Patent Description:
<NUM> Internet of Vehicles includes more than <NUM> types of different vehicle to X (V2X) use cases. Different use cases have different quality of service (QoS) requirements. Different V2X use cases may use different network slices due to different QoS requirements, and the number of V2X use cases is far greater than <NUM>. However, the 3GPP Rel-<NUM> stipulates that one user equipment (UE) supports at most eight network slices, and different network slices have to use different protocol data unit (PDU) sessions. The stipulation has a large limitation, which is not beneficial to a deployment of network slices in Internet of Vehicles communication.

According to embodiments of the present disclosure, a vehicle communication method and apparatus, a computer-readable medium and an electronic device are provided, to increase, at least to a certain extent, the number of vehicle communication use cases that can be supported by user equipment, and thus is beneficial to a promotion and a deployment of an Internet of Vehicles solution.

Other features and advantages of the present disclosure become apparent through the following detailed descriptions or are partially learned through the practice of the present disclosure.

According to an aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, a vehicle communication method applied to a network side device according to claim <NUM> is provided.

According to an aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, a vehicle communication apparatus according to claim <NUM> is provided.

According to an aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, a computer-readable medium according to claim <NUM> is provided. The computer-readable medium stores a computer program, when being executed by a processor, implements the vehicle communication method according to the foregoing embodiments.

In technical solutions provided by some embodiments of the present disclosure, a network side device receives a connection establishment request transmitted by user equipment, and establishes a PDU session with the user equipment in a case that identification information of multiple network slices carried in the connection establishment request is determined to correspond to the same vehicle communication service, so that the multiple network slices share one PDU session, and thus the user equipment supports more network slices by establishing multiple PDU sessions. The number of network slices corresponds to the number of vehicle communication use cases, thereby increasing the number of vehicle communication use cases that can be supported by the user equipment, and being beneficial to a promotion and a deployment of an Internet of Vehicles solution.

It is to be understood that, the foregoing general descriptions and the following detailed descriptions are merely for illustration and explanation purposes, and are not intended to limit the present disclosure.

Accompanying drawings herein are incorporated into a specification and constitute a part of this specification, show embodiments that conform to the present disclosure, and are used to describe a principle of the present disclosure together with this specification. Apparently, the accompanying drawings described below illustrate merely some embodiments of the present disclosure, and a person of ordinary skill in the art may further obtain other accompanying drawings according to the accompanying drawings without creative efforts. In the drawings:.

At present, exemplary embodiments are described more comprehensively with reference to the accompanying drawings. The exemplary embodiments can be implemented in various forms, and should not be understood as being limited to the examples described herein. On the contrary, the embodiments are provided to make the present disclosure more comprehensive and complete, and comprehensively convey the idea of the exemplary embodiments to a person skilled in the art.

In addition, the described features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in one or more embodiments in any appropriate manner. In the following descriptions, a lot of specific details are provided to facilitate a full understanding of the embodiments of the present disclosure. However, a person of ordinary skill in the art is to be aware that, the technical solutions in the present disclosure may be implemented without one or more of the particular details, or other methods, unit, apparatus, or step may be adopted. In other cases, well-known methods, apparatuses, implementations, or operations are not shown or described in detail, to avoid obscuring aspects of the present disclosure.

The block diagrams shown in the accompany drawings illustrate merely functional entities and do not necessarily correspond to physically independent entities. That is, such functional entities may be implemented in the form of software, or implemented in one or more hardware modules or integrated circuits, or implemented in different networks and/or processor apparatuses and/or microcontroller apparatuses.

The flowcharts shown in the accompanying drawings are merely exemplary and do not necessarily include all of the content and operations/steps, nor are steps in the flowcharts necessarily performed in the order described. For example, some operations/steps may be divided, and some operations/steps may be combined or partially combined. Therefore, an actual execution order may be changed according to the actual situation.

<FIG> is a schematic diagram of an exemplary system architecture to which a technical solution according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may be applied.

As shown is <FIG>, the system architecture may include a vehicle terminal <NUM>, a base station <NUM>, a core network device <NUM> and an application server <NUM>. The core network device <NUM> may be an AMF in a <NUM> core network or the like.

It is to be understood that the number of vehicle terminals <NUM>, the number of the base stations <NUM>, the number of core network devices <NUM> and the number of application servers <NUM> shown in <FIG> are merely schematic. According to an implementation requirement, there may be any number of vehicle terminals <NUM>, any number of base stations <NUM>, any number of core network devices <NUM> and any number of application servers <NUM>.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, a network side device (the base station <NUM>, the core network device <NUM> or the application server <NUM> shown in <FIG>) receives a connection establishment request transmitted by the vehicle terminal <NUM>. If the connection establishment request carries identification information of multiple network slices and the multiple network slices are determined to correspond to a same vehicle communication service, the network side device may establish a PDU session with the vehicle terminal <NUM>, so that the vehicle terminal <NUM> can support more network slices by establishing multiple PDU sessions. The number of network slices corresponds to the number of V2X use cases, thereby increasing the number of V2X use cases that can be supported by the user equipment, and being beneficial to a promotion and a deployment of an Internet of Vehicles solution.

In another embodiment of the present disclosure, a network side device (the base station <NUM>, the core network device <NUM> or the application server <NUM> shown in <FIG>) receives a connection establishment request transmitted by the vehicle terminal <NUM>. If the connection establishment request carries identification information of a virtual bundled network slice, the network side device may determine identification information of multiple network slices corresponding to the virtual bundled network slice according to the identification information of the virtual bundled network slice, to establish a PDU session with the vehicle terminal <NUM> based on the multiple network slices, so that the vehicle terminal <NUM> can support more network slices by using the virtual bundled network slice corresponding to the multiple network slices. The number of network slices corresponds to the number of V2X use cases, thereby increasing the number of V2X use cases that can be supported by the user equipment, and being beneficial to a promotion and a deployment of an Internet of Vehicles solution.

The implementation details of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present disclosure are described in detail as follows:.

<FIG> is a schematic flowchart of a vehicle communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The vehicle communication method may be performed by a network side device. For example, the vehicle communication method may be performed by a base station, a core network device, or an application server located at a network edge. Referring to <FIG>, the vehicle communication method includes at least S210 to S230. A detailed description is as follows,
In S210, a connection establishment request transmitted by user equipment is received. The connection establishment request carries identification information of multiple network slices.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the user equipment may be a vehicle terminal, and the connection establishment request transmitted by the user equipment may be a request for establishing a PDU session. Identification information of a network slice may be single network slice selection assistance information (S-NSSAI).

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, before the connection establishment request transmitted by the user equipment is received, the network side device may transmit available network slice information (such as Allowed NSSAI) to the user equipment. The available network slice information includes the identification information of the multiple network slices, so as to help the user equipment to select from the available network slice information.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, in order to distinguish from the current solution in which identification information of only one network slice is carried in a message transmitted by the user equipment (such as Rel-<NUM> MSG5 RRC Setup Complete), the identification information of the multiple network slices carried in the connection establishment request in the embodiments of the present disclosure may include the following configurations.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, values of the identification information of the multiple network slices are in a predetermined interval, to indicate that the multiple network slices correspond to a same PDU session. The predetermined interval is required to be different from an interval of values of identification information of a common network slice (that is, a network slice carried in a message transmitted by user equipment in the current solution).

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, an SST field in the identification information of the multiple network slices includes an indicator bit, to indicate that the multiple network slices correspond to the same PDU session.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, an SD field in the identification information of the multiple network slices includes an indicator bit, to indicate that the multiple network slices correspond to the same PDU session.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the multiple network slices may correspond to the same AMF and the same UPF.

Still referring to <FIG>, in S220, it is determined whether the multiple network slices correspond to the same vehicle communication service according to the identification information of the multiple network slices.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, in a case that the network side device receives the connection establishment request carrying identification information of the multiple network slices, it is determined whether the multiple network slices correspond to the same vehicle communication service according to an indication of a service request message included in the connection establishment request.

Still referring to <FIG>, in S230, in a case that the multiple network slices are determined to correspond to the same vehicle communication service, a PDU session is established with the user equipment.

With the technical solution of the embodiment shown in <FIG>, the multiple network slices share one PDU session, so that the user equipment can support more network slices by establishing multiple PDU sessions. The number of network slices corresponds to the number of V2X use cases, thereby increasing the number of V2X use cases that can be supported by the user equipment, and being beneficial to a promotion and a deployment of an Internet of Vehicles solution.

Based on the technical solution of the embodiment shown in <FIG>, in an embodiment of the present disclosure, after the network side device establishes a PDU session with the user equipment, different network slices or different V2X use cases correspond to different QoS flows in the established PDU session.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, if different network slices or different V2X use cases correspond to different QoS flows, the different QoS flows may be isolated by using a GTP-U protocol, a VPN, or a bandwidth management mechanism.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, to isolate different network slices from each other, the network side device performs scheduling to ensure that the user equipment uses different wireless transmission resources for different network slices. The wireless transmission resources include a time domain resource and a frequency domain resource.

In another embodiment of the present disclosure, to isolate different network slices from each other, alternatively, wireless transmission resource pools may be configured for different network slices, so that the user equipment uses different wireless transmission resources for different network slices. A priority and a size of the wireless transmission resource pool have a positive correlation with a priority of the network slice corresponding to the wireless transmission resource pool, and the size of the wireless transmission resource pool has a positive correlation with the priority of the network slice corresponding to the wireless transmission resource pool. For example, if the priority and/or size of the wireless transmission resource pool increases, the priority of the network slice corresponding to the wireless transmission resource pool becomes higher.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, in a case that the wireless transmission resource pools are configured for different network slices, configuration signaling may be transmitted to the user equipment, to configure the wireless transmission resource pools corresponding to the different network slices for the user equipment, or pre-configure the wireless transmission resource pools corresponding to the different network slices for the user equipment.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, in a case that the wireless transmission resource pools corresponding to the different network slices are configured for the user equipment by using the configuration signaling, the configuration signaling may indicate the wireless transmission resource pools corresponding to the different network slices in an explicit or implicit manner. Optionally, in the explicit manner, the wireless transmission resource pools corresponding to the different network slices are directly indicated. In the implicit manner, multiple wireless transmission resource pools are indicated in an order. The multiple wireless transmission resource pools respectively correspond to different network slices.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the foregoing configuration signaling may be Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling or non-access stratum (NAS) signaling.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the number of network slices supported by the user equipment may be expanded by expanding the number of data radio bearers (DRBs).

<FIG> is a schematic flowchart of a vehicle communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The vehicle communication method may be performed by a network side device. For example, the vehicle communication method may be performed by a base station, a core network device, or an application server located at a network edge. Referring to <FIG>, the vehicle communication method includes at least S310 and S320. A detailed description is as follows.

In step S310, a connection establishment request transmitted by user equipment is received. The connection establishment request carries identification information of a virtual bundled network slice.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the user equipment may be a vehicle terminal, and the connection establishment request transmitted by the user equipment may be a request for establishing a PDU session. Identification information of a network slice may be S-NSSAI.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the virtual bundled network slice corresponds to multiple real network slices. Multiple real network slices are bundled to obtain a virtual network slice corresponding to the multiple real network slices, and the virtual network slice is referred to as the virtual bundled network slice. Identification information of the virtual bundled network slice may also be S-NSSAI.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, before receiving the connection establishment request transmitted by the user equipment, the network side device may transmit available network slice information (such as Allowed NSSAI) to the user equipment. The available network slice information includes the identification information of the virtual bundled network slice, so as to help the user equipment to select from the available network slice information.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, in order to distinguish from the current solution in which identification information of only one network slice is carried in a message transmitted by the user equipment (such as Rel-<NUM> MSG5 RRC Setup Complete), the identification information of the virtual bundled network slice carried in the connection establishment request in the embodiments of the present disclosure may include the following configurations.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, values of the identification information of the virtual bundled network slice are in a predetermined interval, to indicate that the virtual bundled network slice corresponds to the multiple network slices. The predetermined interval is required to be different from an interval of values of identification information of a common network slice (that is, a network slice carried in a message transmitted by user equipment in the current solution).

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, an SST field in the identification information of the virtual bundled network slice includes an indicator bit, to indicate that the virtual bundled network slice corresponds to the multiple network slices.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, an SD field in the identification information of the virtual bundled network slice includes an indicator bit, to indicate that the virtual bundled network slice corresponds to the multiple network slices.

Still referring to <FIG>, in step S320, identification information of multiple network slices corresponding to the virtual bundled network slice is determined according to the identification information of the virtual bundled network slice, to establish a PDU session with the user equipment based on the multiple network slices.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the identification information of the multiple network slices corresponding to the virtual bundled network slice may be determined according to a pre-configured correspondence.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, when the PDU session between the network side device and the user equipment is to be established based on the multiple network slices corresponding to the virtual bundled network slice, one network slice may correspond to one PDU session, or multiple network slices may correspond to one PDU session.

With the technical solution provided by the embodiment shown in <FIG>, the user equipment can support more network slices by using the virtual bundled network slice corresponding to the multiple network slices. The number of network slices corresponds to the number of vehicle communication use cases, thereby increasing the number of vehicle communication use cases that can be supported by the user equipment, and being beneficial to a promotion and a deployment of an Internet of Vehicles solution.

In an application scenario of <NUM> Internet of Vehicles, the implementation details of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present disclosure are described in detail as follows.

In the embodiments of the present disclosure, in the application scenario of <NUM> Internet of Vehicles, for a case that V2X use cases include different QoS requirements, the V2X use cases need to be isolated from each other through slicing to ensure reliable transmission due to V2X security involved, and the number of V2X use cases is greater than an upper limit allowed by the UE, technical solutions of the following embodiments may be used.

According to 3GPP Rel-<NUM>, the number of network slices supported by the UE is limited in consideration of the number of DRBs and a restriction that introduced network slices have to use different PDU sessions on a radio access network (RAN) side to reduce the impact on specifications on the RAN side. In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the number of network slices that can be supported by the UE may be expanded by expanding the number of DRBs. For example, the number of DRBs may be expanded to <NUM>, and thus the number of slices supported by the UE may also be expanded to <NUM>.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, network slices that support sharing of a PDU session may be introduced, that is, multiple network slices are carried by using the same PDU session. When this solution is to be used, the following condition should be met: AMFs corresponding to different V2X use cases/network slices are the same, and UPFs corresponding to different V2X use cases/network slices are the same as well.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, all of the multiple network slices sharing the PDU session need to be embodied in allowed NSSAI.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the multiple network slices sharing the PDU session need to be identified and distinguished from other network slices (that is, network slices that share no PDU session) at a protocol level.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, if the network slices sharing the PDU session still use <NUM>-bits of S-NSSAI, different ways may be used for distinguishing. Optionally, an interval of values of the S-NSSAI of the network slices sharing the PDU session may be separated from that of S-NSSAI of a common network slice; or an indicator bit area may be introduced, such as defining a new SST, to add a corresponding identification bit to the new SST; or a corresponding identification bit may be added to an SD part for distinguishing.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, a connection establishment process of the multiple network slices sharing the PDU session is different from that of the common network slice. Specifically, different from a solution provided by the 3GPP Rel-<NUM> that an MSG5 RRC Setup Complete message carries only one piece of S-NSSAI to be selected by an AMF, in the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present disclosure, when the UE initiates the connection establishment request to the network side device, an MSG5 message may carry multiple pieces of S-NSSAI. When the network side device (such as the base station or the AMF) receives the MSG5 message including the multiple pieces of S-NSSAI, a new function needs to be introduced to identify whether the multiple pieces of S-NSSAI belong to the same V2X service (for example, it is determined whether the multiple pieces of S-NSSAI belong to the same V2X service based on an indication of a service request message included in the MSG5 message ), and then establishment of only one PDU session is triggered.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, as shown in <FIG>, after one PDU session is established for multiple pieces of S-NSSAI, different V2X use cases/network slices may establish different QoS flows. A <NUM> core network device may isolate different QoS flows from each other through a GTP-U tunnel, a VPN or a bandwidth management mechanism.

In addition, in an embodiment of the present disclosure, a wireless side (such as a base station gNB) may isolate different network slices from each other in a manner of scheduling. Alternatively, the wireless side may configure corresponding shared resource pools for different network slices, to isolate different network slices from each other. Priorities and the sizes of the shared resource pools configured by the wireless side may embody priorities of different slices. Furthermore, the wireless side may configure the shared resource pools corresponding to different network slices by using signaling (such as RRC signaling or NAS signaling) or in a manner of pre-configuration, and a correspondence between a network slice and a shared resource pool may be explicitly given in configuration signaling or may be implicitly given at intervals.

Based on the technical solution of embodiment <NUM>, in an embodiment of the present disclosure, a partial signaling process of establishing a PDU session between a user equipment and a network side device may be shown in <FIG>. Interaction signaling (such as an RRC message) between the user equipment and a base station includes information about a network slice, and the process may include the following steps S501 to S508.

In S501, the base station transmits an NG establishment request to an AMF1. The NG establishment request carries a list of supported S-NSSAI.

In S502, the AMF <NUM> returns an NG establishment response message to the base station. The NG establishment response message carries the list of supported S-NSSAI.

In S503, the base station transmits an NG establishment request to an AMF2. The NG establishment request carries a list of supported S-NSSAI.

In S504, the AMF2 returns an NG establishment response message to the base station. The NG establishment response message carries the list of supported S-NSSAI.

In S505, an RRC connection is established between the base station and the user equipment.

In S506, the base station identifies a network slicing strategy and identifies a core network (CN) node that supports a relevant network slice; or the base station selects a default CN node. Specifically, the network slicing strategy identified by the base station is to identify whether multiple network slices need to be carried by using the same PDU session.

In S507, the base station transmits an initial UE message to the AMF1.

In S508, the AMF1 verifies permission of the UE and availability of a network slice.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, network slices of multiple V2X use cases correspond to one virtual bundled network slice. A correspondence between the virtual bundled network slice and the network slices of the multiple V2X use cases may be maintained only on the network side.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the virtual bundled network slice needs to be identified and distinguished from other network slices (that is, network slices that are not virtually bundled) at a protocol level.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, if the virtual bundled network slice still uses <NUM>-bits of S-NSSAI, different ways may be used for distinguishing. Optionally, an interval of values of the S-NSSAI of the virtual bundled network slice may be separated from that of S-NSSAI of a common network slice; or an indicator bit area may be introduced, such as defining a new SST, to add a corresponding identification bit to the new SST; or a corresponding identification bit may be added to an SD part for distinguishing.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, information about the virtual bundled network slice may be maintained only on the network side. This embodiment is the same as the network slices sharing the PDU session (that is, the foregoing embodiment <NUM>) in that, the network slices corresponding to different V2X use cases are still maintained in the core network. However, in this embodiment, the UE on the wireless side is unnecessary to maintain the network slices corresponding to all the V2X use cases in allowed NSSAI, only the virtual bundled network slice may be included in the allowed NSSAI, and thus network slices corresponding to multiple V2X use cases are bundled into one on the wireless side.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, a connection establishment process of the virtual bundled network slice may be different from that of the common network slice. Specifically, different from a solution provided by the 3GPP Rel-<NUM> that an MSG5 RRC Setup Complete message carries only one piece of S-NSSAI to be selected by an AMF, in the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present disclosure, when the UE initials the connection establishment request to the network side device, an MSG5 message carries only one virtual bundled network slice. When the network side device (such as the base station or the AMF) receives the virtual bundled network slice in the MSG5 message, a new function needs to be introduced to identify the network slices of the multiple V2X use cases corresponding to the virtual bundled network slice, for example, identifying according to a correspondence between the virtual bundled network slice and the network slices of the V2X use cases.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, since the network side device (such as the base station or the AMF) can determine the correspondence between the virtual bundled network slice and the network slices of the multiple V2X use cases, the isolation between the network slices can still be guaranteed.

Based on the technical solution of embodiment <NUM>, in an embodiment of the present disclosure, a partial signaling process of establishing a PDU session between a user equipment and a network side device may also be shown in <FIG>. In S506, the network slicing strategy identified by the base station is to identify the network slices of the multiple V2X use cases corresponding to the virtual bundled network slice.

The technical solutions of the foregoing embodiments of the present disclosure are applicable to an implementation scenario of a deployment based on a network slice in future <NUM> Internet of Vehicles and automatic driving. With the technical solutions, a limitation problem of network slices put forward in the 3GPP Rel-<NUM> can be effectively resolved, thereby increasing the number of V2X use cases that can be supported by the user equipment, enabling the V2X use cases to implement an isolation by using a network slicing mechanism, and thus being beneficial to a promotion and a deployment of an Internet of Vehicles solution.

Apparatus embodiments of the present disclosure are described below, and the apparatus may be used for performing the vehicle communication method in the foregoing embodiments of the present disclosure. For details not disclosed in the apparatus embodiments of the present disclosure, one may refer to the foregoing vehicle communication method embodiments of the present disclosure.

<FIG> is a schematic block diagram of a vehicle communication apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to <FIG>, a vehicle communication apparatus <NUM> according to an embodiment of the present disclosure includes: a receiving unit <NUM>, a determining unit <NUM>, and a processing unit <NUM>.

The receiving unit <NUM> is configured to receive a connection establishment request transmitted by user equipment. The connection establishment request carries identification information of multiple network slices. The determining unit <NUM> is configured to determine whether the multiple network slices correspond to a same vehicle communication service according to the identification information of the multiple network slices. The processing unit <NUM> is configured to establish, in a case that the multiple network slices are determined to correspond to the same vehicle communication service, a PDU session with the user equipment.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, values of the identification information of the multiple network slices are in a predetermined interval, to indicate that the multiple network slices correspond to the same PDU session; or an SST field in the identification information of the multiple network slices includes an indicator bit, to indicate that the multiple network slices correspond to the same PDU session; or an SD field in the identification information of the multiple network slices includes an indicator bit, to indicate that the multiple network slices correspond to the same PDU session.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the processing unit <NUM> is further configured to control, in the PDU session, different network slices or different use cases to correspond to different QoS flows.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the processing unit <NUM> is further configured to isolate the different QoS flows by using a GTP-U protocol, a VPN, or a bandwidth management mechanism.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the vehicle communication apparatus <NUM> further includes a scheduling unit, configured to schedule the user equipment to use different wireless transmission resources for different network slices.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the vehicle communication apparatus <NUM> further includes a configuration unit, configured to configure wireless transmission resource pools for different network slices, so that the user equipment uses different wireless transmission resources for different network slices. A priority of the wireless transmission resource pool has a positive correlation with a priority of the network slice corresponding to the wireless transmission resource pool, and a size of the wireless transmission resource pool has a positive correlation with the priority of the network slice corresponding to the wireless transmission resource pool.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the configuration unit is configured to transmit configuration signaling to the user equipment, to configure the wireless transmission resource pools corresponding to the different network slices for the user equipment, or pre-configure the wireless transmission resource pools corresponding to the different network slices for the user equipment.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the configuration unit is configured to indicate the wireless transmission resource pools corresponding to the different network slices in an explicit or implicit manner, by using the configuration signaling transmitted to the user equipment.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the vehicle communication apparatus <NUM> further includes a transmission unit, configured to transmit available network slice information to the user equipment. The available network slice information includes the identification information of the multiple network slices.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the multiple network slices correspond to a same AMF and a same UPF.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the vehicle communication apparatus <NUM> further includes an expansion unit, configured to expand the number of data radio bearers, to expand the number of network slices supported by the user equipment.

Referring to <FIG>, a vehicle communication apparatus <NUM> according to an embodiment of the present disclosure includes: a receiving unit <NUM> and a processing unit <NUM>.

The receiving unit <NUM> is configured to receive a connection establishment request transmitted by user equipment. The connection establishment request carries identification information of a virtual bundled network slice. The processing unit <NUM> is configured to determine identification information of multiple network slices corresponding to the virtual bundled network slice according to the identification information of the virtual bundled network slice, to establish a PDU session with the user equipment based on the multiple network slices.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the processing unit <NUM> is configured to determine the identification information of the multiple network slices corresponding to the virtual bundled network slice according to a pre-configured correspondence.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the vehicle communication apparatus <NUM> further includes a transmission unit, configured to transmit available network slice information to the user equipment. The available network slice information includes the identification information of the virtual bundled network slice.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, values of the identification information of the virtual bundled network slice are in a predetermined interval, to indicate that the virtual bundled network slice corresponds to the multiple network slices; or an SST field in the identification information of the virtual bundled network slice includes an indicator bit, to indicate that the virtual bundled network slice corresponds to the multiple network slices; or an SD field in the identification information of the virtual bundled network slice includes an indicator bit, to indicate that the virtual bundled network slice corresponds to the multiple network slices.

<FIG> is a schematic structural diagram of a computer system adapted to implement an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

A computer system <NUM> of the electronic device shown in <FIG> is only schematic, and is not intended to impose any restriction on functions and scopes of use of the embodiments of the present disclosure.

As shown in <FIG>, the computer system <NUM> includes a central processing unit (CPU) <NUM>. The CPU <NUM> may perform various proper actions and processing according to a program stored in a read-only memory (ROM) <NUM> or a program loaded from a storage part <NUM> into a random access memory (RAM) <NUM>. The RAM <NUM> further stores various programs and data required for system operations. The CPU <NUM>, the ROM <NUM>, and the RAM <NUM> are connected to each other through a bus <NUM>. An input/output (I/O) interface <NUM> is also connected to the bus <NUM>.

The following components are connected to the I/O interface <NUM>: an input part <NUM> including a keyboard, a mouse, or the like, an output part <NUM> including a cathode ray tube (CRT), a liquid crystal display (LCD), a speaker, or the like, a storage part <NUM> including a hard disk, or the like, and a communication part <NUM> including a network interface card such as a local area network (LAN) card or a modem. The communication part <NUM> performs a communication processing over a network such as the Internet. A driver <NUM> is also connected to the I/O interface <NUM> as required. A removable medium <NUM> such as a magnetic disk, an optical disc, a magneto-optical disk, or a semiconductor memory is installed on the driver <NUM> as required, so that a computer program read from the removable medium <NUM> is installed into the storage part <NUM> as required.

Particularly, according to the embodiments of the present disclosure, the processes described below by referring to the flowcharts may be implemented as computer software programs. For example, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a computer program product is provided. The computer program product includes a computer program carried on a computer-readable medium, and the computer program includes program codes used for performing the methods shown in the flowcharts. In such embodiment, the computer program may be downloaded and installed through the communication part <NUM> from a network, and/or installed from the removable medium <NUM>. When the computer program is executed by the CPU <NUM>, various functions defined in the system of the present disclosure are executed.

The computer-readable medium shown in the embodiments of the present disclosure may be a computer-readable signal medium or a computer-readable storage medium or any combination thereof. The computer-readable storage medium may be, for example, but is not limited to, an electric, a magnetic, an optical, an electromagnetic, an infrared, or a semi-conductive system, apparatus, or device, or any combination thereof. A more specific example of the computer-readable storage medium may include but is not limited to: an electrical connection including one or more wires, a portable computer magnetic disk, a hard disk, a RAM, a ROM, an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), a flash memory, an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any appropriate combination thereof. In the present disclosure, the computer-readable storage medium may be any tangible medium including or storing a program, and the program may be used by or used in combination with an instruction execution system, an apparatus, or a device. In the present disclosure, a computer-readable signal medium may include a data signal propagated in a baseband or as part of a carrier, and stores computer-readable program code. Such a propagated data signal may be in multiple forms, including but not limited to an electromagnetic signal, an optical signal, or any suitable combination thereof. The computer-readable signal medium may be further any computer-readable medium in addition to the computer-readable storage medium. The computer-readable medium may send, propagate, or transmit a program configured to be used by or in combination with an instruction execution system, an apparatus, or a device. The program code included in the computer-readable medium may be transmitted by using any suitable medium, including but not limited to: a wireless medium, a wired medium, or the like, or any suitable combination thereof.

The flowcharts and block diagrams in the accompanying drawings illustrate possible system architectures, functions and operations that may be implemented by the system, the method, and the computer program product according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. In this aspect, each box in a flowchart or a block diagram may represent a module, a program segment, or a part of code. The module, the program segment, or the part of code includes one or more executable instructions used for implementing specified logic functions. In some alternative implementations, functions annotated in the boxes may be implemented in a sequence different from that annotated in the accompanying drawings. For example, operations in two connected boxes may be performed substantially in parallel, and the operations in the two connected boxes may be performed in a reverse sequence, depending on a related function. Each box in a block diagram or a flowchart and a combination of boxes in the block diagram or the flowchart may be implemented by using a dedicated hardware-based system configured to perform a specified function or an operation, or may be implemented by using a combination of dedicated hardware and a computer instruction.

A related unit described in the embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in a software manner, or may be implemented in a hardware manner, and the unit described may also be provided in a processor. Names of the units do not constitute a limitation on the units in a specific case.

According to another aspect, a computer-readable medium is further provided according to the present disclosure. The computer-readable medium may be included in the electronic device described in the foregoing embodiments, or may exist alone and is not arranged in the electronic device. The computer-readable medium carries one or more programs, the one or more programs, when being executed by the electronic device, cause the electronic device to implement the method described in the foregoing embodiments.

Although multiple modules or units of a device configured to perform actions are mentioned in the foregoing detailed description, such division is not mandatory. Actually, according to the embodiments of the present disclosure, the features and functions of two or more modules or units described above may be integrated in one module or unit. Conversely, features and functions of one module or unit described above may be implemented by multiple modules or units.

Through the descriptions of the foregoing implementations, a person skilled in the art readily understands that the exemplary embodiments described herein may be implemented by using software, or may be implemented by using software in combination with necessary hardware. Therefore, the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in a form of a software product. The software product may be stored in a non-volatile storage medium (which may be a CD-ROM, a USB flash drive, a removable hard disk, or the like) or on the network. The software product includes multiple instructions for instructing a computing device (which may be a personal computer, a server, a touch terminal, a network device, or the like) to perform the methods according to the embodiments of the present disclosure.

After considering the specification and practicing the present disclosure, a person skilled in the art can readily conceive other implementations of the present disclosure. The present disclosure is intended to cover any variations, uses or adaptation of the present disclosure following the general principles of the present disclosure, and includes the well-known knowledge and conventional technical means in the art undisclosed in the present disclosure.

Claim 1:
A vehicle communication method, wherein the method comprises:
- a step (S210) of receiving, by a network side device, a connection establishment request transmitted by user equipment, wherein the connection establishment request carries identification information of a plurality of network slices; the method being characterized by further comprising:
- a step (S220) of determining, by the network side device, whether the plurality of network slices correspond to a same vehicle communication service according to the identification information of the plurality of network slices;
- a step (S230) of establishing, by the network side device in a case that the plurality of network slices are determined to correspond to the same vehicle communication service, a PDU session with the user equipment;
- a step of configuring, by the network side device, wireless transmission resource pools for different network slices, so that the user equipment uses different wireless transmission resources for different network slices, wherein a priority of the wireless transmission resource pool has a positive correlation with a priority of the network slice corresponding to the wireless transmission resource pool, and a size of the wireless transmission resource pool has a positive correlation with the priority of the network slice corresponding to the wireless transmission resource pool; and
- a step of isolating, by the network side device, different QoS flows in the PDU session by using a GPRS tunnel protocol user plane, GTP-U, wherein each QoS flow corresponds to a different network slice;
wherein PDU stands for protocol data unit.