# US 12,016,063 B2 · Communication method and apparatus

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- Number: US 12,016,063 B2
- Document ID: US12016063B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 17/356,735
- Filed: 2021-06-24
- Published: 2021-10-14
- Granted: 2024-06-18
- Earliest claimed: 2018-12-27
- Assignees: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
- Applicants: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
- Inventors: Chengchen Zhang; Wenfu Wu; Zaifeng Zong
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12016063B2

## CPC

- H04W 76/11: Allocation or use of connection identifiers
- H04W 76/12: Setup of transport tunnels
- H04B 7/18506: {Communications with or from aircraft, i.e. aeronautical mobile service}
- H04W 4/40: for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]
- H04W 4/44: for communication between vehicles and infrastructures, e.g. vehicle-to-cloud [V2C] or vehicle-to-home [V2H]
- Y02D 30/70: in wireless communication networks
- H04W: WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS (broadcast communication H04H; communication systems using wireless links for non-selective communication, e.g. wireless extensions H04M1/72)
- H04B: TRANSMISSION
- Y02D: CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES IN INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES [ICT], I.E. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES AIMING AT THE REDUCTION OF THEIR OWN ENERGY USE

## Abstract

A communication method and apparatus. According to the communication method, a session management function (SMF) receives a first message sent by a first terminal apparatus. The first message is used to request the SMF to establish a first session for the first terminal apparatus. The first message is further used to indicate that the first session is used for communication between the first terminal apparatus and a second terminal apparatus. The first terminal apparatus and the second terminal apparatus belong to a same unmanned aerial vehicle communication system. Then, the SMF sends address information of the first terminal apparatus to a first management network element based on the first message. This provides a possibility of exchanging address information of terminal apparatuses in an unmanned aerial vehicle communication system.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A communication method, comprising:
receiving, by a session management function, a first message from a first terminal apparatus, wherein the first message is used to request the session management function to establish a first session for the first terminal apparatus, the first message is further used to indicate that the first session is used for communication between the first terminal apparatus and a second terminal apparatus, wherein the first message comprises an identifier of the second terminal apparatus;
sending, by the session management function, a second message including the identifier of the second terminal apparatus to a first management network element;
receiving, by the session management function, address information of the second terminal apparatus from the first management network element;
determining, by the session management function, a rule according to the address information of the second terminal apparatus, wherein the rule is used to indicate a routing rule from the first terminal apparatus to the second terminal apparatus and/or a data packet filtering rule between the first terminal apparatus and the second terminal apparatus; and
sending, by the session management function, the rule to a user plane function corresponding to the first terminal apparatus for supporting communication between the first terminal apparatus and the second terminal apparatus by performing routing and/or data packet flow identification according to the rule at the user plane function.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The communication method according to claim 1, wherein the first terminal apparatus and the second terminal apparatus belong to a same unmanned aerial vehicle communication system.

### Claim 3

A communication system, comprising a session management function (SMF) and a first management network element,
wherein the session management function is configured to:
receive a first message from a first terminal apparatus, wherein the first message is used to request the session management function to establish a first session for the first terminal apparatus, the first message is further used to indicate that the first session is used for communication between the first terminal apparatus and a second terminal apparatus, wherein the first message comprises an identifier of the second terminal apparatus;
send a second message including the identifier of the second terminal apparatus to the first management network element;
receive address information of the second terminal apparatus sent by the first management network element;
determine a rule according to the address information of the second terminal apparatus, wherein the rule is used to indicate a routing rule from the first terminal apparatus to the second terminal apparatus and/or a data packet filtering rule between the first terminal apparatus and the second terminal apparatus; and
send the rule to a user plane function corresponding to the first terminal apparatus for supporting communication between the first terminal apparatus and the second terminal apparatus by performing routing and/or data packet flow identification according to the rule at the user plane function;
wherein the first management network element is configured to:
receive the second message; and
send the address information of the second terminal apparatus to the session management function.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The communication system according to claim 3, wherein the first terminal apparatus and the second terminal apparatus belong to a same unmanned aerial vehicle communication system.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The communication method according to claim 1, further comprising:
sending, by the session management function, address information of the first terminal apparatus to the first management network element based on the first message, wherein the address information of the first terminal apparatus indicates an address of the first terminal apparatus.

### Claim 6 (depends on 5)

The communication method according to claim 5, further comprising:
storing, by the first management network element, the address information of the first terminal apparatus.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The communication method according to claim 1, further comprising:
receiving, by the first management network element, the second message; and
sending, by the first management network element, the address information of the second terminal apparatus to the session management function.

### Claim 8 (depends on 3)

The communication system according to claim 3, wherein the session management function is configured to:
send address information of the first terminal apparatus to the first management network element based on the first message, wherein the address information of the first terminal apparatus indicates an address of the first terminal apparatus; and
the first management network element is further configured to:
receive the address information of the first terminal apparatus.

### Claim 9 (depends on 8)

The communication system according to claim 8, wherein the first management network element is further configured to:
store the address information of the first terminal apparatus.

### Claim 10

A communication apparatus, comprising:
a memory, and
a processor, wherein
the memory is configured to store a computer program; and
the processor is configured to invoke the computer program from the memory and run the computer program to:
receive a first message from a first terminal apparatus, wherein the first message is used to request the communication apparatus to establish a first session for the first terminal apparatus, the first message is further used to indicate that the first session is used for communication between the first terminal apparatus and a second terminal apparatus, wherein the first message comprises an identifier of the second terminal apparatus;
send a second message including the identifier of the second terminal apparatus to the first management network element;
receive address information of the second terminal apparatus from the first management network element;
determine a rule according to the address information of the second terminal apparatus, wherein the rule is used to indicate a routing rule from the first terminal apparatus to the second terminal apparatus and/or a data packet filtering rule between the first terminal apparatus and the second terminal apparatus; and
send the rule to a user plane function corresponding to the first terminal apparatus for supporting communication between the first terminal apparatus and the second terminal apparatus by performing routing and/or data packet flow identification according to the rule at the user plane function.

### Claim 11 (depends on 6)

The communication apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the processor is further configured to invoke the computer program from the memory and run the computer program to:
send address information of the first terminal apparatus to the first management network element based on the first message, wherein the address information of the first terminal apparatus indicates an address of the first terminal apparatus.

### Claim 12 (depends on 6)

The communication apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the first terminal apparatus and the second terminal apparatus belong to a same unmanned aerial vehicle communication system.

### Claim 13

A communication method, comprising:
receiving, by the first management network element, address information of first terminal apparatus from a session management function, wherein the address information of the first terminal apparatus indicates an address of the first terminal apparatus;
receiving, by the first management network element, a second message including identifier of second terminal apparatus from the session management function, wherein a first session is to be established for communication between the first terminal apparatus and the second terminal apparatus; and
sending, by the first management network element, address information of the second terminal apparatus to the session management function.

### Claim 14 (depends on 13)

The communication method according to claim 13, further comprising:
storing, by the first management network element, the address information of the first terminal apparatus.

### Claim 15

A communication apparatus, comprising a memory, and a processor, wherein
the memory is configured to store a computer program; and
the processor is configured to invoke the computer program from the memory and run the computer program to:
receive address information of first terminal apparatus from a session management function, wherein the address information of the first terminal apparatus indicates an address of the first terminal apparatus;
receive a second message including identifier of second terminal apparatus from the session management function, wherein a first session is to be established for communication between the first terminal apparatus and the second terminal apparatus; and
send address information of the second terminal apparatus to the session management function.

### Claim 16 (depends on 15)

The communication apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the processor is configured to invoke the computer program from the memory and run the computer program to:
store the address information of the first terminal apparatus.