CN111757347B

CN111757347B - Method for determining bearer type and communication device

Info

Publication number: CN111757347B
Application number: CN201910252564.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 彭文杰; 王瑞; 仇力炜; 胡星星
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2019-03-29
Filing date: 2019-03-29
Publication date: 2023-07-18
Anticipated expiration: 2039-03-29
Also published as: WO2020200103A1; CN111757347A

Abstract

The application provides a method and a communication device for determining a bearer type, so that an SN can more reasonably determine the bearer type of QoS or DRB, thereby improving the data transmission efficiency. Specifically, for a QoS flow established at the SN by the corresponding SDAP entity or a DRB established at the SN by the corresponding PDCP entity, the SN may determine the bearer type of the QoS flow or the DRB according to whether the first message sent by the MN includes auxiliary information.

Description

Method for determining bearer type and communication device

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of communications, and more particularly, to a method of determining a bearer type and a communication apparatus.

Background

In a dual connectivity (dual connectivity, DC) scenario, the bearer types of all bearers may be decided by a Master Node (MN) and the Secondary Node (SN) may be informed after deciding the bearer type. If the SN accepts the decision of the MN, corresponding configuration is generated according to the bearer type indicated by the MN.

To increase the flexibility of the configuration of the SN, the bearer type may be decided by the SN itself for bearers established at the SN by the service data adaptation protocol (service data adaptation protocol, SDAP) entity. However, if the bearer type of the bearer terminated by the SN is determined entirely by the SN, the following may occur: MN is highly loaded and therefore tends to build the entire bearer at SN, avoiding the use of primary cell groups (master cell group, MCG), while SN may not be as loaded, and therefore the bearer type is determined to be a split (split) bearer based on its own algorithm, i.e. part of the data of the bearer is transported by MCG and part of the data is transported by secondary cell groups (secondary cell group, SCG). This can result in the SN determining bearer type not being able to adapt to the MN's operating conditions, affecting data transmission.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a method for determining the bearer type, so that the auxiliary network equipment can determine the quality of service (quality of service, qoS) or the bearer type of the data radio bearer (data radio bearer, DRB) more reasonably, thereby being beneficial to improving the data transmission efficiency.

In a first aspect, a method of determining a bearer type is provided, the method comprising: the method comprises the steps that the auxiliary network equipment receives a first message sent by the main network equipment; the secondary network device determines a bearer type of the first QoS flow based on whether the first message includes the secondary information.

Wherein, the SDAP entity corresponding to the first QoS flow is established on the auxiliary network device, or the packet data convergence protocol (packet data convergence protocol, PDCP) corresponding to the bearing corresponding to the first QoS flow is established on the auxiliary network device. The bearer types include an MCG bearer, an SCG bearer, or a split (split) bearer.

It should be understood that the bearer type of the first QoS flow may be understood as the bearer type of the bearer corresponding to the first QoS flow.

Based on the method, for the QoS flow established on the auxiliary network equipment by the corresponding SDAP entity, the main network equipment can assist the auxiliary network to determine the bearing type of the QoS flow by whether the auxiliary information is included in the first message, and correspondingly, the auxiliary network equipment can reasonably determine the bearing type of the QoS flow according to whether the auxiliary information is included in the first message provided by the main network equipment, so that the QoS requirement of the QoS flow can be ensured as much as possible, and the data transmission efficiency is improved. Further, by setting a reasonable bearer type for the QoS flow, the problem of a long negotiation process between the secondary network device and the primary network device caused by unsuitable bearer type decision of the secondary network device for the QoS flow can be avoided.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the first QoS flow is a guaranteed bit rate (guaranteed bit rate, GBR) QoS flow and the assistance information is a first GBR QoS parameter. The first GBR QoS parameter is a GBR QoS parameter provided by the primary network device for the first QoS flow, or the first GBR QoS parameter is a GBR QoS parameter that the primary network device can provide for the first QoS flow; and the auxiliary network device determines the bearer type of the first quality of service QoS flow according to whether the first message includes auxiliary information, including: if the first message includes auxiliary information, the auxiliary network device determines that the bearer type of the first QoS flow is an MCG bearer, an SCG bearer, or a split bearer; and/or if the first message does not include auxiliary information, the auxiliary network equipment determines that the bearer type of the first QoS flow is SCG bearer.

It should be understood that if the primary network device carries the first GBR QoS parameter in the first message, it means that the primary network device allows the secondary network device to determine (or configure) the bearer type of the first QoS flow as the bearer type related to the MCG air interface resource, i.e. the MCG bearer or the split bearer. Thus, in case the first GBR QoS parameter is carried in the first message, the secondary network device may consider determining (or configuring) the bearer type of the first QoS flow as the bearer type related to the MCG air interface resource, i.e. the MCG bearer or the split bearer. However, the bearer type of the first QoS flow ultimately determined by the secondary network device may be autonomously decided.

Based on the above technical solution, the primary network device may assist the secondary network device in determining the bearer type of the GBR QoS flow by carrying the GBR QoS parameter provided by the primary network device for the GBR QoS flow in the first message, and accordingly, the secondary network device may reasonably determine the bearer type of the GBR QoS flow according to whether the first message provided by the primary network device includes the GBR QoS parameter provided by the primary network device for the GBR QoS flow.

In this application, optionally, the GBR QoS parameters may include one or more of an upstream Maximum Bit Rate (MBR), a downstream maximum bit rate, an upstream GBR, and a downstream GBR. The meaning of these four parameters can be found in particular in the prior art and will not be described here in detail. It should be appreciated that the first GBR QoS parameter may be one or more of an upstream maximum bit rate, a downstream maximum bit rate, an upstream GBR, and a downstream GBR provided by the primary network device for the first QoS flow.

Further, the first message may also include a second GBR QoS parameter for the first QoS flow. Wherein the second GBR QoS parameter is a GBR QoS parameter of the first QoS flow received by the primary network device from the core network device.

Thus, the secondary network device can more reasonably determine the bearer type of the first QoS flow in combination with the second GBR QoS parameter.

With reference to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the first QoS flow is a non-guaranteed bit rate (non-guaranteed bit rate, non-GBR) QoS flow, and the assistance information is a first User Equipment (UE) aggregate maximum bit rate (aggregated maximum bit rate, AMBR) and a first protocol data unit (protocol data unit, PDU) session (session) AMBR. The first UE AMBR is an AMBR provided by the primary network device for establishing a non-GBR QoS flow of the secondary network device for the target UE, the target UE is a UE corresponding to the first QoS flow, the first PDU session AMBR is an AMBR provided by the primary network device for establishing a non-GBR QoS flow of the secondary network device in a target PDU session, and the target PDU session is a PDU session corresponding to the first QoS flow;

and the auxiliary network device determines the bearer type of the first quality of service QoS flow according to whether the first message includes auxiliary information, including:

if the first message includes the first UE AMBR and the first PDU session AMBR, the secondary network device determines that the bearer type of the first QoS flow is the MCG bearer, the SCG bearer, or the split bearer; and/or

If the first message does not include the first UE AMBR and the first PDU session AMBR, the secondary network device determines that the bearer type of the first QoS flow is the SCG bearer; and/or

If the first message includes the first UE AMBR and does not include the first PDU session AMBR, the secondary network device determines that the bearer type of the first QoS flow is the MCG bearer, the SCG bearer, or the split bearer; and/or

If the first message includes the first PDU session AMBR and does not include the first UE AMBR, the secondary network device determines that the bearer type of the first QoS flow is the MCG bearer, the SCG bearer, or the split bearer.

Based on the above technical solution, the secondary network device may determine the bearer type of the first QoS flow according to whether the first message includes the auxiliary information.

It should be appreciated that the basic idea of the above solution is that when designing the format of the first message, the positions of two cells, namely the cell corresponding to the first UE AMBR and the cell corresponding to the first PDU session AMBR, may be reserved in the first message. However, in the specific transmission, the master network device may not fill either or both of the two cells, thereby implementing the four cases described above.

In another possible implementation, whether the first QoS flow can be configured to refer to a bearer type of the MCG air interface resource depends on whether the secondary network device receives the first PDU session AMBR provided by the primary network device for the PDU session corresponding to the first QoS flow. Specifically, if the secondary network device receives a first PDU session AMBR provided by the primary network device for the PDU session corresponding to the first Qos flow, the secondary network device may consider determining (or configuring) a bearer type of the first Qos flow as a bearer type related to an MCG air interface resource, that is, an MCG bearer or a split bearer, that is, may be an MCG bearer, an SCG bearer or a split bearer; if not, the secondary network device determines that the bearer type of the first QoS flow is an SCG bearer.

It should be noted that, in this application, the non-GBR QoS flow established in the secondary network device refers to the non-GBR QoS flow established in the secondary network device by the corresponding SDAP entity. Similarly, a non-GBR QoS flow established at a primary network device refers to a non-GBR QoS flow established at the primary network device by a corresponding SDAP entity. In addition, the non-GBR QoS flows in the PDU session represent the non-GBR QoS flows corresponding to the PDU session.

With reference to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the first QoS flow is a non-guaranteed bit rate non-GBR QoS flow, the auxiliary information is an aggregate maximum bit rate UE AMBR for a first user equipment, where the first UE AMBR is an AMBR provided by the primary network equipment in the non-GBR QoS flow of the secondary network equipment for a target UE, and the target UE is a UE corresponding to the first QoS flow; and the auxiliary network device determines the bearer type of the first quality of service QoS flow according to whether the first message includes auxiliary information, including: if the first message includes the auxiliary information, the auxiliary network device determines that the bearer type of the first QoS flow is the MCG bearer, the SCG bearer, or the split bearer; and/or if the first message does not include the auxiliary information, the auxiliary network device determines that the bearer type of the first QoS flow is the SCG bearer.

It should be understood that if the primary network device carries the first UE AMBR in the first message, it means that the primary network device allows the secondary network device to determine (or configure) the bearer type of the first QoS flow as the bearer type related to the MCG air interface resource, i.e. the MCG bearer or the split bearer. Thus, in the case that the first message carries the first UE AMBR parameter, the secondary network device may consider determining (or configuring) the bearer type of the first QoS flow to be the bearer type related to the MCG air interface resource, i.e. the MCG bearer or the split bearer. However, the bearer type of the first QoS flow ultimately determined by the secondary network device may be autonomously decided.

Based on the above scheme, the secondary network device may reasonably determine the bearer type of the first QoS flow according to whether the first message includes the first UE AMBR.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementation manners of the first aspect, the first QoS flow is a non-guaranteed bit rate non-GBR QoS flow, the auxiliary information is a first protocol data unit PDU session AMBR, where the first PDU session AMBR is an AMBR provided by the primary network device in a target PDU session established in the non-GBR QoS flow of the secondary network device, and the target PDU session is a PDU session corresponding to the first QoS flow; and the auxiliary network device determines the bearer type of the first quality of service QoS flow according to whether the first message includes auxiliary information, including: if the first message includes the auxiliary information, the auxiliary network device determines that the bearer type of the first QoS flow is the MCG bearer, the SCG bearer, or the split bearer; and/or

And if the first message does not include the auxiliary information, the auxiliary network equipment determines that the bearer type of the first QoS flow is the SCG bearer.

It should be understood that if the primary network device carries the first PDU session AMBR in the first message, it means that the primary network device allows the secondary network device to determine (or configure) the bearer type of the first QoS flow as the bearer type related to the MCG air interface resource, i.e. the MCG bearer or the split bearer. Thus, in case the first message carries the first PDU session AMBR, the secondary network device may consider determining (or configuring) the bearer type of the first QoS flow as a bearer type related to the MCG air interface resource, i.e. an MCG bearer or a split bearer. However, the bearer type of the first QoS flow ultimately determined by the secondary network device may be autonomously decided.

Based on the above scheme, the secondary network device may reasonably determine the bearer type of the first QoS flow according to whether the first message includes the first PDU session AMBR.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementation manners of the first aspect, the method may further include: the auxiliary network device sends bearing type indication information to the main network device, wherein the bearing type indication information is used for indicating the bearing type of the first QoS flow determined by the auxiliary network device.

Alternatively, the bearer type indication information may be explicit information, that is, the bearer type indication information is a bearer type of the first QoS flow, or the bearer type indication information is information whether the bearer type of the first QoS flow relates to MCG air interface resources. That is, the secondary network device explicitly tells the primary network device the bearer type of the first QoS flow, or tells the primary network device whether the bearer type of the first QoS flow relates to MCG air interface resources.

In addition, the bearer type indication information may be implicit information. For example, the bearer type indication information may be uplink transport network layer (uplink transmission nerwork layer, UL TNL) information of received uplink data allocated by the secondary network device for the bearer corresponding to the first QoS flow. It should be understood that if the bearer type indication information is the uplink transport network layer information, it indicates that the bearer type of the first QoS flow determined by the secondary network device is a bearer type related to the MCG air interface resource. Optionally, the upstream transport network layer information may include an internet protocol (internet protocol, IP) address and/or a tunnel endpoint identification (tunnel endpoint identifier, TEID).

It should also be understood that the bearer type indication information may also indicate or include an identification of the first QoS flow or an identification of the bearer to which the first QoS flow corresponds.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementation manners of the first aspect, the method may further include: the auxiliary network equipment generates a modification application message, wherein the modification application message is used for applying for modifying the bearing type of the first bearing corresponding to the first QoS flow; and the auxiliary network equipment sends the modification application message to the main network equipment.

Based on the above technical solution, the secondary network device may trigger a modification of the bearer type. Therefore, when the air interface state of the auxiliary network equipment changes, the auxiliary network equipment can modify the bearing type into a bearing type which is more suitable for the air interface state of the auxiliary network equipment.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementation manners of the first aspect, the modification application message includes a bearer establishment list and a bearer deletion list, where the bearer establishment list includes an identifier of the first bearer and information indicating a bearer type that the first bearer needs to modify, and the bearer deletion list includes an identifier of the first bearer.

Based on the technical scheme, the auxiliary network device can realize the bearer type modification triggered by the auxiliary network device by carrying the same bearer identifier in the bearer establishment list and the bearer deletion list.

In a second aspect, a method for determining a bearer type is provided, which includes: the primary network device generates a first message according to whether the auxiliary information is included in the first message; the primary network device sends the first message to the secondary network device, where the first message is used for the secondary network device to determine a bearer type of a first quality of service QoS flow, where a service data adaptation protocol SDAP entity corresponding to the first QoS flow is established on the secondary network device, and the bearer type includes a primary cell group MCG bearer, a secondary cell group SCG bearer, or a split bearer.

With reference to the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the first QoS flow is a guaranteed bit rate GBR QoS flow, the auxiliary information is a first GBR QoS parameter, and the first GBR QoS parameter is a GBR QoS parameter provided by the primary network device for the first QoS flow;

and if the first message includes the auxiliary information, the first message is used for indicating that the auxiliary network device is allowed to configure the bearer type of the first QoS flow to be a bearer type related to MCG air interface resources, where the bearer type related to MCG air interface resources includes the MCG bearer or the split bearer; and/or

And if the first message does not include the auxiliary information, the first message is used for indicating the auxiliary network equipment to configure the bearer type of the first QoS flow into the SCG bearer.

With reference to the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the first QoS flow is a non-guaranteed bit rate non-GBR QoS flow, the auxiliary information is an AMBR provided by a first user equipment aggregate maximum bit rate UE AMBR and a first protocol data unit PDU session AMBR, where the first UE AMBR is an AMBR provided by a target UE established at a non-GBR QoS flow of the secondary network equipment for the primary network equipment, the target UE is a UE corresponding to the first QoS flow, the first PDU session AMBR is an AMBR provided by a non-GBR QoS flow established at the secondary network equipment in a target PDU session for the primary network equipment, and the target PDU session is a PDU session corresponding to the first QoS flow;

And if the first message includes the first UE AMBR and the first PDU session AMBR, the first message is used to indicate that the secondary network device is allowed to configure the bearer type of the first QoS flow to be a bearer type related to MCG air interface resources; and/or

If the first message does not include the first UE AMBR and the first PDU session AMBR, the first message is used to instruct the secondary network device to configure the bearer type of the first QoS flow to be the SCG bearer; and/or

If the first message includes the first UE AMBR and does not include the first PDU session AMBR, the first message is used to indicate that the secondary network device is allowed to configure the bearer type of the first QoS flow to a bearer type related to MCG air interface resources; and/or

If the first message includes the first PDU session AMBR and does not include the first UE AMBR, the first message is used to indicate that the secondary network device is allowed to configure the bearer type of the first QoS flow to a bearer type related to MCG air interface resources;

wherein, the bearer type related to the MCG air interface resource includes the MCG bearer or the separated bearer.

With reference to the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the first QoS flow is a non-guaranteed bit rate non-GBR QoS flow, the auxiliary information is an aggregate maximum bit rate UE AMBR for a first user equipment, where the first UE AMBR is an AMBR provided by the primary network equipment for a target UE established in the non-GBR QoS flow of the secondary network equipment, and the target UE is a UE corresponding to the first QoS flow;

With reference to the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the first QoS flow is a non-guaranteed bit rate non-GBR QoS flow, the auxiliary information is a first protocol data unit PDU session AMBR, the first PDU session AMBR is an AMBR provided by the primary network device in a target PDU session established in the non-GBR QoS flow of the secondary network device, and the target PDU session is a PDU session corresponding to the first QoS flow;

With reference to the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the method further includes: the main network equipment receives bearer type indication information sent by the auxiliary network equipment, wherein the bearer type indication information is used for indicating the bearer type of the first QoS flow determined by the auxiliary network equipment; and the main network equipment determines the bearing type of the first QoS flow according to the bearing type indication information.

With reference to the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the bearer type indication information is uplink transport network layer information of received uplink data allocated by the secondary network device for a bearer corresponding to the first QoS flow.

With reference to the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the method further includes: the main network equipment receives a modification application message sent by the auxiliary network equipment, wherein the modification application message is used for applying for modifying the bearing type of a first bearing corresponding to the first QoS flow; and the main network equipment sends a modification request message to the auxiliary network equipment, wherein the modification request message is used for indicating that the main network equipment agrees to modify the bearing type of the first bearing.

With reference to the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the modification application message includes a bearer establishment list and a bearer deletion list, where the bearer establishment list includes an identifier of the first bearer and information indicating a bearer type that the first bearer needs to modify, and the bearer deletion list includes an identifier of the first bearer.

For specific details and advantages of the various implementations provided in the second aspect, reference may be made to the description of the various implementations of the first aspect, which is not repeated in the second aspect.

In a third aspect, a method of determining a bearer type is provided, the method comprising: the auxiliary network equipment receives the proposal information sent by the main network equipment; the secondary network device determines the bearer type of the first QoS flow according to the proposed information. Wherein the proposal information is used to indicate the bearer type of the first QoS flow proposed by the primary network device, the meaning of the first QoS flow being as described above. The bearer type includes an MCG bearer, an SCG bearer, or a split bearer.

Specifically, the primary network device may suggest a bearer type of the first QoS flow to the secondary network device, and the secondary network device may determine the bearer type of the first QoS flow according to the suggestion by the primary network device.

Therefore, according to the method for determining the bearer type provided by the application, the auxiliary network device can more reasonably determine the bearer type of the QoS flow according to the bearer type suggested by the main network device.

It should be appreciated that the secondary network device may autonomously determine the bearer type of the first QoS flow. That is, the bearer type ultimately determined by the secondary network device may or may not be the bearer type suggested by the primary network device. For example, if the proposed bearer type of the primary network device is a split bearer, but the secondary network device is able to meet the QoS requirements of the first QoS flow, the secondary network device may determine the bearer type of the first QoS flow as an SCG bearer.

With reference to the third aspect, in certain implementations of the third aspect, the method may further include: the auxiliary network device sends bearing type indication information to the main network device, wherein the bearing type indication information is used for indicating the bearing type of the first QoS flow determined by the auxiliary network device. Wherein the meaning of the bearer type indication information is as described above.

With reference to the third aspect, in certain implementations of the third aspect, the method may further include: the auxiliary network equipment generates a modification application message, wherein the modification application message is used for applying for modifying the bearing type of the first bearing corresponding to the first QoS flow; and the auxiliary network equipment sends the modification application message to the main network equipment.

With reference to the third aspect, in some implementations of the third aspect, the modification application message includes a bearer establishment list and a bearer deletion list, where the bearer establishment list includes an identifier of the first bearer and information indicating a bearer type that the first bearer needs to modify, and the bearer deletion list includes an identifier of the first bearer.

In a fourth aspect, a method of determining a bearer type is provided, the method comprising: the main network equipment generates suggestion information; the primary network device sends the advice information to the secondary network device. Wherein the proposal information is used to indicate the bearer type of the first QoS flow proposed by the primary network device, the meaning of the first QoS flow being as described above. The bearer type includes an MCG bearer, an SCG bearer, or a split bearer.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in certain implementations of the fourth aspect, the method may further include: the main network equipment receives bearer type indication information sent by the auxiliary network equipment, wherein the bearer type indication information is used for indicating the bearer type of the first QoS flow determined by the auxiliary network equipment; and the main network equipment determines the bearing type of the first QoS flow according to the bearing type indication information.

Based on the above technical solution, the primary network device may learn the bearer type of the first QoS flow determined by the secondary network device.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in some implementations of the fourth aspect, the bearer type indication information is uplink transport network layer information of received uplink data allocated by the secondary network device for a bearer corresponding to the first QoS flow.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in certain implementations of the fourth aspect, the method further includes: the main network equipment receives a modification application message sent by the auxiliary network equipment, wherein the modification application message is used for applying for modifying the bearing type of a first bearing corresponding to the first QoS flow; and the main network equipment sends a modification request message to the auxiliary network equipment, wherein the modification request message is used for indicating that the main network equipment agrees to modify the bearing type of the first bearing.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in some implementations of the fourth aspect, the modification application message includes a bearer establishment list and a bearer deletion list, where the bearer establishment list includes an identifier of the first bearer and information indicating a bearer type that the first bearer needs to modify, and the bearer deletion list includes the identifier of the first bearer.

For specific details and advantages of the various implementations provided in the fourth aspect, reference may be made to the description of the various implementations of the third aspect, which is not repeated in the fourth aspect.

In a fifth aspect, a method of determining a bearer type is provided, the method comprising: the method comprises the steps that the auxiliary network equipment receives a first message sent by the main network equipment; the secondary network device determines a bearer type of the first data radio bearer (data radio bearer, DRB) based on whether the first message includes assistance information.

Wherein, the PDCP entity corresponding to the first DRB is established on the auxiliary network equipment. It should be appreciated that the SDAP entity corresponding to the QoS corresponding to the first DRB is established on the secondary network device. The bearer types include an MCG bearer, an SCG bearer, or a split (split) bearer.

According to the method for determining the bearer type, for the DRB established on the auxiliary network device by the corresponding PDCP entity, the main network device can assist the auxiliary network device to determine the bearer type of the DRB by whether the auxiliary information is included in the first message, and accordingly, the auxiliary network device can reasonably determine the bearer type of the DRB according to whether the auxiliary information is included in the first message provided by the main network device, so that QoS requirements of the DRB can be ensured as much as possible, and data transmission efficiency is improved. Further, by setting a reasonable bearer type for the DRB, the problem of a long negotiation process between the auxiliary network device and the main network device caused by unsuitable bearer type decision of the auxiliary network device on the DRB can be avoided.

With reference to the fifth aspect, in some implementations of the fifth aspect, the assistance information is a first parameter, and the first parameter is a QoS parameter provided by the primary network device for the first DRB. And the auxiliary network device determines the bearer type of the first DRB according to whether the first message includes auxiliary information, including: if the first message includes auxiliary information, the auxiliary network device determines that the bearer type of the first DRB is MCG bearer, SCG bearer or split bearer; and/or if the first message does not include auxiliary information, the auxiliary network equipment determines that the bearer type of the first DRB is SCG bearer.

It should be understood that if the primary network device carries the first parameter in the first message, it indicates that the primary network device allows the secondary network device to determine (or configure) the bearer type of the first DRB as the bearer type related to the MCG air interface resource, i.e. the MCG bearer or the split bearer. Thus, in the case that the first parameter is carried in the first message, the secondary network device may consider determining (or configuring) the bearer type of the first DRB to be a bearer type related to the MCG air interface resource, i.e. an MCG bearer or a split bearer. However, the bearer type of the first DRB finally determined by the secondary network device may be autonomously decided.

Based on the above technical solution, the primary network device may assist the secondary network device in determining the bearer type of the first DRB by carrying the QoS parameter provided by the primary network device for the first DRB in the first message, and accordingly, the secondary network device may reasonably determine the bearer type of the first DRB according to whether the first message provided by the primary network device includes the QoS parameter provided by the primary network device for the first DRB.

Optionally, the first parameter may include one or more of an upstream MBR, a downstream MBR, an upstream GBR, and a downstream GBR.

With reference to the fifth aspect, in certain implementations of the fifth aspect, the method may further include: the auxiliary network device sends bearing type indication information to the main network device, wherein the bearing type indication information is used for indicating the bearing type of the first DRB determined by the auxiliary network device.

Optionally, the bearer type indication information may be explicit information, that is, the bearer type indication information is a bearer type of the first DRB, or the bearer type indication information is information whether the bearer type of the first DRB relates to an MCG air interface resource. That is, the secondary network device explicitly tells the primary network device the bearer type of the first DRB, or tells the primary network device whether the bearer type of the first DRB relates to MCG air interface resources.

In addition, the bearer type indication information may be implicit information. For example, the bearer type indication information may be uplink transport network layer information allocated by the secondary network device for the first DRB to receive uplink data. It should be understood that if the bearer type indication information is the uplink transport network layer information, it indicates that the bearer type of the first DRB determined by the secondary network device is a bearer type related to the MCG air interface resource. Optionally, the uplink transport network layer information may include an IP address and/or a tunnel endpoint identification.

It should also be appreciated that the bearer type indication information may also indicate or include an identification of the first DRB.

With reference to the fifth aspect, in certain implementations of the fifth aspect, the method may further include: the auxiliary network equipment generates a modification application message, wherein the modification application message is used for applying for modifying the bearing type of the first DRB; and the auxiliary network equipment sends the modification application message to the main network equipment.

With reference to the fifth aspect, in certain implementation manners of the fifth aspect, the modification application message includes a bearer establishment list and a bearer deletion list, where the bearer establishment list includes an identifier of the first DRB and information indicating a bearer type that the first DRB needs to modify, and the bearer deletion list includes an identifier of the first bearer.

In a sixth aspect, a method for determining a bearer type is provided, where the method includes: the primary network device generates a first message according to whether the auxiliary information is included in the first message; the primary network device sends the first message to the secondary network device, where the first message is used for the secondary network device to determine a bearer type of a first DRB, where the PDCP entity corresponding to the first DRB is built on the secondary network device, and the bearer type includes a primary cell group MCG bearer, a secondary cell group SCG bearer, or a split bearer.

With reference to the sixth aspect, in some implementations of the sixth aspect, the assistance information is a first parameter, and the first parameter is a QoS parameter provided by the primary network device for the first DRB. And if the first message includes auxiliary information, the first message is used for indicating that the auxiliary network device is allowed to configure the bearer type of the first DRB to be a bearer type related to MCG air interface resources, where the bearer type related to MCG air interface resources includes the MCG bearer or the split bearer; and/or if the first message does not include the auxiliary information, the first message is used for indicating the auxiliary network device to configure the bearer type of the first DRB into the SCG bearer.

With reference to the sixth aspect, in certain implementations of the sixth aspect, the method further includes: the main network equipment receives bearer type indication information sent by the auxiliary network equipment, wherein the bearer type indication information is used for indicating the bearer type of the first DRB determined by the auxiliary network equipment; and the main network equipment determines the bearing type of the first DRB according to the bearing type indication information.

With reference to the sixth aspect, in some implementations of the sixth aspect, the bearer type indication information is uplink transport network layer information of received uplink data allocated by the secondary network device for the first DRB.

With reference to the sixth aspect, in certain implementations of the sixth aspect, the method further includes: the main network equipment receives a modification application message sent by the auxiliary network equipment, wherein the modification application message is used for applying for modifying the bearing type of the first DRB; the primary network device sends a modification request message to the secondary network device, where the modification request message is used to instruct the primary network device to agree to modify the bearer type of the first DRB.

With reference to the sixth aspect, in some implementations of the sixth aspect, the modification application message includes a bearer establishment list and a bearer deletion list, where the bearer establishment list includes an identifier of the first DRB and information indicating a bearer type that the first DRB needs to modify, and the bearer deletion list includes an identifier of the first DRB.

For specific details and advantages of the various implementation manners provided in the sixth aspect, reference may be made to the description of the various implementation manners in the fifth aspect, which is not repeated in the sixth aspect.

In a seventh aspect, a method of determining a bearer type is provided, the method comprising: the auxiliary network equipment receives the proposal information sent by the main network equipment; and the auxiliary network equipment determines the bearing type of the first DRB according to the proposal information. Wherein the proposal information is used for indicating the bearer type of the first DRB proposed by the primary network device, and the meaning of the first DRB is as described in the fifth aspect. The bearer type includes an MCG bearer, an SCG bearer, or a split bearer.

Specifically, the primary network device may suggest the bearer type of the first DRB to the secondary network device, and the secondary network device may determine the bearer type of the first DRB according to the suggestion of the primary network device.

Therefore, according to the method for determining the bearer type, the auxiliary network device can more reasonably determine the bearer type of the DRB according to the bearer type suggested by the main network device.

It should be appreciated that the secondary network device may autonomously determine the bearer type of the first DRB. That is, the bearer type ultimately determined by the secondary network device may or may not be the bearer type suggested by the primary network device. For example, if the bearer type suggested by the primary network device is a split bearer, but the secondary network device is able to meet the QoS requirement of the first DRB, the bearer type of the first DRB may be determined as an SCG bearer.

With reference to the seventh aspect, in certain implementations of the seventh aspect, the method may further include: the auxiliary network device sends bearing type indication information to the main network device, wherein the bearing type indication information is used for indicating the bearing type of the first DRB determined by the auxiliary network device. Wherein the meaning of the bearer type indication information is as described in the fifth aspect.

With reference to the seventh aspect, in certain implementations of the seventh aspect, the method may further include: the auxiliary network equipment generates a modification application message, wherein the modification application message is used for applying for modifying the bearing type of the first DRB; and the auxiliary network equipment sends the modification application message to the main network equipment.

With reference to the seventh aspect, in certain implementations of the seventh aspect, the modification application message includes a bearer establishment list and a bearer deletion list, where the bearer establishment list includes an identifier of the first DRB and information indicating a bearer type that the first DRB needs to modify, and the bearer deletion list includes an identifier of the first DRB.

In an eighth aspect, a method for determining a bearer type is provided, the method comprising: the main network equipment generates suggestion information; the primary network device sends the advice information to the secondary network device. Wherein the proposal information is used for indicating the bearer type of the first DRB proposed by the primary network device, and the meaning of the first DRB is as described in the fifth aspect. The bearer type includes an MCG bearer, an SCG bearer, or a split bearer.

Therefore, according to the method for determining the bearer type provided by the application, the auxiliary network device can more reasonably determine the bearer type of the DRB according to the suggested bearer type of the main network device.

With reference to the eighth aspect, in certain implementations of the eighth aspect, the method may further include: the main network equipment receives bearer type indication information sent by the auxiliary network equipment, wherein the bearer type indication information is used for indicating the bearer type of the first DRB determined by the auxiliary network equipment; and the main network equipment determines the bearing type of the first DRB according to the bearing type indication information.

With reference to the eighth aspect, in some implementations of the eighth aspect, the bearer type indication information is uplink transport network layer information of received uplink data allocated by the secondary network device for the first DRB.

With reference to the eighth aspect, in certain implementations of the eighth aspect, the method further includes: the main network equipment receives a modification application message sent by the auxiliary network equipment, wherein the modification application message is used for applying for modifying the bearing type of the first DRB; the primary network device sends a modification request message to the secondary network device, where the modification request message is used to instruct the primary network device to agree to modify the bearer type of the first DRB.

With reference to the eighth aspect, in certain implementation manners of the eighth aspect, the modification application message includes a bearer establishment list and a bearer deletion list, where the bearer establishment list includes an identifier of the first DRB and information indicating a bearer type that the first bearer needs to modify, and the bearer deletion list includes an identifier of the first DRB.

With respect to specific details and advantages of the various implementation manners provided in the eighth aspect, reference may be made to the descriptions of the various implementation manners in the seventh aspect, which are not repeated in the eighth aspect.

In a ninth aspect, a method for modifying a bearer type is provided, including: the auxiliary network equipment generates a request for modification (request) message, wherein the request for modification message is used for requesting modification of the bearing type of the first bearing; and the auxiliary network equipment sends the modification application message to the main network equipment.

Specifically, when the secondary network device desires to modify the bearer type of the first bearer, the secondary network device may request modification of the bearer type of the first bearer by sending a modification application message to the primary network device.

Therefore, according to the method for modifying the bearer type provided by the application, the secondary network device can trigger the modification (or change) of the bearer type by sending the modification application message to the primary network device, and further can implement the modification of the bearer type.

With reference to the ninth aspect, in some implementations of the ninth aspect, the modification application message includes a bearer establishment list and a bearer deletion list, where the bearer establishment list includes an identifier of the first bearer and indication information (abbreviated as indication information) indicating a bearer type that the first bearer needs to modify, and the bearer deletion list includes the identifier of the first bearer.

Optionally, the bearer deletion list may further include a current bearer type of the first bearer.

It should be appreciated that the bearer type indicated by the indication information to be modified is a new bearer type of the first bearer determined by the secondary network device. The current bearer type of the first bearer is the original bearer type of the first bearer. That is, the secondary network device expects to modify the first bearer from the original bearer type to a new bearer type.

The indication information may be an explicit bearer type, such as an MCG bearer, an SCG bearer, or a split bearer. The indication information may also be implicit information, which may indicate a new bearer type of the first bearer. For example, the implicit information may be uplink transport network layer (uplink transmission nerwork layer, UL TNL) information, where the uplink transport network layer information is transport layer information allocated by the secondary network device for the first bearer and used for receiving uplink data sent by the primary network device, where the uplink data is uplink data of the first bearer received by the primary network device from the terminal device. It should be understood that if the indication information is the uplink transport network layer information, it indicates that the new bearer type is a bearer type related to MCG air interface resources, i.e. an MCG bearer or a split bearer.

The upstream transport network layer information may include an internet protocol (internet protocol, IP) address and a tunnel endpoint identification (tunnel endpoint identifier, TEID). It should be understood that, according to the uplink transport network layer information, the secondary network device may receive uplink data of the first bearer sent by the primary network device.

With reference to the ninth aspect, in certain implementations of the ninth aspect, the method further includes: the auxiliary network device receives a modification request (request) message sent by the main network device, wherein the modification request message is used for indicating that the main network device agrees to modify the bearer type of the first bearer; the secondary network device sends a modification request acknowledgement (acknowledge) message to the primary network device, wherein the modification request acknowledgement message comprises an air interface radio resource control (radio resource control, RRC) configuration, the air interface RRC configuration (denoted as air interface RRC configuration # 1) is an air interface RRC configuration generated by the secondary network device for a terminal device, and the air interface RRC configuration is used for the terminal device to configure the first bearer; the secondary network device receives a modification confirmation message (confirm) sent by the primary network device, where the modification confirmation message is used to indicate that modification of the bearer type of the first bearer is completed.

Specifically, after the primary network device receives the modification application of the secondary network device, a modification request message may be sent to the secondary network device, so as to inform the secondary network device that the primary network device receives the modification application of the secondary network device, and request the secondary network device to generate a corresponding air interface RRC configuration for the first bearer. After the secondary network device generates a corresponding air interface RRC configuration #1 for the first bearer, the configuration is sent to the primary network device through a modification request acknowledgement message. After receiving the modification request confirmation message, the main network device generates an air interface RRC configuration #2, and sends the air interface RRC configuration #1 and the air interface RRC configuration #2 to the terminal device together, so as to complete the configuration of the first bearer. Further, the primary network device informs the secondary network device that the primary network device has completed configuring the first bearer by sending a modification confirm message to the secondary network device.

In this application, for example, if the original bearer type is a split bearer and the new bearer type is an SCG bearer, the auxiliary network device needs to generate PDCP restoration configuration (i.e., an example of an air interface RRC configuration # 1) for the terminal device, and instruct the PDCP entity of the first bearer to perform data restoration; the primary network device needs to generate a configuration of MCG radio link control (radio link control, RLC) bearer deletion (i.e., an example of air interface RRC configuration # 2) for the terminal device. Or if the original bearer type is SCG bearer and the new bearer type is MCG bearer, the secondary network device needs to generate configuration of SCG RLC bearer release (i.e. one example of air interface RRC configuration # 1) for the terminal device, and the primary network device needs to generate configuration of MCG RLC bearer addition (i.e. one example of air interface RRC configuration # 2) for the terminal device.

With reference to the ninth aspect, in certain implementations of the ninth aspect, the modification request message includes the uplink transport network layer information.

If the new bearer type of the first bearer is an MCG bearer or a separate bearer, the primary network device may further carry the uplink transport network layer information in the modification request message. Or if the indication information is uplink transport network layer information, the main network device may not carry the uplink transport network layer information in the modification request message.

With reference to the ninth aspect, in some implementations of the ninth aspect, the modification application message further includes an air interface RRC configuration (denoted as air interface RRC configuration # 1), where the air interface RRC configuration is an RRC configuration generated by the secondary network device for a terminal device, and the air interface RRC configuration is used by the terminal device to configure the first bearer; and, the method further comprises: the auxiliary network device receives a modification confirmation message sent by the main network device, wherein the modification confirmation message is used for indicating that the modification of the bearing type of the first bearing is completed.

In particular, the primary network device cannot reject the bearer modification request initiated by the secondary network device for the first bearer. At this time, the secondary network device may carry the air interface RRC configuration #1 in the modification application message. After receiving the air interface RRC configuration #1 sent by the auxiliary network device, the main network device generates an air interface RRC configuration #2, and sends the air interface RRC configuration #1 and the air interface RRC configuration #2 to the terminal device together to complete the configuration of the first bearer. Further, the primary network device informs the secondary network device that the primary network device has completed configuring the first bearer by sending a modification confirm message to the secondary network device.

Optionally, if the first bearer is the SCG bearer and the new bearer is the MCG bearer or the split bearer, the master network device may further carry the uplink transport network layer information in the modification confirmation message. Or if the indication information is uplink transport network layer information, the main network device may not carry the uplink transport network layer information in the modification confirmation message.

In a tenth aspect, a method for modifying a bearer type is provided, including: the method comprises the steps that a primary network device receives a modification application message sent by a secondary network device, wherein the modification application message is used for applying for modifying a bearing type of a first bearing; the primary network device sends a modification request message to the secondary network device. The modification request message is used to instruct the primary network device to grant the modification request of the secondary network device.

Specifically, when the secondary network device desires to modify the bearer type of the first bearer, the secondary network device may send a modification request message to the secondary network device by sending a modification application message to the primary network device, if the primary network device accepts a request from the secondary network device to modify the bearer type of the first bearer. Further, the secondary network device may implement a modification to the bearer type of the first bearer.

With reference to the tenth aspect, in some implementations of the tenth aspect, the modification application message includes a bearer establishment list and a bearer deletion list, where the bearer establishment list includes an identifier of the first bearer and indication information (abbreviated as indication information) indicating a bearer type that needs to be modified by the first bearer, and the bearer deletion list includes the identifier of the first bearer.

The uplink transport network layer information may include an internet protocol (internet protocol, IP) address and a tunnel endpoint identification (tunnel endpoint identifier, TEID), and the secondary network device may receive uplink data of the first bearer sent by the primary network device according to the uplink transport network layer information.

With reference to the tenth aspect, in certain implementations of the tenth aspect, the modification request message includes the uplink transport network layer information.

With reference to the tenth aspect, in certain implementations of the tenth aspect, the method may further include: the primary network device receives a modification request confirmation message sent by the secondary network device, wherein the modification request confirmation message comprises an air interface RRC configuration, the air interface RRC configuration is an RRC configuration generated by the secondary network device for a terminal device, and the air interface RRC configuration is used for the terminal device to configure the first bearer; and the primary network equipment sends a modification confirmation message to the secondary network equipment, wherein the modification confirmation message is used for indicating that the modification of the bearing type of the first bearing is completed.

Based on the above technical solution, modification of the bearer type of the first bearer may be achieved.

In an eleventh aspect, a method for modifying a bearer type is provided, including: the method comprises the steps that a primary network device receives a modification application message sent by a secondary network device, wherein the modification application message is used for applying for modifying the bearing type of a first bearing, the modification application message comprises an air interface RRC configuration (marked as an air interface RRC configuration # 1), the air interface RRC configuration is an RRC configuration generated by the secondary network device for a terminal device, and the air interface RRC configuration is used for the terminal device to configure the first bearing; the primary network device sends a modification confirmation message to the secondary network device. The modification confirmation message is used for indicating that the modification of the bearer type of the first bearer is completed.

With reference to the eleventh aspect, in some implementations of the eleventh aspect, the modification application message includes a bearer establishment list and a bearer deletion list, where the bearer establishment list includes an identifier of the first bearer and indication information (abbreviated as indication information) indicating a bearer type that needs to be modified by the first bearer, and the bearer deletion list includes the identifier of the first bearer.

In a twelfth aspect, there is provided a communication method comprising: the secondary network device receives time domain configuration information from the primary network device; the secondary network device determines a hybrid automatic repeat request (hybrid automatic repeat request, HARQ) offset (offset) according to the time domain configuration information; the secondary network device sends the first HARQ offset to a primary network device.

By adopting the communication method provided by the embodiment of the application, the SN can determine the first HARQ offset for the MN or the terminal by combining the running condition of the SN, so that the accuracy of uplink and downlink time domain allocation of the MN or the terminal equipment can be improved, and the communication quality is improved.

With reference to the twelfth aspect, in certain implementations of the twelfth aspect, the method further includes: the auxiliary network equipment determines time division multiplexing mode configuration according to the time domain configuration information; the secondary network device informs the terminal device of the time division multiplexing mode configuration, wherein the time division multiplexing mode configuration comprises the first HARQ offset.

Alternatively, the secondary network device may send the time division multiplexing mode configuration directly to the terminal device.

Optionally, the secondary network device may forward the time division multiplexing mode configuration to the terminal device through the primary network device.

Optionally, the first HARQ offset is 0.

Optionally, the determining, by the secondary network device, the first HARQ offset according to the time domain configuration information includes: and the auxiliary network equipment adjusts the first HARQ offset to 0 according to the time domain configuration information.

Optionally, the time domain configuration information includes a second HARQ offset, and the secondary network device determines the first HARQ offset according to the time domain configuration information, including: the secondary network device determines that the first HARQ offset is different from the second HARQ offset.

In a thirteenth aspect, there is provided a communication method comprising: the method comprises the steps that a primary network device sends time domain configuration information to a secondary network device, wherein the time domain configuration information is used for determining a first HARQ offset by the secondary network device; the primary network device receives the first HARQ offset from the secondary network device.

With reference to the thirteenth aspect, in certain implementations of the thirteenth aspect, the method further includes: and the main network equipment adjusts the ratio of the uplink sub-frame to the downlink sub-frame according to the first HARQ offset.

With reference to the thirteenth aspect, in certain implementations of the thirteenth aspect, the method further includes: the method comprises the steps that a primary network device receives time division multiplexing mode configuration determined by a secondary network device from the secondary network device, wherein the time division multiplexing mode configuration comprises a first HARQ offset; and the main network equipment sends the time division multiplexing mode configuration to the terminal equipment. The secondary network device may send the time division multiplexing mode configuration to the primary network device by means of RRC container, and the primary network device sends the RRC container including the time division multiplexing mode configuration to the terminal device.

In a fourteenth aspect, a communication apparatus is provided, including a transceiver unit configured to receive a first message sent by a primary network device; and the processing unit is used for determining the bearing type of the first QoS flow according to whether the first message comprises auxiliary information, wherein the Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP) entity corresponding to the first QoS flow is established on the communication device, and the bearing type comprises a Main Cell Group (MCG) bearing, an auxiliary cell group (SCG) bearing or a separated bearing.

With reference to the fourteenth aspect, in some implementations of the fourteenth aspect, the first QoS flow is a guaranteed bit rate GBR QoS flow, the auxiliary information is a first GBR QoS parameter, and the first GBR QoS parameter is a GBR QoS parameter provided by the primary network device for the first QoS flow;

and, the processing unit is specifically configured to: if the first message includes the auxiliary information, determining that the bearer type of the first QoS flow is the MCG bearer, the SCG bearer, or the split bearer; and/or

And if the first message does not include the auxiliary information, determining that the bearer type of the first QoS flow is the SCG bearer.

With reference to the fourteenth aspect, in some implementations of the fourteenth aspect, the first QoS flow is a non-guaranteed bit rate non-GBR QoS flow, the auxiliary information is an AMBR provided by a first user equipment aggregate maximum bit rate UE AMBR and a first protocol data unit PDU session AMBR, where the first UE AMBR is an AMBR provided by the primary network equipment for a target UE established in a non-GBR QoS flow of the communication device, the target UE is a UE corresponding to the first QoS flow, the first PDU session AMBR is an AMBR provided by the primary network equipment for a non-GBR QoS flow established in the communication device in a target PDU session, and the target PDU session is a PDU session corresponding to the first QoS flow;

And, the processing unit is specifically configured to:

if the first message includes the first UE AMBR and the first PDU session AMBR, determining that the bearer type of the first QoS flow is the MCG bearer, the SCG bearer, or the split bearer; and/or

If the first message does not include the first UE AMBR and the first PDU session AMBR, determining that the bearer type of the first QoS flow is the SCG bearer; and/or

If the first message includes the first UE AMBR and does not include the first PDU session AMBR, determining that the bearer type of the first QoS flow is the MCG bearer, the SCG bearer, or the split bearer; and/or

And if the first message includes the first PDU session AMBR and does not include the first UE AMBR, determining that the bearer type of the first QoS flow is the MCG bearer, the SCG bearer or the separated bearer.

With reference to the fourteenth aspect, in some implementations of the fourteenth aspect, the first QoS flow is a non-guaranteed bit rate non-GBR QoS flow, the auxiliary information is a first user equipment aggregate maximum bit rate UE AMBR, where the first UE AMBR is an AMBR provided by the primary network equipment for establishing a non-GBR QoS flow of the communication device for a target UE, and the target UE is a UE corresponding to the first QoS flow;

And, the processing unit is specifically configured to:

if the first message includes the auxiliary information, determining that the bearer type of the first QoS flow is the MCG bearer, the SCG bearer, or the split bearer; and/or

With reference to the fourteenth aspect, in some implementations of the fourteenth aspect, the first QoS flow is a non-guaranteed bit rate non-GBR QoS flow, the auxiliary information is a first protocol data unit PDU session AMBR, where the first PDU session AMBR is an AMBR provided by the primary network device in a target PDU session established in a non-GBR QoS flow of the communication device, and the target PDU session is a PDU session corresponding to the first QoS flow;

and, the processing unit is specifically configured to:

With reference to the fourteenth aspect, in certain implementations of the fourteenth aspect, the transceiver unit is further configured to: and sending bearer type indication information to the main network equipment, wherein the bearer type indication information is used for indicating the bearer type of the first QoS flow determined by the communication device.

With reference to the fourteenth aspect, in some implementations of the fourteenth aspect, the bearer type indication information is uplink transport network layer information of received uplink data allocated by the communication device for a bearer corresponding to the first QoS flow.

With reference to the fourteenth aspect, in some implementations of the fourteenth aspect, the processing unit is further configured to generate a modification application message, where the modification application message is used to apply for modifying a bearer type of the first bearer corresponding to the first QoS flow; the transceiver unit is further configured to: and sending the modification application message to the main network equipment.

With reference to the fourteenth aspect, in some implementations of the fourteenth aspect, the modification application message includes a bearer establishment list and a bearer deletion list, where the bearer establishment list includes an identifier of the first bearer and information indicating a bearer type that the first bearer needs to modify, and the bearer deletion list includes an identifier of the first bearer.

A fifteenth aspect provides a communication apparatus comprising a processing unit configured to generate a first message according to whether auxiliary information is included in the first message; and the receiving and transmitting unit is used for sending the first message to the auxiliary network equipment, wherein the first message is used for determining the bearing type of the first QoS flow by the auxiliary network equipment, the service data adaptation protocol SDAP entity corresponding to the first QoS flow is established on the auxiliary network equipment, and the bearing type comprises a main cell group MCG bearing, an auxiliary cell group SCG bearing or a separated bearing.

With reference to the fifteenth aspect, in certain implementations of the fifteenth aspect, the first QoS flow is a guaranteed bit rate GBR QoS flow, the assistance information is a first GBR QoS parameter, and the first GBR QoS parameter is a GBR QoS parameter provided by the communication device for the first QoS flow;

With reference to the fifteenth aspect, in some implementations of the fifteenth aspect, the first QoS flow is a non-guaranteed bit rate non-GBR QoS flow, the auxiliary information is an AMBR provided by a first user equipment aggregate maximum bit rate UE AMBR and a first protocol data unit PDU session AMBR, where the first UE AMBR is an AMBR provided by the communication device for a target UE established at a non-GBR QoS flow of the secondary network equipment, the target UE is a UE corresponding to the first QoS flow, the first PDU session AMBR is an AMBR provided by the communication device for a non-GBR QoS flow of the secondary network equipment, and the target PDU session is a PDU session corresponding to the first QoS flow;

With reference to the fifteenth aspect, in some implementations of the fifteenth aspect, the first QoS flow is a non-guaranteed bit rate non-GBR QoS flow, the auxiliary information is an aggregate maximum bit rate UE AMBR for a first user equipment, where the first UE AMBR is an AMBR provided by the communication device for establishing a non-GBR QoS flow of the auxiliary network equipment for a target UE, and the target UE is a UE corresponding to the first QoS flow;

With reference to the fifteenth aspect, in some implementations of the fifteenth aspect, the first QoS flow is a non-guaranteed bit rate non-GBR QoS flow, the auxiliary information is a first protocol data unit PDU session AMBR, the first PDU session AMBR is an AMBR provided by the communication device for establishing a non-GBR QoS flow of the secondary network device in a target PDU session, and the target PDU session is a PDU session corresponding to the first QoS flow;

With reference to the fifteenth aspect, in certain implementations of the fifteenth aspect, the transceiver unit is further configured to: receiving bearer type indication information sent by the auxiliary network equipment, wherein the bearer type indication information is used for indicating the bearer type of the first QoS flow determined by the auxiliary network equipment; the processing unit is further configured to determine a bearer type of the first QoS flow.

With reference to the fifteenth aspect, in some implementations of the fifteenth aspect, the bearer type indication information is uplink transport network layer information of received uplink data allocated by the secondary network device for a bearer corresponding to the first QoS flow.

With reference to the fifteenth aspect, in certain implementations of the fifteenth aspect, the transceiver unit is further configured to: receiving a modification application message sent by the auxiliary network device, where the modification application message is used to apply for modifying a bearer type of a first bearer corresponding to the first QoS flow; and sending a modification request message to the auxiliary network equipment, wherein the modification request message is used for indicating that the communication device agrees to modify the bearer type of the first bearer.

With reference to the fifteenth aspect, in some implementations of the fifteenth aspect, the modification application message includes a bearer establishment list and a bearer deletion list, where the bearer establishment list includes an identifier of the first bearer and information indicating a bearer type that the first bearer needs to modify, and the bearer deletion list includes an identifier of the first bearer.

A sixteenth aspect provides a communication device comprising means or units for performing the method of the third to thirteenth aspects in any of the possible implementations of the third to thirteenth aspects.

In a seventeenth aspect, a communication device is provided that includes a processor. The processor is coupled to the memory and operable to execute instructions in the memory to implement the method of the first to thirteenth aspects described above in any one of the possible implementations of the first to thirteenth aspects. Optionally, the communication device further comprises a memory. Optionally, the communication device further comprises an interface circuit, the processor being coupled to the interface circuit.

Alternatively, the interface circuit may be a transceiver, or an input/output interface.

Alternatively, the transceiver may be a transceiver circuit. Alternatively, the input/output interface may be an input/output circuit.

In an eighteenth aspect, there is provided a processor comprising: input circuit, output circuit and processing circuit. The processing circuit is configured to receive signals via the input circuit and to transmit signals via the output circuit, such that the processor performs the methods of the first to thirteenth aspects and any of the possible implementations of the first to thirteenth aspects.

In a specific implementation process, the processor may be a chip, the input circuit may be an input pin, the output circuit may be an output pin, and the processing circuit may be a transistor, a gate circuit, a trigger, various logic circuits, and the like. The input signal received by the input circuit may be received and input by, for example and without limitation, a receiver, the output signal may be output by, for example and without limitation, a transmitter and transmitted by a transmitter, and the input circuit and the output circuit may be the same circuit, which functions as the input circuit and the output circuit, respectively, at different times. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific implementation manner of the processor and the various circuits.

In a nineteenth aspect, a processing device is provided that includes a processor and a memory. The processor is configured to read instructions stored in the memory and is configured to receive a signal via the receiver and to transmit a signal via the transmitter to perform the method of the first to thirteenth aspects in any of the possible implementations of the first to thirteenth aspects.

Optionally, the processor is one or more, and the memory is one or more.

Alternatively, the memory may be integrated with the processor or the memory may be separate from the processor.

In a specific implementation process, the memory may be a non-transient (non-transitory) memory, for example, a Read Only Memory (ROM), which may be integrated on the same chip as the processor, or may be separately disposed on different chips.

It will be appreciated that the associated data interaction procedure, for example, sending the first message may be a procedure for outputting the first message from the processor, and receiving the information may be a procedure for receiving the information by the processor. Specifically, the data output by the processing may be output to the transmitter, and the input data received by the processor may be from the receiver. Wherein the transmitter and receiver may be collectively referred to as a transceiver.

The processing means in the nineteenth aspect may be a chip, and the processor may be implemented by hardware or software, and when implemented by hardware, the processor may be a logic circuit, an integrated circuit, or the like; when implemented in software, the processor may be a general-purpose processor, implemented by reading software code stored in a memory, which may be integrated in the processor, or may reside outside the processor, and exist separately.

In a twentieth aspect, a computer program product is provided, the computer program product comprising: a computer program (which may also be referred to as code, or instructions) which, when executed, causes a computer to perform the method of the first to thirteenth aspects described above in any one of the possible implementations of the first to thirteenth aspects.

In a twenty-first aspect, a computer-readable medium is provided, which stores a computer program (which may also be referred to as code, or instructions) which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method of the above-described first to thirteenth aspects in any of the possible implementations of the first to thirteenth aspects.

In a twenty-second aspect, a communication system is provided, comprising the primary network device and the secondary network device as described above,

optionally, the communication system further comprises a core network device for sending QoS parameters to the primary network device.

Optionally, the communication system further comprises a terminal device.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system suitable for use in the present application;

fig. 2-5 are schematic diagrams of DC architectures suitable for use in the present application;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of multiple bearer types supported under a DC architecture;

FIG. 7 is a schematic flow chart diagram of a method of determining a bearer type provided herein;

fig. 8 is a schematic flow chart diagram of another method of determining bearer type provided herein;

fig. 9 is a schematic flow chart diagram of yet another method of determining bearer type provided herein;

fig. 10 is a schematic flow chart diagram of yet another method of determining bearer type provided herein;

fig. 11 is a schematic flow chart of a method of modifying a bearer type provided herein;

FIG. 12 is a schematic flow chart of a communication method provided herein;

fig. 13 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided in the present application;

fig. 14 is a schematic structural diagram of a network device provided in the present application.

Detailed Description

The technical solutions in the present application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The technical solution of the embodiment of the application can be applied to various communication systems, for example: global system for mobile communications (global system for mobile communications, GSM), code division multiple access (code division multiple access, CDMA) system, wideband code division multiple access (wideband code division multiple access, WCDMA) system, general packet radio service (general packet radio service, GPRS), long term evolution (long term evolution, LTE) system, LTE frequency division duplex (frequency division duplex, FDD) system, LTE time division duplex (time division duplex, TDD), universal mobile telecommunications system (universal mobile telecommunication system, UMTS), worldwide interoperability for microwave access (worldwide interoperability for microwave access, wiMAX) communication system, fifth generation (5th generation,5G) systems such as New Radio (NR) system, or New Radio (NR) other new wireless communication systems, and the like.

The terminal device in the embodiments of the present application may refer to a user device, an access terminal, a subscriber unit, a subscriber station, a mobile station, a remote terminal, a mobile device, a user terminal, a wireless communication device, a user agent, or a user apparatus. The terminal device may also be a cellular telephone, a cordless telephone, a session initiation protocol (session initiation protocol, SIP) phone, a wireless local loop (wireless local loop, WLL) station, a personal digital assistant (personal digital assistant, PDA), a handheld device with wireless communication capabilities, a computing device or other processing device connected to a wireless modem, an in-vehicle device, a wearable device, a terminal device in a future 5G network or a terminal device in a future evolved public land mobile network (public land mobile network, PLMN), etc., as the embodiments of the application are not limited in this respect.

The network device (primary network device or secondary network device) in the embodiment of the present application may be a device for communicating with a terminal device, where the network device may be a base station (base transceiver station, BTS) in a global system for mobile communications (global system for mobile communications, GSM) or code division multiple access (code division multiple access, CDMA), a base station (NodeB, NB) in a wideband code division multiple access (wideband code division multiple access, WCDMA) system, an evolved NodeB (eNB or eNodeB) in an LTE system, a wireless controller in a cloud wireless access network (cloud radio access network, CRAN) scenario, or the network device may be a relay station, an access point, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, a network device in a PLMN network where the network device in a future 5G network evolves in the future, and the embodiment of the present application is not limited. The network devices in the 5G network may be, for example, gnbs or transmission points (trasmission point, TRPs), etc. Or the network device in the embodiment of the present application may be composed of a Central Unit (CU) and a Distributed Unit (DU), where the CU may also be referred to as a control unit (control unit), and the structure of the CU-DU may be used to split the protocol layers of the base station, where functions of part of the protocol layers are centrally controlled by the CU, and functions of the rest part or all of the protocol layers are distributed in the DU, so that the CU centrally controls the DU. ) Or network devices in a future evolved PLMN network, etc., embodiments of the present application are not limited.

In the embodiment of the application, the terminal device or the network device (the primary network device or the secondary network device) includes a hardware layer, an operating system layer running above the hardware layer, and an application layer running above the operating system layer. The hardware layer includes hardware such as a central processing unit (central processing unit, CPU), a memory management unit (memory management unit, MMU), and a memory (also referred to as a main memory). The operating system may be any one or more computer operating systems that implement business processes through processes (processes), such as a Linux operating system, a Unix operating system, an Android operating system, an iOS operating system, or a windows operating system. The application layer comprises applications such as a browser, an address book, word processing software, instant messaging software and the like. Further, the embodiment of the present application is not particularly limited to the specific structure of the execution body of the method provided in the embodiment of the present application, as long as the communication can be performed by the method provided in the embodiment of the present application by running the program recorded with the code of the method provided in the embodiment of the present application, and for example, the execution body of the method provided in the embodiment of the present application may be a terminal device or a network device, or a functional unit in the terminal device or the network device that can call the program and execute the program.

Furthermore, various aspects or features of the present application may be implemented as a method, apparatus, or article of manufacture using standard programming and/or engineering techniques. The term "article of manufacture" as used herein encompasses a computer program accessible from any computer-readable device, carrier, or media. For example, computer-readable media can include, but are not limited to, magnetic storage devices (e.g., hard disk, floppy disk, or magnetic strips, etc.), optical disks (e.g., compact disk, CD, digital versatile disk, digital versatile disc, DVD, etc.), smart cards, and flash memory devices (e.g., erasable programmable read-only memory, EPROM), cards, sticks, or key drives, etc. Additionally, various storage media described herein can represent one or more devices and/or other machine-readable media for storing information. The term "machine-readable medium" can include, without being limited to, wireless channels and various other media capable of storing, containing, and/or carrying instruction(s) and/or data.

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system suitable for use in the present application. As shown in fig. 1, the communication system 100 may include at least two network devices, such as network device 110 and network device 120, and the communication system 100 may further include at least one terminal device, such as terminal device 130. Furthermore, the communication system 100 may further comprise at least one core network device, such as the core network device 140. It should be understood that fig. 1 is only a schematic diagram, and other network devices may be further included in the communication system, for example, a wireless relay device, a wireless backhaul device, and the like may also be included. In addition, the embodiments of the present application do not limit the number of network devices and terminal devices included in the mobile communication system.

In fig. 1, the terminal device 130 may connect the network device 110 and the network device 120 through an air interface, the network device 110 and the network device 120 may be connected through a wired or wireless manner, and the network device 110 and the network device 120 may be connected to the core network device 140 through a wired manner. The core network device 140 may be a 4G core network device or a 5G core network device. The network device 110 may be an LTE base station or an NR base station; the network device 120 may be an LTE base station or an NR base station. Terminal device 130 may communicate with network devices 110 and 120 by employing DC technology. One of the network devices 110 and 120 is a MN and the other is a SN.

Among them, there are various combinations of DCs:

(1) The core network is packet core network EPC (evolved packet core, EPC), the LTE base station is the MN, and the NR base station is the SN. Referring to fig. 2, at this time, the LTE base station and the NR base station may be connected through an X2 interface, and at least the control plane may be connected, and may also have a user plane connection; the LTE base station and the EPC can be connected through an S1 interface, at least a control plane can be connected, and a user plane can be connected; the NR base station and EPC can be connected through S1-U interface, namely, only user interface connection is possible. At this time, the LTE base station may provide the UE with air interface resources through at least one LTE cell, where the at least one LTE cell is called MCG. Correspondingly, the NR base station may also provide air interface resources for the UE through at least one NR cell, where the at least one NR cell is referred to as SCG.

(2) The core network is a 5G core network (5G core,5 GC), the LTE base station is an MN, and the NR base station is an SN. Referring to fig. 3, at this time, the LTE base station and the NR base station may be connected through an Xn interface, where at least a control plane may be connected, and a user plane may be also connected; the LTE base station and the 5GC can be connected through an NG interface, at least the control plane can be connected, and the user plane can be connected; the NR base station and the 5GC can be connected through an NG-U interface, namely, only a user interface can be connected. At this time, the LTE base station may provide the UE with air interface resources through at least one LTE cell, where the at least one LTE cell is called MCG. Correspondingly, the NR base station may also provide air interface resources for the UE through at least one NR cell, where the at least one NR cell is referred to as SCG.

(3) When the core network is 5GC, the NR base station is used as MN, and the LTE base station is used as SN. Referring to fig. 4, at this time, the NR base station and the LTE base station may be connected through an Xn interface, where at least a control plane may be connected, and a user plane may be connected; the NR base station and the 5GC can be connected through an NG interface, at least a control plane can be connected, and a user plane can be connected; there is an NG-U interface between the LTE station and the 5GC, i.e. only user plane connections are possible. The NR base station may provide air interface resources to the UE through at least one NR cell, where the at least one NR cell is referred to as an MCG. Correspondingly, the LTE base station may also provide the UE with air interface resources through at least one LTE cell, where the at least one LTE cell is referred to as SCG.

(4) When the core network is 5GC, both MN and SN are NR base stations. Referring to fig. 5, the NR main base station and the NR auxiliary base station may be connected through an Xn interface, and at least the control plane may be connected, and the user plane may be connected; an NG interface exists between the NR main base station and the 5GC, and at least a control plane connection and a user plane connection are provided; an NG-U interface exists between the NR secondary base station and the 5GC, i.e. only user plane connections are possible. At this time, the NR master base station may provide air interface resources for the UE through at least one NR cell, where the at least one NR cell is referred to as MCG. Correspondingly, the NR secondary base station may also provide air interface resources for the UE through at least one NR cell, where the at least one NR cell is referred to as SCG.

It should be understood that in fig. 2 to 5, the LTE base station is taken as an eNB, and the NR base station is taken as a gNB, which should not be construed as limiting the present application.

As shown in fig. 6, the DC architecture supports multiple bearer types, including:

MN terminated MCG bearer, i.e. the MCG bearer terminating at the MN;

MN terminated SCG bearer, i.e. the SCG bearer terminating at the MN;

MN terminated split bearer, i.e. a split bearer terminating at the MN;

SN terminated MCG bearer, i.e. the MCG bearer terminating at SN;

SN terminated SCG bearer, i.e. the SCG bearer terminated at SN;

SN terminated split bearer, i.e. the split bearer terminating at SN.

Wherein, the MCG bearer refers to a bearer only related to the MCG air interface resource, the SCG bearer refers to a bearer only related to the SCG air interface resource, and the separate bearer refers to a bearer related to both the MCG air interface resource and the SCG air interface resource. MN terminating or terminating at MN means that the packet data convergence protocol (packet data convergence protocol, PDCP) entity is at MN, SN terminating or terminating at SN means that the PDCP entity is at SN.

It should be understood that in fig. 6, MN RLC represents a radio link control (radio link control, RLC) entity on the MN side. Accordingly, the SN RLC means an RLC entity of the SN side. The MN MAC represents a medium access control (media access control, MAC) entity on the MN side. Accordingly, the SN MAC represents a MAC entity of the SN side.

In the prior art, the MN may determine the bearer types of all the bearers and inform the SN after determining the bearer types of the bearers. If the SN accepts the bearer type, corresponding configuration is generated according to the bearer type indicated by the MN.

The flexibility of the configuration of the SN is improved, and the bearer type can be determined by the SN by aiming at the bearer established at the SN by the SDAP entity. However, if the bearer type of the bearer terminated by the SN is completely determined by the SN, the bearer type determined by the SN may not be suitable for the running situation of the MN, which affects data transmission. Therefore, there is a need for SN to more reasonably set the bearer type of the bearer established at the SN by the SDAP entity.

In view of this, the present application provides a number of methods of determining a bearer type. In one method, the SN may more reasonably determine the bearer type of the QoS flow or the bearer type of the DRB according to whether the MN provides the assistance information. In another approach, the SN may more reasonably determine the bearer type of the QoS flow or the bearer type of the DRB based on the advice information provided by the MN. The proposed information may be a QoS flow of the SDAP entity at the SN or a bearer type of the DRB proposed by the MN.

It should be understood that the bearer type of the QoS flow described in the present application actually refers to the bearer type of the bearer corresponding to the QoS flow, or the bearer type of the bearer to which the QoS flow belongs.

It should be understood that the methods provided herein may be applied to, but are not limited to, the DC architecture shown in fig. 2-5. The method of the present application is described below.

It should also be understood that, for ease of understanding, the method of the present application will be described below mainly using MN as a primary network device and SN as a secondary network device. It should be noted that, in practice, the operations performed by the MN may also be performed by the chip in the MN, and similarly, the operations performed by the SN may also be performed by the chip in the SN.

The first method provided by the application mainly comprises the following steps: the primary network device generates a first message according to whether the auxiliary information is included in the first message; the primary network device sends the first message to the secondary network device. Accordingly, the secondary network device receives a first message sent by the primary network device, and determines a bearer type of the QoS flow according to whether the first message includes the auxiliary information. Wherein, the SDAP entity corresponding to the QoS flow is established on the auxiliary network device.

Based on the method, for the QoS flow established on the auxiliary network device by the corresponding SDAP entity, the main network device can assist the auxiliary network to determine the bearing type of the QoS flow by whether the auxiliary information is included in the first message, and accordingly, the auxiliary network device can reasonably determine the bearing type of the QoS flow according to whether the auxiliary information is included in the first message provided by the main network device. Therefore, the aim of reasonably setting the bearing type of the QoS flow by the auxiliary network equipment can be realized. And the problem of long negotiation process between the auxiliary network equipment and the main network equipment caused by unsuitable decision of the auxiliary network equipment on the bearer type of the QoS stream can be avoided. This method will be described in detail below with reference to fig. 7.

Fig. 7 illustrates an exemplary flow chart of a method 200 of determining a bearer type provided herein. The method 200 generally includes S210 to S230. The steps are described below.

S210, the MN generates the first message according to whether the auxiliary information is included in the first message.

The first message is for the SN to determine a bearer type for the first QoS flow. Or, if the first message includes the result of the assistance information, the SN determines the bearer type of the first QoS flow. That is, the SN may determine the bearer type of the first QoS flow according to whether the first message includes the assistance information. The first QoS flow may be any QoS flow that the corresponding SDAP entity establishes on the SN. It should be understood that the SDAP entity corresponding to the first QoS flow is established at the SN, and it may also be understood that the PDCP entity corresponding to the bearer corresponding to the first QoS flow is established at the SN.

Among other types of bearers described herein include MCG bearers, SCG bearers, or split bearers. MCG bearers and split bearers are bearers involving MCG air interface resources. Alternatively, the bearers related to the MCG air interface resources include MCG bearers or separate bearers.

It should be appreciated that since the SDAP entity to which the first QoS flow corresponds is established on the SN, the bearer type of the first QoS flow is actually an SCG bearer terminating at the SN, an MCG bearer terminating at the SN, or a separate bearer terminating at the SN.

Illustratively, the MN can include the assistance information in the first message if the MN is able to provide air interface resources for the first QoS flow. For another example, if the MN is unable to provide air interface resources for the first QoS flow, the MN may not include the assistance information in the first message. Wherein the air interface resource is used to provide a transmission bit rate of the first QoS flow.

S220, the MN sends a first message to the SN. Accordingly, the SN receives the first message.

S230, the SN determines the bearer type of the first QoS flow according to whether the first message includes the auxiliary information.

According to the method for determining the bearer type, for the QoS flow established on the SN by the corresponding SDAP entity, the MN can determine the bearer type of the QoS flow by assisting the SN by including auxiliary information in the first message, and accordingly, the SN can reasonably determine the bearer type of the QoS flow according to whether the auxiliary information is included in the first message provided by the MN. Therefore, the purpose that the SN reasonably sets the bearer type of the QoS flow can be achieved. And the problem of long negotiation process between MN and SN caused by unsuitable bearer type decision of the auxiliary network equipment to QoS flow can be avoided.

Possible implementations of the present application are described below. Among them, mode one, mode two to mode four, hereinafter, are directed to GBR QoS flows, and mode two to mode four are directed to non-GBR QoS flows.

Mode one

The first QoS flow is a GBR QoS flow, and the auxiliary information is a first GBR QoS parameter. The first GBR QoS parameter is a GBR QoS parameter provided by the MN for the first QoS flow, or in other words, the first GBR QoS parameter is a GBR QoS parameter that the MN can provide for the first QoS flow.

In this scenario, if the first message includes auxiliary information, the first message may indicate that the SN is allowed to configure the bearer type of the first QoS flow to be a bearer type related to the MCG air interface resource; alternatively, if the first message includes assistance information, the SN may consider configuring the first QoS flow to be related to the bearer type of the MCG air interface resource. And/or, if the first message does not include the auxiliary information, the first message may instruct the SN to determine the bearer type of the first QoS flow as an SCG bearer; alternatively, if the first new message does not include the assistance information, the SN may configure the first QoS flow as an SCG bearer, or the SN may determine that the bearer type of the first QoS flow is an SCG bearer.

Accordingly, S230 specifically includes: if the first message includes auxiliary information, the SN determines that the bearer type of the first QoS flow is MCG bearer, SCG bearer or separated bearer; if the first message does not include auxiliary information, the SN determines that the bearer type of the first QoS flow is an SCG bearer.

Specifically, if the MN carries the first GBR QoS parameter in the first message, it indicates that the MN can provide the GBR QoS parameter for the first QoS flow, or the MN can allocate the MCG air interface resource for the first QoS flow, so that the SN can determine (or configure) the bearer type of the first QoS flow to be the bearer type related to the MCG air interface resource, that is, the MCG bearer or the split bearer. That is, the SN may either have the opportunity to determine the bearer type of the first QoS flow as an MCG bearer or a split bearer. However, the bearer type of the first QoS flow finally determined by the SN may be autonomously determined, for example, the bearer type of the first QoS flow finally determined by the SN may not be an MCG bearer or a separate bearer, but may be an SCG bearer. For example, if the SN is able to provide the first QoS flow with GBR QoS parameters required by the first QoS flow, the SN may determine that the bearer type of the first QoS flow is an SCG bearer. It should be appreciated that the GBR QoS parameters required for the first QoS flow have the same meaning as the second GBR QoS parameters described below.

In contrast, if the MN does not carry the first GBR QoS parameter in the first message, it indicates that the MN cannot provide the GBR QoS parameter for the first QoS flow, or the MN cannot allocate resources related to the MCG air interface for the first QoS flow, so that the SN can determine the bearer type of the first QoS flow as the SCG bearer.

Based on the above technical solution, the MN may assist the SN to determine the bearer type of the GBR QoS flow by carrying the GBR QoS parameter provided by the MN for the GBR QoS flow in the first message, and correspondingly, the SN may reasonably determine the bearer type of the GBR QoS flow according to whether the first message provided by the MN includes the GBR QoS parameter provided by the MN for the GBR QoS flow.

In this application, the GBR QoS parameters may include one or more of an uplink maximum bit rate, a downlink maximum bit rate, an uplink GBR, and a downlink GBR. The meaning of these four parameters can be found in the prior art, and will not be described here. It should be appreciated that the first GBR QoS parameter may be one or more of an upstream maximum bit rate, a downstream maximum bit rate, an upstream GBR, and a downstream GBR provided by the MN for the first QoS flow.

Optionally, in one example, the MN may also carry the second GBR QoS parameters of the first QoS flow in the first message.

Wherein the second GBR QoS parameter is a GBR QoS parameter of the first QoS flow received by the MN from the core network device. It should be appreciated that the second GBR QoS parameter may be one or more of an upstream maximum bit rate, a downstream maximum bit rate, an upstream GBR, and a downstream GBR of the first QoS flow received by the MN from the core network device. It should also be appreciated that the type of parameters included in the second GBR QoS parameters may be the same as the type of parameters included in the first GBR QoS parameters. For example, the parameters included in the first GBR QoS parameters are the uplink maximum bit rate and the downlink maximum bit rate, and the parameters included in the second GBR QoS parameters may also be the uplink maximum bit rate and the downlink maximum bit rate. However, the present application is not limited thereto, for example, the second GBR QoS parameter may include more parameters than the first GBR QoS parameter.

Accordingly, in S230, the SN may determine the bearer type of the first QoS flow in combination with the second GBR QoS parameter.

For example, if the value of the second GBR QoS parameter is greater than the value of the first GBR QoS parameter, this indicates that the SN is required to provide SCG air interface resources, and the SN may determine the bearer type of the first QoS flow as a separate bearer.

For another example, if the value of the second GBR QoS parameter is equal to the value of the first GBR QoS parameter, it is indicated that the SN may not provide SCG air interface resources, and the SN may determine the bearer type of the first QoS flow as the MCG bearer.

In addition, the SN may also determine the bearer type of the first QoS flow in conjunction with its ability to provide GBR QoS parameters for the first QoS flow.

For example, although the first GBR QoS parameter is included in the first message, the SN can provide a GBR QoS parameter that is greater than the value of the second GBR QoS parameter, and the SN can determine the bearer type of the QoS flow as an SCG bearer.

Based on the above technical solution, the SN may combine more information, such as GBR QoS parameters of the first QoS flow received by the MN from the core network device and/or the SN may provide GBR QoS parameters for the first QoS flow, so as to more reasonably determine the bearer type of the first QoS flow.

In the above embodiment, when comparing the magnitude relation between the value of the second GBR QoS parameter and the value of the first GBR QoS parameter, we assume that the parameters included in the second GBR QoS parameter and the first GBR QoS parameter are the same in type, and compare the same type of parameters. And when the second GBR QoS parameter and the first GBR QoS parameter contain multiple types of parameters, the meaning that the value of the second GBR QoS parameter is equal to the value of the second GBR QoS parameter is that the values of any parameters of the same type are the same; similarly, the meaning that the value of the second GBR QoS parameter is greater than the value of the second GBR QoS parameter is equal is that, for any parameter of the same type, the value of the parameter of that type in the second GBR QoS parameter is greater than the value of the parameter of that type in the first GBR QoS parameter; the meaning that the value of the second GBR QoS parameter is smaller than the value of the second GBR QoS parameter is equal is that, for any parameter of the same type, the value of the parameter of the type in the second GBR QoS parameter is smaller than the value of the parameter of the type in the first GBR QoS parameter.

For example, if the parameters included in the first GBR QoS parameter and the second GBR QoS parameter are both an uplink maximum bit rate and a downlink maximum bit rate, if the uplink maximum bit rate in the first GBR QoS parameter is equal to the uplink maximum bit rate in the second GBR QoS parameter, and the downlink maximum bit rate in the first GBR QoS parameter is equal to the downlink maximum bit rate in the second GBR QoS parameter, the values of the first GBR QoS parameter and the second GBR QoS parameter are considered to be equal. If the uplink maximum bit rate in the first GBR QoS parameter is greater than the uplink maximum bit rate in the second GBR QoS parameter, and the downlink maximum bit rate in the first GBR QoS parameter is greater than the downlink maximum bit rate in the second GBR QoS parameter, the value of the first GBR QoS parameter is considered to be greater than the value of the second GBR QoS parameter. If the uplink maximum bit rate in the first GBR QoS parameter is smaller than the uplink maximum bit rate in the second GBR QoS parameter, and the downlink maximum bit rate in the first GBR QoS parameter is smaller than the downlink maximum bit rate in the second GBR QoS parameter, the value of the first GBR QoS parameter is considered to be smaller than the value of the second GBR QoS parameter.

Mode two

The first QoS flow is a non-GBR QoS flow, and the auxiliary information is a first UE AMBR and a first PDU session AMBR.

The first UE AMBR is an AMBR provided by the non-GBR QoS flow of the SN for the target UE established by the MN, and the target UE is the UE corresponding to the first QoS flow. That is, all non-GBR QoS flows of the target UE consist of non-GBR QoS flows established at the MN (denoted as first part of non-GBR QoS flows) and non-GBR QoS flows established at the SN (denoted as second part of non-GBR QoS flows), and the first UE AMBR is the AMBR provided by the MN for the second part of non-GBR QoS flows. It should be appreciated that the second portion of non-GBR QoS flows includes the first QoS flow. The UE AMBR may include one or both of a UE downlink AMBR and a UE uplink AMBR.

The first PDU session AMBR is an AMBR provided by the MN for the non-GBR QoS flows established at the SN in the target PDU session. Wherein the first QoS flow corresponds to the target PDU session, i.e. the non-GBR QoS flow established at the SN in the target PDU session comprises the first QoS flow. It should be appreciated that the non-GBR QoS flows established at the SN in the target PDU session are all or part of the second partial non-GBR QoS flows. The PDU session AMBR may include one or both of a PDU session downlink AMBR and a PDU session uplink AMBR.

It should be noted that, in this application, a non-GBR QoS flow established at an SN refers to a non-GBR QoS flow established at the SN by a corresponding SDAP entity. Similarly, a non-GBR QoS flow at the MN refers to a non-GBR QoS flow established at the MN by the corresponding SDAP entity.

In the above scenario, there may be four cases as follows, which will be described in detail below.

Case 1

The first message (or assistance information) includes a first UE AMBR and a first PDU session AMBR.

At this time, the first message may indicate that the SN is allowed to configure the bearer type of the first QoS flow to a bearer type related to MCG air interface resources. Alternatively, if the first message includes the first UE AMBR and the first PDU session AMBR, the SN may consider configuring the first QoS flow to be of a bearer type that relates to MCG air interface resources.

Accordingly, S230 specifically includes: if the first message (or the auxiliary information) includes the first UE AMBR and the first PDU session AMBR, the SN determines that the bearer type of the first QoS flow is an MCG bearer, an SCG bearer, or a split bearer.

Specifically, if the MN carries the first UE AMBR and the first PDU session AMBR in the first message, it indicates that the MN can provide MCG air-interface resources for the second part of non-GBR QoS flows including the first QoS flow, that is, the MN can provide MCG air-interface resources for the non-GBR QoS flows including the first QoS flow. And, the MN can provide MCG air interface resources for non-GBR QoS flows established at the SN in the target PDU session that also include the first QoS flow. The MN may allocate MCG air interface resources for the first QoS flow so that the SN may consider determining (or configuring) the bearer type of the first QoS flow as the bearer type involving the MCG air interface resources, i.e., the MCG bearer or the split bearer. That is, the SN may either be allowed to determine the bearer type of the first QoS flow as an MCG bearer or a split bearer. However, the bearer type of the first QoS flow finally determined by the SN may also be not an MCG bearer or a separate bearer, but may be an SCG bearer.

Case 2

The first message does not include the first UE AMBR and the first PDU session AMBR.

At this time, the first message may instruct the SN to determine the bearer type of the first QoS flow as an SCG bearer.

Accordingly, S230 specifically includes: if the first message does not include the first UE AMBR and the first PDU session AMBR, the SN determines that the bearer type of the first QoS flow is an SCG bearer.

Specifically, if the MN does not carry the first UE AMBR and the first PDU session AMBR in the first message, it indicates that the MN is unable to provide MCG air interface resources for the second part of non-GBR QoS flows including the first QoS flow, so that the SN may consider determining the bearer type of the first QoS flow as an SCG bearer.

Case 3

The first message includes a first UE AMBR and does not include a first PDU session AMBR.

At this time, the first message may indicate that the SN is allowed to configure the bearer type of the first QoS flow to a bearer type related to MCG air interface resources.

Accordingly, S230 specifically includes: if the first message includes the first UE AMBR and does not include the first PDU session AMBR, the SN determines that the bearer type of the first QoS flow is an MCG bearer, an SCG bearer, or a split bearer.

Specifically, if the MN carries the first UE AMBR in the first message, it indicates that the MN is able to provide MCG air interface resources for the second part of non-GBR QoS flows that contain the first QoS flow. At this time, although the MN does not carry the first PDU session AMBR in the first message, the first UE AMBR is applicable to the second part of non-GBR QoS flows including the first QoS flow, so at this time the MN may also consider that the bearer type of the first QoS flow is determined (or configured) as the bearer type related to the MCG air interface resource, i.e. the MCG bearer or the split bearer. However, the bearer type of the first QoS flow finally determined by the SN may also be not an MCG bearer or a separate bearer, but may be an SCG bearer.

Case 4

The first message includes a first PDU session AMBR and does not include a first UE AMBR.

Accordingly, S230 specifically includes: if the first message includes the first PDU session AMBR and does not include the first UE AMBR, the SN determines that the bearer type of the first QoS flow is an MCG bearer, an SCG bearer, or a split bearer.

Specifically, although the MN does not carry the first UE AMBR in the first message, the MN carries the first PDU session AMBR in the first message, which indicates that the MN is able to provide MCG air interface resources for non-GBR QoS flows including the first QoS flow. Since the first QoS flow belongs to the target PDU session, it is possible for the MN to guarantee the QoS requirements of the first QoS flow, so that the SN can consider determining (or configuring) the bearer type of the first QoS flow as the bearer type related to the MCG air interface resource. That is, the SN may either have the opportunity to determine the bearer type of the first QoS flow as an MCG bearer or a split bearer. However, the bearer type of the first QoS flow finally determined by the SN may also be not an MCG bearer or a separate bearer, but may be an SCG bearer.

In addition, for a non-GBR QoS flow that does not belong to the target PDU session, SN may determine the bearer type of the non-GBR QoS flow as an SCG bearer, but this is not limited in this application.

In summary, by the method of the second mode, the SN may determine the bearer type of the first QoS flow according to whether the first message includes the auxiliary information, and further according to the content included in the auxiliary information.

It should be appreciated that the basic idea of the second mode is that, when designing the format of the first message, the positions of two cells, namely the cell corresponding to the first UE AMBR and the cell corresponding to the first PDU session AMBR, may be reserved in the first message. But at the time of specific transmission, the MN may not fill either or both of the two cells, thereby realizing the meaning indicated in the above case 1 to case 4.

In another possible implementation, whether the first QoS flow can be configured to refer to the bearer type of the MCG air interface resource depends on whether the SN receives the first PDU session AMBR provided by the MN for the target PDU session to which the first QoS flow corresponds. Specifically, if the SN receives a first PDU session AMBR provided by the MN for the target PDU session corresponding to the first Qos flow, the SN may consider that the bearer type of the first Qos flow is determined (or configured) to be a bearer type related to an MCG air interface resource, that is, an MCG bearer or a split bearer, that is, may be an MCG bearer, an SCG bearer or a split bearer; if not, the SN may determine that the bearer type of the first QoS flow is an SCG bearer.

Mode three

The first QoS flow is a non-GBR QoS flow, and the auxiliary information is a first UE AMBR. The meaning of the first UE AMBR is described above, and will not be described in detail.

In this scenario, if the first message includes auxiliary information, the first message may indicate that the SN is allowed to configure the bearer type of the first QoS flow to be a bearer type related to the MCG air interface resource; alternatively, if the first message includes assistance information, the SN may consider configuring the first QoS flow to be related to the bearer type of the MCG air interface resource. And/or, if the first message does not include the auxiliary information, the first message may instruct the SN to configure the bearer type of the first QoS flow as an SCG bearer.

Accordingly, S230 specifically includes: if the first message includes auxiliary information, the SN determines that the bearer type of the first QoS flow is an MCG bearer, an SCG bearer, or a split bearer. If the first message does not include auxiliary information, the SN determines that the bearer type of the first QoS flow is an SCG bearer.

Specifically, if the MN carries the first UE AMBR in the first message, it indicates that the MN is capable of providing MCG air interface resources for the second portion of non-GBR QoS flows including the first QoS flow. Thus, the SN may consider determining (or configuring) the bearer type of the first QoS flow as the bearer type that relates to the MCG air interface resources. That is, the SN may either have the opportunity to determine the bearer type of the first QoS flow as an MCG bearer or a split bearer. However, the bearer type of the first QoS flow finally determined by the SN may also be not an MCG bearer or a separate bearer, but may be an SCG bearer.

In contrast, if the MN does not carry the first UE AMBR in the first message, it indicates that the MN is unable to provide MCG air interface resources for the second part of non-GBR QoS flows including the first QoS flow, so that the SN may consider determining the bearer type of the first QoS flow as an SCG bearer.

In summary, by the method of the third mode, the SN may reasonably determine the bearer type of the first QoS flow according to whether the first message includes the auxiliary information.

Mode four

The first QoS flow is a non-GBR QoS flow and the auxiliary information is a first PDU session AMBR. The meaning of the first PDU session AMBR is referred to above and will not be described again.

Accordingly, S230 specifically includes: if the first message includes auxiliary information, the SN determines that the bearer type of the first QoS flow is an MCG bearer, an SCG bearer, or a split bearer. And/or, if the first message does not include the auxiliary information, the SN determines that the bearer type of the first QoS flow is an SCG bearer.

Specifically, if the MN carries the first PDU session AMBR in the first message, it indicates that the MN can provide the MCG air interface resource for the non-GBR QoS flow established in the SN in the target PDU session, so that the SN may determine (or configure) the bearer type of the first QoS flow to be the bearer type related to the MCG air interface resource in consideration of the bearer type. That is, the SN may either have the opportunity to determine the bearer type of the first QoS flow as an MCG bearer or a split bearer. However, the bearer type of the first QoS flow finally determined by the SN may also be not an MCG bearer or a separate bearer, but may be an SCG bearer.

In contrast, if the MN does not carry the first PDU session AMBR in the first message, it indicates that the MN cannot provide MCG air interface resources for the non-GBR QoS flows established in the SN in the target PDU session, so that the SN can determine that the bearer type of the first QoS flow is SCG bearer.

In summary, by the method of the fourth mode, the SN may reasonably determine the bearer type of the first QoS flow according to whether the first message includes the auxiliary information.

Optionally, in one example, the MN may also carry in the first message a second UE AMBR and/or a second PDU session AMBR of the first QoS flow.

Wherein the second UE AMBR may be determined by the MN from the UE AMBR received from the core network device. The second PDU session AMBR may be determined by the MN from the PDU session AMBR received from the core network device. The second UE AMBR is an AMBR that the SN needs to provide for the second part of non-GBR QoS flows. The second PDU session AMBR is an AMBR that the SN needs to provide for the non-GBR QoS flows in the target PDCP entity.

Accordingly, in S230, the SN may determine a bearer type of the first QoS flow in conjunction with the second UE AMBR and/or the second PDU session AMBR.

For example, if the first UE AMBR is equal to the second UE AMBR, the SN may determine the bearer type of the first QoS flow as an MCG bearer. Alternatively, the SN may determine the bearer type of the first QoS flow as an MCG bearer if the first PDU session AMBR is equal to the second PDU session AMBR.

For another example, if the first UE AMBR is smaller than the second UE AMBR, the SN may determine the bearer type of the first QoS flow as a split bearer. Alternatively, the SN may determine the bearer type of the first QoS flow as a split bearer if the first PDU session AMBR is smaller than the second PDU session AMBR.

It should be understood that the meaning of the size relationship of the first UE AMBR and the second UE AMBR, and the size relationship of the first PDU session AMBR and the second PDU session AMBR are similar to the meaning of the size relationship of the first GBR QoS parameter and the second GBR QoS parameter, and will not be described herein.

Alternatively, as another implementation, if the first message includes the auxiliary information, but the auxiliary information has a value of 0, this is equivalent to a scheme that the first message does not include the auxiliary information.

Optionally, the method may further include:

s240, the SN sends bearer type indication information to the MN. Accordingly, the MN receives bearer type indication information sent by the SN.

S250, the MN determines the bearing type of the first QoS flow according to the bearing type indication information.

The bearer type indication information is used for indicating the bearer type of the first QoS flow determined by the SN.

Specifically, after determining the bearer type of the first QoS flow, the SN may inform the MN of the bearer type of the first QoS flow determined by the SN through bearer type indication information. Thus, the MN can determine the bearer type of the first QoS flow based on the bearer type indication information.

Alternatively, the bearer type indication information may be explicit information, that is, the bearer type indication information is a bearer type of the first QoS flow, or the bearer type indication information is information whether the bearer type of the first QoS flow relates to MCG air interface resources. That is, the SN explicitly tells the MN the bearer type of the first QoS flow or tells the MN whether the bearer type of the first QoS flow relates to MCG air interface resources.

In addition, the bearer type indication information may be implicit information. For example, the bearer type indication information may be uplink transport network layer (uplink transmission nerwork layer, UL TNL) information of received uplink data allocated by SN for a bearer corresponding to the first QoS flow. Optionally, the upstream transport network layer information may include an internet protocol (internet protocol, IP) address and/or a tunnel endpoint identification (tunnel endpoint identifier, TEID).

It should be understood that if the bearer type indication information is the uplink transport network layer information, it indicates that the bearer type of the first QoS flow determined by the SN is a bearer type related to the MCG air interface resource. In this case, the MN may generate RLC configuration and logical channel configuration for the first QoS flow or the bearer corresponding to the first QoS flow. How RLC configurations and logical channel configurations are generated may be referred to in the prior art, and will not be described in detail herein.

It should be appreciated that the bearer type indication information may also indicate or include an identification of the first QoS flow or an identification of the bearer to which the first QoS flow corresponds.

In response to the foregoing described problems in the prior art, the present application also provides three additional methods of determining a bearer type. The following description is made with reference to fig. 8 to 10, respectively.

Fig. 8 illustrates an exemplary flow chart of another method 300 of determining a bearer type provided herein. The method 300 generally includes S310 through S330. The steps are described below.

S310, the MN generates advice information. Wherein the suggestion information is used to indicate a bearer type of the first QoS flow suggested by the MN. The definition of the first QoS flow is the same as the definition of the first QoS flow in the method 200, and will not be described here again.

S320, the MN sends the advice information to the SN. Accordingly, the SN receives the advice information sent by the MN.

S330, the SN determines the bearing type of the first QoS flow according to the proposal information.

Specifically, the MN may suggest a bearer type of the first QoS flow to the SN, which may determine the bearer type of the first QoS flow according to the suggestion of the MN.

Therefore, according to the method for determining the bearer type provided by the application, the SN can more reasonably determine the bearer type of the QoS flow according to the bearer type suggested by the MN.

It should be appreciated that the SN may autonomously determine the bearer type of the first QoS flow. That is, the bearer type ultimately determined by the SN may or may not be the MN-suggested bearer type. For example, if the bearer type suggested by the MN is a split bearer, but the SN is able to meet the QoS requirements of the first QoS flow, the bearer type of the first QoS flow may be determined to be an SCG bearer.

Optionally, the method may further include:

s340, the SN sends bearer type indication information to the MN. Accordingly, the MN receives bearer type indication information sent by the SN.

S350, the MN determines the bearing type of the first QoS flow according to the bearing type indication information.

Specifically, after determining the bearer type of the first QoS flow, the SN may inform the network device of the determined bearer type of the first QoS flow through bearer type indication information. Thus, the network device may determine the bearer type of the first QoS flow according to the bearer type indication information.

For S340 and S350, reference may be made specifically to the descriptions of S240 and S250 in the method 200, which are not repeated here.

A method of determining the bearer type of a QoS flow is described above in connection with fig. 7 and 8. The method of determining the bearer type of the DBR is described in detail below with reference to fig. 9 and 10.

Fig. 9 illustrates an exemplary flow chart of yet another method 400 of determining a bearer type provided herein. The method 400 generally includes S410 to S430. The steps are described below.

S410, the MN generates the first message according to whether the auxiliary information is included in the first message.

The first message is for the SN to determine the bearer type of the first DRB. Or, the first message includes a result of the auxiliary information or not, for the SN to determine the bearer type of the first DRB. That is, the SN may determine the bearer type of the first DRB according to whether the first message includes the assistance information. The first DRB may be any DRB on which the corresponding PDCP entity is established on the SN.

Illustratively, if the MN is able to provide air interface resources for the first DRB, the MN may include assistance information in the first message. For another example, if the MN is unable to provide air interface resources for the first DRB, the MN may not include the assistance information in the first message. Wherein the air interface resource is used to provide a transmission bit rate of the first DRB.

S420, the MN sends the first message to the SN. Accordingly, the SN receives the first message sent by the MN.

And S430, the SN determines the bearing type of the first DRB according to whether the first message comprises auxiliary information.

According to the method for determining the bearer type, for the DRB established on the SN by the corresponding PDCP entity, the MN can determine the bearer type of the DRB by assisting the SN by including the assistance information in the first message, and accordingly, the SN can reasonably determine the bearer type of the DRB according to whether the assistance information is included in the first message provided by the MN. Therefore, the purpose of reasonably setting the bearer type of the DRB by the SN can be realized, and the problem of longer protocol process caused by unsuitable bearer type decision of the SN to the DRB in the prior art can be avoided.

In one possible implementation, the assistance information is a first parameter, which is a QoS parameter provided by the MN for the first DRB. Optionally, the QoS parameters may include one or more of an upstream MBR, a downstream MBR, an upstream GBR, and a downstream GBR.

In this scenario, if the first message includes assistance information, the first message may indicate that the SN is allowed to configure the bearer type of the first DRB to a bearer type related to MCG air interface resources. Alternatively, if the first message includes assistance information, the SN may consider configuring the first DRB to be related to the bearer type of the MCG air interface resource. And/or, if the first message does not include the auxiliary information, the first message may instruct the SN to determine the bearer type of the first DRB as an SCG bearer.

Accordingly, S430 specifically includes: if the first message includes auxiliary information, the SN determines that the bearer type of the first DRB is an MCG bearer, an SCG bearer, or a split bearer; if the first message does not include the auxiliary information, the SN determines that the bearer type of the first DRB is an SCG bearer.

Specifically, if the MN carries the first parameter in the first message, it indicates that the MN can provide the QoS parameter for the first DRB, or indicates that the MN can allocate the air interface resource related to the MCG for the first DRB, so that the SN may consider determining (or configuring) the bearer type of the first DRB to be the bearer type related to the MCG air interface resource, that is, the MCG bearer or the split bearer. That is, the SN may or may have an opportunity to determine the bearer type of the first DRB as an MCG bearer or a split bearer. However, the bearer type of the first DRB finally determined by the SN may also be not an MCG bearer or a separate bearer, but may be an SCG bearer. For example, if the SN is capable of providing the QoS parameters required by the first DRB for the first DRB, it may be determined that the bearer type of the first DRB is an SCG bearer.

In contrast, if the MN does not carry the first parameter in the first message, it indicates that the MN cannot allocate the air interface resource related to the MCG for the first DRB, so that the SN can determine the bearer type of the first DRB as the SCG bearer.

Based on the above technical solution, the MN may assist the SN to determine the bearer type of the first DRB by carrying the QoS parameter provided by the MN for the first DRB in the first message, and accordingly, the SN may reasonably determine the bearer type of the first DRB according to whether the first message provided by the MN includes the QoS parameter provided by the MN for the first DRB.

Optionally, the method may further include:

s440, the SN sends bearer type indication information to the MN. Accordingly, the MN receives bearer type indication information sent by the SN.

S450, the MN determines the bearing type of the first DRB according to the bearing type indication information.

The bearer type indication information is used for indicating the bearer type of the first DRB determined by the SN.

Specifically, after determining the bearer type of the first DRB, the SN may inform the MN of the determined bearer type of the first DRB through bearer type indication information. Thus, the MN can learn the bearer type of the first DRB determined by the SN.

Optionally, the bearer type indication information may be explicit information, that is, the bearer type indication information is a bearer type of the first DRB, or the bearer type indication information is information whether the bearer type of the first DRB relates to an MCG air interface resource. That is, the SN explicitly tells the bearer type of the MN first DRB or tells the MN whether the bearer type of the first DRB relates to MCG air interface resources.

In addition, the bearer type indication information may be implicit information. For example, the bearer type indication information may be uplink transport network layer information allocated by the SN for the first DRB to receive uplink data. The uplink transport network layer information can include an internet protocol (internet protocol, IP) address and a tunnel endpoint identification (tunnel endpoint identifier, TEID), from which the SN can receive uplink data of the first DRB sent by the MN.

It should be understood that if the bearer type indication information is the transport layer information, it indicates that the bearer type of the first DRB determined by the SN is a bearer type related to the MCG air interface resource. In this case, the MN may generate RLC entity and logical channel configurations for the first DRB.

It should be appreciated that the bearer type indication information may also include or indicate an identity of the first DRB.

Fig. 10 illustrates an exemplary flow chart of another method 500 of determining a bearer type provided herein. The method 500 mainly includes S510 to S530. The steps are described below.

S510, the MN generates advice information. Wherein the suggestion information is used to indicate a bearer type of the first DRB suggested by the MN. The definition of the first DRB is the same as that of the first DRB in the method 400, and will not be described here again.

Illustratively, the MN can generate the suggestion information based on whether it can provide air interface resources for the first DRB. Wherein the air interface resource is used to provide a transmission bit rate of the first DRB. For example, if the MN is able to provide air interface resources for the first DRB, it may be recommended that the SN determine the bearer type as a split bearer or an MCG bearer. For another example, if the MN is unable to provide air interface resources for the first DRB, it may be recommended that the SN determine the bearer type as an SCG bearer.

S520, the MN sends the advice information to the SN. Accordingly, the SN receives the advice information sent by the MN.

And S530, the SN determines the bearing type of the first DRB according to the proposal information.

Specifically, the MN may suggest the bearer type of the first DRB to the SN, which may determine the bearer type of the DRB according to the suggestion of the MN.

Therefore, according to the method for determining the bearer type provided by the application, the SN can more reasonably determine the bearer type of the DRB according to the suggested bearer type provided by the MN.

It should be appreciated that the bearer type ultimately determined by the SN may or may not be the MN-suggested bearer type. For example, if the bearer type suggested by the MN is a split bearer, but the SN is able to meet the QoS requirement for the first DRB, the bearer type of the first DRB may be determined as an SCG bearer.

Optionally, the method may further include:

s540, the SN sends bearer type indication information to the MN. Accordingly, the MN receives bearer type indication information sent by the SN.

S550, the MN determines the bearer type of the first DRB according to the bearer type indication information.

Specifically, after determining the bearer type of the first DRB, the SN may inform the network device of the determined bearer type of the first DRB through bearer type indication information. Thus, the network device may determine the bearer type of the first DRB according to the bearer type indication information.

For S540 and S550, reference may be made specifically to the descriptions of S440 and S450 in the method 400, which are not repeated here.

The method for determining the bearer type provided in the present application is described above mainly in connection with fig. 7 to 10. In addition, the application also provides a method for modifying the bearer type. The method provides possibility for SN to modify the bearer type of the bearer. Next, a method of modifying the bearer type will be described with reference to fig. 11.

The method shown in fig. 11 may be performed after any one of the methods shown in fig. 7 to 10. For example, the first bearer in the method shown in fig. 11 may be a bearer corresponding to the first QoS flow in the methods shown in fig. 7 and 8. After the bearer type is determined according to the method shown in fig. 7 or fig. 8, and the bearer is further established, when the SN needs to modify the bearer type, the method shown in fig. 11 may be used to modify the bearer type. As another example, the first bearer in the method shown in fig. 11 may be the first DRB in the methods shown in fig. 9 and 10. After the bearer type is determined according to the method shown in fig. 9 or fig. 10, and the bearer is further established, when the SN needs to modify the bearer type, the method shown in fig. 11 may be used to modify the bearer type.

Fig. 11 shows a schematic flow chart of a method of modifying a bearer type. The method mainly includes S610 to S620. The steps are described in detail below.

S610, the SN generates a request for modification (required) message. The modification application message is used for applying for modifying the bearer type of the first bearer.

Wherein, the PDCP entity corresponding to the first bearer is established in the SN. Alternatively, it can be said that the SDAP entity of the QoS flow corresponding to the first bearer is established at the SN.

S620, the SN sends the modification application message to the MN. Accordingly, the MN receives the modification application message sent by the SN.

Specifically, when the SN desires to modify the bearer type of the first bearer, the SN may request modification of the bearer type of the first bearer by sending a modification application message to the MN.

In one implementation, the modification application message may include a bearer setup list and a bearer deletion list. The bearer establishment list includes an identifier of the first bearer and indication information (simply referred to as indication information) indicating a bearer type of the first bearer that needs to be modified; the bearer deletion list may include an identification of the first bearer.

It should be appreciated that the bearer type indicated by the indication information to be modified is a new bearer type of the first bearer determined by the SN. The current bearer type of the first bearer is the original bearer type of the first bearer. That is, the SN expects to modify the first bearer from the original bearer type to a new bearer type.

The modification of the bearer type of the first bearer can be achieved by deleting the first bearer which is the original bearer type, and establishing the first bearer as a new bearer type bearer.

The indication information may be an explicit bearer type, such as an MCG bearer, an SCG bearer, or a split bearer. The indication information may also be implicit information, which may indicate a new bearer type of the first bearer. For example, the implicit information may be uplink transport network layer (uplink transmission nerwork layer, UL TNL) information, where the uplink transport network layer information is transport layer information allocated by SN for the first bearer and used for receiving uplink data sent by MN, where the uplink data is uplink data of the first bearer received by MN from a terminal device. It should be understood that if the indication information is the uplink transport network layer information, it indicates that the new bearer type is a bearer type related to MCG air interface resources, i.e. an MCG bearer or a split bearer.

The uplink transport network layer information may include an internet protocol (internet protocol, IP) address and a tunnel endpoint identification (tunnel endpoint identifier, TEID), and the SN may receive uplink data of the first bearer sent by the MN according to the uplink transport network layer information.

Therefore, according to the method for modifying the bearer type provided by the application, the SN can trigger the modification (or change) of the bearer type by sending the modification application message to the MN, and further can implement the modification of the bearer type.

Further, the SN may implement SN-triggered bearer type modification by carrying the same bearer identification in the bearer establishment list and the bearer deletion list.

The following description is made for different scenarios.

Scene one

The MN can autonomously decide whether to accept the SN modification application.

After receiving the SN, the MN can autonomously decide whether to accept the SN modification application. If the MN determines to accept the SN application for modification of the first bearer, the method may further include S630 to S650.

S630, the MN sends a modification request (request) message to the SN. Accordingly, the SN receives the modification request message sent by the MN.

The modification request message is for indicating that the MN agrees to modify the bearer type of the first bearer. That is, when the SN receives the modification request message sent by the MN, it can learn that the MN agrees to modify the bearer type of the first bearer.

Optionally, if the new bearer type of the first bearer is an MCG bearer or a split bearer, the MN may further carry the above uplink transport network layer information in the modification request message. Alternatively, if the indication information is uplink transport network layer information, the MN may not carry the uplink transport network layer information in the modification request message.

S640, the SN sends a modification request acknowledge (acknowledge) message to the MN. Accordingly, the MN receives the modification request acknowledge message sent by the SN.

The modification request acknowledgement message includes an air interface RRC configuration #1, where the air interface RRC configuration #1 is an air interface RRC configuration #1 generated by the SN for the terminal device, and the air interface RRC configuration #1 is used for the terminal device to configure the first bearer.

After that, the MN can send the air interface RRC configuration #1 and the air interface RRC configuration #2 to the terminal device. Accordingly, the terminal device receives the air interface RRC configuration #1 and the air interface RRC configuration #2.

For example, if the original bearer type is a split bearer and the new bearer type is an SCG bearer, the SN needs to generate a PDCP restored configuration (i.e., an example of the air interface RRC configuration # 1) for the UE, instruct the PDCP entity of the bearer to perform data restoration, and the MN needs to generate an MCG RLC bearer deleted configuration (i.e., an example of the air interface RRC configuration # 2) for the UE.

For example, if the original bearer type is SCG bearer and the new bearer type is MCG bearer, the SN needs to generate a configuration for releasing SCG RLC bearer (i.e., an example of air interface RRC configuration # 1) for the UE, and the MN needs to generate a configuration for adding MCG RLC bearer (i.e., an example of air interface RRC configuration # 2) for the UE.

S650, the MN transmits a modification confirm (confirm) message to the SN. Accordingly, the SN receives the modification confirm message sent by the MN.

The modification confirmation message is used for indicating that the modification of the bearer type of the first bearer is completed.

Specifically, after the MN accepts the SN modification application, a modification request message may be sent to the SN, which on one hand informs the SN that the MN accepts the SN modification application, and on the other hand requests the SN to generate a corresponding air interface RRC configuration #1 for the first bearer. After generating the first bearer and generating the corresponding air interface RRC configuration #1, the SN sends the configuration to the MN through modifying the request acknowledgement message. After receiving the modification request confirmation message, the MN generates an air interface RRC configuration #2, and sends the air interface RRC configuration #1 and the air interface RRC configuration #2 to the terminal equipment together to complete the configuration of the first bearer. And, the MN informs the SN that the MN has completed configuring the first bearer by sending a modification confirm message to the SN.

Scene two

The MN must accept the SN modification application. I.e. the MN cannot reject the bearer modification request initiated by the SN for the first bearer.

In this scenario, the SN may carry the air interface RRC configuration #1 in the modification application message. In this scenario, the method may further include S650 and S660 described above. That is, in case two, S630 and S640 may not be performed, and S650 and S660 may be performed after S620.

That is, after receiving the air interface RRC configuration #1 sent by the SN, the MN generates an air interface RRC configuration #2, and sends the air interface RRC configuration #1 and the air interface RRC configuration #2 to the terminal device together, thereby completing the configuration of the first bearer. And, the MN informs the SN that the MN has completed configuring the first bearer by sending a modification confirm message to the SN.

Optionally, if the first bearer is the SCG bearer and the new bearer is the MCG bearer or the split bearer, the MN may further carry the uplink transport network layer information in the modification confirm message in S660. Alternatively, if the indication information is uplink transport network layer information, the MN may not carry the uplink transport network layer information in the modification confirmation message.

In summary, based on the above method, when the air interface state of the auxiliary network device changes, the auxiliary network device can modify the bearer type to a bearer type more suitable for the air interface state of the auxiliary network device.

In this application, after the MN and the SN negotiate to determine the bearer type by using a method for determining the bearer type as shown in fig. 6 to 11, the MN may also negotiate the uplink transmission time of the terminal device at the MN or the SN. The following description is made with reference to fig. 13. It should be understood that the communication method shown in fig. 13 may be applied to various DC scenarios shown in fig. 2 to 5, for example, NE-DC scenarios in which the primary base station is a 5G base station and the secondary base station is an LTE base station.

Fig. 13 is a schematic flow chart diagram of a communication method 700 provided herein. The method 700 mainly includes S710 to S730. The steps are described below.

S710, the MN sends time domain configuration information to the SN. Accordingly, the SN receives the time domain configuration information.

Optionally, the MN sends the time domain configuration information to the SN when the MN confirms that the terminal device requires a single uplink transmission by the terminal device due to power control or intermodulation interference (inter modulation interference). The time domain configuration information may be uplink and downlink time domain allocation of the terminal device at the SN. The single uplink transmission means that the terminal device only sends data or signals to the cell of the MN or SN in one time unit, i.e. the terminal device cannot send data or signals through the cell of the MN or SN at the same time in the same time unit. The time unit may be a subframe or a time slot, or a mini subframe, etc., which is not limited. In this embodiment, a subframe is taken as an example for explanation.

Optionally, the uplink and downlink time domain allocation is in a uplink and downlink time domain allocation form corresponding to a radio access system (radio access technology, RAT) of the SN, or may be in a uplink and downlink time domain allocation form corresponding to a RAT of the MN, which is not limited. For example, the uplink and downlink time domain allocation may be uplink and downlink time domain allocation (subframe Assignment) defined by the LTE protocol TS36.331, where the uplink and downlink time domain allocation is in an uplink and downlink time domain allocation form corresponding to LTE, and a specific form may be referred to uplink-downlink configuration in TS 36.211. The uplink and downlink time domain allocation may also be TDD-UL-DL-Pattern or TDD-UL-DL-ConfigCommon defined in TS 38.331, indicating an uplink and downlink time division multiplexing (time division duplex, TDD) configuration.

Optionally, the time domain configuration information includes a second HARQ offset.

S720, the SN determines a first HARQ offset according to the time domain configuration information.

In addition, the SN may also determine uplink and downlink time domain allocations based on the time domain configuration information. Wherein the uplink and downlink time domain allocation may be a subframe allocation. Optionally, the SN allocates time domain configuration information received from the MN as uplink and downlink time domains.

Alternatively, the first HARQ offset may be preset to 0.

Optionally, the SN may combine the time domain configuration information with other information, such as a cell load under the SN, and uplink resource usage of one or more terminal devices accessed under the SN, to determine the first HARQ offset.

In one implementation, the SN may adjust the first HARQ offset to 0 such that the uplink and downlink time domain allocation of the SN is the same as the uplink and downlink time domain allocation sent by the MN.

In one implementation, if the time domain configuration information includes a second HARQ offset, the SN determines the first HARQ offset to be a different value than the second HARQ offset and sends to the MN.

In one implementation, the SN may adjust the first HARQ offset to a constant other than 0 such that the uplink and downlink time domain allocations of the SN are the same as the uplink and downlink time domain allocations sent by the MN.

The HARQ offset described in the present application is used to indicate an HARQ subframe offset, where the HARQ offset refers to an offset of an HARQ subframe performed by a terminal device on the basis of an uplink subframe corresponding to uplink and downlink time domain allocation. HARQ offset is used to indicate HARQ subframe offset, and may be used for design in uplink subframe related subframe allocation, details may be found in 3GPP TS 36.213[23.

S730, the SN sends the first HARQ offset to the MN.

Accordingly, the MN receives the first HARQ offset. Furthermore, the MN can obtain uplink time domain information that can be used by the serving cell under the MN by the terminal device according to the first HARQ offset and the time domain configuration information previously sent to the SN. The uplink time domain information includes a TDD ratio of an uplink time unit.

The MN can use the first HARQ offset obtained from the SN for uplink and downlink time domain allocation.

Alternatively, in one embodiment of the present application, if the SN sets the first HARQ offset to 0, the SN may not transmit the first HARQ offset to MN., the MN may use the original time domain configuration information for uplink and downlink time domain allocation.

In another embodiment, the SN may send the uplink and downlink time domain allocation and the first HARQ offset acknowledged for the terminal device to the MN. The MN may obtain uplink time domain information that may be used by a serving cell of the terminal device under the MN according to the uplink and downlink time domain allocation and the first HARQ offset.

In another embodiment, the SN may send a time domain allocation message to the MN, where the time domain allocation message may be an uplink and downlink time domain allocation used by the terminal device at the SN or MN.

Optionally, in another embodiment, the method further comprises:

s740, the SN determines a time division multiplexing mode configuration (time division multiplexing pattern configuration, TDM-patternConfig) for the terminal according to the time domain configuration information received from the MN.

Specifically, after receiving the time domain configuration information sent by the MN, the SN may determine, for the terminal device, a time division multiplexing mode configuration provided for the terminal device to use.

The time division multiplexing mode configuration may include uplink and downlink time domain allocation and the first HARQ offset. Wherein the uplink and downlink time domain is allocated as the uplink and downlink time domain allocation form corresponding to the RAT of the SN. For the terminal device, the terminal device only sends uplink information on the subframe after the corresponding uplink subframe in the uplink and downlink time domain allocation is offset by adopting the first HARQ offset.

S750, the SN notifies the terminal equipment of the time division multiplexing mode configuration determined by the terminal equipment.

In one embodiment, the SN may send the time division multiplexed mode configuration to the MN first, which then passes it to the terminal device. For example, the terminal may be informed of the time division multiplexing mode configuration in an implicit indication. Specifically, the SN may encapsulate the time-division multiplexing mode configuration in a container (container) carried in the first message sent to the MN, thereby sending the time-division multiplexing mode configuration to the MN. The MN receives the message containing the container, and further carries the container in a second message sent by the MN for the terminal equipment, so that the time division multiplexing mode configuration is sent to the terminal. Wherein the first message or the second message may be a radio resource control connection reconfiguration (RRC Connection Reconfiguration) message. For another example, the terminal device may be informed of the time division multiplexing mode configuration in the form of a display indication. Specifically, the SN may directly send the time division multiplexing mode configuration or a message containing the time division multiplexing mode configuration to the MN, and the MN reads the time division multiplexing mode configuration and then sends the time division multiplexing mode configuration to the terminal.

In another embodiment, the SN may directly issue the time division multiplexing mode configuration to the terminal device.

Alternatively, in one embodiment, the SN may send the time division multiplexing mode configuration for the terminal and the first HARQ offset sent by the SN to the MN and/or the uplink and downlink time domain allocations determined for the terminal device to the MN in the same message.

Correspondingly, the terminal equipment receives the time division multiplexing mode configuration.

Specifically, after receiving the time division multiplexing mode configuration, the terminal device may send uplink information on a subframe after performing the first HARQ offset on a corresponding uplink subframe in uplink and downlink time domain allocation.

The embodiment shown in fig. 12 may be implemented alone or in combination with any one or more of the embodiments shown in fig. 7 to 11, and is not limited thereto.

The methods provided herein are described above primarily in connection with fig. 2-12. The apparatus provided by the present application will be described below.

Fig. 13 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 13, the communication device 800 may include a processing unit 810 and a transceiving unit 820.

In one possible design, the communication apparatus 800 may correspond to the secondary network device in the above method embodiment, for example, may be an SN, or a chip configured in the SN. When the communication device is an SN, the processing unit may be a processor and the transceiving unit may be a transceiver. The communication device may further comprise a storage unit, which may be a memory. The storage unit is used for storing instructions, and the processing unit executes the instructions stored by the storage unit so as to enable the communication device to execute the method. When the communication device is a chip in SN, the processing unit may be a processor, and the transceiver unit may be an interface circuit, an input/output interface, a pin, or a circuit, etc.; the processing unit executes the instructions stored in the memory unit, which may be a memory unit (e.g., register, cache, etc.) within the chip, or a memory unit (e.g., read-only memory, random access memory, etc.) external to the chip within the communication device, to cause the communication device to perform the operations performed by the SN in the methods described above

In one implementation, each unit in the communication device 800 and the other operations and/or functions described above are for implementing the corresponding flow of the method in fig. 7. Specifically, the processing unit 810 may be used to perform S230 in the method shown in fig. 7, and the transceiving unit 820 may be used to perform S220 and S240 in the method shown in fig. 7.

In one implementation, each unit in the communication device 800 and the other operations and/or functions described above are for implementing a corresponding flow of the method in fig. 8. Specifically, the processing unit 810 may be used to perform S330 in the method shown in fig. 8, and the transceiving unit 820 may be used to perform S320 and S340 in the method shown in fig. 8.

In yet another implementation, each unit in the communication device 800 and the other operations and/or functions described above are for implementing a corresponding flow of the method in fig. 9. Specifically, the processing unit 810 may be used to perform S430 in the method shown in fig. 9, and the transceiving unit 820 may be used to perform S420 and S440 in the method shown in fig. 9.

In yet another implementation, each unit in the communication device 800 and the other operations and/or functions described above are for implementing a corresponding flow of the method in fig. 10. Specifically, the processing unit 810 may be used to perform S530 in the method shown in fig. 10, and the transceiving unit 820 may be used to perform S520 and S540 in the method shown in fig. 10.

In yet another implementation, each unit in the communication device 800 and the other operations and/or functions described above are for implementing a corresponding flow of the method in fig. 11. Specifically, the processing unit 810 may be used to perform S610 in the method shown in fig. 11, and the transceiving unit 820 may be used to perform S620 to S650 in the method shown in fig. 11.

In yet another implementation, each unit in the communication device 800 and the other operations and/or functions described above are for implementing a corresponding flow of the method in fig. 12. Specifically, the processing unit 810 may be used to perform S720 and S740 in the method shown in fig. 12, and the transceiving unit 820 may be used to perform S710, S730, and S750 in the method shown in fig. 12.

In another possible design, the communication apparatus 800 may correspond to the main network device in the above method embodiment, for example, may be an MN, or a chip configured in the MN. When the communication device is a MN, the processing unit may be a processor and the transceiving unit may be a transceiver. The communication device may further comprise a storage unit, which may be a memory. The storage unit is used for storing instructions, and the processing unit executes the instructions stored by the storage unit so as to enable the communication device to execute the method. When the communication device is a chip in MN, the processing unit may be a processor, and the transceiver unit may be an interface circuit, an input/output interface, a pin or circuit, etc.; the processing unit executes the instructions stored in the storage unit, which may be a storage unit (e.g., a register, a cache, etc.) in the chip, or a storage unit (e.g., a read-only memory, a random access memory, etc.) in the communication device that is external to the chip, to cause the communication device to perform the operations performed by the MN in the above method.

In one implementation, each unit in the communication device 800 and the other operations and/or functions described above are for implementing the corresponding flow of the method in fig. 7. Specifically, the processing unit 810 may be used to perform S210 and S250 in the method shown in fig. 7, and the transceiving unit 820 may be used to perform S220 and S240 in the method shown in fig. 7.

In one implementation, each unit in the communication device 800 and the other operations and/or functions described above are for implementing a corresponding flow of the method in fig. 8. Specifically, the processing unit 810 may be used to perform S310 and S350 in the method shown in fig. 8, and the transceiving unit 820 may be used to perform S320 and S340 in the method shown in fig. 8.

In yet another implementation, each unit in the communication device 800 and the other operations and/or functions described above are for implementing a corresponding flow of the method in fig. 9. Specifically, the processing unit 810 may be used to perform S410 and S450 in the method shown in fig. 9, and the transceiving unit 820 may be used to perform S420 and S440 in the method shown in fig. 9.

In yet another implementation, each unit in the communication device 800 and the other operations and/or functions described above are for implementing a corresponding flow of the method in fig. 10. Specifically, the processing unit 810 may be used to perform S510 and S550 in the method shown in fig. 10, and the transceiving unit 820 may be used to perform S520 and S540 in the method shown in fig. 10.

In yet another implementation, each unit in the communication device 800 and the other operations and/or functions described above are for implementing a corresponding flow of the method in fig. 11. Specifically, the transceiving unit 820 may be used to perform S620 to S650 in the method shown in fig. 11.

In yet another implementation, each unit in the communication device 800 and the other operations and/or functions described above are for implementing a corresponding flow of the method in fig. 12. Specifically, the transceiving unit 820 may be used to perform S710 and S730 in the method shown in fig. 12.

The primary network device in the above-described respective apparatus embodiments corresponds entirely to the secondary network device and the MN or SN in the method embodiments, and the respective steps are performed by respective units or units, for example, the steps of transmitting and/or receiving in the method embodiments are performed by a transceiver unit (transceiver) method, and other steps than transmitting and receiving may be performed by a processing unit (processor). Reference may be made to corresponding method embodiments for the function of a specific unit. The transceiver unit may include a transmitting unit and/or a receiving unit, and the transceiver may include a transmitter and/or a receiver, respectively implementing a transceiving function; the processor may be one or more.

It should be understood that the above division of the units is only a functional division, and other division methods are possible in practical implementation.

The main network device or the auxiliary network device may be a chip, and the processing unit may be implemented by hardware or software, and when implemented by hardware, the processing unit may be a logic circuit, an integrated circuit, or the like; when implemented in software, the processing unit may be a general-purpose processor, implemented by reading software code stored in a memory unit, which may be integrated in the processor or located outside the processing unit, and which may exist separately.

Fig. 14 is a schematic structural diagram of a network device provided in the present application, where the network device may be a base station, for example. As shown in fig. 14, the base station may be applied to the communication system shown in fig. 1, and perform the functions of the primary network device or the secondary network device in the above-described method embodiment. The base station 20 may include one or more radio frequency units, such as a remote radio frequency unit (remote radio unit, RRU) 201 and one or more baseband units (BBU) (also referred to as Digital Units (DUs)) 202. The RRU 201 may be referred to as a transceiver unit, transceiver circuitry, or transceiver, etc., which may include at least one antenna 2011 and a radio frequency unit 2012. The RRU 201 is mainly configured to transmit and receive radio frequency signals and convert radio frequency signals to baseband signals, for example, to transmit the BFR configuration in the above method embodiment. The BBU 202 is mainly used for baseband processing, control of a base station, and the like. The RRU 201 and BBU 202 may be physically located together or may be physically separate, i.e. distributed base stations.

The BBU 202 is a control center of a base station, and may also be referred to as a processing unit, and is mainly configured to perform baseband processing functions, such as channel coding, multiplexing, modulation, spreading, and so on. For example, the BBU (processing unit) 202 may be configured to control a base station to perform the operation procedures described above in connection with the network device in the method embodiments.

In one embodiment, the BBU 202 may be formed by one or more boards, where the multiple boards may support a single access indicated radio access network (such as an LTE network) together, or may support radio access networks of different access schemes (such as an LTE network, a 5G network, or other networks) respectively. The BBU 202 further comprises a memory 2021 and a processor 2022, said memory 2021 being adapted to store necessary instructions and data. The processor 2022 is configured to control the base station to perform necessary actions, for example, to control the base station to perform the operation procedures related to the network device in the above-described method embodiment. The memory 2021 and processor 2022 may serve one or more boards. That is, the memory and the processor may be separately provided on each board. It is also possible that multiple boards share the same memory and processor. In addition, each single board can be provided with necessary circuits.

The network device is not limited to the above configuration, and may be other configurations: for example: comprises a BBU and an adaptive radio unit (adaptive radio unit, ARU), or a BBU and an active antenna unit (active antenna unit, AAU); the customer premise equipment (customer premises equipment, CPE) may be provided, and other configurations may be provided, as the present application is not limited.

It should be noted that the processor in the embodiments of the present application may be an integrated circuit chip with signal processing capability. In implementation, the steps of the above method embodiments may be implemented by integrated logic circuits of hardware in a processor or instructions in software form. The processor may be a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (digital signal processor, DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (application specific integrated circuit, ASIC), a field programmable gate array (field programmable gate array, FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic device, discrete hardware components. The disclosed methods, steps, and logic blocks in the embodiments of the present application 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 a method disclosed in connection with the embodiments of the present application may be embodied directly in a hardware decoding processor or in a combination of hardware and software elements in a decoding processor. The software elements may be located in a random access memory, flash memory, read-only memory, programmable read-only memory or electrically erasable programmable memory, registers, etc. as well known in the art. The storage medium is located in a memory, and the processor reads the information in the memory and, in combination with its hardware, performs the steps of the above method.

It should also be appreciated that the memory in embodiments of the present application may be either volatile memory or nonvolatile memory, or may include both volatile and nonvolatile memory. The nonvolatile memory may be a read-only memory (ROM), a Programmable ROM (PROM), an Erasable Programmable ROM (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable EPROM (EEPROM), or a flash memory, among others. The volatile memory may be random access memory (random access memory, RAM) which acts as an external cache. By way of example but not limitation, many forms of random access memory (random access memory, RAM) are available, such as Static RAM (SRAM), dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory (SDRAM), double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory (DDR SDRAM), enhanced Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory (ESDRAM), synchronous Link DRAM (SLDRAM), and direct memory bus RAM (DR RAM).

According to the method provided by the embodiment of the application, the application further provides a computer program product, which comprises: computer program code which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the methods described above.

According to the method provided by the embodiment of the application, the application further provides a computer readable medium storing program code which when run on a computer causes the computer to perform the above-described parties.

According to the method provided by the embodiment of the application, the application further provides a system, which comprises the one or more terminal devices and the one or more network devices.

The above embodiments may be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware, or any other combination. When implemented in software, the above-described embodiments may be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When loaded or executed on a computer, produces a flow or function in accordance with embodiments of the present invention, in whole or in part. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable apparatus. The computer instructions may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium, for example, the computer instructions may be transmitted from one website site, computer, server, or data center to another website site, computer, server, or data center by wired (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.). The computer readable storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device such as a server, data center, etc. that contains one or more sets of available media. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium (e.g., floppy disk, hard disk, magnetic tape), an optical medium (e.g., digital versatile disk (digital versatile disc, DVD)), or a semiconductor medium. The semiconductor medium may be a solid state disk.

It should be understood that, in various embodiments of the present application, the sequence numbers of the foregoing processes do not mean the order of execution, and the order of execution of the processes should be determined by the functions and internal logic thereof, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application.

It should also be understood that, in this application, "when …," "if," and "if" all refer to a corresponding process that a terminal device or a network device will perform under some objective condition, and are not limited in time, nor do they require that a judgment be made when the terminal device or the network device is implemented, nor are they meant to imply other limitations.

The term "and/or" is herein merely an association relationship describing an associated object, meaning that there may be three relationships, e.g., a and/or B, may represent: a exists alone, A and B exist together, and B exists alone.

The term "at least one of … …" or "at least one of … …" or "at least one of … …" herein means all or any combination of the listed items, e.g., "at least one of A, B and C," may mean: there are six cases where A alone, B alone, C alone, both A and B, both B and C, and both A, B and C.

It should be understood that in embodiments of the present application, "B corresponding to a" means that B is associated with a, from which B may be determined. It should also be understood that determining B from a does not mean determining B from a alone, but may also determine B from a and/or other information.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative elements and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, or combinations of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the solution. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present application.

It will be clear to those skilled in the art that, for convenience and brevity of description, specific working procedures of the above-described systems, apparatuses and units may refer to corresponding procedures in the foregoing method embodiments, and are not repeated herein.

In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, devices, and methods may be implemented in other manners. For example, the apparatus embodiments described above are merely illustrative, e.g., the division of the units is merely a logical function division, and there may be additional divisions when actually implemented, e.g., multiple units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted or not performed. Alternatively, the coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed with each other may be an indirect coupling or communication connection via some interfaces, devices or units, which may be in electrical, mechanical or other form.

The units described as separate units may or may not be physically separate, and units shown 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 may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of this embodiment.

In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated in one processing unit, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units may be integrated in one unit.

The functions, if implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as a stand-alone product, may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on such understanding, the technical solution of the present application may be embodied essentially or in a part contributing to the prior art or in a part of the technical solution, in the form of a software product stored in a storage medium, including several instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to perform all or part of the steps of the methods described in the embodiments of the present application. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: a U-disk, a removable hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (random access memory, RAM), a magnetic disk, or an optical disk, or other various media capable of storing program codes.

Claims

1. A method of determining a bearer type, comprising:

the method comprises the steps that the auxiliary network equipment receives a first message sent by the main network equipment;

the auxiliary network equipment determines the bearing type of a first QoS flow according to whether the first message comprises auxiliary information, wherein the SDAP entity corresponding to the first QoS flow is established on the auxiliary network equipment, the bearing type comprises a main cell group MCG bearing, an auxiliary cell group SCG bearing or a separated bearing,

the first QoS flow is a non-guaranteed bit rate non-GBR QoS flow, the auxiliary information is an AMBR provided by a first user equipment aggregate maximum bit rate UE AMBR and a first protocol data unit PDU session AMBR, wherein the first UE AMBR is an AMBR provided by a target UE established at a non-GBR QoS flow of the auxiliary network equipment for the primary network equipment, the target UE is a UE corresponding to the first QoS flow, the first PDU session AMBR is an AMBR provided by a non-GBR QoS flow of the auxiliary network equipment established at the target network equipment in a target PDU session for the primary network equipment, and the target PDU session is a PDU session corresponding to the first QoS flow;

If the first message includes the first PDU session AMBR and does not include the first UE AMBR, the secondary network device determines that the bearer type of the first QoS flow is the MCG bearer, the SCG bearer, or the split bearer,

or alternatively, the process may be performed,

the first QoS flow is a non-guaranteed bit rate non-GBR QoS flow, the auxiliary information is an aggregate maximum bit rate UE AMBR of a first user equipment, wherein the first UE AMBR is an AMBR provided by the non-GBR QoS flow of the auxiliary network equipment for a target UE established by the main network equipment, and the target UE is a UE corresponding to the first QoS flow;

if the first message includes the auxiliary information, the auxiliary network device determines that the bearer type of the first QoS flow is the MCG bearer, the SCG bearer, or the split bearer; and/or

If the first message does not include the auxiliary information, the auxiliary network device determines that the bearer type of the first QoS flow is the SCG bearer,

or alternatively, the process may be performed,

the first QoS flow is a non-guaranteed bit rate non-GBR QoS flow, the auxiliary information is a first protocol data unit PDU session AMBR, wherein the first PDU session AMBR is an AMBR provided by the non-GBR QoS flow of the auxiliary network device established in a target PDU session for the main network device, and the target PDU session is a PDU session corresponding to the first QoS flow;

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first QoS flow is a guaranteed bit rate GBR QoS flow, the assistance information is a first GBR QoS parameter, the first GBR QoS parameter is a GBR QoS parameter provided by the primary network device for the first QoS flow;

3. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the method further comprises:

the auxiliary network device sends bearing type indication information to the main network device, wherein the bearing type indication information is used for indicating the bearing type of the first QoS flow determined by the auxiliary network device.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the bearer type indication information is uplink transport network layer information for the secondary network device to receive uplink data allocated for a bearer corresponding to the first QoS flow.

5. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the method further comprises:

the auxiliary network equipment generates a modification application message, wherein the modification application message is used for applying for modifying the bearing type of the first bearing corresponding to the first QoS flow;

and the auxiliary network equipment sends the modification application message to the main network equipment.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the modification application message includes a bearer establishment list and a bearer deletion list, the bearer establishment list including an identification of the first bearer and information indicating a type of bearer that the first bearer needs to modify, the bearer deletion list including an identification of the first bearer.

7. A method of determining a bearer type, comprising:

the primary network device generates a first message according to whether the auxiliary information is included in the first message;

the primary network device sends the first message to the secondary network device, where the first message is used for the secondary network device to determine a bearer type of a first quality of service QoS flow, where a service data adaptation protocol SDAP entity corresponding to the first QoS flow is established on the secondary network device, and the bearer type includes a primary cell group MCG bearer, a secondary cell group SCG bearer, or a split bearer, or,

wherein the bearer type related to the MCG air interface resource comprises the MCG bearer or the separated bearer,

or alternatively, the process may be performed,

If the first message does not include the auxiliary information, the first message is used to instruct the auxiliary network device to configure the bearer type of the first QoS flow to be the SCG bearer,

Or alternatively, the process may be performed,

the first QoS flow is a non-guaranteed bit rate non-GBR QoS flow, the auxiliary information is a first protocol data unit PDU session AMBR, the first PDU session AMBR is an AMBR provided by the non-GBR QoS flow established in the auxiliary network device in a target PDU session, and the target PDU session is a PDU session corresponding to the first QoS flow;

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the first QoS flow is a guaranteed bit rate GBR QoS flow, the assistance information is a first GBR QoS parameter, the first GBR QoS parameter is a GBR QoS parameter provided by the primary network device for the first QoS flow;

9. The method of claim 7 or 8, wherein the method further comprises:

the main network equipment receives bearer type indication information sent by the auxiliary network equipment, wherein the bearer type indication information is used for indicating the bearer type of the first QoS flow determined by the auxiliary network equipment;

and the main network equipment determines the bearing type of the first QoS flow according to the bearing type indication information.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the bearer type indication information is uplink transport network layer information for received uplink data allocated by the secondary network device for a bearer corresponding to the first QoS flow.

11. The method of claim 7 or 8, wherein the method further comprises:

the main network equipment receives a modification application message sent by the auxiliary network equipment, wherein the modification application message is used for applying for modifying the bearing type of a first bearing corresponding to the first QoS flow;

and the main network equipment sends a modification request message to the auxiliary network equipment, wherein the modification request message is used for indicating that the main network equipment agrees to modify the bearing type of the first bearing.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the modification application message includes a bearer establishment list and a bearer deletion list, the bearer establishment list including an identification of the first bearer and information indicating a type of bearer that the first bearer needs to modify, the bearer deletion list including an identification of the first bearer.

13. A communication device comprising means for performing the method of any of claims 1 to 6 or 7 to 12.

14. A communication device comprising a processor and interface circuitry for receiving signals from other communication devices than the communication device and transmitting signals from the processor to the processor or sending signals from the processor to other communication devices than the communication device, the processor being configured to implement the method of any one of claims 1 to 6 or 7 to 12 by logic circuitry or executing code instructions.

15. A computer readable storage medium, characterized in that the storage medium has stored therein a program or instructions which, when executed, implement the method of any one of claims 1 to 6 or 7 to 12.