WO2020029922A1

WO2020029922A1 - Method and apparatus for transmitting message

Info

Publication number: WO2020029922A1
Application number: PCT/CN2019/099287
Authority: WO
Inventors: 胡翔; 夏渊; 孙晓东; 崔文奇
Original assignee: 华为技术有限公司
Priority date: 2018-08-10
Filing date: 2019-08-05
Publication date: 2020-02-13
Also published as: CN110830356B; CN110830356A

Abstract

Provided in the present application are a method and apparatus for transmitting a message. The method comprises: a user plane network element performing decapsulation processing on a received first message to obtain a first original message from a first network element; encapsulating the first original message by using a PFCP tunnel protocol; and sending a generated second message to a session management network element. In this way, allocated and cached tunnel resources can be effectively simplified, system resources can be saved, and the complexity can also be reduced at the same time.

Description

Method and device for transmitting message

This application claims the priority of a Chinese patent application filed with the State Intellectual Property Office of China on August 10, 2018, with the application number 201810910300.1 and the invention name "Method and Device for Transmission of Messages", the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference Applying.

Technical field

The present application relates to the field of communications, and more specifically, to a method and apparatus for transmitting leopard print in the field of communications.

Background technique

In the current 5G network architecture, the control plane (CP) session management function (SMF) network element and the user plane (UP) user plane function (UPF) The network element will use two different tunneling protocol stacks during the transmission of signaling or data. Among them, the packet forwarding control protocol (PFCP) tunnel protocol stack is used for signaling transmission, that is, the signaling transmitted between the SMF network element and the UPF network element is encapsulated using the PFCP tunnel protocol; for data The transmission uses the general packet radio service technology (general packet service, GPRS) tunnel protocol user plane part (GPRS Protocol-User Plane, GTP-U) tunnel protocol stack, that is, the transmission between SMF network elements and UPF network elements The data is encapsulated using the general packet radio service (GPRS) tunneling user interface (GPRS) tunneling protocol-user plane (GTP-U) tunneling protocol and then forwarded to other network elements.

However, because the data transmitted between the SMF network element and the UPF network element is small, in most scenarios it may not be necessary to transmit data between the SMF network element and the UPF network element. Therefore, the GTP-U tunnel protocol is used to encapsulate the data. Means that the GTP-U tunnel protocol stack and corresponding path management need to be maintained all the time. In this way, system resources are wasted.

Therefore, there is a need to provide a technology that can effectively save system resources.

Summary of the invention

The present application provides a method and device for transmitting messages, which can effectively save system resources.

In a first aspect, a method for transmitting a message is provided. The method includes:

The user plane network element obtains a first original message from the first network element through the received first message, and the first network element includes any of the following: a terminal device, a data network DN network element, or a second user plane network yuan;

The user plane network element encapsulates the first original message using a packet forwarding control protocol PFCP tunneling protocol to obtain a second message;

The user plane network element sends the second message to a session management network element.

Therefore, the method for transmitting a message provided by the embodiment of the present application uses an existing PFCP tunneling protocol for signaling between a user plane network element and a session management network element to encapsulate a user plane data message (for example, the first (Original message), and no longer uses the existing GTP-U tunnel protocol to encapsulate user plane data messages, which can effectively simplify the allocation and buffering of tunnel resources, save system resources, and at the same time reduce implementation complexity.

Optionally, the method further includes:

Receiving, by the user plane network element, first information from the session management network element, the first information including a parameter corresponding to the PFCP tunneling protocol for encapsulating the first original message; and

The user plane network element using the packet forwarding control protocol PFCP tunneling protocol to encapsulate the first original message includes:

The user plane network element encapsulates the first original message according to the first information.

In this way, the user plane network element can use the first information sent by the session management network element to the user plane network element in the prior art to encapsulate the first original message, which effectively reduces signaling overhead.

Optionally, the method further includes:

Receiving, by the user plane network element, packet detection information PDI from the session management network element for describing a packet detection rule PDR; and

The user plane network element obtains second information from a field corresponding to a forwarding operation rule FAR of the PDR according to the PDI, and the second information includes a packet corresponding to the PFCP tunneling protocol for encapsulating the first original Message parameters;

The user plane network element encapsulates the first original message according to the second information.

In this way, the first original message is encapsulated by obtaining parameters corresponding to the PFCP tunneling protocol for encapsulating the first original message from the fields of the FAR corresponding to the PDR, so that the implementation of the solution changes the existing standard to a small extent, which is convenient. Implement the operation.

Optionally, the field of the FAR corresponding to the PDR does not include information for encapsulating the first original message using a GTP-U tunneling protocol of a user plane part of a general packet radio service technology tunneling protocol.

In this way, by deleting information for encapsulating the first original message using the GTP-U tunneling protocol in the field of the FAR of the PDR, the user plane network element can know that the PFCP tunneling protocol is used to encapsulate the first original message.

Optionally, the second message is a PFCP session report request, or the second message is a PFCP session data transmission request.

In this way, by adding the first original message as a new cell to the PFCP session report request, the signaling overhead can be effectively reduced and resources can be saved.

Optionally, the method further includes:

Receiving, by the user plane network element, a third packet based on the PFCP tunneling protocol from the session management network element, where the third packet includes a second original packet for the first original packet;

The user plane network element uses the PFCP tunneling protocol to decapsulate the third message to obtain the second original message;

The user plane network element sends the second original message to the first network element.

Optionally, the third message is a PFCP session report response, or the third message is a PFCP session data transmission response.

In this way, by adding the second original message as a new cell to the PFCP session report response, the signaling overhead can be effectively reduced and resources can be saved.

In a second aspect, a method for transmitting a message is provided. The method includes:

The session management network element receives a second packet from the user plane network element based on the PFCP tunneling protocol. The second packet includes the first original packet, and the first original packet is from the first network. Element, the first network element includes any one of the following: a terminal device, a data network DN network element, or a second user plane network element;

The session management network element uses the packet forwarding control protocol PFCP tunneling protocol to perform decapsulation processing on the second message to obtain the first original message.

Optionally, the method further includes:

The session management sends first information to the user plane network element, where the first information includes parameters corresponding to the PFCP tunneling protocol and used to encapsulate the first original IP packet.

Optionally, the method further includes:

The session management network element sends packet detection information PDI for describing a packet detection rule PDR to the user plane network element, wherein a field corresponding to the forwarding operation rule FAR of the PDR includes second information, and the second The information includes parameters corresponding to the PFCP tunneling protocol for encapsulating the first original IP packet.

Optionally, the field of the FAR of the PDR does not include information for encapsulating the first original IP packet using a GTP-U tunneling protocol of a user plane portion of a general packet radio service technology tunneling protocol.

Optionally, the method further includes:

The session management network element uses the PFCP tunneling protocol to encapsulate a second original message for the first original message to obtain a third message;

The session management network element sends the third packet to the user plane network element.

According to a third aspect, a method for transmitting a message is provided. The method includes:

The session management network element uses the packet forwarding control protocol PFCP tunneling protocol to encapsulate the fourth original message to obtain a fourth message. The fourth original message needs to be sent to the first network element. The first network element includes any of the following: A: terminal equipment, data network DN network element, or second user plane network element;

The session management network element sends the fourth message to a user plane network element.

Therefore, the method for transmitting a message provided in the embodiment of the present application uses an existing PFCP tunneling protocol for signaling between a user plane network element and a session management network element to encapsulate a user plane data message (for example, the fourth (Original message), and no longer uses the existing GTP-U tunnel protocol to encapsulate user plane data messages, which can effectively simplify the allocation and buffering of tunnel resources, save system resources, and at the same time reduce implementation complexity.

Optionally, the method further includes:

The session management network element sends packet detection information PDI for describing a packet detection rule PDR to the user plane network element, wherein a field of the FAR corresponding to the PDR does not include a tunneling protocol for using a general packet radio service technology Information of the user plane part of the GTP-U tunnel protocol performing decapsulation processing on the fourth packet.

In this way, by deleting the information used for the decapsulation processing of the fourth message using the GTP-U tunnel protocol in the field of the FAR of the PDR, the user plane network element can clearly know that the fourth message is processed using the PFCP tunnel protocol. Decapsulation processing.

Optionally, the fourth message is a PFCP session modification request, or the fourth message is a PFCP session data transmission request.

In this way, by adding the fourth original message as a new cell to the PFCP session modification request, the signaling overhead can be effectively reduced and resources can be saved.

According to a fourth aspect, a method for transmitting a message is provided. The method includes:

The user plane network element receives a fourth message sent by the session management network element, the fourth message includes a fourth original message sent to the first network element, and the first network element includes any of the following: a terminal device, a data network DN network element or second user plane network element;

The user plane network element decapsulates the fourth message by using a packet forwarding control protocol PFCP tunneling protocol to obtain the fourth original message.

Optionally, the method further includes:

The user plane network element receives the packet detection information PDI used to describe the packet detection rule PDR sent by the session management network element, wherein a field of the FAR corresponding to the PDR does not include a tunnel for using a general packet radio service technology Information of the GTP-U tunneling protocol on the user plane of the protocol for decapsulating the fourth message.

According to a fifth aspect, a device for transmitting a message is provided, and the device may be configured to perform operations in any one of the foregoing first to fourth aspects and any possible implementation manner of any aspect. For example, the apparatus may include a module unit for performing each operation in any one of the first to fourth aspects or any possible implementation of any aspect.

According to a sixth aspect, an apparatus for transmitting a message is provided. The apparatus includes a processor, a transceiver, and a memory. Among them, the processor, the transceiver and the memory communicate with each other through an internal connection path. The memory is configured to store instructions, and the processor is configured to execute the instructions stored in the memory. When the processor executes the instructions stored in the memory, the foregoing execution causes the apparatus to execute any one of the foregoing first aspect to the fourth aspect or any method in any possible implementation manner of any aspect.

According to a seventh aspect, a chip system is provided, including a memory and a processor. The memory is used to store a computer program, and the processor is used to call and run the computer program from the memory, so that the communication device on which the chip system is installed executes the first aspect to The fourth aspect and any of its possible implementation methods.

According to an eighth aspect, a computer program product is provided. The computer program product includes: computer program code, when the computer program code is used by a communication unit, a processing unit, or a transceiver of a communication device (for example, a user plane network element or a session management network element). When the processor is running, the communication device is caused to execute any one of the foregoing first to fourth aspects and possible implementation methods thereof.

In a ninth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided. The computer-readable storage medium stores a program, and the program causes a communication device (for example, a user plane network element or a session management network element) to execute the first aspect to the fourth aspect and Any of its possible implementations.

According to a tenth aspect, a computer program is provided. When the computer program is executed on a certain computer, the computer will enable the computer to implement any one of the foregoing first to fourth aspects and possible implementation methods thereof.

According to an eleventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication system, and a system including one or more of a user plane network element and a session management network element.

The user plane network element may be used to execute the method described in the first aspect or any possible design of the first aspect, the method described in the fourth aspect or any possible design of the fourth aspect, or The method implemented by the user plane network element in the solution provided in the embodiment of the present application. The session management network element may be used to perform the method described in the second aspect or any one of the possible designs of the second aspect, the method described in the third aspect or any one of the possible designs of the third aspect, or The method performed by the session management network element in the solution provided in the embodiment of the present application.

In a possible design, the system further includes other devices, such as an access network and / or a DN, that interact with any one of the user plane network element and the session management network element in the solution provided in the embodiments of the present application. Network element, etc.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a possible network architecture according to an embodiment of the present application.

FIG. 2 is a schematic flowchart of a process of transmitting signaling and data between a UPF network element and an SMF network element in the prior art.

3 to 4 are schematic flowcharts of a process in which an UPF network element and an SMF network element transmit an original message from a first network element according to an embodiment of the present application.

5 to 6 are schematic flowcharts of a process in which an UPF network element and an SMF network element transmit an original packet that finally needs to be sent to a first network element according to an embodiment of the present application.

7 to 10 are schematic block diagrams of an apparatus for transmitting packets according to an embodiment of the present application.

detailed description

The technical solutions in this application will be described below with reference to the drawings.

The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application can be applied to various communication systems, for example: a global mobile communication (GSM) system, a code division multiple access (CDMA) system, and a broadband code division multiple access (wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) system, general packet radio service (GPRS), long term evolution (LTE) system, LTE frequency division duplex (FDD) system, LTE Time Division Duplex (TDD), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Global Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) communication system, 5th generation in the future, 5G) system or new radio (NR).

The terminal device in the embodiments of the present application may refer to user equipment, access terminal, user unit, user station, mobile station, mobile station, remote station, remote terminal, mobile device, user terminal, terminal, wireless communication device, user agent, or User device. Terminal equipment can also be cellular phones, cordless phones, session initiation protocol (SIP) phones, wireless local loop (WLL) stations, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and wireless communications Functional handheld devices, computing devices, or other processing devices connected to wireless modems, in-vehicle devices, wearable devices, terminal devices in the future 5G network, or public land mobile network (PLMN) in future evolution Terminal equipment and the like are not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

The network device in the embodiment of the present application may be a device for communicating with a terminal device, and the network device may be a Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) system or a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) system. The base station (Base Transceiver Station (BTS)) can also be a base station (NodeB, NB) in a wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) system, or an evolved base station (evolved) in an LTE system. (NodeB, eNB, or eNodeB), can also be a wireless controller in a cloud radio access network (CRAN) scenario, and can also be a core network device, such as the access management function (access management function in 5G architecture) Mobility management function (AMF) network element, session management function (SMF) network element, user plane function (UPF) network element, and can also be relay station, access point, vehicle equipment, wearable device It can also be a network device in a future 5G network or a network device in a future evolved PLMN network, etc. As, 5G wireless access device, called a new radio access apparatus of the fifth generation mobile communication system (5G new radio, 5G NR) and the like, embodiments of the present application is not limited.

In the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device or the network device includes a hardware layer, an operating system layer running on the hardware layer, and an application layer running on the operating system layer. This hardware layer includes hardware such as a central processing unit (CPU), a memory management unit (MMU), and a memory (also called main memory). The operating system may be any one or more computer operating systems that implement business processing through processes, such as a Linux operating system, a Unix operating system, an Android operating system, an iOS operating system, or a windows operating system. This application layer contains applications such as browsers, address books, word processing software, and instant messaging software. In addition, the embodiment of the present application does not specifically limit the specific structure of the execution subject of the method provided by the embodiment of the present application, as long as the program that records the code of the method provided by the embodiment of the application can be run to provide the program according to the embodiment of the application. The communication may be performed by using the method described above. For example, the method execution subject provided in the embodiments of the present application may be a terminal device or a network device, or a function module in the terminal device or the network device that can call a program and execute the program.

In addition, various aspects or features of the present application may be implemented as a method, apparatus, or article of manufacture using standard programming and / or engineering techniques. The term "article of manufacture" as used in this application encompasses a computer program accessible from any computer-readable device, carrier, or medium. For example, computer-readable media may include, but are not limited to: magnetic storage devices (eg, hard disks, floppy disks, or magnetic tapes, etc.), optical disks (eg, compact discs (CD), digital versatile discs (DVD) Etc.), smart cards and flash memory devices (for example, erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), cards, sticks or key drives, etc.). In addition, the various storage media described herein may represent one or more devices and / or other machine-readable media used to store information. The term "machine-readable medium" may include, but is not limited to, wireless channels and various other media capable of storing, containing, and / or carrying instruction (s) and / or data.

FIG. 1 is a network architecture applied to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 1, the network architecture is a 5G network architecture described from the perspective of a service-oriented interface, and each network element involved in the network architecture is described separately.

1. (radio access network (R) AN) network element: It is used to provide network access functions for authorized users in specific areas, and can use different quality transmission tunnels according to user levels and business needs . The (R) AN network element can manage wireless resources and provide access services for terminal equipment, thereby completing the transfer of control signals and user data between the terminal equipment and the core network. The (R) AN network element can also be understood as a traditional network Base station.

2. User plane network element: used for packet routing and forwarding, quality of service (QoS) processing of user plane data, packet detection, and policy rule execution. In 5G communication, the user plane network element may be a user plane function (UPF) network element. In future communications such as 6G communication, the user plane network element may still be a UPF network element or have another name. This application This is not limited.

3. Data network (DN) network element: A network for providing data transmission, such as an Internet network. The DN network element may be data network authentication, authorization, and accounting (data network authentication, authorization, accounting), or may be an application server (application function).

4. Authentication service network element: mainly used for user authentication. In 5G communication, the authentication service network element may be an authentication service function (aUthentication server function (AUSF) network element. In future communications such as 6G communication, the authentication service network element may still be an AUSF network element or have another name. This application This is not limited.

5. Access management network element: It is mainly used for mobility management and access management, such as user location update, user registration network, user switch, legal monitoring, and access authorization \ authentication. In 5G communication, the access management network element may be an access management function (AMF) network element. In future communications such as 6G communication, the access management network element may still be an AMF network element, or Other names are not limited in this application.

6. Session management network element: It is mainly used for session management, network protocol (IP) address allocation and management of terminal equipment, selection of manageable UPF network elements, and access to session information related to the access network through AMF , Endpoints for policy control and charging function interfaces, and downstream data notification. In 5G communication, the session management network element may be a session management function (SMF) network element. In future communications such as 6G communication, the session management function network element may still be an SMF network element or have another name. The application does not limit this.

7, network open network element: used to securely open to the outside the services and capabilities provided by 3GPP network functions. In 5G communication, the network open network element may be a network open function (NEF) network element. In future communications such as 6G communication, the network open function network element may still be an NEF network element or have another name. The application does not limit this.

8 Network storage network element: It is used to save the description information of network functional entities and the services they provide, and to support service discovery and network element entity discovery. In 5G communication, the network storage network element may be a network storage function (NRF) network element. In future communications such as 6G communication, the network storage function network element may still be an NEF network element or have another name. The application does not limit this.

9. Policy control network element: a unified policy framework for guiding network behavior, providing policy rule information for control plane function network elements (such as AMF, SMF network elements, etc.). In 5G communication, the policy control network element may be a policy control function (PCF) network element. In future communications such as 6G communication, the policy control function network element may still be an NEF network element or have another name. The application does not limit this.

10. Unified data management (UDM) network element: used to implement functions such as processing user identification, access authentication, registration, and mobility management.

11. Application network element: It is used for data routing of application influence, access to network function open network element, interaction with policy framework for policy control, etc. In 5G communication, the application network element may be an application function (AF) network element. In future communications such as 6G communication, the application function network element may still be an AF network element or have another name. This application does not make any reference to this. limited.

12. Network data analysis (NWDA) network elements: used to collect and store information from terminal equipment, (R) AN network elements, and other network entities (for example, AMF network elements), and perform analysis on these information Analyze and generate contextual information about the user (which can be considered as the information of the application layer), and distribute the information of this application layer.

13. Terminal equipment: It can include various handheld devices with wireless communication functions, vehicle-mounted devices, wearable devices, computing devices or other processing devices connected to wireless modems, and various forms of terminals, mobile stations (mobile stations, MS ), Terminal (terminal), user equipment (UE), soft terminal, etc., such as water meters, electricity meters, sensors, etc.

It can be understood that the above functions can be network elements in hardware devices, software functions running on dedicated hardware, or virtualized functions instantiated on a platform (for example, a cloud platform).

For the convenience of description, the following description takes the user plane network element as a UPF network element and the session management network element as an SMF network element for illustration. That is, the UPF network elements described later in this application can be replaced with user plane network elements, and the SMF network elements can be replaced with session management network elements.

In this network architecture, the N2 interface is the reference point of the (R) AN120 network element and the AMF160 network element, and is used to send non-access stratum (NAS) messages. The N3 interface is the (R) AN120 network. The reference point between the network element and the UPF130 network element is used to transmit user plane data, etc .; the N4 interface is the reference point between the SMF170 network element and the UPF130 network element, and is used to transmit, for example, tunnel identification information for N3 connections, and data cache instructions Information, and downlink data notification messages; N6 interface is the reference point between UPF network element 130 and DN network element 140, used to transmit user plane data, etc .; N23 interface between NWDA network element 1140 and PCF network element 1110 As a reference point, if the AF network element 130 is an AF network element inside the network, the AF network element 130 will interact with other network elements through the PCF network element 1110 or the NEF network element 180. In addition, the N9 interface not shown in the figure is a reference point between the UPF network element 130 and other UPF network elements, and is also used to transmit user plane data.

It can be seen from the above description that the N3 interface, N6 interface, and N9 interface are all used by UPF network elements and other network elements to transmit user plane data. The N3 interface, N6 interface, and N9 interface can be referred to as data plane interfaces. The data received by the UPF network element from the N3 interface is uplink data forwarded by the terminal device through the access network device (or, wireless access device), and the data sent by the UPF network element through the N3 interface is transmitted through the access network device (or , Wireless access device) to the downlink data sent to the terminal device. Therefore, in the embodiment of the present application, the data transmitted between the UPF network element and the SMF network element may be data from or finally sent to any network element in the terminal device, the DN network element, and other UPF network elements.

It should be understood that the above-mentioned network architecture applied to the embodiments of the present application is merely an exemplary network architecture described from the perspective of a service-oriented architecture, and the network architecture applicable to the embodiments of the present application is not limited to this. The functions of the network architecture are applicable to the embodiments of the present application.

For example, in some network architectures, network function entities such as AMF network element 160, SMF network element 170, PCF network element 1110, and UDM network element 1120 are referred to as network function (NF) network elements; or, In some network architectures, a collection of network elements such as AMF network element 160, SMF network element 170, PCF network element 1110, and UDM network element 1120 may be referred to as control plane function (CPF) network elements.

As another example, in a network architecture where a control plane and a user plane (control plane and user plane) of 3G or CU are separated, a UPF network element can be mapped to SGW-U / PGW-U / TDF-U, and SMF The network elements are mapped to SGW-C / PGW-C / TDF-C network elements. Specifically, the UPF network element can be a control plane serving gateway-control (SGW-C) / control plane public data network gateway (control-PGW-C), and can also be a control plane detection function Network element (traffic detection function-control, TDF-C). The user plane network element can be a user plane serving gateway-user (SGW-U) / user plane public data network gateway (public gateway network-gateway-user, PGW). -U), which can also be a traffic detection function network element (TDF-U). In 4G system, SGW-U / PGW-U can establish control plane signaling connection with SGW-C / PGW-C through Gx interface; SCF can connect with SGW-C / PGW-C, SGW-U / via service interface The PGW-U establishes a control plane signaling connection. It should be noted that SGW-C / PGW-C and SGW-U / PGW-U are independently deployed in a 4G system, and SGW-C / PGW-C and SGW-U / PGW-U can also be integrated on the same network element ( Such as SGW / PGW / TDF).

In order to facilitate understanding of the embodiments of the present application, first, the prior art schemes related to the embodiments of the present application are briefly introduced with reference to each step in FIG. 2.

In S210, the SMF network element sends a PFCP session establishment request to the UPF network element.

The PFCP session establishment request includes packet inspection information (Packet Detection Information, PDI) for describing a packet inspection rule (Packet Detection Rule, PDR). The PDR described by the PDI is used to detect whether a received packet belongs to a CP network element (that is, an SMF network element) defined in the PDR.

Specifically, the parameters used to describe the PDR in PDI include at least: flow description information, fully qualified tunnel endpoint identifier (F-TEID), application identifier, network instance, and other information that can describe the service flow. One or more of the messages. The flow description information includes the tunnel endpoint identifier of the address.

In addition, in order to facilitate the UPF network element to use the GTP-U tunneling protocol to encapsulate received data packets from other network elements, the first field (forwarding parameters) of the forwarding action rule (FAR) corresponding to the PDR The outer header (creation, IE) carries parameters for encapsulating messages using the GTP-U tunneling protocol. In addition, the second field in the FAR (destination interface in forwarding parameters) defines that the control plane function network element that the UPF network element sends the received message to is an SMF network element.

In S220, the UPF network element sends a PFCP session establishment response to the MFCP session establishment request to the SMF network element.

As mentioned above, the signaling transmitted between the UPF network element and the SMF network element uses the PFCP tunneling protocol. Therefore, the PFCP session establishment request is the information encapsulated by the SMF network element using the PFCP tunneling protocol. The PFCP session establishment request is decapsulated to obtain the session establishment request, so that the encapsulated PFCP session request response can be sent to the SMF network element.

In this way, the session between the UPF network element and the SMF network element is successfully established, and the user plane data packets can be transmitted subsequently.

In S231, the UPF network element decapsulates the received message to obtain the original message.

The UPF network element decapsulates the packet according to the tunneling protocol established between the UPF network element and the network element sending the packet, or the UPF network element processes the packet according to the tunneling protocol corresponding to the data plane interface. Perform decapsulation processing. For example, if the message is data sent from an access network device (ie, (R) AN) through the N3 interface, the message is decapsulated based on the tunneling protocol corresponding to the N3 interface to obtain the original message.

Here, the original message is the user plane data message mentioned above, which is a message sent from any network element in the terminal device, DN network element, or other UPF network element. In addition, the original message may be Original IP packets, original Ethernet packets, etc.

In S232, the UPF network element uses the GTP-U tunnel protocol to encapsulate the original message to obtain the encapsulated message.

That is, the UPF network element encapsulates the original message according to information related to the GTP-U tunneling protocol. The information about the GTP-U tunnel protocol can be obtained based on the PDI carried in the session establishment request in S210.

Specifically, the UPF network element matches the message with various parameters in the PDI carried in the session establishment request. When the parameters in the message and the parameters in the PDI match, it determines to send the message. To the SMF network element; the message is encapsulated based on parameters of the GTP-U tunneling protocol carried in the IE's outer header and creation in the FAR corresponding to the PDR.

In S240, the UPF network element sends the encapsulated message to the SMF network element.

In S250, correspondingly, the SMF network element uses the GTP-U tunneling protocol to decapsulate the encapsulated message to obtain the original message.

It has been pointed out in the background art that because the data transmitted between the SMF network element and the UPF network element is small, in most scenarios it may not be necessary to transmit data between the SMF network element and the UPF network element, so the GTP-U is specifically used The tunnel protocol encapsulates data, which means that the GTP-U tunnel protocol stack and corresponding path management need to be maintained all the time, wasting system resources.

Based on this, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for transmitting a message, by using an existing PFCP tunnel protocol for transmitting signaling between a UPF network element and an SMF network element to encapsulate a user plane data message, GTP-U tunnel protocol in the prior art is no longer used to encapsulate user plane data packets, which can simplify the allocation and buffering of tunnel resources (ie, simplify the resources related to the GTP-U tunnel protocol stack), save system resources, and at the same time, It can also reduce implementation complexity.

The embodiments of the present application will be described in detail below with reference to FIGS. 3 to 8. Among them, Figures 3 to 5 describe the process in which the UPF network element and SMF network element transmit the original message from the first network element, and Figures 6 to 8 describe the transmission of the UPF network element and SMF network element to the final Process of the original message of the first network element. The first network element includes any one of a terminal device, a DN network element (for example, DN-AAA or AF, etc.), or other UPF network elements.

First, with reference to FIG. 3, each step of the method 300 for transmitting a message according to the embodiment of the present application will be described in detail.

S310: The UPF network element obtains a first original message from the first network element through the received first packet, and the first network element includes any one of the following: a terminal device, a data network DN network element, or another UPF network element.

The first original message may be an IP message or an Ethernet message, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present application, as long as the message is received by the UPF network element from the first network element. The first original message is considered to be the first original message, or the first original message needs to be sent to the SMF network element. For example, the first original message may be a message encapsulated with at least one of the following messages, where the at least one message includes at least: a delay of an IPv6 dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCPv4) initiated by a terminal device IP address allocation, after the DHCPv6 mobile phone routes IP address allocation and IPv6 router request (RS) or router advertisement (RA), neighbor request RS or neighbor advertisement RA message, etc. It should be understood that at least one mentioned here means one or more, and the explanation of at least one in the following is the same as here.

Here, other network elements send the first message to the UPF network element through the data plane interface, and the first message is a message in which the other original network element encapsulates the first original message through a tunneling protocol corresponding to the data plane interface. The other network element may include any one of an access network device, another UPF, or a DN network element: for example, if the other network element includes an access network device, the data plane interface is an N3 interface; if the other network element Including DN network elements, the data plane interface is an N6 interface; if the other network elements are other UPF network elements, the data plane interface is an N9 interface.

Specifically, during the session establishment phase, the SMF network element sends a PDI to the UPF network element through the session establishment request. In this way, after the UPF network element successfully matches the first message received with each parameter in the PDI, it can use the corresponding The tunneling protocol of the data plane interface decapsulates the first packet, so as to obtain the first original packet.

Here, the first network element may be considered as the source network element that sends or generates the first original packet. The following describes the relationship between the first network element and other network elements. When the first network element is a DN network element or another UPF network element, the first network element and the other network element are the same network element; when the first network element is a terminal device, the first network element and the other network element Different, the other network elements are access network devices. In this way, the access network device uses the tunneling protocol corresponding to the N3 interface to encapsulate the first original message received from the terminal device, and obtains the first message. Sent to a UPF network element.

S320. The UPF network element uses the packet forwarding control protocol PFCP tunneling protocol to encapsulate the first original message to obtain a second message.

In other words, the UPF network element encapsulates the first original message by using relevant parameters defined in the PFCP tunneling protocol, where the parameters include at least: the destination IP address of the sent message, message type, session ID, message length, port number, etc. .

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, since the second message is a message generated based on the PFCP tunneling protocol encapsulation, the second message may also be referred to as a second PFCP message.

Here, there are two ways for the UPF network element to use the PFCP tunneling protocol to encapsulate the first original message, and these two ways are separately described below.

Way A1

In this manner, the UPF network element obtains the first original message from the first message, and can encapsulate the first original message to obtain a second message including the first original message. In other words, the UPF network element may decapsulate the first message and use the PFCP tunneling protocol to encapsulate the first original message.

The second message may include only the first original message, for example, the second message may be a PFCP session data transmission request; the second message may also include the first original message and Information other than an original message, for example, the second message may be a PFCP session report request, and the other information may be information carried in the session report request other than the first original message.

Way A2

In this mode, the UPF network element may also use the PFCP tunneling protocol to encapsulate the first message including the first original message to generate a second message, where the second message includes the first original message and For other original and other information in the first message, this encapsulation method can also be considered as an encapsulation method for encapsulating the first original message. In other words, the UPF network element does not decapsulate the first message, and directly uses the PFCP tunneling protocol to encapsulate the first message.

The second message may be a PFCP session report request, or may be another message, for example, a PFCP session data transmission request.

In S330, the UPF network element sends the second message to the SMF network element.

In S340, the SMF network element decapsulates the second message using the PFCP tunneling protocol to obtain the first original message.

That is, the SMF network element decapsulates the second message by using the same tunneling protocol (ie, PFCP tunneling protocol) as the first original message, thereby obtaining the first original message.

The following uses the encapsulation mode of mode A1 and the second message as a PFCP session establishment request as an example to briefly introduce the decapsulation process.

First, the SMF network element determines that the destination port and destination IP of the second packet are in the scope of the PFCP tunnel protocol, and the SMF network element parses the message header field of the second packet according to the definition of the PFCP tunnel protocol to determine that the message type is PFCP Node-level or session-level messages. If it is a session-level message, the session ID is obtained from the message header, the length of the entire message is obtained, and then each information element (IE) is parsed, and the type of each IE is determined in turn ( type) field to determine the type of the IE, and then parse the IE based on the type and the format of the IE in the standard. After parsing each IE, continue to skip the content of the parsed IE based on the length of the IE, and continue to the next IE. Parsing, if the type is parsed to the type corresponding to the first original message (for example, UP signalling message information), then the complete original message encapsulated corresponding to the type is taken out. In this way, the decapsulation process is completed to obtain the first original message.

It should be understood that, in the embodiment of the present application, the decapsulation process of the message by the network element (SMF network element or UPF network element) is similar. The difference is that in different steps, the network element deciphers the message. The tunneling protocol used for encapsulation may be different, but the way of decapsulation is the same. Therefore, the following description of the packet decapsulation processing by the network element can be referred to here. For brevity, it will not be described later.

Therefore, the method for transmitting a message provided in the embodiment of the present application uses an existing PFCP tunneling protocol for signaling between a UPF network element and an SMF network element to encapsulate a user plane data packet (for example, the first original packet Text), no longer using the existing GTP-U tunneling protocol to encapsulate user plane data packets, which can effectively simplify the allocation and buffering of tunnel resources, save system resources, and at the same time reduce implementation complexity.

In the embodiment of the present application, there are two ways for the UPF network element to use the PFCP tunneling protocol to encapsulate the first original message (that is, way 1 and way 2). These two ways are described below respectively.

Way 1

The UPF network element receives first information from the SMF network element, the first information including parameters corresponding to the PFCP tunneling protocol for encapsulating the first original message; and,

The UPF network element uses the packet forwarding control protocol PFCP tunneling protocol to encapsulate the first original message, including:

The UPF network element encapsulates the first original message according to the first information.

Specifically, in the session establishment phase, in order for the UPF network element to send messages to the SMF network element based on the PFCP tunnel protocol, for example, a response message to a PFCP session establishment request or a message that needs to be reported by other UPF network elements actively, the PFCP session The establishment request carries the first information, and the first information may be referred to as CP information. The parameters included in the first information for encapsulating the first original message include at least: an IP address, a message type, a session ID, and a message length of a destination CP network element (ie, SMF) for sending the message. Here, the port number (for example, port number 8805) in the parameters for encapsulating the first original message may be determined based on the PFCP tunneling protocol, and does not need to be carried in the first information and does not need a UPF network element buffer.

Way 2

The UPF network element receives the packet detection information PDI from the SMF network element, which is used to describe the packet detection rule PDR; and,

The UPF network element obtains second information from a field corresponding to a forwarding operation rule FAR of the PDR according to the PDI, and the second information includes parameters corresponding to the PFCP tunneling protocol for encapsulating the first original message;

The UPF network element encapsulates the first original message according to the second information.

Specifically, as mentioned earlier, during the session establishment phase, the SMF network element sends a PDI to the UPF network element through the PFCP session establishment request, which can be carried in the forwarder parameters of the FAR corresponding to the PDR. The header of the IE is used for The message is encapsulated with parameters (or, parameters related to the PFCP tunneling protocol). In this way, after the UPF network element successfully matches the received first packet with various parameters in the PDI, it can obtain the first original packet for encapsulation based on the outer header of the forwarder parameters in the FAR corresponding to the PDR. (Ie, the second information), and further, the parameter is used to encapsulate the first original message.

Of course, as an example and not a limitation, PDI is not limited to being carried in a PFCP session establishment request, and PDI can also be carried in a PFCP session modification request. The above is only a schematic description and should not be construed as a limitation in the embodiments of the present application.

Optionally, the second information further includes a field for indicating a PFCP tunneling protocol.

That is, a related field may be added to the second information to instruct the UPF network element to use the PFCF tunneling protocol for encapsulation. In this way, after detecting the field, the UPF network element may know that the PFCP tunneling protocol is needed to encapsulate the message.

Of course, the second information may not include a field for indicating the PFCP tunneling protocol, but includes a parameter corresponding to the PFCP tunneling protocol for encapsulating the first original message. Since these parameters are related to the PFCP tunneling protocol and have been clearly defined in the standard, it is completely possible for the UPF network element to encapsulate the first original message through this parameter.

In order for the UPF network element to know explicitly that the packet is encapsulated by using the PFCP tunneling protocol, the embodiments of the present application provide the following methods:

Optionally, the field of the FAR corresponding to the PDR does not include information for encapsulating the first original message using the GTP-U tunneling protocol of the user plane portion of the general packet radio service technology tunneling protocol.

That is, the parameters of the forwarder and the header of the IE in the FAR no longer carry parameters about the GTP-U tunneling protocol, but are replaced with parameters about the PFCP tunneling protocol.

In the process of wireless transmission, in order for the receiving end to know that it has successfully received the message or data sent by the sending end, it can send a response message to the sending end.

Therefore, optionally, the method further includes:

The SMF network element uses the PFCP tunneling protocol to encapsulate a second original message for the first original message to obtain a third message;

The SMF network element sends the third message to the UPF network element.

Here, the second original message may be a response message for the first original message or other messages related to the first original message, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present application.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, since the third message is a message generated based on PFCP tunneling protocol encapsulation, the third message may also be referred to as a third PFCP message.

The third message may be response information for a PFCP session report request, for example, a PFCP session report response, and the third message may be response information for a PFCP session data transmission request, for example, a PFCP session data transmission response.

Correspondingly, for the UPF network element, after receiving the third message sent by the SMF network element, the third message may be decapsulated using the PFCP tunneling protocol to obtain the second original message; Therefore, the second original message is sent to the first network element.

Therefore, the method for transmitting a message in this embodiment of the present application encapsulates a user plane data message (for example, a first original message) by using an existing PFCP tunneling protocol for signaling between a UPF network element and an SMF network element. The GTP-U tunnel protocol in the prior art is no longer used to encapsulate user plane data packets, which can effectively simplify the allocation and buffering of tunnel resources, save system resources, and also reduce the implementation complexity.

The following table 1 is the information type in the PFCP session report request in the modified existing standard, and Table 2 is the information type in the PFCP session report response in the modified existing standard.

Table 1: Information Elements, PFCP Session Report Request

Table 2: Information Elements in PFCP Session Report Response

Table 3 shows the information types of the existing standards. Among them, 58 corresponds to the newly added PFCP session data transmission request, and 59 corresponds to the newly added PFCP session data transmission response.

Table 3 Message Types

Table 4 shows the type of information in the PFCP session data transmission request, and Table 5 shows the type of information in the PFCP session data transmission response.

Table 4: Information, Elements, PFCP, Session, Data, Transfer Request

Table 5: Information, Elements, PFCP, Session, Data, and TransferResponse

In the following, the embodiments of the present application are described in further detail by combining the specific scenarios in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5.

First, each step in the method 400 for transmitting a packet according to an embodiment of the present application is described with reference to FIG. 4.

In S410, the SMF network element sends a PFCP session establishment request to the UPF network element.

Specifically, the PFCP session establishment request includes a PDI for describing a PDR rule. The parameters for describing the PDR in the PDI include flow description information, a fully qualified tunnel endpoint identifier (F-TEID), and an application. Identification, network instance, and other information that can describe the business flow. The flow description information includes the tunnel endpoint identifier of the address.

Optionally, the PFCP session establishment request further includes first information, and the first information may be referred to as CP information. The parameters included in the first information for encapsulating the first original message include at least: an IP address, a message type, a session ID, and a message length of a destination CP network element (ie, SMF) for sending the message. Here, the port number (for example, port number 8805) in the parameters for encapsulating the first original message may be determined based on the PFCP tunneling protocol, and does not need to be carried in the first information and does not need a UPF network element buffer.

Optionally, the standard may be defined as follows: the outer header of the IE corresponding to the FAR of the PDR includes parameters for encapsulating a message using the PFCF tunnel protocol (or parameters related to the PFCP tunnel protocol).

In S420, the UPF network element sends a PFCP session establishment response to the MFCP session establishment request to the SMF network element.

For the description of S420, reference may be made to the description of S220 in method 200. For brevity, details are not described herein again.

In S431, the UPF network element de-encapsulates the first message received from the data plane interface using a tunneling protocol corresponding to the data plane interface to obtain a first original message encapsulated in the first message.

Specifically, the UPF network element receives the first message from other network elements through the data plane interface, and after successfully matching the first message with various parameters in the PDI, the tunneling protocol corresponding to the data plane interface is used for the first message. A message is decapsulated to obtain the first original message.

For a detailed description of S431, reference may be made to the description of S310 in method 300. For brevity, details are not described herein again.

In S432, the UPF network element uses the PFCP tunneling protocol to encapsulate the first original message to obtain a second message.

Specifically, after obtaining the first original message, the UPF network element may encapsulate the first original message based on the first information in the session establishment request, or may be based on the forwarding parameters from the FAR of the corresponding PDR. The second information obtained in the outer header, which is used to encapsulate the first original message, encapsulates the first original message. For a specific description of the manner in which the UPF network element encapsulates the first original message based on the first information, refer to the method 300 for a detailed description of Method 1 in which the UPF network element uses the PFCP tunneling protocol to encapsulate the first original message. About UPF For a detailed description of the network element encapsulating the first original message based on the second information, refer to the detailed description of the method 300 for the UPF network element to use the PFCP tunneling protocol to encapsulate the first original message in method 300. For brevity, details are not described herein. .

In addition, the manner in which the UPF network element uses the PFCP tunneling protocol to encapsulate the first original message may be the manner A1 and the manner A2 described above. For brevity, details are not described herein again.

In S440, the UPF network element sends the second message to the SMF network element.

In S451, the SMF network element decapsulates the second message using the PFCP tunneling protocol, and finally obtains the first original message.

For the specific description of S451, reference may be made to the specific description of S340 in method 300. For brevity, details are not described herein again.

In S452, the SMF network element uses the PFCP tunneling protocol to encapsulate a second original message for the first original message to obtain a third message.

In S460, the SMF network element sends the third message to the UPF network element.

In S471, the UPF network element uses the PFCP tunneling protocol to perform decapsulation processing on the third packet to obtain the second original packet.

After the UPF network element receives the third message sent by the SMF network element, it can use the PFCP tunneling protocol to decapsulate the third message to obtain the second original message.

In S472, the UPF network element uses the tunneling protocol corresponding to the data plane interface to encapsulate the second original message.

In other words, before a UPF network element can use any of the data plane interfaces of N3, N9, or N6 to send a message to the corresponding network element, it also needs to use a tunneling protocol corresponding to the corresponding data plane interface to encapsulate the second original message.

In S480, the UPF network element sends the encapsulated second original packet to other network elements (for example, access network equipment, other UPF network elements, or DN network elements), and is finally sent to the first network element.

The process of transmitting a message from the first network element by the UPF network element and the SMF network element is described above with reference to FIGS. 3 to 4. Next, the transmission of the UPF network element and the SMF network element that needs to be finally transmitted to the network element is described below with reference to FIGS. 5 to 6. The message process of the first network element.

First, with reference to FIG. 5, each step of the method 600 for transmitting a packet according to an embodiment of the present application will be described in detail.

In S610, the SMF network element uses the packet forwarding control protocol PFCP tunneling protocol to encapsulate the fourth original message to obtain the fourth message. The fourth original message needs to be sent to the first network element. The first network element includes the following: Any one: terminal equipment, data network DN network element or other UPF network element.

Specifically, when the SMF network element needs to actively send user plane data packets (for example, the fourth original packet to be sent to the first network element), the GTP-U tunneling protocol in the prior art is no longer used. Encapsulate the fourth original message, but directly encapsulate the fourth original message through the PFCP tunneling protocol on the signaling plane, that is, use the parameters for encapsulating the message using the encapsulated PFCP tunneling protocol to encapsulate the fourth original message. Text. For the parameters used for encapsulating packets using the encapsulation PFCP tunnel protocol, refer to the above. For brevity, we will not repeat them here.

Here, the fourth original message may be an IP message or an Ethernet message, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present application, as long as the message is finally sent to the first network element, the fourth original message may be considered as the fourth original message. The original message. For example, the first original message may be a message encapsulated with at least one of the following messages, where the at least one message includes at least: a delayed IP address allocation of DHCPv4 initiated by the SMF network element, and a routed IP address after the DHCPv6 mobile phone Distribution and IPv6 routers request RS / router advertisement RA, neighbor request RS / neighbor advertisement RA messages, and so on.

The fourth message may include only the fourth original message. For example, the fourth message may be a PFCP session modification request. The fourth message may also include the fourth original message and other information, such as The fourth message may be a PFCP session data transmission request.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, since the fourth message is a message generated based on the PFCP tunneling protocol encapsulation, the fourth message may also be referred to as a fourth PFCP message.

In S620, the SMF network element sends the encapsulated fourth packet to the UPF network element.

In S630, the UPF network element uses the PFCP tunneling protocol to decapsulate the fourth packet to obtain the fourth original packet.

That is, the UPF network element uses the same tunneling protocol (ie, the PFCP tunneling protocol) to encapsulate the fourth original message to decapsulate the fourth message, thereby obtaining the fourth original message.

Subsequently, the UPF network element can continue to encapsulate the fourth original message by using the tunnel protocol corresponding to the data plane interface (N3, N6, or N9), and send the encapsulated fourth original message to the first network element. .

Therefore, the method for transmitting a message provided by the embodiment of the present application uses an existing PFCP tunneling protocol for signaling between a UPF network element and an SMF network element to encapsulate a user plane data packet (for example, a fourth original packet). Text), no longer using the existing GTP-U tunneling protocol to encapsulate user plane data packets, which can effectively simplify the allocation and buffering of tunnel resources, save system resources, and at the same time reduce implementation complexity.

As mentioned earlier, during the session establishment phase, the SMF network element sends a PFCP session establishment request to the UPF network element. The PFCP session establishment request includes the PDI describing the PDR. In order to make the UPF network element no longer used, it will continue to use the existing The GTP-U tunnel protocol encapsulates packets defined in the standard. The embodiments of this application provide the following methods:

Optionally, the method further includes:

The SMF network element sends the packet detection information PDI for describing the packet detection rule PDR to the UPF network element. The field of the FAR corresponding to the PDR does not include the user plane part GTP-U for using the general packet radio service technology tunneling protocol. Information about decapsulation processing of the fourth packet by the tunneling protocol.

In other words, the IE's outer header and removal header in FAR no longer carry information used to decapsulate the message using the GTP-U tunneling protocol.

Table 6 shows the types of information in the PFCP session modification request.

Table 6: Information Elements, PFCP Session Modification Request

Each step in the method 700 for transmitting a packet according to an embodiment of the present application is described below with reference to FIG. 6.

In S710, the SMF network element sends a PFCP session establishment request to the UPF network element.

In S720, the UPF network element sends a PFCP session establishment response to the SMF network element.

For the foregoing specific descriptions of S710 and S720, reference may be made to the specific descriptions of S410 and S420 in method 400, respectively, and for the sake of brevity, they are not repeated here.

In S730, the SMF network element uses the PFCP tunneling protocol to encapsulate the fourth original message to obtain a fourth message.

In S740, the SMF network element sends the fourth message to the UPF network element.

In S751, the UPF network element uses the PFCP tunneling protocol to decapsulate the fourth message to obtain the fourth original message.

That is, after receiving the fourth message sent by the SMF network element, the UPF network element may correspondingly decapsulate the fourth message using the PFCP tunneling protocol to obtain the fourth original message.

In S752, the UPF network element uses the tunneling protocol corresponding to the data plane interface to encapsulate the fourth original message.

In S753, the UPF network element sends the encapsulated fourth original message to other network elements (for example, access network equipment, other UPF network elements, or DN network elements), and finally sends the fourth original message to The first network element.

The method for transmitting a message according to the embodiment of the present application has been described in detail above with reference to FIGS. 1 to 6, and the apparatus for transmitting a message according to the embodiment of the present application is described below with reference to FIGS. 7 to 10. The technical features are also applicable to the following device embodiments.

FIG. 7 is a schematic block diagram of an apparatus 900 for transmitting a message according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 7, the apparatus 900 includes:

A processing unit 910, configured to obtain a first original message from a first network element by using the received first message, where the first network element includes any of the following: a terminal device, a data network DN network element, or another UPF network yuan;

The processing unit is further configured to use the packet forwarding control protocol PFCP tunneling protocol to encapsulate the first original message to obtain a second message;

The sending unit 920 is configured to send the second message to an SMF network element of the session management function entity.

Therefore, the device for transmitting a message provided in the embodiment of the present application encapsulates a user plane data message (for example, a first original message) by using an existing PFCP tunneling protocol for signaling between a UPF network element and an SMF network element. Text), no longer using the existing GTP-U tunneling protocol to encapsulate user plane data packets, which can effectively simplify the allocation and buffering of tunnel resources, save system resources, and at the same time reduce implementation complexity.

Optionally, the apparatus further includes:

A receiving unit 930, configured to receive first information from the SMF network element, where the first information includes parameters corresponding to the PFCP tunneling protocol and used to encapsulate the first original message; and

The processing unit 910 is specifically configured to:

Encapsulate the first original message according to the first information.

In this way, the UPF network element can use the first information sent by the SMF network element to the UPF network element in the prior art to encapsulate the first original message, which effectively reduces signaling overhead.

Optionally, the apparatus further includes:

A receiving unit 930, configured to receive packet detection information PDI from the SMF network element, which is used to describe a packet detection rule PDR; and

The processing unit 910 is specifically configured to:

Obtaining, according to the PDI, second information from a field corresponding to a forwarding operation rule FAR of the PDR, where the second information includes parameters corresponding to the PFCP tunneling protocol for encapsulating the first original message;

Encapsulate the first original message according to the second information.

Optionally, the apparatus further includes:

A receiving unit 930, configured to receive a third message from the SMF network element that is encapsulated based on the PFCP tunneling protocol, where the third message includes a second original message for the first original message;

The processing unit 910 is further configured to perform decapsulation processing on the third message by using the PFCP tunneling protocol to obtain the second original message;

The sending unit 920 is further configured to send the second original packet to the first network element.

The device 900 for transmitting a message may correspond to (for example, may be configured on or itself) the UPF network element described in the above method 300 or 400, and each module or unit in the device 900 for transmitting a message is respectively used to execute Each action or process performed by the UPF network element in the foregoing method 300 or 400 is omitted here to avoid detailed description.

In the embodiment of the present application, the device 900 may be a UPF network element. In this case, the device 900 may include a processor, a transmitter, and a receiver. Processor, transmitter and receiver communication connections. Optionally, the apparatus further includes a memory, and the memory is communicatively connected with the processor. Optionally, the processor, the memory, the transmitter, and the receiver may be communicatively connected. The memory may be used to store instructions. The processor is configured to execute the instructions stored in the memory to control the transmitter to send a message or the receiver to receive a signal.

In this case, the processing unit 910 in the device 900 shown in FIG. 7 may correspond to a processor, and the sending unit 920 in the device 900 shown in FIG. 7 may correspond to a receiver.

In the embodiment of the present application, the device 900 may be a chip (or a chip system) installed in a UPF network element. In this case, the device 900 may include a processor and an input / output interface. The processor may be communicatively connected with the transceiver of the network device through the input-output interface. Optionally, the apparatus further includes a memory, and the memory is communicatively connected with the processor. Optionally, the processor, the memory, and the transceiver may be communicatively connected. The memory may be used to store instructions. The processor is configured to execute the instructions stored in the memory to control the transceiver to send information or signals.

In this case, the processing unit 910 in the device 900 shown in FIG. 7 may correspond to a processor, and the sending unit 920 in the device 900 shown in FIG. 7 may correspond to an output interface.

FIG. 8 is a schematic block diagram of an apparatus 1000 for transmitting a message according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 8, the device 1000 includes:

A receiving unit 1010 is configured to receive a second packet encapsulated by a user plane function UPF network element based on the PFCP tunneling protocol, where the second packet includes the first original packet and the first original packet. From a first network element, the first network element includes any one of the following: a terminal device, a data network DN network element, or another UPF network element;

The processing unit 1020 is configured to perform decapsulation processing on the second message by using the packet forwarding control protocol PFCP tunneling protocol to obtain the first original message.

Optionally, the apparatus further includes:

The sending unit 1030 is configured to send first information to the UPF network element, where the first information includes a parameter corresponding to the PFCP tunnel protocol and used to encapsulate the first original IP packet.

In this way, the device can use the first information sent by the SMF network element to the UPF network element in the prior art to encapsulate the first original message, which effectively reduces signaling overhead.

Optionally, the apparatus further includes:

A sending unit 1030 is configured to send packet detection information PDI for describing a packet detection rule PDR to the UPF network element, where a field corresponding to the forwarding operation rule FAR of the PDR includes second information, the second information Including parameters corresponding to the PFCP tunneling protocol for encapsulating the first original IP packet.

Optionally, the field of the FAR corresponding to the PDR does not include information for encapsulating the first original IP message using a GTP-U tunneling protocol of a user plane portion of a general packet radio service technology tunneling protocol.

In this way, by deleting the information used to encapsulate the first original message using the GTP-U tunneling protocol in the field of the FAR of the PDR, the UPF network element can clearly know that the first original message is encapsulated using the PFCP tunneling protocol.

Optionally, the processing unit 1020 is further configured to:

Use the PFCP tunneling protocol to encapsulate a second original message for the first original message to obtain a third message;

The device further includes:

A sending unit, configured to send the third message to the UPF network element.

The device 1000 for transmitting a message may correspond to (for example, may be configured on or itself) the SMF network element described in the above method 300 or 400, and each module or unit in the device 1000 for transmitting a message is respectively used to execute Each action or processing process performed by the SMF network element in the foregoing method 300 or 400 is omitted here to avoid detailed description.

In the embodiment of the present application, the device 1000 may be an SMF network element. In this case, the device 1000 may include a processor, a transmitter, and a receiver. Processor, transmitter and receiver communication connections. Optionally, the apparatus further includes a memory, and the memory is communicatively connected with the processor. Optionally, the processor, the memory, the transmitter, and the receiver may be communicatively connected. The memory may be used to store instructions. The processor is configured to execute the instructions stored in the memory to control the transmitter to send a message or the receiver to receive a signal.

In this case, the receiving unit 1010 in the device 1000 shown in FIG. 8 may correspond to a receiver, and the processing unit 1020 in the device 1000 shown in FIG. 8 may correspond to a processor.

In the embodiment of the present application, the device 1000 may be a chip (or a chip system) installed in a UPF network element. In this case, the device 1000 may include a processor and an input / output interface. The processor may be communicatively connected with the transceiver of the network device through the input-output interface. Optionally, the apparatus further includes a memory, and the memory is communicatively connected with the processor. Optionally, the processor, the memory, and the transceiver may be communicatively connected, the memory may be used to store instructions, and the processor is configured to execute the instructions stored in the memory to control the transceiver to send information or signals.

In this case, the receiving unit 1010 in the apparatus 1000 shown in FIG. 8 may correspond to the input interface. The processing unit 1020 in the apparatus 1000 shown in FIG. 8 may correspond to a processor.

FIG. 9 is a schematic block diagram of a packet transmission apparatus 1100 according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 9, the apparatus 1100 includes:

A processing unit 1110 is configured to use a packet forwarding control protocol PFCP tunneling protocol to encapsulate a fourth original message to obtain a fourth message. The fourth original message needs to be sent to a first network element, where the first network element includes Any of the following: terminal equipment, data network DN network element, or other UPF network element;

The sending unit 1120 is configured to send the fourth packet to a user plane function UPF network element.

Therefore, the device for transmitting a message provided in the embodiment of the present application encapsulates a user plane data message (for example, a fourth original message) by using an existing PFCP tunneling protocol for signaling between a UPF network element and an SMF network element. Text), no longer using the existing GTP-U tunneling protocol to encapsulate user plane data packets, which can effectively simplify the allocation and buffering of tunnel resources, save system resources, and at the same time reduce implementation complexity.

Optionally, the sending unit 1120 is further configured to:

Sending packet detection information PDI for describing a packet detection rule PDR to the UPF network element, wherein a field of the FAR corresponding to the PDR does not include a GTP-U tunnel for the user plane part of the tunneling protocol used for general packet radio service technology Information that the protocol performs decapsulation processing on the fourth message.

In this way, by deleting the information used for the decapsulation processing of the fourth message using the GTP-U tunnel protocol in the field of the FAR of the PDR, the UPF network element can clearly know that the fourth message is decompressed using the PFCP tunnel protocol Encapsulation processing.

The device 1100 for transmitting a message may correspond to (for example, may be configured on or itself) the SMF network element described in the above method 600 or 700, and each module or unit in the device 1100 for transmitting a message is respectively used to execute Each action or processing performed by the SMF network element in the foregoing method 600 or 700 is omitted here to avoid detailed description.

In the embodiment of the present application, the device 1100 may be an SMF network element. In this case, the device 1100 may include a processor, a transmitter, and a receiver. Processor, transmitter and receiver communication connections. Optionally, the apparatus further includes a memory, and the memory is communicatively connected with the processor. Optionally, the processor, the memory, the transmitter, and the receiver may be communicatively connected. The memory may be used to store instructions. The processor is configured to execute the instructions stored in the memory to control the transmitter to send a message or the receiver to receive a signal.

In this case, the processing unit 1110 in the device 1100 shown in FIG. 9 may correspond to a processor, and the sending unit 1120 in the device 1100 shown in FIG. 9 may correspond to a transmitter.

In the embodiment of the present application, the device 1100 may be a chip (or a chip system) installed in a UPF network element. In this case, the device 1100 may include a processor and an input / output interface. The processor may be communicatively connected with the transceiver of the network device through the input-output interface. Optionally, the device further includes a memory, and the memory is communicatively connected to the processor. Optionally, the processor, the memory, and the transceiver may be communicatively connected. The memory may be used to store instructions. The processor is configured to execute the instructions stored in the memory to control the transceiver to send information or signals.

In this case, the processing unit 1110 in the device 1100 shown in FIG. 9 may correspond to a processor, and the sending unit 1120 in the device 1100 shown in FIG. 9 may correspond to an output interface.

FIG. 10 is a schematic block diagram of a packet transmission apparatus 1200 according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 10, the apparatus 1200 includes:

The receiving unit 1210 is configured to receive a fourth message sent by the SMF network element of the session management function entity. The fourth message includes a fourth original message sent to the first network element, and the first network element includes any one of the following: Terminal equipment, data network DN network element or other UPF network element;

The processing unit 1220 is configured to perform decapsulation processing on the fourth packet by using a packet forwarding control protocol PFCP tunneling protocol to obtain the fourth original packet.

Optionally, the receiving unit 1210 is further configured to:

Receive packet detection information PDI used to describe a packet detection rule PDR sent by the SMF network element, wherein a field of the FAR corresponding to the PDR does not include a user plane portion GTP-U for using a general packet radio service technology tunneling protocol Information for performing decapsulation processing on the fourth packet by the tunneling protocol.

The device 1200 for transmitting a message may correspond to (for example, may be configured on or itself) the UPF network element described in the above method 600 or 700, and each module or unit in the device 1200 for transmitting a message is respectively used for execution Each action or processing performed by the UPF network element in the foregoing method 600 or 700 is omitted here to avoid detailed description.

In the embodiment of the present application, the device 1200 may be a UPF network element. In this case, the device 1200 may include a processor, a transmitter, and a receiver. Processor, transmitter and receiver communication connections. Optionally, the apparatus further includes a memory, and the memory is communicatively connected with the processor. Optionally, the processor, the memory, the transmitter, and the receiver may be communicatively connected. The memory may be used to store instructions. The processor is configured to execute the instructions stored in the memory to control the transmitter to send a message or the receiver to receive a signal.

In this case, the receiving unit 1210 in the device 1200 shown in FIG. 10 may correspond to a receiver, and the processing unit 1220 in the device 1200 shown in FIG. 10 may correspond to a processor.

In the embodiment of the present application, the device 1200 may be a chip (or a chip system) installed in a UPF network element. In this case, the device 1200 may include a processor and an input / output interface. The processor may be communicatively connected with the transceiver of the network device through the input-output interface. Optionally, the apparatus further includes a memory, and the memory is communicatively connected with the processor. Optionally, the processor, the memory, and the transceiver may be communicatively connected. The memory may be used to store instructions. The processor is configured to execute the instructions stored in the memory to control the transceiver to send information or signals.

In this case, the receiving unit 1210 in the device 1200 shown in FIG. 10 may correspond to an input interface, and the processing unit 1220 in the device 1200 shown in FIG. 10 may correspond to a processor.

It should be noted that the foregoing method embodiments in the embodiments of the present application may be applied to a processor or implemented by a processor. The processor may be an integrated circuit chip with signal processing capabilities. In the implementation process, each step of the foregoing method embodiment may be completed by using an integrated logic circuit of hardware in a processor or an instruction in a form of software. The above processor may be a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), an off-the-shelf programmable gate array (FPGA), or other programmable Programming logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components. Various methods, steps, and logical block diagrams disclosed in the embodiments of the present application can be implemented or executed. A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or the processor may be any conventional processor or the like. The steps of the method disclosed in combination with the embodiments of the present application may be directly implemented by a hardware decoding processor, or may be performed by using a combination of hardware and software modules in the decoding processor. The software module may be located in a mature storage medium such as a random access memory, a flash memory, a read-only memory, a programmable read-only memory, or an electrically erasable programmable memory, a register, and the like. The storage medium is located in a memory, and the processor reads the information in the memory and completes the steps of the foregoing method in combination with its hardware.

It can be understood that the memory in the embodiment of the present application may be a volatile memory or a non-volatile memory, or may include both volatile and non-volatile memory. Among them, the non-volatile memory may be read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (erasable PROM, EPROM), electrical memory Erase a programmable read-only memory (electrical ROM, EEPROM) or flash memory. The volatile memory may be a random access memory (RAM), which is used as an external cache. By way of example, but not limitation, many forms of RAM are available, such as static random access memory (SRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (synchronous random access memory, SDRAM), double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory (double SDRAM, DDR SDRAM), enhanced synchronous dynamic random access memory (enhanced SDRAM, ESDRAM), synchronous connection dynamic random access memory (synchlink DRAM, SLDRAM ) And direct memory bus random access memory (direct RAMbus RAM, DR RAM). It should be noted that the memory of the systems and methods described herein is intended to include, but is not limited to, these and any other suitable types of memory.

Those of ordinary skill in the art may realize that the units and algorithm steps of each example described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented by electronic hardware, or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether these functions are performed in hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Professional technicians can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered to be beyond the scope of this application.

Those skilled in the art can clearly understand that, for the convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the systems, devices, and units described above can refer to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, and are not repeated here.

In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, devices, and methods may be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are only schematic. For example, the division of the unit is only a logical function division. In actual implementation, there may be another division manner. For example, multiple units or components may be combined or Can be integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not implemented. In addition, the displayed or discussed mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection may be indirect coupling or communication connection through some interfaces, devices or units, which may be electrical, mechanical or other forms.

The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separated, and the components displayed as units may or may not be physical units, may be located in one place, or may be distributed on multiple network units. Some or all of the units may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the objective of the solution of this embodiment.

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

If the functions are implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as independent products, they can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of this application is essentially a part that contributes to the existing technology or a part of the technical solution can be embodied in the form of a software product. The computer software product is stored in a storage medium, including Several instructions are used to cause a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to perform all or part of the steps of the method described in the embodiments of the present application. The aforementioned storage media include: U disks, mobile hard disks, read-only memories (ROMs), random access memories (RAMs), magnetic disks or compact discs and other media that can store program codes .

The above is only a specific implementation of this application, but the scope of protection of this application is not limited to this. Any person skilled in the art can easily think of changes or replacements within the technical scope disclosed in this application. It should be covered by the protection scope of this application. Therefore, the protection scope of this application shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

A method for transmitting a message, wherein the method includes:

The user plane network element obtains a first original message from the first network element through the received first message, and the first network element includes any of the following: a terminal device, a data network DN network element, or a second user plane network yuan;

The user plane network element encapsulates the first original message using a packet forwarding control protocol PFCP tunneling protocol to obtain a second message;

The user plane network element sends the second message to a session management network element.
The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

Receiving, by the user plane network element, first information from the session management network element, the first information including a parameter corresponding to the PFCP tunneling protocol for encapsulating the first original message; and

The user plane network element using the packet forwarding control protocol PFCP tunneling protocol to encapsulate the first original message includes:

The user plane network element encapsulates the first original message according to the first information.
The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

Receiving, by the user plane network element, packet detection information PDI from the session management network element for describing a packet detection rule PDR; and

The user plane network element using the packet forwarding control protocol PFCP tunneling protocol to encapsulate the first original message includes:

The user plane network element obtains second information from a field corresponding to a forwarding operation rule FAR of the PDR according to the PDI, and the second information includes a packet corresponding to the PFCP tunneling protocol for encapsulating the first original Message parameters;

The user plane network element encapsulates the first original message according to the second information.
The method according to claim 3, wherein a field corresponding to the FAR of the PDR does not include a GTP-U tunnel protocol used to encapsulate the first original message by using a general packet radio service technology tunnel protocol user plane portion Information.
The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the second message is a PFCP session report request, or the second message is a PFCP session data transmission request.
The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, further comprising:

Receiving, by the user plane network element, a third packet based on the PFCP tunneling protocol from the session management network element, where the third packet includes a second original packet for the first original packet;

The user plane network element uses the PFCP tunneling protocol to decapsulate the third message to obtain the second original message;

The user plane network element sends the second original message to the first network element.
The method according to claim 6, wherein the third message is a PFCP session report response, or the third message is a PFCP session data transmission response.
A method for transmitting a message, wherein the method includes:

The session management network element receives a second message from the user plane function. The user plane network element encapsulates the second message based on the PFCP tunneling protocol. The second message includes the first original message. The first original message comes from A first network element, where the first network element includes any one of the following: a terminal device, a data network DN network element, or a second user plane network element;

The session management network element uses the packet forwarding control protocol PFCP tunneling protocol to perform decapsulation processing on the second message to obtain the first original message.
The method according to claim 8, further comprising:

The session management sends first information to the user plane network element, where the first information includes parameters corresponding to the PFCP tunneling protocol and used to encapsulate the first original IP packet.
The method according to claim 8, further comprising:

The session management network element sends packet detection information PDI for describing a packet detection rule PDR to the user plane network element, wherein a field corresponding to the forwarding operation rule FAR of the PDR includes second information, and the second The information includes parameters corresponding to the PFCP tunneling protocol for encapsulating the first original IP packet.
The method according to claim 10, wherein a field corresponding to the FAR of the PDR does not include a GTP-U tunneling protocol for encapsulating the first original IP packet using a general packet radio service technology tunneling protocol user plane portion GTP-U tunneling protocol. Information.
The method according to any one of claims 8 to 11, wherein the second message is a PFCP session report request, or the second message is a PFCP session data transmission request.
The method according to any one of claims 8 to 12, wherein the method further comprises:

The session management network element uses the PFCP tunneling protocol to encapsulate a second original message for the first original message to obtain a third message;

The session management network element sends the third packet to the user plane network element.
The method according to claim 13, wherein the third message is a PFCP session report response, or the third message is a PFCP session data transmission response.
A method for transmitting a message, wherein the method includes:

The session management network element uses the packet forwarding control protocol PFCP tunneling protocol to encapsulate the fourth original message to obtain a fourth message. The fourth original message needs to be sent to the first network element. The first network element includes any of the following: A: terminal equipment, data network DN network element or other user plane network element;

The session management network element sends the fourth message to a user plane function user plane network element.
The method according to claim 15, further comprising:

The session management network element sends packet detection information PDI for describing a packet detection rule PDR to the user plane network element, wherein a field of the FAR corresponding to the PDR does not include a tunneling protocol for using a general packet radio service technology Information of the user plane part of the GTP-U tunnel protocol performing decapsulation processing on the fourth packet.
The method according to claim 15 or 16, wherein the fourth message is a PFCP session modification request, or the fourth message is a PFCP session data transmission request.
A method for transmitting a message, wherein the method includes:

The user plane network element receives a fourth message from the session management network element, the fourth message includes a fourth original message sent to the first network element, and the first network element includes any of the following: a terminal device, a data network DN network element or other user plane network element;

The user plane network element decapsulates the fourth message by using a packet forwarding control protocol PFCP tunneling protocol to obtain the fourth original message.
The method according to claim 18, further comprising:

The user plane network element receives packet detection information PDI from the session management network element, which is used to describe a packet detection rule PDR, wherein a field of the FAR corresponding to the PDR does not include a tunnel for using a general packet radio service technology Information of the GTP-U tunneling protocol on the user plane of the protocol for decapsulating the fourth message.
The method according to claim 18 or 19, wherein the fourth message is a PFCP session modification request, and the fourth message is a PFCP session data transmission request.
A device for transmitting a message, wherein the device includes:

A processing unit, configured to obtain a first original message from a first network element through the received first message, where the first network element includes any of the following: a terminal device, a data network DN network element, or a second user plane Network element

The processing unit is further configured to use the packet forwarding control protocol PFCP tunneling protocol to encapsulate the first original message to obtain a second message;

A sending unit, configured to send the second message to a session management network element.
The apparatus according to claim 21, wherein the apparatus further comprises:

A receiving unit, configured to receive first information from the session management network element, where the first information includes parameters corresponding to the PFCP tunnel protocol and used to encapsulate the first original message; and

The processing unit is specifically configured to:

Encapsulate the first original message according to the first information.
The apparatus according to claim 21, wherein the apparatus further comprises:

A receiving unit, configured to receive packet detection information PDI from the session management network element, which is used to describe a packet detection rule PDR; and

The processing unit is specifically configured to:

Obtaining, according to the PDI, second information from a field corresponding to a forwarding operation rule FAR of the PDR, where the second information includes parameters corresponding to the PFCP tunneling protocol for encapsulating the first original message;

Encapsulate the first original message according to the second information.
The device according to claim 23, wherein a field corresponding to the FAR of the PDR does not include a GTP-U tunnel protocol used to encapsulate the first original message by using a general packet radio service technology tunnel protocol user plane portion Information.
The device according to any one of claims 21 to 24, wherein the second message is a PFCP session report request, or the second message is a PFCP session data transmission request.
The device according to any one of claims 21 to 25, wherein the device further comprises:

A receiving unit, configured to receive a third message from the session management network element that is encapsulated based on the PFCP tunneling protocol, where the third message includes a second original message for the first original message;

The processing unit is further configured to perform decapsulation processing on the third message by using the PFCP tunneling protocol to obtain the second original message;

The sending unit is further configured to send the second original message to the first network element.
The apparatus according to claim 26, wherein the third message is generated based on a session report response, and the session report response includes the second original message.
A device for transmitting a message, wherein the device includes:

A receiving unit, configured to receive a second packet from a user plane network element based on the PFCP tunneling protocol, the second packet including the first original packet, and the first original packet from the first A network element, the first network element includes any one of the following: a terminal device, a data network DN network element, or a second user plane network element;

A processing unit, configured to use the packet forwarding control protocol PFCP tunneling protocol to perform decapsulation processing on the second message to obtain the first original message.
The apparatus according to claim 28, further comprising:

The sending unit is configured to send first information to the user plane network element, where the first information includes parameters corresponding to the PFCP tunneling protocol and used to encapsulate the first original IP packet.
The apparatus according to claim 28, further comprising:

A sending unit, configured to send packet detection information PDI used to describe a packet detection rule PDR to the user plane network element, wherein a field corresponding to the forwarding operation rule FAR of the PDR includes second information, the second information Including parameters corresponding to the PFCP tunneling protocol for encapsulating the first original IP packet.
The apparatus according to claim 20, wherein a field corresponding to the FAR of the PDR does not include a GTP-U tunnel protocol for encapsulating the first original IP packet using a general packet radio service technology tunnel protocol user plane portion Information.
The device according to any one of claims 28 to 31, wherein the second message is a PFCP session report request, or the second message is a PFCP session data transmission request.
The apparatus according to any one of claims 28 to 32, wherein the processing unit is further configured to:

Use the PFCP tunneling protocol to encapsulate a second original message for the first original message to obtain a third message;

The device further includes:

A sending unit, configured to send the third packet to the user plane network element.
The apparatus according to claim 33, wherein the third packet is a PFCP session report response.
A device for transmitting a message, wherein the device includes:

A processing unit, configured to use a packet forwarding control protocol PFCP tunneling protocol to encapsulate a fourth original message to obtain a fourth message, the fourth original message needs to be sent to a first network element, and the first network element includes the following Any one: terminal equipment, data network DN network element or second user plane network element;

The sending unit is configured to send the fourth packet to a user plane function UPF network element.
The apparatus according to claim 35, wherein the sending unit is further configured to:

Sending packet detection information PDI for describing a packet detection rule PDR to the user plane network element, wherein a field of the FAR corresponding to the PDR does not include a user plane portion GTP-U for using a general packet radio service technology tunneling protocol Information for performing decapsulation processing on the fourth packet by the tunneling protocol.
The device according to claim 35 or 36, wherein the fourth message is a PFCP session modification request, or the fourth message is a PFCP session data transmission request.
A device for transmitting a message, wherein the device includes:

A receiving unit, configured to receive a fourth message sent by a session management network element, where the fourth message includes a fourth original message sent to the first network element, and the first network element includes any of the following: a terminal device, data Network DN network element or second user plane network element;

A processing unit is configured to perform decapsulation processing on the fourth message by using a packet forwarding control protocol PFCP tunneling protocol to obtain the fourth original message.
The apparatus according to claim 38, wherein the receiving unit is further configured to:

Receive the packet detection information PDI used to describe the packet detection rule PDR sent by the session management network element, wherein the field of the FAR corresponding to the PDR does not include the user plane part GTP- The information that the U tunnel protocol performs decapsulation processing on the fourth message.
The device according to claim 38 or 39, wherein the fourth message is a PFCP session modification request, or the fourth message is a PFCP session data transmission request.
A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that the computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program, and when the computer program runs on a computer, causes the computer to execute any one of claims 1 to 20 The method described.
A computer program, wherein when the computer program is run on a computer, the computer is caused to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 20.