CN107615817B

CN107615817B - Communication path switching method, device and system for near field service

Info

Publication number: CN107615817B
Application number: CN201580080074.3A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 舒林; 周润泽; 朱奋勤
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2015-05-29
Filing date: 2015-05-29
Publication date: 2021-03-30
Anticipated expiration: 2035-05-29
Also published as: WO2016191951A1; CN107615817A

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention provides a method, a device and a system for switching communication paths of near field service. The invention discloses a communication path switching method of near field service, which comprises the following steps: determining that two User Equipment (UE) performing ProSe communication are within a preset ProSe communication range, wherein the ProSe communication is initiated by a ProSe application on any one of the two UE through a first communication path; respectively sending a communication path switching indication to each UE of the two UEs, wherein the communication path switching indication comprises an identifier of the ProSe application and an application layer identifier of an opposite-end UE which carries out the ProSe communication with the UE receiving the communication path switching indication; and sending a communication path switching request to a Policy and Charging Rule Function (PCRF) device, wherein the communication path switching request comprises the identifier of the ProSe application and the application layer identifiers of the two UEs. The embodiment of the invention improves the utilization rate of resources and solves the problem of resource waste.

Description

Communication path switching method, device and system for near field service

Technical Field

The present invention relates to communications technologies, and in particular, to a method, an apparatus, and a system for switching a communication path of a proximity service.

Background

With the wide application of social applications, proximity services are more and more important, including proximity discovery and proximity communication, where proximity discovery can make people's life and work more convenient, and proximity communication can make users directly establish communication through proximity communication technology. The third Generation Partnership Project (3rd Generation Partnership Project, abbreviated as 3GPP) defines an enhanced Evolved Packet System (EPS) to provide a Proximity Service (ProSe) between User Equipments (UEs), and introduces a ProSe Function (ProSe Function) network element on the network side to specifically process the related actions and processes required by ProSe.

In the EPS system architecture defined by 3GPP, a direct communication interface PC5 is defined between UEs. After the UE discovers other UEs in the adjacent positions, a PC5 interface direct communication path between the UE and the other UEs can be established through the close range communication technology, and the close range direct communication of the two UEs is realized. In addition to direct communication through a PC5 interface, two UEs in a short distance may also perform short distance communication through an Evolved Packet Core (EPC) path, each UE participating in communication establishes a ProSe Packet Data Network (PDN) connection, so as to implement communication between the UE and a ProSe application server, and forward Data between the two UEs through the ProSe application server. Based on the requirements of 3GPP for ProSe communication, the PC5 interface direct communication path should be superior to the EPC path, i.e., ProSe communication should be conducted through the PC5 interface direct communication path as much as possible when the location distance between two UEs is within a close range communication range.

In the prior art, when two UEs can perform ProSe communication through a PC5 interface direct communication path, switching from the EPC path to a PC5 interface direct communication path is initiated by the UE. For example, when UE a finds that UE B is within the close range communication range by performing the close range direct discovery procedure, UE a initiates a direct communication request to UE B on the PC5 interface, UE B replies a direct communication response to UE a on the PC5 interface, and UE a and UE B respectively generate a packet filter of the PC5 interface direct communication path for filtering subsequent ProSe communication traffic to the PC5 interface, so that UE a and UE B can continue ProSe communication through the PC5 interface direct communication path.

However, in the above procedure of switching the communication path of ProSe communication, when the ProSe communication is switched from the EPC path to the PC5 interface direct communication path, the network resources allocated to the EPC path established by the network side for the ProSe communication cannot be repeatedly used by the PC5 interface direct communication path, which results in waste of resources.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the invention provides a method, a device and a system for switching communication paths of near field services, which are used for improving the utilization rate of resources and solving the problem of resource waste.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a ProSe communication path switching method, including:

determining that two User Equipment (UE) performing ProSe communication are within a preset ProSe communication range, wherein the ProSe communication is initiated by a ProSe application on any one of the two UE through a first communication path;

respectively sending a communication path switching indication to each UE of the two UEs, wherein the communication path switching indication comprises an identifier of the ProSe application and an application layer identifier of a peer UE performing the ProSe communication with the UE receiving the communication path switching indication, so that the two UEs respectively switch the ProSe communication from the first communication path to a second communication path;

sending a communication path switching request to a Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF) device, wherein the communication path switching request comprises the identifier of the ProSe application and the application layer identifiers of the two UEs, so that the PCRF device updates the bearer resource allocated to the first communication path.

With reference to the first aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the first communication path is an Evolved Packet Core (EPC) path, and the second communication path is a PC5 interface direct communication path.

With reference to the first aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the first aspect, before determining that two UEs performing ProSe communication are within a preset ProSe communication range, the method further includes:

receiving a close range indication sent by a ProSe functional network element, wherein the close range indication is sent by the ProSe functional network element after the two UEs are determined to be in the preset ProSe communication range, and the close range indication comprises the identification of the ProSe application and the application layer identifications of the two UEs;

the determining that two UEs performing ProSe communication are within a preset ProSe communication range includes:

determining that the two UEs are within the preset ProSe communication range according to the close proximity indication.

With reference to the first aspect and any one of the first to the second possible implementation manners of the first aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the sending a communication path switching indication to the UE includes:

sending the communication path switching instruction to a ProSe function network element so that the ProSe function network element forwards the communication path switching instruction to the UE; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

and directly sending the communication path switching indication to the UE through an application layer message.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a ProSe communication path switching method, including:

user Equipment (UE) receives a communication path switching indication sent by a ProSe application server when the UE and an opposite terminal UE which performs ProSe communication with the UE are determined to be in a preset ProSe communication range, the ProSe communication is initiated by the UE or a ProSe application on the opposite terminal UE on a first communication path, and the communication path switching indication comprises a ProSe application identifier and an application layer identifier of the opposite terminal UE;

the UE requesting, from a serving base station, radio resources of a second communication path for conducting the ProSe communication according to the communication path switching indication;

the UE establishes the second communication path with the peer UE using the wireless resources and switches the ProSe communication from the first communication path to the second communication path.

With reference to the second aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the receiving, by the UE, a communication path switching instruction sent by a ProSe application server when it is determined that the UE and an opposite UE performing ProSe communication with the UE are within a preset ProSe communication range by the UE includes:

the UE receives the communication path switching instruction sent by the ProSe application server through a ProSe functional network element; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

the UE receives the communication path switching indication directly sent by the ProSe application server through an application layer message.

With reference to the second aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the method further includes:

and the UE receives a bearer modification instruction sent by a packet data network gateway (PDN GW), and updates the bearer resource on the first communication path according to the bearer modification instruction.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a ProSe communication path switching method, including:

receiving a communication path switching request sent by a ProSe application server when two User Equipment (UE) performing ProSe communication are determined to be in a preset ProSe communication range, wherein the ProSe communication is initiated by a ProSe application on any one of the two UE, and the communication path switching request comprises an identifier of the ProSe application and application layer identifiers of the two UE;

updating a Policy and Charging Control (PCC) policy corresponding to a service flow of the ProSe communication on the first communication path according to the communication path switching request;

and sending the updated PCC policy to a packet data network gateway (PDN GW) so that the PDN GW updates the bearer resource allocated to the first communication path according to the updated PCC policy.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a ProSe communication path switching method, including:

the method comprises the steps that a first User Equipment (UE) determines that a second UE performing ProSe communication is within a preset ProSe communication range, and the ProSe communication is initiated by a ProSe application on the first UE or the second UE through a first communication path;

the first UE requesting, from a serving base station, radio resources for a second communication path for conducting the ProSe communication;

the first UE establishing the second communication path with the second UE using the wireless resources and switching the ProSe communication from the first communication path to the second communication path;

the first UE sends a communication path first switching request to a ProSe application server, wherein the communication path first switching request comprises the identification of the ProSe application and the application layer identification of the second UE, so that the ProSe application server sends a communication path second switching request to PCRF equipment, and the PCRF equipment updates the bearing resources distributed to the first communication path.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the sending a communication path first switching request to a ProSe application server includes:

the first UE sends the communication path first switching request to a ProSe function network element so that the ProSe function network element forwards the communication path first switching request to the ProSe application server; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

the first UE sends the communication path first switch request directly to the ProSe application server through an application layer message.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, after the switching the ProSe communication from the first communication path to the second communication path, the method further includes:

the first UE determining whether to conduct the ProSe communication with a third UE over the first communication path;

if the ProSe communication with the third UE on the first communication path is determined, the first UE sends a ProSe bearer modification request to core network equipment so as to release bearer resources allocated to the first communication path and the second UE;

if it is determined that the ProSe communication is not performed with the third UE on the first communication path, the first UE sends a ProSe packet data network PDN connection deactivation request to a core network device to release all bearer resources allocated to the first communication path.

In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a ProSe communication path switching method, including:

receiving a communication path first switching request sent by a first User Equipment (UE) when the first UE determines that the second UE performing ProSe communication is within a preset ProSe communication range, wherein the ProSe communication is initiated by a ProSe application on the first UE or the second UE on a first communication path, and the communication path first switching request comprises an identification of the ProSe application and an application layer identification of the second UE;

sending a second communication path switching request to a Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF) device according to the first communication path switching request, wherein the second communication path switching request comprises an identifier of the ProSe application, an application layer identifier of the first UE and an application layer identifier of the second UE, so that the PCRF device updates bearer resources allocated to the first communication path.

With reference to the fifth aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, the receiving a first communication path switching request sent by a first UE when determining that the first UE is within a preset ProSe communication range with a second UE performing ProSe communication includes:

receiving the first switching request of the communication path sent by the first UE through a ProSe functional network element; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

receiving the communication path first switching request directly sent by the first UE through an application layer message.

In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a ProSe application server, including:

a determining module, configured to determine that two User Equipments (UEs) performing ProSe communication are within a preset ProSe communication range, where the ProSe communication is initiated by a ProSe application on any one of the two UEs on a first communication path;

a sending module, configured to send a communication path switching indication to each of the two UEs, where the communication path switching indication includes an identifier of the ProSe application and an application layer identifier of an opposite UE performing ProSe communication with the UE receiving the communication path switching indication, so that the two UEs switch the ProSe communication from the first communication path to a second communication path, respectively; sending a communication path switching request to a Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF) device, wherein the communication path switching request comprises the identifier of the ProSe application and the application layer identifiers of the two UEs, so that the PCRF device updates the bearer resource allocated to the first communication path.

With reference to the sixth aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, the first communication path is an Evolved Packet Core (EPC) path, and the second communication path is a PC5 interface direct communication path.

With reference to the sixth aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, the method further includes:

a receiving module, configured to receive a close proximity indication sent by a ProSe function network element, where the close proximity indication is sent by the ProSe function network element after determining that the two UEs are within the preset ProSe communication range, and the close proximity indication includes an identifier of the ProSe application and application layer identifiers of the two UEs;

the determining module is specifically configured to determine that the two UEs are within the preset ProSe communication range according to the close proximity indication.

With reference to the sixth aspect and any one of the first to the second possible implementation manners of the sixth aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, the sending module is specifically configured to send the communication path switching instruction to a ProSe function network element, so that the ProSe function network element forwards the communication path switching instruction to the UE; or, the communication path switching indication is directly sent to the UE through an application layer message.

In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a UE, including:

a receiving module, configured to receive a communication path switching indication sent by a ProSe application server when it is determined that the UE and an opposite UE performing ProSe communication with the UE are within a preset ProSe communication range, where the ProSe communication is initiated by a first communication path of a ProSe application on the UE or the opposite UE, and the communication path switching indication includes an identifier of the ProSe application and an application layer identifier of the opposite UE;

a resource requesting module for requesting, from a serving base station, a wireless resource of a second communication path for performing the ProSe communication according to the communication path switching instruction;

a path switching module for establishing the second communication path with the peer UE using the radio resource and switching the ProSe communication from the first communication path to the second communication path.

With reference to the seventh aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the seventh aspect, the receiving module is specifically configured to receive the communication path switching indication sent by the ProSe application server through a ProSe function network element; or receiving the communication path switching instruction directly sent by the ProSe application server through an application layer message.

With reference to the seventh aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the seventh aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the seventh aspect, the receiving module is further configured to receive a bearer modification indication sent by a packet data network gateway PDN GW, and update the bearer resource on the first communication path according to the bearer modification indication.

In an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a PCRF device, including:

a receiving module, configured to receive a communication path switching request sent by a ProSe application server when determining that two User Equipments (UEs) performing ProSe communication are within a preset ProSe communication range, where the ProSe communication is initiated by a ProSe application on any one of the two UEs, and the communication path switching request includes an identifier of the ProSe application and application layer identifiers of the two UEs;

a policy updating module, configured to update, according to the communication path switching request, a policy and charging control PCC policy corresponding to a service flow of the ProSe communication on the first communication path;

a sending module, configured to send the updated PCC policy to a packet data network gateway PDN GW, so that the PDN GW updates bearer resources allocated to the first communication path according to the updated PCC policy.

In a ninth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a UE, including:

a determining module, configured to determine that a second UE performing ProSe communication is within a preset ProSe communication range, where the ProSe communication is initiated by a ProSe application on the first UE or the second UE over a first communication path;

a resource requesting module for requesting a wireless resource of a second communication path for the ProSe communication from a serving base station;

a path switching module to establish the second communication path with the second UE using the wireless resources and to switch the ProSe communication from the first communication path to the second communication path;

a sending module, configured to send a first communication path switching request to a ProSe application server, where the first communication path switching request includes an identifier of the ProSe application and an application layer identifier of the second UE, so that the ProSe application server sends a second communication path switching request to a PCRF device, and the PCRF device updates bearer resources allocated to the first communication path.

With reference to the ninth aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the ninth aspect, the sending module is specifically configured to send the communication path first switching request to a ProSe function network element, so that the ProSe function network element forwards the communication path first switching request to the ProSe application server; or, the communication path first switching request is directly sent to the ProSe application server through an application layer message.

With reference to the ninth aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the ninth aspect, the determining module is further configured to determine whether to perform the ProSe communication with a third UE on the first communication path;

the sending module is configured to send a ProSe bearer modification request to a core network device to release bearer resources allocated to the first communication path and the second UE when the determining module determines that the ProSe communication is performed with the third UE on the first communication path; when the determining module determines that the ProSe communication is not performed with the third UE on the first communication path, sending a ProSe packet data network PDN connection deactivation request to a core network device to release all bearer resources allocated to the first communication path.

In a tenth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a ProSe application server, including:

a receiving module, configured to receive a first communication path switching request sent by a first user equipment UE when determining that a second UE performing ProSe communication is within a preset ProSe communication range, where the ProSe communication is initiated by a ProSe application on the first UE or the second UE on a first communication path, and the first communication path switching request includes an identifier of the ProSe application and an application layer identifier of the second UE;

a sending module, configured to send a second communication path handover request to a PCRF device according to the first communication path handover request, where the second communication path handover request includes an identifier of the ProSe application, an application layer identifier of the first UE, and an application layer identifier of the second UE, so that the PCRF device updates bearer resources allocated to the first communication path.

With reference to the tenth aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the tenth aspect, the receiving module is specifically configured to receive the first communication path switching request sent by the first UE through a ProSe function network element; or, receiving the communication path first switching request directly sent by the first UE through an application layer message.

In an eleventh aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a ProSe application server, including:

a processor, configured to determine that two User Equipments (UEs) performing ProSe communication are within a preset ProSe communication range, where the ProSe communication is initiated by a ProSe application on any one of the two UEs on a first communication path;

a transmitter, configured to send a communication path switching indication to each of the two UEs, where the communication path switching indication includes an identifier of the ProSe application and an application layer identifier of a peer UE performing ProSe communication with the UE receiving the communication path switching indication, so that the two UEs respectively switch the ProSe communication from the first communication path to a second communication path; sending a communication path switching request to a Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF) device, wherein the communication path switching request comprises the identifier of the ProSe application and the application layer identifiers of the two UEs, so that the PCRF device updates the bearer resource allocated to the first communication path.

With reference to the eleventh aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the eleventh aspect, the first communication path is an Evolved Packet Core (EPC) path, and the second communication path is a PC5 interface direct communication path.

With reference to the eleventh aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the eleventh aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the eleventh aspect, the method further includes:

a receiver, configured to receive a close proximity indication sent by a ProSe function network element, where the close proximity indication is sent by the ProSe function network element after determining that the two UEs are within the preset ProSe communication range, and the close proximity indication includes an identifier of the ProSe application and application layer identifiers of the two UEs;

the processor is specifically configured to determine that the two UEs are within the preset ProSe communication range according to the close proximity indication.

With reference to the eleventh aspect and any one of the first to the second possible implementation manners of the eleventh aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the eleventh aspect, the transmitter is specifically configured to send the communication path switching indication to a ProSe function network element, so that the ProSe function network element forwards the communication path switching indication to the UE; or, the communication path switching indication is directly sent to the UE through an application layer message.

In a twelfth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a UE, including:

a receiver, configured to receive a communication path switching indication sent by a ProSe application server when it is determined that the UE and an opposite UE performing ProSe communication with the UE are within a preset ProSe communication range, where the ProSe communication is initiated by a first communication path of a ProSe application on the UE or the opposite UE, and the communication path switching indication includes an identifier of the ProSe application and an application layer identifier of the opposite UE;

a processor configured to request, from a serving base station, a wireless resource of a second communication path for conducting the ProSe communication according to the communication path switching instruction; establishing the second communication path with the peer UE using the wireless resources and switching the ProSe communication from the first communication path to the second communication path.

With reference to the twelfth aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the twelfth aspect, the receiver is specifically configured to receive the communication path switching indication sent by the ProSe application server through a ProSe function network element; or receiving the communication path switching instruction directly sent by the ProSe application server through an application layer message.

With reference to the twelfth aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the twelfth aspect, the receiver is further configured to receive a bearer modification indication sent by a packet data network gateway PDN GW, and update bearer resources on the first communication path according to the bearer modification indication.

In a thirteenth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a PCRF device, including:

a receiver, configured to receive a communication path switching request sent by a ProSe application server when determining that two User Equipments (UEs) performing ProSe communication are within a preset ProSe communication range, where the ProSe communication is initiated by a ProSe application on any one of the two UEs on a first communication path, and the communication path switching request includes an identifier of the ProSe application and application layer identifiers of the two UEs;

a processor, configured to update a policy and charging control, PCC, policy corresponding to a service flow of the ProSe communication on the first communication path according to the communication path switching request;

a transmitter, configured to send the updated PCC policy to a packet data network gateway PDN GW, so that the PDN GW updates bearer resources allocated to the first communication path according to the updated PCC policy.

In a fourteenth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a UE, including:

a processor configured to determine that a second UE in ProSe communication is within a preset ProSe communication range, the ProSe communication initiated by a ProSe application on the first UE or the second UE on a first communication path; requesting, from a serving base station, a wireless resource for a second communication path for conducting the ProSe communication; establishing the second communication path with the second UE using the wireless resources and switching the ProSe communication from the first communication path to the second communication path;

a transmitter, configured to send a communication path first handover request to a ProSe application server, where the communication path first handover request includes an identifier of the ProSe application and an application layer identifier of the second UE, so that the ProSe application server sends a communication path second handover request to a policy and charging rules function PCRF device, and the PCRF device updates bearer resources allocated to the first communication path.

With reference to the fourteenth aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the fourteenth aspect, the transmitter is specifically configured to send the communication path first switching request to a ProSe function network element, so that the ProSe function network element forwards the communication path first switching request to the ProSe application server; or, the communication path first switching request is directly sent to the ProSe application server through an application layer message.

With reference to the fourteenth aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the fourteenth aspect, the processor is further configured to determine whether to perform the ProSe communication with a third UE on the first communication path;

the transmitter, configured to send a ProSe bearer modification request to a core network device to release bearer resources allocated to the first communication path with the second UE when the processor determines that the ProSe communication is performed with the third UE on the first communication path; when the processor determines that the ProSe communication is not performed with the third UE on the first communication path, sending a ProSe packet data network PDN connection deactivation request to a core network device to release all bearer resources allocated to the first communication path.

In a fifteenth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a ProSe application server, including:

a receiver configured to receive a communication path first handover request sent by a first user equipment UE when determining that a second UE performing ProSe communication is within a preset ProSe communication range, the ProSe communication being initiated by a ProSe application on the first UE or the second UE over a first communication path, the communication path first handover request including an identity of the ProSe application and an application layer identity of the second UE;

a transmitter, configured to send a second communication path handover request to a PCRF device according to the first communication path handover request, where the second communication path handover request includes an identifier of the ProSe application, an application layer identifier of the first UE, and an application layer identifier of the second UE, so that the PCRF device updates bearer resources allocated to the first communication path.

With reference to the fifteenth aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the fifteenth aspect, the receiver is specifically configured to receive the first communication path switching request sent by the first UE through a ProSe function network element; or, receiving the communication path first switching request directly sent by the first UE through an application layer message.

In a sixteenth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a communication system, including: the system comprises a proximity service ProSe application server, user equipment UE, policy and charging rules function PCRF equipment and core network equipment; wherein, the ProSe application server adopts the ProSe application server described in any one of the possible implementations of the sixth aspect, the first to third aspects of the sixth aspect, the tenth aspect, and the first aspect of the tenth aspect; the UE adopts the UE described in any one of the possible implementation manners of the seventh aspect, the first to the second of the seventh aspect, the ninth aspect, and the first to the second of the ninth aspect; and the PCRF equipment adopts the possible implementation manner of the eighth aspect.

In a seventeenth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a communication system, including: the system comprises a proximity service ProSe application server, user equipment UE, policy and charging rules function PCRF equipment and core network equipment; wherein, the ProSe application server adopts the ProSe application server described in any one of the first to third possible implementations of the eleventh aspect, the first to the third possible implementation of the fifteenth aspect, or the fifteenth aspect; the UE adopts any one of the possible implementation manners of the twelfth aspect, the first to the second of the twelfth aspect, the fourteenth aspect, and the first to the second of the fourteenth aspect; the PCRF device employs the possible implementation manner of the thirteenth aspect.

According to the communication path switching method, device and system for the short-range service, when two pieces of UE performing ProSe communication are determined to be in a preset ProSe communication range, the UE is instructed to switch a current first communication path to a second communication path capable of directly communicating between the UE, and load bearing resources allocated to the first communication path are updated, under the condition that the UE does not need to participate, switching of the communication paths between the UE is initiated by a network side, load bearing resources allocated to the first communication path on a 3GPP network side are released, continuity of the ProSe communication is guaranteed, utilization rate of the resources is improved, and the problem of resource waste is solved.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings needed to be used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art will be briefly introduced below, and it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are some embodiments of the present invention, and for those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained according to these drawings without creative efforts.

Fig. 1 is a communication system architecture in a non-roaming scenario;

fig. 2 is a communication system architecture in a non-roaming cross-network scenario;

FIG. 3 is a communication system architecture in a roaming scenario;

fig. 4 is a flowchart of an embodiment of a ProSe communication path switching method of the present invention;

fig. 5 is a flowchart of another embodiment of the ProSe communication path switching method of the present invention;

fig. 6 is a flowchart of a communication path switching method of ProSe according to yet another embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 7 is a flowchart of a communication path switching method of ProSe according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 8 is a flowchart of a fifth embodiment of the ProSe communication path switching method of the present invention;

fig. 9 is a flowchart of a sixth embodiment of the ProSe communication path switching method of the present invention;

fig. 10 is a flowchart of a seventh embodiment of the ProSe communication path switching method of the present invention;

fig. 11 is a flowchart of an eighth embodiment of the ProSe communication path switching method of the present invention;

fig. 12 is a flowchart of a ninth embodiment of the ProSe communication path switching method of the present invention;

fig. 13 is a schematic structural diagram of an embodiment of a ProSe application server of the present invention;

fig. 14 is a schematic structural diagram of another embodiment of a ProSe application server of the present invention;

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating a UE according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 16 is a schematic structural diagram of an embodiment of a PCRF device of the present invention;

FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating a UE according to another embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 18 is a schematic structural diagram of a ProSe application server according to yet another embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 19 is a schematic structural diagram of a ProSe application server according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 20 is a schematic structural diagram of a ProSe application server according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 21 is a diagram illustrating a UE according to another embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 22 is a schematic structural diagram of another embodiment of a PCRF device of the present invention;

FIG. 23 is a diagram illustrating a fourth embodiment of a UE according to the present invention;

fig. 24 is a schematic structural diagram of a ProSe application server according to a sixth embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 25 is a schematic structural diagram of an embodiment of the communication system of the present invention.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present invention clearer, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are some, but not all, embodiments of the present invention. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

The UE mentioned in the embodiments of the present invention may be a Human to Human (H2H) UE, a Machine to Machine (M2M) UE, or other types of UEs. The M2M UE may be called a Machine Type communication Device (MTC Device). For convenience of description, two UEs performing ProSe communication in the embodiment of the present invention are referred to as UE a and UE B, respectively.

The home network and the visited network mentioned in the embodiments of the present invention are in a non-roaming state and a roaming state, which are relative to the UE. The home Network of the UE is a Network identified by Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) Identity (Identity, ID) included in an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) of the UE, and if the UE is in its home Network, the UE is in a non-roaming state, and if the UE is not in its home Network, the UE is in a roaming state. The visited network of the UE is the network visited when the UE is in a roaming state.

The EPC path of ProSe communication mentioned in the embodiments of the present invention refers to: the ProSe application on any one of the two UEs which carry out the ProSe communication initiates the ProSe communication, the two UEs establish a ProSe PDN connection in the currently registered 3GPP system to realize the communication between the UE and the ProSe application server, and then the ProSe communication between the two UEs is realized through the ProSe application server. The direct communication path of the PC5 interface for ProSe communication mentioned in the embodiments of the present invention refers to: two UEs performing ProSe communication realize direct ProSe communication between the two UEs by establishing a PC5 interface connection, the communication path does not need to pass through any core Network device, ProSe functional Network element and ProSe application server, the communication path can be established normally when the two UEs performing ProSe communication are within a preset ProSe communication range, and the PC5 interface direct communication path is also called a ProSe evolution Universal Mobile Telecommunications System terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRA) communication path for short.

The ProSe communication path switching method of the present invention can be applied to three typical scenarios, where different scenarios correspond to different communication system architectures, fig. 1 is a communication system architecture in a non-roaming scenario, fig. 2 is a communication system architecture in a non-roaming cross-network scenario, and fig. 3 is a communication system architecture in a roaming scenario.

As shown in fig. 1, in a non-roaming scenario, UE a and UE B performing ProSe communication reside in the same Home network, which includes E-UTRAN, core network devices (e.g., Mobility Management Entity (MME), Serving Gateway (S-GW), PDN-GW), ProSe application Server, ProSe functional network element, Home Subscriber Server (HSS), and Service Location Protocol (SLP) Server. UE a and UE B may communicate directly with the ProSe function network element of their home networks through the PC3 interface. It should be noted that the PC3 interface is a peer-to-peer interface between the UE and the ProSe function network element, and the communication on the PC3 interface is implemented through the user plane of the EPS. An Evolved Node B (eNodeB) in the EPS is omitted in fig. 1, and fig. 2 and fig. 3 are also omitted in the same manner.

As shown in fig. 2, in the non-roaming cross-network scenario, UEs performing ProSe communication reside in their respective home networks, and ProSe functional network elements in different networks are referred to as Local (Local) ProSe functional network elements, for example, ProSe functional network elements in PLMN B are Local ProSe functional network elements for UE a. In this scenario, the UE needs to communicate with the local ProSe function network element to obtain the authorization for ProSe communication, where the communication is implemented by the home ProSe function network element in the home network where the UE is located, for example, the UE a first directly communicates with the home ProSe function network element in the PLMN a, and then implements the communication between the UE a and the local ProSe function network element in the PLMN B by the home ProSe function network element in the PLMN a. The communication interface between the ProSe function network element in PLMN a and the ProSe function network element in PLMN B is PC 6.

As shown in fig. 3, in the roaming scenario, the UE performing ProSe communication resides in a Visited network of the roaming location, and a ProSe function network element in the Visited network is called a Visited (Visited) ProSe function network element, for example, UE a roams into PLMN C, and the ProSe function network element in the PLMN C is the Visited ProSe function network element for UE a. The UE a needs to communicate with the visited ProSe function network element in the PLMN C to obtain authorization for ProSe communication, where the communication is implemented by the home ProSe function network element in the home network where the UE is located, for example, the UE a first directly communicates with the home ProSe function network element in the PLMN a, and then implements communication between the UE a and the visited ProSe function network element in the PLMN C by the home ProSe function network element in the PLMN a. The communication interface between the home ProSe function network element in PLMN a and the visited ProSe function network element in PLMN C is PC 7.

Fig. 4 is a flowchart of an embodiment of a ProSe communication path switching method according to the present invention, and as shown in fig. 4, the method of this embodiment may include:

step 101, determining that two UEs performing ProSe communication are within a preset ProSe communication range, where the ProSe communication is initiated by a ProSe application on any one of the two UEs on a first communication path;

in this embodiment, the first communication path may be an EPC path, the second communication path may be a PC5 interface direct communication path, and the PC5 interface direct communication path may be an interface specified in an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802 series protocol. The execution subject of this embodiment may be a ProSe application server in the communication system, and implement management and service functions of an application layer for ProSe communication. Two UEs performing ProSe communication, for example, UE a and UE B, when UE a and UE B are not within a preset ProSe communication range, ProSe communication initiated by a ProSe application on UE a or UE B can only be implemented through a first communication path, and after ProSe communication is initiated by the ProSe application, UE a and UE B respectively establish ProSe PDN connection with 3GPP core network equipment to implement ProSe communication on the first communication path. The ProSe Application may be an Application (APP) installed on UE a and UE B, or may be a function owned by UE a and UE B, and ProSe communication between UE a and UE B may be initiated by the ProSe Application. The preset ProSe communication range may be pre-configured by the network side device, for example, an area similar to a cell, and when two UEs are in the area at the same time, the communication path switching condition of the present invention is satisfied. In this embodiment, the ProSe application server may determine, according to an existing position location technology or through the ProSe function network element, that two UEs performing ProSe communication are within a preset ProSe communication range, and the ProSe function network element discovers, by executing a discovery procedure based on the EPC network, whether UE a and UE B are within the preset ProSe communication range.

Step 102, respectively sending a communication path switching indication to each of the two UEs, where the communication path switching indication includes an identifier of the ProSe application and an application layer identifier of an opposite UE performing the ProSe communication with the UE receiving the communication path switching indication, so that the two UEs respectively switch the ProSe communication from the first communication path to a second communication path;

after determining that the UE a and the UE B are within the preset ProSe communication range, the ProSe application server indicates that the two UEs meet the condition for implementing direct communication through the second communication path, so that the ProSe application server respectively sends a communication path switching instruction to the UE a and the UE B, the communication path switching instruction sent to the UE a includes an identifier of the ProSe application and an application layer identifier of the UE B, and the communication path switching instruction sent to the UE B includes an identifier of the ProSe application and an application layer identifier of the UE a. The application layer identity of the UE is an identity assigned to the UE by the ProSe application server, and is used to uniquely identify the UE in the application layer. Both UE a and UE B may switch ProSe communication from the first communication path to the second communication path according to the communication path switching indication.

Step 103, sending a communication path switching request to a PCRF device, where the communication path switching request includes an identifier of the ProSe application and application layer identifiers of the two UEs, so that the PCRF device updates the bearer resource allocated to the first communication path.

The ProSe application server may send a communication path switching request to a Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF) device, so that the PCRF device updates Policy and Charging Control (PCC) Policy (Policy and Charging Control, for short) corresponding to the service flow identified by the identifier of the ProSe application based on the feature of the ProSe communication.

In this embodiment, when it is determined that two UEs performing ProSe communication are within a preset ProSe communication range, the UE is instructed to switch a current first communication path to a second communication path that enables direct communication between the UEs, and a bearer resource allocated to the first communication path is updated, so that the network side initiates switching of the communication paths between the UEs without participation of the UEs, and meanwhile, the bearer resource allocated to the first communication path at the 3GPP network side is released, so that continuity of the ProSe communication is ensured, utilization rate of the resource is improved, and the problem of resource waste is solved.

Further, before the step 101, the method may further include: receiving a close range indication sent by a ProSe functional network element, wherein the close range indication is sent by the ProSe functional network element after the two UEs are determined to be in the preset ProSe communication range, and the close range indication comprises the identification of the ProSe application and the application layer identifications of the two UEs; the specific implementation method of step 101 may be: determining that the two UEs are within the preset ProSe communication range according to the close proximity indication.

Further, the specific implementation method of step 102 may be: sending the communication path switching instruction to a ProSe function network element so that the ProSe function network element forwards the communication path switching instruction to the UE; or, the communication path switching indication is directly sent to the UE through an application layer message.

Specifically, the ProSe application server sends the communication path switching instruction to the ProSe function network element first, and carries the identifier of the ProSe application and the application layer identifiers of the UE a and the UE B, after receiving the communication path switching instruction, the ProSe function network element learns that the ProSe communication between the UE a and the UE B needs to be switched from the first communication path to the second communication path, and then sends the communication path switching instruction to the UE a, and carries the identifier of the ProSe application and the application layer identifier of the UE B, it should be noted that the ProSe function network element sends the communication path switching instruction to the UE a, and may reuse the existing ProSe signaling message, for example: a Proximity Alert (Proximity Alert) message, and a new indication information is added in the message to indicate the UE to perform the ProSe communication path switching, and a new ProSe signaling message may also be defined, which is not limited in the present invention. Optionally, the ProSe application server may also send the communication path switching indication directly to UE a through an application layer message. Likewise, the ProSe application server may also send the communication path switching instruction to the UE B through the above procedure, which is not described herein again.

Fig. 5 is a flowchart of another embodiment of a ProSe communication path switching method according to the present invention, and as shown in fig. 5, the method of this embodiment may include:

step 201, a UE receives a communication path switching indication sent by a ProSe application server when it is determined that the UE and an opposite UE performing ProSe communication with the UE are within a preset ProSe communication range, where the ProSe communication is initiated by a first communication path of a ProSe application on the UE or the opposite UE, and the communication path switching indication includes an identifier of the ProSe application and an application layer identifier of the opposite UE;

the first communication path may be an EPC path and the second communication path may be a PC5 interface direct communication path in this embodiment. The execution subject of this embodiment may be one UE, for example, UE a, of two UEs performing ProSe communication in the communication system. Here, UE a is taken as an example for explanation, and as an embodiment on the UE side, the UE may be executed on the other UE of two UEs performing ProSe communication, for example, UE B. This embodiment corresponds to the method embodiment shown in fig. 4, where UE a receives a communication path switching indication sent by a ProSe application server, and at this time, the ProSe application server has determined that both UE a and UE B are within a preset ProSe communication range. The communication path switching indication sent to UE a includes an identity of the ProSe application and an application layer identity of UE B.

Step 202, the UE requesting, from a serving base station, a radio resource of a second communication path for performing the ProSe communication according to the communication path switching instruction;

after receiving the communication path switching instruction, the UE a requests a resident serving base station for a radio resource for a second communication path, where the radio resource includes an air interface frequency band resource. According to the request of the UE A, the service base station distributes the wireless resources required by establishing the second communication path to the UE A according to the resource configuration strategy.

Step 203, the UE establishes the second communication path with the UE of the correspondent node using the radio resource, and switches the ProSe communication from the first communication path to the second communication path.

UE A establishes a second communication path between UE B and UE A by using the wireless resource of the second communication path allocated by the service base station, UE A and UE B can directly carry out ProSe communication through the second communication path, the UE A and UE B can continuously use an Internet Protocol (IP) address obtained from a 3GPP network side in the first communication path to carry out direct communication of the second communication path, and also can carry out IP address negotiation again and use a new IP address to carry out direct communication of the second communication path.

Further, the specific implementation method of step 201 may be: receiving the communication path switching instruction sent by the ProSe application server through a ProSe functional network element; or receiving the communication path switching instruction directly sent by the ProSe application server through an application layer message.

Further, the method of this embodiment may further include: receiving a bearer modification instruction sent by the PDN GW, and updating bearer resources on the first communication path according to the bearer modification instruction, where the bearer resources include a Quality of Service (QoS) parameter of an EPS bearer and resources such as a bearer packet filter to release bearer resources required by an EPC path established for the ProSe communication on the 3GPP network side.

Fig. 6 is a flowchart of a communication path switching method of ProSe according to another embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 6, the method of this embodiment may include:

step 301, receiving a communication path switching request sent by a ProSe application server when determining that two UEs performing ProSe communication are within a preset ProSe communication range, where the ProSe communication is initiated by a ProSe application on any one of the two UEs, and the communication path switching request includes an identifier of the ProSe application and application layer identifiers of the two UEs;

the first communication path may be an EPC path and the second communication path may be a PC5 interface direct communication path in this embodiment. An execution subject of this embodiment may be PCRF equipment in a communication system, and this embodiment corresponds to the method embodiments shown in fig. 4 and fig. 5. And the PCRF equipment receives a communication path switching request sent by the ProSe application server.

Step 302, updating a PCC policy corresponding to a service flow of the ProSe communication on the first communication path according to the communication path switching request;

and the PCRF equipment updates the PCC policy corresponding to the service flow identified by the identification of the ProSe application on the first communication path based on the characteristics of the ProSe communication.

Step 303, sending the updated PCC policy to a PDN GW, so that the PDN GW updates bearer resources allocated to the first communication path according to the updated PCC policy.

The PCRF equipment sends the updated PCC strategy to the PDN GW by initiating an IP Connectivity Access Network (IP-CAN) session modification flow, and the PDN GW initiates an EPS bearer modification flow according to the PCC strategy, wherein the EPS bearer modification flow comprises updating resources such as QoS parameters of EPS bearer and bearer packet filters, and the like, so as to update bearer resources allocated to the first communication path on the 3GPP Network side.

Fig. 7 is a flowchart of a communication path switching method of ProSe of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 7, the method of this embodiment may include:

step 401, UE A and UE B establish ProSe PDN connection with core network equipment to perform ProSe communication on an EPC path, wherein the ProSe communication is initiated by a ProSe application on UE A or UE B on the EPC path;

and the UE A and the UE B respectively establish ProSe PDN connection with 3GPP core network equipment to realize ProSe communication through an EPC path. Because UE a and UE B are not currently within the preset ProSe communication range, ProSe communication initiated by the ProSe application can only be achieved through the EPC path. Since ProSe communication is implemented by EPS user plane defined by 3GPP, UE a and UE B need to respectively initiate a ProSe PDN connection establishment procedure to establish a ProSe PDN connection, and a service flow of ProSe communication between UE a and UE B is transferred by the ProSe PDN connection. In the process of establishing ProSe PDN connection, the PDN GW allocates corresponding IP addresses to UE a and UE B.

Step 402, the ProSe function network element determines that UE a and UE B are within a preset ProSe communication range by executing an EPC network discovery procedure;

the ProSe function network element discovers whether UE a and UE B are within a preset ProSe communication range by performing an EPC network discovery procedure. This step is prior art and the details of the implementation are not described herein.

Step 403, the ProSe function network element sends a close range indication to the ProSe application server, where the close range indication includes an identifier of the ProSe application, and application layer identifiers of UE a and UE B;

the ProSe function network element sends the Proximity indication to the ProSe application server, may reuse an existing ProSe signaling message, such as a Proximity Alert (Proximity Alert) message, and adds a new indication message in the message to indicate that UE a and UE B are within a preset ProSe communication range, or may define a new ProSe signaling message, which is not limited in the present invention. It should be noted that the ProSe application server knows in advance which UEs are currently conducting ProSe communication.

Step 404, the ProSe application server determines that the UE a and the UE B are within the preset ProSe communication range according to the close proximity indication;

this step is similar to step 101 described above and will not be described here.

Step 405a, the ProSe application server sends a communication path switching instruction to the UE a through the ProSe function network element, where the communication path switching instruction includes an identifier of the ProSe application and an application layer identifier of the UE B;

step 405B, the ProSe application server directly sends a communication path switching instruction to the UE a through an application layer message, wherein the communication path switching instruction includes an identifier of the ProSe application and an application layer identifier of the UE B;

step 405a and step 405b may be either, or both, and if both are executed, the UE side only needs to respond to either.

Step 406, UE a requests, from the serving base station, a radio resource of a PC5 interface direct communication path for performing the ProSe communication according to the communication path switching instruction;

this step is similar to step 202 described above and will not be described here.

Step 407, UE A establishing the PC5 interface direct communication path with UE B using the radio resources and switching the ProSe communication from the EPC path to the PC5 interface direct communication path;

this step is similar to step 203 described above and will not be described here.

Step 408, the ProSe application server sends a communication path switching request to the PCRF device, where the communication path switching request includes an identifier of the ProSe application, and application layer identifiers of the UE a and the UE B;

this step is similar to step 103 described above and will not be described here.

Step 409, the PCRF device updates the PCC policy corresponding to the service flow of the ProSe communication on the EPC path according to the communication path switching request;

this step is similar to step 302 described above and will not be described here.

Step 410, the PCRF device sends the updated PCC policy to the PDN GW;

step 411, the PDN GW modifies the EPS bearer and the QoS parameter according to the updated PCC policy, so as to update the bearer resource allocated to the EPC path.

Steps 410-411 are similar to step 303 described above and will not be described further herein.

Step 405 to step 411 also need to be performed in parallel at UE B, not shown in the figure. And if the ProSe functional network element, the PCRF equipment and the PDN GW serving the UE B are different from those serving the UE A, executing the similar steps for the ProSe functional network element, the PCRF equipment and the PDN GW serving the UE B. In addition, the execution sequence of steps 405 to 407 and 408 to 411 is not sequential, and may be executed in parallel.

Fig. 8 is a flowchart of a fifth embodiment of the ProSe communication path switching method of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 8, the method of this embodiment may include:

step 501, UE A and UE B establish ProSe PDN connection with core network equipment to perform ProSe communication on an EPC path, wherein the ProSe communication is initiated by a ProSe application on UE A or UE B on the EPC path;

step 502, the ProSe application server determines that UE a and UE B are within a preset ProSe communication range according to the location positioning technology;

the Position location technology may be, for example, a cell-based location technology, a Global Positioning System (GPS) based location technology, or the like.

Step 503a, the ProSe application server sends a communication path switching instruction to the UE a through the ProSe function network element, where the communication path switching instruction includes an identifier of the ProSe application and an application layer identifier of the UE B;

step 503B, the ProSe application server directly sends a communication path switching instruction to the UE a through an application layer message, where the communication path switching instruction includes an identifier of the ProSe application and an application layer identifier of the UE B;

step 503a and step 503b may be either, or both, and if both are executed, the UE side only needs to respond to either.

Step 504, UE a requests, from the serving base station, a wireless resource of a PC5 interface direct communication path for performing the ProSe communication according to the communication path switching instruction;

Step 505, UE A establishes the PC5 interface direct communication path with UE B using the radio resources and switches the ProSe communication from the EPC path to the PC5 interface direct communication path;

Step 506, the ProSe application server sends a communication path switching request to PCRF equipment, where the communication path switching request includes an identifier of the ProSe application, and application layer identifiers of UE a and UE B;

Step 507, the PCRF device updates a PCC policy corresponding to the service flow of the ProSe communication on the EPC path according to the communication path switching request;

Step 508, the PCRF device sends the updated PCC policy to the PDN GW;

step 509, the PDN GW modifies the EPS bearer and the QoS parameter according to the updated PCC policy to update the bearer resource allocated to the EPC path.

Steps 508-509 are similar to step 303 described above and will not be described further herein.

Steps 503 to 509 also need to be performed in parallel at UE B, not shown in the figure. And if the ProSe functional network element, the PCRF equipment and the PDN GW serving the UE B are different from those serving the UE A, executing the similar steps for the ProSe functional network element, the PCRF equipment and the PDN GW serving the UE B. In addition, the execution sequence of steps 503 to 505 and steps 506 to 509 is not sequential, and can also be executed in parallel.

Fig. 9 is a flowchart of a sixth embodiment of the ProSe communication path switching method of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 9, the method of this embodiment may include:

step 601, a first UE determines that a second UE performing ProSe communication is within a preset ProSe communication range, where the ProSe communication is initiated by a first communication path by a ProSe application on the first UE or the second UE;

the first communication path may be an EPC path and the second communication path may be a PC5 interface direct communication path in this embodiment. The execution subject of this embodiment may be one UE, for example, UE a, of two UEs performing ProSe communication in the communication system. UE a discovers that UE B is within a preset ProSe communication range by performing a Direct Discovery (Direct Discovery) procedure, which is prior art and is not described herein.

Step 602, the first UE requesting a radio resource of a second communication path for the ProSe communication from a serving base station;

the radio resources include air interface frequency band resources. According to the request of the UE A, the service base station distributes the wireless resources required by establishing the second communication path to the UE A according to the resource configuration strategy.

Step 603, the first UE establishing the second communication path with the second UE using the radio resource and switching the ProSe communication from the first communication path to the second communication path;

Step 604, the first UE sends a first communication path switching request to a ProSe application server, where the first communication path switching request includes an identifier of the ProSe application and an application layer identifier of the second UE, so that the ProSe application server sends a second communication path switching request to a PCRF device, and the PCRF device updates bearer resources allocated to the first communication path.

In this embodiment, when one UE of two UEs performing ProSe communication determines that the two UEs are within a preset ProSe communication range, the current first communication path is switched to a second communication path that enables direct communication between the UEs, and the ProSe application server is triggered to request the PCRF device to initiate bearer resource update by sending a first switching request of the communication path, so as to implement the UE to initiate the switching of the communication paths between the UEs, and release bearer resources allocated to the first communication path on the 3GPP network side at the same time, thereby improving the utilization rate of resources and solving the problem of resource waste while ensuring the ProSe communication continuity.

Further, a specific implementation method of the step 602 may be: sending the communication path first switching request to a ProSe function network element so that the ProSe function network element forwards the communication path first switching request to the ProSe application server; or, the communication path first switching request is directly sent to the ProSe application server through an application layer message.

Further, the step 603 may further include: determining whether to conduct the ProSe communication with a third UE over the first communication path; if the ProSe communication with the third UE on the first communication path is determined, sending a ProSe bearer modification request to core network equipment so as to release bearer resources allocated to the first communication path and the second UE; if it is determined that the ProSe communication is not performed with other third UEs on the first communication path, sending a ProSe packet data network PDN connection deactivation request to a core network device to release all bearer resources allocated to the first communication path, where the third UE is any one of all UEs except two UEs (i.e., UE a and UE B) participating in the ProSe communication.

Fig. 10 is a flowchart of a seventh embodiment of the ProSe communication path switching method of the present invention, as shown in fig. 10, the method of this embodiment may include:

step 701, receiving a first communication path switching request sent by a first UE when determining that the first UE is within a preset ProSe communication range with a second UE performing ProSe communication, where the ProSe communication is initiated by a ProSe application on the first UE or the second UE on a first communication path, and the first communication path switching request includes an identifier of the ProSe application and an application layer identifier of the second UE;

the first communication path may be an EPC path and the second communication path may be a PC5 interface direct communication path in this embodiment. The execution subject of this embodiment may be a ProSe application server in the communication system. This embodiment corresponds to the method embodiment shown in fig. 9, in which a first UE determines that the second UE performing ProSe communication is within a preset ProSe communication range, and the first UE initiates a communication path first switching request to a ProSe application server at this time.

Step 702, sending a second communication path switching request to a PCRF device according to the first communication path switching request, where the second communication path switching request includes an identifier of the ProSe application, an application layer identifier of the first UE, and an application layer identifier of the second UE, so that the PCRF device updates bearer resources allocated to the first communication path.

In this embodiment, when determining that the two UEs are within the preset ProSe communication range, a first UE of the two UEs performing ProSe communication switches a current first communication path to a second communication path that enables direct communication between the UEs, and triggers a ProSe application server to request a PCRF device to initiate bearer resource update by sending a first switching request of the communication path, so as to implement the UE initiating the switching of the communication paths between the UEs, and release bearer resources allocated to the first communication path on a 3GPP network side at the same time, thereby improving the utilization rate of resources and solving the problem of resource waste while ensuring the ProSe communication continuity.

Further, a specific implementation method of the step 701 may be: receiving the first switching request of the communication path sent by the first UE through a ProSe functional network element; or, receiving the communication path first switching request directly sent by the first UE through an application layer message.

Fig. 11 is a flowchart of an eighth embodiment of the ProSe communication path switching method of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 11, the method of this embodiment may include:

step 801, UE A and UE B establish ProSe PDN connection with core network equipment to perform ProSe communication on an EPC path, wherein the ProSe communication is initiated by a ProSe application on the UE A or the UE B on the EPC path;

this step is similar to step 401 above and will not be described here again.

Step 802, UE A determines that the UE A and UE B are in a preset ProSe communication range;

this step is similar to step 601 described above and will not be described here.

Step 803, UE a requests, from the serving base station, radio resources of a PC5 interface direct communication path for performing the ProSe communication;

this step is similar to step 602 above and will not be described here.

Step 804, UE A establishes the PC5 interface direct communication path with UE B using the radio resources and switches the ProSe communication from the EPC path to the PC5 interface direct communication path;

this step is similar to step 603 described above and will not be described here.

Step 805a, UE a sends a first communication path switching request to a ProSe application server through a ProSe function network element, where the first communication path switching request includes an identifier of the ProSe application and an application layer identifier of UE B;

step 805B, UE a directly sends a communication path first switching request to a ProSe application server through an application layer message, where the communication path first switching request includes an identifier of the ProSe application and an application layer identifier of UE B;

step 805a and step 805b may be either or both, and if both are performed, the ProSe application server only needs to respond to either. After determining that the UE-a is within the preset ProSe communication range with the UE B, the UE-a determines to initiate a switching request of the ProSe communication path, that is, requests the network side to switch the ProSe communication between the current UE a and the current UE B from the EPC path to the PC5 interface direct communication path. UE a may send the communication path first switch request to the ProSe application server in two ways. UE a may reuse an existing ProSe signaling message, add a new indication message in the message to request the network side to initiate the ProSe communication path switching, or may define a new ProSe signaling message, which is not limited in the present invention.

Step 806, the ProSe application server sends a second communication path switching request to the PCRF device according to the first communication path switching request, where the second communication path switching request includes an identifier of the ProSe application, an application layer identifier of the UE a, and an application layer identifier of the UE B;

step 807, the PCRF device updates a PCC policy corresponding to a service flow of the ProSe communication on the EPC path according to the communication path second handover request;

Step 808, the PCRF device sends the updated PCC policy to the PDN GW;

step 809, the PDN GW modifies the EPS bearer and the QoS parameter according to the updated PCC policy to update the bearer resource allocated to the EPC path.

Steps 808-809 are similar to step 303 described above and will not be described herein.

Steps 803 to 809 also need to be performed in parallel at UE B, not shown in the figure. And if the ProSe functional network element, the PCRF equipment and the PDN GW serving the UE B are different from those serving the UE A, executing the similar steps for the ProSe functional network element, the PCRF equipment and the PDN GW serving the UE B. In addition, the execution sequence of steps 803 to 804 and steps 805 to 809 is not sequential, and can also be executed in parallel.

Fig. 12 is a flowchart of a ninth embodiment of the ProSe communication path switching method of the present invention, as shown in fig. 12, the method of this embodiment may include:

step 901, UE a and UE B establish ProSe PDN connection with core network equipment to perform ProSe communication on EPC path, where the ProSe communication is initiated by ProSe application on UE a or UE B on the EPC path;

this step is similar to step 401 above and will not be described here again.

Step 902, UE a determines that it is within a preset ProSe communication range with UE B;

Step 903, UE a requests, from a serving base station, a radio resource of a PC5 interface direct communication path for performing the ProSe communication;

this step is similar to step 602 above and will not be described here.

Step 904, UE A establishes the PC5 interface direct communication path with UE B using the radio resources and switches the ProSe communication from the EPC path to the PC5 interface direct communication path.

Step 905, UE a determines whether to perform the ProSe communication with UE C on the EPC path;

step 906, if UE a determines that the ProSe communication is performed with UE C on the EPC path, sending a ProSe bearer modification request to core network equipment to release bearer resources allocated to the EPC path and UE B;

if the UE a is currently performing ProSe communication with the UE C through the EPC path, the UE a initiates a ProSe bearer modification procedure, including updating resources such as QoS parameters of an EPS bearer and a bearer packet filter, so as to release bearer resources required by the EPC path established for ProSe communication between the UE a and the UE B on the 3GPP network side, where the bearer resources are bearer resources of a service flow identified by an identifier of the ProSe application.

Step 907, if UE a determines that the ProSe communication is not performed with UE C on the EPC path, sending a ProSe PDN connection deactivation request to a core network device to release all bearer resources allocated to the EPC path.

If the current UE A does not perform ProSe communication with the UE C through the EPC path, namely the UE B is the last UE performing ProSe communication with the UE A through the EPC path, the UE A initiates a ProSe PDN connection deactivation process. The ProSe PDN connection is the PDN connection established for ProSe communication in s901, and deleting the entire ProSe PDN connection may release the bearer resource allocated to the EPC path by the 3GPP side to the greatest extent.

Step 906 and step 907 are optional steps. Steps 903 to 907 also need to be performed in parallel at UE B, not shown in the figure. And if the ProSe functional network element, the PCRF equipment and the PDN GW serving the UE B are different from those serving the UE A, executing the similar steps for the ProSe functional network element, the PCRF equipment and the PDN GW serving the UE B.

Fig. 13 is a schematic structural diagram of an embodiment of a ProSe application server according to the present invention, and as shown in fig. 13, the apparatus of this embodiment may include: a determining module 11 and a sending module 12, where the determining module is configured to determine that two user equipments UE performing ProSe communication are within a preset ProSe communication range, and the ProSe communication is initiated by a ProSe application on any one of the two UEs;

The apparatus of this embodiment may be used to implement the technical solution of the method embodiment shown in fig. 4, and the implementation principle and the technical effect are similar, which are not described herein again.

Further, the first communication path is an Evolved Packet Core (EPC) path, and the second communication path is a PC5 interface direct communication path.

Fig. 14 is a schematic structural diagram of another embodiment of a ProSe application server according to the present invention, as shown in fig. 14, the apparatus of this embodiment may further include, on the basis of the apparatus structure shown in fig. 13: a receiving module 13, where the receiving module 13 is configured to receive a close proximity indication sent by a ProSe function network element, where the close proximity indication is sent by the ProSe function network element after determining that the two UEs are within the preset ProSe communication range, and the close proximity indication includes an identifier of the ProSe application and application layer identifiers of the two UEs; the determining module 11 is specifically configured to determine that the two UEs are within the preset ProSe communication range according to the close proximity indication.

Further, the sending module 12 is specifically configured to send the communication path switching instruction to a ProSe function network element, so that the ProSe function network element forwards the communication path switching instruction to the UE; or, the communication path switching indication is directly sent to the UE through an application layer message.

Fig. 15 is a schematic structural diagram of an embodiment of a UE of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 15, the apparatus of this embodiment may include: a receiving module 21, a resource request module 22, and a path switching module 23, where the receiving module 21 is configured to receive a communication path switching indication sent by a ProSe application server when it is determined that the UE and an opposite UE performing ProSe communication with the UE are within a preset ProSe communication range, where the ProSe communication is initiated by a first communication path by a ProSe application on the UE and the opposite UE, and the communication path switching indication includes an identifier of the ProSe application and an application layer identifier of the opposite UE; a resource requesting module 22, configured to request, from a serving base station, a wireless resource of a second communication path for performing the ProSe communication according to the communication path switching instruction; a path switching module 23, configured to establish the second communication path with the peer UE using the wireless resource, and switch the ProSe communication from the first communication path to the second communication path.

The apparatus of this embodiment may be used to implement the technical solution of the method embodiment shown in fig. 5, and the implementation principle and the technical effect are similar, which are not described herein again.

Further, the receiving module 21 is specifically configured to receive the communication path switching instruction sent by the ProSe application server through a ProSe function network element; or receiving the communication path switching instruction directly sent by the ProSe application server through an application layer message.

Further, the receiving module 21 is further configured to receive a bearer modification instruction sent by a packet data network gateway PDN GW, and update the bearer resource on the first communication path according to the bearer modification instruction.

Fig. 16 is a schematic structural diagram of an embodiment of a PCRF device in the present invention, and as shown in fig. 16, the apparatus in this embodiment may include: a receiving module 31, a policy updating module 32, and a sending module 33, where the receiving module 31 is configured to receive a communication path switching request sent by a ProSe application server when it is determined that two user equipments UEs performing ProSe communication are within a preset ProSe communication range, the ProSe communication is initiated by a ProSe application on the two UEs on a first communication path, and the communication path switching request includes an identifier of the ProSe application and application layer identifiers of the two UEs; a policy updating module 32, configured to update, according to the communication path switching request, a policy and charging control PCC policy corresponding to a service flow of the ProSe communication on the first communication path; a sending module 33, configured to send the updated PCC policy to a packet data network gateway PDN GW, so that the PDN GW updates bearer resources allocated to the first communication path according to the updated PCC policy.

The apparatus of this embodiment may be used to implement the technical solution of the method embodiment shown in fig. 6, and the implementation principle and the technical effect are similar, which are not described herein again.

Fig. 17 is a schematic structural diagram of another embodiment of the UE of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 17, the apparatus of this embodiment may include: a determining module 41, a resource requesting module 42, a path switching module 43, and a sending module 44, where the determining module 41 is configured to determine that the second UE performing ProSe communication is within a preset ProSe communication range, and the ProSe communication is initiated by a ProSe application on the first UE and the second UE on a first communication path; a resource requesting module 42, configured to request, from a serving base station, a wireless resource of a second communication path for performing the ProSe communication; a path switching module 43 for establishing the second communication path with the second UE using the radio resource and switching the ProSe communication from the first communication path to the second communication path; a sending module 44, configured to send a communication path first handover request to a ProSe application server, where the communication path first handover request includes an identifier of the ProSe application and an application layer identifier of the second UE, so that the ProSe application server sends a communication path second handover request to a policy and charging rules function PCRF device, and the PCRF device updates bearer resources allocated to the first communication path.

The apparatus of this embodiment may be used to implement the technical solution of the method embodiment shown in fig. 9, and the implementation principle and the technical effect are similar, which are not described herein again.

Further, the sending module 44 is specifically configured to send the communication path first switching request to a ProSe function network element, so that the ProSe function network element forwards the communication path first switching request to the ProSe application server; or, the communication path first switching request is directly sent to the ProSe application server through an application layer message.

Further, the determining module 41 is further configured to determine whether to perform the ProSe communication with a third UE on the first communication path; the sending module 44 is configured to, when the determining module 41 determines that the ProSe communication is performed with the third UE on the first communication path, send a ProSe bearer modification request to a core network device to release bearer resources allocated to the first communication path and the second UE; when the determining module 41 determines that the ProSe communication is not performed with the third UE on the first communication path, it sends a ProSe packet data network PDN connection deactivation request to a core network device to release all bearer resources allocated to the first communication path.

Fig. 18 is a schematic structural diagram of a ProSe application server according to another embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 18, the apparatus of this embodiment may include: a receiving module 51 and a sending module 52, where the receiving module 51 is configured to receive a first communication path switching request sent by a first user equipment UE when determining that the second UE performing ProSe communication is within a preset ProSe communication range, the ProSe communication is initiated by a ProSe application on the first UE and the second UE over a first communication path, and the first communication path switching request includes an identifier of the ProSe application and an application layer identifier of the second UE; a sending module 52, configured to send a second communication path handover request to a PCRF device according to the first communication path handover request, where the second communication path handover request includes an identifier of the ProSe application, an application layer identifier of the first UE, and an application layer identifier of the second UE, so that the PCRF device updates bearer resources allocated to the first communication path.

The apparatus of this embodiment may be used to implement the technical solution of the method embodiment shown in fig. 10, and the implementation principle and the technical effect are similar, which are not described herein again.

Further, the receiving module 51 is specifically configured to receive the first communication path switching request sent by the first UE through a ProSe function network element; or, receiving the communication path first switching request directly sent by the first UE through an application layer message.

Fig. 19 is a schematic structural diagram of a ProSe application server according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 19, the apparatus of this embodiment may include: a processor 61 and a transmitter 62, wherein the processor 61 is configured to determine that two user equipments UE performing ProSe communication are within a preset ProSe communication range, the ProSe communication being initiated by a ProSe application on any one of the two UEs on a first communication path; a transmitter 62, configured to transmit a communication path switching indication to each UE of the two UEs, where the communication path switching indication includes an identifier of the ProSe application and an application layer identifier of a peer UE performing the ProSe communication with the UE receiving the communication path switching indication, so that the two UEs switch the ProSe communication from the first communication path to a second communication path; sending a communication path switching request to a Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF) device, wherein the communication path switching request comprises the identifier of the ProSe application and the application layer identifiers of the two UEs, so that the PCRF device updates the bearer resource allocated to the first communication path.

The device of this embodiment may be configured to execute the technical solution of the method embodiment shown in fig. 4, and the implementation principle and the technical effect are similar, which are not described herein again.

Fig. 20 is a schematic structural diagram of a fifth embodiment of a ProSe application server according to the present invention, and as shown in fig. 20, the device of this embodiment may further include, on the basis of the device structure shown in fig. 19: a receiver 63, where the receiver 63 is configured to receive a close proximity indication sent by a ProSe function network element, where the close proximity indication is sent by the ProSe function network element after determining that the two UEs are within the preset ProSe communication range, and the close proximity indication includes an identifier of the ProSe application and application layer identifiers of the two UEs; the processor 61 is specifically configured to determine that the two UEs are within the preset ProSe communication range according to the close proximity indication.

Further, the transmitter 62 is specifically configured to send the communication path switching instruction to a ProSe function network element, so that the ProSe function network element forwards the communication path switching instruction to the UE; or, the communication path switching indication is directly sent to the UE through an application layer message.

Fig. 21 is a schematic structural diagram of a UE according to another embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 21, the apparatus of this embodiment may include: a receiver 71 and a processor 72, wherein the receiver 71 is configured to receive a communication path switching indication sent by a ProSe application server when it is determined that the UE and a peer UE performing ProSe communication with the UE are within a preset ProSe communication range, the ProSe communication is initiated by a ProSe application on the UE and the peer UE over a first communication path, and the communication path switching indication includes an identifier of the ProSe application and an application layer identifier of the peer UE; a processor 72 for requesting, from a serving base station, a radio resource of a second communication path for conducting the ProSe communication according to the communication path switching instruction; establishing the second communication path with the peer UE using the wireless resources and switching the ProSe communication from the first communication path to the second communication path.

The device of this embodiment may be configured to execute the technical solution of the method embodiment shown in fig. 5, and the implementation principle and the technical effect are similar, which are not described herein again.

Further, the receiver 71 is specifically configured to receive the communication path switching instruction sent by the ProSe application server through a ProSe function network element; or receiving the communication path switching instruction directly sent by the ProSe application server through an application layer message.

Further, the receiver 71 is further configured to receive a bearer modification instruction sent by a packet data network gateway PDN GW, and update the bearer resource on the first communication path according to the bearer modification instruction.

Fig. 22 is a schematic structural diagram of another embodiment of the PCRF device in the present invention, and as shown in fig. 22, the device in this embodiment may include: a receiver 81, a processor 82 and a transmitter 83, wherein the receiver 81 is configured to receive a communication path switching request sent by a ProSe application server when determining that two user equipments UEs performing ProSe communication are within a preset ProSe communication range, the ProSe communication is initiated by a ProSe application on the two UEs on a first communication path, and the communication path switching request includes an identity of the ProSe application and application layer identities of the two UEs; a processor 82, configured to update a policy and charging control PCC policy corresponding to a service flow of the ProSe communication on the first communication path according to the communication path switching request; a transmitter 83, configured to send the updated PCC policy to a packet data network gateway PDN GW, so that the PDN GW updates bearer resources allocated to the first communication path according to the updated PCC policy.

The device of this embodiment may be configured to execute the technical solution of the method embodiment shown in fig. 6, and the implementation principle and the technical effect are similar, which are not described herein again.

Fig. 23 is a schematic structural diagram of a UE according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 23, the apparatus of this embodiment may include: a processor 91 and a transmitter 92, wherein the processor 91 is configured to determine that a second UE performing ProSe communication is within a preset ProSe communication range, the ProSe communication being initiated by a ProSe application on the first UE and the second UE on a first communication path; requesting, from a serving base station, a wireless resource for a second communication path for conducting the ProSe communication; establishing the second communication path with the second UE using the wireless resources and switching the ProSe communication from the first communication path to the second communication path; a transmitter 92, configured to send a communication path first handover request to a ProSe application server, where the communication path first handover request includes an identifier of the ProSe application and an application layer identifier of the second UE, so that the ProSe application server sends a communication path second handover request to a policy and charging rules function PCRF device, and the PCRF device updates bearer resources allocated to the first communication path.

The device of this embodiment may be configured to execute the technical solution of the method embodiment shown in fig. 9, and the implementation principle and the technical effect are similar, which are not described herein again.

Further, the transmitter 92 is specifically configured to send the communication path first switching request to a ProSe function network element, so that the ProSe function network element forwards the communication path first switching request to the ProSe application server; or, the communication path first switching request is directly sent to the ProSe application server through an application layer message.

Further, the processor 91 is further configured to determine whether to perform the ProSe communication with a third UE on the first communication path; the transmitter 92 is configured to, when the processor 91 determines to perform the ProSe communication with the third UE on the first communication path, send a ProSe bearer modification request to a core network device to release bearer resources allocated to the first communication path and the second UE; when the processor 91 determines that the ProSe communication is not performed with the third UE on the first communication path, it sends a ProSe packet data network PDN connection deactivation request to a core network device to release all bearer resources allocated to the first communication path.

Fig. 24 is a schematic structural diagram of a ProSe application server according to a sixth embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 24, the apparatus of this embodiment may include: a receiver 1001 and a transmitter 1002, wherein the receiver 1001 is configured to receive a communication path first switching request transmitted by a first user equipment UE when determining that a second UE performing ProSe communication is within a preset ProSe communication range, the ProSe communication being initiated by a ProSe application on the first UE and the second UE over a first communication path, the communication path first switching request including an identity of the ProSe application and an application layer identity of the second UE; a transmitter 1002, configured to send a communication path second handover request to a PCRF device according to the communication path first handover request, where the communication path second handover request includes an identifier of the ProSe application, an application layer identifier of the first UE, and an application layer identifier of the second UE, so that the PCRF device updates bearer resources allocated to the first communication path.

The device of this embodiment may be configured to execute the technical solution of the method embodiment shown in fig. 10, and the implementation principle and the technical effect are similar, which are not described herein again.

Further, the receiver 1001 is specifically configured to receive the first communication path switching request sent by the first UE through a ProSe function network element; or, receiving the communication path first switching request directly sent by the first UE through an application layer message.

Fig. 25 is a schematic structural diagram of an embodiment of the communication system of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 25, the system of the present embodiment includes: ProSe application server 1101, UE1102, PCRF device 1103, and core network device 1104; the ProSe application server 1101 may adopt the structure of any one of the apparatus embodiments shown in fig. 13 to 14 and 18 to 20, and correspondingly, may execute the technical solution of the method embodiment shown in fig. 4 or 10, where the implementation principle and the technical effect are similar and are not described herein again; the UE1102 may adopt the structure of any one of the apparatus embodiments shown in fig. 15, 17, 21, and 23, and correspondingly, may execute the technical solution of the method embodiment shown in fig. 5 or 9, where the implementation principle and the technical effect are similar and are not described herein again; the PCRF device 1103 may adopt the structure of the apparatus embodiment shown in fig. 16 or fig. 22, and correspondingly, may execute the technical scheme of the method embodiment shown in fig. 6, where the implementation principle and the technical effect are similar, and are not described herein again.

It is understood that the receiver and the transmitter described in the embodiments of the present invention may be replaced by a transceiver, and the transceiver transmits various types of information; one or more communication interfaces may be substituted for the corresponding communication interfaces, and one or more communications may be used to transmit the corresponding information.

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

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

In addition, functional units in the embodiments of the present invention may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units are integrated into one unit. The integrated unit can be realized in a form of hardware, or in a form of hardware plus a software functional unit.

The integrated unit implemented in the form of a software functional unit may be stored in a computer readable storage medium. The software functional unit is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions to enable a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device) or a processor (processor) to execute some steps of the methods according to the embodiments of the present invention. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: various media capable of storing program codes, such as a usb disk, a removable hard disk, a Read-Only Memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), a magnetic disk, or an optical disk.

It is obvious to those skilled in the art that, for convenience and simplicity of description, the foregoing division of the functional modules is merely used as an example, and in practical applications, the above function distribution may be performed by different functional modules according to needs, that is, the internal structure of the device is divided into different functional modules to perform all or part of the above described functions. For the specific working process of the device described above, reference may be made to the corresponding process in the foregoing method embodiment, which is not described herein again.

Finally, it should be noted that: the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solution of the present invention, and not to limit the same; while the invention has been described in detail and with reference to the foregoing embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that: the technical solutions described in the foregoing embodiments may still be modified, or some or all of the technical features may be equivalently replaced; and the modifications or the substitutions do not make the essence of the corresponding technical solutions depart from the scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention.

Claims

1. A communication path switching method of ProSe (proximity services), comprising the following steps:

the method comprises the steps that a ProSe application server determines that two User Equipment (UE) performing ProSe communication are in a preset ProSe communication range, and the ProSe communication is initiated by a ProSe application on any one of the two UE through a first communication path;

the ProSe application server respectively sends a communication path switching instruction to each UE of the two UEs, wherein the communication path switching instruction comprises an identifier of the ProSe application and an application layer identifier of an opposite UE which carries out the ProSe communication with the UE receiving the communication path switching instruction, so that the two UEs respectively switch the ProSe communication from the first communication path to a second communication path;

the ProSe application server sends a communication path switching request to Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF) equipment, wherein the communication path switching request comprises the identification of the ProSe application and the application layer identifications of the two UEs, so that the PCRF equipment updates Policy and Charging Control (PCC) policies corresponding to the service flow of the ProSe communication on the first communication path according to the communication path switching request; and sending the updated PCC policy to a packet data network gateway (PDN GW) so that the PDN GW updates the bearer resource allocated to the first communication path according to the updated PCC policy.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first communication path is an Evolved Packet Core (EPC) path and the second communication path is a PC5 interface direct communication path.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein before the ProSe application server determines that two UEs in ProSe communication are within the preset ProSe communication range, further comprising:

the ProSe application server receives a close range indication sent by a ProSe functional network element, wherein the close range indication is sent by the ProSe functional network element after the two UEs are determined to be in the preset ProSe communication range, and the close range indication comprises the identification of the ProSe application and the application layer identifications of the two UEs;

the ProSe application server determining that two UEs performing ProSe communication are within a preset ProSe communication range includes:

and the ProSe application server determines that the two UEs are in the preset ProSe communication range according to the close range indication.

4. The method according to any of claims 1-3, wherein the ProSe application server sends a communication path switching indication to the UE, comprising:

the ProSe application server sends the communication path switching instruction to a ProSe functional network element so that the ProSe functional network element forwards the communication path switching instruction to the UE; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

the ProSe application server directly sends the communication path switching indication to the UE through an application layer message.

5. A communication path switching method of ProSe (proximity services), comprising the following steps:

the UE establishing the second communication path with the peer UE using the wireless resources and switching the ProSe communication from the first communication path to the second communication path;

the method further comprises the following steps:

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the UE receiving a communication path switching indication sent by a ProSe application server when the UE and a peer UE in ProSe communication with the UE are determined to be within a preset ProSe communication range comprises:

7. A communication path switching method of ProSe (proximity services), comprising the following steps:

8. A communication path switching method of ProSe (proximity services), comprising the following steps:

the first UE sends a communication path first switching request to a ProSe application server, wherein the communication path first switching request comprises an identification of the ProSe application and an application layer identification of the second UE, so that the ProSe application server sends a communication path second switching request to a Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF) device, and the PCRF device updates Policy and Charging Control (PCC) policies corresponding to the service flow of the ProSe communication on the first communication path according to the communication path switching request; and sending the updated PCC policy to a packet data network gateway (PDN GW) so that the PDN GW updates the bearer resource allocated to the first communication path according to the updated PCC policy.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein sending a communication path first switch request to a ProSe application server comprises:

10. The method of claim 8, wherein after the switching the ProSe communication from the first communication path to the second communication path, further comprising:

11. A communication path switching method of ProSe (proximity services), comprising the following steps:

sending a communication path second switching request to a Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF) device according to the communication path first switching request, wherein the communication path second switching request comprises an identifier of the ProSe application, an application layer identifier of the first UE and an application layer identifier of the second UE, so that the PCRF device updates a Policy and Charging Control (PCC) policy corresponding to a service flow of the ProSe communication on the first communication path according to the communication path switching request; and sending the updated PCC policy to a packet data network gateway (PDN GW) so that the PDN GW updates the bearer resource allocated to the first communication path according to the updated PCC policy.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the receiving the communication path first handover request sent by the first UE when determining that the second UE in ProSe communication is within a preset ProSe communication range comprises:

13. A proximity services ProSe application server, characterized in that it comprises:

a sending module, configured to send a communication path switching indication to each of the two UEs, where the communication path switching indication includes an identifier of the ProSe application and an application layer identifier of an opposite UE performing ProSe communication with the UE receiving the communication path switching indication, so that the two UEs switch the ProSe communication from the first communication path to a second communication path, respectively; sending a communication path switching request to a Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF) device, where the communication path switching request includes an identifier of the ProSe application and application layer identifiers of the two UEs, so that the PCRF device updates Policy and Charging Control (PCC) policies corresponding to a service flow of the ProSe communication on the first communication path according to the communication path switching request; and sending the updated PCC policy to a packet data network gateway (PDN GW) so that the PDN GW updates the bearer resource allocated to the first communication path according to the updated PCC policy.

14. The ProSe application server of claim 13, wherein the first communication path is an evolved packet core, EPC, path and the second communication path is a PC5 interface direct communication path.

15. The ProSe application server of claim 13 or 14, further comprising:

16. The ProSe application server of any of claims 13 to 15, wherein the sending module is specifically configured to send the communication path switching indication to a ProSe function network element, so that the ProSe function network element forwards the communication path switching indication to the UE; or, the communication path switching indication is directly sent to the UE through an application layer message.

17. A User Equipment (UE), comprising:

a path switching module for establishing the second communication path with the peer UE using the radio resource and switching the ProSe communication from the first communication path to the second communication path;

the receiving module is further configured to receive a bearer modification instruction sent by a packet data network gateway PDN GW, and update the bearer resource on the first communication path according to the bearer modification instruction.

18. The UE according to claim 17, wherein the receiving module is specifically configured to receive the communication path switching indication sent by the ProSe application server through a ProSe function network element; or receiving the communication path switching instruction directly sent by the ProSe application server through an application layer message.

19. A policy and charging rules function, PCRF, device, comprising:

20. A User Equipment (UE), comprising:

a sending module, configured to send a communication path first switching request to a ProSe application server, where the communication path first switching request includes an identifier of the ProSe application and an application layer identifier of the second UE, so that the ProSe application server sends a communication path second switching request to a PCRF device, and the PCRF device updates, according to the communication path switching request, a policy and charging control PCC policy corresponding to a service flow of the ProSe communication on the first communication path; and sending the updated PCC policy to a packet data network gateway (PDN GW) so that the PDN GW updates the bearer resource allocated to the first communication path according to the updated PCC policy.

21. The UE of claim 20, wherein the sending module is specifically configured to send the communication path first switching request to a ProSe function network element, so that the ProSe function network element forwards the communication path first switching request to the ProSe application server; or, the communication path first switching request is directly sent to the ProSe application server through an application layer message.

22. The UE of claim 20, wherein the determining module is further configured to determine whether to conduct the ProSe communication with a third UE over the first communication path;

23. A proximity services ProSe application server, characterized in that it comprises:

a sending module, configured to send a second communication path handover request to a PCRF device according to the first communication path handover request, where the second communication path handover request includes an identifier of the ProSe application, an application layer identifier of the first UE, and an application layer identifier of the second UE, so that the PCRF device updates a policy and charging control PCC policy corresponding to a service flow of the ProSe communication on the first communication path according to the communication path handover request; and sending the updated PCC policy to a packet data network gateway (PDN GW) so that the PDN GW updates the bearer resource allocated to the first communication path according to the updated PCC policy.

24. The ProSe application server of claim 23, wherein the receiving module is specifically configured to receive the first communication path switching request sent by the first UE through a ProSe function network element; or, receiving the communication path first switching request directly sent by the first UE through an application layer message.

25. A proximity services ProSe application server, characterized in that it comprises:

a transmitter, configured to send a communication path switching indication to each of the two UEs, where the communication path switching indication includes an identifier of the ProSe application and an application layer identifier of a peer UE performing ProSe communication with the UE receiving the communication path switching indication, so that the two UEs respectively switch the ProSe communication from the first communication path to a second communication path; sending a communication path switching request to a Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF) device, where the communication path switching request includes an identifier of the ProSe application and application layer identifiers of the two UEs, so that the PCRF device updates Policy and Charging Control (PCC) policies corresponding to a service flow of the ProSe communication on the first communication path according to the communication path switching request; and sending the updated PCC policy to a packet data network gateway (PDN GW) so that the PDN GW updates the bearer resource allocated to the first communication path according to the updated PCC policy.

26. The ProSe application server of claim 25, wherein the first communication path is an evolved packet core, EPC, path and the second communication path is a PC5 interface direct communication path.

27. The ProSe application server of claim 25 or 26, further comprising:

28. The ProSe application server of any of claims 25 to 27, wherein the transmitter is specifically configured to transmit the communication path switching indication to a ProSe function network element, so that the ProSe function network element forwards the communication path switching indication to the UE; or, the communication path switching indication is directly sent to the UE through an application layer message.

29. A User Equipment (UE), comprising:

a processor configured to request, from a serving base station, a wireless resource of a second communication path for conducting the ProSe communication according to the communication path switching instruction; establishing the second communication path with the peer UE using the wireless resources and switching the ProSe communication from the first communication path to the second communication path;

the receiver is further configured to receive a bearer modification instruction sent by a packet data network gateway PDN GW, and update the bearer resource on the first communication path according to the bearer modification instruction.

30. The UE of claim 29, wherein the receiver is specifically configured to receive the communication path switching indication sent by the ProSe application server through a ProSe function network element; or receiving the communication path switching instruction directly sent by the ProSe application server through an application layer message.

31. A policy and charging rules function, PCRF, device, comprising:

32. A User Equipment (UE), comprising:

a transmitter, configured to send a communication path first switching request to a ProSe application server, where the communication path first switching request includes an identifier of the ProSe application and an application layer identifier of the second UE, so that the ProSe application server sends a communication path second switching request to a policy and charging rules function PCRF device, and the PCRF device updates, according to the communication path switching request, a policy and charging control PCC policy corresponding to a traffic flow of the ProSe communication on the first communication path; and sending the updated PCC policy to a packet data network gateway (PDN GW) so that the PDN GW updates the bearer resource allocated to the first communication path according to the updated PCC policy.

33. The UE of claim 32, wherein the transmitter is specifically configured to transmit the communication path first switch request to a ProSe function network element, so that the ProSe function network element forwards the communication path first switch request to the ProSe application server; or, the communication path first switching request is directly sent to the ProSe application server through an application layer message.

34. The UE of claim 32, wherein the processor is further configured to determine whether to conduct the ProSe communication with a third UE over the first communication path;

35. A proximity services ProSe application server, characterized in that it comprises:

a transmitter, configured to send a communication path second handover request to a PCRF device according to the communication path first handover request, where the communication path second handover request includes an identifier of the ProSe application, an application layer identifier of the first UE, and an application layer identifier of the second UE, so that the PCRF device updates a policy and charging control PCC policy corresponding to a traffic flow of the ProSe communication on the first communication path according to the communication path handover request; and sending the updated PCC policy to a packet data network gateway (PDN GW) so that the PDN GW updates the bearer resource allocated to the first communication path according to the updated PCC policy.

36. The ProSe application server of claim 35, wherein the receiver is specifically configured to receive the first communication path handover request sent by the first UE via a ProSe function network element; or, receiving the communication path first switching request directly sent by the first UE through an application layer message.

37. A communication system, comprising: the system comprises a proximity service ProSe application server, user equipment UE, policy and charging rules function PCRF equipment and core network equipment; the ProSe application server is the ProSe application server of any one of claims 13 to 16 or claims 23 to 24; the UE adopts the UE of any one of claims 17-18 or claims 20-22; the PCRF device employs the PCRF device of claim 19.

38. A communication system, comprising: the system comprises a proximity service ProSe application server, user equipment UE, policy and charging rules function PCRF equipment and core network equipment; wherein, the ProSe application server adopts the ProSe application server of any one of claims 25 to 28 or claims 35 to 36; the UE adopts the UE of any one of claims 29-30 or claims 32-34; the PCRF device employs the PCRF device of claim 31.