CN111757559A

CN111757559A - Admission control method and device

Info

Publication number: CN111757559A
Application number: CN201910251469.5A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 王瑞; 彭文杰; 韩锋
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2019-03-29
Filing date: 2019-03-29
Publication date: 2020-10-09
Also published as: WO2020200038A1

Abstract

The embodiment of the application provides a method and a device for controlling admission, which can release a secondary base station SN when the secondary base station SN can not continuously serve a terminal device. The admission control method comprises the following steps: the auxiliary base station determines to release a first resource reserved for a terminal device in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) deactivated state, wherein the first resource is a resource dedicated to the terminal device; and the secondary base station sends a first message to the main base station, wherein the first message is used for informing that the secondary base station cannot recover the service of the terminal equipment.

Description

Admission control method and device

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of communications, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for admission control in the field of communications.

Background

Currently, a terminal communication state, that is, a Radio Resource Control (RRC) deactivated state, which is called an inactive state for short, is known. In the inactive state, the core network device, the access device and the terminal device all retain context information of the terminal device, and the core network device and the access device have a dedicated signaling connection for the terminal device, but the terminal device and the access device do not need to maintain an RRC connection.

In one possible approach, the terminal device may be in communication connection with at least two access devices simultaneously and may transmit and receive data, which may be referred to as (DC), or multi-connection. Among the at least two access devices, the access device responsible for exchanging the radio resource control message with the terminal device and interacting with the core network control plane entity may be referred to as a master base station (MN), and the other access devices may be referred to as secondary base Stations (SNs).

Under the DC framework, when the terminal equipment enters an Inactive state, the MN does not release the SN, so that the terminal equipment can quickly recover the data transmission carried by the SN when recovering to an RRC connection state. However, how to perform admission control on recovery of the terminal device in the process of switching from the inactive state to the RRC connected state by the terminal device is an urgent problem to be solved.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the application provides a method and a device for controlling admission, which can release a secondary base station SN when the secondary base station SN can not continuously serve a terminal device.

In a first aspect, a method for admission control is provided, including:

the auxiliary base station determines to release a first resource reserved for a terminal device in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) deactivated state, wherein the first resource is a resource dedicated to the terminal device;

and the secondary base station sends a first message to the main base station, wherein the first message is used for informing that the secondary base station cannot recover the service of the terminal equipment.

Therefore, in the dual-connection network architecture in the embodiment of the present application, when the terminal device enters the deactivated state and the secondary base station SN determines that the terminal device cannot continue to be the terminal device, the secondary base station SN may send a first message to the primary base station MN to notify the secondary base station SN that the terminal device cannot continue to be served. Based on the embodiment of the application, the admission control mechanism is introduced in the process of recovering the SN of the auxiliary base station, so that the SN of the auxiliary base station can be released under the condition that the SN of the auxiliary base station cannot be successfully recovered.

With reference to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, before the secondary base station sends the first message to the primary base station, the method further includes:

the secondary base station receives a first request from the primary base station, the first request being for requesting the secondary base station to resume the service to the terminal device.

As an example, the first request may be a SN recovery request and the first message may be a SN recovery rejection message.

Therefore, in the case where the terminal device enters a deactivated state and the secondary base station SN determines that the terminal device cannot be continued, when the SN receives the SN recovery request transmitted by the primary base station, the SN recovery rejection message may be transmitted to the MN to notify that the SN cannot continue to serve the terminal device.

With reference to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the first message includes a cause value, where the cause value is used to identify that the secondary base station cannot recover the service for the terminal device.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the first resource includes at least one of:

the auxiliary base station allocates or reserves resources for the terminal equipment, the context of the terminal equipment reserved by the auxiliary base station, the control plane connection and the user plane connection special for the terminal equipment on the interface between the auxiliary base station and the main base station, and the user plane connection special for the terminal equipment between the auxiliary base station and the core network.

The secondary base station SN allocates or reserves a resource for the terminal device, and may be at least one of an air interface transmission resource, an NG-U interface transmission resource, an Xn interface user plane transmission resource between the secondary base station and the primary base station, and an Xn interface control plane transmission resource between the secondary base station and the primary base station.

The user plane connection dedicated to the terminal device between the secondary base station SN and the core network may include, for example, at least one of transport layer information (transport layer information), a data transmission channel, NG-U transport layer address information allocated by the secondary base station SN for the terminal device, and NG-U transport layer address information allocated by the core network for the terminal device.

The control plane connection dedicated to the terminal device on the interface between the secondary base station SN and the primary base station MN may include at least one of transport layer information, Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) connection, UE XnAP ID allocated by the primary base station MN to the terminal device, and UE XnAP ID allocated by the secondary base station MN to the terminal device, for example. As an example, the interface of the secondary base station SN and the primary base station MN may be an Xn interface.

The connection between the secondary base station SN and the user plane dedicated to the terminal device on the interface of the primary base station MN may be, for example, at least one of transport layer information and data transmission channel, Xn-U transport layer address information allocated to the terminal device by the secondary base station SN, and Xn-U transport layer address information allocated to the terminal device by the primary base station MN.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes:

and the auxiliary base station sends the reserved context of the terminal equipment to the main base station.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the context includes at least one of the following information:

the mapping relation between the QoS flow carried by the auxiliary base station and the DRB carried by the data radio, the SCG configuration of the auxiliary cell group, the configuration of the PDCP carried by the auxiliary base station, the PDCP context carried by the auxiliary base station, the safety indication and the safety result of the PDU session/QoS flow carried by the auxiliary base station, and the configuration of the SDAP corresponding to the PDU session/QoS flow carried by the SN of the auxiliary base station.

Optionally, the context of the terminal device may further include at least one of a user plane connection dedicated to the terminal device between the secondary base station SN and the core network, a control plane connection and a user plane connection dedicated to the terminal device on the interface between the secondary base station SN and the main base station MN.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the determining, by the secondary base station, to release the reserved first resource includes:

the secondary base station determines to release the first resource based on the self-load of the secondary base station.

As an example, the secondary base station SN may determine whether to release the first resource according to its own load. In a possible case, the auxiliary base station SN may determine to release the first resource when the load is too heavy to continue to serve the terminal device, or determine not to release the first resource when the load is not too heavy, and at this time, the auxiliary base station SN may continue to serve the terminal device, that is, may recover the RRC connection with the terminal device.

Alternatively, in some embodiments, the secondary base station SN may also determine whether to release the first resource according to other factors, which is not specifically limited in this embodiment of the present application.

In a second aspect, a method for admission control is provided, including:

the method comprises the steps that a main base station receives a first message from a secondary base station, wherein the first message is used for informing that the secondary base station cannot recover service of terminal equipment in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) deactivated state;

and the main base station determines that the auxiliary base station cannot recover the service to the terminal equipment according to the first message.

With reference to the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, before the main base station receives the first message from the secondary base station, the method further includes:

and the main base station sends a first request to the secondary base station, wherein the first request is used for requesting the secondary base station to recover the service of the terminal equipment.

With reference to the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the first message includes a cause value, and the cause value is used to identify that the secondary base station refuses to recover the service to the terminal device.

With reference to the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the method further includes:

the master base station receives the context of the terminal device from the secondary base station.

With reference to the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the context includes at least one of the following information:

the mapping relation between the QoS flow carried by the auxiliary base station and the data radio bearer DRB, the SCG configuration of an auxiliary cell group, the configuration of a packet data convergence protocol PDCP carried by the auxiliary base station, the PDCH context carried by the auxiliary base station, the safety indication and the safety result of the PDU conversation/QoS flow carried by the auxiliary base station, and the configuration of the SDAP corresponding to the PDU conversation/QoS flow carried by the SN of the auxiliary base station.

and the main base station releases reserved second resources, wherein the second resources are resources special for the terminal equipment on the interface of the main base station and the auxiliary base station.

As an example, the second resource may comprise at least one of a control plane connection, a user plane connection and a transmission resource dedicated to the terminal device on an interface of the primary base station with the secondary base station.

the primary base station establishes an NG-U tunnel for carrying a quality of service QoS flow/packet data unit, PDU, session carried on the NG-U tunnel of the secondary base station prior to releasing the second resource.

and the master base station sends a second message to the terminal equipment, wherein the second message is used for notifying the terminal equipment of releasing the configuration of the auxiliary base station, and the configuration of the auxiliary base station comprises at least one of SCG configuration, measurement information of auxiliary base station configuration and power configuration information.

Optionally, the second message is an RRC recovery message or an RRC reconfiguration message.

and the main base station receives a second request sent by the terminal equipment, wherein the second request is used for requesting the terminal equipment to recover from a Radio Resource Control (RRC) deactivation state to an RRC connection state.

With reference to the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the second request includes information about whether the secondary base station can recover, so as to assist the primary base station in determining whether a recovery request can be sent to the secondary base station.

In a third aspect, a terminal device is provided, which includes:

receiving a second message from a master base station, where the second message is used to notify the terminal device of releasing the configuration of the secondary base station, and the configuration of the secondary base station includes at least one of an SCG configuration, measurement information of a secondary base station configuration, and power configuration information;

and the terminal equipment releases the configuration of the auxiliary base station.

Therefore, in the network architecture with dual connectivity, when the terminal device enters the deactivated state and the secondary base station SN determines that the terminal device cannot continue to serve as the secondary base station SN, the secondary base station SN may notify the primary base station that the secondary base station SN cannot continue to serve the terminal device, so that the terminal device releases the configuration of the secondary base station. Based on the embodiment of the application, the admission control mechanism is introduced in the process of recovering the SN of the auxiliary base station, so that the SN of the auxiliary base station can be released under the condition that the SN of the auxiliary base station cannot be successfully recovered.

In a fourth aspect, an apparatus for wireless communication is provided, where the apparatus may be a secondary base station or a chip within the secondary base station. The apparatus has the functionality to implement the first aspect and various possible implementations described above. The function can be realized by hardware, and can also be realized by executing corresponding software by hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the functions described above.

In one possible design, the apparatus includes: the apparatus further comprises a transceiver module, which may be at least one of a transceiver, a receiver, a transmitter, for example, and optionally a processing module, which may include a radio frequency circuit or an antenna. The processing module may be a processor. Optionally, the apparatus further comprises a storage module, which may be a memory, for example. When included, the memory module is used to store instructions. The processing module is connected to the storage module, and the processing module can execute the instructions stored in the storage module or other instructions from other sources, so as to enable the apparatus to perform the method of the first aspect and various possible implementations.

In another possible design, when the device is a chip, the chip includes: the chip also includes a processing module, and the transceiver module may be, for example, an input/output interface, a pin, a circuit, or the like on the chip. The processing module may be, for example, a processor. The processing module may execute instructions to cause a chip within the terminal to perform the communication method of the first aspect and any possible implementation. Alternatively, the processing module may execute instructions in a memory module, which may be an on-chip memory module, such as a register, a cache, and the like. The memory module may also be located within the communication device, but outside the chip, such as a read-only memory (ROM) or other types of static memory devices that may store static information and instructions, a Random Access Memory (RAM), and so on.

The processor mentioned in any of the above may be a general purpose Central Processing Unit (CPU), a microprocessor, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or one or more integrated circuits for controlling program execution of the method according to the first aspect and various possible implementations.

In a fifth aspect, an apparatus for wireless communication is provided, where the apparatus may be a main base station or a chip in the main base station. The apparatus has the functionality to implement the second aspect and various possible implementations described above. The function can be realized by hardware, and can also be realized by executing corresponding software by hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the functions described above.

In one possible design, the apparatus includes: the apparatus further comprises a transceiver module, which may be at least one of a transceiver, a receiver, a transmitter, for example, and optionally a processing module, which may include a radio frequency circuit or an antenna. The processing module may be a processor. Optionally, the apparatus further comprises a storage module, which may be a memory, for example. When included, the memory module is used to store instructions. The processing module is connected with the storage module, and the processing module can execute the instructions stored in the storage module or the instructions from other sources, so as to enable the apparatus to execute the communication method of the second aspect and various possible implementation manners.

In another possible design, when the device is a chip, the chip includes: the transceiver module, which may be, for example, an input/output interface, a pin, a circuit, or the like on the chip, optionally further comprises a processing module. The processing module may be, for example, a processor. The processing module may execute instructions to cause a chip within the terminal to perform the method of the second aspect and any possible implementation. Alternatively, the processing module may execute instructions in a memory module, which may be an on-chip memory module, such as a register, a cache, and the like. The memory module may also be located within the communication device, but outside the chip, such as a read-only memory (ROM) or other types of static memory devices that may store static information and instructions, a Random Access Memory (RAM), and so on.

The processor mentioned in any of the above may be a general purpose 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 second aspect and various possible implementations.

A sixth aspect provides a computer storage medium having stored therein program code for instructing execution of instructions of a method of the first aspect or the second aspect or the third aspect or any possible implementation thereof.

In a seventh aspect, a computer program product comprising instructions is provided, which when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method of the first aspect, the second aspect, or the third aspect, or any possible implementation thereof.

In an eighth aspect, a communication system is provided, which comprises an apparatus having functions to implement the methods and various possible designs of the first aspect and an apparatus having functions to implement the methods and various possible designs of the second aspect. Further, the communication system may further include the terminal device.

In a ninth aspect, there is provided a processor, coupled to a memory, for performing the method of the first aspect, the second aspect, the third aspect, or any possible implementation manner thereof.

A tenth aspect provides a chip comprising a processor and a communication interface, the communication interface being configured to communicate with an external device or an internal device, the processor being configured to implement the method of the first aspect, the second aspect, or the third aspect, or any possible implementation thereof.

Optionally, the chip may further include a memory having instructions stored therein, and the processor may be configured to execute the instructions stored in the memory or derived from other instructions. When executed, the instructions are for implementing a method in the first aspect, the second aspect, or the third aspect, or any possible implementation thereof.

Alternatively, the chip may be integrated on the primary base station or the secondary base station.

Drawings

Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a network architecture to which an embodiment of the present application is applied.

Fig. 2 shows a schematic diagram of a network architecture provided in an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 3 shows a further schematic diagram of a network architecture suitable for use in embodiments of the present application.

Fig. 4 shows a schematic diagram of a network architecture to which an embodiment of the present application is applied.

Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating another network architecture to which the embodiments of the present application are applied.

Fig. 6 shows a schematic diagram of another network architecture to which the embodiments of the present application are applied.

Fig. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating another network architecture to which the embodiments of the present application are applied.

Fig. 8 shows a schematic flowchart of a method for admission control according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 9 is a schematic flowchart of another admission control method provided in an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 10 is a schematic flow chart of another admission control method provided in an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 11 is a schematic flow chart of another admission control method provided in an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 12 is a schematic flow chart of another admission control method provided in an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 13 is a schematic flow chart of another admission control method provided in an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 14 is a schematic flow chart of another admission control method provided in an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 15 is a schematic flow chart of another admission control method provided in an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 16 is a schematic flow chart of another admission control method provided in an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 17 shows a schematic diagram of an apparatus for wireless communication according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 18 is a schematic diagram illustrating another apparatus for wireless communication according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 19 shows a schematic structural diagram of a terminal device provided in the present application.

Fig. 20 shows a schematic structural diagram of a network device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

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

The technical scheme of the embodiment of the application can be applied to various communication systems, for example: a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, an LTE Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) system, an LTE Time Division Duplex (TDD) system, a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), a future fifth generation (5th generation, 5G) system, a New Radio (NR), and the like.

The terminal device in the embodiment of the present application may also be referred to as: user Equipment (UE), Mobile Station (MS), Mobile Terminal (MT), access terminal, subscriber unit, subscriber station, mobile station, remote terminal, mobile device, user terminal, wireless communication device, user agent, or user device, etc.

The terminal device may be a device providing voice/data connectivity to a user, e.g. a handheld device, a vehicle mounted device, etc. with wireless connection capability. Currently, some examples of terminals are: a mobile phone (mobile phone), a tablet computer, a notebook computer, a palm computer, a Mobile Internet Device (MID), a wearable device, a Virtual Reality (VR) device, an Augmented Reality (AR) device, a wireless terminal in industrial control (industrial control), a wireless terminal in self driving (self driving), a wireless terminal in remote operation (remote medical supply), a wireless terminal in smart grid (smart grid), a wireless terminal in transportation security (transportation safety), a wireless terminal in city (city), a wireless terminal in smart home (smart home), a cellular phone, a cordless phone, a session initiation protocol (session initiation protocol) mobile phone, a PDA phone, a wireless local loop (wireless local) local station, a personal digital assistant (SIP) device, and a wireless terminal with wireless communication function, The present invention also provides a computing device or other processing device connected to a wireless modem, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, a terminal device in a future 5G network or a terminal device in a Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) for future evolution, and the like, which is not limited in this embodiment.

By way of example and not limitation, in the embodiments of the present application, the terminal device may also be a wearable device. Wearable equipment can also be called wearable intelligent equipment, is the general term of applying wearable technique to carry out intelligent design, develop the equipment that can dress to daily wearing, like glasses, gloves, wrist-watch, dress and shoes etc.. A wearable device is a portable device that is worn directly on the body or integrated into the clothing or accessories of the user. The wearable device is not only a hardware device, but also realizes powerful functions through software support, data interaction and cloud interaction. The generalized wearable smart device includes full functionality, large size, and can implement full or partial functionality without relying on a smart phone, such as: smart watches or smart glasses and the like, and only focus on a certain type of application functions, and need to be used in cooperation with other devices such as smart phones, such as various smart bracelets for physical sign monitoring, smart jewelry and the like.

In addition, in the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device may also be a terminal device in an internet of things (IoT) system, where IoT is an important component of future information technology development, and a main technical feature of the present application is to connect an article with a network through a communication technology, so as to implement an intelligent network with interconnected human-computer and interconnected objects.

In addition, the access device in this embodiment may be a device for communicating with a terminal device, and may also be referred to as an access network device or a radio access network device, and may be an evolved node b (eNB or eNodeB) in an LTE system, or may be a wireless controller in a Cloud Radio Access Network (CRAN) scenario, or the access device may be an access device in a relay station, an access point, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, and a future 5G network or an access device in a future evolved PLMN network, or the like, may be an Access Point (AP) in a WLAN, and may be a gNB in a new radio, NR, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

In addition, in this embodiment, the access device is a device in the RAN, or in other words, a RAN node that accesses the terminal device to the wireless network. For example, by way of example and not limitation, as access devices, mention may be made of: a gbb, a Transmission Reception Point (TRP), 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 base station (e.g., a home evolved Node B, or home Node B, HNB), a Base Band Unit (BBU), or a wireless fidelity (Wifi) Access Point (AP), etc. In one network configuration, a network device may include a Centralized Unit (CU) node, or a Distributed Unit (DU) node, or a RAN device including a CU node and a DU node, or a control plane CU node (CU-CP node) and a user plane CU node (CU-UP node), and a RAN device of a DU node.

An access device provides service for a cell, and a terminal device communicates with the access device through a transmission resource (e.g., a frequency domain resource or a spectrum resource) used by the cell, where the cell may be a cell corresponding to the access device (e.g., a base station), and the cell may belong to a macro base station or a base station corresponding to a small cell (small cell), where the small cell may include: urban cell (metro cell), micro cell (microcell), pico cell (pico cell), femto cell (femto cell), etc., and these small cells have the characteristics of small coverage and low transmission power, and are suitable for providing high-rate data transmission service.

In addition, multiple cells can simultaneously work at the same frequency on a carrier in an LTE system or a 5G system, and under some special scenes, the concepts of the carrier and the cells can also be considered to be equivalent. For example, in a Carrier Aggregation (CA) scenario, when a secondary carrier is configured for a terminal device, a carrier index of the secondary carrier and a Cell identification (Cell ID) of a secondary Cell operating on the secondary carrier are carried at the same time, and in this case, it may be considered that the concepts of the carrier and the Cell are equivalent, for example, it is equivalent that the terminal device accesses one carrier and one Cell.

Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a network architecture to which an embodiment of the present application is applied. As shown in fig. 1, a terminal device may simultaneously be dual-linked (DC) with two access devices. Among the two access devices, the access device responsible for exchanging radio resource control messages with the terminal device is a master base station (MN), and the other access device is a secondary base Station (SN).

Similarly, a terminal device may also have a communication connection with multiple access devices and may transmit and receive data, which may be referred to as multi-connection or multi-connection (MC), and among the multiple access devices, one access device may be responsible for interacting with the terminal device for radio resource control messages and interacting with a core network control plane entity, and then this access device may be referred to as MN, and the remaining access devices may be referred to as SN.

In this embodiment, the MN and the SN may be base stations of the same Radio Access Type (RAT), or may be base stations of different RATs.

Fig. 2 shows a schematic diagram of a network architecture provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 2, the communication between the access device and the terminal device follows a certain protocol layer structure. For example, the control plane protocol layer structure may include functions of protocol layers such as a Radio Resource Control (RRC) layer, a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer, a Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, a Medium Access Control (MAC) layer, and a physical layer. The user plane protocol layer structure can comprise functions of protocol layers such as a PDCP layer, an RLC layer, an MAC layer, a physical layer and the like; in one implementation, a Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP) layer may be further included above the PDCP layer.

The functions of these protocol layers may be implemented by one node, or may be implemented by a plurality of nodes; for example, in an evolved structure, an access device may include a Centralized Unit (CU) and a Distributed Unit (DU), and a plurality of DUs may be centrally controlled by one CU.

As shown in fig. 2, the CU and the DU may be divided according to protocol layers of the radio network, for example, functions of a PDCP layer and above protocol layers are provided in the CU, and functions of protocol layers below the PDCP layer, for example, functions of an RLC layer and a MAC layer, are provided in the DU. Alternatively, the CU has functions above the PDCP layer (including PDCP, RRC, and SDAP), and the DU has functions below the PDCP layer (including RLC, MAC, and PHY).

This division of the protocol layers is only an example, and it is also possible to divide the protocol layers at other protocol layers, for example, at the RLC layer, and the functions of the RLC layer and the protocol layers above are set in the CU, and the functions of the protocol layers below the RLC layer are set in the DU; alternatively, the functions are divided into some protocol layers, for example, a part of the functions of the RLC layer and the functions of the protocol layers above the RLC layer are provided in the CU, and the remaining functions of the RLC layer and the functions of the protocol layers below the RLC layer are provided in the DU. In addition, the processing time may be divided in other manners, for example, by time delay, a function that needs to satisfy the time delay requirement for processing is provided in the DU, and a function that does not need to satisfy the time delay requirement is provided in the CU.

Fig. 3 shows a further schematic diagram of a network architecture suitable for use in embodiments of the present application. With respect to the architecture shown in fig. 2, the Control Plane (CP) and the User Plane (UP) of a CU may also be separated and implemented as separate entities, respectively a control plane CU entity (CU-CP entity) and a user plane CU entity (CU-UP entity).

In the above network architecture, the signaling generated by the CU may be sent to the terminal device through the DU, or the signaling generated by the terminal device may be sent to the CU through the DU. The DU may pass through the protocol layer encapsulation directly to the terminal device or CU without parsing the signaling. In the following embodiments, if transmission of such signaling between the DU and the terminal device is involved, in this case, the transmission or reception of the signaling by the DU includes such a scenario.

In the above embodiment, the CU is divided into network devices on the RAN side of the access network, and in addition, the CU may also be divided into network devices on the CN side of the core network, which is not limited herein.

The apparatus in the following embodiments of the present application may be located in a terminal device or a network device according to the functions implemented by the apparatus. When the above structure of CU-DU is adopted, the access device may be a CU node, or a DU node, or a RAN device including the CU node and the DU node.

Fig. 4 shows a schematic diagram of a network architecture to which an embodiment of the present application is applied. The network architecture is a 5G wireless communication system. As shown in fig. 4, the overall architecture of the 5G wireless communication system (also referred to as 5G system, 5GS, 5G system, etc.) is composed of a 5G Core network (also referred to as 5G Core, 5GCN, 5GC) and a NG-RAN (also referred to as 5G-RAN). Wherein, 5GC is a core network of the 5G wireless communication system, and NG-RAN is a wireless access network of the 5G wireless communication system.

Specifically, as shown in fig. 4, the NG-RAN includes two types of RAN nodes (RAN nodes), which are a gNB and a NG-eNB, respectively. Wherein, the gNB provides a New Radio (NR) user plane and a terminating point (Terminations) of a control plane protocol stack for the terminal device. The ng-eNB provides the terminal equipment with the end point of an evolved universal terrestrial radio access (E-UTRA) user plane and control plane protocol stack. The core network device in the 5GC and the access device (such as gNB, NG-eNB) in the NG-RAN carry out data transmission through an NG interface. Data transmission can be carried out between the gNB and the gNB, between the gNB and the ng-eNB, and between the ng-eNB and the ng-eNB through Xn interfaces.

It should be noted that fig. 4 exemplarily shows a schematic diagram of a network architecture, but the embodiment of the present application is not limited thereto. For example, the 5GC may further include more core network devices, and the NG-RAN may further include base stations of other access technologies.

In the 5G wireless communication system shown in fig. 4, the following 3 specific multiple radio access type dual connectivity (MR-DC) architectures are defined:

1) E-UTRA NR DC (EN-DC for short) architecture

This architecture may also be referred to as selection 3 series. As shown in fig. 5, namely, an LTE base station (e.g. LTE eNB) as a primary station MN, an NR base station (e.g. gNB) as a secondary station SN performs DC, and the core network device is EPC.

In the implementation shown in fig. 5 (a), the LTE eNB is connected to the EPC through an S1-C interface or an S1-U interface, and provides air interface transmission resources for data between the terminal device and the EPC.

In the implementation shown in fig. 5 (b), the LTE eNB is connected to the EPC through an S1-C interface or an S1-U interface, and the gNB is connected to the EPC through an S1-U interface, so as to provide air interface transmission resources for data transmission between the terminal device and the EPC.

2) NR E-UTRA DC (NE-DC for short) architecture

This architecture may also be referred to as option 4 series. As shown in fig. 6, namely, NR base station (such as gNB) as the primary station MN, LTE base station (such as ng eNB) as the secondary station SN performs DC, and the core network device is 5 GC.

In the implementation shown in fig. 6 (a), the gNB is connected to the 5GC through an NG-C interface or an NG-U interface, and provides air interface transmission resources for data transmission between the terminal device and the 5 GC.

In the implementation shown in fig. 6 (b), the gbb is connected to the 5GC through an NG-C interface or an NG-U interface, and the NG-eNB is connected to the 5GC through an NG-U interface, so as to provide air interface transmission resources for data transmission between the terminal device and the 5 GC.

3) Next Generation E-UTRA NR DC (NG NE-DC for short) architecture

This architecture may also be referred to as the option 7 series. As shown in fig. 7, namely, an LTE base station (e.g., ng-gNB) as a primary station MN, an NR base station (e.g., gNB) as a secondary station SN performs DC, and the core network device is 5 GC.

In the implementation shown in fig. 7 (a), the NG-eNB is connected to the 5GC through an NG-C interface or an NG-U interface, and provides air interface transmission resources for data transmission between the terminal device and the 5 GC.

In the implementation shown in fig. 7 (b), the NG-eNB is connected to the 5GC through an NG-C interface or an NG-U interface, and the gbb is connected to the 5GC through an NG-U interface, so as to provide air interface transmission resources for data transmission between the terminal device and the 5 GC.

In addition, the MN and the SN may also be wireless access devices of the same system, for example, both the MN and the SN are NR base stations or both are LTE base stations. It should be noted that, in the network architectures shown in fig. 5 to fig. 7, data transmission may be performed between the primary station MN and the secondary station SN through a wired connection or a wireless connection, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present invention.

In the embodiment of the present application, since the terminal device can receive services of multiple cells simultaneously under one base station, the master base station MN may also be referred to as a Master Cell Group (MCG). Similarly, the secondary base station SN may also be referred to as a Secondary Cell Group (SCG).

Next, the RRC connected state in the present application will be described.

The RRC connected state includes three states, which are an RRC idle (idle) state, an RRC connected (connected) state, and an RRC deactivated (inactive) state.

In an RRC idle state, the terminal device deletes the context of the terminal device, but the core network device has the context of the terminal device, and the access device does not have the context of the terminal device. Meanwhile, there is no terminal device specific signaling connection between the core network device and the access device, such as a terminal device related NG connection or a UE related S1connection (ueassisted S1 connection). In this embodiment of the present application, the context of the terminal device is, for example, an Access Stratum (AS) context of the terminal device, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

When downlink data arrives, the core network device initiates paging (paging) for the terminal device in a Tracking Area (TA) of the terminal device. The tracking area may also be referred to as a paging area. Then, the terminal device monitors the paging channel to determine whether it needs to switch to the RRC connected state to receive downlink data.

When uplink data is sent, the terminal device can be actively triggered to enter an RRC (radio resource control) connection state, so that data is sent.

In addition, when the terminal device moves in an RRC idle state and crosses a tracking area TA, a Tracking Area Update (TAU) is required.

When the terminal device is in the RRC connected state, both the core network device and the access device have the context of the terminal device. And, the terminal device and the access device maintain the RRC connection, and the terminal device can perform uplink and downlink transmission of data.

When the terminal device is in the RRC deactivated state, the terminal device and the access device store the AS context of the terminal device, and the core network device also has the terminal device context. In addition, there is a signaling connection dedicated to the terminal device, for example, a UE associated NG connection (UE assisted NG connection), between the core network device and the access device. But the terminal device and the access device do not need to maintain an RRC connection. In this embodiment, the RRC deactivated state may also be referred to as an RRC deactivated state.

When downlink data arrives, the access device may initiate paging, and the paging area may be an idle paging area (TA) or a RAN-based paging area (RNA). When the terminal device moves in the RRC deactivated state, the cross-paging area needs to perform location update, such as TAU or RAN-based paging area update (RNAU).

It can be seen that, for the core network device, the deactivated terminal device is similar to the connected terminal device, and for the access device, the deactivated terminal device is similar to the idle terminal device, and there is no real-time RRC connection and data transmission, and downlink data needs to be transmitted to the terminal device through paging. For the deactivated state, because the dedicated connection between the core network device and the access device is not released, the access device side stores the AS context of the terminal device, which can accelerate the speed of the terminal device recovering to the connected state and rapidly transmit data.

It should be noted that, for the NE-DC architecture in fig. 6, the NG EN-DC architecture in fig. 7, and the DC architecture in which both MN and SN are NR base stations, since the base stations belong to NG-RAN and are connected to 5GC, when the terminal device is in the NE-DC, NG EN-DC, and NR-NR DC architectures, the RRC deactivated state, that is, the RRC deactivated state, can be supported.

The method and apparatus for admission control provided by the present application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The technical scheme of the application can be applied to a wireless communication system, and communication devices in the wireless communication system can have wireless communication connection relation. One of the communication devices may be, for example, a first access device (e.g., a master base station MN) or a chip configured in the first access device (e.g., the master base station MN), and the other of the communication devices may be, for example, a second access device (e.g., a secondary base station SN) or a chip configured in the second access device (e.g., the secondary base station SN). In addition, the communication device also comprises a terminal device, and the terminal device supports the RRC deactivation state.

Next, with reference to fig. 8 to 14, a description will be given by taking the first access device as the master base station MN and the second access device as the secondary base station SN. For the implementation method of the chip in the main base station MN and the chip in the secondary base station SN, reference may be made to the specific description of the main base station MN and the secondary base station SN, and no repeated description is given.

Fig. 8 is a schematic flow chart of a method of admission control shown from the perspective of device interaction. As shown in fig. 8, the method of admission control may include steps 110 to 130.

110, the secondary base station determines to release the first resource reserved for the terminal equipment in the radio resource control, RRC, deactivated state. Wherein the first resource is a resource dedicated to the terminal device.

In a possible way, the master base station MN can request to suspend the secondary base station SN when the master base station configures the terminal device in RRC deactivated state. The suspended secondary base station SN may reserve resources, i.e. the first resources described above, for the terminal device in the RRC deactivated state. In the embodiment of the present application, the reservation may refer to reservation or storage.

It should be noted that, when the secondary base station performs step 110, that is, determines to release the first resource reserved for the terminal device in the RRC deactivated state, the terminal device may be in the RRC deactivated state, or may be changed from the RRC deactivated state to another connection state, which is not limited in this embodiment of the application.

As an example, the first resource may include at least one of the following information:

the secondary base station SN allocates or reserves resources for the terminal device, context of the terminal device that is reserved by the secondary base station SN, user plane connection dedicated to the terminal device between the secondary base station SN and the core network, control plane connection and user plane connection dedicated to the terminal device on an interface between the secondary base station SN and the primary base station MN, and the like.

The control plane connection dedicated to the terminal device on the interface between the secondary base station SN and the primary base station MN may include, for example, at least one of transport layer information, Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) connection, UE XnAP ID allocated by the primary base station MN to the terminal device, and UE XnAP ID allocated by the secondary base station MN to the terminal device. As an example, the interface between the secondary base station SN and the primary base station MN may be an Xn interface.

The user plane connection dedicated to the terminal device on the interface between the secondary base station SN and the primary base station MN may be, for example, at least one of transport layer information and a data transmission channel, Xn-U transport layer address information allocated to the terminal device by the secondary base station SN, and Xn-U transport layer address information allocated to the terminal device by the primary base station MN. Wherein, the transport layer address information may include at least one of an IP address, a port number, and a GTP tunnel identifier.

Optionally, the context of the terminal device, which is stored by the secondary base station SN, for example, the AS context, may include at least one of the following information:

the mapping relationship between the PDU session/QoS flow carried by the secondary base station SN and the data radio bearer DRB, the configuration of the secondary cell group SCG, the configuration of the packet data convergence protocol PDCP carried by the secondary base station SN, the PDCP context carried by the secondary base station SN, the configuration of the SDAP corresponding to the PDU session/QoS flow carried by the secondary base station SN, the security indication and the security result of the PDU session/QoS flow carried by the secondary base station SN, and the like, which are not specifically limited in this embodiment of the present application.

Optionally, the context of the terminal device may further include at least one of a user plane connection dedicated to the terminal device between the secondary base station SN and the core network, a control plane connection and a user plane connection dedicated to the terminal device on an interface between the secondary base station SN and the main base station MN, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application. Then, at this time, the first resource may refer to the context of the terminal device reserved by the secondary base station SN.

In this embodiment, the secondary base station SN may determine to release the reserved first resource dedicated to the terminal device when the terminal device is in the RRC deactivated state. It can be understood that the secondary base station SN determines to release the first resource, which may also be referred to as the secondary base station SN determining to no longer continue to serve the terminal device or the secondary base station SN does not have the capability to continue to serve the terminal device.

Alternatively, in some embodiments, the secondary base station SN may also determine whether to release the first resource according to other factors, which is not specifically limited in this embodiment of the present application. For example, when the configuration of the secondary base station SN is changed such that the secondary base station SN cannot accommodate the terminal device, it may be determined to release the first resource.

The secondary base station SN sends a first message to the primary base station MN, the first message being used to inform that the secondary base station SN cannot resume the service to the terminal device 120.

Correspondingly, the main base station MN receives the first message.

In this embodiment, the main base station MN may be a base station that configures the terminal device to enter an RRC deactivated state, or may be a base station that the terminal device recovers. It should be noted that the base station configured to enter the RRC deactivated state by the terminal device and the base station recovered by the terminal device may be the same base station or different base stations. As an example, movement of the terminal device may result in the base station configuring the terminal device to enter the RRC deactivated state being different from the base station recovered by the terminal device.

In a possible implementation manner, the first message may carry a cause value, where the cause value may indicate that the secondary base station is overloaded, or identify that the secondary base station cannot recover the service for the terminal device.

Optionally, the secondary base station SN may further send the context of the terminal device on the secondary base station side to the primary base station MN. In one implementation, the first message may carry a context of a terminal device on the secondary base station side. It is to be understood that the context of the terminal device on the secondary base station side may also be sent to the MN by a message other than the first message.

The primary base station determines that the secondary base station cannot resume the service to the terminal device according to the first message 130.

Optionally, the primary base station may release the reserved second resource after determining that the secondary base station cannot resume the service to the terminal device. Wherein the second resource is a resource dedicated to the terminal device on an interface between the primary base station and the secondary base station.

As an example, the second resources may comprise at least one of control plane connections, user plane connections and transmission resources dedicated to the terminal device on an interface between the primary base station and the secondary base station.

In a possible design, the transmission resource dedicated to the terminal device on the interface between the primary base station and the secondary base station may be at least one of a user plane transmission resource of an interface between the secondary base station and the primary base station and an interface control plane transmission resource between the secondary base station and the primary base station.

Specifically, the control plane connection and the user plane connection dedicated to the terminal device on the interface between the primary base station and the secondary base station may refer to the above description, and for brevity, are not described herein again.

Correspondingly, when the secondary base station SN sends the context of the terminal device on the secondary base station side, the primary base station MN can acquire the context on the secondary base station side. The main base station MN can acquire the configuration information of the secondary base station SN to the terminal device according to the context. Optionally, after the secondary base station SN is released, the primary base station may perform incremental (delta) configuration on the terminal device again according to the configuration information, or send the configuration information to a new secondary base station for reference of the new secondary base station for configuration.

Optionally, the primary base station MN may also establish an NG-U tunnel for carrying a quality of service QoS flow/packet data unit, PDU, session carried on the NG-U tunnel of the secondary base station MN before the primary base station MN releases the second resource. That is, MN #1 can also perform path switching (path switch). In this way, the NG-U tunnel of the QoS flow (flow)/PDU session (session) originally carried in the SN can be transferred to the MN.

Fig. 9 is a schematic flow chart of another method of admission control shown from the perspective of device interaction, in which the main base station that configures the terminal device to enter the RRC deactivated state is the same as the main base station that the terminal device requests to resume, such as MN # 1. It should be understood that fig. 9 shows steps or operations of a method of admission control, but these steps or operations are merely examples, and other operations or variations of the operations in fig. 9 may also be performed by the embodiments of the present application. Moreover, the various steps in FIG. 9 may be performed in a different order presented in FIG. 9, and it is possible that not all of the operations in FIG. 9 may be performed.

MN #1 determines to configure the terminal device in RRC deactivated state 201.

202, MN #1 sends an RRC connection release message to the terminal device for configuring the terminal device in an RRC deactivated state.

At 203, MN #1 sends a request message to the SN for informing the SN that the terminal device has entered RRC deactivated state and requesting suspension of the SN.

Optionally, the SN may release part of the configuration of the terminal device, such as the RLC layer and the following configurations, based on the request message.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the order of steps 202 and 203 may be interchanged, that is, the order of steps 202 and 203 is not limited.

The SN sends an Acknowledgement (ACK) to MN #1 in response to the request message in step 203, 204.

Optionally, the ACK may carry a context of the terminal device on the SN side. In particular, the context may refer to the description in fig. 8, and for brevity, the description is omitted here.

205, the terminal device sends a resume request (resume request) to MN #1 for requesting a resume from the RRC deactivated state to the RRC connected state. Optionally, the recovery request may carry information about whether the SN can be recovered, so as to assist the MN #1 in determining whether the recovery request can be sent to the SN.

At 206, MN #1 sends an SN resume request (SN resume request) to the SN for requesting the SN to resume the service to the terminal device. The SN recovery request may be an example of a first request.

Optionally, the SN recovery request may be an SN modification request (SN modification request), where the SN modification request carries indication information, and the indication information is used to indicate that the SN generates or updates SCG configuration for the terminal device, so that the SN knows that the SN indicates that the SN recovery is requested.

Optionally, 207, the SN determines that the load is too heavy.

Specifically, the SN may determine whether the SN can continue to provide services for the terminal device according to its own load. When the SN determines that it is overloaded, it cannot continue to provide service to the terminal device. At this time, the SN determines to release the first resource dedicated to the terminal device. Specifically, the first resource may refer to the description in fig. 8, and for brevity, the description is not repeated here.

Optionally, when the SN determines that the terminal device is not overloaded, the SN determines to continue to provide service for the terminal device, that is, the first resource does not need to be released.

In the embodiment of the present application, the sequence of 206 and 207 is not limited. That is, step 207 may also occur before step 206.

208, the SN sends a SN resume reject (SN resume reject) message to MN #1 indicating a rejection of the request for the terminal device to continue the service. Here, the SN recovery rejection message corresponds to one example of the first message in fig. 8.

Optionally, the SN recovery rejection message carries a cause value, which indicates that the SN is overloaded, i.e. it is identified that the SN cannot recover the service to the terminal device.

Alternatively, when the SN recovery request is an SN modification request, the SN recovery rejection message may be an SN modification confirm message or an SN modification failure message. Unlike the prior art, when MN #1 receives an SN recovery rejection message (e.g., an SN modification confirm message or an SN modification failure message), it needs to know that the message indicates not a modification failure but that the SN cannot be successfully recovered, which is equivalent to an SN release. Optionally, in this embodiment of the application, the SN modification acknowledgement message or the SN modification failure message includes a cause value, which indicates that the SN rejects to continue the service to the terminal device.

Optionally, when the ACK does not include the context of the terminal device on the SN side, the SN recovery rejection message may further include the context of the terminal device on the SN side.

In this embodiment of the present application, the SN releases the first resource reserved for the terminal device while sending the SN recovery rejection message, or after, where the first resource is a resource dedicated to the terminal device.

Correspondingly, the MN #1 receives the SN recovery rejection message, and determines that the SN cannot continue to serve the terminal device according to the message. At this time, MN #1 may release the second resource, which is a resource dedicated to the terminal device on the interface between MN #1 and the SN. Specifically, the second resource may refer to the description in fig. 8, and for brevity, the description is not repeated here.

Optionally, the MN #1 may further establish an NG-U tunnel for carrying a quality of service QoS flow/packet data unit, PDU, session, wherein the QoS flow/PDU session is carried on the NG-U tunnel of the secondary base station before releasing the second resource.

Optionally, when the SN determines to continue to serve the terminal device, the SN sends an SN recovery acknowledgement message to MN #1, indicating that the terminal device can continue to be served. Alternatively, when the SN recovery request message is an SN modification request message, the SN recovery confirmation message may be an SN modification confirmation message.

209, MN #1 sends configuration information to the terminal device.

Optionally, when the SN recovery rejection message is received by the MN #1, the configuration information may include indication information for informing the terminal device to release the SN-related configuration. As an example, the SN-related configuration specifically contains at least one of the following information: SCG configuration, measurement information for SN configuration, power configuration information, etc.

Optionally, the configuration information may be carried in an RRC recovery message or carried in an RRC reconfiguration message.

Therefore, in the dual-connection network architecture of the embodiment of the present application, when the terminal device enters the deactivated state and the secondary base station SN determines that the terminal device cannot continue to be the terminal device, the SN may send an SN recovery rejection message to the MN when the SN receives the SN recovery request, so as to notify that the SN cannot continue to serve the terminal device. Based on the embodiment of the application, the admission control mechanism is introduced in the process of recovering the SN of the auxiliary base station, so that the SN of the auxiliary base station can be released under the condition that the SN of the auxiliary base station cannot be successfully recovered.

Fig. 10 is a schematic flow chart of another method of admission control shown from the device interaction perspective, in which the master base station (e.g., MN #1) that configures the terminal device to enter the RRC deactivated state is different from the master base station (e.g., MN #2) that the terminal device requests to resume. It should be understood that fig. 10 shows steps or operations of a method of admission control, but these steps or operations are merely examples, and other operations or variations of the operations in fig. 10 may also be performed by embodiments of the present application. Moreover, the various steps in FIG. 10 may be performed in a different order presented in FIG. 10, and it is possible that not all of the operations in FIG. 10 may be performed.

301, MN #1 determines to configure the terminal device in RRC deactivated state.

302, MN #1 sends an RRC connection release message to the terminal device for configuring the terminal device in an RRC deactivated state.

303, MN #1 sends a request message to the SN for informing the SN that the terminal device has entered RRC deactivated state and requesting to suspend the SN.

304, the SN sends an Acknowledgement (ACK) to MN #1 in response to the request message in step 303.

Specifically, steps 301 to 304 can refer to steps 201 to 204 in fig. 9, and are not described herein again for brevity.

305, the terminal device sends a resume request (resume request) to MN #2 for requesting a resume from the RRC deactivated state to the RRC connected state. Optionally, the recovery request may carry information about whether the SN can be recovered, so as to assist the MN #2 in determining whether the recovery request can be sent to the SN. It is understood that the terminal device sends a resume request to the MN #2 after moving from the MN #1 to the MN # 2.

306, MN #2 requests a context from MN # 1.

Here, the context is the context of the terminal device held on the MN #1 side.

As an example, the context includes at least one of the following information:

the mapping relationship between the QoS flow carried by MN #1 and the data radio bearer DRB, the configuration of the master cell group MCG, the configuration of the packet data convergence protocol PDCP carried by MN #1, the PDCP context carried by MN #1, the SDAP configuration corresponding to the PDU session/QoS flow carried by MN #1, the security indication and the security result of the PDU session/QoS flow carried by MN #1, and the like, which are not specifically limited in this embodiment of the present application.

Alternatively, MN #2 may also instruct MN #1 to request recovery of the SN.

307, MN #1 transmits the context of the terminal device on the MN side to MN # 2.

Optionally, MN #1 may also send the identifier of the SN, as well as the terminal device identifier, to the terminal device. In some embodiments, the terminal device identifier may be a terminal device identifier on an Xn interface allocated to the terminal device by the SN. As an example, when the terminal device is a UE, the terminal device identity may be an SN UE XnAP ID.

Optionally, the MN #1 may further send indication information to the MN #1, for indicating to the MN #2 that the MN #1 suspends the SN for the terminal device.

308, the MN #2 sends an SN resume request (SN resume request) to the SN for requesting the SN to resume the service to the terminal device.

Optionally, the SN recovery request may include a terminal device identifier, which is used for identifying the terminal device by the SN. As an example, the terminal device identifier may be an identifier on an Xn interface allocated by the SN for the terminal device.

Alternatively, 309, the SN determines that the load is too heavy.

The SN sends a SN resume reject (SN resume reject) message to MN #2 indicating a rejection of the request for continued service to the terminal device 310.

311, MN #2 sends the configuration information to the terminal device.

Specifically, in steps 309 to 311, the interaction process between the SN and the MN #2 may refer to the description in the interaction process between the SN and the MN #1 in steps 207 to 209 in fig. 8, and for brevity, no further description is given here.

Fig. 11 is a schematic flow chart of another method of admission control shown from the perspective of device interaction, in which the main base station configuring the terminal device to enter the RRC deactivated state is the same as the main base station that the terminal device requests to resume, such as MN # 1. It should be understood that fig. 11 shows steps or operations of a method of admission control, but these steps or operations are only examples, and other operations or variations of the operations in fig. 11 may also be performed by the embodiments of the present application. Moreover, the various steps in FIG. 11 may be performed in a different order presented in FIG. 11, and it is possible that not all of the operations in FIG. 11 may be performed.

In 401, MN #1 determines to configure the terminal device in RRC deactivated state.

402, MN #1 sends an RRC connection release message to the terminal device for configuring the terminal device in an RRC deactivated state.

In 403, MN #1 sends a request message to the SN for informing the SN that the terminal device has entered RRC deactivated state and requesting suspension of the SN.

404, the SN sends an Acknowledgement (ACK) to MN #1 in response to the request message in step 403.

Specifically, steps 401 to 404 may refer to steps 201 to 204 in fig. 9, and are not described herein again for brevity.

Alternatively, 405, the SN determines that the load is too heavy.

Specifically, the SN may determine whether the SN can continue to provide services for the terminal device according to its own load. When the SN determines that it is overloaded, then service cannot continue for the terminal device and 406 can be performed. At this time, the SN determines to release the first resource dedicated to the terminal device. Specifically, the first resource may refer to the description in fig. 8, and for brevity, the description is not repeated here.

Optionally, when the SN determines that the terminal device is not overloaded, the SN determines to continue to provide service for the terminal device, that is, the first resource does not need to be released. At this time, the SN does not need to send a message to MN # 1. That is, when the MN receives the restoration request of the terminal device, if the SN has not transmitted the SN release request message for requesting release of the first resource dedicated to the terminal device to the MN #1, the MN #1 may consider that the SN can continue to serve the terminal device.

In one implementation, when the ACK in step 404 includes the context of the terminal device on the SN side, if MN #1 receives the recovery request sent by the terminal device and does not receive the SN release request message actively sent by the SN, MN #1 may recover the SN according to the context of the terminal device on the SN side in the ACK.

406, the SN sends a SN release request message to MN #1 for requesting release of the first resource dedicated to the terminal device. The SN requests to release the first resource, which means that the SN can not continue to provide service for the terminal equipment. That is, in the embodiment of the present application, when the SN determines that the terminal device cannot be continuously provided with a service, the SN release request message may be actively sent to MN # 1. Here, the SN release request message corresponds to one example of the first message in fig. 8.

Optionally, when the ACK does not include the context of the terminal device on the SN side, the SN release request message may further include the context of the terminal device on the SN side.

In this embodiment of the application, the SN releases the first resource reserved for the terminal device while sending the SN release request message, or after, where the first resource is a resource dedicated to the terminal device.

Correspondingly, the MN #1 receives the SN release request message, and determines that the SN cannot continue to serve the terminal device according to the message. At this time, MN #1 may release the second resource, which is a resource dedicated to the terminal device on the interface between MN #2 and the SN.

Specifically, the second resource may refer to the description in fig. 8, and for brevity, the description is not repeated here.

407, MN #1 sends an SN release acknowledge message to the SN.

Optionally, the MN may further establish an NG-U tunnel for carrying a quality of service QoS flow/packet data unit, PDU, session, wherein the QoS flow/PDU session is carried over the NG-U tunnel of the secondary base station before releasing the second resource.

408, the terminal device sends a resume request (resume request) to MN #1 for requesting a resume from the RRC deactivated state to the RRC connected state. Optionally, the recovery request may carry information about whether the SN can be recovered, so as to assist the MN #1 in determining whether the recovery request can be sent to the SN.

409 MN #1 sends configuration information to the terminal device.

Here, the configuration information may refer to the description of the configuration information in step 209 in fig. 9, and is not described here again for brevity.

Therefore, in the dual-connection network architecture of the embodiment of the application, when the terminal device enters the deactivated state and the secondary base station SN determines that the terminal device cannot continue to be the terminal device, the SN may actively send an SN release request message to the MN to indicate that the SN cannot continue to serve the terminal device. Based on the embodiment of the application, the admission control mechanism is introduced in the process of recovering the SN of the auxiliary base station, so that the SN of the auxiliary base station can be released under the condition that the SN of the auxiliary base station cannot be successfully recovered.

Fig. 12 is a schematic flow chart of another method of admission control shown from the device interaction perspective, in which a master base station (e.g., MN #1) that configures a terminal device to enter an RRC deactivated state is different from a master base station (e.g., MN #2) that the terminal device requests to resume. It should be understood that fig. 12 shows steps or operations of a method of admission control, but these steps or operations are only examples, and other operations or variations of the respective operations in fig. 12 may also be performed by the embodiments of the present application. Further, the various steps in FIG. 12 may be performed in a different order than presented in FIG. 12, and it is possible that not all of the operations in FIG. 12 may be performed.

501, MN #1 determines to configure the terminal device in RRC deactivated state.

502, MN #1 sends an RRC connection release message to the terminal device for configuring the terminal device in an RRC deactivated state.

MN #1 sends a request message to the SN for informing the SN that the terminal device has entered RRC deactivated state and requesting suspension of the SN 503.

The SN sends 504 an Acknowledgement (ACK) to MN #1 in response to the request message in step 503.

Specifically, steps 501 to 504 can refer to steps 201 to 204 in fig. 9, and are not described herein again for brevity.

Optionally, 505, the SN determines that the load is too heavy.

The SN sends 506 a SN release request message to MN #1 requesting release of the first resource dedicated to the terminal device.

At 507, MN #1 sends SN Release confirm message to SN.

Specifically, steps 505 to 507 may refer to descriptions in steps 405 to 407 in fig. 11, and for brevity, are not described again here.

The terminal device sends a resume request (resume request) to MN #2 for requesting a resume from the RRC deactivated state to the RRC connected state 508. Optionally, the recovery request may carry information about whether the SN can be recovered, so as to assist the MN #2 in determining whether the recovery request can be sent to the SN.

509, MN #2 requests a context from MN # 1.

510, MN #1 transmits the context of the terminal device on the MN side to MN # 2.

Specifically, steps 509 and 510 can be referred to as 306 and 307 in fig. 10, and are not described herein for brevity.

Alternatively, MN #1 may notify MN #2 that the suspended SN has been released.

511, MN #2 sends the configuration information to the terminal device.

Fig. 13 is a schematic flow chart of another method of admission control shown from the perspective of device interaction, in which the main base station configuring the terminal device to enter the RRC deactivated state is the same as the main base station that the terminal device requests to resume, such as MN # 1. It should be understood that fig. 13 shows steps or operations of a method of admission control, but these steps or operations are only examples, and other operations or variations of the respective operations in fig. 13 may also be performed by the embodiments of the present application. Moreover, the various steps in FIG. 13 may be performed in a different order than presented in FIG. 13, and it is possible that not all of the operations in FIG. 13 may be performed.

601, MN #1 determines to configure the terminal device in RRC deactivated state.

At 602, MN #1 sends an RRC connection release message to the terminal device for configuring the terminal device in an RRC deactivated state.

603, MN #1 sends a request message to the SN for informing the SN that the terminal device has entered RRC deactivated state and requesting to suspend the SN.

604, the SN sends an Acknowledgement (ACK) to MN #1 in response to the request message in step 603.

Specifically, steps 601 to 604 can refer to steps 201 to 204 in fig. 9, and are not described herein again for brevity.

605, the SN informs MN #1 of its own load information.

Alternatively, the SN may periodically transmit the load information to the MN # 1. Alternatively, the SN may send load information to MN #1 based on an event trigger. As an example, the specific event may be that updated load information is transmitted to the MN #1 when the load information is changed. The load information changes from low load to high load or from high load to low load. As another example, the load information may be a quantized value interval, or a simple level indication (e.g., high, medium, and low), and the like, which is not limited in this embodiment.

The terminal device sends 606 a resume request to MN #1 for requesting a resume from the RRC deactivated state to the RRC connected state. Optionally, the recovery request may carry information about whether the SN can be recovered, so as to assist the MN #1 in determining whether the recovery request can be sent to the SN.

607, MN #1 determines whether or not the SN load information received in 605 is overloaded.

Optionally, step 607 may be executed after step 606, that is, after receiving the recovery request of the terminal device, the MN determines whether to send an SN recovery request message or an SN release request message to the SN based on the load information of the SN.

Specifically, when it is determined that the SN is not overloaded, steps 608a and 609a are performed, and the RRC connection state of the terminal device with MN #1 and the SN will be restored.

608a, MN #1 sends a SN recovery request to the SN.

609a, the SN sends an SN recovery acknowledgement to MN # 1.

Specifically, steps 608a and 609a can be referred to a procedure of recovering SN recovery in the prior art, and will not be described in detail here.

When it is determined that the SN is overloaded, the MN may actively trigger the SN release procedure, i.e., perform step 608b and step 609 b.

608b, MN #1 sends a SN release request to the SN for requesting release of the SN. And releasing the SN, wherein the SN can not continuously provide service for the terminal equipment. In particular, the SN may release the first resource dedicated to the terminal device. Specifically, the first resource may refer to the description in fig. 8, and for brevity, the description is not repeated here.

In this embodiment of the present application, when or after the MN #1 sends the SN release request to the SN, the second resource may be released, where the second resource is a resource dedicated to the terminal device on the interface between the MN and the SN. Specifically, the second resource may refer to the description in fig. 8, and for brevity, the description is not repeated here.

609b, the SN sends an SN release acknowledgement to MN # 1.

Optionally, when the ACK does not include the context of the terminal device on the SN side, the SN release acknowledgement may include the context of the terminal device on the SN side.

At 610, MN #1 sends configuration information to the terminal device.

Therefore, in the network architecture with dual connectivity, when the terminal device enters a deactivated state, the secondary base station sends its own load information to the primary base station, and the primary base station actively sends an SN release request message to the SN to indicate to release the SN when determining that the secondary base station is overloaded and cannot continue to serve as the terminal device, so that the SN does not need to continue to serve as the terminal device. Based on the embodiment of the application, the admission control mechanism is introduced in the process of recovering the SN of the auxiliary base station, so that the SN of the auxiliary base station can be released under the condition that the SN of the auxiliary base station cannot be successfully recovered.

Fig. 14 is a schematic flow chart of another method of admission control shown from the device interaction perspective, in which a master base station (e.g., MN #1) that configures a terminal device to enter an RRC deactivated state is different from a master base station (e.g., MN #2) that the terminal device requests to resume. It should be understood that fig. 14 shows steps or operations of a method of admission control, but these steps or operations are merely examples, and other operations or variations of the operations in fig. 14 may also be performed by the embodiments of the present application. Moreover, the various steps in FIG. 14 may be performed in a different order than presented in FIG. 14, and it is possible that not all of the operations in FIG. 14 may be performed.

701, MN #1 determines to configure the terminal device in RRC deactivated state.

The MN #1 sends an RRC connection release message to the terminal device 702 for configuring the terminal device in an RRC deactivated state.

703, the MN #1 sends a request message to the SN for informing the SN that the terminal device has entered the RRC deactivated state and requesting suspension of the SN.

The SN sends an Acknowledgement (ACK) to MN #1 in response to the request message in step 703 704.

Specifically, steps 701 to 704 may refer to steps 201 to 204 in fig. 9, and are not described herein again for brevity.

705, the SN informs MN #1 of its own load information.

Specifically, step 705 may refer to the description of step 605 in fig. 13, and for brevity, will not be described herein again.

At 706, the terminal device sends a resume request to MN #2 for requesting a resume from the RRC deactivated state to the RRC connected state. Optionally, the recovery request may carry information about whether the SN can be recovered, so as to assist the MN #2 in determining whether the recovery request can be sent to the SN.

707, MN #2 requests a context from MN # 1.

At 708, MN #1 determines whether or not it is overloaded based on the SN load information received at 705.

Specifically, when it is determined that the SN is not overloaded, steps 709a to 711a are performed, and the RRC connection state of the terminal device with MN #1 and the SN will be restored.

709a, MN #1 sends the terminal device context to MN # 2.

710a, MN #2 sends a SN recovery request to the SN.

711a, SN sends an SN recovery acknowledgement to MN # 2.

When it is determined that the SN is overloaded, the MN may actively trigger the SN release procedure, i.e., perform step 710b and step 711 b.

710b, MN #1 sends a SN release request to the SN for requesting release of the SN.

711b, the SN sends an SN release acknowledgement to MN # 1.

In some embodiments, steps 706 and 707 may be performed before 709b to 711b (or 709a to 711 a). That is, when MN #2 requests the context to MN #1, MN #1 can determine that the terminal device requests to be restored to the RRC connected state. At this time, MN #1 can determine whether SN is overloaded. If MN #1 determines that the SN is overloaded, the SN release procedure is triggered proactively, i.e. steps 709b to 711b are performed. If the SN is not overloaded, steps 709a to 711a are performed.

In some embodiments, steps 706 and 707 may be performed after 709b through 711 b. That is, when MN #1 determines that the SN is overloaded, the SN release procedure will be triggered proactively, i.e., 710b and 711b are performed. Thereafter, if MN #2 requests the context from MN #1, MN #1 can perform 709 b.

709b, MN #1 sends the terminal device context to MN # 2. Optionally, at this time, MN #1 may also notify MN #2 that the suspended SN has been released. Optionally, a cause value may be carried therein, indicating that the SN is overloaded.

Specifically, reference may be made to the descriptions of steps 608b and 609b in fig. 13 for 710b and 711b, which are not described herein again for brevity.

712, MN #1 sends configuration information to the terminal device.

Fig. 15 is a schematic flow chart of another method of admission control shown from the perspective of device interaction, in which the main base station that configures the terminal device to enter the RRC deactivated state is the same as the main base station that the terminal device requests to resume, such as MN # 1. It should be understood that fig. 15 shows steps or operations of a method of admission control, but these steps or operations are only examples, and other operations or variations of the operations in fig. 15 may also be performed by the embodiments of the present application. Moreover, the various steps in FIG. 15 may be performed in a different order presented in FIG. 15, and it is possible that not all of the operations in FIG. 15 may be performed.

In 801, MN #1 determines to configure the terminal device in RRC deactivated state.

802, MN #1 sends an RRC connection release message to the terminal device for configuring the terminal device in an RRC deactivated state.

803, MN #1 sends a request message to the SN for informing the SN that the terminal device has entered RRC deactivated state and requesting suspension of the SN.

At 804, the SN sends an Acknowledgement (ACK) to MN #1 in response to the request message at step 803.

Specifically, steps 801 to 804 can refer to steps 201 to 204 in fig. 9, and are not described herein for brevity.

805, the terminal apparatus transmits a resume request (resume request) for requesting a resume from the RRC deactivated state to the RRC connected state to the MN # 1. Optionally, the recovery request may carry information about whether the SN can be recovered, so as to assist the MN #1 in determining whether the recovery request can be sent to the SN.

806, MN #1 sends configuration information to the terminal device.

Optionally, the configuration information is used to configure the terminal device to establish an MCG RLC bearer, and associate the MCG RLC bearer with a PDU session/QoS flow carried on the SN. Optionally, MN #1 establishes a one-to-one MCG RLC bearer for the DRB based on the mapping relationship between the PDU session/QoS flow carried by the secondary base station SN in the context of the terminal device and the DRB in the data radio bearer received in step 804, without changing the mapping relationship, and associates the MCG RLC bearer with the DRB identifier. It can be understood that the foregoing method achieves the effect of retaining the mapping relationship between the PDU session/QoS flow carried by the SN and the DRB, and replacing the SCG RLC bearer associated with the original DRB with the MCG RLC bearer. In the downlink direction, the data of PDU session/QoS loaded in the original SN still passes through the data transmission channels of NG-U and SN and is processed by SDAP and PDCP of SN, and the difference is that the data processed passes through the interface between SN and MN #1 and is further sent to the terminal equipment through MCG RLC load. The upstream direction is similar.

807, MN #1 sends an SN restoration instruction to the SN for instructing the SN to restore service to the terminal device.

Optionally, the recovery indication is further used to indicate the SN to start the PDU session/QoS flow carried on the SN and the uplink and downlink data transmission of the corresponding SDAP and PDCP. Optionally, the recovery indication message further includes a mapping relationship between the pdu usage/QoS flow carried on the SN and the MCG RLC bearer. Optionally, the recovery indication message further includes transport layer address information for MN #1 to receive downlink data to be carried on the MCG RLC bearer.

The SN sends a SN recovery response, such as a SN recovery acknowledgement message, 808 to MN # 1. Optionally, the recovery acknowledgement message further includes transport layer address information for SN receiving uplink data that will carry the MCG RLC bearer. Optionally, the recovery confirmation message further includes a configuration of the SCG, which is used for the terminal device to update the configuration on the SN side.

Optionally, 809, MN #1 sends the configuration of SCG received from SN to the terminal device for the terminal device to update the configuration on the SN side.

Therefore, in the dual-connection network architecture of the embodiment of the present application, when the terminal device resumes the RRC connection after entering the deactivated state, the master base station MN only keeps processing of the SDAP and the PDCP on the secondary base station SN, and does not use the physical radio transmission resource (e.g., SCG RLC bearer) on the secondary base station SN, but allocates the physical radio transmission resource (e.g., MCG RLC bearer) on the master base station MN for all PDU sessions/QoS flows borne on the SN, thereby reducing the overhead of resuming the service to the terminal device on the secondary base station SN, and ensuring that the secondary base station SN can resume the service to the terminal device. Based on the embodiment of the application, the process of reconfiguring the SCG RLC bearer into the MCG RLC bearer is introduced in the process of recovering the DC operation of the terminal equipment, so that the auxiliary base station SN can be ensured to be successfully recovered. And the reconfiguration operation in the recovery process is introduced, so that the secondary base station SN can complete the configuration update of the secondary base station SN side based on the self condition (such as load).

Fig. 16 is a schematic flow chart of another method of admission control shown from the device interaction perspective, in which the master base station (e.g., MN #1) that configures the terminal device to enter the RRC deactivated state is different from the master base station (e.g., MN #2) that the terminal device requests to resume. It should be understood that fig. 16 shows steps or operations of a method of admission control, but these steps or operations are only examples, and other operations or variations of the operations in fig. 16 may also be performed by the embodiments of the present application. Moreover, the various steps in FIG. 16 may be performed in a different order presented in FIG. 16, and it is possible that not all of the operations in FIG. 16 may be performed.

901, MN #1 determines to configure the terminal device in RRC deactivated state.

902, MN #1 sends an RRC connection release message to the terminal device for configuring the terminal device in an RRC deactivated state.

903, MN #1 sends a request message to the SN for informing the SN that the terminal device has entered RRC deactivated state and requesting suspension of the SN.

904, the SN sends an Acknowledgement (ACK) to MN #1 in response to the request message in step 903.

Specifically, steps 901 to 904 can refer to steps 201 to 204 in fig. 9, and are not described herein again for brevity.

905, the terminal device sends a resume request (resume request) to MN #2 for requesting a resume from the RRC deactivated state to the RRC connected state. Optionally, the recovery request may carry information about whether the SN can be recovered, so as to assist the MN #2 in determining whether the recovery request can be sent to the SN.

906, MN #2 requests context from MN # 1.

907, MN #1 transmits the context of the terminal device on the MN side to MN # 2.

Specifically, steps 906 and 907 can be referred to as 306 and 307 in fig. 10, and are not described herein again for brevity.

Alternatively, MN #1 may notify MN #2 of the identification information of the suspended SN and the identification assigned by the SN to the terminal device, which may be, for example, a UE XnAP ID when the terminal device is a UE.

908, MN #2 sends the configuration information to the terminal device.

Here, the configuration information may refer to the description of the configuration information in step 806 in fig. 15, and for brevity, is not described here again.

At 909, MN #2 sends an SN restoration instruction to the SN instructing the SN to restore service to the terminal device. Here, the SN recovery indication may refer to the description of the SN recovery indication in step 807 in fig. 15, and is not described herein again for brevity. Optionally, the SN recovery indication message further includes an identifier assigned by the SN to the terminal device, and is used for the SN to identify the terminal device. As an example, when the terminal device is a UE, the identity may be a UE XnAP ID.

The SN sends a SN recovery response, e.g., a SN recovery acknowledgement message, to MN #2 910. Here, the configuration information may refer to the description of the SN recovery acknowledgement message in step 807 in fig. 15, and is not described herein again for brevity.

Optionally, 911, MN #2 sends the configuration of SCG received from the SN to the terminal device, for the terminal device to update the configuration at the SN side.

It is to be understood that, in the above embodiments of the present application, the method implemented by the main base station may also be implemented by a component (e.g., a chip or a circuit) available for the main base station, and the method implemented by the secondary base station may also be implemented by a component (e.g., a chip or a circuit) available for the secondary base station.

Fig. 17 is a schematic diagram of an apparatus 1000 for wireless communication according to the foregoing method.

The apparatus 1000 may be an auxiliary base station, or may be a chip or a circuit, for example, a chip or a circuit that may be disposed on the auxiliary base station. The apparatus 1000 may include a processing unit 1010 (i.e., an example of a processor) and a transceiver unit 1030.

Alternatively, the transceiving unit 1030 may be implemented by a transceiver or transceiver-related circuit or interface circuit.

Optionally, the apparatus may further comprise a storage unit 1020. In one possible approach, the storage unit 1020 is used to store instructions. Optionally, the storage unit may also be used to store data or information. The storage unit 1020 may be implemented by a memory.

In one possible design, the processing unit 1010 may be configured to execute the instructions stored in the storage unit 1020 to enable the apparatus 1000 to implement the steps performed by the secondary base station in the method described above.

Further, the processing unit 1010, the storage unit 1020, and the transceiver unit 1030 may communicate with each other via internal connection paths to transmit control and/or data signals. For example, the storage unit 1020 is used to store a computer program, and the processing unit 1010 may be used to call and run the computing program from the storage unit 1020 to control the transceiver unit 1030 to receive and/or transmit signals, so as to complete the steps of the secondary base station in the above-described method. The storage unit 1020 may be integrated into the processing unit 1010 or may be provided separately from the processing unit 1010.

Alternatively, if the apparatus 1000 is a communication device, the transceiving unit 1030 may comprise a receiver and a transmitter. Wherein the receiver and the transmitter may be the same or different physical entities. When the same physical entity, may be collectively referred to as a transceiver.

Alternatively, if the apparatus 1000 is a chip or a circuit, the transceiver unit 1030 may include an input interface and an output interface.

As an implementation manner, the function of the transceiving unit 1030 can be considered to be implemented by a transceiving circuit or a dedicated chip for transceiving. The processing unit 1010 may be considered to be implemented by a dedicated processing chip, a processing circuit, a processing unit, or a general-purpose chip.

As another implementation manner, it may be considered that the communication device (e.g., the secondary base station) provided in the embodiment of the present application is implemented by using a general-purpose computer. Program codes for realizing the functions of the processing unit 1010 and the transceiver unit 1030 are stored in the storage unit 1020, and the general-purpose processing unit executes the codes in the storage unit 1020 to realize the functions of the processing unit 1010 and the transceiver unit 1030.

In one implementation, the processing unit 1010 is configured to determine to release a first resource reserved for a terminal device in a radio resource control, RRC, deactivated state, where the first resource is a resource dedicated to the terminal device.

The transceiving unit 1030 is configured to send a first message to the primary base station, where the first message is used to notify the secondary base station that the service to the terminal device cannot be resumed.

Optionally, the transceiver unit 1030 is further configured to receive a first request from the master base station, where the first request is used to request the secondary base station to resume the service for the terminal device.

Optionally, the first message includes a cause value, where the cause value is used to identify that the secondary base station cannot recover the service to the terminal device.

Optionally, the first resource includes at least one of:

Optionally, the transceiving unit 1030 is further configured to send the reserved context of the terminal device to the master base station.

Optionally, the context includes at least one of the following information:

Optionally, the processor 1010 may specifically determine to release the first resource based on its own load.

The respective units in the above embodiments may also be referred to as modules or circuits or components.

The functions and actions of the modules or units in the apparatus 1000 listed above are only exemplary, and when the apparatus 1000 is configured as or is itself a secondary base station, the modules or units in the apparatus 1000 may be used to execute the actions or processes executed by the secondary base station in the above method.

For the concepts, explanations, details and other steps related to the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application related to the apparatus 1000, reference is made to the descriptions of the foregoing methods or other embodiments, which are not repeated herein.

Fig. 18 is a schematic diagram of an apparatus 1100 for wireless communication according to the foregoing method.

The apparatus 1100 may be a main base station, or may be a chip or a circuit, for example, a chip or a circuit that may be installed in an access device. The apparatus 1100 may include a processing unit 1110 (i.e., an example of a processor) and a transceiving unit 1130.

Optionally, the apparatus may further include a storage unit 1120. In one possible approach, the storage unit 1120 is used to store instructions. Optionally, the storage unit may also be used to store data or information. The storage unit 1120 may be implemented by a memory.

In one possible design, the processing unit 1110 is configured to execute the instructions stored by the storage unit 1120, so as to enable the apparatus 1100 to implement the steps performed by the master base station (e.g., MN #1 or MN #2) in the method as described above.

Further, the processing unit 1110, the storage unit 1120, and the transceiver unit 1130 may communicate with each other via internal connection paths to transmit control and/or data signals. For example, the storage unit 1120 is used to store a computer program, and the processing unit 1110 may be used to call and run the computer program from the storage unit 1120 to control the transceiver 1130 to receive and/or transmit signals, thereby completing the steps of the terminal device in the above method. The storage unit 1120 may be integrated in the processing unit 1110, or may be provided separately from the processing unit 1110.

Alternatively, if the apparatus 1100 is a communication device (e.g., a master base station), the transceiving unit 1130 includes a receiver and a transmitter. Wherein the receiver and the transmitter may be the same or different physical entities. When the same physical entity, may be collectively referred to as a transceiver.

Optionally, if the apparatus 1100 is a chip or a circuit, the transceiver unit 1130 includes an input interface and an output interface.

As an implementation manner, the function of the transceiving unit 1130 may be considered to be implemented by a transceiving circuit or a dedicated transceiving chip. The processing unit 1110 may be considered to be implemented by a dedicated processing chip, a processing circuit, a processing unit, or a general-purpose chip.

As another implementation manner, it may be considered that the communication device (e.g., the main base station) provided by the embodiment of the present application is implemented by using a general-purpose computer. Program codes for realizing the functions of the processing unit 1110 and the transceiver unit 1130 are stored in the storage unit 1120, and the general-purpose processing unit executes the codes in the storage unit 1120 to realize the functions of the processing unit 1110 and the transceiver unit 1130.

In one implementation, the transceiving unit 1130 is configured to receive a first message, where the first message is used to notify that the secondary base station cannot recover the service of the terminal device, and the terminal device is in a radio resource control, RRC, deactivated state.

The processing unit 1110 is configured to determine that the secondary base station cannot recover the service to the terminal device according to the first message.

Optionally, the transceiving unit 1130 is further configured to send a first request to the secondary base station, where the first request is used to request the secondary base station to recover the service for the terminal device.

Optionally, the first message includes a cause value, where the cause value is used to identify that the secondary base station refuses to recover the service to the terminal device.

Optionally, the transceiving unit 1130 is further configured to receive, by the primary base station, the context of the terminal device from the secondary base station.

Optionally, the context includes at least one of the following information:

Optionally, the processing unit 1110 is further configured to release a reserved second resource by the primary base station, where the second resource is a resource dedicated to the terminal device on an interface between the primary base station and the secondary base station.

Optionally, the processing unit 1110 is further configured to establish, by the primary base station, an NG-U tunnel for carrying a quality of service QoS flow/packet data unit, PDU, session, wherein the QoS flow/PDU session is carried on the NG-U tunnel of the secondary base station before releasing the second resource.

Optionally, the transceiver unit 1130 is further configured to send a second message to the terminal device, where the second message is used to notify the terminal device of releasing the configuration of the secondary base station, where the configuration of the secondary base station includes at least one of an SCG configuration, measurement information of a secondary base station configuration, and power configuration information.

The functions and actions of the modules or units in the apparatus 1100 listed above are only exemplary, and when the apparatus 1100 is configured or is itself a master base station, the modules or units in the apparatus 1100 may be configured to perform the actions or processes performed by the master base station (e.g., MN #1 or MN #2) in the above method, and a detailed description thereof is omitted here for avoiding redundancy.

For the concepts, explanations, details and other steps related to the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application related to the apparatus 1100, please refer to the descriptions of the foregoing methods or other embodiments, which are not repeated herein.

Fig. 19 is a schematic structural diagram of a terminal device 1200 provided in the present application. The terminal device 1200 may perform the actions performed by the terminal device in the above-described method embodiments.

For convenience of explanation, fig. 19 shows only main components of the terminal device. As shown in fig. 19, the terminal apparatus 1200 includes a processor, a memory, a control circuit, an antenna, and an input-output device.

The processor is mainly configured to process a communication protocol and communication data, control the entire terminal device, execute a software program, and process data of the software program, for example, to support the terminal device to perform the actions described in the above embodiment of the method for indicating a transmission precoding matrix. The memory is mainly used for storing software programs and data, for example, the codebook described in the above embodiments. The control circuit is mainly used for converting baseband signals and radio frequency signals and processing the radio frequency signals. The control circuit and the antenna together, which may also be called a transceiver, are mainly used for transceiving radio frequency signals in the form of electromagnetic waves. Input and output devices, such as touch screens, display screens, keyboards, etc., are used primarily for receiving data input by a user and for outputting data to the user.

When the terminal device is turned on, the processor can read the software program in the storage unit, interpret and execute the instruction of the software program, and process the data of the software program. When data needs to be sent wirelessly, the processor outputs a baseband signal to the radio frequency circuit after performing baseband processing on the data to be sent, and the radio frequency circuit performs radio frequency processing on the baseband signal and sends the radio frequency signal outwards in the form of electromagnetic waves through the antenna. When data is sent to the terminal equipment, the radio frequency circuit receives radio frequency signals through the antenna, converts the radio frequency signals into baseband signals and outputs the baseband signals to the processor, and the processor converts the baseband signals into the data and processes the data.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that fig. 19 shows only one memory and processor for ease of illustration. In an actual terminal device, there may be multiple processors and memories. The memory may also be referred to as a storage medium or a storage device, and the like, which is not limited in this application.

For example, the processor may include a baseband processor and a central processing unit, the baseband processor is mainly used for processing the communication protocol and the communication data, and the central processing unit is mainly used for controlling the whole terminal device, executing the software program, and processing the data of the software program. The processor in fig. 19 integrates the functions of the baseband processor and the central processing unit, and those skilled in the art will understand that the baseband processor and the central processing unit may be independent processors, and are interconnected through a bus or the like. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the terminal device may include a plurality of baseband processors to accommodate different network formats, the terminal device may include a plurality of central processors to enhance its processing capability, and various components of the terminal device may be connected by various buses. The baseband processor can also be expressed as a baseband processing circuit or a baseband processing chip. The central processing unit can also be expressed as a central processing circuit or a central processing chip. The function of processing the communication protocol and the communication data may be built in the processor, or may be stored in the storage unit in the form of a software program, and the processor executes the software program to realize the baseband processing function.

For example, in the embodiment of the present application, the antenna and the control circuit having the transceiving function may be regarded as the transceiving unit 1210 of the terminal device 1200, and the processor having the processing function may be regarded as the processing unit 1220 of the terminal device 1200. As shown in fig. 19, the terminal apparatus 1200 includes a transceiving unit 1210 and a processing unit 1220. A transceiver unit may also be referred to as a transceiver, a transceiving device, etc. Optionally, a device for implementing the receiving function in the transceiver unit 1210 may be regarded as a receiving unit, and a device for implementing the transmitting function in the transceiver unit 1210 may be regarded as a transmitting unit, that is, the transceiver unit includes a receiving unit and a transmitting unit. For example, the receiving unit may also be referred to as a receiver, a receiving circuit, etc., and the sending unit may be referred to as a transmitter, a transmitting circuit, etc.

Fig. 20 is a schematic structural diagram of a network device 1300 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, which may be used to implement the function of an access device (e.g., a primary base station or a secondary base station) in the foregoing method. The network device 1300 includes one or more radio frequency units, such as a Remote Radio Unit (RRU) 1310 and one or more baseband units (BBUs) (also referred to as digital units, DUs) 1320. The RRU1310 may be referred to as a transceiver unit, transceiver circuitry, or transceiver, etc., which may include at least one antenna 1311 and a radio frequency unit 1312. The RRU1310 is mainly used for transceiving radio frequency signals and converting radio frequency signals into baseband signals, for example, for sending signaling messages described in the above embodiments to a terminal device. The BBU1320 is mainly used for performing baseband processing, controlling a base station, and the like. The RRU1310 and the BBU1320 may be physically located together or physically located separately, i.e. distributed base stations.

The BBU1320 is a control center of a base station, and may also be referred to as a processing unit, and is mainly used for performing baseband processing functions, such as channel coding, multiplexing, modulation, and spreading. For example, the BBU (processing unit) 1320 can be used to control the base station 40 to execute the operation flow related to the network device in the above-described method embodiment.

In an example, the BBU1320 may be formed by one or more boards, and the boards may support a radio access network of a single access system (e.g., an LTE system or a 5G system) together, or may support radio access networks of different access systems respectively. The BBU1320 also includes a memory 1321 and a processor 1322. The memory 1321 is used to store the necessary instructions and data. The memory 1321 stores, for example, the codebook and the like in the above-described embodiments. The processor 1322 is configured to control the base station to perform necessary actions, for example, to control the base station to perform the operation procedure related to the network device in the above-described method embodiment. The memory 1321 and processor 1322 may serve one or more boards. That is, the memory and processor may be provided separately on each board. Multiple boards may share the same memory and processor. In addition, each single board can be provided with necessary circuits.

In one possible implementation, with the development of system-on-chip (SoC) technology, all or part of the functions of the 1320 part and the 1310 part may be implemented by SoC technology, for example, by a base station function chip, which integrates a processor, a memory, an antenna interface, and other devices, and a program of the related functions of the base station is stored in the memory, and the processor executes the program to implement the related functions of the base station. Optionally, the base station function chip can also read a memory outside the chip to implement the relevant functions of the base station.

It should be understood that the structure of the network device illustrated in fig. 20 is only one possible form, and should not limit the embodiments of the present application in any way. This application does not exclude the possibility of other forms of base station structure that may appear in the future.

According to the method provided by the embodiment of the present application, the embodiment of the present application further provides a communication system, which includes the aforementioned main base station and the auxiliary base station. Further, the communication system may further include the terminal device.

It should be understood that in the embodiments of the present application, the processor may be a Central Processing Unit (CPU), and the processor may also be other general-purpose processors, Digital Signal Processors (DSPs), Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, and the like. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor or the processor may be any conventional processor or the like.

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

The above embodiments may be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, the above-described embodiments may be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product comprises one or more computer instructions or computer programs. The procedures or functions according to the embodiments of the present application are wholly or partially generated when the computer instructions or the computer program are loaded or executed on a computer. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a network of computers, or other programmable device. The computer instructions may be stored on a computer readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer readable storage medium to another computer readable storage medium, for example, the computer instructions may be transmitted from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center by wire (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.). The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device such as a server, data center, etc. that contains one or more collections of available media. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium (e.g., floppy disk, hard disk, magnetic tape), an optical medium (e.g., DVD), or a semiconductor medium. The semiconductor medium may be a solid state disk.

The embodiment of the present application further provides a wireless communication system, which includes the above-mentioned main base station and auxiliary base station. Further, the system may further include the terminal device.

Embodiments of the present application also provide a computer-readable medium, on which a computer program is stored, where the computer program, when executed by a computer, implements the steps performed by the primary base station or the steps performed by the secondary base station in any of the above embodiments.

The embodiments of the present application further provide a computer program product, where the computer program product implements, when executed by a computer, the steps performed by the primary base station or the steps performed by the secondary base station in any of the above embodiments.

An embodiment of the present application further provides a system chip, where the system chip includes: a communication unit and a processing unit. The processing unit may be, for example, a processor. The communication unit may be, for example, an input/output interface, a pin or a circuit, etc. The processing unit can execute computer instructions to make the chip in the communication device execute the steps executed by the main base station or the steps executed by the auxiliary base station provided by the embodiment of the application.

Optionally, the computer instructions are stored in a storage unit.

The embodiments in the present application may be used independently or jointly, and are not limited herein.

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

It should be understood that in the embodiments shown below, the first and second are only for convenience of distinguishing different objects, and should not constitute any limitation to the present application. E.g., to distinguish between different messages, different requests, etc.

It should also be understood that in the embodiments illustrated below, "pre-acquisition" may include signaling by the network device or pre-definition, e.g., protocol definition. The "predefined" may be implemented by saving a corresponding code, table, or other means that can be used to indicate the relevant information in advance in the device (for example, including the terminal device and the network device), and the present application is not limited to a specific implementation manner thereof.

It should also be understood that references to "storing" in embodiments of the present application may refer to storing in one or more memories. The one or more memories may be provided separately or integrated in the encoder or decoder, the processor, or the communication device. The one or more memories may also be provided separately, with a portion of the one or more memories being integrated into the decoder, the processor, or the communication device. The type of memory may be any form of storage medium and is not intended to be limiting of the present application.

It should also be understood that the "protocol" in the embodiment of the present application may refer to a standard protocol in the communication field, and may include, for example, an LTE protocol, an NR protocol, and a related protocol applied in a future communication system, which is not limited in the present application.

It should also be understood that "and/or," which describes an association relationship for an associated object, indicates that there may be three relationships, e.g., a and/or B, may indicate: a exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone. The character "/" generally indicates that the former and latter associated objects are in an "or" relationship. "at least one" means one or more than one; "at least one of a and B", similar to "a and/or B", describes an association relationship of associated objects, meaning that three relationships may exist, for example, at least one of a and B may mean: a exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone.

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

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

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 of admission control, comprising:

2. The method of claim 1, wherein before the secondary base station sends the first message to the primary base station, further comprising:

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a cause value is included in the first message, and the cause value is used for identifying that the secondary base station cannot recover the service for the terminal device.

4. The method of any of claims 1-3, wherein the first resource comprises at least one of:

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

6. The method according to claim 4 or 5, wherein the context comprises at least one of the following information:

the mapping relation between the QoS flow carried by the auxiliary base station and the DRB carried by the data radio, the SCG configuration of the auxiliary cell group, the configuration of the PDCP carried by the auxiliary base station, the PDCP context carried by the auxiliary base station, the safety indication and safety result of the PDU session/QoS flow carried by the auxiliary base station, and the configuration of the SDAP corresponding to the PDU session/QoS flow carried by the auxiliary base station.

7. The method according to any of claims 1-6, wherein the determining by the secondary base station to release the first resource reserved for the terminal device in the radio resource control, RRC, deactivated state comprises:

8. A method of admission control, comprising:

9. The method of claim 8, wherein prior to the primary base station receiving the first message from the secondary base station, further comprising:

10. The method according to claim 8 or 9, characterized in that a cause value is included in the first message, the cause value being used to identify that the secondary base station refuses to restore service to the terminal device.

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

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the context comprises at least one of the following information:

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

14. The method according to any one of claims 8-13, further comprising:

15. The method according to any one of claims 8-14, further comprising:

16. An apparatus of wireless communication, comprising: means for performing the method of any of claims 1-7.

17. An apparatus of wireless communication, comprising: means for performing the method of any of claims 8 to 15.

18. A system for wireless communication, comprising means for wireless communication according to claim 16 and means for wireless communication according to claim 17.

19. A computer-readable storage medium, having stored thereon a computer program which, when run on a computer,

cause the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 7, or

Causing the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 8 to 15.

20. A chip system, comprising: a processor for calling and running the computer program from the memory,

causing a communication device on which the chip system is mounted to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 7; or

Causing a communication device on which the chip system is mounted to perform the method of any one of claims 8 to 15.