CN114828103A

CN114828103A - Method, device and system for network slice communication

Info

Publication number: CN114828103A
Application number: CN202110066253.9A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 李卓明
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2021-01-19
Filing date: 2021-01-19
Publication date: 2022-07-29
Also published as: WO2022156691A1

Abstract

The embodiment of the application provides a communication method, a device and a system for network slicing. The method comprises the following steps: the network equipment acquires the use bandwidth of the network slice at each time point according to the accumulated rate of the session at each time point acquired from the user plane device, and finally determines the maximum use bandwidth of the network slice according to the use bandwidth of the network slice at each time point. By the method, the network equipment can obtain the maximum use bandwidth of the more accurate network slice.

Description

Method, device and system for network slice communication

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of communications, and in particular, to a method, an apparatus, and a system for network slice communication.

Background

A network slice (network slice) is a logical network divided into a carrier's communication network with specific network characteristics. Taking a 5G network as an example, a 5G physical network may be abstractly divided into a plurality of network slices, each network slice constitutes a logical network, and the network slices are logically isolated from each other and do not affect each other. The traffic of each Network slice is identified using Single-Network slice selection assistance information (S-NSSAI). And the network selects the network slice for the terminal service according to the single network slice selection auxiliary information included in the terminal service request, and transmits the data of the terminal service in the selected network slice.

The operator signs a Service Level Agreement (SLA) with the client according to the requirement of the client, the resource of the network slice used by the client is determined by the SLA of the network slice, and the SLAs of the network slices signed by different clients are often different. One attribute of a network slice specified in an SLA is the maximum bandwidth used by the network slice, i.e. the maximum of the sum of the network bandwidths used by the traffic transported through the session in the network slice, and also the maximum of the sum of the bandwidths used by the individual user equipments within the network slice.

The operator should prepare enough network resources for the network slice to meet the requirement of the customer, and if the transmission bandwidth allocated by the operator to the network slice is greater than the maximum use bandwidth of the customer in the use process, the resource of the operator is wasted, and if the transmission bandwidth allocated by the operator to the network slice is less than the maximum use bandwidth of the customer in the use process, the service requirement of the customer may not be met, so that it is very necessary for the operator to accurately measure the maximum use bandwidth of one network slice. But currently operators cannot accurately measure the maximum bandwidth used for one network slice.

Disclosure of Invention

The application describes a method, device and system for communication of network slices.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method for network slices, which is performed by a network device. The method comprises the following steps: the network equipment sends the identifier of the network slice and a first starting moment of measuring the rate of the network slice, wherein the identifier of the network slice is used for identifying the measured network slice; the method comprises the steps that a network device receives a plurality of rates of a plurality of moments, wherein the plurality of moments comprise a first starting moment and one or more moments after the first starting moment, and each moment of the plurality of moments corresponds to the plurality of rates; the network equipment determines a plurality of first rates of a plurality of time instants, wherein the first rate corresponding to each time instant in the plurality of first rates is equal to the sum of the plurality of rates at each time instant; the network equipment determines the maximum use bandwidth according to a plurality of first rates at a plurality of moments; the network device transmits the maximum bandwidth used. By the method, the network equipment can determine a plurality of first rates of a plurality of moments according to a plurality of rates of a plurality of moments, and finally determine the maximum use bandwidth according to the plurality of first rates of the plurality of moments, so that the determined maximum use bandwidth is more accurate.

For example, the first start time is the start time of measuring the network slice. For example, the time interval is used to determine a plurality of time points at which the measurement action should be performed according to the first starting time, i.e. the plurality of time points, and the time interval between each adjacent time point is the time interval. The above description is applicable to other aspects, and is not repeated in the following.

In one possible embodiment, the method further comprises: and the network equipment indicates the session management function network element to report a plurality of rates at a plurality of moments. For example, the network device indicates, through the reject response message, the session management function network element to report a plurality of rates at a plurality of times.

In one possible embodiment, the network device sends the maximum used bandwidth, including: the network equipment acquires first threshold information, and when the maximum used bandwidth is larger than or equal to the first threshold information, the network equipment sends the maximum used bandwidth. The network device can confirm the maximum used bandwidth according to the first threshold information, and reduce the report of the network device in the network, so the burden of the network is reduced.

In one possible implementation, the obtaining, by the network device, the first threshold information includes: the network equipment acquires historical maximum use bandwidth of the network slice, and determines first threshold information according to the historical maximum use bandwidth. The network equipment better accords with the actual situation of the network slice according to the first threshold information determined by the historical maximum use bandwidth, and the effect of reducing the updating times of the first threshold information is achieved.

In one possible embodiment, the method further comprises: and the network equipment sends second threshold information associated with the first threshold information to the session management function network element, and when the rate associated with the session management function network element at a first moment in a plurality of moments is greater than the second threshold information, the second threshold information is used for triggering the reporting of the plurality of rates at the first moment. That is to say, when the rate associated with the session management function network element at the first time among the multiple times is less than or equal to the second threshold information, the rate associated with the session management function network element at the first time is not reported, and the reporting of the network device in the network is also reduced, so that the load of the network is reduced.

In one possible embodiment, the method further comprises: the network equipment updates the second threshold value information into third threshold value information according to a plurality of rates of a first moment in a plurality of moments; and the network equipment sends third threshold information to the session management function network element, and when the rate associated with the session management function network element at a second moment in the multiple moments is greater than the third threshold information, the third threshold information is used for triggering the report of the multiple rates at the second moment, and the second moment is later than the first moment. That is, in the method, the second threshold information is continuously updated, and only when the rate associated with the session management function network element at the second time among the multiple times is greater than the updated second threshold information, the rate is reported, and the load of the network is also reduced.

In one possible embodiment, the network device sending the identification of the network slice and the first start time, includes: the network equipment sends a usage reporting rule to the user plane function network element through the session management function network element, wherein the usage reporting rule comprises the identifier of the network slice and the first starting moment. That is to say, the usage reporting rule is used to inform the user plane function network element of measuring the rate of the network slice corresponding to the identifier of the network slice, and inform the user plane function network element of starting to measure from the first starting time.

In one possible embodiment, a network device receives a plurality of rates at a plurality of time instances, comprising: the network device receives a plurality of rates at a plurality of times from a session management function network element.

In one possible embodiment, the method further comprises: the network device receives an identifier of the user plane function network element from the session management function network element, where the identifier of the user plane function network element is used to indicate that a plurality of rates at a plurality of times are measured by the user plane function network element. The identifier of the user plane functional network element is used for distinguishing a plurality of rates at a plurality of moments, so that the plurality of rates measured by the same user plane functional network element can be prevented from being repeatedly calculated, and the final probability of inaccurate maximum bandwidth utilization is reduced.

In one possible embodiment, the method further comprises: the network equipment acquires precision requirement information; the network equipment determines time interval information according to the precision requirement information; the network device sends time interval information for determination of one or more time instants after the first start time instant. That is, the time interval information may be used to specify a plurality of time instants at which a network element or device performing the rate measurement of the network slice performs the rate measurement.

In one possible embodiment, the network device determines the maximum bandwidth to be used according to a plurality of first rates at a plurality of time instants, and includes: the network device determines a maximum bandwidth to use based on a maximum first rate of a plurality of first rates at a plurality of time instances.

In a possible implementation manner, the network device is a policy control function network element, a network data analysis function network element, or a network slice quota control function network element.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for communicating a network slice, where the method is performed by a session management function network element. The method comprises the following steps: a session management function network element receives an identifier of a network slice and a first starting moment of measuring the rate of the network slice from network equipment, wherein the identifier of the network slice is used for identifying the measured network slice; a session management function network element sends an identifier of a network slice and a first starting moment to a user plane function network element; the session management function network element receives a plurality of rates of a plurality of moments from the user plane function network element, wherein the plurality of moments comprise a first starting moment and one or more moments after the first starting moment, and each moment of the plurality of moments corresponds to one or more rates; the session management function network element sends rate information associated with a plurality of rates at a plurality of times to the network device. By the method, the session management function network element sends rate information to the network equipment, the rate information is associated with a plurality of rates at a plurality of moments, the rate information embodies the actual rate information of the network slice at the plurality of moments, the rate information is finally used for determining the maximum used bandwidth, and the maximum used bandwidth determined by the rate information is more accurate.

In one possible implementation, the rate information includes a plurality of rates for a plurality of time instances. That is, with this embodiment, the session management function network element sends to the network device a plurality of rates for a plurality of time instants received from the user plane function network element.

In one possible embodiment, the rate information includes a plurality of first rates for a plurality of time instants, where, when each time instant of the plurality of time instants corresponds to a plurality of rates, a first rate corresponding to each time instant of the plurality of first rates is equal to a sum of the plurality of rates for each time instant, or, when each time instant of the plurality of time instants corresponds to a rate, a first rate corresponding to each time instant of the plurality of first rates is equal to one rate for each time instant. That is to say, the session management function network element accumulates the rates at multiple times received by the user plane function network element according to the same time, and sends the accumulated rate value to the network device.

In one possible embodiment, the method further comprises: a session management function network element receives first threshold information from a network device; when the first rate corresponding to the first moment in the multiple moments is greater than or equal to the first threshold information, the session management function network element reports the first rate corresponding to the first moment to the network device. The session management function network element reduces the value of the rate of reporting measurement to the network device by using the first threshold information, and the burden of the network is reduced.

In one possible embodiment, the method further comprises: and the session management function network element sends second threshold information associated with the first threshold information to the user plane function network element, wherein the second threshold information is used for triggering the report of the rate associated with the user plane function network element at a plurality of moments. And the session management function network element reduces the value of the rate of reporting the measurement to the network equipment by using the second threshold information, so that the network burden is reduced.

In one possible embodiment, the method further comprises: and the session management function network element receives the identification of the user plane function network element, wherein the identification of the user plane function network element is used for indicating that a plurality of rates at a plurality of moments are measured by the user plane function network element. The identification of the user plane function network element is used for distinguishing a plurality of rates at a plurality of moments, so that a plurality of rates measured by the same user plane function network element can be prevented from being repeatedly calculated, and the probability of inaccurate maximum bandwidth utilization is reduced.

In one possible implementation, the sending, by the session management function network element, the identifier of the network slice and the first start time to the user plane function network element includes: a session management function network element sends a usage reporting rule to a user plane function network element, wherein the usage reporting rule comprises an identifier of a network slice and a first starting moment; or the usage reporting rule includes an identifier of the network slice, a first start time, and time interval information, where the time interval information is used for determining one or more times after the first start time.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for communicating a network slice, where the method is performed by a user plane function network element. The method comprises the following steps: a user plane functional network element receives the identifier of a network slice and a first starting moment of measuring the rate of the network slice, wherein the identifier of the network slice is used for identifying the measured network slice; the method comprises the steps that a user plane function network element measures the rates of a plurality of sessions at a plurality of moments of a network slice, wherein the moments comprise a first starting moment and one or more moments after the first starting moment, and each moment of the moments corresponds to the rates of the plurality of sessions; the user plane function network element determines a plurality of first rates of a plurality of moments, wherein the first rate corresponding to each moment in the plurality of first rates is equal to the sum of the rates of a plurality of sessions at each moment; and the user plane function network element sends a plurality of first rates of a plurality of moments to the network equipment through the session management function network element, wherein the plurality of first rates of the plurality of moments are used for determining the maximum used bandwidth. By the method, the user plane function network element measures the speed of each session of the network slice at each moment in the multiple moments at the multiple moments, and sends the speed of each session at each moment to the network equipment, and the speed can more accurately represent the use bandwidth of each time point in the network slice, so that the maximum use bandwidth obtained by the speed can be more accurate.

In one possible embodiment, the method further comprises: and the user plane function network element receives the first threshold information, and when the first rate corresponding to the first time after the first starting time is greater than or equal to the first threshold information, the first threshold information is used for reporting the first rate corresponding to the first time. That is to say, when the first rate at the first time measured by the user plane function network element is less than the first threshold information, the first rate corresponding to the first time is not reported, so that the amount of rate information reported in the network is reduced, and the load of the network is reduced.

In one possible embodiment, the method for a user plane function network element to receive an identification of a network slice and a first starting time for measuring a rate of the network slice includes: and the user plane function network element receives a usage reporting rule from the session management function network element, wherein the usage reporting rule comprises the identifier of the network slice and a first starting moment of measuring the rate of the network slice.

In one possible embodiment, the method further comprises: the user plane function network element receives the time interval information from the session management function, or receives the time interval information from the network equipment through the session management function network element; and the user plane function network element determines one or more moments after the first starting moment according to the time interval information.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication apparatus, including a processor, configured to read and execute a program from a memory to implement the method according to the first aspect or any possible implementation manner (for example, when the communication apparatus is a network device), or to implement the method according to the second aspect or any possible implementation manner (for example, when the communication apparatus is a session management function network element), or to implement the method according to the third aspect or any possible implementation manner (for example, when the communication apparatus is a user plane function network element).

In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication system, including a network device, a session management function network element, and a user plane function network element, where the network device may perform the method of the first aspect or any possible implementation, the session management function network element may perform the method of the second aspect or any possible implementation, and the user plane function network element may perform the method of the third aspect or any possible implementation.

In a sixth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a computer program product comprising instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform a method as in the first aspect or any possible embodiment, or the second aspect or any possible embodiment, or the third aspect or any possible embodiment.

In a seventh aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a computer-readable storage medium having stored therein instructions that, when executed on a computer, cause the processor to perform a method as in the first aspect or any possible implementation, or the second aspect or any possible implementation, or the third aspect or any possible implementation.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a 5G network architecture suitable for the present application;

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a method for measuring a maximum bandwidth of a network slice;

FIG. 3 illustrates a method for measuring maximum bandwidth usage of a network slice according to the present application;

FIG. 4 is another method of measuring maximum bandwidth usage for a network slice according to the present application;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of another method of measuring maximum bandwidth usage of a network slice according to the present application;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of another method of measuring maximum bandwidth usage for a network slice according to the present application;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of another method of measuring maximum bandwidth usage for a network slice according to the present application;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of another method of measuring maximum bandwidth usage for a network slice according to the present application;

FIG. 9 is a block diagram of another method of measuring maximum bandwidth usage for a network slice according to the present application;

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of another method of measuring maximum bandwidth usage for a network slice according to the present application;

fig. 11 is a schematic diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 12 is a schematic diagram of another communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

The technical solution of the embodiment of the present application may be applied to various communication systems, for example, a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, an LTE Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) system, an LTE Time Division Duplex (TDD), a fifth generation (5th generation, 5G) mobile communication system or a New Radio (NR) system, or may be applied to a future communication system or other similar communication systems. In addition, the embodiment of the application can also be applied to other communication technologies facing the future. The network architecture and the service scenario described in this application are for more clearly illustrating the technical solution of this application, and do not constitute a limitation to the technical solution provided in this application, and it can be known by those skilled in the art that the technical solution provided in this application is also applicable to similar technical problems along with the evolution of the network architecture and the appearance of new service scenarios.

Taking a 5G system as an example, fig. 1 shows a 5G network architecture applicable to the present application. The network architecture may include a terminal device, a Radio Access Network (RAN), a core network, and a Data Network (DN).

The following is a detailed description of the parts involved in the network architecture:

the terminal equipment is equipment with a wireless transceiving function. The terminal equipment is connected with the access network equipment in a wireless mode so as to access the communication system. A terminal device may also be referred to as a terminal, User Equipment (UE), a mobile station, a mobile terminal, etc. The terminal device can be a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a computer with a wireless transceiving function, a virtual reality terminal device, an augmented reality terminal device, a wireless terminal in industrial control, a wireless terminal in unmanned driving, a wireless terminal in remote operation, a wireless terminal in a smart grid, a wireless terminal in transportation safety, a wireless terminal in a smart city, a wireless terminal in a smart home and the like. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the specific technology and the specific device form adopted by the terminal device. By way of example, and not limitation, the terminal device may also be a wearable device. Wearable equipment can also be called wearable smart device or intelligent wearable equipment etc. is the general term of using wearable technique to carry out intelligent design, develop the equipment that can dress to daily wearing, like glasses, gloves, wrist-watch, dress and shoes etc.. A wearable device is a portable device that is worn directly on the body or integrated into the clothing or accessories of the user. The wearable device is not only a hardware device, but also realizes powerful functions through software support, data interaction and cloud interaction. The generalized wearable smart device includes full functionality, large size, and can implement full or partial functionality without relying on a smart phone, such as: smart watches or smart glasses and the like, and only focus on a certain type of application functions, and need to be used in cooperation with other devices such as smart phones, such as various smart bracelets, smart helmets, smart jewelry and the like for monitoring physical signs. The terminal device may also be an on-board module, an on-board component, an on-board chip or an on-board unit built into the vehicle as one or more components or units, by which the vehicle may implement the method of the present application.

The radio access network is used to implement radio-related functions. A node in the radio access network, which may also be referred to as an access network device or a base station, is used to access the terminal device to the radio network. The access network device may be a base station (base station), an evolved NodeB (eNodeB) in an LTE system or an evolved LTE system (LTE-Advanced, LTE-a), a next generation NodeB (gNB) in a 5G communication system, a Transmission Reception Point (TRP), a baseband unit (BBU), a WiFi Access Point (AP), a base station in a future mobile communication system or an access node in a WiFi system, and the like. The radio access network device may also be a module or unit that performs part of the functions of the base station, and may be, for example, a Centralized Unit (CU) or a Distributed Unit (DU). The embodiment of the present application does not limit the specific technology and the specific device form adopted by the radio access network device. For example, in one network structure, the radio access network device may be a CU node, or a DU node, or an access network device including a CU node and a DU node. Specifically, the CU node is configured to support Radio Resource Control (RRC), Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP), Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP), and other protocols; the DU node is configured to support a Radio Link Control (RLC) layer protocol, a Medium Access Control (MAC) layer protocol, and a physical layer protocol.

The core network may comprise one or more of the following network elements: an Access and mobility management Function (AMF) Network element, a Session Management Function (SMF) Network element, a User Plane Function (UPF) Network element, an Application Function (AF) Network element, a Network open Function (NEF) Network element, a charging Function (CHF) Network element, a policy Control Function (policy Control Function, PCF) Network element, a Network data analysis Function (NWDAF) Network element, a Unified Data Management (UDM) Network element, a unified data storage (UDR) Network element, a Network repository Function (NWDAF) Network element, an NRF Network element, and a qa Slice Network element.

Access and mobility management function network elements: mainly used for attachment and mobility management of terminals in mobile networks.

A session management function network element: the method is mainly used for session management in the mobile network, such as session establishment, modification and release. The specific functions include allocating an Internet Protocol (IP) address to the terminal, selecting a user plane network element providing a message forwarding function, and the like.

User plane functional network element: it is mainly responsible for processing user message, such as forwarding, charging, lawful interception, etc. The user plane network element may also be referred to as a Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session anchor (PSA).

The application function network element: the method is mainly used for providing application layer services for the terminal equipment. The application function network element interacts with other control network elements on behalf of the application, including providing quality of service (QoS) requirements, Charging Policy (Policy) requirements, routing Policy requirements, and the like.

Network open function network element: the method is mainly used for providing 5G network capability and opening of events, receiving relevant external information and the like.

The charging function network element: the method and the device are mainly used for charging according to the charging information generated by each functional network element.

A policy control function network element: including a user subscription data management function, a policy control function, a charging policy control function, quality of service (QoS) control, etc. It should be noted that, in an actual network, the PCF may have various forms according to a hierarchy or a function, such as a global PCF and a PCF in a network slice, or a Session Management PCF (SM-PCF) and an Access Management PCF (AM-PCF).

Network data analysis function network element: data can be collected, analyzed and predicted from network elements of various Network Functions (NF), such as a policy control function network element, a session management function network element, a user plane function network element, an application function network element, and the like.

Unified data management network element: and the terminal is responsible for managing the subscription information of the terminal.

Unified data storage network element: and the system is responsible for storing structured data information, wherein the structured data information comprises subscription information, strategy information and network data or service data.

Network warehouse functional network elements: is responsible for maintaining information about the various network elements and the services they each support.

Network slice quota access control network element: the system is responsible for managing and controlling network Slice related quotas, monitoring the current uplink or downlink aggregated data Rate of the network slices (namely the used bandwidth of the network slices), and checking whether the current uplink or downlink aggregated data Rate is within the Maximum Bit Rate (Slice Maximum Bit Rate, Slice-MBR) range allowed by the network slices specified by the SLA. The network slice quota access control network element may be an independent network element, may be a part of an existing network element (e.g., PCF), or may be deployed in combination with an existing network element.

The network slices often share the same network data analysis function network element, unified data management network element or unified data storage network element, and the session management function network element and the user plane function network element generally belong to a certain specific network slice.

The above "network element" may also be referred to as "entity" or "device", and the present application is not limited thereto. For convenience of description, a session management function network element is abbreviated as SMF, a user plane function network element is abbreviated as UPF, an application function network element is abbreviated as AF, a charging function network element is abbreviated as CHF, a policy control function network element is abbreviated as PCF, a network data analysis function network element is abbreviated as NWDAF, a unified data management network element is abbreviated as UDM, and a unified data storage network element is abbreviated as UDR.

Data network: the terminal may be provided with a Data transmission service, which may be a Public Data Network (PDN) Network, such as the internet (internet), or a Local Access Data Network (LADN), such as a Network of Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) nodes.

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a method for measuring a maximum used bandwidth of a network slice. In a network slice, there will typically be multiple user plane functional network elements. The currently used method of measuring the maximum used bandwidth of a network slice is shown in the figure. Taking the example of using two user plane functional network elements in one network slice, fig. 2 shows the relationship between the measured speed of the user plane functional network element 1 and the measured speed of the user plane functional network element 2 in a period of time and the time, where the speed corresponding to point 1 is the maximum speed of the user plane functional network element 1 in a period of time, and where the speed corresponding to point 2 is the maximum speed of the user plane functional network element 2 in a period of time. Currently, the maximum usage rate of the measured network slice, that is, the maximum usage bandwidth of the network slice shown by point 3, is obtained by adding the maximum rate of the user plane functional network element 1 in a period of time and the maximum rate of the user plane functional network element 2 in a period of time. However, in practical situations, the user plane functional network element 1 and the user plane functional network element 2 cannot reach the maximum rate at the same time, so that the maximum bandwidth used by taking the sum of the maximum rates of the respective user plane functional network elements as the measured network slice is most likely to be inaccurate, and such maximum bandwidth used cannot accurately represent the true maximum bandwidth used. The problem to be solved by the present application is how to more accurately measure the maximum used bandwidth of a network slice over a period of time.

It should be particularly noted that the rate is a rate of a session in a network slice, and the rate may be divided into an uplink rate and a downlink rate, where the uplink refers to a direction in which a terminal device performs session transmission to a core network side, and the downlink refers to a direction in which the core network side performs session transmission to the terminal device, and the rate may be a bit rate or a baud rate, and therefore, the maximum bandwidth of the measured network slice may be a maximum bandwidth used in units of bits or a maximum bandwidth used in units of baud, which is not limited in this application. In addition, the accumulation of the respective rates mentioned in the present application is the accumulation of the rates in the same direction (uplink or downlink) at the same time point, not the accumulation of the rates at all time points.

Fig. 3 illustrates an embodiment of a method for measuring a maximum bandwidth usage of a network slice according to the present application.

In the network architecture applicable to this embodiment, the network slice to be measured includes SMFs and UPFs, and the number of SMFs and UPFs may be as follows, where one SMF is included in the network slice and the SMF manages at least two UPFs, where one SMF includes at least two SMFs and each SMF manages one UPF, and where one SMF includes at least two SMFs and each SMF manages multiple UPFs. In either case, however, the network slice includes at least two UPFs.

The method comprises the following steps:

in step 301, the NWDAF receives the identification and start time of the network slice.

In order to acquire the maximum bandwidth of a network slice, an Operation Administration and Maintenance (OAM) device of an operator sends an analysis Subscription message (analysis Subscription) to the NWDAF, so as to allocate sufficient network resources to the network slice according to the maximum bandwidth of the network slice, thereby meeting the requirements of slice clients.

Or, the CHF sends an analysis subscription message to the NWDAF, requesting to acquire the maximum bandwidth used by the network slice, so as to perform charging according to the maximum bandwidth used by the network slice.

Or, the PCF sends an analysis subscription message to the NWDAF, requesting to acquire the maximum bandwidth used by the network slice, so as to change the maximum data rate of the authorized slice of the terminal device newly registered to the network slice or currently registered to the network slice according to the maximum bandwidth used by the network slice and the policy set by the operator, or change the maximum data rate of the newly established session or the established session in the network slice, where the session may be a PDU session.

Or, the AF sends an analysis information request message to the NWDAF, requesting to acquire the maximum used bandwidth of the network slice, so as to adjust the QoS parameter of the service data stream and the like according to the maximum used bandwidth of the current network slice.

The analysis subscription message or the analysis information request message includes an identifier (e.g., S-NSSAI) of the network slice and a start time. The start time is the start time for measuring the rate of the network slice. For example, the starting time may be a current or historical point in time, or may be a future point in time. Optionally, the analysis subscription message or the analysis information request message further includes a termination time, where the termination time is used to end the action of measuring the rate. Optionally, the analysis subscription message or the analysis information request message further includes an analysis accuracy requirement, and the analysis accuracy requirement is used for determining the time interval between the measurement time points in the subsequent step.

Step 302, the NWDAF sends the network slice identification and start time to the SMF.

For example, the NWDAF obtains each SMF supporting the network slice according to the identifier of the network slice, and for example, the NWDAF queries a network warehouse function network element according to the identifier of the network slice. For example, the NWDAF sends an event subscription request message to each SMF supporting the network slice, and requests the SMF to send a measurement result of the rate of the network slice in the SMF service area to the NWDAF. The event subscription request message includes the identifier and the start time of the network slice received in step 301.

Optionally, the event subscription request message further includes a time interval. The same start time and time interval are used to ensure that the measurement results of the SMFs are the measurement results of the same specified time point (including the time points N and N from the start time, and the time interval between adjacent time points is the time interval mentioned above, where N is an integer). Optionally, the analysis subscription message or the analysis information request message further includes an analysis accuracy requirement, and the NWDAF may determine the time interval according to the analysis accuracy requirement. If the analysis subscription message or the analysis information request message does not include the analysis accuracy requirement, the NWDAF may determine the appropriate time interval according to the analysis accuracy requirement configured by itself or the analysis accuracy requirement in the local policy. If the analysis accuracy requirement is high, the time interval is small, and if the analysis accuracy requirement is low, the time interval is large.

If the analysis subscription message or the analysis information request message includes the termination time in step 301, the event subscription request message sent by the NWDAF to each SMF may further include the termination time. Subsequent SMFs send measurements no later than the termination time.

If the event subscription request message sent by the NWDAF to each SMF does not include the termination time, the NWDAF may subsequently send an event subscription cancellation message to each SMF, so that each SMF stops measuring the rate of the network slice, and each SMF sends a measurement result no later than the termination time.

In step 303, the SMF sends the network slice identifier and start time to the UPF that supports the network slice and manages the network slice.

The SMF determines the UPF that it manages to support the network slice. Each SMF sends the identification of the network slice and the start time to the respective UPF that manages the network slice. For example, the SMF sends a Usage Reporting Rule (URR) to the UPF, where the URR includes an identifier and a start time of a network slice, and optionally, the URR further includes a time interval. The URR is used for indicating the subsequent reporting usage report of the UPF, the usage report includes the accumulated rate of the session obtained by the UPF at each time point, and the accumulated rate is the uplink and/or downlink rate of the network slice.

For example, the cumulative rate of the sessions measured by the UPF is the cumulative result of the uplink data rates of the respective sessions at each of the time points and/or the cumulative result of the downlink data rates of the respective sessions, which are forwarded by the UPF through the interface with the data network. Optionally, the cumulative rate of the session measured by the UPF may also be a cumulative result of an uplink data rate of each session at each time point and/or a cumulative result of a downlink data rate of each session, which is forwarded by the UPF through an interface with the radio access network.

And if the starting time point is a historical time point, the UPF reports the accumulated rate of the session of the cached historical time point.

Optionally, the SMF sends the termination time to the UPF.

And step 304, reporting the accumulated rate of the session to the SMF by the UPF.

And the UPF measures the speed of each session of the network slice at each specified time point according to the URR, and respectively accumulates the speed of each session in the same direction to obtain an accumulated value as the accumulated speed of the session at the time point. The time point may be determined according to the start time and the time interval, or the UPF may be determined according to the start time and the built-in time interval, and if the time interval is a built-in value, the built-in time intervals are uniform. In summary, the UPF can measure the rate of sessions of the network slice at multiple points in time at the same time interval.

For example, the UPF sends a measurement report to the URR-down SMF, where the measurement report includes the accumulated rate of the session as measured by the UPF at multiple points in time.

If a certain UPF receives URRs from a plurality of SMFs, the UPF respectively acquires the accumulation rates of sessions in the same direction at a plurality of time points, which are respectively controlled by different SMFs and related to the appointed network slice, and sends the accumulation rates of the sessions to the corresponding SMFs. The UPF may not perform the accumulation action, but accumulate the measured velocities of multiple time points in the same direction of each session of different SMFs, and report the UPF id when the UPF reports the accumulated velocity of the session to the SMF, so as to prevent the accumulated velocity of the session measured by the same UPF from being repeatedly calculated in the subsequent steps.

And 305, the SMF accumulates the accumulation rate of the session reported by the UPF.

And the SMF performs summary accumulation on the accumulation rates of the sessions in the same direction received from the UPF according to the same time point to obtain the rate of the network slice in the SMF service area.

Alternatively, step 305 may be replaced by the following steps: the SMF may not perform the action of accumulating the accumulated rate for sessions reported by the UPF. As such, the SMF also receives an identification of the UPF from the UPF. The identifier of the UPF is used to identify that the accumulated rate of the session is measured by the UPF corresponding to the identifier. For example, the SMF may receive the identification of the UPF from the UPF via step 304 described above.

In step 306, the SMF sends rate information to the NWDAF.

The rate information includes two cases, the first case where the SMF accumulates the accumulated rates of the sessions received from the UPF in step 305, and the rate information indicates the rate at which the SMF is accumulated, i.e., the rate of the network slice within the SMF service area.

In the second case, where the SMF does not perform the action of accumulating in step 305, the rate information is used to indicate the accumulated rate for the session received from the UPF, including the UPF identification.

For example, the SMF may send the rate information to the NWDAF via an event notification message. The SMF sends an event notification message to the NWDAF at intervals until the expiration time is reached or the SMF receives an event subscription cancellation message.

Accordingly, the NWDAF receives from the SMF the rate of network slices within the SMF service area, or receives the accumulated rate of sessions (UPF measured).

In step 307, the NWDAF obtains the maximum bandwidth of the network slice.

The steps include the following cases:

in the first case, the network slice includes one SMF, and the SMF manages at least two UPFs, taking as an example that the SMF manages two UPFs (e.g., a first UPF and a second UPF):

in an optional case in this case, in step 305, the SMF accumulates the accumulated rate of the session measured by the first UPF and the accumulated rate of the session measured by the second UPF at the same time point to obtain the rate of the network slice in the SMF service area, and sends the rate of the network slice in the SMF service area to the NWDAF through step 306. The NWDAF may accumulate the SMF measured rates at the same time point and select the maximum value of the rates as the maximum bandwidth used for the network slice. Taking the values measured at 6 time points in total as an example, the measured rate values of the first UPF, the second UPF, the SMF, and the NWDAF are shown in table 1:

table 1 rates measured by various network elements when SMF performs accumulation

	T1	T2	T3	T4	T5	T6
							First UPF
	3	3	4	5	6	6
							Second UPF	6	7	7	7	6	8
SMF	9	10	11	12	12	14
							NWDAF	9	10	11	12	12	14

The rate of the network slice is the rate values of the six time points corresponding to the NWDAF, wherein the maximum value is the rate at the time T6, and the rate corresponding to the time T6 is the maximum used bandwidth of the network slice.

In another alternative case, in step 305, the SMF does not accumulate the accumulated rate of the session measured by the first UPF and the accumulated rate of the session measured by the second UPF at the same time point, and the SMF transmits the accumulated rate of the session measured by the first UPF and the accumulated rate of the session measured by the second UPF and the identifier of the first UPF and the identifier of the second UPF to the nwdf in step 306, then the nwdf accumulates the accumulated rate of the session measured by the first UPF and the accumulated rate of the session measured by the second UPF at the same time point in this step to obtain the rate of the network slice, and selects the maximum value of the rates as the maximum bandwidth used for the network slice. For example, the rate values measured for each of the first UPF, the second UPF, and the NWDAF are shown in table 2:

table 2 rates measured by various network elements when SMF does not perform accumulation

	T1	T2	T3	T4	T5	T6
							First UPF
	3	3	4	5	6	6
							Second UPF	6	7	7	7	6	8
SMF	/	/	/	/	/	/
							NWDAF	9	10	11	12	12	14

In the second case, the network slice includes at least two SMFs, for example, the network slice includes a first SMF and a second SMF, the first SMF manages a first UPF, the second SMF manages a second UPF, and the value measured by the first SMF is the value of the accumulation rate of the session measured by the first UPF, and the same applies to the second SMF. In step 305, the first SMF sends the accumulated rate of the session measured by the first UPF and the identifier of the first UPF to the nwdf through step 306, and the second SMF sends the accumulated rate of the session measured by the second UPF and the identifier of the second UPF to the nwdf through step 306, so that the nwdf in this step accumulates the accumulated rate of the session measured by the first UPF and the accumulated rate of the session measured by the second UPF at the same time point to obtain the rate of the network slice, and selects the maximum value of the rates as the maximum bandwidth of the network slice. For example, the measured rate values for the first UPF, the second UPF, the first SMF, the second SMF, and the NWDAF are each as shown in table 3:

TABLE 3 rates measured by the respective network elements

	T1	T2	T3	T4	T5	T6
							First UPF
	3	3	4	5	6	6
							Second UPF	6	7	7	7	6	8
First SMF	3	3	4	5	6	6
							Second SMF	6	7	7	7	6	8
NWDAF	9	10	11	12	12	14

In a third case, the network slice includes at least two SMFs, for example, the network slice includes a first SMF and a second SMF, the first SMF manages a first UPF and a second UPF, and the second SMF manages a third UPF and a fourth UPF.

In an alternative case, in step 305, the first SMF accumulates the accumulated rate of the session measured by the first UPF and the accumulated rate of the session measured by the second UPF according to the same time point to obtain the rate of the network slice in the service area of the first SMF, the rate of the network slice within the service area of the first SMF is sent to the NWDAF, via step 306, the second SMF compares the accumulated rate for the session measured by the third UPF and the accumulated rate for the session measured by the fourth UPF, accumulating according to the same time point to obtain the network slicing speed in the second SMF service area, the rate of the network slice within the second SMF service area is sent to the nwdf via step 306, where the nwdf performs an accumulation operation, the method comprises the steps of accumulating the rate of a network slice in a first SMF service area and the rate of a network slice in a second SMF service area to obtain the rate of the network slice, and selecting the maximum value of the rates as the maximum using bandwidth of the network slice.

For example, the measured rate values for the first UPF, the second UPF, the third UPF, the fourth UPF, the first SMF, the second SMF, and the NWDAF are each shown in table 4:

table 4 rates measured by respective network elements

	T1	T2	T3	T4	T5	T6
							First UPF
	3	3	4	5	6	6
							Second UPF	6	7	7	7	6	8
Third UPF	2	2	3	4	5	5
							Fourth UPF	6	7	7	7	6	8
First SMF	9	10	11	12	12	14
							Second SMF	8	9	10	11	11	13
NWDAF	17	19	21	23	23	27

In another alternative case in this case, in step 305, the first SMF directly sends the accumulated rate of the session measured by the first UPF and the accumulated rate of the session measured by the second UPF and the identifier of the first UPF and the identifier of the second UPF to the NWDAF through step 306, and the second SMF directly sends the accumulated rate of the session measured by the third UPF and the accumulated rate of the session measured by the fourth UPF and the identifier of the third UPF and the identifier of the fourth UPF to the NWDAF through step 306, then in this step, the NWDAF accumulates the accumulated rate of the session measured by the first UPF, the accumulated rate of the session measured by the second UPF, the accumulated rate of the session measured by the third UPF and the accumulated rate of the session measured by the fourth UPF at the same time point to obtain the rate of the network slice, and selects the maximum value of the rates thereof as the maximum bandwidth used by the network slice. For example, the measured rate values for the first UPF, the second UPF, the third UPF, the fourth UPF, the first SMF, the second SMF, and the NWDAF are each shown in table 5:

TABLE 5 rates measured by the respective network elements

Rate of change	T1	T2	T3	T4	T5	T6
							First UPF
	3	3	4	5	6	6
							Second UPF	6	7	7	7	6	8
Third UPF	2	2	3	4	5	5
							Fourth UPF	6	7	7	7	6	8
First SMF	/	/	/	/	/	/
							Second SMF	/	/	/	/	/	/
NWDAF	17	19	21	23	23	27

Step 308: the NWDAF transmits the maximum used bandwidth of the network slice.

The NWDAF may send the maximum used bandwidth of the network slice to the OAM or CHF or PCF that sent the analyze subscribe message request in step 301. For example, the NWDAF may send the maximum bandwidth used for the network slice to the OAM or CHF or PCF that sent the analyze subscribe message request in step 301 via an analyze notify message.

Alternatively, the NWDAF may send the AF the maximum used bandwidth of the network slice. For example, the NWDAF sends the maximum used bandwidth of the network slice to the AF by analyzing an information response message.

If a service interface is deployed between the UPF and a control plane network element in the core network, the UPF may directly receive the identifier and the start time of the network slice from the NWDAF. After the UPF obtains the accumulation rate of the session, the UPF may also send the accumulation rate of the session to the NWDAF, and the NWDAF performs accumulation of the accumulation rate of the session, so that finally the NWDAF obtains the maximum bandwidth used by the network slice.

By the method in this embodiment, the NWDAF may obtain the rates of the network slices at each time point, and select the maximum rate of the rates at each time point as the maximum bandwidth of the network slice, so that the method in this embodiment may more accurately measure the maximum bandwidth of the network slice.

The embodiment shown in fig. 4 is another method of the present application for measuring the maximum used bandwidth of a network slice.

In this embodiment, if there is only one PCF in the measured network slice, the PCF may locally store the network slice rate at each time point; if there are multiple PCFs in the measured network slice, and for a certain SMF, the SMF selects one PCF for the session policy control of the network slice, then each PCF can store the network slice rate of each time point of each session for which it is responsible in the UDR, and any PCF can obtain the rate measured by other PCF from the UDR, and further calculate the rate of the whole network slice at each time point. In the following, the network slice is described by taking only one PCF as an example, and a specific flow of a plurality of PCFs is not described again. The method comprises the following steps:

in step 401, the PCF receives trigger information for measuring the maximum used bandwidth of the network slice.

The PCF receives trigger information from the OAM to set the Maximum Bit Rate (Slice Maximum Bit Rate, Slice-MBR) supported by the measured network Slice, whereby the PCF is required to monitor the used bandwidth of the network Slice and to check if the used bandwidth of the network Slice is within the Slice-MBR range supported by the network Slice specified by the SLA, e.g. the PCF may include an NSQAC (not shown).

Or, the PCF receives the trigger information from the OAM, the PCF is requested to create a task of measuring the performance of the network slice usage bandwidth, and the subsequent PCF reports the measurement result of the performance to the OAM at regular time, that is, reports the maximum usage bandwidth of the measured network slice.

Or, the PCF receives trigger information from the CHF or NWDAF, the trigger information being an event subscription message, or the AF (which may be a NEF) sends trigger information to the PCF, the trigger information being an event subscription message, the trigger information informing the PCF to acquire the maximum used bandwidth of the measured network slice. The trigger information includes an identification of the network slice.

After receiving the trigger information, PCF sets a state mark for calculating the maximum used bandwidth of the network slice, and records the identifier of the network slice.

At step 402, the SMF sends a set-up session policy control request message to the PCF.

When the terminal equipment requests to establish session connection in the network slice, after receiving a session establishment request message (not shown in the figure), the SMF sends a session establishment policy control request message to the PCF, where the session establishment policy control request message includes an identifier of the network slice corresponding to the session.

In step 403, the PCF sends a session establishment policy control response message to the SMF, where the session establishment policy control response message includes the identifier and the start time of the network slice, and optionally, the session establishment policy control response message further includes a time interval. The session establishment policy control response message is used to indicate the rate at which the SMF reports network slices in its service area. The identity of the network slice is the identity of the network slice being measured.

Optionally, after receiving the session policy control establishment request message, the PCF determines whether the identifier of the network slice corresponding to the session is the same as the identifier of the measured network slice, and if the SMF does not report the rate of the network slice in the SMF service area to the PCF, the PCF sends the identifier of the measured network slice and the start time to the SMF. Optionally, the PCF also sends the time interval to the SMF. For example, the PCF may send the SMF the identification of the measured network slice and the start time via a reject response message. The reject response message may also include a cause value indicating a rate at which the SMF should report network slices within the SMF service area. After the PCF sends the rejection response message to the SMF, the PCF may no longer send the rejection response message to the SMF during the period in which the SMF performs the rate measurement.

At step 404, the SMF sends the identification of the network slice and the start time to the UPF.

This step can be referred to as the description of step 303 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 3.

Step 405, the UPF reports the measured accumulated rate of the session to the SMF.

This step may be described with reference to step 304 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 3.

And step 406, the SMF accumulates the accumulation rate of the session reported by the UPF.

And the SMF collects and accumulates the accumulated rates of the sessions in the same direction at the same time point and received from the UPF respectively to obtain the rate of the network slice in the SMF service area.

Alternatively, this step may be replaced by the following step: the SMF does not perform the action of accumulating the accumulation rate of the session reported by the UPF, and the SMF receives the UPF identification from the UPF. The identification of the UPF is used to identify that the accumulated rate of the session is measured by the UPF corresponding to the identification.

If the PCF sends a reject response message to the SMF in step 403, the SMF sends a session policy control establishment request message to the PCF again after accumulating the session accumulation rate reported by the UPF. The reason for sending the establish session policy control request message to the PCF again may be that the SMF receives a reject response message, or may be the establishment of a new session. The establish session policy control request message includes a rate of network slicing within the SMF service area. Subsequent SMFs will receive a set up session policy control response message from the PCF (not shown).

In step 407, the SMF sends rate information to the PCF.

The rate information includes two cases, the first case where the SMF accumulates the accumulated rates of the sessions received from the UPF, and the rate information indicates the rate at which the SMF accumulates, i.e., the rate of the network slice within the SMF service area, in step 406. In the second case, where the SMF does not perform the act of accumulating in step 406, the rate information is used to indicate the accumulated rate for the session received from the UPF that includes the UPF identification.

For example, the SMF may send the rate information to the NWDAF via an event notification message. The SMF sends an event notification message to the PCF at intervals until the expiration time is reached or the SMF receives an event subscription cancellation message.

Accordingly, the PCF receives from the SMF either the rate of network slices within the SMF service area or the accumulated rate of sessions (measured by UPF).

In step 408, the PCF obtains the maximum bandwidth used for the network slice.

The steps include the following cases:

in an optional case in this case, in step 406, the SMF accumulates the accumulated rate of the session measured by the first UPF and the accumulated rate of the session measured by the second UPF at the same time point to obtain the rate of the network slice in the SMF service area, the SMF sends the rate of the network slice in the SMF service area to the PCF in step 407, the PCF accumulates the rates measured by the SMF at the same time point, and selects the maximum value of the rates as the maximum bandwidth used by the network slice.

Taking the values measured at 6 time points in total as an example, the respective measured rate values of the first UPF, the second UPF, the SMF and the PCF are shown in table 6:

table 6 rates measured by respective network elements when SMF performs accumulation

	T1	T2	T3	T4	T5	T6
							First UPF
	3	3	4	5	6	6
							Second UPF	6	7	7	7	6	8
SMF	9	10	11	12	12	14
							PCF	9	10	11	12	12	14

The rate of the network slice is the rate values of the six time points corresponding to the PCF, wherein the maximum value is the rate at time T6, and the rate corresponding to time T6 is the maximum bandwidth used by the network slice.

Alternatively, in step 406, the SMF does not accumulate the accumulated rate of the session measured by the first UPF and the accumulated rate of the session measured by the second UPF at the same time point, and the SMF sends the accumulated rate of the session measured by the first UPF, the accumulated rate of the session measured by the second UPF, the identifier of the first UPF, and the identifier of the second UPF to the PCF in step 407, so that in this step the PCF accumulates the accumulated rate of the session measured by the first UPF and the accumulated rate of the session measured by the second UPF at the same time point to obtain the rate of the network slice, and selects the maximum value of the rates as the maximum bandwidth of the network slice.

For example, the rate values measured by the first UPF, the second UPF, and the PCF, respectively, are shown in table 7:

table 7 rates measured by various network elements when SMF does not perform accumulation

	T1	T2	T3	T4	T5	T6
							First UPF
	3	3	4	5	6	6
							Second UPF	6	7	7	7	6	8
SMF	/	/	/	/	/	/
							PCF	9	10	11	12	12	14

In the second case, the network slice includes at least two SMFs, for example, the network slice includes a first SMF and a second SMF, the first SMF manages a first UPF, the second SMF manages a second UPF, and the value measured by the first SMF is the value of the accumulation rate of the session measured by the first UPF, and the same applies to the second SMF. In step 406, the first SMF sends the accumulated rate of the session measured by the first UPF and the identifier of the first UPF to the PCF through step 407, and the second SMF sends the accumulated rate of the session measured by the second UPF and the identifier of the second UPF to the PCF through step 407, so that in this step, the PCF accumulates the accumulated rate of the session measured by the first UPF and the accumulated rate of the session measured by the second UPF at the same time point to obtain the rate of the network slice, and selects the maximum value of the rates thereof as the maximum bandwidth of the network slice. For example, the rate values measured by the first UPF, the second UPF, the first SMF, the second SMF, and the PCF, respectively, are shown in table 8:

TABLE 8 rates measured by respective network elements

	T1	T2	T3	T4	T5	T6
							First UPF
	3	3	4	5	6	6
							Second UPF	6	7	7	7	6	8
First SMF	3	3	4	5	6	6
							Second SMF	6	7	7	7	6	8
PCF	9	10	11	12	12	14

In an optional case in this case, in step 406, the first SMF accumulates the accumulated rate of the session measured by the first UPF and the accumulated rate of the session measured by the second UPF according to the same time point to obtain the rate of the network slice in the service area of the first SMF, the rate of the network slice in the first SMF service area is sent to the PCF through step 407, the second SMF accumulates the accumulated rate of the session measured by the third UPF and the accumulated rate of the session measured by the fourth UPF according to the same time point to obtain the rate of the network slice in the second SMF service area, the rate of the network slice in the second SMF service area is sent to the PCF, via step 407, where the PCF performs the accumulating operation, the network slice rate in the first SMF service area and the network slice rate in the second SMF service area are accumulated to obtain the network slice rate, and the maximum value of the network slice rate is selected as the maximum using bandwidth of the network slice. For example, the rate values measured by the first UPF, the second UPF, the third UPF, the fourth UPF, the first SMF, the second SMF, and the PCF are shown in table 9:

TABLE 9 rates measured by the respective network elements

	T1	T2	T3	T4	T5	T6
							First UPF
	3	3	4	5	6	6
							Second UPF	6	7	7	7	6	8
Third UPF	2	2	3	4	5	5
							Fourth UPF	6	7	7	7	6	8
First SMF	9	10	11	12	12	14
							Second SMF	8	9	10	11	11	13
PCF	17	19	21	23	23	27

Alternatively, in step 406, the first SMF directly sends the accumulated rate of the session measured by the first UPF and the accumulated rate of the session measured by the second UPF and the identifier of the first UPF and the identifier of the second UPF to the PCF through step 407, and the second SMF directly sends the accumulated rate of the session measured by the third UPF and the accumulated rate of the session measured by the fourth UPF and the identifier of the third UPF and the identifier of the fourth UPF to the PCF through step 407, then the PCF accumulates the accumulated rate of the session measured by the first UPF, the accumulated rate of the session measured by the second UPF, the accumulated rate of the session measured by the third UPF and the accumulated rate of the session measured by the fourth UPF at the same time point to obtain the rate of the network slice, and selects the maximum value of the rates as the maximum bandwidth used for the network slice. For example, the rate values measured by the first UPF, the second UPF, the third UPF, the fourth UPF, the first SMF, the second SMF, and the PCF are shown as 10:

TABLE 10 rates of measurements of individual network elements

	T1	T2	T3	T4	T5	T6
							First UPF
	3	3	4	5	6	6
							Second UPF	6	7	7	7	6	8
Third UPF	2	2	3	4	5	5
							Fourth UPF	6	7	7	7	6	8
First SMF	/	/	/	/	/	/
							Second SMF	/	/	/	/	/	/
PCF	17	19	21	23	23	27

As described in the foregoing embodiment, when there are multiple PCFs in the network slice, each PCF may store the rate of the network slice in its own PCF service area, which is acquired by itself, in a network device having a storage function, for example, the network device is a UDR. One PCF obtains the speed of the network slice in the PCF service area obtained by other PCFs in the UDR, and accumulates the speed according to the same time point to obtain the speed of the network slice at each time point, and the maximum speed value is selected as the maximum using bandwidth of the network slice.

In step 409, the PCF sends the maximum bandwidth used for the network slice to the device (OAM, CHF, NWDAF, or AF) that sent the trigger information in step 401.

If a service interface is deployed between the UPF and a control plane network element in the core network, the UPF can directly receive the identifier and the start time of the network slice from the PCF. After the UPF obtains the accumulated rate of the session, the UPF can also send the accumulated rate of the session to the PCF, and the PCF performs accumulation of the accumulated rate of the session, and finally the PCF obtains the maximum bandwidth of use of the network slice.

By the method shown in this embodiment, the PCF may measure the rate at each time point of the network slice. If the network slice only has one PCF, the rate of each time point of the network slice within the service range of the PCF measured by the PCF is the rate of the network slice, if the network slice comprises at least two PCFs, one of the PCFs can obtain the measured values of the other PCFs at each time point, and accumulate the values according to the time points to obtain the rate of the network slice. Finally, the PCF selects the maximum rate of the rates of the network slice at each time point as the maximum bandwidth of the network slice, so the method shown in this embodiment can measure the maximum bandwidth of the network slice more accurately.

The embodiment shown in fig. 5 is another method for measuring the maximum used bandwidth of a network slice according to the present application.

In this embodiment, the measured network slice includes at least two SMFs, and each SMF manages one or more UPFs, which is described as an example in the following case, and the measured network slice includes two SMFs (e.g., a first SMF and a second SMF), and the first SMF manages a first UPF and the second SMF manages a second UPF.

The method comprises the following steps:

in step 501, the PCF receives an identification of a network slice, a start time, and a first threshold.

For example, the PCF receives an event subscription message from the CHF requesting to obtain the maximum used bandwidth of the network slice;

or the PCF receives the event subscription message from the NWDAF and requests to acquire the maximum used bandwidth of the network slice;

or the PCF receives the event subscription message from the AF and requests to acquire the maximum used bandwidth of the network slice.

The event subscription message includes an identifier of the network slice (e.g., S-NSSAI), a start time, which may be a current or historical time point, or a future time point, and a first threshold. The first threshold is used to decompose corresponding thresholds for the SMFs, and report the rate value when the rate value of the network slice of each SMF in the service area is greater than the corresponding threshold, or not report the rate value when the rate value of the network slice of each SMF in the service area is less than the corresponding threshold. When the value of the rate at which each SMF gets a network slice in the service area is equal to the respective corresponding threshold, the value of the rate may be reported, or may not be reported, which may depend on the specific implementation. This embodiment is described by taking an action of reporting when the value of the rate at which each SMF obtains a network slice in the service area is greater than or equal to the corresponding threshold value as an example. The first threshold value received by the PCF is typically a very small value, or is set to 0, which may ensure that the bandwidth used for subsequent network slices obtained by the PCF is greater than the first threshold value.

If the usage bandwidth of the network slice acquired by the PCF at a time point is larger than a first threshold value, the PCF records the usage bandwidth of the network slice at the time point as the maximum usage bandwidth. Or, if the PCF acquires that the bandwidth used by the network slice at a time point is greater than the first threshold, the PCF updates the maximum bandwidth used by the network slice at the time point.

Optionally, the event subscription message includes a termination time. If the event subscription message does not include the termination time, the subsequent PCF receives the indication information of terminating the measurement and issues the indication information.

At step 502, the PCF resolves the first threshold.

And the PCF inquires the NRF according to the identification of the network slice and determines that the SMF supporting the network slice is the first SMF and the second SMF. The PCF decomposes the first threshold, sets decomposed thresholds for the first SMF and the second SMF, respectively, e.g., sets a second threshold for the first SMF, sets a third threshold for the second SMF, and the sum of the second threshold and the third threshold is equal to or less than the first threshold. The second threshold and the third threshold may be the same or different. And when the rate of the network slice at a certain measured time point in each service area of the SMFs is greater than or equal to the corresponding second threshold or third threshold, the SMFs report the rate of the network slice corresponding to the time point in each service area to the PCF. Otherwise, the SMF only measures the network slice rate in the respective service area of each time point and performs local caching. For example, the first threshold is 10, and the threshold decomposition is performed for two SMFs, resulting in a second threshold of 5 and a third threshold of 5.

In step 503, the PCF sends the SMF the identification of the network slice and the start time.

For example, the PCF sends an event subscription request message to both the first SMF and the second SMF that contains the identification of the network slice and the start time. Optionally, the event subscription request message further includes a time interval. The subscribed events are the result of the rate of the network slice. The same start time and time interval are measurement results at each specified time point (including N time points from the start time, and the time interval between adjacent time points is the time interval mentioned above, where N is an integer) to ensure that the measurement results of each SMF are the same, and if the event subscription request message does not include the time interval, the time interval may be a value built in any one PCF, SMF, or UPF, and each built-in time interval is uniform.

The PCF also sends the set resolved thresholds to the respective SMFs, e.g. the PCF sends the first SMF a second threshold and the PCF sends the second SMF a third threshold. For example, the second threshold value is 5, and the third threshold value is 5.

Optionally, the PCF also sends the termination time to both the first SMF and the second SMF. Optionally, if the PCF receives the termination time in step 501, the event subscription request message sent by the PCF to each SMF may include the termination time. Subsequent SMFs send measurements no later than the termination time.

If the event subscription request message sent by the PCF to each SMF does not include the termination time, the PCF may subsequently send an event subscription cancellation message to each SMF, so that each SMF stops measuring the rate of the network slice, so that each SMF sends a measurement result no later than the termination time.

At step 504, the SMF sends the network slice identification and start time to the respective managed UPF that supports the network slice.

This step may be referred to as described in step 303 of the embodiment shown in fig. 3.

In addition, optionally, taking the first SMF as an example, and taking the first SMF management UPF1 and UPF2 as examples, the first SMF may further decompose the second threshold to obtain a fourth threshold and a fifth threshold, and the decomposition method refers to the description of step 502 and is not repeated. And the first SMF sends a fourth threshold value to the first UPF, and the first SMF sends a fifth threshold value to the second UPF.

Optionally, the SMF also sends the expiration time to the respective managed UPF supporting the network slice.

In step 505, the UPF determines whether the current time point is a predetermined time point. If the current time point is the predetermined time point, step 506 is executed. If the current time is not the specified time point, the step is continuously executed.

For example, the prescribed time points include N time points from the start time to the end time, and the time interval between adjacent time points is the above time interval, where N is an integer.

Step 506, the UPF reports the measured accumulated rate of the session to the SMF.

And the UPF measures the speed of each session of the network slice at the time point according to the URR, and respectively accumulates the speed of each session in the same direction to obtain an accumulated value as the accumulated speed of the session at the time point. The time point may be determined according to the start time and the time interval, or the UPF may be determined according to the start time and the built-in time interval, and if the time interval is a built-in value, the built-in time intervals are uniform. In summary, the UPF can measure the rate of sessions of the network slice at multiple points in time at the same time interval.

If a certain UPF receives URRs from a plurality of SMFs, the UPF respectively acquires the accumulation rates of the sessions in the same direction of the sessions related to the network slice controlled by different SMFs respectively, and sends the accumulation rates of the sessions to the corresponding SMFs.

Optionally, if the UPFs receive the corresponding thresholds, taking the first UPF as an example, when the first UPF obtains the accumulated rate of the session at the time point, and compares the accumulated rate of the session at the current time point with the fourth threshold, when the accumulated rate of the session at the time point is greater than the fourth threshold, the first UPF determines to send the accumulated rate of the session at the time point to the first SMF.

In step 507, the SMF obtains the rate of network slicing in the SMF service area.

And the SMF accumulates the accumulated rates of the sessions in the same direction at the time point received from the UPF respectively to obtain the rate of the network slice in the service area at the time point of the SMF.

For example, the measured speed values of the first SMF and the second SMF and the corresponding threshold values at the respective times are shown in table 11:

TABLE 11 rates measured by respective network elements and their respective corresponding thresholds

T1

T2

T3

T4

T5

T6

First SMF

3|5

7|5

4|5.5

5|6

6|6.5

Second SMF

6|5

3|5

7|5.5

7|6

6|6.5

8|6.5

In the table, the left side of the character "|" represents the rate measured by each network element, and the right side of the character "|" represents the threshold corresponding to each network element. Further description of the following tables is omitted.

If the time point is T1, the rate of the network slice in the first SMF service area measured by the first SMF is 3, the second threshold value corresponding to the time point is 5, the rate of the network slice in the second SMF service area measured by the second SMF is 6, and the third threshold value is 5.

In step 508, the SMF determines whether the rate of network slicing within the SMF service area is greater than a threshold for decomposition.

The first SMF compares the rate of the network slice at the time point within the self service area with a second threshold, and the second SMF compares the rate of the network slice at the time point within the self service area with a third threshold.

If the rate of the network slice in one of the SMF service areas at the time point is greater than or equal to the respective threshold, step 509 is executed, and if the rates of the network slices in the respective SMF service areas are less than the respective thresholds, step 505 is returned.

For example, if the time point is T1, as shown in table 11, the rate of the network slice in the service area measured by the first SMF is 3, which is smaller than the second threshold, the rate of the network slice in the service area measured by the second SMF is 6, which is larger than the third threshold, and there is at least one network slice in the service area measured by the SMF whose rate is greater than or equal to the corresponding threshold, the following step 509 is executed.

For example, if the time point is T2, as shown in table 11, the rate of the network slice in the service area measured by the first SMF is 7, the rate is greater than the second threshold, the rate of the network slice in the service area measured by the second SMF is 3, the rate is less than the third threshold, there is at least one network slice in the service area measured by the SMF with a rate greater than or equal to the corresponding threshold, and the following step 509 is executed.

For example, if the time point is T5, as shown in table 11, the rate of the network slice in the service area measured by the first SMF is 6, and the rate is smaller than the second threshold, the rate of the network slice in the service area measured by the second SMF is 6, and the rate is smaller than the third threshold, and the rates of the network slices in the service areas of the respective SMFs are smaller than the respective thresholds, the process returns to step 505.

For example, if the time point is T6, as shown in table 11, the rate of network slicing within the service area measured by the first SMF is 6, which is greater than the second threshold, the rate of network slicing within the service area measured by the second SMF is 8, which is greater than the third threshold, there is at least one network slicing within the service area measured by the SMF, which is greater than or equal to the corresponding threshold, and the following step 509 is executed.

If the time point is other time points in table 11, the same is true.

Optionally, the SMF sends the fourth threshold and the fifth threshold in step 504 of corresponding update to the UPF according to the accumulated rate of the session in the same direction at the same current time point received from the respective managed UPF. For example, after the first SMF compares the rate of the network slice at the current time point in the self service area with the second threshold, when the rate of the network slice at the current time point is already greater than the second threshold, the first SMF updates the fourth threshold according to the accumulation rate of the sessions in the same direction at the same current time point received from the first UPF, and the updated fourth threshold is generally greater than the fourth threshold before updating, so that the UPF reports the measured accumulation rate of the sessions of the network slice greater than the updated fourth threshold to the first SMF only after the accumulation rate of the sessions of the network slice reaches a greater value (i.e., greater than the fourth threshold), so that the first SMF subsequently obtains only a greater rate of the network slice in the self service area.

At step 509, the SMF sends an event notification message to the PCF.

For example, in combination with the above example, taking the current time point as T1 as an example, if the rate of the network slice in the service area of the second SMF is greater than the third threshold, the second SMF sends an event notification message to the PCF, where the event notification message includes the rate corresponding to the current time point and the time point. If the current time point is T6, and the rates of the network slices in the respective self service areas measured by the first SMF and the second SMF are both greater than the respective corresponding thresholds, then both the first SMF and the second SMF perform this step. Since the first SMF and the second SMF both send the respective measured rates to the PCF, after the PCF receives the rates of the network slices in the service area of the respective SMFs, the PCF does not perform step 510 and step 511 is not performed (this mechanism is not shown in the figure).

At step 510, the PCF sends an event report request message to the other SMFs.

For example, in combination with the above example, taking the current time point as T1 as an example, the first SMF does not send the rate of the first SMF network slice in the service area corresponding to the current time point to the PCF, and the PCF sends an event report request message to the first SMF, where the event report request message includes the time point and indicates that the first SMF reports the rate of the first SMF network slice in the service area corresponding to the time point.

In step 511, other SMFs send to the PCF the rate of network slices in their respective service areas.

For example, in combination with the above example, if the time point is T1, the first SMF reports the rate of network slicing in the first SMF service area corresponding to T1 to the PCF.

In step 512, the PCF acquires the bandwidth of the network slice and determines the maximum bandwidth of the network slice.

The PCF receives the network slice rates of the first SMF and the second SMF in the respective service areas at the time point in step 507, and accumulates the network slice rates of the time point in the respective service areas of the first SMF and the second SMF to obtain the usage bandwidth of the network slice at the time point. And the PCF selects the maximum value according to the value of the use bandwidth at the current time point and the value of the use bandwidth at the historical time point recorded by the PCF, and determines the maximum use bandwidth of the network slice. Or, if the PCF acquires that the bandwidth used by the network slice at a time point is greater than the first threshold, the PCF updates the maximum bandwidth used by the network slice at the time point.

Optionally, when the bandwidth used by the network slice at the time point is greater than or equal to the first threshold, the PCF updates the first threshold, where the first threshold may be greater than the first threshold before updating, for example, the first threshold may be equal to or greater than the currently measured bandwidth used value, and updates the second threshold and the third threshold at the same time.

Continuing with the example described in Table 11, Table 12 is obtained:

TABLE 12 rates measured by the respective network elements and their respective corresponding thresholds

T1

T2

T3

T4

T5

T6

First SMF

3|5

4|5.5

5|6

6|6.5

Second SMF

6|5

7|5

7|5.5

7|6

6|6.5

8|6.5

PCF

9|10

10|10

11|11

12|12

/|13

14|13

If the current time point is T1 and the current first threshold is 10, the used bandwidth of the network slice is smaller than the first threshold. The PCF does not perform the update of the first threshold, and does not update the second threshold or the third threshold, and since T1 is the starting time, the PCF determines that the maximum bandwidth used for the network slice is the value of the bandwidth used at the time point, that is, the maximum bandwidth used is 9.

If the time point is T2, and the current first threshold is 10, and the used bandwidth of the network slice is equal to the first threshold, the PCF updates the first threshold to 11, and updates both the second threshold and the third threshold to 5.5, and updates the used bandwidth of the network slice at the current time point to the maximum used bandwidth of the network slice, which is 10 at this time.

If the time point is T3, and the current first threshold is 11, and the bandwidth used by the network slice is equal to the first threshold, the PCF updates the first threshold of the next time point to 12, updates the second threshold and the third threshold of the next time point to 6, and updates the bandwidth used by the network slice at the current time point to the maximum bandwidth used by the network slice, which is now 11.

If the time point is T4, and the current first threshold is 12, and the bandwidth used by the network slice is equal to the first threshold, the PCF updates the first threshold of the next time point to 13, updates the second threshold and the third threshold of the next time point to 6.5, and updates the bandwidth used by the network slice at the current time point to the maximum bandwidth used by the network slice, which is 12 at this time.

If the time point is T5 and the current first threshold is 13, the PCF does not receive information of the rate reported by any SMF, and the maximum bandwidth used is still 12, and at the same time, no update of any threshold at the next time point is performed.

If the time point is T6, and the current first threshold is still 13, and the bandwidth used by the network slice is greater than the first threshold, the PCF updates the first threshold of the next time point to be 14, and updates the second threshold and the third threshold of the next time point to be 7, and updates the bandwidth used by the network slice at the current time point to be the maximum bandwidth used by the network slice, which is 14 at this time.

Optionally, the PCF sends the corresponding updated second threshold and third threshold to the multiple SMFs according to the received rates of the multiple SMFs in the respective service areas at the current time point in step 507, and the PCF may not consider the first threshold when updating the second threshold and third threshold at the next time point, and updates the second threshold and third threshold at the next time point only according to the rate of the network slice in the service area at the current time point measured by the current first SMF and the rate of the network slice in the service area at the current time point measured by the second SMF.

In step 513, the PCF sends the respective updated thresholds to the corresponding SMFs.

If the PCF updates the threshold (e.g., the second threshold or the third threshold) corresponding to each SMF in step 512, for example, the PCF sends the updated second threshold to the first SMF, and the PCF sends the updated third threshold to the second SMF. If only the second threshold corresponding to the first SMF is updated, the PCF only needs to send the updated second threshold to the first SMF, and the PCF does not need to send the third threshold, which is not updated, to the second SMF.

In step 514, the PCF determines whether the time point corresponding to the obtained rate is the termination time point.

If the time point is not the end time, proceed to step 505. If the time point is the end time, step 515 is performed. For example, with reference to the above example, when the time point is any one of time points T1 to T5, step 505 is executed subsequently, and when the time point is T6, step 515 is executed.

It is specifically noted that the execution of steps 505 to 514 can be completed before the next specified time point for measuring the network slicing rate arrives, for example, the time interval between any two adjacent time points in the above example is greater than the time period used for the execution of steps 505 to 514 in this embodiment.

In the above step, there is at least one network slice whose used bandwidth is greater than or equal to the first threshold, and the maximum value of the used bandwidth is updated to the maximum used bandwidth of the network slice. The subsequent PCF performs step 515.

The PCF sends the maximum bandwidth used for the network slice, step 515.

If the PCF receives the identifier, the start time, and the first threshold of the network slice from the CHF in step 501, the PCF sends the maximum used bandwidth of the network slice to the CHF, if the PCF receives the identifier, the start time, and the first threshold of the network slice from the NWDAF in step 501, the PCF sends the maximum used bandwidth of the network slice to the NWDAF, and if the PCF receives the identifier, the start time, and the first threshold of the network slice from the AF in step 501, the PCF sends the maximum used bandwidth of the network slice to the AF.

Taking the above example as an example, the maximum used bandwidth of the network slice is 14.

Optionally, the PCF sends a time point corresponding to the maximum bandwidth used for the network slice.

In this embodiment, if the termination time is not specified, in step 501, after receiving the notification information for terminating the measurement of the network slice rate, the PCF sequentially sends the notification information for terminating the measurement session rate to each managed UPF under the PCF via the SMF, and the UPF terminates the measurement of the session rate.

The description is made in order of time by taking the above example as an example. Assuming that at step 505, the UPF determines that the start time T1 is reached, then each of the subsequent UPFs performs step 506. The corresponding SMF performs step 507. For example, at this time, the rate of the network slice in the service area measured by the first SMF is 3, the rate of the network slice in the service area measured by the second SMF is 6, the second threshold corresponding to the first SMF is 5, and the third threshold corresponding to the second SMF is 5. In step 508, the second SMF determines that the rate of the network slice in the service area of the second SMF is greater than the third threshold, then the second SMF reports the time point and the rate of the network slice in the service area measured at the time point to the PCF in step 509, the PCF notifies the first SMF of the rate of the network slice in the service area of the second SMF corresponding to the time point of T1 by performing step 510, the first SMF reports the rate of the network slice in the service area of the first SMF to the PCF in step 511, and the PCF adds the rates of the network slices in the service areas of the first SMF and the second SMF at the time point of T1 by step 512, so as to obtain the bandwidth of the network slice as 9, and since the time point of T1 is the starting time, the value is directly recorded as the maximum bandwidth of the network slice. And since the value of the used bandwidth is smaller than the first threshold, the PCF does not update the first threshold, and does not update the second threshold and the third threshold, then the PCF performs step 514, determines that time T1 is not the termination time point, and the subsequent UPF performs step 505.

When the UPF determines that the current time is T2, the subsequent UPF performs step 506. The SMF executes step 507, at this time, the rate of the network slice in the service area measured by the first SMF is 3, the rate of the network slice in the service area measured by the second SMF is 7, the second threshold corresponding to the first SMF is 5, the third threshold corresponding to the second SMF is 5, and the second SMF judges that the rate of the network slice in the self-service area is greater than the third threshold in step 508, then the second SMF executes step 509, the second SMF reports the time point and the rate of the network slice in the service area measured at the time point to the PCF, since the first SMF does not report the rate of the network slice in the self-service area in step 509, the PCF notifies the PCF of the rate of the network slice in the self-service area corresponding to the time point of the first SMF T2 through executing step 510, and the first SMF reports the rate of the network slice in the self-service area to the PCF through step 511, the PCF adds the rates of the network slices in its own service areas measured by the first SMF and the second SMF at time point T2 by step 512 to obtain the bandwidth used by the network slice as 10, since the maximum bandwidth used by the network slice is 9 at time point T1 and is smaller than the bandwidth used by the network slice at the current time point, the PCF records the bandwidth used by the network slice corresponding to time point T2 as the maximum bandwidth used by the network slice, updates the first threshold as 11, updates the second threshold as 5.5, updates the third threshold as 5.5, executes step 513, the PCF sends the updated second threshold to the first SMF, sends the updated third threshold to the second SMF, then the PCF executes step 514, determines that the time point T2 is not the termination time point, and continues with step 505.

When the UPF determines that the current time is T3, the subsequent UPF performs step 506. The SMF executes step 507, at this time, the rate of the network slice in the service area measured by the first SMF is 4, the rate of the network slice in the service area measured by the second SMF is 7, the second threshold corresponding to the first SMF is 5.5, the third threshold corresponding to the second SMF is 5.5, the second SMF determines that the rate of the network slice in the service area is greater than the third threshold in step 508, the second SMF executes step 509, the second SMF reports the time point to the PCF and the rate of the network slice in the service area measured at the time point, since the first SMF does not report the rate of the network slice in the service area, the PCF notifies the first SMF of the rate of the network slice in the service area corresponding to the time point T3 by executing step 510, and the first SMF reports the rate of the network slice in the service area to the PCF by step 511, the PCF adds the rates of the network slices in the respective service areas measured by the first SMF and the second SMF at time point T3 by step 512 to obtain the bandwidth used by the network slice as 11, since the maximum bandwidth used by the network slice is 10 at time point T2 and is smaller than the bandwidth used by the network slice at the current time point, the PCF records the bandwidth used by the network slice corresponding to time point T3 as the maximum bandwidth used by the network slice, updates the first threshold as 12, updates the second threshold as 6, updates the third threshold as 6, executes step 513, the PCF sends the updated second threshold to the first SMF, sends the updated third threshold to the second SMF, then executes step 514, judges that the time point T3 is not the termination time point, and the UPF continues step 505.

When the UPF determines that the current time is T4, the subsequent UPF performs step 506. The SMF executes step 507, at this time, the rate of the network slice in the service area measured by the first SMF is 5, the rate of the network slice in the service area measured by the second SMF is 7, the second threshold corresponding to the first SMF is 6, the third threshold corresponding to the second SMF is 6, the second SMF determines that the rate of the network slice in the self-service area is greater than the third threshold in step 508, then the second SMF executes step 509, the second SMF reports the time point and the rate of the network slice in the service area measured at the time point to the PCF, since the first SMF does not report the rate of the network slice in the self-service area in step 509, the PCF notifies the PCF of the rate of the network slice in the self-service area corresponding to the time point of the first reported SMF T4 by executing step 510, the first SMF reports the rate of the network slice in the self-service area to the PCF by step 511, the PCF adds the rates of the network slice in the respective service areas measured by the first SMF and the second SMF at the time point of T4 through step 512 to obtain the usage bandwidth of the network slice as 12, since the maximum usage bandwidth of the network slice is 11 at the time point of T3 and is smaller than the usage bandwidth of the network slice at the current time point, the PCF records the usage bandwidth of the network slice corresponding to the time point of T4 as the maximum usage bandwidth of the network slice, updates the first threshold as 13, updates the second threshold as 6.5, updates the third threshold as 6.5, executes step 513, the PCF sends the updated second threshold to the first SMF, sends the updated third threshold to the second SMF, then the PCF executes step 514, determines that the time point of T4 is not the termination time point, and the UPF continues to step 505.

When the UPF determines that the current time is T5, the subsequent UPF performs step 506. The SMF executes step 507, at this time, the rate of the network slice in the service area measured by the first SMF is 6, the rate of the network slice in the service area measured by the second SMF is 6, the second threshold corresponding to the first SMF is 6.5, the third threshold corresponding to the second SMF is 6.5, in step 508, the first SMF and the second SMF both determine that the rate of the network slice in the self-service area is smaller than the respective corresponding threshold, and then the UPF continues to step 505.

When the UPF determines that the current time is T6, the subsequent UPF performs step 506. The SMF executes step 507, at this time, the rate of the network slice in the service area measured by the first SMF is 6, the rate of the network slice in the service area measured by the second SMF is 8, the second threshold corresponding to the first SMF is 6.5, the third threshold corresponding to the second SMF is 6.5, in step 508, the second SMF determines that the rate of the network slice in the service area is greater than the third threshold, and the first SMF determines that the rate of the network slice in the service area is greater than the second threshold, then both the second SMF and the first SMF execute step 509, the first SMF reports the time point and the rate of the network slice in the service area measured by the time point to the PCF, and the second SMF reports the time point and the rate of the network slice in the service area measured by the time point to the PCF. The PCF adds the rates of the network slice in the respective service areas measured by the first SMF and the second SMF at the time point of T6 by step 512 to obtain the bandwidth used by the network slice as 12, since the maximum bandwidth used by the network slice is 12 at the time point of T4 and is smaller than the bandwidth used by the network slice at the current time point, the PCF records the bandwidth used by the network slice corresponding to the time point of T6 as the maximum bandwidth used by the network slice, updates the first threshold as 14, updates the second threshold as 7, updates the third threshold as 7, executes step 513, the PCF sends the updated second threshold to the first SMF, sends the updated third threshold to the second SMF, then the PCF executes step 514, determines that the time point of T6 is the termination time point, and executes step 515, and the PCF sends the maximum bandwidth used by the network slice (the value is 14).

Optionally, the following scheme may be further included in this embodiment:

and the PCF obtains the used bandwidth of the network slice at each time point and compares the used bandwidth with a first threshold value. The first threshold may not be updated at all times, and the second threshold or the third threshold is not updated either. When the value of the bandwidth used at the time point is greater than or equal to the first threshold, the PCF performs the reporting of the bandwidth used corresponding to the time point. Instead of determining the maximum bandwidth used for the network slice, the PCF determines the value of the maximum bandwidth used by the network device receiving the bandwidth used, which is the network device sending the analysis subscribe message or the analysis information request message to the PCF in step 501.

Or, the first threshold is not updated, when the value of the bandwidth used at the time point is greater than or equal to the first threshold, the PCF compares the value of the currently recorded maximum bandwidth used with the value of the bandwidth used at the time point, if the value of the bandwidth used at the time point is greater than the value of the currently recorded maximum bandwidth used, the PCF updates the value of the currently recorded maximum bandwidth used to the value of the bandwidth used at the time point, and the PCF finally realizes the determination of the maximum bandwidth used.

By the method shown in the embodiment, the PCF acquires the first threshold, sets corresponding thresholds for different SMFs according to the first threshold, and does not perform reporting of the measured rate when the rate measured by each SMF at the time point is less than the corresponding threshold, thereby reducing the number of rate reporting in the network and reducing the load of the network.

The embodiment shown in fig. 6 is another method for measuring the maximum used bandwidth of a network slice according to the present application.

In this embodiment, the measured network slice includes at least two SMFs, and one SMF manages one or more UPFs, and this embodiment is described as an example of the case where the measured network slice includes two SMFs (e.g., a first SMF and a second SMF) and the first SMF manages a first UPF and the second SMF manages a second UPF. An example of this step is shown in fig. 5 in connection with the PCF.

The method comprises the following steps:

step 601, the NWDAF acquires the identifier and the start time of the network slice.

The NWDAF receives an analysis subscription message from the CHF and requests to acquire the maximum used bandwidth of the network slice;

or the NWDAF receives the analysis subscription message from the PCF and requests to acquire the maximum use bandwidth of the network slice;

or the NWDAF receives an analysis information request message from the AF to request to acquire the maximum used bandwidth of the network slice;

the analysis subscription message or the analysis information request message includes an identifier of the network slice (e.g., S-NSSAI), and a start time, which may be a current or historical time point or a future time point. Optionally, the analysis subscription message or the analysis information request message further includes a termination time.

Optionally, the analysis subscription message or the analysis information request message further includes an analysis accuracy requirement, and the analysis accuracy requirement is used for determining the subsequent time interval.

Optionally, the analysis subscription message or the analysis information request message further includes a first threshold, where the first threshold is used for the NWDAF to report the maximum bandwidth used for network slicing.

At step 602, the NWDAF determines a first threshold and resolves the first threshold.

The NWDAF obtains respective SMFs (e.g., a first SMF and a second SMF) that support the network slice according to the identification of the network slice, e.g., the NWDAF queries a Network Repository Function (NRF) according to the identification of the network slice. If step 601 does not include a first threshold, the NWDAF determines the first threshold based on historical measured rates for the respective SMFs (which may be the result of historical measurements obtained from the SMFs, or may be performance statistics obtained from the OAM). For example, this threshold may be 90% of the maximum value of the historical rate of the SMF measurements over the historical time. If the NWDAF cannot obtain the maximum value of the rate measured by the SMF in the historical time, the NWDAF may determine the first threshold value as 0, and in the subsequent step, the NWDAF updates the first threshold value according to the maximum used bandwidth of the network slice or according to the obtained rate of the network slice in the SMF service area.

After the NWDAF determines the first threshold, the first threshold is decomposed, and decomposed thresholds are set for the respective SMFs, for example, a second threshold is set for the first SMF, a third threshold is set for the second SMF, and the sum of the second threshold and the third threshold is equal to or less than the first threshold. The second threshold and the third threshold may be the same or different.

This step may refer to the description of step 501 or step 502 of the embodiment shown in fig. 5 with respect to the first threshold.

Step 603, the NWDAF sends the network slice identifier and the start time to the SMF.

For example, the NWDAF sends an event subscription request message including the identifier and the start time of the network slice to the first SMF and the second SMF, and each SMF is required to send a measurement result of the rate of the network slice in its service area to the NDWDAF. This step may be described with reference to the PCF of step 503 in the embodiment shown in fig. 5.

Additionally, if the NWDAF receives the analysis accuracy requirement, the NWDAF may determine the time interval based on the analysis accuracy requirement. If the NWDAF does not receive the request including the analysis accuracy, the NWDAF may determine the appropriate time interval based on its own configured analysis accuracy requirement or an analysis accuracy requirement in a local policy. If the analysis accuracy requirement is high, the time interval is small, and if the analysis accuracy requirement is low, the time interval is large.

Optionally, if the NWDAF receives the termination time in step 601, the event subscription request message sent by the NWDAF to each SMF may include the termination time. Subsequent SMFs send measurements no later than the termination time.

If the event subscription request message sent by the NWDAF to each SMF does not include the termination time, the NWDAF will subsequently send an event subscription cancellation message to each SMF, so that each SMF stops measuring the rate of the network slice, and each SMF sends a measurement result no later than the termination time.

In step 604, the SMF sends the network slice identification and start time to the respective managed UPF that supports the network slice. This step may be described with reference to step 504 of fig. 5.

In step 605, the UPF determines whether the current time point is a predetermined time point. If the current time point is the specified time point, go to step 606. If the current time is not the specified time point, the step is continuously executed.

And step 606, reporting the measured accumulated rate of the session to the SMF by the UPF. This step may be as described with reference to step 506 in fig. 5.

In step 607, the SMF obtains the rate of network slicing within the SMF service area. This step may be described with reference to step 507 of fig. 5.

In step 608, the SMF determines whether the rate of network slicing within the SMF service area is greater than a resolution threshold.

If the speed of the network slice in one of the SMF service areas at the time point is greater than or equal to the respective threshold, step 609 is executed, and if the speed of the network slice in each SMF service area is less than the respective threshold, step 605 is executed.

For example, if the time point is T1, as shown in table 11, the rate of the network slice in the service area measured by the first SMF is 3, which is smaller than the second threshold, the rate of the network slice in the service area measured by the second SMF is 6, which is larger than the third threshold, and there is at least one network slice in the service area measured by the SMF whose rate is greater than or equal to the corresponding threshold, the subsequent step 609 is executed.

For example, if the time point is T2, as shown in table 11, the rate of the network slice in the service area measured by the first SMF is 7, the rate is greater than the second threshold, the rate of the network slice in the service area measured by the second SMF is 3, the rate is less than the third threshold, there is at least one network slice in the service area measured by the SMF with a rate greater than or equal to the corresponding threshold, and the subsequent step 609 is executed.

For example, if the time point is T5, as shown in table 11, the rate of the network slice in the service area measured by the first SMF is 6, and the rate is smaller than the second threshold, the rate of the network slice in the service area measured by the second SMF is 6, and the rate is smaller than the third threshold, and the rates of the network slices in the service areas of the respective SMFs are smaller than the respective thresholds, the process returns to step 605.

For example, if the time point is T6, as shown in table 11, the rate of network slicing within the service area measured by the first SMF is 6, which is greater than the second threshold, the rate of network slicing within the service area measured by the second SMF is 8, which is greater than the third threshold, there is at least one network slicing within the service area measured by the SMF, which is greater than or equal to the corresponding threshold, and the subsequent step 609 is executed.

If the time point is other time points in table 11, the same is true.

Optionally, the SMF sends the fourth threshold and the fifth threshold in step 604 of corresponding update to the UPF according to the accumulated rate of the session in the same direction at the same current time point received from the respective managed UPF. For example, after the first SMF compares the rate of the network slice at the time point in its own service area with the second threshold, when the rate of the network slice at the time point is already greater than the second threshold, the first SMF updates the fourth threshold according to the accumulation rate of the sessions in the same direction at the same current time point received from the first UPF, and the updated fourth threshold is generally greater than the fourth threshold before updating, so that the UPF reports the measured accumulation rate of the sessions of the network slice greater than the updated fourth threshold to the first SMF only after the accumulation rate of the sessions of the network slice reaches a greater value (i.e., greater than the fourth threshold), so that the first SMF subsequently obtains only a greater rate of the network slice in its own service area.

In step 609, the SMF sends an event notification message to the PCF.

For example, in combination with the above example, taking the time point T1 as an example, if the rate of the network slice in the service area of the second SMF is greater than the third threshold, the second SMF sends an event notification message to the PCF, where the event notification message includes the rate corresponding to the current time point and the time point. If the time point is T6, and the measured network slice rates in the respective self service areas of the first SMF and the second SMF are both greater than the respective corresponding thresholds, then both the first SMF and the second SMF perform this step, and step 610 and step 611 are no longer performed.

At step 610, the NWDAF sends an event report request message to the other SMFs.

In step 611, the other SMFs send the rate of network slicing within their respective service areas to the NWDAF.

Step 612, the NWDAF acquires the used bandwidth of the network slice and determines the maximum used bandwidth of the network slice.

In step 613, the NWDAF sends the updated thresholds for each respective SMF.

Steps 610 through 613 may be described with reference to PCF steps 510 through 513 of fig. 5.

In step 614, the NWDAF determines whether the time point corresponding to the acquired rate is the termination time point.

If the time point is not the end time, step 605 is executed. If the time point is the end time, step 615 is executed. For example, with reference to the above example, when the time point is any one of time points T1 to T5, step 605 is executed subsequently, and when the time point is T6, step 615 is executed.

It is specifically noted that the execution of steps 605 to 614 can be completed before the next specified time point for measuring the network slicing rate arrives, for example, the time interval between any two adjacent time points in the above example is greater than the time period used for the execution of steps 605 to 614 in this embodiment.

Step 615, the NWDAF sends the maximum used bandwidth of the network slice.

If NWDAF receives the identifier and start time of the network slice from CHF in step 601, NWDAF sends the maximum bandwidth used by the network slice to CHF, if NWDAF receives the identifier and start time of the network slice from PCF in step 601, NWDAF sends the maximum bandwidth used by the network slice to PCF, and if PCF receives the identifier and start time of the network slice from AF in step 601, NWDAF sends the maximum bandwidth used by the network slice to AF.

Optionally, the NWDAF sends a time point corresponding to the maximum used bandwidth of the network slice.

In this embodiment, if the termination time is not specified, in step 601, after receiving the notification information for terminating the measurement of the network slice rate, the NWDAF sequentially sends notification information for terminating the measurement session rate to each managed UPF under the NWDAF via the SMF, and the UPF terminates the measurement of the session rate.

Optionally, the following scheme may be further included in this embodiment: the updating of the first threshold information is a selectable action, and the NWDAF obtains the used bandwidth of the network slice at each time point and compares the obtained bandwidth with the first threshold. When the value of the bandwidth used at the time point is greater than or equal to the first threshold, the NWDAF performs reporting of the bandwidth used corresponding to the time point, and the NWDAF does not determine the maximum bandwidth used for the network slice, but determines the value of the maximum bandwidth used by the network device receiving the bandwidth used, where the network device sends the identifier of the network slice and the start time to the NWDAF in step 601; or, when the value of the bandwidth used at the time point is greater than or equal to the first threshold, the NWDAF compares the value of the currently recorded maximum bandwidth used with the value of the bandwidth used at the time point, and if the value of the bandwidth used at the time point is greater than the value of the currently recorded maximum bandwidth used, the value of the currently recorded maximum bandwidth used is updated to the value of the bandwidth used at the time point, and the NWDAF finally determines the maximum bandwidth used.

By the method shown in the embodiment, the NWDAF obtains the first threshold, sets corresponding thresholds for different SMFs according to the first threshold, and does not perform reporting of the measured rate when the rate measured by each SMF at the time point is smaller than the corresponding threshold, thereby reducing the number of rate reporting in the network and reducing the load of the network. Since the NWDAF has data analysis and prediction functions, the initial first threshold, the second threshold, or the third threshold in this embodiment may be set according to historical measurement values, so that the respective thresholds may be closer to the actual situation.

The embodiment shown in fig. 7 is another method of the present application for measuring the maximum used bandwidth of a network slice.

In this embodiment, the measured network slice includes one SMF, and the SMF manages one or more UPFs, and the embodiment is described by taking the following cases as an example: the SMF manages a first UPF and a second UPF.

The method comprises the following steps:

in step 701, the PCF receives an identification of a network slice, a start time, and a first threshold.

This step may be described with reference to step 501 shown in fig. 5.

At step 702, the PCF sets a second threshold.

The PCF sets a threshold for the SMF according to the first threshold, and the second threshold may be the same as or different from the first threshold. And the second threshold is used for indicating the SMF, and when the rate of the network slice at a certain measured time point in the SMF service area exceeds the second threshold, the SMF reports the rate of the network slice corresponding to the time point in the service area to the PCF. Otherwise, the SMF only measures the network slice rate in the service area of each time point and performs local caching. For example, the first threshold value is 10, and the second threshold value is 5.

In step 703, the PCF sends the identification of the network slice, the start time, and the second threshold to the SMF.

For example, the PCF sends an event subscription request message to the SMF that contains an identification start time of the network slice and a second threshold. Optionally, the event subscription request message further includes a time interval. The subscribed events are the result of the rate of the network slice. The same start time and time interval are measurement results for ensuring that the measurement results of the SMF and the UPFs managed by the SMF are the same time point (including the time points from the start time and N time points, and the time interval between adjacent time points is the time interval mentioned above, where N is an integer), and if the time interval is not included in the event subscription request message, the time interval may be a value built in any one PCF or SMF or UPF, and each built-in time interval is uniform.

The PCF also sends a second threshold to the SMF, e.g., the PCF sends a second threshold to the SMF, e.g., the second threshold is 5.

Optionally, the PCF also sends the termination time to the SMF. Optionally, if the PCF receives the termination time in step 701, the event subscription request message sent by the PCF to the SMF may include the termination time. Subsequent SMFs send measurements no later than the termination time.

And if the event subscription request message sent by the PCF to the SMF does not include the termination time, the PCF sends an event subscription cancellation message to the SMF subsequently, so that the SMF stops measuring the rate of the network slice, and the SMF sends a measurement result which is not later than the termination time.

At step 704, the SMF sends the identification of the network slice and the start time to the managed UPF that supports the network slice.

In addition, optionally, the SMF may further decompose the second threshold by a third threshold and a fourth threshold, and the decomposition method refers to the description of step 502 shown in fig. 5, and is not described again. The SMF sends a third threshold to the first UPF, and the SMF sends a fourth threshold to the second UPF.

Optionally, the SMF also sends the termination time to the UPF that supports the network slice that it manages.

Step 705, the UPF determines whether the current time point is a predetermined time point. If the current time point is the specified time point, step 706 is executed. If the current time is not the specified time point, the step is continuously executed.

Step 706, the UPF reports the measured accumulated rate of the session to the SMF. This step may be as described with reference to step 506 in fig. 5.

In step 707, the SMF obtains the rate of network slicing within the SMF service area.

For example, the measured rate values for each of the first UPF, the second UPF, and the SMF are shown in table 13:

table 13 rate measured by each network element and corresponding threshold value

	T1	T2	T3	T4	T5	T6
							First UPF
	3	7	4	5	6	6
							Second UPF	6	3	7	7	6	8
SMF	9\|5	10\|9	11\|10	12\|11	12\|12	14\|12

If the time point is T1, the SMF measures the rate of network slicing in the service area to be 9, and the second threshold corresponding to the time point is 5, and the same applies if the time point is other time points in the table.

In step 708, the SMF determines whether the rate of network slicing within the SMF service area is greater than a threshold for resolution.

The SMF compares the rate of network slicing at the point in time within the service area with a second threshold.

If the speed of the network slice in the self service area of the SMF at the time point is greater than the second threshold, the SMF executes step 709, and if the speed of the network slice in the service area of the SMF is less than or equal to the respective threshold, the process returns to step 705.

For example, if the time point is T1, as shown in table 13, the SMF measures that the rate of the network slice in the service area is 9, the second threshold corresponding to the time point is 5, and the rate is greater than the second threshold, and then the following step 709 is executed.

For example, if the time point is T5, as shown in table 13, the SMF measures that the rate of the network slice in the service area is 12, the time point corresponds to a second threshold value of 12, and the rate is equal to the second threshold value, and then the following step 705 is executed.

If the time point is other time points in table 13, the same is true.

Optionally, the SMF sends the third threshold and the fourth threshold in step 704 of corresponding update to the UPF according to the accumulated rate of the session in the same direction at the same current time point received from the respective managed UPF. For example, after the SMF compares the rate of the network slice at the time point in its service area with the second threshold, when the rate of the network slice at the time point is already greater than the second threshold, the SMF updates the third threshold according to the accumulation rate of the sessions in the same direction at the same current time point received from the first UPF, and the updated third threshold is generally greater than the third threshold before updating, so that the first UPF reports the measured accumulation rate of the sessions of the network slice greater than the updated third threshold to the SMF only after the accumulation rate of the sessions of the network slice reaches a greater value (i.e., greater than the third threshold), so that the SMF subsequently obtains only a greater rate of the network slice in its service area.

In step 709, the SMF sends the PCF the rate of the network slice in the service area at that point in time.

For example, in combination with the above example, if the current time point is T1, and the rate of network slicing in the service area of the SMF itself is greater than the second threshold, the rate of network slicing in the service area of the second SMF to the PCF at the time point is determined.

In step 710, the PCF obtains the bandwidth of the network slice, determines the maximum bandwidth of the network slice, and updates the second threshold.

And the PCF receives the rate of the network slice at the time point in the SMF service area, wherein the rate is the used bandwidth of the network slice at the time point. And selecting the maximum value according to the value of the use bandwidth at the current time point and the value of the use bandwidth at the historical time point recorded by the PCF, and determining the maximum use bandwidth of the network slice. Optionally, the PCF updates the value of the used bandwidth at the current time point to the maximum used bandwidth of the network slice.

Continuing with the example described in Table 13, Table 14 results:

TABLE 14 rates measured by the respective network elements and SMF thresholds

T1

T2

T3

T4

T5

T6

SMF

9|5

10|9

11|10

12|11

12|12

14|12

PCF

9

10

11

12

/

14

If the current time point is T1, the used bandwidth of the network slice is 9. Since T1 is the starting time, the PCF determines that the maximum bandwidth of use of the network slice is the value of the bandwidth of use at that point in time, i.e. the maximum bandwidth of use is 9. The PCF then updates the second threshold to 9.

If the time point is T2, the bandwidth of the network slice is 10. If the bandwidth of the network slice corresponding to the time point is greater than the maximum bandwidth of the network slice recorded at time T1, the PCF determines that the maximum bandwidth of the network slice is the value of the bandwidth of the time point, that is, the maximum bandwidth of the network slice is 10. The PCF then updates the second threshold to 10.

If the time point is T3, the used bandwidth of the network slice is 11. If the bandwidth of the network slice corresponding to the time point is greater than the maximum bandwidth of the network slice recorded at time T2, the PCF determines that the maximum bandwidth of the network slice is the value of the bandwidth of the time point, that is, the maximum bandwidth of the network slice is 11. The PCF then updates the second threshold to 11.

If the time point is T4, the used bandwidth of the network slice is 12. If the bandwidth of the network slice corresponding to the time point is greater than the maximum bandwidth of the network slice recorded at time T3, the PCF determines that the maximum bandwidth of the network slice is the value of the bandwidth of the time point, that is, the maximum bandwidth of the network slice is 12. The PCF then updates the second threshold value to 12.

If the time point is T5, the used bandwidth of the network slice is 12. The PCF does not receive a value for the rate from the SMF.

If the time point is T6, the used bandwidth of the network slice is 14. If the bandwidth of the network slice corresponding to the time point is greater than the maximum bandwidth of the network slice recorded at time T4, the PCF determines that the maximum bandwidth of the network slice is the value of the bandwidth of the time point, that is, the maximum bandwidth of the network slice is 14.

In step 711, the PCF sends the respective updated thresholds to the SMF.

If the PCF updates the second threshold in step 710, the PCF sends the updated second threshold to the SMF, and if the PCF does not update the second threshold, then the step is not performed.

In step 712, the PCF determines whether the time point corresponding to the obtained rate is the termination time point.

If the time point is not the end time, proceed to step 705. If the time point is the end time, step 713 is executed. For example, with reference to the above example, when the time point is any one of time points T1 to T5, step 705 is performed subsequently, and when the time point is T6, step 713 is performed.

It is specifically noted that the execution of steps 705 to 712 can be completed before the next specified time point for measuring the network slicing rate arrives, for example, the time interval between any two adjacent time points in the above example is greater than the time period used for the execution of steps 705 to 712 in this embodiment.

In step 713, the PCF sends the maximum bandwidth used for the network slice.

If the PCF receives the identifier, the start time, and the first threshold of the network slice from the CHF in step 701, the PCF sends the maximum used bandwidth of the network slice to the CHF, if the PCF receives the identifier, the start time, and the first threshold of the network slice from the NWDAF in step 701, the PCF sends the maximum used bandwidth of the network slice to the NWDAF, and if the PCF receives the identifier, the start time, and the first threshold of the network slice from the AF in step 701, the PCF sends the maximum used bandwidth of the network slice to the AF.

In this embodiment, if the termination time is not specified, in step 701, after receiving the notification information for terminating the measurement of the network slice rate, the PCF sequentially sends the notification information for terminating the measurement session rate to each managed UPF under the PCF via the SMF, and the UPF terminates the measurement of the session rate.

By way of example in this example, this example is set forth in chronological order as follows:

assume that at step 705, the UPF determines that the start time T1 is reached and the subsequent UPF performs step 706. The SMF performs step 707, where the rate of the network slice in the service area measured by the SMF is 9, and the second threshold corresponding to the SMF is 5. In step 708, if the SMF determines that the rate of the network slice in its service area is greater than the second threshold, then the SMF reports the time point and the rate of the network slice in the service area measured at the time point to the PCF in step 709, and the PCF obtains the bandwidth used by the network slice at the time point, that is, the rate of the network slice in the service area measured at the time point reported by the SMF, and records the bandwidth used as the maximum bandwidth used by the network slice. The PCF then executes step 711, updating the second threshold to 9 according to the rate of the network slice in the service area of the current time point, and sending the updated second threshold to the SMF. The PCF then performs step 712, determining that time T1 is not the termination time point, and the subsequent UPF performs step 705.

When the UPF determines that the current time is T2, the subsequent UPF performs step 706. The SMF performs step 707, where the rate of the network slice in the service area measured by the SMF is 10, and the second threshold corresponding to the SMF is 9. In step 708, if the SMF determines that the rate of the network slice in its service area is greater than the second threshold, then the SMF reports the time point and the rate of the network slice in the service area measured at the time point to the PCF in step 709, and the PCF obtains the bandwidth used by the network slice at the time point, that is, the rate of the network slice in the service area measured at the time point reported by the SMF, and records the bandwidth used as the maximum bandwidth used by the network slice, where the maximum bandwidth used is 10. The PCF then executes step 711, which updates the second threshold value to 10 according to the rate of the network slice in the service area of the current time point, and sends the updated second threshold value to the SMF. The PCF then performs step 712, determining that time T2 is not the termination time point, and the subsequent UPF performs step 705.

When the UPF determines that the current time is T3, the subsequent UPF performs step 706. The SMF performs step 707, where the rate of the network slice in the service area measured by the SMF is 11, and the second threshold corresponding to the SMF is 10. In step 708, if the SMF determines that the rate of the network slice in its service area is greater than the second threshold, then the SMF reports the time point and the rate of the network slice in the service area measured at the time point to the PCF in step 709, and the PCF obtains the bandwidth used by the network slice at the time point, that is, the rate of the network slice in the service area measured at the time point reported by the SMF, and records the bandwidth used as the maximum bandwidth used by the network slice, where the maximum bandwidth used is 11. The PCF then executes step 711, which updates the second threshold value to 11 according to the rate of the network slice in the service area of the current time point, and sends the updated second threshold value to the SMF. The PCF then performs step 712, determining that time T3 is not the termination time point, and the subsequent UPF performs step 705.

When the UPF determines that the current time is T4, the subsequent UPF performs step 706. The SMF performs step 707, where the rate of the network slice in the service area measured by the SMF is 12, and the second threshold corresponding to the SMF is 11. In step 708, if the SMF determines that the rate of the network slice in its service area is greater than the second threshold, then the SMF reports the time point and the rate of the network slice in the service area measured at the time point to the PCF in step 709, and the PCF obtains the bandwidth used by the network slice at the time point, that is, the rate of the network slice in the service area measured at the time point reported by the SMF, and records the bandwidth used as the maximum bandwidth used by the network slice, where the maximum bandwidth used is 12. The PCF then executes step 711, which updates the second threshold value to 12 according to the rate of the network slice in the service area of the current time point, and sends the updated second threshold value to the SMF. The PCF then performs step 712, determining that time T4 is not the termination time point, and the subsequent UPF performs step 705.

When the UPF determines that the current time is T5, the subsequent UPF performs step 706. The SMF performs step 707, where the rate of the network slice in the service area measured by the SMF is 12, and the second threshold corresponding to the SMF is 12. The SMF determines that the network slice rate in its service area is equal to the second threshold in step 708, and then the UPF performs step 705.

When the UPF determines that the current time is T6, the subsequent UPF performs step 706. The SMF performs step 707, where the rate of the network slice in the service area measured by the SMF is 14, and the second threshold corresponding to the SMF is 12. In step 708, if the SMF determines that the rate of the network slice in its service area is greater than the second threshold, then the SMF reports the time point and the rate of the network slice in the service area measured at the time point to the PCF in step 709, and the PCF obtains the bandwidth used by the network slice at the time point, that is, the rate of the network slice in the service area measured at the time point reported by the SMF, and records the bandwidth used as the maximum bandwidth used by the network slice, where the maximum bandwidth used is 14. The PCF then executes step 711 to update the second threshold to 14 according to the rate of the network slice in the service area of the current time point, and sends the updated second threshold to the SMF. The PCF then executes step 712 to determine that time T6 is the termination time point, and the subsequent PCF executes step 713, where the PCF sends the maximum used bandwidth with a value of 14.

When only one SMF is included in one network slice, according to the method shown in this embodiment, the PCF sets a threshold for the SMF, and when the rate measured by the SMF is less than or equal to the corresponding threshold, the reporting of the measured rate is not performed, thereby reducing the number of times of reporting the measured rate in the network and reducing the load of the network.

Fig. 8 is a diagram of another method of measuring maximum bandwidth usage for a network slice according to the present application. The method is performed by a network device, which may be an NWDAF in fig. 3 and 6, or a PCF in fig. 4, 5, and 7.

The method comprises the following steps:

in step 801, a network device sends an identification of a network slice and a first start time to measure a rate of the network slice.

For example, the identifier of the network slice is used to identify the measured network slice, the first starting time is the starting time for measuring the network slice, and the first starting times in subsequent steps are both the starting time, which is not described in detail later.

In one possible embodiment, the method further comprises: and the network equipment indicates the session management function network element to report a plurality of rates at a plurality of moments. The plurality of time instants are a plurality of time points (including a plurality of time points which start from a starting time and are N, and a time interval between adjacent time points is a fixed time interval, wherein N is an integer). In this embodiment, the multiple times in other steps are the same time point, which is not described again. This embodiment may be referred to the description of step 403 in the example shown in fig. 4.

In a possible implementation manner, the network device sends a usage reporting rule to the user plane function network element through the session management function network element, where the usage reporting rule includes an identifier of the network slice and a first start time. That is to say, the usage reporting rule is used to inform the user plane function network element of measuring the rate of the network slice corresponding to the identifier of the network slice, and inform the user plane function network element of starting to measure from the first starting time. This embodiment may be referred to in the description of step 303 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the description of step 404 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, the description of step 504 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 5, the description of step 604 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 6, and the description of step 704 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 7.

In one possible embodiment, the method further comprises: the network device obtains the accuracy requirement information, determines time interval information according to the accuracy requirement information, and then sends the time interval information, wherein the time interval information is used for determining one or more moments after the first starting moment. The time interval information in this embodiment is the time interval between adjacent time points in the embodiments described in fig. 5 to 7, that is, the time interval information may be used to specify that the network element or the device performing the measurement of the rate of the network slice performs the rate measurement at a plurality of specified time instants. This embodiment may refer to the description of step 301 and step 302 in the embodiment shown in fig. 3, the description of step 401 and step 403 in the embodiment shown in fig. 4, the description of step 501 and step 503 in the embodiment shown in fig. 5, the description of step 601 and step 603 in the embodiment shown in fig. 6, and the description of step 701 and step 703 in the embodiment shown in fig. 7.

This step can be referred to the description of step 302 in the embodiment shown in fig. 3, the description of step 403 in the embodiment shown in fig. 4, the description of step 503 in the embodiment shown in fig. 5, the description of step 603 in the embodiment shown in fig. 6, and the description of step 703 in the embodiment shown in fig. 7.

In step 802, a network device receives a plurality of rates at a plurality of times.

For example, the plurality of time instants includes a first start time and one or more time instants subsequent to the first start time, wherein each of the plurality of time instants corresponds to a plurality of rates.

In one possible embodiment, the network device receives a plurality of rates for a plurality of time instants from a session management function network element.

This step can be referred to the description of step 306 in the embodiment shown in fig. 3, the description of step 407 in the embodiment shown in fig. 4, the description of step 509 or step 511 in the embodiment shown in fig. 5, the description of step 609 or step 611 in the embodiment shown in fig. 6, and the description of step 709 in the embodiment shown in fig. 7.

In step 803, the network device determines a plurality of first rates at a plurality of time instances.

For example, the first rate corresponding to each time instant of the plurality of first rates is equal to the sum of the plurality of rates at each time instant.

For example, the first rate is the bandwidth used by the network slice in the embodiment shown in fig. 3 to fig. 7, and the first rate in other steps in this embodiment is the same as the first rate, and is not described again.

In step 804, the network device determines a maximum bandwidth to use based on a plurality of first rates at a plurality of time instances.

In one possible embodiment, the network device determines the maximum bandwidth to use based on a maximum first rate of a plurality of first rates at a plurality of time instances.

Steps 803 and 804 can be referred to in the description of step 307 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, step 408 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, step 512 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 5, step 612 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 6, and step 710 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 7.

In step 805, the network device transmits the maximum bandwidth used.

In one possible implementation, the network device obtains first threshold information, and when the maximum bandwidth of use is greater than or equal to the first threshold information, the network device sends the maximum bandwidth of use. For example, the network device may obtain a historical maximum bandwidth usage of the network slice, and the network device determines the first threshold information according to the historical maximum bandwidth usage. This implementation can be referred to the description of step 501 in the embodiment shown in fig. 5, the description of step 601 and step 602 in the embodiment shown in fig. 6, and the description of step 701 in the embodiment shown in fig. 7.

In this embodiment, the method further comprises: and the network equipment sends second threshold information associated with the first threshold information to the session management function network element, and when the rate associated with the session management function network element at a first moment in a plurality of moments is greater than the second threshold information, the second threshold information is used for triggering the reporting of the plurality of rates at the first moment. That is to say, when the rate associated with the session management function network element at the first time among the multiple times is less than or equal to the second threshold information, the rate associated with the session management function network element at the first time is not reported, so that data transmission in the network is reduced, and the load of the network is reduced. The second threshold information in this embodiment is the second threshold information corresponding to the first SMF in the embodiments shown in fig. 5 and 6, or the third threshold information corresponding to the second SMF, or the second threshold information is the second threshold information corresponding to the SMF in fig. 7. This implementation can be referred to the description of step 503 in the embodiment shown in fig. 5, the description of step 603 in the embodiment shown in fig. 6, and the description of step 703 in the embodiment shown in fig. 7.

In this embodiment, the method further comprises: the network equipment updates the second threshold value information into third threshold value information according to a plurality of rates of a first moment in a plurality of moments; and the network equipment sends third threshold information to the session management function network element, and when the rate associated with the session management function network element at a second moment in the multiple moments is greater than the third threshold information, the third threshold information is used for triggering the report of the multiple rates at the second moment, and the second moment is later than the first moment. The third threshold information may be the updated second threshold and third threshold in the embodiment shown in fig. 5, or the updated second threshold and third threshold in the embodiment shown in fig. 6, or may be the updated second threshold in the embodiment shown in fig. 7. The method may refer to the descriptions of step 512 and step 513 in the embodiment shown in fig. 5, the descriptions of step 612 and step 613 in the embodiment shown in fig. 6, and the descriptions of step 710 and step 711 in the embodiment shown in fig. 7.

This step may be described with reference to step 308 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, step 409 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, step 515 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 5, step 615 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 6, and step 713 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 7.

By the method, the network equipment can determine a plurality of first rates of a plurality of moments according to a plurality of rates of a plurality of moments, and finally determine the maximum use bandwidth according to the plurality of first rates of the plurality of moments, so that the determined maximum use bandwidth is more accurate.

Fig. 9 is a diagram of another method of measuring maximum bandwidth usage for a network slice according to the present application. The method is performed by a session management function network element. The session management function network element may be the SMF in fig. 3, 4, or 7, may also be the first SMF or the second SMF in fig. 5, and may also be the first SMF or the second SMF in fig. 6. The method comprises the following steps:

in step 901, the session management function network element receives an identifier of a network slice and a first start time of measuring a rate of the network slice from the network device.

For example, the network device may be an NWDAF in fig. 3 and 6, or a PCF in fig. 4, 5, and 7.

For example, the identification of the network slice is used to identify the network slice being measured.

For example, the first start time is a start time for measuring the network slice, and the first start times in subsequent steps are both the start time, which is not described again.

In one possible embodiment, the method further comprises: the session management function network element receives first threshold information from the network device. The first threshold information may be the second threshold or the third threshold in the embodiment shown in fig. 5, may be the second threshold or the third threshold in the embodiment shown in fig. 6, and may be the second threshold in the embodiment shown in fig. 7. The first threshold information is used for the corresponding session management function network element to judge and report the rate of the service area measured by the network element to the network device. This implementation can be referred to the description of step 503 in the embodiment shown in fig. 5, the description of step 603 in the embodiment shown in fig. 6, and the description of step 703 in the embodiment shown in fig. 7.

Step 902, the session management function network element sends the identifier of the network slice and the first start time to the user plane function network element.

In a possible implementation manner, the session management function network element sends a usage reporting rule to the user plane function network element, where the usage reporting rule includes an identifier of the network slice and a first starting time, or the usage reporting rule further includes time interval information, and the time interval information is used for determining one or more times after the first starting time.

This step may be described with reference to step 303 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, step 404 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, step 504 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 5, step 604 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 6, and step 704 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 7.

In step 903, the session management function network element receives a plurality of rates at a plurality of times from the user plane function network element.

For example, the plurality of time instants are a predetermined plurality of time points (including a start time and N time points, and a time interval between adjacent time points is a fixed time interval, where N is an integer). In this embodiment, the multiple times in other steps are the same time point, which is not described again.

For example, the plurality of time instants includes a first start time instant and one or more time instants subsequent to the first start time instant, wherein each time instant of the plurality of time instants corresponds to one or more rates.

In one possible embodiment, the method further comprises: the session management function network element receives an identifier of the user plane function network element, wherein the identifier of the user plane function network element is used for indicating that a plurality of rates at a plurality of moments are measured by the user plane function network element. The identifier of the user plane functional network element is used for distinguishing a plurality of rates at a plurality of moments, so that the plurality of rates measured by the same user plane functional network element can be prevented from being repeatedly calculated, and the final probability of inaccurate maximum bandwidth utilization is reduced. This step may be described with reference to step 304 in the embodiment shown in fig. 3 and step 405 in the embodiment shown in fig. 4.

This step may be described with reference to step 304 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, step 405 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, step 506 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 5, step 606 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 6, and step 706 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 7.

Step 904, the session management function network element sends rate information associated with a plurality of rates at a plurality of times to the network device.

In one possible embodiment, the method further comprises: when the first rate corresponding to the first moment in the multiple moments is greater than or equal to the first threshold information, the session management function network element reports the first rate corresponding to the first moment to the network device. The first threshold information may be the second threshold corresponding to the first SMF in fig. 5, or the third threshold corresponding to the second SMF, or the second threshold corresponding to the first SMF in fig. 6, or the third threshold corresponding to the second SMF, or the second threshold corresponding to the SMF in fig. 7. And if the session management function network element sends second threshold information associated with the first threshold information to the user plane function network element, the second threshold is the updated first threshold, and the second threshold information is used for triggering the report of the rate associated with the user plane function network element at a plurality of moments. This embodiment may refer to the descriptions of step 507, step 508, step 509, and step 511 in the embodiment shown in fig. 5, the descriptions of step 607, step 608, step 609, and step 611 in the embodiment shown in fig. 6, and the descriptions of step 707, step 708, and step 709 in the embodiment shown in fig. 7.

This step may be referred to the description of step 305 and step 306 in the embodiment shown in fig. 3, the description of step 406 and step 407 in the embodiment shown in fig. 4, the description of step 507, step 508, step 509 and step 511 in the embodiment shown in fig. 5, the description of step 607, step 608, step 609 and step 611 in the embodiment shown in fig. 6, and the description of step 707, step 708 and step 709 in the embodiment shown in fig. 7.

By the method, the session management function network element sends the rate information to the network equipment, the rate information is associated with a plurality of rates at a plurality of moments, the rate information embodies the rate information at the plurality of moments of the network slice, the rate information is finally used for determining the maximum used bandwidth, and the accuracy of measuring the maximum used bandwidth can be improved through the rate information.

Fig. 10 is a diagram of another method of measuring maximum bandwidth usage for a network slice according to the present application. The method is performed by a user plane function network element. The user plane function network element may be the UPF in fig. 3 or fig. 4, or the first UPF or the second UPF in fig. 5, or the first UPF or the second UPF in fig. 6, or the first UPF or the second UPF in fig. 7. The method comprises the following steps:

step 1001, the user plane functional network element receives the identifier of the network slice and a first starting time of measuring the rate of the network slice.

In one possible implementation, the user plane function network element receives a usage reporting rule from the session management function network element, where the usage reporting rule includes an identifier of a network slice and a first start time for measuring a rate of the network slice.

In one possible embodiment, the method further comprises: the user plane function network element receives the time interval information from the session management function, or receives the time interval information from the network equipment through the session management function network element; and the user plane function network element determines one or more moments after the first starting moment according to the time interval information. The plurality of time instants are a plurality of time points (including a plurality of time points which start from a starting time and are N, and a time interval between adjacent time points is a fixed time interval, wherein N is an integer). In this embodiment, the multiple times in other steps are the same time point, which is not described again.

In step 1002, the user plane function network element measures the rate of multiple sessions at multiple times of the network slice.

For example, the plurality of time instants includes a first start time and one or more time instants subsequent to the first start time, wherein each of the plurality of time instants corresponds to a rate of the plurality of sessions.

In step 1003, the user plane functional network element determines a plurality of first rates at a plurality of times.

For example, the first rate corresponding to each time instant of the plurality of first rates is equal to the sum of the rates of the plurality of sessions at each time instant. The first rate is the accumulated rate for the session measured by UPF in the embodiment shown in fig. 5-7.

Step 1004, the user plane function network element sends a plurality of first rates at a plurality of moments to the network device through the session management function network element.

For example, a plurality of first rates at a plurality of time instants is used for the determination of the maximum used bandwidth.

In one possible embodiment, the method further comprises: and the user plane functional network element receives the first threshold information, and reports the first rate corresponding to the first moment to the network equipment according to the first threshold information when the first rate corresponding to the first moment after the first starting moment is greater than or equal to the first threshold information. That is to say, when the first rate at the first time measured by the user plane function network element is smaller than the first threshold information, the first rate corresponding to the first time is not reported.

Reference may be made to the description of step 304 in the embodiment shown in fig. 3, the description of step 405 in the embodiment shown in fig. 4, the description of step 506 in the embodiment shown in fig. 5, the description of step 606 in the embodiment shown in fig. 6, and the description of step 706 in the embodiment shown in fig. 7 for steps 1002-1004.

By the method, the user plane function network element measures the speed of each session of the network slice at each moment in the multiple moments at the multiple moments, and sends the speed of each session at each moment to the network equipment, and the speed can more accurately represent the use bandwidth of each time point in the network slice, so that the maximum use bandwidth obtained by the speed can be more accurate.

Fig. 11 is a schematic diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application.

The communication device comprises a processing module 1101, a receiving module 1102 and a sending module 1103. The processing module 1101 is configured to implement processing of data by the communication device. The receiving module 1102 is configured to receive content of the communication device and other units or network elements, and the sending module 1103 is configured to receive content of the communication device and other units or network elements. It should be understood that the processing module 1101 in the embodiment of the present application may be implemented by a processor or a processor-related circuit component (alternatively referred to as a processing circuit), and the receiving module 1102 may be implemented by a receiver or a receiver-related circuit component. The sending module 1103 may be implemented by a sender or sender related circuit component.

The communication device may be a communication device apparatus, or may be a chip applied to the communication device apparatus, or other combined device, component, and the like having the functions of the communication device apparatus.

The communication device may be, for example, the network apparatus of any one of fig. 8 to 10, may be an NWDAF of fig. 3 or 6, and may be a PCF of fig. 4, 5, or 7; the communication device may be the user plane functionality network element in any one of fig. 8 to 10, may be the UPF in fig. 3 or fig. 4, may be the first UPF or the second UPF in fig. 5, may be the first UPF or the second UPF in fig. 6, and may be the first UPF or the second UPF in fig. 7; the communication device may be a session management function network element in any one of fig. 8 to 10, may be an SMF in fig. 3, 4, or 7, may be a first SMF or a second SMF in fig. 5, and may be a first SMF or a second SMF in fig. 6.

When the communication apparatus is a network device or PCF or NWDAF, the sending module 1103 is configured to send an identifier of a network slice and a first starting time of measuring a rate of the network slice (e.g. step 302 in fig. 3, step 403 in fig. 4, step 503 in fig. 5, step 603 in fig. 6, step 703 in fig. 7, and step 801 in fig. 8), where the identifier of the network slice is used to identify the measured network slice; the receiving module 1102 is configured to receive a plurality of rates at a plurality of time instants (e.g., step 306 in fig. 3, step 407 in fig. 4, step 509 or step 511 in fig. 5, step 609 or step 611 in fig. 6, step 709 in fig. 7, and step 802 in fig. 8), where the plurality of time instants include a first start time instant and one or more time instants after the first start time instant, where each of the plurality of time instants corresponds to the plurality of rates; the processing module 1101 is configured to determine a plurality of first rates at a plurality of time instants (e.g., step 307 in fig. 3, step 408 in fig. 4, step 512 in fig. 5, step 612 in fig. 6, step 710 in fig. 7, and step 803 in fig. 8), where the first rate corresponding to each time instant in the plurality of first rates is equal to a sum of the plurality of rates at each time instant; the processing module 1101 is configured to determine a maximum bandwidth of use according to a plurality of first rates at a plurality of time instants (e.g., step 307 in fig. 3, step 408 in fig. 4, step 512 in fig. 5, step 612 in fig. 6, step 710 in fig. 7, step 804 in fig. 8); the sending module 1103 is configured to send the maximum used bandwidth (e.g., step 308 in fig. 3, step 409 in fig. 4, step 515 in fig. 5, step 615 in fig. 6, step 713 in fig. 7, step 805 in fig. 8).

Further, the various modules described above may also be used to support other processes for the techniques described herein. The beneficial effects can be obtained by referring to the foregoing description, and are not described in detail herein.

When the communication apparatus is a session management function network element or SMF, the receiving module 1102 is configured to receive, from a network device, an identifier of a network slice and a first starting time of measuring a rate of the network slice (e.g., step 302 in fig. 3, step 403 in fig. 4, step 503 in fig. 5, step 603 in fig. 6, step 703 in fig. 7, and step 901 in fig. 9), where the identifier of the network slice is used to identify the measured network slice; a sending module 1103 is configured to send the identifier of the network slice and the first start time to a user plane function network element (e.g. step 303 in fig. 3, step 404 in fig. 4, step 504 in fig. 5, step 604 in fig. 6, step 704 in fig. 7, step 902 in fig. 9); the receiving module 1102 is configured to receive a plurality of rates (e.g., step 304 in fig. 3, step 405 in fig. 4, step 506 in fig. 5, step 606 in fig. 6, step 706 in fig. 7, and step 903 in fig. 9) of a plurality of time instants from a user plane function network element, where the plurality of time instants includes a first start time instant and one or more time instants after the first start time instant, where each of the plurality of time instants corresponds to one or more rates; the sending module 1103 is configured to send, to the network device, rate information associated with a plurality of rates at a plurality of time instants (e.g., step 306 in fig. 3, step 407 in fig. 4, step 509 or step 511 in fig. 5, step 609 or step 611 in fig. 6, step 709 in fig. 7, and step 904 in fig. 9).

When the communication device is a user plane function network element or a UPF, the receiving module 1102 is configured to receive an identifier of a network slice and a first starting time for measuring a rate of the network slice (e.g., step 303 in fig. 3, step 404 in fig. 4, step 504 in fig. 5, step 604 in fig. 6, step 704 in fig. 7, and step 1001 in fig. 10), where the identifier of the network slice is used to identify the measured network slice; the processing module 1101 is configured to measure a rate of a plurality of sessions at a plurality of time instants of the network slice (e.g., step 304 in fig. 3, step 405 in fig. 4, step 506 in fig. 5, step 606 in fig. 6, step 706 in fig. 7, and step 1002 in fig. 10), where the plurality of time instants includes a first start time instant and one or more time instants after the first start time instant, where each of the plurality of time instants corresponds to the rate of the plurality of sessions; the processing module 1101 is configured to determine a plurality of first rates at a plurality of time instants (e.g., step 304 in fig. 3, step 405 in fig. 4, step 506 in fig. 5, step 606 in fig. 6, step 706 in fig. 7, step 1003 in fig. 10), where the first rate corresponding to each time instant in the plurality of first rates is equal to a sum of the rates of the plurality of sessions at each time instant; the sending module 1103 is configured to send, to the network device through the session management function network element, the multiple first rates at multiple time instants, where the multiple first rates at multiple time instants are used for determining the maximum used bandwidth (e.g., step 304 in fig. 3, step 405 in fig. 4, step 506 in fig. 5, step 606 in fig. 6, step 706 in fig. 7, and step 1004 in fig. 10).

Fig. 12 is a schematic diagram of another communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application, where the communication device includes: a processor 1201, a communication interface 1202, and a memory 1203. The processor 1201, the communication interface 1202, and the memory 1203 may be connected to each other via a bus 1204; the bus 1204 may be a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus, an Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA) bus, or the like. The bus 1204 may be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, and the like. For ease of illustration, only one line is shown in FIG. 12, but that does not indicate only one bus or type of bus. The processor 1201 may be a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a Network Processor (NP), or a combination of a CPU and an NP. The processor may further include a hardware chip. The hardware chip may be an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a Programmable Logic Device (PLD), or a combination thereof. The PLD may be a Complex Programmable Logic Device (CPLD), a field-programmable gate Array (FPGA), a General Array Logic (GAL), or any combination thereof. The memory 1203 may be either volatile memory or nonvolatile memory, or may include both volatile and nonvolatile memory. The non-volatile memory may be a read-only memory (ROM), a Programmable ROM (PROM), an Erasable PROM (EPROM), an electrically Erasable EPROM (EEPROM), or a flash memory. Volatile memory can be Random Access Memory (RAM), which acts as external cache memory.

The processor 1201 is configured to implement a data processing operation of the communication apparatus, and the communication interface 1202 is configured to implement a receiving operation and a transmitting operation of the communication apparatus.

When the communication device is a network device or PCF or NWDAF, the communication interface 1202 is configured to send an identification of a network slice and a first start time of measuring a rate of the network slice (e.g., step 302 in fig. 3, step 403 in fig. 4, step 503 in fig. 5, step 603 in fig. 6, step 703 in fig. 7, step 801 in fig. 8), the identification of the network slice being used to identify the measured network slice; the communication interface 1202 is configured to receive a plurality of rates at a plurality of time instants (e.g., step 306 in fig. 3, step 407 in fig. 4, step 509 or step 511 in fig. 5, step 609 or step 611 in fig. 6, step 709 in fig. 7, step 802 in fig. 8), where the plurality of time instants includes a first start time instant and one or more time instants subsequent to the first start time instant, where each of the plurality of time instants corresponds to the plurality of rates; processor 1201 is configured to determine a plurality of first rates at a plurality of time instants (e.g., step 307 in fig. 3, step 408 in fig. 4, step 512 in fig. 5, step 612 in fig. 6, step 710 in fig. 7, step 803 in fig. 8), wherein the first rate for each time instant in the plurality of first rates is equal to a sum of the plurality of rates for each time instant; processor 1201 is configured to determine a maximum bandwidth of use based on a plurality of first rates at a plurality of time instances (e.g., step 307 in fig. 3, step 408 in fig. 4, step 512 in fig. 5, step 612 in fig. 6, step 710 in fig. 7, step 804 in fig. 8); communication interface 1202 is configured to transmit the maximum bandwidth used (e.g., step 308 in fig. 3, step 409 in fig. 4, step 515 in fig. 5, step 615 in fig. 6, step 713 in fig. 7, step 805 in fig. 8).

When the communication apparatus is a session management function network element or SMF, the communication interface 1202 is configured to receive, from the network device, an identification of a network slice and a first start time of measuring a rate of the network slice (e.g., step 302 in fig. 3, step 403 in fig. 4, step 503 in fig. 5, step 603 in fig. 6, step 703 in fig. 7, step 901 in fig. 9), the identification of the network slice being used to identify the measured network slice; the communication interface 1202 is configured to send the identification of the network slice and the first start time to the user plane functionality network element (e.g., step 303 in fig. 3, step 404 in fig. 4, step 504 in fig. 5, step 604 in fig. 6, step 704 in fig. 7, step 902 in fig. 9); the communication interface 1202 is configured to receive a plurality of rates for a plurality of time instants (e.g., step 304 in fig. 3, step 405 in fig. 4, step 506 in fig. 5, step 606 in fig. 6, step 706 in fig. 7, step 903 in fig. 9) from a user plane function network element, the plurality of time instants including a first start time instant and one or more time instants subsequent to the first start time instant, wherein each of the plurality of time instants corresponds to one or more rates; communication interface 1202 is configured to send rate information associated with a plurality of rates at a plurality of time instances to a network device (e.g., step 306 in fig. 3, step 407 in fig. 4, step 509 or step 511 in fig. 5, step 609 or step 611 in fig. 6, step 709 in fig. 7, step 904 in fig. 9).

Further, the various modules described above may also be used to support other processes for the techniques described herein. The beneficial effects can be referred to the previous description, and are not described in detail herein.

When the communication device is a user plane function network element or UPF, the communication interface 1202 is configured to receive an identification of a network slice and a first starting time for measuring a rate of the network slice (e.g., step 303 in fig. 3, step 404 in fig. 4, step 504 in fig. 5, step 604 in fig. 6, step 704 in fig. 7, step 1001 in fig. 10), the identification of the network slice being used to identify the measured network slice; the processor 1201 is configured to measure a rate of a plurality of sessions at a plurality of time instances of a network slice (e.g., step 304 in fig. 3, step 405 in fig. 4, step 506 in fig. 5, step 606 in fig. 6, step 706 in fig. 7, step 1002 in fig. 10), the plurality of time instances including a first start time and one or more time instances after the first start time, wherein each of the plurality of time instances corresponds to the rate of the plurality of sessions; processor 1201 is configured to determine a plurality of first rates for a plurality of time instants (e.g., step 304 in fig. 3, step 405 in fig. 4, step 506 in fig. 5, step 606 in fig. 6, step 706 in fig. 7, step 1003 in fig. 10), wherein the first rate for each time instant of the plurality of first rates is equal to a sum of the rates of the plurality of sessions for each time instant; the communication interface 1202 is configured to send, to the network device through the session management function network element, the plurality of first rates for the plurality of time instants, where the plurality of first rates for the plurality of time instants are used for determining the maximum used bandwidth (e.g., step 304 in fig. 3, step 405 in fig. 4, step 506 in fig. 5, step 606 in fig. 6, step 706 in fig. 7, and step 1004 in fig. 10).

Embodiments of the present application provide a communication system, which includes the aforementioned network device (e.g., NWDAF or PCF), a session management network element (e.g., SMF), and a user plane function network element (e.g., UPF), wherein the network device executes the network device of any of fig. 8-10, the NWDAF of any of fig. 3 or 6, the PCF in fig. 4, fig. 5 or fig. 7 performs the method, the session management means performs the session management function network element in any of fig. 8 to fig. 10, the SMF of fig. 3, 4 or 7, the first SMF or the second SMF of fig. 5, the method performed by the first SMF or the second SMF in fig. 6, the user plane functional network element performing the user plane functional network element of any of fig. 8 to 10, the UPF of fig. 3 or 4, the first UPF or the second UPF of fig. 5, the first UPF or the second UPF of fig. 6, and the first UPF or the second UPF of fig. 7.

An embodiment of the present application further provides a computer-readable storage medium, where the computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program, and when the computer program is executed by a computer, the computer may implement the network device in any one of fig. 8 to 10 provided in the foregoing method embodiment, the process related to NWDAF in the embodiment shown in fig. 3 or 6, and PCF in the embodiment shown in fig. 4, 5, or 7, or the computer may implement the network element in any one of fig. 8 to 10 provided in the foregoing method embodiment, the SMF in the embodiment shown in fig. 3, 4, or 7, the first SMF or the second SMF in the embodiment shown in fig. 5, the process related to the first SMF or the second SMF in the embodiment shown in fig. 6, or the network element in any one of fig. 8 to 10 provided in the foregoing method embodiment, the UPF in the embodiment shown in fig. 3 or fig. 4 may be a flow related to the first UPF or the second UPF in the embodiment shown in fig. 5, the first UPF or the second UPF in the embodiment shown in fig. 6, or the first UPF or the second UPF in the embodiment shown in fig. 7.

Embodiments of the present application further provide a computer program product, where the computer program is used to store a computer program, and when the computer program is executed by a computer, the computer may implement the network device in any one of fig. 8 to 10 provided in the foregoing method embodiment, the process related to NWDAF in the embodiment shown in fig. 3 or 6, and the PCF in the embodiment shown in fig. 4, 5, or 7, or the computer may implement the session management function network element in any one of fig. 8 to 10 provided in the foregoing method embodiment, the SMF in the embodiment shown in fig. 3, 4, or 7, the first SMF or the second SMF in the embodiment shown in fig. 5, the process related to the first SMF or the second SMF in the embodiment shown in fig. 6, or the computer may implement the user plane function network element in any one of fig. 8 to 10 provided in the foregoing method embodiment, the UPF in the embodiment shown in fig. 3 or fig. 4 may be a flow related to the first UPF or the second UPF in the embodiment shown in fig. 5, the first UPF or the second UPF in the embodiment shown in fig. 6, or the first UPF or the second UPF in the embodiment shown in fig. 7.

The application also provides a chip comprising a processor. The processor is configured to read and execute the computer program stored in the memory to perform the corresponding operations and/or processes of the NWDAF, PCF, SMF or UPF in the method for registering to multiple networks provided by the present application. Optionally, the chip further comprises a memory, the memory is connected with the processor through a circuit or a wire, and the processor is used for reading and executing the computer program in the memory. Further optionally, the chip further comprises a communication interface, and the processor is connected to the communication interface. The communication interface is used for receiving the processed data and/or information, and the processor acquires the data and/or information from the communication interface and processes the data and/or information. The communication interface may be an input/output interface, interface circuit, output circuit, input circuit, pin or related circuit on the chip, etc. The processor may also be embodied as a processing circuit or a logic circuit.

The chip can be replaced by a chip system, which is not described herein again.

The terms "comprises," "comprising," and "having," and any variations thereof, in this application are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, system, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of steps or elements is not necessarily limited to those steps or elements expressly listed, but may include other steps or elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus.

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 position, or may be distributed on multiple network units. Some or all of the units can be selected according to actual conditions to achieve the purpose of the scheme 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.

In addition, the terms "first" and "second," and the like, in the description and claims of the present application and in the accompanying drawings are used for distinguishing between different objects and not for describing a particular order. Furthermore, the terms "include" and "have," as well as any variations thereof, are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions. For example, a process, method, system, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of steps or elements is not limited to only those steps or elements listed, but may alternatively include other steps or elements not listed, or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus.

Although the present application has been described in conjunction with specific features and embodiments thereof, it will be evident that various modifications and combinations can be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the application. Accordingly, the specification and figures are merely exemplary of the present application as defined in the appended claims and are intended to cover any and all modifications, variations, combinations, or equivalents within the scope of the present application. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made in the present application without departing from the spirit and scope of the application. Thus, if such modifications and variations of the present application fall within the scope of the claims of the present application and their equivalents, the present application is intended to include such modifications and variations as well.

Claims

1. A method of communication for a network slice, the method comprising:

the method comprises the steps that a network device sends an identifier of a network slice and a first starting moment of measuring the rate of the network slice, wherein the identifier of the network slice is used for identifying the measured network slice;

the network device receives a plurality of rates of a plurality of moments, wherein the plurality of moments comprise the first starting moment and one or more moments after the first starting moment, and each moment of the plurality of moments corresponds to a plurality of rates;

the network device determining a plurality of first rates for the plurality of time instants, wherein a first rate for each time instant in the plurality of first rates is equal to a sum of the plurality of rates for each time instant;

the network equipment determines the maximum use bandwidth according to a plurality of first rates of the plurality of moments;

the network device transmits the maximum bandwidth of use.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

and the network equipment indicates a session management function network element to report a plurality of rates of the plurality of moments.

3. The method of claim 1 or 2, the network device transmitting the maximum used bandwidth, comprising:

the network equipment acquires first threshold information, and when the maximum used bandwidth is larger than or equal to the first threshold information, the network equipment sends the maximum used bandwidth.

4. The method of claim 3, the network device obtaining first threshold information, comprising:

the network equipment acquires historical maximum use bandwidth of the network slice, and the network equipment determines the first threshold value information according to the historical maximum use bandwidth.

5. The method of claim 3 or 4, further comprising:

and the network equipment sends second threshold information associated with the first threshold information to a session management function network element, and when the rate associated with the session management function network element at a first moment in the multiple moments is greater than the second threshold information, the second threshold information is used for triggering the reporting of the multiple rates at the first moment.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

the network equipment updates the second threshold value information into third threshold value information according to a plurality of rates of a first moment in the plurality of moments;

the network device sends the third threshold information to the session management function network element, and when a rate associated with the session management function network element at a second time of the multiple times is greater than the third threshold information, the third threshold information is used for triggering the reporting of the multiple rates at the second time, and the second time is later than the first time.

7. The method of any of claims 1 to 6, the network device sending an identification of a network slice and a first start time, comprising:

and the network equipment sends a usage reporting rule to a user plane function network element through a session management function network element, wherein the usage reporting rule comprises the identifier of the network slice and the first starting moment.

8. The method of any of claims 1 to 7, the network device receiving a plurality of rates for a plurality of time instances, comprising:

and the network equipment receives a plurality of rates of the plurality of moments from a session management function network element.

9. The method of any of claims 1 to 8, further comprising:

and the network equipment receives the identifier of the user plane function network element from the session management function network element, wherein the identifier of the user plane function network element is used for indicating that a plurality of rates at the plurality of moments are measured by the user plane function network element.

10. The method of any of claims 1 to 9, further comprising:

the network equipment acquires precision requirement information;

the network equipment determines time interval information according to the precision requirement information;

the network device sends the time interval information, and the time interval information is used for determining one or more moments after the first starting moment.

11. The method of any of claims 1 to 10, the network device determining a maximum bandwidth of use from a plurality of first rates of the plurality of time instants, comprising:

and the network equipment determines the maximum used bandwidth according to the maximum first rate in a plurality of first rates at the plurality of moments.

12. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein the network device is a policy control function network element or a network data analysis function network element or a network slice quota control function network element.

13. A method of communication for a network slice, the method comprising:

a session management function network element receives an identifier of a network slice and a first starting moment of measuring the rate of the network slice from a network device, wherein the identifier of the network slice is used for identifying the measured network slice;

the session management function network element sends the identifier of the network slice and the first starting moment to a user plane function network element;

the session management function network element receiving, from the user plane function network element, a plurality of rates at a plurality of times, where the plurality of times include the first start time and one or more times after the first start time, where each of the plurality of times corresponds to one or more rates;

and the session management function network element sends rate information associated with the plurality of rates at the plurality of moments to the network equipment.

14. The method of claim 13, the rate information comprising a plurality of rates for the plurality of time instances.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the rate information comprises a plurality of first rates for the plurality of time instances, wherein the first rate for each of the plurality of first rates is equal to a sum of the plurality of rates for each of the plurality of time instances when each of the plurality of time instances corresponds to a plurality of rates, or wherein the first rate for each of the plurality of first rates is equal to one rate for each of the plurality of time instances when each of the plurality of time instances corresponds to one rate.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

the session management function network element receives first threshold information from the network device;

when the first rate corresponding to the first moment in the multiple moments is greater than or equal to the first threshold information, the session management function network element reports the first rate corresponding to the first moment to the network device.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

and the session management function network element sends second threshold information associated with the first threshold information to the user plane function network element, where the second threshold information is used to trigger reporting of a rate associated with the user plane function network element at the multiple moments.

18. The method of any of claims 14 to 17, further comprising:

and the session management function network element receives the identifier of the user plane function network element, wherein the identifier of the user plane function network element is used for indicating that a plurality of rates at the plurality of moments are measured by the user plane function network element.

19. The method of any of claims 14 to 18, the session management function network element sending the identification of the network slice and the first start time to a user plane function network element, comprising:

the session management function network element sends a usage reporting rule to the user plane function network element, wherein the usage reporting rule comprises the identifier of the network slice and the first starting moment; or, the usage reporting rule includes an identifier of the network slice, the first start time, and time interval information, where the time interval information is used to determine one or more times after the first start time.

20. The method of any one of claims 15 to 19, wherein the network device is a policy control function network element or a network data analysis function network element or a network slice quota control function network element.

21. A method of communication for a network slice, the method comprising:

a user plane function network element receives an identifier of a network slice and a first starting moment of measuring the rate of the network slice, wherein the identifier of the network slice is used for identifying the measured network slice;

the user plane function network element measuring rates of a plurality of sessions at a plurality of moments of the network slice, the plurality of moments including the first start moment and one or more moments after the first start moment, wherein each moment of the plurality of moments corresponds to a rate of the plurality of sessions;

determining, by the user plane function network element, a plurality of first rates for the plurality of time instants, where a first rate corresponding to each time instant in the plurality of first rates is equal to a sum of rates of the plurality of sessions at each time instant;

and the user plane function network element sends the plurality of first rates at the plurality of moments to the network equipment through the session management function network element, wherein the plurality of first rates at the plurality of moments are used for determining the maximum used bandwidth.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

and the user plane function network element receives first threshold information, and when a first rate corresponding to a first time after the first starting time is greater than or equal to the first threshold information, the first threshold information is used for reporting the first rate corresponding to the first time.

23. The method of claim 21 or 22, the user plane function network element receiving an identification of a network slice and a first starting instant of measuring a rate of the network slice, comprising:

and the user plane function network element receives a usage reporting rule from the session management function network element, wherein the usage reporting rule comprises the identifier of the network slice and the first starting moment of the rate of measuring the network slice.

24. The method of any of claims 21 to 23, further comprising:

the user plane function network element receives time interval information from a session management function, or receives the time interval information from the network equipment through the session management function network element;

and the user plane function network element determines one or more moments after the first starting moment according to the time interval information.

25. The method according to any one of claims 21 to 24, wherein the network device is a policy control function network element or a network data analysis function network element or a network slice quota control function network element.

26. A communications apparatus, comprising a processor;

the processor is used for reading and running the program from the memory to realize the method of any one of claims 1 to 25.

27. A communication system comprising a network device, a session management function network element and a user plane function network element, the network device performing the method of any of claims 1 to 12, the session management function network element performing the method of any of claims 13 to 20, the user plane function network element performing the method of any of claims 21 to 25.

28. A computer program product comprising instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 25.

29. A computer-readable storage medium having stored therein instructions which, when executed on a computer, cause a processor to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 25.