Communication method and device

Abstract

The present application relates to a communication method and a device. The method comprises: a terminal reporting auxiliary information to a network device, wherein the auxiliary information is related to an associated device of the terminal.

Description

Communication methods and devices Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to the field of communications, and more specifically, to a communication method and apparatus. Background Technology

[0002] With the development of communication technology, there is a growing demand for the transmission of services or service data between terminals and associated devices (such as devices supporting XR services) within the network. However, current technologies do not yet support specific topologies, such as those connecting terminals to associated devices. Therefore, communication systems cannot yet meet the transmission needs of associated devices. Summary of the Invention

[0003] This application provides a communication method and device.

[0004] This application provides a communication method, including:

[0005] The terminal reports auxiliary information to the network device, wherein the auxiliary information is related to the associated device of the terminal.

[0006] This application provides a communication method, including:

[0007] The network device receives auxiliary information from the terminal, wherein the auxiliary information is related to the associated device of the terminal.

[0008] This application provides a terminal, including:

[0009] The first communication unit is used to report auxiliary information to the network device, wherein the auxiliary information is related to the associated device of the terminal.

[0010] This application provides a network device, including:

[0011] The second communication unit is used to receive auxiliary information from the terminal, wherein the auxiliary information is related to the associated device of the terminal.

[0012] This application provides a terminal, including a transceiver, a processor, and a memory. The memory stores a computer program, the transceiver communicates with other devices, and the processor calls and runs the computer program stored in the memory to enable the terminal to perform the methods described above.

[0013] This application provides a network device, including a transceiver, a processor, and a memory. The memory stores a computer program, the transceiver communicates with other devices, and the processor invokes and runs the computer program stored in the memory to cause the network device to perform the methods described above.

[0014] This application provides a chip for implementing the above method.

[0015] Specifically, the chip includes a processor for retrieving and running a computer program from memory, causing a device equipped with the chip to perform the methods described above.

[0016] This application provides a computer-readable storage medium for storing a computer program, which, when run by a device, causes the device to perform the above-described method.

[0017] This application provides a computer program product, including computer program instructions that cause a computer to perform the above-described method.

[0018] By adopting the above scheme, terminals can report auxiliary information related to their associated devices to network devices. This allows network devices to execute decisions or transmit data related to the associated devices based on this auxiliary information, thereby improving the transmission process related to the associated devices and meeting their transmission needs. Attached Figure Description

[0019] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of an application scenario according to an embodiment of this application.

[0020] Figure 2 is a schematic flowchart of a communication method according to an embodiment of this application.

[0021] Figure 3 is a schematic flowchart of a communication method according to another embodiment of this application.

[0022] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a communication device, terminal, and network according to an embodiment of this application.

[0023] Figure 5 is a schematic flowchart of a communication method according to another embodiment of this application.

[0024] Figure 6 is a schematic block diagram of a terminal according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0025] Figure 7 is a schematic block diagram of a network device according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0026] Figure 8 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of this application.

[0027] Figure 9 is a schematic block diagram of a chip according to an embodiment of this application.

[0028] Figure 10 is a schematic block diagram of a communication system according to an embodiment of this application. Detailed Implementation

[0029] The technical solutions of this application embodiment can be applied to various communication systems, such as: LTE (Long Term Evolution), LTE-A (Long Term Evolution-Advanced), NR (New Radio), evolution of NR, WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network), WiFi (Wireless Fidelity), or other communication systems.

[0030] This application describes various embodiments in conjunction with network devices and terminals. The terminal can be mobile or fixed, and may also be referred to as a mobile station, user unit, etc. The terminal can be a station in a WLAN, or a smart terminal, wireless modem, laptop, tablet, etc. In this application embodiment, the terminal can be a VR (Virtual Reality) terminal / AR (Augmented Reality) terminal, industrial control terminal, autonomous driving terminal, telemedicine terminal, smart grid terminal, transportation safety terminal, smart city terminal, or smart home wireless terminal, etc. By way of example and not limitation, in this application embodiment, the terminal can also be a wearable device.

[0031] In this embodiment, the network device can be a device for communicating with a terminal. The network device can be an access point in a WLAN, an evolved base station in LTE, a relay station, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, a network device in an NR network (gNB, the next generation Node B), a network device in a future PLMN network, or a network device in a non-terrestrial network, etc. By way of example and not limitation, in this embodiment, the network device can have mobility characteristics; for example, the network device can be a mobile device.

[0032] To facilitate understanding of the technical solutions of the embodiments of this application, the relevant technologies of the embodiments of this application are described below. The following relevant technologies are optional solutions and can be combined with the technical solutions of the embodiments of this application in any way, and they all fall within the protection scope of the embodiments of this application.

[0033] Figure 1 exemplarily illustrates a communication system 100. The communication system includes network devices 110 and terminals 120. In one possible implementation, the communication system 100 may include multiple network devices 110, and the coverage area of ​​each network device 110 may include one or more terminals 120; this embodiment does not limit this. In another possible implementation, the communication system 100 may also include other network entities such as mobility management entities and access and mobility management functions; this embodiment does not limit this. The network devices may further include access network devices and first core network devices. That is, the communication system may also include multiple core networks for communicating with the access network devices. The access network devices may be base stations of LTE, LTE-A, or NR systems. Taking the communication system shown in Figure 1 as an example, the communication devices may include network devices and terminals with communication functions. The communication devices may also include other devices in the communication system, such as network controllers, mobility management entities, and other network entities; this embodiment does not limit this.

[0034] Figure 2 is a schematic flowchart of a communication method according to an embodiment of this application. The method includes at least a portion of the following.

[0035] S210. The terminal reports auxiliary information to the network device, wherein the auxiliary information is related to the associated device of the terminal.

[0036] Figure 3 is a schematic flowchart of a communication method according to an embodiment of this application. The method includes at least a portion of the following.

[0037] S310. The network device receives auxiliary information from the terminal, wherein the auxiliary information is related to the associated device of the terminal.

[0038] The network equipment may include access network equipment and / or core network equipment. Core network equipment may include control plane network elements and / or user plane network elements.

[0039] Referring to Figure 4, the architecture of the associated device, terminal, and network (including access network equipment, such as the base station shown in Figure 4) is illustrated exemplarily: The associated device is connected to the terminal, and the terminal is connected to the network (as shown in Figure 4, the terminal can be connected to the base station). The associated device can connect to the network through the terminal to transmit services (or service data, or simply data). These services may include XR (Extended Reality) services, etc. The associated device can be any of the following: VR (Virtual Reality) devices, smart devices, sensors, AIoT (Ambient Powered IoT) devices, devices supporting XR services, etc. The types of associated devices are not limited or exhaustively listed here. The associated device can be alternatively referred to as a tethering device or a network sharing device.

[0040] The associated device and the terminal are connected via a non-3GPP method. Specifically, the terminal and the associated device can be connected via one of the following methods: short-range wireless technology or wired connection. The short-range wireless technology includes one of the following: Bluetooth or WIFI (Wireless Fidelity).

[0041] The associated devices and terminals transmit data based on non-3GPP related protocols. Specifically, data between the terminal and the associated devices is transmitted based on one of the following protocols: short-range link protocols and wired link transmission protocols. Short-range link protocols can include any one of the following: Wi-Fi related standard protocols, Bluetooth related standard protocols, etc. Wired link transmission protocols include Ethernet protocols, etc., without limitation or exhaustive list.

[0042] In the scenario provided in this application embodiment, the associated device is connected to the network via a terminal regardless of whether it is within the coverage area of ​​the access network device.

[0043] For example, in scenarios where a terminal connects to a associated device via short-range wireless technology such as Bluetooth, during the data transmission process between the terminal and the associated device, the terminal receives data from the network (data according to 3GPP related protocols) through a communication connection with the network, performs protocol conversion processing on the data to obtain data under short-range link protocols (such as standard protocols related to Bluetooth), and transmits the data under the short-range link protocol to the associated device via Bluetooth connection; the terminal receives data from the associated device through a Bluetooth connection, performs protocol conversion processing on the data from the associated device to obtain data under the communication system (3GPP related protocols), and transmits the data to the network through a communication connection with the base station.

[0044] It should be noted that the above is only an illustrative example. In actual processing, the connection between the associated device and the terminal may also be replaced by a 3GPP method. For example, the associated device and the terminal can be connected through SL (Sidelink) or V2X (Vehicle-to-Everything). The service data between the associated device and the terminal can be transmitted based on the corresponding protocol.

[0045] The auxiliary information can be used to assist network devices in making decisions or transmitting data related to associated devices. The auxiliary information may include at least one of the following: parameters related to the associated device, the association relationship between the terminal and the associated device, wherein the parameters include at least one of the following: latency, packet delay budget (PDB), data volume, arrival time of one or more data packets, time offset of one or more data packets, service characteristic format, service cycle, and data rate.

[0046] The auxiliary information is carried by one of the following: a first RRC (Radio Resource Control) message, a first MAC (Medium Access Control) CE (Control Element). In some examples, the auxiliary information may be carried by the first RRC message, and the specific auxiliary information may be carried or included in the UAI (UE Assistance Information) in the first RRC message, or carried by a new RRC UL message.

[0047] In one example, the auxiliary information includes at least parameters related to the associated device; further, the auxiliary information may also include the association relationship between the terminal and the associated device.

[0048] The association between the terminal and the associated device can be indicated or represented by the identifier of the terminal and the identifier of the associated device.

[0049] Alternatively, the association between the terminal and the associated device can be indicated using a flag. For example, when the flag is a first value, it indicates that the terminal is associated with or has an association with the associated device, or that the terminal has or has an associated device. When the flag is a second value, it indicates that the terminal is not associated with or does not have an association with the associated device, or that the terminal does not have or does not have an associated device. The difference between the first value and the second value is within the scope of protection of this embodiment. For example, the first value can be 1 or 01, and the second value can be 0 or 00, etc., which are not limited or exhaustive here.

[0050] Alternatively, the association between the terminal and the associated device can be indicated or represented by the identifier of the associated device. For example, the terminal reports the identifier of the associated device it is associated with, or the associated device exists.

[0051] In one example, the auxiliary information includes at least parameters related to the associated device. Further, the auxiliary information may also include at least one of the following: direction information corresponding to the parameter, identification information of the object corresponding to the parameter, and the path corresponding to the parameter. Optionally, the auxiliary information may also include the association relationship between the terminal and the associated device.

[0052] The directional information includes at least one of the following: uplink transmission direction and downlink transmission direction; the object includes at least one of the following: terminal, Quality of Service (QoS) stream, session, and Data Radio Bearer (DRB); the path includes at least one of the following: between the terminal and the network device, between the terminal and the associated device, and between the associated device and the network device.

[0053] For example, if the object is a terminal, its identification information can be the terminal's identifier (ID); if the object is a QoS flow (let's call this QoS flow the first QoS flow), its identification information can be the QoS flow ID (QFI) of the first QoS flow; if the object is a session (let's call this session the first session), its identification information can be the ID (identifier) ​​of the first session; if the object is a DRB (Device Buffer), let's call this DRB the first DRB, its identification information can be the ID of the first DRB. Here, the first QoS flow can be a QoS flow associated with an associated device, the first session can be a session associated with an associated device, and the first DRB can be a DRB associated with an associated device.

[0054] The session may refer to a PDU (Protocol Data Unit) session, which will not be repeated below.

[0055] Optionally, the auxiliary information includes parameters related to the associated device and the direction information corresponding to the parameters.

[0056] In this case, the auxiliary information specifically includes parameters related to the associated device in the corresponding uplink transmission direction, and / or parameters related to the associated device in the downlink transmission direction.

[0057] Optionally, the auxiliary information includes parameters related to the associated device and identification information of the objects corresponding to the parameters.

[0058] In this case, the auxiliary information specifically includes parameters related to the associated device under a certain object.

[0059] Optionally, the auxiliary information includes parameters related to the associated device and the paths corresponding to those parameters.

[0060] This path can also be replaced with type, or transmission endpoint, etc. For example, if the path corresponding to the parameter is between the terminal and the network device, then the auxiliary information specifically includes parameters related to the associated device during data transmission between the terminal and the network device.

[0061] Optionally, the auxiliary information includes parameters related to the associated device; and the auxiliary information may include at least two of the following: direction information corresponding to the parameter, identification information of the object corresponding to the parameter, and path corresponding to the parameter.

[0062] For example, the auxiliary information includes parameters related to the associated device, the direction information corresponding to the parameters being uplink and downlink transmission directions, and the identification information of the object corresponding to the parameters being the ID of the first session. In this case, the auxiliary information specifically includes parameters of the data transmitted in the first session in the uplink transmission direction related to the associated device, and parameters of the data transmitted in the first session in the downlink transmission direction related to the associated device.

[0063] For example, the auxiliary information includes parameters related to the associated device, the direction information corresponding to the parameters being the uplink transmission direction, the identification information of the object corresponding to the parameters being the ID of the first session, and the path corresponding to the parameters being between the associated device and the terminal. In this case, the auxiliary information specifically includes parameters of the data transmitted in the first session between the associated device and the terminal in the uplink transmission direction.

[0064] For example, the auxiliary information may include the following:

[0065] Direction information, UL refers to the uplink transmission direction and / or DL ​​refers to the downlink transmission direction;

[0066] The object identification information corresponding to the parameter, such as the UE ID, the QFI of the first QoS flow, the ID of the first PDU session, the ID of the first DRB, etc., at least one of the following: the first QoS flow can be any QoS flow, the first PDU session can be any PDU session, and the first DRB can be any DRB.

[0067] The path corresponding to the parameter can be any one of the following: between the terminal and the associated device, between the terminal and the network device, or between the associated device and the network device.

[0068] The parameters associated with the associated device are at least one of the following: latency, PDB, data volume, arrival time of one or more data packets, time offset of one or more data packets, service characteristic format, service cycle, and data rate.

[0069] When considering the path corresponding to the latency combination parameters, it can include at least one of the following: latency between the terminal and associated devices, expected latency between the terminal and network devices, and total expected latency between the associated devices and network devices. The expected latency between the terminal and network devices can be related to the associated devices. For example, the terminal can determine the expected latency between the UE and the network devices based on the total expected latency between the associated devices and network devices and / or the latency between the terminal and the associated devices. The specific method for determining the expected latency between the terminal and network devices is not limited here.

[0070] When combining the path corresponding to the parameters, the PDB can include at least one of the following: the expected PDB between the terminal and the associated device, the remaining PDB between the terminal and the network device, and the expected total PDB between the associated device and the network device. The remaining PDB between the terminal and the network device is related to the associated device. For example, the terminal can determine the remaining PDB between itself and the network device based on the expected total PDB between the associated device and the network device and / or the expected PDB between the terminal and the associated device. The specific method for determining the remaining PDB between the terminal and the network device is not limited here.

[0071] Optionally, PDB can be replaced with PSDB.

[0072] One or more data packets may include at least one of all data packets, a specific data packet, etc. The specific data packet can be configured according to the actual situation; for example, it may include at least one of the first data packet, the next data packet, other data packets, etc.

[0073] Optionally, the data packet can be replaced with any one of burst, PDU set, PDU, or SDU (Service Data Unit).

[0074] The arrival time of one or more data packets may include at least one of the following: the arrival time of each data packet in the entire dataset, or the arrival time of a specific data packet.

[0075] Among them, the arrival time of one or more data packets is combined with the path and direction information corresponding to the parameters; for example, the arrival time of each data packet can refer to the time when each data packet arrives at the UE from the associated device, or the time when each data packet arrives at the network device from the associated device, or the time when each data packet arrives at the network device from the UE, etc.

[0076] Data volume can include at least one of the following: average data volume, data volume per data packet, and data volume of a specific data packet.

[0077] Arrival time offset can include at least one of the following: average offset, arrival time offset of a specific packet, and arrival time offset for each packet.

[0078] Data rate can include at least one of the following: minimum data rate, maximum data rate, expected data rate, data rate rage (range), indication of whether data rate adjustment can be performed, average data rate, data rate for a specific packet, and data rate per packet.

[0079] After receiving auxiliary information, the network device can perform decisions or transmissions related to the associated device based on the auxiliary information. These decisions may include allocating or scheduling configurations or resources related to the associated device, or allocating or scheduling configurations or resources related to the associated device for the terminal.

[0080] In one embodiment, the terminal reporting auxiliary information to the network device includes: the terminal reporting the auxiliary information to the network device when a first condition is met.

[0081] The first condition includes at least one of the following: receiving configuration information from the network device, wherein the configuration information is used to configure the auxiliary information; receiving indication information from the network device, wherein the indication information is used to instruct the terminal to report the auxiliary information; receiving a request from the associated device; the auxiliary information has changed; the auxiliary information has not been reported; or the reporting prohibition timer has timed out.

[0082] Before receiving auxiliary information from the terminal, the network device may further include at least one of the following: the network device sending configuration information to the terminal, wherein the configuration information is used to configure the auxiliary information; the network device sending indication information to the terminal, wherein the indication information is used to instruct the terminal to report the auxiliary information.

[0083] In one example, the first condition may include only any one of the above conditions.

[0084] Optionally, the first condition may only include receiving configuration information from the network device; in this case, the terminal may determine that the first condition is met and directly report auxiliary information upon receiving the configuration information from the network device. Correspondingly, before the network device receives the auxiliary information from the terminal, it may further include: the network device sending configuration information to the terminal, wherein the configuration information is used to configure the terminal to report the auxiliary information. The network device may send the configuration information to the terminal via any one of DCI (Downlink Control Information), downlink RRC messages, downlink MAC CE, etc., and this embodiment does not limit this.

[0085] The configuration information is used to configure at least one of the following: the type of the parameter, the direction information corresponding to the parameter, the type of the object corresponding to the parameter, and the path corresponding to the parameter in the auxiliary information reported by the terminal.

[0086] The descriptions of the parameters, direction information, objects, and paths are the same as those in the previous embodiments and will not be repeated here.

[0087] The parameter type indicates which type of parameter(s) the terminal needs to report in the auxiliary information. This parameter type can also be referred to as the parameter name. For example, the parameter type may include at least one of the following: delay parameter type, PDB parameter type, data volume parameter type, arrival time parameter type of one or more data packets, time offset parameter type of one or more data packets, service characteristic format parameter type, service cycle parameter type, data rate parameter type, etc.

[0088] The direction information corresponding to the parameters included in the configuration information can be used to configure the direction of the parameters reported by the terminal. For example, the direction information corresponding to a parameter can be the uplink transmission direction. Combined with the type of parameters included in the configuration information, it can be used to configure one or more parameters under the uplink transmission direction reported by the terminal.

[0089] The object type corresponding to the parameters included in the configuration information is used to configure the granularity of the parameters reported by the terminal. For example, if the object type is a terminal, the identification information of the object corresponding to the parameters included in the auxiliary information reported by the terminal is the terminal's identifier (ID); if the object type is a session, the identification information of the object corresponding to the parameters included in the auxiliary information reported by the terminal is the ID of a specific session (such as the ID of the first session in the aforementioned embodiment); if the object type is a QoS flow, the identification information of the object corresponding to the parameters included in the auxiliary information reported by the terminal is the identification information of a specific QoS flow (such as the QFI of the first QoS flow in the aforementioned embodiment); if the object type is a DRB, the identification information of the object corresponding to the parameters included in the auxiliary information reported by the terminal is the identification information of a specific DRB (such as the ID of the first DRB in the aforementioned embodiment).

[0090] The paths corresponding to the parameters included in the configuration information can be used to configure the transmission endpoints or types corresponding to the parameters reported by the terminal. For example, if the path corresponding to the parameters is between the associated device and the network device, then the parameters included in the auxiliary information reported by the terminal are the parameters used or corresponding when transmitting data between the associated device and the network device.

[0091] In this case, at least one of the following included in the auxiliary information reported by the terminal: the type of the parameter, the direction information corresponding to the parameter, the type of the object corresponding to the parameter, and the path corresponding to the parameter, can be determined by the terminal based on configuration information and / or its own actual situation or actual needs.

[0092] For example, the configuration information includes the parameter type, the direction information corresponding to the parameter, the type of the object corresponding to the parameter, and the path corresponding to the parameter; accordingly, the terminal can directly determine the parameter type, the direction information corresponding to the parameter, the type of the object corresponding to the parameter, and the path corresponding to the parameter in the auxiliary information it reports based on the configuration information.

[0093] For example, the configuration information includes the direction information corresponding to the parameter and the path corresponding to the parameter; accordingly, the terminal can determine the type of the parameter and the type of the object corresponding to the parameter according to its own actual situation or actual needs. That is, the terminal combines its own actual situation or actual needs with the configuration information to jointly determine the type of the parameter, the direction information corresponding to the parameter, the type of the object corresponding to the parameter, and the path corresponding to the parameter included in the auxiliary information it reports.

[0094] Optionally, the first condition includes receiving indication information from the network device, wherein the indication information is used to instruct the terminal to report the auxiliary information.

[0095] The first condition may only include receiving indication information from the network device; then the terminal may report auxiliary information upon receiving the indication information from the network device. Optionally, the indication information may also carry the content or type of auxiliary information to be reported. The method by which the network device sends the indication information to the terminal may be any one of DCI, downlink RRC, downlink MAC CE, etc., and this embodiment is not limited thereto.

[0096] Optionally, the first condition includes any one of the following: receiving a request from the associated device, the auxiliary information changing, not reporting the auxiliary information, or reporting a timeout of the prohibition timer.

[0097] In this case, at least one of the following parameters included in the auxiliary information reported by the terminal—the type of the parameter, the direction information corresponding to the parameter, the type of the object corresponding to the parameter, and the path corresponding to the parameter—can be determined by the terminal itself or predefined by the protocol. For example, the terminal can determine this based on its own actual situation or needs.

[0098] Receiving a request from an associated device may include: the terminal receiving a request from the associated device for the first time; or, the terminal receiving a request from the associated device and the request from the associated device changing.

[0099] The request from the associated device may include at least one of the following: a request for the associated device to report auxiliary information, a request for the associated device to establish a connection, or a request for the associated device to establish a session. The request for the associated device to establish a connection may include at least one of the following: a request for the associated device to establish a connection with the terminal, or a request for the associated device to establish a connection with the network through the terminal. The request for the associated device to establish a session may be a request for the associated device to establish a session for transmitting data related to the associated device or a session for data related to services of the associated device.

[0100] When a terminal receives a request from an associated device, and that the associated device's request changes, it can mean that the terminal receives a current request from the associated device, and that this current request is different from the associated device's previous request. For example, a change in the associated device's request could mean that the terminal currently receives a request from the associated device to establish a session, while the terminal previously received a request from the associated device to establish a connection. It should be noted that this is merely an illustrative example and does not limit or exhaustively list all possible scenarios in which the associated device's request may change.

[0101] A change in auxiliary information can refer to a situation where the terminal has already reported auxiliary information, but the content of the current auxiliary information has changed compared to the previously reported auxiliary information. Alternatively, a change in auxiliary information can refer to a situation where the terminal has already reported auxiliary information, but the content of the current auxiliary information has changed beyond a certain threshold or limit compared to the previously reported auxiliary information.

[0102] The reason why the content of the current auxiliary information has changed compared to the previously reported auxiliary information may be related to the associated device and / or the terminal.

[0103] For example, the associated device may adjust the size and period of its transmitted data according to its own needs, and / or the data or channel quality transmitted between the associated device and the terminal may change, which may cause at least some of the parameters or specific content contained in the current auxiliary information to change. For example, compared with the auxiliary information reported last time, at least one of the specific content or value of the data volume, data rate, service feature format, service period, etc. contained in the current auxiliary information may change.

[0104] For another example, the data or services transmitted from the associated device to the terminal may not change, but if other services of the terminal itself change, such as the terminal needing to transmit data for other services, the values ​​or specific content of at least some parameters contained in the current auxiliary information may change. For example, compared to the auxiliary information reported last time, at least one of the following may change: the expected latency between the terminal and the network device, the total expected latency between the associated device and the network device, the remaining PDB between the terminal and the network device, the arrival time offset of one or more data packets, the arrival time of one or more data packets, etc., and / or the object corresponding to the parameters contained in the current auxiliary information may change from the terminal to the first session, etc.

[0105] It should be noted that the above is only an illustrative example. In actual processing, as long as the current auxiliary information differs from the previously reported auxiliary information in terms of the specific content or value of any parameter, and / or the identification information of the object corresponding to the parameter, the path corresponding to the parameter, or the direction information corresponding to the parameter, it is within the protection scope of this embodiment. Here, we do not limit or exhaustively list the specific changes in the current auxiliary information compared to the previously reported auxiliary information.

[0106] Wherein, the content contained in the current auxiliary information has changed compared to the previously reported auxiliary information, and may include at least one of the following: the value of the parameter contained in the current auxiliary information has changed compared to the previously reported auxiliary information, and the change exceeds a certain threshold or limit; the value of the parameter contained in the current auxiliary information has changed compared to the previously reported auxiliary information; at least one of the object identification information, the path corresponding to the parameter, and the direction information corresponding to the parameter contained in the current auxiliary information has changed compared to the previously reported auxiliary information.

[0107] The change in the values ​​of the parameters included in the current auxiliary information compared to the previously reported auxiliary information can be defined as follows: the values ​​of the parameters included in the current auxiliary information are at least partially different from the values ​​of the parameters in the previously reported auxiliary information.

[0108] The value of a parameter in the current auxiliary information changes compared to the previously reported auxiliary information, and the change exceeds a certain threshold or limit. This can be defined as follows: the difference between the value of at least one parameter in the current auxiliary information and the value of the corresponding parameter in the previously reported auxiliary information exceeds a preset threshold.

[0109] For example, if the difference between at least one of the following values ​​in the current auxiliary information (latency, PDB, data volume, arrival time of one or more data packets, time offset of one or more data packets, service characteristic format, service cycle, and data rate) and at least one of the following values ​​in the previously reported auxiliary information exceeds a corresponding preset threshold, such as: the difference between the service cycle value in the current auxiliary information and the service cycle value in the previously reported auxiliary information is a preset cycle threshold; and / or, the difference between the data rate value in the current auxiliary information and the data rate value in the previously reported auxiliary information is a preset rate threshold, etc., this is not limited or exhaustive.

[0110] "No auxiliary information reported" can mean that the terminal has not reported any auxiliary information related to the associated device before the current time; or, the current auxiliary information includes the type of a new parameter that has not been reported before the current time.

[0111] The reporting prohibition timer can be pre-configured on the terminal or configured by the network. The duration of this timer is configured by the network, predefined, or can be configured according to actual conditions, such as 10 minutes, 1 hour, longer, or shorter. There is no limitation on the duration of the reporting prohibition timer. The start time of the reporting prohibition timer can be determined by the terminal based on actual conditions. For example, the terminal can start the reporting prohibition timer when establishing an RRC connection with the network device; or the terminal can start the reporting prohibition timer when establishing the first session with the network device. There is no limitation on this.

[0112] For example, the first condition may only include the absence of reported auxiliary information; then the terminal may determine that the first condition is met and directly report the auxiliary information even if no auxiliary information has been reported.

[0113] For example, the first condition may only include reporting the prohibition of timer timeout; then the terminal may determine that the first condition is met and directly report auxiliary information if it determines that the prohibition of timer timeout is being reported.

[0114] In another example, the first condition may include at least two of the above conditions.

[0115] For example, the first condition includes receiving configuration information from the network device and receiving a request from the associated device; then the terminal may determine that the first condition is met and report auxiliary information if it receives configuration information from the network device and a request from the associated device.

[0116] For example, the first condition includes receiving configuration information from the network device and receiving instruction information from the network device; then the terminal may determine that the first condition is met and report auxiliary information if it receives both the configuration information and the instruction information from the network device.

[0117] For example, if the first condition includes reporting a timer timeout and a change in auxiliary information, then the terminal can determine that the first condition is met and report the auxiliary information (i.e., the changed auxiliary information) when both the timer timeout and the auxiliary information have changed.

[0118] For example, the first condition includes receiving configuration information from the network device, receiving a request from the associated device, not reporting auxiliary information, and reporting a timeout for the prohibition timer. Then, the terminal can determine that the first condition is met and report auxiliary information if it receives configuration information from the network device, receives a request from the associated device, does not report auxiliary information, and reports a timeout for the prohibition timer.

[0119] It should be noted that the above is merely an illustrative example. In actual processing, the specific content of the first condition may be one or more of the above conditions, which will not be exhaustively listed here. It is important to understand that regardless of whether the first condition includes receiving configuration information from the network device, as long as the terminal receives configuration information from the network device, it can determine at least one of the following in the auxiliary information it reports: the type of the parameter, the direction information corresponding to the parameter, the type of the object corresponding to the parameter, and the path corresponding to the parameter, based on the configuration information and / or its own actual needs or circumstances. Conversely, if the terminal does not receive configuration information from the network device, it can determine at least one of the following in the auxiliary information it reports: the type of the parameter, the direction information corresponding to the parameter, the type of the object corresponding to the parameter, and the path corresponding to the parameter, based on its own actual needs or requests.

[0120] In one embodiment, the terminal can report auxiliary information according to its own needs, that is, there is no limitation on the reporting conditions of the auxiliary information, and the terminal can report auxiliary information to the network device at any time.

[0121] In one embodiment, the terminal's processing may further include at least one of the following: the terminal sends a first request to the network device, wherein the first request is used to trigger a random access procedure or trigger RRC connection establishment; the terminal sends a second request to the network device, wherein the second request is used to establish a session and / or DRB. Correspondingly, the network device's processing may further include at least one of the following: the network device receives a first request from the terminal, wherein the first request is used to trigger a random access procedure or trigger Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection establishment; the network device receives a second request from the terminal, wherein the second request is used to establish a session and / or DRB.

[0122] The first request carries at least one of the following: a trigger request, a first cause value indicating the establishment of a service with the associated device, and an identifier of the associated device; and / or the second request carries at least one of the following: an establishment request, the first cause value, and an identifier of the associated device.

[0123] Optionally, the terminal sending a first request to the network device includes: the terminal sending the first request to the network device when a second condition is met.

[0124] The second condition includes at least one of the following: satisfying the random access triggering condition; satisfying the RRC connection establishment condition; the terminal is associated with the associated device; receiving a data transmission request from the associated device; receiving a connection establishment request from the associated device; and the channel quality between the terminal and the associated device is higher than a first quality threshold.

[0125] The random access procedure can be referred to as the RACH procedure. The random access triggering conditions (or RACH procedure triggering conditions) and RRC connection establishment conditions can be configured according to the actual situation or are the same as the relevant protocols, and are not limited here.

[0126] The association between the terminal and the associated device can refer to the terminal being selected as an associated UE or associated terminal of the associated device.

[0127] On the terminal side, the method for determining the association between the terminal and the associated device may be at least one of the following: the terminal receives CP (Control Plane) signaling or UP (User Plane) signaling to indicate that the terminal is selected as an associated UE of the associated device; the terminal obtains association information with the associated device, which may be used to instruct the associated device to establish an association relationship with the terminal, and / or to instruct the terminal to be selected as an associated UE of the associated device.

[0128] A data transfer request from an associated device can be used to indicate that the associated device has data to be transferred, and / or to indicate that the associated device has a data transfer requirement.

[0129] The connection establishment request for an associated device can be used to request the terminal to establish a connection with the associated device. This connection can be any type of wireless connection, and there is no specific limitation on the type of connection.

[0130] The first quality threshold can be configured according to the actual situation. A channel quality higher than the first quality threshold between the terminal and the associated device can mean that a channel has been established between the terminal and the associated device, and the channel quality is higher than the first quality threshold. The method by which the terminal and the associated device establish the channel is not limited in this embodiment.

[0131] Optionally, the first request is used to trigger a random access procedure. The triggering request is a request to initiate a random access procedure, such as a random access request. The first request may carry at least one of the following: a request to trigger the random access procedure, a first cause value indicating service establishment related to the associated device, and an identifier of the associated device. This first request enables the terminal to establish an RRC connection with the network device (access network device) related to the associated device.

[0132] Optionally, the first request is used to perform RRC connection establishment, and the triggering request is a request to trigger the establishment of an RRC connection, such as an RRC connection establishment request. The first request may carry at least one of the following: a request to trigger the establishment of an RRC connection, a first reason value indicating service establishment related to the associated device, and an identifier of the associated device. This first request enables the terminal to establish an RRC connection with the network device (access network device) related to the associated device.

[0133] The specific content of the first cause value can be configured according to the actual situation, and this embodiment does not limit it.

[0134] The first request can be carried in either a MAC PDU or a NAS (Non-Access Stratum) message.

[0135] The establishment request carried in the second request can be a session establishment request, which is used to request the establishment of a session related to the associated device and / or a DRB related to the associated device.

[0136] The second request can enable the terminal to establish a session related to the associated device with the network device (core network device), and / or enable the terminal to establish a DRB related to the associated device with the network device (access network device). It should be noted that the second request can at least be used to establish a session related to the associated device, and further, based on the established session, it can be used to establish a DRB related to the associated device, which can be used to carry services (or service data) related to the associated device. Here, the session related to the associated device can be the same as the first session in the aforementioned embodiments, and the DRB related to the associated device can be the same as the first DRB in the aforementioned embodiments.

[0137] The second request can be carried in either an RRC message or a NAS message.

[0138] In one embodiment, the terminal's processing may include: the terminal and the network device performing a Unified Access Control (UAC) procedure. Correspondingly, the network device's processing includes: the network device and the terminal performing a UAC procedure.

[0139] The execution of the UAC process includes one of the following: executing the UAC process based on the access-related information of the associated device, wherein the access-related information includes access category and / or access identifier; executing the UAC process based on the access-related information of the terminal; or executing the UAC process based on specified access-related information.

[0140] Before the terminal and network device execute the UAC procedure, the terminal can first determine that the access attempt has not been blocked (barred) or that the access attempt is allowed. Alternatively, if the terminal and network device determine before executing UAC that they want to bypass it, they can either still execute UAC or not execute it at all; this is not limited here.

[0141] The specified access-related information may not be associated with any of the terminal or associated devices. This specified access-related information may include a specific access type and / or a specific access identifier. For example, the specific access type and / or the specific access identifier may be associated with non-3GPP scenarios or devices by default. In this case, the specified access-related information can be used to indicate that UAC is performed for non-3GPP devices.

[0142] In one embodiment, the terminal's processing may include: the terminal sending a third request to the network device when a third condition is met, wherein the third request is used to request the release or suspend of configurations or resources associated with the associated device.

[0143] The third condition includes at least one of the following: the terminal is not associated with the associated device; the associated device has no data to be transmitted; a release or suspension request is received from the associated device; the associated device is reselected or connected to another terminal; the channel quality between the terminal and the associated device is lower than the second quality threshold.

[0144] The terminal not being associated with the associated device can mean that the terminal is no longer an associated UE of the associated device, or that the association information between the terminal and the associated device has been deleted. The determination that the terminal is no longer an associated UE of the associated device can be made by the terminal receiving a notification indicating that it is no longer an associated UE of the associated device.

[0145] The determination that the associated device has no data to be transmitted can include at least one of the following methods: The terminal starts a first timer when it last receives data from the associated device; if the first timer expires and no new data is received from the associated device within the duration of the first timer, the terminal determines that the associated device has no data to be transmitted; the terminal receives a data transmission completion message from the associated device; the terminal receives a notification from the associated device that there is no data to be transmitted. The duration of the first timer can be configured according to actual conditions and is not limited here. It should be noted that this is merely an exemplary description of determining that the associated device has no data to be transmitted, and does not limit or exhaustively list all possible ways the terminal can determine that the associated device has no data to be transmitted.

[0146] The release or suspension request of the associated device may include: a request to release the connection of the associated device, and / or a request to suspend the connection of the associated device. The connection may include at least the connection between the terminal and the associated device.

[0147] The determination method for reselecting an associated device to another terminal may include at least one of the following: the terminal receives a notification from the associated device to reselect to another terminal; the terminal receives a notification indicating that the terminal is no longer an associated UE of the associated device.

[0148] The second quality threshold can be configured according to actual conditions. The second quality threshold may be the same as or different from the first quality threshold. For example, the second quality threshold may be lower than the first quality threshold.

[0149] Alternatively, the third condition may include only any one of the above.

[0150] For example, the third condition may include the channel quality between the terminal and the associated device being lower than the second quality threshold; then, as long as the terminal determines that the channel quality between it and the associated device is lower than the second quality threshold, it can determine that the third condition is met and send a third request.

[0151] For example, the third condition could include reselecting the associated device to another terminal; then, as long as the terminal determines that the associated device has been reselected to another terminal, it can determine that the third condition is met and send a third request.

[0152] Optionally, the third condition may include at least two of the above.

[0153] For example, the third condition may include the channel quality between the terminal and the associated device being lower than the second quality threshold, or the associated device being reselected to another terminal. If the terminal determines that the channel quality between it and the associated device is lower than the second quality threshold, and / or determines that the associated device is reselected to another terminal, it can determine that the third condition is met and send a third request.

[0154] For example, the third condition may include the terminal not being associated with the associated device, the associated device having no data to be transmitted, or receiving a release or suspension request from the associated device. If the terminal determines that it is not associated with the associated device, the associated device has no data to be transmitted, or receives a release or suspension request from the associated device, it can determine that the third condition is met and send a third request.

[0155] The configuration or resources associated with the associated device include at least one of the following: the configuration or resources of the RRC connection associated with the associated device; the configuration or resources of the session associated with the associated device; and the configuration or resources of the DRB associated with the associated device.

[0156] The description of establishing an RRC connection related to an associated device is the same as in the previous embodiments and will not be repeated. The configuration or resources of the RRC connection related to the associated device may include the configuration or resources allocated for the RRC connection on the terminal or network side.

[0157] The description of establishing a session related to an associated device is the same as in the previous embodiments and will not be repeated. The configuration or resources of a session related to an associated device may include the configuration or resources allocated for the session on the terminal or network side.

[0158] The description of establishing DRBs associated with associated devices is the same as in the previous embodiments and will not be repeated. The configuration or resources of DRBs associated with associated devices may include the configuration or resources allocated to the DRB on the terminal or network side.

[0159] The third request is carried by one of the following: a second RRC message, a second MAC CE, or an uplink UL user control information (UCI). In some examples, the third request may be carried or included by the UAI in the second RRC message. In some examples, the second RRC message may be a dedicated RRC signaling message; its specific type is not limited here.

[0160] The third request carries at least one of the following: a release request, a second reason value indicating the reason for release, identification information of the session associated with the associated device, and identification information of the DRB associated with the associated device.

[0161] The release request may refer to a request to release or suspend related resources or configurations.

[0162] The second reason value can be used to indicate the specific reason for requesting the release or suspension of related resources or configurations, and the specific content of the second reason value is related to the third condition satisfied by the terminal.

[0163] For example, if the terminal issues a third request under the condition that the associated device has no data to be transmitted, then the second reason value carried in the third request is used to indicate that the specific reason for requesting the release or suspension of the relevant resources or configuration is that the associated device has no data to be transmitted.

[0164] For another example, if the terminal issues a third request under the third condition that the associated device has no data to be transmitted and the terminal is not associated with the associated device, then the second reason value carried in the third request is used to indicate that the specific reason for requesting the release or suspension of the relevant resources or configuration is that the associated device has no data to be transmitted and the terminal is not associated with the associated device.

[0165] The specific content of the second cause value is not limited or exhaustively listed here.

[0166] In one example, the third request may be used to request the release or suspension of configuration or resources associated with the RRC connection to the associated device.

[0167] In this example, the network device refers to the access network device. That is, the terminal sends a third request to the access network device. The third request may carry a release request and a second reason value to indicate the reason for the release. Specifically, the release request may be a request to release or suspend the resources or configurations of the RRC connection associated with the associated device.

[0168] In one example, the third request can be used to request the release or suspension of configuration or resources of a session associated with the associated device. Here, the network device refers to the core network device; that is, the terminal sends the third request to the core network device. This third request can carry a release request, a second reason value indicating the reason for release, and identification information of the session associated with the associated device. Specifically, the release request can be a request to release or suspend resources or configuration of the session associated with the associated device, or a session modification request that triggers a session modification process to modify or release the session (the session associated with the associated device); the session identification information can be a session identifier (or represented as an ID).

[0169] In one example, a third request may be used to request the release, suspension, or removal of configurations or resources of the DRB associated with the associated device.

[0170] Network device refers to access network device, that is, when a terminal sends a third request to the access network device, the third request may carry a release request, a second reason value indicating the reason for release, and identification information of the DRB associated with the associated device. Specifically, the release request may be a request to release or suspend the resources or configuration of the DRB associated with the associated device; the identification information of the DRB may be the identifier of the DRB (or represented as ID).

[0171] In one example, the third request can be used to request the release or suspension of configuration or resources of the RRC connection associated with the associated device, and to request the release or suspension of configuration or resources of the DRB associated with the associated device.

[0172] Network device refers to access network device, that is, when a terminal sends a third request to the access network device, the third request may carry a release request, a second reason value indicating the reason for release, and identification information of the DRB associated with the associated device. Specifically, the release request may be used to request the release or suspension of resources or configurations of the RRC connection associated with the associated device, and to request the release or suspension of resources or configurations of the DRB associated with the associated device.

[0173] In one example, the third request may be used to request the release or suspension of configuration or resources of the RRC connection associated with the associated device, and / or to request the release or suspension of configuration or resources of the DRB associated with the associated device; and the third request may also be used to request the release or suspension of configuration or resources of the session associated with the associated device.

[0174] Network devices may include access network devices and core network devices; the third request may be carried by the second RRC message, which may include two parts: the first part is carried as the content of the second RRC message, and the second part is carried as the content of the NAS (Non-Access Stratum) container in the second RRC message. Specifically, the first part may include at least one of a release request, a second reason value indicating the reason for release, and an identifier of the DRB associated with the associated device. The release request included in the first part may specifically be used to request the release or suspension of resources or configurations of the RRC connection associated with the associated device, and / or to request the release or suspension of resources or configurations of the DRB associated with the associated device. The second part may include a release request, a second reason value indicating the reason for release, and identification information of the session associated with the associated device. The release request included in the second part may specifically be used to request the release or suspension of resources or configurations of the session associated with the associated device.

[0175] After receiving the second RRC message, the access network device can obtain the first part of the third request from the part of the second RRC message other than the NAS container and perform the corresponding release or suspension operation of the resources or configuration of the RRC connection and / or DRB related to the associated device; then the access network device transmits the NAS container to the core network device, and the core network device performs the corresponding release or suspension operation of the resources or configuration of the session related to the associated device based on the second part of the third request carried by the NAS container.

[0176] It should be noted that a third request may be used to request or release any or all of the configuration or resources associated with the associated device. For example, if an associated RRC connection, session, and DRB have been established for the associated device, then a third request may be used to request the release or suspension of some of the configuration or resources corresponding to the associated RRC connection, session, and DRB, or a third request may be used to request the release or suspension of all configuration or resources associated with the associated device.

[0177] In some embodiments, the terminal does not establish a connection with the network (or network device). Specifically, the terminal does not establish an RRC connection with the network and the terminal does not transmit data; where "the terminal has no data" can mean that the terminal is not transmitting any data, such as service data.

[0178] First, the terminal and the network device perform a User-Agent Acceptance (UAC) procedure. For example, the terminal and the network device perform the UAC procedure based on the access-related information of the associated device; or, the terminal and the network device perform the UAC procedure based on specified access-related information. The description of the specified access-related information is the same as in the previous embodiments and will not be repeated.

[0179] After the terminal and network device perform User Account Control (UAC), the terminal can send a first request to the network device. The terminal can send the first request to the network device if a second condition is met. The second condition includes at least one of the following: the terminal is associated with the associated device; a data transmission request is received from the associated device; a connection establishment request is received from the associated device; or the channel quality between the terminal and the associated device is higher than a first quality threshold. The descriptions of the second condition and the content of the first request are the same as in the previous example and will not be repeated.

[0180] In one example, the terminal may report auxiliary information to the network device if it receives a response message to a first request, and the response message to the first request indicates that the establishment of an RRC connection has been completed.

[0181] The terminal may report auxiliary information to the network device at any time after establishing the RRC connection, based on its own needs; or it may report auxiliary information to the network device when the first condition is met. There is no limitation here.

[0182] Optionally, after reporting auxiliary information to the network device, the terminal may send a second request to the network device to establish a session related to the associated device (such as the first session) and / or a DRB related to the associated device (such as the first DRB). The content of this second request is described in the same way as in the previous example and will not be repeated.

[0183] In one example, the terminal may send a second request to the network device after receiving a response message to the first request, which indicates that the establishment of an RRC connection has been completed.

[0184] When the terminal receives a response message to the second request, and the response message to the second request is used to indicate the completion of session establishment (and / or DRB), the terminal reports auxiliary information to the network device.

[0185] In one example, the terminal may send a second request to the network device and report auxiliary information to the network device after receiving a response message to the first request, which indicates that the establishment of an RRC connection has been completed.

[0186] In one example, after establishing a session (and / or DRB) associated with the associated device and / or establishing an RRC connection associated with the associated device, the terminal can still perform the process of reporting the auxiliary information to the network device if the first condition is met.

[0187] For example, the first condition may include a change in auxiliary information; correspondingly, if the terminal determines that the content of the current auxiliary information has changed compared to the previously reported auxiliary information, then it determines that the first condition is met, and at this time it can report new auxiliary information to the network device.

[0188] For example, the first condition may include changes in auxiliary information and receiving configuration information from the network device. Accordingly, if the terminal determines that the content of the current auxiliary information has changed compared to the previously reported auxiliary information, and the terminal has received configuration information from the network device, then the first condition is met, and the terminal can report new auxiliary information to the network device.

[0189] This is merely an illustrative example. In actual processing, the first condition includes, but is not limited to, the content of the above example. This is not intended to limit or exhaustively list them.

[0190] It should be noted that if the terminal sends auxiliary information before establishing a session and / or DRB related to the associated device, and the object corresponding to the parameters contained in the auxiliary information is a session or DRB, it may be a session or DRB that has been established previously but is not currently in use. If the terminal sends or resends auxiliary information before establishing a session and / or DRB related to the associated device, and the object corresponding to the parameters contained in the auxiliary information is a session or DRB, it may be a session or DRB related to the associated device.

[0191] In one example, after establishing a session (and / or DRB) and / or an RRC connection associated with the associated device, the terminal may not need to perform the operation of releasing or suspending the configuration or resources associated with the associated device. In this case, the terminal may not send a third request to release or suspend the configuration or resources associated with the associated device, regardless of whether the third condition is met; or the terminal does not need to determine whether the third condition is met.

[0192] In one example, after establishing a session (and / or DRB) and / or an RRC connection associated with the associated device, the terminal may send a third request to the network device if a third condition is met. The descriptions of this third condition and third request are the same as in the foregoing embodiments and will not be repeated here.

[0193] This implementation provides a method for transmitting auxiliary information of tethering devices when a terminal has not established an RRC connection with the network, thus improving the transmission process. It supports interaction between tethering devices and terminals, as well as interaction between terminals and network devices, and assists network devices in performing scheduling and resource allocation, ensuring the transmission needs of tethering devices are met.

[0194] In some embodiments, the terminal has data or has already established a connection with the network (or network device). Here, "the terminal has data" can mean that the terminal is transmitting data, such as service data, for example, through a user plane connection; "the terminal has already established a connection with the network" can mean that the terminal has already established an RRC connection with the network.

[0195] In one embodiment, the terminal has established an RRC connection, but no data is being transmitted.

[0196] In one example, if the terminal receives uplink data from an associated device but is out of sync, the terminal needs to establish an RRC connection to obtain the Time Advance (TA).

[0197] In this scenario, the terminal may send the first request to the network device if the second condition is met; the second condition includes at least one of the following: meeting the random access triggering condition; meeting the RRC connection establishment condition; the terminal is associated with the associated device; receiving a data transmission request from the associated device; receiving a connection establishment request from the associated device; and the channel quality between the terminal and the associated device is higher than a first quality threshold.

[0198] The relevant explanations for the second condition and the content of the first request are the same as those in the previous example, and will not be repeated.

[0199] Optionally, the terminal may perform a User-Agent Acceptance (UAC) procedure with the network device before sending the first request. For example, the terminal and the network device may perform the UAC procedure based on access-related information of the associated device; or the terminal and the network device may perform the UAC procedure based on access-related information of the terminal.

[0200] Upon receiving a response message to the first request, and if the response message indicates completion of RRC connection establishment, the terminal may report auxiliary information to the network device. This reporting of auxiliary information can occur at any time after the RRC connection is established, based on the terminal's own needs; or it can occur when the first condition is met. No limitation is imposed here. Further, if the terminal needs to establish a session related to an associated device, it may send a second request to the network device after reporting auxiliary information to establish a session related to the associated device (such as the first session) and / or a DRB related to the associated device (such as the first DRB). The content of this second request is described in the same way as in the previous example and will not be repeated.

[0201] Alternatively, upon receiving a response message to the first request, which indicates completion of RRC connection establishment, the terminal may send a second request to the network device to establish a session (such as the first session) and / or a DRB (such as the first DRB) associated with the associated device. Then, upon receiving a response message to the second request, which indicates completion of session (and / or DRB) establishment, the terminal reports auxiliary information to the network device.

[0202] Alternatively, the terminal may send a second request to the network device and report auxiliary information to the network device if it receives a response message to the first request, and the response message to the first request indicates that the establishment of the RRC connection is complete.

[0203] Optionally, the terminal may perform a UAC procedure with the network device upon receiving a response message to the first request, wherein the response message indicates completion of establishing an RRC connection. For example, the terminal and the network device may perform the UAC procedure based on access-related information of the associated device; or the terminal and the network device may perform the UAC procedure based on access-related information of the terminal.

[0204] After executing the UAC procedure, the terminal can report auxiliary information to the network device. This reporting can occur at any time after establishing an RRC connection, based on the terminal's own needs; or it can occur when the first condition is met. Furthermore, if the terminal needs to establish a session related to an associated device, it can send a second request to the network device after reporting the auxiliary information to establish a session related to the associated device (such as the first session) and / or a DRB related to the associated device (such as the first DRB).

[0205] Alternatively, after performing the UAC procedure, the terminal may send a second request to the network device to establish a session associated with the associated device (such as the first session) and / or a DRB associated with the associated device (such as the first DRB). Upon receiving a response message to the second request, and if the response message indicates that the session (and / or DRB) has been established, the terminal reports auxiliary information to the network device.

[0206] Alternatively, after performing the UAC procedure, the terminal may send a second request to the network device and report auxiliary information to the network device.

[0207] In one example, the terminal may first report auxiliary information to the network device. Then, if a second condition is met, the terminal sends the first request to the network device. The second condition includes at least one of the following: a random access triggering condition is met; an RRC connection establishment condition is met; the terminal is associated with the associated device; a data transmission request is received from the associated device; a connection establishment request is received from the associated device; or the channel quality between the terminal and the associated device is higher than a first quality threshold.

[0208] For example, a terminal can first report auxiliary information to the network device, and then, when the random access triggering conditions are met, send a first request to trigger the random access procedure. The content of the first request is described in the same way as in the previous example, and will not be repeated here.

[0209] Optionally, the terminal may send a second request to the network device to establish a session (such as the first session) and / or a DRB (such as the first DRB) associated with the associated device, provided that the response message of the first request indicates that the establishment of an RRC connection has been completed.

[0210] In one embodiment, the terminal has established an RRC connection and started transmitting data, but the data belongs to a different service than the data that the associated device is currently transmitting.

[0211] In this scenario, the terminal may no longer need to perform the RRC connection establishment process. However, the terminal may perform the process of sending a second request to the network device, thereby enabling the terminal to establish a session related to the associated device with the network device (core network device) and / or enabling the terminal to establish a DRB related to the associated device with the network device (access network device).

[0212] The terminal may perform the process of reporting auxiliary information to the network device before or after sending the second request; this is not limited here.

[0213] In this example, the terminal and network device may also perform the UAC procedure. For example, the terminal and the network device may perform the UAC procedure based on the access-related information of the associated device to perform the UAC procedure for the services of the associated device.

[0214] The terminal and network device can perform the UAC process before the terminal reports auxiliary information to the network device.

[0215] In one embodiment, after establishing a session (and / or DRB) associated with the associated device and / or establishing an RRC connection associated with the associated device, the terminal can still perform the process of reporting the auxiliary information to the network device when the first condition is met.

[0216] In one embodiment, after establishing a session (and / or DRB) and / or an RRC connection associated with the associated device, the terminal may not need to perform the operation of releasing or suspending the configuration or resources associated with the associated device. In this case, the terminal may not send a third request to release or suspend the configuration or resources associated with the associated device, regardless of whether the third condition is met.

[0217] In one embodiment, after establishing a session (and / or DRB) and / or an RRC connection associated with the associated device, the terminal may send a third request to the network device if a third condition is met. The descriptions of this third condition and third request are the same as in the foregoing embodiments and will not be repeated.

[0218] This implementation presents a method for transmitting auxiliary information of tethering devices when a terminal establishes an RRC connection with the network, thus improving the transmission process. It supports interaction between tethering devices and terminals, as well as interaction between terminals and network devices, and assists network devices in performing scheduling and resource allocation, ensuring the transmission needs of tethering devices are met.

[0219] The communication method provided in this embodiment will be illustrated by referring to Figure 5:

[0220] Step 501: The terminal receives at least one piece of information from the associated device.

[0221] Step 502: The terminal reports auxiliary information to the network device.

[0222] In step 501, at least one of the information of the associated device may include at least one of the following: the ID of the associated device, the access identity (AI) of the associated device, the access category (AC) of the associated device, the association ID of the associated device and the terminal, the request of the associated device, the data transmission request of the associated device, the data transmission completion message of the associated device, the notification of no data to be transmitted by the associated device, the release or suspension request of the associated device, the notification of the associated device to reconnect to another terminal, the notification indicating that the terminal is no longer an associated UE of the associated device, the identification information of the session (such as the first PDU session) related to the associated device, the QFI of the first QoS stream, the identification information of the DRB (such as the first DRB) related to the associated device, the parameters related to the associated device, the direction information corresponding to the parameters, the identification information of the object corresponding to the parameters, and the path corresponding to the parameters.

[0223] The association ID between the associated device and the terminal can be stored on both the terminal and the associated device side. It is used to indicate that the associated device and the terminal have an association relationship. This association ID can be different from the terminal's identifier and also different from the associated device's ID.

[0224] It should be noted that the timing of sending different pieces of information among the at least one type of information sent by the associated device to the terminal may be the same or different.

[0225] In one example, before executing step 502, the terminal receives at least one of the following information from the associated device: the associated device's ID, the associated device's access identifier, the associated device's access type, the associated ID between the associated device and the terminal, the associated device's request (e.g., at least one of the associated device's request to report auxiliary information, the associated device's request to establish a connection, or the associated device's request to establish a session), the associated device's data transmission request, the identification information of the session associated with the associated device (e.g., the first PDU session), the QFI of the first QoS stream, the identification information of the DRB associated with the associated device (e.g., the first DRB), the parameters associated with the associated device, the direction information corresponding to the parameters, the identification information of the object corresponding to the parameters, and the path corresponding to the parameters.

[0226] In this example, the specific timing for reporting auxiliary information in several cases, such as when there is no RRC connection between the terminal and the network, or when an RRC connection has been established (or data transmission has already occurred), as well as the related descriptions of performing other possible processes, are the same as in the aforementioned embodiments and will not be repeated here.

[0227] In one example, after step 502 has been executed once, if the parameters related to the associated device change, the corresponding information can still be sent again. For example, the terminal can execute step 501 again, that is, the terminal can receive at least one of the following information from the associated device: the ID of the associated device, the association ID between the associated device and the terminal, the identification information of the session related to the associated device (such as the first PDU session), the QFI of the first QoS stream, the identification information of the DRB related to the associated device (such as the first DRB), the parameters related to the associated device, the direction information corresponding to the parameters, the identification information of the object corresponding to the parameters, and the path corresponding to the parameters. Accordingly, the terminal can execute step 502 again.

[0228] In this example, the terminal does not need to perform any further processing before executing step 502 again; it can simply report the new auxiliary information to the network device.

[0229] In one example, after performing steps 501 to 502 once or more, the terminal may receive at least one of the following information from the associated device: the ID of the associated device, the association ID between the associated device and the terminal, a data transmission completion message from the associated device, a notification from the associated device that there is no data to be transmitted, a release or suspension request from the associated device, a notification from the associated device to reconnect to another terminal, a notification indicating that the terminal is no longer an associated UE of the associated device, identification information of the session associated with the associated device (such as a first PDU session), the QFI of the first QoS stream, and identification information of the DRB associated with the associated device (such as a first DRB).

[0230] In this example, the terminal may choose not to send a third request to release or suspend the configuration or resources related to the associated device, regardless of whether the third condition is met. Alternatively, in this example, the terminal may send a third request to the network device if the third condition is met. The descriptions of the third condition and the third request are the same as in the previous embodiments and will not be repeated.

[0231] In related technologies, research has begun on the transmission of data for certain types of services over networks. These services can include XR services such as AR (Augmented Reality) / VR / cloud gaming. However, current technologies do not support specific device topologies (UE and associated devices), therefore, communication systems cannot yet meet the transmission requirements of associated devices.

[0232] Based on Figure 4, the following two embodiments will be further described:

[0233] Example 1, Applicable Scenario: A tethering device (i.e., the associated device in the aforementioned examples, which can be simply referred to as a device) is connected to the network through a UE (terminal), but the UE has no data or has not established a connection with the network. To solve the above problem, this example provides a method for assisting the transmission of XR services in the network of a device tethering with the UE. The method includes at least one of the following:

[0234] 1. The UE triggers the RACH procedure, or executes the RRC connection establishment procedure, or sends an RRC establishment request.

[0235] a) Specifically, in the first case (i.e. the second condition in the aforementioned embodiments), the UE triggers the RACH procedure, or executes the RRC connection establishment procedure, or sends an RRC establishment request (as in the first request in the aforementioned embodiments).

[0236] b) The first situation includes at least one of the following: the UE is selected as the associated tethering device, the UE obtains the association information with the tethering device, the tethering device has data to be transmitted, the UE receives the data transmission request or data transmission requirement from the tethering device, the UE receives the connection establishment request information from the tethering device, and the channel quality between the tethering device and the UE is greater than the second threshold (i.e. the first quality threshold value in the aforementioned embodiments).

[0237] 2. The UE executes the UAC procedure.

[0238] a) Specifically, during the execution of UAC, the UE considers that the access attempt has not been blocked, or considers that the access attempt is allowed (or bypasses UAC);

[0239] b) Alternatively, the UE performs the UAC procedure based on the tethering device's Access Category (AC) and / or Access Identity (AI);

[0240] c) Alternatively, the UE performs the UAC procedure based on a specific Access Category and / or Access Identity (e.g., the tethering device is non-3GPP).

[0241] 3. The UE performs the PDU session establishment process and / or the DRB establishment process.

[0242] a) Optionally, the UE triggers a PDU session setup request (such as the second request in the aforementioned embodiment) to establish a PDU session.

[0243] Optionally, a setup reason value (such as the first reason value in the aforementioned embodiment) may be carried, for example, for the establishment of a tethering device service.

[0244] b) Optionally, the UE establishes a DRB, which carries the services of the device.

[0245] 4. The UE performs a release or suspend operation. This specifically includes at least one of the following:

[0246] a) The release or suspend operation includes at least one of the following: requesting to release or suspend an RRC connection (e.g., the UE requests the base station to release the RRC connection, optionally carrying an RRC connection release request reason value); requesting to release or suspend the PDU session corresponding to the tethering device (e.g., the UE requests the core network to release the PDU session, optionally carrying a PDU session release request reason value); requesting to remove the corresponding DRB (e.g., the UE requests the base station to remove or suspend the corresponding DRB, optionally carrying a remove or suspend request reason value).

[0247] b) Optionally, the UE request (i.e., the third request in the foregoing embodiments) may be carried via an RRC message (such as the second RRC message in the foregoing embodiments), a MAC CE (such as the second MAC CE in the foregoing embodiments), or a UL UCI.

[0248] c) Optional, if it is an RRC message, it can be a dedicated RRC signaling or a UAI.

[0249] d) Optionally, the request message (i.e., the third request) may also carry the corresponding DRB identifier and / or PDU session identifier.

[0250] e) The operation is performed under a third condition. The third condition includes at least one of the following:

[0251] The UE is notified that it is no longer associated with the tethering device, the association information between the UE and the tethering device is deleted, the tethering device has no data to transmit, receives a request from the tethering device to complete the data transmission, and receives information from the tethering device to release or suspend the connection establishment; the UE is no longer the UE selected by the tethering device, the tethering device reselects another UE, and the channel quality between the tethering device and the UE is less than the first threshold (i.e. the second quality threshold value in the aforementioned embodiment).

[0252] 5. The UE reports auxiliary information to the network. This auxiliary information is used for transmission between the network and the device to better schedule resources and meet the transmission needs of the device.

[0253] a) The auxiliary information can be reported via RRC message (e.g., UAI) (i.e., the aforementioned first RRC message) or MAC CE (i.e., the aforementioned first MAC CE).

[0254] b) The auxiliary information is reported to the network in the third case (i.e., the first condition in the aforementioned embodiments). The third case includes at least one of the following: the network configures the UE to report the auxiliary information (optionally, the type of the reported auxiliary information is per UE, or per DRB or per PDU session, or per QoS flow; optionally, the auxiliary information is for a specific direction, such as UL or DL; optionally, the network configures the UE to report one or more objects corresponding to the content of the auxiliary information, such as between the UE and the device, between the UE and the network, or between the device and the network; optionally, the network configures the UE to report the content of the auxiliary information, such as latency, PDB, data volume, data volume of the next packet, arrival time of the next packet, arrival time of the Xth subsequent packet, data volume of the Xth subsequent packet, data pattern, data rate, changes in data rate, time offset of the next packet arrival, period, etc.). Furthermore, the UE can report the association relationship between the UE and the device to the network; the UE receives a request from the device, the request from the device changes, the content corresponding to the request from the device or its features or auxiliary information changes, the content corresponding to the device's features or auxiliary information changes and the change exceeds the threshold, the reporting prohibition timer expires, and the content corresponding to the device's features or auxiliary information has not yet been reported.

[0255] c) The auxiliary information can be at least one of the following:

[0256] Orientation information: UL and / or DL;

[0257] Report the corresponding object information: UE, QoS flow, PDU session, DRB (correspondingly, QFI, PDU session ID, DRB ID, etc. can be carried);

[0258] Latency: such as the latency between the UE and the device, the expected latency between the UE and the network, and the total expected latency between the device and the network;

[0259] PDB: For example, the expected PDB between the UE and the device, the remaining PDB between the UE and the network, and the expected total PDB between the device and the network;

[0260] Data volume: average data volume, data volume per package, data volume of a specific package;

[0261] Package arrival time: arrival time of the first package, arrival time of each package, arrival time of a specific package;

[0262] Arrival time offset: average offset, arrival time offset of a specific packet, arrival time offset of the first packet, arrival time offset of each packet;

[0263] Business characteristic pattern;

[0264] Business cycle;

[0265] Data rate: average data rate, data rate for a specific package, data rate for the first package, and data rate for each package.

[0266] This embodiment provides a method for transmitting tethering device information when a UE has not established an RRC connection with the network, thus improving the transmission process. It supports interaction between the device and the UE, and between the UE and the network, assisting the network in performing scheduling and resource allocation to ensure the device's transmission needs are met.

[0267] Example 2, Applicable Scenarios for Assisted Information Interaction: The tethering device is connected to the network via the UE, and the UE has data or has already established a connection with the network. To address the above problems, this example provides a method for transmitting XR services on a device tethered to the UE within the network. The method includes at least one of the following:

[0268] 1. The UE triggers the RACH procedure, or executes the RRC connection establishment procedure, or sends an RRC establishment request.

[0269] a) Specifically, in the first case (i.e. the aforementioned second condition), the UE triggers the RACH procedure, or executes the RRC connection establishment procedure, or sends an RRC establishment request (i.e. the aforementioned first request).

[0270] b) The first case includes at least one of the following: the UE meets the current RACH triggering condition or the RRC connection establishment condition, and data arrives.

[0271] c) Regarding b, the arrival of the data includes cases related to the tethering device. For example, it may include at least one of the following: the UE is selected as the associated tethering device; the UE obtains association information with the tethering device; the tethering device has data to be transmitted; the UE receives a data transmission request or data transmission demand from the tethering device; the UE receives a connection establishment request from the tethering device; and the channel quality between the tethering device and the UE is greater than a second threshold (i.e., the aforementioned first quality threshold value).

[0272] 2. The UE executes the UAC procedure.

[0273] a) For services provided by the device, the UE performs the UAC procedure based on the tethering device's Access Category and / or Access Identity. And / or, for services provided by the UE itself, the UE performs the UAC procedure based on its own Access Category and / or Access Identity.

[0274] b) Alternatively, the UE performs the UAC procedure based on its own Access Category and / or Access Identity.

[0275] 3. The UE executes the PDU session establishment process or the DRB establishment process.

[0276] a) Optionally, the UE triggers a PDU session setup request (as described in the second request above) to establish a PDU session;

[0277] Optionally, a reason value (i.e., the aforementioned first reason value) can be carried, for example, for establishing a tethering device service. Furthermore, the device ID can be carried;

[0278] b) Optionally, the UE establishes a DRB, which carries the services of the device.

[0279] 4. The UE performs a release or suspend operation. Specifically, this includes at least one of the following:

[0280] a) The release or suspend operation is applied to the corresponding object of the device, such as PDU session, QoS flow, DRB, etc.

[0281] b) The UE triggers the PDU session modification process to modify or release the PDU session.

[0282] c) The release or suspend operation includes at least one of the following: requesting to release or suspend an RRC connection (e.g., the UE requests the base station to release the RRC connection, optionally carrying an RRC connection release request reason value); requesting to release or suspend the PDU session corresponding to the tethering device (e.g., the UE requests the core network to release the RRC connection, optionally carrying a PDU session release request reason value); requesting to remove the corresponding DRB (e.g., the UE requests the base station to remove or suspend the corresponding DRB, optionally carrying a remove or suspend request reason value).

[0283] d) Optionally, the UE requests (such as the third request in the above embodiments) via an RRC message (such as the second RRC message in the aforementioned embodiments), or a MAC CE (such as the second MAC CE in the aforementioned embodiments), or a UL UCI.

[0284] e) Optional, if it is an RRC message, it can be a dedicated RRC signaling or a UAI.

[0285] f) Optionally, the request message (such as the third request in the above embodiments) may also carry the corresponding DRB identifier and / or PDU session identifier.

[0286] g) The operation is performed under a third condition. The third condition includes at least one of the following:

[0287] The UE is notified that it is no longer associated with the tethering device, the association information between the UE and the tethering device is deleted, the tethering device has no data to transmit, receives a request from the tethering device to complete the data transmission, and receives information from the tethering device to release or suspend the connection establishment; the UE is no longer the UE selected by the tethering device, the tethering device reselects another UE, and the channel quality between the tethering device and the UE is less than the first threshold (i.e. the second quality threshold value in the aforementioned embodiment).

[0288] 5. The UE reports auxiliary information to the network. This auxiliary information is used for transmission between the network and the device to better schedule resources and meet the transmission needs of the device.

[0289] a) The auxiliary information can be reported via RRC message (e.g., UAI) (i.e., the aforementioned first RRC message) or MAC CE (i.e., the aforementioned first MAC CE).

[0290] b) The auxiliary information is reported to the network in the third case (i.e., the first condition in the aforementioned embodiment). The third case includes at least one of the following: the network configures the UE to report the auxiliary information (optionally, the type of the reported auxiliary information is per UE, or per DRB or per PDU session, or per QoS flow; optionally, the auxiliary information is for a specific direction, such as UL or DL; optionally, the network configures the object corresponding to the content of the auxiliary information that the UE can report, such as between the UE and the device, between the UE and the network, or between the device and the network; optionally, the content of the auxiliary information that the network configures the UE can report includes, for example, latency, PDB, data volume, data volume of the next packet, arrival time of the next packet, arrival time of the Xth subsequent packet, data volume of the Xth subsequent packet, data pattern, data rate, changes in data rate, time offset of the next packet arrival, period, etc.). Furthermore, the UE can report the association relationship between the UE and the device to the network; the UE receives a request from the device, the request from the device changes, the content corresponding to the request from the device or its features or auxiliary information changes, the content corresponding to the device's features or auxiliary information changes and the change exceeds the threshold, the reporting prohibition timer expires, and the content corresponding to the device's features or auxiliary information has not yet been reported.

[0291] c) The auxiliary information can be at least one of the following:

[0292] Orientation information: UL and / or DL;

[0293] Report the corresponding object information: UE, QoS flow, PDU session, DRB (correspondingly, QFI, PDU session ID, DRB ID, etc. can be carried);

[0294] Latency: such as the latency between the UE and the device, the expected latency between the UE and the network, and the total expected latency between the device and the network;

[0295] PDB: For example, the expected PDB between the UE and the device, the remaining PDB between the UE and the network, and the expected total PDB between the device and the network;

[0296] Data volume: average data volume, data volume per package, data volume of a specific package;

[0297] Package arrival time: arrival time of the first package, arrival time of each package, arrival time of a specific package;

[0298] Arrival time offset: average offset, arrival time offset of a specific packet, arrival time offset of the first packet, arrival time offset of each packet;

[0299] Business characteristic pattern;

[0300] Business cycle;

[0301] Data rate: average data rate, data rate for a specific package, data rate for the first package, and data rate for each package.

[0302] This implementation presents a method for transmitting tethering device information when a UE establishes an RRC connection with the network, improving the transmission process. It supports interaction between the device and the UE, and between the UE and the network, assisting the network in performing scheduling and resource allocation to ensure the device's transmission needs are met.

[0303] The above embodiments provide a method for transmitting XR services of devices tethering with the UE in the network, ensuring the transmission requirements of the device, and guaranteeing system throughput while meeting device latency requirements, which has significant technical progress and application value.

[0304] By adopting the solution provided in this application, a terminal can report auxiliary information related to its associated devices to a network device. This enables the network device to perform decisions or transmissions related to the associated devices based on the auxiliary information, thereby improving the transmission process related to the associated devices and meeting their transmission needs.

[0305] Figure 6 is a schematic diagram of the composition structure of a terminal according to an embodiment of this application, including:

[0306] The first communication unit 601 is used to report auxiliary information to the network device, wherein the auxiliary information is related to the associated device of the terminal.

[0307] The first communication unit is configured to report the auxiliary information to the network device when a first condition is met.

[0308] The first condition includes at least one of the following: receiving configuration information from the network device, wherein the configuration information is used to configure the auxiliary information; receiving indication information from the network device, wherein the indication information is used to instruct the terminal to report the auxiliary information; receiving a request from the associated device; the auxiliary information changing; not reporting the auxiliary information; or reporting a timer that prohibits the reporting of timeouts.

[0309] The configuration information is used to configure at least one of the following: the type of the parameter, the direction information corresponding to the parameter, the type of the object corresponding to the parameter, and the path corresponding to the parameter in the auxiliary information reported by the terminal.

[0310] The auxiliary information includes at least one of the following: parameters related to the associated device, the association relationship between the terminal and the associated device, wherein the parameters include at least one of the following: latency, data packet latency budget (PDB), data volume, arrival time of one or more data packets, time offset of one or more data packets, service characteristic format, service cycle, and data rate.

[0311] The auxiliary information also includes at least one of the following: the direction information corresponding to the parameter, the identification information of the object corresponding to the parameter, and the path corresponding to the parameter.

[0312] The direction information includes at least one of the following: uplink transmission direction and downlink transmission direction;

[0313] The objects include at least one of the following: a terminal, a Quality of Service (QoS) stream, a session, and a Data Radio Bearer (DRB);

[0314] The path includes at least one of the following: between the terminal and the network device, between the terminal and the associated device, and between the associated device and the network device.

[0315] The auxiliary information is carried by one of the following: a first radio resource control (RRC) message or a first media access control (MAC) control element (CE).

[0316] The first communication unit is configured to perform at least one of the following: sending a first request to the network device, wherein the first request is configured to trigger a random access procedure or trigger a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection establishment; sending a second request to the network device, wherein the second request is configured to establish a session and / or a DRB.

[0317] The first request carries at least one of the following: a trigger request, a first cause value indicating the establishment of a service with the associated device, and an identifier of the associated device; and / or the second request carries at least one of the following: an establishment request, the first cause value, and an identifier of the associated device.

[0318] The first communication unit is configured to send the first request to the network device when the second condition is met.

[0319] The second condition includes at least one of the following: satisfying the random access triggering condition; satisfying the RRC connection establishment condition; the terminal is associated with the associated device; receiving a data transmission request from the associated device; receiving a connection establishment request from the associated device; and the channel quality between the terminal and the associated device is higher than a first quality threshold.

[0320] As shown in Figure 6, the terminal also includes:

[0321] The first processing unit 602 is used to perform the Unified Access Control (UAC) process with the network device.

[0322] The first processing unit is configured to perform one of the following: perform the UAC procedure based on the access-related information of the associated device, wherein the access-related information includes access category and / or access identifier; perform the UAC procedure based on the access-related information of the terminal; or perform the UAC procedure based on specified access-related information.

[0323] The first communication unit is configured to send a third request to the network device when a third condition is met, wherein the third request is used to request the release or suspension of configurations or resources associated with the associated device.

[0324] The third condition includes at least one of the following: the terminal is not associated with the associated device; the associated device has no data to be transmitted; a release or suspension request is received from the associated device; the associated device is reselected or connected to another terminal; the channel quality between the terminal and the associated device is lower than the second quality threshold.

[0325] The configuration or resources associated with the associated device include at least one of the following: the configuration or resources of the RRC connection associated with the associated device; the configuration or resources of the session associated with the associated device; and the configuration or resources of the DRB associated with the associated device.

[0326] The third request carries at least one of the following: a release request, a second reason value indicating the reason for release, identification information of the session associated with the associated device, and identification information of the DRB associated with the associated device.

[0327] The third request is carried by one of the following: a second RRC message, a second MAC CE, or an uplink UL user control information (UCI).

[0328] The terminal and the associated device are connected in one of the following ways: short-range wireless technology or wired connection, wherein the short-range wireless technology includes one of the following: Bluetooth or Wi-Fi.

[0329] Data between the terminal and the associated device is transmitted based on one of the following protocols: short-range link protocol, wired link transmission protocol.

[0330] Figure 7 is a schematic diagram of the composition structure of a network device according to an embodiment of this application, including:

[0331] The second communication unit 701 is used to receive auxiliary information from the terminal, wherein the auxiliary information is related to the associated device of the terminal.

[0332] The second communication unit is configured to perform at least one of the following: sending configuration information to the terminal, wherein the configuration information is used to configure the auxiliary information; sending indication information to the terminal, wherein the indication information is used to instruct the terminal to report the auxiliary information.

[0333] The configuration information is used to configure at least one of the following: the type of the parameter, the direction information corresponding to the parameter, the type of the object corresponding to the parameter, and the path information corresponding to the parameter in the auxiliary information reported by the terminal.

[0334] The auxiliary information includes at least one of the following: parameters related to the associated device, the association relationship between the terminal and the associated device, wherein the parameters include at least one of the following: latency, data packet latency budget (PDB), data volume, arrival time of one or more data packets, time offset of one or more data packets, service characteristic format, service cycle, and data rate.

[0335] The auxiliary information also includes at least one of the following: the direction information corresponding to the parameter, the identification information of the object corresponding to the parameter, and the path corresponding to the parameter.

[0336] The direction information includes at least one of the following: uplink transmission direction and downlink transmission direction;

[0337] The objects include at least one of the following: a terminal, a Quality of Service (QoS) stream, a session, and a Data Radio Bearer (DRB);

[0338] The path includes one of the following: between the terminal and the network device, between the terminal and the associated device, and between the associated device and the network device.

[0339] The auxiliary information is carried by one of the following: a first radio resource control (RRC) message or a first media access control (MAC) control element (CE).

[0340] The second communication unit is configured to perform at least one of the following: receiving a first request from the terminal, wherein the first request is used to trigger a random access procedure or trigger a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection establishment; receiving a second request from the terminal, wherein the second request is used to establish a session and / or a DRB.

[0341] The first request carries at least one of the following: a trigger request, a first cause value indicating the establishment of a service with the associated device, and an identifier of the associated device; and / or the second request carries at least one of the following: an establishment request, the first cause value, and an identifier of the associated device.

[0342] As shown in Figure 7, the network device further includes:

[0343] The second processing unit 702 is used to perform the Unified Access Control (UAC) process with the terminal.

[0344] The second processing unit is configured to perform one of the following: perform the UAC procedure based on the access-related information of the associated device, wherein the access-related information includes access category and / or access identifier; perform the UAC procedure based on the access-related information of the terminal; or perform the UAC procedure based on specified access-related information.

[0345] The second communication unit is configured to receive a third request from the terminal, wherein the third request is for requesting the release or suspension of configurations or resources associated with the associated device.

[0346] The configuration or resources associated with the associated device include at least one of the following: the configuration or resources of the RRC connection associated with the associated device; the configuration or resources of the session associated with the associated device; and the configuration or resources of the DRB associated with the associated device.

[0347] The third request carries at least one of the following: a release request, a second reason value indicating the reason for release, identification information of the session associated with the associated device, and identification information of the DRB associated with the associated device.

[0348] The third request is carried by one of the following: a second RRC message, a second MAC CE, or an uplink UL user control information (UCI).

[0349] The device in this application embodiment can realize the corresponding functions of the devices in the foregoing configuration method embodiments. The processes, functions, implementation methods, and beneficial effects of each module (sub-module, unit, or component, etc.) in this device can be found in the corresponding descriptions in the above method embodiments, and will not be repeated here. It should be noted that the functions described for each module (sub-module, unit, or component, etc.) in the device of this application embodiment can be implemented by different modules (sub-modules, units, or components, etc.) or by the same module (sub-module, unit, or component, etc.).

[0350] Figure 8 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device 800 according to an embodiment of this application. The communication device 800 includes a processor 810, which can call and run computer programs from a memory to enable the communication device 800 to implement the methods in the embodiments of this application. In one possible implementation, the communication device 800 may further include a memory 820. The processor 810 can call and run computer programs from the memory 820 to enable the communication device 800 to implement the methods in the embodiments of this application. The memory 820 may be a separate device independent of the processor 810, or it may be integrated into the processor 810. In one possible implementation, the communication device 800 may further include a transceiver 830, which the processor 810 can control to communicate with other devices. Specifically, it can send information or data to other devices, or receive information or data sent by other devices. The transceiver 830 may include a transmitter and a receiver. The transceiver 830 may further include antennas, and the number of antennas may be one or more.

[0351] In one possible implementation, the communication device 800 may be a terminal or a network device in the embodiments of this application, and the communication device 800 may implement the corresponding processes implemented by the terminal or network device in the various methods of the embodiments of this application. For the sake of brevity, it will not be described in detail here.

[0352] Figure 9 is a schematic structural diagram of a chip 900 according to an embodiment of this application. The chip 900 includes a processor 910, which can call and run computer programs from a memory to implement the methods in the embodiments of this application. In one possible implementation, the chip 900 may further include a memory 920. The processor 910 can call and run computer programs from the memory 920 to implement the methods executed by a first terminal, a first core network device, or a second core network device in the embodiments of this application. The memory 920 may be a separate device independent of the processor 910, or it may be integrated into the processor 910. In one possible implementation, the chip 900 may further include an input interface 930. The processor 910 can control the input interface 930 to communicate with other devices or chips; specifically, it can acquire information or data sent by other devices or chips. In one possible implementation, the chip 900 may further include an output interface 940. The processor 910 can control the output interface 940 to communicate with other devices or chips; specifically, it can output information or data to other devices or chips.

[0353] In one possible implementation, the chip can be applied to the terminal or network device in the embodiments of this application, and the chip can implement the corresponding processes implemented by the terminal or network device in the various methods of the embodiments of this application. For the sake of brevity, it will not be described in detail here. It should be understood that the chip mentioned in the embodiments of this application can also be called a system-on-a-chip, system chip, chip system, or system-on-a-chip, etc. The processor mentioned above can be a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or other programmable logic devices, transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, etc. Among them, the general-purpose processor mentioned above can be a microprocessor or any conventional processor, etc. The memory mentioned above can be volatile memory or non-volatile memory, or can include both volatile and non-volatile memory. The non-volatile memory can 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. The volatile memory can be random access memory (RAM). It should be understood that the above-described memory is exemplary but not limiting. For example, the memory in the embodiments of this application can also be static random access memory (SRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory (DDR SDRAM), enhanced synchronous dynamic random access memory (ESDRAM), synchronous link dynamic random access memory (SLDRAM), and direct memory bus RAM (DR RAM), etc. In other words, the memory in the embodiments of this application is intended to include, but is not limited to, these and any other suitable types of memory.

[0354] Figure 10 is a schematic block diagram of a communication system 1000 according to an embodiment of this application. The communication system 1000 includes a terminal 1010 and a network device 1020. The terminal 1010 can be used to implement the corresponding functions implemented by the terminal in the above-described method. The network device 1020 can be used to implement the corresponding functions implemented by the network device in the above-described method.

[0355] In the above embodiments, implementation can be achieved, in whole or in part, through software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, it can be implemented, in whole or in part, as a computer program product. This computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When these computer program instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, all or part of the processes or functions described in the embodiments of this application are generated. The computer can be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable device. The computer instructions can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another. For example, the computer instructions can be transmitted from one website, computer, server, or data center to another via wired (e.g., coaxial cable, fiber optic, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) means. The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium accessible to a computer or a data storage device such as a server or data center that integrates one or more available media. The available media can be magnetic media (e.g., floppy disks, hard disks, magnetic tapes), optical media (e.g., DVDs), or semiconductor media (e.g., solid-state drives (SSDs)).

[0356] It should be understood that in the various embodiments of this application, the sequence number of each process does not imply the order of execution. The execution order of each process should be determined by its function and internal logic, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiments of this application. Those skilled in the art will clearly understand that, for the sake of convenience and brevity, the specific working processes of the systems, devices, and units described above can be referred to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, and will not be repeated here. The above descriptions are merely specific embodiments of this application, but the scope of protection of this application is not limited thereto. Any variations or substitutions that can be easily conceived by those skilled in the art within the technical scope disclosed in this application should be included within the scope of protection of this application. Therefore, the scope of protection of this application should be determined by the scope of the claims.

Claims

A communication method, comprising: The terminal reports auxiliary information to the network device, wherein the auxiliary information is related to the associated device of the terminal. According to the method of claim 1, wherein, The terminal reports auxiliary information to the network device, including: When the first condition is met, the terminal reports the auxiliary information to the network device. The method according to claim 2, wherein, The first condition includes at least one of the following: Receive configuration information from the network device, wherein the configuration information is used to configure the auxiliary information; The terminal receives an instruction from the network device, wherein the instruction is used to instruct the terminal to report the auxiliary information. A request was received from the associated device; The auxiliary information has changed; The aforementioned auxiliary information was not reported; Report a timer that is not allowed to time out. The method according to claim 3, wherein, The configuration information is used to configure at least one of the following: the type of the parameter, the direction information corresponding to the parameter, the type of the object corresponding to the parameter, and the path corresponding to the parameter in the auxiliary information reported by the terminal. The method according to any one of claims 1-4, wherein, The auxiliary information includes at least one of the following: parameters related to the associated device, the association relationship between the terminal and the associated device, wherein the parameters include at least one of the following: latency, data packet latency budget (PDB), data volume, arrival time of one or more data packets, time offset of one or more data packets, service characteristic format, service cycle, and data rate. The method according to claim 5, wherein, The auxiliary information also includes at least one of the following: the direction information corresponding to the parameter, the identification information of the object corresponding to the parameter, and the path corresponding to the parameter. The method according to claim 4 or 6, wherein, The direction information includes at least one of the following: uplink transmission direction and downlink transmission direction; The objects include at least one of the following: a terminal, a Quality of Service (QoS) stream, a session, and a Data Radio Bearer (DRB); The path includes at least one of the following: between the terminal and the network device, between the terminal and the associated device, and between the associated device and the network device. The method according to any one of claims 1-7, wherein, The auxiliary information is carried by one of the following: a first radio resource control (RRC) message or a first media access control (MAC) control element (CE). The method according to any one of claims 1-8 further comprises at least one of the following: The terminal sends a first request to the network device, wherein... The first request is used to trigger a random access procedure or to trigger Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection establishment; The terminal sends a second request to the network device, wherein the second request is used to establish a session and / or DRB. The method according to claim 9, wherein, The first request carries at least one of the following: a trigger request, a first cause value indicating a service establishment related to the associated device, and an identifier of the associated device; And / or, the second request carries at least one of the following: an establishment request, the first reason value, and the identifier of the associated device. The method according to claim 9 or 10, wherein, The terminal sends a first request to the network device, including: When the second condition is met, the terminal sends the first request to the network device. The method according to claim 11, wherein, The second condition includes at least one of the following: The random access triggering conditions are met; The conditions for establishing an RRC connection are met; The terminal is associated with the associated device; A data transmission request was received from the associated device; A connection establishment request was received from the associated device; The channel quality between the terminal and the associated device is higher than a first quality threshold. The method according to any one of claims 1-12 further comprises: The terminal and the network device perform a unified access control (UAC) process. The method according to claim 13, wherein, The execution of the UAC process includes one of the following: The UAC process is executed based on the access-related information of the associated device, wherein the access-related information includes access category and / or access identifier; The UAC process is executed based on the access-related information of the terminal; The UAC procedure is executed based on the specified access-related information. The method according to any one of claims 1-14 further comprises: When the third condition is met, the terminal sends a third request to the network device, wherein the third request is used to request the release or suspension of configurations or resources associated with the associated device. The method according to claim 15, wherein, The third condition includes at least one of the following: The terminal is not associated with the associated device; The associated device has no data to be transmitted; Receive a release or suspension request from the associated device; The associated device can be reselected or connected to other terminals; The channel quality between the terminal and the associated device is lower than the second quality threshold. The method according to claim 15 or 16, wherein, The configurations or resources associated with the associated device include at least one of the following: Configuration or resources of the RRC connection associated with the associated device; Configuration or resources of the session associated with the associated device; The configuration or resources of the DRB associated with the aforementioned device. The method according to claim 17, wherein, The third request carries at least one of the following: a release request, a second reason value indicating the reason for release, identification information of the session associated with the associated device, and identification information of the DRB associated with the associated device. The method according to any one of claims 15-18, wherein, The third request is carried by one of the following: a second RRC message, a second MAC CE, or an uplink UL user control information (UCI). The method according to any one of claims 1-19, wherein, The terminal and the associated device are connected in one of the following ways: short-range wireless technology or wired connection, wherein the short-range wireless technology includes one of the following: Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. The method according to any one of claims 1-20, wherein, Data between the terminal and the associated device is transmitted based on one of the following protocols: short-range link protocol, wired link transmission protocol. A communication method, comprising: The network device receives auxiliary information from the terminal, wherein the auxiliary information is related to the associated device of the terminal. The method according to claim 22, wherein, Before receiving auxiliary information from the terminal, the network device further includes at least one of the following: The network device sends configuration information to the terminal, wherein the configuration information is used to configure the auxiliary information; The network device sends an instruction message to the terminal, wherein the instruction message is used to instruct the terminal to report the auxiliary information. The method according to claim 23, wherein, The configuration information is used to configure at least one of the following: the type of the parameter, the direction information corresponding to the parameter, the type of the object corresponding to the parameter, and the path information corresponding to the parameter in the auxiliary information reported by the terminal. The method according to any one of claims 22-24, wherein, The auxiliary information includes at least one of the following: parameters related to the associated device, the association relationship between the terminal and the associated device, wherein the parameters include at least one of the following: latency, data packet latency budget (PDB), data volume, arrival time of one or more data packets, time offset of one or more data packets, service characteristic format, service cycle, and data rate. The method according to claim 25, wherein, The auxiliary information also includes at least one of the following: the direction information corresponding to the parameter, the identification information of the object corresponding to the parameter, and the path corresponding to the parameter. The method according to claim 24 or 26, wherein, The direction information includes at least one of the following: uplink transmission direction and downlink transmission direction; The objects include at least one of the following: a terminal, a Quality of Service (QoS) stream, a session, and a Data Radio Bearer (DRB); The path includes one of the following: between the terminal and the network device, between the terminal and the associated device, and between the associated device and the network device. The method according to any one of claims 22-27, wherein, The auxiliary information is carried by one of the following: a first radio resource control (RRC) message or a first media access control (MAC) control element (CE). The method according to any one of claims 22-28 further comprises at least one of the following: The network device receives a first request from the terminal, wherein... The first request is used to trigger a random access procedure or to trigger Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection establishment; The network device receives a second request from the terminal, wherein the second request is used to establish a session and / or DRB. The method according to claim 29, wherein, The first request carries at least one of the following: a trigger request, a first cause value indicating a service establishment related to the associated device, and an identifier of the associated device; And / or, the second request carries at least one of the following: an establishment request, the first reason value, and the identifier of the associated device. The method according to any one of claims 22-30 further comprises: The network device and the terminal perform a unified access control (UAC) process. The method according to claim 31, wherein, The execution of the UAC process includes one of the following: The UAC process is executed based on the access-related information of the associated device, wherein the access-related information includes access category and / or access identifier; The UAC process is executed based on the access-related information of the terminal; The UAC procedure is executed based on the specified access-related information. The method according to any one of claims 22-32 further comprises: The network device receives a third request from the terminal, wherein the third request is for requesting the release or suspension of configurations or resources associated with the associated device. The method according to claim 33, wherein, The configurations or resources associated with the associated device include at least one of the following: Configuration or resources of the RRC connection associated with the associated device; Configuration or resources of the session associated with the associated device; The configuration or resources of the DRB associated with the aforementioned device. The method according to claim 34, wherein, The third request carries at least one of the following: a release request, a second reason value indicating the reason for release, identification information of the session associated with the associated device, and identification information of the DRB associated with the associated device. The method according to any one of claims 33-35, wherein, The third request is carried by one of the following: a second RRC message, a second MAC CE, or an uplink UL user control information (UCI). A terminal, comprising: The first communication unit is used to report auxiliary information to the network device, wherein the auxiliary information is related to the associated device of the terminal. The terminal according to claim 37, wherein, The first communication unit is configured to report the auxiliary information to the network device when a first condition is met. The terminal according to claim 38, wherein, The first condition includes at least one of the following: receiving configuration information from the network device, wherein the configuration information is used to configure the auxiliary information; receiving indication information from the network device, wherein the indication information is used to instruct the terminal to report the auxiliary information; receiving a request from the associated device; the auxiliary information changing; not reporting the auxiliary information; or reporting a timer that prohibits the reporting of timeouts. The terminal according to claim 39, wherein, The configuration information is used to configure at least one of the following: the type of the parameter, the direction information corresponding to the parameter, the type of the object corresponding to the parameter, and the path corresponding to the parameter in the auxiliary information reported by the terminal. The terminal according to any one of claims 37-40, wherein, The auxiliary information includes at least one of the following: parameters related to the associated device, the association relationship between the terminal and the associated device, wherein the parameters include at least one of the following: latency, data packet latency budget (PDB), data volume, arrival time of one or more data packets, time offset of one or more data packets, service characteristic format, service cycle, and data rate. The terminal according to claim 41, wherein, The auxiliary information also includes at least one of the following: the direction information corresponding to the parameter, the identification information of the object corresponding to the parameter, and the path corresponding to the parameter. The terminal according to claim 40 or 42, wherein, The direction information includes at least one of the following: uplink transmission direction and downlink transmission direction; The objects include at least one of the following: a terminal, a Quality of Service (QoS) stream, a session, and a Data Radio Bearer (DRB); The path includes at least one of the following: between the terminal and the network device, between the terminal and the associated device, and between the associated device and the network device. The terminal according to any one of claims 37-43, wherein, The auxiliary information is carried by one of the following: a first radio resource control (RRC) message or a first media access control (MAC) control element (CE). The terminal according to any one of claims 37-44, wherein, The first communication unit is configured to perform at least one of the following: sending a first request to the network device, wherein the first request is configured to trigger a random access procedure or trigger a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection establishment; sending a second request to the network device, wherein the second request is configured to establish a session and / or a DRB. The terminal according to claim 45, wherein, The first request carries at least one of the following: a trigger request, a first cause value indicating the establishment of a service with the associated device, and an identifier of the associated device; and / or the second request carries at least one of the following: an establishment request, the first cause value, and an identifier of the associated device. The terminal according to claim 45 or 46, wherein, The first communication unit is configured to send the first request to the network device when the second condition is met. The terminal according to claim 47, wherein, The second condition includes at least one of the following: satisfying the random access triggering condition; satisfying the RRC connection establishment condition; the terminal is associated with the associated device; receiving a data transmission request from the associated device; receiving a connection establishment request from the associated device; and the channel quality between the terminal and the associated device is higher than a first quality threshold. The terminal according to any one of claims 37-48 further includes: The first processing unit is used to perform the Unified Access Control (UAC) process with the network device. The terminal according to claim 49, wherein, The first processing unit is configured to perform one of the following: perform the UAC procedure based on the access-related information of the associated device, wherein the access-related information includes access category and / or access identifier; perform the UAC procedure based on the access-related information of the terminal; or perform the UAC procedure based on specified access-related information. The terminal according to any one of claims 37-49, wherein, The first communication unit is configured to send a third request to the network device when a third condition is met, wherein the third request is used to request the release or suspension of configurations or resources associated with the associated device. The terminal according to claim 51, wherein, The third condition includes at least one of the following: the terminal is not associated with the associated device; the associated device has no data to be transmitted; a release or suspension request is received from the associated device; the associated device is reselected or connected to another terminal; the channel quality between the terminal and the associated device is lower than the second quality threshold. The terminal according to claim 51 or 52, wherein, The configuration or resources associated with the associated device include at least one of the following: configuration or resources for RRC connections associated with the associated device; configuration or resources for sessions associated with the associated device; and configuration or resources for DRBs associated with the associated device. The terminal according to claim 53, wherein, The third request carries at least one of the following: a release request, a second reason value indicating the reason for release, identification information of the session associated with the associated device, and identification information of the DRB associated with the associated device. The terminal according to any one of claims 51-54, wherein, The third request is carried by one of the following: a second RRC message, a second MAC CE, or an uplink UL user control information (UCI). The terminal according to any one of claims 37-55, wherein, The terminal and the associated device are connected in one of the following ways: short-range wireless technology or wired connection, wherein the short-range wireless technology includes one of the following: Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. The terminal according to any one of claims 37-56, wherein, Data between the terminal and the associated device is transmitted based on one of the following protocols: short-range link protocol, wired link transmission protocol. A network device, comprising: The second communication unit is used to receive auxiliary information from the terminal, wherein the auxiliary information is related to the associated device of the terminal. The network device according to claim 58, wherein, The second communication unit is configured to perform at least one of the following: sending configuration information to the terminal, wherein the configuration information is used to configure the auxiliary information; sending indication information to the terminal, wherein the indication information is used to instruct the terminal to report the auxiliary information. The network device according to claim 59, wherein, The configuration information is used to configure at least one of the following: the type of the parameter, the direction information corresponding to the parameter, the type of the object corresponding to the parameter, and the path information corresponding to the parameter in the auxiliary information reported by the terminal. The network device according to any one of claims 58-60, wherein, The auxiliary information includes at least one of the following: parameters related to the associated device, the association relationship between the terminal and the associated device, wherein the parameters include at least one of the following: latency, data packet latency budget (PDB), data volume, arrival time of one or more data packets, time offset of one or more data packets, service characteristic format, service cycle, and data rate. The network device according to claim 61, wherein, The auxiliary information also includes at least one of the following: the direction information corresponding to the parameter, the identification information of the object corresponding to the parameter, and the path corresponding to the parameter. The network device according to claim 60 or 62, wherein, The direction information includes at least one of the following: uplink transmission direction and downlink transmission direction; The objects include at least one of the following: a terminal, a Quality of Service (QoS) stream, a session, and a Data Radio Bearer (DRB); The path includes one of the following: between the terminal and the network device, between the terminal and the associated device, and between the associated device and the network device. The network device according to any one of claims 58-63, wherein, The auxiliary information is carried by one of the following: a first radio resource control (RRC) message or a first media access control (MAC) control element (CE). The network device according to any one of claims 58-64, wherein the second communication unit is configured to perform at least one of the following: receiving a first request from the terminal, wherein, The first request is used to trigger a random access procedure or trigger a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection establishment; a second request is received from the terminal, wherein the second request is used to establish a session and / or DRB. The network device according to claim 65, wherein, The first request carries at least one of the following: a trigger request, a first cause value indicating the establishment of a service with the associated device, and an identifier of the associated device; and / or the second request carries at least one of the following: an establishment request, the first cause value, and an identifier of the associated device. The network device according to any one of claims 58-66 further includes: The second processing unit is used to perform the Unified Access Control (UAC) process with the terminal. The network device according to claim 67, wherein, The second processing unit is configured to perform one of the following: perform the UAC procedure based on the access-related information of the associated device, wherein the access-related information includes access category and / or access identifier; perform the UAC procedure based on the access-related information of the terminal; or perform the UAC procedure based on specified access-related information. The network device according to any one of claims 58-68, wherein, The second communication unit is configured to receive a third request from the terminal, wherein the third request is for requesting the release or suspension of configurations or resources associated with the associated device. The network device according to claim 69, wherein, The configuration or resources associated with the associated device include at least one of the following: configuration or resources for RRC connections associated with the associated device; configuration or resources for sessions associated with the associated device; and configuration or resources for DRBs associated with the associated device. The network device according to claim 70, wherein, The third request carries at least one of the following: a release request, a second reason value indicating the reason for release, identification information of the session associated with the associated device, and identification information of the DRB associated with the associated device. The network device according to any one of claims 69-71, wherein, The third request is carried by one of the following: a second RRC message, a second MAC CE, or an uplink UL user control information (UCI). A terminal, comprising: A transceiver, a processor, and a memory for storing a computer program, the transceiver for communicating with other devices, and the processor for calling and running the computer program stored in the memory to cause the terminal to perform the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 21. A network device, comprising: A transceiver, a processor, and a memory for storing a computer program, the transceiver for communicating with other devices, and the processor for calling and running the computer program stored in the memory to cause the network device to perform the method as described in any one of claims 22 to 36. A chip, comprising: A processor for retrieving and running a computer program from memory, causing a device having the chip mounted to perform the method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 21 or 22 to 36. A computer-readable storage medium for storing a computer program that, when run by a device, causes the device to perform the method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 21 or 22 to 36. A computer program product includes computer program instructions that cause a computer to perform the method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 21 or 22 to 36. A computer program that causes a computer to perform the method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 21 or 22 to 36.

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