Media stream switching method and apparatus

A method of media stream switching by a terminal device, the method comprising:

• receiving, by the terminal device, a first active characteristic information set from a user plane function network element;
• determining, by the terminal device, that the first active characteristic information set comprises characteristic information of a first live media stream;
• sending, by the terminal device, the characteristic information of the first live media stream to an access network device of a radio access network (RAN) element;
• and switching, by the terminal device, a live media stream received from the access network device from a second live media stream to the first live media stream, wherein both the second live media stream and the first live media stream correspond to the access network device.

A terminal device, comprising:

• a processor;
• and a memory coupled to the processor and storing instructions, which when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations of switching media streams, the operations comprising:
• receiving a first active characteristic information set from a user plane function network element;
• determining that the first active characteristic information set comprises characteristic information of a first live media stream;
• sending the characteristic information of the first live media stream to an access network device of a radio access network (RAN) element;
• and switching a live media stream received from the access network device from a second live media stream to the first live media stream, wherein both the second live media stream and the first live media stream correspond to the access network device.