Communication method and apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12470971-B2
Application number	US-202218148509-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 30, 2022
Priority date	Jul 3, 2020
Publication date	Nov 11, 2025
Grant date	Nov 11, 2025

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to the field of communication technologies, and discloses a communication method and apparatus. The method includes: A terminal device receives an identifier of a filtering protocol version from an access network device, and then sends first capability information of the terminal device to the access network device based on the filtering protocol version. In this method, the terminal device may report capability information based on the filtering protocol version sent by the access network device. Compared with a manner in which the terminal device directly reports the capability information, this method can effectively reduce a communication problem caused by mismatch between a protocol version supported by the terminal device and a protocol version supported by the access network device and/or a protocol version supported by a core network device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A communication method, wherein the method is applicable to a terminal device or a chip in the terminal device, and the method comprises:
receiving an identifier of a filtering protocol version from a first access network device; and sending capability information of the terminal device to the first access network device based on the filtering protocol version, wherein the sending capability information of the terminal device to the first access network device based on the file protocol version comprises: after determining, based or the filtering protocol version that the filtering protocol version is different from a historical filtering protocol version, sending the capability information of the terminal device to the first access network device, wherein the historical filtering protocol version comprises a filtering protocol version previously received by the terminal device.

2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein a protocol version corresponding to the capability information is earlier than or equal to the filtering protocol version.

3 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the filtering protocol version is later than the historical filtering protocol version; and
the capability information comprises incremental information relative to historical capability information reported by the terminal device based on the historical filtering protocol version.

4 . The method according to claim 3 , further comprising:
receiving indication information from the first access network device, wherein the indication information indicates to report capability information in an incremental manner.

5 . The method according to claim 4 , wherein the indication information comprises an identifier of the historical filtering protocol version.

6 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
sending at least one of the following to the first access network device: an identifier of a protocol version corresponding to the capability information; an identifier of a protocol version supported by the terminal device; or indication information indicating that the protocol version supported by the terminal device is later than, earlier than, or equal to the filtering protocol version.

7 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the filtering protocol version comprises a protocol version supported by the first access network device and/or a protocol version supported by a core network device; or
the filtering protocol version is earlier than a protocol version supported by the first access network device and/or a protocol version supported by a core network device.

8 . The method according to claim 7 , wherein the protocol version is considered supported by the first access network device when the first access network device supports a feature of the protocol version, or supports parsing of protocol signaling corresponding to the protocol version; or
the protocol version is considered supported by the core network device when the core network device supports a feature of the protocol version, or supports parsing of protocol signaling corresponding to the protocol version.

9 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, from the first access network device, one or more identifiers of one or more protocol versions supported by at least one neighboring access network device of the first access network device.

10 . The method according to claim 9 , further comprising:
measuring a frequency of a second access network device in the at least one neighboring access network device or reselecting the second access network device based on the one or more identifiers of the one or more protocol versions supported by the at least one neighboring access network device, wherein a protocol version supported by the second access network device is later than or equal to the protocol version supported by the terminal device.

11 . The method according to claim 9 , wherein the one or more identifiers of the one or more protocol versions supported by the at least one neighboring access network device is/are carried in a radio resource control (RRC) connection release message or a system message.

12 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the historical filtering protocol version is a filtering protocol version corresponding to an identifier of a filtering protocol version previously received by the terminal device.

13 . A communication apparatus, comprising a transceiver configured to:
receive an identifier of a filtering protocol version from a first access network device; and send capability information of the communication apparatus to the first access network device based on the filtering protocol version, wherein the transceiver is further configured to: after determining, based on the filtering protocol version, that the filtering protocol version is different from a historical filtering protocol version, send the capability information of the communication apparatus to the first access network device, wherein the historical filtering protocol version comprises a filtering protocol version previously received by the communication apparatus.

14 . The apparatus according to claim 13 , wherein a protocol version corresponding to the capability information is earlier than or equal to the filtering protocol version.

15 . The apparatus according to claim 13 , wherein the filtering protocol version is later than the historical filtering protocol version; and
the capability information comprises incremental information relative to historical capability information reported by the communication apparatus based on the historical filtering protocol version.

16 . The apparatus according to claim 15 , wherein the transceiver is further configured to:
receive indication information from the first access network device, wherein the indication information indicates to report capability information in an incremental manner.

17 . The apparatus according to claim 13 , wherein the transceiver is further configured to:
send at least one of the following to the first access network device: an identifier of a protocol version corresponding to the capability information; an identifier of a protocol version supported by the communication apparatus; or indication information indicating that the protocol version supported by the communication apparatus is later than, earlier than, or equal to the filtering protocol version.

18 . The apparatus according to claim 13 , wherein the transceiver is further configured to:
receive, from the first access network device, one or more identifiers of one or more protocol versions supported by at least one neighboring access network device of the first access network device.

19 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium, storing a computer program or instructions that, when executed by a communication apparatus, control(s) the communication apparatus to perform operations comprising:
receiving an identifier of a filtering protocol version from a first access network device; and sending capability information of the communication apparatus to the first access network device based on the filtering protocol version, wherein the sending capability information of the communication apparatus to the first access network device based on the filtering protocol version comprises: after determining, based on the filtering protocol version, that the filtering protocol version is different from a historical filter protocol version, se

Assignees

• Huawei Tech Co Ltd

Inventors

• Chang Junren
• Han Lei
• Wang Lingping
• Feng Shulan
• Liu Jianghua

Classifications

• H04W48/16

  Discovering, processing access restriction or access information · CPC title

• H04L67/125

  involving control of end-device applications over a network · CPC title

• H04L69/18

  Multiprotocol handlers, e.g. single devices capable of handling multiple protocols · CPC title

• H04L67/303

  Terminal profiles · CPC title

• H04L69/24

  Negotiation of communication capabilities · CPC title