Communication method and apparatus

An apparatus, comprising:

• at least one processor;
• and
• at least one non-transitory computer readable memory connected to the at least one processor and including computer program code, wherein the at least one non-transitory computer readable memory and the computer program code are configured, with the one or more processors, to cause the apparatus to at least:
• determine, based on a core network packet delay budget (CN PDB) and a buffer duration, an allowed maximum latency of a time-sensitive network (TSN) stream transmitted between an access network device and a user plane network element, wherein the maximum latency does not exceed a difference obtained by subtracting the buffer duration from the CN PDB, and the access network device is a transmit end of the TSN stream and the user plane network element is a receive end of the TSN stream, or the access network device is a receive end of the TSN stream and the user plane network element is a transmit end of the TSN stream;
• send first latency information to a centralized network configuration function, wherein the first latency information indicates the maximum latency;
• receive first configuration information from the centralized network configuration function, wherein the first configuration information indicates a packet transmission time of the transmit end of the TSN stream, and wherein the packet transmission time indicated by the first configuration information is associated with the maximum latency;
• and
• send the first configuration information to the transmit end of the TSN stream.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program which is executable on a computer to cause the computer to:

• determine, based on a core network packet delay budget (CN PDB) and a buffer duration, an allowed maximum latency of a time-sensitive network (TSN) stream transmitted between an access network device and a user plane network element, wherein the maximum latency does not exceed a difference obtained by subtracting the buffer duration from the CN PDB, and wherein the access network device is a transmit end of the TSN stream and the user plane network element is a receive end of the TSN stream, or the access network device is a receive end of the TSN stream and the user plane network element is a transmit end of the TSN stream;
• send first latency information to a centralized network configuration function, wherein the first latency information indicates the maximum latency;
• receive first configuration information from the centralized network configuration function, wherein the first configuration information indicates a packet transmission time of the transmit end of the TSN stream, and wherein the packet transmission time indicated by the first configuration information is associated with the maximum latency;
• and
• send the first configuration information to the transmit end of the TSN stream.