WO2025030862A1 - Communication method and apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

The present application relates to the technical field of communications, and provides a communication method and apparatus, capable of improving the accuracy of a terminal device matching a user equipment route selection policy (URSP) rule on the basis of application information, thereby improving a session establishment success rate and a data transmission success rate, and improving the communication performance. The method comprises: a terminal device acquiring first information of a first application on the basis of a first acquisition path, and matching the first application information with the URSP rule of the terminal device; when the first application information does not match the URSP rule, acquiring second application information of the first application on the basis of a second acquisition path; and matching the second application information with the URSP rule.

Description

A communication method and device

This application claims the priority of the Chinese patent application filed with the State Intellectual Property Office on August 10, 2023, with application number 202311010465.0 and invention name “A communication method and device”, all contents of which are incorporated by reference in this application.

Technical Field

The embodiments of the present application relate to the field of communication technology, and in particular, to a communication method and device.

Background Art

In a communication system, the communication requirements of various communication services may differ greatly. By flexibly allocating network resources and networking on demand, multiple network slices with different characteristics and isolated from each other can be virtually created on the same set of physical facilities to meet the communication needs of different services.

Among them, when the terminal device is transmitting services, it can obtain application information associated with the traffic descriptor (TD), and match the appropriate terminal equipment route selection policy (URSP) rules according to the application information for communication. For example, according to the application information, the URSP rules are matched to select the network slice that can meet the communication needs for communication.

In the related technology, a terminal device may obtain multiple application information, and each of the multiple application information may be different, which may cause errors when the terminal device matches the URSP rules according to the application information. For example, a terminal device that is expected to be mapped to network slice 1 is mapped to network slice 2, which may cause the session establishment to fail and data transmission to be impossible.

Summary of the invention

The embodiments of the present application provide a communication method and apparatus, which can improve the accuracy of terminal equipment in matching URSP rules according to application information, thereby improving the success rate of session establishment and data transmission, and improving communication performance.

The embodiments of the present application adopt the following technical solutions:

In a first aspect, a communication method is provided, and the execution subject of the method can be a terminal device, or a chip, a chip system or a system on chip in the terminal device. The following description is taken as an example that the execution subject is a terminal device. The method includes: obtaining first information of a first application according to a first acquisition path, matching the first application information with a terminal device routing selection policy URSP rule of the terminal device; when the first application information does not match the URSP rule, obtaining second application information of the first application according to a second acquisition path; matching the second application information with the URSP rule.

Based on the first aspect, since different application information corresponds to different acquisition paths, the terminal device acquires the first application information through the first acquisition path, and after acquiring the first application information, matches the first application information with the URSP rule. If the first application information does not match the URSP rule, the second application information is acquired through the second acquisition path, and after acquiring the second application information, the second application information is matched with the URSP rule, thereby improving the accuracy of the terminal device matching the URSP rule according to the application information, thereby improving the session establishment success rate and the data transmission success rate, and improving the communication performance.

In a possible implementation of the first aspect, the URSP rule includes a traffic descriptor TD, and TD is associated with one or more of the following application information: application descriptor, IP descriptor, domain descriptor, non-IP descriptor, data network name, and connection capability; the method also includes: when the first application information matches the URSP rule, determining the network slice information according to the TD in the URSP rule, and communicating according to the network slice information.

In this implementation, when the first application information matches the URSP rule, the terminal device determines the network slice information according to the traffic descriptor in the URSP rule and communicates according to the network slice information, that is, there is no need to obtain the second application information through a second acquisition path, thereby achieving the purpose of streamlining resource overhead.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the first application information includes one or more application information associated with the TD; or the first application information includes an index used to represent the TD, and a mapping relationship exists between the index and the TD.

Optionally, the first application information includes one or more of an application descriptor, an IP descriptor, a domain descriptor, a non-IP descriptor, a data network name, and a connection capability.

Optionally, the first application information includes: one or more of A, B, C, D, E; or one or more of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5; or a descriptive symbol such as bit table 00000.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the method further includes: when the second application information does not match the URSP rule, combining the first application information and the second application information to obtain third application information; and matching the third application information with the URSP rule.

In this implementation, when the first application information does not match the URSP rule and the second application information does not match the URSP rule, the first application information and the second application information are combined and the combined third application information is matched with the URSP rule, thereby further improving the session establishment success rate and the data transmission success rate and improving the communication performance.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, a priority of the first acquisition approach is higher than a priority of the second acquisition approach.

In a possible implementation of the first aspect, before matching the first application information with the URSP rule of the terminal device routing selection policy, the method also includes: receiving the URSP rule sent from the network device, the URSP rule including indication information, and the indication information indicates that the priority of the first acquisition path is higher than the priority of the second acquisition path.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the preset priority information indicates a priority of the first acquisition approach and a priority of the second acquisition approach.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the preset priority information is determined according to the traffic descriptor field in the URSP rule; or, the preset priority information is predefined; or, the preset priority information is determined by the operating system OS manufacturer; or, the preset priority information is determined by the operator; or, the preset priority information is determined by the terminal device manufacturer.

Optionally, the terminal device has the ability to obtain M application information from N acquisition paths; wherein M and N are integers, M is greater than or equal to 1, and M is less than or equal to N.

It is understandable that in the present application, the terminal device has the ability to obtain application information from multiple acquisition channels. In actual communication scenarios, the terminal device may not be able to obtain application information from all acquisition channels, and the terminal device may not be able to obtain application information from one or some acquisition channels.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, a way of obtaining the application information includes one or more of the following: Obtain application information through the method provided by the application; or, obtain application information of the application through the application program interface API; or, determine the application information of the application according to the OS entity; or, identify the service to be transmitted according to a preset configuration file to obtain application information; or, obtain application information defined by the operator; or, obtain application information customized by the terminal device; or, obtain application information associated with the communication scenario; or, obtain application information pre-configured by the application store.

In a possible implementation of the first aspect, obtaining first application information of the first application according to the first acquisition path includes: an OS entity of a terminal device obtaining the first application information of the first application according to the first acquisition path; or, a software tool development kit SDK entity of the terminal device obtaining the first application information of the first application according to the first acquisition path; or, a modem of the terminal device obtaining the first application information of the first application according to the first acquisition path.

In this implementation, different entities (such as OS entity, SDK entity, modem entity) may be configured in the terminal device for different manufacturers, and the terminal device may obtain application information based on the entity and different acquisition paths.

In a possible implementation of the first aspect, matching the first application information with a terminal device routing selection policy URSP rule includes: an OS entity of the terminal device matching the first application information with the URSP rule; or, an SDK entity of the terminal device matching the first application information with the URSP rule; or, a modem entity of the terminal device matching the first application information with the URSP rule.

In this implementation, different entities (such as OS entity, SDK entity, modem entity) may be configured in the terminal device for different manufacturers, and the terminal device may match the first application information with the URSP rule based on the entity.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the first application information includes security verification information; the first application information does not match the URSP, including: when the security verification information is illegal, the first application information does not match the URSP. Wherein, the first application information matches the URSP, including: when the security verification information is legal, the first application information matches the URSP.

In a second aspect, a communication method is provided, wherein the execution subject of the method may be a network device, or a chip, a chip system or a system on chip in the network device. The following description is made by taking the execution subject being a network device as an example. The method comprises: sending a terminal device routing selection policy URSP rule to a terminal device, wherein the URSP rule instructs the terminal device to establish a PDU session using network slicing information; and indicating to the terminal device that the priority of the first acquisition path is higher than the priority of the second acquisition path.

In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the URSP rule includes indication information, where the indication information indicates that a priority of the first acquisition path is higher than a priority of the second acquisition path.

In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the URSP rule includes a traffic descriptor TD, and the TD is associated with one or more of the following application information: application descriptor, IP descriptor, domain descriptor, non-IP descriptor, data network name, and connection capability.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, which can be applied to a terminal device in the first aspect or a possible design of the first aspect to implement the functions performed by the terminal device. The communication device can be a terminal device, or a chip or chip system or system on chip of the terminal device, etc. The communication device can perform the functions performed by the terminal device through hardware, or can perform corresponding software implementation through hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above functions. For example, a transceiver module and a processor The transceiver module is used to obtain first application information of the first application according to the first acquisition path; the processing module is used to match the first application information with the terminal device routing selection policy URSP rule of the terminal device; the transceiver module is also used to obtain second application information of the first application according to the second acquisition path when the first application information does not match the URSP rule; the processing module is also used to match the second application information with the URSP rule.

In an implementation of the third aspect, the URSP rule includes a traffic descriptor TD, and TD is associated with one or more of the following application information: application descriptor, IP descriptor, domain descriptor, non-IP descriptor, data network name, and connection capability; the processing module is also used to determine the network slice information according to the TD in the URSP rule when the first application information matches the URSP rule, and communicate according to the network slice information.

In an implementation manner of the third aspect, the first application information includes one or more application information associated with the TD; or, the first application information includes an index used to represent the TD, and there is a mapping relationship between the index and the TD.

In an implementation manner of the third aspect, the processing module is further used to combine the first application information and the second application information to obtain third application information when the second application information does not match the URSP rule; and match the third application information with the URSP rule.

In an implementation manner of the third aspect, the priority of the first acquisition approach is higher than the priority of the second acquisition approach.

In an implementation of the third aspect, before matching the first application information with the URSP rule of the terminal device routing selection policy, the processing module is also used to receive the URSP rule sent from the network device, and the URSP rule includes indication information, and the indication information indicates that the priority of the first acquisition path is higher than the priority of the second acquisition path.

In an implementation manner of the third aspect, the preset priority information indicates the priority of the first acquisition approach and the priority of the second acquisition approach.

In an implementation of the third aspect, the preset priority information is determined according to the traffic descriptor field in the URSP rule; or, the preset priority information is predefined; or, the preset priority information is determined by the operating system OS manufacturer; or, the preset priority information is determined by the operator; or, the preset priority information is determined by the terminal device manufacturer.

In an implementation of the third aspect, the way of obtaining application information includes one or more of the following: obtaining application information through a method provided by an application; or, obtaining application information of an application through an application program interface API; or, determining application information of an application based on an OS entity; or, identifying a service to be transmitted based on a preset configuration file to obtain application information; or, obtaining application information defined by an operator; or, obtaining application information customized by a terminal device; or, obtaining application information associated with a communication scenario; or, obtaining application information pre-configured by an application store.

In an implementation of the third aspect, the processing module is specifically used to: control the OS entity of the terminal device to obtain the first application information of the first application according to the first acquisition path; or control the software tool development kit SDK entity of the terminal device to obtain the first application information of the first application according to the first acquisition path; or control the modem of the terminal device to obtain the first application information of the first application according to the first acquisition path.

In an implementation of the third aspect, the processing module is specifically used to: control the OS entity of the terminal device to match the first application information with the URSP rule; or, control the SDK entity of the terminal device to match the first application information with the URSP rule; or, control the modem entity of the terminal device to match the first application information with the URSP rule.

In a possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the first application information includes security verification information; and the processing module is specifically configured to: if the security verification information is illegal, the first application information does not match the URSP. The processing module is specifically configured to: if the security verification information is legal, the first application information matches the first application information with the URSP.

It should be noted that the specific implementation method of the communication device in the third aspect can refer to the behavioral function of the terminal device in the communication method provided by the above-mentioned first aspect or any possible design of the first aspect, and will not be repeated here.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, which can be applied to the network device in the above-mentioned second aspect or a possible design of the second aspect to implement the functions performed by the above-mentioned network device. The communication device can be a network device, or a chip or system on chip of the network device. The communication device can execute the functions performed by the above-mentioned network device through hardware, or execute the corresponding software implementation through hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above-mentioned functions. Such as a transceiver module. The transceiver module is used to send a terminal device routing selection policy URSP rule to the terminal device, and the URSP rule is used to instruct the terminal device to use network slicing information to establish a PDU session; the transceiver module is also used to indicate to the terminal device that the priority of the first acquisition path is higher than the priority of the second acquisition path.

In a possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the URSP rule includes indication information, where the indication information indicates that a priority of the first acquisition path is higher than a priority of the second acquisition path.

In a possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the URSP rule includes a traffic descriptor TD, and the TD is associated with one or more of the following application information: application descriptor, IP descriptor, domain descriptor, non-IP descriptor, data network name, and connection capability.

It should be noted that the specific implementation method of the communication device in the fourth aspect can refer to the behavioral function of the network device in the communication method provided by the above-mentioned second aspect or any possible design of the second aspect, and will not be repeated here.

In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, which includes one or more processors; one or more processors are used to run computer programs or instructions, and when the one or more processors execute the computer instructions or instructions, the communication device executes the communication method described in the first aspect or any possible design of the first aspect, or executes the communication method described in the second aspect or any possible design of the second aspect.

In a possible implementation of the fifth aspect, the communication device further includes one or more memories, one or more memories are coupled to one or more processors, and the one or more memories are used to store the above-mentioned computer programs or instructions. In a possible implementation, the memory is located outside the communication device. In another possible implementation, the memory is located within the communication device. In an embodiment of the present application, the processor and the memory may also be integrated into one device, that is, the processor and the memory may also be integrated together. In a possible implementation, the communication device further includes a transceiver, which is used to receive information and/or send information.

In a possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, the communication device also includes one or more communication interfaces, the one or more communication interfaces are coupled to the one or more processors, and the one or more communication interfaces are used to communicate with other modules outside the communication device.

In a sixth aspect, a communication device is provided, which includes an input/output interface and a logic circuit; the input/output interface is used to input and/or output information; the logic circuit is used to execute the communication method described in the first aspect or any possible design of the first aspect, or to execute the communication method described in the second aspect or any possible design of the second aspect.

In a seventh aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, wherein the computer-readable storage medium stores a computer A computer instruction or program, when the computer instruction or program is executed on a computer, causes the communication method as described in the first aspect or any possible design of the first aspect to be executed, or causes the communication method as described in the second aspect or any possible design of the second aspect to be executed.

In an eighth aspect, a computer program product comprising computer instructions is provided, which, when executed on a computer, causes the communication method described in the first aspect or any possible design of the first aspect to be executed, or the communication method described in the second aspect or any possible design of the second aspect to be executed.

In the ninth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer program, which, when running on a computer, enables the communication method described in the first aspect or any possible design of the first aspect to be executed, or the communication method described in the second aspect or any possible design of the second aspect to be executed.

Among them, the technical effects brought about by any design method in the fifth to ninth aspects can refer to the technical effects brought about by any possible design of the above-mentioned first aspect, or refer to the technical effects brought about by any possible design of the above-mentioned second aspect and will not be repeated here.

In a tenth aspect, a communication system is provided, which includes a communication device as described in the third aspect to or any possible design of the third aspect, or includes a communication device as described in the fourth aspect or any possible design of the fourth aspect.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG2 is a schematic diagram of the composition of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG3 is a flow chart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG4 is a schematic diagram of a frame structure of a URSP rule provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG5 is a flow chart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG6 is a structural diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 7 is a structural diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Before describing the embodiments of the present application, the technical terms involved in the embodiments of the present application are described.

Network slicing: With the development of mobile communication technology, various new services and application scenarios are constantly emerging, and a large number of devices are constantly connected to the network. These devices can belong to different industrial fields, and their requirements for network mobility, security, latency, reliability, and even billing methods vary greatly. If we follow the traditional network construction ideas and use a single network to carry these services, it will be difficult to meet the hugely different business needs at the same time. For operators, it will be a costly and inefficient investment, and for users, they will not be able to get high-quality services that meet specific needs. To this end, it is proposed that customized network services can be provided to users through end-to-end network slicing. Through flexible allocation of network resources and on-demand networking, multiple network slices with different characteristics and isolated from each other can be virtualized on the same set of physical facilities, or described as abstractly dividing a physical network into multiple network slices, each network slice constitutes an end-to-end logical network, which is logically isolated from each other, so as to provide targeted services to users and meet the business needs of various communication services. Among them, network slices can also be called slices, logical subnets, etc., without restriction.

With the introduction of network slicing technology, operators will be able to provide network capabilities with different functional characteristics, provide "exclusive" networks for users with different business needs, ensure high-quality service levels, and meet differentiated business needs. Users will also be able to use more cool application products, further stimulating the development of new industry applications. The ultimate goal is to improve the efficiency of network resource utilization, optimize operators' network construction investment, and build a flexible and agile communication network.

Exemplarily, taking the following cloud game as an example, the feature that network slicing can meet business needs is described.

Among them, cloud games are based on real-time audio and video streaming technology. The server sends real-time audio and video streams to the client. The client sends a control instruction stream to the server based on the received audio and video streams, and the server applies the received control instruction stream to the game. The entire loop involves: server-side game rendering, audio and video encoding, network transmission, client-side audio and video decoding and rendering, etc. These processes are time-consuming to a certain extent, among which network transmission is the factor that has the greatest impact on user experience.

If the traditional fourth generation (4G) mobile communication network or wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) network is used, the response delay of cloud games fluctuates within the range of 50ms to 140ms when the network is normal. For some games with high requirements for operation response delay (for example: action, fighting, multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA), first-person shooter, racing, etc.), there is still a significant gap in experience with local games, and the operation response delay needs to be further reduced. In addition, due to the particularity of the virtual reality (VR) device, when the delay is large, it will cause motion sickness. The delay needs to be controlled within 20ms to effectively control the rejection reaction. That is, the special business scenario of cloud games puts forward higher requirements for the network: low latency, high bandwidth, no jitter or small jitter.

Therefore, based on the above description of network slicing, exclusive network slices can be deployed for cloud games, such as deploying low-latency, high-bandwidth, jitter-free or low-jitter network slices for cloud games to meet the business needs of cloud games and improve user experience.

User equipment route selection policy (URSP) rules are the core rules for configuring and managing network slices for terminal devices. They act on terminal devices in the network slicing business process and are used to guide terminal devices to transmit business data through corresponding network slices based on business characteristics.

The embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, which can improve the accuracy of a terminal device matching a URSP rule according to application information, thereby improving the success rate of session establishment and data transmission, and improving communication performance. Specifically, the method includes: in a scenario where different application information corresponds to different acquisition paths, the terminal device acquires application information in the order of the acquisition paths, and after acquiring one application information, the terminal device matches the application information with the URSP rule; in the case where the application information does not match the URSP rule, the terminal device will continue to acquire the next application information and match it with the URSP rule.

Correspondingly, when the application information matches the URSP rule, the terminal device will not obtain the next application information, thereby achieving the purpose of streamlining resource overhead.

The real-time method of the embodiment of the present application is described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application can be used in any communication system including network slicing. The communication system can be a third generation partnership project (3GPP) communication system, for example, a long term evolution (LTE) system, or a fifth generation (5G) mobile communication system, a new radio (NR) communication system, a new radio vehicle to everything (NR V2X) system, and can also be applied to a system in which LTE and 5G are hybrid networks, or a non-terrestrial network (NTN) system, a device-to-device (D2D) communication system, a machine-to-machine (M2M) communication system, or an Internet of Things (IoT). IoT), and other next-generation communication systems, such as 6G and other future communication systems, can also be non-3GPP communication systems without restriction.

The following describes the communication system provided in an embodiment of the present application by taking FIG. 1 as an example.

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 1, the communication system may include one or more terminal devices, access network elements, core network elements, and data networks (DN), wherein the core network elements may include mobility management network elements, session management network elements, policy control network elements, and other network elements.

Among them, after accessing the network, the terminal device can establish a protocol data unit (PDU) session, access the external DN through the PDU session, and interact with the application server deployed in the DN.

The terminal device in Figure 1 can be located within the cell coverage of the access network element. The terminal device can communicate with the access network element through the uplink (UL) or downlink (DL) over the air interface. For example, the terminal device can send uplink data to the access network element through the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) in the uplink direction; the access network element can send downlink data to the terminal device through the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) in the downlink direction. The terminal device can also communicate with the core network element through a specific interface. For example, the terminal device can communicate with the mobility management element in the core network element through the N1 interface.

The terminal device in FIG1 may be a device with wireless transceiver functions or a chip or chip system that can be set in the device, which can allow users to access the network and is a device for providing voice and/or data connectivity to users. The terminal device may also be called user equipment (UE), subscriber unit, terminal, mobile station (MS), mobile terminal (MT), etc.

Exemplarily, the terminal device in FIG1 may be a cellular phone, a smart phone, a wireless data card, a mobile phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a tablet computer or a computer with wireless transceiver function, a wireless modem, a handheld device (handset), a laptop computer, a smart speaker, a train detector, a gas station sensor, etc. The terminal device can also be a VR terminal, an augmented reality (AR) terminal, a wireless terminal in industrial control, a wireless terminal in unmanned driving, a wireless terminal in telemedicine, a wireless terminal in smart grid, a wireless terminal in transportation safety, a wireless terminal in a smart city, a wireless terminal in a smart home, a machine type communication (MTC) terminal on-board terminal, a vehicle with vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication capability, an intelligent connected vehicle, a drone with UAV to UAV (U2U) communication capability, etc., without restriction.

The access network element in FIG1 may be any device deployed in the access network that can communicate wirelessly with a terminal device, or may be a chip or chip system that can be provided in the above device, and is mainly used to implement wireless physical control functions, resource scheduling and wireless resource management, wireless access control, mobility management, etc. Specifically, the access network element may be a device that supports wired access or a device that supports wireless access.

Exemplarily, the access network element may be an access network (AN)/radio access network (RAN) device, which is composed of multiple AN/RAN nodes. AN/RAN nodes may be: access point (AP), base station (nodeB, NB), macro base station, micro base station (or described as a small station), pico base station, relay station, enhanced base station (enhance nodeB, eNB), next generation eNB (next generation eNB, ng-eNB), next generation base station (next generation nodeB, gNB), future mobile communication system Base stations, transmission reception points (TRP), transmission points (TP), transmission measurement functions (TMF), wearable devices, vehicle-mounted devices or some other access nodes are not restricted.

The mobility management network element in Figure 1 is mainly responsible for access authentication of terminal devices, mobility management, signaling interaction between various functional network elements, etc., such as: managing user registration status, user connection status, user registration and network access, tracking area update, cell switching user authentication and key security.

The session management network element in Figure 1 can be called a session management function or a multicast/multicast service management function or a multicast session management network element, etc., without limitation. The session management network element is mainly used to implement user plane transmission logical channels, such as: PDU session establishment, release and modification and other session management functions.

The policy control network element in Figure 1 can be used to provide policies to mobility management network elements, session management network elements, and terminal devices, such as URSP policies, quality of service (QoS) policies, etc.

The DN in Figure 1 can be an operator network that provides data transmission services to users. An application server (AS) can be deployed in the DN, and the application server can provide data transmission services to users.

It should be noted that the terminal equipment, access network elements and core network elements of the embodiments of the present application can be one or more chips, or a system on chip (SOC), etc. Figure 1 is only an exemplary figure, and the number of devices included is not limited. In addition, in addition to the devices shown in Figure 1, the communication system may also include other devices. The names of the various devices and the names of the various links in Figure 1 are not limited. In addition to the names shown in Figure 1, the various devices and the various links can also be named other names. In addition to the network elements shown in Figure 1, the network shown in Figure 1 can also include user plane network elements, application function network elements, network storage network elements, network slice selection network elements, network warehouse network elements, authentication service network elements, network data analysis network elements, network presentation network elements, etc., without limitation.

Exemplarily, taking the communication system shown in Figure 1 as a 5G communication system as an example, the network element or entity corresponding to the above-mentioned mobility management network element can be the access and mobility management function (AMF) in the 5G communication system, the network element or entity corresponding to the session management network element can be the session management function (SMF) in the 5G communication system, and the policy control network element can be the policy control function (PCF) in the 5G communication system, etc.

In specific implementation, as shown in Figure 1, each terminal device, access network element, and core network element can adopt the composition structure shown in Figure 2, or include the components shown in Figure 2. Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of the composition of a communication device 200 provided in an embodiment of the present application. The communication device 200 can be a terminal device or a chip or a system on chip in a terminal device; it can also be an access network element or a chip or a system on chip in an access network element, or it can also be a core network element or a chip or a system on chip in a core network element. As shown in Figure 2, the communication device 200 includes a processor 201, a transceiver 202, and a communication line 203.

Furthermore, the communication device 200 may further include a memory 204. The processor 201, the memory 204 and the transceiver 202 may be connected via a communication line 203.

The processor 201 is a central processing unit (CPU), a general-purpose processor, a network processor (NP), a digital signal processor (DSP), a microprocessor, a microcontroller, a programmable logic device (PLD), or any combination thereof. The processor 201 may also be other devices with processing functions, such as circuits, devices, or software modules, without limitation.

The transceiver 202 is used to communicate with other devices or other communication networks. The other communication network may be Ethernet, radio access network (RAN), wireless local area networks (WLAN), etc. The transceiver 202 may be a module, a circuit, a transceiver or any device capable of achieving communication.

The communication line 203 is used to transmit information between the components included in the communication device 200.

The memory 204 is used to store instructions, where the instructions may be computer programs.

Among them, the memory 204 can be a read-only memory (ROM) or other types of static storage devices that can store static information and/or instructions, or a random access memory (RAM) or other types of dynamic storage devices that can store information and/or instructions, or an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) or other optical disc storage, optical disc storage (including compressed optical disc, laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc, Blu-ray disc, etc.), magnetic disk storage medium or other magnetic storage devices, etc., without limitation.

It should be noted that the memory 204 can exist independently of the processor 201, or can be integrated with the processor 201. The memory 204 can be used to store instructions or program codes or some data, etc. The memory 204 can be located in the communication device 200, or can be located outside the communication device 200, without limitation. The processor 201 is used to execute the instructions stored in the memory 204 to implement the communication method provided in the following embodiments of the present application.

In an example, the processor 201 may include one or more CPUs, such as CPU0 and CPU1 in FIG. 2 .

As an optional implementation, the communication device 200 includes multiple processors. For example, in addition to the processor 201 in FIG. 2 , it may also include a processor 207 .

As an optional implementation, the communication device 200 further includes an output device 205 and an input device 206. Exemplarily, the input device 206 is a device such as a keyboard, a mouse, a microphone or a joystick, and the output device 205 is a device such as a display screen and a speaker.

It should be noted that the communication device 200 may be a desktop computer, a portable computer, a network server, a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a wireless terminal, an embedded device, a chip system, or a device having a similar structure as shown in FIG2. In addition, the composition structure shown in FIG2 does not constitute a limitation on the communication device. In addition to the components shown in FIG2, the communication device may include more or fewer components than shown in the figure, or combine certain components, or arrange the components differently.

In the embodiment of the present application, the chip system may be composed of a chip, or may include a chip and other discrete devices.

In addition, the actions, terms, etc. involved in the various embodiments of the present application can refer to each other without limitation. The message name or parameter name in the message exchanged between the various devices in the embodiments of the present application is only an example, and other names can also be used in the specific implementation without limitation.

In conjunction with the communication system shown in Figure 1, the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application is described with reference to Figure 3 below. Among them, the terminal device can be any terminal device in the communication system shown in Figure 1, the access network network element can be a service access network network element of the terminal device, or it is described as the terminal device belonging to the access network network element, and the policy control network element can be any policy control network element in the communication system shown in Figure 1. The terminal device, access network network element, and policy control network element described in the following embodiments can all have the components shown in Figure 2. The processing performed by the single execution subject (terminal device or access network network element or policy control network element) shown in the embodiment of the present application can also be divided into executions by multiple execution subjects, and these execution subjects can be logically and/or physically separated without restriction.

FIG3 is a flow chart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG3 , the method may include the following steps.

Step 301: The terminal device obtains first application information of a first application according to a first acquisition method.

Different application information may correspond to different acquisition paths (or acquisition methods). Application information may also be referred to as: information related to an application, information from an application, etc., without limitation.

Exemplarily, the application information may be a traffic descriptor component, or may be one or more traffic descriptor components, or may be an index representing a traffic descriptor component, or may be one or more indexes representing a traffic descriptor combination part, without limitation.

As an example, the first application information includes application information related to the traffic descriptor. Exemplarily, the first application information includes: one or more of application descriptors, IP descriptors, domain descriptors, non-IP descriptors, data network name (DNN), and connection capabilities.

As another example, the first application information includes an index for representing a traffic descriptor. Exemplarily, the index for representing a traffic descriptor may include one or more of A, B, C, D, and E. There is a mapping relationship between the index and the traffic descriptor, for example, A corresponds to an application descriptor, B corresponds to an IP descriptor, C corresponds to a domain descriptor, D corresponds to a data network name, and E corresponds to a connection capability.

Exemplarily, an index for representing a traffic descriptor, such as a value. For example, the value for representing a traffic descriptor includes one or more of 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. There is a mapping relationship between the index and the traffic descriptor, for example, 1 corresponds to an application descriptor, 2 corresponds to an IP descriptor, 3 corresponds to a domain descriptor, 4 corresponds to a data network name, and 5 corresponds to a connection capability.

Exemplarily, the index used to represent the traffic descriptor may include one or more descriptive symbols such as a bitmap. For example, the index used to represent the traffic descriptor may be a descriptive symbol such as a bitmap 00000, and setting the corresponding bit to 1 may represent different traffic descriptors.

For example, setting the last bit in the bit table 00000 to 1 (ie, 00001) indicates that the terminal device has obtained the application information, and setting the last bit in the bit table 00000 to 0 (ie, 00000) indicates that the terminal device has not obtained the application information.

There is a mapping relationship between the index and the traffic descriptor. For example, 00001 corresponds to the application descriptor, 00010 corresponds to the IP descriptor, 00100 corresponds to the domain descriptor, 01000 corresponds to the data network name, and 10000 corresponds to the connection capability.

Optionally, setting multiple bits in the bit table to 1 may also correspond to multiple traffic descriptors, and setting 2 bits in the bit table 00000 to 1 (such as 00011) corresponds to an application descriptor and an IP descriptor.

Exemplarily, the mapping relationship between the index used to represent the traffic descriptor and the traffic descriptor may be as shown in the following Table 1, wherein Table 1 shows the mapping relationship between the value used to represent the traffic descriptor and the traffic descriptor.

Table 1

Exemplarily, as shown in the above Table 1, assuming that the value included in the first application information is 1, it means that the application information included in the first application information is an application descriptor.

It should be noted that the above Table 1 is only an example of the mapping relationship between the index and the traffic descriptor, and does not constitute a limitation of the present application. Of course, the above Table 1 may also include other indexes and corresponding traffic descriptors; or, the indexes in the above Table 1 may also correspond to other traffic descriptors, which will not be repeated here.

Among them, when the terminal device is transmitting business, it can obtain multiple application information through different acquisition channels. The application information obtained by the terminal device through different acquisition channels can be the same or different, without limitation.

Optionally, the terminal device has the ability to obtain M application information from N acquisition paths; wherein M and N are integers, M is greater than or equal to 1, and M is less than or equal to N.

It is understandable that in the present application, the terminal device has the ability to obtain application information from multiple acquisition channels. In actual communication scenarios, the terminal device may not be able to obtain application information from all acquisition channels, and the terminal device may not be able to obtain application information from one or some acquisition channels.

Exemplarily, a terminal device may obtain application information in one or more of the following ways: ①: obtaining application information through a method provided by an application program; ②: obtaining application information of an application through an application program interface (API); ③: determining application information of an application based on an OS entity; ④: identifying a service to be transmitted based on a preset profile to obtain application information; ⑤: obtaining application information defined by an operator; ⑥: obtaining application information customized by a terminal device; ⑦: obtaining application information associated with a communication scenario; ⑧: obtaining application information pre-configured by an application store.

Among them, for the above-mentioned method ①, the method provided by the application can be a preset method; or, it can also be an access method, which is not restricted.

For the above method ②, the API can be provided by the OS, or the operator can ask the OS to provide it. The application can transmit application information to the terminal device through the API provided by the OS (or called the direct acquisition method). The application can also access the traffic descriptor through the API to determine the application information based on the traffic descriptor (or called the indirect acquisition method).

In this method ②, the application information transmitted by the application is relatively clear, and the terminal device does not need to identify the application information based on the configuration file or determine the application information by custom methods. The terminal device can directly receive the application information transmitted by the application, thereby reducing the error rate of the application information and reducing the power consumption of the terminal device.

Corresponding to the above method ③, the OS entity of the terminal device can infer the application information based on the connection request. The connection request can be from the application or from the OS entity itself, without limitation. Optionally, in method ③, the application information inferred by the OS entity can be a component of the traffic descriptor.

For the above method ④, a configuration file for identifying application information can be pre-configured for the terminal device, so that the terminal device can identify the application information by itself according to the configuration file, so that the OS manufacturer does not need to provide an API for transmitting application information, which is convenient for OS manufacturers to promote and implement.

For the above method ⑤ or ⑥, the application information may also be customized by the operator or the terminal device, without limitation. The terminal device may obtain the application information defined by the operator through the SDK entity, or obtain the application information defined by the terminal device through the modem entity.

For the above method ⑦, the application information may also be associated with a communication scenario. The terminal device can determine the application information according to the communication scenario in which it is located, or the terminal device can also obtain the operator's customized application information according to the communication scenario in which it is located.

Optionally, different entities may be configured in the terminal device for different manufacturers, such as an OS entity configured by the OS manufacturer, a software development kit (SDK) entity configured by the operator, and a modem entity configured by the terminal device manufacturer. The terminal device may obtain application information through different acquisition channels based on the entities configured by each manufacturer.

Exemplarily, the OS entity of the terminal device obtains the first application information according to the first acquisition path; or, the SDK of the terminal device obtains the first application information according to the first acquisition path; or, the modem of the terminal device obtains the first application information according to the first acquisition path, without limitation.

In some embodiments, different acquisition paths correspond to different priorities, and the terminal device can acquire application information according to different acquisition paths based on preset priority information.

Among them, the preset priority information can be used to indicate the priority of the acquisition path of application information. The preset priority information can also be described as preset acquisition path sequence information, and the preset acquisition path sequence information can be used to indicate the acquisition path sequence of application information. The acquisition path priority can also be described as usage priority, usage priority of application information, and the acquisition path sequence can also be described as usage sequence, usage sequence of application information, etc. The preset priority information is used as an example for description in this application, and the rest of the description can refer to the following description of the preset priority information without limitation.

Optionally, the preset priority information may be determined by the terminal device according to the traffic descriptor field in the URSP rule; or, the preset priority information may be predefined; or, the preset priority information may be determined by the OS manufacturer; or, the preset priority information may be determined by the operator; or, the preset priority information may be determined by the terminal device manufacturer.

Among them, for different manufacturers, the priority of the acquisition path for the terminal device to obtain application information may be different. For example, operator 1 may expect the terminal device to obtain application information through acquisition path 1 first; operator 2 may expect the terminal device to obtain application information through acquisition path 2 first; OS manufacturers may expect the terminal device to obtain application information through acquisition path 3 first; terminal device manufacturers may expect the terminal device to obtain application information through acquisition path 4 first, etc., without restriction. Based on this, the preset priority information determined by each manufacturer can be pre-configured for the terminal device to indicate the priority of each acquisition path for the terminal device to obtain application information expected by different manufacturers.

Optionally, the ways of obtaining the preset priority information indication determined by different manufacturers may be the same, partially the same, or completely different.

For example, the acquisition paths indicated by the indication information associated with the OS manufacturer may include acquisition path 1, acquisition path 2, and acquisition path 3. The acquisition paths indicated by the indication information associated with the operator may include acquisition path 1, acquisition path 2, and acquisition path 4. The acquisition paths indicated by the indication information associated with the terminal device manufacturer may include acquisition path 4, acquisition path 5, and acquisition path 6.

Optionally, the priority of each acquisition path may be determined according to the requirements of each manufacturer or actual communication requirements or actual communication scenarios.

Optionally, the priorities of the same acquisition path may be the same or different in the preset priority information determined by different manufacturers, without limitation.

For example, for the preset priority information determined by the OS manufacturer, the acquisition method 3 can be set as the first Priority, set acquisition path 1 to the second priority, and set acquisition path 2 to the third priority. For the preset priority information determined by the operator, you can set acquisition path 1 to the first priority, acquisition path 2 to the second priority, and acquisition path 4 to the third priority. For the preset priority information determined by the terminal device manufacturer, you can set acquisition path 4 to the first priority, acquisition path 5 to the second priority, and acquisition path 6 to the third priority.

Among them, the first priority>the second priority>the third priority.

Exemplarily, the first acquisition path may be an acquisition path with the highest priority among the corresponding acquisition paths in the preset priority information.

Optionally, based on the above description of the preset priority information, illustratively, the above preset priority information may be pre-configured in the terminal device.

Optionally, the terminal device may determine the preset priority information according to the factory configuration information. In another exemplary embodiment, the preset priority information is predefined. The preset priority information may be predefined in the communication protocol, and the terminal device determines the preset priority information according to the communication protocol.

Also illustratively, the terminal device receives the above-mentioned preset priority information from the policy control network element.

Optionally, as shown in Fig. 4, the priority information may be located in a traffic descriptor field in a URSP rule. The URSR rule field may include a traffic descriptor field and a route selection descriptor (RSD) field.

Step 302: The terminal device matches the first application information with the URSP rule.

The terminal device matching the first application information with the URSP rule may also be understood as: the terminal device evaluating the first application information with the URSP rule; or, the terminal device evaluating and matching the first application information with the URSP rule.

Exemplarily, as shown in FIG5 , after establishing a connection with an access network element, the terminal device may send a registration request to the access network element to request information about network slices that can provide services to the terminal device, as well as URSP rules. The registration request may be transmitted to a core network element (such as a mobility management element and a policy control element) via the access network element, and the mobility management element determines the network slice that can provide services to the terminal device, and the policy control element determines the URSP rules for the terminal device.

Optionally, the network device may send a URSP rule carrying indication information (indicating different priorities corresponding to different acquisition paths) to the terminal device. Exemplarily, as shown in FIG5 , the policy control network element may send a URSP rule carrying indication information to the terminal device via the mobility management network element and the access network element.

Optionally, as shown in Table 2 below, the URSP rule may also include a rule priority field, an application descriptor field, an IP descriptor field, a domain descriptor field, a non-IP descriptor field, a data network name field, a connection capability field, etc., without limitation.

Table 2

Exemplarily, the terminal device may match the first application information with the URSP rule described in Table 2. For example, the terminal device may determine the network slice information from the URSP rule based on the first application information.

Optionally, the first application information may be matched with the URSP rule by the OS entity of the terminal device; or, the first application information may be matched with the URSP rule by the SDK entity of the terminal device; or, the first application information may be matched with the URSP rule by the modem entity of the terminal device, without limitation.

Step 303: When the first application information matches the URSP rule, the terminal device determines the network slice information according to the traffic descriptor in the URSP rule and communicates according to the network slice information.

As an example, the first application information matches the URSP rule, which means that: the application information corresponding to the traffic descriptor included in the first application information is the same as the traffic descriptor in the URSP rule; or, the application information corresponding to the traffic descriptor included in the first application information has a mapping relationship with the traffic descriptor in the URSP rule.

Exemplarily, the first application information includes application information corresponding to the traffic descriptor, the application information corresponding to the traffic descriptor is a "domain descriptor", and the traffic descriptor in the URSP rule is also a "domain descriptor", so the first application information matches the URSP rule.

As another example, the first application information includes a value "1", and the traffic descriptor in the URSP rule is an "application descriptor", but the value "1" included in the first application information is related to the "application descriptor", for example, based on the above Table 1, there is a mapping relationship between the value "1" and the "application descriptor", therefore, the first application information matches the URSP rule.

Optionally, the traffic descriptor in the URSP rule corresponds to the network slice information one by one. When the first application information matches the URSP rule, the terminal device can determine the network slice information based on the traffic descriptor in the URSP rule and communicate according to the network slice information.

Exemplarily, the "application descriptor" in the URSP rule corresponds to network slice information 1; the "IP descriptor" in the URSP rule corresponds to network slice information 2; the "domain descriptor" in the URSP rule corresponds to network slice information 3; the "non-IP descriptor" in the URSP rule corresponds to network slice information 4; the "data network name" in the URSP rule corresponds to network slice information 5; and the "connection capability" in the URSP rule corresponds to network slice information 6.

For example, the first application information includes application information corresponding to the traffic descriptor, the application information corresponding to the traffic descriptor is a "domain descriptor", and the traffic descriptor in the URSP rule is also a "domain descriptor", so the first application information matches the URSP rule. In this way, the terminal device determines that the network slice information is network slice information 3 based on the correspondence between the "domain descriptor" and the network slice information 3, and communicates according to the network slice information 3.

Optionally, as shown in Figure 5, after the terminal device determines the network slice information, it can also carry the determined network slice information in the PDU session establishment request and send it to the access network element to request the establishment of a PDU session. The access network element can forward the PDU session establishment request to the mobility management network element. The mobility management network element checks the network slice information in the PDU session establishment request, selects the corresponding session management network element based on the network slice capabilities supported by each session management gateway in the network, and forwards the PDU session establishment request to the session management network element. When the session management network element completes the PDU session establishment process, it sends a PDU session establishment response to the terminal device through the mobility management network element and the access network element to complete the network slice mapping/PDU session establishment.

As another example, the first application information includes security verification information, which is used to determine whether the first application information matches the URSP rule. Exemplarily, the terminal device performs security verification based on the security verification information. If the security verification information is illegal, the terminal device determines that the first application information does not match the URSP rule; or, if the security verification information is illegal, the terminal device determines that the first application information is not qualified.

Optionally, for example, if the first application information is "fake", the terminal device determines that the first application information fails the evaluation with the URSP rule.

Correspondingly, if the security information is legal, the terminal device determines that the first application information matches the URSP rule; or, if the security information is legal, the terminal device determines that the first application information passes the evaluation of the URSP rule.

Optionally, for example, the first application information is "authentic"; or the first application information is "non-fake", then the terminal device determines that the first application information passes the evaluation with the URSP rule.

Step 304: When the first application information does not match the URSP rule, the terminal device obtains the second application information of the first application according to the second acquisition method.

Optionally, the terminal device may obtain the second application information from the second acquisition path based on preset priority information. Exemplarily, assuming that the preset priority information indicates that the priority corresponding to the first acquisition path is the first priority, the priority corresponding to the second acquisition path is the second priority, and the first priority is higher than the second priority, the terminal device first obtains the first application information from the first acquisition path based on the preset priority information, and matches the first application information with the URSP rules. In the case where the first application information does not match the URSP rules, the terminal device obtains the second application information from the second acquisition path, and matches the second application information with the URSP rules. Correspondingly, in the case where the second application information does not match the URSP rules, the terminal device obtains the next application information (or fourth application information) from the third acquisition path.

It should be understood that the priority corresponding to the third acquisition approach is lower than the second priority and the first priority.

Optionally, when the fourth application information does not match the URSP rule, the terminal device attempts to obtain the fifth application information through the fourth acquisition path according to the above steps 301 to 304, and so on, until the application information obtained by the terminal device matches the URSP rule.

Among them, other descriptions of step 304 can refer to the relevant descriptions of the above step S301, which will not be repeated here.

Step 305: The terminal device matches the second application information with the URSP rule.

The description of step 305 may refer to the related description of step S302, which will not be repeated here.

Optionally, when the second application information matches the URSP rule, the terminal device determines the network slice information according to the traffic descriptor in the URSP rule and communicates according to the network slice information.

Among them, for the relevant description of the terminal device determining the network slice information corresponding to the traffic descriptor in the URSP rule based on the second application information, please refer to the description of the above step S303, which will not be repeated here.

To summarize, by adopting the solution of the embodiment of the present application, since different application information corresponds to different acquisition paths, the terminal device acquires the first application information through the first acquisition path, and after acquiring the first application information, matches the first application information with the URSP rule. If the first application information does not match the URSP rule, the second application information is acquired through the second acquisition path, and after acquiring the second application information, the second application information is matched with the URSP rule, thereby improving the accuracy of the terminal device matching the URSP rule according to the application information, thereby improving the session establishment success rate and the data transmission success rate, and improving the communication performance.

In addition, when the first application information matches the URSP rule, the terminal device determines the network slice information according to the traffic descriptor in the URSP rule and communicates according to the network slice information, that is, there is no need to obtain the second application information through a second acquisition path, thereby achieving the purpose of streamlining resource overhead.

Optionally, when the second application information does not match the URSP rule, the terminal device combines the first application information with the second application information to obtain the third application information. Then, the terminal device matches the third application information with the URSP rule.

Exemplarily, the terminal device may select part of the application information in the first application information and part of the application information in the second application information to combine; or the terminal device may select all of the application information in the first application information and part of the application information in the second application information to combine; or the terminal device may select the first application information The terminal device may combine all the application information in the first application information with all the application information in the second application information; or, the terminal device may select part of the application information in the first application information and combine all the application information in the second application information without limitation. The purpose of combining the first application information with the second application information is to combine application information that can match the traffic descriptor in the URSP rule.

For example, the first application information includes application information corresponding to the traffic descriptor, and the application information corresponding to the traffic descriptor includes "domain descriptor" and "IP descriptor"; the second application information includes application information corresponding to the traffic descriptor, and the application information corresponding to the traffic descriptor includes "application descriptor" and "data network name". The traffic descriptor in the URSP rule includes "domain descriptor" and "application descriptor".

The terminal device combines the first application information with the second application information, and the obtained third application information includes application information corresponding to the traffic descriptor, and the application information corresponding to the traffic descriptor includes a "domain descriptor" and an "application descriptor", so the combined third application information matches the URSP rule.

Based on the above method, when the first application information does not match the URSP rule and the second application information does not match the URSP rule, the first application information and the second application information are combined, and the third application information obtained by the combination is matched with the URSP rule, so as to further improve the session establishment success rate and the data transmission success rate, and improve the communication performance.

Optionally, as shown in FIG. 5 , the policy control network element may also update the preset priority information when the priority of the path for obtaining the application information changes, and send the updated preset priority information to the terminal device.

The policy control network element may carry the updated preset priority information in the updated URSP rule and send it to the terminal device.

Optionally, the policy control network element may carry the updated URSP rules in a registration command (registration command) message and send it to the terminal device.

Optionally, the terminal device can update the network slice information according to the updated preset priority information to improve the accuracy of the terminal device in selecting the network slice according to the traffic descriptor in the URSP rule, thereby improving the session establishment success rate and data transmission success rate and improving communication performance.

It is to be understood that in the embodiments of the present application, the execution subject may execute some or all of the steps in the embodiments of the present application, and these steps or operations are only examples, and the embodiments of the present application may also execute other operations or variations of various operations. In addition, the various steps may be executed in different orders presented in the embodiments of the present application, and it is possible that not all operations in the embodiments of the present application need to be executed.

The above mainly introduces the solution provided by the embodiment of the present application from the perspective of interaction between devices. It is understandable that, in order to realize the above functions, each device includes a hardware structure and/or software module corresponding to each function. Those skilled in the art should easily realize that, in combination with the algorithm steps of each example described in the embodiments disclosed herein, the present application can be implemented in the form of hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is executed in the form of hardware or computer software driving hardware depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Professional and technical personnel can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered to be beyond the scope of the present application.

The embodiment of the present application can divide the functional modules of each device according to the above method example. For example, each functional module can be divided according to each function, or two or more functions can be integrated into one processing module. The above integrated modules can be implemented in the form of hardware or software functional modules. It should be noted that the division of modules in the embodiment of the present application is schematic and is only a logical Functional division, there may be other division methods in actual implementation.

In the case of dividing each functional module according to each function, Figure 6 shows a communication device 400, which can execute the actions performed by the terminal device or policy control network element in the methods shown in Figures 3 to 5 above. All relevant contents of each step involved in the above method embodiments can be referred to the functional description of the corresponding functional module, and the technical effects that can be obtained can be referred to the above method embodiments, which will not be repeated here.

Wherein, the communication device 400 may include a transceiver module 401 and a processing module 402. Exemplarily, the communication device 400 may be a communication device, or when applied to a communication device, the transceiver module 401 may be a transceiver, and the transceiver may include an antenna and a radio frequency circuit, etc.; the processing module 402 may be a processor (or a processing circuit), for example, a baseband processor, and the baseband processor may include one or more CPUs. When the communication device 400 is a component having the functions of the above-mentioned communication device, the transceiver module 401 may be a radio frequency unit; the processing module 402 may be a processor (or a processing circuit), for example, a baseband processor. When the communication device 400 is a chip system, the transceiver module 401 may be an input and output interface of a chip (for example, a baseband chip); the processing module 402 may be a processor (or a processing circuit) of a chip system, and may include one or more central processing units. It should be understood that the transceiver module 401 in the embodiment of the present application may be implemented by a transceiver or a transceiver-related circuit component; the processing module 402 may be implemented by a processor or a processor-related circuit component (or, referred to as a processing circuit).

For example, the transceiver module 401 can be used to perform all transceiver operations performed by the communication device in the embodiments shown in Figures 3 to 5, and/or to support other processes of the technology described in this document; the processing module 402 can be used to perform all operations except the transceiver operations performed by the communication device in the embodiments shown in Figures 3 to 5, and/or to support other processes of the technology described in this document.

As an example, the transceiver module 401 in Fig. 6 may be replaced by a transceiver, which may integrate the functions of the transceiver module 401; the processing module 402 may be replaced by a processor, which may integrate the functions of the processing module 402. Furthermore, the communication device 400 shown in Fig. 6 may also include a memory.

Optionally, when the processing module 402 is replaced by a processor and the transceiver module 401 is replaced by a transceiver, the communication device 400 involved in the embodiment of the present application may also be the communication device 500 shown in Figure 7. The processor may be a logic circuit 501, and the transceiver may be an interface circuit 502. Further, the communication device 500 shown in Figure 7 may also include a memory 503.

The embodiments of the present application also provide a computer program product, which can implement the functions of any of the above method embodiments when executed by a computer.

The embodiments of the present application also provide a computer program, which can implement the functions of any of the above method embodiments when executed by a computer.

The embodiments of the present application also provide a computer-readable storage medium. All or part of the processes in the above method embodiments can be completed by a computer program to instruct the relevant hardware. The program can be stored in the above computer-readable storage medium. When the program is executed, it can include the processes of the above method embodiments. The computer-readable storage medium can be an internal storage unit of the terminal (including the data sending end and/or the data receiving end) of any of the aforementioned embodiments, such as the hard disk or memory of the terminal. The above computer-readable storage medium can also be an external storage device of the above terminal, such as a plug-in hard disk, a smart memory card (smart media card, SMC), a secure digital (secure digital, SD) card, a flash card (flash card), etc. equipped on the above terminal. Furthermore, the above computer-readable storage medium can also include both the internal storage unit of the above terminal and an external storage device. The above computer-readable storage medium is used to store the above computer program and other programs and data required by the above terminal. The above computer The machine-readable storage medium may also be used to temporarily store data that has been output or is to be output.

It should be noted that the terms "first" and "second" in the specification, claims and drawings of this application are used to distinguish different objects rather than to describe a specific order. "First" and "second" are used for descriptive purposes only and cannot be understood as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated. Therefore, the features defined as "first" and "second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of the features. In the description of this embodiment, unless otherwise specified, "multiple" means two or more.

In addition, the terms "include" and "have" and any variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions. For example, a process, method, system, product or device comprising a series of steps or units is not limited to the listed steps or units, but may optionally include steps or units not listed, or may optionally include other steps or units inherent to these processes, methods, products or devices.

It should be understood that in the present application, "at least one (item)" refers to one or more. "Multiple" refers to two or more. "At least two (items)" refers to two or three and more than three. "And/or" is used to describe the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that three relationships can exist. For example, "A and/or B" can mean: only A exists, only B exists, and A and B exist at the same time, where A and B can be singular or plural. The character "/" generally indicates that the associated objects before and after are in an "or" relationship. "At least one of the following items" or similar expressions refers to any combination of these items, including any combination of single items or plural items. For example, at least one of a, b or c can mean: a, b, c, "a and b", "a and c", "b and c", or "a and b and c", where a, b, c can be single or multiple. “When” and “if” both mean that corresponding measures will be taken under certain objective circumstances. It does not limit the time, nor does it require any judgment when it is implemented, nor does it mean that there are other limitations.

In the embodiments of the present application, words such as "exemplary" or "for example" are used to indicate examples, illustrations or descriptions. Any embodiment or design described as "exemplary" or "for example" in the embodiments of the present application should not be interpreted as being more preferred or more advantageous than other embodiments or designs. Specifically, the use of words such as "exemplary" or "for example" is intended to present related concepts in a concrete way for easy understanding.

Through the description of the above implementation methods, technical personnel in the relevant field can clearly understand that for the convenience and simplicity of description, only the division of the above-mentioned functional modules is used as an example. In actual applications, the above-mentioned functions can be assigned to different functional modules as needed, that is, the internal structure of the device can be divided into different functional modules to complete all or part of the functions described above.

In the several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed devices and methods can be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are only schematic. For example, the division of the modules or units is only a logical function division. There may be other division methods in actual implementation, such as multiple units or components can be combined or integrated into another device, or some features can be ignored or not executed. Another point is that the mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed can be through some interfaces, indirect coupling or communication connection of devices or units, which can be electrical, mechanical or other forms.

The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separated, and the components shown as units may be one physical unit or multiple physical units, that is, they may be located in one place or distributed in multiple different places. Some or all of the units may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the present embodiment.

In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or Each unit may exist physically separately, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit. The above integrated unit may be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of software functional units.

If the integrated unit is implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as an independent product, it can be stored in a readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the embodiment of the present application can essentially or all or part of the technical solution can be embodied in the form of a software product, which is stored in a storage medium, including a number of instructions to enable a device (which can be a single-chip microcomputer, chip, etc.) or a processor (processor) to perform all or part of the steps of the method described in each embodiment of the present application. The aforementioned storage medium includes: various media that can store program codes, such as USB flash drives, mobile hard drives, ROM, RAM, magnetic disks or optical disks.

Claims (20)

A communication method, characterized in that it is applied to a terminal device, the method comprising: Acquire first application information of the first application according to a first acquisition method; Matching the first application information with a terminal device routing policy URSP rule of the terminal device; When the first application information does not match the URSP rule, acquiring second application information of the first application according to a second acquisition method; The second application information is matched with the URSP rule. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the URSP rule includes a traffic descriptor TD, and the TD is associated with one or more of the following application information: application descriptor, IP descriptor, domain descriptor, non-IP descriptor, data network name, connection capability; the method further comprises: When the first application information matches the URSP rule, the network slice information is determined according to the TD in the URSP rule, and communication is performed according to the network slice information. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that The first application information includes one or more application information associated with the TD; or, The first application information includes an index used to represent the TD, and there is a mapping relationship between the index and the TD. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the method further comprises: If the second application information does not match the URSP rule, combining the first application information with the second application information to obtain third application information; The third application information is matched with the URSP rule. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that The priority of the first acquisition path is higher than the priority of the second acquisition path. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that before matching the first application information with a terminal device routing selection policy URSP rule, the method further comprises: The URSP rule sent from a network device is received, where the URSP rule includes indication information, where the indication indicates that the priority of the first acquisition path is higher than the priority of the second acquisition path. The method according to any one of claims 1-5 is characterized in that the preset priority information indicates the priority of the first acquisition path and the priority of the second acquisition path. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that The preset priority information is determined according to a traffic descriptor field in the URSP rule; or, The preset priority information is predefined; or, The preset priority information is determined by the operating system OS manufacturer; or, The preset priority information is determined by the operator; or, The preset priority information is determined by the terminal device manufacturer. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the application information is obtained by one or more of the following ways: Obtain application information through the method provided by the application; or, Obtain application information of the application through the application program interface API; or, Determine application information of the application based on the OS entity; or, Identify the service to be transmitted according to the preset configuration file to obtain application information; or, Get operator-defined application information; or, Get the customized application information of the terminal device; or, Obtain application information associated with the communication scenario; or, Get the application information pre-configured by the app store. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that the acquiring the first application information of the first application according to the first acquisition path comprises: The OS entity of the terminal device acquires the first application information of the first application according to the first acquisition method; or The software development kit SDK entity of the terminal device acquires the first application information of the first application according to the first acquisition path; or The modem of the terminal device obtains the first application information of the first application according to the first acquisition path. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that the matching of the first application information with a terminal device routing selection policy URSP rule comprises: The OS entity of the terminal device matches the first application information with the URSP rule; or, The SDK entity of the terminal device matches the first application information with the URSP rule; or, The modem entity of the terminal device matches the first application information with the URSP rule. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the first application information includes security verification information; and the first application information does not match the URSP, comprising: In the case where the security verification information is illegal, the first application information does not match the URSP; The first application information matches the URSP, including: When the security verification information is legal, the first application information matches the URSP. A communication method, characterized in that it is applied to a network device, the method comprising: Sending a terminal device routing policy URSP rule to the terminal device, where the URSP rule is used to instruct the terminal device to establish a PDU session using network slice information; Indicate to the terminal device that the priority of the first acquisition path is higher than the priority of the second acquisition path. The method according to claim 13, characterized in that The URSP rule includes indication information, and the indication information indicates that the priority of the first acquisition path is higher than the priority of the second acquisition path. The method according to claim 13 or 14 is characterized in that the URSP rule includes a traffic descriptor TD, and the TD is associated with one or more of the following application information: application descriptor, IP descriptor, domain descriptor, non-IP descriptor, data network name, and connection capability. A communication device, comprising: A transceiver module, used for acquiring first application information of a first application according to a first acquisition method; A processing module, configured to match the first application information with a terminal device routing selection policy URSP rule of the terminal device; The transceiver module is further configured to, when the first application information does not match the URSP rule, Acquire second application information of the first application according to a second acquisition method; The processing module is further configured to match the second application information with the URSP rule. A communication device, comprising: A transceiver module, used to send a terminal device routing selection policy URSP rule to a terminal device, wherein the URSP rule is used to instruct the terminal device to establish a PDU session using network slicing information; The transceiver module is further used to indicate to the terminal device that the priority of the first acquisition path is higher than the priority of the second acquisition path. A communication device, characterized in that the communication device comprises a processor; the processor is used to run a computer program or instruction so that the communication device executes the method as described in any one of claims 1-12, or executes the method as described in any one of claims 13-15. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that the computer-readable storage medium stores computer instructions or programs, and when the computer instructions or programs are run on a computer, the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 12 is executed, or the method as described in any one of claims 13 to 15 is executed. A computer program product, characterized in that the computer program product comprises computer instructions; when part or all of the computer instructions are run on a computer, the method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 12 is executed, or the method as claimed in any one of claims 13 to 15 is executed.