WO2025140078A1 - Communication method and apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

The present application relates to a communication method and an apparatus. A terminal device receives first configuration information, the first configuration information being used for configuring a first radio bearer, and the first radio bearer being used for transmitting a data packet of a first service; and the terminal device sends first instruction information to an access network device, the first instruction information being used for instructing to accelerate transmission of a downlink data packet of the first service. The embodiments of the present application can accelerate the transmission of part of data packets of services, and enable normal transmission of other data packets, such that a black border effect of the data packets transmitted acceleratedly can be reduced, and the normal transmission of another part of data packets can reduce the impact on networks, that is, the embodiments of the present application achieve a balance between network capacity and user experience in a certain sense.

Description

A communication method and device

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application filed with the State Intellectual Property Office of the People's Republic of China on December 29, 2023, with application number 202311871607.2 and application name "A Communication Method and Device", all contents of which are incorporated by reference in this application.

Technical Field

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

Background Art

With the development of technology, in some business scenarios, higher requirements may be placed on the latency of network equipment. For example, virtual reality (VR) is a technology that uses cloud capabilities for rendering. On the user side, data is collected based on the handle and helmet, and then transmitted to the server through the network. The service renders graphics based on user actions and perspectives, encodes and compresses them, and then transmits them to the user's local area through the network. The user renders them locally to the local helmet display. For the VR experience, motion to phonic (MTP) needs to be controlled within a certain latency, such as within 20ms, so that users do not feel a strong sense of dizziness. Therefore, how to achieve the need to shorten the processing latency in the processing process, such as in the above business scenarios, has become an urgent problem to be solved.

Summary of the invention

The embodiments of the present application provide a communication method and apparatus for reducing the impact of network delay during business processing.

In a first aspect, a communication method is provided, which can be executed by a terminal device. The terminal device is, for example, a terminal device, or other device including the functions of a terminal device, or a chip system (or, chip) or other functional module, which can realize the functions of the terminal device, and the chip system or functional module is, for example, set in the terminal device. The method includes: receiving first configuration information, the first configuration information is used to configure a first wireless bearer, and the first wireless bearer is used to transmit data packets of a first service; sending first indication information to an access network device, and the first indication information is used to indicate the acceleration of the transmission of downlink data packets of the first service.

In the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device can instruct the access network device to accelerate the transmission of downlink data packets. For example, the terminal device can notify the access network device to accelerate the transmission of downlink data packets when it believes that acceleration is necessary, and it can not notify the access network device to accelerate the transmission of downlink data packets when the terminal device believes that acceleration is not necessary. For example, for a certain service, through the embodiment of the present application, part of the data packets of the service can be accelerated, while other data packets can be transmitted normally, and the impact on the network can be reduced, which is equivalent to the embodiment of the present application achieving a balance between network capacity and user experience in a certain sense.

In an optional implementation, the first configuration information is also used to configure resources for transmitting the first indication information. Through the configuration of the first configuration information, the terminal device can send the first indication information. Alternatively, the terminal device can also send the first indication information through the first radio bearer, and the first configuration information does not need to configure resources for transmitting the first indication information, so as to save the overhead of the first configuration information.

In an optional embodiment, the first indication information is used to indicate the first service through one or more of the following: an identifier of a data radio bearer used to transmit the first service, an identifier of a QoS flow used to transmit the first service, or an identifier of a logical channel used to transmit the first service. The first radio bearer can be used to transmit one or more services, the one or more services include a first service, and the first radio bearer may include one or more of a data radio bearer used to transmit the first service, a QoS flow used to transmit the first service, or a logical channel used to transmit the first service. Then the first indication information can indicate the first service by indicating one or more of a data radio bearer used to transmit the first service, a QoS flow used to transmit the first service, or a logical channel used to transmit the first service. Alternatively, the first indication information can also indicate the first service in other ways, such as indicating the first service by indicating an identifier of the first service, and there is no limitation on the indication method.

In an optional embodiment, sending a first indication message to an access network device includes: when an indication from an application layer is received, sending a first indication message to the access network device. When it is necessary to start accelerating the transmission of downlink data packets, or when to send the first indication message to the access network device, can be determined by the terminal device, for example, the determination process can be performed by the application layer (or service layer) of the terminal device. When the application layer determines that it is necessary to accelerate the transmission of downlink data packets, it can send an indication to the access layer of the terminal device, and after receiving the indication, the access layer can send the first indication message to the access network device.

In an optional embodiment, the first indication information also indicates the time when the downlink data packet to be accelerated is expected to arrive at the access network device. The downlink data packet to be accelerated may be sent by the application server and arrive at the access network device after passing through the core network device. When the terminal device sends the first indication information, the downlink data packet to be accelerated may not have arrived at the access network device yet, then the first indication information may indicate the time when the downlink data packet to be accelerated is expected to arrive at the access network device, so that the access network device can clearly identify which downlink data packets are downlink data packets that need to be accelerated.

In an optional implementation, the method further includes: adjusting the DRX parameters of the terminal device. Through the corresponding processing of the DRX mechanism by the terminal device, the terminal device can be in a non-sleep state for as much time as possible to receive downlink data packets for accelerated transmission and reduce the packet loss rate.

In an optional implementation, adjusting the DRX parameters of the terminal device includes: adjusting the DRX parameters of the terminal device when the first time offset after sending the first indication information arrives. Considering that the access network device may accelerate the transmission of downlink data packets some time after the terminal device sends the first indication information, the terminal device may optionally adjust the DRX parameters when the first time offset after sending the first indication information arrives, thereby making the terminal device's adjustment of the parameters more consistent with the accelerated transmission mechanism of the downlink data packets, and also enabling the terminal device to save power consumption through the normal DRX mechanism as much as possible.

In an optional implementation, the method further includes: receiving second indication information from the access network device, the second indication information being used to indicate adjustment of the DRX parameter of the terminal device. The terminal device may make its own decision on the DRX adjustment, or may be performed under the instruction of the access network device, so that the execution of the access network device and the terminal device is consistent.

In an optional embodiment, the method further includes: deactivating a measurement interval of the terminal device, the measurement interval being used to measure heterodyne frequencies and/or homodyne frequencies. By deactivating the measurement interval, the terminal device may not perform measurement, thereby improving the reception success rate of the terminal device for the accelerated transmission of downlink data packets.

In an optional implementation, the method further includes: receiving third indication information from the access network device, the third indication information being used to indicate deactivation of the measurement interval. The processing of the measurement interval by the terminal device may be decided by the terminal device itself, or may be performed under the instruction of the access network device, so that the execution of the access network device and the terminal device is consistent.

In an optional embodiment, the first indication information is used to indicate accelerated transmission of downlink data packets, including: the first indication information is used to indicate a first delay budget, and the first delay budget is used by the access network device to schedule downlink data packets to be accelerated. The access network device can schedule the downlink data packets to be accelerated according to the first delay budget, thereby achieving accelerated transmission of these downlink data packets. The first delay budget may be predefined by the protocol, or preconfigured in the access network device, or may also be indicated by the core network device or the terminal device. If indicated by the terminal device, one indication method is that the terminal device sends the first delay budget to the access network device, thereby indicating to the access network device the delay budget for scheduling the downlink data packets for accelerated transmission, and implicitly indicating accelerated transmission of the downlink data packets.

In an optional implementation, the first indication information is included in the RRC control signaling, or in the user plane control signaling, or in the header of the user plane data packet. Alternatively, the first indication information may also be included in other signaling sent by the terminal device, which is not limited.

In an optional implementation, the user plane control signaling includes one or more of the following: MAC control signaling, RLC control signaling, PDCP control signaling, or physical layer control signaling. As mentioned above, these signalings may also have other names, for example, the name of the protocol layer may be changed. In addition, the user plane control signaling may also include control signaling of other protocol layers, which is not limited.

In an optional implementation, the user plane data packet includes one or more of the following: a MAC data packet, an RLC data packet, a PDCP data packet, or an SDAP data packet. As mentioned above, these data packets may also have other names, for example, the name of the protocol layer may change. In addition, the user plane data packet may also include data packets of other protocol layers, which is not limited.

In an optional implementation, the method further includes: sending fourth indication information to the access network device, the fourth indication information being used to instruct to stop accelerating the transmission of downlink data packets of the first service. The embodiment of the present application can not only instruct to accelerate the transmission of downlink data packets, but also instruct to stop accelerating the transmission of downlink data packets, so that downlink data packets that need to be accelerated can be accelerated, and downlink data packets that do not need to be accelerated can be transmitted at a normal speed, which can not only meet the needs of services and users, but also reduce the pressure on the network.

In an optional implementation, the method further includes: adjusting the DRX parameters of the terminal device. For example, if the terminal device adjusts the DRX parameters when accelerating transmission, it can be adjusted again when stopping acceleration. For example, one adjustment method is to restore the DRX parameters of the terminal device to reduce the power consumption of the terminal device.

In an optional implementation, the method further includes: receiving fifth indication information from the access network device, the fifth indication information being used to indicate adjustment of the DRX parameter of the terminal device. The terminal device may make its own decision on the DRX adjustment, or may be performed under the instruction of the access network device, so that the execution of the access network device and the terminal device is consistent.

In an optional implementation, the method further includes: activating a measurement interval of the terminal device, the measurement interval being used to measure heterodyne frequencies and/or homodyne frequencies. For example, if the terminal device deactivates the measurement interval when accelerating transmission, the measurement interval may be activated when stopping acceleration, so that the terminal device can perform measurement.

In an optional implementation, the method further includes: receiving sixth indication information from the access network device, the sixth indication information being used to indicate activation of the measurement interval. The activation of the measurement interval by the terminal device may be determined by the terminal device itself, or may be performed under the instruction of the access network device, so that the execution of the access network device and the terminal device is consistent.

In a second aspect, another communication method is provided, which can be executed by an access network device. The access network device is, for example, an access network device, or other devices including the functions of an access network device, or a chip system (or, chip) or other functional modules, which can realize the functions of the access network device, and the chip system or functional module is, for example, arranged in the access network device. Optionally, the access network device is, for example, a base station, or other devices in the access network. The method comprises: sending first configuration information to a terminal device, the first configuration information being used to configure a first wireless bearer, the first wireless bearer being used to transmit data packets of a first service; receiving first indication information from the terminal device, the first indication information being used to indicate accelerated transmission of downlink data packets of the first service.

In an optional implementation, the first configuration information is also used to configure resources for transmitting the first indication information.

In an optional embodiment, the method also includes: scheduling a first downlink data packet of the first service according to a first delay budget, the first downlink data packet being a downlink data packet to be accelerated for transmission, wherein the first delay budget belongs to a delay range indicated by a PDB of the first service, and a difference between the first delay budget and a lower limit of the delay range is less than a second threshold, or the PDB corresponding to the first delay budget is less than the PDB corresponding to the first service.

In an optional embodiment, the first indication information is used to indicate the first service through one or more of the following: an identifier of a data radio bearer used to transmit the first service, an identifier of a QoS flow used to transmit the first service, or an identifier of a logical channel used to transmit the first service.

In an optional implementation, the first indication information further indicates the time when the downlink data packet to be accelerated for transmission is expected to arrive at the access network device.

In an optional implementation, the method further includes: accelerating transmission of a downlink data packet of the first service received after a time indicated by the first indication information.

In an optional implementation, the method further includes: sending second indication information to the terminal device, wherein the second indication information is used to indicate adjustment of the DRX parameter of the terminal device.

In an optional implementation, the method further includes: sending third indication information to the terminal device, the third indication information is used to indicate deactivating a measurement interval of the terminal device, the measurement interval is used to measure heterodyne frequencies and/or homodyne frequencies.

In an optional implementation, the first indication information is used to indicate accelerated transmission of downlink data packets, including: the first indication information is used to indicate a first delay budget, and the first delay budget is used by the access network device to schedule downlink data packets to be accelerated for transmission.

In an optional embodiment, the method further includes: determining that the downlink data packets of the first service received starting from the arrival of the first time offset after receiving the first indication information are downlink data packets to be accelerated; or, determining the downlink data packets to be accelerated according to the time when the downlink data packets to be accelerated are expected to arrive at the access network device; or, receiving the first downlink data packet of the first service, the first downlink data packet including an acceleration indication, the acceleration indication being used to indicate that the first downlink data packet is a downlink data packet to be accelerated. The access network device can determine which downlink data packets are downlink data packets that need to be accelerated, or which downlink data packet to start accelerated transmission, based on the first indication information from the terminal device; and/or, the access network device can also determine which downlink data packets are downlink data packets that need to be accelerated, or which downlink data packet to start accelerated transmission, based on the downlink data packets from the core network device, which is more flexible.

In an optional implementation, the acceleration indication is information of a first delay budget, and the first delay budget is used by the access network device to schedule downlink data packets to be accelerated for transmission.

In an optional implementation, the first indication information is included in RRC control signaling, or included in user plane control signaling, or included in a header of a user plane data packet.

In an optional implementation, the user plane control signaling includes one or more of the following: MAC control signaling, RLC control signaling, PDCP control signaling, or physical layer control signaling.

In an optional implementation, the user plane data packet includes one or more of the following: a MAC data packet, an RLC data packet, a PDCP data packet, or an SDAP data packet.

In an optional embodiment, the method further includes: receiving fourth indication information from the terminal device, the fourth indication information is used to indicate stopping accelerated transmission of downlink data packets of the first service; or, receiving seventh indication information from the core network device, the seventh indication information is used to indicate stopping accelerated transmission of downlink data packets of the first service; or, receiving third downlink data packets of the first service, the third downlink data packet does not include an acceleration indication, and is used to indicate stopping accelerated transmission of downlink data packets of the first service. The access network device can determine which downlink data packets are downlink data packets for which accelerated transmission needs to be stopped, or determine which downlink data packet to start stopping accelerated transmission, based on the fourth indication information from the terminal device; and/or, the access network device can also determine which downlink data packets are downlink data packets for which accelerated transmission needs to be stopped, or determine which downlink data packet to start stopping accelerated transmission, based on the downlink data packets from the core network device. The method is more flexible.

In an optional implementation, the seventh indication information is included in a fourth downlink data packet of the first service.

In an optional implementation, the method further includes: sending fifth indication information to the terminal device, wherein the fifth indication information is used to indicate adjustment of the DRX parameter of the terminal device.

In an optional implementation, the method further includes: sending sixth indication information to the terminal device, the sixth indication information is used to indicate activation of a measurement interval of the terminal device, the measurement interval is used to measure hetero-frequency frequencies and/or homo-frequency frequencies.

Regarding the technical effects brought about by the second aspect or various optional implementations, reference may be made to the introduction to the technical effects of the first aspect or corresponding implementations.

In a third aspect, another communication method is provided, which can be executed by an application server. The application server is, for example, a server device, or other devices including application server functions, or a chip system (or, chip) or other functional module, which can realize the function of the application server, and the chip system or functional module is, for example, set in the application server. Optionally, the application server can execute a first service. The method includes: receiving a first uplink data packet corresponding to a first service from a terminal device; determining that the value of a first parameter corresponding to the first uplink data packet is greater than a first threshold relative to the value of the first parameter corresponding to a second uplink data packet, and the second uplink data packet is the uplink data packet of the first service most recently received from the terminal device; sending a first downlink data packet corresponding to the first uplink data packet, the first downlink data packet including an acceleration indication, and the acceleration indication is used to indicate the accelerated transmission of the first downlink data packet. The application server can determine whether the downlink data packet needs to be accelerated, so that the acceleration indication can be sent through the downlink data packet, so that the access network device can accelerate the transmission of the downlink data packet. For example, for a certain service, through the embodiments of the present application, some data packets of the service can be transmitted faster, while other data packets can be transmitted normally and the impact on the network can be reduced. This is equivalent to the embodiments of the present application achieving a balance between network capacity and user experience in a certain sense.

In an optional embodiment, the first downlink data packet also includes information about a first delay budget, and the first delay budget is used for the access network device to schedule the first downlink data packet. The first delay budget can be predefined by a protocol, or preconfigured in the access network device, or configured by a core network device or a terminal device. If configured by a core network device, one configuration method is, for example, to carry information about the first delay budget through a downlink data packet that needs to be accelerated for transmission. For example, the acceleration indication is the information about the first delay budget, so that the information about the first delay budget indicates both the first delay budget and implicitly indicates accelerated transmission of the downlink data packet, and can save overhead on the downlink data packet; for another example, the downlink data packet may include information about the first delay budget and an acceleration indication, and separate indications may be clearer.

In an optional implementation, the method further includes: receiving a third uplink data packet of the first service from the terminal device; determining that the change in the value of the first parameter corresponding to the third uplink data packet relative to the value of the first parameter corresponding to the fourth uplink data packet is less than or equal to a first threshold, the fourth uplink data packet being the uplink data packet of the first service most recently received from the terminal device; sending a third downlink data packet corresponding to the third uplink data packet, wherein the third downlink data packet does not include an acceleration indication for indicating to stop accelerating the transmission of the third downlink data packet, or the third downlink data packet includes seventh indication information, the seventh indication information being used to indicate to stop accelerating the transmission of the downlink data packet. The application server can determine whether the downlink data packet needs to stop accelerating the transmission, so that the seventh indication information can be sent through the downlink data packet, so that the access network device can stop accelerating the transmission. For example, for a certain service, through the embodiment of the present application, part of the data packets of the service can be accelerated, while other data packets can be transmitted normally, so that the accelerated transmission data packets can reach the receiving end as soon as possible, reducing the transmission delay, while some data packets are transmitted normally, and the impact on the network can be reduced, which is equivalent to the embodiment of the present application achieving a balance between network capacity and user experience in a certain sense.

In a fourth aspect, a communication device is provided. The communication device may be a terminal device as described in any one of the first to third aspects. The communication device has the functions of the terminal device. The communication device is, for example, a terminal device, or other device including the functions of a terminal device, or a chip system (or chip) or other functional module, the chip system or functional module can realize the functions of the terminal device, the chip system or functional module is, for example, arranged in the terminal device. In an optional implementation, the communication device includes a baseband device and a radio frequency device. In another optional implementation, the communication device includes a processing unit (sometimes also referred to as a processing module) and a transceiver unit (sometimes also referred to as a transceiver module). The transceiver unit can realize a sending function and a receiving function. When the transceiver unit realizes the sending function, it can be referred to as a sending unit (sometimes also referred to as a sending module), and when the transceiver unit realizes the receiving function, it can be referred to as a receiving unit (sometimes also referred to as a receiving module). The sending unit and the receiving unit can be the same functional module, the functional module is called a transceiver unit, the functional module can realize a sending function and a receiving function; or, the sending unit and the receiving unit can be different functional modules, the transceiver unit is a general term for these functional modules.

In an optional embodiment, the transceiver unit (or, the receiving unit) is used to receive first configuration information, the first configuration information is used to configure a first wireless bearer, and the first wireless bearer is used to transmit data packets of a first service; the transceiver unit (or, the sending unit) is used to send first indication information to an access network device, and the first indication information is used to indicate accelerated transmission of downlink data packets of the first service.

In an optional embodiment, the communication device also includes a storage unit (sometimes also referred to as a storage module), and the processing unit is used to couple with the storage unit and execute the program or instructions in the storage unit, so that the communication device can perform the functions of the terminal device described in any one of the first to third aspects above.

In a fifth aspect, a communication device is provided. The communication device may be the access network device described in any one of the first to third aspects. The communication device has the functions of the above-mentioned access network device. The communication device is, for example, an access network device, or other devices including the functions of an access network device, or a chip system (or, chip) or other functional modules, and the chip system or functional module can realize the functions of the access network device, and the chip system or functional module is, for example, arranged in the access network device. In an optional implementation, the communication device includes a baseband device and a radio frequency device. In another optional implementation, the communication device includes a processing unit (sometimes also referred to as a processing module) and a transceiver unit (sometimes also referred to as a transceiver module). For the implementation of the transceiver unit, reference may be made to the introduction of the fifth aspect.

In an optional embodiment, the transceiver unit (or, the sending unit) is used to send first configuration information to the terminal device, the first configuration information is used to configure a first wireless bearer, and the first wireless bearer is used to transmit data packets of a first service; the transceiver unit (or, the receiving unit) is used to receive first indication information from the terminal device, and the first indication information is used to indicate the acceleration of transmission of downlink data packets of the first service.

In an optional embodiment, the communication device also includes a storage unit (sometimes also referred to as a storage module), and the processing unit is used to couple with the storage unit and execute the program or instructions in the storage unit, so that the communication device can perform the functions of the access network device described in any one of the first to third aspects above.

In a sixth aspect, a communication device is provided. The communication device may be the application server described in any one of the first to third aspects above. The communication device has the functions of the above application server. The communication device is, for example, a server device, or other devices including application server functions, or a chip system (or, chip) or other functional modules, which can implement the functions of the application server, and the chip system or functional module is, for example, arranged in the application server. In an optional implementation, the communication device includes a baseband device and a radio frequency device. In another optional implementation, the communication device includes a processing unit (sometimes also referred to as a processing module) and a transceiver unit (sometimes also referred to as a transceiver module). For the implementation of the transceiver unit, reference may be made to the introduction of the fifth aspect.

In an optional embodiment, the transceiver unit (or, the receiving unit) is used to receive a first uplink data packet corresponding to a first service from a terminal device; the processing unit is used to determine that a change in a value of a first parameter corresponding to the first uplink data packet relative to a value of the first parameter corresponding to a second uplink data packet is greater than a first threshold, and the second uplink data packet is an uplink data packet of the first service most recently received from the terminal device; the transceiver unit (or, the sending unit) is used to send a first downlink data packet corresponding to the first uplink data packet, the first downlink data packet including an acceleration indication, and the acceleration indication is used to indicate accelerated transmission of the first downlink data packet.

In an optional embodiment, the communication device also includes a storage unit (sometimes also referred to as a storage module), and the processing unit is used to couple with the storage unit and execute the program or instructions in the storage unit, so that the communication device can perform the functions of the application server described in any one of the first to third aspects above.

In a seventh aspect, a communication device is provided, which may be a terminal device, or a chip or chip system used in a terminal device. The communication device includes a communication interface and a processor, and optionally, a memory. The memory is used to store a computer program, and the processor is coupled to the memory and the communication interface. When the processor reads the computer program or instruction, the communication device executes the method executed by the terminal device in the above aspects.

In an eighth aspect, a communication device is provided, which may be an access network device, or a chip or chip system used in an access network device. The communication device includes a communication interface and a processor, and optionally, a memory. The memory is used to store a computer program, and the processor is coupled to the memory and the communication interface. When the processor reads the computer program or instruction, the communication device executes the method executed by the access network device in the above aspects.

In a ninth aspect, a communication device is provided, which may be a server device, or a chip or chip system used in an application server device. The communication device includes a communication interface and a processor, and optionally, a memory. The memory is used to store a computer program, and the processor is coupled to the memory and the communication interface. When the processor reads the computer program or instruction, the communication device executes the method executed by the application server in the above aspects.

In a tenth aspect, a communication system is provided, comprising a terminal device and an access network device, wherein the terminal device is used to execute the method performed by the terminal device as described in any one of the first to third aspects above, and the access network device is used to execute the method performed by the access network device as described in any one of the first to third aspects above. For example, the terminal device can be implemented by the communication device described in the fourth or seventh aspect, and the access network device can be implemented by the communication device described in the fifth or eighth aspect.

Optionally, the communication system may further include other devices or equipment, such as an application server, which is used to execute the method performed by the application server described in any one of the first to third aspects above. For example, the application server may be implemented by the communication device described in the sixth or ninth aspect.

In the eleventh aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, wherein the computer-readable storage medium is used to store a computer program or instruction. When the computer program or instruction is executed, the method executed by the terminal device and/or access network device and/or application server in the above aspects is implemented.

In a twelfth aspect, a computer program product comprising instructions is provided, and when the computer program or instructions are executed on a computer, the methods described in the above aspects are implemented.

In a thirteenth aspect, a chip system is provided, comprising a processor and an interface, wherein the processor is used to call and execute instructions from the interface so that the chip system implements the above-mentioned methods.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG1 is a schematic diagram of a processing process of a VR service;

FIG2 is a schematic diagram of an application scenario of 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 an accelerated transmission process in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG5 is a schematic diagram of a device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of another device provided in an embodiment of the present application.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In order to make the purpose, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present application clearer, the embodiments of the present application will be further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In the embodiments of the present application, the number of nouns, unless otherwise specified, means "singular noun or plural noun", that is, "one or more". "At least one" means one or more, and "plural" means two or more. "And/or" describes the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that three relationships may exist. For example, A and/or B can mean: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone, where A and B can be singular or plural. The character "/" generally indicates that the previous and next associated objects are in an "or" relationship. For example, A/B means: A or B. "At least one of the following" or similar expressions refers to any combination of these items, including any combination of single or plural items. For example, at least one of a, b, or c means: 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.

The ordinal numbers such as "first" and "second" mentioned in the embodiments of the present application are used to distinguish multiple objects, and are not used to limit the size, content, order, timing, priority or importance of multiple objects. In addition, the numbering of the steps in the various embodiments introduced in the present application is only to distinguish different steps, and is not used to limit the order between the steps. For example, S301 may occur before S302, or may occur after S302, or may occur at the same time as S302.

Below, some terms or concepts in the embodiments of the present application are explained to facilitate understanding by those skilled in the art.

In an embodiment of the present application, the terminal device is a device with wireless transceiver functions, which can be a fixed device, a mobile device, a handheld device (such as a mobile phone), a wearable device, a vehicle-mounted device, or a wireless device built into the above devices (for example, a communication module, a modem, or a chip system, etc.). The terminal device is used to connect people, objects, machines, etc., and can be widely used in various scenarios, such as but not limited to the following scenarios: perception scenarios, cellular communication, device-to-device communication (D2D), vehicle to everything (V2X), machine-to-machine/machine-type communications (M2M/MTC), Internet of Things (IoT), VR, augmented reality (AR), industrial control, self driving, remote medical, smart grid, smart furniture, smart office, smart wearable, smart transportation, smart city, drones, robots, indoor commercial scenarios (such as mobile phone screen projection, file sharing, mobile phone to VR glasses video transmission) and other scenarios. When the terminal device is applied to V2X, it can also be called V2X device, for example, smart car (or intelligent car), digital car, unmanned car (or driverless car or pilotless car or automobile), self-driving car (or autonomous car), pure electric vehicle (or battery EV), hybrid electric vehicle (HEV), range extended EV (REEV), plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV), new energy vehicle (new energy vehicle), roadside unit (road site unit, RSU). The terminal device can also be a device in D2D communication, for example, an electric meter, a water meter, etc.

In addition, in the embodiments of the present application, the terminal device can also be a terminal device in an IoT system. IoT is an important part of the future development of information technology. Its main technical feature is to connect objects to the network through communication technology, thereby realizing an intelligent network that interconnects people and machines and things.

The various terminal devices introduced above, if located on a vehicle (for example, placed in a vehicle or installed in a vehicle), can be considered as vehicle-mounted terminal devices, which are also called on-board units (OBU). The terminal device of the present application can also be an on-board module, on-board module, on-board component, on-board chip or on-board unit built into the vehicle as one or more components or units. The vehicle can implement the method of the present application through the built-in on-board module, on-board module, on-board component, on-board chip or on-board unit.

The terminal device may sometimes be referred to as UE, terminal, access station, UE station, remote station, wireless communication device, or user equipment, etc.

In the embodiment of the present application, the communication device for implementing the function of the terminal device may be a terminal device, or may be a device capable of supporting the terminal device to implement the function, such as a chip system, which may be installed in the terminal device. In the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application, the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application is described by taking the device for implementing the function of the terminal device as an example, and the terminal device is used as an example. In addition, for the convenience of description, the terminal device is described in the embodiment of the present application by taking the UE as an example.

The network equipment in the embodiment of the present application, for example, includes access network equipment and/or core network equipment. The access network equipment is a device with wireless transceiver function, which is used to communicate with the terminal device. The access network equipment includes but is not limited to base stations (base transceiver station (BTS), node B, evolved node B (eNodeB)/eNB, or next generation node B (the next generation node B, gNodeB)/gNB), transmission reception point (TRP), base stations of subsequent evolution of the third generation partnership project (3GPP), access nodes in wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) systems, wireless relay nodes, wireless backhaul nodes, etc. The base station can be: a macro base station, a micro base station, a pico base station, a small station, a relay station, etc. Multiple base stations can support networks with the same access technology, or networks with different access technologies. The base station can include one or more co-station or non-co-station transmission and reception points. The access network device may also be a wireless controller, a centralized unit (CU), and/or a distributed unit (DU) in a cloud radio access network (CRAN) scenario. The access network device may also be a server, etc. For example, the network device in the V2X technology may be a road side unit (RSU). The following describes the access network device using a base station as an example. The base station can communicate with the terminal device, or it can communicate with the terminal device through a relay station. The terminal device can communicate with multiple base stations in different access technologies. The core network device is used to implement functions such as mobility management, data processing, session management, policy and billing. The names of the devices that implement the core network functions in systems with different access technologies may be different, and the embodiments of the present application do not limit this. Taking the fifth generation mobile communication technology (the 5th generation, 5G) system as an example, the core network equipment includes: access and mobility management function (access and mobility management function, AMF), session management function (session management function, SMF), policy control function (policy control function, PCF) or user plane function (user plane function, UPF), etc.

In the CU-DU architecture, the access network equipment may include one or more logical network elements such as a central unit (CU), a distributed unit (DU), a CU-control plane (CP), a CU-user plane (UP), or a radio unit (RU). The CU and DU may be set separately, or may be included in the same network element, such as a baseband unit (BBU). The RU may be included in a radio frequency device or a radio frequency unit, such as a remote radio unit (RRU), an active antenna unit (AAU), or a remote radio head (RRH).

In different systems, CU (or CU-CP and CU-UP), DU or RU may also have different names, but those skilled in the art can understand their meanings. For example, in the ORAN system, CU may also be called an open CU (O-CU), DU may also be called O-DU, CU-CP may also be called O-CU-CP, CU-UP may also be called O-CU-UP, and RU may also be called O-RU. For the convenience of description, the embodiments of the present application are described by taking CU, CU-CP, CU-UP, DU and RU as examples. Any unit of CU (or CU-CP, CU-UP), DU and RU in the embodiments of the present application may be implemented by a software module, a hardware module, or a combination of a software module and a hardware module.

Optionally, in various embodiments of the present application, if the network device is a distributed architecture, for example, the network device includes a CU and a DU, or includes a CU-CP, a CU-UP and a DU, the network device sends information to the UE, specifically, the DU included in the network device sends information to the UE; the network device receives information from the UE, specifically, the DU included in the network device receives information from the UE.

In an embodiment of the present application, a communication device for realizing a function of a network device may be a network device, or a device capable of supporting a network device to realize the function, such as a chip system, and the device may be installed in a network device. For example, a communication device for realizing a function of an access network device may be an access network device, or a device capable of supporting an access network device to realize the function, such as a chip system, and the device may be installed in an access network device. For another example, a communication device for realizing a function of a core network device may be an access network device, or a device capable of supporting a core network device to realize the function, such as a chip system, and the device may be installed in a core network device. In the technical solution provided in an embodiment of the present application, the technical solution provided in an embodiment of the present application is described by taking the case where the device for realizing the function of an access network device is an access network device, and the device for realizing the function of a core network device is a core network device as an example.

The technical features involved in the embodiments of the present application are introduced below.

Cloud VR is a technology that uses cloud computing capabilities for rendering. Please refer to Figure 1, which is the process of processing data for VR services. At the user end (such as the VR device end), user data can be collected, such as collecting user motion data, and the collection time is, for example, about 10 milliseconds (ms). The motion data is transmitted to the server (such as an application server for processing VR applications) through the network, and the delay of the transmission process is, for example, about 10ms. The server can render the image based on the motion data, and the rendering process lasts for more than about 10ms to 20ms. The server encodes and compresses the rendered image, and the process lasts about 10ms to 15ms. The server transmits the encoded and compressed image to the user end through the network, and the delay of the transmission process is, for example, about 10ms. The user end can decode the received encoded and compressed image, and the process lasts about 10ms. The user end renders and refreshes the decoded image (the process lasts about 8ms), so as to display a new image to the user. The total time required to process data for a VR service is called the end-to-end delay of the VR service. It can be seen that the current end-to-end delay is approximately 68 milliseconds (ms) to 83 ms.

For VR experience, if MTP is controlled within 20ms, that is, if the end-to-end delay of VR service can be controlled within 20ms, it can be accepted by users, and users will not have a strong sense of dizziness. However, as shown in Figure 1, the current end-to-end delay of VR service is much greater than this requirement. For this reason, ATW technology is introduced to shorten MTP delay. ATW technology can perform perspective shift on the image cached by UE, so a new image after perspective shift can be obtained based on the cached image to display to the user. Even if the VR device does not receive a new image from the network, it can still display it based on the locally cached image, reducing the dependence on network processing time and improving user experience.

However, in the real scene, after the perspective is shifted, some new scenes may appear in the field of vision. However, according to the perspective shift of the cached image, the new scene that should appear cannot be displayed, which causes the black edge effect. The black edge ratio is related to the real-time performance of the cached image. If the real-time performance of the image is higher, the black edge ratio is smaller. The real-time performance of the cached image is affected by the network transmission delay. The smaller the network transmission delay, the higher the real-time performance of the image. Referring to historical research experience, if the black edge ratio is to be controlled at 15%, the network transmission delay needs to be within 20ms. Therefore, the current requirement for the total delay of the 5G network for the uplink and downlink transmission of VR services is generally 20ms. As long as the 5G network can ensure that the transmission delay meets this requirement, the black edge ratio can be basically controlled within an acceptable range (for example, 15%). If you want to further optimize the experience, you need to further reduce the network transmission delay. For example, if the black edge ratio is required to reach 10%, the network transmission delay needs to be less than 5ms.

It can be seen that if we want to reduce the black edge effect, we must reduce the network transmission delay. However, reducing the network transmission delay has a greater impact on the network and also affects the network capacity, so it is not easy to achieve.

In view of this, the embodiment of the present application believes that the black edge is mainly caused by the difference between the user's real-time posture and the posture corresponding to the image in the cache. The larger the difference, the larger the black edge. However, the posture difference is not static, but is greatly affected by the user's movement amplitude. For example, at the time point when the user's movement amplitude is large, the proportion of black edges is large; and at the time point when the user's movement amplitude is small, the proportion of black edges is small. Taking the VR device as a helmet as an example, the embodiment of the present application statistically found that the user does not have much time for large movement amplitude during the use of the helmet. For example, the situation where the rotation angular velocity of the helmet is greater than 50°/second is regarded as a large movement amplitude, then the movement time with an angular velocity greater than 50°/second during the use of the helmet generally accounts for less than 10%. Therefore, the embodiment of the present application proposes that the reduction of network transmission delay may not be required for all data packets, but only for data packets with large movement amplitudes of the user, thereby reducing the black edge effect and reducing the requirements for network transmission.

For example, in an embodiment of the present application, the UE can instruct the access network device to accelerate the transmission of downlink data packets. For example, the UE can notify the access network device to accelerate the transmission of downlink data packets when it believes that acceleration is necessary, and it can not notify the access network device to accelerate the transmission of downlink data packets when the UE believes that acceleration is not necessary. For example, for a certain service, through the embodiment of the present application, part of the data packets of the service can be accelerated, while other data packets can be transmitted normally, thereby enabling the accelerated transmission of data packets to reduce the black edge effect, while some data packets are transmitted normally, which can reduce the impact on the network, which is equivalent to achieving a balance between network capacity and user experience in a certain sense in the embodiment of the present application.

Please refer to Figure 2, which is a schematic diagram of a 5G network architecture, which is also a network architecture used in the embodiments of the present application. The 5G network architecture shown in Figure 2 may include three parts, namely, a UE part, a data network (DN), and an operator network part.

Among them, the operator network may include one or more of the following network elements: authentication server function (AUSF) network element, network exposure function (NEF) network element, policy control function (PCF) network element, unified data management (UDM) network element, unified database (UDR), network storage function (NRF) network element, application function (AF) network element, access and mobility management function (AMF) network element, SMF network element, (radio) access network ((R)AN) or user plane function (UPF) network element, etc.

The above-mentioned operator network includes a radio access network and a core network. The UE accesses the core network through the (R)AN, and the core network includes user plane network elements and control plane network elements. Among them, the user plane network elements of the core network include UPF; the control plane network elements of the core network include at least one of AUSF, AMF, SMF, NSSF, NEF, NRF, UDM, PCF, or AF.

The user plane network element (such as UPF) is mainly responsible for packet forwarding, quality of service (QoS) control, billing information statistics, etc. The control plane network element is mainly responsible for business process interaction, sending packet forwarding strategies and QoS control strategies to the user plane, etc. In the embodiment of the present application, it is considered that devices such as sensors can access the core network through devices such as UE and (R)AN, so that the controller connected to devices such as sensors in the industrial Ethernet can perform industrial data communication on the user plane through UPF.

The core network control plane can adopt a service-oriented architecture, that is, the interaction between control plane network elements adopts the service call method to replace the point-to-point communication method in the traditional architecture. In the service-oriented architecture, a control plane network element will open services to other control plane network elements for other control plane network elements to call; in point-to-point communication, there will be a set of specific messages on the communication interface between control plane network elements, which can only be used by the control plane network elements at both ends of the interface when communicating.

The functions of network elements in the core network are described as follows:

UPF supports all or part of the following functions: interconnecting protocol data unit (PDU) sessions with data networks, packet routing and forwarding (for example, supporting uplink classifier for forwarding traffic to the data network, supporting branching points to support multi-homed PDU sessions), or packet inspection.

AMF, UE access management and mobility management. Responsible for UE status maintenance, UE reachability management, non-mobility management (MM) non-access-stratum (NAS) message forwarding, session management (SM) N2 message forwarding.

SMF, UE session management, allocates resources for UE sessions and releases resources. The resources include session quality of service (QoS), session path, forwarding rules, etc. SMF is responsible for selecting or reselecting UPF, allocating Internet protocol (IP) addresses, and establishing, modifying, and releasing bearers.

NEF opens network functions to third parties in the form of northbound application programming interface (API) interface.

NRF provides storage and selection functions for network function entity information for other network elements.

PCF, user policy management, is used to generate and manage user, session, and QoS flow processing policies.

AF, application management, provides some application layer services to UE. When providing services to UE, AF has requirements for QoS (policy) and charging strategy, and needs to notify the network. In addition, AF also needs the core network to feedback application-related information.

The relevant interfaces between network element functions involved in the embodiments of the present application include:

N1: Interface between UE and core network control plane.

N2: Communication interface between (R)AN and core network control plane.

N3: Communication interface between (R)AN and UPF, used to transmit user plane data.

N4: Communication interface between SMF and UPF, used by SMF to configure policies for UPF, etc.

N6: Communication port between UPF and DN.

The method provided by the embodiment of the present application is introduced below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Among them, the method described in the embodiment of the present application can be applied in ATW technology, that is, when the ATW technology is applied, the method of the embodiment of the present application can be applied to reduce the black edge effect and reduce the impact on the network; or, when the ATW technology is not applied, the method of the embodiment of the present application can also be applied to reduce the network transmission delay of some data packets and reduce the impact on the network. In the accompanying drawings corresponding to the various embodiments of the present application, all steps represented by dotted lines are optional steps. In addition, the business involved in the embodiment of the present application (such as the first business in the following text) can be a VR business, an extended reality (extended reality, XR) business, an augmented reality (augmented reality, AR) business, or a mixed reality (Mixed Reality, MR) business, etc., and can also be other types of business, without limitation.

The various embodiments of this document may be applied to the network architecture shown in Figure 2. For example, the UE described in the various embodiments of this document may be the UE in Figure 2, the access network device described in the various embodiments of this document may be the (R)AN in Figure 2, the core network device described in the various embodiments of this document may be the UPF in Figure 2, and the application server described in the various embodiments of this document may be located in the DN in Figure 2.

An embodiment of the present application provides a communication method. Please refer to FIG3 , which is a flowchart of the method.

S301: The access network device sends first configuration information to a terminal device. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the first configuration information.

The terminal device is, for example, a terminal device, such as a UE, or other devices including the functions of a terminal device, or a chip system (or, chip) or other functional module, which can realize the functions of the terminal device, and the chip system or functional module is, for example, arranged in the terminal device. The following is introduced by taking the UE as an example.

The first configuration information may configure a first radio bearer (RB) for the UE, and the first radio bearer may be used to transmit one or more services. The one or more services include, for example, a first service. Optionally, if the first radio bearer is used to transmit multiple services, the first radio bearer may include multiple radio bearers, for example, the multiple radio bearers may correspond one to one with the multiple services, that is, one radio bearer may be used to transmit one service; or, one radio bearer may also be used to transmit multiple services. Among the one or more services, the types of different services may be the same, for example, all are extended reality (XR) services, and the XR services include, for example, one or more of VR services, mixed reality (MR) services, or augmented reality (AR) services; or, among the one or more services, the types of different services may also be different, for example, the one or more services may include XR services, and may also include other types of services, without specific limitation. Among the one or more services, the first service may be, for example, an XR service, or may also be other types of services.

The first radio bearer may include, for example, one or more of a data radio bearer (DRB), a quality of service (QoS) flow, or a logical channel (LCH). For example, since the one or more services include the first service, the first radio bearer may include one or more of the following: a DRB for transmitting the first service, a QoS flow for transmitting the first service, or a logical channel for transmitting the first service.

Among them, if the first radio bearer includes multiple items as above, for example, including LCH and QoS flow, or including DRB and LCH, or including LCH, DRB and QoS flow, etc., then these multiple items can be configured through one configuration information (for example, the first configuration information is one configuration information), or these multiple items can also be configured separately through multiple configuration information (for example, the first configuration information includes multiple configuration information). If multiple items are configured through one configuration information, then optionally, the configuration information can configure these multiple items separately through different information elements (information element, IE).

Among them, LCH is a logical channel for transmitting data on DRB, and data on a DRB can be transmitted through one or more LCHs. There is a corresponding relationship between QoS flow and DRB, and data of QoS flow can be transmitted through the DRB corresponding to the QoS flow.

The first configuration information is, for example, included in high-level signaling, such as radio resource control (RRC) signaling or media access control (MAC) control element (CE); or, the first configuration information may also be included in physical layer signaling, such as downlink control information (DCI); or, the first configuration information may also be included in signaling of other protocol layers. Optionally, if the first configuration information includes multiple pieces of information, the multiple pieces of information may be included in multiple pieces of signaling of the same type, such as all of them are included in RRC signaling; or, the multiple pieces of information may also be included in different types of signaling, such as some configuration information is included in RRC signaling, and some signaling is included in MAC CE.

S302: The terminal device sends first indication information to the access network device. Correspondingly, the access network device receives the first indication information.

The first indication information may be sent to the access network device through the first radio bearer, or may not be sent to the access network device through the first radio bearer. If the first indication information is not sent to the access network device through the first radio bearer, then optionally, the first configuration information may also configure resources for sending the first indication information. Alternatively, even if the first indication information is not sent through the first radio bearer, the resources for sending the first indication information may be pre-configured in the UE, or pre-defined through the protocol, and do not need to be configured by the access network device. If the first indication information is sent to the access network device through the first radio bearer, then because the first configuration information configures the first radio bearer, the first indication information can be sent through the resources of the first radio bearer, so the first configuration information does not need to additionally configure resources for sending the first indication information, and it is also not necessary to configure resources for sending the first indication information through protocol pre-definition or the like.

The first indication information indicates accelerated transmission of downlink data packets, so that the access network device clearly knows that there are downlink data packets that need to be accelerated. Correspondingly, the access network device can prepare resources in advance, etc. For example, if the first indication information does not indicate the relevant service or wireless bearer, it can be assumed that the first indication information corresponds to all wireless bearers configured by the access network device for the UE, for example, including the first wireless bearer. That is, the first indication information indicates accelerated transmission of downlink data packets, and the access network device can determine, based on the first indication information, that the downlink data packets of the service transmitted by any wireless bearer configured by the access network device for the UE must be accelerated.

Alternatively, if the first indication information does not indicate the relevant service or radio bearer, but the first indication information is sent through a corresponding radio bearer (e.g., including one or more of a DRB, a QoS flow, or a logical channel), then it can be assumed that the first indication information corresponds to a radio bearer used to send the first indication information (e.g., corresponding to one or more of a DRB, a QoS flow, or a logical channel used to send the first indication information). For example, if the first indication information indicates accelerated transmission of downlink data packets, and the first indication information is sent to an access network device through a first radio bearer, then the access network device determines that the downlink data packets of the service transmitted by the first radio bearer should be accelerated in transmission based on the fact that the first indication information is sent through the first radio bearer.

Alternatively, if the first indication information indicates a related service or radio bearer, the access network device may determine, based on the first indication information, that all downlink data packets of the service or service transmitted by the radio bearer should be accelerated for transmission. For example, the first indication information may indicate accelerated transmission of downlink data packets of the first service, and the access network device may accelerate transmission of downlink data packets of the first service; if the first indication information does not indicate other services other than the first service transmitted by the first radio bearer, the access network device does not need to accelerate transmission of downlink data packets of other services transmitted by the first radio bearer. Optionally, the first indication information may indicate the first service by carrying one or more of the following information: an identifier of the first service, an identifier of the DRB used to transmit the first service, an identifier of the QoS flow used to transmit the first service, or an identifier of a logical channel used to transmit the first service.

Taking the example of the first indication information indicating the accelerated transmission of the downlink data packet of the first service, and taking the first service being a VR service as an example, the downlink data packet of the VR service, for example, includes an image rendered by the application server of the VR service. For example, after the UE (such as a VR device) collects the user's motion data, it sends it to the application server through the access network device and the core network device; the application server renders the image according to the motion data, and sends the rendered image to the UE through the core network device and the access network device (the image sent may be an encoded and compressed image). Then the downlink data packet of the VR service may be sent by the application server to the UE, and may include the rendered image. That is, the accelerated transmission described in the embodiment of the present application may be for a downlink data packet. For example, after the access network device receives a downlink data packet from the application server from the core network device, it may accelerate the transmission of the downlink data packet so that the downlink data packet can reach the UE as soon as possible.

Optionally, in addition to indicating the accelerated transmission of downlink data packets (or indicating the accelerated transmission of downlink data packets of the first service), the first indication information may also indicate other information. For example, the first indication information may also indicate the time when the downlink data packet to be accelerated is expected to arrive at the access network device; the access network device may determine when to start accelerated transmission, or determine which downlink data packet to start accelerated transmission from, based on the time indicated by the first indication information. The first indication information is to indicate the time, for example, one indication method is to indicate a moment (the unit of the moment is, for example, hours, minutes, seconds, milliseconds, frames, subframes, time slots, or orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols, etc.). For example, the first indication information indicates the T1 time slot. Alternatively, another method for the first indication information to indicate the time is to indicate a time offset, for example, time offset A, for example, the time offset A is 20ms. The access network device may start timing from the time of receiving the first indication information, and the timing duration is the time offset A.

According to the above, the downlink data packet to be accelerated can be sent by the application server and arrive at the access network device after passing through the core network device. When the UE sends the first indication information, the downlink data packet to be accelerated may not have arrived at the access network device yet. The first indication information can indicate the time when the downlink data packet to be accelerated is expected to arrive at the access network device, so that the access network device can clearly understand that the downlink data packets received from this time (for example, the time indicated by the first indication information, or the time when the above timing duration arrives) (or, the downlink data packets corresponding to the first wireless bearer; or, the downlink data packets corresponding to the first service) are the downlink data packets that need to be accelerated; and the downlink data packets received before this time are not the downlink data packets that need to be accelerated.

Optionally, the UE may determine the time or time offset A indicated by the first indication information based on historical information. For example, the UE may determine the historical transmission information of the data packet of the first service, and determine the round-trip delay of the data packet of the first service based on the historical transmission information; in addition, the UE may also determine the air interface delay between the UE and the access network device based on information such as the channel quality between the UE and the access network device, and the UE may predict the time or time offset A indicated by the first indication information based on the round-trip delay and the air interface delay. The round-trip delay of the data packet of the first service may include the delay from the time when the uplink data packet of the first service is sent from the UE to the time when the UE receives the downlink data packet corresponding to the uplink data packet.

Optionally, the access network device may determine when to start accelerating the transmission of downlink data packets, or determine which downlink data packet to start accelerating the transmission from, in addition to determining it according to the time indicated by the first indication information, by other means. For example, if the first indication information does not indicate a time, the access network device may determine that the downlink data packets received from the moment the access network device receives the first indication information (or, the downlink data packets corresponding to the first wireless bearer; or, the downlink data packets corresponding to the first service) are the downlink data packets that need to be accelerated in transmission; and the downlink data packets received before this time are not the downlink data packets that need to be accelerated in transmission.

For another example, if the first indication information does not indicate a time, the access network device may determine that the downlink data packets (or, downlink data packets corresponding to the first radio bearer; or, downlink data packets corresponding to the first service) received from the time when the second time offset starting from the time of receiving the first indication information arrives are downlink data packets that need to be accelerated for transmission; and the downlink data packets received before this time are not downlink data packets that need to be accelerated for transmission. The second time offset may be set by the access network device, or configured by the core network device, or predefined or preconfigured in the access network device through a protocol.

Alternatively, the access network device needs to determine when to start accelerating the transmission of downlink data packets, or determine which downlink data packet to start accelerating the transmission from, and in addition to the methods described above, it can also be determined in other ways. For example, the access network device can determine it based on an acceleration indication, and the acceleration indication is included in the downlink data packet. For example, when an application server or a core network device sends a downlink data packet of a first service, if a downlink data packet (such as a first downlink data packet) needs to be accelerated, the application server or the core network device can carry an acceleration indication in the first downlink data packet (for example, carried in the header of the first downlink data packet), and the acceleration indication can indicate that the first downlink data packet is a downlink data packet to be accelerated. Based on the acceleration indication, the access network device can determine that the first downlink data packet is a downlink data packet that needs to be accelerated. Optionally, if there are multiple downlink data packets that need to be accelerated, the application server or the core network device can carry the acceleration indication in each downlink data packet, or can also carry the acceleration indication in one or more downlink data packets that are first sent.

For example, when the application server sends a downlink data packet of the first service, if a downlink data packet needs to be accelerated, the application server can carry an acceleration indication in the header of the downlink data packet, and the core network device can determine whether a downlink data packet needs to be accelerated based on whether the header of the data packet received from the application server carries the acceleration indication. For example, if the application server sets an acceleration indication in the header of a downlink data packet, the core network device can determine that the downlink data packet needs to be accelerated. If the core network device determines that a downlink data packet needs to be accelerated, the core network device can set an acceleration indication in the header of the downlink data packet sent to the access network device. Among them, the acceleration indication set by the core network device and the acceleration indication set by the application server can be implemented in the same way, for example, both are 1 bit of information; or the implementation methods of the two acceleration indications can also be different, without specific limitation, but the two acceleration indications both indicate that the corresponding downlink data packet is a downlink data packet to be accelerated. For example, the downlink data packet from the application server is downlink data packet 1, and the header of downlink data packet 1 carries an acceleration indication; the core network device encapsulates the downlink data packet 1, for example, the core network device adds a header to the downlink data packet 1 to obtain downlink data packet 2. Because the core network device parses the header of the downlink data packet 1 and obtains the acceleration indication, the newly added header in the downlink data packet 2 can carry the acceleration indication, and the core network device sends the downlink data packet 2 to the access network device; the access network device can determine that the downlink data packet 2 is a downlink data packet to be accelerated according to the acceleration indication in the downlink data packet 2.

Or for example, the core network device does not need to re-encapsulate the downlink data packet, and does not need to determine whether the downlink data packet needs to be accelerated. For example, the core network device can directly forward the downlink data packet from the application server to the access network device. The access network device can then determine that the downlink data packet needs to be accelerated based on the packet header of the received downlink data packet. For example, the downlink data packet from the application server is downlink data packet 1, and the packet header of downlink data packet 1 carries an acceleration indication; the core network device forwards downlink data packet 1 to the access network device; the access network device can determine that downlink data packet 2 is a downlink data packet to be accelerated based on the acceleration indication in downlink data packet 1.

Optionally, the acceleration indication occupies one bit, for example. If the value of the bit is "1", it indicates that the corresponding downlink data packet needs to be accelerated for transmission; or, if a downlink data packet carries the acceleration indication, it indicates that the downlink data packet needs to be accelerated for transmission. In this case, the number of bits occupied by the acceleration indication and the value of the acceleration indication are not limited. Alternatively, another implementation of the acceleration indication is, for example, that the acceleration indication includes information about a first delay budget. The first delay budget can be used by an access network device to schedule downlink data packets to be accelerated for transmission. The first delay budget will be described later. That is, the downlink data packet can implicitly indicate that the downlink data packet is a downlink data packet that needs to be accelerated for transmission through the information about the first delay budget.

The application server needs to determine whether the downlink data packet needs to be accelerated. An optional way is to determine whether to accelerate the transmission of the downlink data packet according to the first parameter. For example, if the value of the first parameter is greater than or equal to the first threshold, or the change in the value of the first parameter is greater than or equal to the second threshold, it can be determined that the downlink data packet needs to be accelerated. Among them, the first threshold and/or the second threshold can be set by the application server, or configured by the access network device or the core network device, or pre-configured in the application server, or can also be predefined by the protocol. Among them, if the application server and the UE both apply the first threshold, the two first thresholds can be equal; if the application server and the UE both apply the second threshold, the two second thresholds can be equal, so that the application server and the UE have the same judgment results on whether to accelerate. The application server needs to determine the value of the first parameter, which can be determined according to the data included in the uplink data packet received from the UE. For example, the application server can determine whether the value of the first parameter is greater than or equal to the first threshold based on the data included in the uplink data packet from the UE, or it can also determine whether the change in the value of the first parameter is greater than or equal to the second threshold based on the data included in multiple uplink data packets from the UE.

The accelerated transmission in the embodiment of the present application may mean that the requirement for transmission delay of the downlink data packets that need to be accelerated can be higher than the requirement for transmission delay of the downlink data packets that do not need to be accelerated. For example, the embodiment of the present application is to accelerate the transmission of downlink data packets of the first service, then the requirement for transmission delay of the downlink data packets that need to be accelerated in the downlink data packets of the first service can be higher than the requirement for transmission delay of the downlink data packets that do not need to be accelerated in the downlink data packets of the first service. Optionally, the operation of the access network device to accelerate the transmission of downlink data packets may also include one or more of the following: the access network device prepares wireless resources (such as reserved resources) for the data packets to be accelerated in advance, deactivates DRX, or deactivates the measurement interval (GAP) of the UE. By deactivating DRX and/or deactivating GAP and other processes, it can be ensured as much as possible that the UE can monitor the downlink data packets in a timely manner. These parameters will be introduced later.

Optionally, the access network device may schedule the downlink data packets to be accelerated according to the first delay budget, thereby realizing the accelerated transmission of these downlink data packets. Taking the downlink data packets of the first service as an example, as an implementation of the first delay budget, the first delay budget may belong to the delay range indicated by the packet delay budget (PDB) of the first service. Optionally, the PDB of the first service (for example, called the second PDB) may be configured by the core network device. In this case, the PDB may not be reconfigured for the downlink data packets to be accelerated, but the second PDB originally corresponding to the first service may continue to be used, which can reduce the configuration process of the PDB, and the access network device may not have to switch between multiple PDBs. If the first delay budget belongs to the delay range indicated by the PDB of the first service, optionally, the difference between the first delay budget and the lower limit of the delay range may be less than the third threshold. The delay range may include multiple delays, and the multiple delays include the upper limit and the lower limit of the delay range, and the first delay budget may be selected from the delay close to the lower limit as much as possible.

For example, if the second PDB is 10ms, it means that after the downlink data packet of the first service arrives at the access network device, the access network device needs to schedule the downlink data packet within 10ms (i.e., send out the downlink data packet), wherein the access network device sends out the downlink data packet at the 2nd ms or at the 9th ms, which meets the requirements of the PDB. In traditional service transmission, the access network device can determine when to send out the downlink data packet based on factors such as the service load and/or channel state of the access network device. If the downlink data packet of the first service is received but still not sent out after the 10th ms, the access network device can discard the downlink data packet. In the embodiment of the present application, if the transmission of some downlink data packets needs to be accelerated while the second PDB remains unchanged, it means that the scheduling time of these downlink data packets should be shortened as much as possible. For example, if the second PDB is 10ms, and the first delay budget can be 2ms, that is, the access network device can send out these downlink data packets at the 2nd ms, instead of sending out these downlink data packets at the 9th ms, thereby reducing the scheduling time of these downlink data packets, thereby achieving accelerated transmission.

Alternatively, as another optional implementation of the first delay budget, the PDB corresponding to the first delay budget may be smaller than the second PDB. In this case, a corresponding PDB may be configured for the downlink data packet to be accelerated, for example, called the first PDB. For example, the first PDB may be configured by the core network device so that the first PDB is smaller than the second PDB corresponding to the downlink data packet that is not accelerated, thereby making the access network device more clear about the scheduling time. Optionally, the configuration information of the second PDB and the configuration information of the first PDB may be carried in the same configuration message, or may be carried in different configuration messages respectively. For example, the second PDB is 10ms, and the first PDB is, for example, 2ms. If the second PDB is followed, after the downlink data packet of the first service arrives at the access network device, the access network device needs to send the downlink data packet within 10ms; and if the first PDB is followed, the access network device needs to send the downlink data packet within 2ms. It can be seen that by reconfiguring the PDB, the scheduling time of the downlink data packet to be accelerated can be shortened, thereby achieving acceleration. Among them, one way in which the first delay budget corresponds to the first PDB is that the first delay budget is the first PDB, for example, if the first PDB is 2ms, then the first delay budget is 2ms; or, the first delay budget can be included in the delay range indicated by the first PDB, for example, if the first PDB is 2ms, then the first delay budget can be a positive number less than or equal to 2ms.

The first delay budget can be determined by the access network device itself, for example, the access network device can determine the first delay budget according to the second PDB. Alternatively, the first delay budget can be preconfigured in the access network device. Alternatively, the first delay budget can be predefined by a protocol. Alternatively, the first delay budget can also be indicated by the UE. For example, the UE can indicate the first delay budget to the access network device so that the access network device can determine the first delay budget. Optionally, the UE indicates the first delay budget to the access network device, and one way is, for example, that the first indication information indicates the first delay budget, for example, the first indication information includes information about the first delay budget. In this way, it is equivalent to that the first indication information implicitly indicates the need to accelerate the transmission of downlink data packets by indicating the first delay budget.

Optionally, when to start accelerating the transmission of downlink data packets, or when to send the first indication information to the access network device, can be determined by the UE, for example, the determination process can be performed by the application layer (or service layer) of the UE, or can also be performed by other protocol layers of the UE. The application layer is, for example, the application (APP) layer or the operating system (OS) layer of the UE. For example, the UE can determine whether to accelerate the transmission of downlink data packets based on the first parameter. For example, if the value of the first parameter is greater than or equal to the first threshold, or the change in the value of the first parameter is greater than or equal to the second threshold, the UE can determine to accelerate the transmission of downlink data packets, or the UE can send the first indication information to the access network device. Among them, the first threshold and/or the second threshold can be set by the UE, or configured by the access network device or the core network device, or pre-configured in the UE, or can also be predefined by the protocol. The first threshold can be greater than, less than or equal to the second threshold, and there is no restriction on this. The first parameter is, for example, a parameter of the UE, and the first parameter can indicate the action amplitude of the UE. For example, if the UE is executing the first service, the first parameter can indicate the action amplitude of the UE when executing the first service. For example, if it is determined according to the first parameter that the movement amplitude of the UE is large, it can be considered that the corresponding downlink data packet should be transmitted faster to reduce the network transmission delay so that the user can see the new image after the viewing angle shift as soon as possible; if it is determined according to the first parameter that the movement amplitude of the UE is small, the corresponding downlink data packet does not need to be transmitted faster to reduce the impact on the network.

For example, the UE is a helmet, and the first parameter is, for example, the angular velocity of rotation of the helmet. When the angular velocity of rotation is relatively large, for example, greater than or equal to the first threshold, indicating that the user's movement amplitude is relatively large, then the downlink data packet corresponding to the relatively large angular velocity of rotation can be accelerated for transmission; and when the angular velocity of rotation is relatively small, for example, less than the first threshold, indicating that the user's movement amplitude is relatively small, then the downlink data packet corresponding to the relatively small angular velocity of rotation may not need to be accelerated for transmission. Alternatively, when the amount of change in the angular velocity of rotation is relatively large (for example, the UE may compare the current angular velocity of rotation with the angular velocity of rotation determined at the last acquisition opportunity to determine the amount of change), for example, greater than or equal to the second threshold, indicating that the user's movement amplitude is relatively large, then the downlink data packet corresponding to the relatively large angular velocity of rotation may be accelerated for transmission; and when the amount of change in the angular velocity of rotation is relatively small, for example, less than the second threshold, indicating that the user's movement amplitude is relatively small, then the downlink data packet corresponding to the relatively small angular velocity of rotation may not need to be accelerated for transmission.

According to how the UE determines when to start accelerating the transmission of downlink data packets, it can be known that when the UE sends the first indication information to the access network device, the first service may have just started to be executed, and the data packets corresponding to the first service may not have started to be transmitted. In this case, all downlink data packets of the first service may be accelerated for transmission. For example, during the execution of the first service, if the user always maintains a large range of motion, all downlink data packets of the first service may be accelerated for transmission; or, only part of the downlink data packets of the first service may be accelerated for transmission. For example, after accelerating the transmission of some downlink data packets of the first service, if the user's motion range slows down, the remaining downlink data packets of the first service may no longer be accelerated for transmission.

Alternatively, when the UE sends the first indication information to the access network device, the first service may have been executed for a period of time, and before sending the first indication information, the downlink data packets of the first service have not been accelerated. That is, in this case, part of the downlink data packets of the first service will be accelerated.

It can be seen that the embodiments of the present application can realize the accelerated transmission of all or part of the downlink data packets of the service, that is, the embodiments of the present application can accelerate the transmission of the downlink data packets that need to be accelerated according to the needs of the service (or according to the movement of the user), while the downlink data packets that do not need to be accelerated do not need to be accelerated, which can enable the user to see the new image in time and reduce the impact on the network.

Wherein, if when to start accelerated transmission is executed by the application layer of the UE, then optionally, when it is determined that acceleration needs to start, the application layer can send an indication to the access layer of the UE to indicate the need for accelerated transmission. After receiving the indication from the application layer, the access layer can send a first indication message to the access network device, for example, the first indication message can be sent to the access network device by the communication layer in the access layer. The access layer is, for example, a protocol layer managed by the modem of the UE, for example, the access layer may include one or more of the following protocol layers: service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) layer, packet data convergence protocol (PDCP), radio link control (RLC), or MAC. The communication layer in the access layer is, for example, any protocol layer in the access layer, for example, PDCP, RLC or MAC can be used as the communication layer.

Optionally, the first indication information may be included in RRC control signaling, or may be included in user plane control signaling, or may also be included in a user plane data packet. If the first indication information is included in a user plane data packet, an optional manner is that the first indication information may be included in a header of the user plane data packet.

Optionally, the user plane control signaling may include one or more of the following: MAC control signaling, RLC control signaling, PDCP control signaling, or physical layer control signaling. Alternatively, the user plane control signaling may also include other user plane control signaling, or the above user plane control signaling may also have other names (for example, the names of certain protocol layers may be changed, etc.), which is not limited.

Optionally, the user plane data packet may include one or more of the following: a MAC data packet, an RLC data packet, a PDCP data packet, or an SDAP data packet. Alternatively, the user plane data packet may also include other user plane data packets, or the above user plane data packet may also have other names (for example, the names of certain protocol layers may be changed, etc.), which is not limited.

Among them, the first service may involve both uplink data packets and downlink data packets, so one way to send the first indication information is to carry it in a user-plane data packet (uplink data packet) and send it. Optionally, the uplink data packet used to send the first indication information may have an associated relationship with the downlink data packet to be accelerated. For example, if the first service is a VR service, the UE sends the first indication information when it determines that the value of the first parameter is greater than the first threshold (or the change in the value of the first parameter is greater than the second threshold), and the user-plane data packet including the first indication information may be the user-plane data packet corresponding to the first parameter greater than the first threshold, that is, the data included in the user-plane data packet may be collected when the value of the first parameter is greater than the first threshold. The data packet to be accelerated is also the downlink data packet corresponding to the first parameter greater than the first threshold. For example, after the user-plane data packet corresponding to the first parameter greater than the first threshold reaches the application server, the application server performs image rendering according to the user-plane data packet, and sends the rendered image to the UE through the downlink data packet. The downlink data packet is the downlink data packet that needs to be accelerated.

If the UE determines that a downlink data packet needs to be accelerated, in addition to sending the first indication information to the access network device, other processing may be performed. For example, the UE may adjust the discontinuous reception (DRX) parameters of the UE, or the UE may deactivate the DRX mechanism of the UE, or the UE may shorten the DRX cycle of the UE; and/or the UE may deactivate the GAP of the UE.

The UE may be configured with DRX, which can save power consumption. Under the DRX mechanism, the UE only wakes up to receive data during the DRX activation time, and during the DRX inactive time, the UE can enter a sleep state, in which the UE may not perform a receiving operation. If there are downlink data packets that need to be accelerated, then when the accelerated downlink data packets arrive at the access network device, the access network device may quickly schedule these downlink data packets. If the UE is in the DRX inactive time at this time, the UE may not be able to receive these downlink data packets, resulting in packet loss. Therefore, in an embodiment of the present application, the UE can adjust the DRX parameters. For example, the UE can adjust the DRX parameters in any of the following three ways.

1) Shorten the DRX inactive time and/or increase the DRX active time.

For example, after the UE sends an acceleration indication, it can be considered that it will continue to stay in the DRX activation time until it stops accelerating. When or after stopping acceleration, the UE can restore the normal DRX activation time decision rule (wherein, a reference to the DRX activation time decision rule can be found in the DRX activation time decision rule described in 3GPP technical specification (technical specification, TS) 38321). After receiving the acceleration indication from the UE, the access network device also considers that the UE will continue to stay in the DRX activation time until it stops accelerating.

2) Deactivate the DRX mechanism, and the UE may not enter the sleep state.

Deactivating DRX means, for example, that the UE can retain the DRX configuration parameters, but does not determine the DRX activation time and deactivation time, and the UE monitors the downlink scheduling until the acceleration stops. When or after the acceleration stops, the UE reactivates the DRX mechanism according to the retained DRX configuration parameters. Compared with directly configuring the DRX configuration, retaining the DRX configuration parameters can save the process of DRX deconfiguration and reconfiguration parameters, and improve the efficiency of activating the DRX mechanism.

3) Shorten the DRX cycle.

In this case, even if the UE enters the sleep state, the time is relatively short, and the activation time occurs more frequently, which has little impact on the UE receiving downlink data packets. Among them, how much the DRX cycle should be shortened can be determined by the UE, or predefined by the protocol, or configured by the access network device.

Regardless of which DRX parameter adjustment method is used, the UE can be in a non-sleep state for as much time as possible through the corresponding processing of the DRX mechanism by the UE, so as to be ready to receive downlink data packets accelerated by the network side, avoid missing the data accelerated by the network side to the UE due to the sleep state, thereby reducing the packet loss rate. Alternatively, the UE can also adjust the DRX parameters in other ways besides the above three ways, which are not limited.

Considering that the access network device may accelerate the transmission of downlink data packets some time after the UE sends the first indication information, the UE may optionally adjust the DRX parameters when the first time offset after sending the first indication information arrives, thereby making the UE's adjustment of the parameters more consistent with the accelerated transmission mechanism of the downlink data packets, and also enabling the UE to save power consumption through the normal DRX mechanism as much as possible. The first time offset may be determined by the UE, and optionally, the first time offset is related to the aforementioned time offset A, for example, the first time offset is equal to the time offset A.

Optionally, the UE's adjustment of DRX (such as shortening the DRX inactive time and/or increasing the DRX active time, or deactivating the DRX mechanism, or shortening the DRX cycle) may be decided by the UE itself, or may be performed under the instruction of the access network device. For example, after receiving the first indication information, the access network device may send a second indication information to the UE, and the second indication information may indicate adjustment of the DRX parameters of the UE (such as indicating shortening the DRX inactive time and/or increasing the DRX active time, or indicating deactivating the DRX mechanism of the UE, or indicating shortening the DRX cycle of the UE); after receiving the second indication information, the UE may perform corresponding processing according to the second indication information. Among them, if the UE shortens the DRX cycle of the UE according to the second indication information, the shortened cycle may also be indicated by the second indication information, or may be determined by the UE itself or predefined by the protocol, etc.

As described above, if the UE determines that there is a downlink data packet that needs to be accelerated, in addition to sending the first indication information to the access network device, the UE's GAP can also be deactivated. The GAP is used for the UE to perform measurements (the measurement includes, for example, inter-frequency measurements and/or intra-frequency measurements) and interrupt the time for performing data reception at the current working frequency. For example, within the time range of the GAP, the UE can switch to an inter-frequency frequency (or switch to an intra-frequency frequency, wherein the intra-frequency frequency after switching can be outside the bandwidth part (bandwidth part, BWP) of the current working of the UE) to perform measurements. Among them, the inter-frequency frequency refers to a frequency different from the frequency of the serving cell of the UE; the intra-frequency frequency refers to a frequency the same as the frequency of the serving cell of the UE. If the UE switches the frequency, it may not be able to send and receive signals in the serving cell of the UE. Therefore, if a downlink data packet for accelerated transmission arrives when the UE switches the frequency to perform measurements, the UE may not receive the downlink data packet, resulting in packet loss. Therefore, in the embodiment of the present application, the UE can deactivate the GAP, and the UE does not perform measurements, thereby improving the UE's success rate in receiving downlink data packets for accelerated transmission.

Optionally, the UE may deactivate the GAP when the third time offset after sending the first indication information arrives, thereby making the UE's adjustment of the parameters more consistent with the accelerated transmission mechanism of the downlink data packet, and also enabling the UE to complete the measurement as much as possible. The third time offset may be determined by the UE, and optionally, the third time offset is related to the aforementioned time offset A, for example, the third time offset is equal to the time offset A. Optionally, the third time offset may be equal to the first time offset, or may not be equal.

Optionally, the UE may make its own decision on the adjustment of the GAP (e.g., deactivation of the GAP), or may be performed under the instruction of the access network device. For example, after receiving the first indication information, the access network device may send a third indication information to the UE, and the third indication information may indicate deactivation of the GAP; after receiving the third indication information, the UE may deactivate the GAP according to the third indication information.

As described above, in order to receive downlink data packets to be accelerated, the UE may adjust corresponding parameters (such as DRX and/or GAP, etc.) Optionally, in order to accelerate the transmission of downlink data packets, the access network device may also perform corresponding processing.

For example, for the access network device, in addition to the downlink data packets to be accelerated, there are also downlink data packets that do not need to be accelerated. For example, some downlink data packets of the first service need to be accelerated, while some downlink data packets do not need to be accelerated. Optionally, the access network device can also shorten the scheduling time for the downlink data packets that do not need to be accelerated and are received before the downlink data packets to be accelerated arrive, so that these downlink data packets are sent as soon as possible to reduce the probability that these downlink data packets block the downlink data packets to be accelerated.

The foregoing article introduces the process of accelerating the transmission of downlink data packets. By accelerating the transmission of downlink data packets, the downlink data packets can be transmitted as quickly as possible when the user's movement amplitude is large, thereby reducing the network transmission delay and improving the user experience. The user's movement state may change at any time. For example, the user may have a large movement amplitude at a certain moment, and the movement amplitude may slow down at the next moment. In an embodiment of the present application, if the user's movement amplitude is small, the corresponding downlink data packet does not need to be accelerated to reduce the pressure on the network. To this end, optionally, the embodiment of the present application may also include S303, the UE sends a fourth indication message to the access network device, and accordingly, the access network device receives the fourth indication message. The fourth indication message may indicate to stop accelerating the transmission of downlink data packets.

For example, if the fourth indication information does not indicate the relevant service or radio bearer, it can be assumed that the fourth indication information corresponds to all radio bearers configured by the access network device for the UE, for example, including the first radio bearer. That is, the fourth indication information indicates to stop accelerating the transmission of downlink data packets, and the access network device can determine, based on the fourth indication information, that the downlink data packets of the service transmitted by any radio bearer configured by the access network device for the UE are stopped from being accelerated and are transmitted normally.

Alternatively, if the fourth indication information does not indicate the relevant service or radio bearer, but the fourth indication information is sent through the corresponding radio bearer, it can be assumed that the fourth indication information corresponds to the radio bearer used to send the fourth indication information. For example, the fourth indication information indicates to stop accelerating the transmission of downlink data packets, and the fourth indication information is sent to the access network device through the first radio bearer, then the access network device can determine to stop accelerating the transmission of downlink data packets of the service transmitted by the first radio bearer according to the fourth indication information.

Alternatively, the fourth indication information may indicate a related service or wireless bearer, and the access network device may determine, based on the fourth indication information, that all downlink data packets of the service or service transmitted by the wireless bearer should stop accelerating transmission. For example, the fourth indication information may indicate to stop accelerating transmission of downlink data packets of the first service, and the access network device may stop accelerating transmission of downlink data packets of the first service. Wherein, the fourth indication information indicates the first service, and the indication method may be similar to that of the first indication information indicating the first service, and reference may be made to the above description.

Optionally, the fourth indication information may indicate other information in addition to indicating the stop of accelerated transmission of downlink data packets (or indicating the stop of accelerated transmission of downlink data packets of the first service). For example, the fourth indication information may also indicate the time when the downlink data packet for which accelerated transmission is to be stopped is expected to arrive at the access network device; the access network device may determine when to stop accelerated transmission, or determine which downlink data packet to start from to stop accelerated transmission, based on the time indicated by the fourth indication information. The fourth indication information is to indicate the time, for example, one indication method is to indicate a moment, or to indicate a time offset, such as time offset B. For the manner in which the fourth indication information indicates the time, and the manner in which the UE determines the time, etc., please refer to the previous introduction to the first indication information.

Optionally, the access network device may determine when to stop accelerating the transmission of downlink data packets, or determine from which downlink data packet to stop accelerating the transmission, in addition to determining it according to the fourth indication information, by other means. If the fourth indication information does not indicate a time, the access network device may determine that the downlink data packets received from the time of receiving the fourth indication information (or, the downlink data packets corresponding to the first wireless bearer; or, the downlink data packets corresponding to the first service) are the downlink data packets for which accelerated transmission needs to be stopped; and the downlink data packets received before this time are still the downlink data packets for which accelerated transmission needs to be accelerated.

For another example, if the fourth indication information does not indicate a time, the access network device may determine that the downlink data packets (or, downlink data packets corresponding to the first radio bearer; or, downlink data packets corresponding to the first service) received from the time when the fourth time offset starting from the time of receiving the fourth indication information arrives are downlink data packets that need to be accelerated for transmission; and the downlink data packets received before this time are not downlink data packets that need to be accelerated for transmission. The fourth time offset may be set by the access network device, or configured by the core network device, or predefined or preconfigured in the access network device through a protocol.

Alternatively, the access network device needs to determine when to stop accelerating the transmission of downlink data packets, or determine from which downlink data packet to stop accelerating the transmission, in addition to the above-described methods, it can also be determined in other ways. For example, the access network device can determine it according to the seventh indication information, and the seventh indication information is included in the downlink data packet. For example, when the application server or the core network device sends the downlink data packet of the first service, if a downlink data packet (such as the second downlink data packet) needs to stop accelerating the transmission, the application server or the core network device can carry the seventh indication information in the second downlink data packet (for example, carried in the header of the second downlink data packet), and the seventh indication information can occupy one or more bits, and the seventh indication information can indicate that the second downlink data packet is a downlink data packet for which accelerated transmission is stopped. The access network device can determine to stop accelerating the transmission of the second downlink data packet based on the seventh indication information. Optionally, for the downlink data packet after the accelerated transmission is completed, that is, the downlink data packet that does not need to be accelerated, the application server or the core network device can carry the seventh indication information in each downlink data packet, or can also carry the seventh indication information in one or more downlink data packets sent first.

For example, when the application server sends a downlink data packet of the first service, if a downlink data packet is a downlink data packet that needs to stop accelerated transmission, the application server can carry the seventh indication information in the header of the downlink data packet, and the core network device can determine whether a downlink data packet needs to stop accelerated transmission based on whether the header of the data packet received from the application server carries the seventh indication information. For example, the application server sets the seventh indication information in the header of a downlink data packet, and the core network device can determine that the downlink data packet needs to stop accelerated transmission. If the core network device determines that a downlink data packet needs to stop accelerated transmission, the core network device can set the seventh indication information in the header of the downlink data packet sent to the access network device. Among them, the implementation method of the seventh indication information set by the core network device and the seventh indication information set by the application server can be the same, for example, both are 1-bit information; or the implementation methods of the two seventh indication information can also be different, without specific limitation, but the two seventh indication information both indicate to stop accelerated transmission. For example, the downlink data packet from the application server is downlink data packet 3, and the header of downlink data packet 3 carries the seventh indication information; the core network device encapsulates the downlink data packet 3, for example, the core network device will add a header to the downlink data packet 3 to obtain the downlink data packet 4. Because the core network device parses the header of the downlink data packet 3 and obtains the seventh indication information, the newly added header in the downlink data packet 4 can carry the seventh indication information, and the core network device sends the downlink data packet 4 to the access network device; the access network device can determine that the downlink data packet 4 is a downlink data packet for stopping accelerated transmission based on the seventh indication information in the downlink data packet 4.

Or for example, the core network device does not need to re-encapsulate the downlink data packet, and does not need to determine whether the downlink data packet needs to stop accelerating. For example, the core network device can directly forward the downlink data packet from the application server to the access network device. The access network device can then determine that the downlink data packet needs to stop accelerating transmission based on the packet header of the received downlink data packet. For example, the downlink data packet from the application server is downlink data packet 3, and the packet header of downlink data packet 3 carries the seventh indication information; the core network device forwards downlink data packet 3 to the access network device; the access network device can determine that downlink data packet 3 is a downlink data packet for which accelerated transmission is to be stopped based on the seventh indication information in downlink data packet 3.

Alternatively, the access network device may also determine that the downlink data packet needs to stop accelerated transmission based on the fact that no acceleration indication is carried in the downlink data packet. For example, when the application server or the core network device sends a downlink data packet of the first service, if a downlink data packet (such as the second downlink data packet) needs to stop accelerated transmission, the application server or the core network device may not carry the acceleration indication in the second downlink data packet. The second downlink data packet does not carry the acceleration indication, which indicates that the second downlink data packet is a downlink data packet for which accelerated transmission is stopped. The access network device may determine that the accelerated transmission of the second downlink data packet needs to be stopped based on the fact that no acceleration indication is carried in the second downlink data packet. Optionally, for the downlink data packets after the accelerated transmission ends, that is, the downlink data packets that do not need accelerated transmission, the application server or the core network device does not carry the acceleration indication in each of the downlink data packets.

For example, when an application server sends a downlink data packet of the first service, if a downlink data packet is a downlink data packet that needs to stop accelerated transmission, the application server may not carry an acceleration indication in the packet header of the downlink data packet, and the core network device may determine whether a downlink data packet needs to stop accelerated transmission based on whether the packet header of the data packet received from the application server carries an acceleration indication. For example, if the application server does not set an acceleration indication in the packet header of a downlink data packet, the core network device may determine that the downlink data packet needs to stop accelerated transmission. If the core network device determines that a downlink data packet needs to stop accelerated transmission, the core network device may not set an acceleration indication in the packet header of the downlink data packet sent to the access network device. For example, the downlink data packet from the application server is downlink data packet 3, and the header of downlink data packet 3 does not carry an acceleration indication; the core network device encapsulates the downlink data packet 3, for example, the core network device will add a header to the downlink data packet 3 to obtain downlink data packet 4. Because the core network device parses the header of the downlink data packet 3 and does not obtain an acceleration indication, the newly added header in the downlink data packet 4 may not carry an acceleration indication, and the core network device sends the downlink data packet 4 to the access network device; the access network device can determine that downlink data packet 4 is a downlink data packet for stopping accelerated transmission based on the fact that downlink data packet 4 does not carry an acceleration indication.

Or for example, the core network device does not need to re-encapsulate the downlink data packet, and does not need to determine whether the downlink data packet needs to stop accelerating. For example, the core network device can directly forward the downlink data packet from the application server to the access network device. The access network device can then determine that the downlink data packet needs to stop accelerating transmission based on the packet header of the received downlink data packet. For example, the downlink data packet from the application server is downlink data packet 3, and the packet header of downlink data packet 3 does not carry an acceleration indication; the core network device forwards downlink data packet 3 to the access network device; the access network device can determine that downlink data packet 3 is a downlink data packet for which accelerated transmission is to be stopped based on the fact that downlink data packet 3 does not carry an acceleration indication.

The application server needs to determine whether the downlink data packet needs to stop accelerating. An optional determination method is to determine whether to stop accelerating the transmission of the downlink data packet based on the first parameter. For example, if the value of the first parameter is less than the first threshold, or the change in the value of the first parameter is less than the second threshold, then stop accelerating the transmission of the downlink data packet. Among them, the first threshold and/or the second threshold can be set by the application server, or configured by the access network device or the core network device, or pre-configured in the application server, or can also be pre-defined through the protocol. For an introduction to how the application server determines the value of the first parameter, etc., please refer to the previous text.

If the UE determines that the downlink data packet stops accelerating, in addition to sending the fourth indication information to the access network device, other processing may be performed. For example, the UE may activate the DRX mechanism of the UE, or restore the normal judgment rule of the DRX activation time (for example, increase the DRX inactive time and/or shorten the DRX activation time), or the UE may increase the DRX cycle of the UE; and/or the UE may activate the GAP of the UE.

Among them, the processing of DRX by the UE may correspond to the processing of DRX by the UE when there are downlink data packets that need to be transmitted at an accelerated rate. For example, when there are downlink data packets that need to be transmitted at an accelerated rate, the UE shortens the DRX inactive time. When the UE determines that the downlink data packets stop being transmitted at an accelerated rate, the DRX inactive time may be restored (for example, the DRX inactive time is increased). For example, the restored DRX inactive time is consistent with the DRX inactive time before being adjusted. For another example, when there are downlink data packets that need to be transmitted at an accelerated rate, the UE increases the DRX activation time. When the UE determines that the downlink data packets stop being transmitted at an accelerated rate, the UE may restore the DRX activation time (for example, the DRX activation time is shortened). For example, the restored DRX activation time is consistent with the DRX activation time before being adjusted. For another example, when there are downlink data packets that need to be transmitted faster, the UE deactivates the DRX mechanism, and when the UE determines that the downlink data packets stop being transmitted faster, the DRX mechanism can be activated; for another example, when there are downlink data packets that need to be transmitted faster, the UE shortens the DRX cycle of the UE, and when the UE determines that the downlink data packets stop being transmitted faster, the DRX cycle of the UE can be restored, for example, so that the restored DRX cycle is consistent with the DRX cycle before adjustment. By restoring DRX, the UE can save power consumption.

Considering that the access network device may stop accelerating the transmission of downlink data packets some time after the UE sends the fourth indication information, the UE may optionally increase the DRX inactive time and/or shorten the DRX activation time, or activate the DRX mechanism, or increase the DRX cycle when the fifth time offset arrives after sending the fourth indication information, thereby making the UE's adjustment of parameters more consistent with the accelerated transmission mechanism of downlink data packets, and avoiding the situation where the UE cannot receive downlink data packets that have not been transmitted due to the adjustment of DRX, thereby reducing the packet loss rate. The fifth time offset can be determined by the UE, and optionally, the fifth time offset is related to the aforementioned time offset B, for example, the fifth time offset is equal to time offset B.

Optionally, the UE's adjustment of DRX (e.g., increasing the DRX inactive time and/or shortening the DRX active time, or activating the DRX mechanism, or increasing the DRX cycle) may be decided by the UE itself, or may be performed under the instruction of the access network device. For example, after receiving the fourth indication information, the access network device may send the fifth indication information to the UE, and the fifth indication information may indicate the adjustment of the DRX parameters of the UE (e.g., indicating the normal judgment rule for restoring the DRX activation time (e.g., indicating increasing the DRX inactive time and/or shortening the DRX activation time), or indicating activating the DRX mechanism of the UE, or indicating increasing the DRX cycle of the UE, etc.); after receiving the fifth indication information, the UE may perform corresponding processing according to the fifth indication information. Among them, if the UE increases the DRX cycle of the UE according to the fifth indication information, the increased cycle may also be indicated by the fifth indication information, or may be determined by the UE itself or predefined by the protocol, or the UE may also restore the DRX cycle to the DRX cycle before adjustment.

As described above, if the UE determines that a downlink data packet stops accelerating, in addition to sending the fourth indication information to the access network device, the GAP of the UE can also be activated so that the UE can perform measurements to meet the needs of cell switching or cell reselection.

Optionally, the UE may reactivate the GAP when the sixth time offset arrives after sending the fourth indication information, thereby making the UE's adjustment of parameters more consistent with the accelerated transmission mechanism of the downlink data packet, and avoiding as much as possible the situation where the UE cannot receive the downlink data packet that has not been transmitted due to the execution of measurement, thereby reducing the packet loss rate. The sixth time offset may be determined by the UE, and optionally, the sixth time offset is related to the aforementioned time offset B, for example, the sixth time offset is equal to the time offset B. Optionally, the sixth time offset may be equal to the fifth time offset, or may be unequal.

Optionally, the UE may make its own decision on the adjustment of the GAP (eg, activating the GAP), or may perform the adjustment under the instruction of the access network device.

For example, after receiving the fourth indication information, the access network device may send sixth indication information to the UE, and the sixth indication information may indicate activation of the GAP; after receiving the sixth indication information, the UE may activate the GAP according to the sixth indication information.

For example, for the first service, when the downlink data packets stop being accelerated, the downlink data packets of the first service may have been transmitted, or the first service may still have some downlink data packets to be transmitted. The remaining downlink data packets will be transmitted according to the normal network transmission delay without the need for accelerated transmission.

Please refer to Figure 4, which is a schematic diagram of the implementation process of an embodiment of the present application. For example, if the application layer of the UE determines that there is a downlink data packet that needs to be accelerated, it can send an indication to the access layer of the UE. After receiving the indication, the access layer can send a first indication message to the access network device (Figure 4 takes the first indication message included in the uplink data packet as an example). The access network device sends the uplink data packet to the application server through the core network device. The application server can obtain the corresponding downlink data packet based on the uplink data packet and send the downlink data packet to the access network device. Optionally, the downlink data packet can include an acceleration indication. The access network device can schedule the downlink data packet according to the first delay budget. In addition, after sending the first indication information (the uplink data packet), the UE can adjust the parameters of the UE, such as DRX and/or GAP, so that the UE can receive the downlink data packet of accelerated transmission. When the application layer of the UE determines to stop acceleration, it can send an indication to the access layer of the UE again. After receiving the indication, the access layer can send a fourth indication message to the access network device to indicate to stop accelerating transmission. Optionally, the application server may also determine whether to stop acceleration. If the application server determines to stop acceleration, the seventh indication information may be carried in the downlink data packet, or the acceleration indication may not be carried in the downlink data packet.

In the above scheme, the access network device can determine that there is a downlink data packet that needs to be accelerated according to the first indication information from the UE, and can also determine when to start accelerating the transmission according to the first indication information or according to the downlink data packet from the core network device, or determine which downlink data packet to start accelerating the transmission from. In addition, the access network device can also have other implementation methods, and the content described below is called scheme 1.

For example, the access network device may not determine whether there are downlink data packets that need to be accelerated according to the indication from the UE (for example, the first indication information), but may determine whether there are downlink data packets that need to be accelerated according to the downlink data packets from the core network device. For example, the access network device receives the first downlink data packet from the core network device (wherein, the first downlink data packet is, for example, directly forwarded by the core network device to the access network device, or may be re-encapsulated by the core network device after receiving the downlink data packet from the application server, for which reference may be made to the relevant introduction in the foregoing text), and if the first downlink data packet includes an acceleration indication, the access network device may determine that there are downlink data packets that need to be accelerated, and/or determine that the first downlink data packet is a downlink data packet that needs to be accelerated. Optionally, if there are multiple downlink data packets that need to be accelerated, the application server or the core network device may carry the acceleration indication in each of the downlink data packets, or may carry the acceleration indication in one or more downlink data packets that are first sent. If only some of the downlink data packets to be accelerated carry the acceleration indication, the access network device may maintain the accelerated transmission without receiving further indication (i.e., indication to stop the accelerated transmission).

Under Scheme 1, optionally, the UE may not determine whether to accelerate the transmission of downlink data packets. If the access network device determines that there are downlink data packets that need to be accelerated, it may send an indication to the UE, such as sending one or more of the eighth indication information, the second indication information, or the third indication information. The eighth indication information may indicate accelerated transmission of downlink data packets, or indicate accelerated transmission of downlink data packets of the first service. For the content indicated by the eighth indication information and the method of sending the eighth indication information (for example, through which wireless bearer to send), etc., refer to the introduction to the first indication information. Optionally, if the access network device sends the second indication information and/or the third indication information, it is not necessary to send the eighth indication information. The second indication information and/or the third indication information may implicitly indicate that there are downlink data packets that need to be accelerated.

Alternatively, under solution 1, the UE may also determine whether to accelerate the transmission of downlink data packets. Optionally, if the UE determines to accelerate the transmission of downlink data packets, it is not necessary to send the first indication information to the access network device. For example, the UE may adjust the corresponding parameters (such as DRX and/or GAP, etc.) by itself. Alternatively, if the UE determines to accelerate the transmission of downlink data packets, it may also send the first indication information to the access network device. The access network device may determine whether there is a downlink data packet that needs to be accelerated according to the first indication information and/or according to the downlink data packet from the core network device.

Optionally, under scheme 1, the access network device may determine to stop accelerated transmission according to the fourth indication information from the UE, and may also determine when to stop accelerated transmission according to the fourth indication information or according to the downlink data packet from the core network device, or determine from which downlink data packet to stop accelerated transmission. In addition, the access network device may also have other implementation methods. For example, the access network device may not need to determine whether to stop accelerated transmission according to the indication from the UE (such as the fourth indication information), but may determine whether to stop accelerated transmission according to the downlink data packet from the core network device. For example, the access network device receives a second downlink data packet from the core network device (wherein the second downlink data packet is, for example, directly forwarded by the core network device to the access network device, or may be re-encapsulated by the core network device after receiving the downlink data packet from the application server, and reference may be made to the relevant introduction in the previous text), if the second downlink data packet does not include an acceleration indication, or the second downlink data packet includes the seventh indication information, then the access network device may determine to stop accelerated transmission, and/or determine that the second downlink data packet is a downlink data packet that needs to stop accelerated transmission.

Optionally, the UE may not determine whether to stop accelerating the transmission of downlink data packets. If the access network device determines to stop accelerating the transmission, it may send an indication to the UE, such as sending one or more of the ninth indication information, the fifth indication information, or the sixth indication information. The ninth indication information may indicate to stop accelerating the transmission of downlink data packets, or indicate to stop accelerating the transmission of downlink data packets of the first service. For the content indicated by the ninth indication information and the method of sending the ninth indication information (for example, through which wireless bearer to send), etc., please refer to the introduction of the fourth indication information. Optionally, if the access network device sends the fifth indication information and/or the sixth indication information, it is not necessary to send the ninth indication information. The fifth indication information and/or the sixth indication information may implicitly indicate to stop accelerating the transmission.

Alternatively, under solution 1, the UE may also determine whether to stop accelerating the transmission of downlink data packets. Optionally, if the UE determines to stop accelerating the transmission of downlink data packets, it is not necessary to send the fourth indication information to the access network device. For example, the UE may adjust corresponding parameters (such as DRX and/or GAP, etc.) by itself. Alternatively, if the UE determines to stop accelerating the transmission of downlink data packets, it may also send the fourth indication information to the access network device. The access network device may determine to stop accelerating the transmission according to the fourth indication information and/or according to the downlink data packets from the core network device.

For other implementation processes of Solution 1, please refer to the relevant introduction of the embodiment shown in FIG3 .

In an embodiment of the present application, the UE may instruct the access network device to accelerate the transmission of downlink data packets. For example, the UE may notify the access network device to accelerate the transmission of downlink data packets when it believes that acceleration is necessary, and may not notify the access network device to accelerate the transmission of downlink data packets when the UE believes that acceleration is not necessary. For example, for a certain service, through an embodiment of the present application, part of the data packets of the service can be accelerated, while other data packets can be transmitted normally, thereby reducing the transmission delay of the accelerated data packets, for example, reducing the black edge effect; and some data packets are transmitted normally, which can reduce the impact on the network. This is equivalent to achieving a balance between network capacity and user experience in a certain sense in the embodiment of the present application.

FIG5 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. The communication device 500 may be the circuit system of the UE described in the embodiment shown in FIG3 , and is used to implement the method corresponding to the UE in the above method embodiment. Alternatively, the communication device 500 may be the circuit system of the access network device described in the embodiment shown in FIG3 , and is used to implement the method corresponding to the access network device in the above method embodiment. Alternatively, the communication device 500 may be the circuit system of the application server described in the embodiment shown in FIG3 , and is used to implement the method corresponding to the application server in the above method embodiment. For example, one circuit system is a chip system.

The communication device 500 includes at least one processor 501. The processor 501 can be used for internal processing of the device to implement certain control processing functions. Optionally, the processor 501 includes instructions. Optionally, the processor 501 can store data. Optionally, different processors can be independent devices, can be located in different physical locations, and can be located on different integrated circuits. Optionally, different processors can be integrated into one or more processors, for example, integrated on one or more integrated circuits.

Optionally, the communication device 500 includes one or more memories 503 for storing instructions. Optionally, data may also be stored in the memory 503. The processor and the memory may be provided separately or integrated together.

Optionally, the communication device 500 includes a communication line 502 and at least one communication interface 504. Since the memory 503, the communication line 502 and the communication interface 504 are all optional, they are all indicated by dotted lines in FIG. 5 .

Optionally, the communication device 500 may further include a transceiver and/or an antenna. The transceiver may be used to send information to other devices or receive information from other devices. The transceiver may be referred to as a transceiver, a transceiver circuit, an input/output interface, etc., and is used to implement the transceiver function of the communication device 500 through an antenna. Optionally, the transceiver includes a transmitter and a receiver. Exemplarily, the transmitter may be used to generate a radio frequency signal from a baseband signal, and the receiver may be used to convert the radio frequency signal into a baseband signal.

Processor 501 may include a general-purpose central processing unit (CPU), a microprocessor, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or one or more integrated circuits for controlling the execution of the program of the present application.

Communication link 502 may include a pathway for transmitting information between the above-mentioned components.

The communication interface 504 uses any transceiver-like device for communicating with other devices or communication networks, such as Ethernet, radio access network (RAN), wireless local area networks (WLAN), wired access networks, etc.

The memory 503 may be a read-only memory (ROM) or other types of static storage devices that can store static information and instructions, a random access memory (RAM) or other types of dynamic storage devices that can store information and 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.), a magnetic disk storage medium or other magnetic storage device, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store the desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and can be accessed by a computer, but is not limited thereto. The memory 503 may exist independently and be connected to the processor 501 through the communication line 502. Alternatively, the memory 503 may also be integrated with the processor 501.

The memory 503 is used to store computer-executable instructions for executing the solution of the present application, and the execution is controlled by the processor 501. The processor 501 is used to execute the computer-executable instructions stored in the memory 503, thereby implementing the steps performed by the UE or access network device or application server in the embodiment shown in FIG. 3.

Optionally, the computer-executable instructions in the embodiments of the present application may also be referred to as application code, which is not specifically limited in the embodiments of the present application.

In a specific implementation, as an embodiment, the processor 501 may include one or more CPUs, such as CPU0 and CPU1 in FIG. 5 .

In a specific implementation, as an embodiment, the communication device 500 may include multiple processors, such as the processor 501 and the processor 505 in FIG. 5. Each of these processors may be a single-core (single-CPU) processor or a multi-core (multi-CPU) processor. The processor here may refer to one or more devices, circuits, and/or processing cores for processing data (e.g., computer program instructions).

When the device shown in FIG5 is a chip, such as a chip of a UE or a chip of an access network device or a chip of an application server, the chip includes a processor 501 (may also include a processor 505), a communication line 502 and a communication interface 504, and optionally, may include a memory 503. Specifically, the communication interface 504 may be an input interface, a pin or a circuit, etc. The memory 503 may be a register, a cache, etc. The processor 501 and the processor 505 may be a general-purpose CPU, a microprocessor, an ASIC, or one or more integrated circuits for controlling the execution of the program of the communication method of any of the above embodiments.

The embodiment of the present application can divide the functional modules of the 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 module can be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of software functional modules. It should be noted that the division of modules in the embodiment of the present application is schematic, which is only a logical function division, and there may be other division methods in actual implementation. For example, in the case of dividing each functional module according to each function, Figure 6 is a schematic diagram of a device, and the device 600 can be the UE or access network device or application server involved in the above method embodiments, or a chip in the UE or a chip in the access network device or a chip in the application server. The device 600 includes a processing unit 602 and a transceiver unit 601.

It should be understood that the device 600 can be used to implement the steps performed by the UE or access network device or application server in the communication method of the embodiment of the present application. The relevant features can refer to the embodiment shown in Figure 3 above and will not be repeated here.

Optionally, the functions/implementation processes of the transceiver unit 601 and the processing unit 602 in FIG6 may be implemented by the processor 501 in FIG5 calling the computer execution instructions stored in the memory 503. Alternatively, the functions/implementation processes of the processing unit 602 in FIG6 may be implemented by the processor 501 in FIG5 calling the computer execution instructions stored in the memory 503, and the functions/implementation processes of the transceiver unit 601 in FIG6 may be implemented by the communication interface 504 in FIG5.

Optionally, when the device 600 is a chip or a circuit, the function/implementation process of the transceiver unit 601 can also be implemented by a pin or a circuit. Optionally, the transceiver unit 601 may include a sending unit and/or a receiving unit, the sending unit is used to implement the sending function, and the receiving unit is used to implement the receiving function; or, the transceiver unit 601 may be an integral module that can implement the sending function and/or the receiving function. Optionally, the transceiver unit 601 may be implemented by a transceiver.

The present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium, which stores a computer program or instruction. When the computer program or instruction is executed, the method performed by the UE or access network device or application server in the above method embodiment is implemented. In this way, the functions described in the above embodiments can be implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as independent products. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present application can be essentially or in other words, the part that contributes or the part of the technical solution can be embodied in the form of a software product, which is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions for a computer device (which can be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to perform all or part of the steps of the method described in each embodiment of the present application. Storage media include: various media that can store program codes, such as USB flash drives, mobile hard drives, ROM, RAM, magnetic disks, or optical disks.

The present application also provides a computer program product, which includes: computer program code, when the computer program code is executed on a computer, the computer executes the method executed by the UE or access network device or application server in any of the aforementioned method embodiments.

An embodiment of the present application also provides a processing device, including a processor and an interface; the processor is used to execute the method executed by the UE or access network device or application server involved in any of the above method embodiments.

In the above embodiments, it can be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware or any combination thereof. When implemented using software, it can be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer program instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the process or function described in the embodiment of the present application is generated in whole or in part. The computer can be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable devices. The computer instructions can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium, or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium, for example, the computer instructions can be transmitted from a website site, computer, server or data center by wired (e.g., coaxial cable, optical fiber, digital subscriber line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) mode to another website site, computer, server or data center. The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that a computer can access or a data storage device such as a server, data center, etc. that contains one or more available media integrated. The available medium may be a magnetic medium (e.g., a floppy disk, a hard disk, a magnetic tape), an optical medium (e.g., a DVD), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., a solid state disk (SSD)), etc.

The various illustrative logic units and circuits described in the embodiments of the present application can be implemented or operated by a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an ASIC, a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination of the above. The general-purpose processor can be a microprocessor, and optionally, the general-purpose processor can also be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller or state machine. The processor can also be implemented by a combination of computing devices, such as a digital signal processor and a microprocessor, multiple microprocessors, one or more microprocessors combined with a digital signal processor core, or any other similar configuration.

The steps of the method or algorithm described in the embodiments of the present application can be directly embedded in hardware, a software unit executed by a processor, or a combination of the two. The software unit can be stored in RAM, flash memory, ROM, erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), EEPROM, registers, hard disks, removable disks, CD-ROMs, or other storage media in any form in the art. Exemplarily, the storage medium can be connected to the processor so that the processor can read information from the storage medium and can write information to the storage medium. Optionally, the storage medium can also be integrated into the processor. The processor and the storage medium can be arranged in an ASIC, and the ASIC can be arranged in a terminal device. Optionally, the processor and the storage medium can also be arranged in different components in the terminal device.

These computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing device so that a series of operational steps are executed on the computer or other programmable device to produce a computer-implemented process, whereby the instructions executed on the computer or other programmable device provide steps for implementing the functions specified in one or more processes in the flowchart and/or one or more boxes in the block diagram.

The contents of the various embodiments of the present application may refer to each other. If there is no special explanation and logical conflict, the terms and/or descriptions between different embodiments are consistent and can be referenced to each other. The technical features in different embodiments can be combined to form new embodiments according to their internal logical relationships.

It is understandable that in the embodiment of the present application, the UE and/or the access network device and/or the application server may perform some or all of the steps in the embodiment of the present application, and these steps or operations are only examples. In the embodiment of the present application, other operations or variations of various operations may also be performed. In addition, the various steps may be performed in different orders presented in the embodiment of the present application, and it is possible that not all operations in the embodiment of the present application need to be performed.

Claims (38)

A communication method, characterized in that the method comprises: receiving first configuration information, where the first configuration information is used to configure a first radio bearer, where the first radio bearer is used to transmit data packets of a first service; Sending first indication information to the access network device, where the first indication information is used to instruct to accelerate transmission of downlink data packets of the first service. The method according to claim 1 is characterized in that the first configuration information is also used to configure resources for transmitting the first indication information. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the first indication information is used to indicate the first service through one or more of the following: An identifier of a data radio bearer used to transmit the first service; an identifier of a Quality of Service (QoS) flow used to transmit the first service; or An identifier of a logical channel used to transmit the first service. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that sending the first indication information to the access network device comprises: When an indication is received from the application layer, first indication information is sent to the access network device. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4 is characterized in that the first indication information also indicates the time when the downlink data packet to be accelerated is expected to arrive at the access network device. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the method further comprises: Adjust the discontinuous reception (DRX) parameters of the terminal device. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that adjusting the DRX parameters of the terminal device comprises: When a first time offset after sending the first indication information arrives, the DRX parameter of the terminal device is adjusted. The method according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that the method further comprises: Receive second indication information from the access network device, where the second indication information is used to indicate adjusting the DRX parameters of the terminal device. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the method further comprises: Deactivate a measurement interval of the terminal device, where the measurement interval is used to measure an inter-frequency frequency and/or an intra-frequency frequency. The method according to claim 9, characterized in that the method further comprises: Receive third indication information from the access network device, where the third indication information is used to instruct to deactivate the measurement interval. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that the first indication information is used to indicate accelerated transmission of downlink data packets, including: The first indication information is used to indicate a first delay budget, and the first delay budget is used by the access network device to schedule downlink data packets to be accelerated for transmission. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 11 is characterized in that the first indication information is included in RRC control signaling, or included in user plane control signaling, or included in a header of a user plane data packet. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 12, characterized in that the method further comprises: Send fourth indication information to the access network device, where the fourth indication information is used to instruct to stop accelerating the transmission of downlink data packets of the first service. The method according to claim 13, characterized in that the method further comprises: Adjust the DRX parameters of the terminal device. The method according to claim 14, characterized in that the method further comprises: Receive fifth indication information from the access network device, where the fifth indication information is used to indicate adjusting the DRX parameters of the terminal device. The method according to any one of claims 13 to 15, characterized in that the method further comprises: A measurement interval of the terminal device is activated, where the measurement interval is used to measure an inter-frequency frequency and/or an intra-frequency frequency. The method according to claim 16, characterized in that the method further comprises: Sixth indication information is received from the access network device, where the sixth indication information is used to instruct activation of the measurement interval. A communication method, characterized in that the method comprises: Sending first configuration information to a terminal device, where the first configuration information is used to configure a first radio bearer, where the first radio bearer is used to transmit data packets of a first service; First indication information is received from the terminal device, where the first indication information is used to instruct to accelerate transmission of downlink data packets of the first service. The method according to claim 18 is characterized in that the first configuration information is also used to configure resources for transmitting the first indication information. The method according to claim 18 or 19, characterized in that the method further comprises: A first downlink data packet of the first service is scheduled according to a first delay budget, where the first downlink data packet is a downlink data packet to be accelerated for transmission, wherein the first delay budget belongs to a delay range indicated by a PDB of the first service, and a difference between the first delay budget and a lower limit of the delay range is less than a second threshold, or the PDB corresponding to the first delay budget is less than the PDB corresponding to the first service. The method according to any one of claims 18 to 20, characterized in that the first indication information is used to indicate the first service through one or more of the following: An identifier of a data radio bearer used to transmit the first service; an identifier of a Quality of Service (QoS) flow used to transmit the first service; or An identifier of a logical channel used to transmit the first service. The method according to any one of claims 18 to 21 is characterized in that the first indication information also indicates the time when the downlink data packet to be accelerated is expected to arrive at the access network device. The method according to claim 22, characterized in that the method further comprises: Accelerate the transmission of downlink data packets of the first service received after the time indicated by the first indication information. The method according to any one of claims 18 to 23, characterized in that the method further comprises: Send second indication information to the terminal device, wherein the second indication information is used to indicate adjustment of the DRX parameter of the terminal device. The method according to any one of claims 18 to 24, characterized in that the method further comprises: Send third indication information to the terminal device, where the third indication information is used to indicate deactivating a measurement interval of the terminal device, where the measurement interval is used to measure hetero-frequency and/or homo-frequency. The method according to any one of claims 18 to 25, wherein the first indication information is used to indicate the accelerated transmission of downlink data packets, and comprises: The first indication information is used to indicate a first delay budget, and the first delay budget is used by the access network device to schedule downlink data packets to be accelerated for transmission. The method according to any one of claims 18 to 26, characterized in that the method further comprises: Determine that the downlink data packet of the first service received starting from the time when the first time offset after receiving the first indication information arrives is the downlink data packet to be accelerated; or, Determining the downlink data packet to be accelerated for transmission according to the time at which the downlink data packet to be accelerated for transmission is expected to arrive at the access network device; or, A first downlink data packet of the first service is received, where the first downlink data packet includes an acceleration indication, where the acceleration indication is used to indicate that the first downlink data packet is a downlink data packet to be accelerated for transmission. The method according to claim 27 is characterized in that the acceleration indication is information of a first delay budget, and the first delay budget is used by the access network device to schedule downlink data packets to be accelerated for transmission. The method according to any one of claims 18 to 28 is characterized in that the first indication information is included in RRC control signaling, or included in user plane control signaling, or included in a header of a user plane data packet. The method according to any one of claims 18 to 29, characterized in that the method further comprises: receiving fourth indication information from the terminal device, where the fourth indication information is used to instruct to stop accelerating the transmission of downlink data packets of the first service; or, receiving seventh indication information from the core network device, where the seventh indication information is used to instruct to stop accelerating the transmission of downlink data packets of the first service; or, A third downlink data packet of the first service is received, wherein the third downlink data packet does not include an acceleration indication for indicating to stop accelerating transmission of the downlink data packet of the first service. The method according to claim 30 is characterized in that the seventh indication information is included in a fourth downlink data packet of the first service. The method according to claim 30 or 31, characterized in that the method further comprises: Send fifth indication information to the terminal device, wherein the fifth indication information is used to indicate adjustment of the DRX parameter of the terminal device. The method according to any one of claims 30 to 32, characterized in that the method further comprises: Send sixth indication information to the terminal device, where the sixth indication information is used to indicate activation of a measurement interval of the terminal device, where the measurement interval is used to measure hetero-frequency frequencies and/or homo-frequency frequencies. A communication device, characterized in that the communication device comprises a processing unit and a transceiver unit, and the processing unit is coupled to the transceiver unit to execute the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 17, or execute the method as described in any one of claims 18 to 33. A communication device, characterized in that the communication device comprises a processor coupled to a memory, the memory is used to store a computer program, and the processor is used to execute the computer program stored on the memory, so that the communication device performs the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 17, or the communication device performs the method as described in any one of claims 18 to 33. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that the computer-readable storage medium is used to store a computer program, and when the computer program is run on a computer, the computer executes the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 17, or the computer executes the method as described in any one of claims 18 to 33. A computer program product, characterized in that the computer program product comprises a computer program, and when the computer program is run on a computer, the computer is caused to execute the method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 17, or the computer is caused to execute the method as claimed in any one of claims 18 to 33. A chip, characterized in that the chip comprises: A processor and an interface, wherein the processor is used to call and run instructions from the interface, and when the processor executes the instructions, the method according to any one of claims 1 to 17 is implemented, or the method according to any one of claims 18 to 33 is implemented.