WO2022110184A1

WO2022110184A1 - Communication method, apparatus and system

Info

Publication number: WO2022110184A1
Application number: PCT/CN2020/132881
Authority: WO
Inventors: 徐艺珊; 朱浩仁; 诸华林; 周彧
Original assignee: 华为技术有限公司
Priority date: 2020-11-30
Filing date: 2020-11-30
Publication date: 2022-06-02

Abstract

The present application relates to the technical field of communications. Disclosed are a communication method, apparatus and system, which solve the problems of high network deployment costs and a large operation and maintenance pressure due to a plurality of networks needing to be simultaneously deployed and maintained when a plurality of access techniques are applied simultaneously. The method comprises: an access network device receiving uplink data that is sent by a terminal device by means of a first access technique, wherein the access network device supports the access of the terminal device by means of a plurality of access techniques, and the plurality of access techniques comprise the first access technique; and the access network device sending a first message to an access and mobility management function network element, wherein the first message comprises access technique indication information and the uplink data, and the access technique indication information indicates the first access technique.

Description

A communication method, device and system

technical field

The present application relates to the field of communication technologies, and in particular, to a communication method, device, and system.

Background technique

At present, radio frequency identification (RFID) access technology and ultra wide band (UWB) access technology are widely used in all walks of life. For example: for the warehousing industry, by embedding RFID chips into the goods, the RFID special network can automatically collect the information of the goods during the logistics process of storing the goods to the warehouses and shopping malls, and managers can check the status information of the goods through the RFID special network. , which can reduce the risk of goods being discarded or stolen, can also improve the speed of goods handover, and can prevent smuggling and counterfeiting.

However, RFID access technology, UWB access technology, etc. are usually deployed on the enterprise's internal private network. If an enterprise needs to apply multiple access technologies at the same time, it needs to deploy multiple private networks, which is costly in enterprise network deployment and operation and maintenance. high pressure. For example, if an enterprise needs to apply RFID access technology and UWB access technology, the enterprise needs to deploy and maintain RFID private network and UWB private network respectively, which brings great network deployment cost and operation and maintenance burden to the enterprise. Therefore, a communication solution is needed to reduce the network deployment cost and operation and maintenance burden of enterprises when multiple access technologies are applied simultaneously.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present application provides a communication method, device and system, which are used to solve the problems of high network deployment cost and high operation and maintenance pressure when multiple access technologies are applied simultaneously, and multiple networks need to be deployed and maintained at the same time.

In a first aspect, the present application provides a communication method, the method includes: an access and mobility management function network element receives a first message from an access network device, where the first message includes access technology indication information and information from Uplink data of the terminal device, wherein the access technology indication information indicates the first access technology adopted by the terminal device; the access and mobility management function network element sends a second message to the first network element, and the The second message includes the uplink data, wherein the access network device supports terminal device access of multiple access technologies, the multiple access technologies include the first access technology, the first access technology The network element serves the terminal equipment using the first access technology. Optionally, the first network element is a core network element or a server.

By using the above method, the access network device can support terminal device access of multiple access technologies. After the access and mobility management function network element receives the first message from the access network device, it can the access technology indication information, determine the access technology adopted by the terminal equipment that sends the uplink data, so that the uplink data sent by the terminal equipment is forwarded to the network element serving the terminal equipment for processing, so that the terminal equipment with multiple access Data transmission can be carried out in the same network, and a network can support multiple access technologies, which can not only improve the commercial value of access network equipment and core network (such as access and mobility management function network elements), but also reduce Network deployment and operation and maintenance costs when enterprises apply multiple access technologies. At the same time, it supports multiple access technologies through networks such as 3GPP, and can also be compatible with the normal data transmission of terminal equipment in existing networks such as 3GPP, which further improves network compatibility.

In a possible design, the access technology indication information has multiple values, and each value indicates an access technology.

In the above design, different access technologies can be indicated by different values of the access technology indication information. When serving terminal devices using different access technologies, the access network device can configure the corresponding access technology indication information. The value of the access technology used by the terminal equipment is accurately indicated to the access and mobility management function network element, which is beneficial to support the accurate forwarding of uplink data by the access and mobility management function network element.

In a possible design, the access technology indication information includes an access technology identifier or a protocol identifier or a message type of the first message.

In the above design, the access technology indication information may be an access technology identifier or a protocol identifier or a message type of the first message, etc., which is beneficial to meet different communication requirements.

In a possible design, the second message further includes a first identifier, where the first identifier is used to identify the access network device, or the first identifier is used to identify the access network device the first access technology that is supported.

In the above design, the access network device can establish an access network device granularity control plane channel or an access technology granularity control plane channel with the access and mobility management function network element, which is used for transmission without an RRC connection and/or without an RRC connection. The data of the terminal equipment capable of NAS construction enables the network to support the transmission of data corresponding to access technologies such as RFID and UWB, which is beneficial to ensure the reliable implementation of multiple access technologies in a network.

In a possible design, the method further includes: determining, by the access and mobility management function network element, the first network element that receives the uplink data according to the access technology indication information.

In the above design, the access and mobility management function network element can determine the network element that processes the uplink data of the terminal device according to the access technology indication information, which is conducive to supporting the accurate forwarding of the uplink data by the access and mobility management function network element.

In a second aspect, the present application provides a communication method, the method comprising: an access and mobility management function network element receiving a third message from a first network element, where the third message includes downlink data, wherein the The first network element serves the terminal device using the first access technology; the access and mobility management function network element sends a fourth message to the access network device, where the fourth message includes access technology indication information and all the downlink data, wherein the access network device supports terminal device access of multiple access technologies, the multiple access technologies include the first access technology, and the access technology indication information indicates the The first access technology. Optionally, the first network element is a core network element or a server.

By using the above method, the access network device can support the access of terminal devices using multiple access technologies, and for the downlink data delivered by the first network element serving the terminal device using the first access technology, access and mobility management The functional network element can determine the first access technology adopted by the terminal device receiving the downlink data according to the source of the downlink data, so that when forwarding the downlink data to the access network device, the access technology indication information indicates the first access technology adopted by the terminal device. One access technology, the access network device can use the corresponding first access technology to send downlink data to the terminal device, so that the terminal device with multiple access technologies can perform data transmission in the same network, and one network can support multiple This kind of access technology can not only improve the commercial value of access network equipment and core network (such as access and mobility management function network elements), but also reduce the network deployment and operation and maintenance costs when enterprises apply multiple access technologies. . At the same time, it supports multiple access technologies through networks such as 3GPP, and can also be compatible with the normal data transmission of terminal equipment in existing networks such as 3GPP, which further improves network compatibility.

In the above design, different access technologies can be indicated by different values of the access technology indication information. When serving terminal devices using different access technologies, the access and mobility management function network elements can indicate the access technology. The corresponding value is configured in the information, and the access technology adopted by the terminal device is accurately indicated to the access network device, which is beneficial to support the reliable forwarding of the downlink data by the access network device.

In a possible design, the access technology indication information includes an access technology identifier or a protocol identifier or a message type of the fourth message.

In the above design, the access technology indication information may be an access technology identifier or a protocol identifier or a message type of the fourth message, etc., which is beneficial to meet different communication requirements.

In a possible design, the third message further includes a first identifier, where the first identifier is used to identify the access network device, or the first identifier is used to identify the access network device the first access technology that is supported.

In a possible design, the third message further includes address information of the first network element and/or identification information of the first network element; the method further includes: the access and mobility management The functional network element determines the first access technology according to the address information of the first network element and/or the identification information of the first network element.

In the above design, the access and mobility management function network element can determine the access technology adopted by the terminal device according to the network element that delivers downlink data to the terminal device, which is beneficial to support the access and mobility management function network element for downlink data. accurate forwarding.

In a third aspect, the present application provides a communication method, the method comprising: an access network device receiving uplink data sent by a terminal device through a first access technology, wherein the access network device supports multiple access technologies terminal device access, the multiple access technologies include the first access technology; the access network device sends a first message to the access and mobility management function network element, the first message includes the access technology technology indication information and the uplink data, wherein the access technology indication information indicates the first access technology. Optionally, the first network element is a core network element or a server.

For the technical effect that can be achieved in the third aspect, please refer to the technical effect that can be achieved in the above-mentioned first aspect, which will not be repeated here.

In a fourth aspect, the present application provides a communication method, the method includes: an access network device receives a fourth message from an access and mobility management function network element, where the fourth message includes access technology indication information and information from Downlink data of a first network element, where the first network element serves a terminal device using a first access technology, and the access technology indication information indicates the first access technology; the access network device The downlink data is sent to the terminal device by using the first access technology, wherein the access network device supports terminal device access of multiple access technologies, and the multiple access technologies include the first access technology. into technology. Optionally, the first network element is a core network element or a server.

In a possible design, the method further includes: determining, by the access network device, the first access technology used for sending the downlink data to the terminal device according to the access technology indication information.

For the technical effect that can be achieved in the fourth aspect, please refer to the technical effect that can be achieved in the above-mentioned second aspect, which will not be repeated here.

In a fifth aspect, the present application provides a communication method, the method comprising: an access network device receiving uplink data sent by a terminal device through a first access technology, wherein the access network device supports multiple access technologies terminal device access, the multiple access technologies include the first access technology; the access network device sends the uplink data to the first network element, wherein the first network element serves the The terminal equipment of the first access technology. Optionally, the first network element is a core network element or a server.

Using the above method, different access technologies are integrated into one access network device, and a user plane channel is established for terminal devices without RRC connection and/or without NAS construction capability through the access network device, so that different access technologies Terminal equipment can transmit data in the same network, which is beneficial to reduce the network deployment and operation and maintenance costs of enterprises when applying multiple accesses. At the same time, it supports multiple access technologies through 3GPP and other networks, and is also compatible with existing 3GPP. Such as the normal data transmission of the terminal equipment of the network, which further improves the compatibility of the network.

In a possible design, the access network device sending the uplink data to the first network element includes: the access network device sending the uplink data to the first network element through a first user plane channel , wherein the first user plane channel is used to transmit data of a terminal device that accesses the access network device, or is used to transmit data of a terminal device that accesses the access network device through the first access technology The data.

In the above design, the access network device can proxy the user plane channel of the access network device granularity for terminal equipment without RRC connection and/or without NAS construction capability, or it can also be used for terminal equipment without RRC connection and/or without NAS construction capability. Compared with the first to fourth aspects, data transmission is carried out through the control plane channel, which is beneficial to reduce the delay.

In a sixth aspect, the present application provides a communication method, the method comprising: an access network device receiving downlink data from a first network element, wherein the access network device supports terminal device access of multiple access technologies , the multiple access technologies include the first access technology, the first network element serves a terminal device using the first access technology; the access network device uses the first access technology technology sends the downlink data to the terminal device. Optionally, the first network element is a core network element or a server.

In a possible design, the access network device receiving downlink data from the first network element includes: the access network device receiving the downlink data from the first network element through a first user plane channel, wherein , the first user plane channel is used to transmit data of a terminal device that accesses the access network device, or is used to transmit data of a terminal device that accesses the access network device through the first access technology .

In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, the device having a function of implementing the first aspect or any possible method in design of the first aspect, or implementing the second aspect or any of the second aspect. A possible function of the method in the design, 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 units (modules) corresponding to the above functions, such as a communication unit and a processing unit.

In one possible design, the device may be a chip or an integrated circuit.

In a possible design, the apparatus includes a processor and a transceiver, the processor is coupled to the transceiver, and is configured to implement the functions of the first aspect or the method in any possible design of the first aspect, Or implement the functions of the second aspect or any possible method-in-design of the second aspect. The apparatus may further include a memory storing functions executable by the processor for implementing the above-mentioned first aspect or any possible method in the design of the first aspect, or implementing the above-mentioned second aspect or the second aspect A program of the functionality of the method in any possible design of the aspect.

In one possible design, the apparatus may be an access and mobility management function network element.

In an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, the device having a function of implementing the third aspect or any possible method in the design of the third aspect, or implementing the fourth aspect or any of the fourth aspect. A possible function of the method in design, or to achieve the function of the method in any possible design of the fifth aspect or the fifth aspect, or to achieve the function of the sixth aspect or any one of the possible designs of the sixth aspect. The functions of the method can be implemented by hardware, or by executing corresponding software by hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more units (modules) corresponding to the above functions, such as a communication unit and a processing unit.

In one possible design, the device may be a chip or an integrated circuit.

In a possible design, the apparatus includes a processor and a transceiver, the processor is coupled to the transceiver for implementing the method described in the third aspect or any possible design of the third aspect function, or realize the function of the above-mentioned fourth aspect or any possible design method of the fourth aspect, or realize the function of the above-mentioned fifth aspect or any possible design method of the fifth aspect, or realize the above A function of the method-in-design of the sixth aspect or any of the possible designs of the sixth aspect. The apparatus may further include a memory storing functions executable by the processor for implementing the method described in the above third aspect or any possible design of the third aspect, or implementing the above fourth aspect Or the function of any possible method in the design of the fourth aspect, or to realize the function of any possible method in the design of the fifth aspect or the fifth aspect, or to realize any of the sixth aspect or the sixth aspect. A possible design procedure for the functionality of the method.

In a possible design, the apparatus may be an access network device.

In a ninth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication system, including a method for implementing the first aspect or any possible in-design method of the first aspect, or for implementing the second aspect or any of the second aspect. An access and mobility management function network element of a possible method in design, and any possible method in design for performing the third aspect or the third aspect, or for performing the fourth aspect or the third aspect. The access network device of any of the four possible methods in design.

In a tenth aspect, the present application further provides a computer-readable storage medium, where instructions are stored in the computer-readable storage medium, which, when executed on a computer, cause a processor to execute the methods described in the above aspects.

In an eleventh aspect, the present application also provides a computer program product comprising instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the methods described in the above aspects.

In a twelfth aspect, the present application further provides a chip system, including: a processor configured to execute the methods described in the foregoing aspects.

For the technical effects that can be achieved by the seventh aspect to the twelfth aspect, please refer to the technical effects that can be achieved by the first aspect to the sixth aspect, which will not be repeated here.

Description of drawings

1 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture provided by an embodiment of the present application;

2 is a schematic diagram of an RFID network architecture provided by an embodiment of the present application;

3 is a schematic diagram of an RFID communication protocol provided by an embodiment of the present application;

4 is a schematic diagram of a UWB network architecture provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of an independent private network network architecture provided by an embodiment of the present application;

6 is a schematic diagram of a protocol stack when an agent establishes a control plane channel according to an embodiment of the present application;

7 is a schematic diagram of a protocol stack when an agent establishes a user plane channel according to an embodiment of the present application;

8 is a schematic diagram of a protocol stack when an agent establishes a control plane channel according to an embodiment of the present application;

9 is a schematic diagram of a protocol stack when an agent establishes a user plane channel according to an embodiment of the present application;

10 is a schematic diagram of a process of establishing a control plane channel by an agent according to an embodiment of the present application;

11 is a schematic diagram of a process of establishing a user plane channel by an agent according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 12 is one of schematic diagrams of a communication process provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 13 is the second schematic diagram of the communication process provided by the embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 14 is a third schematic diagram of a communication process provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 15 is a fourth schematic diagram of a communication process provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 16 is a fifth schematic diagram of a communication process provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 17 is a sixth schematic diagram of a communication process provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 18 is one of schematic diagrams of a communication device provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 19 is the second schematic diagram of a communication apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed ways

The purpose of the present application is to provide a communication solution that integrates multiple accesses, so that different access technologies can be deployed in the same network, and at the same time, the access network equipment integrates different access technologies, so that different access technologies with higher original deployment costs can be deployed. Technical access network devices (such as UWB base stations, RFID readers) can be integrated into one access network device, which can not only reduce network deployment costs, but also reduce network operation and maintenance costs. That is, from the original construction and maintenance of multiple networks to the construction and maintenance of one network. Originally, it was necessary to purchase different access network equipment, but now only one access network equipment that can support the converged multi-access technology needs to be purchased.

The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application can be applied to various communication networks, such as 4G networks, 5G networks, non-public networks (also called private networks), including independent private networks, non-independent private networks, etc., and can also be extended to Such as wireless fidelity (wireless fidelity, WiFi) and other related networks, as well as future communication networks, such as 6G networks. Taking a 5G network integrated with RFID, UWB and other access technologies for deployment on the same network as an example, the network architecture (also referred to as a converged multi-access network architecture) applied in the embodiments of this application may be as shown in Figure 1, including the terminal equipment part , the access network equipment part, the core network part and the data network (DN) part.

The terminal device is a device with a wireless transceiver function, which may be a user equipment (UE) using the 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) access technology, or a user equipment (UE) using an RFID access technology. wireless terminals (or tags) using access technology, wireless terminals (or tags) using UWB access technology, wireless terminals (or objects) using wireless sensing access technology, Wireless terminals (or tags) using bluetooth access technology, wireless terminals (or tags) using zigbee access technology, etc., can be deployed on land, including indoor or outdoor, handheld Or vehicle; can also be deployed on the water (such as ships, etc.); can also be deployed in the air (such as aircraft, balloons and satellites, etc.).

It should be understood that this application does not limit the access technology used by the terminal device, and the terminal device may also use other types of access technologies. In addition, for the convenience of description, the terminal equipment using RFID access technology can be referred to as RFID terminal equipment, the terminal equipment using UWB access technology is called UWB terminal equipment, and the terminal equipment using sensing access technology is called sensing terminal equipment. , The terminal device using the bluetooth access technology is called a bluetooth terminal device, and the terminal device using the zigbee access technology is called a zigbee terminal device, which will not be described otherwise.

An access network device, also known as a (radio) access network ((R)AN) device, or an access network (AN) network element, is a devices with wireless communication capabilities. It is mainly responsible for functions such as radio resource management, quality of service (QoS) management, data compression and encryption on the air interface side. The access network equipment may include various forms of base stations, such as: a macro base station, a micro base station (also referred to as a small cell), a relay station, an access point, and the like. In systems using different radio access technologies, the names of devices with base station functions may vary. For example, in the 5th generation (5G) system, it is called gNB; in the LTE system, it is called gNB. It is an evolved Node B (evolved NodeB, eNB or eNodeB); in the third generation (3rd generation, 3G) system, it is called a Node B (Node B) and so on. In addition, the RAN may also include a centralized unit (CU) and a distributed unit (DU) in a cloud radio access network (cloud RAN) system, or may also include a relay device, The embodiments of the present application are not limited. The access network equipment may include one or more radio frequency units, such as a micro remote radio unit (pico remote radio unit, pRRU) and one or more converged baseband units (baseband unit, BBU).

On the RF unit side of the access network equipment, antennas of different access technologies can be integrated, such as pRRU for sending or receiving 3GPP signals, RFID antennas for sending or receiving RFID signals, and UWB for sending or receiving UWB signals Antennas, sensing pRRUs for sending or receiving sensing signals, Bluetooth antennas for sending or receiving Bluetooth signals, zigbee antennas for sending or receiving zigbee signals, etc. In addition, the radio frequency unit side can also use antenna multiplexing to be compatible with different access technologies, such as compatible sensing access technologies through WiFi hotspots. A switch or common public radio interface (CPRI) interface (such as Rhub interface/device) can also be deployed on the radio unit side as a data convergence point for different access technologies. The data of the terminal equipment is sent to the fusion BBU.

On the integrated BBU side, baseband processing modules of different access technologies need to be integrated. These baseband processing modules can be base stations or gateway functions integrating different access technologies, or can be the bottom modules of base stations or gateways with different access technologies, responsible for low-level operations. For example, one of the underlying modules (such as UWB-L) can integrate the functions of the UWB base station or the media access control (MAC) layer and the physical layer (PHY) layer protocol of the UWB base station; A low-level module (eg, called RFID-L) can integrate the RFID reader function or integrate the gen 2 air interface protocol of the RFID reader. In addition, in the converged BBU, a new module (for example, called Uni-AGF) will be added to establish a control plane or user plane channel for terminal equipment of different access technologies, so that the The data is sent to the core network side or the data network through the control plane or user plane channel established by the above-mentioned proxy for data processing.

In addition, it should be understood that the above-mentioned antennas of different access technologies integrated on the radio frequency unit side of the access network equipment, and base station or gateway functions of different access technologies integrated on the integrated BBU side are only an example. The types of access technology antennas that can be integrated on the radio unit side of the access network equipment during application are not limited to the above examples. More or less types of access technology antennas can be integrated on the radio frequency unit side. Similar BBU side can be used. The integrated base station or gateway functions are also not limited to the above examples, and base station or gateway functions of more or less types of access technologies may also be integrated.

The core network part may include a unified data management (UDM) network element, a location management function (LMF) network element, an authentication server function (AUSF) network element, and a network open function (network element). exposure function, NEF) network elements, and may also include other (others) network elements, such as access and mobility management function (AMF) network elements, user plane function (user plane function, UPF) network elements , session management function (session management function, SMF) network element, policy control function (policy control function, PCF) network element, application function (application function, AF) network element, etc. In addition, core network elements corresponding to the access technology (also called high-level network elements, server network elements, or application function network elements) can be added to the core network, or a new network element corresponding to the access technology can be added to the data network. The server is used to complete functions such as data processing, network configuration, and issuing operation instructions. For example, a core network element such as RFID-H is added to integrate the high-level protocol of the RFID reader and the middleware function, or to integrate the middleware function, and it can also have the function of the RFID server, such as the use of RFID access technology. The data sent by the terminal equipment is processed; a new core network element (such as UWB-H) can integrate the functions of the high-level protocol of the UWB base station, and can also have the functions of the UWB server or positioning engine, such as the use of UWB access. The data sent by the terminal equipment of the technology is processed (eg location calculation). In addition, in actual deployment, different network elements can be set up separately or together. For example, RFID-H can be co-located with UWB-H, RFID-H can be co-located with UPF network element, and UWB-H can be co-located with LMF network element. Wherein, when two network elements are combined, the interaction between the two network elements provided in the embodiment of the present application becomes an internal operation of the combined network element, or may be omitted.

It should be understood that, in this embodiment of the present application, the function of one or more network elements in the core network may also be enhanced, so that the one or more network elements may implement the above-mentioned functions of RFID-H, UWB-H, and the like.

The AMF network element is the control plane network element provided by the operator's network. It is responsible for the access control and mobility management and signaling processing of terminal equipment accessing the operator's network. Identity identification, authentication and authorization of users, attachment and detachment, registration and deregistration, and gateway selection. When the AMF network element provides services for the session in the terminal device, it provides storage resources of the control plane for the session, and stores the session identifier, the SMF network element identifier associated with the session identifier, and the like.

The SMF network element is a control plane network element provided by the operator network, and is responsible for managing the protocol data unit (PDU) session of the terminal device. A PDU session is a channel for transmitting PDUs, and terminal devices need to transmit data to and from a data network (DN) through the PDU session. The PDU session is established, maintained and deleted by the SMF network element. SMF network elements include session management (such as session establishment, modification and release, including tunnel maintenance between UPF and RAN), selection and control of UPF network elements, UPF network element redirection, service and session continuity (service and session continuity) , SSC) mode selection, roaming, Internet Protocol (Internet Protocol, IP) address allocation, QoS control, and bearer establishment, modification and release functions.

The UPF network element is the gateway provided by the operator, the gateway between the operator's network and the DN, and is responsible for the forwarding and receiving of user data in the terminal equipment. The user data can be received from the data network and transmitted to the terminal device through the access network device; the UPF network element can also receive the user data from the terminal device through the access network device and forward it to the data network. The transmission resources and scheduling functions that provide services for terminal equipment in the UPF network element are managed and controlled by the SMF network element. UPF network elements include user plane-related functions such as data packet routing and transmission, packet detection, service usage reporting, quality of service (QoS) processing, legal interception, uplink packet detection, and downlink data packet storage.

The UDM network element is the control plane network element provided by the operator, which is responsible for generating authentication certificates/authentication parameters, subscription information management, short message service (SMS) management, UE service network element registration management (such as current AMF network elements, SMF network elements, etc.) that provide services for the UE, and store information such as subscriber permanent identifier (SUPI), security context (security context), and subscription data of subscribers in the operator's network. The information stored by the UDM network element can be used for authentication and authorization of terminal equipment to access the operator's network. The above-mentioned subscribers of the operator's network may specifically be users who use services provided by the operator's network, such as users using China Telecom's mobile phone core cards, or users using China Mobile's mobile phone core cards. The permanent subscription identifier (subscription permanent identifier, SUPI) of the above-mentioned subscriber may be the number of the mobile phone core card or the like. The above-mentioned credential and security context of the signing user may be the encryption key of the mobile phone core card or a small file stored with information related to the encryption of the mobile phone core card, etc., for authentication and/or authorization. The above-mentioned security context may be data (cookie) or token (token) stored on the user's local terminal (eg, mobile phone). The contract data of the above-mentioned contract user may be the supporting services of the mobile phone chip card, such as the data package of the mobile phone chip card or the use of the network.

The NEF network element is the control plane network element provided by the operator. The NEF network element opens the external interface of the operator's network to the third party in a secure way, and supports the secure interaction between the 3GPP network and the third-party application. The NEF can safely expose the network capabilities and events to the third party to enhance or improve the application service quality. , 3GPP network can also safely obtain relevant data from third parties to enhance the intelligent decision-making of the network; at the same time, the network element supports the recovery of structured data from the unified database or the storage of structured data in the unified database. When the SMF network element needs to communicate with a third-party network element, the NEF network element can be used as a relay for the communication between the SMF network element and the third-party network element. When the NEF network element is used as a relay, it can be used as the translation of the identification information of the subscriber and the translation of the identification information of the third-party network element. For example, when the NEF sends the SUPI of the subscriber from the operator network to the third party, it can translate (or map) the SUPI into its corresponding external identity (identity, ID). On the contrary, when the NEF network element sends the external ID (the third party's network element ID) to the operator network, it can be translated (or mapped) into SUPI.

The PCF network element is the control plane function provided by the operator. It mainly supports the provision of a unified policy framework to control network behavior, provides policy rules to the control layer network function, and is responsible for acquiring policy-related user subscription information. A policy that can be used to provide a PDU session to an SMF network element, and the policy may include a charging-related policy, a QoS-related policy, an authorization-related policy, and the like.

The AF network element is a functional network element that provides various business services. It can interact with the core network through the NEF network element, and can interact with the policy management framework for policy management. It mainly supports interaction with the 3GPP core network to provide services, such as influencing data routing decisions, policy control functions, or providing some third-party services to the network side.

The data network part is a network outside the core network. The core network can access multiple data networks, and multiple services can be deployed on the data network, which can provide data and/or voice services for terminal devices. In this embodiment of the present application, the data network part may be an enterprise DC/private cloud, etc., and may include a UWB server, an RFID server, a sensing server, a Bluetooth server, a zigbee server, and the like.

In Figure 1, N2, N3, and N6 are interface serial numbers. For the meanings of these interface serial numbers, refer to the meanings defined in the 3GPP standard protocol, which is not limited here.

It can be understood that the above-mentioned integrated multi-access network architecture is described by the integration of 5G network architecture into RFID, UWB, sensing and other access technologies. In practical applications, RFID, UWB, sensing and other access technologies can be integrated into the 5G network architecture. , RFID, UWB, sensing and other access technologies can also be integrated into network architectures such as 4G networks and independent private networks, and more or less access technologies can be integrated into the above network architectures. In addition, the above network elements or functions may be network elements in hardware devices, software functions running on dedicated hardware, or virtualized functions instantiated on a platform (eg, a cloud platform). Optionally, the foregoing network element or function may be implemented by one device, or may be implemented jointly by multiple devices, or may be a functional module in one device, which is not specifically limited in this embodiment of the present application.

Before introducing the embodiments of the present application, some terms in the present application will be explained first, so as to facilitate the understanding of those skilled in the art.

1) RFID access technology, also known as RFID technology, is a kind of automatic identification technology. As shown in FIG. 2 , an RFID reader (reader) can perform inventory and reading and writing on RFID terminal equipment (also called RFID tags (tag)), so as to achieve the purpose of identifying targets and exchanging data. There are two working modes of RFID access technology. One is that when the RFID tag enters the effective identification range of the RFID reader, the RFID tag receives the radio frequency signal sent by the RFID reader, and the energy obtained by the induced current is sent out and stored in the RFID. The information in the tag (corresponding to the passive RFID tag); the other is that the RFID tag actively sends a radio frequency signal of a certain frequency (corresponding to the active RFID tag), and the RFID reader receives the radio frequency signal and decodes it, and sends it to the middleware or RFID server for processing.

The RFID system includes four elements, namely RFID tags, RFID readers, middleware, and servers. At present, the electronic product code (EPC) standard organization has defined the protocol standard between different components in the RFID system architecture. As shown in Figure 3, the 2-generation air interface (gen 2 air interface) protocol can be used between the RFID tag (such as the second generation RFID tag (gen 2 RFID tag)) and the RFID reader; the RFID reader and the middleware (such as The low level reader protocol (LLRP) is used between the filtering and collection (filtering & collection) components; the application level event (ALE) protocol is used between the middleware and the server.

2) UWB access technology, also known as UWB technology, is a wireless carrier communication technology. It does not use sinusoidal carriers, but uses nanosecond non-sinusoidal narrow pulses to transmit data, so the spectrum it occupies is The range is wide. UWB technology has the advantages of low system complexity, low power spectral density of transmitted signals, insensitivity to channel fading, low interception capability, and high positioning accuracy. It is especially suitable for high-speed wireless access in dense multipath places such as indoors. The UWB system includes four elements, as shown in Figure 4, which are UWB terminal equipment (or UWB tag), UWB base station, UWB server (positioning engine) and display terminal.

3), an independent private network, that is, an independent non-public network (standalone non-public network, SNPN). That is, the network does not depend on the public land mobile network (PLMN) and is operated by the SNPN exclusive operator. The network elements in the independent private network all serve the UEs of the private network. The control plane signaling and user plane data of the independent private network will not be transmitted to the external network, achieving a certain security and privacy effect. As shown in Figure 5, it is an example of an independent private network network architecture, which may include UE, RAN, UPF network element, data network (DN), AMF network element, SMF network element, PCF network element, and AUSF network element , UDM network element, NEF network element, AF network element.

4) A non-independent private network, that is, a non-independent network integrated non-public network (public network integrated NPN, PNI-NPN), which depends on the PLMN network and is operated by an operator. PNI-NPN is to provide NPN services through the PLMN network, for example, by allocating one or more network slice entities to the NPN to realize non-public network functions. Under this type of network, the UE has a subscription to the PLMN network. It can be simply understood that under PNI-NPN, some network elements are shared by the private network and the public network, while some network elements can be exclusively shared by the private network.

5) Integrate the protocol stack of the RFID access technology components under the multi-access network architecture. RFID-L includes a gen 2 air interface protocol for communicating with RFID end devices. The high-level protocol of the RFID reader can be integrated in the core network element (for example, called RFID-H). Both RFID-L and RFID-H communicate through a protocol adaptation layer (PAL). Uni-AGF and RFID-L can communicate through wired underlying protocols; they can also communicate through interfaces between internal modules, which can simplify the protocol stack between them. Figure 6 shows a corresponding protocol stack when an agent establishes a control plane channel. It can be seen that at this time, Uni-AGF needs to establish a non-access stratum (NAS) signaling as an agent, and the data from the RFID terminal device will be encapsulated in the NAS signaling and sent to the RFID- H. Figure 7 shows the corresponding protocol stack when an agent establishes a user plane channel. At this time, the Uni-AGF sends the data from the RFID terminal device to the RFID-H through the UPF network element. The communication protocol between RFID-H and RFID server is application level event (ALE) protocol, that is, RFID-H also integrates the function of middleware. If RFID-L integrates the RFID reader function and RFID-H integrates the middleware function, then the RFID-L and RFID-H communicate through the LLRP protocol, and there is no need to communicate through the protocol adaptation layer.

6) Integrate the protocol stack of the UWB access technology components under the multi-access network architecture. UWB-L includes the MAC layer and PHY layer protocols corresponding to the UWB access technology, which are used to communicate with UWB terminal equipment. The high-level protocol of the UWB base station is integrated in the core network element (UWB-H). Both UWB-L and UWB-H communicate through a protocol adaptation layer (PAL). Uni-AGF and UWB-L can be connected through wired underlying protocols; they can also communicate through interfaces between internal modules, which can simplify the protocol stack between them. Figure 8 shows the corresponding protocol stack when the agent establishes the control plane channel. It can be seen that at this time, Uni-AGF needs to establish NAS signaling by proxy, and the data from UWB terminal equipment will be encapsulated in NAS signaling and sent to UWB-H through AMF network elements. Figure 9 shows the corresponding protocol stack when the agent establishes the user plane channel. At this time, the Uni-AGF sends the data from the UWB terminal device to the UWB-H through the UPF network element. The communication protocol between UWB-H and UWB server is an application layer protocol. UWB-H can integrate the function of positioning engine. At this time, the UWB server can be weakened into a visualization platform. When UWB-L integrates the UWB base station function and UWB-H integrates the positioning engine function, there is no need to communicate through the protocol adaptation layer between UWB-L and UWB-H.

7) The proxy establishes a control plane channel, which may also be referred to as proxy generation of NAS signaling. Take the wireline access gateway function (W-AGF) as an example to establish a control plane channel for the fixed network residential gateway (FN-RG) proxy, the specific W-AGF establishes a control plane for the FN-RG proxy For the process of surface channel, please refer to 3GPP protocol TS 23.316, chapter 7.2.1.3. Through the W-AGF, the proxy establishes a control plane channel for the FN-RG that does not support NAS signaling (the proxy generates NAS signaling), so that the FN-RG can access the core network. The specific process can be shown in Figure 10, and the process includes:

S1001: The W-AGF selects an AMF network element.

The W-AGF selects AMF network elements based on access network parameters or policies.

S1002: The W-AGF sends a UE initial message (UE initial message) to the AMF network element.

Wherein, the UE initial message includes NAS signaling, the NAS signaling is a registration request (registration request) message, and the registration request message includes a user concealed identifier (subscription concealed identifier, SUCI) or a 5G global unique temporary UE Identity (5G globally unique temporary temporary UE identity, 5G-GUTI).

S1003: The AMF network element selects an AUSF network element (AUSF selection).

The AMF network element selects the AUSF network element according to the SUCI. If the registration request message includes 5G-GUTI, steps S1003 to S1004 may be skipped.

S1004: The AMF, the AUSF network element and the UDM network element perform an authentication process.

Specifically, the UDM network element can match the SUCI to the corresponding SUPI, and send it to the AMF network element through the AUSF network element. That is, the AMF network element learns the SUPI corresponding to the SUCI.

S1005: The AMF network element sends a NAS security mode command procedure (security mode command procedure, SMC) request (reques) message to the W-AGF.

S1006: The W-AGF sends a NAS security mode command completion response (SMC complete) message to the AMF network element.

Through S1005 and S1006, a NAS security context (NAS security context) is established between the W-AGF and AMF network elements.

S1007: The AMF network element sends an initial context request (initial context request) message to the W-AGF.

S1008: After the W-AGF completes the context establishment, the W-AGF sends an initial context response (initial context response) message to the AMF network element.

S1009: The AMF network element sends a NAS registration accept (registration accept) message to the W-AGF.

S1010: The W-AGF sends a NAS registration completion (registration comlpete) message to the AMF network element.

8), the agent establishes the user plane channel, that is, the agent establishes the session, still take the W-AGF to establish the user plane channel for the FN-RG agent as an example, the specific process of the W-AGF establishing the user plane channel for the FN-RG agent can be As shown in Figure 11, the process includes:

S1101: The W-AGF sends an N2 message to the AMF network element, wherein the N2 message carries a session establishment request (PDU session establishment request) message, which is NAS signaling.

Wherein, before sending the session establishment request, the W-AGF needs to replace or proxy the FN-RG to complete the process of establishing a control plane channel (that is, registration) by proxy shown in FIG. 10 .

S1102: The AMF network element, the SMF network element, and the UPF network element perform a session establishment procedure (PDU session establishment procedure).

The AMF network element forwards the session establishment request to the SMF network element, and the SMF network element selects the UPF network element after receiving the session establishment request, and obtains the tunnel information of the UPF network element (including the IP address of the UPF, the tunnel endpoint identifier, etc. ), and send the tunnel information to the AMF network element.

S1103: The AMF network element sends an N2 session request message (N2 PDU session request) to the W-AGF, wherein the N2 session request message includes a session establishment accept (PDU session establishment accept) message, and the N2 session request message contains Including the tunnel information of the UPF network element.

The W-AGF receives the tunnel information of the UPF network element, so as to know how the uplink data should be sent.

S1104: The W-AGF sends an N2 session response message (N2 PDU session response) to the AMF network element, where the N2 session response message includes the tunnel information of the W-AGF (including the IP address of the W-AGF, the tunnel endpoint identifier information, etc.).

S1105: Send the tunnel information of the W-AGF to the UPF network element through the AMF and the SMF network element.

The UPF network element receives the tunnel information of the W-AGF, so as to know how to send downlink data.

In addition, it should be understood that, in the embodiments of the present application, at least one may also be described as one or more, and the multiple may be two, three, four or more, which is not limited in this application. In this embodiment of the present application, "/" may indicate that the objects associated before and after are an "or" relationship, for example, A/B may indicate A or B; "and/or" may be used to describe that there are three types of associated objects A relationship, for example, A and/or B, can mean that A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone, where A and B can be singular or plural. In order to facilitate the description of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, in the embodiments of the present application, words such as "first" and "second" may be used to distinguish technical features with the same or similar functions. The words "first", "second" and the like do not limit the quantity and execution order, and the words "first", "second" and the like do not limit the difference. In the embodiments of the present application, words such as "exemplary" or "for example" are used to represent examples, illustrations or illustrations, and any embodiment or design solution described as "exemplary" or "for example" should not be construed are preferred or advantageous over other embodiments or designs. The use of words such as "exemplary" or "such as" is intended to present the relevant concepts in a specific manner to facilitate understanding.

The purpose of this application is to establish a control plane or user plane channel for terminal equipment without RRC connection and/or without NAS construction capability through access network equipment, so as to transmit data of terminal equipment with different access technologies, Realize the integration of multiple access technologies for multiple access technologies. Specifically, the granularity of the control plane channel or user plane channel established by the access network device agent may be device granularity or access technology granularity (different from terminal device granularity). Device granularity means that an access network device only establishes one control plane channel or one user plane channel as an agent. For all terminal devices without RRC connection and/or without NAS construction capability accessed through the access network device, their data will be transmitted to the core network element or server through the control plane or user plane channel; for the access technology granularity , then an access network device will establish a control plane or user plane channel for different access technologies, so that in the terminal devices accessed through the access network device, the data of the terminal devices corresponding to different access technologies can communicate with each other. independent transmission.

The embodiments of the present application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and different implementation manners.

Implementation mode 1: The access network device agent establishes a device-granularity control plane channel.

FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram of a communication process provided by an embodiment of the present application, and the process includes:

S1201: The access network device receives uplink data sent by the terminal device through the first access technology.

Wherein, the access network device supports terminal device access of multiple access technologies, and the multiple access technologies include the first access technology.

Referring to the converged multi-access network architecture shown in Figure 1, the access network equipment (RAN) can integrate or integrate antennas of multiple access technologies, and through the antennas of multiple access technologies, the access network device can support multiple access It supports the access of terminal equipment with multiple access technologies, supports receiving uplink data sent by terminal equipment with multiple access technologies, and supports sending downlink data to terminal equipment with multiple access technologies. As an example, the access technologies supported by the access network device may include one or more of RFID, UWB, WiFi, sensing, Bluetooth, zigbee, and the like.

As an example, the access network equipment integrates antennas such as RFID antennas and UWB antennas, and supports RFID access technology and UWB access technology. For example, for the uplink data sent by the RFID terminal device through the RFID access technology, the access network device can receive it through the RFID antenna.

In addition, RFID terminal equipment, UWB terminal equipment, etc. usually have no RRC connection and/or no NAS construction capability. In order to enable data transmission between the terminal equipment and the core network element or server, the access network equipment and the AMF network element (connection Access and mobility management function network element) establishes a control plane channel with device granularity. Specifically, the process of establishing a control plane channel for the terminal device proxy by an access network device can refer to the W-AGF proxy to establish a control plane channel shown in FIG. 10 . process, wherein the W-AGF is replaced with an access network device, and details are not repeated here.

S1202: The access network device sends a first message to an AMF network element, and the AMF network element receives the first message, where the first message includes access technology indication information and the uplink data.

For the uplink data from terminal equipment of different access technologies, the AMF network element needs to forward the uplink data to the core network element or server corresponding to the access technology for processing. In order for the AMF network element to know the terminal equipment that sends the uplink data The first access technology adopted, the access network device includes access technology indication information in the first message sent to the AMF network element, and the access technology indication information indicates the first access adopted by the terminal device sending uplink data. technology.

In a possible implementation, the access technology indication information may be an identifier of an access technology, and by including the identifiers of different access technologies in the first message, different access technologies may be indicated. For example: when the first access technology adopted by the terminal device is "RFID", the first message may carry the RFID identifier "0001" or "RFID", indicating that the first access technology adopted by the terminal device is "RFID" ; When the access technology adopted by the terminal device is "UWB", the first message may carry the UWB identifier "0010" or "UWB", indicating that the first access technology adopted by the terminal device is "UWB".

In another possible implementation, the access technology indication information may also be a message type of the first message, and different access technologies may be indicated through first messages of different message types. For example: when the first access technology adopted by the terminal device is "RFID", a first message with a message type of "NAS RFID message" is used to indicate that the first access technology adopted by the terminal device is "RFID"; When the adopted access technology is "UWB", the first message with the message type "NAS UWB message" is adopted, indicating that the first access technology adopted by the terminal device is "UWB".

For the first access technology used by the terminal device to send the uplink data, the access network device may determine it according to the antenna for receiving the uplink data or the way of receiving the uplink data. Still taking the architecture shown in Figure 1 as an example, after the RFID antenna on the radio frequency unit side of the access network equipment receives the uplink data sent by the RFID terminal equipment, it transmits the uplink data to the baseband processing module (or underlying module) RFID-L, RFID- L sends the uplink data to the Uni-AGF module, for example: generates an instruction containing the uplink data, encapsulates it in the protocol adaptation layer, and sends it to the Uni-AGF module through the BBU internal interface. According to the source of the uplink data (RFID-L) or the internal interface, the Uni-AGF module can know that the uplink data is received through the RFID access technology, and the first access technology adopted by the terminal equipment is "RFID".

In addition, the Uni-AGF module can also associate the access technology, the source of the uplink data and the value of the access technology indication information. Take the message type of the first message as the access technology indication information as an example, as shown in Table 1 , for the uplink data from the underlying module "RFID-L", the Uni-AGF module determines that the first access technology used by the terminal device sending the uplink data is "RFID", and the message type that needs to be sent to the AMF network element is "NAS RFID message" "The first news. As an example, the access network device and the AMF network element transmit a message through a control plane channel, the first message is a NAS message, and the message type of the first message is a NAS type.

底层模块low-level module	接入技术类型Access technology type	消息类型(NAS类型)Message Type (NAS Type)
底层模块1(RFID-L)Bottom module 1 (RFID-L)	RFIDRFID	NAS RFID messageNAS RFID message
底层模块2(UWB-L)Bottom Module 2 (UWB-L)	UWBUWB	NAS UWB messageNAS UWB message
底层模块3(Sensing-L)Bottom Module 3 (Sensing-L)	SensingSensing	NAS Sensing messageNAS Sensing message

Table 1

S1203: The AMF network element sends a second message to the first core network element, where the second message includes the uplink data.

Wherein, the network element of the first core network serves the terminal equipment adopting the first access technology.

After receiving the first message, the AMF network element determines the first access technology adopted by the terminal device sending uplink data according to the access technology indication information included in the first message, and then according to the first access technology adopted by the terminal device sending uplink data. Access technology to determine which core network element the uplink data needs to be sent to for processing. It should be understood that, the core network element through which the AMF network element sends the uplink data is the network element serving the terminal device. Referring to FIG. 1 , the core network element serving the RFID terminal equipment is RFID-H, and the core network element serving the UWB terminal equipment is UWB-H.

Taking the access technology indication information as the message type of the first message as an example, the AMF network element can store the message type, access technology and core network network element association table shown in Table 2. Referring to Table 2, the AMF network element After receiving the first message, where the message type of the first message is "NAS RFID message", the AMF network element can determine, according to the message type of the first message, that the first access technology adopted by the terminal device sending the uplink data is "RFID". ", the second message including the uplink data needs to be sent to the first core network element "RFID-H".

It should be understood that the second message sent by the AMF network element to the first core network device further includes a first identifier for identifying the access network device, such as the access network device (or the Uni- of the access network device). AGF module) agent established SUPI.

接入技术access technology	消息类型(NAS类型)Message Type (NAS Type)	核心网网元core network element
RFIDRFID	NAS RFID messageNAS RFID message	核心网网元1(RFID-H)Core network element 1 (RFID-H)
UWBUWB	NAS UWB messageNAS UWB message	核心网网元2(UWB-H)Core network element 2 (UWB-H)
SensingSensing	NAS Sensing messageNAS Sensing message	核心网网元3(Sensing-H)Core network element 3 (Sensing-H)

Table 2

The first core network element processes the uplink data, and sends a processing result (result) and a first identifier to the NEF network element. The NEF network element receives the first identifier and the processing result sent by the first core network element, maps the first identifier to an external identifier that can be recognized by the server, such as a generic public subscription identifier (GPSI), and uses it according to The core network element (that is, the first core network element) from which the processing result comes from, determines the corresponding first server, the first server also serves the terminal device using the first access technology, and sends the processing to the first server Results and external identities.

As shown in Table 3 and Table 4, assuming that the first core network element is "RFID-H" and the first identifier of the access network device is "SUPI1", the NEF network element can store the association between SUPI and GPSI according to Table 3. According to the relationship between the core network element and the server in Table 4, the NEF network element forwards the processing result and the external identity "GPSI1" to the first server "RFID Server".

SUPISUPI	GPSIGPSI
SUPI 1SUPI 1	GPSI 1GPSI 1
SUPI 2SUPI 2	GPSI 2GPSI 2
SUPI 3SUPI 3	GPSI 3GPSI 3

table 3

核心网网元core network element	接入技术类型Access technology type	服务器server
核心网网元1(RFID-H)Core network element 1 (RFID-H)	RFIDRFID	AF identifier 1(RFID服务器)AF identifier 1 (RFID server)
核心网网元2(UWB-H)Core network element 2 (UWB-H)	UWBUWB	AF identifier 2(UWB服务器)AF identifier 2 (UWB server)
核心网网元3(Sensing-H)Core network element 3 (Sensing-H)	SensingSensing	AF identifier 3(Sensing服务器)AF identifier 3 (Sensing server)

Table 4

The first server parses the processing result, identifies the terminal device identifier in the processing result, as shown in Table 5, and associates and saves the external identifier (taking GPSI as an example) with the terminal device identifier. It should be understood that the uplink data sent by the terminal device, the processing result obtained by the first core network element performing data processing on the uplink data sent by the terminal device, and the downlink data sent by the first server to the terminal device all include the data of the terminal device. logo, no further explanation is required.

table 5

The first server wants to send downlink data to the terminal device, finds the corresponding external ID according to the relationship between the external ID and the terminal device, and sends the downlink data and the external ID to the NEF network element, and the NEF network element maps the external ID. For the first identifier, the first identifier and the downlink data are sent to the first core network element. The NEF network element may determine the first core network network element according to the external identity identifier and the source of the downlink data. For example, if the external identity and downlink data come from the RFID server, the network element of the first core network is determined to be "RFID-H".

As an example: the external identity and downlink data sent by the first server may be carried by application layer messages.

S1204: The AMF network element receives a third message from the first core network element, where the third message includes downlink data.

After receiving the first identifier and the downlink data, the first core network element sends the downlink data to the AMF network element through a third message, and can include the first identifier in the third message at the same time, so that the AMF network element can determine the receiver for receiving the downlink data. access equipment.

In addition, in a possible implementation manner, the first core network element also needs to parse the application layer message sent by the first server, generate an instruction to instruct the access network device to send the downlink data to the terminal device, and send the generated instruction To the AMF network element, the AMF network element forwards it to the access network device.

S1205: The AMF network element sends a fourth message to the access network device, and the access network device receives the fourth message, where the fourth message includes access technology indication information and the downlink data.

After receiving the third message from the first core network element, the AMF network element can determine the first core network element according to the address information (such as IP address) and/or identification information of the first core network element with reference to Table 2. The first access technology or access technology indication information corresponding to the network element. According to the first identification, the access network device that receives the downlink data is determined, and a fourth message including access technology indication information and downlink data is sent to the access network device.

S1206: The access network device sends the downlink data to the terminal device by using the first access technology.

After receiving the fourth message, the access network device determines the first access technology adopted by the terminal device according to the access technology indication information, and sends downlink data to the terminal device through the first access technology.

As an example, after receiving the fourth message, the Uni-AGF module of the access network device learns that the first access technology indicated by the access technology indication information is RFID, and the Uni-AGF module determines that the downlink data is processed by the baseband processing module as "RFID" -L" process, send downlink data to RFID-L, RFID-L sends downlink data to terminal equipment through RFID antenna.

The above description takes the example that the data of the terminal device is processed by the network element of the first core network. In a possible implementation, the data of the terminal device can also be directly processed by the first server. The communication process is shown in Figure 13, and the process includes:

S1301: The access network device receives uplink data sent by the terminal device through the first access technology.

S1302: The access network device sends a first message to an AMF network element, and the AMF network element receives the first message, where the first message includes access technology indication information and the uplink data.

The access technology indication information indicates the first access technology.

S1303: The AMF network element sends a second message to the first server through the NEF network element, where the second message includes the uplink data.

Wherein, the first server serves the terminal equipment adopting the first access technology.

S1304: The AMF network element receives a third message from the first server through the NEF network element, where the third message includes downlink data.

S1305: The AMF network element sends a fourth message to the access network device, and the access network device receives the fourth message, where the fourth message includes access technology indication information and the downlink data.

S1306: The access network device sends the downlink data to the terminal device by using the first access technology.

The process shown in FIG. 13 can be implemented with reference to the process shown in FIG. 12 , the difference is that the process shown in FIG. 13 does not involve the first core network element, and the first server directly processes the data of the terminal device.

Specifically, after receiving the first message, the AMF network element can send the uplink data to the first server serving the terminal equipment using the first access technology through the NEF network element, and the first server can send the uplink data of the terminal equipment to the terminal equipment. to be processed.

Taking the access technology indication information as the message type of the first message as an example, the AMF network element can store the message type, access technology and server association table shown in Table 6. Referring to Table 6, the AMF network element receives the first message. After a message is sent, the message type of the first message is "NAS RFID message", and the AMF network element can determine, according to the message type of the first message, that the first access technology used by the terminal device that sends the uplink data is "RFID". A second message including the upstream data is sent to the first server "RFID server".

In a possible implementation, the second message further includes a first identifier for identifying the access network device, and at the same time, in order to facilitate forwarding of the second message by the NEF, the second message may further include an identifier of the first server.

The first server can send downlink data to the AMF network element through the NEF network element; specifically, the first server sends the downlink data, the identifier of the first server and the external identity identifier to the NEF network element; the NEF network element sends the external identifier sent by the first server. The identity identifier is mapped to the first identifier of the access network device, and the downlink data and the first identifier of the access network device are sent to the AMF network element. The NEF network element may also send the identification of the first server to the AMF network element, and the AMF network element may determine the first access technology adopted by the terminal device according to the identification of the first server. For example, according to the message type, access technology and server association table shown in Table 6, the first access technology adopted by the terminal device is determined, and a fourth message including downlink data and access technology indication information is sent to the access network device, The access network device sends downlink data to the terminal device through the first access technology.

接入技术access technology	消息类型NAS类型message type NAS type	服务器server
RFIDRFID	NAS RFID messageNAS RFID message	AF identifier 1(RFID服务器)AF identifier 1 (RFID server)
UWBUWB	NAS UWB messageNAS UWB message	AF identifier 2(UWB服务器)AF identifier 2 (UWB server)
SensingSensing	NAS Sensing messageNAS Sensing message	AF identifier 3(Sensing服务器)AF identifier 3 (Sensing server)

Table 6

Implementation mode 2: The access network device proxy establishes an access technology granular control plane channel, that is, the access network device establishes a control plane channel for each access technology proxy among the multiple supported access technologies.

In different implementation modes 1, the access network device agent establishes a device-granular control plane channel, and the data of terminal devices that access the access network device and that do not support NAS signaling are all transmitted through the same control plane channel; in the second implementation mode , the access network equipment establishes the access technology granular control plane channel as an agent, that is, the access network equipment establishes the control plane channel as an agent for each of the multiple supported access technologies, which can be understood as the access network equipment and the There are multiple transmission channels between AMF network elements, and each access technology terminal device (such as a terminal device that does not support NAS signaling) has a dedicated transmission channel for data.

When the access network device establishes the access technology granularity control plane channel (NAS signaling) for the proxy, the NAS signaling (such as the first message and the fourth message) between the access network device and the AMF is of the access technology granularity, That is, the control plane channels corresponding to the NAS signaling of different access technologies are different, and the protocol identifiers (such as the next generation application protocol (NGAP) identifier) in the NAS signaling (such as the first message and the fourth message) are different. . In addition, there are multiple identifiers (such as SUPI) used to identify access network devices, and each access technology corresponds to an access network device identifier. Therefore, AMF network elements can use protocol identifiers (such as NGAP identifiers) and identifiers used to identify access network devices. The identification of the network access device (such as SUPI) is associated with the access technology, and the protocol identification can be used as the access technology indication information. The following takes the protocol identification as the NGAP identification and the identification used to identify the access network device as SUPI as an example. illustrate.

FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram of a communication process provided by an embodiment of the application, and the process includes:

S1401: The access network device receives uplink data sent by the terminal device through the first access technology.

S1402: The access network device sends a first message to an AMF network element, and the AMF network element receives the first message, where the first message includes an NGAP identifier and the uplink data.

As an example, for the first access technology used by the terminal device and the corresponding NGAP identifier, the access network device can determine it according to the way of receiving uplink data, as shown in Table 7, for the "RFID-L ” (that is, the uplink data received through the RFID antenna), the access network device determines that the first access technology used by the terminal device sending the uplink data is “RFID”, and the value of the NGAP identifier is NGAP1. Specifically, NGAP1 is RAN UE NGAP ID 1 and AMF UE NGAP ID 2.

Table 7

S1403: The AMF network element sends a second message to the first core network element, where the second message includes the uplink data.

S1404: The AMF network element receives a third message from the first core network element, where the third message includes downlink data.

Different from the first embodiment, the access network device only establishes a SUPI by proxy, and the SUPI can only identify the access network device. In the second embodiment, the access network device establishes a SUPI proxy for each supported access technology, so SUPI can also identify the access technology supported by the access network equipment. As shown in Table 8, for uplink transmission, the AMF network element can determine the corresponding SUPI and the first core network element according to the NGAP identifier included in the first message, and The corresponding SUPI is included in the second message sent to the first core network element. For the downlink AMF network element, the corresponding NGAP identifier may be determined according to the SUPI carried in the third message.

Table 8

Because SUPI can indicate the access technology adopted by the terminal equipment, as shown in Table 9, for uplink data, NEF can find the corresponding GPSI according to SUPI, and determine the corresponding No. 1 according to the first core network element or SUPI that sends the uplink data. A server or first server identifier (AF identifier); for downlink data, NEF can determine the first core network network element according to the first server or first server identifier (AF identifier) or GPSI, and find the corresponding SUPI according to GPSI, and The downlink data is sent to the corresponding network element of the first core network.

Table 9

S1405: The AMF network element sends a fourth message to the access network device, and the access network device receives the fourth message, where the fourth message includes the NGAP identifier and the downlink data.

S1406: The access network device sends the downlink data to the terminal device by using the first access technology.

Exemplarily, the access network device determines a first access technology for sending downlink data according to the NGAP identifier, and sends the downlink data to the terminal device through the first access technology.

FIG. 14 illustrates by taking an example that the data of the terminal device is processed by the network element of the first core network. In a possible implementation, the data of the terminal device may also be directly processed by the first server. The communication process is shown in Figure 15, and the process includes:

S1501: The access network device receives uplink data sent by the terminal device through the first access technology.

S1502: The access network device sends a first message to an AMF network element, and the AMF network element receives the first message, where the first message includes an NGAP identifier and the uplink data.

S1503: The AMF network element sends a second message to the first server through the NEF network element, where the second message includes the uplink data.

S1504: The AMF network element receives a third message from the first server through the NEF network element, where the third message includes downlink data.

S1505: The AMF network element sends a fourth message to the access network device, and the access network device receives the fourth message, where the fourth message includes the NGAP identifier and the downlink data.

S1506: The access network device sends the downlink data to the terminal device by using the first access technology.

Exemplarily, the access network device determines the first access technology according to the NGAP identifier, and sends the downlink data to the terminal device through the first access technology.

The process shown in FIG. 15 can be implemented with reference to the process shown in FIG. 14 , the difference is that the process shown in FIG. 15 does not involve the first core network element, and the first server directly processes the data of the terminal device.

Specifically, as shown in Table 10, for uplink transmission, the AMF network element can determine the corresponding SUPI and the first server according to the NGAP identifier included in the first message, and include the corresponding SUPI and the first server in the second message sent to the NEF network element. The SUPI, NEF network element includes the corresponding GPSI in the second message sent to the first server. For the downlink AMF network element, the corresponding NGAP identifier may be determined according to the SUPI carried in the third message.

Table 10

Compared with the access network device proxy establishing the device granular control plane channel, the access network device proxy establishes the access technology granular control plane channel, which can ensure that the data transmission of the terminal devices of different access technologies does not affect each other, which is beneficial to improve the network service quality. . At the same time, since different control plane channels themselves can distinguish access technologies, on the core network side, the required parameters included in the transmission between network elements can be reduced (for example, the indication parameters of the access technology type can be reduced), and the signaling overhead can be reduced. .

Implementation mode 3: The access network device agent establishes a device granular user plane channel.

FIG. 16 is a schematic diagram of a communication process provided by an embodiment of the present application, and the process includes:

S1601: The access network device receives uplink data sent by the terminal device through the first access technology.

Specifically, the implementation of how the access network device receives the uplink data sent by the terminal device through the first access technology and how to identify the first access technology adopted by the terminal device can refer to the implementation in FIG. 12 , and details are not repeated here.

S1602: The access network device sends the uplink data to the first core network element through the UPF network element.

RFID terminal equipment, UWB terminal equipment, etc. usually have no RRC connection and/or no NAS construction capability. In order to enable data transmission between the terminal equipment and the core network element or server, the access network equipment and the UPF network element can establish Device-level user plane channels. Specifically, for the process of establishing a user plane channel by an access network device as a proxy for a terminal device, reference may be made to the process of establishing a user plane channel by a W-AGF proxy shown in FIG.

After the access network device receives the uplink data sent by the terminal device through the first access technology, the access network device may determine the first core network network element that receives the uplink data according to the first access technology. As shown in Table 11, if the first access technology adopted by the terminal device sending the uplink data is "RFID", then the IP address of the network element of the first core network is determined to be "RFID-H IP address", and the first core network The element is "RFID-H".

底层模块low-level module	接入技术类型Access technology type	第一核心网网元的IP地址IP address of the first core network element
底层模块1(RFID-L)Bottom module 1 (RFID-L)	RFIDRFID	RFID-H IP地址RFID-H IP address
底层模块2(UWB-L)Bottom Module 2 (UWB-L)	UWBUWB	UWB-H IP地址UWB-H IP address
底层模块3(Sensing-L)Bottom Module 3 (Sensing-L)	SensingSensing	Sensing-H IP地址Sensing-H IP address

Table 11

After determining the first core network element and the IP addresses of the first core network element, the access network device sends the uplink data to the UPF network element through the established device-granularity user plane channel, and the UPF network element forwards it to the first core network network element. After the network element of the first core network receives the uplink data, the network element of the first core network processes the uplink data, and can identify the terminal device identifier included in the uplink data, and the first core network network element establishes the identifier of the terminal device and the access network. The association relationship between the IP addresses of the device, which is used for sending downlink data. The association relationship between the identifier of the terminal device established by the network element of the first core network and the IP address of the access network device may be as shown in Table 12.

Table 12

As an example: the first core network element sends the processing result of the uplink data and the identifier of the first server (AF identifier) to the NEF network element, and the NEF network element receives the processing result and the first server from the first core network element After the identification of the first server, a transaction number (Transaction ID) is generated, and the processing result and the Transaction ID are sent to the first server according to the identification of the first server. The first server serves the terminal device using the first access technology, and the Transaction ID is used to identify the request initiated to the first server.

The first server parses the processing result, identifies the identification of the terminal device in the processing result, as shown in Table 13, and can associate the Transaction ID with the identification of the terminal device. The first server determines the Transaction ID according to the relationship between the Transaction ID and the identification of the terminal device, and sends the downlink data and the Transaction ID to the NEF network element. After receiving the downlink data and the Transaction ID, the NEF network element sends the downlink data to the first core network element; optionally, the NEF network element may also send the identifier of the first server to the first core network element, and the first core network element The ID of the terminal device in the downlink data is identified, and according to the association relationship between the ID of the terminal device and the IP address of the access network device, it determines the destination address (that is, the IP address of the access network device) for sending the downlink data, and sends it to the UPF network element. Sending downlink data is sent by the UPF network element to the access network device through the device-granularity user plane channel established with the access network device.

Table 13

S1603: The access network device receives downlink data from the first core network element through the UPF network element.

S1604: The access network device sends the downlink data to the terminal device by using the first access technology.

After receiving the downlink data from the first core network element, the access network device can determine the first core according to the address information (such as IP address) and/or identification information of the first core network element with reference to Table 11. The first access technology corresponding to the network element. Send the downlink data to the terminal device by using the first access technology. The implementation of the access network device sending the downlink data to the terminal device through the first access technology may refer to the implementation in FIG. 12 , and details will not be repeated here.

The above description takes the example that the data of the terminal device is processed by the network element of the first core network. In a possible implementation, the data of the terminal device can also be directly processed by the first server. The communication process is shown in Figure 17, and the process includes:

S1701: The access network device receives uplink data sent by the terminal device through the first access technology.

S1702: The access network device sends the uplink data to the first server through the UPF network element.

Different from the communication process shown in FIG. 16 , in the communication process shown in FIG. 17 , no network element of the first core network is involved, and the data of the terminal device is directly processed by the first server. After the access network device receives the uplink data sent by the terminal device through the first access technology, the access network device determines the first server that receives the uplink data according to the first access technology. As shown in Table 14, if the first access technology adopted by the terminal device sending the uplink data is "RFID", the first server is determined to be "RFID server", and the IP address of the first server is "RFID server IP address". After determining the IP address of the first server, the access network device sends the uplink data to the UPF network element through the established device-granularity user plane channel, and the UPF network element forwards the data to the first core server.

底层模块low-level module	接入技术类型Access technology type	第一服务器的IP地址IP address of the first server
底层模块1(RFID-L)Bottom module 1 (RFID-L)	RFIDRFID	RFID服务器IP地址RFID server IP address
底层模块2(UWB-L)Bottom Module 2 (UWB-L)	UWBUWB	UWB服务器IP地址UWB server IP address
底层模块3(Sensing-L)Bottom Module 3 (Sensing-L)	SensingSensing	Sensing服务器IP地址Sensing server IP address

Table 14

After receiving the uplink data from the access network device, the first server processes the uplink data, identifies the terminal device identifier included in the uplink data, establishes an association relationship between the terminal device identifier and the IP address of the access network device, and uses for sending downlink data. After the first server generates the downlink data, it can send the downlink data to the access network via the device-granularity user plane channel established by the UPF network element and the access network device according to the established association between the identifier of the terminal device and the IP address of the access network device. access equipment.

S1703: The access network device receives downlink data from the first server through the UPF network element.

S1704: The access network device sends the downlink data to the terminal device by using the first access technology.

After the access network device receives the downlink data from the first server, with reference to Table 14, it can determine that the first server corresponds to the first server according to the IP address and/or identification information of the first server or according to the tunnel endpoint identification information of the user plane channel. the first access technology. Send the downlink data to the terminal device by using the first access technology. The implementation of the access network device sending the downlink data to the terminal device through the first access technology may refer to the implementation in FIG. 12 , and details will not be repeated here.

Implementation mode 4: The access network device agent establishes the access technology granular user plane channel.

Different from implementation mode 3, the access network device proxy establishes a user plane channel of device granularity, and the data of the terminal device without RRC connection and/or NAS construction capability accessing the access network device is transmitted through the same user plane channel. , it can be understood that a shared transmission channel is established between the access network device and the UPF network element, which is used to transmit the data of the access network device without RRC connection and/or without NAS construction capability terminal equipment; , the access network device establishes the access technology granular user plane channel as an agent, that is, the access network device establishes the user plane channel separately for each supported access technology. There are multiple transmission channels, and the data of the terminal equipment of each access technology has a dedicated transmission channel.

The communication process in which the access network device agent establishes the access technology granular user plane channel can realize the communication process shown in Figure 16 and Figure 17 in the third mode. User plane channels with technical granularity, as shown in Table 15, when the data (including uplink data and downlink data) of the terminal equipment is transmitted between the access network equipment and the UPF network element, the first access technology adopted by the terminal equipment will be used. Select the corresponding access technology granularity user plane channel (ie, PDU session or session connection) for data transmission; for downlink data, the access network device can also determine the first channel according to the user plane channel (PDU session or session connection) receiving downlink data access technology.

Table 15

Compared with the access network device agent establishing the device granularity user plane channel, the access network device proxy establishing the access technology granularity user plane channel can ensure that the data transmission of the terminal devices of different access technologies does not affect each other, which is beneficial to improve the network service quality .

It should be understood that the above communication process describes the transmission process of uplink data and downlink data at the same time. It should be understood that in practical applications, there may only be transmission of uplink data or downlink data. When there is only transmission of uplink data or downlink data. In the above-mentioned communication process, only the transmission process of uplink data or downlink data may be referred to.

In addition, the access network device establishes a user plane channel of access network device granularity for the terminal equipment without RRC connection and/or without NAS construction capability, or proxy for terminal equipment without RRC connection and/or without NAS construction capability Establish a user plane channel with access technology granularity to realize data transmission to terminal equipment without RRC connection and/or no NAS construction capability. Compared with the establishment of a control plane channel by proxy for data transmission, it can reduce transmission delay and provide QoS guarantee. , thereby improving the quality of data transmission.

In addition, in the embodiments of the present application, data of different terminal devices share the same (or terminal devices of the same access technology share the same) control plane or user plane channel, so that the AMF network element or UPF network element of the core network does not perceive the terminal device's data. It exists and does not parse the data of the terminal device, which is not only compatible with terminal devices that do not have RRC connection and/or no NAS construction capability, but also achieves the effect of protecting privacy and security.

In the above, the solution provided by the present application is mainly introduced from the perspective of interaction between the access and mobility management function network element and the access network equipment. It can be understood that, in order to realize the above functions, each network element includes a corresponding hardware structure and/or software module (or unit) for performing each function. Those skilled in the art should easily realize that the present application can be implemented in hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software with the units and algorithm steps of each example described in conjunction with the embodiments disclosed herein. Whether a function is performed by hardware or computer software driving hardware depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality using different methods for each particular application, but such implementations should not be considered beyond the scope of this application.

FIG. 18 and FIG. 19 are schematic structural diagrams of possible communication apparatuses provided by embodiments of the present application. These communication apparatuses can be used to implement the functions of the access and mobility management function network element or the access network equipment in the above method embodiments, and thus can also achieve the beneficial effects of the above method embodiments. In the embodiment of the present application, the communication device may be the access and mobility management function network element shown in FIG. 12-FIG. 17 , the access network device shown in FIG. 12-FIG. 17 , or the application Access and mobility management function network elements or modules (such as chips) of access network equipment.

As shown in Figure 18. The communication apparatus 1800 may include: a processing unit 1802 and a communication unit 1803, and may further include a storage unit 1801. The communication apparatus 1800 is configured to implement the functions of the access and mobility management function network element or the access network equipment in the method embodiments shown in FIG. 12 to FIG. 17 .

In a possible design, the processing unit 1802 is used to implement corresponding processing functions. The communication unit 1803 is used to support the communication between the communication device 1800 and other network entities. The storage unit 1801 is used for storing program codes and/or data of the communication device 1800 . Optionally, the communication unit 1803 may include a receiving unit and/or a sending unit for performing receiving and sending operations, respectively.

When the communication apparatus 1800 is configured to implement the function of the access and mobility management function network element in the method embodiment: the communication unit 1803 is configured to receive a first message from an access network device, where the first message includes an access technology Indication information and uplink data from the terminal device, wherein the access technology indication information indicates the first access technology adopted by the terminal device; the communication unit 1803 is further configured to send a second message to the first network element , the second message includes the uplink data, wherein the first network element serves a terminal device using the first access technology.

In a possible design, the second message further includes a first identifier, where the first identifier is used to identify the access network device, or the first identifier is used to identify the access network The first access technology supported by the device.

In a possible design, the apparatus further includes: a processing unit 1802, configured to determine, according to the access technology indication information, the first network element that receives the uplink data.

In another possible implementation, the communication unit 1803 is configured to receive a third message from the first network element, where the third message includes downlink data, wherein the first network element serves the use of the first access technology; the communication unit 1803 is further configured to send a fourth message to the access network device, where the fourth message includes access technology indication information and the downlink data, wherein the access technology indication information Indicates the first access technology.

In a possible design, the third message further includes a first identifier, where the first identifier is used to identify the access network device, or the first identifier is used to identify the access network The first access technology supported by the device.

In a possible design, the third message further includes address information of the first network element and/or identification information of the first network element; the apparatus further includes: a processing unit 1802, configured to The address information of the first network element and/or the identification information of the first network element determine the first access technology.

When the communication apparatus 1800 is used to implement the function of the access network device in the method embodiment: the communication unit 1803 is configured to receive uplink data sent by the terminal device through the first access technology, wherein the communication apparatus supports multiple accesses The multiple access technologies include the first access technology; the communication unit 1803 is further configured to send a first message to the access and mobility management function network element, the first access technology A message includes access technology indication information and the uplink data, wherein the access technology indication information indicates the first access technology.

In another possible implementation, the communication unit 1803 is configured to receive a fourth message from the access and mobility management function network element, where the fourth message includes access technology indication information and the downlink from the first network element data, wherein the first network element serves a terminal device using a first access technology, and the access technology indication information indicates the first access technology; the communication unit 1803 is further configured to use the The first access technology sends the downlink data to the terminal device, wherein the communication apparatus supports terminal device access of multiple access technologies, and the multiple access technologies include the first access technology.

In a possible design, the apparatus further includes: a processing unit 1802, configured to determine, according to the access technology indication information, the first access technology used for sending the downlink data to the terminal device .

In another possible implementation, the communication unit 1803 is configured to receive uplink data sent by the terminal device through the first access technology, wherein the communication apparatus supports terminal device access of multiple access technologies, and the multiple access technologies The access technology includes the first access technology; the communication unit 1803 is further configured to send the uplink data to a first network element, where the first network element serves the use of the first access technology technology terminal equipment.

In a possible design, when the communication unit 1803 sends the uplink data to the first network element, it is specifically configured to send the uplink data to the first network element through the first user plane channel, wherein the The first user plane channel is used for transmitting data of the terminal equipment accessing the communication apparatus, or for transmitting data of the terminal equipment accessing the communication apparatus through the first access technology.

In a possible design, the first network element is a core network element or a server.

In another possible implementation, the communication unit 1803 is configured to receive downlink data from the first network element, wherein the communication apparatus supports terminal equipment access of multiple access technologies, and the multiple access technologies Including the first access technology, the first network element serves the terminal equipment adopting the first access technology; the communication unit 1803 is further configured to send a message to the terminal equipment through the first access technology the downlink data.

In a possible design, when the communication unit 1803 receives the downlink data from the first network element, it is specifically configured to receive the downlink data from the first network element through the first user plane channel, wherein the first network element The user plane channel is used for transmitting data of the terminal equipment accessing the communication apparatus, or for transmitting data of the terminal equipment accessing the communication apparatus through the first access technology.

As shown in FIG. 19 , the communication device 1900 includes a processor 1910 and an interface circuit 1920 . The processor 1910 and the interface circuit 1920 are coupled to each other. It can be understood that the interface circuit 1920 can be a transceiver or an input-output interface. Optionally, the communication apparatus 1900 may further include a memory 1930 for storing instructions executed by the processor 1910 or input data required by the processor 1910 to execute the instructions or data generated after the processor 1910 executes the instructions.

When the communication apparatus 1900 is used to implement the methods shown in FIGS. 12 to 17 , the processor 1910 is used to implement the functions of the above-mentioned processing unit 1802 , and the interface circuit 1920 is used to implement the functions of the above-mentioned communication unit 1803 .

As another form of this embodiment, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, on which instructions are stored, and when the instructions are executed, the above-mentioned method embodiments applicable to access and mobility management function network elements or accesses can be executed. The communication method of the networked device.

As another form of this embodiment, a computer program product containing instructions is provided, and when the instructions are executed, the above-mentioned method embodiments applicable to access communication with a mobility management function network element or an access network device can be performed. method.

As another form of this embodiment, a chip is provided. When running, the chip can execute the communication method applicable to an access and mobility management function network element or an access network device in the above method embodiments.

As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the embodiments of the present application may be provided as a method, a system, or a 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, disk storage, CD-ROM, optical storage, etc.) 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 present application. It will be understood that each process and/or block in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of processes and/or blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to the processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, embedded processor or other programmable data processing device to produce a machine such that the instructions executed by the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing device produce Means for implementing the functions specified in a flow or flow of a flowchart and/or a block or blocks of a block diagram.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory capable of directing a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory result in an article of manufacture comprising instruction means, the instructions The apparatus implements the functions specified in the flow or flows of the flowcharts and/or the block or blocks of the block diagrams.

These computer program instructions can also be loaded on a computer or other programmable data processing device to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable device to produce a computer-implemented process such that The instructions provide steps for implementing the functions specified in the flow or blocks of the flowcharts and/or the block or blocks of the block diagrams.

While the preferred embodiments of the present application have been described, additional changes and modifications to these embodiments may occur to those skilled in the art once the basic inventive concepts are known. Therefore, the appended claims are intended to be construed to include the preferred embodiment and all changes and modifications that fall within the scope of this application.

Obviously, those skilled in the art can make various changes and modifications to the embodiments of the present application without departing from the spirit and scope of the embodiments of the present application. Thus, if these modifications and variations of the embodiments of the present application fall within the scope of the claims of the present application and their equivalents, the present application is also intended to include these modifications and variations.

Claims

A communication method, comprising:

The access and mobility management function network element receives a first message from the access network device, the first message includes access technology indication information and uplink data from the terminal device, wherein the access technology indication information indicates the the first access technology adopted by the terminal device;

The access and mobility management function network element sends a second message to the first network element, the second message includes the uplink data, wherein the first network element serves the use of the first access technology terminal equipment.
The method of claim 1, wherein the access technology indication information has multiple values, and each value indicates an access technology.
The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the access technology indication information comprises an access technology identifier or a protocol identifier or a message type of the first message.
The method according to any one of claims 1-3, wherein the second message further includes a first identifier, wherein the first identifier is used to identify the access network device, or the The first identifier is used to identify the first access technology supported by the access network device.
The method according to any one of claims 1-4, wherein the method further comprises:

The access and mobility management function network element determines the first network element that receives the uplink data according to the access technology indication information.
A communication method, comprising:

The access and mobility management function network element receives a third message from the first network element, where the third message includes downlink data, wherein the first network element serves terminal equipment using the first access technology;

The access and mobility management function network element sends a fourth message to the access network device, where the fourth message includes access technology indication information and the downlink data, wherein the access technology indication information indicates the The first access technology.
The method of claim 6, wherein the access technology indication information has multiple values, and each value indicates an access technology.
The method according to claim 6 or 7, wherein the access technology indication information comprises an access technology identifier or a protocol identifier or a message type of the fourth message.
The method according to any one of claims 6-8, wherein the third message further includes a first identifier, wherein the first identifier is used to identify the access network device, or the The first identifier is used to identify the first access technology supported by the access network device.
The method according to any one of claims 6-9, wherein the third message further includes address information of the first network element and/or identification information of the first network element; the Methods also include:

The access and mobility management function network element determines the first access technology according to the address information of the first network element and/or the identification information of the first network element.
A communication method, comprising:

The access network device receives uplink data sent by the terminal device through the first access technology, wherein the access network device supports terminal device access of multiple access technologies, and the multiple access technologies include the first access technology. access technology;

The access network device sends a first message to the access and mobility management function network element, where the first message includes access technology indication information and the uplink data, wherein the access technology indication information indicates the first message. an access technology.
The method of claim 11, wherein the access technology indication information has multiple values, and each value indicates an access technology.
The method according to claim 11 or 12, wherein the access technology indication information comprises an access technology identifier or a protocol identifier or a message type of the first message.
A communication method, comprising:

The access network device receives a fourth message from the access and mobility management function network element, where the fourth message includes access technology indication information and downlink data from a first network element, wherein the first network element serves For a terminal device using a first access technology, the access technology indication information indicates the first access technology;

The access network device sends the downlink data to the terminal device through the first access technology, wherein the access network device supports terminal device access of multiple access technologies, and the multiple access technologies Including the first access technology.
The method of claim 14, wherein the access technology indication information has multiple values, and each value indicates an access technology.
The method according to claim 14 or 15, wherein the access technology indication information comprises an access technology identifier or a protocol identifier or a message type of the fourth message.
The method of any one of claims 14-16, wherein the method further comprises:

The access network device determines, according to the access technology indication information, the first access technology used for sending the downlink data to the terminal device.
A communication device, characterized in that it includes:

a communication unit, configured to receive a first message from an access network device, where the first message includes access technology indication information and uplink data from a terminal device, wherein the access technology indication information indicates that the terminal device adopts the first access technology;

The communication unit is further configured to send a second message to the first network element, where the second message includes the uplink data, wherein the first network element serves a terminal device using the first access technology .
The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the access technology indication information has multiple values, and each value indicates an access technology.
The apparatus according to claim 18 or 19, wherein the access technology indication information comprises an access technology identifier or a protocol identifier or a message type of the first message.
The apparatus according to any one of claims 18-20, wherein the second message further includes a first identifier, wherein the first identifier is used to identify the access network device, or the The first identifier is used to identify the first access technology supported by the access network device.
The apparatus of any one of claims 18-21, wherein the apparatus further comprises:

A processing unit, configured to determine, according to the access technology indication information, the first network element that receives the uplink data.
A communication device, characterized in that it includes:

a communication unit, configured to receive a third message from a first network element, where the third message includes downlink data, wherein the first network element serves a terminal device using a first access technology;

The communication unit is further configured to send a fourth message to the access network device, where the fourth message includes access technology indication information and the downlink data, wherein the access technology indication information indicates the first access technology. into technology.
The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the access technology indication information has multiple values, and each value indicates an access technology.
The apparatus according to claim 23 or 24, wherein the access technology indication information comprises an access technology identifier or a protocol identifier or a message type of the fourth message.
The apparatus according to any one of claims 23-25, wherein the third message further includes a first identifier, wherein the first identifier is used to identify the access network device, or the The first identifier is used to identify the first access technology supported by the access network device.
The apparatus according to any one of claims 23-26, wherein the third message further includes address information of the first network element and/or identification information of the first network element; the The device also includes:

A processing unit, configured to determine the first access technology according to the address information of the first network element and/or the identification information of the first network element.
A communication device, comprising:

A communication unit, configured to receive uplink data sent by a terminal device through a first access technology, wherein the communication apparatus supports terminal device access of multiple access technologies, and the multiple access technologies include the first access technology. into technology;

The communication unit is further configured to send a first message to the access and mobility management function network element, where the first message includes access technology indication information and the uplink data, wherein the access technology indication information indicates the The first access technology is described above.
The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the access technology indication information has multiple values, and each value indicates an access technology.
The apparatus according to claim 28 or 29, wherein the access technology indication information comprises an access technology identifier or a protocol identifier or a message type of the first message.
A communication device, comprising:

a communication unit, configured to receive a fourth message from an access and mobility management function network element, where the fourth message includes access technology indication information and downlink data from a first network element, where the first network element serving the terminal equipment adopting the first access technology, the access technology indication information indicates the first access technology;

The communication unit is further configured to send the downlink data to the terminal device through the first access technology, wherein the communication apparatus supports terminal device access of multiple access technologies, and the multiple access technologies Including the first access technology.
The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the access technology indication information has multiple values, and each value indicates an access technology.
The apparatus according to claim 31 or 32, wherein the access technology indication information comprises an access technology identifier or a protocol identifier or a message type of the fourth message.
The apparatus of any one of claims 31-33, wherein the apparatus further comprises:

A processing unit, configured to determine, according to the access technology indication information, the first access technology used for sending the downlink data to the terminal device.
A communication system, characterized by comprising an access and mobility management function network element for executing the method according to any one of claims 1-10, and a network element for executing any of the methods according to claim 11-17 The access network device of the method.
A computer-readable storage medium, characterized by comprising a computer program, which, when the computer program is run on a computer, causes the computer to execute the communication method according to any one of claims 1-17.