The feedback mode of the EHC cannot be specified: currently, it is impossible to configure a feedback mode for each DRB. In the uplink compression process, when the CU-UP serves as a decompressor, it cannot be determined what kind of feedback information is to be used to instruct the user equipment to perform compression training, such that the EHC cannot be applied in an architecture where the CU and UPs are separated.

Based on the above analysis of demands and reasons, the current 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) NR (New Radio) protocol cannot meet the transmission configuration requirements of various types of services, which may cause problems of data packet loss and poor transmission performance caused by adopting a transmission path with poor performance. Therefore, the protocol and implementation enhancement need to be performed to meet the requirements of future network deployment and optimization.

To this end, the present disclosure provides a user plane data processing scheme to solve at least one of the problems described above.

FIG. 1 is a schematic flow diagram of a user plane data processing method according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, the following user plane data processing method is performed by a base station.

In step 101, each CU-UP in the CU of the base station determines current service support capabilities according to the first trigger information.

In some embodiments, the first trigger information includes at least one of:

- a first trigger request sent by a network administrator for triggering the CU-UP to send a first interface setup request (e.g., gNB-CU-UP E1 Setup Request) to the CU-CP;
- a second trigger request sent by the network administrator for triggering the CU-UP to send a first configuration update request (e.g. gNB-CU-UP Configuration Update) to the CU-CP;
- a second interface setup request (e.g. gNB-CU-CP E1 Setup Request) sent by the CU-CP;
- a second configuration update request (e.g. gNB-CU-CP Configuration Update) sent by the CU-CP.

In some embodiments, the current service support capabilities of the CU-UP includes at least one of RoHC capability support information or EHC capability support information. The RoHC capability support information includes at least one of supported uplink unidirectional header compression or bidirectional compression, and a list of supported compression algorithms, and the EHC capability support information includes a maximum number of supported context identifiers, compression algorithms, and a feedback mode.

In step 102, the each CU-UP sends the current service support capabilities to the CU-CP of the base station CU.

In some embodiments, the CU-UP determines a corresponding first bearer message according to the first trigger information, and sends the current service support capabilities to the CU-CP using the first bearer message.

For example, under a condition that the first trigger information is a first trigger request, the first bearer message is a first interface setup request (gNB-CU-UP E1 Setup Request). Under a condition that the first trigger information is a second trigger request, the first bearer message is a second configuration update request (gNB-CU-UP Configuration Update). Under a condition that the first trigger information is a second interface setup request, the first bearer message is an interface setup response (gNB-CU-CP E1 Setup Response). Under a condition that the first trigger information is a second configuration update request, the first bearer message is a configuration update request response (gNB-CU-CP Configuration Update).

In some embodiments, the CU-CP updates the current service support capabilities of each CU-UP upon receiving the current service support capabilities sent by each CU-UP.

In step 103, the CU-CP selects a CU-UP for each service bearer of the user equipment according to the current service support capabilities of each CU-UP under a condition that it is determined that at least part of the service bearers of the user equipment need to be configured or updated according to the second trigger information.

In some embodiments, the second trigger information comprises at least one of:

- a handover request associated with a user equipment sent by a neighboring base station;
- a bearer setup or bearer modification request sent by the core network;
- the user equipment needs to trigger re-establishment as detected by the CU-UP.

In some embodiments, the CU-CP determines configuration information of service bearers of the user equipment carried by each CU-UP based on the bearer information of the user equipment and the current service support capabilities of each CU-UP.

For example, the configuration information includes:

- bearer identifier: PDU session identifier or E-RAB (Evolved Radio Access Bearer) identifier
- QoS (Quality of Service) configuration of the bearer: under a condition that the bearer identifier adopts the PDU session identifier, it includes QoS Flow Identifier, QoS Flow Level QoS Parameters and QoS Flow Mapping Indication, and under a condition that the bearer identifier adopts the E-RAB identifier, it includes QCI (QoS Class Identifier), E-UTRAN Allocation and Retention Priority and GBR (Guaranteed Bit Rate) QoS Information (QoS Information of GBR).

In step 104, the CU-CP sends first user plane configuration information associated with the service bearer to the user equipment, such that the user equipment determines whether to configure the PDCP status report according to the first user plane configuration information.

In some embodiments, the CU-CP sends the first user plane configuration information to the user equipment comprises: the CU-CP determines the PDCP configuration information of each service bearer according to the pre-configuration information and the service bearer information of the user equipment. The CU-CP sends the first user plane configuration information to the user equipment through an RRC reconfiguration message, wherein the first user plane configuration information comprises protocol stack parameter configuration information associated with the PDCP configuration information.

For example, the pre-configured information includes at least one of:

- service type for configuring RoHC: packet service such as voice and low-latency service
- service type for configuring EHC: packet service such as low-latency service
- service type for activating EHC and RoHC simultaneously: packet service such as low-latency service
- whether to trigger status report information: such as bearer and usage scenario information associated with an Acknowledged (AM) mode.

In some embodiments, the CU-CP determines not to configure the PDCP status report in the PDCP configuration information under a condition that the service bearer needs to configure the acknowledged mode and the user equipment does not have a handover need. Under a condition that the service bearer needs to configure an acknowledged mode and the user equipment has a handover need, the CU-CP determines to configure a PDCP status report in the PDCP configuration information. And under a condition that the service bearer does not need to configure the acknowledged mode, the CU-CP determines whether at least one of the RoHC mode and the EHC mode is to be configured in the PDCP configuration information according to the pre-configuration information.

In step 105, the CU-CP sends second user plane configuration information associated with the service bearer to each CU-UP, and each CU-UP determines whether to process a PDCP status report from the user equipment according to the second user plane configuration information.

In some embodiments, the CU-CP sends the second user plane configuration information to the corresponding CU-UP includes: after receiving the RRC reconfiguration complete message sent by the user equipment, the CU-CP determines a corresponding second bearer message according to the second trigger information.

For example, under a condition that the second trigger information is a bearer setup request sent by the core network or a handover request sent by a neighboring base station, the second bearer message is a Bearer Context Setup Request. Under a condition that the second trigger information is a bearer modification request sent by the core network, the second bearer message is a Bearer Context Modification Request.

And then, the CU-CP sends the second user plane configuration information to the corresponding CU-UP by using the second bearer message. The second user plane configuration information comprises at least one of:

- PDCP status report activation indication: if the Boolean value is “true”, the CU-UP determines that the bearer needs to configure a status report for the bearer in the AM mode, and if the Boolean value is “false” or not configured, the CU-UP determines that the bearer does not need to configure a status report for the bearer in the AM mode;
- RoHC configuration information: e.g. RoHC parameters including RoHC type (bidirectional RoHC or unidirectional Uplink only RoHC), maxCID, RoHC Profiles and Continue RoHC;
- EHC configuration feedback mechanism information: if the Boolean value is a “true” value, it indicates that the CU-UP needs to feedback a compression feedback result through a PDCP control PDU when serving as a decompression side, and needs to determine the subsequent feedback mode according to the feedback at the decompression side when serving as a compression side, and if the Boolean value is “false”, it indicates that the CU-UP does not need to provide a feedback packet and receives and transmits subsequent compression packets based on feedback information;
- EHC configuration information: the max CID, the Continue EHC and the Padding Removal valid for both uplink and downlink are included in the uplink and downlink directions, respectively.

In some embodiments, the CU-UP processes the PDCP data corresponding to a bear of the user equipment according to the second user plane configuration information comprises: the CU-UP does not process the PDCP status report of the user equipment and discarding a PDCP SDU according to a discard timer under a condition that the activation indication of the status report of a designated bearer is false or not configured. The CU-UP deletes the PDCP SDU from a buffer under a condition that the transmission of the PDCP SDU is confirmed to be successful according to acknowledgement indication information of the PDCP PDU sent by the CU-CP.

In addition, the CU-UP determines whether to discard the PDCP SDU according to the PDCP status report of the user equipment and the discard timer under a condition that the activation indication of the status report of the designated bearer is true. The CU-UP deletes the PDCP SDU from a buffer under a condition that the transmission of the PDCP SDU is confirmed to be successful according to acknowledgement indication information of the PDCP PDU sent by the CU-CP.

In some embodiments, the CU-UP processes the PDCP data corresponding to the bear of the user equipment according to the second user plane configuration information further comprises: under a condition that the second user plane configuration information indicates that the designated bearer triggers a PDCP re-establishment or a PDCP data recovery information unit (PDCP Data Recovery IE), the CU-UP determines a PDCP SDU to be retransmitted and a PDCP SDU which has been correctly received according to whether a PDCP status report is triggered, generates reception status information of the PDCP SDU, and sends the bearer configuration and data forwarding information to the CU-CP through third bearer information corresponding to the second bearer information.

In some embodiments, under a condition that the second bearer information is a Bearer Context Setup Request, the third bearer information is a Bearer Context Setup response. Under a condition that the second bearer information is a Bearer Context Modification Request, the third bearer information is a Bearer Context Modification Response.

In some embodiments, the CU-UP processes the PDCP data corresponding to the bear of the user equipment according to the second user plane configuration information further comprises: under a condition that the designated bearer is configured with the EHC information but is not configured with the EHC feedback mechanism, or under a condition that the designated bearer is configured with the EHC information and the EHC feedback mechanism information indicates false, the CU-UP does not feedback the compression mode indication information through the PDCP control PDU in a case where uncompressed data packets sent by the user equipment are received in the process of performing compression in the uplink direction.

In some embodiments, the CU-UP processes the PDCP data corresponding to the bear of the user equipment according to the second user plane configuration information further comprises: under a condition that the designated bearer is configured with EHC information but is not configured with EHC feedback mechanism, or under a condition that the designated bearer is configured with EHC information and the Ethernet header compression feedback mechanism information indicates false, the CU-UP first sends a preset number of uncompressed data packets continuously, and then sends subsequent data in a compression mode in a process of performing data processing in the downlink direction.

In some embodiments, the CU-UP processes the PDCP data corresponding to the bear of the user equipment according to the second user plane configuration information further comprises: under a condition that the designated bearer is configured with EHC information and the EHC feedback mechanism information indicates true, the CU-UP sends feedback acknowledgement information through the PDCP control PDU in a case where uncompressed data packets sent by the user equipment are received in the process of performing compression in the uplink direction.

In some embodiments, the CU-UP processes the PDCP data corresponding to the bear of the user equipment according to the second user plane configuration information further comprises: under a condition that the designated bearer is configured with the EHC information and the EHC feedback mechanism information indicates true, the CU-UP sends a preset number of uncompressed data packets firstly, and then sends compressed data packets to the user equipment according to the EHC configuration information after receiving acknowledgement information of the PDCP control PDU fed back by the user equipment in the process of performing data processing in the downlink direction.

In some embodiments, the CU-UP processes the PDCP data corresponding to the bear of the user equipment according to the second user plane configuration information further comprises: under a condition that the designated bearer is configured with EHC information and RoHC information simultaneously, the CU-UP compresses the data packets in an EHC mode in the uplink direction and the downlink direction.

FIG. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a base station according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 2, the base station includes a memory 21 and a processor 22.

The memory 21 is used for storing instructions, and the processor 22 is coupled to the memory 21. The processor 22 is configured to execute the method according to any of the embodiments in FIG. 1 based on the instructions stored in the memory.

As shown in FIG. 2, the base station further includes a communication interface 23 for exchanging information with other devices. Meanwhile, the device also includes a bus 24, and the processor 22, the communication interface 23 and the memory 21 are communicated with each other through the bus 24.

The memory 21 may comprise high-speed RAM memory, and may also include non-volatile memory, such as at least one disk memory. The memory 21 may also be a memory array. The storage 21 may also be partitioned into blocks which may be combined into virtual volumes according to certain rules.

Further, the processor 22 may be a central processing unit CPU, or may be an application specific integrated circuit ASIC, or one or more integrated circuits configured to implement embodiments of the present disclosure.

The present disclosure also relates to a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, in which computer instructions are stored, and when executed by a processor, the instructions implement the method according to any one of the embodiments in FIG. 1.

The present disclosure will be described in detail by the following specific embodiments.

Embodiment One

The base station adopts a structure that CP and UPs are separated. The embodiment describes a process that the CU-UP sends its configuration capability to the CU-CP in the initial configuration process, and the CU-CP configures the AM mode to adopt a status report in bearer setup process of the user equipment. The user equipment is only configured with a default bearer and a dedicated DRB bearer and adopts the AM mode. This embodiment is illustrated by FIG. 3.

In step 301, the CU-UP determines the first configuration capability information of the CU-UP according to an interface setup request (gNB-CU-UP E1 Setup Request) sent by the CU-UP triggered by a network administrator, wherein the first configuration capability information includes, but is not limited to:

- supporting RoHC capability: supporting bi-directional compression, and a list of supported compression algorithms
- supporting EHC capability: a maximum number of supported Context IDs, compression algorithms and a feedback mode, etc.

In step 302, the CU-UP determines a bearer message carrying the first configuration capability information according to the interface setup request message, and sends the bearer message to the CU-CP through the E1 interface.

In step 303, the CU-CP stores and updates the first configuration capability information corresponding to the CU-UP after receiving the message sent by the CU-UP.

In step 304, when determining that all bearers of the user equipment are configured according to the bearer setup request message sent by the core network, the CU-UP determines the second bearer configuration information of the service bearers of the user equipment carried by the CU-UP according to the bearer information of the user equipment and the first configuration capabilities of the plurality of CU-Ups. The second bearer configuration information comprises the following information:

- bearer identifier: PDU Session ID
- QoS configuration of bearers: when the PDU session ID is adopted for the bearer identifier, the QoS Flow Identifier, QoS Flow Level QoS Parameters and QoS Flow Mapping Indication defined in TS38.463 are included.

In step 305, the CU-CP determines the PDCP configuration information of each bearer according to the pre-configuration information and the fact that the user equipment has only two bearers, and sends protocol stack parameter configuration information including the PDCP configuration information to the user equipment through an RRC reconfiguration message. Since the dedicated bearer needs to ensure reliability, the AM mode is adopted, and it is determined that the user equipment has a need of handover according to the handover record information, such that the dedicated bearer adopts the AM mode and the status report needs to be configured.

In step 306, after receiving the RRC reconfiguration complete message fed back by the user equipment and confirming that the configuration has been validated, the CU-CP determines to send a Bearer Context Setup Request message containing the third configuration information to the CU-UP according to the second trigger information and sends the message. The third configuration information is contained in the PDCP configuration information, and includes:

- a status report activation indication: is “true”.

In step 307, the CU-UP uses the third configuration information for PDCP data transmission of the corresponding bearer in the user equipment after receiving the bearer context setup request message.

In step 308, the status report activation indication of the dedicated bearer is “true”, the CU-UP needs to confirm the discard of PDCP SDU based on status report from the user equipment and discard timer, and determine that the PDCP SDU transmission is successful and deleted the PDCP SDU from the buffer based on the acknowledgement indication information of the PDCP PDU transmitted by the CU-CP.