CN117394961A

CN117394961A - Feedback message sending and processing method, receiving end, sending end and device

Info

Publication number: CN117394961A
Application number: CN202210770356.8A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 程岳
Original assignee: Datang Mobile Communications Equipment Co Ltd
Current assignee: Datang Mobile Communications Equipment Co Ltd
Priority date: 2022-06-30
Filing date: 2022-06-30
Publication date: 2024-01-12

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention provides a feedback message sending and processing method, a receiving end, a sending end and a device, which relate to the technical field of communication and are applied to a receiving end of a compressed message, wherein the method comprises the following steps: after generating the feedback message, caching the feedback message; under the condition that scheduling resources exist, the cached feedback message is added into the scheduling resources in a mode of adding the control feedback message preferentially, and the control feedback message is used for controlling the sending state of a sending end; and sending a feedback message in the scheduling resource to a sending end. The scheme provided by the embodiment of the invention can control the required time for transmitting the feedback message to the transmitting end.

Description

Feedback message sending and processing method, receiving end, sending end and device

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a feedback packet sending and processing method, a receiving end, a sending end, and a device.

Background

In an LTE (Long-Term Evolution) or NR (New Radio) network, after a link is established between different devices, messages may be sent between the different devices through the established link. In order to save the link bandwidth between the devices and improve the efficiency of transmitting messages between the devices, a transmitting end can compress the message header of the message to be transmitted according to the header compression context to obtain a compressed message with smaller data volume and then transmit the compressed message.

In the process of transmitting the compressed message, when the transmitting end is in different transmitting states, different types of compressed messages are transmitted to the receiving end, and the different types of compressed messages carry different information in the message header. The receiving end receives the messages of different types by adopting a receiving state matched with the sending state of the sending end, and the matching of the receiving state of the receiving end and the sending state of the sending end is the basis of normal transmission of the compressed messages.

The receiving end can send a control feedback message to the sending end to control the compression mode of the sending message of the sending end, including instructing the sending end to perform sending state conversion, but if the control feedback message is transmitted to the sending end after a long time, the state switching of the sending end is delayed, so that the problem that the sending state of the sending end is not matched with the receiving state of the receiving end is caused.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the invention aims to provide a feedback message sending and processing method, a receiving end, a sending end and a device, so as to shorten the time required for controlling the feedback message to be transmitted to the sending end. The specific technical scheme is as follows:

in a first aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a feedback packet sending method, applied to a receiving end of a compressed packet, where the method includes:

After generating a feedback message, caching the feedback message;

under the condition that scheduling resources exist, adding the cached feedback message into the scheduling resources in a mode of preferentially adding the control feedback message, wherein the control feedback message is used for controlling the sending state of a sending end;

and sending a feedback message in the scheduling resource to the sending end.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a feedback packet processing method, applied to a transmitting end of a compressed packet, where the method includes:

receiving a feedback message fed back by a receiving end of the compressed message, wherein the feedback message is: the receiving end sends the control feedback message in a mode of preferentially adding the control feedback message into the scheduling resource and then sending the feedback message in the scheduling resource to the sending end;

removing a radio link layer control protocol (RLC) message header of the received feedback message;

and processing the feedback message after the RLC message header is removed.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a receiving end for a compressed packet, including a memory, a transceiver, and a processor:

a memory for storing a computer program; a transceiver for transceiving data under control of the processor; a processor for reading the computer program in the memory and performing the following operations:

After generating a feedback message, caching the feedback message;

and sending a feedback message in the scheduling resource to the sending end.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a transmitting end of a compressed packet, including a memory, a transceiver, and a processor:

and processing the feedback message after the RLC message header is removed.

In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a feedback packet sending device, applied to a receiving end of a compressed packet, where the device includes:

The message buffer module is used for buffering the feedback message after the feedback message is generated;

the message adding module is used for adding the cached feedback message into the scheduling resource in a mode of preferentially adding the control feedback message, wherein the control feedback message is used for controlling the mode of transmitting the compressed message by the transmitting end;

and the message sending module is used for sending the feedback message in the scheduling resource to the sending end.

In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a feedback packet processing device, applied to a transmitting end of a compressed packet, where the device includes:

the message receiving module is used for receiving a feedback message fed back by a receiving end of the compressed message, wherein the feedback message is: the receiving end sends the control feedback message in a mode of preferentially adding the control feedback message into the scheduling resource and then sending the feedback message in the scheduling resource to the sending end;

the message header removing module is used for removing the radio link layer control protocol (RLC) message header of the received feedback message;

and the message processing module is used for processing the feedback message with the RLC message header removed.

In a seventh aspect, embodiments of the present invention provide a computer readable storage medium having a computer program stored therein, which when executed by a processor, implements the method steps of any of the first or second aspects.

In an eighth aspect, embodiments of the present invention also provide a computer program product comprising instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any of the first or second aspects described above.

The embodiment of the invention has the beneficial effects that:

the embodiment of the invention provides a feedback message sending method, wherein after a receiving end of a compressed message generates a feedback message, the feedback message is cached; the cached feedback message is added into the scheduling resource in a mode of preferentially adding the control feedback message for controlling the transmitting end to transmit the compressed message; and sending a feedback message in the scheduling resource to the sending end.

From the above, the feedback message generated by the receiving end has other feedback messages besides the control feedback message, and in the embodiment of the invention, the control feedback message is preferentially added to the scheduling resource, and the feedback message in the scheduling resource is sent to the sending end. The receiving end can send the control feedback message to the sending end preferentially through the mode, so that the time required for transmitting the control feedback message to the sending end is shortened, the state switching hysteresis of the sending end is avoided, and the problem that the sending state of the sending end is not matched with the receiving state of the receiving end is further avoided.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings used in the embodiments or the description of the prior art will be briefly described, and it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present invention, and other drawings may be obtained according to these drawings for a person having ordinary skill in the art.

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a transmitting-end transmitting-state switching process in the prior art;

fig. 2 is a flow chart of a first feedback message sending method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a receiving-end protocol stack according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4 is a flow chart of a second feedback message sending method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 5 is a flow chart of a third feedback message sending method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 6 is a flow chart of a fourth feedback message sending method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a feedback message after adding an RLC message header in an AM mode according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of a feedback message after adding an RLC message header in UM mode according to an embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 9 is a flow chart of a feedback message processing method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 10 is a schematic flow chart of a feedback message sending and processing procedure according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of a receiving end of a compressed packet according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of a transmitting end of a compressed packet according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 13 is a schematic structural diagram of a first feedback packet sending device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 14 is a schematic structural diagram of a second feedback packet sending device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 15 is a schematic structural diagram of a feedback message sending device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

In the embodiment of the invention, the term "and/or" describes the association relation of the association objects, which means that three relations can exist, for example, a and/or B can be expressed as follows: a exists alone, A and B exist together, and B exists alone. The character "/" generally indicates that the context-dependent object is an "or" relationship.

The term "plurality" in embodiments of the present invention means two or more, and other adjectives are similar.

The following description of the embodiments of the present invention will be made clearly and completely with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which it is apparent that the embodiments described are only some embodiments of the present invention, but not all embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by a person of ordinary skill in the art based on the embodiments of the present invention are included in the scope of protection of the present invention.

In order to shorten the time required for transmitting a control feedback message from a receiving end to a transmitting end, the embodiment of the invention provides a feedback message transmitting method, a receiving end for compressing the message and a device.

The embodiment of the invention provides a feedback message sending method which is applied to a receiving end of a compressed message, and comprises the following steps:

after generating the feedback message, caching the feedback message;

adding the cached feedback message into the scheduling resource in a mode of preferentially adding the control feedback message, wherein the control feedback message is used for controlling the sending state of the sending end;

and sending a feedback message in the scheduling resource to the sending end.

Firstly, the content of a compressed message sent by a sending end in an LTE and NR network is specifically described:

for short data messages transmitted based on TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol transmission control protocol/internetwork protocol), or uplink feedback messages corresponding to TCP/IP-based download service, the sending end may start TCP/IP header compression at PDCP (Packet Data Convergence Control, packet data convergence control layer) based on RB (radio bear) of AM (Acknowlegment Mode, acknowledged mode) to improve air interface transmission efficiency.

In addition, the sender in the NR network can also compress the message header by AM based on the message transmitted by RTP (Real-time Transport Protocol, real-time transmission protocol).

In addition, the VOLTE (Voice Over LTE) in the LTE network and the VONR (Voice Over NR) in the NR network have the characteristics that the Voice service messages arrive periodically and the size of the messages is relatively fixed, and the transmitting end can start TCP/IP header compression at PDCP based on the RB of UM (UnAcknowlegment Mode, unacknowledged mode) to improve the air interface transmission efficiency.

The TCP/IP message header contains static information, dynamic information and irregular information, the static information is not transmitted after a header compression context (context) is established between a transmitting end and a receiving end, a WLSB (Window-Base least significant bits) method can be adopted by the transmitting end for compressing a changed part in the dynamic information, the compressed part is transmitted to the receiving end, and the irregular part is transmitted only when the change is needed. Therefore, the transmitting end does not need to carry global information in the message header of the message transmitted each time, and the global information comprises static information, dynamic information and irregular information, so that the compression of the message header can be realized.

The transmitting end often adopts an O (optimal) mode to transmit the compressed message, and in this mode, the receiving end may send a control feedback message to the transmitting end to control the transmitting state of the transmitting end.

Next, a transmission state switching process of the invention end is described, referring to fig. 1, which is a schematic diagram of a transmission state switching process of the transmitting end in the prior art.

As can be seen, there are three different states at the sender, namely an IR (Initialization and Refresh, initialization and update) state, a FO (First Order) state, and a SO (Second Order) state.

Specifically, when the transmitting end is in an IR state, an IR message carrying the global information of the header is transmitted to the receiving end, and if N1 IR messages are accumulatively transmitted to the receiving end or an ACK (acknowledgement) 1 message transmitted by the receiving end is received by the transmitting end in the IR state, the transmitting end transitions to an SO state; if N2 IR messages are sent to the receiving end in an accumulation mode in the IR state or an ACK2 message sent by the receiving end is received, the state is transited to the FO state.

When the transmitting end is in the FO state, an IR-DYN (Initial and Refresh Dynam, initializing and refreshing dynamic part) message carrying the dynamic information of the message header is transmitted to the receiving end, and if the transmitting end transmits N3 IR-DYN messages to the receiving end in an accumulated way in the FO state or receives an ACK3 message transmitted by the receiving end, the transmitting end transits to the SO state.

When the transmitting end is in an SO state, a CO (compression) message or a UO (Unidirectional Optimistic, unidirectional optimization) message carrying message header dynamic information and irregular information is transmitted, at the moment, the receiving end transmits an ACK4 message to the transmitting end, the sliding window length of the current WLSB algorithm is indicated to be in accordance with the requirement, and if the transmitting end does not receive the ACK4 message, the sliding window length of the WLSB algorithm is increased.

When the transmitting terminal is in the SO state, if a NACK (negative acknowledgement) message transmitted by the receiving terminal is received, the state is switched back to the FO state, and if a STATIC-NACK (STATIC negative acknowledgement) 1 message transmitted by the receiving terminal is received, the state is switched back to the IR state. When the transmitting end is in the FO state, if the STATIC-NACK2 message of the receiving end is received, the transmitting end is switched back to the IR state.

The ACK1 message, the ACK2 message, the ACK3 message, the NACK message, the STATIC-NACK1 message and the STATIC-NACK2 message are all control feedback messages.

From the above, the control feedback message can control the sending end to send the message, if the control feedback message is transmitted to the sending end from the receiving end after a long time, the problem of delay in switching the sending state of the sending end can be caused, the states of the sending end and the receiving end are not matched, and the receiving end can discard the unmatched message. Or because the ACK4 message is not received, the sending end increases the sliding window length, so that the sending end sends the message with the increased sliding window length, and the message contains more redundant information. Therefore, the time for transmitting the control feedback message from the transmitting end to the receiving end needs to be shortened, so that the problems in the transmission of the compressed message can be reduced. The embodiment of the invention provides a feedback message sending method.

Referring to fig. 2, a flow chart of a first feedback message sending method provided by an embodiment of the present invention is applied to a receiving end of a compressed message, where the method includes the following steps S201 to S203.

S201: after generating the feedback message, caching the feedback message.

Referring to fig. 3, a schematic diagram of a receiving-end protocol stack according to an embodiment of the present invention is provided.

As can be seen from the figure, the protocol stack of the receiving end includes a physical layer, a MAC (Medium Access Control ) layer, an RLC (Radio Link Control, radio link layer control protocol) layer, a PDCP (Packet Data Convergence Protocol ) layer operating based on ROHC (Robust Header Compression, robust header compression) protocol, and for an access end in the LTE network, the protocol stack further includes a TCP/IP layer, and for an access end in the NR network, the protocol stack further includes an IP, UDP (User Datagram Protocol ), RTP (Real-time Transport Protocol, real-time transport protocol) protocol layer.

The specific function of the various layers shown in fig. 3 may be found in the description below.

The feedback message generated by the receiving end can be a data feedback message or a control feedback message. If the receiving end is located in the LTE network, the feedback message may be generated based on the TCP/IP layer, and if the receiving end is located in the NR network, the feedback message may be generated based on the IP, UDP, RTP protocol layer.

Specifically, the feedback message may be that the receiving end adds a PDCP control header to the feedback message based on the ROHC protocol to form a PDU (Protocol Data Unit protocol data unit), and then the PDCP submits the generated PDU to the RLC layer, and the RLC caches the PDU in a buffer queue according to the generating sequence of the PDU, so as to realize the buffer of the feedback message.

The receiving end in the LTE network is different from the receiving end in the NR network in the process of buffering the feedback message, the receiving end in the LTE network stores the PDU in an RLC SDU (Service Data Unit ) buffering queue, and the receiving end in the NR network stores the PDU in the RLC PDU buffering queue. Specific differences are described below and are not described in detail herein.

S202: and when the scheduling resource exists, the cached feedback message is added into the scheduling resource in a mode of preferentially adding the control feedback message.

The control feedback message is used for controlling the sending state of the sending end.

Specifically, if the MAC layer obtains the scheduling resource of the physical layer, the RLC layer is notified to schedule the stored PDU.

The RLC layer may traverse the buffered PDUs, find out the PDUs corresponding to the control feedback messages from the buffered PDUs, and add the PDUs corresponding to the control feedback messages to the scheduling resources when finding out one PDU corresponding to the control feedback messages, where the PDUs corresponding to the control feedback messages are obtained by adding PDU control headers on the basis of the control feedback messages, so that adding the PDUs corresponding to the control feedback messages to the scheduling resources is equivalent to adding the scheduling resources to the scheduling resources.

The above process may be performed in a loop until the capacity of the scheduled resource is full. Or after all the PDUs corresponding to the control feedback messages contained in the buffered PDUs are added to the scheduling resource, if the scheduling resource still has an idle space, the PDUs corresponding to the data feedback messages can be stored in the scheduling resource.

In one embodiment of the invention, the PDU with long buffer time in the PDU corresponding to the control feedback message can be stored in the scheduling resource preferentially, so that the control feedback message with longer buffer time is sent to the sending end preferentially.

Specifically, if the receiving end is located in the LTE network, the PDU is stored in an RLC SDU buffer queue, and according to the rule of queue first-in first-out, the PDU located at the front end in the RLC SDU buffer queue may be added to the scheduling resource; if the receiving end is located in the NR network, the PDU is stored in the RLC PDU buffer queue, and the PDU located at the front end of the RLC PDU buffer queue can be added into the scheduling resource.

S203: and sending a feedback message in the scheduling resource to the sending end.

The manner in which the receiving end in the LET network sends the feedback message to the transmitting end is different from the manner in which the receiving end in the NR network processes the feedback message, and in particular, see the descriptions of fig. 5 and 6 below.

In the prior art, a receiving end preferentially adds feedback messages with longest buffer duration into scheduling resources according to the sequence of the buffered feedback messages, so that the feedback messages with longest buffer duration can be preferentially sent to a sending end, but in the embodiment of the invention, control feedback messages are preferentially added into the scheduling resources, so that the control feedback messages can be preferentially sent to the sending end.

For example, if there are four cached feedback messages currently, feedback message 1, feedback message 2, feedback message 3 and feedback message 4 are sequentially performed according to the order in which the feedback messages are cached. Wherein, the feedback messages 1-3 are data feedback messages, the feedback message 4 is a control feedback message, and the scheduling resource can accommodate two feedback messages.

If the feedback message is sent by adopting the prior art, the feedback message 1 and the feedback message 2 are preferentially added to the scheduling resource, the feedback message 1 and the feedback message 2 are also preferentially sent to the sending end, then the feedback message 3 and the feedback message 4 are added to the scheduling resource, and the feedback message 4, namely the control feedback message, can be sent to the sending end when the feedback message is sent for the second time.

However, if the feedback message is sent by adopting the scheme provided by the embodiment of the invention, the feedback message 4 is preferentially added to the scheduling resource, and at this time, one feedback message can be still contained in the scheduling resource, the feedback message 1 can be added to the scheduling resource, and the feedback message 4 and the feedback message 1 can be sent to the sending end, that is, the control feedback message can be sent to the sending end when the feedback message is sent for the first time.

From the above, the scheme provided by the embodiment of the invention can preferentially send the control feedback message to the sending end, so that the time for sending the control feedback message from the sending end to the receiving end can be shortened.

Referring to fig. 4, a flow chart of a second feedback message sending method according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown, and compared with the embodiment shown in fig. 2, the above step S201 may be implemented by the following step S201A, and the above step S202 may be implemented by the following step S202A.

S201A: after generating the feedback message, the generated control feedback message Wen Tian is added to the first buffer queue, and the feedback messages Wen Tian other than the generated control feedback message are added to the second buffer queue.

In the embodiment of the invention, two different buffer queues are pre-created, namely a first buffer queue and a second buffer queue, wherein the first buffer queue is used for buffering the control feedback message, and the second buffer queue is used for buffering other feedback messages except the control feedback message, in particular to a data feedback message.

S202A: and under the condition that the scheduling resource exists, preferentially adding the control feedback message in the first cache queue into the scheduling resource.

Specifically, the control feedback message is cached in the first cache queue, and the feedback message in the first cache queue is added to the scheduling resource, which is equivalent to adding the control feedback message to the scheduling resource.

As can be seen from the above, in the embodiment of the present invention, the control feedback message and the other feedback messages are respectively stored in the first buffer queue and the second buffer queue, and when the control feedback message needs to be added to the scheduling resource, the control feedback message cached in the first buffer queue can be directly added to the scheduling resource, without traversing all the cached feedback messages, and the control feedback message is searched from the first buffer queue. Therefore, the embodiment of the invention can accelerate the sending speed of the control feedback message, thereby further shortening the time for sending the control feedback message from the sending end to the receiving end.

Referring to fig. 5, a flow chart of a third feedback message sending method according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown, and compared with the embodiment shown in fig. 4, in the case that the receiving end is in the LTE network, the step S202A may be implemented by the following steps S202A1-S202A2, and the step S203 may be implemented by the following step S203A.

S202A1: and under the condition that scheduling resources exist, preferentially reading the control feedback messages from the first cache queue, and concatenating the read feedback messages to obtain a concatenated message.

Referring to the description of step S202, in the case that the receiving end is located in the LTE network, the receiving end generates a feedback message, adds PDU control to the feedback message to obtain RLC SDU, and caches the RLC SDU.

Under the condition that scheduling resources exist, the RLC layer can read the RLC SDU corresponding to the control feedback message from the first buffer queue first, if the read RLC SDU still does not reach the maximum data amount which can be accommodated by the scheduling resources after the RLC SDU in the first buffer queue is read, the RLC SDU corresponding to the data feedback message can be continuously read from the second buffer queue until the total data amount of the read RLC SDU reaches the maximum data amount which can be accommodated by the scheduling resources. And concatenating the read RLC SDUs to form one RLC PDU.

S202A2: and adding an RLC message header to the concatenated message, and adding the concatenated message added with the RLC message header into a scheduling resource.

Specifically, the RLC SDU is obtained by adding a PDU control header based on a feedback message, the RLC message header is not added in the process, before the feedback message is sent to the sender in the presence of scheduling resources, a unified RLC message header can be added based on the RLC PDU generated above to generate an MAC PDU, and then the MAC PDU is added to the scheduling resources.

S203A: and transmitting a tandem message after adding the RLC message header into the scheduling resource to the transmitting end.

After receiving the MAC PDU, the transmitting end caches the MAC PDU in the MAC layer, the RLC layer of the transmitting end acquires the MAC PDU from the MAC layer, obtains the RLC PDU after removing the RLC message header, analyzes each PDU according to the serial connection sequence of the feedback message in the RLC PDU, and submits the PDU to the PDCP layer for processing. Since the RLC SDUs corresponding to the control feedback messages are preferentially read in the embodiment of the present invention, the RLC SDUs corresponding to the control feedback messages in the RLC PDUs obtained by concatenation are located at the front end, and the transmitting end is located at the front end in each PDU parsed according to the concatenation sequence of the feedback messages in the RLC PDUs, so that when the PDUs are submitted to the PDCP layer in sequence for processing, the PDUs corresponding to the control feedback messages are preferentially submitted to the PDCP layer, so that the control feedback messages are preferentially processed.

In the above, in the case that the receiving end is in the LTE network, before the feedback messages are sent to the sending end, each feedback message is concatenated to form a concatenated message, and then a unified RLC message header is added to the concatenated message, so that the unified transmission of multiple feedback messages can be realized by adding one RLC message header.

In addition, in the prior art, the Sequence Number of the feedback message can be recorded in an SN (Sequence Number) field in the RLC message header according to the generation Sequence of the feedback message, and each feedback message is sequentially sent according to the Sequence Number when the feedback message is sent.

However, in the LTE network, the receiving end does not add an RLC message header to each feedback message, but only adds RLC message headers to multiple feedback terminals in a unified manner when sending feedback messages to the sending end, that is, in the embodiment of the present invention, no sequence number for each feedback message exists. Therefore, although the feedback message is not sent to the sending end according to the generation sequence of the feedback message in the embodiment of the invention, the sending end cannot sense that the sequence of sending the feedback message by the receiving end is different from the generation sequence of the feedback message because the feedback message does not carry the sequence number, and even if the receiving end sends the feedback message in an out-of-order sending mode in the embodiment of the invention, the receiving end cannot be influenced by processing the message.

Referring to fig. 6, a flow chart of a fourth feedback message sending method according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown, and compared with the embodiment shown in fig. 4, in the case that the receiving end is in the NR network, the above step S201A may be implemented by the following steps S201A1-S201A2, the above step S202A may be implemented by the following step S202A3, and the above step S203 may be implemented by the following step S203B.

S201A1: after generating the feedback message, adding an RLC message header to the feedback message.

Compared with the condition that the receiving end is in the LTE network, if the receiving end is in the NR network, the receiving end adds an RLC message header for each feedback message. Specifically, an RLC message header may be added to the feedback message on the basis of the PDU obtained after adding the PDU control header to the feedback message, so as to obtain each RLC PDU.

S201A2: and adding the control feedback message Wen Tian added with the RLC message header into a first buffer queue, and adding other feedback messages Wen Tian added with the RLC message header and except the control feedback message into a second buffer queue.

Specifically, RLC PDUs corresponding to the control feedback packet may be added to the first buffer queue, and RLC PDUs corresponding to other feedback packets may be added to the second buffer queue.

S202A3: and under the condition that scheduling resources exist, preferentially adding the control feedback message which is buffered in the first buffer queue and added with the RLC message header into the scheduling resources.

Under the condition that scheduling resources exist, the RLC layer can read the RLC PDU corresponding to the control feedback message from the first cache queue and add the RLC PDU into the scheduling resources, and if the scheduling resources still have free space after the RLC PDU in the first cache queue is read, the RLC PDU corresponding to the data feedback message can be continuously read from the second cache queue until the scheduling resources do not have free space.

S203B: and sending a feedback message after adding the RLC message header into the scheduling resource to the sending end.

Specifically, since the RLC message header has been added to the control feedback message, when the feedback message is sent to the sender, the RLC PDU obtained after adding the RLC message header can be directly sent to the sender.

After receiving an RLC PDU, the transmitting end can remove the RLC message header to obtain the PDU, and then deliver the obtained PDU to the PDCP for processing. Specifically, the earlier the RLC PDU is added to the scheduling resource, the earlier the RLC PDU will be sent to the transmitting side and also delivered to the PDCP layer for processing. In the embodiment of the invention, the RLC PDU corresponding to the control feedback message is preferentially added to the scheduling resource, so that the control feedback message can be preferentially processed. In the embodiment of the invention, the RLC PDU corresponding to the control feedback message is preferentially added to the scheduling resource, so that the RLC PDU corresponding to the control feedback message can be preferentially sent to the sending end, which is equivalent to preferentially sending the control feedback message to the sending end, thereby shortening the time required by sending the control feedback message to the sending end.

From the above, in the case that the receiving end is in the NR network, after generating the feedback message, the receiving end directly adds the RLC message header to each feedback message, and when sending the feedback message to the sending end, the receiving end may directly send the feedback message after adding the RLC message header to the sending end, without adding the feedback message before sending the feedback message.

In addition, for different modes of transmitting compressed messages between a sending end and a receiving end, the embodiment of the invention provides different modes of adding RLC message header to a feedback message, and the following steps a-B can be seen.

Step A: under the condition that the compressed message is transmitted between the sending end and the receiving end based on the AM, after generating a feedback message, adding an RLC message header containing an SN domain to the feedback message.

The SN field is used to record a sequence number indicating a sequence of generating the feedback message.

In addition, if the compressed message is transmitted between the transmitting end and the receiving end based on the AM mode, the RLC message header added by the receiving end for the feedback message contains an SN domain, that is, a sequence number exists in the feedback message sent by the receiving end.

Referring to fig. 7, a schematic structural diagram of a feedback packet after adding an RLC packet header in AM mode according to an embodiment of the present invention is provided.

As can be seen from the figure, the feedback message after adding the RLC message header includes an SN field, a D/C (Data/Control) field shown in the figure is used to indicate whether the feedback message belongs to a Control feedback message or a Data feedback message, a P (Polling) field is used to prompt the sender to reply to the receiving result after receiving the feedback message, an SI (Segmentation Information ) field is used to identify which segment message the feedback message is, and a Data (Data) field includes Data carried in the feedback message, which will not be described in the embodiment of the present invention.

Therefore, in the embodiment of the invention, the feedback message is not sent to the sending end according to the generation sequence of the feedback message, and the sending end can perceive that the sequence of sending the feedback message by the receiving end is different from the generation sequence of the feedback message because the feedback message does not carry the serial number. However, when the sending end processes the received message, the RLC message header is removed first and then submitted to the PDCP layer for processing, in the prior art, the sending end in the NR network submits the feedback message to the PDCP layer in an out-of-order manner, so that the feedback message is sent in an out-of-order manner, and the process of processing the feedback message by the sending end is not affected.

And (B) step (B): under the condition that the compressed message is transmitted between the sending end and the receiving end based on UM, after generating a feedback message, adding an RLC message header which does not contain an SN domain to the feedback message.

If the compressed message is transmitted between the transmitting end and the receiving end based on UM mode, the RLC message header added by the receiving end for the feedback message may not include an SN domain, that is, there is no sequence number in the feedback message sent by the receiving end, in the case that the feedback message sent by the receiving end to the transmitting end is a complete message.

Referring to fig. 8, a schematic structural diagram of a feedback message after adding an RLC message header in UM mode is provided in an embodiment of the present invention.

As can be seen from the figure, the feedback message after adding the RLC header does not include the SN field, the roles of the SI field and the Data field are the same as those of the embodiment shown in fig. 7, and the R (reserved) field is a reserved portion in the RLC header.

Therefore, although the feedback message is not sent to the sending end according to the generation sequence of the feedback message in the embodiment of the invention, the sending end cannot sense that the sequence of sending the feedback message by the receiving end is different from the generation sequence of the feedback message because the feedback message does not carry the sequence number, and even if the receiving end sends the feedback message in an out-of-order sending mode in the embodiment of the invention, the receiving end cannot be influenced by processing the message.

Referring to fig. 9, a flow chart of a feedback message processing method provided by an embodiment of the present invention is applied to a transmitting end of a compressed message, and the method includes the following steps S901-S903.

S901: and receiving a feedback message fed back by a receiving end of the compressed message.

Wherein, the feedback message is: the receiving end sends the control feedback message in a mode of adding the control feedback message into the scheduling resource preferentially and then sending the feedback message in the scheduling resource to the sending end.

Specifically, the receiving end may send the feedback message to the sending end based on the feedback message sending method shown in the foregoing, which is not described herein.

S902: and removing the RLC message header of the received feedback message.

S903: and processing the feedback message after the RLC message header is removed.

Specifically, in the case that the sending end and the receiving end are in the LTE network, the manner in which the sending end removes the RLC header and processes the feedback packet may be referred to the embodiment shown in fig. 5; in the case where the transmitting end and the receiving end are in the NR network, the manner in which the transmitting end removes the RLC header and processes the feedback packet may refer to the embodiment shown in fig. 6, which is not described herein again.

From the above, the receiving end preferentially adds the control feedback message to the scheduling resource and transmits the feedback message in the scheduling resource to the transmitting end, so that the transmitting end can preferentially receive the control feedback message and preferentially process the control feedback message, thereby shortening the required time period for transmitting the control feedback message to the transmitting end and processing the control feedback message by the transmitting end, avoiding the delay of state switching of the transmitting end and further avoiding the problem that the transmitting state of the transmitting end is not matched with the receiving state of the receiving end.

Referring to fig. 10, a flow chart of a feedback message sending and processing procedure according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown.

S1001: the receiving end judges whether the network is in an NR network.

If yes, steps S1002-S1003 and S1006 are performed, otherwise steps S1004-S1006 are performed.

S1002: and storing the RLC PDU corresponding to the control feedback message in a first buffer queue, and storing the RLC PDU corresponding to the data feedback message in a second buffer queue.

S1003: preferably, 1 or more RLC PDUs are read from the first buffer queue and stored in the scheduling resource.

S1004: and storing the RLC SDU corresponding to the control feedback message in a first buffer queue, and storing the RLC SDU corresponding to the data feedback message in a second buffer queue.

S1005: and preferentially reading 1 or more RLC SDUs from the first buffer queue to form a MAC PDU, and storing the MAC PDU in a scheduling resource.

S1006: and sending the feedback message stored in the scheduling resource to a sending end.

S1007: the transmitting end judges whether the network is in an NR network.

If yes, go to step S1008 and S1010, otherwise, go to steps S1009-S1010.

S1008: and analyzing the PDU from the received RLC PDU, and submitting the PDU to the PDCP in disorder.

S1009: one or more PDUs are parsed from the received RLC PDUs and submitted to the PDCP in sequence.

S1010: PDCP processes the received PDUs.

Specifically, the embodiment shown in fig. 10 is similar to the feedback message sending method and the feedback message processing method described above, and will not be described herein.

Corresponding to the feedback message sending method applied to the receiving end of the compressed message, the embodiment of the invention also provides the receiving end of the compressed message.

Referring to fig. 11, a schematic structural diagram of a receiving end of a compressed message according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a memory 1101, a transceiver 1102, and a processor 1103:

a memory 1101 for storing a computer program; a transceiver 1102 for receiving and transmitting data under the control of the processor; a processor 1103 for reading the computer program in the memory and performing the following operations:

After generating a feedback message, caching the feedback message;

and sending a feedback message in the scheduling resource to the sending end.

Where in FIG. 11, a bus architecture may comprise any number of interconnected buses and bridges, with one or more processors, specifically represented by processor 1103, and various circuits of memory, represented by memory 1101, linked together. The bus architecture may also link together various other circuits such as peripheral devices, voltage regulators, power management circuits, etc., which are well known in the art and, therefore, will not be described further herein. The bus interface provides an interface. The transceiver 1102 may be a number of elements, i.e., including a transmitter and a receiver, providing a means for communicating with various other apparatus over a transmission medium, including wireless channels, wired channels, optical cables, etc. The processor 1103 is responsible for managing the bus architecture and general processing, and the memory 1101 may store data used by the processor 1103 in performing operations.

The processor 1103 may be a Central Processing Unit (CPU), an application specific integrated circuit (Application Specific Integrated Circuit, ASIC), a Field programmable gate array (Field-Programmable Gate Array, FPGA), or a complex programmable logic device (Complex Programmable Logic Device, CPLD), and the processor may also employ a multi-core architecture.

In one embodiment of the present invention, after generating the feedback message, caching the feedback message specifically includes:

after generating the feedback message, adding the generated control feedback message Wen Tian to the first buffer queue, and adding other feedback messages Wen Tian except the generated control feedback message to the second buffer queue;

Under the condition that scheduling resources exist, the cached feedback message is added into the scheduling resources in a mode of preferentially adding the control feedback message, and the method specifically comprises the following steps:

and when the scheduling resource exists, preferentially adding the control feedback message in the first cache queue into the scheduling resource.

In one embodiment of the present invention, when the receiving end is in a long term evolution LTE network, the adding the control feedback packet in the first buffer queue to the scheduling resource preferentially includes:

Under the condition that scheduling resources exist, preferentially reading control feedback messages from the first cache queue, and concatenating the read feedback messages to obtain concatenated messages;

adding a radio link layer control protocol (RLC) message header to the tandem message, and adding the tandem message added with the RLC message header into a scheduling resource;

the sending the feedback message in the scheduling resource to the sending end specifically includes:

and transmitting the tandem message after adding the RLC message header into the scheduling resource to the transmitting end.

In one embodiment of the present invention, when the receiving end is in the new air interface NR network, after generating the feedback packet, the adding the generated control feedback packet Wen Tian to the first buffer queue and adding the feedback packets Wen Tian other than the generated control feedback packet to the second buffer queue specifically includes:

After generating a feedback message, adding an RLC message header to the feedback message;

adding the control feedback message Wen Tian added with the RLC message header into a first buffer queue, and adding other feedback messages Wen Tian added with the RLC message header and except the control feedback message into a second buffer queue;

the step of preferentially adding the control feedback message in the first buffer queue to the scheduling resource when the scheduling resource exists, specifically includes:

under the condition that scheduling resources exist, preferentially adding the control feedback message which is buffered in the first buffer queue and added with the RLC message header into the scheduling resources;

and sending a feedback message after the RLC message header is added in the scheduling resource to the sending terminal.

In one embodiment of the present invention, after generating the feedback message, adding an RLC message header to the feedback message specifically includes:

under the condition that compressed messages are transmitted between the sending end and the receiving end based on an acknowledgement mode AM, after a feedback message is generated, an RLC message header containing a sequence number SN domain is added to the feedback message, wherein the SN domain is used for recording a sequence number representing the generation sequence of the feedback message;

under the condition that compressed messages are transmitted between the sending end and the receiving end based on a non-acknowledgement mode UM, after a feedback message is generated, an RLC message header which does not contain an SN domain is added for the feedback message.

Corresponding to the feedback message processing method applied to the compressed message sending end, the embodiment of the invention also provides the compressed message sending end.

Referring to fig. 12, a schematic structural diagram of a transmitting end of a compressed message according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a memory 1201, a transceiver 1202, and a processor 1203:

a memory 1201 for storing a computer program; a transceiver 1202 for transceiving data under control of the processor; a processor 1203 for reading the computer program in the memory and performing the following operations:

and processing the feedback message after the RLC message header is removed.

Wherein in fig. 12, a bus architecture may comprise any number of interconnected buses and bridges, and in particular one or more processors represented by the processor 1203 and various circuits of memory represented by the memory 1201, linked together. The bus architecture may also link together various other circuits such as peripheral devices, voltage regulators, power management circuits, etc., which are well known in the art and, therefore, will not be described further herein. The bus interface provides an interface. The transceiver 1202 may be a number of elements, including a transmitter and a receiver, providing a means for communicating with various other apparatus over transmission media, including wireless channels, wired channels, optical cables, and the like. The processor 1203 is responsible for managing the bus architecture and general processing, and the memory 1201 may store data used by the processor 1203 in performing operations.

The processor 1203 may be a Central Processing Unit (CPU), an application specific integrated circuit (Application Specific Integrated Circuit, ASIC), a Field programmable gate array (Field-Programmable Gate Array, FPGA), or a complex programmable logic device (Complex Programmable Logic Device, CPLD), or may employ a multi-core architecture.

Corresponding to the feedback message sending method applied to the receiving end of the compressed message, the embodiment of the invention also provides a feedback message sending device applied to the receiving end of the compressed message.

Referring to fig. 13, a schematic structural diagram of a first feedback message sending device provided by an embodiment of the present invention is applied to a receiving end of a compressed message, where the device includes:

The message buffer module 1301 is configured to buffer a feedback message after generating the feedback message;

the message adding module 1302 is configured to add the buffered feedback message to the scheduling resource in a manner of preferentially adding a control feedback message, where the control feedback message is used to control a manner in which the sending end sends the compressed message;

and the message sending module 1303 is configured to send a feedback message in the scheduling resource to the sending end.

Referring to fig. 14, a schematic structural diagram of a second feedback message sending device according to an embodiment of the present invention, compared to the embodiment shown in fig. 13, the message buffering module 1301 includes:

The message buffer submodule 1301A is configured to, after generating a feedback message, add the generated control feedback message Wen Tian to the first buffer queue, and add feedback messages Wen Tian other than the generated control feedback message to the second buffer queue;

the message adding module 1302 includes:

the message adding submodule 1302A is configured to, when there is a scheduling resource, preferentially add the control feedback message in the first cache queue to the scheduling resource.

In one embodiment of the present invention, when the receiving end is in the LTE network, the packet adding submodule 1302A is specifically configured to:

the message sending module 1303 is specifically configured to:

In one embodiment of the present invention, when the receiving end is in the NR network, the packet buffering submodule 1301A includes:

the message header adding unit is used for adding an RLC message header to the feedback message after the feedback message is generated;

the message buffer unit is configured to add the control feedback message Wen Tian added with the RLC message header to the first buffer queue, and add other feedback messages Wen Tian added with the RLC message header and other than the control feedback message to the second buffer queue;

The message adding submodule 1302A is specifically configured to:

the message sending module 1303 is specifically configured to:

In one embodiment of the present invention, the header adding unit is specifically configured to:

Corresponding to the feedback message processing method applied to the sending end of the compressed message, the embodiment of the invention also provides a feedback message processing device applied to the sending end of the compressed message.

Referring to fig. 15, a schematic structural diagram of a feedback message processing apparatus provided in an embodiment of the present invention is applied to a transmitting end of a compressed message, where the apparatus includes:

the message receiving module 1501 is configured to receive a feedback message fed back by a receiving end of the compressed message, where the feedback message is: the receiving end sends the control feedback message in a mode of preferentially adding the control feedback message into the scheduling resource and then sending the feedback message in the scheduling resource to the sending end;

a message header removing module 1502, configured to remove a radio link layer control protocol RLC message header of a received feedback message;

the message processing module 1503 is configured to process the feedback message after the RLC message header is removed.

In another embodiment of the present invention, a computer readable storage medium is further provided, where a computer program is stored, and when the computer program is executed by a processor, the method steps of any one of the feedback message sending methods are implemented.

When the computer program stored in the computer readable storage medium provided by the embodiment of the invention is used for sending the feedback message, the feedback message generated by the receiving end is provided with other feedback messages besides the control feedback message. The receiving end can send the control feedback message to the sending end preferentially through the mode, so that the time required for transmitting the control feedback message to the sending end is shortened, the state switching hysteresis of the sending end is avoided, and the problem that the sending state of the sending end is not matched with the receiving state of the receiving end is further avoided.

In another embodiment of the present invention, a computer readable storage medium is provided, where a computer program is stored, where the computer program when executed by a processor implements any of the method steps of the feedback message processing method.

When the computer program stored in the computer readable storage medium provided by the embodiment of the invention is used for processing the feedback message, the receiving end preferentially adds the control feedback message into the scheduling resource and transmits the feedback message in the scheduling resource to the transmitting end, so that the transmitting end can preferentially receive the control feedback message and preferentially process the control feedback message, the required time for transmitting the control feedback message to the transmitting end and processing the control feedback message by the transmitting end can be shortened, the state switching lag of the transmitting end is avoided, and the problem that the transmitting state of the transmitting end is not matched with the receiving state of the receiving end is further avoided.

In yet another embodiment of the present invention, a computer program product containing instructions that, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform any of the feedback messaging methods of the above embodiments is also provided.

When the computer program product provided by the embodiment of the invention is used for sending the feedback message, the feedback message generated by the receiving end is provided with other feedback messages besides the control feedback message, and the control feedback message is preferentially added into the scheduling resource and the feedback message in the scheduling resource is sent to the sending end. The receiving end can send the control feedback message to the sending end preferentially through the mode, so that the time required for transmitting the control feedback message to the sending end is shortened, the state switching hysteresis of the sending end is avoided, and the problem that the sending state of the sending end is not matched with the receiving state of the receiving end is further avoided.

In yet another embodiment of the present invention, a computer program product comprising instructions that, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the feedback message processing method of any of the above embodiments is also provided.

When the computer program product provided by the embodiment of the invention is applied to process the feedback message, the receiving end preferentially adds the control feedback message into the scheduling resource and transmits the feedback message in the scheduling resource to the transmitting end, so that the transmitting end can preferentially receive the control feedback message and preferentially process the control feedback message, thereby shortening the time required for the control feedback message to be transmitted to and processed by the transmitting end, avoiding the delay of state switching of the transmitting end and further avoiding the problem that the transmitting state of the transmitting end is not matched with the receiving state of the receiving end.

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

It is noted that relational terms such as first and second, and the like are used solely to distinguish one entity or action from another entity or action without necessarily requiring or implying any actual such relationship or order between such entities or actions. Moreover, the terms "comprises," "comprising," or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. Without further limitation, an element defined by the phrase "comprising one … …" does not exclude the presence of other like elements in a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises the element.

In this specification, each embodiment is described in a related manner, and identical and similar parts of each embodiment are all referred to each other, and each embodiment mainly describes differences from other embodiments. In particular, for the embodiments of the receiving end, the device, the storage medium and the computer program of the compressed message, the description is relatively simple, and the relevant points are referred to in the description of the method embodiments, since they are basically similar to the method embodiments.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that embodiments of the present application may be provided as a method, system, or computer program product. Accordingly, the present application may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment, or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Furthermore, the present application may take the form of a computer program product embodied on one or more computer-usable storage media (including, but not limited to, magnetic disk storage, optical storage, and the like) having computer-usable program code embodied therein.

The present application is described with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems) and computer program products according to embodiments of the application. It will be understood that each flow and/or block of the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of flows and/or blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer-executable instructions. These computer-executable instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, embedded processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These processor-executable instructions may also be stored in a processor-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the processor-readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instruction means which implement the function specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These processor-executable instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present application without departing from the spirit or scope of the application. Thus, if such modifications and variations of the present application fall within the scope of the embodiments of the present application and the equivalent techniques, the present application is intended to cover such modifications and variations as well.

Claims

1. The feedback message sending method is characterized by being applied to a receiving end of a compressed message, and comprises the following steps:

after generating a feedback message, caching the feedback message;

and sending a feedback message in the scheduling resource to the sending end.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein after generating the feedback message, buffering the feedback message comprises:

the method for adding the cached feedback message into the scheduling resource in a mode of preferentially adding the control feedback message under the condition that the scheduling resource exists comprises the following steps:

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein, in the case that the receiving end is in a long term evolution LTE network, the preferentially adding the control feedback message in the first buffer queue to the scheduling resource in the case that the scheduling resource exists includes:

the sending the feedback message in the scheduling resource to the sending end comprises the following steps:

4. The method according to claim 2, wherein, in the case that the receiving end is in a new air interface NR network, after generating the feedback packet, adding the generated control feedback packet Wen Tian to the first buffer queue, and adding feedback packets Wen Tian other than the generated control feedback packet to the second buffer queue includes:

And when the scheduling resource exists, preferentially adding the control feedback message in the first cache queue into the scheduling resource, wherein the method comprises the following steps:

5. The method of claim 4, wherein adding an RLC header to the feedback message after generating the feedback message comprises:

6. The feedback message processing method is characterized by being applied to a transmitting end of a compressed message, and comprises the following steps:

and processing the feedback message after the RLC message header is removed.

7. A receiving end of a compressed message, comprising a memory, a transceiver, and a processor:

after generating a feedback message, caching the feedback message;

and sending a feedback message in the scheduling resource to the sending end.

8. The receiving end of claim 7, wherein after generating the feedback message, buffering the feedback message specifically includes:

9. The receiving end of claim 8, wherein when the receiving end is in a long term evolution LTE network, the adding the control feedback message in the first buffer queue to the scheduling resource preferentially occurs when the scheduling resource exists, specifically includes:

10. The receiving end of claim 8, wherein, in a case that the receiving end is in a new air interface NR network, after generating a feedback packet, adding the generated control feedback packet Wen Tian to the first buffer queue, and adding feedback packets Wen Tian other than the generated control feedback packet to the second buffer queue, specifically includes:

11. The receiving end of claim 10, wherein after generating a feedback message, adding an RLC message header to the feedback message specifically includes:

12. A transmitting end of a compressed message, comprising a memory, a transceiver, and a processor:

and processing the feedback message after the RLC message header is removed.

13. A feedback message sending device, which is applied to a receiving end of a compressed message, the device comprising:

14. A feedback message processing apparatus, applied to a transmitting end of a compressed message, the apparatus comprising:

15. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that the computer-readable storage medium has stored therein a computer program which, when executed by a processor, implements the method steps of any of claims 1-5 or 6.