阅读说明：本技术 信息传输的方法和装置 (Information transmission method and device ) 是由 彭文杰 刘菁 罗海燕 戴明增 曾清海 王婷婷 张宏卓 于 2017-01-05 设计创作，主要内容包括：本申请公开了一种信息传输的方法和装置。该方法包括：主基站向辅基站发送请求消息,其中,所述请求消息包括流的标识信息；或者,所述请求消息包括流的标识信息,以及所述流和数据无线承载DRB的映射关系；所述主基站从所述辅基站接收响应于所述请求消息的响应消息。根据本申请提供的信息传输的方法和装置,主基站、辅基站、核心网设备和用户设备之间根据流的标识信息确定流所映射的DRB,使得信息传输的QoS管理更加精细化,从而可以满足双连接场景中5G通信系统对信息传输的QoS管理的要求。(The application discloses a method and a device for information transmission. The method comprises the following steps: the method comprises the steps that a main base station sends a request message to a secondary base station, wherein the request message comprises identification information of a flow; or, the request message includes identification information of a flow and a mapping relationship between the flow and a data radio bearer DRB; the primary base station receives a response message from the secondary base station in response to the request message. According to the information transmission method and device provided by the application, the DRB mapped by the flow is determined among the main base station, the auxiliary base station, the core network equipment and the user equipment according to the identification information of the flow, so that the QoS management of the information transmission is more refined, and the requirement of a 5G communication system on the QoS management of the information transmission in a double-connection scene can be met.)

1. A method for information transmission, the method being used for a terminal, the method comprising:

receiving a configuration message from a master base station, wherein the configuration message comprises DRB configuration information on the master base station and DRB configuration information on a secondary base station, the DRB configuration information on the master base station comprises a flow identifier corresponding to a DRB established on the master base station, and the DRB configuration information on the secondary base station comprises a flow identifier corresponding to a DRB established on the secondary base station;

transmitting a first response message to the master base station in response to the configuration message.

2. The method of claim 1,

the configuration message is a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection reconfiguration message.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2,

the DRB configuration information on the main base station also comprises an identifier of a Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session to which a flow corresponding to the DRB of the main base station belongs; and/or the presence of a gas in the gas,

the DRB configuration information on the secondary base station further includes an identifier of a PDU session to which a flow corresponding to the DRB established in the secondary base station belongs.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the identity of the PDU session belonging to the flow corresponding to the DRB established at the primary base station is the same as the identity of the PDU session belonging to the flow corresponding to the DRB established at the secondary base station.

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

and determining that the DRB corresponding to the identification of the PDU session to which the uplink data belongs is a default bearer, wherein the default bearer is established on the main base station, or the default bearer is established on the auxiliary base station.

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

and determining a first DRB for transmitting the uplink data according to the identification information of the uplink data.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

the first DRB is established on the main base station or the auxiliary base station.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the first DRB is a default DRB.

9. The method according to any of claims 6 to 8, wherein the determining the first DRB for transmitting the uplink data according to the identification information of the uplink data comprises:

and determining the first DRB according to the corresponding relation between the identification information of the uplink data and the first DRB.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the correspondence is predetermined or determined according to a correspondence between a quality of service (QoS) label of the flow in the downlink data and the DRB.

11. The method according to claims 6 to 10, further comprising:

sending a first request message to the master base station or the secondary base station, where the first request message includes identification information of the uplink data, and the first request message is used to request the master base station or the secondary base station to perform mapping between the first DRB and the uplink data;

and receiving a second response message responding to the first request message from the main base station or the auxiliary base station, wherein the second response message comprises the mapping relation between the uplink data and the first DRB.

12. The method of claims 6 to 11, further comprising:

and determining the identification information of the uplink data according to the upper layer information and the non-access layer information.

13. The method according to claims 6 to 12, wherein the identification information of the uplink data comprises at least one of a flow identification of the uplink data and/or an identification of a PDU session to which the first data belongs.

14. A communication device comprising means for performing the method of any one of claims 1-13.

15. A communications apparatus comprising a processor and a memory, the processor being configured to execute instructions stored in the memory to cause the apparatus to perform the method of any of claims 1 to 13.

16. A computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions which, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 13.

17. A computer program product comprising instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 13.

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of communications, and in particular, to a method and an apparatus for transmitting information.

Background

The Quality of Service (QoS) mechanism is a security mechanism of the network, and the network device processes data of different priorities through the QoS mechanism, which is beneficial to avoiding problems of network delay and congestion.

In a Long Term Evolution (LTE) System, a core network device maps different streams into Evolved Packet System (EPS) bearers, one EPS Bearer includes an S1 Bearer and a Data Radio Bearer (DRB), the core network device communicates with a base station through an S1 Bearer, the base station communicates with a terminal device through a DRB, and in a Dual Connectivity (DC) scenario, when the primary base station determines to transfer the DRB to a secondary base station, the primary base station needs to notify the core network device of an identifier of the DRB transferred to the secondary base station, so that the core network device and the secondary base station establish a transmission channel corresponding to the DRB.

However, the fifth Generation (5th-Generation, 5G) communication system puts higher demands on QoS management of data, that is, needs to implement finer QoS management on data, and the information transmission based on DRB by the primary base station and the secondary base station in the prior art cannot meet the demands of the 5G communication system on QoS management.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of the above, the present application provides an information transmission method and apparatus, which can meet the requirement of a 5G communication system on QoS management of information transmission in a dual connectivity scenario.

In one aspect, a method for transmitting information is provided, and the method includes: the method comprises the steps that a main base station sends a request message to a secondary base station, wherein the request message comprises identification information of a flow; or, the request message includes identification information of the flow and a mapping relationship between the flow and the DRB; the primary base station receives a response message from the secondary base station in response to the request message.

According to the information transmission method provided by the embodiment of the application, the main base station sends the identification information for indicating at least one flow to the secondary base station, or the main base station sends the identification information for indicating at least one flow and the mapping relation between the at least one flow and the DRBs to the secondary base station, so that the secondary base station can map the flows into different DRBs according to the QoS requirements of the flows, and finer-grained QoS management is realized.

Optionally, the identification information of the flow includes a quality of service QoS tag of the flow.

According to the information transmission method provided by the embodiment of the application, the main base station takes the QoS mark of the flow as the identification information of the flow, different flows can be directly distinguished, and QoS management with finer granularity is realized.

Optionally, the identification information of the flow includes an identification of a protocol data unit, PDU, session to which the flow belongs. Thus, different flows can be distinguished, and finer-grained QoS management is realized.

Optionally, the request message further includes QoS characteristic information of the flow.

According to the information transmission method provided by the embodiment of the application, the main base station sends the QoS characteristic information of the flow to the auxiliary base station, so that the auxiliary base station can determine the QoS requirement of the flow on the DRB according to the QoS characteristic information of the flow.

Optionally, the request message further includes an identification of DRBs available to the secondary base station.

According to the information transmission method provided by the embodiment of the application, the main base station sends the identification of the DRB available to the secondary base station, and the secondary base station can map the flow into the DRB according to the identification of the DRB available to the secondary base station, so that the conflict between the DRB mapped by the main base station and the DRB mapped by the secondary base station can be avoided, and meanwhile, the load of the main base station is reduced.

Optionally, the request message further includes an identification of DRBs that are unavailable to the secondary base station.

The primary base station may send the identifier of the DRB that is unavailable to the secondary base station, for example, the primary base station may send the identifier list of the DRB that is unavailable for the first flow to the secondary base station, so that collision between the DRB mapped by the primary base station and the DRB mapped by the secondary base station may be avoided, and at the same time, the load of the primary base station is reduced.

Optionally, the response message includes identification information of the flow accepted by the secondary base station and tunnel endpoint information corresponding to the flow accepted by the secondary base station.

Thus, the primary base station can determine the flow that can be shunted to the secondary base station from the response message.

Optionally, the response message includes identification information of a flow that is not accepted by the secondary base station.

Thus, the primary base station can determine the flow that can be shunted to the secondary base station from the response message.

Optionally, the method further comprises:

the main base station sends the identification information of the flow received by the auxiliary base station and the tunnel endpoint information corresponding to the flow received by the auxiliary base station to core network equipment; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

and the main base station sends the identification information of the flow received by the main base station, the tunnel endpoint information corresponding to the flow received by the main base station, the identification information of the flow received by the secondary base station and the tunnel endpoint information corresponding to the flow received by the secondary base station to core network equipment.

The flow accepted by the main base station or the flow accepted by the secondary base station belongs to the flow in the PDU session transmitted by the core network to the main base station.

According to the method for transmitting information provided by the embodiment of the application, the base station sends the tunnel endpoint information of the secondary base station corresponding to the flow included in the PDU session to the core network device, or the base station sends the tunnel endpoint information of the primary base station and the secondary base station corresponding to the flow included in the PDU session to the core network device, so that the creation and the transfer of the flow-based information bearer can be realized.

Optionally, the method further comprises:

the primary base station sends the identification information of the flow received by the secondary base station, the tunnel endpoint information corresponding to the flow received by the secondary base station and the identification of the secondary base station to core network equipment, or,

and the main base station sends the identification information of the flow received by the main base station, the tunnel endpoint information corresponding to the flow received by the main base station, the identification information of the flow received by the auxiliary base station, the tunnel endpoint information corresponding to the flow received by the auxiliary base station, the identification of the main base station and the identification of the auxiliary base station to core network equipment.

Therefore, when the flows in one PDU session are respectively carried by different base stations, the core network device can determine to which base station the flows in the PDU session are sent according to the identification of the base station.

Optionally, the method further comprises: and the main base station sends DRB configuration information to the user equipment, wherein the DRB configuration information comprises the identification of the DRB and the identification information of the flow corresponding to the DRB.

According to the information transmission method provided by the embodiment of the application, the user equipment can receive the flow from at least one base station of the main base station and the auxiliary base station according to the DRB configuration information, and the establishment and the transfer of the information bearing based on the flow are realized.

Optionally, before the master base station sends the request message to the secondary base station, the method further includes: the master base station receiving a flow identification from a user equipment; and the main base station establishes a bearer for the flow indicated by the flow identification.

According to the information transmission method provided by the embodiment of the application, the base station establishes the bearer for the flow indicated by the flow identifier according to the flow identifier received from the user equipment, so that the establishment and transfer of the flow-based information bearer can be realized, and the requirement of a 5G communication system on the QoS management of information transmission can be met.

In another aspect, a method for transmitting information is provided, the method including: the method comprises the steps that a secondary base station receives a request message from a main base station, wherein the request message comprises identification information of a flow; or, the request message includes identification information of the flow and a mapping relationship between the flow and the DRB; the secondary base station transmits a response message in response to the request message to the primary base station.

According to the information transmission method provided by the embodiment of the application, the secondary base station receives the identification information of the flow sent by the main base station, so that the QoS requirement of the flow can be determined according to the identification information of the flow, and the flow is mapped to the DRB which meets the QoS requirement of the flow, so that more fine QoS management can be implemented on the data.

Optionally, the identification information of the flow includes a quality of service QoS tag of the flow.

Therefore, the auxiliary base station can directly distinguish different flows, and QoS management with finer granularity is realized.

Optionally, the identification information of the flow includes an identification of a PDU session to which the flow belongs.

Therefore, the auxiliary base station can distinguish different flows, and QoS management with finer granularity is realized.

Optionally, the request message further includes QoS characteristic information of the flow.

So that the secondary base station can determine the QoS requirement of the flow to the DRB according to the QoS characteristic information of the flow.

Optionally, the request message further includes an identification of DRBs available to the secondary base station.

According to the information transmission method provided by the embodiment of the application, the main base station sends the identification of the DRB available to the secondary base station, and the secondary base station can map the flow into the DRB according to the identification of the DRB available to the secondary base station, so that the conflict between the DRB mapped by the main base station and the DRB mapped by the secondary base station can be avoided, and meanwhile, the load of the main base station is reduced.

Optionally, the request message further includes an identification of DRBs that are unavailable to the secondary base station.

The primary base station may send the identifier of the DRB that is unavailable to the secondary base station, for example, the primary base station may send the identifier list of the DRB that is unavailable for the first flow to the secondary base station, so that collision between the DRB mapped by the primary base station and the DRB mapped by the secondary base station may be avoided, and at the same time, the load of the primary base station is reduced.

Optionally, the response message includes identification information of the flow accepted by the secondary base station and tunnel endpoint information corresponding to the flow accepted by the secondary base station.

Thus, the primary base station can determine the flow that can be shunted to the secondary base station from the response message.

Optionally, the response message includes identification information of a flow that is not accepted by the secondary base station.

Thus, the primary base station can determine the flow that can be shunted to the secondary base station from the response message.

In another aspect, a method for transmitting information is provided, where the method includes: the method comprises the steps that core network equipment receives identification information of a flow received by a secondary base station and tunnel endpoint information corresponding to the flow received by the secondary base station from a main base station; and the core network equipment sends the flow received by the secondary base station to the secondary base station according to the tunnel endpoint information corresponding to the flow received by the secondary base station.

According to the information transmission method provided by the embodiment of the application, the core network device can send the flow to the secondary base station according to the tunnel endpoint information of the secondary base station corresponding to the flow migrated to the secondary base station and received from the main base station, so that the transfer of information bearing based on the flow can be realized.

Optionally, the method further comprises: the core network device receives the identity of the secondary base station from the primary base station.

Therefore, when the flows in one PDU session are respectively carried by different base stations, the core network device can determine to which base station the flows in the PDU session are sent according to the identification of the base station.

In another aspect, a method for transmitting information is provided, where the method includes: the core network equipment receives the identification information of the flow received by the main base station, the tunnel endpoint information corresponding to the flow received by the main base station, the identification information of the flow received by the auxiliary base station and the tunnel endpoint information corresponding to the flow received by the auxiliary base station from the main base station; and the core network equipment sends the flow received by the main base station to the main base station according to the tunnel endpoint information corresponding to the flow received by the main base station, and sends the flow received by the auxiliary base station to the auxiliary base station according to the tunnel endpoint information corresponding to the flow received by the auxiliary base station.

According to the information transmission method provided by the embodiment of the application, the flows can be respectively sent to the main base station and the secondary base station according to the tunnel endpoint information of the main base station and the secondary base station respectively corresponding to the flows received from the main base station, so that the establishment of information bearing based on the flows can be realized.

Optionally, the method further comprises:

the core network device receives the identifier of the master base station and the identifier of the secondary base station from the master base station.

Therefore, when the flows in one PDU session are respectively carried by different base stations, the core network device can determine to which base station the flows in the PDU session are sent according to the identification of the base station.

In another aspect, a method for transmitting information is provided, where the method includes: the user equipment UE determines a first DRB according to the identification information of the first data; the UE transmits the first data through the first DRB.

According to the information transmission method provided by the embodiment of the application, the UE can determine the DRB matched with the QoS requirement of the uplink data, and can realize the creation and transfer of the information bearer based on the flow.

Optionally, the determining, by the UE, the first DRB according to the identification information of the first flow includes: and the UE determines that a default bearer corresponding to the PDU session identifier is the DRB, wherein the identifier information of the first data comprises the PDU session identifier.

According to the information transmission method provided by the embodiment of the application, the default bearer may be on the primary base station or the secondary base station. The UE can determine the DRB matched with the QoS requirement of the uplink data without information interaction with other network elements, so that signaling overhead can be saved.

Optionally, the determining, by the UE, the first DRB according to the identification information of the first flow includes: the UE sends a first request message to a base station, wherein the first request message comprises identification information of the first data, and the first request message is used for requesting the base station to execute DRB mapping for the first data; the UE receives a reply message from the base station, wherein the reply message comprises the mapping relation between the first data and the first DRB.

So that the UE can determine a DRB matching the QoS requirement of the uplink data and can implement the creation and transfer of flow-based information bearers.

Optionally, the method further comprises: and the UE determines the identification information of the first data according to the upper layer information and the non-access layer information.

Therefore, according to the information transmission method provided by the embodiment of the present application, the access stratum of the UE determines the identification information of the uplink data according to the upper layer information and the non-access stratum information, so that the DRB for sending the uplink data can be determined according to the identification information of the uplink data.

In another aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an information transmission apparatus, where the apparatus may implement a function performed by a master base station in the method according to the above aspect, where the function may be implemented by hardware, or may be implemented by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more units or modules corresponding to the above functions.

In one possible design, the apparatus includes a processor, a communication interface, and a transceiver in a structure, and the processor is configured to support the apparatus to perform the corresponding functions of the method. The communication interface and the transceiver are used to support communication between the apparatus and other network elements. The apparatus may also include a memory, coupled to the processor, that retains program instructions and data necessary for the apparatus.

In another aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an information transmission apparatus, where the apparatus may implement a function executed by an auxiliary base station in the method related to the above aspect, where the function may be implemented by hardware, and may also be implemented by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more units or modules corresponding to the above functions.

In one possible design, the apparatus includes a processor, a communication interface, and a transceiver in a structure, and the processor is configured to support the apparatus to perform the corresponding functions of the method. The communication interface and the transceiver are used to support communication between the apparatus and other network elements. The apparatus may also include a memory, coupled to the processor, that retains program instructions and data necessary for the apparatus.

In another aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an information transmission apparatus, where the apparatus may implement a function executed by a core network device in the method in the foregoing aspect, where the function may be implemented by hardware, or may be implemented by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more units or modules corresponding to the above functions.

In one possible design, the apparatus includes a processor and a communication interface, and the processor is configured to support the apparatus to perform the corresponding functions of the method. The communication interface is used to support communication between the apparatus and other network elements. The apparatus may also include a memory, coupled to the processor, that retains program instructions and data necessary for the apparatus.

In another aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an information transmission apparatus, where the apparatus may implement a function executed by a user equipment in the method related to the above aspect, where the function may be implemented by hardware, or may be implemented by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more units or modules corresponding to the above functions.

In one possible design, the apparatus includes a processor and a transceiver in the structure, and the processor is configured to support the apparatus to perform the corresponding functions of the method. The transceiver is for supporting communication between the apparatus and other network elements. The apparatus may also include a memory, coupled to the processor, that retains program instructions and data necessary for the apparatus.

In another aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication system, where the communication system includes the main base station, the secondary base station, the core network device, and the user equipment.

In yet another aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a computer-readable storage medium having stored therein instructions, which, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of the above aspects.

In yet another aspect, the present application provides a computer program product containing instructions which, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of the above aspects.

According to the information transmission method and device provided by the embodiment of the application, the DRB mapped by the flow is determined among the main base station, the auxiliary base station, the core network equipment and the user equipment according to the identification information of the flow, so that the QoS management of information transmission is more refined, and the requirement of a 5G communication system on the QoS management of information transmission in a double-connection scene can be met.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic architecture diagram of a communication system to which embodiments of the present application are applicable;

FIG. 2 is a schematic flow chart diagram of a method of information transfer provided herein;

FIG. 3 is a schematic flow chart diagram of another method of information transfer provided herein;

FIG. 4 is a schematic flow chart diagram of yet another method of information transfer provided herein;

FIG. 5 is a schematic flow chart diagram of yet another method of information transfer provided herein;

fig. 6A is a schematic structural diagram of a possible master base station provided in the present application;

fig. 6B is a schematic diagram of another possible primary base station provided herein;

fig. 7A is a schematic structural diagram of a possible secondary base station provided in the present application;

fig. 7B is a schematic structural diagram of another possible secondary base station provided in the present application;

fig. 8A is a schematic structural diagram of a possible core network device provided in the present application;

fig. 8B is a schematic structural diagram of another possible core network device provided in the present application;

fig. 9A is a schematic structural diagram of a possible user equipment provided in the present application;

fig. 9B is a schematic structural diagram of another possible user equipment provided in the present application.

Detailed Description

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

Fig. 1 illustrates a communication network to which embodiments of the present application are applicable. As shown in fig. 1, the communication system includes a core network 110, a primary base station 120, a secondary base station 130, and a User Equipment (UE) 140, where the core network 110 communicates with the primary base station 120 and/or the secondary base station 130 respectively through Protocol Data Unit (PDU) sessions, one PDU session may include multiple flows (as shown by arrows in the figure), QoS requirements of different flows may be the same or different, the core network 110 provides the QoS requirements of the flows to the primary base station 120 and/or the secondary base station 130, mapping of the flows to DRBs is completed by the primary base station 120 and/or the secondary base station 130, and accordingly, flows included in one DRB have the same or similar QoS requirements.

When the master base station 120 determines to transfer a portion of the flow to the secondary base station 130 for transmission, the master base station 120 may send identification information of the flow to the secondary base station 130, and the secondary base station 130 may map the flow to a DRB that meets the QoS requirements of the flow, so that more refined QoS management may be performed on the data.

In this application, a UE may communicate with one or more core network devices via a radio access network, and may be referred to as an access terminal, terminal device, subscriber unit, subscriber station, mobile station, remote terminal, mobile device, user terminal, wireless communication device, user agent, or user equipment. The access terminal may be a cellular phone, a cordless phone, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phone, a Wireless Local Loop (WLL) station, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a handheld device with Wireless communication function, a computing device or other processing device connected to a Wireless modem, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, and a user equipment in a 5G system, wherein the 5G system includes, for example, a New Radio (NR) system and an Evolved LTE (LTE) system, and the LTE system refers to an LTE system that is accessed to a core network of the 5G system and supports New features of the core network of the 5G system.

It should also be understood that, in the present application, the primary or secondary Base Station may be a Base Transceiver Station (BTS) in a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) system, a Base Station (Node B, NB) in a Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) system, an evolved Node B (eNB) in an LTE system, or a Base Station (gNB) in an NR system, which are merely examples, and may also be a relay Station, an Access point, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, and other types of devices. For convenience of description, apparatuses providing a UE with a wireless communication function are collectively referred to as a base station in this application.

In this application, the Core Network device may be a Next Generation Core Network (NGC) Network element, or may also be a 5G Core Network (5G-CN) device, or may also be another Core Network device, where the NGC Network element may include, for example, a Control Plane (CP) Network element and a User Plane (UP) Network element. In the present application, the "core network device" may be simply referred to as a "core network".

The above communication system is only an example, and the number of core networks and the number of secondary base stations are not limited to the numbers shown in fig. 1.

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating an information transmission method according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 2, the method 200 includes:

s201, a main base station sends a request message to a secondary base station, wherein the request message comprises identification information of a flow; or, the request message includes identification information of the flow and a mapping relationship between the flow and the DRB.

S202, the main base station receives a response message responding to the request message from the auxiliary base station.

In this embodiment, when the primary base station determines to transfer at least one flow (for convenience of description, hereinafter, at least one flow requested by the primary base station to be transferred to the secondary base station is referred to as a "first flow") to the secondary base station, the primary base station sends a request message to the secondary base station, where the request message may be, for example, a secondary base station addition request message, and the request message is used to request the secondary base station to allocate resources for transmitting the first flow for the first flow, and may be, for example, signaling or a data packet.

The request message includes identification information of the first stream, the identification information of the first stream is used for identifying the first stream, the secondary base station determines the first stream according to the identification information of the first stream, and if the secondary base station accepts (submit) the first stream, the secondary base station can determine the mapping relation between the first stream and the DRB, so that the secondary base station can map the first stream to the DRB; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

the request message comprises identification information of the first flow, and also comprises a mapping relation between the first flow determined by the main base station and the DRB, the auxiliary base station determines the first flow according to the identification information of the first flow, and if the auxiliary base station accepts the first flow, the first flow is mapped into the DRB according to the mapping relation between the first flow and the DRB.

In this application, when the first flow includes at least two flows, the at least two flows may belong to the same PDU session or may belong to different PDU sessions. In addition, the secondary base station may receive all of the streams in the first stream, or may receive some of the streams in the first stream. The flow accepted by the secondary base station includes a flow successfully established or modified by the secondary base station, and specifically, the flow successfully established or modified by the secondary base station corresponding to the DRB configuration may be used.

According to the information transmission method provided by the embodiment of the application, the main base station sends the identification information for indicating at least one flow to the secondary base station, or the main base station sends the identification information for indicating at least one flow and the mapping relation between the at least one flow and the DRBs to the secondary base station, so that the secondary base station can map the flows into different DRBs according to the QoS requirements of the flows, and finer-grained QoS management is realized.

Optionally, the identification information of the first flow includes a QoS tag of the first flow.

The primary base station may directly use the QoS tag of the first flow to identify the first flow, or may map the QoS tag to the identification information of the first flow, and at this time, the primary base station further needs to inform the secondary base station and the UE of the mapping relationship between the QoS tag and the identification information of the first flow, where the identification information mapping the QoS tag to the first flow may be, for example, indexes, index numbers, which are sequentially arranged of the received QoS tags, that is, the identification information of the first flow. The above method is merely an example, and the embodiment of the present application is not limited thereto, and any method for identifying a first flow according to a QoS tag of the first flow falls within the scope of the present application.

According to the information transmission method provided by the embodiment of the application, the main base station takes the QoS mark of the first flow as the identification information of the first flow, different flows can be directly distinguished, and QoS management with finer granularity is realized.

Optionally, the identification information of the first flow includes an identification of a PDU session to which the first flow belongs.

For example, when the first flow includes two flows belonging to different PDU sessions, and the QoS tags of the two flows are the same, the master base station may map the identities of the PDU sessions to which the two flows belong respectively to flow identities, that is, the identity information of the first flow, or directly use the identity of the PDU session to which the two flows belong as the identity information of the first flow, or use the QoS tag of each of the two flows and the identity of the PDU session to which the two flows belong as the identity information of the first flow, or map the QoS tag of each of the two flows and the identity of the PDU session to which the two flows belong to the identity of the flows, at which time, the master base station needs to inform the secondary base station and the UE of the above mapping relationship. The above method is merely an example, and the embodiment of the present application is not limited thereto, and any method for identifying the first flow according to the identifier of the PDU session to which the first flow belongs falls within the scope of protection of the present application.

Therefore, according to the information transmission method provided by the embodiment of the present application, the primary base station uses the identification of the PDU session to which the first flow belongs or uses the QoS tag of the first flow and the identification of the PDU session to which the first flow belongs as the identification information of the first flow, so that different flows can be distinguished, and finer-grained QoS management is realized.

Optionally, the request message further includes QoS feature information of the first flow.

The QoS characteristic information includes at least one set of QoS characteristics, i.e. a specific QoS requirement, such as packet loss rate, delay, priority, etc. Each QoS tag corresponds to a set of QoS characteristics.

According to the information transmission method provided by the embodiment of the application, the main base station sends the QoS characteristic information of the first flow to the auxiliary base station, so that the auxiliary base station can determine the QoS requirement of the first flow on the DRB according to the QoS characteristic information of the first flow.

Optionally, the request message further includes an identification of DRBs available to the secondary base station.

In this embodiment of the present application, the primary base station may determine the DRB mapped by the first flow, and indicate the mapping relationship between the first flow and the DRB in the secondary base station through the indication information, the primary base station may also perform mapping from the first flow to the DRB, but the secondary base station performs mapping from the first flow to the DRB, and indicate the identifier of the DRB that is mappable by the first flow to the secondary base station, for example, the primary base station may send an identifier list of DRBs available for the first flow to the secondary base station, and the secondary base station determines which DRB identifiers to use.

Therefore, according to the information transmission method provided by the embodiment of the present application, the primary base station sends the identifier of the DRB available to the secondary base station, and the secondary base station can map the first stream into the DRB according to the identifier of the DRB available to the secondary base station, so that collision between the DRB mapped by the primary base station and the DRB mapped by the secondary base station can be avoided, and meanwhile, the load of the primary base station is reduced.

Optionally, the request message further includes an identification of DRBs that are unavailable to the secondary base station.

The primary base station may send the identifier of the DRB that is unavailable to the secondary base station, for example, the primary base station may send the identifier list of the DRB that is unavailable for the first flow to the secondary base station, for example, the primary base station may indicate the identifier of the DRB used by the primary base station to the secondary base station, so that the DRB mapped by the primary base station and the DRB mapped by the secondary base station may be prevented from colliding with each other, and at the same time, the load of the primary base station is reduced.

For example, the master base station may further send the identifier of the DRB available for the first flow and the identifier of the unavailable first flow to the secondary base station, where the two identifiers may be divided into two lists to be sent to the secondary base station, or may be sent to the secondary base station as one list, where the identifiers of the DRBs of different types in the one list may be separated by using the identifier bit.

The information included in the request message is only an example and should not be understood as a limitation to the embodiment of the present application, and the request message may further include other information, for example, the request message may further include tunnel endpoint information of the PDU session to which the first flow belongs on a core network node, where the tunnel endpoint information may be a General Packet Radio Service tunnel Protocol (GPRS, abbreviated as "GTP", where "GPRS" is an abbreviation of "General Packet Radio Service") tunnel endpoint identifier (GTP-TEID) and a transport layer address, may also be tunnel endpoint information based on a source Ethernet (Power Over Ethernet, PoE) Protocol, and may also be tunnel endpoint information based on other transport layer protocols, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present application.

In S202, the secondary base station configures after receiving the request message sent by the main base station (for example, the response message may be a secondary base station addition request response message), and sends a response message in response to the request message to the main base station, where the response message is used to indicate a result of processing the first stream by the secondary base station, for example, when the secondary base station determines to reject the first stream, the response message may include a bit indicating to reject the first stream, and the response message may also include indication information indicating that the resource allocated to the first stream is 0; the response message may be used to indicate the resources allocated to the first flow by the secondary base station when the secondary base station determines to accept the first flow. As another example, the response message includes two lists, one including information of flows accepted by the secondary base station and the other including information of flows rejected by the secondary base station.

Optionally, the response message includes identification information of the flow accepted by the secondary base station and tunnel endpoint information corresponding to the flow accepted by the secondary base station.

When the secondary base station determines to accept the first flow, if the secondary base station accepts a part of the flows in the first flow, the response message includes identification information of the accepted flows in the first flow and tunnel endpoint information corresponding to the accepted flows. Optionally, if the secondary base station accepts all the streams in the first stream, the response message may indicate that the secondary base station accepts all the streams in the first stream by one bit, or may send the identification information of the accepted streams in the first stream to the primary base station.

Thus, the primary base station can determine the flow that can be shunted to the secondary base station from the response message.

Optionally, the response message includes identification information of a flow that is not accepted by the secondary base station.

If the secondary base station accepts a part of the flows in the first flow, the response message may include identification information of flows that the secondary base station does not accept in the first flow, so that the primary base station may determine, according to the response message, flows that can be shunted to the secondary base station. The above method is merely an example, and the embodiment of the present application is not limited to this, for example, the response message may also include identification information of a flow accepted by the secondary base station, tunnel endpoint information corresponding to the flow accepted by the secondary base station, and identification information of a flow rejected by the secondary base station.

The information included in the response message is only an example and should not be understood as a limitation to the embodiment of the present application, and the response message may further include other information.

For example, the response message may further include tunnel endpoint information of the PDU session to which the first flow belongs on the secondary base station, where the tunnel endpoint information may be a GTP-TEID and a transport layer address, may also be tunnel endpoint information based on the PoE protocol, and may also be information based on other tunnel endpoints that are transmitted into the protocol, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

For another example, when the secondary base station determines the mapping relationship of the first flow with the DRB, the response message further includes indication information indicating the mapping relationship.

For another example, when the primary base station determines the mapping relationship between the first flow and the DRB, the response message further includes at least one of information of the accepted DRB and information of the rejected DRB, where the information of the DRB includes an identifier of the DRB.

The response message may include all of the above information, or may include only part of the above information.

Optionally, as an embodiment of the present application, the method 200 further includes:

and S203, the main base station sends the identification information of the flow received by the auxiliary base station and the tunnel endpoint information corresponding to the flow received by the auxiliary base station to the core network equipment.

Alternatively, the method 200 further comprises: and S204, the main base station sends the identification information of the flow received by the main base station, the tunnel endpoint information corresponding to the flow received by the main base station, the identification information of the flow received by the auxiliary base station and the tunnel endpoint information corresponding to the flow received by the auxiliary base station to core network equipment.

In this embodiment of the present application, the primary base station sends, to the core network device, the tunnel endpoint information of the base station corresponding to the flow received by the base station (including the primary base station and the secondary base station) in the flow included in the PDU session, where the tunnel endpoint information corresponding to the base station may be carried in the session establishment reply message or may be carried in the session modification indication message.

It is to be understood that S203 and S204 are two optional execution steps, i.e., the master base station may execute either S203 or S204.

For the case that the tunnel endpoint information corresponding to the primary base station and the secondary base station respectively is carried in the session establishment reply message, that is, in the scenario that may be used in S204, the session establishment reply message is used to indicate the establishment of the PDU session, and the session establishment reply message includes at least one of information of the successfully established PDU session and information of the unsuccessfully established PDU session, for example, the information of the successfully established PDU session includes an identifier of the PDU session, a QoS flag, and a GTP-TEID and a transport layer address of a flow identified by the QoS flag on a base station (including the primary base station and the secondary base station), and optionally, the session establishment reply message further includes the identifier of the base station. Optionally, the session establishment reply message may also only include identification information of the flow accepted by the secondary base station and tunnel endpoint information corresponding to the flow accepted by the secondary base station.

For the case that the tunnel endpoint information corresponding to the secondary base station is carried in the session modification indication message, that is, in a scenario that S203 may be used, the session modification indication message is used to instruct the core network device to migrate a flow accepted by the secondary base station in the first flow to the secondary base station, for example, the session modification indication message includes a QoS tag and a GTP-TEID and a transport layer address of the flow identified by the QoS tag on the secondary base station, and optionally, the session modification indication message may further include an identifier of a PDU session to which the flow identified by the QoS tag belongs; if the entire PDU session is migrated to the secondary base station, the session modification indication message may include only the identity of the PDU session and the GTP-TEID and transport layer address of the PDU session at the secondary base station.

According to the method for transmitting information provided by the embodiment of the application, the base station sends the tunnel endpoint information of the secondary base station corresponding to the flow included in the PDU session to the core network device, or the base station sends the tunnel endpoint information of the primary base station and the secondary base station corresponding to the flow included in the PDU session to the core network device, so that the creation and the transfer of the flow-based information bearer can be realized.

Optionally, as an embodiment of the present application, the method 200 further includes:

s205, the primary base station sends DRB configuration information to the UE, where the DRB configuration information includes an identifier of the DRB and identifier information of a flow corresponding to the DRB.

The DRB configuration information includes identification information of a flow corresponding to each DRB in DRBs respectively corresponding to the primary base station and the secondary base station, that is, the DRB configuration information indicates which DRBs are established on the primary base station and which DRBs are established on the secondary base station.

After the primary base station receives the response message from the secondary base station, or after the primary base station sends a session establishment reply message or a session modification indication message to the core network, the primary base station sends a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection reconfiguration message to the UE, where the RRC connection reconfiguration message includes the DRB configuration information.

According to the method for transmitting information provided by the embodiment of the application, the UE can receive data (namely, flow) from at least one base station of the main base station and the secondary base station according to the DRB configuration information, and the creation and transfer of the information bearer based on the flow are realized.

Optionally, before the master base station sends the request message to the secondary base station, the method 200 further includes:

s206, the master base station receives the flow identification from the user equipment.

And S207, the main base station establishes a bearer for the flow indicated by the flow identifier according to the flow identifier.

The stream identifier is used to indicate a stream, and the specific form of the stream identifier is not limited in this application. When the UE has data to upload and cannot determine the mapping relationship between the flow and the DRB, the UE may send a flow identifier corresponding to the data to a base station (including a primary base station or a secondary base station), and request the base station to perform mapping from the flow indicated by the flow identifier to the DRB.

As an optional embodiment, the flow identifier may be borne in the RRC request message, and the base station triggers an establishment procedure of a bearer corresponding to the flow identifier after receiving the RRC request message, where the bearer may be a bearer established only on the primary base station, a bearer established only on the secondary base station, or a split bearer (split bearer) established on both the primary base station and the secondary base station.

As another optional implementation, the flow identifier may be sent to the base station together with the uplink data, and the base station triggers, according to a command preset in the base station, an establishment procedure of a bearer corresponding to the flow identifier, where the bearer may be a primary base station bearer, an auxiliary base station bearer, or a split bearer.

When the base station determines to establish a bearer for the UE, the base station may perform the processes of S201 and S202 and other processes for establishing a bearer for the UE in this application, which are not described herein again.

According to the information transmission method provided by the embodiment of the application, the base station establishes the bearer for the flow indicated by the flow identifier according to the flow identifier received from the UE, so that the establishment and transfer of the flow-based information bearer can be realized, and the requirement of a 5G communication system on the QoS management of information transmission can be met.

The above embodiments describe the information transmission method provided by the present application from the perspective of the base station, the core network, and the terminal device, respectively, and the embodiments of the present application will be further described in detail based on the above-mentioned common aspects related to the embodiments of the present application.

Fig. 3 is a schematic flow chart of another information transmission method provided in the embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 3, the method includes:

s301, the NGC sends a session establishment request message to the primary base station, where the session establishment request message carries at least one PDU session information, and specifically, the PDU session information includes a PDU session identifier, a GTP-TEID, a transport layer address, and a QoS description of NAS level, and the QoS description of NAS level includes a QoS feature and a QoS tag. The GTP tunnel endpoint identification and transport layer address are used to identify an endpoint of the PDU session at a core network node over a next generation (NextGen, NG) interface. At this time, the information element included in the session establishment request message may be as shown in table 1, or may be in other forms, which is not limited in this application.

TABLE 1

PDU session to be setup list
	>PDU session to be setup item IEs
>>PDU session ID
	>>Transport Layer address
>>GTP-TEID
	>>NAS-level QoS profile item IEs
>>>QoS marking
	>>>QoS characteristic

In table 1, "PDU session to be session list" indicates "list of PDU sessions to be established," PDU session to be session entity IEs "indicates" Information element included in list of PDU sessions to be established, "IE is short for Information element," PDU session ID "indicates" PDU session identifier, "ID is short for identification," Transport Layer address "indicates" Transport Layer protocol, "GTP-TEID" indicates "GTP tunnel endpoint identifier," NAS-level QoS profile entity "indicates" Information element included in QoS description of NAS level, "QoS profile" indicates "QoS feature," and "QoS marking" indicates "QoS marking.

In table 1, NAS level QoS description is used for QoS control, packets marked with the same QoS flag have the same QoS requirements, and different QoS flags identify different flows for the base station. Further, one PDU session may include a plurality of streams, and one PUD session setup procedure may establish at least one PDU session.

S302, after receiving the session establishment request message, the primary base station decides to transfer part or all of the streams corresponding to the session establishment request message to the secondary base station for transmission (i.e. the primary base station makes a offloading decision). Alternatively, the master base station may map the QoS tag to a flow identity; the QoS tag may also be used directly to identify the flow, where the flow identification is the QoS tag. It should be understood that, in the present application, when both "flow identification" and "identification information of a flow" are used to indicate a flow, both may be used in common.

If the QoS marking is not unique between PDU sessions, i.e. the QoS marking between PDU sessions may be the same, the QoS marking of a flow and the PDU session identification of the PDU session to which said flow belongs may also be mapped to a flow identification; or the flow is identified by the QoS mark of the flow and the PDU session identification of the PDU session to which the flow belongs, namely the flow identification is the QoS identification and the PDU session identification at the moment. In the present application, the flow identification may be any one of the above cases.

S303, the primary base station sends an addition request message to the secondary base station, where the message carries at least one flow information, and the flow information may include a QoS tag of the flow, a QoS characteristic of the flow, a GTP tunnel identifier and a transport layer address of a PDU session to which the flow belongs on a core network node, and optionally, may also include an identifier of the PDU session. In this case, the specific cell design may be as shown in tables 2 and 3, or may be in other forms, and the present application is not limited thereto.

TABLE 2

TABLE 3

Flow to be split list
	>flow to be split item IEs
>>QoS marking
	>>QoS characteristic
>>PDU session ID
	>>Transport Layer address
>>GTP-TEID

In table 2, "PDU session to be split list" indicates "a list of PDU sessions to be split", and "PDU session to be split items IEs" indicates "an information element included in the list of PDU sessions to be split". The meanings of the remaining cells are shown in Table 1 and will not be described herein.

In table 3, "Flow to be split list" indicates "a list of flows to be split", and "Flow to be split items IEs" indicates "an information element included in the list of flows to be split". The meanings of the remaining cells are shown in tables 1 and 2, and are not described in detail herein.

If the primary base station performs the mapping from the flow to the DRB, the mapping relationship between the DRB and the flow is also carried in the message. At this time, at least one flow may be mapped to one DRB, and the at least one flow may belong to the same PDU session or may belong to different PDU sessions. The cell design at this time can be as shown in tables 4 to 6, and can be in other forms, and the present application is not limited thereto. Wherein the PDU session indication is optional.

TABLE 4

DRB to be split list
	>DRB to be split item IEs
>>DRB ID
	>>PDU session ID
>>Transport Layer address
	>>GTP-TEID
>>Flow to be spit item IEs
	>>>QoS marking
>>>QoS characteristic

TABLE 5

TABLE 6

DRB to be split list
	>DRB to be split item IEs
>>DRB ID
	>>tunnel endpoint item IEs
>>>PDU session ID
	>>>Transport Layer address
>>>GTP-TEID
	>>>QoS marking
>>>QoS characteristic

In table 4, "DRB to be split list" represents "a list of DRBs to be split", and "DRB to be split items IEs" represents "an information element included in the list of DRBs to be split". The "DRB ID" indicates "DRB ID", and the meanings of the remaining cells are shown in tables 1 to 3, which are not described herein again.

In table 5, the meaning of each cell is shown in tables 1 to 4, and will not be described again.

In table 6, "tunnel endpoint information IEs" indicates "information elements included in the tunnel endpoint," and the meanings of the remaining cells are shown in tables 1 to 5, which are not described herein again.

If the main base station does not execute the mapping from the flow to the DRB aiming at the flow to be shunted to the secondary base station, but leaves the mapping to the secondary base station, at this time, in order to avoid DRB indicating conflict, the main base station needs to send an indication to the secondary base station, wherein the indication is used for DRB identification which can be configured by the secondary base station. The optional indication information may be a DRB identifier list already configured by the primary base station side, an available DRB identifier list allocated by the primary base station for the secondary base station, or other information, which is not limited in this application.

And S304, the secondary base station performs configuration after receiving the request of the main base station, and replies a request reply message of the secondary base station to the main base station. If the primary base station does not carry the DRB identifier corresponding to the flow in the request message, the message carries the flow information of receiving the split flow, and may also carry the rejected flow information, specifically, the flow information of receiving the split flow by the secondary base station at least includes the flow identifier, the GTP tunnel identifier of the PDU session where the flow is located on the secondary base station, and the transport layer address. Optionally, a PDU session identifier may also be included. The mapping relationship between the flow and the DRB is determined by the secondary base station, and may also be carried in a message. The flow information rejected by the secondary base station includes at least a flow identification.

If the main base station carries the mapping relation between the flow and the DRB in the request message, the auxiliary base station carries the DRB information for receiving the shunt in the message and possibly carries the rejected DRB information. Specifically, the DRB information that the secondary base station receives the offloading may include the DRB identifier. If the flow in DRB only belongs to the same PDU conversation, DRB information also includes GTP tunnel identification and transport layer address of the PDU conversation on the auxiliary base station; if the flow in the DRB can belong to different PDU sessions, the DRB information also contains the flow identification, the GTP tunnel identification and the transport layer address of the PDU session on the secondary base station where the flow is located. The DRB information rejected by the secondary base station at least comprises a DRB ID. It is possible that the secondary base station only accepts part of the flows in the DRB, and the DRB information rejected at this time also includes the rejected flow identification. Optionally, the flow information of the two lists may further include a PDU session identifier.

S305, the main base station sends a session establishment reply message to the NGC, wherein the message carries successfully established PDU session information and possibly unsuccessfully established PDU session information. Specifically, the successfully established PDU session information includes a PDU session identifier, a QoS tag, a GTP tunnel identifier on the base station carrying the flow identified by the QoS tag, and a transport layer address, and the base station may be a primary base station or a secondary base station. Optionally, the method may further include an identifier of the base station. In this case, the cell design may be as described in table 7, or may be in other forms, and the present application is not limited thereto.

TABLE 7

PDU session setup list
	>PDU session setup item IEs
>>PDU session ID
	>>tunnel endpoint item IEs
>>>Transport layer address
	>>>GTP-TEID
>>Flow item IEs
	>>>QoS marking

In table 7, "PDU session setup list" indicates "the list of established PDU sessions," PDU session setup entries IEs "indicates" the information elements included in the list of established PDU sessions, "and the meanings of the remaining cells are shown in tables 1 to 6, which are not described herein again.

At this time, the core network side may need to maintain GTP tunnel identifiers and transport layer addresses of multiple base station sides for one PDU session.

The unsuccessfully established PDU session information includes an unsuccessfully established PDU session identification. At this point, there may also be a PDU session where part of the flow is successfully accepted by the primary or secondary base station and part is not accepted. The PDU session that was not successfully established at this time also needs to carry a specific flow id that is not accepted. For PDU sessions for which all flows are not accepted, there is no need to carry a flow identification.

S306, the master base station transmits an RRC connection reconfiguration message to the UE. And the RRC connection reconfiguration message carries DRB configuration information on the main base station and the auxiliary base station. Specifically, the DRB configuration information is used to indicate which DRBs are established in the primary base station and which DRBs are established in the secondary base station, where the configuration information includes at least one of a flow identifier corresponding to each DRB and a PDU session identifier to which a flow corresponding to each DRB belongs. It should be noted that if the flow identifier is not a QoS tag at this time, the UE needs to be informed of the mapping relationship between the flow identifier and the QoS tag. S306 and S305 have no sequence.

S307, the UE executes the configuration in the RRC connection reconfiguration message, and sends an RRC connection reconfiguration complete message to the main base station after the configuration is completed, wherein the message is used for indicating the main base station that the UE completes the corresponding configuration.

S308, the main base station sends a secondary base station reconfiguration completion message to the secondary base station, wherein the message is used for indicating the secondary base station that the UE completes the corresponding configuration.

S309, the UE performs random access with the secondary base station. S309 and S307 have no sequence.

In the information transmission method provided in the embodiment of the present application, the primary base station decides to split part or all of the flows to the secondary base station when the core network initiates the PDU session establishment, and sends identification information of the flows to the secondary base station, so that the secondary base station can determine QoS requirements of the flows according to the identification information of the flows, and map the flows to DRBs that meet the QoS requirements of the flows, thereby implementing finer QoS management on data.

Fig. 4 is a schematic flow chart of a method for transmitting information according to another embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 4, the method includes:

s401, the main base station decides to transfer part or all of the flow to the auxiliary base station based on the conditions such as load and the like.

S402, the main base station sends an auxiliary base station increase request message to the auxiliary base station, wherein the message carries at least one group of corresponding relation between DRB and flow and information of the flow. Specifically, the corresponding relationship may be that one DRB ID corresponds to at least one flow identifier. The information of the flow comprises a GTP tunnel identifier and a transport layer address of the PDU session of the flow on the core network node. Optionally, QoS characteristics of the flow and/or identification of the PDU session to which it belongs may also be included.

And S403, the auxiliary base station sends an auxiliary base station increase request reply message to the main base station. And carrying the DRB information of the received shunt and possibly carrying the rejected DRB information in the message. Specifically, the DRB information that the secondary base station receives the offloading may include the DRB identifier. If the flow in DRB only belongs to the same PDU conversation, DRB information also includes GTP tunnel identification and transport layer address of the PDU conversation on the auxiliary base station; if the flow in the DRB can belong to different PDU sessions, the DRB information also contains the flow identification, the GTP tunnel identification and the transport layer address of the PDU session on the secondary base station where the flow is located. The DRB information rejected by the secondary base station at least comprises a DRB ID. It is possible that the secondary base station only accepts part of the flows in the DRB, and the DRB information decided at this time also includes the rejected flow identification. Optionally, the flow information of the two lists may further include a PDU session identifier.

S404, the primary base station transmits an RRC connection reconfiguration message to the UE. The message carries DRB configuration information distributed from the main base station to the auxiliary base station. Optionally, the configuration information further needs to indicate a flow identifier corresponding to the DRB.

S405, the UE executes the configuration in the RRC connection reconfiguration message, and sends an RRC connection reconfiguration complete message to the main base station after the configuration is completed, wherein the message is used for indicating the main base station that the UE completes the corresponding configuration.

S406, the main base station sends a secondary base station reconfiguration completion message to the secondary base station, wherein the message is used for indicating the secondary base station that the UE completes the corresponding configuration.

S407, the UE performs random access with the secondary base station. S407 has no precedence with S405.

S408, the primary base station transmits an SN (Sequence Number) state transition message to the secondary base station. If the DRB has been configured, the primary base station needs to transmit a transmission status of the corresponding DRB to the secondary base station. The SN number written in the SN status transfer message may be a PDCP (Packet Data Convergence Protocol) sequence number and/or a flow sequence number.

S409, the main base station performs data forwarding. If there is one tunnel for each PDU session between the primary and secondary base stations, the flow identifier needs to be added to the header of the GTP field during data forwarding. The dashed arrow in fig. 4 indicates that S409 is an optional step.

S410, the main base station sends a session modification indication message to the core network. The message is used to instruct the NGC to transfer the corresponding stream to the secondary base station. The message carries a QoS tag and a GTP tunnel identifier and a transport layer address on the secondary base station carrying the flow identified by the QoS tag, and optionally may further include an identifier of a PDU session to which the flow belongs.

If the whole PDU conversation is transferred to the auxiliary base station, the message can only carry the PDU conversation mark and the GTP tunnel mark and the transmission layer address on the auxiliary base station bearing the PDU conversation. S410 and S405 are not in sequence.

S411, the core network sends a session modification confirmation message to the main base station. For acknowledging the modification to the master base station. S411 is an optional step.

It should be noted that at this point, the core network may modify the GTP tunnel identity and transport layer address of the corresponding PDU session at the core network node for the primary or secondary base station. If the session modification is directed to the primary base station, the modified GTP tunnel identifier and the transport layer address can be informed to the primary base station in a session modification acknowledgement message. If the PDU session is directed to the secondary base station, an indication message needs to be additionally sent to the secondary base station, and the GTP tunnel identifier and the transport layer address of the corresponding PDU session on the core network node are notified to the secondary base station, at this time, the message in S402 may not carry the GTP tunnel identifier and the transport layer address of the PDU session on the core network node.

In the information transmission method provided in the embodiment of the present application, after the core network and the master base station have completed the PDU session establishment, the master base station makes a decision to distribute part or all of the flows to the secondary base station, and sends identification information of the flows to the secondary base station, and the secondary base station maps the flows to DRBs that meet the QoS requirements of the flows, so that more precise QoS management can be performed on the data.

Fig. 5 is a schematic flow chart of a method for transmitting information according to another embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 5, the method 500 includes:

s501, the UE determines a first DRB according to the identification information of the first data.

S502, the UE sends the first data through the first DRB.

In this embodiment of the present application, the first data is uplink data, the identification information of the first data includes at least one of a flow identifier (for example, a QoS tag) of the first data and an identifier of a PDU session to which the first data belongs, and the UE determines, according to the identification information of the first data, a DRB corresponding to the identification information, that is, the first DRB. The first DRB may be a DRB carried by the primary base station, or a DRB carried by the secondary base station. The correspondence between the identification information of the first data and the DRB may be information pre-configured in the UE, or may be information determined by the UE according to the correspondence between the QoS tag of the downlink data and the DRB, or may be information determined by the UE in another manner.

Therefore, according to the method for transmitting information provided by the embodiment of the application, the UE can determine the DRB matching the QoS requirement of the uplink data according to the flow identifier of the uplink data and the PDU session identifier, and can implement creation and transfer of the flow-based information bearer.

Optionally, the determining, by the UE, the first DRB according to the identification information of the first flow includes:

s503, the UE determines that the default bearer corresponding to the PDU session identifier is the first DRB, where the identifier information of the first data includes the PDU session identifier.

According to the information transmission method provided by the embodiment of the application, the default bearer may be on the primary base station or the secondary base station. The UE can determine the DRB matched with the QoS requirement of the uplink data without information interaction with other network elements, so that signaling overhead can be saved.

When the UE sends the uplink data through the default bearer, the flow identifier corresponding to the uplink data is sent to the base station, and after receiving the uplink data sent by the UE through the default bearer, the base station may perform mapping from the flow to the DRB for the uplink data subsequently sent by the UE, and notify the UE of a mapping relationship between the subsequently sent flow and the DRB, where the DRB may be the default bearer or a new bearer.

Optionally, the determining, by the UE, the first DRB according to the identification information of the first data includes:

s504, the UE sends a first request message to a base station, where the first request message includes identification information of the first data, and the first request message is used to request the base station to perform DRB mapping for the first data.

The performing DRB mapping for the first data includes mapping the first data to other DRBs besides the default bearer. The other DRBs may be existing DRBs or newly built DRBs. The other DRBs may be DRBs on the primary base station or DRBs on the secondary base station.

S505, the UE receives a reply message from the base station, where the reply message includes a mapping relationship between the first data and the first DRB.

According to the information transmission method provided by the embodiment of the application, the UE may send a first request message to the base station (the primary base station or the secondary base station), where the first request message includes at least one of QoS tag and PDU session identifier, and the first request message requests the base station to perform DRB mapping for data indicated by the QoS tag and the PDU session identifier. So that the UE can determine a DRB matching the QoS requirement of the uplink data and can implement the creation and transfer of flow-based information bearers.

Optionally, the method 500 further comprises:

s506, the UE determines the identification information of the first data according to upper layer information and Non-access Stratum (NAS) information.

An upper layer, i.e., an application layer of the UE, such AS an application program running on the UE, an Access Stratum (AS) of the UE may determine, according to information from the upper layer or the NAS layer, identification information of the first data, where the identification information of the first data includes an identification of a PDU session corresponding to the first data and a stream identifier (e.g., a QoS tag) of the first data, where the AS of the UE receives the identification of the PDU session from the upper layer, and the AS of the UE receives the stream identifier of the first data from the NAS.

Specifically, the NAS of the UE may determine the QoS tag of the data according to a packet filter, which is a policy for determining data, i.e., a flow, that conforms to a specific rule from among data including various characteristics.

And the AS of the UE determines the DRB according to the identification information of the first data, and if the identification information of the first data does not have the corresponding DRB, the AS of the UE determines a default bearer according to the PDU session identification and sends the first flow through the default bearer.

Therefore, according to the information transmission method provided in the embodiment of the present application, the AS of the UE determines the identification information of the uplink data according to the upper layer information and the NAS information, so that the DRB for transmitting the uplink data can be determined according to the identification information of the uplink data.

The above mainly introduces the scheme of the embodiment of the present application from the perspective of interaction between network elements. It will be appreciated that each network element, in order to implement the above-described functions, comprises corresponding hardware structures and/or software modules for performing the respective functions. Those of skill in the art would readily appreciate that the various illustrative elements and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as hardware or combinations of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is performed as hardware or computer software drives hardware depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the solution. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present application.

In the embodiment of the present application, according to the above method example, functional units may be divided for the main base station, the auxiliary base station, the core network device, the UE, and the like, for example, each functional unit may be divided for each function, or two or more functions may be integrated into one processing unit. The integrated unit can be realized in a form of hardware, and can also be realized in a form of a software functional unit. It should be noted that the division of the unit in the embodiment of the present application is schematic, and is only a logic function division, and there may be another division manner in actual implementation.

Fig. 6A shows a possible schematic configuration of the main base station involved in the above-described embodiment, in the case of using an integrated unit. The main base station 600 includes: a processing unit 602 and a communication unit 603. The processing unit 602 is used to control and manage the actions of the main base station 600, for example, the processing unit 602 is used to support the main base station 600 to perform S201, S303, S402 and other processes for performing the techniques described herein through the communication unit 603. The communication unit 603 is used to support communication between the main base station 600 and other network entities, for example, the secondary base station, the core network device, and the UE shown in fig. 2. The main base station 600 may further include a storage unit 601 for storing program codes and data of the main base station 600.

The Processing Unit 602 may be a Processor or a controller, such as a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a general-purpose Processor, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), an Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or other Programmable logic device, a transistor logic device, a hardware component, or any combination thereof. Which may implement or perform the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the disclosure. The processor may also be a combination of computing functions, e.g., comprising one or more microprocessors, DSPs, and microprocessors, among others. The communication unit 603 may be a communication interface, a transceiver, or the like. The storage unit 601 may be a memory.

When the processing unit 602 is a processor, the communication unit 603 is a communication interface and a transceiver, and the storage unit 601 is a memory, the main base station according to the embodiment of the present application may be the main base station shown in fig. 6B.

Referring to fig. 6B, the main base station 610 includes: a processor 612, a communication interface 613, a transceiver 614, and a memory 611. The communication interface 613, the transceiver 614, the processor 612 and the memory 611 may communicate with each other and transfer control and/or data signals through internal connection paths, the communication interface 613 may be used for communicating with a core network device, and the transceiver 614 may be used for communicating with a UE.

It is clear to those skilled in the art that, for convenience and brevity of description, the specific working process of the apparatus or unit in the main base station 610 described above may refer to the corresponding process in the foregoing method embodiment, and is not described herein again.

The primary base station provided by the embodiment of the application sends the identification information of the flow to the secondary base station, so that the secondary base station can determine the QoS requirement of the flow according to the identification information of the flow and map the flow to the DRB meeting the QoS requirement of the flow, and further more precise QoS management can be implemented on data.

In the case of integrated units, fig. 7A shows a possible structural diagram of the secondary base station involved in the above-described embodiment. The secondary base station 700 includes: a processing unit 702 and a communication unit 703. The processing unit 702 is configured to control and manage actions of the secondary base station 700, for example, the processing unit 702 is configured to support the secondary base station 700 to perform S202, S304, S403 and other processes for performing the techniques described herein through the communication unit 703. The communication unit 703 is configured to support communication between the secondary base station 700 and other network entities, for example, communication between the primary base station, the core network device, and the UE shown in fig. 2. The secondary base station 700 may further comprise a storage unit 701 for storing program codes and data of the secondary base station 700.

The processing unit 702 may be a processor or a controller, and may be, for example, a CPU, a general-purpose processor, a DSP, an ASIC, an FPGA or other programmable logic device, a transistor logic device, a hardware component, or any combination thereof. Which may implement or perform the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the disclosure. The processor may also be a combination of computing functions, e.g., comprising one or more microprocessors, DSPs, and microprocessors, among others. The communication unit 703 may be a communication interface, a transceiver, or the like. The memory unit 701 may be a memory.

When the processing unit 702 is a processor, the communication unit 703 is a communication interface and a transceiver, and the storage unit 701 is a memory, the secondary base station according to the embodiment of the present application may be the secondary base station shown in fig. 7B.

Referring to fig. 7B, the secondary base station 710 includes: a processor 712, a communication interface 713, a transceiver 714, and a memory 711. The communication interface 713, the transceiver 714, the processor 712 and the memory 711 may communicate with each other and transfer control and/or data signals through the internal connection path, the communication interface 713 may be used for communicating with a core network device, and the transceiver 714 may be used for communicating with a UE.

It is clear to those skilled in the art that, for convenience and brevity of description, the specific working process of the apparatus or unit in the secondary base station 710 described above may refer to the corresponding process in the foregoing method embodiment, and is not described herein again.

The auxiliary base station provided by the embodiment of the application can determine the QoS requirement of the flow according to the identification information of the flow by receiving the identification information of the flow sent by the main base station, and maps the flow to the DRB meeting the QoS requirement of the flow, so that more precise QoS management can be implemented on data.

In the case of an integrated unit, fig. 8A shows a schematic diagram of a possible structure of the core network device involved in the above embodiments. The core network apparatus 800 includes: a processing unit 802 and a communication unit 803. The processing unit 802 is configured to control and manage the actions of the core network device 800, for example, the processing unit 802 is configured to support the core network device 800 to execute the receiving procedures corresponding to S203 and S204 and other procedures for executing the technology described herein through the communication unit 803. The communication unit 803 is used to support communication between the core network apparatus 800 and other network entities, for example, a main base station and a secondary base station shown in fig. 2. The core network device 800 may further comprise a memory unit 801 for storing program codes and data of the core network device 800.

The processing unit 802 may be a processor or a controller, and may be, for example, a CPU, a general-purpose processor, a DSP, an ASIC, an FPGA or other programmable logic device, a transistor logic device, a hardware component, or any combination thereof. Which may implement or perform the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the disclosure. The processor may also be a combination of computing functions, e.g., comprising one or more microprocessors, DSPs, and microprocessors, among others. The communication unit 803 may be a communication interface or the like. The storage unit 801 may be a memory.

When the processing unit 802 is a processor, the communication unit 803 is a communication interface, and the storage unit 801 is a memory, the core network device according to the embodiment of the present application may be the core network device shown in fig. 8B.

Referring to fig. 8B, the core network device 810 includes: a processor 812, a communications interface 813, and memory 811. Communication interface 813, processor 812 and memory 811 may communicate with each other, control and/or data signals, among other things, over the internal connection paths, and communication interface 813 may be used to communicate with primary and secondary base stations.

It can be clearly understood by those skilled in the art that, for convenience and brevity of description, the specific working process of the apparatus or unit in the core network device 810 described above may refer to the corresponding process in the foregoing method embodiment, and is not described herein again.

The core network device provided in the embodiment of the present application may send the streams to the primary base station and the secondary base station, respectively, according to the tunnel endpoint information of the primary base station and the secondary base station corresponding to the stream received from the primary base station, or according to the tunnel endpoint information of the secondary base station corresponding to the stream migrated to the secondary base station received from the primary base station, so as to implement creation and transfer of information bearers based on the streams.

In case of using integrated units, fig. 9A shows a possible structural diagram of the UE involved in the above embodiments. The UE900 includes: a processing unit 902 and a communication unit 903. The processing unit 902 is used for controlling and managing actions of the UE900, e.g. the processing unit 902 is used for supporting the UE900 to perform S501, S502 and other procedures for performing the techniques described herein by means of the communication unit 903. The communication unit 903 is used to support communication of the UE900 with other network entities, for example, with a primary base station and a secondary base station shown in fig. 2. The UE900 may also include a storage unit 901 for storing program codes and data for the UE 900.

The processing unit 902 may be a processor or a controller, and may be, for example, a CPU, a general-purpose processor, a DSP, an ASIC, an FPGA or other programmable logic device, a transistor logic device, a hardware component, or any combination thereof. Which may implement or perform the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the disclosure. The processor may also be a combination of computing functions, e.g., comprising one or more microprocessors, DSPs, and microprocessors, among others. The communication unit 903 may be a transceiver or the like. The storage unit 901 may be a memory.

When the processing unit 902 is a processor, the communication unit 903 is a transceiver, and the storage unit 901 is a memory, the UE according to the embodiment of the present application may be the UE shown in fig. 9B.

Referring to fig. 9B, the UE910 includes: a processor 912, a transceiver 913, and a memory 911. The transceiver 913, the processor 912, and the memory 911 may communicate with each other via the interconnection path to transfer control and/or data signals, and the transceiver 813 may be used to communicate with the primary base station and the secondary base station.

It can be clearly understood by those skilled in the art that, for convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the apparatus or unit in the UE910 described above may refer to corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, and are not described herein again.

Therefore, the UE provided in the embodiment of the present application may determine, according to the identification information of the flow to which the data to be sent belongs, the DRB that matches the QoS requirement of the data, and may implement creation and transfer of an information bearer based on the flow.

In the embodiments of the present application, the sequence numbers of the processes do not mean the execution sequence, and the execution sequence of the processes should be determined by the functions and the inherent logic of the processes, and should not limit the implementation processes of the embodiments of the present application.

In addition, the term "and/or" herein is only one kind of association relationship describing an associated object, and means that there may be three kinds of relationships, for example, a and/or B, which may mean: a exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone. In addition, the character "/" herein generally indicates that the former and latter related objects are in an "or" relationship.

In the above embodiments, the implementation may be wholly or partially realized by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, may be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When loaded and executed on a computer, cause the processes or functions described in accordance with the embodiments of the invention to occur, in whole or in part. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a network of computers, or other programmable device. The computer instructions may be stored in a computer readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer readable storage medium to another, for example, from one website site, computer, server, or data center to another website site, computer, server, or data center via wired (e.g., coaxial cable, fiber optic, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.). The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device, such as a server, a data center, etc., that incorporates one or more of the available media. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium (e.g., floppy Disk, hard Disk, magnetic tape), an optical medium (e.g., DVD), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., Solid State Disk (SSD)), among others.

The above-mentioned embodiments, objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present application are further described in detail, it should be understood that the above-mentioned embodiments are only examples of the present application, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present application, and any modifications, equivalent substitutions, improvements and the like made on the basis of the technical solutions of the present application should be included in the scope of the present application.