CN114466346A

CN114466346A - Method and device for acquiring edge service

Info

Publication number: CN114466346A
Application number: CN202110065138.XA
Authority: CN
Inventors: 宗在峰; 姚琦
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-11-10
Filing date: 2021-01-18
Publication date: 2022-05-10
Also published as: WO2022100197A1

Abstract

The application provides a method and a device for obtaining edge service, wherein the method comprises the following steps: a first control plane core network element receives first information of User Equipment (UE); a first control plane core network element sends a first message to a first edge configuration server, wherein the first message comprises first information and first notification information, and the first notification information comprises notification address information of the first control plane core network element and/or context information of UE; a first control plane core network element receives a second message of a first edge configuration server, wherein the second message comprises first notification information and second information, and the second information comprises information sent to UE by the first edge configuration server; and the first control plane core network element sends the second information to the UE according to the first notification information, so that the UE can send information to the edge server through the core network element, and thus the edge service is obtained.

Description

Method and device for acquiring edge service

The present application claims priority from the chinese patent application entitled "a method, apparatus and system for obtaining edge services" filed by the chinese patent office on 10/11/2020, application number 202011250645.2, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a method and an apparatus for acquiring an edge service.

Background

The following scheme is generally adopted when a User Equipment (UE) wants to send information to an edge server: an Edge Enable Client (EEC), as a part of the UE, may configure address information of an Edge Configuration Server (ECS) on the EEC first, then the EEC sends a service configuration request (service provisioning request) or a service subscription request (service subscription update request) to the ECS to obtain address information of the Edge Enable Server (EES), and after the UE or the EEC obtains the address information of the EES, the EEC sends an EAS discovery request (EAS discovery request) to the EES to obtain address information of the Edge Application Server (EAS).

Since the service configuration request (service provisioning request) and the EAS discovery request (EAS discovery request) are both sent via the HTTP protocol, the method is only applicable to a request-response model, and the UE needs to maintain a long connection, and the edge server cannot push information to the UE using the above-described scheme.

Therefore, there is a need for a method for acquiring edge service, so that the UE can push or send information to the UE without maintaining a long connection, and thus the ECS or the EES can acquire the edge service.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a method and a device for obtaining edge service, wherein a UE does not need to maintain a long connection, and an ECS or an EES can also push or send information to the UE so as to obtain the edge service.

The method may be performed, for example, by the terminal device, or may be performed by a component (e.g., a chip or a system of chips) configured in the terminal device. This is not a limitation of the present application. The present application takes a user equipment UE as an example for explanation.

A first aspect provides a method for acquiring an edge service, the method comprising: a first control plane core network element receives first information of User Equipment (UE); a first control plane core network element sends a first message to a first edge configuration server, wherein the first message comprises the first information and first notification information, and the first notification information comprises notification address information of the first control plane core network element and/or context information of the UE; a first control plane core network element receives a second message of the first edge configuration server, wherein the second message comprises the first notification information and second information, and the second information comprises information sent to the UE by the first edge configuration server; and the first control plane core network element sends the second information to the UE according to the first notification information.

Based on the above technical solution, the user equipment may send the first information to the first control plane core network element, and the first control plane core network element forwards the first information of the UE to the first edge configuration server and carries the first notification address information, so that the first edge configuration server determines to which core network element the information is sent. The first edge configuration server determines second information sent to the UE and sends the second information to the first control plane core network element and carries the first notification address information, and the first control plane core network element may send the information to the UE according to the first notification address information. Therefore, in the method provided by the embodiment of the present application, the UE sends the relevant information through the network element of the control plane core network, so that when the ECS or the EES belongs to the 5GC network element, the UE does not need to maintain a long connection, and can also send the information to the edge server, thereby obtaining the edge service.

It should be noted that the first information in this embodiment includes information sent by the UE to the edge configuration server, for example, the first information may be used to request identification information of the edge-enabled server.

With reference to the first aspect, in some possible implementations, the first notification information is used to indicate a sending direction of the second information.

That is, the first edge configuration server may determine an object to transmit the second information through the first notification information.

With reference to the first aspect, in some possible implementations, the receiving, by a first control plane core network element, first information of a user equipment UE includes: the first control plane core network element receives first information of User Equipment (UE) through a session establishment request message; or, the first control plane core network element receives first information of User Equipment (UE) through a session modification request message; or, the first control plane core network element receives the first information of the user equipment UE through a non-access stratum Container NAS Container message.

That is, the UE may send the first information to the first control plane core network element through the session establishment request message or the session modification request message or the non-access stratum Container NAS Container message, so that sending the information to the edge server may be implemented. Of course, the above-mentioned message is only an example and should not limit any embodiment of the present application, and this application does not exclude that the UE may use another message to send the first information to the first control plane core network element.

With reference to the first aspect, in some possible implementations, the first information includes at least one of: the service configuration request, the service configuration subscription update request and the service configuration unsubscribe request.

That is to say, in the present application, the UE may further send a subscription request, so that when the address information of the edge-enabled server or the edge application server changes, the UE may also obtain the updated address information in real time.

With reference to the first aspect, in some possible implementation manners, the sending, by the first control plane core network element, the second information to the UE according to the first notification information includes: the first control plane core network element sends the second information to the UE through a session establishment receiving message according to the first notification information; or, the first control plane core network element sends the second information to the UE through a session modification command message according to the first notification information; or, the first control plane core network element sends the second information to the UE through a NAS Container message according to the first notification information.

With reference to the first aspect, in some possible implementation manners, the sending, by the first control plane core network element, the first message to the first edge configuration server includes: and the first control plane core network element sends a first message to the first edge configuration server through a second core network element.

For example, when the first control plane core network element is an SMF network element, the first message may be sent to the first edge configuration server through the PCF network element.

With reference to the first aspect, in some possible implementation manners, the receiving, by the first control plane core network element, the second message of the first edge configuration server includes: and the first control plane core network element receives a second message of the first edge configuration server through a second core network element.

For example, when the first control plane core network element is an SMF network element, the second message of the first edge configuration server may be received by the PCF network element.

With reference to the first aspect, in some possible implementations, the method further includes: the first control plane core network element sends a third message to a third core network element, where the third message is used to request to acquire identification information of an edge configuration server, and the identification information includes a uniform resource identifier of the edge configuration server and/or internet protocol IP address information of the edge configuration server; and the first control plane core network element receives a fourth message of a third core network element, wherein the fourth message comprises the identification information of the first edge configuration server.

That is, the first control plane core network element may first determine the edge configuration server, and at this time, may query the third core network element to determine the edge configuration server, for example, the first edge configuration server. Therefore, the information can be sent to the edge configuration server when the edge configuration server is a core network element, and the edge service can be acquired. In addition, the method and the device can realize configuration of the edge configuration server on the network side, improve the flexibility of address configuration of the edge server and guarantee business experience.

With reference to the first aspect, in some possible implementation manners, the third message includes location information of the UE, where the location information of the UE is used by the third core network element to determine the first edge configuration server, and the location information of the UE includes at least one of: the tracking area identifier of the UE, the cell identifier of the UE or the data network access identifier of the UE.

That is, the third core network element may determine the first edge configuration server according to the location information of the UE and the service range of the edge configuration server.

With reference to the first aspect, in some possible implementation manners, the first information further includes identification information of the first edge configuration server, and the sending, by the first control plane core network element, a first message to the first edge configuration server includes: and the first control plane core network element sends a first message to the first edge configuration server according to the identification information of the first edge configuration server.

That is to say, the UE may also send the identification information of the first edge configuration server to the first control plane core network element, so that the first control plane core network element may directly determine, through the identification information, to which edge configuration server the information is sent.

With reference to the first aspect, in some possible implementation manners, when the first information includes an identification message that the UE requests to acquire an edge-enabled server, the second information further includes an identification message of the first edge-enabled server, where the identification information includes at least one of: uniform resource identifier information, instance identifier information, or internet protocol, IP, address information.

That is, when the UE sends the identification message of the edge-enabled server in the first information for requesting to acquire the edge-enabled server, the first edge configuration server may determine the edge-enabled server, for example, the first edge-enabled server. Therefore, the UE can send information to the edge configuration server so as to acquire the edge service.

With reference to the first aspect, in some possible implementations, the second information includes an identification message of the first edge-enabled server, and the method further includes: the first control plane core network element receives third information of the UE, wherein the third information comprises information sent by the UE to the first edge enabling server; the first control plane core network element sends a fifth message to the first edge-enabled server, where the fifth message includes the third information and first notification information, and the first notification information includes notification address information of the first control plane core network element and/or context information of the UE; the first control plane core network element receives a sixth message of the first edge-enabled server, where the sixth message includes the first notification information and fourth information, and the fourth information includes identification information of the first edge application server; and the first control plane core network element sends the fourth information to the UE according to the first notification information.

That is to say, when the UE requests to acquire the identifier message of the edge application server, the first control plane core network element may first determine the edge-enabled server, then request the first edge-enabled server to acquire the identifier message of the edge application server, and then send the identifier message to the UE. Therefore, the UE can send information to the edge configuration server so as to acquire the edge service.

With reference to the first aspect, in some possible implementation manners, the first control plane core network element receives a second message of the first edge configuration server, where the second message includes the first notification information and second information, and the second information includes information sent by the first edge configuration server to the UE, where the method further includes: and the first control plane core network element stores the second information.

That is, for example, the first control plane core network element may store the identification information of the edge-enabled server, so that when the subsequent UE sends a message to the edge-enabled server, the first control plane core network element may check whether the edge-enabled server specified by the UE is legal.

With reference to the first aspect, in some possible implementations, the first control plane core network element includes: a session management function network element or an access and mobility management function network element or a policy control network element.

According to the method provided by the embodiment, the UE sends the relevant information through the control plane core network element, so that when the ECS is the core network element or the AF, the UE sends the information to the ECS through the core network element, and correspondingly, the ECS sends the information to the UE through the core network element to obtain the edge service, and the existing mechanism (including the UE and the network side network element) is slightly modified. In addition, the technical scheme provided by the application can realize the configuration of the address information of the ECS on the network side, improve the flexibility of the address configuration of the edge server and ensure the service experience. Moreover, the embodiment of the present application may further enable the UE to obtain the updated address information of the EES or EAS in real time when the address information of the EES or EAS changes.

In a second aspect, a method for acquiring an edge service is provided, the method including: a first edge configuration server receives a first message of a first control plane core network element, wherein the first message comprises first information and first notification information, and the first notification information comprises notification address information of the first control plane core network element and/or context information of the UE; the first edge configuration server determines the second message according to the first information, the second message includes the first notification information and second information, and the second information includes information sent to the UE by the first edge configuration server; and the first edge configuration server sends a second message to the first control plane core network element.

That is, the first edge configuration server may determine, according to the first information, information to be acquired by the UE, and send the second information to the first control plane core network element. When the edge configuration server or the edge enabling server is a core network element, the UE can send information to the edge server, so that the edge service is obtained.

With reference to the second aspect, in some possible implementations, the first notification information is used to indicate a sending direction of the second information.

With reference to the second aspect, in some possible implementations, the first information includes at least one of: the service configuration request, the service configuration subscription update request and the service configuration unsubscribe request.

With reference to the second aspect, in some possible implementations, the receiving, by the first edge configuration server, a first message of a first control plane core network element includes: and the first edge configuration server receives a first message of a first control plane core network element through a second core network element.

With reference to the second aspect, in some possible implementation manners, the sending, by the first edge configuration server, a second message to the first control plane core network element includes: and the first edge configuration server sends a second message to the first control plane core network element through a second core network element.

With reference to the second aspect, in some possible implementation manners, when the first information is that the UE requests to acquire an identification message of an edge-enabled server, the second information further includes an identification message of the first edge-enabled server, where the identification information includes at least one of the following information: uniform resource identifier information, instance identifier information, or internet protocol, IP, address information.

With reference to the second aspect, in some possible implementations, the first control plane core network element includes: a session management function network element or an access and mobility management function network element or a policy control network element.

According to the method provided by the embodiment, the UE sends the relevant information through the control plane core network element, so that when the ECS is the core network element or the AF, the UE sends the information to the ECS through the core network element, and correspondingly, the ECS sends the information to the UE through the core network element, so that the edge service is obtained, and the change of the existing mechanism (including the UE and the network side network element) is small. In addition, the technical scheme provided by the application can realize the configuration of the address information of the ECS on the network side, improve the flexibility of the address configuration of the edge server and ensure the service experience. Moreover, the embodiment of the present application may further enable the UE to obtain the updated address information of the EES or EAS in real time when the address information of the EES or EAS changes.

In a third aspect, a method for acquiring an edge service is provided, where the method includes: a third core network element receives a third message of a first control plane core network element, wherein the third message is used for requesting to acquire identification information of an edge configuration server, and the identification information comprises a uniform resource identifier of the edge configuration server and/or Internet Protocol (IP) address information of the edge configuration server; the third core network element determines a fourth message according to the third message, wherein the fourth message comprises the identification information of the first edge configuration server; and the third core network element sends the fourth information to the first control plane core network element.

With reference to the third aspect, in some possible implementation manners, the third message includes location information of the UE, where the location information of the UE is used by the third core network element to determine the first edge configuration server, and the location information of the UE includes at least one of: the tracking area identifier of the UE, the cell identifier of the UE or the data network access identifier of the UE.

With reference to the third aspect, in some possible implementations, the first control plane core network element includes: a session management function network element or an access and mobility management function network element or a policy control network element.

According to the method provided by the embodiment, the UE sends the relevant information through the network element of the core network of the control plane, so that when the ECS is the network element of the core network or the AF, the UE sends the information to the ECS through the network element of the core network, and correspondingly, the ECS sends the information to the UE through the network element of the core network, and the existing mechanism (including the UE and the network side network element) is slightly changed. In addition, the technical scheme provided by the application can realize the configuration of the address information of the ECS on the network side, improve the flexibility of the address configuration of the edge server and ensure the service experience. Moreover, the embodiment of the present application may further enable the UE to obtain the updated address information of the EES or EAS in real time when the address information of the EES or EAS changes.

In a fourth aspect, a method for obtaining edge services is provided, the method comprising: a first edge application server receives a fifth message of the first control plane core network element, where the fifth message includes first information and first notification information, and the first notification information includes notification address information of the first control plane core network element and/or context information of the UE; the first edge application server determines a sixth message according to the first information, wherein the sixth message comprises the first notification information and third information, and the third information comprises identification information of the first edge application server; and the first edge application server sends the sixth message to the first control plane core network element.

That is to say, when the first information is a request of the UE to acquire the identifier message of the edge application server, the first control plane core network element may first determine the edge-enabled server, then request the first edge-enabled server to acquire the identifier message of the edge application server, and then send the identifier message to the UE. Therefore, the UE can send information to the edge configuration server so as to acquire the edge service.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in some possible implementations, the first control plane core network element includes: a session management function network element or an access and mobility management function network element or a policy control network element.

According to the method provided by the embodiment, the UE sends the relevant information through the control plane core network element, so that when the ECS is the core network element or the AF, the UE sends the information to the ECS through the core network element, and correspondingly, the ECS sends the information to the UE through the core network element, thereby obtaining the edge service, and the change of the existing mechanism (including the UE and the network side network element) is small. In addition, the technical scheme provided by the application can realize the configuration of the address information of the ECS on the network side, improve the flexibility of the address configuration of the edge server and ensure the service experience. In addition, the embodiment of the present application may also implement that when the address information of the EES or the EAS changes, the UE may also obtain the updated address information of the EES or the EAS in real time.

In a fifth aspect, an apparatus for acquiring an edge service is provided, which includes modules or units for performing the method in any possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the second aspect, the third aspect, and the fourth aspect.

In a sixth aspect, an edge service acquisition device is provided, which includes a processor and a memory, where the memory is used to store a computer program, and the processor is used to call and run the computer program from the memory, so that the communication apparatus executes the communication method in any one of the possible implementation manners of the first to fourth aspects.

The number of the processors is one or more, and the number of the memories is one or more. The memory may be integral with the processor or separate from the processor.

The communication device further comprises a transmitter (transmitter) and a receiver (receiver).

In one possible design, a communication device is provided that includes a transceiver, a processor, and a memory. The processor is configured to control the transceiver to transceive signals, the memory is configured to store a computer program, and the processor is configured to invoke and execute the computer program from the memory, so that the communication device performs the method of any one of the possible implementations of the first to fourth aspects or the first to fourth aspects.

In a seventh aspect, a computer program product is provided, the computer program product comprising: a computer program (which may also be referred to as code, or instructions), which when executed, causes a computer to perform the method of any one of the possible implementations of the first to fourth aspects described above.

In an eighth aspect, a computer-readable medium is provided, which stores a computer program (which may also be referred to as code or instructions) that, when executed on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method of any one of the possible implementations of the first to fourth aspects.

In a ninth aspect, a chip system is provided, which includes a memory for storing a computer program and a processor for calling and running the computer program from the memory, so that a communication device installed with the chip system executes the method in any one of the possible implementation manners of the first aspect to the fourth aspect.

In a tenth aspect, a chip is provided, where the chip includes a processor and a communication interface, the communication interface is used for communicating with an external device or an internal device, and the processor is used for implementing the method in any one of the possible implementation manners of the first aspect to the fourth aspect.

Optionally, the chip may further include a memory having instructions stored therein, and the processor may be configured to execute the instructions stored in the memory or derived from other instructions. When the instructions are executed, the processor is configured to implement the method in any one of the possible implementations of the first aspect to the fourth aspect, optionally, the chip may be integrated on an access network device.

In an eleventh aspect, a system is provided that includes a first control plane core network element and a first edge configuration server in communication with the first control plane core network element. Optionally, the system may further include a third core network element.

In a twelfth aspect, a method for acquiring an edge service is provided, where the method includes: a first control plane core network element receives fifth information of User Equipment (UE); the first control plane core network element sends a seventh message to a second edge configuration server, where the seventh message includes the seventh fifth information and session information of the UE, and the session information of the UE is used by the second edge configuration server to establish an application function network element AF session; the first control plane core network element receives the eighth message through the AF session, where the eighth message includes information sent by the second edge configuration server to the UE; and the first control plane core network element sends the eighth message to the UE.

Based on the above technical solution, the user equipment may send the fifth information to the first control plane core network element, and the first control plane core network element forwards the fifth information of the UE to the second edge configuration server and carries the session information of the UE, so that the first edge configuration server is associated with the first control plane core network element and the UE, and thus, which core network element and which UE to send information can be directly determined. The second edge configuration server determines information to be sent to the UE and sends the information to the first control plane core network element, and the first control plane core network element may send the information to the UE. Therefore, in the method provided by the embodiment of the present application, the UE sends the relevant information through the network element of the control plane core network, so that when the ECS or the EES belongs to the 5GC network element, the UE can also send the information to the edge server to obtain the edge service.

It should be understood that, in this embodiment of the present application, the fifth information includes information that the UE requests the edge configuration server, for example, the fifth information may be information that the UE requests to acquire the ECS identification information.

With reference to the twelfth aspect, in some possible implementations, the session information of the UE includes at least one of the following items: the network slice selection method comprises the steps of obtaining an Internet Protocol (IP) address of the UE, a Data Network Name (DNN) corresponding to a session of the UE and single network slice selection auxiliary information (S-NSSAI).

With reference to the twelfth aspect, in some possible implementations, the method further includes: and the first control plane core network element determines the second edge configuration server according to the position information of the UE.

With reference to the twelfth aspect, in some possible implementations, the receiving, by the first control plane core network element, fifth information of a user equipment UE includes: the first control plane core network element receives first information of User Equipment (UE) through a session establishment request message; or, the first control plane core network element receives first information of User Equipment (UE) through a session modification request message; or, the first control plane core network element receives the first information of the user equipment UE through a non-access stratum Container NAS Container message.

With reference to the twelfth aspect, in some possible implementations, the fifth information includes at least one of: the service configuration request, the service configuration subscription update request and the service configuration unsubscribe request.

With reference to the twelfth aspect, in some possible implementations, the sending, by the first control plane core network element, a seventh message to the second edge configuration server includes: and the first control plane core network element sends a seventh message to the second edge configuration server through a second core network element.

With reference to the twelfth aspect, in some possible implementations, the receiving, by the first control plane core network element, an eighth message of the second edge configuration server includes: and the first control plane core network element receives an eighth message of the second edge configuration server through a second core network element.

With reference to the twelfth aspect, in some possible implementations, the first control plane core network element includes: a session management function network element or an access and mobility management function network element or a policy control network element.

In a thirteenth aspect, a method for acquiring an edge service is provided, the method comprising: a second edge configuration server receives a seventh message of the first control plane core network element, where the seventh message includes fifth information and session information of User Equipment (UE), and the fifth information includes information requested by the UE to the edge configuration server; the session information of the UE is used for the second edge configuration server to establish an application function network element (AF) session; the second edge configuration server determines an eighth message according to the fifth information, where the eighth message includes information sent by the second edge configuration server to the UE; and the second edge configuration server sends the eighth message to the first control plane core network element through the AF session.

With reference to the thirteenth aspect, in some possible implementations, the session information of the UE includes at least one of: the network slice selection method comprises the steps of obtaining an Internet Protocol (IP) address of the UE, a Data Network Name (DNN) corresponding to a session of the UE and single network slice selection auxiliary information (S-NSSAI).

With reference to the thirteenth aspect, in some possible implementations, the second edge configuration server is determined according to location information of the UE.

With reference to the thirteenth aspect, in some possible implementations, the first control plane core network element includes: a session management function network element or an access and mobility management function network element or a policy control network element.

According to the method provided by the embodiment, when the ECS is the core network element or the AF, the UE sends information to the ECS through the core network element, and correspondingly, the ECS sends information to the UE through the core network element, so that the edge service is obtained, and the existing mechanism (including the UE and the network side network element) is slightly changed. In addition, the technical scheme provided by the application can realize the configuration of the address information of the ECS on the network side, improve the flexibility of the address configuration of the edge server and ensure the service experience. Moreover, the embodiment of the present application may further enable the UE to obtain the updated address information of the EES or EAS in real time when the address information of the EES or EAS changes.

In a fourteenth aspect, an apparatus for acquiring an edge service is provided, which includes various modules or units for performing the method in any one of the possible implementations of the eleventh aspect and the twelfth aspect.

In a fifteenth aspect, an apparatus for acquiring an edge service is provided, which includes a processor and a memory, where the memory is used to store a computer program, and the processor is used to call and run the computer program from the memory, so that the communication device executes the communication method in any one of the possible implementations of the eleventh and twelfth aspects.

In a sixteenth aspect, there is provided a computer program product comprising: a computer program (which may also be referred to as code, or instructions), which when executed, causes a computer to perform the method of any of the possible implementations of the eleventh and twelfth aspects described above.

A seventeenth aspect provides a computer-readable medium storing a computer program (which may also be referred to as code or instructions) which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method of any one of the possible implementations of the eleventh and twelfth aspects described above.

In an eighteenth aspect, a chip system is provided, which includes a memory for storing a computer program and a processor for calling and executing the computer program from the memory, so that a communication device in which the chip system is installed executes the method in any one of the possible implementation manners of the eleventh aspect to the twelfth aspect.

Nineteenth aspect, a chip is provided, the chip comprising a processor and a communication interface, the communication interface is used for communicating with an external device or an internal device, and the processor is used for implementing the method in any one of the possible implementation manners of the eleventh aspect to the twelfth aspect.

In a twentieth aspect, a system is provided that includes a first control plane core network element and a second edge configuration server in communication with the first control plane core network element.

The application provides a method and a device for obtaining edge service, wherein UE sends related information through a control plane core network element, so that when an ECS is a core network element or AF, the UE sends information to the ECS through the core network element, and correspondingly, the ECS sends information to the UE through the core network element, thereby obtaining the edge service, and the change of the existing mechanism (including the UE and a network side network element) is small.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a diagram of a system architecture suitable for use with embodiments of the present application.

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of an edge service architecture according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of another edge service architecture according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of another edge service architecture to which the embodiment of the present application is applied.

Fig. 5 is a schematic flow chart of a method for obtaining edge service according to another embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 6 is a schematic flow chart of a method for obtaining edge service according to another embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 7 is a schematic flow chart of a method for obtaining edge service according to another embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 8 is a schematic flow chart of a method for obtaining edge service according to another embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 9 is a schematic flow chart of a method for obtaining edge service according to another embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 10 is a schematic flow chart of a method for obtaining edge service according to another embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 11 is a schematic flow chart of a method for obtaining edge service according to another embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 12 is a schematic block diagram of an edge service acquisition apparatus provided in an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 13 is a schematic block diagram of an edge service acquisition apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 14 is a schematic block diagram of an edge service acquiring device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

The technical solution in the present application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The wireless communication system mentioned in the embodiments of the present application includes but is not limited to: a global system for mobile communications (GSM) system, a Long Term Evolution (LTE) Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) system, a LTE Time Division Duplex (TDD) system, an LTE-Advanced (LTE-a) system, a next generation communication system (e.g., a 6G communication system), a convergence system of multiple access systems, or an evolution system.

The technical scheme provided by the application can also be applied to Machine Type Communication (MTC), Long Term Evolution-machine (LTE-M) communication between machines, device to device (D2D) network, machine to machine (M2M) network, internet of things (IoT) network, or other networks. The IoT network may comprise, for example, a car networking network. The communication modes in the car networking system are collectively referred to as car-to-other devices (V2X, X may represent anything), for example, the V2X may include: vehicle to vehicle (V2V) communication, vehicle to infrastructure (V2I) communication, vehicle to pedestrian (V2P) or vehicle to network (V2N) communication, etc.

The terminal devices referred to in the embodiments of the present application may include various access terminals, mobile devices, user terminals or user apparatuses having wireless communication functions. For example, the terminal device may be a User Equipment (UE), such as a mobile phone (mobile phone), a tablet computer (Pad), a computer with a wireless transceiving function, a Virtual Reality (VR) terminal device, an Augmented Reality (AR) terminal device, and the like. The terminal device may also be a wireless terminal in industrial control (industrial control), a Machine Type Communication (MTC) terminal, a Customer Premises Equipment (CPE), a wireless terminal in self-driving (self-driving), a wireless terminal in remote medical (remote medical), a wireless terminal in smart grid, a wireless terminal in transportation security, a wireless terminal in smart city, a smart home, a cellular phone, a cordless phone, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phone, a Wireless Local Loop (WLL) station, a personal digital assistant (personal digital assistant, PDA), a handheld device with wireless communication capability, a computing device, or other vehicle mounted device, wearable device connected to a wireless modem, a terminal device in a 5G network or a terminal device in a Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) for future evolution, and the like.

The following describes in detail the architecture of the network system and the edge service architecture under the architecture with reference to fig. 1 and 2.

Fig. 1 is a system architecture diagram applicable to the embodiment of the present application, and as shown in the figure, the network architecture may specifically include the following network elements:

1. radio Access Network (RAN): an access network that implements access network functionality based on wireless communication technology may be referred to as a radio access network. The radio access network can manage radio resources, provide access service for the terminal, and further complete the forwarding of control signals and user data between the terminal and the core network.

The radio access network may be, for example, a Base Transceiver Station (BTS) in a global system for mobile communications (GSM) system or a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) system, a base station (nodeB, NB) in a Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) system, an evolved node b (eNB or eNodeB) in an LTE system, a radio controller in a Cloud Radio Access Network (CRAN) scenario, or the network device may be a relay station, an access point, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, a network device in a future 5G network, a network device in a future evolved PLMN network, or the like, and the present embodiment is not limited.

2. Authentication service function (AUSF) network element: the method is mainly used for user authentication and the like.

3. Access and mobility management function (AMF): the method is mainly used for mobility management, access management, and the like, and can be used for implementing functions other than session management in Mobility Management Entity (MME) functions, such as functions of lawful interception, or access authorization (or authentication), and the like. In the embodiment of the present application, the method and the device can be used for implementing the functions of the access and mobility management network element.

4. Session management function network element (SMF): the method is mainly used for session management, IP address allocation and management of terminal equipment, selection and management of a user plane function, policy control or a terminal point of a charging function interface, downlink data notification and the like. In the embodiment of the present application, the method and the device can be used for implementing the function of the session management network element.

5. Policy Control Function (PCF): the unified policy framework is used for guiding network behaviors, providing policy rule information for control plane function network elements (such as AMF and SMF network elements) and the like.

6. Application function network element (AF): the method is used for carrying out data routing of application influence, accessing network open function network elements, or carrying out strategy control by interacting with a strategy framework and the like.

7. Unified data management network element (UDM): the method is used for unified data management, 5G user data management, user identification processing, access authentication, registration, mobility management and the like.

8. User plane function network element (UPF): the method can be used for packet routing and forwarding, or quality of service (QoS) processing of user plane data, and the like. The user data can be accessed to a Data Network (DN) through the network element. In the embodiment of the present application, the method and the device can be used for realizing the function of the user plane network element.

9. Network Slice Selection Function (NSSF): for managing network slice related information.

10. Data Network (DN): for providing a network for transmitting data. Such as a network of operator services, an Internet network, a third party's service network, etc.

In addition, the network architecture also comprises a network storage function network element (NRF) for storing description information of the network function entity and the service provided by the network function entity, supporting service discovery, network element entity discovery and the like, a network open function Network Element (NEF) for safely opening services and capabilities provided by a third generation partnership project (3GPP) network function to the outside, and the like.

It should be noted that the network system architecture in this application may further include an Edge Configuration Server (ECS) network element, where the ECS network element may be a global management network element, and maintains information of each Edge Data Network (EDN), including a service range of the edge data network and an Edge Enable Server (EES) address in the edge data network. The service scope of the edge data network may be topological address information (e.g., Cell ID, tai (trace area ID), etc.) or geometric address information (e.g., province, city, district, or longitude and latitude, etc.), and the service scope may be a set of address information. In one implementation, the ECS network elements are deployed in a distributed manner, i.e., each ECS may manage edge data networks of different areas. It should be understood that the ECS network element may be co-located with other network elements or may be an independent network element, and the present application does not limit the deployment of the ECS network element in the network architecture.

It should be noted that the network system architecture in this application may further include an Edge Enable Server (EES) network element, where the EES network element may be a control network element or a management network element in a Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) node (MEC may also be referred to as a multi-access edge computing (multi-access edge computing)), and is responsible for managing each EAS deployed in the EDN, such as registration, Domain Name System (DNS) resolved content routing, upper-layer application registration management, wireless information interaction, and other basic functions. Furthermore, the EES may invoke a capability opening function network element in the 3GPP network. It should be understood that the EES network element may be co-located with other network elements or may be an independent network element, and the present application does not limit the deployment of the EES network element in the network architecture.

In the network architecture, an N2 interface is an interface between a RAN and an AMF network element, and is used for sending non-access stratum (NAS) messages and the like; the N3 interface is an interface between RAN and UPF network elements, and is used for transmitting user plane data and the like; the N4 interface is an interface between the SMF network element and the UPF network element, and is used to transmit information such as tunnel identification information, data cache indication information, and downlink data notification message of the N3 connection.

It should be understood that the network architecture applied to the embodiments of the present application is only an exemplary network architecture described in terms of a conventional point-to-point architecture and a service architecture, and the network architecture to which the embodiments of the present application are applied is not limited thereto, and any network architecture capable of implementing the functions of the network elements described above is applicable to the embodiments of the present application.

It should be understood that the name of the interface between each network element in fig. 1 is only an example, and the name of the interface in the specific implementation may be other names, which is not specifically limited in this application. In addition, the name of the transmitted message (or signaling) between the network elements is only an example, and the function of the message itself is not limited in any way.

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of an edge service architecture according to an embodiment of the present application, and as shown in the drawing, the network architecture may specifically include: an Edge Data Network (EDN) may be a local data center, and the EDN includes an Edge Enable Server (EES) and a plurality of Edge Application Servers (EAS), and each EDN has a specific service scope. The EES may be a control network element or a management network element in a Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) node (MEC may also be referred to as a multi-access edge computing), and is responsible for managing each EAS deployed in the EDN, such as registration, Domain Name System (DNS) resolution content routing, upper layer application registration management, wireless information interaction, and other basic functions. Furthermore, the EES may invoke a capability opening function network element in the 3GPP network. An Edge Data Network Configuration Server (EDNCS) or an Edge Configuration Server (ECS) may be a global management network element, and maintain information of each EDN, including a service scope, an EES address, and the like. It should be noted that, in some standard protocols, such as Technical Specification (TS) 23.501 and TS23.502, the EES, EAS, ECS, etc. may be referred to as af (application function), and details thereof are not described below.

The User Equipment (UE) may include: an Edge Enabled Client (EEC) and an application client, wherein the EEC provides necessary support for the application client on the terminal, and functions of the EEC include: retrieve EDN information via EDGE-4, register UE with EES, retrieve available EAS, EAS availability change, EAS migration notification to EEC.

The EDGE-8 reference point in fig. 2 supports interaction between the EDGE configuration server and the core network, which supports: (1) accessing core network functions and Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) for retrieving network capability information; (2) and providing service release notification to a core network (such as SMF). EDGE-1: the interface between the EES and the EEC supports the registration/deregistration of the EEC in the EES; edge application server discovery in an edge data network. EDGE-2: and the interface between the EES and the 3GPP core network is used for the EES to acquire the 3GPP network capability. EDGE-3: the interface between the EES and the EAS supports EES registration/deregistration of the EAS, and comprises availability information, service range information, address information and the like of the EAS; the EES provides 3GPP network capability information (e.g., location information) to the EAS. EDGE-4: the interface between the EEC and the ECS supports the ECS to provide/push configuration information to the EEC. EDGE-5: and the interface between the AC and the EEC supports the AC to acquire the accessed EAS information from the EEC. EDGE-6: and the interface between the ECS and the EES supports the configuration of EES information on the ECS. EDGE-7: and an interface between the EAS and the 3GPP core network supports the EAS to acquire the 3GPP network capability. EDGE-8: and the interface between the ECS and the 3GPP core network supports the ECS to acquire the 3GPP network capability. EDGE-9: and the interfaces between different EESs in the same MEC node/across MEC nodes support application migration.

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of another edge service architecture according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in the figure, to improve the user experience and shorten the time delay for the user to access the application server, the operator or the service provider may sink the deployment of the application server to the local level (originally, the application server is deployed in provinces or a large area). As shown in application server #1, the application server may be deployed in multiple networks (including edge data networks and central data networks) or MEC nodes. Each MEC node, otherwise referred to as an edge data network, has a corresponding service area, and there may be intersections between service areas of different edge data networks. If the location of the UE moves when accessing an application, the application server accessed by the UE generally needs to be switched along with the location, so as to access the application with lower delay.

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of another system architecture applicable to the embodiment of the present application, and as shown in the drawing, the network architecture may specifically include: edge data networks EDN, each EDN having a specific service area, each edge network comprising one or more edge enable servers EES and edge application servers EAS. For example, EDN #1 includes an EES #1, and EAS #1 and EAS # 2; the service area of EDN #2 includes an EES #2, EAS #3 and EAS # 4. The edge configuration server ECS is a global management network element and maintains information of each EDN, including a service scope and an EES address. The user equipment UE may access the edge server through a core network element. For example, the UE may obtain address information of the EES and the EAS through a network element such as a UPF, an AMF, an SMF, or a PCF.

When the UE accesses the edge server, the following scheme is generally adopted, where the EEC is a part of the UE, and address information of the ECS is configured on the EEC, that is, on the user equipment UE. Step 1, the EEC sends a request, such as a service configuration request (service provisioning request) or a service configuration subscription request (service provisioning request), to the ECS to obtain address information of the EES; step 2, the ECS sends a response, for example, a service provision response (service provision response), to the EEC, and sends the address information of the EES to the EEC. After the UE or the EEC acquires the address information of the EES, step 3, the EEC sends a request, for example, an EAS discovery request (EAS discovery request), to the EES to acquire the address information of the EAS. Step 4, the EES sends a response, for example, an EAS discovery response (EAS discovery response), to the EEC, and sends address information of the EAS to the EEC. In the above technical solution, the service configuration request, the service configuration subscription request, the EAS discovery request, and the like are all sent through an HTTP protocol.

In addition, the technical scheme is that the ECS address is configured on the UE, the configuration is not flexible, and the ECS has the risk of single point failure. Moreover, as described above, the communication between the UE and the ECS or the EES uses the HTTP protocol, and if the address information of the EES changes, the ECS needs to dynamically send the location information of the EES to the UE. At this time, the UE needs to allocate ports and resources for monitoring notification information of the ECS in real time, and the UE does not support this function at present in consideration of the problems of power consumption, security, and the like of the UE. Therefore, the HTTP protocol adopted for communication in the above technical solution cannot solve the problem of notifying the UE in real time in a scenario where the EES address information changes. If the scenario is to be supported, the UE is modified greatly.

The method for obtaining the edge service is that the UE sends related information through a control plane core network element, so that when an ECS or an EES belongs to a 5GC network element or an AF (application function), the UE can also send information to an edge server, and the change of the existing mechanism (including the UE and a network side network element) is small. In addition, the technical scheme provided by the application can realize the configuration of the address information of the ECS on the network side, improve the flexibility of the address configuration of the edge server and ensure the service experience. Moreover, the embodiment of the present application may further enable the UE to obtain the updated address information of the EES or EAS in real time when the address information of the EES or EAS changes.

The method provided by the embodiment of the application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that, in the following description of the embodiments with reference to the drawings, the drawings are only illustrated for the convenience of understanding, and should not be construed as limiting the present application in any way. The network element names are only defined to distinguish different functions, and should not be construed as limiting the present application in any way. This application does not exclude the possibility of defining other network elements to perform the same or similar functions.

As mentioned above, the ECS may be a global management network element, and maintains information of each edge data network EDN, including the service scope and the address of the edge-enabling server EES. That is, the ECS has configured or stored thereon the address information of the EES. Therefore, in a possible implementation manner in this embodiment, when the UE sends the request message to the core network to request the EES address information, the core network may first determine the ECS, and then the core network sends the request to the target ECS to request the address information of the EES, and the ECS determines the address information of the EES and then sends the address information of the EES to the UE.

In another possible implementation manner in this embodiment of the present application, when the UE sends a request message to the core network to request the address information of the EAS, at this time, the core network may send a request to the target EES, and the EES determines the address information of the EAS because the address information of the EAS is configured or stored on the EES.

It should be understood that the embodiments of the present application do not exclude that the core network may directly determine the address information of the EES or EAS that may currently serve the UE through other manners such as configuration.

It should also be understood that the identification message in the embodiment of the present application may refer to address information, that is, the identification information in the embodiment of the present application may include address information of the edge server. In addition, an identification of the edge server may be further included, for example, a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) of the edge server and/or internet protocol IP address information of the edge server, the identification information may further include an instance identifier (instance ID) of the edge server, and the identification information may further include a Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) of the edge server.

That is, the address information of the edge server can be acquired according to the identification message. The edge server may be an ECS, an EES, or an EAS, among others.

It should be noted that the above is only an example of the identification information, and should not cause any limitation to the present application, and the present application does not exclude that the identification information may also be any other information that can obtain the address information of the edge server.

Fig. 5 is a schematic flowchart of a method for acquiring an edge service according to an embodiment of the present application. In this embodiment, taking UE #1 as an example, UE #1 may send information to a 5G Core network element (5G Core, 5GC) (in this embodiment, SMF is taken as an example) through a message such as a non-access stratum NAS message, and the Core network element may forward the information sent by UE #1 to an edge server, so that UE sends information to the edge server (ECS or EES) through the Core network element, and correspondingly, the edge server sends identifier information of the EES or EAS to the UE through the Core network element, thereby obtaining an edge service. In addition, the technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the application can realize the configuration of the address information of the ECS on the network side, improve the flexibility of the address configuration of the edge server and ensure the service experience.

It should be understood that, in this embodiment, the network element of the 5GC core network may also be another network element such as an AMF or a PCF, that is, the following steps may also be performed by replacing the SMF with another network element such as an AMF or a PCF in this embodiment, which is not limited. It should be noted that, when the network element of the 5G core network in the embodiment is an SMF or a PCF, the information sent by the UE may be forwarded to the SMF or the PCF by the AMF network element.

Fig. 5 is a schematic flow chart of a method 100 for sending information to an edge server provided by the present application. By way of example and not limitation, the first control plane core network element in fig. 5 may be an AMF network element or an SMF network element or a PCF network element.

Step S101, a first control plane core network element receives first information of User Equipment (UE), wherein the first information comprises information sent by the UE to an edge configuration server.

By way of example and not limitation, the user equipment UE may send the first information to the SMF via a session setup request message, a session modification request message, a non-access stratum Container NAS Container message, or the like.

By way of example and not limitation, the first information sent by UE #1 to the SMF may include: a service configuration request (service provisioning request), a service subscription update request (service provisioning update request), and a service unsubscribe request (service provisioning request).

In an implementation manner, the service configuration request (service provisioning request), the service subscription request (service provisioning subscription request), the service subscription update request (service provisioning update request), and the service unsubscribe request (service provisioning unsubscribe request) may be included in the session establishment request message or the session modification request message. In another implementation, the request may be a separate NAS request.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, for example, a "service configuration request message" or the like may also be referred to as a "service configuration request", which is not described in detail below.

It should be understood that, in this embodiment of the present application, the first information sent by the UE to the first control plane core network element may be information sent by the UE to the edge configuration server. For example, the first information may be a service configuration request for requesting to acquire the identification information of the EES.

By way of example and not limitation, the first information may further include indication information indicating that the UE #1 is to acquire the identification information of the EES. The first information may further include application information such as an application ID (e.g., information of a service to which UE #1 is to be connected) or an application client profile. The first information may further include identification information of the UE #1, and the identification information of the UE #1 may be used for authentication of the UE #1 by the 5GC and/or the ECS. The first information may further include location information of UE #1, and the location information of UE #1 may be used for ECS and EES determined by the network side to serve the UE. The location information of UE #1 may include: tracking Area Identity (TAI) and/or Cell identity (Cell identity, Cell ID) where the UE #1 is located, or Data Network Access Identity (DNAI) corresponding to the current UE #1 (PDU session).

The first information may further carry a subscription indication, which is used to indicate that the 5GC and/or the ECS UE #1 subscribe to the change notification of the EES, that is, when the available EES information changes, the changed EES information is notified to the UE # 1. Wherein the changed EES information may be one or more of the following information: the new EES information, the old EES information, and the changed EES information compared to the EES information previously transmitted to the UE #1 are transmitted.

It is to be understood that the subscription indication information may be used to indicate change information of an edge server that may serve the UE when the UE location changes. That is, the subscription indication information may enable the UE to dynamically acquire information of a server that can serve the UE, which is currently updated in real time. In one implementation, the subscription indication information may be embodied by a service subscription request (service provisioning request) or a service subscription update request (service subscription update request).

Step S102, a first control plane core network element sends a first message to a first edge configuration server, where the first message includes first information and first notification information, and the first notification information includes notification address information of the first control plane core network element and/or context information of the UE.

In one implementation, the first control plane core network element may send the first message to the first edge configuration server through the second core network element. For example, when the first control plane core network element is an SMF, the first message may be sent to the first edge configuration server through the PCF network element.

In an implementation manner, after receiving the first information, the first control plane core network element may determine that the message needs to be sent to the ECS, and specifically, the first control plane core network element may determine that the message needs to be forwarded to the ECS and sent based on local configuration or according to a message name or according to subscription information and the like.

Specifically, the first control plane core network element receiving the first information sent by the UE may query a third core network element (e.g., an NRF network element), determine a first edge configuration server, and then send the first information to the first edge configuration server; or, the first control plane core network element receives first information sent by the UE, and determines the first edge configuration server according to the history storage information. Therefore, the address information of the ECS is configured on the network side, so that the flexibility of the address configuration of the edge server is improved, and the service experience is guaranteed.

It should be noted that, the first control plane core network element sends the first message to the first edge configuration server, where the first control plane core network element may directly forward the first information of the user equipment UE, that is, the content of the first message may completely include the first information, and the first information further includes the first notification information. The first notification information may include notification address information of the first control plane core network element and/or context information of the UE. According to the first notification information, the first edge configuration server may be facilitated to determine the address of the first control plane core network element, and the first edge configuration server or the first control plane core network element may also be used to determine the UE.

The first edge configuration server receives the first message, and can determine information to be sent to the UE according to the first message, namely second information; the address of the first control plane core network element may be determined according to the first notification address information, and then the second message may be sent to the first control plane core network element.

It should be noted that the first notification information in the embodiment of the present application is used to indicate the sending direction of the second information, for example:

in a possible implementation manner, when the first edge configuration server sends the information to the core network, the first notification information may be used to instruct the first edge configuration server to send the information to the network element direction of the first control plane core network.

In another possible implementation manner, when the first edge configuration server sends the information to the UE, the first notification information may be used to instruct the first edge configuration server to send the information to the UE.

In another possible implementation manner, the first notification information may also be used to instruct the first edge configuration server to send information to the UE through a core network element (e.g., SMF).

The second information in this application may be information sent by the first edge configuration server to the UE, and it should be noted that the information sent by the first edge configuration server to the UE may be determined according to the first information. As an example, if the first information in the first message is used for the UE to request to acquire the identification information of the EES, at this time, the first edge configuration server may acquire the identification information of the target EES according to the location information of the UE, the load information of the edge-enabled server, or the application information, and then send the identification information of the EES (i.e., the second message) to the first control plane core network element. As another example, if the first information in the first message includes the subscription indication information, at this time, the first edge configuration server may determine, according to the location information of the UE, that the identification information (i.e., the second message) of the edge-enabled server currently serving the UE is sent to the first control plane core network element.

The second information may include: a service configuration request response (service provisioning response), a service configuration subscription request response (service provisioning subscription response), a service configuration subscription update request response (service provisioning update response), and a service configuration unsubscription request response (service provisioning unsubscription response).

Step S103, the first control plane core network element receives a second message of the first edge configuration server, where the second message includes the first notification information and the second information, and the second information includes information sent by the first edge configuration server to the UE.

In one implementation, the first control plane core network element receives the second message of the first edge configuration server through the second core network element. For example, when the first control plane core network element is an SMF, the second message of the first edge configuration server may be received by the PCF network element.

In one implementation, the first notification information is included in a destination address of the second message packet.

It should be understood that the second message may be a response message to the first message. If the first message is a subscription message or contains subscription information, the second message may be a notification message corresponding to the first message, which may be sent multiple times. For example, the notification message is sent when the edge configuration server determines that the updated EES identification information needs to be sent to the UE. It should be noted that the request message, the notification message, and the response message are all referred to as "messages" in this application, but based on the specific steps of each embodiment, a person skilled in the art should understand and understand that the "message" is a request message, a notification message, or a response message, and details are not described below.

And the first control plane core network element receives a second message sent by the first edge configuration server according to the first message, wherein the second message comprises the first notification information and the second information.

In one implementation, the first edge configuration server determines, according to the first information in the first message, second information, for example, the first information is a service configuration request, the second information is a service configuration response, and the response information includes identification information or connection information of the determined EES. For another example, the first information is a service configuration subscription request, the second information is a service configuration notification, and the response information includes identification information or connection information of the determined EES. The connection information may be a URI and/or an Internet protocol IP address information of the edge server, the connection information may further include an instance identifier (instance ID) of the edge server, and the connection information may further include a Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) of the edge server

And step S104, the first control plane core network element sends second information to the UE according to the first notification information.

It should be noted that the first control plane core network element may determine to which UE the second information is sent according to the first notification information.

By way of example and not limitation, the first control plane core network element may send the second information to the UE through a session establishment reception message; or, the first control plane core network element may send the second information to the UE through the session modification command message, where the second information may be included in the session establishment reception message or the session modification command message as an NAS container; alternatively, the first control plane core network element may send the second information to the UE through other NAS messages.

According to the method for obtaining the edge service from the edge server provided by the embodiment of the application, the UE sends the relevant information through the control plane core network element, so that when the ECS or the EES belongs to the 5GC network element or the af (application function), the UE can send the information to the edge server (the ECS or the EES) through the core network element, and correspondingly, the edge server sends the identification information of the EES or the EAS to the UE through the core network element, thereby obtaining the edge service.

Fig. 6 is a schematic flow chart of a method 200 for sending information to an edge server according to a first embodiment of the present application. The method 200 shown in fig. 6 may be performed by network elements such as AMF, SMF, NRF, and ECS in the system shown in fig. 1. As shown in fig. 6, the method includes S201 to S211, and the present embodiment is described by taking UE #1 as an example, and each step is described in detail below.

In step S201, the ECS may register its own configuration information to the NRF.

By way of example and not limitation, the configuration information may include information such as the service scope of the ECS and the ID of the ECS.

It should be understood that in a scenario where ECSs employ distributed deployment, each ECS has a corresponding service scope, and the present embodiment includes a plurality of edge configuration servers, for example, ECS #1, ECS #2 … ECS # n. That is, multiple ECSs may register their own configuration files to the NRF, which may actually include multiple edge configuration servers registering their configuration information to the NRF.

In step S202, UE #1 may send first information to the SMF, where the first information includes information sent by UE #1 to the edge configuration server.

By way of example and not limitation, UE #1 may send the first information to the SMF through a session setup request message, a session modification request message, a non-access stratum Container NAS Container message, or the like.

By way of example and not limitation, the first information sent by UE #1 to the SMF may include: a service provisioning request (service provisioning request), a service subscription request (service subscription request), a service provisioning subscription update request (service subscription update request), and a service provisioning unsubscribe request (service subscription request).

In an implementation manner, the service configuration request (service provisioning request), the service configuration subscription request (service subscription request), the service configuration subscription update request (service subscription update request), and the service configuration unsubscribe request (service subscription cancel request) may be included in the session establishment request message or the session modification request message.

By way of example and not limitation, the first information may further include indication information indicating that the UE #1 is to acquire the identification information of the EES. The first information may further include application information such as an application ID (e.g., information of a service to which UE #1 is to be connected) or an application client profile. The first information may further include identification information of the UE #1, and the identification information of the UE #1 may be used for authentication of the UE #1 by the 5GC and/or the ECS. The first information may further include location information of UE #1, and the location information of UE #1 may be used for ECS and EES determined by the network side to serve the UE. The location information of UE #1 may include: tracking Area Identity (TAI) and/or Cell identity (Cell ID) where the UE #1 is located, or Data Network Access Identity (DNAI) corresponding to the current PDU session of the UE # 1.

It is to be understood that the subscription indication information may be used to indicate change information of an edge server that may serve the UE when the UE location changes. That is, the subscription indication information may enable the UE to dynamically acquire information of a server that can serve the UE, which is currently updated in real time. In an implementation manner, the subscription indication information may be embodied by a service provisioning subscription request (service provisioning request) or a service provisioning subscription update request (service subscription update request).

In step S203, after receiving the first message, the SMF determines that the first message needs to be sent to the ECS.

Specifically, in one implementation, the SMF may determine that the information needs to be sent to the ECS based on the local configuration or according to the message name of the first information or according to the subscription information, and the like.

In some embodiments, in step S203, the SMF may also check whether the UE #1 is allowed to send information to the edge server. That is, the SMF may check whether the information sent by UE #1 to the edge configuration server is legitimate. For example, the SMF may determine whether UE #1 is allowed to send information to the edge server according to the subscription information of UE # 1.

In one possible implementation, the SMF may first determine to which ECS the information (first information) should be sent, that is, the SMF may first obtain the identification information of the ECS (ECS #1 for example).

In step S204, the SMF obtains identification information of the ECS (ECS #1 as an example).

It should be noted that, for convenience of description, the application takes ECS #1 as an example, that is, the SMF obtains an identification message of ECS # 1. As described above, since the NRF stores or configures address information, service range information, and the like of the ECS, the SMF can query the NRF to determine ECS #1 that can be served by UE # 1.

Specifically, at step S204a, the SMF may send a message #1 to the NRF requesting to query the ECS for information. Optionally, the message #1 may include location information of the UE # 1.

At step S204b, the NRF determines the identification information of ECS # 1.

By way of example and not limitation, the NRF may determine the target ECS, i.e., ECS #1, based on the UE #1 current location information and the service range of the ECS. For example, the service area of ECS #1 includes area 1, area 2, and the UE #1 is currently located in area 1, the NRF may determine that ECS #1 is the ECS serving UE # 1.

It should be understood that the location information of UE #1 may be reported to the NRF by the SMF, or the NFR may send a request to the AMF to query the location information of UE # 1.

At step S204c, the NRF may send message #2 to the SMF, where message #2 includes identification information of ECS # 1. Specifically, if the NRF determines the target ECS #1, the NRF sends identification information of ECS #1 (for example, Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) of ECS #1 and/or internet protocol IP address information of ECS #1, and may also be instance identifier (instance ID) of ECS #1) to the SMF.

In some embodiments, step S205 may be further included, and the SMF may further store the received identification information of ECS #1, so that after receiving the first information of the UE, the SMF checks whether the request of the UE is legal.

In some embodiments, step S206 may be further included, and ECS #1 authenticates and authorizes UE # 1. The UE #1 may be verified and authorized by using a similar Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session authentication method in the prior art, that is, the SMF provides a transfer service for an authentication or authorization-related message between the UE #1 and the ECS #1, which may specifically refer to a method for authenticating a PDU session by a third party in the prior art, and is not described herein again.

As described above, after acquiring the identification information of the ECS, the SMF may send a message #3 (an example of a first message) to a target ECS (e.g., ECS #1, an example of a first edge configuration server), where the message #3 includes the first information and first notification information, and the first notification information includes notification address information of the SMF and/or context information of the UE.

In step S207, the SMF may send a message #3 to the ECS #1, where the message #3 includes first information and first notification information, and the first notification information includes notification address information of the SMF and/or context information of the UE.

The notification address information of the SMF may be, for example, a URI of the SMF.

In another possible implementation manner, the first notification information may also be used to instruct the first edge configuration server to send information to the UE through a core network element (e.g., SMF), which is not described in detail below.

That is, the SMF may forward the received first information to the ECS #1 and carry the first notification information. In this application, the first notification information may be used to determine address information of a network element of the core network and/or information of the UE, for example, ECS #1 may determine which SMF or which UE to send the response message to according to the first notification address information.

That is, the SMF may transmit the first information to the corresponding ECS according to the identification information of ECS #1 received in step S204 c.

In one implementation, the SMF may invoke a service configuration request of ECS #1, for example, the SMF sends a service provisioning request message to ECS #1, where the message includes: first information and first notification information.

Specifically, the content of the first information may be the content of the first information in step S202.

By way of example and not limitation, the content of the message #3 may include indication information for indicating that the UE #1 is to acquire the identification information of the EES. Identification information of UE #1 and application information may also be included. The content of message #3 may also include location information of UE #1, which may be used by ECS #1 to determine EES # 1. The location information of UE #1 may include: tracking Area Identity (TAI) and/or Cell identity (Cell identity, Cell ID) where the UE #1 is located, or Data Network Access Identity (DNAI) corresponding to the current UE #1 (PDU session). It should be understood that the request #3 may also carry subscription indication information for subscribing to the EES #1 change notification, for example, if the UE #1 carries a subscription indication in step S202, the SMF may also carry subscription indication information in this step. It should be understood that if the SMF carries the subscription request, the SMF may also carry the notification address (e.g., notification URI) of the SMF itself for subsequent ECS #1 sending the EES #1 change notification to the SMF. As described above, in this embodiment, the network element of the 5GC core network may also be other network elements such as an AMF or a PCF instead of the SMF, and then the AMF or the PCF may carry the notification address of the AMF or the PCF itself, so that the ECS #1 may send the EES #1 change notification to the AMF or the PCF subsequently.

It should be noted that the SMF may send the message #3 to the ECS #2 through the PCF, and the ECS #2 may also receive the message #3 through the PCF.

In step S208, ECS #1 receives message #3 and determines message # 4.

In one possible implementation, ECS #1 receives message #3, and may determine that UE #1 wants to acquire information based on the first information.

As an example, when the first information contains indication information, i.e., identification information indicating that the UE #1 is to acquire the EES, the ECS #1 needs to determine an identification message of the EES #1 (an example of the second information).

Specifically, ECS #1 may determine the target EES in several ways:

the first method is as follows: ECS #1 determines EES #1 according to the position information of UE # 1;

for example, ECS #1 may determine an EES closest to the location of UE #1 as a target EES, namely EES #1, according to the location of UE # 1. If the service area of EES #1 includes zone 1, zone 2, and UE #1 is currently located in zone 1, ECS #1 may determine EES #1 as the EES serving UE # 1.

The second method comprises the following steps: ECS #1 can determine EES #1 based on the application id;

for example, ECS #1 may determine an EES having a service to which UE #1 is to be connected as a target EES, that is, EES #1, according to application identification information requested by UE #1, for example. If the application (i.e., EAS) managed by EES #1 includes application 1, application 2, and the application id requested by UE #1 corresponds to application 1, ECS #1 may determine EES #1 as the EES serving UE # 1.

The third method comprises the following steps: ECS #1 may determine EES #1 based on the load information.

For example, ECS #1 may determine an EES with the smallest load or a smaller load as a target EES, i.e., EES #1, according to the managed load information of each EES.

It should be understood that the above manner is only an example, the manner of determining the EES #1 by the ECS #1 in the embodiment is not limited thereto, and a person skilled in the art can arbitrarily determine the target EES #1 according to actual needs.

It should be understood that ECS #1 can refer to the prior art for determining EES #1, and the present embodiment is not limited thereto.

It should be appreciated that in some embodiments, ECS #1 authenticates and authorizes UE #1 if step S206 is included. If the ECS #1 authenticates the UE #1, the message #3 may be carried in the authentication message, i.e., step S207 may be included in S206.

In step S209, ECS #1 sends message #4 to the SMF, where message #4 includes the first notification information and the second information, and the second information includes information sent by ECS #1 to UE # 1. It should be understood that ECS #1 may send message #4 to SMF via PCF.

It should be noted that the message #4 carries the first notification address information, so that the subsequent SMF determines to which UE to send the second information.

As a possible implementation, the second information may be identification information of EES # 1. By way of example and not limitation, the identification information of EES #1 may include the URI of EES #1 and/or the internet protocol IP address information of EES #1, and may further include the instance ID of EES # 1.

As another possible implementation manner, if the first information includes the subscription indication information, the ECS #1 needs to monitor the location change of the UE #1 in order to dynamically select the EES #1 most suitable for the current location of the UE # 1. As one example, ECS #1 may send a subscription request to the SMF for a user plane path management event for subscribing to the UE #1 session. It should be understood that when the 5GC is the AMF, the ECS #1 may also send a subscription request to the AMF for subscribing to a location change event of the UE #1 at this time.

It should be appreciated that subsequently, if the location of UE #1 moves, resulting in the SMF detecting a DNAI change event or the AMF detecting a location change event, the SMF or the AMF may send a notification message to ECS #1, and ECS #1 may determine a new EES #1 based on the new location of UE #1 or the new DNAI. Therein, EES #1 may be one or more EES.

For the EES #1 address information change notification, ECS #1 may transmit identification information (an example of second information) of new (or changed) EES #1 to the SMF. It should be understood that, among other things, the identification information of the changed or new EES may be one or more of the following information: the new EES identification information, the old EES identification information, and the changed EES identification information compared to the EES identification information previously transmitted to the UE #1 are transmitted.

In some embodiments, step S210 may be further included, where the SMF stores the received EES #1 identification information, so that when the subsequent UE #1 requests the EES #1 information from the SMF, the SMF checks whether the request is legal.

It should be noted that ECS #1 may send message #4 to SMF through PCF, and SMF may receive message #4 through PCF, which is not described in detail below.

In step S211, the SMF receives the message #4 and transmits the second information to the UE #1 based on the first notification address information.

By way of example and not limitation, the SMF may send the second information to the UE through a session setup receive message; alternatively, the SMF may send the second information to the UE through a session modification command message; alternatively, the SMF may send the second information to the UE through a non-access stratum Container NAS Container message.

In one embodiment, the SMF sends the identification information of EES #1 to UE #1 through a NAS message, for example, the SMF may send message #5 to UE #1, where message #5 includes the identification information of EES # 1. Corresponding to step S202, the message name of message #5 may include, but is not limited to: session setup receive message, session modification command message or non access stratum Container NAS Container message, etc.

It should be understood that, for the EES #1 address information change notification, the SMF may transmit the identification information (an example of the second information) of the new EES #1 to the UE #1 through a UCU command (UE configuration update command) message, a PDU session modification request message, or the like. If the identification information of EES #1 is transmitted through the PDU session related message, the identification information of EES #1 may be carried in a Protocol Configuration Option (PCO) and transmitted to UE # 1.

Of course, in the embodiment of the present application, the core network may also send the identification information of the edge server to the base station first, and then the base station sends the identification information to the UE # 1.

According to the method of the embodiment of the application, the UE sends the relevant information through the control plane core network element, so that when the ECS is the core network element or the AF, the UE sends the information to the ECS through the core network element, and correspondingly, the ECS sends the information to the UE through the core network element, so that the edge service is obtained, and the existing mechanism (including the UE and the network side network element) is slightly changed. In addition, the technical scheme provided by the application can realize the configuration of the address information of the ECS on the network side, improve the flexibility of the address configuration of the edge server and ensure the service experience. Moreover, the embodiment of the present application may further enable the UE to obtain the updated address information of the EES or EAS in real time when the address information of the EES or EAS changes.

Fig. 7 is a schematic flow chart of a method 300 for obtaining edge services according to a second embodiment of the present application.

It should be understood that the 5GC core in this embodiment may also be another 5GC network element such as an AMF or a PCF, that is, the following steps may also be performed by replacing the SMF with another 5GC network element in this embodiment.

The method 300 shown in fig. 7 may be performed by network elements such as AMF, SMF, NRF, and ECS in the system shown in fig. 1. As shown in fig. 7, the method includes steps S301 to S313, and the present embodiment is described by taking UE #2 as an example, and each step is described in detail below.

In step S301, ECS #2 may register its own configuration information to the NRF.

It should be understood that in a scenario where the ECS is deployed in a distributed manner, each ECS has a corresponding service scope, and the ECS in this embodiment may include a plurality of edge configuration servers, for example, ECS #1, ECS #2 … ECS # n. That is, multiple ECSs may register profiles to the NRF, which may actually involve multiple edge configuration servers registering their profiles to the NRF.

In step S302, UE #2 may send third information to the SMF, where the third information includes identification information that UE #1 requests to acquire an ECS.

By way of example and not limitation, UE #2 may send the third information to the SMF through a session setup request message, a session modification request message, a non-access stratum Container NAS Container message, or the like.

By way of example and not limitation, the first information that UE #1 transmits to the SMF may include: a service configuration request (service provisioning request), a service configuration subscription request (service provisioning subscription request), a service configuration subscription update request (service provisioning update request), and a service configuration unsubscribe request (service provisioning unsubscribe request).

In one implementation, the service configuration request (service provisioning request), the service configuration subscription request (service provisioning subscription request), the service configuration subscription update request (service provisioning subscription update request), and the service configuration unsubscribe request (service provisioning subscription request) may be included in the session establishment request message or the session modification request message.

By way of example and not limitation, the third information may further include indication information indicating that UE #2 is to acquire ECS; the third information may also include a default notification address for the ECS. The third information may further include identification information of UE #2, the identification information of UE #2 being used for the ECS to authenticate UE # 2. The third information may also include a default notification address of the requesting ECS.

Step S303, after receiving the third information, the SMF determines that the third information needs to be sent to the ECS.

Specifically, in one implementation, the SMF determines that the UE #2 needs to send the information to the ECS based on the local configuration or according to the message name of the third information or according to the subscription information, and the like.

In one possible implementation, the SME may first determine to which ECS the information (third information) should be sent, that is, the SMF may first obtain the identification information of the ECS (ECS #2 for example).

In step S304, the SMF obtains identification information of the ECS (ECS #2 as an example).

Specifically, at step S304a, the SMF may send a message #6 to the NRF requesting a query for ECS information. Optionally, the message #6 includes location information of the UE # 2.

In step S304b, the NRF determines the identification information of ECS # 2. Specifically, the NRF may determine a target ECS, i.e., ECS #2, based on the UE #2 current location information and the service range of ECS # 2. For example, the service area of ECS #2 includes area 3, area 4, and UE #2 is currently located in area 4, the NRF may determine that ECS #2 is the ECS serving UE # 2. It should be understood that the location information of UE #2 may be reported to the NRF by the SMF, or the NFR may send a request to the AMF to query the location information of UE # 2.

It should be understood that when the default notification address of the requesting ECS is included in message #6, the NRF in this step may also send the default notification address of the ECS to the SMF.

At step S304c, the NRF may send message #7 to the SMF, with ECS #2 identification information included in message # 7. Specifically, if the NRF determines that ECS #2 is appropriate, the NRF transmits ECS #2 identification information (for example, URI of ECS #2 and/or IP address information of ECS #1, and instance ID of ECS #2) to the SMF.

In some embodiments, step S305 may be further included, and the SMF may further store the received identification information of ECS #2, so that after the SMF receives the third information of the UE, the SMF checks whether the request of the UE is legal.

In step S306, the SMF sends fourth information to the UE #2, where the fourth information includes identification information of the ECS # 2.

Specifically, when there are multiple UEs simultaneously transmitting the fourth information to the SMF, the SMF may determine to which UE the fourth information should be transmitted through the UE identification information or the UE context information.

In one embodiment, the SMF sends the identification information of ECS #2 to UE #2 via a NAS message. It should be understood that if the third message sent by the UE #2 in step S302 includes the default notification address requesting the ECS #2, the SMF may also send the default notification address of the ECS #2 to the UE #2 in this step, i.e., the default notification address of the ECS #2 may be included in the fourth message.

By way of example and not limitation, the SMF element may send the fourth information to the UE through a session establishment reception message; alternatively, the SMF may send the fourth information to the UE through the session modification command message; alternatively, the SMF may send the fourth information to the UE through a non-access stratum Container NAS Container message.

In step S307, the UE sends fifth information to the SMF, where the fifth information includes information sent by UE #1 to the ECS.

It should be noted that the content of the fifth information in the present embodiment may be the same as the content included in the first information in the method 100 or the method 200.

By way of example and not limitation, the fifth information may include identification information of ECS #2, e.g., instance ID of ECS #2, etc.; the fifth information may further include indication information for indicating that the UE #2 wants to acquire the EES; the fifth information may further include a message that the UE #2 transmits to the ECS #2, for example, a service provisioning request or a service provisioning subscription request that the UE #2 transmits to the ECS # 2. The fifth information may further include information required when the UE #2 acquires the EES identification information, and it should be understood that, at this time, the SMF needs to generate a service provisioning request message or a service provisioning description request message according to the information, and then send the service provisioning request message or the service provisioning description request message to the ECS # 2. The fifth information may further include a default notification address of ECS # 2.

In some embodiments, the UE #2 sends the fifth information, where the fifth information does not include the identification information of the ECS #2, and at this time, after receiving the fifth information, the SMF may send a message to the corresponding ECS #2 according to the previously stored identification information of the ECS #2 (see step S305), so as to obtain the identification information of the EES.

It should be understood that the fifth information may further include subscription indication information for subscribing to the EES change notification.

By way of example and not limitation, the fifth information may also adopt NAS container encapsulation, i.e., the content of the fifth information is an outer NAS message. It should be understood that the request message between UE #2 and ECS #2 may also adopt other formats, and the embodiment is not limited.

In some embodiments, further comprising step S308, the SMF performs an authorization check to determine whether to forward the message sent by UE #2 to ECS #2, i.e. the fifth information, to ECS # 2. Specifically, the comparison may be performed based on the identification information of the ECS #2 stored in step S305, and if the identification information of the ECS in the fifth information is not consistent with the identification information of the stored ECS, and the SMF determines that the request of the UE #2 is illegal or invalid, the SMF may refuse to send the fifth information to the ECS # 2.

As described above, after acquiring the identification information of the ECS, the SMF may send a message #8 to the target ECS (e.g., ECS #2), where the message #8 includes the fifth information and the first notification information, and the first notification information includes the notification address information of the SMF and/or the context information of the UE.

In step S309, the SMF may send a message #8 to the ECS #2, where the message #8 (an example of the first message) includes fifth information and first notification information, and the first notification information includes notification address information of the SMF and/or context information of the UE.

Corresponding to step S307, the message #8 may be a service provisioning request message or a service provisioning description request message generated by the SMF according to the fifth information, or may be that the fifth information itself includes a NAS request message (a service provisioning request message or a service provisioning description request message).

By way of example and not limitation, the SMF may send message #8 to ECS #2 in several ways:

the first method is as follows: the SMF uses the default notification address of ECS #2 or sends message #8 to ECS # 2.

In one implementation, the SMF sends the message to ECS #2 using the default notification address of ECS # 2. It should be understood that when the request #4 sent by the UE #2 in step S302 includes the default notification address of the request ECS #2, then the SMF may also obtain the default notification address of ECS #2 in step S304. At this point, in this step, the SMF may send the message to ECS #2 using the default notification address of ECS # 2. I.e. after receiving request #4, SMF sends request #7 to the default notification address of the ECS to obtain the identification information of the EES.

In another implementation, when the third information sent by the UE #2 in step S302 does not include the default notification address of the ECS #2, but includes other identification information of the ECS #2, for example, the instance ID of the ECS # 2. At this time, the SMF may acquire the default notification address of ECS #2 according to other identification messages of ECS #2, for example, the SMF acquires the default notification address of ECS #2 from a locally saved profile of ECS #2 or from an NRF acquired profile of ECS # 2.

The second method comprises the following steps: the SMF invokes the service configuration request of ECS #2 sending message #8 to ECS # 2.

In one implementation, the SMF invokes a service configuration request of ECS #2 to send message #8 to ECS # 2. For example, ECS #2 defines an EES provisioning service (service provisioning service), the SMF calls the EES provisioning service, a message (fifth message) sent by UE #2 to ECS #2 is sent to ECS #2, and accordingly, ECS #2 sends available EES information to the SMF. In one implementation, the SMF may obtain the service address information of ECS #2 according to the identification of ECS #2, for example, the SMF obtains the address information of ECS #2 from a locally stored configuration file of ECS #2 or from a configuration file of ECS #2 obtained by the NRF.

The third method comprises the following steps: the message #8 is transmitted using a service provisioning request message or a service provisioning subscription request message.

In one implementation, if the fifth information sent by the UE to the SMF in step S307 includes the subscription indication information, in this step, the SMF may generate a service provisioning reporting notification message # 8.

In another implementation, the SMF may generate a service provisioning request message or a service provisioning description request message according to information transmitted by the UE #2, so as to transmit it to the ECS # 2. At this time, the SMF may simulate the EEC to generate a service provisioning request message or a service provisioning description request message.

In some embodiments, the message #8 may further include location information of the UE #2, so that the ECS #2 determines the target EES, i.e. the EES #2, according to the location information of the UE #2, for example, information such as TAI and/or Cell ID where the UE #1 is located, or DNAI corresponding to the current PDU session of the UE # 1. Request #7 may also include application information.

It should be understood that, if the fifth information sent by the UE to the SMF in step S307 includes the change notification information of the subscribed EES, the SMF may carry the context identifier information of the UE #2 in the message #8, so that the ECS #2 may use the context identifier when sending the EES change notification, that is, the SMF associates the EES change notification with the UE #2, so that the EES change notification may be sent to the corresponding UE, that is, the UE # 2.

In step S310, ECS #2 receives message #8 and determines message # 9.

In one possible implementation, ECS #2 receives message #8, and may determine that UE #2 wants to acquire information according to the fifth information.

As an example, when the fifth information contains indication information, i.e., identification information indicating that the UE #2 is to acquire the EES, the ECS #2 needs to determine the identification message of the EES # 2.

By way of example and not limitation, ECS #2 may determine the target EES (e.g., EES #2) in several ways:

the first method is as follows: ECS #2 determines EES #2 according to the location information of UE # 2;

for example, ECS #2 may determine an EES closest to the location of UE #2 as a target EES, namely EES #2, according to the location of UE # 2. If the service area of EES #2 includes zone 3, zone 4, and UE #2 is currently located in zone 3, ECS #2 may determine EES #2 as the EES serving UE # 2.

The second method comprises the following steps: ECS #2 can determine EES #2 based on the application id;

for example, ECS #2 may determine an EES with the service as a target EES, i.e., EES #2, according to the application identification requested by UE #2, e.g., information of the service to be connected by UE # 2. If the application (i.e., EAS) managed by EES #2 includes

applications

3 and 4, and the application id requested by UE #2 corresponds to application 4, ECS #2 may determine EES #2 as the EES serving UE # 2.

The third method comprises the following steps: ECS #2 may determine EES #2 based on the load information.

For example, ECS #2 may determine the EES with the least load or the smaller load as the target EES, i.e., EES #2, according to the managed EES load information.

It should be understood that the above manner is only an example, the manner of determining the EES #2 by the ECS #2 in the embodiment is not limited thereto, and a person skilled in the art can arbitrarily determine the target EES #2 according to actual needs.

It should be understood that ECS #2 can also refer to the prior art for determining EES #2, and this embodiment is not limited thereto.

In step S311, the ECS #2 transmits a message #10 (an example of a second message) to the SMF, where the message #10 includes the first notification information and the sixth information, and the sixth information includes information transmitted by the ECS #2 to the UE # 2.

It should be noted that the message #10 carries the first notification address information, so that the subsequent SMF determines to which UE to send the sixth information.

As a possible implementation, the sixth information may be identification information of EES # 2. By way of example and not limitation, the identification information of EES #2 may include the URI of EES #2 and/or the internet protocol IP address information of EES #2, and may further include the instance ID of EES # 2.

In one implementation, ECS #2 sends message #10 to SMF, which may be a NAS container or NAS message. If the message is an EES change notification message, the notification message also carries the context identifier of UE #2, and then the SMF may associate to UE #2 according to the context identifier of UE #2, thereby sending the notification message to UE # 2.

In another implementation, the sending of the message #10 from the ECS #2 to the SMF may also be a service provisioning response, in which case, the SMF needs to acquire the identification information of the EES #2 from the response message, and then the SMF sends the identification information of the EES #2 to the UE #2 through the NAS message.

If the fifth message includes the subscription indication, the ECS #2 needs to monitor the location change of the UE #2 in order to dynamically select the EES #2 most suitable for the current location of the UE # 2. In one implementation, ECS #2 sends a subscription request to the SMF for a user plane path management event that subscribes to the UE #2 session. It should be understood that when the 5GC is the AMF, the ECS #2 may also send a subscription request to the AMF for subscribing to a location change event of the UE #2 at this time.

It should be appreciated that subsequently, if the location of UE #2 moves, resulting in the SMF detecting a DNAI change event or the AMF detecting a location change event, the SMF or the AMF may send a notification message to ECS #2, and ECS #2 may determine a new EES #2 based on the new location of UE #2 or the new DNAI. Therein, EES #2 may be one or more EES.

It should be understood that for the EES address information change notification, the SMF may identify the context of the associated UE #2 according to the context of UE #2, and may thus transmit the EES #2 change notification to UE # 2.

In some embodiments, step S312 may be further included, where the SMF stores the received EES #2 identification information, so that when the subsequent UE #2 requests the EES #2 information from the SMF, the SMF checks whether the request is legal.

In step S313, the SMF receives the message 10 and transmits the sixth information to the UE #2 according to the first notification address information. .

By way of example and not limitation, the SMF element may send the sixth information to the UE through a session establishment reception message; alternatively, the SMF may send the sixth information to the UE through the session modification command message; alternatively, the SMF may send the sixth information to the UE through a non-access stratum Container NAS Container message.

If the SMF receives the NAS container or the NAS message, the SMF may directly send the NAS container to UE # 2; if the SMF receives the service provisioning response in step S209c, the SMF may encapsulate the identification information of the EES #2 in another NAS message and send the NAS message to the UE # 2.

Of course, in the embodiment of the present application, the core network may also send the identification information of the edge server to the base station first, and then the base station sends the identification information to the UE # 2.

As described above, the involved network element of the 5GC core may also be an AMF, that is, the SMF may also be replaced by the AMF in the method in the foregoing embodiment, and the flow of the embodiment is specifically described with the 5GC core as the AMF as an example. It should be understood that although the method described in the foregoing embodiments is not specifically described by taking the AMF as an example, the implementation steps of the AMF and the implementation steps of the SMF are substantially similar, and the slight differences in the individual steps are within the scope of the present application as long as those skilled in the art can understand or know how to change the steps according to the prior art.

Fig. 8 is a schematic flow chart of a method 400 for acquiring edge service according to a third embodiment of the present application. The method 400 shown in fig. 8 may be performed by network elements such as AMF, PCF, NRF, and ECS in the system shown in fig. 1. As shown in fig. 8, the method includes steps S401 to S411, the present embodiment is illustrated by taking UE #3 as an example, the method 400 of the present embodiment is similar to the method 100 of fig. 6, and each step is described in detail below.

In step S401, the ECS may register its own configuration information to the NRF.

It should be understood that in a scenario where the ECS is deployed in a distributed manner, each ECS has a corresponding service scope, and the ECS in this embodiment may include a plurality of edge configuration servers, for example, ECS #1, ECS #2 … ECS # n. That is, multiple ECSs may register configuration information to the NRF, which may actually involve multiple edge configuration servers registering their configuration files to the NRF.

In step S402, the UE #3 may transmit seventh information (an example of the first information) to the AMF, where the seventh information includes information transmitted by the UE #3 to the edge configuration server.

By way of example and not limitation, UE #3 may send the seventh information to the AMF through a session setup request message, a session modification request message, a non-access stratum Container NAS Container message, and the like.

By way of example and not limitation, the seventh information sent by UE #3 to the AMF may include: a service provisioning request (service provisioning request), a service subscription request (service subscription request), a service provisioning subscription update request (service subscription update request), and a service provisioning unsubscribe request (service subscription request).

By way of example and not limitation, the seventh information may include indication information indicating that the UE #3 is to acquire the identification information of the EES. The seventh information may further include application information such as an application ID (e.g., information of a service to which UE #3 is to be connected) or an application client profile. The seventh information may further include identification information of UE #3, and the identification information of UE #3 may be used for authentication of UE #3 by 5GC and/or ECS. Request #8 may also include the default notification address of the requesting ECS. The seventh information may further carry a subscription indication, which is used to indicate that the 5GC and/or ECS UE #1 subscribe to the EES change notification. The seventh message may also carry a default notification address for the ECS.

Step S403, after receiving the seventh message, the AMF determines that the seventh message needs to be sent to the ECS.

Specifically, in one implementation, the AMF determines that the UE #3 needs to send the information to the ECS based on the local configuration or according to the message name of the seventh information or according to the subscription information, and the like.

In some embodiments, the AMF may also check whether the UE #3 is allowed to send information to the edge server in step S403. That is, the AMF may check whether the information sent by the UE #3 to the edge configuration server is legal. For example, the AMF may determine whether UE #3 is allowed to send information to the edge server according to the subscription information of UE # 3.

In one possible implementation, the AMF may first determine to which ECS the information (seventh information) should be sent, that is, the AMF may first obtain the identification information of the ECS (ECS #3 for example).

At step S404, the AMF obtains identification information of the ECS (ECS #3 as an example).

Optionally, the AMF may obtain the identification information of the ECS #3 from the NRF, and specifically, in step S404a, the AMF may send a message #11 to the NRF for requesting to query the ECS information.

In step S404b, the NRF determines ECS #3 identification information.

By way of example and not limitation, the NRF may determine the appropriate ECS #3 based on the UE #3 current location information and the service range of ECS # 3. It should be understood that the location information of UE #3 may be reported to the NRF by the AMF, and the NFR may also send a request to the AMF to query the location information of UE # 3.

At step S404c, the NRF may send message #12 to the AMF, the message #12 including the identification information of ECS # 3. Specifically, if the NRF identifies the target ECS, that is, ECS #3, the NRF transmits identification information of ECS #3 (for example, URI of ECS #3 and/or internet protocol IP address information of ECS #1, and instance ID of ECS #3) to the AMF.

The AMF may also obtain the identification information of the ECS #3 by other means, and in one implementation, the seventh message includes a default notification address of the ECS, and the AMF may obtain the default notification address of the ECS to obtain the identification information of the ECS.

In another implementation, the seventh information does not include the default notification address of the ECS, but includes other identification information of the ECS, for example, the Instance ID of the ECS, at this time, the AMF may obtain the notification address of the ECS #3 according to the other identification of the ECS, for example, the AMF obtains the notification address of the ECS #3 from a configuration file of the locally-saved ECS.

In some embodiments, step S405 may be further included, and the AMF may further store the received identification information of ECS #3, so that after receiving the seventh information of the UE, the subsequent AMF checks whether the request of the UE is legal.

In some embodiments, step S406 may also be included, and ECS #3 authenticates and authorizes UE # 3. The UE #3 may be verified and authorized in a manner similar to PDU session authentication in the prior art, that is, the AMF provides a transfer service for an authentication or authorization related message between the UE #3 and the ECS #3, which may specifically refer to a method for authenticating a PDU session by a third party in the prior art, which is not described herein again.

As described above, after acquiring the identification information of the ECS, the AMF may send a message #13 to the target ECS (e.g., ECS #3), where the message #13 includes the seventh information and the first notification information, and the first notification information includes the notification address information of the AMF and/or the context information of the UE.

In step S407, the AMF may send a message #13 to the ECS #3, where the message #13 includes the seventh information and the first notification information, and the first notification information includes notification address information of the AMF and/or context information of the UE.

The notification address information of the AMF may be, for example, a URI of the AMF.

That is, the AMF may forward the received seventh information to the ECS #3 and carry the first notification information. In this application, the first notification information may be used to determine address information of the network element of the core network and information of the UE, for example, ECS #3 may determine to which AMF or which UE to send the response message according to the first notification address information.

In one implementation, the AMF may invoke a service configuration request of the ECS, for example, a service provisioning request message sent by the AMF to the ECS, where the message includes: seventh information and first notification information.

Specifically, the content of the seventh information may be the content of the seventh information in step S402.

By way of example and not limitation, message #13 may include identification information of UE #3 and application information. The message #13 may also include location information of UE #3, which may be used by ECS #3 to determine the target EES, EES # 3. The location information of the UE #3 includes, for example, the TAI and/or Cell ID where the UE #3 is located, or the DNAI corresponding to the current PDU session of the UE # 3.

It should be understood that the message #13 may also carry subscription indication information for subscribing to the EES change notification, for example, if the UE #3 carries a subscription indication in step S302, the AMF may also carry subscription indication information in this step. If the change notification of the EES #3 is subscribed, the message may further carry a context identifier of the UE #3, and the ECS #3 may use the context identifier when sending the change notification of the EES, so that the AMF and the PCF associate the change notification of the EES with the UE #3, and thus may send the change notification of the EES to the UE # 3.

It should be noted that the AMF may send the message #13 to the ECS #3 through the PCF and/or the SMF, and the ECS #3 may also receive the message #13 through the PCF and/or the SMF.

In step S408, ECS #3 receives message #13 and determines message # 14.

In one possible implementation, the ECS #3 receives the message #13, and may determine that the UE #3 wants to acquire information according to the seventh information.

As an example, when the seventh information contains indication information, i.e., identification information indicating that the UE #3 is to acquire the EES, the ECS #3 needs to determine the identification message of the EES # 3.

Specifically, ECS #3 may determine the target EES (e.g., EES #3) in several ways:

the first method is as follows: ECS #3 determines EES #3 according to the position information of UE # 3;

for example, ECS #3 may determine an EES closest to the location of UE #3 as a target EES, namely EES #3, according to the location of UE # 3. If the service area of EES #3 includes zone 5, zone 6, and UE #3 is currently located in zone 5, ECS #3 may determine EES #3 as the EES serving UE # 3.

The second method comprises the following steps: ECS #3 may determine EES #3 based on the application id;

for example, ECS #3 may determine an EES with the service as a target EES, i.e., EES #3, according to the application identifier of UE #3, e.g., information of the service to which UE #3 is to be connected. If the application (i.e., EAS) managed by the EES #3 includes the

applications

5 and 6, and the application id requested by the UE #1 corresponds to the application 6, the ECS #3 may determine that the EES #3 is the EES serving the UE # 3.

The third method comprises the following steps: ECS #3 may determine EES #3 based on the load information.

For example, ECS #3 may determine an EES with the smallest load or a smaller load as a target EES, namely EES #3, according to the managed load information of each EES.

It should be understood that the above manner is only an example, the manner of determining the EES #3 by the ECS #3 in the embodiment is not limited thereto, and a person skilled in the art can arbitrarily determine the target EES #3 according to actual needs.

It should be understood that the ECS #3 can determine the EES #3 according to the prior art, and the embodiment is not limited thereto.

It should be appreciated that in some embodiments, ECS #3 authenticates and authorizes UE #3 if step S206 is included. If the ECS #3 authenticates the UE #3, the message #13 may be carried in the authentication message, i.e., step S307 may be included in S406.

In step S409, ECS #3 sends message #14 to AMF, where message #14 includes the first notification information and the eighth information, and the eighth information includes information sent by ECS #1 to UE # 1.

It should be noted that the message #14 carries the first notification address information, so that the subsequent AMF determines to which UE to send the second information.

As a possible implementation, the eighth information may be identification information of the EES # 3. By way of example and not limitation, the identification information of EES #3 may include the URI of EES #3 or the instance ID of EES # 3.

As another possible implementation manner, if the seventh message includes the subscription indication message, the ECS #3 needs to monitor the location change of the UE #3 in order to dynamically select the EES #3 most suitable for the current location of the UE # 3. In one implementation, ECS #3 sends a subscription request to the AMF for a user plane path management event subscribing to the UE #3 session, i.e. sends a subscription request to the AMF for a location change event subscribing to UE # 3.

It should be appreciated that subsequently, if the location of UE #3 moves, resulting in the SMF detecting a DNAI change event or the AMF detecting a location change event, the SMF or the AMF may send a notification message to ECS #3, and ECS #3 may determine a new EES #3 based on the new location of UE #3 or the new DNAI. Therein, EES #3 may be one or more EES.

For the EES #3 address information change notification, ECS #3 may send the identification information (an example of the second information) of the new (or changed) EES #3 to the AMF. It should be understood that, among other things, the identification information of the changed or new EES may be one or more of the following information: the new EES identification information, the old EES identification information, and the changed EES identification information compared to the EES identification information previously transmitted to the UE # 3.

In some embodiments, step S410 may be further included, where the AMF stores the received EES #3 identification information, so that when the UE #3 subsequently requests the EES #3 information from the AMF, the AMF checks whether the request is legal.

In step S411, the AMF receives the message #14, and transmits eighth information to the UE #3 according to the first notification address information.

By way of example and not limitation, the AMF may send the second information to the UE through a session establishment reception message; alternatively, the AMF may send the second information to the UE through a session modification command message; alternatively, the AMF may send the second information to the UE through a non-access stratum Container NAS Container message.

According to the method of the embodiment of the application, the UE sends the relevant information through the control plane core network element, so that when the ECS is the core network element or AF, the UE sends the information to the ECS through the core network element, the ECS sends the information to the UE through the core network element and gives the NAS protocol, thereby obtaining the edge service, and the change of the existing mechanism (including the UE and the network side network element) is small. In addition, the technical scheme provided by the application can realize the configuration of the address information of the ECS on the network side, improve the flexibility of the address configuration of the edge server and ensure the service experience. In addition, the embodiment of the present application may also implement that when the address information of the EES or the EAS changes, the UE may also obtain the updated address information of the EES or the EAS in real time.

The application scenario of this embodiment may be performed after the previous embodiment, that is, after the UE obtains the identification information of the EES, the UE further sends a request to the target EES (take EES #4 as an example) for requesting the identification information of the application server EAS.

It should be understood that the method for the UE to obtain the EES identification information may adopt the method of the present application, or may also adopt a method in the prior art, and the method for the UE to obtain the EES identification information is not limited in this embodiment.

Fig. 9 is a schematic flow chart of a method 500 for acquiring edge service according to a fourth embodiment of the present application. It should be understood that the 5GC core in this embodiment may also be an AMF, that is, the following steps may also be performed by replacing the SMF with the AMF in this embodiment, which is not described again.

The method 500 shown in fig. 9 may be performed by network elements such as AMF, SMF, NRF, and EES in the system shown in fig. 1. As shown in fig. 9, the method includes steps S501 to S507, each of which is described in detail below.

In step S501, UE #4 obtains identification information of EES # 4.

As described above, the method for the UE #4 to obtain the EES #4 identification information may adopt the method of the present application, or may adopt a method according to the prior art, and the method for the UE #4 to obtain the EES #4 address information is not limited in this embodiment.

In step S502, the UE #4 transmits ninth information to the SMF, the ninth information including information transmitted by the UE #4 to the edge-enabled server.

By way of example and not limitation, UE #4 may send the ninth information to the AMF through a session setup request message, a session modification request message, a non-access stratum Container NAS Container message, and the like.

By way of example and not limitation, the ninth information may include indication information for indicating that UE #4 wants to acquire identification information of EAS; the ninth information may further include EES #4 identification information; the ninth information may further include application information such as at least one of an identification of an application to be discovered, a similar application to be discovered, a configuration file of an application client, and the like.

It should be understood that the ninth information further includes subscription indication information for indicating that the SMF or EES #4 subscribes to the EAS change notification from the UE # 4.

It should be understood that the ninth information may further include identification information of EES # 4.

UE #4 may also encapsulate the information that needs to be sent to EES #4 into a NAS container so that the SMF forwards the information in the NAS container to EES # 4.

In step S503, the SMF receives the ninth message, and determines that the ninth message needs to be sent to the EES.

Specifically, in one implementation, the SMF determines that the UE #4 needs to send the information to the EES based on the local configuration or according to the message name of the ninth information or according to the subscription information, and the like.

In some embodiments, step S504 is further included, and the SMF performs an authorization check.

Specifically, the identification information of EES #4 stored based on the history may be compared, and if the identification information of EES #4 in the ninth message is not consistent with the identification information of EES #4 stored, and the SMF determines that the request of UE #4 is illegal or invalid, the SMF may refuse to send the ninth message to EES # 4.

In one possible implementation, the SMF may first determine to which EES the information should be sent (the ninth information), that is, the SMF may first obtain the identification information of the EES (for example, ECS # 3).

In step S505, the SMF sends a message #15 to the EES #4, where the message #15 includes the ninth information and the first notification information, and the first notification information includes notification address information of the SMF and/or context information of the UE.

That is, the SMF may forward the received ninth information to the EES #4 and carry the first notification information. In this application, the first notification information may be used to determine address information of a network element of the core network and information of the UE, for example, EES #4 may determine which SMF or which UE sends the response message according to the first notification address information.

In one implementation, SMF may send an EAS discovery request to EES #4 based on the identification information of EES #4 received in step S502; alternatively, according to the method in the embodiment of the present application, if the SMF stores the identification information of EES #4 sent by ECS #4, the SMF may also send the EAS discovery request to EES #4 according to the identification information of EES #4 stored in the history.

By way of example and not limitation, the SMF sends message #15 to EES #4, and the message #15 may be sent in the following manners:

the first method is as follows: the SMF sends message #15 to EES #4 using the default notification address of EES # 4.

In one implementation, the SMF sends the message to EES #4 using the default notification address of EES # 4. It should be understood that, when the ninth information transmitted by the UE #4 in step S502 includes the default notification address of the request EES #4, the SMF may also obtain the default notification address of the EES # 4. At this point, in this step, the SMF may send the message to ECS #4 using the default notification address of ECS # 4.

In another implementation, when the ninth information sent by the UE #4 in step S502 does not include the default notification address of the EES #4, but includes other identification information of the EES #4, for example, the instance ID of the EES # 4. At this time, the SMF may obtain the notification address of EES #4 according to other identification messages of EES #4, for example, the SMF may obtain the notification address of EES #4 from the configuration file of EES #4 stored locally or from the configuration file of EES #4 obtained by the NRF, and the SMF may send the message to ECS #4 by using the notification address of ECS # 4.

The second method comprises the following steps: SMF calls the service of EES #4 to send message #14 to EES # 4.

In one implementation, SMF invokes the service of EES #4 to send message #14 to EES # 4. For example, EES #4 defines an application discovery service (EAS discovery service), and the SMF calls the application discovery service and transmits a message, which is transmitted by UE #4 to EES #4, to EES # 4. In one implementation, the SMF may obtain the service address information of EES #4 according to the identifier of EES #4, for example, the SMF obtains the address information of EES #4 from the configuration file of EES #4 stored locally or the configuration file of ECS #2 obtained from the NRF.

The third method comprises the following steps: the message #14 is transmitted using a service provisioning request message or a service provisioning subscription request message.

The method is as follows: the ninth message may further include identification information of EES #4, and the SMF transmits the message to EES #4 using the identification information of EES # 4.

In one implementation, if the ninth information sent by the UE to the SMF in step S502 includes a subscription indication, in this step, the SMF may generate an EAS discovery request message # 15.

In another implementation, the SMF may generate an EAS discovery request message based on information transmitted by UE #2 to transmit to EES # 4. At this time, the SMF may simulate the EEC to generate an EAS discover request message.

In some embodiments, message #15 may also include location information of UE #4, so that the EES determines the target EAS, i.e., EAS #1, based on the location information of UE # 4. The location information of UE #4 may include, for example, information such as TAI and/or Cell ID where UE #4 is located, or DNAI corresponding to UE #4 currently (PDU session). Message #15 may also include application information.

It should be understood that if the UE sends the ninth information to the SMF in step S502, the UE is subscribed to change notification of EAS, in this step, the SMF may also carry a subscription request, and if the SMF carries the subscription request, the SMF may also carry a notification address for the EES #4 to send EAS change notification.

In step S506, EES #4 receives message #15 and determines message # 16.

In one possible implementation, the EES #4 receives the message #15, and may determine that the UE #4 wants to acquire information according to the ninth information.

As an example, when the ninth information contains indication information, i.e., identification information indicating that the UE #4 is to acquire EAS, the EES #4 needs an identification message to determine the EAS # 1.

Specifically, EES #4 may determine the target EAS (e.g., EAS #1) in several ways:

the first method is as follows: EES #4 determines EAS #1 according to the location information of UE # 4;

for example, EES #4 may determine the EAS closest to the location of UE #4 as the target EAS, i.e., EAS #1, according to the location of UE # 4. If the service area of EAS #1 includes zone 7, zone 8, and UE #4 is currently located in zone 7, EES #4 may determine that EAS #1 is the EAS serving UE # 4.

The second method comprises the following steps: EES #4 can determine EAS #1 based on the application identity;

for example, the EES #4 may determine the EAS having the service as the target EAS, i.e., EAS #1, according to the application identification requested by the UE #4, e.g., information of the service to which the UE #4 is to be connected. If the application managed by EAS #1 includes application 7, application 8, and the application identification requested by UE #4 corresponds to application 8, EES #4 may determine that EAS #1 is the EAS serving UE # 4.

The third method comprises the following steps: EES #4 may determine EAS #1 based on the load information.

For example, the EES #4 may determine the EAS having the smallest load or the smaller load as the target EAS, i.e., EAS #1, based on the load information of the managed EAS.

It should be understood that the above manner is only an example, the manner of determining the EAS #1 by the EES #1 in the present embodiment is not limited thereto, and the target EAS #1 can be determined arbitrarily by those skilled in the art according to actual needs.

It should be understood that the manner in which EES #1 determines EAS #1 can be found in the prior art, and the present embodiment is not limited thereto.

In step S507, EES #4 transmits a response #16 to the SMF, and the message #16 includes first notification information and tenth information, and the tenth information includes information that EES #1 transmits to UE # 4.

Note that the message #16 carries the first notification address information, so that the subsequent AMF determines to which UE to send the tenth information.

As one possible implementation, the tenth information may be identification information of EAS # 1. By way of example and not limitation, the identification information of EAS #1 may include the URI of EAS #1 or the instance ID of EAS # 1.

As another possible implementation manner, if the ninth message includes the subscription indication message, the EES #4 needs to monitor the location change of the UE #4 in order to dynamically select the EAS #1 most suitable for the current location of the UE # 4. In one implementation, EES #4 sends a subscription request to the SMF for a user plane path management event that subscribes to the UE #4 session. It should be understood that when the 5GC is the AMF, the EES #4 may also send a subscription request to the AMF for subscribing to the location change event of the UE #4 at this time.

It should be appreciated that subsequently, if the location of UE #4 moves, resulting in the SMF detecting a DNAI change event or the AMF detecting a location change event, the SMF or the AMF may send a notification message to EES #4, and EES #4 may determine a new EAS #1 based on the new location of UE #4 or the new DNAI. The EAS #1 may be one or more EAS.

For the EAS #1 address information change notification, the EES #4 may transmit the identification information (an example of the second information) of the new (or changed) EAS #1 to the AMF. It should be understood that, among other things, the identification information of the changed or new EAS may be one or more of the following: new EAS identification information, old EAS identification information, and changed EAS identification information compared to the EAS identification information previously transmitted to UE # 4.

In step S507, the SMF receives the message #16 and transmits tenth information to the EAS #1 based on the first notification address information.

By way of example and not limitation, the SMF may send the tenth information to the UE through a session establishment receive message; alternatively, the SMF may send the tenth information to the UE through the session modification command message; alternatively, the SMF may send the tenth information to the UE through a non-access stratum Container NAS Container message.

As mentioned above, the 5GC core may also be AMF, that is, the method of this embodiment may also replace SMF with AMF. It should be understood that although the method described in this embodiment is not specifically described with reference to the AMF as an example, the implementation steps of the AMF and the implementation steps of the SMF are substantially similar, and the slight differences in the individual steps are within the scope of the present application as long as those skilled in the art can understand or know how to change the steps according to the prior art.

According to the method of the embodiment of the application, the UE sends the relevant information through the control plane core network element, so that when the ECS is the core network element or the AF, the UE sends the information to the ECS through the core network element to obtain the edge service, correspondingly, the ECS sends the information to the UE through the core network element, and the change of the existing mechanism (including the UE and the network side network element) is small. In addition, the technical scheme provided by the application can realize the configuration of the address information of the ECS on the network side, improve the flexibility of the address configuration of the edge server and ensure the service experience. Moreover, the embodiment of the present application may further enable the UE to obtain the updated address information of the EES or EAS in real time when the address information of the EES or EAS changes.

The application scenario of this embodiment may be that after obtaining the identification information of the target ECS, the UE sends a subscription request to the target ECS, where the subscription request is used to subscribe the EES change notification. It should be noted that the subscription notification message sent by the ECS to the UE may be a NAS message.

It should be understood that the method for the UE to obtain the ECS identification information may adopt the method of the present application, or may also be according to the method in the prior art, and the method for the UE to obtain the ECS identification information is not limited in this embodiment.

It should also be understood that the method for the UE to send the subscription request to the target ECS may be a method in the prior art, or may be a method in the implementation of the present application. That is, the subscription request may be sent through an HTTP protocol or may be sent through an NAS protocol, and in this embodiment, no limitation is imposed on a method for sending the subscription request to the ECS by the UE.

It should be understood that the UE may send the subscription request to the core network or to the edge server (for example, ECS) when the location changes, or the UE may send information to the core network, where the information includes the subscription request.

Fig. 10 is a schematic flow chart of a method 600 for acquiring an edge service according to an embodiment of the present application. In this embodiment, taking UE #5 as an example, UE #5 sends a request for subscribing to an EES address change to a 5G Core (5G Core, 5 GC). When detecting that the address of the EES (taking EES #5 as an example) currently served by the UE #5 is changed, the corresponding ECS #5 sends a subscription change notification to the 5GC, and then the 5GC sends the identification information of the new EES #5 to the UE # 5.

It should be noted that EES #5 in the embodiment of the present application may also refer to an EES after change, which is not described in detail below.

It should be understood that, in the embodiment of the present application, taking the UE to obtain the change information of the EES as an example, the process and the step of obtaining the address change notification of the EAS by the UE are basically similar to those in the embodiment, and only the ECS needs to be changed into the EES correspondingly, and the change subscription of the EES needs to be changed into the change of the EAS, which is not described again.

It should be understood that, in the methods of the previous embodiments of the present application, the UE may also obtain the EES change notification according to the method of the present embodiment.

It should be understood that in this embodiment, the 5GC core may be an SMF, an AMF, a PCF, or a NEF.

The method 600 shown in fig. 10 may be performed by network elements such as AMF, SMF, PCF, NEF, and ECS in the system shown in fig. 1. As shown in fig. 10, the method includes steps S601 to S605, each of which is described in detail below.

In some embodiments, step S601 may be included, the UE #5 acquiring identification information of the ECS # 5.

By way of example and not limitation, the identification information of ECS #5 may include the URI of ECS #5 or the Instance ID of ECS # 5; address information of ECS #5 may also be included.

Step S602 may be further included in some embodiments, and UE #5 acquires the notification URI of the AMF or SMF or PCF.

In one implementation, the AMF or SMF sends the notification URI of the AMF or SMF or PCF to UE #5 in a session setup response or a session modification request, etc. In another implementation, the notification URI of the AMF or SMF or PCF and the identification information of ECS #5 may be sent to UE #5 in the same message. Optionally, UE #5 may also obtain a token for checking by the subsequent SMF.

In step S603, the UE #5 transmits an EES change subscription request to the ECS # 5.

Optionally, the UE #5 may send an EES change subscription request to the ECS #5 through a core network element. UE #5 may also send an EES change subscription request directly to ECS # 5.

The change subscription request message may also be referred to as a service provisioning subscribe request, and is used for subscribing to change information of the EES to ECS # 5.

The request message may include indication information for indicating that ECS #5 transmits a notification to UE #5 through 5 GC; the request message may further include a notification URI of the AMF, SMF, or PCF, and when the ECS #5 detects that the address information of the EES is changed, the ECS #5 sends a notification to the SMF, AMF, or PCF through the notification URI. The request message may also include the IP address of UE # 5. Token information may also be included in the request message. In one implementation, the AMF or SMF or PCF encapsulates its notification URI after receiving the request message. In another implementation, the UE includes the notification URI of the AMF or SMF or PCF when sending the request.

In step S604, ECS #5 detects an event.

Here, the event may be an EES #5 address change event, and the triggering condition for EES #5 update is satisfied.

ECS #5 in order to dynamically select the EES best suited to the current location of UE #5, the location change of UE #5 is monitored. In one implementation, ECS #5 sends a subscription request to the SMF (possibly through PCF) for a user plane path management event that subscribes to the UE #5 session. It should be understood that ECS #5 may also send a subscription request to the AMF for subscribing to a location change event for UE # 5. It should be appreciated that subsequently, if the location of UE #5 moves, resulting in the SMF detecting a DNAI change event or the AMF detecting a location change event, the SMF or the AMF may send a notification message to ECS #5, and ECS #5 may determine a new EES #5 based on the new location of UE #5 or the new DNAI. Therein, EES #5 may be one or more EES.

In step S605, ECS #5 transmits the information after the change of EES #5 to UE # 5.

Here, the address information of the changed EES #5 may be included in the service provisioning notification message. Optionally, ECS #5 may also send token information received in step S503. The ECS #5 transmits the changed EES #5 information (for example, the new EES #5 information, the old EES #5 information, etc.) to the UE #5, and includes the following three modes.

The first method is as follows:

in step S605a1, ECS #5 determines the PCF serving UE #5 based on the IP address of UE #5, and ECS #5 transmits the information of the changed EES #5 to the PCF. In one implementation, ECS #5 may be sent to the PCF via the NEF; in another implementation, ECS #5 may send the changed identification information of EES #5 directly to the PCF. In another implementation, ECS #5 may be sent to the PCF via the NEF.

In step S605b1, the PCF determines the SMF serving UE #5 by the IP address, and the PCF transmits the identification information of the changed EES #5 to the SMF.

Step S605c1, the SMF further sends the changed identification information of EES #5 to the UE # 5; or, the PCF sends the changed identification information of the EES #5 to the UE #5 through the AMF, and specifically, may send the changed identification information to the UE #5 through the UE Configuration Update procedure.

The second method comprises the following steps:

in step S605a2, if the request message in step S503 further includes the AMF/SMF/PCF notification URI, ECS #5 may send the modified identification information of EES #5 to the AMF/SMF/PCF based on the notification URI. The changed identification information of EES #5 may be included in the service provisioning notification message.

In step S605b2, the AMF/SMF/PCF may associate to the UE #5 according to the notification URI, and then transmit the identification information of the changed EES #5 to the UE # 5. In an implementation manner, the changed identification information of EES #5 may be sent to UE #5 by the SMF through a message such as PDU session initiation accept or PDU session modification request. In some embodiments, the SMF may also calculate a check code according to the notification URI and the ECS #5 address, and then the SMF checks whether the check code is legal or not, and if not, the SMF refuses to send the identification information of the changed EES #5 to the UE # 5.

The third method comprises the following steps:

step S605a3, the ECS #5 calls the service of the NEF, sends the updated identification information of the EES #5 to the NEF, and also includes the identification of the UE #5 (e.g., the Internet Protocol (IP) address or the general public user identification generic public description identifier, GPSI) of the UE # 5).

In step S605b3, in an implementation manner, if the identifier of UE #5 is GPSI, the NEF may determine the PCF serving UE #5 according to the GPSI, and specifically, the NEF may notify the PCF that there is new identifier information of EES #5 through the UDR. In another implementation, if the UE id is an IP address, the NEF determines the PCF serving the UE #5, which is not described again in the same manner as the first implementation.

In step S605c3, the PCF transmits the identification information of the new EES #5 to the UE #5 (through the AMF). The PCF transmits the identification information of the changed EES #5 to the UE,

in another implementation, the ECS #5 may determine to send the identification information of the changed EES #5 to the 5GC network element (NEF or PCF or SMF or AMF mentioned in the foregoing manner) based on the indication information in step S603, where the indication information is used to instruct the ECS #5 to send a notification to the UE #5 through the 5GC, and then the 5GC network element sends the notification to the UE # 5.

According to the method of the embodiment of the application, when the identification information of the EES or the EAS is changed, the UE can also obtain the updated identification information of the EES or the EAS in real time, so that the flexibility of sending information to the edge server by the UE is improved, and the service experience is guaranteed.

Fig. 11 is a schematic flow chart diagram of a method 700 for acquiring an edge server according to a sixth embodiment of the present application. The method 700 shown in fig. 11 may be performed by network elements such as AMF, SMF, NEF, PCF, UDR, and ECS in the system shown in fig. 1. As shown in fig. 7, the method includes steps S701 to S710, and the present embodiment is described by taking UE #6 as an example, and each step is described in detail below.

In step 701, the ECS provides its own configuration information to the 5GC (e.g., PCF and/or SMF).

Specifically, the configuration information may be first sent to the NEF via request #1, for example, request #1 may be an Nnef _ trafficinfluence _ Create/udp request.

By way of example and not limitation, the configuration information may include one or more of the following: the service scope of the ECS, the Data Network Name (DNN), the single network slice selection assistance information (S-NSSAI), the DNAI, and the address of the ECS.

It should be understood that in a scenario where the ECS is deployed in a distributed manner, each ECS may have a corresponding service scope, and the present embodiment may include a plurality of edge configuration servers, for example, ECS #1, ECS #2 … ECS # n.

In this step, the ECS may also subscribe to the core network for the notification message, for example, the ECS provides a notification address to the core network so that the core network sends the notification message to the ECS.

Optionally, the configuration information of the ECS may also be preconfigured in the 5GC network element (for example, configured in PCF, SMF, or UDR), which is not limited herein.

Step 702, NEF saves the ECS configuration information to UDR.

In some embodiments may also include step 703, the UDR sending the ECS configuration information to the PCF.

In one implementation, the PCF may subscribe to the UDR for change information of the ECS in advance, and when the UDR receives or stores configuration information of a new ECS, the UDR may notify the PCF and/or SMF of the configuration information of the new ECS, and correspondingly, the PCF and/or SMF stores or configures the configuration information of the new ECS.

In another implementation, the UDR may be enabled to actively notify the PCF of the configuration information of the ECS when the UDR receives the configuration information of the new ECS. Optionally, the PCF may send ECS configuration information to the SMF. It should be noted that the ECS configuration information may be configured on the PCF, may be configured on the SMF, or may be configured on both the SMF and the PCF, which is not limited in this application. If the ECS subscribes to the core network in step S701, the PCF may determine which SMFs to send subscription requests to according to the DNN, S-NSSAI, DNA, or service scope of the ECS, so that the SMFs may send notifications to the ECS directly when receiving the information of the UE, or send notifications to the ECS through the PCF.

In step S704, the UE #6 transmits eleventh information to the 5GC (SMF for example), the eleventh information including information transmitted by the UE #6 to the edge configuration server.

By way of example and not limitation, UE #6 may send the eleventh information to the SMF through a session setup request message, a session modification request message, a non-access stratum Container NAS Container message, or the like.

By way of example and not limitation, the eleventh information sent by UE #6 to the SMF may include: a service configuration request (service provisioning request), a service configuration subscription request (service provisioning subscription request), a service configuration subscription update request (service provisioning update request), and a service configuration unsubscribe request (service provisioning unsubscribe request).

In another implementation manner, the service configuration request (service provisioning request), the service configuration subscription request (service provisioning subscription request), the service configuration subscription update request (service provisioning subscription update request), and the service configuration unsubscribe request (service provisioning subscription request) may be used as a new NAS message.

By way of example and not limitation, the eleventh information may further include indication information for indicating that the UE #6 is to acquire the identification information of the EES. The eleventh information may further include application information such as an application ID (e.g., information of a service to which UE #1 is to be connected) or an application client profile. The eleventh information may further include identification information of UE #6, and the identification information of UE #6 may be used for authentication of UE #6 by the 5GC and/or the ECS. The eleventh information may further include location information of UE #6, and the location information of UE #1 may be used for ECS and EES determined by the network side to serve the UE. The location information of UE #6 may include: tracking Area Identity (TAI) and/or Cell identity (Cell identity, Cell ID) where the UE #6 is located, or Data Network Access Identity (DNAI) corresponding to the current PDU session of the UE # 6.

The eleventh information may further carry a subscription indication, which is used to indicate that the 5GC and/or the ECS UE #6 subscribe to the change notification of the EES, that is, when the available EES information changes, the changed EES information is notified to the UE # 1. Wherein the changed EES information may be one or more of the following information: the new EES information, the old EES information, and the changed EES information compared to the EES information previously transmitted to the UE #1 are transmitted.

In a possible implementation manner, the eleventh information may further include DNN, S-NSSAI, and other information.

In step S705, the SMF receives the eleventh information, and determines that the eleventh information needs to be sent to the ECS.

Specifically, in one implementation, the SMF may determine that the information needs to be sent to the ECS based on a local configuration or according to a message name of the eleventh information or according to subscription information, etc.

In step S706, the SMF obtains identification information of the ECS (ECS #6 as an example).

In one possible implementation, if the SMF stores or configures the configuration information of the ECS, or the SMF obtains the configuration information of the ECS from the PCF, the SMF may determine an ECS, e.g., ECS #6, based on the UE location and the service area of the ECS.

In one possible implementation, the SMF may send the eleventh information to the PCF, and in the case that the PCF configures the ECS configuration information, the PCF may determine an ECS, e.g., ECS #6, based on the UE location and the service range of the ECS.

In this embodiment, since the 5GC core network already stores the configuration information of the ECS, the SMF, the PCF, or the AMF may determine the target ECS, for example, ECS # 6.

In step S707, the SMF may transmit a message #17 to the ECS #6, the eleventh information being included in the message # 17.

It should be understood that if the PCF determines the identification information of ECS #6 in step S706, the PCF may send message #17 to ECS #6 in this step.

It should be noted that the SMF may also transmit the message #17 to the ECS #6 via the PCF.

The message #17 may also include the IP address of the UE, DNN, S-NSSAI. In one possible implementation, the message may be an Npcf _ PolicyAuthorization _ Notify request.

In step S708, ECS #6 receives message #17 and determines message # 18.

In one possible implementation, the ECS #6 receives the message #17, and may determine that the UE #6 wants to acquire information according to the eleventh information.

As an example, when the eleventh information contains indication information, i.e., identification information indicating that the UE #6 is to acquire the EES, the ECS #6 needs to determine the identification message of the EES # 6.

Specifically, the ECS determines the identification message of EES #6 according to the method 200, the method 300, or the method 400, which is not described in detail herein.

Meanwhile, in this step, the ECS may also establish an AF session of an application function network element according to the IP address, DNN, and S-NSSAI of the UE, and the AF session is bound to the IP address of the UE and/or the PDU session corresponding to DNN, S-NSSAI. For example, the ECS may send an Npcf _ PolicyAuthorization _ Create message to the PCF to establish the AF session.

Step S709, ECS #6 sends message #18 to the PCF, message #18 including the twelfth information, which includes the information ECS #6 sent to UE # 6.

As a possible implementation, the twelfth information may be identification information of the EES # 6. By way of example and not limitation, the identification information of EES #6 may include URI of EES #6, FQDN, and/or internet protocol IP address information of EES #6, and may further include instance ID of EES # 6.

In one possible implementation, ECS #6 may send an Npcf _ PolicyAuthorization _ Create request message to the PCF that includes the twelfth information.

In one possible implementation, ECS #6 may send message #18 to the PCF via the AF session established in step S708, for example, the ECS sends an Npcf _ PolicyAuthorization _ update message to the PCF, where the message includes the twelfth information.

If the eleventh message includes a subscription indication, the ECS #6 needs to monitor the location change or session path change of the UE #6 in order to dynamically select the EES #6 most suitable for the current location of the UE # 6. In one implementation, ECS #6 sends a subscription request to the SMF for a user plane path management event that subscribes to the UE #6 session. Alternatively, ECS #6 may also send a subscription request to the AMF for subscribing to a location change event of UE # 6.

It should be appreciated that subsequently, if the location of UE #6 moves, resulting in the SMF detecting a DNAI change event or the AMF detecting a location change event, the SMF or the AMF may send a notification message to ECS #6, and ECS #6 may determine a new EES #6 based on the new location of UE #6 or the new DNAI. Therein, EES #6 may be one or more EES.

In step S710, the PCF receives message #18 and transmits the twelfth information to UE # 6.

It should be noted that, in step S708, the ECS establishes an AF session according to the IP address, DNN, S-NSSAI of the UE, and the AF session is bound to the IP address of the UE and/or the PDU session corresponding to DNN, S-NSSAI, so in this step, the PCF may determine to which UE to send the twelfth information.

It should be understood that the PCF may also send the twelfth message to UE #6 via the SMF after receiving message # 18.

It should be understood that the method 700 of this embodiment may also be used in combination with the steps of the foregoing various embodiments, for example, the method 700 of this embodiment may also implement that the UE acquires the EAS identification information.

It should be understood that the various embodiments described herein may be implemented as stand-alone solutions or combined in accordance with inherent logic and are intended to fall within the scope of the present application.

It should be understood that the network elements of the first control plane core network in the embodiment of the present application are only examples of the SMF, the AMF, the PCF, and related network elements, and should not limit the present application in any way. The present application does not exclude the possibility of using one or more of them to implement the same or similar functionality in other application scenarios, nor does the present application exclude the possibility of using one or more other network elements to implement the same or similar functionality in other application scenarios.

It should also be understood that, in the various embodiments of the present application, the sequence numbers of the processes do not mean the execution sequence, and the execution sequence of the processes should be determined by the functions and the inherent logic of the processes, and should not constitute any limitation to the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application.

The above description is made from the execution of actions by a single device and the interaction between devices in connection with fig. 5 to 11, respectively

The communication method provided by the embodiment of the application. The following describes an apparatus for acquiring edge services according to an embodiment of the present application with reference to fig. 12 to 14. It should be understood that the description of the apparatus embodiments corresponds to the description of the method embodiments, and therefore, for brevity, details are not repeated here, since the details that are not described in detail may be referred to the above method embodiments.

The above-mentioned scheme provided by the embodiment of the present application is introduced mainly from the perspective of interaction between network elements. It will be understood that each network element, in order to implement the above-described functions, comprises corresponding hardware structures and/or software modules for performing the respective functions. Those of skill in the art would appreciate that the various illustrative components and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as hardware or combinations of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is performed as hardware or computer software drives hardware depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the solution. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present application.

In the embodiment of the present application, the functional modules may be divided according to the above method example for the transmitting end device or the receiving end device, for example, each functional module may be divided corresponding to each function, or two or more functions may be integrated into one processing module. The integrated module can be realized in a hardware mode, and can also be realized in a software functional module mode. It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the division of the module is schematic, and is only one logic function division, and there may be another division manner in actual implementation. The following description will be given by taking an example in which each function module is divided for each function.

Fig. 12 is a schematic block diagram of an apparatus 100 for acquiring an edge service according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown, the apparatus 100 may include: a transceiving unit 110 and a processing unit 120.

In a possible design, the apparatus 100 may be the first control plane core network element in the foregoing method embodiment, or may be a chip for implementing the function of the first control plane core network element in the foregoing method embodiment.

It should be understood that the apparatus 100 may correspond to the first control plane core network element in the method 100, the SMF network element in the method 200, the SMF network element in the method 300, the AMF network element in the method 400, the SMF network element in the method 500, the SMF network element in the method 600, and the SMF network element in the method 700 according to the embodiment of the present application, and the apparatus 100 may include means for performing the method performed by the first control plane core network element of the method 100 in fig. 5, means for the method performed by the SMF of the method 200 in fig. 6, means for the method performed by the SMF of the method 300 in fig. 7, means for the method performed by the AMF of the method 400 in fig. 8, means for the method performed by the SMF of the method 500 in fig. 9, means for the method performed by the SMF of the method 600 in fig. 10, and means for the method performed by the SMF of the method 700 in fig. 11. Also, the units in the apparatus 100 and the other operations and/or functions described above are respectively for implementing corresponding flows of the method 100 in fig. 5, the method 200 in fig. 6, the method 300 in fig. 7, the method 400 in fig. 8, the method 500 in fig. 9, the method 600 in fig. 10, and the method 700 in fig. 11. It should be understood that the specific processes of the units for executing the corresponding steps are already described in detail in the above method embodiments, and therefore, for brevity, detailed descriptions thereof are omitted.

Fig. 13 is a schematic block diagram of an apparatus 200 for acquiring an edge service according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown, the apparatus 200 may include: a transceiving unit 210 and a processing unit 220.

In a possible design, the apparatus 200 may be the first edge configuration server network element in the foregoing method embodiment, or may be a chip for implementing the function of the first edge configuration server network element in the foregoing method embodiment.

It should be understood that the apparatus 200 may correspond to the first edge configuration server in the method 100, the ECS #1 network element in the method 200, the ECS #2 network element in the method 300, the ECS #3 network element in the method 400, the ECS #5 network element in the method 600, and the ECS #6 network element in the method 700 according to embodiments of the present application, and the apparatus 200 may include units for performing the method performed by the first edge configuration server of the method 100 in fig. 5, the method performed by the ECS #1 of the method 200 in fig. 6, the method performed by the ECS #2 of the method 300 in fig. 7, the method performed by the ECS #3 of the method 400 in fig. 8, the method performed by the ECS #5 of the method 600 in fig. 10, and the method performed by the ECS #6 of the method 700 in fig. 11. Also, the units in the apparatus 200 and the other operations and/or functions described above are respectively for implementing corresponding flows of the method 100 in fig. 5, the method 200 in fig. 6, the method 300 in fig. 7, the method 400 in fig. 8, the method 600 in fig. 10, and the method 700 in fig. 11. It should be understood that the specific processes of the units for executing the corresponding steps are already described in detail in the above method embodiments, and therefore, for brevity, detailed descriptions thereof are omitted.

In another possible design, the apparatus 200 may be a network storage function network element in the foregoing method embodiment, and may also be a chip for implementing the function of the network storage function network element in the foregoing method embodiment.

It should be understood that the apparatus 200 may correspond to the NRF network element in the method 200, the NRF network element in the method 300, the NRF network element in the method 400, and the NRF network element in the method 500 according to the embodiments of the present application, and the apparatus 200 may include means for performing the method performed by the NRF of the method 200 in fig. 6, the method performed by the NRF of the method 300 in fig. 7, the method performed by the NRF of the method 400 in fig. 8, and the method performed by the NRF of the method 500 in fig. 9. Also, the units in the apparatus 200 and the other operations and/or functions described above are respectively for implementing the corresponding flows of the method 200 in fig. 6, the method 300 in fig. 7, the method 400 in fig. 8, and the method 500 in fig. 9. It should be understood that the specific processes of the units for executing the corresponding steps are already described in detail in the above method embodiments, and therefore, for brevity, detailed descriptions thereof are omitted.

Fig. 14 is a block diagram illustrating an architecture of an apparatus 300 for acquiring an edge service according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The apparatus 300 shown in fig. 14 includes: a processor 310, a memory 320, and a transceiver 330. The processor 310 is coupled to the memory for executing instructions stored in the memory to control the transceiver 330 to transmit signals and/or receive signals.

It should also be understood that the transceiver 330 in the device 300 may correspond to the transceiving unit 110 shown in fig. 12 and the transceiving unit 210 shown in fig. 13; the processor 310 in the device 300 may correspond to the processing unit 120 shown in fig. 12 and the processing unit 220 shown in fig. 13.

It should be appreciated that the processor 310 and the memory 320 may be combined into a single processing device, and that the processor 310 is configured to execute program code stored in the memory 320 to implement the functions described above. In particular implementations, the memory 320 may be integrated with the processor 310 or may be separate from the processor 310. It is to be understood that the processor 310 may also correspond to various processing units in the preceding device, and the transceiver 330 may correspond to various receiving units and various transmitting units in the preceding device.

It is also understood that the transceiver 330 may include a receiver (or, alternatively referred to as a receiver) and a transmitter (or, alternatively referred to as a transmitter). The transceiver may further include an antenna, and the number of antennas may be one or more. The transceiver 330 may also be a communication interface or interface circuit.

In a possible design, the apparatus 300 may be the first control plane core network element in the foregoing method embodiment, or may be a chip for implementing the function of the first control plane core network element in the foregoing method embodiment.

Specifically, the apparatus 300 may correspond to the first control plane core network element in the method 100, the SMF network element in the method 200, the SMF network element in the method 300, the AMF network element in the method 400, the SMF network element in the method 500, the SMF network element in the method 600, and the SMF network element in the method 700 according to the embodiment of the present application, and the apparatus 300 may include a unit for performing the method performed by the first control plane core network element of the method 100 in fig. 5, a unit for the method performed by the SMF of the method 200 in fig. 6, a unit for the method performed by the SMF of the method 300 in fig. 7, a unit for the method performed by the AMF of the method 400 in fig. 8, a unit for the method performed by the SMF of the method 500 in fig. 9, a unit for the method performed by the SMF of the method 600 in fig. 10, and a unit for the method performed by the SMF of the method 700 in fig. 11. Also, the units in the apparatus 300 and other operations and/or functions described above are respectively for implementing corresponding flows of the method 100 in fig. 5, the method 200 in fig. 6, the method 300 in fig. 7, the method 400 in fig. 8, the method 500 in fig. 9, the method 600 in fig. 10, and the method 700 in fig. 11. It should be understood that the specific processes of the units for executing the corresponding steps are already described in detail in the above method embodiments, and therefore, for brevity, detailed descriptions thereof are omitted.

In a possible design, the apparatus 300 may be the first edge configuration server network element in the foregoing method embodiment, or may be a chip for implementing the function of the first edge configuration server network element in the foregoing method embodiment.

In particular, the apparatus 300 may correspond to the first edge configuration server in the method 100, the ECS #1 network element in the method 200, the ECS #2 network element in the method 300, the ECS #3 network element in the method 400, the ECS #5 network element in the method 600, and the ECS #6 network element in the method 700 according to the embodiment of the present application, and the apparatus 300 may include units for performing the method performed by the first edge configuration server in the method 100 in fig. 5, the method performed by the ECS #1 in the method 200 in fig. 6, the method performed by the ECS #2 in the method 300 in fig. 7, the method performed by the ECS #3 in the method 400 in fig. 8, the method performed by the ECS #5 in the method 600 in fig. 10, and the method performed by the ECS #6 in the method 700 in fig. 11. Also, the units in the apparatus 300 and the other operations and/or functions described above are respectively for implementing corresponding flows of the method 100 in fig. 5, the method 200 in fig. 6, the method 300 in fig. 7, the method 400 in fig. 8, the method 600 in fig. 10, and the method 700 in fig. 11. It should be understood that, the specific processes of the units for executing the corresponding steps are already described in detail in the above method embodiments, and are not described herein again for brevity.

In another possible design, the apparatus 300 may be the network storage function network element in the foregoing method embodiment, and may also be a chip for implementing the function of the network storage function network element in the foregoing method embodiment.

In particular, the apparatus 300 may correspond to the NRF network element in the method 200, the NRF network element in the method 300, the NRF network element in the method 400, and the NRF network element in the method 500 according to the embodiments of the present application, and the apparatus 300 may include means for performing the method performed by the NRF of the method 200 in fig. 6, means for performing the method performed by the NRF of the method 300 in fig. 7, means for performing the method performed by the NRF of the method 400 in fig. 8, and means for performing the method performed by the NRF of the method 500 in fig. 9. Also, the units in the apparatus 300 and the other operations and/or functions described above are respectively for implementing the corresponding flows of the method 200 in fig. 6, the method 300 in fig. 7, the method 400 in fig. 8, and the method 500 in fig. 9. It should be understood that the specific processes of the units for executing the corresponding steps are already described in detail in the above method embodiments, and therefore, for brevity, detailed descriptions thereof are omitted.

According to the method provided by the embodiment of the present application, the present application further provides a computer program product, which includes: computer program code which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method of any one of the embodiments shown in fig. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11.

According to the method provided by the embodiment of the present application, a computer-readable medium is further provided, and the computer-readable medium stores program codes, and when the program codes run on a computer, the computer is caused to execute the method of any one of the embodiments shown in fig. 5, fig. 6, fig. 7, fig. 8, fig. 9, fig. 10, and fig. 11.

According to the method provided by the embodiment of the present application, the present application further provides a system, which includes the first control plane core network element and the first edge configuration server. The system may also include a third core network element.

According to the method provided by the embodiment of the present application, the present application further provides a system, which includes the first control plane core network element and the second edge configuration server.

In the above embodiments, the implementation may be wholly or partially realized by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, may be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When loaded and executed on a computer, cause the processes or functions described in accordance with the embodiments of the application to occur, in whole or in part. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a network of computers, or other programmable device. The computer instructions may be stored on a computer readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer readable storage medium to another, for example, from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center via wire (e.g., coaxial cable, fiber optic, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.). The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device, such as a server, a data center, etc., that includes one or more available media. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium (e.g., a floppy disk, a hard disk, a magnetic tape), an optical medium (e.g., a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., a Solid State Disk (SSD)), among others.

The network side device in the foregoing device embodiments corresponds to the terminal device and the network side device or the terminal device in the method embodiments, and the corresponding module or unit executes corresponding steps, for example, the communication unit (transceiver) executes the steps of receiving or transmitting in the method embodiments, and other steps except for transmitting and receiving may be executed by the processing unit (processor). The functions of the specific elements may be referred to in the respective method embodiments. The number of the processors can be one or more.

As used in this specification, the terms "component," "module," "system," and the like are intended to refer to a computer-related entity, either hardware, firmware, a combination of hardware and software, or software in execution. For example, a component may be, but is not limited to being, a process running on a processor, an object, an executable, a thread of execution, a program, and/or a computer. By way of illustration, both an application running on a computing device and the computing device can be a component. One or more components can reside within a process and/or thread of execution and a component may be localized on one computer and/or distributed between two or more computers. In addition, these components can execute from various computer readable media having various data structures stored thereon. The components may communicate by way of local and/or remote processes such as in accordance with a signal having one or more data packets (e.g., data from two components interacting with another component in a local system, distributed system, and/or across a network such as the internet with other systems by way of the signal).

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative elements and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware or combinations of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the implementation. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present application.

It is clear to those skilled in the art that, for convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the above-described systems, apparatuses and units may refer to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, and are not described herein again.

In the several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed system, apparatus and method may be implemented in other ways. For example, the above-described apparatus embodiments are merely illustrative, and for example, the division of the units is only one logical division, and other divisions may be realized in practice, for example, a plurality of units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted, or not executed. In addition, the shown or discussed mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection may be an indirect coupling or communication connection through some interfaces, devices or units, and may be in an electrical, mechanical or other form.

The units described as separate parts may or may not be physically separate, and parts displayed as units may or may not be physical units, may be located in one place, or may be distributed on a plurality of network units. Some or all of the units can be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of the embodiment.

In addition, functional units in the embodiments of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units are integrated into one unit.

The functions, if implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as a stand-alone product, may be stored in a computer readable storage medium. Based on such understanding, the technical solution of the present application or portions thereof that substantially contribute to the prior art may be embodied in the form of a software product stored in a storage medium and including instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device) to execute all or part of the steps of the method according to the embodiments of the present application. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: various media capable of storing program codes, such as a usb disk, a removable hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), a magnetic disk, or an optical disk.

The above description is only for the specific embodiments of the present application, but the scope of the present application is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art can easily conceive of the changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the present application, and shall be covered by the scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A method for obtaining edge services, comprising:

a first control plane core network element receives first information of User Equipment (UE);

the first control plane core network element sends a first message to a first edge configuration server, where the first message includes the first information and first notification information, and the first notification information includes notification address information of the first control plane core network element and/or context information of the UE;

the first control plane core network element receives a second message sent by the first edge configuration server according to the first message, wherein the second message comprises the first notification information and second information;

and the first control plane core network element sends the second information to the UE according to the first notification information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first notification information is used for indicating a transmission direction of the second information.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the receiving, by the first control plane core network element, first information of a User Equipment (UE) comprises:

the first control plane core network element receives first information of User Equipment (UE) through a session establishment request message; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

the first control plane core network element receives first information of User Equipment (UE) through a session modification request message; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

and the first control plane core network element receives first information of the user equipment UE through a non-access stratum Container NAS Container message.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the first information comprises at least one of: the service configuration request, the service configuration subscription update request and the service configuration unsubscribe request.

5. The method according to any of claims 1 to 4, wherein the sending, by the first control plane core network element, the second information to the UE according to the first notification information comprises:

the first control plane core network element sends the second information to the UE through a session establishment receiving message according to the first notification information; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

the first control plane core network element sends the second information to the UE through a session modification command message according to the first notification information; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

and the first control plane core network element sends the second information to the UE through a non-access stratum Container NAS Container message according to the first notification information.

6. The method according to any of claims 1 to 5, wherein the sending, by the first control plane core network element, the first message to the first edge configuration server comprises: and the first control plane core network element sends a first message to the first edge configuration server through a second core network element.

7. The method according to any of claims 1 to 6, wherein the receiving, by the first control plane core network element, the second message of the first edge configuration server comprises: and the first control plane core network element receives a second message of the first edge configuration server through a second core network element.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, further comprising:

the first control plane core network element sends a third message to a third core network element, where the third message is used to request to acquire identification information of an edge configuration server, and the identification information includes a uniform resource identifier of the edge configuration server and/or internet protocol IP address information of the edge configuration server;

and the first control plane core network element receives a fourth message of a third core network element, wherein the fourth message comprises the identification information of the first edge configuration server.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the third message includes location information of the UE, and wherein the location information of the UE is used by the third core network element to determine the first edge configuration server, and wherein the location information of the UE includes at least one of: the tracking area identifier of the UE, the cell identifier of the UE or the data network access identifier of the UE.

10. The method according to any of claims 1 to 9, wherein the first information further includes identification information of the first edge configuration server, and the first control plane core network element sends a first message to the first edge configuration server, including:

and the first control plane core network element sends a first message to the first edge configuration server according to the identification information of the first edge configuration server.

11. The method according to any of claims 1 to 10, wherein when the first information comprises an identification message of the UE requesting to obtain an edge-enabled server, the second information further comprises an identification message of the first edge-enabled server,

the identification information includes at least one of: uniform resource identifier information, instance identifier information, or internet protocol, IP, address information.

12. The method of any of claims 1 to 11, wherein the second information comprises an identification message of a first edge-enabled server, the method further comprising:

the first control plane core network element receives third information of the UE, wherein the third information comprises information sent by the UE to the first edge enabling server;

the first control plane core network element sends a fifth message to the first edge-enabled server, where the fifth message includes the third information and first notification information, and the first notification information includes notification address information of the first control plane core network element and/or context information of the UE;

the first control plane core network element receives a sixth message of the first edge-enabled server, where the sixth message includes the first notification information and fourth information, and the fourth information includes identification information of the first edge application server;

and the first control plane core network element sends the fourth information to the UE according to the first notification information.

13. The method according to any of claims 1 to 12, wherein the first control plane core network element receives a second message of the first edge configuration server, the second message comprising the first notification information and second information, the second information comprising information sent by the first edge configuration server to the UE, the method further comprising: and the first control plane core network element stores the second information.

14. The method according to any of claims 1 to 13, wherein the first control plane core network element comprises: a session management function network element or an access and mobility management function network element or a policy control network element.

15. A method for obtaining edge services, comprising:

a first edge configuration server receives a first message of a first control plane core network element, wherein the first message comprises first information and first notification information, and the first notification information comprises notification address information of the first control plane core network element and/or context information of the UE;

the first edge configuration server determines the second message according to the first information, the second message includes the first notification information and second information, and the second information includes information sent to the UE by the first edge configuration server;

and the first edge configuration server sends a second message to the first control plane core network element.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the first notification information is used to indicate a transmission direction of the second information.

17. The method according to claim 15 or 16, wherein the first information comprises at least one of: the service configuration request, the service configuration subscription update request and the service configuration unsubscribe request.

18. The method according to any of claims 15 to 16, wherein the receiving, by the first edge configuration server, the first message of the first control plane core network element comprises:

and the first edge configuration server receives a first message of a first control plane core network element through a second core network element.

19. The method according to any of claims 15 to 18, wherein the sending of the second message by the first edge configuration server to the first control plane core network element comprises:

and the first edge configuration server sends a second message to the first control plane core network element through a second core network element.

20. The method according to any of claims 15 to 19, wherein when the first information comprises an identification message of the UE requesting to acquire an edge-enabled server, the second information further comprises an identification message of the first edge-enabled server, and the identification information comprises at least one of the following information: uniform resource identifier information, instance identifier information, or internet protocol, IP, address information.

21. The method according to any of claims 15 to 20, wherein the first control plane core network element comprises: a session management function network element or an access and mobility management function network element or a policy control network element.

22. A method for obtaining edge services, comprising:

a third core network element receives a third message of a first control plane core network element, wherein the third message is used for requesting to acquire identification information of an edge configuration server, and the identification information comprises a uniform resource identifier of the edge configuration server and/or Internet Protocol (IP) address information of the edge configuration server;

the third core network element determines a fourth message according to the third message, wherein the fourth message comprises the identification information of the first edge configuration server;

and the third core network element sends the fourth information to the first control plane core network element.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the third message includes location information of the UE, and wherein the location information of the UE is used by the third core network element to determine the first edge configuration server, and wherein the location information of the UE includes at least one of: the tracking area identifier of the UE, the cell identifier of the UE or the data network access identifier of the UE.

24. The method according to claim 22 or 23, wherein the first control plane core network element comprises: a session management function network element or an access and mobility management function network element or a policy control network element.

25. An apparatus for acquiring edge services, comprising a transceiver unit:

the receiving and sending unit is used for receiving first information of User Equipment (UE);

the transceiver unit is further configured to send a first message to a first edge configuration server, where the first message includes the first information and first notification information, and the first notification information includes notification address information of the first control plane core network element and/or context information of the UE;

the transceiver unit is further configured to receive a second message of the first edge configuration server, where the second message includes the first notification information and second information, and the second information includes information sent by the first edge configuration server to the UE;

the transceiver unit is further configured to send the second information to the UE according to the first notification information.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the first notification information is used to indicate a transmission direction of the second information.

27. The apparatus of claim 25 or 26, wherein the transceiver unit is configured to receive first information of a User Equipment (UE), and comprises:

the receiving and sending unit receives first information of User Equipment (UE) through a session establishment request message; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

the receiving and sending unit receives first information of User Equipment (UE) through a session modification request message; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

the transceiver unit receives first information of the user equipment UE through a non-access stratum Container NAS Container message.

28. The apparatus according to any of claims 25 to 27, wherein the first information comprises at least one of: the service configuration request, the service configuration subscription update request and the service configuration unsubscribe request.

29. The apparatus according to any of claims 25 to 28, wherein the transceiving unit is further configured to receive a second message of the first edge configuration server, and the second message comprises:

the transceiver unit sends the second information to the UE through a session establishment receiving message according to the first notification information; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

the transceiver unit sends the second information to the UE through a session modification command message according to the first notification information; alternatively, the first and second liquid crystal display panels may be,

and the transceiver unit sends the second information to the UE through a non-access stratum Container NAS Container message according to the first notification information.

30. The apparatus according to any of claims 25 to 29, wherein the transceiving unit is further configured to send a first message to a first edge configuration server, comprising: and the transceiver unit sends a first message to the first edge configuration server through a second core network element.

31. The apparatus according to any of the claims 25 to 30, wherein the transceiving unit is further configured to receive a second message of the first edge configuration server, comprising: and the transceiver unit receives a second message of the first edge configuration server through a second core network element.

32. The apparatus of any one of claims 25 to 31,

the receiving and sending unit is further configured to send a third message to a third core network element, where the third message is used to request to obtain identification information of an edge configuration server, where the identification information includes a uniform resource identifier of the edge configuration server and/or internet protocol IP address information of the edge configuration server;

the transceiver unit is further configured to receive a fourth message of a third core network element, where the fourth message includes identification information of the first edge configuration server.

33. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the third message comprises location information of the UE, and wherein the location information of the UE is used for determining the first edge configuration server, and wherein the location information of the UE comprises at least one of: the tracking area identifier of the UE, the cell identifier of the UE or the data network access identifier of the UE.

34. The apparatus according to any of the claims 25 to 33, wherein the first information further comprises identification information of the first edge configuration server, and the transceiving unit is further configured to send a first message to the first edge configuration server, including:

the transceiving unit is further configured to send a first message to the first edge configuration server according to the identification information of the first edge configuration server.

35. The apparatus according to any of claims 25-34, wherein when the first information comprises an identification message of the UE requesting to obtain an edge-enabled server, the second information further comprises an identification message of the first edge-enabled server,

36. The apparatus according to any of claims 25 to 35, wherein the second information further comprises an identification message of the first edge-enabled server,

the transceiver unit is further configured to send a fifth message to the first edge-enabled server, where the fifth message includes the third information and first notification information, the third information includes information sent by the UE to the first edge-enabled server, and the first notification information includes notification address information of the first control plane core network element and/or context information of the UE;

the transceiving unit is further configured to receive a sixth message of the first edge-enabled server, where the sixth message includes the first notification information and fourth information, and the fourth information includes identification information of the first edge application server;

the transceiver unit is further configured to send the third information to the UE according to the first notification information.

37. The apparatus according to any one of claims 25 to 36, wherein the transceiving unit is further configured to receive a second message of the first edge configuration server, where the second message includes the first notification information and second information, and the second information includes information sent by the first edge configuration server to the UE;

the apparatus further comprises a processing unit, the processing being for saving the second information.

38. The apparatus according to any of claims 25 to 37, wherein the first control plane core network element comprises: a session management function network element or an access and mobility management function network element or a policy control network element.

39. An apparatus for acquiring edge services, comprising a transceiver unit and a processing unit:

the receiving and sending unit is configured to receive a first message of a first control plane core network element, where the first message includes first information and first notification information, and the first notification information includes notification address information of the first control plane core network element and/or context information of the UE;

the processing unit is configured to determine the second message according to the first information, where the second message includes the first notification information and second information, and the second information includes information sent by the first edge configuration server to the UE;

the transceiver unit is further configured to send a second message to the first control plane core network element.

40. The apparatus of claim 39, wherein the first notification information is used for indicating a transmission direction of the second information.

41. The apparatus according to claim 39 or 40, wherein the first information comprises at least one of: the service configuration request, the service configuration subscription update request and the service configuration unsubscribe request.

42. The apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 39 to 41, wherein the transceiver unit is configured to receive a first message of a first control plane core network element, and includes:

and the transceiver unit receives a first message of the first control plane core network element through the second core network element.

43. The apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 39 to 42, wherein the transceiving unit is further configured to send a second message to the first control plane core network element, including:

the transceiver unit is further configured to send a second message to the first control plane core network element through a second core network element.

44. The apparatus according to any of claims 39-43, wherein when the first information is an identification message of the UE requesting to obtain an edge-enabled server, the second information further comprises an identification message of the first edge-enabled server, and the identification information comprises at least one of the following information: uniform resource identifier information, instance identifier information, or internet protocol, IP, address information.

45. The apparatus according to any of claims 39 to 44, wherein the first control plane core network element comprises: a session management function network element or an access and mobility management function network element or a policy control network element.

46. An apparatus for acquiring edge services, comprising a transceiver unit and a processing unit:

the receiving and sending unit is configured to receive a third message of a first control plane core network element, where the third message is used to request to acquire identification information of an edge configuration server, and the identification information includes a uniform resource identifier of the edge configuration server and/or internet protocol IP address information of the edge configuration server;

the processing unit is configured to determine a fourth message according to the third message, where the fourth message includes identification information of the first edge configuration server;

the transceiver unit is further configured to send the fourth information to the first control plane core network element.

47. The apparatus of claim 46, wherein the third message comprises location information of the UE, wherein the location information of the UE is used for determining the first edge configuration server, and wherein the location information of the UE comprises at least one of: the tracking area identifier of the UE, the cell identifier of the UE or the data network access identifier of the UE.

48. The apparatus of claim 46 or 47, wherein the first control plane core network element comprises: a session management function network element or an access and mobility management function network element or a policy control network element.

49. A computer-readable storage medium, having stored thereon a computer program that, when executed,

causing the method of any one of claims 1 to 14 to be performed; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

causing the method of any one of claims 15 to 21 to be performed; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

causing the method of any one of claims 22 to 24 to be performed.

50. A chip system, comprising: a processor for calling and running a computer program from a memory so that a device on which the system-on-chip is installed performs the method of any one of claims 1 to 14; or causing a device on which the chip system is mounted to perform the method of any of claims 15 to 21; or causing a device on which the chip system is mounted to perform the method of any of claims 22 to 24.

51. A system for acquiring edge services, comprising: a first control plane core network element for performing the method of any of claims 1 to 14 and a first edge configuration server for communicating with the first control plane core network element.