

[0187] At least one second capability, wherein a second capability is used to characterize a target service supported by the target network element;

[0188] At least one sub-capability of the second target capability, wherein the second target capability is any one of the at least one second capability;

[0189] The target network element is a network element used to process the target container.

[0190] In this embodiment, the second message sent by the first network element to the terminal further includes second information. This second information includes a second capability and / or sub-capabilities of the second capability used to characterize the target service supported by the target network element. The target network element is a network element used to process the target container, which can be understood as the aforementioned service network element, such as a positioning network element, AI network element, IMS network element, or computing power management network element. This allows the network side to provide the terminal with information characterizing the capability and / or sub-capabilities of a certain service supported by the target network element. Consequently, the terminal can learn about the target service supported by the target network element, further facilitating communication and interaction between the terminal and the network side.

[0191] Optionally, in this embodiment of the application, the first NAS message further includes a second indication, which is used to indicate capability information for requesting a second target service, wherein the target service supported by the target network element includes the second target service.

[0192] Understandably, the first NAS message is a message sent by the terminal to the first network element. The first NAS message includes a second indication, which is used to request the target service capability information supported by the target network element. That is, the terminal can request the network element's capability information from the network side, so that the terminal can know which target services the network can provide, and also that the terminal can request the target network element to provide the target service to the terminal, thereby improving the terminal's user experience.

[0193] Optionally, the at least one target container included in the second message further includes a third indication, the third indication being used to indicate capability information for requesting a third target service, the target service supported by the terminal including the third target service.

[0194] Understandably, the second message is a message sent by the first network element to the terminal. The second message includes a third instruction, which is used to request the capability information of the target services supported by the terminal. In other words, the network side can request the capability information of the terminal, so that the network side can know which target services the terminal can support. This helps the network side to provide corresponding services in a targeted manner based on the target services supported by the terminal, thereby improving the user experience of the terminal.

[0195] Please refer to Figure 3, which is a second flowchart of an information transmission method provided in an embodiment of this application. The method is executed by a first network element. As shown in Figure 3, the method includes the following steps:

[0196] Step 301: The first network element receives the first NAS message sent by the terminal;

[0197] The first NAS message includes at least one target container, the target container including information related to a target service supported by the terminal, the target service including at least one of the following:

[0198] Location services, IMS services, AI services, computing power services, AIoT services, sensing services, slicing services, V2X services, satellite services, proximity services, immersive services, data services, SMS services, energy-saving services, task services, and security services.

[0199] Optionally, the first NAS message further includes first information, which is used to characterize at least one of the following:

[0200] At least one first capability, wherein the first capability is used to characterize a target service supported by the terminal;

[0201] At least one sub-capability of the first target capability, wherein the first target capability is any one of the at least one first capability.

[0202] Optionally, when the first information is used to characterize the at least one first capability, the target container further includes information for characterizing at least one sub-capability of the first target capability.

[0203] Optionally, if the first NAS message includes at least two target containers, one of the target containers includes information related to a target service, and different target containers correspond to different target services.

[0204] Optionally, the target container further includes at least one of the following:

[0205] The target container's information element identifies IEI information;

[0206] The length field information of the target container;

[0207] One or more information elements related to the target service, wherein the information element includes a length field and a value field of the information element;

[0208] One or more indication messages, the indication messages being used to indicate whether the target container carries a first information element;

[0209] A first indication is used to instruct the terminal to provide capability information for a first target service, wherein the target service supported by the terminal includes the first target service.

[0210] Optionally, the target container further includes at least one of the following:

[0211] The IEI information of the target container;

[0212] The length field information of the target container;

[0213] One or more information elements related to the target service, the information elements including an indication field, a length field of the information element and a value field of the information element, the indication field being used to indicate the content and / or purpose of the information element;

[0214] A first indication is used to instruct the terminal to provide capability information for a first target service, wherein the target service supported by the terminal includes the first target service.

[0215] Optionally, the type of the IEI includes at least one of the following:

[0216] Type 4;

[0217] Type 6;

[0218] The first type, wherein the length field of the information element is represented by 3 bytes.

[0219] Optionally, each bit in the first information used to characterize the first capability is used to indicate whether the terminal supports the target service or does not support the target service, and different bits are used to represent different target services.

[0220] Optionally, the method further includes:

[0221] The first network element sends a second message to the terminal, the second message including the at least one target container.

[0222] Optionally, the second message further includes second information, which includes at least one of the following:

[0223] At least one second capability, wherein a second capability is used to characterize a target service supported by the target network element;

[0224] At least one sub-capability of the second target capability, wherein the second target capability is any one of the at least one second capability;

[0225] The target network element is a network element used to process the target container.

[0226] Optionally, the first NAS message further includes a second indication, which indicates the capability information for requesting a second target service, wherein the target service supported by the target network element includes the second target service.

[0227] Optionally, the at least one target container included in the second message further includes a third indication, the third indication being used to indicate capability information for requesting a third target service, the target service supported by the terminal including the third target service.

[0228] It should be noted that the information transmission method applied to the first network element provided in this application corresponds to the method applied to the terminal side described above. The first network element and the terminal are in a transmitting and receiving relationship. The relevant concepts and specific processes involved in this application can be referred to the description in the terminal side method embodiment described above, and will not be repeated in this embodiment.

[0229] In this embodiment, the first network element receives a first NAS message sent by the terminal. The first NAS message includes at least one target container, and the target container includes information related to a target service supported by the terminal. This allows information related to a target service supported by the terminal to be carried in a specific container, enabling the transmission of information related to a specific target service within the same container. This achieves on-demand encapsulation of information and on-demand transmission of information through the target container, helping to save air interface resources and improve information interaction efficiency.

[0230] Please refer to Figure 4a, which is a third flowchart of an information transmission method provided in an embodiment of this application. The method includes the following steps:

[0231] Step 11. The UE sends a first NAS message to the access node (e.g., 5G AMF, 6G RAN, 6G AMF, 6G RAN, 6G AM, etc.). The first NAS message carries the NAS information sent by the terminal to the network. The first NAS message can take various forms, including but not limited to registration request messages, registration completion messages, authentication reception messages, uplink NAS transmission messages, deregistration request messages, service request messages, security mode completion messages, security mode rejection messages, control plane service request messages, and service NAS messages. The NAS information carried in the first NAS message includes, but is not limited to: NAS information for mobility management, NAS information for access management, NAS information for session management, NAS information for computing power services, NAS information for AI services, NAS information for sensing services, NAS information for AIoT services, and NAS information for task services.

[0232] The first NAS message includes at least one of the following:

[0233] a. First information, used to characterize the terminal's ability and / or specific capabilities (sub-capabilities) to support target services (or understood as purpose characteristics). Purpose characteristics include, but are not limited to: positioning, IMS, AI, computing power, AIoT, tasks, sensing, slicing, V2X, satellite, proximity-based services, immersive services, data services, SMS services, energy-saving services, task services, and security services.

[0234] b. A first container, used to carry information elements related to the first target service.

[0235] c. A second container, used to carry information elements related to the second target service.

[0236] It should be noted that the first and second containers here are just examples, and can also include the third container...the nth container. There is no limit to the number of containers in a single NAS message.

[0237] It should be noted that the first piece of information refers to the set of capabilities supported by the terminal, including one or more capability information. Furthermore, the specific capability of the target service here is a specific capability or sub-capability under the target service, with a finer granularity than the terminal's support for a specific target service capability. For example, terminal support for positioning can be understood as the terminal supporting the target service (positioning feature) capability (i.e., the first capability); while terminal support for user plane positioning can be understood as the terminal supporting a specific capability under the target service (positioning feature) (which can be understood as a sub-capability of the first capability), therefore, this specific capability is user plane positioning support. Another example: terminal support for sensing can be understood as the terminal supporting the target service (sensing feature); while terminal support for uplink sensing can be understood as the terminal supporting uplink sensing functionality, which can be further understood as the terminal reporting communication sensing measurements, and the network side (such as base stations and core networks) calculating the sensing results. In this case, uplink sensing can be understood as a sub-capability under sensing.

[0238] It should also be noted that capability information can indicate not only whether a certain feature or specific capability is supported, but also whether a certain module or sub-module is supported, or whether a certain characteristic or sub-characteristic is supported. In other words, the services / features / business purposes mentioned in this application can be understood as a module or a feature.

[0239] It should also be noted that both the first target service and the second target service are one of the target services, and the first target service and the second target service are not the same. For example, when the first target service is a location service, the second target service cannot be a location service, but can be any of the aforementioned target services other than the location service, such as computing power, AIoT, sensing, etc.

[0240] An example of a first NAS message is as follows (please refer to Table 2 above), including at least one of the following: 1) Required IEs, such as message type, security information, EPD, etc. 2) First information, such as a 6G capability IE, used to carry the set of 6G capabilities supported by the terminal. It indicates certain specific sub-capabilities supported by the terminal, rather than service-level capabilities. Each sub-capability is represented by a bit; a 1 indicates that the terminal supports the sub-capability, and a 0 indicates that the terminal does not support the sub-capability. 3) Optional IEs, information elements that do not belong to any target service or cannot be classified into a target container, such as UE identification information related to access management, and PDU session ID related to session management. 4) First container (e.g., computing service container), carrying information elements of computing power characteristics, such as terminal computing resources, terminal computing power, computing power registration information, etc. 5) Second container (e.g., sensing service container), carrying information elements of sensing characteristics, such as measurement quantities, location, speed, etc.

[0241] The information elements carried by the first and second containers have different associated services / features / business purposes. The service container's IE (Interface Type) is longer, for example, a type 6 IE, which can reach a maximum of 65538. Computing power and perception are just examples; they can be any of the aforementioned target containers, and are not limited here. The first and second containers here are merely examples; they can also include a third container, an nth container, and the number of containers in a single NAS message is not limited.

[0242] An example of a service container is shown in Table 3 above, including at least one of the following: 1) IEI information, used to identify the information element of service container A, which carries one or more information elements of the target service Y. 2) Length field information, used to indicate the length of the information under this IE other than the IEI and length field information. 3) One or more indication information, used to indicate whether IE 1 to IE n carry and the content and / or purpose of IE 1 to IE n. Each bit indicates whether information element x is carried, 0 indicates that information element x is not carried, and 1 indicates that information element x is carried. The specific meaning of the indication set can be referred to the description in the embodiment of Figure 2 above, and will not be repeated here. 4) One or more IEs, used to provide information under characteristic Y, such as task identification information under task characteristic; here, IE includes the length field and value field of IE.

[0243] Another example of a service container is shown in Table 4 above, which includes at least one of the following: 1) IEI information, used to identify the information element of service container A, which carries one or more information elements of characteristic Y. 2) Length field information, used to indicate the length of the information under this IE other than the IEI and length field information. 3) One or more IEs, used to provide information under characteristic Y, such as task identification information under the task characteristic; here, the IE includes an indicator field, a length field of the IE, and a value field of the IE, wherein the indicator field is used to indicate the purpose and / or content of this IE.

[0244] After receiving the first NAS message, the access node sends a second message to the first network element based on the first information in the first NAS message and the different target containers, carrying the information elements of the xth container or the xth container.

[0245] It's important to note that after receiving the first NAS message, the access node can determine which network element is responsible for processing a specific container within that message. For example, if the sensing network element is responsible for processing synaptic information and calculating sensing results, the access node will send the sensing container to that element. Conversely, if the task network element is responsible for understanding, decomposing, and executing task requests, the access node will send the task container to that element. This is a message forwarding method based on service / feature / business purpose. This forwarding is more efficient and avoids the problem of disorganized and incoherent information in Internet Explorer.

[0246] For example, in step 12a: after receiving the computing service container, the access node encapsulates the information elements (such as IE1, IE2, ...) that need to be processed by the AI ​​network element (such as 6G NWDAF) together and sends them to the AI ​​network element (such as service network element A) through the second message. Sometimes, the access node can send the entire container (such as the first container) to the AI ​​network element.

[0247] For example, in step 12b: after receiving the AIoT service container, the 6G access node sends the entire AIoT service container to the AIoT network element (e.g., service network element B) through the second message.

[0248] The access node receives a third message from the first network element. The message may carry a service container, but the IE information carried inside may differ. The first network element includes: positioning network element (e.g., LMF), IMS network element (e.g., CSCF), AI network element (e.g., NWDAF), computing power management network element (e.g., computing management function), AIoT management network element (e.g., AIoT management function), task management element (e.g., TMF), sensing network element (e.g., Sensing Function), slicing network element (e.g., NSSF, NSAAF, NSAGF), V2X management network element, satellite management network element, and proximity service management network element, etc.

[0249] For example, in step 13a, the access node receives a third message from the AI ​​network element (e.g., service network element A), which carries the computing service container (first container).

[0250] For example, in step 13b, the access node receives a third message from an AIoT network element (e.g., service network element B), which carries the AIoT service container (second container).

[0251] Step 14. The access node replies to the UE with the fourth message. The construction principle of the fourth message is the same as that of the first NAS message. One or more IEs are encapsulated with the target service. One or more IEs with the same service / feature / service purpose are placed in the same container. Optionally, the second information is carried to provide the network's capability set, which also represents the network's specific capability or sub-capability for a certain feature. It includes one or more bit information, similar to the first information, except that it represents the network's specific capability or feature sub-capability.

[0252] In this embodiment of the application, the terminal sends a first NAS message to the first network element. The first NAS message includes at least one target container. This allows information related to the target service supported by the terminal to be carried in a specific container. In other words, information related to a target service can be carried in the same container for transmission, thereby realizing on-demand encapsulation of information and on-demand transmission of information through the target container. This helps to save air interface resources and improve information interaction efficiency.

[0253] Please refer to Figure 4b, which is a flowchart of an information transmission method provided in an embodiment of this application. The method includes the following steps:

[0254] Step 21. The UE sends a first NAS message to the access node (e.g., 5G AMF, 6G AMF, 6G RAN, 6G AM, etc.). The first NAS message is used to transmit the NAS information sent by the terminal to the network. The format of the first NAS message and the NAS information is as described above and will not be repeated here.

[0255] The first NAS message includes at least one of the following:

[0256] a. First information, used to characterize the terminal's ability to support target services (or understood as purposeful characteristics). Target services include, but are not limited to: positioning, IMS, AI, computing power, AIoT, tasks, sensing, slicing, V2X, satellite, proximity-based services, immersive services, data services, SMS services, energy-saving services, task services, and security services.

[0257] b. A first container for carrying information elements (IE) related to a first target service and capability information for representing sub-capabilities of the first target service.

[0258] c. A second container for carrying information elements related to the second target service and capability information for characterizing the sub-capabilities of the second target service.

[0259] It should be noted that the first and second containers here are just examples, and can also include the third container...the nth container. There is no limit to the number of containers in a single NAS message.

[0260] Unlike the embodiment described in Figure 4a above, in this embodiment, the sub-capabilities used to indicate that the terminal supports a certain target service are carried in a container, while the capabilities used to indicate that the terminal supports a certain target service are still carried in the first information.

[0261] It should be noted that capability information can indicate not only whether a specific target service is supported, but also whether a specific module or feature is supported. In other words, the services / features / business purposes mentioned in this application can be understood as a module or a feature.

[0262] Optionally, examples of the first NAS message are shown in Table 6 below, including at least one of the following: 1) Required IEs, such as message type, security information, EPD, etc. 2) First information, such as the 6G feature capability IE, used to carry the set of 6G capabilities supported by the terminal. It indicates the capabilities of certain target services supported by the terminal (i.e., the first capabilities), including but not limited to: positioning, IMS, AI, computing power, AIoT, tasks, sensing, slicing, V2X, satellite, proximity-based services, etc. Each first capability is represented by one bit. When the bit is 1, it indicates that the terminal has the capability to support the target service; when the bit is 0, it indicates that the terminal does not have the capability to support the target service. 3) Optional IEs, information elements that do not belong to any target service or cannot be classified into a target container, such as UE identification information related to access management, and PDU session ID related to session management. 4) First container (e.g., computing service container), carrying information elements of computing power characteristics, such as terminal computing power resources, terminal computing power, computing power registration information, etc. 5) The second container (e.g., the sensing service container) carries information elements related to sensing characteristics, such as measurements, location, and speed.

[0263] Table 6. First NAS Message Format

[0264] The information elements carried by the first and second containers have different associated services / features / business purposes. The service container's IE (Interface Type) is longer, for example, a type 6 IE, which can reach a maximum of 65538. Computing power and perception are just examples; they can be any of the aforementioned target containers, and are not limited here. The first and second containers here are merely examples; they can also include a third container, an nth container, and the number of containers in a single NAS message is not limited.

[0265] For example, one implementation of 6G Feature Capability IE is shown in Table 7 below:

[0266] Table 7. IE Implementation Method

[0267] In this configuration, byte 1 represents the IEI (Interface Information), byte 2 represents length information, and each bit of bytes 3-n indicates whether the terminal supports a specific target service / feature / business purpose. For example, whether it supports Computing, AI, AIoT, Task, Prose, Sensing, Location, etc. When a new target service / feature / business purpose is introduced in a subsequent version, an additional bit can be added here to indicate whether it is supported. This saves resources by providing the network with service-level information about the terminal's capabilities, rather than directly interacting with specific sub-capabilities. This avoids many ineffective capability interactions; for example, if the terminal does not support a certain feature, then all its related sub-features will also not be supported, thus eliminating the need for interaction.

[0268] An example of a target container A is shown in Table 8 below:

[0269] Table 8. Forms of the Target Container

[0270] The target container includes at least one of the following: 1) IEI information, used to identify the information element of service container A, which carries one or more information elements of target service Y. 2) Length field information, used to indicate the length of information under this IE other than IEI and length field information. 3) Second capability, sub-capability of target service Y, used to indicate that the terminal supports the sub-capability of target service Y. Similar to the first information in the embodiment described in Figure 4a, the difference is that this container only provides sub-capabilities related to target service Y, and capability information related to other target services may not be carried. If there are no sub-capabilities under target service Y, then this field can be omitted. 4) One or more indication information, used to indicate whether IE 1 to IE n are carried and the content and / or purpose of IE 1 to IE n. Each bit indicates whether information element x is carried, 0 indicates that information element x is not carried, and 1 indicates that information element x is carried. Please refer to the description in the method embodiment of Figure 2 for the meaning of the indication set. 5) One or more IEs, used to provide information under target service Y, such as task identification information under task characteristics; here, IE includes the length field and value field of IE.

[0271] Another example of target container B is shown in Table 9 below:

[0272] Table 9. Forms of the Target Container

[0273] The target container B includes at least one of the following: 1) IEI information, used to identify the information element of service container A, which carries one or more information elements of characteristic Y. 2) Length field information, used to indicate the length of the information under this IE other than the IEI and length field information. 3) Second capability, a sub-capability of target service Y, used to indicate that the terminal supports the sub-capabilities of target service Y, similar to the first information in the embodiment described in Figure 4a, except that this container only provides sub-capabilities related to target service Y, and capability information related to other target services may not be carried. If there are no sub-capabilities under target service Y, then this field can be omitted. 4) One or more IEs, used to provide information under target service Y, such as task identification information under task characteristics; here, IE includes an indicator field, a length field of IE, and a value field of IE, wherein the indicator field is used to indicate the purpose and / or content of this IE.

[0274] Steps 22a / 22b, 23a / 23b, and 24 are the same as steps 12a / 12b, 13a / 13b, and 14 above, and will not be repeated here.

[0275] Please refer to Figure 4c, which is a fifth flowchart of an information transmission method provided in an embodiment of this application. The method includes the following steps:

[0276] Step 31. The UE sends the first NAS message to the access node (e.g., 5G AMF, 6G AMF, 6G RAN, 6G AM, etc.). The format of the first NAS message and NAS information is as described above and will not be repeated here.

[0277] The first NAS message includes a first container and a second container. The first and second containers are just examples; they can also include a third container, an nth container, and so on. There is no limit to the number of containers in a single NAS message.

[0278] In this embodiment, all capability information is interacted within containers; that is, the aforementioned first capability and / or sub-capabilities of the first capability are carried in their respective target containers. For example, the first capability for the terminal to support location services is carried in the location container, the first capability for the terminal to support AI services is carried in the AI ​​container, and so on. Further examples are not listed here.

[0279] An example of the first NAS message is shown in Table 10 below:

[0280] Table 10. Format of the First NAS Message

[0281] The first NAS message includes at least one of the following: 1) Required IEs, such as message type, security information, EPD, etc. 2) Optional IEs, information elements that do not belong to any target service or cannot be classified into a target container, such as UE identification information related to access management, and PDU session ID related to session management. 3) The first container (e.g., computing service container), carrying information elements with computing power characteristics, such as terminal computing power resources, terminal computing power, computing power registration information, etc. 4) The second container (e.g., sensing service container), carrying information elements with sensing characteristics, such as measurement quantities, location, speed, etc.

[0282] The information elements carried by the first and second containers have different associated services / features / business purposes. The service container's IE (Interface Type) is longer, for example, a type 6 IE, which can reach a maximum of 65538. Computing power and perception are just examples; they can be any of the aforementioned target containers, and are not limited here. The first and second containers here are merely examples; they can also include a third container, an nth container, and the number of containers in a single NAS message is not limited.

[0283] An example of a target container is shown in Table 11 below:

[0284] Table 11. Forms of the target container

[0285] The target container includes at least one of the following: 1) IEI information, used to identify the information element of service container A, which carries one or more information elements of target service Y. 2) Length field information, used to indicate the length of the information under this IE other than IEI and length field information. 3) One or more indication information (such as capability indication information in Table 11), used to indicate whether IE 1 to IE n carry and the content and / or purpose of IE 1 to IE n. Each bit indicates whether information element x is carried, 0 indicates that information element x is not carried, and 1 indicates that information element x is carried. For the specific meaning of the indication set, please refer to the description in the method embodiment of Figure 2 above. 4) Capability request indication, used to indicate requesting capability information of target service Y. 5) Capability provision indication, used to indicate providing capability information of target service Y. 6) Second capability, sub-capability of target service Y, used to indicate that the terminal supports the sub-capability of target service Y. Only sub-capabilities related to target service Y are provided in this container, and capabilities related to other target services may not be carried. 7) One or more IEs are used to provide information under the target service Y, such as task identification information under task characteristics; here, IE includes the length field and the value field of IE.

[0286] In one implementation, when the target container includes a capability provision indication, the target container also carries a second capability. It should be noted that capability information can indicate not only whether a specific target service or capability is supported, but also whether a module or sub-module is supported, or whether a feature or sub-feature is supported. That is, the service / feature / business purpose mentioned in this patent can be understood as a module or a feature.

[0287] Another example of a target container is shown in Table 12 below:

[0288] Table 12. Forms of the Target Container

[0289] The target container includes at least one of the following: 1) IEI information, used to identify the information element of service container A, which carries one or more information elements of target service Y. 2) Length field information, used to indicate the length of the information under this IE other than the IEI and length field information. 3) One or more indication information (such as the capability indication information in Table 12), used to indicate whether IE 1 to IE n carry and the content and / or purpose of IE 1 to IE n. Each bit indicates whether information element x is carried, 0 indicates that information element x is not carried, and 1 indicates that information element x is carried. 4) Capability request indication, used to indicate the request for capability information of target service Y. 5) Capability provision indication, used to indicate the provision of capability information of target service Y. 6) Second capability, sub-capability of target service Y, used to indicate the terminal supports sub-capabilities of feature Y. Only sub-capabilities related to target service Y are provided in this container. Capabilities related to other target services may not be carried. 7) One or more IEs, used to provide information under target service Y, such as task identification information under task features; here, IE includes an indication field, a length field, and a value field. The indicator field is used to indicate the purpose and / or content of this IE.

[0290] In one implementation, when the target container includes a capability provisioning instruction, the container also carries a second capability.

[0291] An example of the second capability is shown in Table 13 below. Taking a container related to task characteristics as an example, task service capability 1 represents a specific capability or sub-capability related to a task, such as supporting the download of personalized task templates to further describe the terminal's needs for the task; for example, task service capability 2 supports the type of sub-task, such as one or more of AI, computing, communication, and perception.

[0292] Table 13. Forms of Realization of the Second Capability

[0293] Steps 32-33. The access node sends a second message to the second network element based on the information related to the target service / feature / business in the first and second containers, carrying the information elements in the x-th container or the x-th container.

[0294] For example, in step 32a, the access node sends a second message to the serving network element A, and the second message carries the first container;

[0295] For example, in step 32b, the access node sends a second message to the serving network element B, and the second message carries the second container.

[0296] Furthermore, the second network element (serving network element A and / or serving network element B) sends a third message to the access node. The third message carries a third container, the content of which is different from the content of the third container in the second message. The third container contains a capability request indication.

[0297] For example, in step 33a, the service element A sends a third message to the access node, the third message carrying the first container and the ability to request;

[0298] For example, in step 33b, the service element B sends a third message to the access node, which carries the second container and an indication of whether to request access.

[0299] Step 34. The access node encapsulates the x-th container in a fourth message and sends it to the UE. The fourth message may carry multiple containers, including a first container received from serving network element A (e.g., AI network element, i.e., NWDAF) and a second container received from serving network element B (e.g., positioning network element, i.e., LMF).

[0300] Step 35. The UE sends a fifth message to the access node, the fifth message carrying the xth container, carrying a capability provision indication (capability response) and a second capability.

[0301] Step 36. The access node sends the x-th container or the information element in the x-th container in the fifth message to the corresponding second network element, so that the second network element can provide the corresponding service to the terminal;

[0302] For example, in step 36a, the access node sends the first container and capability provision indication (capability reply) to the serving network element A via the sixth message;

[0303] For example, in step 36b, the access node sends the second container and capability provision indication (capability response) to the service element B via the sixth message.

[0304] The information transmission method provided in this application embodiment can carry information related to the target service supported by the terminal through a specific container. That is, it can carry information related to a target service in the same container for transmission, thereby realizing on-demand encapsulation of information and on-demand transmission of information through the target container, which helps to save air interface resources and improve information interaction efficiency.

[0305] The information transmission method provided in this application can be executed by an information transmission device. This application uses an information transmission device executing the information transmission method as an example to illustrate the information transmission device provided in this application.

[0306] This application provides an information transmission device. As an example, the information transmission device may be a communication device or a component within a communication device, such as a chip. The communication device may be a terminal, a network-side device, or a server, etc. Exemplarily, the terminal may include, but is not limited to, the type of terminal 11 listed above, and the network-side device may include, but is not limited to, the type of network-side device 12 listed above. This application does not impose specific limitations.

[0307] The information transmission device includes a receiving module, a transmitting module, and a processing module. These modules can be implemented in software or hardware. When implemented in hardware, the processing module can be implemented by a processor. For example, the processor can include general-purpose processors, special-purpose processors, such as a Central Processing Unit (CPU), microprocessor, Digital Signal Processor (DSP), Artificial Intelligence (AI) processor, Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), Network Processor (NP), Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), or other programmable logic devices, gate circuits, transistors, discrete hardware components, etc. The receiving and transmitting modules can be implemented by a communication interface, which can include one or more of the following: transceiver, pins, circuits, bus, radio frequency unit, etc.

[0308] Referring to Figure 5, when the information transmission device is a terminal or a component within a terminal, the information transmission device 500 includes:

[0309] The first sending module 501 is used to send the first NAS message to the first network element;

[0310] The first NAS message includes at least one target container, the target container including information related to a target service supported by the terminal, the target service including at least one of the following:

[0311] Location services, IMS services, AI services, computing power services, AIoT services, sensing services, slicing services, V2X services, satellite services, proximity services, immersive services, data services, SMS services, energy-saving services, task services, and security services.

[0312] Optionally, the first NAS message further includes first information, which is used to characterize at least one of the following:

[0313] At least one first capability, wherein the first capability is used to characterize a target service supported by the terminal;

[0314] At least one sub-capability of the first target capability, wherein the first target capability is any one of the at least one first capability.

[0315] Optionally, when the first information is used to characterize the at least one first capability, the target container further includes information for characterizing at least one sub-capability of the first target capability.

[0316] Optionally, if the first NAS message includes at least two target containers, one of the target containers includes information related to a target service, and different target containers correspond to different target services.

[0317] Optionally, the target container further includes at least one of the following:

[0318] The target container's information element identifies IEI information;

[0319] The length field information of the target container;

[0320] One or more information elements related to the target service, wherein the information element includes a length field and a value field of the information element;

[0321] One or more indication messages, the indication messages being used to indicate whether the target container carries a first information element;

[0322] A first indication is used to instruct the terminal to provide capability information for a first target service, wherein the target service supported by the terminal includes the first target service.

[0323] Optionally, the target container further includes at least one of the following:

[0324] The IEI information of the target container;

[0325] The length field information of the target container;

[0326] One or more information elements related to the target service, the information elements including an indication field, a length field of the information element and a value field of the information element, the indication field being used to indicate the content and / or purpose of the information element;

[0327] A first indication is used to instruct the terminal to provide capability information for a first target service, wherein the target service supported by the terminal includes the first target service.

[0328] Optionally, the type of the IEI includes at least one of the following:

[0329] Type 4;

[0330] Type 6;

[0331] The first type, wherein the length field of the information element is represented by 3 bytes.

[0332] Optionally, each bit in the first information used to characterize the first capability is used to indicate whether the terminal supports the target service or does not support the target service, and different bits are used to represent different target services.

[0333] Optionally, the device further includes:

[0334] The first receiving module is configured to receive a second message sent by the first network element, the second message including the at least one target container.

[0335] Optionally, the second message further includes second information, which includes at least one of the following:

[0336] At least one second capability, wherein a second capability is used to characterize a target service supported by the target network element;

[0337] At least one sub-capability of the second target capability, wherein the second target capability is any one of the at least one second capability;

[0338] The target network element is a network element used to process the target container.

[0339] Optionally, the first NAS message further includes a second indication, which indicates the capability information for requesting a second target service, wherein the target service supported by the target network element includes the second target service.

[0340] Optionally, the at least one target container included in the second message further includes a third indication, the third indication being used to indicate capability information for requesting a third target service, the target service supported by the terminal including the third target service.

[0341] The information transmission device 500 provided in this application embodiment can implement the various processes implemented by the terminal in the above information transmission method embodiment and achieve the same technical effect. To avoid repetition, it will not be described again here.

[0342] Referring to Figure 6, when the information transmission device is a network-side device or a component within a network-side device, the information transmission device 600 includes:

[0343] The second receiving module 601 is used to receive the first NAS message sent by the terminal;

[0344] The first NAS message includes at least one target container, the target container including information related to a target service supported by the terminal, the target service including at least one of the following:

[0345] Location services, IMS services, AI services, computing power services, AIoT services, sensing services, slicing services, V2X services, satellite services, proximity services, immersive services, data services, SMS services, energy-saving services, task services, and security services.

[0346] Optionally, the first NAS message further includes first information, which is used to characterize at least one of the following:

[0347] At least one first capability, wherein the first capability is used to characterize a target service supported by the terminal;

[0348] At least one sub-capability of the first target capability, wherein the first target capability is any one of the at least one first capability.

[0349] Optionally, when the first information is used to characterize the at least one first capability, the target container further includes information for characterizing at least one sub-capability of the first target capability.

[0350] Optionally, if the first NAS message includes at least two target containers, one of the target containers includes information related to a target service, and different target containers correspond to different target services.

[0351] Optionally, the target container further includes at least one of the following:

[0352] The target container's information element identifies IEI information;

[0353] The length field information of the target container;

[0354] One or more information elements related to the target service, wherein the information element includes a length field and a value field of the information element;

[0355] One or more indication messages, the indication messages being used to indicate whether the target container carries a first information element;

[0356] A first indication is used to instruct the terminal to provide capability information for a first target service, wherein the target service supported by the terminal includes the first target service.

[0357] Optionally, the target container further includes at least one of the following:

[0358] The IEI information of the target container;

[0359] The length field information of the target container;

[0360] One or more information elements related to the target service, the information elements including an indication field, a length field of the information element and a value field of the information element, the indication field being used to indicate the content and / or purpose of the information element;

[0361] A first indication is used to instruct the terminal to provide capability information for a first target service, wherein the target service supported by the terminal includes the first target service.

[0362] Optionally, the type of the IEI includes at least one of the following:

[0363] Type 4;

[0364] Type 6;

[0365] The first type, wherein the length field of the information element is represented by 3 bytes.

[0366] Optionally, each bit in the first information used to characterize the first capability is used to indicate whether the terminal supports the target service or does not support the target service, and different bits are used to represent different target services.

[0367] Optionally, the device further includes:

[0368] The second sending module is used to send a second message to the terminal, the second message including the at least one target container.

[0369] Optionally, the second message further includes second information, which includes at least one of the following:

[0370] At least one second capability, wherein a second capability is used to characterize a target service supported by the target network element;

[0371] At least one sub-capability of the second target capability, wherein the second target capability is any one of the at least one second capability;

[0372] The target network element is a network element used to process the target container.

[0373] Optionally, the first NAS message further includes a second indication, which indicates the capability information for requesting a second target service, wherein the target service supported by the target network element includes the second target service.

[0374] Optionally, the at least one target container included in the second message further includes a third indication, the third indication being used to indicate capability information for requesting a third target service, the target service supported by the terminal including the third target service.

[0375] The information transmission device 600 provided in this application embodiment can implement the various processes implemented by the network-side device (e.g., the first network element) in the above information transmission method embodiment and achieve the same technical effect. To avoid repetition, it will not be described again here.

[0376] As shown in Figure 7, this application embodiment also provides a communication device 800, including a processor 801 and a memory 802. The memory 802 stores programs or instructions that can run on the processor 801. For example, when the communication device 800 is a terminal, the program or instructions executed by the processor 801 implement the various steps of the above-described information transmission method embodiment and achieve the same technical effect. When the communication device 800 is a network-side device, the program or instructions executed by the processor 801 implement the various steps of the above-described information transmission method embodiment and achieve the same technical effect. To avoid repetition, this will not be described again here.

[0377] This application also provides a terminal, including a processor and a communication interface, wherein the communication interface is coupled to the processor, and the processor is used to run programs or instructions to implement the steps in the method embodiment shown in FIG2. This terminal embodiment corresponds to the above-described terminal-side method embodiment, and all implementation processes and methods of the above-described method embodiments can be applied to this terminal embodiment and can achieve the same technical effect. The terminal can be the information transmission device shown in FIG5. Specifically, FIG8 is a schematic diagram of the hardware structure of a terminal implementing an embodiment of this application.

[0378] The terminal 900 includes, but is not limited to, at least some of the following components: radio frequency unit 901, network module 902, audio output unit 903, input unit 904, sensor 905, display unit 906, user input unit 907, interface unit 908, memory 909, and processor 910.

[0379] Those skilled in the art will understand that the terminal 900 may also include a power supply (such as a battery) for powering various components. The power supply can be logically connected to the processor 910 through a power management system, thereby enabling functions such as charging, discharging, and power consumption management through the power management system. The terminal structure shown in Figure 8 does not constitute a limitation on the terminal. The terminal may include more or fewer components than shown, or combine certain components, or have different component arrangements, which will not be elaborated here.

[0380] It should be understood that, in this embodiment, the input unit 904 may include a graphics processor 9041 and a microphone 9042. The graphics processor 9041 processes image data of still images or videos obtained by an image capture device (such as a camera) in video capture mode or image capture mode. The display unit 906 may include a display panel 9061, which may be configured in the form of a liquid crystal display, an organic light-emitting diode, or the like. The user input unit 907 includes at least one of a touch panel 9071 and other input devices 9072. The touch panel 9071 is also called a touch screen. The touch panel 9071 may include a touch detection device and a touch controller. Other input devices 9072 may include, but are not limited to, physical keyboards, function keys (such as volume control buttons, power buttons, etc.), trackballs, mice, and joysticks, which will not be described in detail here.

[0381] In this embodiment, after receiving downlink data from the network-side device, the radio frequency unit 901 can transmit it to the processor 910 for processing; in addition, the radio frequency unit 901 can send uplink data to the network-side device. Typically, the radio frequency unit 901 includes, but is not limited to, antennas, amplifiers, transceivers, couplers, low-noise amplifiers, duplexers, etc.

[0382] The memory 909 can be used to store software programs or instructions, as well as various data. The memory 909 may primarily include a first storage area for storing programs or instructions and a second storage area for storing data. The first storage area may store the operating system, application programs or instructions required for at least one function (such as sound playback, image playback, etc.). Furthermore, the memory 909 may include volatile memory or non-volatile memory. The non-volatile memory may be read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), or flash memory. Volatile memory can be random access memory (RAM), static random access memory (SRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory (DDRSDRAM), enhanced synchronous dynamic random access memory (ESDRAM), synchronous link dynamic random access memory (SLDRAM), and direct memory bus RAM (DRRAM). The memory 909 in the embodiments of this application includes, but is not limited to, these and any other suitable types of memory.

[0383] Processor 910 may include one or more processing units; optionally, processor 910 integrates an application processor and a modem processor, wherein the application processor mainly handles operations involving the operating system, user interface, and applications, and the modem processor mainly handles wireless communication signals, such as a baseband processor. It is understood that the aforementioned modem processor may also not be integrated into processor 910.

[0384] The radio frequency unit 901 is used to send a first NAS message to the first network element;

[0385] The first NAS message includes at least one target container, the target container including information related to a target service supported by the terminal, the target service including at least one of the following:

[0386] Location services, IMS services, AI services, computing power services, AIoT services, sensing services, slicing services, V2X services, satellite services, proximity services, immersive services, data services, SMS services, energy-saving services, task services, and security services.

[0387] In this embodiment, the terminal sends a first NAS message to a first network element for transmitting NAS information. The first NAS message includes at least one target container, which contains information related to a target service supported by the terminal. This allows information related to a target service supported by the terminal to be carried within a specific container, enabling on-demand encapsulation of information and on-demand transmission of information through the target container. This helps save air interface resources, improves the efficiency of information interaction between the terminal and network-side devices, and facilitates the flexible implementation of NAS information from the terminal.

[0388] It is understood that the implementation process of each implementation method mentioned in this embodiment can refer to the relevant description of the information transmission method in the method embodiment and achieve the same or corresponding technical effect. In order to avoid repetition, it will not be described again here.

[0389] This application also provides a network-side device, including a processor and a communication interface. The communication interface is coupled to the processor, and the processor is used to run programs or instructions to implement the steps of the method embodiment shown in FIG3. This network-side device embodiment corresponds to the above-described network-side device method embodiment. All implementation processes and methods of the above-described method embodiments can be applied to this network-side device embodiment and can achieve the same technical effect.

[0390] Specifically, this application embodiment also provides a network-side device. As shown in FIG9, the network-side device 1000 includes: a processor 1001, a network interface 1002, and a memory 1003. The network-side device may be the information transmission device shown in FIG7. The network interface 1002 is, for example, a Common Public Radio Interface (CPRI).

[0391] Specifically, the network-side device 1000 in this application embodiment further includes: instructions or programs stored in memory 1003 and executable on processor 1001. Processor 1001 calls the instructions or programs in memory 1003 to execute the methods executed by each module shown in FIG6 and achieve the same technical effect. To avoid repetition, it will not be described in detail here.

[0392] This application also provides a readable storage medium storing a program or instructions. When the program or instructions are executed by a processor, they implement the various processes of the above-described information transmission method embodiments and achieve the same technical effects. To avoid repetition, they will not be described again here.

[0393] The processor mentioned above is the processor in the terminal described in the above embodiments. The readable storage medium includes computer-readable storage media, such as computer read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), magnetic disk, or optical disk. In some examples, the readable storage medium may be a non-transient readable storage medium.

[0394] This application embodiment also provides a chip, which includes a processor and a communication interface. The communication interface is coupled to the processor. The processor is used to run programs or instructions to implement the various processes of the above-described information transmission method embodiments and can achieve the same technical effect. To avoid repetition, it will not be described again here.

[0395] It should be understood that the chip mentioned in the embodiments of this application may also be referred to as a system-on-a-chip, system chip, chip system, or system-on-a-chip, etc.

[0396] This application also provides a computer program / program product, which is stored in a storage medium and executed by at least one processor to implement the various processes of the above-described information transmission method embodiments, and can achieve the same technical effect. To avoid repetition, it will not be described again here.

[0397] This application also provides a communication system, including: a terminal and a network-side device, wherein the terminal can be used to perform the steps of the information transmission method described above, and the network-side device can be used to perform the steps of the information transmission method described above.

[0398] It should be noted that, in this document, the terms "comprising," "including," or any other variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements includes not only those elements but also other elements not expressly listed, or elements inherent to such a process, method, article, or apparatus. Without further limitations, an element defined by the phrase "comprising one..." does not exclude the presence of other identical elements in the process, method, article, or apparatus that includes that element. Furthermore, it should be noted that the scope of the methods and apparatuses in the embodiments of this application is not limited to performing functions in the order shown or discussed, but may also include performing functions substantially simultaneously or in the reverse order, depending on the functions involved. For example, the described methods may be performed in a different order than described, and various steps may be added, omitted, or combined. Additionally, features described with reference to certain examples may be combined in other examples.

[0399] From the above description of the embodiments, those skilled in the art can clearly understand that the methods of the above embodiments can be implemented by means of computer software products plus necessary general-purpose hardware platforms, and of course, they can also be implemented by hardware. The computer software product is stored in a storage medium (such as ROM, RAM, magnetic disk, optical disk, etc.) and includes several instructions to cause the terminal or network-side device to execute the methods described in the various embodiments of this application.

[0400] The embodiments of this application have been described above with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, this application is not limited to the specific embodiments described above. The specific embodiments described above are merely illustrative and not restrictive. Those skilled in the art can make many other implementations under the guidance of this application without departing from the spirit and scope of the claims. All of these implementations are within the protection scope of this application.

Claims

1. An information transmission method, comprising: The terminal sends a first non-access stratum (NAS) message to the first network element; The first NAS message includes at least one target container, the target container including information related to a target service supported by the terminal, the target service including at least one of the following: Location services, IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) services, Artificial Intelligence (AI) services, Computing power services, Environmental Internet of Things (AIoT) services, Sensing services, Slicing services, Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) services, Satellite services, Proximity services, Immersive services, Data services, Short Message services, Energy-saving services, Task services, and Security services.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein, The first NAS message further includes first information, which is used to characterize at least one of the following: At least one first capability, wherein the first capability is used to characterize a target service supported by the terminal; At least one sub-capability of the first target capability, wherein the first target capability is any one of the at least one first capability.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein, When the first information is used to characterize the at least one first capability, the target container also includes information for characterizing at least one sub-capability of the first target capability.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1-3, wherein, In the case where the first NAS message includes at least two target containers, one of the target containers includes information related to a target service, and different target containers correspond to different target services.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1-4, wherein, The target container also includes at least one of the following: The target container's information element identifies IEI information; The length field information of the target container; One or more information elements related to the target service, wherein the information element includes a length field and a value field of the information element; One or more indication messages, the indication messages being used to indicate whether the target container carries a first information element; A first indication is used to instruct the terminal to provide capability information for a first target service, wherein the target service supported by the terminal includes the first target service.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1-4, wherein, The target container also includes at least one of the following: The IEI information of the target container; The length field information of the target container; One or more information elements related to the target service, the information elements including an indication field, a length field of the information element and a value field of the information element, the indication field being used to indicate the content and / or purpose of the information element; A first indication is used to instruct the terminal to provide capability information for a first target service, wherein the target service supported by the terminal includes the first target service.

7. The method according to claim 5 or 6, wherein, The target container's IE type is one of the following: Type 4; Type 6; The first type, wherein the length field of the information element is represented by 3 bytes.

8. The method according to claim 2 or 3, wherein, Each bit in the first information used to characterize the first capability indicates whether the terminal supports the target service or not, and different bits represent different target services.

9. The method of any one of claims 1-8, wherein, The method further includes: The terminal receives the second message sent by the first network element; The second message includes the at least one target container.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein, The second message also includes second information, which includes at least one of the following: At least one second capability, wherein a second capability is used to characterize a target service supported by the target network element; At least one sub-capability of the second target capability, wherein the second target capability is any one of the at least one second capability; The target network element is a network element used to process the target container.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein, The first NAS message also includes a second indication, which indicates the capability information for requesting a second target service, wherein the target network element supports the second target service.

12. The method according to claim 9, wherein, The second message includes at least one target container, which further includes a third indication for indicating capability information to request a third target service, wherein the target services supported by the terminal include the third target service.

13. An information transmission method, comprising: The first network element receives the first NAS message sent by the terminal; The first NAS message includes at least one target container, the target container including information related to a target service supported by the terminal, the target service including at least one of the following: Location services, IMS services, AI services, computing power services, AIoT services, sensing services, slicing services, V2X services, satellite services, proximity services, immersive services, data services, SMS services, energy-saving services, mission services, and security services.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein, The first NAS message further includes first information, which is used to characterize at least one of the following: At least one first capability, wherein the first capability is used to characterize a target service supported by the terminal; At least one sub-capability of the first target capability, wherein the first target capability is any one of the at least one first capability.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein, When the first information is used to characterize the at least one first capability, the target container also includes information for characterizing at least one sub-capability of the first target capability.

16. The method according to any one of claims 13-15, wherein, In the case where the first NAS message includes at least two target containers, one of the target containers includes information related to a target service, and different target containers correspond to different target services.

17. The method according to any one of claims 13-16, wherein, The target container also includes at least one of the following: The target container's information element identifies IEI information; The length field information of the target container; One or more information elements related to the target service, wherein the information element includes a length field and a value field of the information element; One or more indication messages, the indication messages being used to indicate whether the target container carries a first information element; A first indication is used to instruct the terminal to provide capability information for a first target service, wherein the target service supported by the terminal includes the first target service.

18. The method according to any one of claims 13-16, wherein, The target container also includes at least one of the following: The IEI information of the target container; The length field information of the target container; One or more information elements related to the target service, the information elements including an indication field, a length field of the information element and a value field of the information element, the indication field being used to indicate the content and / or purpose of the information element; A first indication is used to instruct the terminal to provide capability information for a first target service, wherein the target service supported by the terminal includes the first target service.

19. The method according to claim 17 or 18, wherein, The target container's IE type is one of the following: Type 4; Type 6; The first type, wherein the length field of the information element is represented by 3 bytes.

20. The method according to claim 14 or 15, wherein, Each bit in the first information used to characterize the first capability indicates whether the terminal supports the target service or not, and different bits represent different target services.

21. The method according to any one of claims 13-20, wherein, The method further includes: The first network element sends a second message to the terminal, the second message including the at least one target container.

22. The method according to claim 21, wherein, The second message also includes second information, which includes at least one of the following: At least one second capability, wherein a second capability is used to characterize a target service supported by the target network element; At least one sub-capability of the second target capability, wherein the second target capability is any one of the at least one second capability; The target network element is a network element used to process the target container.

23. The method according to claim 22, wherein, The first NAS message also includes a second indication, which indicates the capability information for requesting a second target service, wherein the target network element supports the second target service.

24. The method according to claim 21, wherein, The second message includes at least one target container, which further includes a third indication for indicating capability information to request a third target service, wherein the target service supported by the terminal includes the third target service.

25. An information transmission device applied to a terminal, the device comprising: The first sending module is used to send the first NAS message to the first network element; The first NAS message includes at least one target container, the target container including information related to a target service supported by the terminal, the target service including at least one of the following: Location services, IMS services, AI services, computing power services, AIoT services, sensing services, slicing services, V2X services, satellite services, proximity services, immersive services, data services, SMS services, energy-saving services, task services, and security services.

26. The apparatus according to claim 25, wherein, The first NAS message further includes first information, which is used to characterize at least one of the following: At least one first capability, wherein the first capability is used to characterize a target service supported by the terminal; At least one sub-capability of the first target capability, wherein the first target capability is any one of the at least one first capability.

27. The apparatus according to claim 26, wherein, When the first information is used to characterize the at least one first capability, the target container also includes information for characterizing at least one sub-capability of the first target capability.

28. The apparatus according to any one of claims 25-27, wherein, The device further includes: The first receiving module is configured to receive a second message sent by the first network element, the second message including the at least one target container.

29. The apparatus according to claim 28, wherein, The second message also includes second information, which includes at least one of the following: At least one second capability, wherein a second capability is used to characterize a target service supported by the target network element; At least one sub-capability of the second target capability, wherein the second target capability is any one of the at least one second capability; The target network element is a network element used to process the target container.

30. An information transmission device, applied to network-side equipment, wherein, The device includes: The second receiving module is used to receive the first NAS message sent by the terminal. The first NAS message includes at least one target container, the target container including information related to a target service supported by the terminal, the target service including at least one of the following: Location services, IMS services, AI services, computing power services, AIoT services, sensing services, slicing services, V2X services, satellite services, proximity services, immersive services, data services, SMS services, energy-saving services, task services, and security services.

31. The apparatus according to claim 30, wherein, The first NAS message further includes first information, which is used to characterize at least one of the following: At least one first capability, wherein the first capability is used to characterize a target service supported by the terminal; At least one sub-capability of the first target capability, wherein the first target capability is any one of the at least one first capability.

32. The apparatus according to claim 31, wherein, When the first information is used to characterize the at least one first capability, the target container also includes information for characterizing at least one sub-capability of the first target capability.

33. The apparatus of any one of claims 30-32, wherein, The device further includes: The second sending module is used to send a second message to the terminal, the second message including the at least one target container.

34. A terminal comprising a processor and a memory, the memory storing a program or instructions executable on the processor, the program or instructions, when executed by the processor, implementing the steps of the information transmission method as described in any one of claims 1-12.

35. A network-side device, the network-side device being a first network element, comprising a processor and a memory, the memory storing a program or instructions executable on the processor, the program or instructions, when executed by the processor, implementing the steps of the information transmission method as described in any one of claims 13-24.

36. A readable storage medium storing a program or instructions that, when executed by a processor, implement the steps of the information transmission method as claimed in any one of claims 1-12, or implement the steps of the information transmission method as claimed in any one of claims 13-24.

37. A computer program product stored in a storage medium, the computer program product being executed by at least one processor to implement the steps of the information transmission method as claimed in any one of claims 1-12, or to implement the steps of the information transmission method as claimed in any one of claims 13-24.

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