CN110366209B

CN110366209B - Communication method and device

Info

Publication number: CN110366209B
Application number: CN201810312940.2A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 韦安妮; 吴义壮; 熊春山
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2018-04-09
Filing date: 2018-04-09
Publication date: 2021-12-03
Anticipated expiration: 2038-04-09
Also published as: CN110366209A

Abstract

The application provides a communication method and a device, wherein the method comprises the following steps: the terminal device receives information from a first reflection QoS timer of the SMF network element, and determines a second reflection QoS timer for the derived QoS rule according to the information from the first reflection QoS timer, wherein the value of the second reflection QoS timer is not greater than the value of the first reflection QoS timer. The terminal equipment can flexibly determine different reflection QoS timers for different derived QoS rules by determining the second reflection timer according to the first reflection QoS timer configured by the SMF network element, so that the reflection QoS timers of the derived QoS rules can adapt to the service characteristics, and the resource waste of the terminal equipment is avoided.

Description

Communication method and device

Technical Field

The present application relates to communications technologies, and in particular, to a communication method and apparatus.

Background

In a fifth Generation mobile communication (5Generation, 5G) network, a QoS model based on QoS flow (Quality of Service) is proposed. In a 5G network, a User Equipment (UE) may establish one or more Packet Data Unit (PDU) sessions with the 5G network, where each PDU session may establish one or more QoS flows. Each QoS Flow is uniquely identified by a QoS Flow Identifier (QFI).

In order to simplify the QoS design of the 5G network and save the signaling overhead of issuing QoS rules (rule) by the network, a reflection QoS (reflective QoS) mechanism is introduced into the 5G network. The Reflective QoS mechanism means that the uplink data adopts the same QoS as the corresponding downlink data. The UE determines to adopt a Reflective QoS mechanism according to Reflective QoS Indication (RQI) information included in downlink data, and then generates a derived or derived QoS rule, where the derived QoS rule includes a Packet Filter (Packet Filter), a QFI, and a priority value (Precedence value). How to guarantee the normal communication under the mechanism is a considerable problem.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a communication method and a communication device, which aim to guarantee normal communication under the condition of adopting reflection QoS.

A first aspect of the present application provides a method of communication, comprising: the terminal equipment receives information of a first reflection QoS timer from an SMF network element, and determines a second reflection QoS timer for a derived QoS rule according to the information of the first reflection QoS timer, wherein the value of the second reflection QoS timer is not greater than that of the first reflection QoS timer.

The terminal equipment determines the second reflection timer according to the first reflection QoS timer configured by the SMF network element, so that different reflection QoS timers can be flexibly determined for different derived QoS rules, the reflection QoS timers of the derived QoS rules can adapt to business characteristics, and the situation that useless derived QoS rules occupy memory resources of the terminal equipment and processing resources of the terminal equipment are occupied by frequently deleting or generating the derived QoS rules is avoided.

Optionally, the determining, by the terminal device, a second reflection QoS timer for a derived QoS rule according to the information of the first reflection QoS timer includes: and the terminal equipment determines the second reflection QoS timer for the derived QoS rule according to the information of the first reflection QoS timer and the selection strategy of the reflection QoS timer.

The terminal equipment flexibly determines different reflection QoS timers for different derived QoS rules in the same PDU session according to the selection strategy of the reflection QoS timers, so that the reflection QoS timers can better adapt to the service characteristics.

Optionally, the selection policy of the reflection QoS timer includes any one of the following policies:

a correspondence of byte size of derived QoS rules generated by the PDU session to a value of the reflection QoS timer;

the number of derived QoS rules generated by PDU session and the corresponding relation of the value of reflection QoS timer;

the PDU session includes a correspondence of an identification of the QoS flow to a value of the reflection QoS timer.

Optionally, the determining, by the terminal device, a second reflection QoS timer for a derived QoS rule according to the information of the first reflection QoS timer includes: and the terminal equipment determines the second reflection QoS timer for the derived QoS rule according to the information of the first reflection QoS timer and the transmission mode of the service flow.

The terminal equipment flexibly determines different reflection QoS timers for different service flows under the same PDU session by detecting the transmission mode of the service flows according to the transmission mode of the service flows, so that the reflection QoS timers can better adapt to service characteristics.

A second aspect of the present application provides a communication method, including: the SMF network element receives information of a first reflection QoS timer from the PCF network element and sends the information of the first reflection QoS timer to the terminal equipment, the information of the first reflection QoS timer is used for the terminal equipment to determine a second reflection timer for a derived QoS rule, and the value of the second reflection QoS timer is not greater than that of the first reflection QoS timer.

The SMF network element sends the information of the first reflection QoS timer to the terminal equipment, so that the terminal equipment can determine the second reflection timer according to the information of the first reflection QoS timer, different reflection QoS timers can be flexibly determined for different derived QoS rules, the reflection QoS timers of the derived QoS rules can adapt to the service characteristics, and the situation that useless derived QoS rules occupy memory resources of the terminal equipment and processing resources of the terminal equipment are occupied by frequently deleting or generating the derived QoS rules is avoided.

Optionally, the method further includes:

the SMF network element sends a selection strategy of a reflection QoS timer to the terminal equipment;

the selection policy of the reflection QoS timer includes any one of the following policies:

a mapping of byte size of derived QoS rules generated by a packet data unit, PDU, session to a value of a reflection QoS timer;

The SMF network element sends the selection strategy of the reflection QoS timer to the terminal equipment, so that the terminal equipment can flexibly determine different reflection QoS timers for different derived QoS rules in the same PDU session, and the reflection QoS timers can better adapt to the service characteristics.

Optionally, the method further includes: and the SMF network element sends the information of the first reflection QoS timer to a UPF network element so that the UPF network element performs QFI verification according to the information of the first reflection QoS timer.

A third aspect of the present application provides a communication method, including: the terminal device receives information from at least two reflection QoS timers of a session management function, SMF, network element, from which reflection QoS timers are determined for derived QoS rules.

According to the multiple reflection QoS timers configured by the SMF network element, the terminal equipment flexibly determines different reflection QoS timers for different derived QoS rules from the multiple reflection QoS timers, so that the reflection QoS timers of the derived QoS rules can adapt to the service characteristics, and the situation that useless derived QoS rules occupy the memory resources of the terminal equipment and the situation that the processing resources of the terminal equipment are occupied by frequently deleting or generating the derived QoS rules is avoided.

Optionally, the determining, by the terminal device, a reflection QoS timer for a derived QoS rule from the at least two reflection QoS timers includes: and the terminal equipment determines a reflection QoS timer for the derived QoS rule from the at least two reflection QoS timers according to the selection strategy of the reflection QoS timer and the information of the at least two reflection QoS timers.

The terminal equipment flexibly determines different reflection QoS timers from the multiple reflection QoS timers for different derived QoS rules in the same PDU session according to the selection strategy of the reflection QoS timers, so that the reflection QoS timers can better adapt to the service characteristics.

the corresponding relation between the number of derived QoS rules generated by PDU conversation and the value of reflection QoS timer;

Optionally, the determining, by the terminal device, a reflection QoS timer for a derived QoS rule from the at least two reflection QoS timers includes: and the terminal equipment determines a reflection QoS timer for the derived QoS rule from the at least two reflection QoS timers according to the transmission mode of the service flow and the information of the at least two reflection QoS timers.

The terminal equipment flexibly determines different reflection QoS timers for different service flows under the same PDU session from a plurality of reflection QoS timers by detecting the transmission mode of the service flows according to the transmission mode of the service flows, so that the reflection QoS timers can better adapt to service characteristics.

A fourth aspect of the present application provides a communication method, including: the SMF network element sends information of at least two reflection QoS timers to a terminal device, and the SMF network element sends the information of the at least two reflection QoS timers or the information of the reflection QoS timer with the maximum value in the at least two reflection QoS timers to a UPF network element.

The SMF network element sends the information of at least two reflection QoS timers to the terminal equipment, so that the terminal equipment can flexibly determine different reflection QoS timers for different derived QoS rules from the multiple reflection QoS timers, the reflection QoS timers of the derived QoS rules can adapt to the traffic characteristics, and the phenomenon that useless derived QoS rules occupy the memory resource of the terminal equipment and the processing resource of the terminal equipment is occupied by frequently deleting or generating the derived QoS rules is avoided.

Optionally, the method further includes:

and the SMF network element sends a selection strategy of a reflection QoS timer to the terminal equipment and the UPF network element.

Optionally, before the SMF network element sends the information of the at least two reflection quality of service QoS timers to the terminal device, the method further includes: and the SMF network element receives the information of the at least two reflection QoS timers sent by the PCF network element.

A fifth aspect of the present application provides a communication method, including: the PCF network element receives a mapping relation between DNN from the NWDA and information of the reflection QoS timer, wherein the mapping relation comprises the mapping relation between at least one DNN and the information of the reflection QoS timer, and each DNN corresponds to the information of at least two reflection QoS timers;

and the PCF network element controls and charges a PCC rule to the SMF network element strategy, wherein the PCC rule comprises a mapping relation between at least one DNN and the information of the reflection QoS timer.

The NWDA obtains rough service types of different DNNs through a large amount of data statistics, and accordingly provides a corresponding reflection QoS timer list for the DNN according to the service types for the PCF network element to select, and the reflection QoS timer list selected by the PCF network element for the terminal equipment can be matched with the service characteristics of the terminal equipment.

A sixth aspect of the present application provides a communication method, including: and the terminal equipment determines that the derived QoS rule cannot be newly added, and sends an uplink data packet to the UPF network element, wherein the uplink data packet is used for indicating that the derived QoS rule cannot be newly added by the terminal equipment.

When the terminal equipment determines that the derived QoS rule cannot be newly added, the UPF network element is informed of the fact that the terminal equipment cannot newly add the derived QoS rule through user plane data (uplink data packet), and signaling overhead is reduced.

Optionally, the QoS flow identifier in the uplink data packet is a QoS flow identifier corresponding to a derived default QoS rule or a QoS flow identifier corresponding to a default QoS rule, and the QoS flow identifier corresponding to the derived default QoS rule or the QoS flow identifier corresponding to the default QoS rule is used to indicate that the terminal device cannot add the derived QoS rule newly.

Optionally, the uplink data packet is an empty data packet, and the empty data packet is used to indicate that the terminal device cannot newly add a derived QoS rule.

Optionally, the uplink data packet carries indication information, where the indication information is used to indicate that the terminal device cannot add a derived QoS rule.

A seventh aspect of the present application provides a communication method, including:

the method comprises the steps that a UPF network element receives an uplink data packet from a terminal device, the uplink data packet is used for indicating that the terminal device cannot newly add a derived QoS rule, and first indication information is sent to an SMF network element and used for indicating that the terminal device cannot newly add the derived QoS rule.

The UPF network element determines that the terminal equipment cannot newly add a derived QoS rule according to user plane data (uplink data packet) sent by the terminal equipment, and informs the SMF network element, so that signaling overhead is reduced.

Optionally, the method further includes:

and the UPF network element receives second indication information from the SMF network element, wherein the second indication information is used for indicating that the UPF network element does not reflect a QoS indication RQI mark to the service of the terminal equipment.

And the UPF network element stops performing RQI marking on the service of the terminal equipment according to the second indication information, so that the terminal equipment can automatically delete the derived QoS rule, and after the derived QoS rule is reduced, the terminal equipment can reprocess the reflection QoS.

An eighth aspect of the present application provides a communication method, including: the terminal equipment receives the derived QoS rule number expected by the PDU session from the SMF network element, and determines whether the PDU session uses the reflection QoS according to the derived QoS rule number expected by the PDU session and the resource information of the terminal equipment.

The method can avoid the problem that the terminal equipment cannot process the reflection QoS due to insufficient processing capacity of the terminal equipment or insufficient resources of a memory.

Optionally, the number of derived QoS rules expected for the PDU session is sent by the SMF network element during the PDU session establishment procedure or the PDU session modification procedure.

Optionally, when the terminal device determines that the PDU session uses the reflection QoS, the method further includes: and the terminal equipment indicates the SMF network element that the terminal equipment supports the PDU session to use the reflection QoS.

Optionally, the instructing, by the terminal device, the SMF network element that the terminal device supports the PDU session using reflection QoS includes: and the terminal equipment sends the number of the remaining derived QoS rules which can be supported by the terminal equipment to the SMF network element.

The terminal equipment sends the number of the residual derived QoS rules which can be supported by the terminal equipment to the SMF network element, so that the SMF network element can accurately acquire the resource condition of the terminal equipment, and the terminal equipment can be better subjected to reflection QoS processing.

A ninth aspect of the present application provides a communication method, including: the SMF network element sends the derived QoS rule number expected by the PDU session to the terminal equipment, and receives the indication information sent by the terminal equipment, wherein the indication information is used for indicating that the terminal equipment supports the PDU session to use the reflection QoS.

The SMF network element enables the terminal equipment to estimate own resources by sending derived QoS rule number expected by the PDU session to the terminal equipment, and the problem that the terminal equipment cannot process reflected QoS due to insufficient resources of the terminal equipment can be avoided.

Optionally, the method further includes:

and the SMF network element receives the number of the remaining derived QoS rules which can be supported by the terminal equipment and is sent by the terminal equipment.

A tenth aspect of the present application provides a communication method, including: and the terminal equipment resets a reflection quality of service (QoS) timer of a derived QoS rule according to the uplink data packet and sends the uplink data packet to a User Plane Function (UPF) network element.

In this embodiment, the terminal device resets the reflection QoS timer of the derived QoS rule according to the uplink data packet, so that it can be avoided that the uplink data packet is not lost or the QoS requirement of the uplink data packet can still be met when the derived QoS rule is deleted when no downlink data packet is transmitted.

An eleventh aspect of the present application provides a communication method, including: and the UPF network element receives an uplink data packet from the terminal equipment, and resets the reflecting quality of service (QoS) timer according to the uplink data packet.

The UPF network element can ensure that the reflection QoS timer on the UPF is consistent with the reflection QoS timer of the derived QoS rule of the terminal device by resetting the reflection QoS timer according to the uplink data packet.

A twelfth aspect of the present application provides a communication apparatus comprising:

a receiving module, configured to receive information of a first reflection quality of service QoS timer from a session management function, SMF, network element;

a processing module, configured to determine a second reflection QoS timer for a derived QoS rule according to information of the first reflection QoS timer, where a value of the second reflection QoS timer is not greater than a value of the first reflection QoS timer.

Optionally, the processing module is specifically configured to: determining the second reflection QoS timer for the derived QoS rule according to the information of the first reflection QoS timer and a selection policy of reflection QoS timers.

Optionally, the processing module is specifically configured to: and determining the second reflection QoS timer for the derived QoS rule according to the information of the first reflection QoS timer and the transmission mode of the traffic flow.

A thirteenth aspect of the present application provides a communication apparatus comprising:

a receiving module, configured to receive information of a first reflection quality of service QoS timer from a PCF network element;

a sending module, configured to send information of the first reflection QoS timer to a terminal device, where the information of the first reflection QoS timer is used by the terminal device to determine a second reflection QoS timer for a derived QoS rule, and a value of the second reflection QoS timer is not greater than a value of the first reflection QoS timer.

Optionally, the sending module is further configured to:

sending a selection strategy of a reflection QoS timer to the terminal equipment;

Optionally, the sending module is further configured to: and sending the information of the first reflection QoS timer to a UPF network element.

A fourteenth aspect of the present application provides a communication apparatus comprising:

a receiving module, configured to receive information of at least two reflection QoS timers from a session management function, SMF, network element;

a processing module for determining a reflection QoS timer for a derived QoS rule from the at least two reflection QoS timers.

Optionally, the processing module is specifically configured to: determining a reflection QoS timer from the at least two reflection QoS timers for the derived QoS rule according to a selection policy of the reflection QoS timer and information of the at least two reflection QoS timers.

Optionally, the processing module is specifically configured to: determining a reflection QoS timer for the derived QoS rule from the at least two reflection QoS timers according to a transmission mode of a traffic flow and information of the at least two reflection QoS timers.

A fifteenth aspect of the present application provides a communication apparatus comprising:

a sending module, configured to send information of at least two reflection QoS timers to a terminal device, and send information of the at least two reflection QoS timers or information of a reflection QoS timer with a largest median value among the at least two reflection QoS timers to a UPF network element.

Optionally, the sending module is further configured to: and sending a selection strategy of a reflection QoS timer to the terminal equipment and the UPF network element.

Optionally, the method further includes: and the receiving module is used for receiving the information of the at least two reflection QoS timers sent by the PCF network element.

A sixteenth aspect of the present application provides a communication apparatus comprising:

a receiving module, configured to receive a mapping relationship between DNNs from an NWDA and information of reflection QoS timers, where the mapping relationship includes a mapping relationship between at least one DNN and information of reflection QoS timers, and each DNN corresponds to information of at least two reflection QoS timers;

and the sending module is used for controlling and charging a PCC rule to the SMF network element strategy, wherein the PCC rule comprises a mapping relation between at least one DNN and the information of the reflection QoS timer.

A seventeenth aspect of the present application provides a communication apparatus comprising:

the processing module is used for determining the QoS rule which cannot be newly added and derived;

and the sending module is used for sending an uplink data packet to the UPF network element, wherein the uplink data packet is used for indicating that the terminal equipment cannot newly add a derived QoS rule.

An eighteenth aspect of the present application provides a communication apparatus comprising:

a receiving module, configured to receive an uplink data packet from a terminal device, where the uplink data packet is used to indicate that the terminal device cannot newly add a derived QoS rule, and send first indication information to an SMF network element, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the terminal device cannot newly add a derived QoS rule.

Optionally, the receiving module is further configured to: and receiving second indication information from the SMF network element, wherein the second indication information is used for indicating that the UPF network element does not perform a reflection QoS indication RQI mark on the service of the terminal equipment.

A nineteenth aspect of the present application provides a communication apparatus comprising:

a receiving module, configured to receive the derived number of QoS rules expected by the PDU session from the SMF network element, and determine whether the PDU session uses a reflective QoS according to the derived number of QoS rules expected by the PDU session and the resource information of the terminal device.

Optionally, when the terminal device determines that the PDU session uses the reflection QoS, the method further includes: a sending module, configured to instruct the SMF network element that the terminal device supports the PDU session using reflection QoS.

Optionally, the sending module is specifically configured to: and sending the number of the remaining derived QoS rules which can be supported by the terminal equipment to the SMF network element.

A twentieth aspect of the present application provides a communication apparatus comprising:

a sending module, configured to send the derived QoS rule number expected by the PDU session to the terminal device;

a receiving module, configured to receive indication information sent by the terminal device, where the indication information is used to indicate that the terminal device supports the PDU session using reflection QoS.

Optionally, the method further includes:

A twenty-first aspect of the present application provides a communication apparatus comprising:

a processing module for resetting a reflection quality of service (QoS) timer of a derived QoS rule according to an uplink data packet;

and the sending module is used for sending the uplink data packet to a user plane function UPF network element.

A twenty-second aspect of the present application provides a communication apparatus comprising:

the receiving module is used for receiving an uplink data packet from the terminal equipment;

and the processing module is used for resetting the reflecting service quality QoS timer according to the uplink data packet.

In the communication device provided in the twelfth aspect to the twenty-second aspect of the present application, the processing module may be implemented by a processor, the transmitting module may be implemented by a transmitter, and the receiving module may be implemented by a receiver. The beneficial effects that the communication device provided by the present application can bring refer to the beneficial effects of the above method, and are not repeated here.

A twenty-third aspect of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed, cause a computer to perform the communication method according to any one of the first to eleventh aspects of the present application.

A twenty-fourth aspect of the present application provides a computer program product comprising: computer program code which, when executed by a transceiver unit, a processing unit or a transceiver, a processor of a communication device (e.g. a terminal device, a PCF network element, an SMF network element or a UPF network element), causes the communication device to perform a communication method as described in any of the first to eleventh aspects of the present application.

The communication method and device provided by the application comprise the following steps: the terminal device receives information from a first reflection QoS timer of the SMF network element, and determines a second reflection QoS timer for the derived QoS rule according to the information from the first reflection QoS timer, wherein the value of the second reflection QoS timer is not greater than the value of the first reflection QoS timer. The terminal equipment can flexibly determine different reflection QoS timers for different derived QoS rules by determining the second reflection timer according to the first reflection QoS timer configured by the SMF network element, so that the reflection QoS timers of the derived QoS rules can adapt to the service characteristics, and the resource waste of the terminal equipment is avoided.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a 5G network architecture;

fig. 2 is a signaling flow chart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3 is a signaling flowchart of a communication method according to a second embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4 is a signaling flowchart of a communication method according to a third embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of another network architecture provided in the present patent application;

fig. 6 is a signaling flowchart of a communication method according to a fourth embodiment of the present application;

fig. 7 is a signaling flowchart of a communication method according to a fifth embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8 is a signaling flowchart of a communication method according to a sixth embodiment of the present application;

fig. 9 is a flowchart of a communication method according to a seventh embodiment of the present application;

fig. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to a twelfth embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

The present application provides a communication method, which may be applied in a 5G network, but is not limited to the 5G network, and with the evolution of a communication system, the method of the present application may also be applied in a future communication system. The 5G network is also referred to as a New wireless communication system, a New access technology (NR), or a next generation mobile communication system. The network architecture includes AN Access Network (AN) and a core network. Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a 5G network architecture, and as shown in fig. 1, AN access network in a 5G system may be a radio access network (R) AN, and AN (R) AN device in the 5G system may be composed of a plurality of 5G- (R) AN nodes, where the 5G- (R) AN nodes may include: an access network other than the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3 GPP), such as an Access Point (AP) of a WIreless Fidelity (WiFi) network, a next Generation base station (which may be collectively referred to as a new Generation radio access network node (NG-RAN node), wherein the next Generation base station includes a new air interface base station (NR node b, gNB), a new Generation evolved base station (NG-eNB), a Central Unit (CU) and a Distributed Unit (DU) in a separate form, such as a gbb, etc.), a transceiving point (TRP), a Transmission Point (TP), or other nodes.

The 5G core network (5G core/new generation core, 5GC/NGC) includes Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) network elements, Session Management Function (SMF) network elements, User Plane Function (UPF) network elements, Policy Control Function (PCF) network elements, Application Function (AF) network elements, Unified Data Management (UDM), and so on.

The AMF network element is mainly responsible for services such as mobility management, access management and the like. The SMF network element is mainly responsible for session management, UE address management and allocation, dynamic host configuration protocol functions, selection and control of user plane functions, and the like. The UPF network element is mainly responsible for routing and forwarding data packets externally connected to a Data Network (DN) and a user plane, filtering packets, and performing quality of service (QoS) control related functions. The PCF network element is mainly responsible for providing a unified policy framework for network behavior management, providing policy rules for control plane functions, obtaining registration information related to policy decisions, and the like. It should be noted that these functional units may work independently, or may be combined together to implement some control functions, such as access control and mobility management functions for access authentication, security encryption, location registration, etc. of the terminal device, and session management functions for establishment, release, and modification of a user plane transmission path, etc.

The functional units in the 5G network may communicate with each other through a next generation Network (NG) interface, such as: the UE can transmit control plane information with the AMF network element through AN NG interface 1 (N1 for short), (R) the AN equipment can establish a user plane data transmission channel with the UPF network element through AN NG interface 3 (N3 for short), (R) the AN equipment can establish control plane signaling connection with the AMF network element through AN NG interface 2 (N2 for short), the UPF network element can perform information interaction with the SMF network element through AN NG interface 4 (N4 for short), the AMF network element can perform information interaction with the SMF network element through AN NG interface 11 (N11 for short), the SMF network element can perform information interaction with the PCF network element through AN NG interface 7 (N7 for short), the UDM network element can interact with the AMF network element through AN interface 8 (N8 for short), and the UDM network element can interact with the SMF network element through AN interface 10 (N10 for short). It should be noted that the network element of the 5G core network may include other functional units besides the functional units shown in fig. 1.

The UEs mentioned in this application may be: the mobile phone and the computer may also be a cellular phone, a cordless phone, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phone, a smart phone, a Wireless Local Loop (WLL) station, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a computer, a laptop computer, a handheld communication device, a handheld computing device, a satellite wireless device, a wireless modem card, a Set Top Box (STB), a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, a smart home device, other devices for communicating on a wireless system, and the like.

The communication method provided by the application is applied to a network adopting a reflection QoS (Reflective QoS) mechanism, wherein the Reflective QoS mechanism means that the uplink data adopts the same QoS as the downlink data. For example, the workflow of the Reflective QoS mechanism is as follows: the PCF network element sends the strategy information of the specific data service flow (SDF) carrying the reflection QoS Control instruction (Reflective QoS Control instructions) to the SMF network element, after receiving the strategy information, the SMF network element sends the Reflection QoS Instruction (RQI) to the UPF network element, and the RQI is used for indicating the UPF network element to carry out RQI marking on the downlink data packet of the SDF. And the SMF network element sends QoS parameter information carrying Reflection QoS Attribute (RQA) to the (R) AN, and instructs the (R) AN to mark RQI when decapsulating the data packet carrying RQI sent by the UPF network element. After receiving (R) a downlink data packet carrying RQI sent by AN, the terminal equipment generates a new derived QoS Rule if the terminal equipment does not store the corresponding derived QoS Rule (derived QoS Rule).

In order to manage the derived QoS rules and prevent the derived QoS rules from increasing and exhausting the memory of the terminal device, the 5G network sends a Reflective QoS Timer (Reflective QoS Timer) of the PDU session to the terminal device when the PDU session is established (session). The reflection QoS timer is used for deleting the derived QoS rule corresponding to the reflection QoS timer when the timing arrives. When receiving downlink data carrying RQI, the terminal equipment checks whether a corresponding derived QoS rule is stored, if the corresponding derived QoS rule is not stored, a new derived QoS rule is generated, and a reflection QoS timer of the new derived QoS rule is started; if the corresponding derived QoS rule has been stored, the derived QoS rule's reflection QoS timer is reset, and the derived QoS rule is deleted upon expiration of the reflection QoS timer.

In a PDU session, various services may be involved, and different services have different life cycles, such as video services, and the duration may be long, ranging from several minutes to several hours, and the number of data packets may range from one to tens of thousands. In the web browsing service, a web page contains hundreds of content objects, such as texts and pictures. Each object may be a different traffic flow, and the life cycle of these objects is often very short, and some have even only one packet. In such PDU sessions that contain traffic with very different characteristics, there is clearly no way to match all traffic characteristics using a reflected QoS timer. For example, if the reflected QoS timer is set too short, for some long connection traffic, such as video-like traffic, the terminal device needs to frequently delete and newly generate derived QoS rules, consuming processing resources of the terminal device. If the reflective QoS timer is set too long, for short connection traffic, such as web page traffic, the terminal device needs to store a large amount of useless derived QoS rules, consuming memory resources of the terminal device.

Fig. 2 is a signaling flow chart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application, and the same contents in the following embodiments of the present application may be cited. As shown in fig. 2, the method provided by this embodiment includes the following steps:

step S201, the PCF network element sends a Policy Control and Charging (PCC) rule to the SMF network element, where the PCC rule includes information of the first reflection timer.

Wherein, step S201 is an optional step. When the PCF network element is not deployed, the PCC rule may be preconfigured on the SMF network element, or the SMF network element obtains the PCC rule from the UDM network element.

The information of the first reflected QoS timer may be pre-configured on the PCF network element, and the PCF network element may send the PCC rule to the SMF network element during the PDU session establishment process or the PDU session modification process. Optionally, the PCC rule further carries a selection policy (select policy) of the reflection QoS timer, where the selection policy of the reflection QoS timer is used for the terminal device to determine the reflection QoS timer.

Step S202, the SMF network element sends the information of the first reflection QoS timer to the terminal equipment.

After receiving the PCC rule, the SMF network element may send information of the first reflection QoS timer to the terminal device in a process of establishing the PDU session, where the information of the first reflection QoS timer includes a value of the first reflection QoS timer. In the embodiment of the present application, each derived QoS rule corresponds to a reflection QoS timer. If the PCC rule carries the selection policy of the reflection QoS timer, the SMF network element may send the selection policy of the reflection QoS timer and the information of the first reflection QoS timer to the terminal device together. The selection strategy of the reflection QoS timer can also be configured on the terminal equipment in advance, and the core network equipment is not required to be issued to the terminal equipment.

Step S203, the SMF network element sends the information of the first reflection QoS timer to the UPF network element.

The information of the first reflection QoS timer is used for the UPF network element to perform QFI verification on the uplink data packet, for example, the UPF network element generates a reference reflection QoS timer according to a value of the first reflection QoS timer, where the value of the reference reflection QoS timer is greater than that of the first reflection QoS timer, after the UPF network element sends a downlink data packet corresponding to QFI1 to the terminal device, the reference reflection QoS timer is started, when the UPF network element receives the uplink data packet sent by the terminal device before the reference reflection QoS timer times out, it is determined whether the QFI corresponding to the uplink data packet is QFI1, and when the QFI corresponding to the uplink data packet is QFII, the verification is passed.

Step S203 is an optional step and the value of the reference reflection QoS timer may be operator configured. In addition, steps S202 and S203 may be executed simultaneously without any order of priority.

Step S204, the UPF network element sends a downlink data packet to the terminal equipment, and the downlink data packet carries the RQI.

And the UPF network element marks the RQI of the downlink data packet according to the SDF sent by the SMF network element, sends the marked downlink data packet to the RAN, and the RAN marks the RQI when decapsulating the data packet carrying the RQI sent by the UPF network element.

Step S205, the terminal device determines a second reflection QoS timer for the derived QoS rule according to the information of the first reflection QoS timer.

After receiving the downlink data packet carrying the RQI sent by the RAN, the terminal device generates a derived QoS rule if the terminal device does not store a corresponding derived QoS rule. If the end device stores the corresponding derived QoS rule, the reflected QoS timer of the derived QoS rule needs to be reset. Then, the terminal device determining a second reflection QoS timer for the derived QoS rule according to the information of the first reflection QoS timer, the value of the second reflection QoS timer being not greater than the value of the first reflection QoS timer comprising: the value of the first reflection QoS timer is less than the value of the first reflection QoS timer or the value of the first reflection QoS timer is equal to the value of the first reflection QoS timer.

In one manner, the terminal device may generate one or more reflection QoS timers according to the information of the first reflection QoS timer when receiving the information of the first reflection QoS timer, the value of the reflection QoS timer generated by the terminal device is smaller than the value of the first reflection QoS timer, and the terminal device may store the generated information of the reflection QoS timer into a reflection QoS timer list, which may further include the information of the first reflection QoS timer. Subsequently, when the end device generates a derived QoS rule or resets a reflection QoS timer of the derived QoS rule, a second reflection QoS timer is determined for the derived QoS rule from the reflection timer list, the value of the second QoS reflection timer being less than or equal to the value of the first reflection QoS timer.

In another mode, the end device does not generate the reflection QoS timer list in advance, but generates the second reflection QoS timer according to the value of the first reflection QoS timer in real time when the end device generates the derived QoS rule or resets the reflection QoS timer of the derived QoS rule.

In this embodiment, when generating a derived QoS rule, the terminal device may determine the second reflection QoS timer for the derived QoS rule according to the information of the first reflection QoS timer, so that different reflection QoS timers can be flexibly determined for different derived QoS rules. The end device may also determine a second reflected QoS timer for the derived QoS rule upon resetting the reflected QoS timer of the derived QoS rule, thereby enabling dynamic selection of an appropriate reflected QoS timer for the derived QoS rule during operation of the PDU session. Since the reflected QoS timer for a PDU session is dynamic, this may prevent too many derived QoS rules from being generated and not deleted in time.

In one exemplary approach, the end device determines a second reflection QoS timer for the derived QoS rule based on the information of the first reflection QoS timer and the selection policy of the reflection QoS timer. The selection policy of the reflection QoS timer may be sent by the SMF network element to the terminal device, or may be preconfigured on the terminal device.

Optionally, the selection policy of the reflection QoS timer includes any one of the following policies: the method comprises the steps of generating a corresponding relation between the byte size of derived QoS rules generated by a PDU session and a reflection QoS timer, generating a corresponding relation between the number of the derived QoS rules generated by the PDU session and the value of the reflection QoS timer, and generating a corresponding relation between the identification of QoS flows included by the PDU session and the value of the reflection QoS timer. It is to be understood that the selection policy of the reflection QoS timer is not limited to the above-described policy, and the form of the selection policy of the reflection QoS timer is not limited to the form of a list, and in the embodiment of the present application, the selection policy of the reflection QoS timer is described in the form of a list.

Table one is a schematic diagram of the selection strategy of the reflective QoS timer, and table one is as follows:

watch 1

Reflecting QoS timer values	Byte size of derived QoS rules for PDU session generation
		Reflecting the value of QoS timer 1	0 byte to 500 bytes
Reflecting the value of QoS timer 2	501 bytes to 1000 bytes
		Reflecting the value of QoS timer 3	1001 byte to 2000 bytes

In the selection policy shown in table one, the values of different reflection QoS timers are different, and the size of the derived QoS rule generated by the PDU session in table one refers to the byte of the derived QoS rule that is currently generated and stored, and in general, the larger the byte of the derived QoS rule generated by the PDU session is, the smaller the value of the reflection QoS timer that should be selected is, so that it is possible to ensure that redundant derived QoS rules are quickly deleted when the memory of the terminal device is insufficient. Therefore, the value of reflection QoS timer 1 > the value of reflection QoS timer 2 > the value of reflection QoS timer 3 in table one. After deleting the derived QoS rules, the derived QoS rules may be deleted in sequence according to the sequence of the expiration times of the reflected QoS timers of the derived QoS rules. It should be noted that the byte size of the QoS rule derived from the selection policy shown in table one is only for illustration and is not limiting, and the byte size of the derived QoS rule may vary. In addition, the number of reflection QoS timers included in the selective storage of reflection QoS timers is not limited to 3 shown in table one, and more or fewer reflection QoS timers may be included.

The terminal device determines a second reflection QoS timer for the generated derived QoS rule based on the byte size of the derived QoS rule generated by the PDU session and the selection policy indicated in table one. Illustratively, when the end device generates the first derived QoS rule for a PDU session, assuming that the size of all derived QoS rules that the session has currently generated and stored is 150 bytes, the end device determines the reflective QoS timer of the first derived QoS rule to be reflective QoS timer 1 according to the selection policy shown in table one. When the end device generates a second derived QoS rule for the PDU session, assuming that the size of all derived QoS rules that the session has currently generated and stored is 600 bytes, the end device determines the reflective QoS timer of the second derived QoS rule to be reflective QoS timer 2 according to the selection policy shown in table one. When the end device generates a third derived QoS rule for the PDU session, assuming that the size of all derived QoS rules that the session has currently generated and stored is 1600 bytes, the end device determines the reflection QoS timer of the third derived QoS rule to be reflection QoS timer 3 according to the selection policy shown in table one.

Table two is another schematic diagram of the selection strategy of the reflective QoS timer, and is as follows:

watch two

Reflecting QoS timer values	Number of derived QoS rules generated by PDU session
		Reflecting the value of QoS timer 1	0 to 200
Reflecting the value of QoS timer 2	201 to 500
		Reflecting the value of QoS timer 3	501 to 1000

And the terminal equipment determines a second reflection QoS timer for the derived QoS rules according to the number of the derived QoS rules generated by the PDU session and the selection strategy shown in the table II. The number of derived QoS rules generated by the PDU session in the selection policy shown in table two may or may not include the currently generated derived QoS rules. For example, when the terminal device generates the third derived QoS rule, the terminal device already stores 200 derived QoS rules, if the number of derived QoS rules generated by the PDU session in the selection policy shown in table two includes the currently generated derived QoS rule, the number of derived QoS rules generated by the PDU session is 201, the terminal device determines the reflection QoS timer of the third derived QoS rule to be the reflection QoS timer 2 according to the selection policy shown in table two, if the number of derived QoS rules generated by the PDU session in the selection policy shown in table two does not include the currently generated derived QoS rule, the number of derived QoS rules generated by the PDU session is 200, and determines the reflection QoS timer of the third derived QoS rule to be the reflection QoS timer 1 according to the selection policy shown in table two. It should be noted that the number of derived QoS rules generated by a PDU session in the selection policy shown in table two is only an example and is not a limitation, and the number of derived QoS rules generated by a PDU session may vary. In addition, the number of reflection QoS timers included in the selective storage of reflection QoS timers is not limited to 3 shown in table two, and more or fewer reflection QoS timers may be included.

And the terminal equipment determines different values of the reflection QoS timer for different derived QoS rules according to the selection strategy of the reflection QoS timer shown in the table II. In general, the larger the number of derived QoS rules generated by a PDU session is, the larger the memory of the terminal device occupied by the PDU session is, so that when a selection policy is set, the larger the number of derived QoS rules generated by a PDU session is, the smaller the value of the corresponding reflected QoS timer is, thereby ensuring that redundant derived QoS rules can be quickly deleted when the memory of the terminal device is insufficient. Therefore, in table two, the value of reflection QoS timer 1 > the value of reflection QoS timer 2 > the value of reflection QoS timer 3.

According to the selection policy shown in table two, not only different reflection QoS timers can be selected for different derived QoS rules, but also the reflection QoS timer of the same derived QoS rule can be dynamically adjusted. For example, when the terminal device generates the first derived QoS rule, the reflection QoS timer determined for the first derived QoS rule is the reflection QoS timer 1, and assuming that the value of the reflection QoS timer 1 is 10 seconds, when the reflection QoS timer 1 counts to 7 seconds, the terminal device receives a downlink packet, and the derived QoS rule corresponding to the downlink packet is the first derived QoS rule, the terminal device needs to reset the reflection QoS timer of the first derived QoS rule, at this time, if the number of derived QoS rules generated by the PDU session is 400, the terminal device resets the reflection QoS timer of the first derived QoS rule to the reflection QoS timer 2, that is, the value of the reflection QoS timer of the first derived QoS rule is reduced according to the number of derived QoS rules generated by the PDU session. At this time, the terminal device may reset only the value of the reflection QoS timer of the first derived QoS rule to the value of the reflection QoS timer 2, or may reset the stored values of the reflection QoS timers of all the derived QoS rules to the value of the reflection QoS timer 2.

Table three is another schematic diagram of the selection strategy of the reflective QoS timer, and is as follows:

watch III

QFI can uniquely identify one QoS flow, QFI is included in derived QoS rules generated by the terminal device, and the terminal device can select different reflection QoS timers for the derived QoS rules corresponding to different QoS flows according to the selection policy shown in table three, for example, when QFI included in the first derived QoS rule generated by the terminal device is QFI2, the terminal device selects reflection QoS timer 2 corresponding to QFI2 as the reflection QoS timer of the first derived QoS rule according to the selection policy shown in table three. When the QFI included in the second derived QoS rule generated by the terminal device is QFI3, the terminal device selects the reflection QoS timer 3 corresponding to QFI3 as the reflection QoS timer of the second derived QoS rule according to the selection policy shown in fig. three. The value of the reflection QoS timer may refer to the delay setting of QoS flows, and the delay requirements of QoS flows corresponding to different QFIs are different, so the values of the reflection QoS timers corresponding to different QFIs are different. Illustratively, the larger the delay of the QoS flow, the larger the value of the reflection QoS timer, and the shorter the delay of the QoS flow, the smaller the value of the reflection QoS timer.

In another exemplary manner, the terminal device determines the second reflection QoS timer for the derived QoS rule according to the information of the first reflection QoS timer and the transmission mode of the traffic flow. Accordingly, the terminal device needs to perform service detection to obtain a transmission mode of the service flow, where the transmission mode of the service flow may include one or more of a packet sending frequency, a service duration, or a gap in receiving a data packet of the service flow. For example, for a traffic flow with high transmission frequency (i.e., short transmission or reception gap of packets) and long service duration, the terminal device selects a reflection QoS timer with a larger value; for traffic flows with low transmission frequency (i.e., long transmission or reception gaps for packets) and short traffic duration, the terminal device selects the reflection QoS timer with a smaller value. For example, when the terminal device detects that the service of a certain IP quintuple is packetized at a frequency of 10-30 seconds and the service duration is as long as 10-20 minutes, a reflection QoS timer of about 40 seconds is selected, and when the service of a certain IP quintuple is packetized at a frequency of 50 seconds-60 seconds and the service duration is 1 minute, a reflection QoS timer of about 1 minute is selected.

In this embodiment, after determining the second reflection QoS timer for the derived QoS rule, the terminal device subsequently sends the uplink data packet using the derived QoS rule. Deleting the derived QoS rule when the reflected QoS timer of the derived QoS rule expires. And the terminal equipment sends the uplink data packet to the RAN, the RAN sends the uplink data packet to the UPF network element, and the UPF network element carries out QFI verification after receiving the uplink data packet from the terminal equipment.

In this embodiment, the terminal device receives information of a first reflection QoS timer from the SMF network element, and determines a second reflection QoS timer for the derived QoS rule according to the information of the first reflection QoS timer, where a value of the second reflection QoS timer is not greater than a value of the first reflection QoS timer. The terminal equipment determines the second reflection timer according to the first reflection QoS timer configured by the SMF network element, so that different reflection QoS timers can be flexibly determined for different derived QoS rules, the reflection QoS timers of the derived QoS rules can adapt to business characteristics, and the situation that useless derived QoS rules occupy memory resources of the terminal equipment and processing resources of the terminal equipment are occupied by frequently deleting or generating the derived QoS rules is avoided.

Fig. 3 is a signaling flow chart of a communication method according to a second embodiment of the present application, and is different from the first embodiment in that an SMF network element sends information of at least two reflection QoS timers to a terminal device in the present embodiment. As shown in fig. 3, the method provided by this embodiment includes the following steps:

step S301, PCF network element sends PCC rule to SMF network element, the PCC rule includes information of at least two reflection QoS timers.

The PCF network element may send a PCC rule to the SMF network element during the PDU session establishment procedure or modification procedure, where the PCC rule carries information of at least two reflection QoS timers, the information of the at least two reflection timers may be sent in a form of a reflection QoS timer list, and the information of the at least two reflection QoS timers may be preconfigured on the PCF network element. Optionally, the PCC rule further carries a selection policy of the reflection QoS timer, and the selection policy of the reflection QoS timer is used for the terminal device to determine the reflection QoS timer.

Wherein, step S301 is an optional step. When the PCF network element is not deployed, the PCC rule may be preconfigured on the SMF network element, or the SMF network element obtains the PCC rule from the UDM network element.

Step S302, the SMF network element sends the information of at least two reflection QoS timers to the terminal equipment.

Step S303, the SMF network element sends information of at least two reflection QoS timers or information of a reflection QoS timer with the largest value among the at least two reflection QoS timers to the UPF network element.

Step S302 and step S303 may be executed simultaneously, or may not be executed sequentially. If the PCC rule carries the selection policy of the reflection QoS timer, the SMF network element sends the selection policy of the reflection QoS timer to the terminal device, and the SMF network element may also send the selection policy of the reflection QoS timer to the UPF network element.

And the information of the at least two reflection QoS timers or the information of the reflection QoS timer with the largest value in the at least two reflection QoS timers is used for QFI verification of the uplink data packet by the UPF network element. When the SMF network element sends information of at least two reflection QoS timers to the UPF network element, the UPF network element selects the reflection QoS timer with the largest value from the at least two reflection QoS timers and generates a reference reflection QoS timer, and the value of the reference reflection QoS timer is larger than the reflection QoS timer with the largest value. When the SMF network element sends the information of the reflection QoS timer with the maximum value in the at least two reflection QoS timers to the UPF network element, the UPF directly generates a reference reflection QoS timer according to the reflection QoS timer with the maximum value. And when the UPF network element receives an uplink data packet sent by the terminal equipment before the reference reflection QoS timer is overtime, judging whether the QFI corresponding to the uplink data packet is QFI1, and when the QFI corresponding to the uplink data packet is QFI, passing the verification.

Step S303 is an optional step, and the value of the reference reflection QoS timer may be configured by the operator. In addition, steps S302 and S303 may be executed simultaneously without any order of execution.

And step S304, the UPF network element sends a downlink data packet to the terminal equipment, and the downlink data packet carries the RQI.

Step S305, the terminal device determines a reflection QoS timer for the derived QoS rule from at least two reflection QoS timers.

After receiving the downlink data packet carrying the RQI sent by the RAN, the terminal device generates a derived QoS rule if the terminal device does not store a corresponding derived QoS rule. If the end device stores the corresponding derived QoS rule, the reflected QoS timer of the derived QoS rule needs to be reset. Then, the terminal device determines a reflection QoS timer for the derived QoS rule from the at least two reflection QoS timers according to the information of the at least two reflection QoS timers.

In one exemplary manner, the terminal device determines a reflection QoS timer for the derived QoS rule from the at least two reflection QoS timers according to the selection policy of the reflection QoS timer and the information of the at least two reflection QoS timers. The selection policy of the reflection QoS timer may be sent by the SMF network element to the terminal device, or may be preconfigured on the terminal device.

Optionally, the selection policy of the reflection QoS timer includes any one of the following policies: the corresponding relation between the byte size of the derived QoS rules generated by the PDU session and the value of the reflection QoS timer, the corresponding relation between the number of the derived QoS rules generated by the PDU session and the value of the reflection QoS timer, and the corresponding relation between the identification of the QoS flow included by the PDU session and the value of the reflection QoS timer.

In another exemplary manner, the terminal device determines the reflection QoS timer for the derived QoS rule from the at least two reflection QoS timers according to the transmission mode of the traffic flow and the information of the at least two reflection QoS timers. Correspondingly, the terminal device needs to perform service detection to obtain the transmission mode of the service flow.

For specific implementation of the above two modes, reference is made to the related description of step S202 in the first embodiment, and details are not repeated here.

In this embodiment, after determining the reflection QoS timer for the derived QoS rule, the terminal device subsequently transmits the uplink data packet using the derived QoS rule. Deleting the derived QoS rule when the reflected QoS timer of the derived QoS rule expires.

And after receiving the uplink data packet from the terminal equipment, the UPF network element performs QFI verification on the uplink data packet according to the information of the at least two reflection QoS timers sent by the SMF network element or the information of the reflection QoS timer with the largest median value in the at least two reflection QoS timers.

In this embodiment, the terminal device receives information of at least two reflection QoS timers from the SMF network element, and determines one reflection QoS timer for the derived QoS rule from the at least two reflection QoS timers according to the information of the at least two reflection QoS timers. By configuring a plurality of reflection QoS timers for the terminal equipment, the terminal equipment can flexibly determine different reflection QoS timers for different derived QoS rules, so that the reflection QoS timers of the derived QoS rules can adapt to service characteristics, and the phenomenon that useless derived QoS rules occupy memory resources of the terminal equipment and the derived QoS rules occupy processing resources of the terminal equipment by frequently deleting or generating the derived QoS rules is avoided.

Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of another network architecture provided in the present application, and referring to fig. 1 and fig. 5, the network architecture is different from that shown in fig. 1: the network architecture shown in fig. 5 further includes a network data analysis device (NWDA), where the NWDA may determine rough service types of different Data Network Names (DNNs) through a large amount of data statistics, so as to determine a mapping relationship between DNNs and information of reflection QoS timers according to the service types, and send the mapping relationship between DNNs and information of reflection QoS timers to the PCF for selection by a network element of the PCF, where the mapping relationship includes a mapping relationship between at least one DNN and information of reflection QoS timers, each DNN corresponds to information of at least two reflection QoS timers, and the NWDA network element and the PCF network element communicate with each other through an interface (e.g., an N23 interface).

Fig. 4 is a signaling flow chart of a communication method provided in a third embodiment of the present application, and referring to fig. 4, the method provided in this embodiment includes the following steps:

step S401, the NWDA sends the mapping relation between the DNN and the reflection QoS timer list to the PCF network element.

The NWDA obtains information mapping relationships between different DNNs and reflection QoS timers through data collection and analysis, where one DNN may correspond to multiple reflection QoS timers, and optionally, information of multiple reflection QoS timers corresponding to one DNN may exist in a form of a reflection QoS timer list.

And the NWDA acquires the mapping relation between the DNN and the information of the reflection QoS timer and then sends the mapping relation between the DNN and the information of the reflection QoS timer to the PCF network element. And when the information mapping relation between the DNN and the reflection QoS timer adopts the mapping relation between the DNN and the reflection QoS timer list, the NWDA sends the mapping relation between the DNN and the reflection QoS timer list to the PCF network element. Optionally, the mapping relationship between the DNN and the reflection QoS timer list is in a list manner, and then the NWDA sends the mapping relationship between the DNN and the reflection QoS timer list to the PCF network element in a list manner, as shown in the following table four:

watch four

Reflection QoS timer list	DNN
		Reflection QoS timer List 1	DNN1
Reflection QoS timer List 2	DNN2
		Reflection QoS timer List 3	DNN3

As shown in table 4, the table includes three DNNs and reflection QoS timer lists, and each reflection QoS timer list includes information of at least two reflection QoS timers.

Step S402, PCF network element sends PCC rule to SMF network element, the PCC rule includes reflection QoS timer list.

And the PCF network element receives and stores the mapping relation between the DNN and the reflection QoS timer list, and then selects a reflection QoS timer list from the mapping relation between the DNN and the reflection QoS timer list according to the service type of the terminal equipment in the process of establishing or modifying the PDU session, carries the selected reflection QoS timer list in the PCC rule and sends the PCC rule to the SMF network element. The PCC rule may include only a reflected QoS timer list for a currently established or modified PDU session, or may include a reflected QoS timer list for multiple PDU sessions, where the reflected QoS timer lists for different PDU sessions may be different. Optionally, the PCC rule carries a selection policy of the reflection QoS timer.

Step S403, the SMF network element sends a reflection QoS timer list to the terminal device.

And the SMF network element sends a reflection QoS timer list in the PCC rule to the terminal equipment, wherein the reflection QoS timer list comprises information of at least two reflection QoS timers.

Step S404, the SMF network element sends the reflection QoS timer list or the information of the reflection QoS timer with the largest value in the reflection QoS timer list to the UPF network element.

And the reflection QoS timer list or the information of the reflection QoS timer with the maximum value in the reflection QoS timer list is used for QFI verification of the uplink data packet by the UPF network element. When the SMF network element sends a reflection QoS timer list to the UPF network element, the UPF network element selects a reflection QoS timer with the largest value from the reflection QoS timer list, and generates a reference reflection QoS timer, wherein the value of the reference reflection QoS timer is larger than the reflection QoS timer with the largest value. When the SMF network element sends the information of the reflection QoS timer with the maximum value in the reflection QoS timer list to the UPF network element, the UPF directly generates a reference reflection QoS timer according to the reflection QoS timer with the maximum value. And when the UPF network element receives an uplink data packet sent by the terminal equipment before the reference reflection QoS timer is overtime, judging whether the QFI corresponding to the uplink data packet is QFI1, and when the QFI corresponding to the uplink data packet is QFI, passing the verification.

Step S403 and step S404 may be executed at the same time without any sequence. If the PCC rule carries the selection policy of the reflection QoS timer, the SMF network element sends the selection policy of the reflection QoS timer to the terminal device, and the SMF network element may also send the selection policy of the reflection QoS timer to the UPF network element.

Step S404 is an optional step, and when the SMF network element does not send the reflection QoS timer list or the information of the reflection QoS timer with the largest value in the reflection QoS timer list to the UPF network element, the reference reflection QoS timer used by the UPF may be preconfigured by the operator.

Step S405, the UPF network element sends a downlink data packet to the terminal equipment, and the downlink data packet carries the RQI.

Step S406, the terminal device determines a reflection QoS timer for the derived QoS rule from the reflection QoS timer list.

After receiving the downlink data packet carrying the RQI sent by the RAN, the terminal device generates a derived QoS rule if the terminal device does not store a corresponding derived QoS rule. If the end device stores the corresponding derived QoS rule, the reflected QoS timer of the derived QoS rule needs to be reset. The end-point device then determines a reflection QoS timer from the reflection QoS timer list for the derived QoS rule. The terminal may dynamically select any of the reflecting QoS timers in the reflecting QoS timer list during the PDU session, and the UPF performs QFI validation using the maximum value in the reflecting QoS timer list to ensure that upstream packets are not dropped until the terminal device deletes the derived QoS rule.

In one exemplary approach, the end device determines a reflection QoS timer from the reflection QoS timer list for the derived QoS rule according to a selection policy of the reflection QoS timer. The selection policy of the reflection QoS timer may be sent by the SMF network element to the terminal device, or may be preconfigured on the terminal device.

In another exemplary manner, the terminal device determines a reflection QoS timer for a derived QoS rule from the reflection QoS timer list according to a transmission mode of the traffic flow. Correspondingly, the terminal device needs to perform service detection to obtain the transmission mode of the service flow.

In this embodiment, the NWDA obtains approximate service types of different DNNs through a large amount of data statistics, so as to provide a corresponding reflection QoS timer list for the DNNs according to the service types for the PCF network element to select, and the PCF network element selects a reflection QoS timer list for the terminal device from the multiple reflection QoS timer lists according to the service characteristics of the terminal device, and sends the selected reflection QoS timer list to the SMF network element. The list of the reflection QoS timers selected by the PCF can be matched with the service characteristics of the terminal equipment, so that the reflection QoS timers of the derived QoS rules can adapt to the service characteristics, and the situation that useless derived QoS rules occupy the memory resources of the terminal equipment and the processing resources of the terminal equipment are occupied by frequently deleting or generating the derived QoS rules is avoided.

Fig. 6 is a signaling flowchart of a communication method according to a fourth embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 6, the method according to the present embodiment includes the following steps:

step S601, the SMF network element and the PCF network element establish a Session Management Policy (Session Management Policy), and the PCF network element sends the reflection QoS timer list to the SMF network element in the establishing process.

Before step S601, the terminal device triggers the establishment of the PDU session, the SMF network element selects a PCF for the terminal device, and the process from the terminal device triggering the establishment of the PDU session to the SMF selecting a PCF for the terminal device includes a plurality of steps, and the specific process may refer to the existing PDU session establishment flow, which is not described in detail in this embodiment.

Optionally, the session management policy establishing process includes the following steps: the SMF network element sends a request message to the PCF network element, the request message is used for requesting session management strategy information, the PCF network element sends a response message to the SMF network element, the response message carries the session management strategy information, the session management strategy information comprises a reflection QoS timer list, and the reflection QoS timer list comprises information of at least two reflection QoS timers. Of course, other policies, such as the maximum transmission rate of the terminal device and QoS information, are also included in the session management policy information.

Step S602, the SMF network element selects a UPF network element for the terminal device.

The SMF network element may select the UPF network element for the terminal device according to the PCC rule sent by the PCF network element. It should be noted that the SMF network element may also select the UPF network element without the PCC rule, and accordingly, step S601 may be performed after S602.

Step S603, the SMF network element sends a Session Establishment/Modification Request (Session Establishment/Modification Request) to the UPF network element, where the Session Establishment/Modification Request includes a reflection QoS timer list.

Optionally, the reflection QoS timer list included in the session establishment/modification request may be replaced with information of the reflection QoS timer with the largest value in the reflection QoS timer list. The session establishment/modification request may be an N4 session establishment/modification request.

Step S604, the UPF network element sends a Session Establishment/Modification Response (Session Establishment/Modification Response) to the SMF network element.

Step S605, the SMF network element sends a Communication N1N2 Transfer Message (Communication N1N2Message Transfer) to the AMF network element, and the Communication N1N2 Transfer Message includes a reflection QoS timer list.

The communication N1N2 transport message is used to carry the uplink information of the PDU session, and in this embodiment, the reflection QoS timer list is carried in the communication N1N2 transport message, so that the AMF network element sends the reflection QoS timer list to the terminal device through the RAN.

Step S606, the AMF network element sends a PDU Session Request (PDU Session Request) to the RAN, where the PDU Session Request includes a reflection QoS timer list.

The PDU session request further includes a Non-access stratum (NAS) message, and may be an N2PDU session request.

Step S607, RAN and terminal device perform access network-specific resource setup (AN-specific resource setup), and RAN sends the reflection QoS timer list to the terminal device in the setup process.

The PDU establishing procedure after step S607 is the same as the prior art, and is not described herein again.

In this embodiment, the reflection QoS timer list is issued to the terminal device through the steps S601 to S607, and the issue process is also applicable to issue the information of the first reflection QoS timer or the information of at least two reflection QoS timers in the above embodiments.

Fig. 7 is a signaling flowchart of a communication method according to a fifth embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 7, the method according to the fifth embodiment includes the following steps:

step S701, the terminal device determines that the derived QoS rule cannot be newly added.

The terminal device cannot newly add the derived QoS rule, and can be understood as the terminal device, and the derived QoS rule cannot be newly generated. The terminal device may determine that the derived QoS rule cannot be newly added when at least one of the following conditions is satisfied: (1) the number of derived QoS rules generated by a certain PDU session of the terminal equipment is greater than a preset first threshold value; (2) the total number of derived QoS rules generated by all PDU sessions of the terminal equipment is greater than a preset second threshold value, and a plurality of PDU sessions may be established on the terminal equipment; (3) the memory occupancy rate of a certain PDU session of the terminal equipment is greater than a preset third threshold value; (4) and the occupancy rate of the memory of the terminal equipment is greater than a preset fourth threshold value.

The terminal device may periodically detect whether the derived QoS rule cannot be newly added, or may detect whether the derived QoS rule cannot be newly added each time the derived QoS rule is generated.

Step S702, the terminal device sends an uplink data packet to the UPF network element, where the uplink data packet is used to indicate that the terminal device cannot add any derived QoS rule.

In this embodiment, the terminal device notifies the UPF network element that the derived QoS rule cannot be newly added through the user plane data, and for example, the terminal device may notify the UPF network element that the derived QoS rule cannot be newly added through the following manners:

(1) the QoS flow identifier in the uplink data packet is a QoS flow identifier corresponding to a derived default QoS rule (default QoS rule) or a flow identifier corresponding to a default QoS rule, and the QoS flow identifier corresponding to the derived default QoS rule or the flow identifier corresponding to the default QoS rule is used to indicate that the terminal device cannot newly add the derived QoS rule.

The terminal equipment selects a service flow on one PDU session, the PDU session selected by the terminal equipment can be the PDU session with the most derived QoS rules or the PDU session with the largest occupied memory, and the service flow is distinguished by a packet filter. And the terminal equipment replaces the QFI of the uplink data packet of the service flow of the selected PDU conversation with the QFI corresponding to the derived default QoS rule or the QFI corresponding to the default QoS rule. Table five is a schematic diagram of the QoS rule of PDU session 1 of the terminal device, and is as follows:

watch five

When the terminal equipment selects the service flow of the PDU session, the reflection QoS timer can be selected from small to large according to the QoS rule derived from the PDU session, so that the reflection QoS timer can be ensured to expire more quickly after the UPF network element does not perform RQI marking in a downlink data packet, and the derived QoS rule can be deleted quickly. For example, the terminal device selects service flows corresponding to Packet Filter1 and Packet Filter2 of PDU session 1, and the terminal device marks QFI of uplink packets corresponding to Packet Filter1 and Packet Filter2 as QFI4 corresponding to derived default QoS rules or QFI5 corresponding to the default QoS rules, and transmits Data Radio bearers (Data Bearer, DRB) corresponding to QFI4 or QFI5 to the RAN. When the UPF receives the uplink data packets corresponding to the Packet Filter1 and the Packet Filter2, the QFI of the uplink data Packet is determined to be QFI4 or QFI5, and the QFI is inconsistent with QFI1 and QFI2 corresponding to the SDF on the UPF, and accordingly it is judged that the terminal device cannot newly add a derived QoS rule.

(2) The uplink data packet is an empty data packet, and the empty data packet is used for indicating that the terminal equipment cannot newly add a derived QoS rule.

The terminal equipment selects a service flow on a PDU session, and the selection mode refers to the specific mode of the method (1). Then, the terminal device constructs a null Packet, and the header of the null Packet carries Packet Filter information (for example, IP quintuple) of the selected service flow. Taking the PDU session shown in table five as an example, suppose that the terminal device selects a service flow corresponding to Packet Filter and Packet Filter2, then generates an empty Packet of the service flow corresponding to Packet Filter1 and Packet Filter2, and sends the empty Packet to the UPF network element. And the UPF network element determines that the terminal equipment cannot newly add the derived QoS rule according to the received empty data packets corresponding to the Packet Filter1 and the Packet Filter 2.

(3) The uplink data packet carries indication information, and the indication information is used for indicating that the terminal equipment cannot newly add a derived QoS rule.

The terminal equipment selects a service flow on a PDU session, and the selection mode refers to the specific mode of the method (1). Then, the terminal device generates an uplink data packet of the service flow of the selected PDU session, where a header of the uplink data packet may carry indication information. Taking the PDU session shown in table five as an example, the terminal device selects a service flow corresponding to Packet Filter1 and Packet Filter2, and an uplink data Packet corresponding to Packet Filter1 and Packet Filter2 sent by the terminal device carries indication information indicating that the terminal device cannot add a derived QoS rule. And the UPF network element judges that the terminal equipment cannot newly add the derived QoS rule according to the received indication information carried in the uplink data Packet corresponding to the Packet Filter1 and the Packet Filter 2.

Step S703, the UPF network element sends first indication information to the SMF network element, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the terminal device cannot newly add a derived QoS rule.

After receiving an uplink data packet sent by the terminal equipment, the UPF network element determines that the terminal equipment cannot newly add a derived QoS rule according to the uplink data packet, and further sends first indication information to the SMF network element to indicate that the terminal equipment cannot newly add the derived QoS rule.

Step S704, the SMF network element sends second indication information to the UPF network element, where the second indication information is used to indicate the UPF network element to stop performing RQI marking on the service of the terminal device.

And the UPF network element does not mark the downlink data packet sent to the terminal equipment with RQI according to the second indication information, correspondingly, after the terminal equipment receives the downlink data packet, because the downlink data packet does not carry the RQI, a new derived QoS rule cannot be generated, and the reflected QoS timer of the stored derived QoS rule cannot be reset, and when the reflected QoS timer of the stored derived QoS rule reaches the preset time, the terminal equipment deletes the derived QoS rule. When the number of the derived QoS rules stored in the terminal device is reduced, the SMF network element may send the SDF and RQI information to the UPF network element again within a preset time, and instruct the UPF network element to perform RQI marking on the downlink data packet corresponding to the SDF. Correspondingly, the terminal equipment generates a derived QoS rule according to the RQI information carried in the downlink data, and the terminal equipment processes the reflection QoS again.

In this embodiment, when determining that a derived QoS rule cannot be newly added, the terminal device sends an uplink data packet to the UPF network element, where the uplink data packet is used to indicate that the terminal device cannot newly add the derived QoS rule, so that the UPF network element notifies the SMF network element that the terminal device cannot newly add the derived QoS rule, and the SMF network element further indicates the UPF network element to stop performing RQI marking on a service of the terminal device, so that the terminal device can automatically delete the derived QoS rule.

It should be noted that the method of this embodiment may be based on the methods of the first to fourth embodiments, and in the method of the first to fourth embodiments, when the terminal device receives the downlink data packet, a derived QoS rule may be generated according to the downlink data packet, and then the reflection QoS timer is determined for the derived QoS rule.

The method of the present embodiment may also be implemented independently of the schemes of the first to fourth embodiments. For example, the terminal device periodically detects whether the derived QoS rule cannot be added, if it is determined that the derived QoS rule cannot be added, the method of this embodiment is executed to delete part of the derived QoS rule, and after the number of the derived QoS rules stored in the terminal device is reduced, the method of the first to fourth embodiments is still used to determine the reflection QoS timer of the derived QoS rule.

Fig. 8 is a signaling flowchart of a communication method according to a sixth embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 8, the method according to the present embodiment includes the following steps:

step S801, the SMF network element sends the derived QoS rule number expected by the PDU session to the terminal device.

The SMF network element may send the number of derived QoS rules expected for the PDU session to the terminal device during the PDU session establishment procedure or the modification procedure, and the terminal device receives the number of derived QoS rules expected for the PDU session from the SMF network element.

Step S802, the terminal equipment determines whether the PDU session uses the reflection QoS according to the derived QoS rule number expected by the PDU session and the resource information of the terminal equipment.

Illustratively, the end device predicts its impact on the end device resources based on the number of derived QoS rules expected for the PDU session, and determines whether the PDU session uses reflected QoS. The resources of the end device include processing power and/or memory resources, and the PDU session is determined not to use reflected QoS if the end device predicts insufficient resources of its memory or processor capabilities to support reflected QoS, and is determined to use reflected QoS if the resources of its memory or processor capabilities are predicted to support reflected QoS.

Step S803, the terminal device indicates the SMF network element that the terminal device supports PDU session using reflection QoS.

When the terminal device determines that the PDU uses the reflective QoS, step S803 is performed. Optionally, the terminal device sends indication information and/or the number of remaining derived QoS rules that the terminal device can support to the SMF network element, where the indication information is used to indicate that the terminal device supports PDU session usage reflection QoS.

The processing capacity of the terminal device and the resources of the processor are fixed, accordingly, the number of the derived QoS rules that can be supported by the terminal device is also fixed, and the terminal device can determine the number of the remaining derived QoS rules that can be supported according to the stored number of the derived QoS rules. The SMF network element may decide to use the reflected QoS or no longer use the reflected QoS for some service flows depending on the number of remaining derived QoS rules that the terminal device can support.

When the end device determines that the PDU session does not use reflective QoS, the end device may not indicate to the SMF network element that the PDU session is supported using reflective QoS. And if the SMF network element does not receive the indication sent by the terminal equipment and supports PDU session use reflection QoS within the preset time, deciding not to use the reflection QoS.

In this embodiment, the terminal device receives the derived QoS rule number expected by the PDU session from the SMF network element, and determines whether the PDU session uses the reflective QoS according to the derived QoS rule number expected by the PDU session and the resource information of the terminal device. The problem that the terminal equipment cannot process the reflection QoS due to insufficient processing capacity of the terminal equipment or insufficient resources of a memory can be avoided.

Fig. 9 is a flowchart of a communication method according to a seventh embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 9, the method according to the present embodiment includes the following steps:

step S901, the UPF network element sends a downlink data packet to the terminal device, where the downlink data packet carries an RQI.

Step S902, the terminal device generates a derived QoS rule according to the downlink data packet.

And the terminal equipment determines to use the reflection QoS according to the RQI carried by the downlink data packet, generates a derived reflection QoS rule and starts a reflection QoS timer of the derived QoS rule.

And step S903, the terminal equipment resets the reflection QoS timer of the derived QoS rule according to the uplink data packet.

In this embodiment, when the terminal device has an uplink packet to send, the derived QoS rule is searched according to the QFI of the uplink packet, and the reflection QoS timer of the derived QoS rule is reset.

In the prior art, the terminal device can only reset the reflection QoS timer of the derived QoS rule according to the downlink data packet. However, if there is no subsequent downlink data packet after a certain derived QoS rule is generated, the reflected QoS timer of the derived QoS rule will expire soon, and the derived QoS rule will be deleted, at this time, if there is an uplink data packet to be sent in the traffic flow corresponding to the derived QoS rule, because the derived QoS rule has been deleted, the terminal device can only drop the uplink data packet or send the uplink data packet using the default QoS rule.

In this embodiment, the terminal device resets the reflection QoS timer of the derived QoS rule according to the uplink data packet, so that a problem that the uplink data packet loses packets or cannot meet the QoS requirement using a default QoS rule can be avoided.

Step S904, the terminal device sends the uplink data packet to the UPF network element.

And step S905, the UPF network element resets the reflection QoS timer according to the uplink data packet.

And the reflection QoS timer reset by the UPF network element is the reflection QoS timer used for QFI verification of the terminal equipment. The UPF network element can ensure that the reflection QoS timer on the UPF is consistent with the reflection QoS timer of the derived QoS rule of the terminal device by resetting the reflection QoS timer according to the uplink data packet.

In this embodiment, the terminal device resets the reflection QoS timer of the derived QoS rule according to the uplink data packet, and sends the uplink data packet to the UPF network element. The problem that the uplink data packet loses packets or cannot meet the QoS requirement by using a default QoS rule can be solved.

It should be noted that the method of this embodiment may be used in combination with any one of the methods described in the first to fourth embodiments, and when the terminal device receives a downlink data packet, the method of the first to fourth embodiments may be used to reset the reflection QoS timer of the derived QoS rule, and when the terminal device generates an uplink data packet, if the uplink data packet matches the derived QoS rule, the terminal device resets the reflection QoS timer of the derived QoS rule.

The method of this embodiment may also be used alone, that is, when the terminal device receives the downlink data packet, the terminal device resets the reflection QoS timer of the derived QoS rule by using the existing method, and when the terminal device generates the uplink data packet, if the uplink data packet matches the derived QoS rule, the terminal device resets the reflection QoS timer of the derived QoS rule.

An eighth embodiment of the present application provides a communication apparatus, which is applied in a terminal device, and includes a functional module for executing the method steps executed by the terminal device in the foregoing method embodiment, for example, the communication apparatus includes a processing module, a sending module, and a receiving module.

An embodiment ninth of the present application provides a communication apparatus, where the communication apparatus is applied in an SMF network element, and the communication apparatus includes a functional module for executing the method steps executed by the SMF network element in the foregoing method embodiments, for example, the communication apparatus includes a processing module, a sending module, and a receiving module.

An embodiment of the present application provides a communication apparatus, where the communication apparatus is applied in a PCF network element, and the communication apparatus includes a functional module for executing the method steps executed by the PCF network element in the foregoing method embodiment, for example, the communication apparatus includes a processing module, a sending module, and a receiving module.

An eleventh embodiment of the present application provides a communication apparatus, where the communication apparatus is applied in a UPF network element, and the communication apparatus includes a functional module for performing the method steps performed by the UPF network element in the foregoing method embodiments, for example, the communication apparatus includes a processing module, a sending module, and a receiving module.

Fig. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication apparatus according to a twelfth embodiment of the present application, where the apparatus according to the present embodiment may be applied to a terminal device, as shown in fig. 10, the apparatus according to the present embodiment includes: the processor 11, the memory 12, and the transceiver 13, where the memory 12 is configured to store instructions, the transceiver 13 is configured to communicate with other devices, and the processor 11 is configured to execute the instructions stored in the memory 12, so that the apparatus executes the method executed by the terminal device in the foregoing method embodiment, and specific implementation and technical effects are similar, and are not described herein again. Wherein the transceiver 13 may be replaced with a receiver and a transmitter.

A thirteenth embodiment of the present application provides a communication apparatus, where the apparatus of this embodiment may be applied to an SMF network element, and a structure of the apparatus of this embodiment is shown in fig. 10, where the apparatus of this embodiment may perform the method performed by the SMF network element in the foregoing method embodiment, and a specific implementation manner and a technical effect are similar, and are not described again here.

A fourteenth embodiment of the present application provides a communication apparatus, where the apparatus of this embodiment may be applied to a UPF network element, and a structure of the apparatus of this embodiment is shown in fig. 10, where the apparatus of this embodiment may execute the method executed by the UPF network element in the foregoing method embodiment, and a specific implementation manner and a technical effect are similar, and details are not described here again.

A fifteenth embodiment of the present application provides a communication apparatus, where the apparatus of this embodiment may be applied to a PCF network element, and a structure of the apparatus of this embodiment is shown in fig. 10, where the apparatus of this embodiment may execute the method executed by the PCF network element in the foregoing method embodiment, and a specific implementation manner and a technical effect are similar, and are not described herein again.

Sixthly, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium, where the computer-readable storage medium stores instructions, and when the instructions are executed, the computer is enabled to execute the method executed by the terminal device in the foregoing method embodiment, and a specific implementation manner and a technical effect are similar, and details are not repeated here.

Seventeenth of the embodiments of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium, where the computer-readable storage medium stores instructions, and when the instructions are executed, the computer is enabled to execute the method performed by the SMF network element in the foregoing method embodiments, and specific implementation manners and technical effects are similar, and details are not described here again.

Eighteen of embodiments of the present application provide a computer-readable storage medium, where the computer-readable storage medium stores instructions, and when the instructions are executed, the computer executes the method executed by the UPF network element in the foregoing method embodiments, and specific implementation and technical effects are similar, and details are not described here again.

Nineteenth embodiment of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium, where the computer-readable storage medium stores instructions, and when the instructions are executed, the computer executes the method executed by the PCF network element in the foregoing method embodiment, and specific implementation and technical effects are similar, and details are not described here again.

The processor in the above embodiments may be a general purpose processor, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), an off-the-shelf programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic device, or discrete hardware components. The various methods, steps and logic blocks disclosed in the embodiments of the present invention may be implemented or performed. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor or the processor may be any conventional processor or the like. The steps of the method disclosed in connection with the embodiments of the present invention may be directly implemented by a hardware decoding processor, or implemented by a combination of hardware and software elements in the decoding processor. The software unit may be located in a Random Access Memory (RAM), a flash memory, a read-only memory (ROM), a programmable ROM, an electrically erasable programmable memory, a register, or other storage media that are well known in the art. The storage medium is located in a memory, and a processor reads instructions in the memory and combines hardware thereof to complete the steps of the method.

In the several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed apparatus and method may be implemented in other ways. For example, the above-described apparatus embodiments are merely illustrative, and for example, the division of the units is only one logical division, and other divisions may be realized in practice, for example, a plurality of units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted, or not executed. In addition, the shown or discussed mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection may be an indirect coupling or communication connection through some interfaces, devices or units, and may be in an electrical, mechanical or other form.

The units described as separate parts may or may not be physically separate, and parts displayed as units may or may not be physical units, may be located in one place, or may be distributed on a plurality of network units. Some or all of the units can be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of the embodiment.

In addition, functional units in the embodiments of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units are integrated into one unit. The integrated unit can be realized in a form of hardware, or in a form of hardware plus a software functional unit.

Claims

1. A method of communication, comprising:

the terminal equipment receives information of a first reflection quality of service (QoS) timer from a Session Management Function (SMF) network element;

and the terminal equipment determines a second reflection QoS timer for the derived QoS rule according to the information of the first reflection QoS timer, wherein the value of the second reflection QoS timer is not greater than that of the first reflection QoS timer.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the terminal device determines a second reflection QoS timer for the derived QoS rule according to the information of the first reflection QoS timer, comprising:

and the terminal equipment determines the second reflection QoS timer for the derived QoS rule according to the information of the first reflection QoS timer and the selection strategy of the reflection QoS timer.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the selection policy of the reflection QoS timer comprises any one of the following policies:

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the terminal device determines a second reflection QoS timer for the derived QoS rule according to the information of the first reflection QoS timer, comprising:

and the terminal equipment determines the second reflection QoS timer for the derived QoS rule according to the information of the first reflection QoS timer and the transmission mode of the service flow.

5. A method of communication, comprising:

a Session Management Function (SMF) network element receives information of a first reflection quality of service (QoS) timer from a Policy Control Function (PCF) network element;

and the SMF network element sends information of the first reflection QoS timer to a terminal device, wherein the information of the first reflection QoS timer is used for the terminal device to determine a second reflection timer for a derived QoS rule, and the value of the second reflection QoS timer is not greater than that of the first reflection QoS timer.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

7. The method of claim 5 or 6, further comprising:

and the SMF network element sends the information of the first reflection QoS timer to a user plane function UPF network element.

8. A communications apparatus, comprising:

a receiver for receiving information of a first reflected quality of service, QoS, timer from a session management function, SMF, network element;

a processor configured to determine a second reflection QoS timer for a derived QoS rule according to information of the first reflection QoS timer, a value of the second reflection QoS timer not greater than a value of the first reflection QoS timer.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the processor is specifically configured to:

determining the second reflection QoS timer for the derived QoS rule according to the information of the first reflection QoS timer and a selection policy of reflection QoS timers.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the selection policy of the reflection QoS timer comprises any one of the following policies:

11. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the processor is specifically configured to:

and determining the second reflection QoS timer for the derived QoS rule according to the information of the first reflection QoS timer and the transmission mode of the traffic flow.

12. A communications apparatus, comprising:

a receiver for receiving information of a first reflected quality of service, QoS, timer from a policy control function, PCF, network element;

a transmitter, configured to send information of the first reflection QoS timer to a terminal device, where the information of the first reflection QoS timer is used for the terminal device to determine a second reflection QoS timer for a derived QoS rule, and a value of the second reflection QoS timer is not greater than a value of the first reflection QoS timer.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the transmitter is further configured to:

14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the transmitter is further configured to:

and sending the information of the first reflection QoS timer to a user plane function UPF network element.