CN111757387B

CN111757387B - Method and device for configuring Radio Link Control (RLC) bearer

Info

Publication number: CN111757387B
Application number: CN201910245334.8A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 朱元萍; 戴明增; 曹振臻; 刘菁; 卓义斌
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2019-03-28
Filing date: 2019-03-28
Publication date: 2022-02-01
Anticipated expiration: 2039-03-28
Also published as: CN111757387A; WO2020192654A1

Abstract

The application provides a method and a device for configuring a radio link to control RLC bearing, which can improve the reliability of data transmission on a return link in an IAB network. The method comprises the following steps: the first node receives a first configuration message from a host centralized unit CU, wherein the first configuration message is used for indicating the configuration of a first RLC bearer pair between the first node and a second node, the first RLC bearer pair is used for transmitting data packets of a first wireless bearer of first terminal equipment, the first wireless bearer is configured with the function of duplicate transmission of the data packets, and the first node is a parent node of the second node; and the first node configures a first RLC bearing pair according to the first configuration message, wherein the first RLC bearing pair comprises a first RLC bearing and a second RLC bearing.

Description

Method and device for configuring Radio Link Control (RLC) bearer

Technical Field

The present application relates to an access backhaul integrated IAB network, and in particular, to a method and an apparatus for configuring a radio link control RLC bearer in an IAB network.

Background

In order to meet the ultra-high capacity requirement of the 5th generation (5G) mobile communication system, high-frequency small-station networking is the mainstream. The high-frequency carrier wave has poor propagation characteristics, serious shielding attenuation and low coverage range, so that a large number of densely deployed small stations are required. Accordingly, it is very costly and difficult to construct the optical fiber backhaul provided for these numerous densely deployed small stations, and therefore an economical and convenient backhaul scheme is required. In addition, from the perspective of wide coverage requirement, network coverage is provided in some remote areas, the deployment difficulty of optical fibers is high, the cost is high, and a flexible and convenient access and return scheme also needs to be designed. An Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB) technology provides an idea for solving the above problems. An access Link (access Link) and a backhaul Link (backhaul Link) of the IAB network both adopt a wireless transmission scheme, so that optical fiber deployment can be avoided.

In an IAB network, multi-hop transmission is involved, the network topology is complex, and how to improve the reliability of data transmission is an urgent problem to be solved.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a method and a device for configuring RLC bearing, which can improve the reliability of data transmission of a return link of an IAB network.

In a first aspect, the present application provides a method for configuring an RLC bearer, which may be performed by a first node or a chip in the first node. The method comprises the following steps: the first node receives a first configuration message from a host centralized unit CU, wherein the first configuration message is used for indicating the configuration of a first Radio Link Control (RLC) bearer pair between the first node and a second node, the first RLC bearer pair is used for transmitting data packets of a first radio bearer of a first terminal device, the first radio bearer has the function of copying and transmitting the data packets, the first RLC bearer pair comprises a first RLC bearer and a second RLC bearer, and the first node is a parent node of the second node; and the first node configures the first RLC bearing pair according to the first configuration message.

With reference to the first aspect, in some implementation manners of the first aspect, the first configuration message includes a first configuration content carried by the first RLC and a second configuration content carried by the second RLC, and the first configuration content and the second configuration content satisfy any one of the following manners: the first configuration content comprises an identifier of the first RLC bearer and an identifier of the second RLC bearer, and the second configuration content comprises an identifier of the second RLC bearer and an identifier of the first RLC bearer; or, the first configuration content includes an identifier and a first identifier of the first RLC bearer, the second configuration content includes an identifier and a first identifier of the second RLC bearer, and the first identifier is used to associate the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer to form the first RLC bearer pair.

With reference to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the first identifier is an identifier of a first radio bearer.

With reference to the first aspect, in some implementation manners of the first aspect, the first configuration message includes quality of service QoS information and first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate the first node to configure the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer according to the QoS information, so as to form the first RLC bearer pair.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes: and the first node sends a first response message to the host CU, wherein the first response message carries the identifier of the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and/or the identifier of the logical channel corresponding to the second RLC bearer.

With reference to the first aspect, in some implementation manners of the first aspect, the first response message further carries information of usable serving cells of a logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and/or information of usable serving cells of respective corresponding logical channels of the second RLC bearers.

Optionally, the available serving cells of the logical channels corresponding to the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer are different; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

the lists of the available service cells of the logic channels corresponding to the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer are different, and the service cells in the lists of the different service cells do not have an intersection; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

the first RLC bearing and the second RLC bearing are different in cell group of service cells which are available for the corresponding logical channels, and the service cells in the different cell group are not intersected.

With reference to the first aspect, in some implementation manners of the first aspect, the first response message further carries second indication information, where the second indication information is used to indicate that the first RLC bearer is an RLC bearer of the main path.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes: and the first node receives the data packet of the first radio bearer sent by the second node only on the first RLC bearer.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the first node is an intermediate backhaul node, and the method further includes: and the first node receives a first notification message from a host CU, wherein the first notification message is used for indicating that the limitation of the service cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and the limitation of the service cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the second RLC bearer are enabled, or the first notification message is used for indicating that the limitation of the service cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and the limitation of the service cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the second RLC bearer are cancelled.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes: the first node receives a second notification message from the host CU, wherein the second notification message is used for indicating that the limitation of the service cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and the limitation of the service cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the second RLC bearer are enabled, or the second notification message is used for indicating that the limitation of the service cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and the limitation of the service cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the second RLC bearer are cancelled;

and the first node sends a third notification message to the second node, wherein the third notification message is used for indicating to the second node to enable the limitation of the service cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and the limitation of the service cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the second RLC bearer, or the third notification message is used for indicating to cancel the limitation of the service cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and the limitation of the service cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the second RLC bearer.

With reference to the first aspect, in some implementation manners of the first aspect, after the first node configures the first RLC bearer pair according to the first configuration message, the method further includes: and the first node maps the data packets of the first radio bearer received from two different logical channels to the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer respectively.

With reference to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the first node is a hosting distributed unit DU, and the method further includes: the first node maps the data packets received on two different general packet radio service tunneling protocol GTP tunnels corresponding to the first radio bearer to the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer respectively.

In a second aspect, the present application provides a method for configuring an RLC bearer, which may be performed by a second node or a chip in the second node. The method comprises the following steps: the second node receives a second configuration message from the host centralized unit CU, wherein the second configuration message is used for indicating the configuration of a first Radio Link Control (RLC) bearer pair between the second node and the first node, the first RLC bearer pair is used for transmitting data packets of a first radio bearer of the first terminal equipment, the first radio bearer has a function of copying and transmitting the data packets, the first RLC bearer pair comprises a first RLC bearer and a second RLC bearer, and the second node is a child node of the first node; and the second node configures the first RLC bearing pair according to a second configuration message.

With reference to the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the second configuration message includes third configuration content carried by the first RLC and fourth configuration content carried by the second RLC, and the third configuration content and the fourth configuration content satisfy any one of the following manners: the third configuration content includes an identifier of the first RLC bearer and an identifier of the second RLC bearer, and the fourth configuration content includes an identifier of the second RLC bearer and an identifier of the first RLC bearer; or, the third configuration content includes an identifier and a first identifier of the first RLC bearer, the fourth configuration content includes an identifier and a first identifier of the second RLC bearer, and the first identifier is used to associate the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer to form the first RLC bearer pair.

With reference to the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the first identifier is an identifier of the first radio bearer.

With reference to the second aspect, in some implementation manners of the second aspect, the second configuration message further carries third indication information, where the third indication information is used to indicate that the first RLC bearer is an RLC bearer of the main path.

With reference to the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the method further includes: under the condition that the second node receives a first notification message used for indicating the limitation of canceling the service cells available for the logical channels corresponding to the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer respectively from the host CU, the second node only transmits the data packet to the first node through the first RLC bearer; or, when the second node receives the data packet of the first radio bearer from a logical channel, the second node transmits the data packet to the first node only through the first RLC bearer; or, when the second node determines that the data volume of the data packet of the first radio bearer does not exceed a preset threshold, the second node transmits the data packet to the first node only through the first RLC bearer.

With reference to the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the method further includes: and the second node receives a first notification message from the host CU, wherein the first notification message is used for indicating that the limitation of the service cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and the limitation of the service cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the second RLC bearer are enabled, or the first notification message is used for indicating that the limitation of the service cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and the limitation of the service cell available for the logical channel corresponding to each second RLC bearer are cancelled.

With reference to the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the method further includes: and the second node receives a third notification message from the first node, wherein the third notification message is used for indicating that the limitation of the service cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and the limitation of the service cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the second RLC bearer are enabled, or the third notification message is used for indicating that the limitation of the service cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and the limitation of the service cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the second RLC bearer are cancelled.

With reference to the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, before the second node is an access backhaul node serving the first terminal device and the second node receives the first notification message from the host CU, the method further includes: the second node determines the activation state of a data packet copying and transmitting function of the first radio bearer, wherein the activation state comprises activation and deactivation; the second node indicates to the host CU an active status of a packet duplication transmission function of the first radio bearer.

With reference to the second aspect, in some implementation manners of the second aspect, after the second node configures the first RLC bearer pair according to the second configuration message, the method further includes: and the second node maps the data packets of the first radio bearer received from two different logical channels to the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer respectively.

In a third aspect, the present application provides a method for configuring an RLC bearer, which may be performed by a CU or a chip in the CU. The method comprises the following steps: the method comprises the steps that a host centralized unit CU generates a first configuration message, wherein the first configuration message is used for indicating configuration of a first Radio Link Control (RLC) bearer pair between a first node and a second node, the first RLC bearer pair is used for transmitting data packets of a first radio bearer of a first terminal device, the first radio bearer has a function of copying and transmitting the data packets, the first RLC bearer pair comprises the first RLC bearer and a second RLC bearer, and the first node is a father node of the second node; the host CU sends a first configuration message to the first node.

With reference to the third aspect, in some implementation manners of the third aspect, the first configuration message includes a first configuration content carried by the first RLC and a second configuration content carried by the second RLC, and the first configuration content and the second configuration content satisfy any one of the following manners: the first configuration content comprises an identifier of the first RLC bearer and an identifier of the second RLC bearer, and the second configuration content comprises an identifier of the second RLC bearer and an identifier of the first RLC bearer; or, the first configuration content includes an identifier and a first identifier of the first RLC bearer, the second configuration content includes an identifier and a first identifier of the second RLC bearer, and the first identifier is used to associate the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer to form the first RLC bearer pair.

With reference to the third aspect, in some implementations of the third aspect, the first identifier is an identifier of the first radio bearer.

With reference to the third aspect, in some implementation manners of the third aspect, the first configuration message includes quality of service QoS information and first indication information, where the first indication information is used to instruct the first node to configure the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer according to the QoS information, so as to form the first RLC bearer pair.

With reference to the third aspect, in some implementations of the third aspect, the method further includes: and the host CU receives a first response message from the first node, wherein the first response message carries the identifier of the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and/or the identifier of the logical channel corresponding to the second RLC bearer.

With reference to the third aspect, in some implementation manners of the third aspect, the first response message further carries second indication information, where the second indication information is used to indicate that the first RLC bearer is an RLC bearer of the main path.

With reference to the third aspect, in certain implementations of the third aspect, the method further includes: the host CU generates a second configuration message, wherein the second configuration message is used for indicating the configuration of the first Radio Link Control (RLC) bearing pair between the second node and the first node; the host CU sends a second configuration message to the second node.

With reference to the third aspect, in some implementation manners of the third aspect, the second configuration message includes third configuration content carried by the first RLC and fourth configuration content carried by the second RLC, and the third configuration content and the fourth configuration content satisfy any one of the following manners: the third configuration content includes an identifier of the first RLC bearer and an identifier of the second RLC bearer, and the fourth configuration content includes an identifier of the second RLC bearer and an identifier of the first RLC bearer; or, the third configuration content includes an identifier and a first identifier of the first RLC bearer, the fourth configuration content includes an identifier and a first identifier of the second RLC bearer, and the first identifier is used to associate the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer to form the first RLC bearer pair.

With reference to the third aspect, in some implementation manners of the third aspect, the second configuration message further carries third indication information, where the third indication information is used to indicate that the first RLC bearer is an RLC bearer of the main path.

With reference to the third aspect, in some implementations of the third aspect, after completing the configuration of the first RLC bearer pair, the method further includes: and the host CU sends a first notification message to the first node and the second node, wherein the first notification message is used for indicating that the limitation of the service cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and the limitation of the service cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the second RLC bearer are enabled, or the first notification message is used for indicating that the limitation of the service cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and the limitation of the service cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the second RLC bearer are cancelled.

With reference to the third aspect, in some implementations of the third aspect, before the host CU sends the first notification message, the method further includes: the host CU determines an activation state of a packet duplication transmission function of the first radio bearer, wherein the activation state comprises activation and deactivation; alternatively, the donor CU receives information indicating an activation status of the packet duplication transmission function of the first radio bearer from the access backhaul node serving the first terminal device, the activation status including activation and deactivation.

In a fourth aspect, the present application provides an apparatus for transmitting data packets, the apparatus having the functionality to implement the method in the first aspect and any possible implementation manner thereof. The functions can be realized by hardware, and the functions can also be realized by executing corresponding software by hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more units corresponding to the above functions.

In a fifth aspect, the present application provides an apparatus for transmitting data packets, the apparatus having the function of implementing the method in the second aspect and any possible implementation manner thereof. The functions can be realized by hardware, and the functions can also be realized by executing corresponding software by hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more units corresponding to the above functions.

In a sixth aspect, the present application provides an apparatus for transmitting data packets, the apparatus having the function of implementing the method in the third aspect and any possible implementation manner thereof. The functions can be realized by hardware, and the functions can also be realized by executing corresponding software by hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more units corresponding to the above functions.

In a seventh aspect, the present application provides a network device comprising a processor and a memory. The memory is used for storing a computer program, and the processor is used for calling and executing the computer program stored in the memory, so that the network device executes the method in the first aspect or any possible implementation manner of the first aspect.

In an eighth aspect, the present application provides a network device comprising a processor and a memory. The memory is used for storing a computer program, and the processor is used for calling and executing the computer program stored in the memory, so that the network device executes the method in the second aspect or any possible implementation manner of the second aspect.

In a ninth aspect, the present application provides a network device comprising a processor and a memory. The memory is used for storing a computer program, and the processor is used for calling and executing the computer program stored in the memory, so that the network device executes the method in the third aspect or any possible implementation manner of the third aspect.

In a tenth aspect, the present application provides a chip comprising a processor. The processor is configured to read and execute the computer program stored in the memory to perform the method of the first aspect or any possible implementation manner of the first aspect.

Optionally, the chip further comprises a memory, the memory is connected with the processor through a circuit or a wire, and the memory is used for storing the computer program.

Further optionally, the chip further comprises a communication interface.

In an eleventh aspect, the present application provides a chip comprising a processor. The processor is adapted to read and execute the computer program stored in the memory to perform the method of the second aspect or any possible implementation manner of the second aspect.

Further optionally, the chip further comprises a communication interface.

In a twelfth aspect, the present application provides a chip comprising a processor. The processor is configured to read and execute the computer program stored in the memory to perform the method of the third aspect or any possible implementation manner of the third aspect.

Further optionally, the chip further comprises a communication interface.

In a thirteenth aspect, the present application further provides a computer program product, which includes computer program code to, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of the first aspect or any one of its possible implementations.

In a fourteenth aspect, the present application further provides a computer program product, which includes computer program code, when the computer program code runs on a computer, causes the computer to execute the method of the second aspect or any one of its possible implementations.

In a fifteenth aspect, the present application further provides a computer program product comprising computer program code which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method of the third aspect or any one of its possible implementations.

In a sixteenth aspect, the present application further provides a computer storage medium having computer instructions stored thereon, which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of the first aspect or any possible implementation thereof.

In a seventeenth aspect, the present application further provides a computer storage medium having computer instructions stored thereon, which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of the second aspect or any possible implementation thereof.

In an eighteenth aspect, the present application further provides a computer storage medium having computer instructions stored thereon, which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of the third aspect or any possible implementation thereof.

According to the technical scheme, the RLC bearing pairs are configured between the father node and the child node of the return link, so that the data packets of the radio bearing of the terminal device, which is configured with the data packet copying and transmitting function, can be mapped to the two RLC bearing pairs to be transmitted, the data packet of one radio bearing can be transmitted to the next hop through different RLC bearing pairs on the return link, and the reliability of the data packet transmission on the return link is improved.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is an architecture diagram of an IAB system suitable for use in the solution of the present application.

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of the composition of an IAB node.

Fig. 3 (a) and (b) are examples of the protocol stack architecture of the intermediate IAB node.

Fig. 4 is an example of a user plane protocol stack architecture of a multi-hop IAB network.

Fig. 5 is an example of a control plane protocol stack architecture of a multi-hop IAB network.

Fig. 6 is a diagram illustrating a mapping relationship between RLC channels, logical channels, and protocol entities.

Fig. 7 is a specific example of an IAB system.

Fig. 8(a) and (b) are transmission scenarios in which a UE supports a packet duplication operation.

Fig. 9 is an example of a scenario supporting a UE performing a data packet replication operation in an IAB network.

Fig. 10 is a schematic flow chart of a method of transmitting a data packet provided herein.

Fig. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of an apparatus 500 for configuring an RLC bearer provided in the present application.

Fig. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of an apparatus 600 for configuring an RLC bearer provided in the present application.

Fig. 13 is a schematic structural diagram of an apparatus 700 for configuring an RLC bearer provided in the present application.

Fig. 14 is a schematic structural diagram of a network device 1000 provided in the present application.

Detailed Description

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

Where in the description of the present application, "/" indicates an OR meaning, for example, A/B may indicate A or B, unless otherwise indicated. "and/or" herein is merely an association describing an associated object, and means that there may be three relationships, e.g., a and/or B, which may mean: a exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone. Also, in the description of the present application, "a plurality" means two or more than two unless otherwise specified. In addition, in order to facilitate clear description of technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, in the embodiments of the present application, terms such as "first" and "second" are used to distinguish the same items or similar items having substantially the same functions and actions. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the terms "first," "second," etc. do not denote any order or quantity, nor do the terms "first," "second," etc. denote any order or importance.

The names of all nodes and messages in the present application are only names set for convenience of description, and the names may be different in an actual network, and it should not be understood that the present application defines the names of various nodes and messages. On the contrary, any names having the same or similar functions as the nodes or messages used in the present application are considered as methods or equivalent substitutes of the present application and are within the protection scope of the present application, and are not described in detail below.

The communication system mentioned in the embodiments of the present application includes but is not limited to: a narrowband internet of things (NB-IoT) system, a Wireless Local Access Network (WLAN) system, an LTE system, a next generation 5G mobile communication system, or a communication system after 5G, such as an NR, a device to device (D2D) communication system, and the like.

Reference herein to a base station includes, but is not limited to: an evolved node B (eNB), a Radio Network Controller (RNC), a Node B (NB), a Base Station Controller (BSC), a Base Transceiver Station (BTS), a home evolved NodeB (HNB), a Base Band Unit (BBU), an evolved LTE (LTE) base station, an NR base station (neighbor B, gw), and the like.

Terminal devices include, but are not limited to: user Equipment (UE), a mobile station, an access terminal, a subscriber unit, a subscriber station, a mobile station, a remote terminal, a mobile device, a terminal, a wireless communication device, a user agent, a station (station, ST) in a Wireless Local Access Network (WLAN), a cellular phone, a cordless phone, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phone, a Wireless Local Loop (WLL) station, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a handheld device with wireless communication capability, a computing device, other processing devices connected to a wireless modem, a vehicle mounted device, a wearable device, a mobile station in a future 5G network, and a terminal device in a future evolved Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) network, etc.

The wireless backhaul node (also referred to as IAB node) is configured to provide wireless backhaul (backhaul) service to nodes (e.g., terminals) accessing the wireless backhaul node wirelessly. Wherein, the wireless backhaul service refers to a data and/or signaling backhaul service provided through a wireless backhaul link. The IAB node is a specific name of a relay node, and is not limited to the configuration of the present application, and may be one of the base station and the terminal device having a relay function, or may be in a separate device form. In a network including an IAB node (hereinafter referred to as an IAB network), the IAB node may provide a wireless access service for a terminal, and is connected to a donor base station (donor gNB) through a wireless backhaul link to transmit traffic data of a user.

For example, the IAB node may also be a Customer Premises Equipment (CPE), a home gateway (RG), or the like. In this case, the method provided by the embodiment of the present application may also be applied to a home access (home access) scenario.

Referring to fig. 1, fig. 1 is an architecture diagram of an IAB system suitable for use with the teachings of the present application. As shown in fig. 1, an IAB system at least includes a base station 100, one or more terminal equipments (terminal)101 served by the base station 100, one or more relay nodes (i.e., IAB nodes) 110, and one or more terminal equipments 111 served by the IAB nodes 110. The IAB node 110 is connected to the base station 100 through a wireless backhaul link 113. In general, the base station 100 is referred to as a donor base station. Alternatively, the donor base station is also referred to as a donor node or an IAB donor (IAB donor) in the present application. The IAB system may include one or more intermediate IAB nodes in addition to the above. E.g., IAB node 120 and IAB node 130.

The host base station may be an access network element having a complete base station function, or may be in a form in which a centralized unit (CU for short) and a distributed unit (DU for short) are separated, that is, the host node is composed of the centralized unit of the host base station and the distributed unit of the host base station. Herein, a centralized unit of a host node is also referred to as an IAB donor CU (also referred to as a donor CU, or directly as a CU). The distributed unit of the home node is also called an IAB donor DU (or donor DU). Wherein the donor CU may also be in a separate configuration of a Control Plane (CP) (abbreviated CU-CP herein) and a User Plane (UP) (abbreviated CU-UP herein). For example, a CU may consist of one CU-CP and one or more CU-UP.

In the embodiment of the application and in the drawings, the method provided by the embodiment of the application is exemplified by the case that the host node is composed of a Donor-CU and a Donor-DU.

The concepts involved in the IAB system are briefly described below in conjunction with fig. 1.

1. The basic concept.

And link: refers to a path between two adjacent nodes in a path.

And accessing a link: and the link between the terminal equipment and the base station, or between the terminal equipment and the IAB node, or between the terminal equipment and the host DU. Alternatively, the access link may comprise a radio link used by an IAB node to communicate with its parent node in the role of a normal end device. When the IAB node is in the role of a common terminal device, the back-transmission service is not provided for any child node. The access link includes an uplink access link and a downlink access link. In the present application, the access link of the terminal device is a wireless link, so the access link may also be referred to as a wireless access link.

A return link: the IAB node is used as a link between the wireless backhaul node and a parent node. When the IAB node is used as a wireless backhaul node, the IAB node provides wireless backhaul service for the child node. The backhaul links include an uplink backhaul link, and a downlink backhaul link. In the present application, the backhaul link between the IAB node and the parent node is a wireless link, and therefore the backhaul link may also be referred to as a wireless backhaul link.

Parent node and child node: each IAB node treats neighboring nodes for which wireless access service and/or wireless backhaul service is provided as parent nodes (parent nodes). Accordingly, each IAB node may be considered a child node (child node) of its parent node.

Alternatively, a child node may also be referred to as a subordinate node, and a parent node may also be referred to as an upper node.

Last hop node of the node: refers to the node in the path containing the node that last received a packet before the node. It is to be understood that the node's previous hop node may include a node's previous hop node in uplink transmission and a node's previous hop node in downlink transmission.

Next hop node of node: refers to the node in the path containing the node that first receives a packet after the node. It is to be understood that the next hop node of a node may include the next hop node of the node in uplink transmission and the next hop node of the node in downlink transmission.

Ingress link of a node: refers to a link between the node and a previous hop node of the node, and may also be referred to as a previous hop link of the node. It will be appreciated that the ingress link of a node may include the ingress link of the node in uplink transmission and the ingress link of the node in downlink transmission.

Egress link of node: refers to a link between the node and a next hop node of the node, and may also be referred to as a next hop link of the node. It will be appreciated that the egress links of a node may include the egress link of the node in uplink and the egress link of the node in downlink.

Accessing the IAB node: refers to an IAB node to which a terminal accesses, or an IAB node providing access service for a terminal device.

Intermediate IAB node: refers to an IAB node that provides wireless backhaul service to other IAB nodes (e.g., access IAB nodes or other intermediate IAB nodes).

2. Composition of IAB nodes.

The IAB node may have a Mobile Terminal (MT) part and a DU part. An IAB node communicates with its parent node using the MT part and communicates with its child node (which may be a terminal or another IAB node) using the DU part. An IAB node may establish backhaul connections with at least one parent node of the IAB node via the MT part. The DU part of one IAB node may provide access services for the MT part of a terminal or other IAB node. This is illustrated below with reference to fig. 2.

Referring to fig. 2, fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of the components of an IAB node. The UE is connected to the host node through IAB node 2 and IAB node 1. Wherein, IAB node 1 and IAB node 2 each include a DU part and an MT part. The DU part of IAB node 2 provides access services for the UE. The DU part of IAB node 1 provides access services to the MT part of IAB node 2. The DU part of the donor node provides access services for the MT part of the IAB node 1.

For ease of understanding, the protocol stack of the IAB network needs to be described as well. The protocol stack of the IAB network includes a user plane protocol stack and a control plane protocol stack.

3. And accessing the protocol stack architecture of the IAB node, the intermediate IAB node, the Donor-DU, the Donor-CU and the terminal equipment.

The intermediate IAB nodes have the same protocol stacks in the user plane and the control plane. Fig. 3 (a) and (b) are examples of the protocol stack architecture of the intermediate IAB node. Wherein the MT part and the DU part of the intermediate IAB node may not share an adaptation (adapt) layer, as shown in fig. 3 (a). The MT part and the DU part of the intermediate IAB node may also share an adaptation layer, as shown in fig. 3 (b).

The protocol stacks for the access IAB node are different in the user plane and the control plane, see IAB node 1 in fig. 4 and 5, respectively.

Referring to fig. 4, fig. 4 is an example of a user plane protocol stack architecture of a multi-hop IAB network. As shown in fig. 4, in the protocol architecture shown in fig. 4, the meaning of each protocol layer is: a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer, a general packet radio service tunneling protocol user plane (GTP-U) layer, a User Datagram Protocol (UDP) layer, an Internet Protocol (IP) layer, an L2 layer (layer 2), an L1 layer (layer 1), a Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, a Medium Access Control (MAC) layer, a Physical (PHY) layer, a Radio Resource Control (RRC) layer, an F1 application protocol (F1 application protocol, sct 1AP) layer, a transport stream control protocol (stream control) layer, and a p layer. Wherein the L2 layer is a link layer. Illustratively, the L2 layer may be the data link layer in the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) reference model. The L1 layer may be a physical layer. Illustratively, the L1 layer may be the physical layer in the OSI reference model.

In order to meet the service quality requirements of different types of services of the terminal device, one or more Radio Bearers (RBs) are introduced into the wireless network, and the radio bearers include a Data Radio Bearer (DRB) and a Signaling Radio Bearer (SRB) for transmitting different types of service data (including control plane signaling and user plane data) between the UE and the base station. In an IAB network, an RB can be considered as a logical channel for transmitting data between a UE and a donor node.

Each protocol layer is configured with its corresponding protocol layer entity, such as PDCP entity, RLC entity, MAC entity, etc. In uplink transmission, a data packet (e.g., an IP data packet) of the UE is transmitted to a PHY layer of an access backhaul node (e.g., IAB node 2 shown in fig. 4) after being processed by a PDCP layer and then sequentially passing through an RLC layer, a MAC layer and the PHY layer.

As described above, in an IAB network, an IAB node may contain a DU part and an MT part. When the IAB node is acting as a wireless backhaul node, the MT part of the IAB node performs data forwarding on the backhaul link without requiring the terminal device's complete protocol stack on the wireless access link. For example, IAB node 2 shown in fig. 4 for IAB node 1, IAB node 2 is a child node of IAB node 1. When IAB node 2 sends a packet from UE to IAB node 1, the MT of IAB node 2 does not need PDCP layer, and the packet is forwarded under adaptation layer (adapt layer). Therefore, in fig. 4, when the IAB node is used as the wireless backhaul node to send a data packet to its parent node, only the protocol layers below the adaptation layer are involved, which is applicable to all IAB nodes and is not described again.

When the IAB node plays the role of a wireless terminal, the protocol stack of the communication link between the IAB node and the parent node is the same as the protocol stack of the wireless access link between the UE and the access IAB node, and the protocol stack between the IAB node and the donor CU is the same as the protocol stack between the UE and the donor CU.

Also shown in fig. 4 is the user plane protocol stack of the F1 interface between the host CU and the access IAB node (e.g., IAB node 2 in fig. 4). The GTP-U tunnel established by the F1 interface through the GTP-U protocol layer is in one-to-one correspondence with the data radio bearer DRB of the UE. In other words, each radio bearer of a UE has a GTP tunnel corresponding to it.

Referring to fig. 5, fig. 5 is an example of a control plane protocol stack architecture of the multi-hop IAB network. The description of the protocol layers in fig. 4 is also applicable in fig. 5, but there are some differences. For example, the F1 interface between the access IAB node and the host CU in fig. 5 employs the F1 control plane (F1-C) protocol stack.

It should be noted that fig. 4 and 5 respectively show an example of an end-to-end user plane and a control plane protocol stack architecture for transmitting data traffic of a UE in an IAB network. Alternatively, the protocol stack architecture may have other possibilities. For example, if the F1 interface between the IAB2 and the host CU introduces a protocol layer for security protection, the protocol stack architecture will change.

In addition, if the host node is a functionally complete entity, the IAB donor may reserve the protocol stack of the donor DU and the donor CU for the external node interface, and a protocol layer on the internal interface between the donor DU and the donor CU is not necessary. Similarly, the protocol stack of the IAB node, for the outside, may not distinguish between the DU part and the MT part, and only show the protocol stack of the interface to the external node in a unified way.

In addition, no matter protocol stack architecture of a control plane or protocol stack architecture of a user plane, when a Donor-DU is a proxy node of an F1 interface between a Donor-CU and an IAB node, in the user plane protocol stack architecture of the Donor-DU facing an access IAB node, a UDP layer and a GTP-U layer respectively equivalent to a UDP layer and a GTP-U layer in the protocol stack architecture of a DU part in the access IAB node may be included above an IP layer, and an IPsec layer equivalent to the DU part of the access IAB node may also be included; in a control plane protocol stack architecture facing an access IAB node in a Donor-DU, above an IP layer, the control plane protocol stack architecture may include an SCTP layer and an SCTP layer that are respectively equivalent to an SCTP layer and an F1AP layer in the protocol stack architecture of a DU part in the access IAB node, and may further include an IPsec layer or a DTLS layer that are equivalent to the DU part of the access IAB node; .

Fig. 4 and 5 also relate to the F1 interface.

4. Protocol layer of F1 interface and F1 interface

The F1 interface refers to a logical interface between the DU part of the IAB node and the host node (or a Donor-CU or Donor-DU), and the F1 interface may also be referred to as an F1 interface, which supports the user plane and the control plane. The protocol layer of the F1 interface refers to the communication protocol layer on the F1 interface.

Illustratively, the user plane protocol layers of the F1 interface may include one or more of an IP layer, a UDP layer, and a GTP-U layer. Optionally, the user plane protocol layer of the F1 interface further includes a PDCP layer and/or an IP Security (IPsec) layer.

Illustratively, the control plane protocol layers of the F1 interface may include one or more of an IP layer, a F1AP layer, and an SCTP layer. Optionally, the control plane protocol layer of the F1 interface further includes one or more of a PDCP layer, an IPsec layer, and a data packet transport layer security (DTLS) layer.

Referring to fig. 6, fig. 6 is a diagram illustrating a mapping relationship between RLC channels, logical channels, and protocol entities. As shown in fig. 6, an RLC channel (RLC channel) is a channel between an RLC layer and an upper protocol layer. The configuration of the radio bearer corresponds to the configuration of an upper layer (e.g., PDCP layer) part and a lower layer (e.g., RLC layer and MAC layer) part.

The configuration of the RLC bearer refers to a configuration of an RB corresponding to the RLC layer, and specifically includes configurations of an RLC layer entity and a logical channel. Herein, the IAB node is on the RLC bearer of the backhaul link, including the RLC layer and the logical channel part. And the RLC channel on the backhaul link is a channel between the RLC layer and an upper protocol layer. For example, if the upper layer of the RLC layer is the PDCP layer, the RLC channel on the backhaul link is a channel between the RLC layer and the PDCP layer. For another example, if the upper layer of the RLC layer is the adaptation layer (also referred to as the adapt layer), the RLC channel on the backhaul link is the channel between the RLC layer and the adaptation layer. Therefore, the definition of the RLC channel depends specifically on an upper protocol layer of the RLC layer. The RLC channels of the IAB node on the backhaul link correspond one-to-one to one RLC entity and also one-to-one to one RLC bearer.

Among them, an adapt entity may correspond to multiple RLC entities between the adapt entity and the RLC entity, as shown in (a) of fig. 6, or an adapt entity corresponds to one RLC entity, as shown in (b) of fig. 6, which is not limited in this application.

In addition, the adaptation layer has one or more of the following capabilities: the method comprises the steps of adding routing information (routing information) capable of being recognized by a wireless backhaul node (IAB node) to a data packet, performing routing selection based on the routing information capable of being recognized by the wireless backhaul node, adding identification information related to quality of service (QoS) requirements capable of being recognized by the wireless backhaul node to the data packet, performing QoS mapping on a multi-segment link containing the wireless backhaul node to the data packet, adding packet type indication information to the data packet, and sending flow control feedback information to a node with flow control capability.

The routing information that can be identified by the wireless backhaul node may be one or more of an identifier of the terminal, an identifier of an IAB node to which the terminal accesses, an identifier of a host node, an identifier of a Donor-DU, an identifier of a Donor-CU, an identifier of a transmission path, and the like.

The QoS mapping on the multi-segment link may be: performing mapping from the RB of the terminal to an RLC bearer or an RLC channel or a logical channel on the wireless backhaul link based on the identification of the RB of the terminal carried by the data packet in the wireless backhaul link; alternatively, mapping from the RB or RLC bearer or RLC channel or logical channel of the ingress link to the RB or RLC bearer or RLC channel or logical channel of the egress link is performed based on a correspondence between any two or more of the RB, RLC bearer, RLC channel, and logical channel of the ingress link and the egress link.

The identification information related to QoS requirements may be, for example: one or more of a QoS Flow Identifier (QFI) of the terminal, an RB of the terminal, a Differentiated Services Code Point (DSCP) of the terminal, a flow label (flow label) in a header of an IP packet of internet protocol version 6 (IPv 6), and the like.

The name of the protocol layer having these capabilities is not necessarily the adaptation layer, and may be other names. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that any protocol layer having these capabilities can be understood as an adaptation layer in the embodiments of the present application.

In addition, routing and bearer mapping are also referred to in this application.

And (3) routing selection: for selecting the next hop node for the packet.

Bearer mapping, which may also be referred to as QoS mapping. The bearer mapping is used to select an RLC bearer or an RLC channel or logical channel to send the data packet.

It should be understood that in the integrated access and backhaul system shown in fig. 1, one IAB node is connected to one upper node. However, in future relay systems, in order to improve the reliability of the wireless backhaul link, one IAB node, e.g., 120, may have multiple upper nodes to serve one IAB node at the same time, and the IAB node 130 in fig. 1 may also be connected to the IAB node 120 through the backhaul link 134, that is, the IAB node 110 and the IAB node 120 are both considered as upper nodes of the IAB node 130. The names of the IAB nodes 110,120, 130 are not limited to the scenario or network in which they are deployed, and may be any other names such as relay, RN, etc. In the present application, an IAB node may refer to any node or device with a relay function in a general way, and the use of an IAB node and a relay node in the present application should be understood to have the same meaning, and the use of an IAB node in the present application is only required for convenience of description.

In fig. 1, the wireless link 102,112,122,132,113,123,133,134 may be a bidirectional link including uplink and downlink transmission links, and in particular, the wireless backhaul link 113,123,133,134 may be used for the upper node to provide service for the lower node, such as the upper node 100 providing wireless backhaul service for the lower node 110. It should be appreciated that the uplink and downlink of the backhaul link may be separate, i.e., the uplink and downlink are not transmitted through the same node. The downlink transmission refers to transmission of information or data to a lower node, such as the node 100, and the uplink transmission refers to transmission of information or data to a lower node, such as the node 110, and the upper node, such as the node 100. The node is not limited to being a network node or a terminal device, for example, in the D2D scenario, a terminal device may serve as a relay node for other terminal devices. The wireless backhaul link may also be an access link in some scenarios, for example, when the node 110 plays a role of a normal terminal device, the backhaul link 123 may also be regarded as an access link for the node 110, and when the node 100 plays a role of a normal terminal device, the backhaul link 113 is also an access link for the node 100. It should be understood that the above-mentioned upper node may be a base station, and may also be a relay node, and the lower node may also be a terminal device having a relay function, for example, in the D2D scenario, the lower node may also be a terminal device.

In 5G, in consideration of a small coverage area of a high frequency band, in order to guarantee the coverage performance of the network, multi-hop networking may be adopted in the IAB network. Considering the requirement of service transmission reliability, the IAB node may be made to support Dual Connectivity (DC) or multi-connectivity (multi-connectivity) to cope with possible abnormal situations of the backhaul link. For example, the reliability of transmission is ensured by abnormalities such as link interruption, blocking (blocking), and load fluctuation. Therefore, the IAB network supports multi-hop networking and may also support multi-connection networking.

Between the UE served by the IAB node and the IAB donor, there exists at least one transmission path consisting of multiple segments of links. A transmission path includes a plurality of nodes, e.g., a UE, one or more IAB nodes, and an IAB Donor (if the IAB Donor is a separate entity from the CU and DU, it also includes a Donor DU part and a Donor CU part).

Referring to fig. 7, fig. 7 is a specific example of an IAB system. As shown in fig. 7, the parent node of IAB node 1 is IAB node, IAB node 1 is the parent node of IAB node 2 and IAB node 3, IAB node 2 and IAB node 3 are both the parent node of IAB node4, and the parent node of IAB node 5 is IAB node 3. The uplink data packet of the UE may be transmitted to the host site IAB donor through one or more IAB nodes, and then sent to the mobile gateway device (e.g., the user plane function unit UPF in the 5G core network) by the IAB donor. The downlink data packet of the UE is received from the mobile gateway equipment by the IAB donor and then is sent to the UE through the IAB node. There are two available paths for data transmission between the UE1 and the donor base station. Route 1: terminal 1 → IAB node4 → IAB node 3 → IAB node 1 → donor node, and terminal 1 → IAB node4 → IAB node 2 → IAB node 1 → donor node. There are three available paths for packet transmission between the terminal 2 and the host node, which are: terminal 2 → IAB node4 → IAB node 3 → IAB node 1 → donor node, terminal 2 → IAB node4 → IAB node 2 → IAB node 1 → donor node, and terminal 2 → IAB node 5 → IAB node 2 → IAB node 1 → donor node.

It should be understood that the IAB networking scenario shown in fig. 7 is only exemplary, and there are still more other possibilities in an IAB scenario where multiple hops and multiple connections are combined, for example, an IAB donor in fig. 7 and an IAB node under another IAB donor form a dual connection to serve a UE, etc., which are not listed here.

In consideration of the requirement of the reliability of traffic transmission, in a scenario where the UE supports Dual Connectivity (DC) or Carrier Aggregation (CA), a packet replication (replication) operation may be performed. That is, the sending side copies the data packet to be transmitted to obtain two identical data packets. The two identical packets are then transmitted to the receiving side via two transmission paths. This is explained below with reference to fig. 3.

Referring to (a) and (b) of fig. 8, (a) and (b) of fig. 8 are transmission scenarios in which a UE supports a copy operation of a packet. Fig. 8(a) shows a Carrier Aggregation (CA) scenario. The base station and the UE may map the data packet to two different carriers (CCs) for transmission, so as to support the packet replication operation. Fig. 8 (b) is a Dual Connectivity (DC) scenario. The data packets of the transmitting side may reach the receiving side through two different paths. For example, in the above behavior example, one path is a direct link between the UE and the master base station, and the cell group serving the UE on the path is a Master Cell Group (MCG). The other path is composed of two links of UE-secondary base station-main base station, and the cell group of the secondary base station serving UE on the second path is a Secondary Cell Group (SCG).

Referring to fig. 9, fig. 9 is an example of a scenario for supporting a UE to perform a packet replication operation in an IAB network. As shown in fig. 9 (a), the UE may perform a CA-based packet duplication operation at the access link. CA is also supported between IAB 1 and IAB2, so that the UE can be supported to perform the packet replication operation between IAB2 and IAB 1 in a CA-based manner.

Alternatively, if the IAB node of the backhaul link supports multi-connection, the IAB node may also support the transmission of duplicate packets for the UE in a DC-based manner on the backhaul link, for example, in (b) of fig. 9. In fig. 9 (b), IAB2 has two parent nodes IAB 1 and IAB 3, and IAB2 can transmit the duplicate packet of the UE through two links with the two parent nodes.

Still alternatively, backhaul links may exist in the IAB network that do not support either multi-connectivity or CA. For example, in fig. 9 (a), the backhaul link between the IAB 1 and the donor DU does not support either CA or multi-connection.

It should be understood that, in the embodiment of the present application, the UE is supported to perform a data packet replication operation, and it can also be said that the UE supports transmission of a duplicate data packet.

Alternatively, the duplicate packet of the UE in the embodiment of the present application refers to a packet in which the UE performs a duplicate operation. The duplicate packet of the UE includes a packet on which the duplicate operation is performed and a duplicate packet thereof, or a packet on which the duplicate operation is performed and a duplicate thereof.

In other scenarios, the access link of the UE may support multiple connections, so that the UE may support the duplicate of the data packets by means of DC. The data packets with the copy operation may be transmitted through different backhaul links, or may be transmitted on a common backhaul link supporting CA, or may be transmitted on a common backhaul link not supporting CA.

For the above scenario, if it is ensured that the backhaul link supports the data packet replication transmission function of the radio bearer of the UE, there is no scheme support at present.

The technical solution provided by the present application is explained below.

The following is a description taking CU-DU separation architecture of the host base station as an example, and optionally, if the host CU is further a CP and UP separation architecture, the host CU may be replaced with a CU-CP. Alternatively, if the donor base station is a complete functional entity and CU and DU separation is not performed, the donor CU and/or the donor DU in the embodiment may be understood by the donor base station instead, and a process of configuring the donor DU by the donor CU is not required.

Referring to fig. 10, fig. 10 is a schematic flow chart of a method for configuring an RLC bearer provided in the present application.

The hosting node depicted in FIG. 10 may be the hosting node 100 shown in FIG. 1, the first node may be the node 110 shown in FIG. 1, and the second node may be the node 120 or the node 130 shown in FIG. 1.

210. The host CU sends a first configuration message to the first node, which receives the first configuration message from the host CU.

The first configuration message is used for instructing the first node to configure a first RLC bearer pair between the first node and the second node. The first RLC bearer pair may be used to transmit data packets of a first radio bearer of a first terminal device. Here, the first radio bearer is configured with duplicate transmission of data packets.

Optionally, the first node is a host DU or an intermediate IAB node.

In addition, the first node is a parent node of the second node. That is, the second node is a child node of the first node.

In this embodiment of the present application, the first RLC bearer pair refers to a group of RLC bearers consisting of two RLC bearers between the first node and the second node. The first RLC bearer pair is used for transmitting data packets of the first radio bearer, and the first radio bearer supports duplicate transmission of the data packets, in other words, two RLC bearers included in the first RLC bearer pair are used for transmitting the data packets from the first radio bearer and duplicate data packets (or, referred to as duplicates).

It should be understood that the first radio bearer supports duplicate transmission of the data packet, and it may be understood that the first radio bearer is configured with (function or capability of) duplicate transmission of the data packet, or the first radio bearer has capability of duplicate transmission of the data packet. Although the first radio bearer has the capability of performing duplicate transmission on the data packets, the duplicate transmission operation may be activated or deactivated, and each data packet on the first radio bearer is duplicated into two (or more) copies for transmission in an activated (activation) state. And one of the two RLC bearers included in the first RLC bearer pair may be used to transmit a data packet and the other RLC bearer may be used to transmit a duplicate data packet of the data packet. That is, the two RLC bearers included in the first RLC bearer pair are used to transmit two identical data packets on the first radio bearer. When the duplication transmission operation is in a deactivated state, the data packets on the first radio bearer are not duplicated into two (or more) copies for transmission, the data packets of the first radio bearer are still transmitted in one copy, and one RLC bearer of the first RLC bearer pair can transmit the data packets on the first radio bearer.

Alternatively, a wireless backhaul node (IAB node) may be considered as a terminal device when transmitting its own traffic, or its MT part, and thus, if the wireless backhaul node transmits its own traffic data or signaling via the first node, the wireless backhaul node may also be considered as the first terminal device.

The first radio bearer supports or is configured with a packet replication transmission function, which means that the first radio bearer has such a function. Optionally, the function of the data packet replication transmission of the first radio bearer may be activated or deactivated.

In addition, in the embodiment of the present application, the RLC bearer (RLC bearer) and the RLC channel (RLC channel) have a one-to-one correspondence relationship with the logical channel (logical channel). In other words, each RLC bearer corresponds to one RLC channel uniquely, and also corresponds to one logical channel uniquely.

Therefore, in each embodiment, an RLC bearer pair (RLC bearer pair) may also be expressed as an RLC channel pair or a local channel pair, which is not limited in this application.

Alternatively, in some cases, the first RLC bearer pair may include two RLC bearers, and only one of the two RLC bearers may be used for data transmission, which will be described in detail below.

Hereinafter, the two RLC bearers included in the first RLC bearer pair are referred to as a first RLC bearer and a second RLC bearer, respectively. The host CU may specifically instruct the first node to configure the first RLC bearer pair in the following manner.

In one implementation, the first configuration message includes first configuration content and second configuration content. The first configuration content is used for indicating a first RLC bearing, and the second configuration content is used for configuring a second RLC bearing.

Optionally, the first configuration content and the second configuration content satisfy any one of the following modes:

(1) the first configuration content comprises an identifier of a first RLC bearer and an identifier of a second RLC bearer, and the second configuration content comprises an identifier of the second RLC bearer and an identifier of the first RLC bearer.

In this way, the first configuration content and the second configuration content both include an identifier of the first RLC bearer and an identifier of the second RLC bearer, which indicate that the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer form an RLC bearer pair.

(2) The first configuration content comprises an identifier and a first identifier of a first RLC bearer, and the second configuration content comprises an identifier and a first identifier of a second RLC bearer. The first identifier is used for associating the first RLC bearing and the second RLC bearing to form a first RLC bearing pair.

In this way, the first configuration content and the second configuration content both include a common first identifier in addition to an identifier of the RLC bearer, which indicates that the RLC bearers included in the first configuration content and the second configuration content are associated by the first identifier to form an RLC bearer pair.

Optionally, the first identifier may be an identifier of the first radio bearer (or, alternatively, a bearer identifier).

Through the two modes, the host CU can conveniently indicate the two bearers forming the RLC bearer pair to the first node, and signaling overhead is saved.

Optionally, the first configuration message may not include the RLC bearer identifier, and the host CU instructs the first node to configure the first RLC bearer pair in other manners, as described in (3) below.

(3) The first configuration message includes QoS information and first indication information, and the first indication information is used to indicate the first node to configure a first RLC bearer and a second RLC bearer according to the QoS information, so as to form a first RLC bearer pair.

In this implementation, the QoS information and the first indication information are included in the first configuration message. And the first node configures two RLC bearers meeting the QoS indicated by the QoS information according to the first indication information, thereby forming a first RLC bearer pair. In this way, the host CU may not indicate the identity of the first RLC bearer and the identity of the second RLC bearer, and the first node may flexibly configure the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer according to the QoS information.

(4) The first configuration message includes a reliability parameter.

In this implementation, the donor CU instructs the first node to configure the first RLC bearer pair by means of an implicit indication. And the first node compares the reliability parameter contained in the first configuration message with a pre-configured threshold, and if the comparison result of the reliability parameter index contained in the first configuration message and the pre-configured threshold meets the condition that two RLC bearers need to be configured, the two RLC bearers are configured to form an RLC bearer pair.

For example, if the reliability parameter is a packet loss rate and is smaller than a preset threshold, it indicates that the reliability requirement is high, and two RLC bearers need to be configured. For another example, the reliability parameter is a reliability indication, and when the reliability parameter is greater than a preset threshold, it indicates that the reliability requirement is high, and two RLC bearers need to be configured.

Optionally, it is not limited here which parameters the reliability parameters are specific. Various parameters that may characterize the reliability of data transmission, such as error rate, packet loss rate, etc., are applicable in this application.

In this way, the first node may flexibly configure the first RLC bearer and/or the second RLC bearer according to the preconfigured threshold.

Optionally, the first configuration message may further carry a backhaul type indication.

Wherein the backhaul type indication indicates that the first RLC bearer and/or the second RLC bearer are/is used for transmitting backhaul traffic. Backhaul traffic refers to traffic (including data and signaling) of a terminal transmitted via a wireless backhaul link between a first node and its child node (second node), as distinct from access traffic of the second node, to the first node. The access traffic of the second node refers to the own traffic (including data and signaling) that originates or terminates at the second node (or the MT part of the second node) transmitted when the second node is considered as a terminal role. When the backhaul service is transmitted, the first node and the second node may communicate with each other by using a protocol stack of the backhaul link, and when the access service of the second node is transmitted, the first node and the second node may communicate with each other by using a protocol stack of the access link.

Alternatively, the first configuration message may be a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message or an F1 interface application layer protocol (F1 application protocol, F1AP) message.

Optionally, if the first node is a home DU, the first configuration message may further include one or more of some information: a bearer identification of a radio bearer of the UE that can be mapped to the first RLC bearer pair transmission, a QoS tag that can be mapped to a data packet of the first RLC bearer pair transmission.

In this embodiment of the present application, the bearer identifier of the radio bearer of the UE may be composed of a UE identifier + a Radio Bearer (RB) Identifier (ID), or may be composed of a GTP-U TEID + an IP address, or may be in other forms, and a specific identifier form is not limited. Here, TEID denotes a tunnel endpoint identifier (tunnel endpoint identifier).

In addition, here, the RB may be a Signaling Radio Bearer (SRB) or a Data Radio Bearer (DRB).

The QoS tag may refer to a Differentiated Services Code Point (DSCP) value in an IP header, a flow label in IPv6, a quality of service class identifier (QCI), a 5G quality of service indicator (5G QoS identifier,5QI), and the like, which is not limited in this application.

The first node configures a first RLC bearer pair between the first node and the second node according to the first configuration message, for transmitting the same data packet (or the data packet and its duplicate) of the first radio bearer of the first terminal device. Optionally, when the data packet is transmitted on the backhaul link, the first node and/or the second node needs to perform routing to determine a next hop node, and needs to perform bearer mapping to determine an RLC bearer for transmitting the data packet. The configuration of the first node and/or the second node for routing and the configuration of the bearer mapping will be described below.

And the first node configures a first RLC bearing pair according to the first configuration message. After the configuration is completed, the first node returns a first response message to the host CU.

220. The first node sends a first response message to the host CU.

Accordingly, the host CU receives the first response message from the first node.

Optionally, in an implementation manner, the first response message carries an identifier of a logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and/or an identifier of a logical channel corresponding to the second RLC bearer.

Here, the first response message carries the identifiers of the logical channels corresponding to the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer, and may be used when the host CU configures bearer mapping. The donor CUs may use the logical channel identification for bearer mapping.

Optionally, the first configuration message may also carry information of available serving cells (allowed serving cells) of logical channels corresponding to the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer.

Optionally, the serving cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer is different from the serving cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the second RLC bearer, so that the reliability of transmission of the same data packet transmitted from the first radio bearer can be improved. .

For example, a logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and a logical channel corresponding to the second RLC bearer serve two different cells. For another example, the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and the logical channel corresponding to the second RLC bearer respectively serve two different cell lists, where the cells included in the different cell lists do not intersect.

Optionally, the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and the logical channel corresponding to the second RLC bearer have the same available serving cell.

Optionally, the first node may further carry second indication information in the first response message, where the second indication information is used to indicate an RLC bearer or a logical channel in the first RLC bearer pair as the primary path (primary path).

It should be understood that the RLC bearer as the primary path refers to either the first RLC bearer or the second RLC bearer included in the first RLC bearer pair. The logical channel as the main path refers to a logical channel corresponding to one of the first RLC bearer or the second RLC bearer included in the first RLC bearer pair.

Further optionally, the first response message may also include an information element generated by the first node for the second node (i.e., a child node of the first node) for the RLC bearer pair between the second node configuration and the first node.

In an implementation manner, the information element for configuring the RLC bearer pair may be RLC-BearerConfig, the first response message may carry the RLC-BearerConfig information element or content in the RLC-BearerConfig, and the second node may configure the RLC layer and the logical channel according to the content in the RLC-BearerConfig.

Alternatively, the first response message may be an RRC message or an F1AP message.

After the above steps 210 and 220 are completed, the donor CU instructs one parent node to perform configuration of RLC bearer pairs with its child node, and then the donor CU may instruct the child node to perform configuration corresponding to the RLC bearer between its parent node.

230. The host CU sends a second configuration message to the second node.

Accordingly, the second node receives a second configuration message from the host CU.

Optionally, the second node is an IAB node, and may be an access IAB node or an intermediate IAB node.

Similar to the first configuration message, the second configuration message also includes configuration content indicating that the second node configures the first RLC bearer pair. The first RLC bearer pair may be used to transmit data packets of a first radio bearer of a first terminal device.

In an implementation manner, the second configuration message includes third configuration content and fourth configuration content, where the third configuration content is used to configure a first RLC bearer in the first RLC bearer pair, and the fourth configuration content is used to configure a second RLC bearer in the first RLC bearer pair.

Optionally, the third configuration content includes a Logical Channel Identifier (LCID) of a Logical Channel (LCH) corresponding to the first RLC bearer, available serving cell information of the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer, and configuration content of an RLC entity and the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer.

Optionally, the fourth configuration content includes a Logical Channel Identifier (LCID) of a Logical Channel (LCH) corresponding to the second RLC bearer, available serving cell information of the logical channel corresponding to the second RLC bearer, and configuration content of an RLC entity and a logical channel corresponding to the second RLC bearer.

Alternatively, the third configuration content and the fourth configuration content satisfy any one of the following manners.

(1) The third configuration content includes an identifier of the first RLC bearer and an identifier of the second RLC bearer, and the fourth configuration content includes an identifier of the second RLC bearer and an identifier of the first RLC bearer.

(2) The third configuration content includes the identifier and the first identifier of the first RLC bearer, and the fourth configuration content includes the identifier and the first identifier of the second RLC bearer. The first identifier is used for associating the first RLC bearing and the second RLC bearing to form a first RLC bearing pair.

(3) The second configuration message includes a reliability parameter.

Here, for the descriptions of the third configuration content and the fourth configuration content in the manners (1) - (3), reference may be made to the descriptions of the first configuration content and the second configuration content in step 210, and details are not repeated.

Optionally, the second configuration message carries the first identifier. The first identifier may be a bearer identifier of the first radio bearer.

Optionally, the second configuration message carries third indication information, where the third indication information is used to indicate the RLC bearer in the first RLC bearer pair as the primary path. For example, the third indication information is carried in the third configuration content.

As described above, the first response message returned by the first node to the host CU may carry second indication information, where the second indication information is used to indicate the RLC bearer in the first RLC bearer pair as the main path. And the host CU may indicate the primary path specified in the first response message to the child node (i.e., the second node) of the first node. In this way, the second node may also, in some cases, transmit the data packets of the first radio bearer to its parent node only through the RLC bearer of the first RLC bearer pair as the primary path.

In a possible implementation, if the number of uplink data packets to be sent by the second node is small, for example, the amount of data of the uplink data packets that can be transmitted via the first RLC bearer pair is lower than a certain preset threshold, the second node may send the data packets to the first node only through the main path in the first RLC bearer pair. The preset threshold may be configured by the host CU, e.g. sent to the second node in a second configuration message.

In another possible implementation, if the packet duplication transmission function of the first radio bearer of the first terminal device is deactivated, the second node may send the packet of the first radio bearer to the first node only through the primary path in the first RLC bearer pair.

The activation and deactivation of the packet duplication transmission function of the first radio bearer will be described in detail below.

In another possible implementation, if the second node does not need to map the UE's data packets onto two RLC bearers for transmission, the second node sends the data packets to the first node only through the primary path in the first RLC bearer.

Optionally, the second configuration message includes information of available serving cells of a logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and a logical channel corresponding to the second RLC bearer. For example, the information of the serving cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer may be carried in the third configuration content, and the information of the serving cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the second RLC bearer may be carried in the fourth configuration content.

Optionally, the available serving cells of the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and the logical channel corresponding to the second RLC bearer are different. For example, the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and the logical channel corresponding to the second RLC bearer serve different cells, or serve different cell lists, or the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer belong to different cell groups, corresponding to different cell group identifications. Further optionally, the cells comprised in the different cell lists or cell groups do not intersect.

Optionally, the second configuration message may also carry other information.

For example, the second configuration message may further include a threshold of the data amount, where the threshold is used for the second node to perform the offloading decision of the uplink transmission. For example, according to the mapping rule, some uplink data packets may be mapped to one RLC bearer in the first RLC pair for transmission, and the second node may transmit the uplink data packets only through the RLC bearer specified by the third indication information as the main path if the data amount of the uplink data packets does not exceed the threshold value according to the threshold value, otherwise, the uplink data packets may be transmitted through the two RLC bearers included in the first RLC bearer pair.

For another example, the second configuration message may also carry one or more of the following information: an indication of the backhaul type, an identification of the RLC bearer of the backhaul link, an information element (e.g., which may be RLC-Config) used to configure the RLC layer, an information element (e.g., LogicalChannelConfig) used to configure the logical channel, etc.

Wherein the backhaul type indication indicates that the first RLC bearer and/or the second RLC bearer are/is used for transmitting backhaul traffic. For the second node, backhaul traffic refers to traffic (including data and signaling) of the terminal transmitted via the wireless backhaul link between the second node and a parent node of the second node, as distinguished from access traffic of the second node. The access traffic of the second node refers to the own traffic (including data and signaling) that originates or terminates at the second node (or the MT part of the second node) transmitted when the second node is considered as a terminal role. When the backhaul service is transmitted, the second node and the parent node may communicate with each other by using a protocol stack of the backhaul link, and when the access service of the second node is transmitted, the second node and the parent node may communicate with each other by using a protocol stack of the access link.

Optionally, if the second node is an intermediate IAB node, the second configuration message may further include one or more of the following information: the radio bearer identifier of the UE that can be mapped to the first RLC bearer for transmission, the RLC bearer identifier of the previous hop link that can be mapped to the first RLC bearer for transmission in the uplink transmission process, the RLC bearer identifier of the previous hop link that can be mapped to the second RLC bearer for transmission in the uplink transmission process, the next hop link RLC bearer identifier to which the data packet transmitted on the first RLC bearer can be mapped in the downlink transmission process, and the next hop link RLC bearer identifier to which the data packet transmitted on the second RLC bearer can be mapped in the downlink transmission process.

Optionally, if the second node is an access IAB node, the second configuration message may further include one or more of the following information: a bearer identification of a radio bearer of the UE that can be mapped to a first RLC bearer pair transmission, a QoS tag that can be mapped into a data packet of the first RLC bearer pair transmission, a QoS tag that can be mapped into a data packet of a second RLC bearer transmission, a GTP TEID or GTP TEID + IP address that can be mapped to a first RLC bearer transmission, a GTP TEID or GTP TEID + IP address that can be mapped to a second RLC bearer transmission.

Optionally, the bearer id of the radio bearer of the UE may be composed of the UE id + RBID, or may be composed of GTP-U TEID + IP address, or may be in other forms, and the radio bearer RB may be an SRB or a DRB.

The QoS label may refer to a DSCP value in an IP header, a flow label in IPv6, QCI, 5QI, and the like.

And after the second node completes the configuration of the first RLC bearing pair between the second node and the first node according to the second configuration message, sending a second response message to the first host CU.

240. The second node sends a second response message to the host CU.

Accordingly, the host CU receives a second response message from the second node.

Wherein the second response message may be used to feed back to the host CU the configuration of the second node for the first RLC bearer pair between the second node and its parent node.

Alternatively, the second response message may be an RRC message or an F1AP message.

The above describes the configuration procedure of the RLC bearer pair in detail by taking the configuration of the RLC bearer pair between two IAB nodes as an example. It can be understood that, in a scenario where there is a multi-hop in the IAB network, for each IAB node on the backhaul link supporting the radio bearer transmission of the terminal device, the RLC bearer pair between the parent node and the RLC bearer pair between the child node need to be configured. When facing a parent node, an IAB node may be regarded as a child node of the parent node, and the process of configuring the RLC bearer pair with the parent node of the IAB node may refer to the configuration behavior of the second node. When the IAB node is facing a child node, it may be regarded as a parent node of the child node, and the process of configuring the RLC bearer pair with its child node may refer to the configuration behavior of the first node.

According to the technical scheme, the RLC bearing pair is configured for the return link, so that the return link can support the copy operation of the data packet of the UE wireless bearing, and the reliability of data transmission of the return link is improved.

After the configuration of the RLC bearer pair of the backhaul link is completed, the RLC bearer pair configuration of the backhaul link may also be updated according to the actual data transmission condition.

The procedure for updating the configuration of RLC bearer pairs for the backhaul link is described below.

As an example of the first radio bearer of the first terminal device in the foregoing, if the packet replication transmission function of the first radio bearer of the first terminal device is deactivated, the limitation of the available serving cells of the logical channel corresponding to two RLC bearers in the RLC bearer pair configured on the backhaul link between the first terminal device and the host node may be cancelled. And if the packet replication transmission function of the first radio bearer of the terminal device is activated, the limitation of the available serving cells of the logical channels corresponding to both RLC bearers of the pair of RLC bearers configured on the backhaul link between the first terminal device to the host node may be enabled. Therefore, the activation status of the packet duplication transmission function of the radio bearer of the UE needs to be known by the host DU and/or the IAB node on the backhaul link.

Optionally, if the limitation of the available serving cell of a logical channel is cancelled, the logical channel may use any cell in the cell group to which the logical channel corresponds. For example, logical channel 1 is allocated by the first node to the second node, a cell group that the first node provides service for the second node is referred to as cell group 1, and includes cell 1, cell 2, cell 3, and cell 4 in cell group 1, and when logical channel 1 of the second node is configured, the available serving cell of logical channel 1 includes cell 1 and cell 2, so when the limitation of the available serving cell of logical channel 1 is cancelled, logical channel 1 can use any one cell in cell group 1, that is, any one of cell 1, cell 2, cell 3, and cell 4.

Optionally, when the duplication operation of the first radio bearer of the terminal device is deactivated, or the limitation on the available serving cell of the logical channel corresponding to two RLC bearers in the RLC bearer pair configured on the backhaul link is cancelled, the data packet of the first radio bearer of the terminal device may be transmitted only through the RLC bearer in the RLC bearer pair serving as the main path on the backhaul link. When the duplication operation of the first radio bearer of the terminal device is activated or the limitation of the available serving cells of the logical channels corresponding to the two RLC bearers in the RLC bearer pair configured on the backhaul link is enabled, the data packet of the first radio bearer of the terminal device needs to be transmitted through the two RLC bearers in the RLC bearer pair on the backhaul link.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the activation state includes two states, namely, activation and deactivation.

The present application provides several implementations for updating the configuration of RLC bearer pairs for the backhaul link.

Mode 0

In the second configuration message sent by the host CU to the second node, if an available serving cell of the logical channel corresponding to each RLC bearer in the RLC bearer pair on the wireless backhaul link between the second node and the first node is included, the second node defaults to that the limitation of the available serving cells of the logical channel corresponding to two RLC bearers in the RLC bearer pair is enabled.

Alternatively, the second node may be an access IAB node, or an intermediate IAB node, the first node being a parent node of the second node.

Mode 1

The host CU determines an activation status of a packet duplication transmission function of the first radio bearer of the first terminal device.

Optionally, the host CU indicates, in the configuration information of the first radio bearer sent to the first terminal device, an activation state of a packet duplication transmission function of the first radio bearer.

In one case, if the active state of the packet duplication transmission function of the first radio bearer is active, the host CU sends a first notification message to the second node, where the first notification message is specifically used to instruct the second node to enable the limitation of the RLC bearer on the backhaul link between the second node and the first node on the serving cell available for the logical channel corresponding to each of the two included RLC bearers.

In contrast, in another case, if the activation state of the packet duplication transmission function of the first radio bearer is deactivated, the host CU sends a first notification message to the second node, where the first notification message is specifically used to instruct the second node to cancel the limitation of the RLC bearer on the backhaul link between the second node and the first node to the serving cell available for the logical channel corresponding to each of the two contained RLC bearers.

Optionally, the first notification message may be an RRC message or an F1AP message, which is not limited herein.

In another possible implementation, the host CU sends a second notification message to the first node, where the second notification message is used to indicate that the activation state of the packet replication transmission function of the first radio bearer is active, and optionally, after obtaining the second notification message, the first node sends a third notification message to its child node (i.e., the second node), where the third notification message is used to indicate to the second node that the limitation of the RLC bearer on the backhaul link between the second node and the first node on the service cell available to the logical channel corresponding to each of the two RLC bearers is enabled; or, the host CU sends a second notification message to the first node, where the second notification message is used to indicate that the activation state of the packet replication transmission function of the first radio bearer is deactivated, and optionally, after obtaining the second notification message, the first node sends a third notification message to its child node (i.e., the second node), where the third notification message is used to indicate to the second node to cancel the limitation, to the second node, of the service cell available to the logical channel corresponding to each of the two RLC bearers on the backhaul link between the second node and the first node.

Optionally, the second notification message may be an RRC message or an F1AP message, which is not limited herein.

Alternatively, the third notification message may be included in a Control Element (CE) of a Medium Access Control (MAC) layer and transmitted to the second node.

Mode 2

The access IAB node serving the first terminal device determines an active state of a packet duplication transmission function of a first radio bearer of the first terminal device, and notifies the anchor CU, and then the anchor CU sends a first notification message to the second node, or the anchor CU sends a second notification message to the first node, and the first node may send a third notification message to the second node.

The sending of the first notification message by the host CU to the second node, the sending of the second notification message by the host CU to the first node, and the sending of the third notification message by the first node to the second node can be understood with reference to the description in mode 1 of updating the configuration of the RLC bearer pair of the backhaul link.

By any one of the above modes 0-2, flexible starting or cancelling of the configuration of the RLC bearer pair of the backhaul link can be achieved.

In the above description of the second configuration message, the second configuration message may carry third indication information, where the third indication information is used to indicate the RLC bearer in the first RLC bearer pair as the primary path. After the second node acquires the third indication information, if the packet replication transmission function of the first radio bearer is deactivated, the second node transmits the packet of the first radio bearer to the first node only through the main path specified by the third indication information.

As can be appreciated in connection with the description herein of the configuration of the RLC bearer pair of the backhaul link, if the second node receives a first notification message from the host CU specifically indicating cancellation of the restriction of the serving cell available for the logical channel corresponding to each of the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer, or the second node receives a third notification message from the first node specifically indicating cancellation of the restriction of the serving cell available for the logical channel corresponding to each of the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer, the second node transmits the data packet of the first radio bearer only through the RLC bearer designated as the primary path.

The following describes the configuration procedure of bearer mapping and the configuration procedure of routing respectively. It should be noted that, in this embodiment of the present application, there may also be another applicable bearer mapping configuration process or another applicable routing configuration process, and this embodiment of the present application is not limited.

Optionally, the information indicating the configuration of the bearer mapping may be carried in the first configuration message in step 210 and sent to the first node, or carried in the second configuration message in step 230 and sent to the second node, or may also be sent to the first node and/or the second node separately, which is not limited in this application.

The present application provides various bearer mapping manners, and the following description respectively takes the first radio bearer of the first terminal device as an example.

Mode 1

The first radio bearer of the first terminal device is mapped to the RLC bearer of the egress link.

Here, the approach 1 is applicable to all IAB nodes (i.e., access IAB nodes and intermediate IAB nodes) as well as the home DU.

Mode 2

And mapping to the RLC bearing of the egress link according to the QoS label carried in the received data packet.

Here, mode 2 is applicable for accessing the IAB node and the home DU.

Mode 3

The RLC bearer of the ingress link is mapped to the RLC bearer of the egress link.

Wherein, the mode 3 is applicable to all IAB nodes.

Mode 4

And mapping the GTP-U TEID or GTP-U TEID + IP address carried in the data packet to the RLC bearer of the egress link.

Here, mode 4 is applicable for accessing the IAB node and the home DU.

The following description is made for the access IAB node, the intermediate IAB, and the home DU, respectively.

(1) Access IAB node

For the access IAB node, only uplink transmission is involved since it is the bearer mapping configuring the backhaul link.

In uplink transmission, since the backhaul link supports duplicate transmission of data packets, the duplicate data of the UE needs to be mapped to two different RLC bearers for transmission.

Therefore, for a radio bearer (for example, referred to as RB1) of a UE configured with a replication transmission function (for example, packet replication based on CA) supporting a packet and with the replication transmission function activated, the access IAB node receives a packet of RB1 of the UE from two different logical channels (respectively referred to as LCH1 and LCH2), and the access IAB node needs to map the packet received from LCH1 and LCH2 to the RLC bearer of two different egress links for transmission to the parent node. For example, the access IAB node maps the data packets of RB1 received from LCH1 and LCH2 to the RLC bearer of egress link 1 and the RLC bearer of egress link 2, respectively, for transmission.

When the access IAB node performs the configuration of uplink bearer mapping, if the radio bearer of the UE supports the duplicate transmission of data packets and the duplicate transmission function is in an activated (activation) state, the data packets of the radio bearer of the UE received by the access IAB node from two different logical channels are respectively mapped to RLC bearers of two different egress links for transmission to the parent node. Optionally, the access IAB node also needs to configure the RLC bearer serving cells of the two different egress links. Optionally, the RLC bearers of the two different egress links serve different cells or different cell lists or different groups (cell groups).

Alternatively, the access IAB node may have a plurality of specific mapping manners, and the configuration of the mapping manners may be sent to the access IAB node by the host CU or may be decided by the access IAB node.

For example, the access IAB node assigns and maps RLC bearers or logical channels of two different ingress links corresponding to the same radio bearer of a certain UE to RLC bearers of two different egress links for transmission, respectively.

For another example, the access IAB node assigns packets of two different GTP-U tunnels (identified by the GTP-U tunnel endpoint identity, TEID, or GTP-U TEID + IP address) corresponding to the same radio bearer of a certain UE to RLC bearers mapped to two different egress links for transmission, respectively.

Alternatively, the two different GTP-U tunnels may be identified by different GTP-U TEIDs or GTP-U TEID + IP addresses.

For another example, the access IAB node adds different QoS tags to data packets of two different logical channels of the same radio bearer corresponding to a certain UE, and then assigns and maps the data packets carrying the two different QoS tags to two RLC bearers of different exits for transmission.

Alternatively, the different QoS tag may be a DSCP value, a flow label value, or the like, which is not limited herein.

(2) Intermediate IAB node

For the intermediate IAB node, the configuration of the bearer mapping of the backhaul link involves uplink transmission and downlink transmission. The intermediate IAB node may also have multiple bearer mappings, and the configuration of these bearer mappings may be sent by the host CU to the intermediate IAB node, or may be decided by the intermediate IAB node itself.

When the intermediate IAB node performs the configuration of the uplink bearer mapping, for the radio bearer (for example, denoted as RB1) of the UE in which the duplicate transmission function supporting the packet (for example, packet duplication based on the CA scheme) is configured and the packet duplicate transmission function is activated, the packets corresponding to the radio bearer RB1 of the UE received from two different RLC bearers or logical channels are mapped to the RLC bearers of two different egress links for transmission to the next hop.

When the intermediate IAB node performs configuration of downlink bearer mapping, for a radio bearer (for example, denoted as RB1) of the UE that is configured with a duplicate transmission function (for example, packet duplication based on the CA scheme) that supports a packet and has an activated packet duplicate transmission function, a packet corresponding to radio bearer RB1 of the UE is received from RLC bearers or logical channels of two different ingress links, and is mapped to RLC bearers of two different egress links for transmission to the next hop.

Optionally, for uplink transmission or downlink transmission, the RLC bearers of the two different egress links carry corresponding logical channels, which are restricted from serving cells. For example, the RLC bearers of two different egress links serve corresponding logical channels for different cells or different cell lists or different groups of cells (cell groups).

For example, the RLC bearer of egress link 1 corresponds to logical channel 1 and the RLC bearer pair of egress link 2 is for logical channel 2. Here, logical channel 1 is restricted to serve cell 1, and logical channel 2 is restricted to serve cell 2. Alternatively, logical channel 1 is restricted to serving cells in cell list 1 and logical channel 2 is restricted to serving cells in cell list 2. Wherein the cells in the cell list 1 and the cells in the cell list 2 do not intersect. Further alternatively, logical channel 1 is restricted to serve the cells included in cell group 1, and logical channel 2 is restricted to serve the cells included in cell group 2. Wherein the cells included in cell group 1 and the cells included in cell group 2 do not intersect.

(3) Host DU

For a host DU (i.e., a donor DU), the configuration of the bearer mapping for the backhaul link involves only downlink transmission.

When the host DU performs configuration of downlink bearer mapping, for a radio bearer of the UE that supports packet replication transmission and has an active packet replication transmission function, a packet and its replica corresponding to the radio bearer are received from RLC bearers or logical channels of two different ingress links, and are respectively mapped to RLC bearers or logical channels of two different egress links for transmission to a next hop node.

Optionally, the RLC of the two different egress links carries a cell whose corresponding logical channel may be restricted from service. For example, the RLC bearers of different egress links serve corresponding logical channels for different cells or different cell lists or different groups of cells. Here, the cell lists included in the different cell lists do not intersect, and the cells included in the different cell groups do not intersect.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the cell whose logical channel is limited to service and the serving cell whose logical channel is available may be replaced with each other.

When the host DU performs configuration of downlink bearer mapping, there may be multiple specific mapping manners. The configuration of the bearer mapping manner for downlink transmission may be sent to the host DU by the host CU, or may be determined by the host DU.

For example, the host DU specifies RLC bearers mapped to two different egress links, respectively, for two different GTP-U tunnels corresponding to the same radio bearer of a certain UE.

For another example, the donor CU adds different QoS tags to packets of two different logical channels of the same radio bearer corresponding to a certain UE, and then maps the two different QoS tags to RLC bearers of two different egress links of the donor DU.

The method that the IAB node and the host DU perform bearer mapping on the backhaul link can enable duplicate data packets of the UE to be transmitted through different paths on the backhaul link, so that the backhaul link of the IAB network also provides a guarantee of higher reliability for data transmission of the UE.

The configuration process of the IAB node for performing routing will be described below. For convenience of description, the first node is explained as an example below.

The routing configuration in the embodiment of the present application may be an uplink routing configuration for uplink transmission, or a downlink routing configuration for downlink transmission.

The first node receives third configuration information from the host CU, where the third configuration information is used to perform routing configuration on an adaptation layer entity of the first node, and the third configuration information includes the following contents: a route identifier, a next hop node identifier corresponding to the route identifier.

Alternatively, the route identifier may be a destination node identifier, or a transmission path identifier.

Alternatively, the first node may be an access IAB node, or an intermediate IAB node, or a home DU.

The next hop node identifier may contain only one node identifier, or a plurality of node identifiers, corresponding to one route identifier. When a plurality of next hop node identifiers correspond to one route identifier, it indicates that, for a data packet carrying the route identifier, the first node may forward the data packet through a plurality of different next hop nodes.

Optionally, when a plurality of next hop node identifiers (for example, the plurality of next hop nodes at least include a first next hop node, and the second next hop node) correspond to one route identifier (for example, the first route identifier), the third configuration information may further include a main path indicator, where the main path indicator indicates an identifier of the first next hop node corresponding to the plurality of next hop node identifiers, and is used to indicate that the first next hop node is the main path. When the first node performs the routing selection, for the data packet carrying the first routing identifier, the first next hop node is selected as the next hop node, and the data packet carrying the first routing identifier is sent to the first next hop node.

Alternatively, when a plurality of next hop node identifiers (for example, a plurality of next hop nodes at least include a first next hop node, and a second next hop node) correspond to one route identifier (for example, the first route identifier), the third configuration information may further include a main path indication and a Threshold (TH). The main path indication corresponds to an identifier of a first next hop node among the plurality of next hop node identifiers for indicating that the first next hop node is the main path. When the first node performs the routing, for the data packet carrying the first routing identifier:

if the data volume of the data packet carrying the first route identifier in the first node is less than or equal to the threshold value TH, the first node selects a first next hop node as a next hop node, and sends the data packet carrying the first route identifier to the first next hop node;

if the data volume of the data packet carrying the first route identifier in the first node is greater than the threshold value TH, for each data packet carrying the first route identifier, the first node may arbitrarily select one next hop node from a plurality of next hop nodes corresponding to the plurality of next hop node identifiers, and send the data packet carrying the first route identifier to the first node.

In the technical solution of the present application, an RLC bearer pair may be configured for the duplicate data packet of the UE on the backhaul link, or multiple RLC bearers may be configured for transmitting the duplicate data packet of the UE, so that a guarantee of higher reliability may be provided for data transmission of the UE on the backhaul link of the IAB network.

The configuration of the backhaul link provided in the present application is described in detail above. In fact, configuring the access link of the IAB network may also support duplicate transmission of data packets for the UE, which is briefly described below.

If a certain radio bearer of the UE supports duplicate transmission of data packets, the host CU indicates to the access IAB node of the UE.

It is understood that radio bearers of the UE can be divided into a signaling radio bearer SRB and a data radio bearer DRB, which are separately described below.

If a certain SRB of the UE supports replication transmission of a data packet, the host CU includes, in a configuration message sent to the access IAB node, configuration content for the SRB that carries replication transmission indication information (or called replication indication information).

Alternatively, the host CU may carry the replication transmission indication information in an F1AP message sent by the F1AP protocol layer. For example, the F1AP message may be a context setup request of the UE or a context modification request of the UE.

Accordingly, if the configuration content of the host CU for a certain SRB does not include the replication transmission indication information, it indicates that the SRB does not support replication transmission.

If a certain DRB of the UE supports the copy transmission of the data packet, the host CU includes the information of two uplink GTP-U tunnel endpoints in the configuration content aiming at the DRB in a configuration message sent to the access IAB node.

Here, the information of the uplink GTP-U tunnel endpoint may be, for example, an IP address + GTP-U TEID.

It should be understood that the configuration message sent by the anchor CU to the access IAB node carries information of the two uplink GTP-U tunnel endpoints, which indicates that the data packet of the DRB needs to be transmitted between the anchor CU and the access IAB node through the two different GTP-U tunnels. At this time, the access IAB node needs to map the same data packet of the DRB onto RLC bearers of different egress links, respectively, and send the data packet to the next hop node.

Correspondingly, if the access IAB receives the information that only one uplink GTP-U tunnel endpoint is included in the configuration content for a DRB received from the host CU, it means that the DRB does not support duplicate transmission of data packets. At this time, the access IAB node does not perform special processing on the data packet of the DRB.

It should be understood that in the embodiments of the present application, an IAB node does not perform special processing on the data packets of one radio bearer, which means that the data packets of the radio bearer do not need to be mapped onto RLC bearers of different egress links.

According to the above described configuration principle of the access link, for the radio bearer RB x (where x represents the number or identifier of the radio bearer) of the UE supporting the duplicate transmission of the data packet, the access IAB node configures two RLC bearers for RB x in the access link, that is, configures one RLC bearer pair. Wherein the two RLC bearers corresponding logical channels are configured with available cells or cell lists. Optionally, the two RLC bearers have corresponding logical channels serving different cells (cells) or cell lists.

After the IAB node completes the configuration of the two RLC bearers of the access link, the configuration information of the two RLC bearers is sent to the host CU, and then the host CU sends the configuration information to the UE, so that the UE configures the RLC bearers for transmitting the duplicate packet (i.e., the packet and its copy, which may also be referred to as a duplicate packet) of the RB x in the access link.

In addition, the duplicate transmission function of the radio bearer of the UE may be activated or deactivated (deactivation). When the packet duplication transmission function of a certain radio bearer of the UE is deactivated, the duplicate packet of the radio bearer is transmitted only through one RLC bearer in the access link. Alternatively, this RLC bearer for transmitting the duplicate packet may be considered the primary path. Optionally, when the packet duplication transmission function of a certain radio bearer of the UE is activated, the duplicate packet of the radio bearer is transmitted through two RLC bearers (i.e. one RLC bearer pair) configured on the access link.

Optionally, since the PDCP layer configuration related to the radio bearer RB x of the UE needs to include a cell group ID and a logical channel identifier corresponding to a primary path, the logical channel identifier included in the configuration information of the RLC bearer sent by the host CU to the UE is allocated by the access IAB node. Therefore, the access IAB node sends a Logical Channel Identifier (LCID) corresponding to the primary path to the anchor CU, so that the anchor CU can send the LCID to the UE.

The above detailed description is made on the method for transmitting a data packet according to the embodiment of the present application, and the following describes an apparatus for transmitting a data packet according to the embodiment of the present application.

Referring to fig. 11, fig. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of an apparatus 500 for transmitting a data packet provided in the present application. As shown in fig. 11, the apparatus 500 includes a transceiver unit 510 and a processing unit 520.

A transceiving unit 510, configured to receive a first configuration message from a host centralized unit CU, the first configuration message being used to instruct configuration of a first radio link control, RLC, bearer pair between the apparatus and a second node, the first RLC bearer pair being used to transmit a packet of a first radio bearer of a first terminal device, the first radio bearer pair being configured with a function of duplicate transmission of the packet, the first RLC bearer pair including the first RLC bearer and a second RLC bearer, the apparatus being a parent node of the second node;

the processing unit 520 is configured to configure the first RLC bearer pair according to the first configuration message.

Optionally, the transceiver unit 510 is further configured to send a first response message to the host CU, where the first response message carries an identifier of a logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and/or an identifier of a logical channel corresponding to the second RLC bearer.

Optionally, the transceiving unit 510 is further configured to receive a data packet of the first radio bearer sent by the second node only on the RLC bearer of the first RLC bearer pair as the primary path.

Optionally, the transceiver unit 510 is further configured to receive, from the host CU, a first notification message indicating that the limitation of the serving cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer is enabled and the limitation of the serving cell available for the logical channel corresponding to each of the second RLC bearers is enabled, or indicating that the limitation of the serving cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and the limitation of the serving cell available for the logical channel corresponding to each of the second RLC bearers are cancelled.

Optionally, the processing unit 520 is further configured to map data packets of the first radio bearer received from two different logical channels onto the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer, respectively.

Optionally, the processing unit 520 is further configured to map data packets received on two different gprs tunneling protocol GTP tunnels corresponding to the first radio bearer onto the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer, respectively.

In one implementation, the apparatus 500 may be a chip or an integrated circuit.

In this case, the transceiver unit 510 may be a communication interface, such as an input/output interface, an input interface circuit, an output interface circuit, and the like. The processing unit 520 may be a processor.

In another implementation, the apparatus 500 may correspond entirely to the first node in the method embodiment of the present application. The apparatus 500 includes respective units for implementing respective operations and/or processes performed by the first node in the respective method embodiments.

In this case, the transceiver unit 510 may be a transceiver, which includes a transmitter and a receiver, and has both receiving and transmitting functions. The processing unit 520 may be a processor.

Referring to fig. 12, fig. 12 is a schematic block diagram of an apparatus 600 for transmitting data packets provided in the present application. As shown in fig. 12, the apparatus 600 includes a transceiving unit 610 and a processing unit 620.

A transceiving unit 610, configured to receive a second configuration message from the host centralized unit CU, where the second configuration message is used to instruct configuration of a first radio link control, RLC, bearer pair between the apparatus and the first node, where the first RLC bearer pair is used to transmit a packet of a first radio bearer of the first terminal device, the first radio bearer is configured with a function of duplicate transmission of the packet, the first RLC bearer pair includes the first RLC bearer and a second RLC bearer, and the apparatus is a child node of the first node;

a processing unit 620, configured to configure the first RLC bearer pair according to the second configuration message.

Optionally, the transceiving unit 610 is further configured to receive a first notification message indicating to cancel the limitation of the serving cell available for the logical channel corresponding to each of the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer from the host CU, and the transceiving unit 610 transmits the data packet to the first node only through the RLC bearer of the first RLC bearer pair as the main path.

Optionally, the transceiver unit 610 is further configured to receive a data packet of the first radio bearer from one logical channel, and the transceiver unit 610 transmits the data packet to the first node only through the RLC bearer of the first RLC bearer pair as the primary path.

Optionally, the processing unit 620 is further configured to determine that the number of data packets of the first radio bearer does not exceed a preset threshold, and the transceiving unit 610 transmits the data packets to the first node only through the RLC bearer of the first RLC bearer pair as the primary path.

Optionally, the transceiver unit 610 is further configured to receive, from the host CU, a first notification message, where the first notification message is used to indicate that the limitation of the serving cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer is enabled and the limitation of the serving cell available for the logical channel corresponding to each of the second RLC bearers is enabled, or the first notification message is used to indicate that the limitation of the serving cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and the limitation of the serving cell available for the logical channel corresponding to each of the second RLC bearers are cancelled.

Optionally, the transceiver unit 610 is further configured to receive a second notification message from the first node, where the second notification message is used to indicate that the limitation of the serving cells available for the logical channels corresponding to the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer is enabled or cancelled.

Optionally, the processing unit 620 is further configured to determine an activation status of the packet duplication transmission function of the first radio bearer, and the transceiving unit 610 is further configured to send information indicating the activation status of the packet duplication transmission function of the first radio bearer to the host CU.

Optionally, the processing unit 620 is further configured to map data packets of the first radio bearer received from two different logical channels onto the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer, respectively.

In one implementation, the apparatus 600 may be a chip or an integrated circuit.

In this case, the transceiver unit 610 may be a communication interface, such as an input/output interface, an input interface circuit, an output interface circuit, and the like. The processing unit 620 may be a processor.

In another implementation, the apparatus 600 may correspond to the second node in the embodiment of the method of the present application. The apparatus 600 comprises respective means for performing respective operations and/or processes performed by the second node in the respective method embodiments.

In this case, the transceiver unit 610 may be a transceiver including a transmitter and a receiver. The processing unit 620 may be a processor.

Referring to fig. 13, fig. 13 is a schematic block diagram of an apparatus 700 for transmitting data packets provided in the present application. As shown in fig. 13, the apparatus 700 includes a transceiver unit 710 and a processing unit 720.

A processing unit 710, configured to generate a first configuration message, where the first configuration message is used to instruct configuration of a first radio link control, RLC, bearer pair between a first node and a second node, where the first RLC bearer pair is used to transmit a data packet of a first radio bearer of a first terminal device, the first radio bearer is configured with a function of duplicate transmission of the data packet, the first RLC bearer pair includes the first RLC bearer and a second RLC bearer, and the first node is a parent node of the second node;

a transceiving unit 720, configured to send a first configuration message to the first node.

Optionally, the transceiver 720 is further configured to receive a first response message from the first node, where the first response message carries an identifier of a logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and/or an identifier of a logical channel corresponding to the second RLC bearer.

Optionally, the processing unit 710 is further configured to generate a second configuration message, and the transceiving unit 720 is further configured to send the second configuration message to the second node.

Optionally, the processing unit 710 is further configured to generate third indication information, where the third indication information is used to indicate the RLC bearer in the first RLC bearer pair as the primary path.

Optionally, the transceiving unit 720 is further configured to send the first notification message to the first node and the second node. The first notification message is used to indicate that the limitation of the serving cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and the limitation of the serving cell available for the logical channel corresponding to each of the second RLC bearers are enabled, or the first notification message is used to indicate that the limitation of the serving cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and the limitation of the serving cell available for the logical channel corresponding to each of the second RLC bearers are cancelled.

Optionally, the processing unit 710 is further configured to determine an activation status of the packet duplication transmission function of the first radio bearer before the transceiving unit 720 sends the first notification message, or the transceiving unit 720 receives information indicating the activation status of the packet duplication transmission function of the first radio bearer from the access backhaul node serving the first terminal device.

Optionally, the processing unit 710 is further configured to map data packets received on two different GTP tunnels corresponding to the first radio bearer onto the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer.

In this case, the processing unit 710 may be a processor. The transceiving unit 720 may be a communication interface, such as an input-output interface, an input interface circuit, an output interface circuit, and the like.

In another implementation, the apparatus 700 may correspond entirely to a hosting node in an embodiment of the method of the present application. The apparatus 700 comprises respective units for implementing respective operations and/or processes performed by the host node in the respective method embodiments.

In this case, the processing unit 710 may be a processor. The transceiving unit 720 may be a transceiver comprising a transmitter and a receiver.

The chip described in the above embodiments of the apparatus may be a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a system on chip (SoC), a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a Network Processor (NP), a digital signal processing circuit (DSP), a Microcontroller (MCU), a Programmable Logic Device (PLD), or other integrated chips.

In addition, the present application also provides a network device 1000, which is described below with reference to fig. 14.

Referring to fig. 14, fig. 14 is a schematic structural diagram of a network device 1000 provided in the present application. As shown in fig. 14, the network device 1000 includes an antenna 1101, a radio frequency device 1102, and a baseband device 1103. An antenna 1101 is connected to the radio frequency device 1102. In the uplink direction, the rf device 1102 receives a signal transmitted by the previous-hop network node through the antenna 1101, and transmits the received signal to the baseband device 1103 for processing. In the downlink direction, the baseband device 1103 processes a signal to be sent to the next hop network node, and sends the signal to the rf device 1102, and the rf device 1102 sends the signal through the antenna 1101.

The baseband device 1103 may include one or more processing units 11031. In addition, the baseband apparatus 1103 may further include a storage unit 11032 and a communication interface 11033. The storage unit 11032 is used to store computer programs and data. The communication interface 11033 is used to communicate information with the radio 1102. The communication interface 11033 may be an input-output interface or an input-output circuit.

Alternatively, when the apparatus 500 and the first node completely correspond, the structure of the apparatus 500 may be as the network device 1000 shown in fig. 12. For example, the transceiver unit 510 may be implemented by the radio frequency device 1102, and the processing unit 520 may be implemented by the baseband device 1103.

For example, the rf device 1102 is configured to receive a first configuration message from a host CU via the antenna 1101 and send the first configuration message to the baseband device 1103 via the communication interface 11033. The baseband apparatus 1103 is configured to configure a first RLC bearer pair with the second node according to the first configuration message.

Also for example, the baseband device 1103 is further configured to generate a first response message and send the first response message to the rf device 1102 through the communication interface 11033. Radio 1102 is also operable to transmit a first response message to the host CU via antenna 1101.

Also for example, the radio frequency device 1102 is further configured to receive a first notification message via the antenna 1101. The radio frequency device 1102 is also configured to send a second notification message.

For another example, the baseband device 1103 is further configured to perform bearer mapping, generate second indication information, and the like.

Alternatively, when the apparatus 600 and the second node completely correspond, the structure of the apparatus 600 may also be as the network device 1000 shown in fig. 12. For example, the transceiver unit 610 may be implemented by the radio frequency device 1102, and the processing unit 620 may be implemented by the baseband device 1103.

For example, the rf device 1102 is configured to receive a second configuration message from the host CU via the antenna 1101 and send the second configuration message to the baseband device 1103 via the communication interface 11033. The baseband apparatus 1103 is configured to configure a first RLC bearer pair with the first node according to the second configuration message.

As another example, the baseband device 1103 is further configured to generate a second response message and send the second response message to the rf device 1102 through the communication interface 11033. Radio 1102 is also operable to transmit a second response message to the host CU via antenna 1101.

Also for example, the radio frequency device 1102 is further configured to receive a first notification message via the antenna 1101. Alternatively, the radio frequency device 1102 is further configured to receive a second notification message.

Also for example, the radio frequency device 1102 is further configured to receive a second notification message via the antenna 1101.

In one implementation, the baseband device 1103 is further configured to determine an activation status of a packet duplication transmission function of the first radio bearer if the apparatus 600 completely corresponds to the access backhaul node serving the first terminal device.

For another example, the baseband device 1103 is further configured to map data packets on two different logical channels corresponding to the first radio bearer onto a first RLC bearer and a second RLC bearer of the first RLC bearer pair, respectively.

Alternatively, when the apparatus 700 and the host node completely correspond, the structure of the apparatus 700 may be as the network device 1000 shown in fig. 14. For example, the processing unit 710 may be implemented by the baseband device 1103, and the transceiving unit 720 may be implemented by the radio frequency device 1102.

For example, the baseband apparatus 1103 is configured to generate a first configuration message, and the radio frequency apparatus 1102 is configured to receive a first response message through the antenna 1101. The baseband device 1103 is further configured to generate a first configuration content and a second configuration content in the first configuration message.

As another example, the baseband apparatus 1103 is configured to generate a second configuration message, and the radio frequency apparatus 1102 is configured to receive a second response message through the antenna 1101. The baseband device 1103 is further configured to generate third configuration content and fourth configuration content in the second configuration message.

For another example, the baseband device 1103 is further configured to generate the first indication information and the third indication information.

In one implementation, the baseband apparatus 1103 is further configured to determine an activation status of a packet duplication transmission function of the first radio bearer of the first terminal device.

For another example, the radio frequency device 1102 is further configured to send a first notification message.

In addition, the present application also provides a communication system, which includes one or more of the first node, the second node and the host node as described in the method embodiment.

The present application provides a computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon computer instructions, which, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform the respective operations and/or processes performed by the first node in any of the method embodiments.

The present application provides a computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon computer instructions, which, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform the respective operations and/or processes performed by the second node in any of the method embodiments.

The present application provides a computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon computer instructions, which, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform the corresponding operations and/or processes performed by a host node in any of the method embodiments.

The present application further provides a computer program product comprising computer program code which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the respective operations and/or processes performed by the first node in any of the method embodiments of the present application.

The present application also provides a computer program product comprising computer program code which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the respective operations and/or processes performed by the second node in any of the method embodiments of the present application.

The application also provides a chip comprising a processor. The processor is configured to call and execute the computer program stored in the memory to perform the corresponding operations and/or processes performed by the first node in any of the method embodiments of the present application.

Optionally, the chip further comprises a memory, the memory being connected to the processor. The processor is used for reading and executing the computer program in the memory.

Further optionally, the chip further comprises a communication interface, and the processor is connected to the communication interface. The communication interface is used for receiving signals and/or data to be processed, and the processor acquires the signals and/or data to be processed from the communication interface and processes the signals and/or data.

The application also provides a chip comprising a processor. The processor is configured to call and execute the computer program stored in the memory to perform the corresponding operations and/or processes performed by the second node in any of the method embodiments of the present application.

The application also provides a chip comprising a processor. The processor is configured to call and execute the computer program stored in the memory to perform corresponding operations and/or processes performed by the host node in any of the method embodiments of the present application.

Optionally, the communication interface may be an input/output interface, and may specifically include an input interface and an output interface. Alternatively, the communication interface may be an input-output circuit, and may specifically include an input interface circuit and an output interface circuit.

The memories and the storage devices in the embodiments described above may be physically separate units, or the memories and the storage devices may be integrated together.

In one implementation, when the network device is a first node, the network device may implement the operations and/or processes performed by the first node in the above method embodiments in the form of a processing unit calling program. For example, the processing unit 11031 calls a program stored by the storage unit 11032 to execute the operations and/or processes performed by the first node in the above method embodiments. The memory unit 11032 may be a memory element on the same chip as the processing unit 11031, that is, an on-chip memory unit, or may be a memory element on a different chip from the processing unit 11031, that is, an off-chip memory unit.

In another implementation, when the network device is the second node, the network device may implement the operations and/or processes performed by the second node in the above method embodiments in the form of a processing unit calling program.

In another implementation, when the network device is a host node, the network device may implement the operations and/or processes performed by the host node in the above method embodiments in the form of a processing unit calling program.

In the above embodiments, the processor may be a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a microprocessor, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or one or more integrated circuits for controlling the execution of programs according to the present disclosure. For example, the processor may be a digital signal processor device, a microprocessor device, an analog-to-digital converter, a digital-to-analog converter, or the like. The processor may distribute the functions of control and signal processing of the terminal device or the network device among these devices according to their respective functions. Further, the processor may have the functionality to operate one or more software programs, which may be stored in the memory. The functions of the processor can be realized by hardware, and can also be realized by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above-described functions.

The memory may be a read-only memory (ROM), other types of static storage devices that may store static information and instructions, a Random Access Memory (RAM), or other types of dynamic storage devices that may store information and instructions, an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) or other optical disc storage, optical disc storage (including compact disc, laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc, blu-ray disc, etc.), magnetic disk storage media or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer, etc.

In the embodiment of the present application, "and/or" describes an association relationship of associated objects, and indicates that three relationships may exist, for example, a and/or B may indicate that a exists alone, a and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone. Wherein A and B can be singular or plural.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the elements of the examples 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 implementation. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application.

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

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

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

The 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 or portions thereof that substantially contribute to the prior art may be embodied in the form of a software product stored in a storage medium and including instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device) to execute all or part of the steps of the method according to the embodiments of the present application. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: various media capable of storing program codes, such as a usb disk, a removable hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), a magnetic disk, or an optical disk.

The above description is only for the specific embodiments of the present application, but the scope of the present application is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art can easily conceive of the changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the present application, and shall be covered by the scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A method for configuring a Radio Link Control (RLC) bearer, comprising:

a first node receives a first configuration message from a host centralized unit CU, wherein the first configuration message is used for indicating configuration of a first Radio Link Control (RLC) bearer pair between the first node and a second node, the first RLC bearer pair is used for transmitting data packets of a first radio bearer of a first terminal device, the first radio bearer has a function of copying and transmitting the data packets, the first RLC bearer pair comprises a first RLC bearer and a second RLC bearer, the first node is a parent node of the second node, and a serving cell available for a corresponding logical channel of the first RLC bearer is different from a serving cell available for a corresponding logical channel of the second RLC bearer;

and the first node configures the first RLC bearing pair according to the first configuration message.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first configuration message includes a first configuration content of the first RLC bearer and a second configuration content of the second RLC bearer, and wherein the first configuration content and the second configuration content satisfy any one of the following manners:

the first configuration content comprises an identifier of the first RLC bearer and an identifier of the second RLC bearer, and the second configuration content comprises an identifier of the second RLC bearer and an identifier of the first RLC bearer; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

the first configuration content comprises an identifier and a first identifier of the first RLC bearer, the second configuration content comprises an identifier and a first identifier of the second RLC bearer, and the first identifier is used for associating the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer to form the first RLC bearer pair.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the first identity is an identity of the first radio bearer.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the first configuration message comprises quality of service (QoS) information and first indication information, and wherein the first indication information is used to instruct the first node to configure the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer according to the QoS information to form the first RLC bearer pair.

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

and the first node sends a first response message to the host CU, wherein the first response message carries the identifier of the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and/or the identifier of the logical channel corresponding to the second RLC bearer.

6. The method according to any of claims 1-4, wherein the first node is an intermediate backhaul node, the method further comprising:

the first node receives a first notification message from the host CU, where the first notification message is used to indicate that the limitation of the serving cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and the limitation of the serving cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the second RLC bearer are enabled, or the first notification message is used to indicate that the limitation of the serving cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and the limitation of the serving cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the second RLC bearer are cancelled.

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

the first node receives a second notification message from the host CU, wherein the second notification message is used for indicating that the limitation of the service cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer is enabled and the limitation of the service cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the second RLC bearer is enabled, or the second notification message is used for indicating that the limitation of the service cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and the limitation of the service cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the second RLC bearer are cancelled;

the first node sends a third notification message to the second node, where the third notification message is used to indicate to the second node to enable the limitation of the serving cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and the limitation of the serving cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the second RLC bearer, or the third notification message is used to indicate to the second node to cancel the limitation of the serving cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and the limitation of the serving cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the second RLC bearer.

8. A method for configuring a Radio Link Control (RLC) bearer, comprising:

a second node receives a second configuration message from a host Centralized Unit (CU), wherein the second configuration message is used for indicating configuration of a first Radio Link Control (RLC) bearer pair between the second node and a first node, the first RLC bearer pair is used for transmitting a data packet of a first radio bearer of a first terminal device, the first radio bearer has a function of copying and transmitting the data packet, the first RLC bearer pair comprises a first RLC bearer and a second RLC bearer, the second node is a child node of the first node, and a serving cell available for a corresponding logical channel of the first RLC bearer is different from a serving cell available for a corresponding logical channel of the second RLC bearer;

and the second node configures the first RLC bearing pair according to the second configuration message.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the second configuration message includes a third configuration content of the first RLC bearer and a fourth configuration content of the second RLC bearer, and the third configuration content and the fourth configuration content satisfy any one of the following manners:

the third configuration content includes an identifier of the first RLC bearer and an identifier of the second RLC bearer, and the fourth configuration content includes an identifier of the second RLC bearer and an identifier of the first RLC bearer; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

the third configuration content includes an identifier and a first identifier of the first RLC bearer, the fourth configuration content includes an identifier and a first identifier of the second RLC bearer, and the first identifier is used for associating the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer to form the first RLC bearer pair.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the first identity is an identity of the first radio bearer.

11. The method according to any one of claims 8-10, further comprising:

the second node receives a first notification message from the host CU, where the first notification message is used to indicate that the limitation of the serving cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and the limitation of the serving cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the second RLC bearer are enabled, or the first notification message is used to indicate that the limitation of the serving cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and the limitation of the serving cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the second RLC bearer are cancelled.

12. The method according to any one of claims 8-10, further comprising:

the second node receives a third notification message from the first node, where the third notification message is used to indicate that the limitation of the serving cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and the limitation of the serving cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the second RLC bearer are enabled, or the third notification message is used to indicate that the limitation of the serving cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and the limitation of the serving cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the second RLC bearer are cancelled.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the second node is a node providing access services for the first terminal device, and wherein prior to the second node receiving the first notification message from the host CU, the method further comprises:

the second node determines that a data packet copying transmission function of the first radio bearer is activated or deactivated;

the second node indicates to the host CU an active status of a packet duplication transmission function of the first radio bearer.

14. A method for configuring a Radio Link Control (RLC) bearer, comprising:

a host centralized unit CU generates a first configuration message, wherein the first configuration message is used for indicating configuration of a first Radio Link Control (RLC) bearer pair between a first node and a second node, the first RLC bearer pair is used for transmitting data packets of a first radio bearer of a first terminal device, the first radio bearer has a function of duplicate transmission of the data packets, the first RLC bearer pair comprises a first RL bearer and a second RLC bearer, the first node is a parent node of the second node, and a serving cell available for a corresponding logical channel of the first RLC bearer is different from a serving cell available for a corresponding logical channel of the second RLC bearer;

the host CU sends the first configuration message to the first node.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the first configuration message includes a first configuration content of the first RLC bearer and a second configuration content of the second RLC bearer, and wherein the first configuration content and the second configuration content satisfy any one of the following manners:

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the first identifier is an identifier of the first radio bearer.

17. The method according to any one of claims 14-16, further comprising:

the donor CU generating a second configuration message for configuring the first radio link control, RLC, bearer pair between the second node and the first node;

the host CU sends the second configuration message to the second node.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the second configuration message includes a third configuration content of the first RLC bearer and a fourth configuration content of the second RLC bearer, and wherein the third configuration content and the fourth configuration content satisfy any one of the following manners:

19. The method of any of claims 14-16, wherein after completing the configuration of the first RLC bearer pair, the method further comprises:

and the host CU sends a first notification message to the first node and the second node, wherein the first notification message is used for indicating that the limitation of the service cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and the limitation of the service cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the second RLC bearer are enabled, or the first notification message is used for indicating that the limitation of the service cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and the limitation of the service cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the second RLC bearer are cancelled.

20. A communications apparatus comprising a processor coupled to a memory for storing a computer program or instructions, the processor being configured to execute the computer program or instructions such that the method of any of claims 1 to 7.

21. A communications apparatus comprising a processor coupled to a memory, the memory for storing a computer program or instructions, the processor for executing the computer program or instructions such that the method of any of claims 8 to 13.

22. A communications apparatus comprising a processor coupled to a memory, the memory for storing a computer program or instructions, the processor for executing the computer program or instructions such that the method of any of claims 14 to 19.