CN109936861B

CN109936861B - Communication method, access network equipment, terminal equipment and core network equipment

Info

Publication number: CN109936861B
Application number: CN201711366130.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 晋英豪; 韩锋; 谭巍; 李宏
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2017-12-18
Filing date: 2017-12-18
Publication date: 2021-08-03
Anticipated expiration: 2037-12-18
Also published as: CN109936861A

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention discloses a communication method, access network equipment, terminal equipment and core network equipment, wherein the method comprises the following steps: the first core network device sends first information used for indicating the first access network device to release the context of the terminal device to the first access network device, and the first access network device sends a second message to the first core network device, wherein the second message is a response message aiming at the first message. Wherein the first message includes first information, and the first information may indicate at least one of allowed network slice information for terminal device reallocation and replaced core network device providing network slice service for the terminal device. By adopting the method and the device, the first access network device can sense the first message for releasing the context of the terminal device, so that the state of the terminal device can be kept consistent with the state of the terminal device recorded by the network side through the interaction between the first access network device and the terminal device, and further the normal communication can be realized.

Description

Communication method, access network equipment, terminal equipment and core network equipment

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a communication method, an access network device, a terminal device, and a core network device.

Background

The network slicing technology can provide services for different tenants and differentiated services through a customized network. For a certain terminal device, in the process of registering or performing Tracking Area Update (TAU)/Registration Area Update (RAU), the network side may allocate an Allowed network slice information (Allowed NSSAI) to the terminal device, where the Allowed network slice information indicates that the terminal device is Allowed to initiate a service corresponding to the Allowed NSSAI in the registration area or the tracking area. In practice, the network side needs to reallocate Allowed NSSAI to the terminal device, and may also replace the core network device for the terminal device.

In this case, how to realize normal communication is a considerable problem.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the invention provides a communication method, access network equipment, terminal equipment and core network equipment, aiming at realizing normal communication.

In a first aspect, a communication method is provided for an embodiment of the present invention, including:

the first access network device receives a first message from the first core network device, and the first access network device sends a second message to the first core network device, wherein the second message is a response message for the first message. The first message is used for indicating the first access network device to release the context of the terminal device, the first message includes first information, the first information includes at least one of information of the first network slice and an identifier of the second core network device, and the information of the first network slice is used for indicating allowed network slice information allocated to the terminal device.

In the first aspect, the first information included in the first message indicates at least one of allowed network slice information reallocated to the terminal device and core network equipment which is replaced and provides a network slice service for the terminal device, and in this scenario, the first access network equipment may sense the first message used for releasing the context of the terminal device, so that, when the core network equipment and the first access network equipment release the context of the terminal device, the terminal device enters an idle state through interaction with the terminal device, and further, the state of the terminal device itself is consistent with the state of the terminal device recorded by the network side, so as to avoid occurrence of a situation that data of the terminal device or the network side cannot be successfully sent, and further, normal communication is achieved.

With reference to the first aspect, in an optional implementation manner, the first message further includes area update indication information to instruct the terminal device to perform an area update operation.

Optionally, the area update indication information may also indicate a reason for the need to initiate an area update, for example, an area update indication based on an Allowed NSSAI change, or an area update indication based on an AMF change.

With reference to the first aspect, in an optional implementation manner, the first access network device may further send a third message to the terminal device, where the third message is used to instruct the terminal device to enter an idle state, and the third message includes the first information, so that the terminal device determines a network slice reallocated to the terminal device and a core network device, which is replaced and provides a network slice service for the terminal device.

Optionally, in a case that the first message includes the area update indication information, the third message may include the area update indication information to instruct the terminal device to perform the area update operation. Alternatively, in the case where the first message does not include the area update indication information, the first access network device may add the area update indication information in the third message.

With reference to the first aspect, in an optional implementation manner, the third message further includes at least one of: the method comprises the steps of allocating Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) resources for the terminal equipment and designating the beam identifier for the terminal equipment. Optionally, if the third message includes a plurality of beam identifiers, the first access network device may sort the plurality of beam identifiers. For example, the beam identification that is most desirable for the terminal device to use for random access is ranked first.

Optionally, in a case that the third message includes PRACH resources allocated to the terminal device and multiple beam identifiers designated for the terminal device to initiate the RACH, an identifier of each beam in the multiple beam identifiers corresponds to one allocated PRACH resource, or an identifier of each beam corresponds to one allocated PRACH resource, or identifiers of some beams in the multiple beam identifiers correspond to allocated PRACH resources. The third message comprises the PRACH resource, so that the terminal equipment can perform a random access process based on no competition, and a collision process in the random access process is avoided, thereby reducing time delay; through the beam identification, the terminal equipment does not need to find or estimate the beam which can be initiated in the process of initiating the random access or in the process of sending the RRC message, so that the time delay is reduced.

With reference to the first aspect, in an optional implementation manner, the method further includes: the first access network equipment receives an area updating request and first information from the terminal equipment; the first access network device sends an area update request to the third core network device, so that the third core network device provides a network slicing service for the terminal device. In a first optional implementation, the first information may be information stored by the first access network device, and specifically, the first access network device stores the first information included in the first message after receiving the first message. In a second alternative, the first information is sent by the terminal device to the first access network device.

With reference to the first aspect, in an optional implementation manner, the third core network device is determined according to the first information, and the third core network device supports the first network slice.

Optionally, in a case that the first information includes an identifier of the second core network device, and the first information includes information of the first network slice and an identifier of the second core network device, the first access network device may determine the core network device indicated by the identifier of the second core network device as the third core network device.

Optionally, when the first information includes information of the first network slice, the first access network device determines a third core network device that supports the first network slice, and specifically, the first access network device may determine, as the third core network device, a core network device that supports all or part of the first network slice in the alternative core network devices. The number of the alternative core network devices herein may be one or more. Whether a communication connection is established between any alternative core network device and the first access network device is not limited in the embodiment of the present invention.

With reference to the first aspect, in an optional implementation manner, the method further includes: and under the condition that the state of the terminal equipment is a deactivated state, the first access network equipment sends a fourth message to the second access network equipment, wherein the fourth message comprises the first information, and the second access network equipment is service access network equipment of the terminal equipment. In this scenario, because the first access network device and the second access network device may sense the first message for releasing the context of the terminal device, when the core network device and the first access network device release the context of the terminal device, the terminal device enters an idle state through interaction between the second access network device and the terminal device, and then the state of the terminal device itself is kept consistent with the state of the terminal device recorded by the network side through the first access network device and the second access network device, so as to avoid occurrence of a situation that data of the terminal device or the network side cannot be successfully sent, and further, normal communication is achieved.

With reference to the first aspect, in an optional implementation manner, the fourth message further includes area update indication information, where the area update indication information is used to instruct the terminal device to perform an area update operation.

In a second aspect, a communication method is provided for an embodiment of the present invention, including:

the second access network equipment receives a fourth message from the first access network equipment; the second access network device sends a fifth message to the terminal device, the fourth message includes first information, the first information includes at least one of information of the first network slice and an identifier of the core network device, the information of the first network slice is used for indicating allowed network slice information allocated to the terminal device, the second access network device serves the access network device for the terminal device, and the fifth message includes the first information.

In the second aspect, at least one of the allowed network slice information for reallocation to the terminal device and the replaced core network device providing the network slice service to the terminal device is indicated by the first information included in the first message, in this scenario, since the first access network device and the second access network device may be aware of the first message for releasing the context of the terminal device, therefore, under the condition that the core network equipment and the first access network equipment release the context of the terminal equipment, the terminal equipment enters an idle state through the interaction of the second access network equipment and the terminal equipment, further, the first access network equipment and the second access network equipment realize that the state of the terminal equipment is consistent with the state of the terminal equipment recorded by the network side, the situation that data of the terminal equipment or the network side cannot be successfully sent is avoided, and then normal communication is achieved.

With reference to the second aspect, in an optional implementation manner, the fifth message is used to instruct the terminal device to enter an idle state; or, the fifth message is used to instruct the terminal device to enter the connection state.

In a third aspect, a communication method is provided for an embodiment of the present invention, including:

the terminal equipment receives a fifth message sent by the access network equipment; the terminal device sends an area update request to the access network device, where the fifth message is used to indicate that the terminal device enters an idle state, or the fifth message is used to indicate that the terminal device enters a connection state, where the fifth message includes first information, where the first information includes at least one of information of a first network slice and an identifier of a second core network device, and the information of the first network slice is used to indicate allowed network slice information allocated to the terminal device.

In a third aspect, the first information included in the first message indicates at least one of allowed network slice information reallocated to the terminal device and core network equipment replaced to provide a network slice service for the terminal device, and in this scenario, the access network equipment may sense the first message used to release the context of the terminal device, so that when the core network equipment and the access network equipment release the context of the terminal device, the terminal device enters an idle state through interaction with the terminal device, and further, the state of the terminal device itself is consistent with the state of the terminal device recorded by the network side, so as to avoid occurrence of a situation that data of the terminal device or the network side cannot be successfully sent, and further, normal communication is achieved.

With reference to the first aspect, in an optional implementation manner, the first message further includes area update indication information, where the area update indication information is used to instruct the terminal device to perform an area update operation.

With reference to the third aspect, in an optional implementation manner, in a case that the third message includes the first information, the terminal device may perform the step of sending the area update request. In another optional implementation manner, when the third message does not include the area update indication information, and the first information included in the third message at least includes information of the first network slice, the sending, by the terminal device, the area update request to the access network device specifically performs: and under the condition that the information of the first network slice is not matched with the information of the second network slice, the terminal equipment sends an area updating request to the access network equipment, wherein the information of the second network slice is allowed network slice information stored by the terminal equipment. Therefore, even if the third message does not include the area update indication information, under the condition of the allowed NSSAI redistributed to the terminal equipment, the terminal equipment can determine whether to send the area update request or not by matching the indication information of the network slice, thereby avoiding the transmission of the area update indication information on the air interface side and improving the resource utilization rate of the air interface.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present invention, the information of the first network slice may be the same as or different from the information of the second network slice, and the embodiment of the present invention does not limit this.

With reference to the third aspect, in an optional implementation manner, in a case that the third message includes the area update indication information, the terminal device may directly send the area update request, so that time wasted by matching the indication information of the network slice is reduced, and efficiency of area update of the terminal device is improved.

With reference to the third aspect, in an optional implementation manner, the method further includes: and the terminal equipment sends the first information to the access network equipment so that the access network equipment determines the third core network equipment according to the first information.

With reference to the third aspect, in an optional implementation manner, the fifth message further includes at least one of: the method comprises the steps of allocating Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) resources for the terminal equipment and designating the beam identifier for the terminal equipment. Optionally, if the third message includes a plurality of beam identifiers, the first access network device may sort the plurality of beam identifiers. For example, the beam identification that is most desirable for the terminal device to use for random access is ranked first.

With reference to the third aspect, in an optional implementation manner, in a case that the fifth message includes PRACH resources allocated to the terminal device and multiple beam identifiers designated for the terminal device to initiate the RACH, each of the multiple beam identifiers corresponds to one allocated PRACH resource, or the multiple beam identifiers correspond to one allocated PRACH resource, or part of the multiple beam identifiers corresponds to allocated PRACH resources. The third message comprises the PRACH resource, so that the terminal equipment can perform a random access process based on no competition, and a collision process in the random access process is avoided, thereby reducing time delay; through the beam identification, the terminal equipment does not need to find or estimate the beam which can be initiated in the process of initiating the random access or in the process of sending the RRC message, so that the time delay is reduced.

In a fourth aspect, a communication method is provided for the embodiments of the present invention, including:

the method comprises the steps that first core network equipment sends a first message to first access network equipment, the first core network equipment receives a second message from the first access network equipment, the first message is used for indicating the first access network equipment to release the context of terminal equipment, the first message comprises first information, the first information comprises at least one of first network slice information and identification of the second core network equipment, and the first network slice information is used for indicating allowed network slice information distributed for the terminal equipment; the second message is a response message to the first message.

In the fourth aspect, at least one of the allowed network slice information reallocated to the terminal device and the replaced core network device providing the network slice service for the terminal device is indicated by the first information contained in the first message, and in this scenario, the first access network device may sense the first message used for releasing the context of the terminal device, so that the terminal device enters an idle state through interaction with the terminal device when the first core network device and the first access network device release the context of the terminal device, and the state of the terminal device itself is consistent with the state of the terminal device recorded by the network side, so as to avoid occurrence of a situation that data of the terminal device or the network side cannot be successfully sent, and further achieve normal communication.

In a fifth aspect, a communication method is provided for an embodiment of the present invention, including:

the method comprises the steps that terminal equipment receives a first message from access network equipment, wherein the first message is sent by first core network equipment, the first message is NAS signaling and comprises first information, the first information comprises at least one of information of a first network slice and an identifier of second core network equipment, and the information of the first network slice is used for indicating allowed network slice information distributed for the terminal equipment; and the terminal equipment sends a second message to the access network equipment, wherein the second message is used for requesting to establish RRC connection and carries notification information, and the notification information is used for notifying the access network equipment that the terminal equipment needs to execute the area updating operation.

In the fifth aspect, in a case where the first core network device sends NAS signaling including the first information, the terminal device may further cause the access network device to determine that the context of the terminal device needs to be released by sending a second message. In this scenario, since the access network device may sense the second message for releasing the context of the terminal device, when the core network device and the access network device release the context of the terminal device, the terminal device enters an idle state, and therefore, the state of the terminal device itself may be consistent with the state of the terminal device recorded by the network side through the access network device, so as to avoid occurrence of a situation that data of the terminal device or the network side cannot be successfully sent, thereby implementing normal communication.

Optionally, the first message may further include area update indication information, where the area update indication information is used to instruct the terminal device to perform an area update operation. The area update indication information may include TAU indication information, RAU indication information, and the like, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present invention. In case that the terminal device receives the area update indication information, a corresponding area update operation may be performed.

Optionally, the notification information may also indicate a reason for the terminal device to initiate the area update, for example, an area update indication based on the Allowed NSSAI change, or an area update indication based on the AMF change.

Optionally, the second message further includes the first information, so that the access network device may determine the third core network device according to the first information.

With reference to the fifth aspect, in an optional implementation manner, the method further includes: the terminal device sends an area update request to the access network device, so that the access network device sends the area update request to the third core network device, and the third core network device sends an area update acceptance message to the terminal device.

In a sixth aspect, a communication method is provided for the embodiments of the present invention, including:

the access network equipment receives a first message from first core network equipment, wherein the first message is NAS signaling and comprises first information, the first information comprises at least one of information of a first network slice and an identifier of second core network equipment, and the information of the first network slice is used for indicating allowed network slice information allocated for the terminal equipment; the access network equipment sends a first message to the terminal equipment; the access network equipment receives a second message from the terminal equipment, wherein the second message is used for indicating the establishment of RRC connection and carries notification information, and the notification information is used for notifying the access network equipment that the terminal equipment needs to execute area updating operation; and the access network equipment sends a third message to the first core network equipment, wherein the third message is used for indicating the first core network equipment to delete the context of the terminal equipment.

In the sixth aspect, in a case where the first core network device sends NAS signaling including the first information, the terminal device may further cause the access network device to determine that the context of the terminal device needs to be released by sending a second message. In this scenario, since the access network device may sense the second message for releasing the context of the terminal device, when the core network device and the access network device release the context of the terminal device, the terminal device enters an idle state, and therefore, the state of the terminal device itself may be consistent with the state of the terminal device recorded by the network side through the access network device, so as to avoid occurrence of a situation that data of the terminal device or the network side cannot be successfully sent, thereby implementing normal communication.

Optionally, the third message may be a context deletion request message of the terminal device.

With reference to the sixth aspect, in an optional implementation manner, the second message further includes the first information, so that the access network device may determine the third core network device according to the first information, and the third core network device supports the first network slice.

With reference to the sixth aspect, in an optional implementation manner, the method further includes: the access network equipment receives the first information from the terminal equipment, so that the access network equipment determines third core network equipment according to the first information, and the third core network equipment is equipment for providing network slicing service for the terminal equipment.

With reference to the sixth aspect, in an optional implementation manner, the method further includes: the access network equipment receives an area updating request from the terminal equipment; and the access network equipment sends an area updating request to the third core network equipment.

With reference to the sixth aspect, in an optional implementation manner, the third message carries notification information, where the notification information is used to indicate a reason for deleting a context of the terminal device.

A seventh aspect provides a communication method for an embodiment of the present invention, including:

the first core network equipment sends a first message to the access network equipment, wherein the first message comprises first information, the first information comprises at least one of information of a first network slice and an identifier of second core network equipment, and the information of the first network slice is used for indicating allowed network slice information allocated for the terminal equipment; the first core network equipment receives a third message from the access network equipment, wherein the third message is used for indicating the first core network equipment to delete the context of the terminal equipment; and the first core network equipment deletes the context of the terminal equipment.

In a seventh aspect, in a case that the first core network device sends NAS signaling including the first information, the terminal device may further enable the access network device to determine that the context of the terminal device needs to be released by sending a second message. In this scenario, since the access network device may sense the second message for releasing the context of the terminal device, when the core network device and the access network device release the context of the terminal device, the terminal device enters an idle state, and therefore, the state of the terminal device itself may be consistent with the state of the terminal device recorded by the network side through the access network device, so as to avoid occurrence of a situation that data of the terminal device or the network side cannot be successfully sent, thereby implementing normal communication.

In an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides an access network device, where the access network device is a first access network device, and the first access network device includes:

a receiving module, configured to receive a first message from a first core network device, where the first message is used to instruct the first access network device to release a context of a terminal device, the first message includes first information, the first information includes at least one of information of a first network slice and an identifier of a second core network device, and the information of the first network slice is used to instruct allowed network slice information allocated to the terminal device;

and the sending module is used for sending a second message to the first core network device, wherein the second message is a response message aiming at the first message.

Optionally, the first access network device may also implement some or all of the optional implementations of the first aspect.

In a ninth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides an access network device, where the access network device is a second access network device, and the second access network device includes:

a receiving module, configured to receive a fourth message from the first access network device, where the fourth message includes first information, the first information includes at least one of information of a first network slice and an identifier of a core network device, the information of the first network slice is used to indicate allowed network slice information allocated to the terminal device, and the second access network device serves the access network device for the terminal device;

and the sending module is used for sending a fifth message to the terminal equipment, wherein the fifth message comprises the first information.

Optionally, the second access network device may also implement some or all of the optional implementations of the second aspect.

In a tenth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a terminal device, where the terminal device includes:

a receiving module, configured to receive a fifth message sent by an access network device, where the fifth message is used to indicate that a terminal device enters an idle state, or the fifth message is used to indicate that the terminal device enters a connection state, where the fifth message includes first information, where the first information includes at least one of information of a first network slice and an identifier of a second core network device, and the information of the first network slice is used to indicate allowed network slice information allocated to the terminal device;

a sending module, configured to send an area update request to the access network device.

Optionally, the terminal device may further implement the communication method of the third aspect.

In an eleventh aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a core network device, where the core network device is a first core network device, and the first core network device includes:

a sending module, configured to send a first message to a first access network device, where the first message is used to instruct the first access network device to release a context of a terminal device, the first message includes first information, the first information includes at least one of information of a first network slice and an identifier of a second core network device, and the information of the first network slice is used to instruct allowed network slice information allocated to the terminal device;

a receiving module, configured to receive a second message from the first access network device, where the second message is a response message to the first message.

Optionally, the source access network device may also implement some or all of the optional implementations of the fourth aspect.

In a twelfth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a terminal device, where the terminal device includes:

a receiving module, configured to receive a first message from an access network device, where the first message is sent by a first core network device, the first message includes first information, the first information includes at least one of information of a first network slice and an identifier of a second core network device, and the information of the first network slice is used to indicate allowed network slice information allocated to a terminal device;

and the sending module is used for sending a second message to the access network equipment, the second message is used for requesting to establish RRC connection, the second message carries notification information, and the notification information is used for notifying the access network equipment that the terminal equipment needs to execute the area updating operation.

Optionally, the terminal device may further implement some or all of the optional implementations of the fifth aspect.

In a thirteenth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides an access network device, where the access network device includes:

a receiving module, configured to receive a first message from a first core network device, where the first message includes first information, and the first information includes at least one of information of a first network slice and an identifier of a second core network device; the information of the first network slice is used for indicating the allowed network slice information distributed for the terminal equipment;

the sending module is used for sending a first message to the terminal equipment;

the receiving module is further configured to receive a second message from the terminal device, where the second message is used to indicate establishment of an RRC connection, and the second message carries notification information, where the notification information is used to notify the access network device that the terminal device needs to perform an area update operation;

the sending module is further configured to send a third message to the first core network device, where the third message is used to instruct the first core network device to delete the context of the terminal device.

Optionally, the access network device may also implement some or all of the optional implementations of the sixth aspect.

In a fourteenth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a core network device, where the core network device is a first core network device, and the first core network device includes:

a sending module, configured to send a first message to an access network device, where the first message includes first information, the first information includes at least one of information of a first network slice and an identifier of a second core network device, and the information of the first network slice is used to indicate allowed network slice information allocated to a terminal device;

a receiving module, configured to receive a third message from the access network device, where the third message is used to instruct the first core network device to delete the context of the terminal device.

Optionally, the first core network device may further implement part or all of the optional implementation manners of the seventh aspect.

In a fifteenth aspect, a communications apparatus is provided. The communication device may be an access network device designed by the method or a chip arranged in the access network device. The communication device includes: a memory for storing computer executable program code; a transceiver, and a processor coupled to the memory and the transceiver. Wherein the program code stored in the memory comprises instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the communication device to perform the method performed by the access network apparatus in any one of the possible designs of the first, second or sixth aspect.

In a sixteenth aspect, a communication device is provided. The communication device may be the core network device designed by the method or a chip arranged in the core network device. The communication device includes: a memory for storing computer executable program code; a transceiver, and a processor coupled to the memory and the transceiver. Wherein the program code stored in the memory comprises instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the communication apparatus to perform the method performed by the core network device of any one of the possible designs of the fourth or seventh aspect.

In a seventeenth aspect, a communication device is provided. The communication device may be the terminal device designed in the above method, or a chip provided in the terminal device. The communication device includes: a memory for storing computer executable program code; a transceiver, and a processor coupled to the memory and the transceiver. Wherein the program code stored in the memory comprises instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the communication apparatus to perform the method performed by the terminal device in any one of the possible designs of the third and fifth aspects.

In an eighteenth aspect, there is provided a computer program product comprising: computer program code for causing a computer to perform the method of the first to seventh aspects above and any possible implementation thereof when the computer program code runs on a computer.

A nineteenth aspect provides a computer-readable medium having program code stored thereon, which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method of the first to seventh aspects above and any possible implementation thereof.

A twentieth aspect provides a chip comprising a processor and a memory, the memory being configured to store a computer program, the processor being configured to retrieve and run the computer program from the memory, the computer program being configured to implement the method of the first to seventh aspects above and any possible implementation thereof.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments or the background art of the present invention, the drawings required to be used in the embodiments or the background art of the present invention will be described below.

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a possible communication system architecture according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 provides an exemplary illustration of an RNA according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 3 is a flow chart illustrating a communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4 is a flow chart illustrating another communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 5 is a flow chart illustrating another communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 6 is a flow chart illustrating another communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of an access network device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of a second access network device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of another access network device provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of another terminal device provided in the embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of a core network device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 13 is a schematic structural diagram of another core network device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

The embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

The description of each network element involved in the embodiments of the present invention is as follows:

the terminal equipment: the UE may be a User Equipment (UE) that accesses a network through an access network device, and may be, for example, a handheld terminal device, a notebook computer, a subscriber unit (subscriber unit), a cellular phone (cellular phone), a smart phone (smart phone), a wireless data card, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) computer, a tablet computer, a wireless modem (modem), a handheld device (hand-held), a laptop computer (laptop computer), a cordless phone (cordless phone), or a Wireless Local Loop (WLL) station, a Machine Type Communication (MTC) terminal device, or other devices that can access the network. The terminal equipment and the access network equipment adopt a certain air interface technology to communicate with each other.

Access Network (RAN) equipment: the wireless network controller is mainly responsible for functions of wireless resource management, quality of service (QoS) management, data compression, encryption and the like on the air interface side. The access network equipment may include various forms of base stations, such as: macro base stations, micro base stations (also referred to as small stations), relay stations, access points, etc. In systems using different radio access technologies, the names of devices with base station functionality may be different, for example, in a fifth generation (5G) system, referred to as a gNB; in an LTE system, referred to as an evolved node B (eNB or eNodeB); in the third generation (3G) system, the node b is called node b (node b).

The core network equipment is used for providing user connection, managing the user and completing bearing of the service. For example, the establishment of the user connection includes functions of Mobility Management (MM), paging (paging), and the like. The user management comprises the description, the Qos and the security of the user (the corresponding security measures provided by the authentication center comprise the security management of the mobile service and the security processing of the access to the external network). Bearer connections include Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) to the outside, external circuit data networks and packet data networks, the Internet (Internet), and so on.

For example, the core network device may include an access and mobility management function (AMF) network element, which is mainly responsible for a signaling processing portion, i.e., a control plane function, including functions of access control, mobility management, attachment and detachment, and the like.

Optionally, the core network device may further include a Session Management Function (SMF) network element: is responsible for session management functions such as session establishment, modification and release, etc.

Optionally, the core network device may further include a User Plane Function (UPF) network element: and the terminal equipment is responsible for forwarding and receiving user data in the terminal equipment. User data can be received from a data network and transmitted to the terminal equipment through the access network equipment; the UPF network element may also receive user data from the terminal device via the access network device and forward the user data to the data network. The transmission resource and scheduling function for providing service for the terminal equipment in the UPF network element are managed and controlled by the SMF network element.

The core network device related to the embodiment of the invention is not limited to AMF network elements, SMF network elements and UPF network elements.

Referring to fig. 1, a schematic diagram of a possible communication system architecture used in an embodiment of the present invention is shown. As shown in fig. 1, it can be seen that the access network device may be connected with at least one terminal device, for example, the access network device 101 is connected with the terminal device 104 and the terminal device 105, respectively, and the access network device 102 is connected with the terminal device 106 and the terminal device 107, respectively. The core network device may be connected to at least one access network device, for example, the access network device 101 and the access network device 102 are respectively connected to the core network device 103.

Based on the communication system architecture diagram shown in fig. 1, during the process of registering or performing TAU/RAU by the terminal device, the terminal device may inform the access network device of its requested network slice (which may be understood as a network slice that is desired to be accessed or can be accessed), and the access network device finally allocates an Allowed network slice information (Allowed NSSAI) to the terminal device according to the requested network slice information sent by the terminal device and the current location (e.g., TA) where the terminal device is located, or the network slice supported by the RA (or the cell or base station where the terminal device is currently located) to be allocated to the terminal device, which may indicate that the terminal device is Allowed to initiate a service corresponding to the Allowed NSSAI.

It can be understood that the allowed network slice information allocated to the terminal device may be described as a network slice allowed to be used by the terminal device on the network side, or may be described as a network slice allowed to be accessed by the terminal device on the network side, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present invention.

In particular, the allowed network slice information may include indication information of one or more network slices, and in the current registration area or tracking area, the terminal device may initiate a session only on the network slice corresponding to the indication information of the one or more network slices included in the allowed network slice information. For example, the allowed network slices include network slice #1, network slice #2, network slice #3, and network slice #4, the terminal device may initiate a session only on network slice #1, network slice #2, network slice #3, and network slice #4 in any one cell in the current TA or RA. It is to be understood that the allowed network slice may also not be limited to the registration area or the tracking area, and for example, may also refer to a network slice in which the terminal device is allowed to initiate a session in the current coverage of the base station or the cell coverage, which is not limited in this application. It is to be understood that the allowed network slices may also be used to indicate the network slices for the core network to support the terminal device initiated session in the current TA or RA, i.e. the network slices for the core network side (excluding the access network side) to allow the terminal device to initiate the session in the current TA or RA. For example, a terminal device may support network slice #1, network slice #2, network slice #3, and network slice #4, the network slices supported by the core network device in the current TA or RA of the terminal device are network slice #1, network slice #2, and network slice #3, the access network device a and the access network device B both belong to the current TA or RA of the terminal device, and the access network device a supports network slice #1 and network slice #2, and the access network device B supports network slice #1 and network slice #3, in the above scenario, the allowed network slices allocated by the core network device for the terminal device may include network slice #1, network slice #2, and network slice #3, so when the terminal device moves to the access network device B, the terminal device may initiate a session in network slice #1 and network slice #3 (but cannot initiate a session in network slice # 2), when the terminal device moves to access network device a, the terminal device can initiate a session at network slice #1 and network slice #2 (but cannot initiate a session at network slice # 3). Due to the mobility of the terminal device, the change of the registered information, or the unavailability of the original core network device providing the network slicing service, the network side device needs to reallocate the Allowed NSSAI (new Allowed NSSAI) for the terminal device, and may also replace the core network device for the terminal device. For example, the network-side device may be an AMF or a Network Slice Selection Function (NSSF).

In the current scheme, when Allowed nsais needs to be reallocated to the terminal device or core network devices need to be replaced for the terminal device, a source core network device (a core network device providing a network slicing service for the terminal device before replacement) sends Non-access stratum (NAS) signaling to the terminal device through an access network device, where the NAS signaling includes a new Allowed nsai allocated by the core network device to the terminal device, and after receiving the NAS signaling, the terminal device releases itself to an idle state and performs a region update (e.g., RAU) process. The core network device may also select an appropriate time to release the context of the terminal device, and record that the state of the terminal device is an idle state. In this way, it is highly likely that the state of the terminal device itself is inconsistent with the state of the terminal device recorded by the core network device, and communication cannot be performed normally.

In practice, the states of the terminal device include an idle (idle) state, a connected (connected) state, and an inactive (inactive) state. For the case that the terminal device is in the connected state, in a possible case, if the terminal device does not receive the NAS signaling, the terminal device will not be released to the idle state, that is, the core network device releases the context of the terminal device and records that the state of the terminal device is the idle state under the condition that it cannot be determined whether the terminal device receives the NAS signaling (that is, the core network device does not determine whether the terminal device enters the idle state), so that the state of the terminal device itself is inconsistent with the state of the terminal device recorded by the core network device. However, since the terminal device is still in the connected state, in the process of sending data to the network side by the terminal device, the core network device cannot continue to provide corresponding services for the terminal device, which may result in a failure in sending data, and thus, effective transmission of data by the terminal device is reduced. Under another condition, the core network device does not release the context of the terminal device in time, and still records that the state of the terminal device is a connected state, at this time, the access network device also considers that the terminal device is a connected state, but the terminal device already enters an idle state under the condition of receiving the NAS signaling, so that the state of the terminal device itself is inconsistent with the states of the terminal device recorded by the core network device and the access network device, which brings a certain resource waste to the access network device and the core network device, and in addition, in the process of sending data to the terminal device by the network side, data sending failure can be caused because the terminal device has entered the idle state.

For the case that the terminal device is in the deactivated state, the access network device needs to discover the terminal device through paging, and send the NAS signaling to the terminal device under the condition of establishing communication connection. In a possible case, if the paging fails, the NAS signaling still cannot be sent to the terminal device. The core network device releases the context of the terminal device and records that the state of the terminal device is an idle state, so that the state of the terminal device is inconsistent with the state of the terminal device recorded by the core network device. In another possible situation, the terminal device has released its own state as an idle state through a paging process, but the core network device has not released the context of the terminal device in time, and still records that the state of the terminal device is a connected state, at this time, the access network device also considers that the terminal device is a connected state, but the terminal device has entered the idle state under the condition of receiving the NAS signaling, so that the state of the terminal device itself is inconsistent with the states of the terminal device recorded by the core network device and the access network device, and certain resource waste is brought to the access network device and the core network device.

In the embodiment of the present invention, an access network device receives a first message from a first core network device, where the first message is used to instruct the access network device to release a context of a terminal device, the first message includes first information, the first information includes at least one of information of a first network slice and an identifier of a second core network device, and the information of the first network slice is used to instruct allowed network slice information allocated to the terminal device; and the access network equipment sends a second message to the first core network equipment, wherein the second message is a response message aiming at the first message. In the embodiment of the present invention, at least one of the allowed network slice information reallocated to the terminal device and the replaced core network device providing the network slice service to the terminal device is indicated by the first information, and in this scenario, since the first access network device may sense the first message for releasing the context of the terminal device, it may be implemented that the state of the terminal device itself is consistent with the state of the terminal device recorded at the network side by the first access network device, so as to implement normal communication. Reference may be made in particular to the following detailed description of the embodiments.

It should be noted that, the embodiment of the present invention may relate to an access network notification area (RNA), where the RNA includes one cell or multiple cells, and if the RNA includes multiple cells, the multiple cells belong to the same access network device or belong to different access network devices, and the different access network devices may be access network devices using the same Radio Access Technology (RAT) or access network devices of different RATs, for example, the access network device may be an eNB in a 4.5G network or a gNB in a 5G network. When the terminal equipment in the Inactive state moves inside the RNA, the terminal equipment does not inform the network side, but only performs cell reselection, and can perform periodic RNA update. When the terminal device in the Inactive state moves to a cell other than the RNA, a location update operation (e.g., RNA update) needs to be performed, which is similar to a TAU in a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network.

It should be noted that the serving access network device according to the embodiment of the present invention is an access network device that can perform signaling interaction or data transmission for the terminal device. Specifically, the terminal device in the Inactive state maintains downlink synchronization with the service access network device, or maintains downlink synchronization with the cell of the service access network device, receives the broadcast signal of the service access network device, and may interact with the core network device through the service access network device.

For example, referring to FIG. 2, an example of RNA is provided for the present invention. As shown in fig. 2, two RNAs, that is, RNA210 and RNA211, are included, where the RNA210 includes an access network device 201 and an access network device 202; RNA211 includes access network device 203, access network device 204, access network device 205, and access network device 206. If the terminal device in the connected state is initially in the coverage area of the access network device 201, and data is not sent for a long time, the terminal device will enter an inactive state, and the access network device 201 has a control plane connection established for the terminal device. If the terminal device in the Inactive state is within the coverage of the access network device 202 included in the RNA210, the serving access network device of the terminal device is the access network device 202. If the terminal device in the Inactive state moves from the coverage of the access network device 202 to the coverage of the access network device 203, i.e. from the RNA210 to the RNA211, the terminal device needs to initiate a location update operation, e.g. an RNA update, to the access network device 203.

It is further noted that the information of the first network slice and the information of the second network slice in the present application comprise indication information of one or more network slices. The indication information of each network slice may include at least one of a network slice identification, single network slice selection assistance information (S-NSSAI), and access network slice selection assistance information (R-NSSAI).

Wherein the network slice identity may be represented by at least one of the following (1) to (7).

(1) The Network slice Type information, for example, may indicate enhanced mobile broadband services (eMBB), Ultra-Reliable Low Latency Communications (URLLC), massive Machine Type Communications (mtc), and other Network slice types, and optionally, the Network slice Type information may also indicate an end-to-end Network slice Type, a Network slice Type including RAN to Core Network (CN), a RAN-side Network slice Type, or a CN-side Network slice Type.

(2) The service type information is related to a specific service, for example, the service type information may indicate service characteristics of a video service, a car networking service, a voice service, and the like, or information of the specific service.

(3) Tenant (Tenant) information indicating customer information to create or lease the network slice, such as Tencent, national grid, etc.

(4) User group information indicating grouping information for grouping users according to a certain characteristic, such as a user's class, etc.

(5) Slice group information indicating that according to a certain characteristic, for example, all network slices that the terminal device can access may be regarded as one slice group, or the grouping of network slices may be divided according to other criteria.

(6) The network slice instance information is used to indicate an instance identifier created for the network slice and feature information, for example, an identifier may be allocated to the network slice instance to indicate the network slice instance, or a new identifier may be mapped on the basis of the network slice instance identifier to associate with the network slice instance, and the receiver may identify a specific network slice instance indicated by the identifier according to the identifier.

(7) A Dedicated Core Network (DCN) identifier, where the DCN identifier is used to uniquely indicate a Dedicated Core Network in a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system or an enhanced LTE (enhanced LTE, LTE) system, for example, a Core Network Dedicated to the internet of things, and optionally, the DCN identifier may be mapped with a Network slice identifier, and the Network slice identifier may be mapped by the DCN identifier, and may also be mapped by the Network slice identifier.

The S-NSSAI at least includes Slice type/Service type (SST) information, and optionally may further include Slice differentiation information (SD). SST information is used to indicate the behavior of a network slice, such as the characteristics of the network slice and the type of service. SD information is the complement information of the SST, and if the SST points to multiple network slice implementations, the SD can correspond to only one network slice instance. In some cases, the S-NSSAI may also contain only SD.

Where R-NSSAI represents the identity of a particular set of S-NSSAIs, i.e., a set of particular S-NSSAIs.

It should be understood that, in this embodiment of the present application, a network slice may use at least one of the above parameters to represent indication information of the network slice, for example, the indication information of the network slice may be represented by a network slice type, or may also be represented by a network slice type and a service type, or may also be represented by a service type plus tenant information, and the like. Optionally, the specific encoding form of the indication information of the network slice is not limited, and different fields of the interface message that can be carried between different devices respectively represent the indication information of different network slices, or may be replaced by abstracted index values, where the different index values respectively correspond to different network slices. Of course, other marks besides the above marks may be used, and are not limited herein. It should be understood that, if the terminal device, the access network device, or the core network device supports multiple network slices, the indication information of the network slices supported by the terminal device, the access network device, or the core network device may be embodied in the form of a list of the at least one identifier.

It should be noted that "having a communication interface" or "having an interface" referred to in the embodiments of the present invention means that a communication interface is established and the communication interface is available (available); reference to "no communication interface" or "no interface" means that no communication interface is established or that an established communication interface is unavailable. The communication interface herein is not limited to a communication interface between an access network device and an access network device, or a communication interface between an access network device and a core network device.

The embodiment of the invention can be applied to other communication systems supporting network slicing. The term "system" may be used interchangeably with "network". The system architecture described in the embodiment of the present invention is for more clearly illustrating the technical solution of the embodiment of the present invention, and does not form a limitation on the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present invention, and it is known by those skilled in the art that along with the evolution of the network architecture, the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present invention is also applicable to similar technical problems.

Referring to fig. 3, a communication method is provided for an embodiment of the present invention. The embodiment of the present invention relates to information of a first network slice and information of a second network slice, where the information of the second network slice is an Allowed NSSAI that is allocated to the terminal device by the network-side device and is currently stored in the terminal device, and the information of the first network slice is an Allowed NSSAI that is reallocated to the terminal device by the network-side device. The network side device may be a first core network device, or may be another core network device, such as an NSSF. The first core network device is a device for providing the second network sliced service for the terminal device, and the third core network device is a device for providing the first network sliced service for the terminal device.

As shown in fig. 3, the communication method includes steps 301 to 313, please refer to the following detailed description.

301, a first core network device sends a first message to a first access network device, where the first message includes first information.

The first information is used to instruct the first access network device to release the Context of the terminal device, for example, the first message is a UE Context release command (UE Context release command). The first information includes at least one of information of a first network slice and an identifier of a second core network device, the information of the first network slice is used for indicating allowed network slice information allocated to the terminal device, and the identifier of the second core network device is used for indicating a device providing a service of the first network slice for the terminal device. Since the first access network device may obtain the first information, the first access network device may determine the third core network device according to the first information.

Optionally, the first message may further include area update indication information, where the area update indication information is used to indicate the terminal device to perform an area update operation. The area update indication information may include TAU indication information, RAU indication information, or the like, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present invention. In case that the terminal device receives the area update indication information, a corresponding area update operation may be performed.

Optionally, the area update indication information may also indicate a reason for the need to initiate an area update, for example, an area update indication based on an allowednsssai change, or an area update indication based on an AMF change. It is understood that the area update and the reason for the area update can be indicated simultaneously by one cell, or the area update and the reason for the area update can be indicated separately by two cells.

Correspondingly, the first access network device receives the first message sent by the first core network device.

302, the first access network device releases the context of the terminal device.

Wherein the first access network device may perform step 302 after receiving the first message. It should be noted that this step may also be performed after step 305.

303, the first access network device sends a second message to the first core network device. The second message is a response message to the first message.

The second message may refer to a response message that the first access network device receives the first message. Alternatively, the second message may refer to a message that the first access network has finished releasing the context of the terminal device, in which case step 303 is performed after step 302. By sending the second message, the core network device may determine that the first access network device can change the state of the terminal device to an idle state, and provide a network sliced service for the terminal device according to the first information.

It should be noted that, the first access network device executes step 303 after receiving the first message sent by the first core network device, but in the embodiment of the present invention, the execution sequence of step 303 and any one of steps 302 to 310 is not sequentially divided.

Correspondingly, the first core network device receives the second message.

304, the first core network device releases the context of the terminal device.

The first core network device may perform step 304 after performing step 301, and the step 304 is not consecutive to the first core network device receiving the second message in the execution sequence.

305, the first access network device sends a third message to the terminal device, where the third message includes the first information, and the third message is used to instruct the terminal device to enter an idle state.

For example, the third message may be a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection release message, i.e., RRC connection release; alternatively, the third message may be an RRC reject message, i.e., an RRC reject message; alternatively, the third message may be an RRC release message, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present invention.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the state of the terminal device before receiving the third message sent by the first access network device is a connected state, so that the first access network device can send the first message to the terminal device. In addition, in the case that the first information at least includes information of the first network slice, on the one hand, the terminal device may determine latest allowed network slice information, and on the other hand, the terminal device may also initiate an area update procedure in the case that the latest allowed network slice information is different from the network slice information stored by the terminal device itself.

Optionally, the area update indication information may also indicate a reason for the need to initiate an area update, for example, an area update indication based on an Allowed NSSAI change, or an area update indication based on an AMF change. It is understood that the area update and the reason for the area update can be indicated simultaneously by one cell, or the area update and the reason for the area update can be indicated separately by two cells.

Optionally, the third message further includes at least one of: physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) resources allocated for the terminal device and an identification of a beam (beam) designated for the terminal device. The beam identifier may be an identifier of the beam, and may be indicated by a time-frequency resource of a cell-level Reference signal (CRS), or may be indicated by a time index (time index), or may be indicated by another identifier, which is not limited in this application. It will be appreciated that if multiple beam identifications are included, the first access network device may rank the multiple beam identifications. For example, the beam identification that is most desirable for the terminal device to use for random access is ranked first.

In the case that the third message includes PRACH resources allocated to the terminal device and multiple beam identifiers specified for the terminal device, each of the multiple beam identifiers corresponds to one allocated PRACH resource, or the multiple beam identifiers correspond to one allocated PRACH resource, or part of the multiple beam identifiers correspond to allocated PRACH resources. The third message comprises the PRACH resource, so that the terminal equipment can perform a random access process based on no competition, and a collision process in the random access process is avoided, thereby reducing time delay; through the beam identification, the terminal equipment does not need to find or estimate the beam which can be initiated in the process of initiating the random access or in the process of sending the RRC message, so that the time delay is reduced.

Correspondingly, the terminal equipment receives the third message and enters an idle state.

306, the terminal device sends a random access preamble to the first access network device.

307, the first access network device sends a random access feedback to the terminal device.

Wherein, steps 306 and 307 are procedures of performing random access between the terminal device and the first access network device after the terminal device enters the idle state, and steps 306 and 307 are optional steps.

Optionally, the terminal device sends the random access preamble on the PRACH resource when the third message includes the PRACH resource. And under the condition that the third message comprises the beam identification, the terminal equipment selects one or more beams corresponding to the beam identification and initiates a random access process on the beams. And under the condition that the third message comprises PRACH resources and beam identifiers, the terminal equipment selects one or more beams corresponding to the beam identifiers, and initiates a random access process on the beams, and if the PRACH resources are allocated to the beams, the terminal equipment initiates the random access process on the beams according to the specified PRACH resources.

308, the terminal device sends an RRC connection request to the first access network device.

309, the first access network device sends an RRC connection setup message to the terminal device.

The terminal device sends an RRC connection setup complete message and an area update request to the first access network device 310.

The RRC connection setup complete message sent by the terminal device may also be an RRC setup complete message, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present invention.

The terminal device is in the idle state executing step 308. The specific process of the terminal device sending the RRC connection setup complete message to the first access network device in step 308, step 309, and step 310 is to establish the RRC connection between the terminal device and the first access network device. In this application, the terminal device in step 310 sends the area update request to the first access network device to update the core network device of the service on the network side, and the new core network device provides the service for the terminal device.

Optionally, the terminal device may transmit the RRC connection setup complete message and the area update request in one sending process, for example, the area update request is carried in the RRC connection setup complete message and sent; or, the RRC connection setup transmission complete message and the area update request may be sent twice, respectively, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present invention.

Optionally, the RRC connection setup complete message may include first information to facilitate the first access network device to determine the third core network device. It should be noted that, in a scenario that the terminal device is required to send the first information to the first access network device, the terminal device may not be limited to the RRC connection setup complete message to implement the transmission of the first information, for example, the terminal device may send the first information separately after sending the RRC connection setup complete message; or the terminal equipment carries the first information in other messages to realize the transmission of the first information.

Optionally, in a case that the third message includes the first information, the terminal device may perform the step of sending the area update request.

Optionally, when the third message does not include the area update indication information, and the first information included in the third message at least includes information of the first network slice, the terminal device matches the information of the first network slice with information of the second network slice, and when the information of the first network slice is inconsistent with the information of the second network slice, the terminal device sends an area update request to the access network device, and the information of the second network slice is an allowed network slice stored by the terminal device. Therefore, even if the third message does not include the area update indication information, under the condition that the allowed NSSAI is reallocated to the terminal equipment, the terminal equipment can determine whether to send the area update request or not by matching the indication information of the network slice, thereby avoiding the transmission of the area update indication information on the air interface side and improving the resource utilization rate of the air interface. In addition, when the information of the first network slice matches and is consistent with the information of the second network slice, the terminal device may not perform entering the idle state, and then may not perform any subsequent steps in the embodiment of the present invention, for example, any step from step 306 to step 313.

Optionally, under the condition that the third message includes the area update indication information, the terminal device may directly send the area update request, so that time wasted by matching the indication information of the network slice is reduced, and efficiency of area update of the terminal device is improved.

And 311, the first access network device determines a third core network device according to the first information.

Wherein step 311 is an optional step. The first information on which the first access network device is based may be implemented according to the following two alternatives.

In a first optional implementation, the first information may be information stored by the first access network device, and specifically, the first access network device stores the first information included in the first message after receiving the first message.

In a second alternative, the first information is sent by the terminal device to the first access network device. For example, the sending of the first information to the first access network device may be implemented during the terminal device and the first access network device perform steps 308 to 310, or after the terminal device performs step 310.

Through the two optional schemes, the first access network device may determine the first information, and determine the third core network device according to the first information.

312, the first access network device sends an area update request to the third core network device.

Accordingly, the third core network device receives the area update request, e.g., RAU request, TAU request, sent by the first access network device.

313, the third core network device sends an area update accept message to the terminal device.

Optionally, the third core network device transparently transmits the area update accept message to the terminal device through the first access network device, for example, the area update accept message is an RAU accept message.

In the embodiment of the present invention, at least one of the allowed network slice information reallocated to the terminal device and the core network device which is replaced to provide the network slice service for the terminal device is indicated by the first information, and in this scenario, since the first access network device may sense the first information for releasing the context of the terminal device, when the context of the terminal device is released by the core network device and the first access network device, the terminal device enters an idle state through interaction between the first access network device and the terminal device, thereby achieving that the state of the terminal device itself is consistent with the state of the terminal device recorded by the network side, so as to avoid occurrence of a situation that data of the terminal device or the network side cannot be successfully sent, thereby achieving normal communication.

Referring to fig. 4, another communication method is provided for the embodiment of the present invention. The embodiment of the present invention relates to information of a first network slice and information of a second network slice, where the information of the second network slice is an Allowed NSSAI that is allocated to the terminal device by the network-side device and is currently stored in the terminal device, and the information of the first network slice is an Allowed NSSAI that is reallocated to the terminal device by the network-side device. The network side device may be a first core network device, or may be another core network device, such as an NSSF. The first core network device is a device for providing the second network sliced service for the terminal device, and the third core network device is a device for providing the first network sliced service for the terminal device. The first access network equipment is connected with the first core network equipment through a control plane established for the terminal equipment when the terminal equipment is in a deactivation state; the second access network device is a service access network device of the terminal device. Fig. 4 is a communication method implemented by a second access network device sending a message indicating that a terminal device enters an idle state.

401, a first core network device sends a first message to a first access network device, where the first message includes first information.

The first information is used for instructing the first access network device to release the context of the terminal device.

The first access network device releases 402 the context of the terminal device. The step has no precedence relation with the subsequent steps.

403, the first access network device sends a second message to the first core network device. The second message is a response message to the first message.

404, the first core network device releases the context of the terminal device.

For specific implementation of steps 401 to 404, refer to detailed descriptions of steps 301 to 304 in the embodiment shown in fig. 3, which are not described herein again.

It should be noted that, the first access network device executes step 403 after receiving the first message sent by the first core network device, but in the embodiment of the present invention, the execution sequence of step 403 and any one of steps 402 to 415 is not sequentially divided.

The first access network device sends a paging message 405.

The paging message is a paging message, for example. Since the state of the terminal device is in the deactivated state in the embodiment of fig. 4, although the first access network device and the first core network device have the control plane connection established for the terminal device, the first access network device cannot determine the area where the terminal device is currently located. Therefore, the first access network device may send a paging message to each third access network device within the RNA range, and the third access network devices each send a paging message within their coverage range to find the terminal device.

406, the terminal device sends an RRC connection recovery request to the second access network device.

The RRC connection recovery request sent by the terminal device may also be an RRC recovery request, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present invention. And under the condition that the terminal equipment receives the paging message, sending an RRC connection recovery request to the access network equipment in the area where the terminal equipment is located, wherein the access network equipment in the area where the terminal equipment is currently located is named as second access network equipment, in other words, the second access network equipment is service access network equipment of the terminal equipment.

Optionally, the identifier of the terminal device in the RRC connection recovery request may uniquely identify the terminal device within the range of the RNA, and optionally, the identifier may also be used to determine the first access network device, for example, the second access network device may determine the first access network device having the control plane connection of the terminal device according to the identifier of the terminal device. For example, the identifier may be a resume ID or an Inactive RNTI.

The second access network device determines 407 the first access network device.

Optionally, the second access network device may determine the first access network device according to the identifier of the terminal device included in the RRC connection recovery request, so that the second access network device communicates with the first access network device, for example, the first access network device sends the first information to the second access network device.

Optionally, the second access network device may further determine the first access network device according to other information, for example, the first access network device identifier included in the RRC connection recovery request.

And 408, the second access network device sends a request message to the first access network device, wherein the request message is used for acquiring the context information of the terminal device.

Wherein, the mutual confirmation between the first access network device and the second access network device can be realized through steps 405 to 408, so as to facilitate the information transmission between the two in the subsequent steps.

409, the first access network equipment sends a fourth message to the terminal equipment, wherein the fourth message comprises the context and the first information of the terminal equipment.

After the second access network device determines the first access network device, the context of the terminal device may be acquired from the first access network device. In the process that the first access network device feeds back the context of the terminal device, the first information may also be included, for example, the fourth message is a context feedback message, for example, a retrieve UE context response.

Optionally, the first access network device may send the first information separately, in addition to sending the first information in the fourth message manner; alternatively, the first information is carried in other messages to effect the transfer of the first information.

Optionally, no matter the first message includes or does not include the area update indication information, the first access network device may further send the area update indication information to the terminal device, for example, the fourth message further includes the area update indication information.

And 410, the second access network device sends a fifth message to the terminal device, wherein the fifth message comprises the first information, and the fifth message is used for indicating the terminal device to enter an idle state.

And 411, the terminal equipment sends the random access preamble to the first access network equipment.

The first access network device sends 412 random access feedback to the terminal device.

413 the terminal device sends an RRC connection request to the first access network device.

414, the first access network device sends an RRC connection setup message to the terminal device.

415, the terminal device sends an RRC connection setup complete message and an area update request to the first access network device.

Optionally, the RRC connection setup complete message includes the first information.

And 416, the first access network equipment determines the third core network equipment according to the first information.

417, the first access network device sends an area update request to the third core network device.

And 418, the third core network equipment sends an area update acceptance message to the terminal equipment.

For specific implementation of steps 410 to 418, refer to detailed description of steps 305 to 313 in the embodiment shown in fig. 3, and the difference between the two is naming of the message, for example, the third message is used in the embodiment shown in fig. 3, and the fifth message is used in the embodiment shown in fig. 4, but the content and possible implementation manners that may be included in the two messages are the same, and are not described again here.

In the embodiment of the present invention, at least one of the allowed network slice information for terminal device reallocation and the replaced core network device providing network slice service for terminal device is indicated by the first information, in this scenario, since the first access network device and the second access network device may be aware of the first message for releasing the context of the terminal device, therefore, under the condition that the core network equipment and the first access network equipment release the context of the terminal equipment, the terminal equipment enters an idle state through the interaction of the second access network equipment and the terminal equipment, further, the first access network equipment and the second access network equipment realize that the state of the terminal equipment is consistent with the state of the terminal equipment recorded by the network side, the situation that data of the terminal equipment or the network side cannot be successfully sent is avoided, and then normal communication is achieved.

Referring to fig. 5, another communication method is provided for the embodiment of the present invention. The embodiment of the present invention relates to information of a first network slice and information of a second network slice, where the information of the second network slice is an Allowed NSSAI that is allocated to the terminal device by the network-side device and is currently stored in the terminal device, and the information of the first network slice is an Allowed NSSAI that is reallocated to the terminal device by the network-side device. The network side device may be a first core network device, or may be another core network device, such as an NSSF. The first core network device is a device for providing the second network sliced service for the terminal device, and the third core network device is a device for providing the first network sliced service for the terminal device. The first access network equipment is connected with the first core network equipment through a control plane established for the terminal equipment when the terminal equipment is in a deactivation state; the second access network device is a service access network device of the terminal device. Fig. 5 is a communication method implemented by the second access network device sending a message instructing the terminal device to establish an RRC connection.

501, a first core network device sends a first message to a first access network device, where the first message includes first information.

The first access network device releases the context of the terminal device 502. The step has no precedence relation with the subsequent steps.

The first access network device sends 503 a second message to the first core network device. The second message is a response message to the first message.

And 504, the first core network equipment releases the context of the terminal equipment.

It should be noted that, the first access network device executes step 503 after receiving the first message sent by the first core network device, but in the embodiment of the present invention, the execution sequence of step 503 and any one of steps 502 to 513 is not sequentially divided.

505, the first access network device sends a paging message.

The terminal device sends an RRC connection recovery request to the second access network device 506.

507, the second access network device determines the first access network device.

And 508, the second access network device sends a request message to the first access network device, wherein the request message is used for acquiring the context information of the terminal device.

509, the first access network device sends a fourth message to the terminal device, the fourth message including the context and the first information of the terminal device.

For specific implementation of steps 505 to 509, refer to detailed descriptions of steps 405 to 409 in the embodiment shown in fig. 4, which are not described herein again.

And 510, the second access network device sends a fifth message to the terminal device, where the fifth message includes the first information, and the fifth message is used to indicate that the terminal device enters a connection state.

Optionally, the fifth message may be an RRC connection setup message or an RRC setup message. After receiving the message, the terminal device may first notify the NAS layer that the RRC recovery fails, so that in the subsequent NAS signaling, the NAS signaling may not be encrypted by using the security authentication algorithm of the first core network device, thereby avoiding a problem that the NAS signaling sent by the terminal device to the third core network device cannot be identified, for example, the NAS signaling sent to the third core network device may be the area update request in step 511.

Optionally, the fifth message may also be an RRC connection recovery message, i.e., an RRC connection resume message or an RRC recovery message. In this case, the terminal device may reuse the configuration reserved before, thereby avoiding reconfiguration and reducing time delay.

It is to be understood that the fifth message may also be other messages, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present invention.

In case the first information comprises at least information of the first network slice, on the one hand the terminal device may determine the latest allowed network slice information, on the other hand the terminal device may also initiate an area update procedure in case the latest allowed network slice information is different from the network slice information stored by the terminal device itself.

Optionally, in a case that the fourth message includes the area update indication information, the fifth message may include the area update indication information to instruct the terminal device to perform the area update operation. Alternatively, in the case that the fourth message does not include the area update indication information, the first access network device may add the area update indication information in the fifth message.

Accordingly, the terminal device receives the fifth message.

The terminal device sends an RRC connection setup complete message (or RRC setup complete message) and an area update request to the first access network device 511.

And 512, the first access network device determines a third core network device according to the first information.

513, the first access network device sends an area update request to the third core network device.

And 514, the third core network equipment sends an area update acceptance message to the terminal equipment.

For specific implementation of steps 511 to 514, reference may be made to detailed descriptions of steps 310 to 313 in the embodiment shown in fig. 3, which are not described herein again.

Referring to fig. 6, another communication method is provided for the embodiment of the present invention. The embodiment of the present invention relates to information of a first network slice, where the information of the first network slice is Allowed NSSAI reallocated for the terminal device. The third core network device is a device that provides the terminal device with the service of the first network slice.

As shown in fig. 6, the communication method includes steps 601 to 613, please refer to the following detailed description.

601, a first core network device sends a first message to a terminal device, where the first message includes first information.

Wherein the first information comprises at least one of information of a first network slice and an identification of a second core network device; the information of the first network slice is used for indicating the allowed network slice information allocated to the terminal equipment, and the identifier of the second core network equipment is used for indicating the equipment providing the service of the first network slice for the terminal equipment. Since the access network device may obtain the first information, the access network device may determine the third core network device according to the first information.

The first message is NAS signaling, and specifically, the first core network device transparently transmits the first message to the terminal device through the access network device, and in this process, the access network device cannot determine information included in the NAS signaling.

Optionally, the first message may further include area update indication information, where the area update indication information is used to indicate the terminal device to perform an area update operation. The area update indication information may include TAU indication information, RAU indication information, and the like, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present invention. In case that the terminal device receives the area update indication information, a corresponding area update operation may be performed.

The terminal device enters an idle state 602.

This step is an optional step. And the terminal equipment receives the first message and enters an idle state.

603, the terminal device sends a second message to the access network device, where the second message is used to request establishment of RRC connection, and the second message includes notification information.

The second message may be an RRC connection establishment request or an RRC establishment request. The notification information is used for notifying the terminal device that the area updating operation needs to be executed.

Optionally, the notification information may also indicate a reason for the terminal device to initiate the area update, for example, an area update indication based on the Allowed NSSAI change, or an area update indication based on the AMF change. It is understood that the area update and the reason for the area update can be indicated simultaneously by one cell, or the area update and the reason for the area update can be indicated separately by two cells.

Accordingly, the access network device receives the second message.

The access network device releases 604 the context of the terminal device.

And after the access network equipment receives the second message, releasing the context of the terminal equipment.

Optionally, step 604, step 605 and step 607 are not in sequence.

605, the access network device sends a third message to the first core network device, where the third message is used to instruct the first core network device to delete the context of the terminal device.

Wherein, the third message may be a context deletion request message of the terminal device.

Optionally, the third message may include notification information.

Correspondingly, the first core network device receives the third message.

And 606, the first core network equipment releases the context of the terminal equipment.

And after the first core network equipment receives the third message, releasing the context of the terminal equipment. Therefore, under the condition that the access network equipment can ensure that the terminal equipment enters an idle state and the access network equipment can release the context of the terminal equipment, the first core network equipment also releases the context of the terminal equipment. And the state of the terminal equipment is consistent with the state of the terminal equipment recorded by the network side, so that the situation that the data of the terminal equipment or the network side cannot be successfully sent is avoided, and the normal operation of communication is realized.

607, the access network device sends an RRC connection setup message to the terminal device.

The terminal device sends an RRC connection complete message and an area update request to the access network device 608.

The specific process of the terminal device sending the RRC connection setup complete message to the access network device in step 607 and step 608 is to establish the RRC connection between the terminal device and the access network device. In this application, the terminal device in step 608 sends the area update request to the access network device to update the core network device of the service on the network side, and the new core network device provides the service for the terminal device.

Optionally, the RRC connection complete message may further include the notification information. In a possible scheme, in the case that the terminal device includes the notification information in the second message sent in step 603, the RRC connection complete message may not include the notification information; for another example, in a case that the terminal device does not include the notification information in the second message sent in step 603, the RRC connection complete message may include the notification information.

Optionally, the terminal device may also not include the first information in the second message sent in step 603, and does not include the first information in the RRC connection setup complete message in step 608, but sends the first information to the access network device separately, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present invention.

609, the access network device determines a third core network device according to the first information.

The access network device sends an area update request to the third core network device 610.

611, the third core network device sends an area update accept message to the terminal device.

The specific implementation of steps 609 to 611 may refer to the detailed description of steps 311 to 313 in the embodiment shown in fig. 3, which is not described herein again.

In this embodiment of the present invention, in a case where the first core network device sends the NAS signaling including the first information, the terminal device may further enable the access network device to determine that the context of the terminal device needs to be released by sending the second message. In this scenario, since the access network device may sense the second message for releasing the context of the terminal device, when the core network device and the access network device release the context of the terminal device, the terminal device enters an idle state, and therefore, the state of the terminal device itself may be consistent with the state of the terminal device recorded by the network side through the access network device, so as to avoid occurrence of a situation that data of the terminal device or the network side cannot be successfully sent, thereby implementing normal communication.

Referring to fig. 7, fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of an access network device according to an embodiment of the present application. The access network device may be a first access network device for implementing the embodiments of fig. 3, 4, 5 or 6. As shown in fig. 7, the access network device 700 includes a receiving module 701 and a transmitting module 702.

In a first possible implementation scheme, the first access network device is configured to implement the embodiment in fig. 3, and specifically includes:

a receiving module 701, configured to receive a first message from a first core network device, where the first message is used to instruct the first access network device to release a context of a terminal device, where the first message includes first information, where the first information includes at least one of information of a first network slice and an identifier of a second core network device, and the information of the first network slice is used to instruct allowed network slice information allocated to the terminal device;

a sending module 702, configured to send a second message to the first core network device, where the second message is a response message to the first message.

Optionally, the sending module 702 is further configured to send a third message to the terminal device, where the third message is used to instruct the terminal device to enter an idle state, and the third message includes the first information.

Optionally, the third message further includes at least one of: the PRACH resource allocated to the terminal equipment and the beam mark appointed to the terminal equipment.

Optionally, in a case that the third message includes PRACH resources allocated to the terminal device and multiple beam identifiers designated for the terminal device and used for initiating the RACH, each of the multiple beam identifiers corresponds to one allocated PRACH resource, or each of the multiple beam identifiers corresponds to one allocated PRACH resource.

Optionally, the first message further includes area update indication information, where the area update indication information is used to indicate the terminal device to perform an area update operation.

Optionally, the receiving module 701 is further configured to receive an area update request and the first information from the terminal device;

the sending module 702 is further configured to send an area update request to a third core network device.

Optionally, the third core network device is determined according to the first information, and the third core network device supports the first network slice.

In a second possible implementation scheme, the first access network device is configured to implement the embodiments in fig. 4 and fig. 5, and specifically includes:

Optionally, the sending module 702 is further configured to send a fourth message to the second access network device when the state of the terminal device is a deactivated state, where the fourth message includes the first information, and the second access network device is a serving access network device of the terminal device.

Optionally, the fourth message further includes area update indication information, where the area update indication information is used to indicate the terminal device to perform an area update operation.

In a third possible implementation scheme, the first access network device is configured to implement the embodiment in fig. 6, and specifically includes:

a receiving module 701, configured to receive a first message from a first core network device, where the first message includes first information, and the first information includes at least one of information of a first network slice and an identifier of a second core network device; the information of the first network slice is used for indicating the allowed network slice information distributed for the terminal equipment;

a sending module 702, configured to send the first message to the terminal device;

the receiving module 701 is further configured to receive a second message from the terminal device, where the second message is used to indicate establishment of an RRC connection, and the second message carries notification information, where the notification information is used to notify the access network device that the terminal device needs to perform an area update operation;

the sending module 702 is further configured to send a third message to the first core network device, where the third message is used to instruct the first core network device to delete the context of the terminal device.

Optionally, the second message further includes the first information.

Optionally, the receiving module 701 is further configured to receive the first information from the terminal device.

Optionally, the receiving module 701 is further configured to receive an area update request from the terminal device;

Optionally, the third message carries notification information.

It can be understood that, regarding the specific implementation manner and corresponding beneficial effects of the functional blocks included in the access network device in fig. 7, reference may be made to the specific descriptions of the embodiments in fig. 3, fig. 4, fig. 5, or fig. 6, which are not described herein again.

In this patent application, the transmitting module may be a transmitter and the receiving module may be a receiver.

Referring to fig. 8, fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of an access network device according to an embodiment of the present application. The access network device may be a second access network device for implementing the embodiments of fig. 4 and 5. As shown in fig. 8, the access network device 800 includes a receiving module 801 and a sending module 802:

a receiving module 801, configured to receive a fourth message from a first access network device, where the fourth message includes first information, where the first information includes at least one of information of a first network slice and an identifier of a core network device, the information of the first network slice is used to indicate allowed network slice information allocated to the terminal device, and the second access network device serves an access network device for the terminal device;

a sending module 802, configured to send a fifth message to the terminal device, where the fifth message includes the first information.

Optionally, the fifth message is used to indicate that the terminal device enters an idle state; or, the fifth message is used to instruct the terminal device to enter a connection state.

It can be understood that, regarding the specific implementation manner and corresponding beneficial effects of the functional blocks included in the access network device in fig. 8, reference may be made to the specific description of the foregoing embodiments in fig. 4 or fig. 5, which is not described herein again.

The access network device in the embodiments shown in fig. 7 and 8 may be implemented as the access network device 900 shown in fig. 9. As shown in fig. 9, a schematic structural diagram of another access network device is provided for the embodiment of the present invention, where the access network device 900 shown in fig. 9 includes: a processor 901 and a transceiver 902, where the transceiver 902 is configured to support information transmission between the access network device 900 and the terminal device, the core network device, and the second access network device in the foregoing embodiments, for example, to implement the functions of the receiving module 701 and the sending module 702 in the embodiment shown in fig. 7, and to implement the function of the receiving module 801 and the sending module 802 in the embodiment shown in fig. 8. The processor 901 and the transceiver 902 are communicatively coupled, for example, by a bus. The access network device 900 may also include memory 903. The memory 903 is used for storing program codes and data for the access network device 900 to execute, and the processor 901 is used for executing the application program codes stored in the memory 903, so as to implement the actions of the access network device provided in any one of the embodiments shown in fig. 3 to fig. 6.

It should be noted that, in practical applications, the access network device may include one or more processors, and the structure of the access network device 900 does not form a limitation to the embodiments of the present application.

The processor 901 may be a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a Network Processor (NP), a hardware chip, or any combination thereof. The hardware chip may be an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a Programmable Logic Device (PLD), or a combination thereof. The PLD may be a Complex Programmable Logic Device (CPLD), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), a General Array Logic (GAL), or any combination thereof.

The memory 903 may include volatile memory (volatile memory), such as Random Access Memory (RAM); the memory 903 may also include a non-volatile memory (non-volatile memory), such as a read-only memory (ROM), a flash memory (flash memory), a Hard Disk Drive (HDD), or a solid-state drive (SSD); the memory 903 may also comprise a combination of memories of the kind described above.

In an embodiment of the present invention, a computer storage medium may be provided, which may be used to store computer software instructions for the access network device in the embodiment shown in fig. 9, and which contain programs for executing the programs designed for the access network device in the foregoing embodiments. The storage medium includes, but is not limited to, flash memory, hard disk, solid state disk.

In an embodiment of the present invention, a computer program product is further provided, where the computer program product, when executed by a computing device, may execute the communication method designed for the access network device in the foregoing fig. 9 embodiment.

Referring to fig. 10, fig. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present application. The terminal device is used to implement the embodiments of fig. 3 to 6.

In a first possible implementation scheme, the terminal device is configured to implement the embodiments of fig. 3 to fig. 5, and the terminal device 1000 includes a receiving module 1001 and a sending module 1002:

a receiving module 1001, configured to receive a fifth message sent by an access network device, where the fifth message is used to indicate that the terminal device enters an idle state, or the fifth message is used to indicate that the terminal device enters a connection state, where the fifth message includes the first information, where the first information includes at least one of information of a first network slice and an identifier of a second core network device, and the information of the first network slice is used to indicate allowed network slice information allocated to the terminal device;

a sending module 1002, configured to send an area update request to the access network device.

Optionally, when the first information at least includes information of a first network slice, the sending module 1002 is specifically configured to, in terms of sending an area update request to the access network device: and sending an area updating request to the access network equipment under the condition that the information of the first network slice is not matched with the information of the second network slice, wherein the information of the second network slice is allowed network slice information stored by the terminal equipment.

Optionally, the sending module 1002 is further configured to send the first information to the access network device.

Optionally, the fifth message further includes at least one of: the PRACH resource allocated to the terminal equipment and the beam mark appointed to the terminal equipment.

Optionally, in a case that the fifth message includes PRACH resources allocated to the terminal device and multiple beam identifiers designated for the terminal device and used for initiating the RACH, each of the multiple beam identifiers corresponds to one allocated PRACH resource, or each of the multiple beam identifiers corresponds to one allocated PRACH resource.

Optionally, the fifth message further includes area update indication information, where the area update indication information is used to indicate the terminal device to perform an area update operation.

In a second possible implementation, the terminal device is configured to implement the embodiment of fig. 6, and the terminal device 1000 includes a receiving module 1001 and a sending module 1002:

a receiving module 1001, configured to receive a first message from an access network device, where the first message is sent by a first core network device, where the first message includes first information, where the first information includes at least one of information of a first network slice and an identifier of a second core network device, and the information of the first network slice is used to indicate allowed network slice information allocated to the terminal device;

a sending module 1002, configured to send a second message to the access network device, where the second message is used to request to establish an RRC connection, and the second message carries notification information, and the notification information is used to notify the access network device that the terminal device needs to perform an area update operation.

Optionally, the second message further includes the first information.

Optionally, the sending module 1002 is further configured to send an area update request to the access network device.

In this patent application, the transmitting module 1002 may be a transmitter and the receiving module 1001 may be a receiver.

The terminal device shown in fig. 10 described above may be implemented with the terminal device 1100 shown in fig. 11. As shown in fig. 11, a schematic structural diagram of another terminal device is provided for the embodiment of the present invention, and a terminal device 1100 shown in fig. 11 includes: a processor 1101 and a transceiver 1102, where the transceiver 1102 is configured to support information transmission between the terminal device 1100 and the core network device, the first access network device, and the second access network device in the foregoing embodiments, for example, to implement the functions of the receiving module 1001 and the sending module 1002 in the embodiment shown in fig. 10. The processor 1101 and the transceiver 1102 are communicatively coupled, such as by a bus. The terminal device 1100 may also include a memory 1103. The memory 1103 is used for storing program codes and data for the terminal device 1100 to execute, and the processor 1101 is used for executing the application program codes stored in the memory 1103 to implement the actions of the terminal device provided in any one of the embodiments shown in fig. 3 to 6.

It should be noted that, in practical applications, the terminal device may include one or more processors, and the structure of the terminal device 1100 does not constitute a limitation to the embodiments of the present application.

The processor 1101 may be a CPU, NP, hardware chip or any combination thereof. The hardware chip may be an ASIC, PLD, or a combination thereof. The PLD may be a CPLD, an FPGA, a GAL, or any combination thereof.

The memory 1103 may include volatile memory, such as RAM; the memory 1103 may also include non-volatile memory, such as ROM, flash memory, a hard disk, or a solid state disk; the memory 1103 may also comprise a combination of memories of the kind described above.

In the embodiment of the present invention, a computer storage medium may be provided, which may be used to store computer software instructions for the terminal device in the embodiment shown in fig. 10, and which includes a program designed for the terminal device in the foregoing embodiment. The storage medium includes, but is not limited to, flash memory, hard disk, solid state disk.

In the embodiment of the present invention, a computer program product is further provided, and when the computer program product is executed by a computing device, the computer program product may execute the communication method designed for the terminal device in the embodiment shown in fig. 10.

Referring to fig. 12, fig. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of a core network device according to an embodiment of the present application. The core network device is used to implement the embodiments of fig. 3 to 6. As shown in fig. 12, the core network apparatus 1200 includes a sending module 1201 and a receiving module 1202.

In a first possible implementation scheme, the first core network device is configured to implement the embodiments in fig. 3 to fig. 5, and specifically includes:

a sending module 1201, configured to send a first message to a first access network device, where the first message is used to instruct the first access network device to release a context of a terminal device, the first message includes first information, the first information includes at least one of information of a first network slice and an identifier of a second core network device, and the information of the first network slice is used to instruct allowed network slice information allocated to the terminal device;

a receiving module 1202, configured to receive a second message from the first access network device, where the second message is a response message to the first message.

In a second possible implementation scheme, the first core network device is configured to implement the embodiment in fig. 6, and specifically includes:

a sending module 1201, configured to send a first message to an access network device, where the first message includes first information, where the first information includes at least one of information of a first network slice and an identifier of a second core network device, and the information of the first network slice is used to indicate allowed network slice information allocated to the terminal device;

a receiving module 1202, configured to receive a third message from the access network device, where the third message is used to instruct the first core network device to delete the context of the terminal device.

It can be understood that, regarding the specific implementation manner and corresponding beneficial effects of the functional blocks included in the core network device in fig. 12, reference may be made to the specific descriptions of the embodiments in fig. 3, fig. 4, fig. 5, or fig. 6, which are not described herein again.

In this patent application, the transmitting module 1201 may be a transmitter and the receiving module 1202 may be a receiver.

The core network device shown in fig. 12 may be implemented as the core network device 1300 shown in fig. 13. As shown in fig. 13, a schematic structural diagram of another core network device is provided for the embodiment of the present invention, and a core network device 1300 shown in fig. 13 includes: a processor 1301 and a transceiver 1302, where the transceiver 1302 is configured to support information transmission between the core network device 1300 and the access network device and the terminal device in the foregoing embodiments, for example, to implement the functions of the sending module 1201 and the receiving module 1202 in the embodiment shown in fig. 12. The processor 1301 and the transceiver 1302 are communicatively coupled, such as by a bus. The core network device 1300 may further include a memory 1303. The memory 1303 is configured to store program codes and data for the core network device 1300 to execute, and the processor 1301 is configured to execute the application program codes stored in the memory 1303, so as to implement the actions of the core network device provided in any embodiment shown in fig. 3 to fig. 6.

It should be noted that, in practical applications, the core network device may include one or more processors, and the structure of the core network device 1300 does not form a limitation to the embodiments of the present application.

The processor 1301 may be a CPU, NP, hardware chip, or any combination thereof. The hardware chip may be an ASIC, PLD, or a combination thereof. The PLD may be a CPLD, an FPGA, a GAL, or any combination thereof.

The memory 1303 may include volatile memory, such as RAM; the memory 1303 may also include non-volatile memory, such as ROM, flash memory, a hard disk, or a solid state disk; the memory 1303 may also comprise a combination of the above-mentioned kinds of memories.

In an embodiment of the present invention, a computer storage medium may be provided, where the computer storage medium is used to store computer software instructions used by the core network device in the embodiment shown in fig. 12, and includes a program for executing the program designed for the core network device in the foregoing embodiment. The storage medium includes, but is not limited to, flash memory, hard disk, solid state disk.

In an embodiment of the present invention, a computer program product is further provided, and when being executed by a computing device, the computer program product may execute the communication method designed for the core network device in the embodiment shown in fig. 12.

The terms "first," "second," "third," and "fourth," etc. in the description and claims of this application and in the accompanying drawings are used for distinguishing between different objects and not for describing a particular order. Furthermore, the terms "include" and "have," as well as any variations thereof, are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions. For example, a process, method, system, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of steps or elements is not limited to only those steps or elements listed, but may alternatively include other steps or elements not listed, or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus.

It should be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that, in the various embodiments of the present application, the sequence numbers of the above-mentioned processes do not mean the execution sequence, and the execution sequence of the processes should be determined by their functions and inherent logic, and should not limit the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application.

In the above embodiments, the implementation may be wholly or partially realized by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, may be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When loaded and executed on a computer, cause the processes or functions described in accordance with the embodiments of the invention to occur, in whole or in part. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a network of computers, or other programmable device. The computer instructions may be stored in a computer readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer readable storage medium to another, for example, from one website site, computer, server, or data center to another website site, computer, server, or data center via wired (e.g., coaxial cable, fiber optic, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.). The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device, such as a server, a data center, etc., that incorporates one or more of the available media. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium (e.g., floppy Disk, hard Disk, magnetic tape), an optical medium (e.g., DVD), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., Solid State Disk (SSD)), among others.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that all or part of the processes of the methods of the embodiments described above can be implemented by a computer program, which can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium, and when executed, can include the processes of the embodiments of the methods described above. The storage medium may be a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a Read-Only Memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), or the like.

The above disclosure is only for the purpose of illustrating the preferred embodiments of the present invention, and it is therefore to be understood that the invention is not limited by the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

1. A method of communication, comprising:

a first access network device receives a first message from a first core network device, wherein the first message is used for instructing the first access network device to release the context of a terminal device, the first message comprises first information, the first information comprises at least one of information of a first network slice and an identifier of a second core network device, and the information of the first network slice is used for indicating allowed network slice information allocated to the terminal device;

and the first access network equipment sends a second message to the first core network equipment, wherein the second message is a response message aiming at the first message.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

and the first access network equipment sends a third message to the terminal equipment, wherein the third message is used for indicating the terminal equipment to enter an idle state, and the third message comprises the first information.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the third message further comprises at least one of: the PRACH resource allocated to the terminal equipment and the beam mark appointed to the terminal equipment.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein in the case that the third message includes PRACH resources allocated to the terminal device and a plurality of beam identifiers specified for the terminal device to initiate RACH, each beam identifier of the plurality of beam identifiers corresponds to one allocated PRACH resource, or each beam identifier of the plurality of beam identifiers corresponds to one allocated PRACH resource.

5. The method according to any of claims 2-4, wherein the first message further comprises area update indication information, and the area update indication information is used for indicating the terminal device to perform an area update operation.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1-4, further comprising:

the first access network equipment receives an area updating request and the first information from the terminal equipment;

and the first access network equipment sends an area updating request to the third core network equipment.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the third core network device is determined from the first information, and wherein the third core network device supports the first network slice.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

and under the condition that the state of the terminal equipment is a deactivated state, the first access network equipment sends a fourth message to second access network equipment, wherein the fourth message comprises the first information, and the second access network equipment is service access network equipment of the terminal equipment.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the fourth message further includes area update indication information, and the area update indication information is used to instruct the terminal device to perform an area update operation.

10. A method of communication, comprising:

when the state of the terminal device is a deactivated state, the second access network device receives a fourth message from the first access network device, where the fourth message includes a context of the terminal device and first information, the first information includes at least one of information of a first network slice and an identifier of a core network device, the information of the first network slice is used to indicate allowed network slice information allocated to the terminal device, and the second access network device serves the access network device for the terminal device;

the second access network equipment sends a fifth message to the terminal equipment, wherein the fifth message comprises the first information; the fifth message is used for indicating the terminal equipment to enter an idle state; or, the fifth message is used to instruct the terminal device to enter a connection state.

11. A method of communication, comprising:

the method comprises the steps that terminal equipment receives a fifth message sent by access network equipment, wherein the fifth message is used for indicating the terminal equipment to enter an idle state, or the fifth message is used for indicating the terminal equipment to enter a connection state, the fifth message comprises first information, the first information comprises at least one of information of a first network slice and an identifier of second core network equipment, and the information of the first network slice is used for indicating allowed network slice information distributed for the terminal equipment;

and the terminal equipment sends an area updating request to the access network equipment.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein in the case that the first information at least includes information of a first network slice, the sending, by the terminal device, an area update request to the access network device includes:

and under the condition that the information of the first network slice is not matched with the information of the second network slice, the terminal equipment sends an area updating request to the access network equipment, wherein the information of the second network slice is allowed network slice information stored by the terminal equipment.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

and the terminal equipment sends the first information to the access network equipment.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the fifth message further comprises at least one of: the PRACH resource allocated to the terminal equipment and the beam mark appointed to the terminal equipment.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein in the case that the fifth message includes PRACH resource allocated to the terminal device and a plurality of beam identities designated for the terminal device to initiate RACH, each of the plurality of beam identities corresponds to one allocated PRACH resource, or each of the plurality of beam identities corresponds to one allocated PRACH resource.

16. The method according to any of claims 11-15, wherein the fifth message further comprises area update indication information, and the area update indication information is used to instruct the terminal device to perform an area update operation.

17. A method of communication, comprising:

a first core network device sends a first message to a first access network device, wherein the first message is used for indicating the first access network device to release the context of a terminal device, the first message comprises first information, the first information comprises at least one of information of a first network slice and an identifier of a second core network device, and the information of the first network slice is used for indicating allowed network slice information allocated to the terminal device;

and the first core network equipment receives a second message from the first access network equipment, wherein the second message is a response message aiming at the first message.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein the first message further includes area update indication information, and the area update indication information is used to instruct the terminal device to perform an area update operation.

19. An access network device, wherein the access network device is a first access network device, wherein the first access network device comprises a processor and a transceiver:

the processor receives a first message from a first core network device through the transceiver, the first message being used for instructing the first access network device to release the context of a terminal device, the first message including first information, the first information including at least one of information of a first network slice and an identifier of a second core network device, the information of the first network slice being used for indicating allowed network slice information allocated for the terminal device;

and the processor sends a second message to the first core network device through the transceiver, wherein the second message is a response message aiming at the first message.

20. The access network device of claim 19,

and the processor sends a third message to the terminal equipment through the transceiver, wherein the third message is used for indicating the terminal equipment to enter an idle state, and the third message comprises the first information.

21. The access network device of claim 19,

and the processor sends a fourth message to a second access network device through the transceiver when the state of the terminal device is a deactivated state, wherein the fourth message includes the first information, and the second access network device is a service access network device of the terminal device.

22. The access network device of claim 21, wherein the fourth message further includes area update indication information, and the area update indication information is used to instruct the terminal device to perform an area update operation.

23. An access network device, wherein the access network device is a second access network device, and wherein the second access network device comprises a processor and a transceiver:

the processor receives, through the transceiver, a fourth message from a first access network device when a state of a terminal device is a deactivated state, where the fourth message includes a context of the terminal device and first information, the first information includes at least one of information of a first network slice and an identifier of a core network device, the information of the first network slice is used to indicate allowed network slice information allocated to the terminal device, and the second access network device serves the access network device for the terminal device;

the processor sends a fifth message to the terminal device through the transceiver, wherein the fifth message includes the first information, and the fifth message is used for indicating the terminal device to enter an idle state; or, the fifth message is used to instruct the terminal device to enter a connection state.

24. A terminal device, comprising a processor and a transceiver:

the processor receives a fifth message sent by an access network device through the transceiver, where the fifth message is used to indicate that the terminal device enters an idle state, or the fifth message is used to indicate that the terminal device enters a connection state, where the fifth message includes first information, where the first information includes at least one of information of a first network slice and an identifier of a second core network device, and the information of the first network slice is used to indicate allowed network slice information allocated to the terminal device;

the processor sends an area update request to the access network device through the transceiver.

25. The terminal device of claim 24, wherein in case the first information comprises at least information of a first network slice, the transceiver is specifically configured to, in sending an area update request to the access network device: and sending an area updating request to the access network equipment under the condition that the information of the first network slice is not matched with the information of the second network slice, wherein the information of the second network slice is allowed network slice information stored by the terminal equipment.

26. The terminal device according to claim 24 or 25,

the processor sends the first information to the access network device through the transceiver.

27. The terminal device according to claim 24 or 25, wherein the fifth message further comprises area update indication information, and the area update indication information is used to instruct the terminal device to perform an area update operation.

28. A core network device, wherein the core network device is a first core network device, and the first core network device includes a processor and a transceiver:

the processor sends a first message to a first access network device through the transceiver, where the first message is used to instruct the first access network device to release a context of a terminal device, the first message includes first information, the first information includes at least one of information of a first network slice and an identifier of a second core network device, and the information of the first network slice is used to instruct allowed network slice information allocated to the terminal device;

the processor receives a second message from the first access network device through the transceiver, the second message being a response message to the first message.