COMMUNICATIONS METHOD AND APPARATUS

• US 20200137687A1
• Filed: 12/30/2019
• Published: 04/30/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 04/07/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Ma, Hui, Chen, Zhuo, Gao, Yongqiang
• Granted Patent: US 10,893,474 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0216 using a pre-established activity schedule, e.g. traffic indication frame
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0229 where the received signal is a wanted signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 68/005 Transmission of information for alerting of incoming communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/28 Discontinuous transmission [DTX]; Discontinuous reception [DRX]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/24 Transfer of terminal data
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention relate to the field of communications, and provide a communications method and apparatus, which can solve a problem in the prior art that, in order to save power, when a mobility management entity (MME) delays delivering a paging message or a UE uses a long discontinuous reception (DRX) period, an exception may occur in a serving gateway (SGW). The method includes: acquiring, by an MME, information of a UE (S101); determining, by the MME according to the information, whether the UE satisfies a first preset condition (S102); if the UE satisfies the first preset condition, generating, by the MME, a first indication, where the first indication is used for instructing an SGW to retain first data or discard first data, and the first data is downlink data of the UE (S103); and sending, by the MME, the first indication to the SGW.

Claims

1. A communications method, comprising:

acquiring, by a mobility management entity, information of a user equipment device;

determining, by the mobility management entity according to the information of the user equipment device, that the user equipment device is a power-saving user equipment device;

upon determining that the user equipment device is a power-saving user equipment device, generating, by the mobility management entity, a first indication comprising a suggested waiting time period for a data forwarding entity to retain first data, wherein the first data is downlink data of the user equipment device; and

sending, by the mobility management entity, the first indication to the data forwarding entity to instruct the data forwarding entity to retain the first data.

2. The communications method according to claim 1, wherein the acquiring process comprises:

receiving, by the mobility management entity, a non access stratum (NAS) message from the user equipment device; and

acquiring the information of the user equipment device according to the NAS message.

3. The communications method according to claim 1, further comprising:

when a state of the user equipment device changes, generating, by the mobility management entity, a second indication according to a state of the user equipment device that is obtained after the change, wherein the second indication comprises an instruction to normally transmit and receive the first data;

sending, by the mobility management entity, the second indication to the data forwarding entity to instruct the data forwarding entity to normally transmit and receive the first data; and

normally transmitting and receiving, by the data forwarding entity, the first data according to the second instruction.

4. The communications method according to claim 1, wherein:

the first indication comprises a paging delaying indicator which indicates to the data forwarding entity that the mobility management entity needs to delay paging the user equipment device.

5. A communications method, comprising:

receiving, by a data forwarding entity, a first indication from a mobility management entity, wherein the first indication comprises an instruction to retain first data, the first data is downlink data of a user equipment device, and the first indication is generated upon determining that the user equipment device is a power-saving user equipment device; and

retaining, by the data forwarding entity, the first data according to the first indication.

6. The communications method according to claim 5, wherein:

the first indication comprises a suggested waiting time period for the data forwarding entity to retain the first data.

7. The communications method according to claim 5, further comprising:

receiving, by the data forwarding entity, a second indication from the mobility management entity, wherein the second indication comprises an instruction to normally transmit and receive the first data, and the second indication is generated according to a state of the user equipment device obtained after a change of the user equipment device state; and

normally transmitting and receiving, by the data forwarding entity, the first data according to the second indication.

8. The communications method according to claim 5, wherein:

the first indication comprises a paging delaying indicator which indicates to the data forwarding entity that the mobility management entity needs to delay paging the user equipment device.

9. A mobility management entity comprising:

a first processor, configured to;

acquire information of a user equipment device,

determine, according to the information of the user equipment device, that the user equipment device is a power-saving user equipment device;

upon determining that the user equipment device is a power-saving user equipment device, generate a first indication comprising a suggested waiting time period for a data forwarding entity to retain first data, wherein the first data is downlink data of the user equipment device; and

a transmitter, configured to;

send the first indication to the data forwarding entity to instruct the data forwarding entity to retain the first data.

10. The mobility management entity according to claim 9, wherein mobility management entity further comprises:

a receiver, configured to receive a non access stratum (NAS) message from the user equipment device;

wherein the processor is configured to acquire the information of the user equipment device according to the NAS message.

11. The mobility management entity according to claim 9, wherein:

the processor is further configured to, when a state of the user equipment device changes, generate a second indication according to a state of the user equipment device that is obtained after the change, wherein the second indication comprises an instruction to normally transmit and receive the first data; and

the transmitter is further configured to send the second indication to the data forwarding entity to instruct the data forwarding entity to normally transmit and receive the first data.

12. The mobility management entity according to claim 9, wherein:

the first indication comprises a paging delaying indicator which indicates to the data forwarding entity that the mobility management entity needs to delay paging the user equipment device.

13. A data forwarding entity, comprising:

a transceiver, configured to receive a first indication from a mobility management entity, wherein the first indication comprises an instruction to retain first data, the first data is downlink data of a user equipment device, and the first indication is generated upon determining that the user equipment device is a power-saving user equipment device;

a processor, configured to retain the first data according to the first indication.

14. The data forwarding entity according to claim 13, wherein:

the first indication comprises a suggested waiting time period for the data forwarding entity to retain the first data.

15. The data forwarding entity according to claim 13, wherein:

the transceiver is further configured to receive a second indication from the mobility management entity, wherein the second indication comprises an instruction to normally transmit and receive the first data, and the second indication is generated according to a state of the user equipment device obtained after a change of the user equipment device state;

the processor is further configured to control the transceiver to normally transmit and receive the first data according to the second indication.

16. The data forwarding entity according to claim 13, wherein:

the first indication comprises a paging delaying indicator which indicates to the data forwarding entity that the mobility management entity needs to delay paging the user equipment device.