According to a seventh aspect, a transmission method is provided. The method includes: receiving, by a first system, a sixth message sent by a first network node, where the sixth message is used to indicate to the first system that a radio link failure occurs between the first network node and a terminal device, the first network node includes at least one of a Radio Link Control protocol layer function, a Media Access Control layer function, and a physical layer function, and the first system includes at least one of a Packet Data Convergence Protocol layer function, a Service DataAdaptation Protocol layer function, and a Radio Resource Control layer function; setting, by the first system, a timer based on the sixth message; and if the timer expires, sending, by the first system, a seventh message to the first network node, where the seventh message is used to instruct the first network node to release a context of the terminal device; or if the first system receives a radio resource control connection message before the timer expires, stopping, by the first system, the timer.
With reference to the seventh aspect, in a first possible implementation of the seventh aspect, the receiving, by a first system, a sixth message sent by a first network node includes: receiving, by a second network node, the sixth message sent by the first network node, where the second network node is a control plane node of the first system; and the setting, by the first system, a timer based on the sixth message includes: setting, by the second network node, the timer based on the sixth message.