CN109995538B

CN109995538B - Method and equipment for addressing PCRF

Info

Publication number: CN109995538B
Application number: CN201711478165.XA
Authority: CN
Inventors: 冯征; 董勋; 吕红卫; 沈蕾; 卜忠贵; 李继; 黎丹
Original assignee: China Mobile Communications Group Co Ltd; China Mobile Group Design Institute Co Ltd
Current assignee: China Mobile Communications Group Co Ltd; China Mobile Group Design Institute Co Ltd
Priority date: 2017-12-29
Filing date: 2017-12-29
Publication date: 2021-12-07
Anticipated expiration: 2037-12-29
Also published as: CN109995538A

Abstract

The invention provides a method for addressing PCRF, which comprises the following steps: determining the second equipment address to which the UE belongs currently based on a mapping relation between the pre-configured IP address of the UE and the second equipment address; inquiring address information of a PCRF (policy and charging rules function) responsible for PCC (policy and charging control) management and control of the UE to second equipment based on a second equipment address to which the UE belongs currently and an inquiry interface preset between the first equipment and the second equipment; and the address information of the PCRF is contained in an AAR message and sent to the DRA, so that the DRA forwards the AAR message to the corresponding PCRF according to the address information of the PCRF, or directly addresses the corresponding PCRF according to the address information of the PCRF. The address of the second equipment to which the UE belongs currently is determined through a mapping relation between the IP address of the UE and the address of the second equipment which is configured in advance in the first equipment, and a query interface is arranged between the first equipment and the second equipment, so that the host name of the PCRF is accurately obtained, and the PCRF can be correctly addressed in a quasi-direct connection or direct connection mode through a Diameter signaling network.

Description

Method and equipment for addressing PCRF

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of mobile communications, and in particular, to a method and an apparatus for addressing a PCRF.

Background

According to the 3GPP specification and the actual networking scheme of the operator, fig. 1 is an architecture schematic diagram after Policy and Charging Control (PCC) is introduced into the existing networking, as shown in fig. 1, a terminal (User Equipment, UE) accesses a core network Service GPRS Support Node (SGSN) through a 2G wireless network and a 3G wireless network, and accesses an external IP network through a Gateway GPRS Support Node (GGSN), and the GGSN allocates a private IP address for the UE to access the external IP network; for the application of accessing the Internet, the IP address conversion of the UE is completed through a firewall of an SGi/Gi interface, and the private IP address of the UE is converted into a public IP address. The terminal UE accesses a core network Mobility Management Entity (MME) and a Serving GateWay (S-GW) through an LTE wireless network and accesses an external IP network through a PDN GateWay (PDN GateWay, P-GW); allocating a private IP address for the UE by the P-GW, wherein the private IP address is used for the UE to access an external IP network; for the application of accessing the Internet, the IP address conversion of the UE is completed through the SGi/Gi firewall, and the private IP address of the UE is converted into a public IP address; the S-GW and the P-GW are commonly combined as SAE-GW; the MME and the SGSN can be combined into an MME/SGSN; the SAE-GW and the GGSN can be combined into SAE-GW/GGSN or called S-GW/P-GW/GGSN.

After introducing the PCC architecture, the PCC architecture newly adds a Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF), a Policy and Charging Rule Function unit (PCRF)/Subscriber Profile Repository (SPR), and a Policy and Charging control Application Function (AF) 3 types of network elements, where the PCEF, the GGSN, and the P-GW are comprehensively set, that is: SAE-GW/GGSN/PCEF, S-GW/P-GW/GGSN/PCEF, P-GW/GGSN/PCEF; the PCRF/SPR can be separated into a PCRF and an SPR, and a set of PCRF/SPR consists of the SPR of 1+1 and the PCRF consisting of N PCRF POOL; different PCRF/SPR takes charge of PCC service of users with different number segments; the PCRF in the same PCRF/SPR, which form the PCRF POOL, is responsible for the services of the whole set of PCRF/SPR number segment users in a proportional load sharing mode; the AF is a platform for initiating a PCC dynamic strategy management and control service request, and can be a service platform owned by an operator or a third-party Internet ICP application platform; UE accesses to 2G/3G/LTE network, in PDP/bearing establishing process, P-GW/GGSN as PCEF starts PCC service flow, and accesses PCRF/SPR (PCRF/SPR to which user number section belongs) to which user belongs through Gx interface; when determining that policy control of the PCC service for the user needs to be executed, the AF accesses a PCRF/SPR (a PCRF selected in the previous Gx interface procedure) to which the user belongs through an Rx interface, the PCRF/SPR accepts a PCC management and control policy request for the user, which is initiated by the AF, and sends a corresponding PCC management and control policy to a P-GW/GGSN/PCEF to which the user currently belongs through the Gx interface.

In the actual network architecture in the prior art, the Gx interface and the Rx interface generally complete network organization through Diameter Routing Agent (DRA) devices, and a PCRF/SPR adopts a distributed architecture, that is, each set of PCRF/SPR consists of an SPR of 1+1 and PCRF POOL of 1 PCRF consisting of N PCRFs, and the whole set of service flow is as follows:

(1) after receiving CCR-I message sent by P-GW/GGSN at Gx interface, DRA addresses PCRF POOL according to user number segment, and selects one PCRF in PCRF POOL according to service load sharing proportion in PCRF POOL, and forwards CCR-I message;

(2) after the selected PCRF processes the CCR-I message, returning a CCA-I message to the DRA through the Gx interface;

(3) and after receiving the CCA-I message, the DRA records and stores the binding relationship between the user IP address and the selected PCRF host name, and synchronizes to another DRA which is paired, wherein the step is also called session binding. It should be noted that different operators may use different "session binding" manners to implement the binding of the user IP address and the selected PCRF hostname.

(4) When determining that PCC service policy control on a user needs to be executed, the AF sends an AAR message through an Rx interface, wherein the AAR message usually comprises an IP address of the UE;

(5) after receiving the AAR message, the DRA analyzes the IP address of the UE contained in the AAR message; inquiring the binding relationship between the user IP address and the PCRF host name recorded and stored in the step (3), selecting the PCRF equipment currently in charge of user PCC policy control in the PCRF POOL, and forwarding the AAR message;

(6) and after receiving the AAR message, the PCRF accepts a PCC (policy control and charging) policy request for the user initiated by the AF, and sends a corresponding PCC policy to the P-GW/GGSN/PCEF to which the user currently belongs through the Gx interface.

It can be seen from the above whole set of service flow that the prior art needs to satisfy that the private IP address or public IP address allocated to each UE by each P-GW/GGSN is not duplicated and the IP address of the UE obtained by the AF needs to be the same as the IP address allocated to the UE by the P-GW/GGSN.

In the internet service, the private address and the public address of the user IP address are converted in an SGi/Gi firewall, the binding relationship between the private IP address distributed to the UE by a P-GW/GGSN and a selected PCRF host name is recorded and stored in a DRA in the prior art, but the IP address of the UE contained in an AF (advanced feature field) in the AAR can be the private IP address of the user before the SGi/Gi interface firewall is converted or the public IP address of the user after the SGi/Gi interface firewall is converted, and when the IP address of the UE contained in the AAR in the AF is the public IP address of the user after the SGi/Gi interface firewall is converted, the AF cannot be correctly addressed to the PCRF through the DRA because the IP address of the UE obtained by the AF is different from the IP address distributed to the UE by the P-GW/GGSN; when the IP address of the UE contained in the AAR by the AF is the private IP address of the user before the SGi/Gi interface firewall is converted, the private IP addresses allocated to the user by different P-GW/GGSNs may overlap, and thus the AF may not be correctly addressed to the PCRF through the DRA.

Disclosure of Invention

The present invention provides a method of addressing a PCRF that overcomes or at least partially solves the above-mentioned problem of being unable to correctly address a PCRF, comprising:

the method comprises the steps that first equipment at least comprises a policy and charging control Application Function (AF), a service capability opening function (SCEF), an Application Access Control (AAC) and a third party ICP server based on a mapping relation between a pre-configured IP address of terminal equipment (UE) and an address of second equipment, the second equipment at least comprises a Packet Data Network (PDN) gateway P-GW/Gateway GPRS Support Node (GGSN)/Policy and Charging Execution Function (PCEF), P-GW/PCEF and GGSN/PCEF, and the address of the second equipment to which the UE belongs currently is determined;

the first equipment queries address information of a policy and charging rule functional unit (PCRF) responsible for Policy and Charging Control (PCC) control of the UE to second equipment on the basis of a second equipment address to which the UE belongs currently and a query interface preset between the first equipment and the second equipment;

the first equipment contains the address information of the PCRF in a request AAR message initiated by the first equipment to the PCRF and sends the request AAR message to a Diameter routing agent node DRA, so that the DRA forwards the AAR message to the corresponding PCRF according to the address information of the PCRF, or directly addresses the corresponding PCRF according to the address information of the PCRF.

Before determining the address of the second device to which the UE belongs currently, the method further comprises:

the method comprises the steps that first equipment obtains an IP address of UE, wherein the IP address of the UE comprises an IPv4 address of the UE or an IPv6 address of the UE, the IPv4 address of the UE comprises a public IP address of the UE and a private IP address of the UE, the private IP address of the UE is the IP address distributed to the UE by second equipment, the public IP address of the UE is an IP address obtained after the private IP address is converted by third equipment connected with the second equipment, and the third equipment comprises network address conversion/port address conversion NAT/PAT.

When the IP address of the UE is an IPv4 address, determining, by the second device, an address of the second device to which the UE currently belongs, based on a mapping relationship between the IP address of the terminal UE and the address of the second device, where the second device at least includes a PDN gateway P-GW/gateway GPRS support node GGSN/policy and charging enforcement function PCEF, P-GW/PCEF, and GGSN/PCEF, the method includes:

and the first equipment maps the public IP address of the UE and the private IP address of the UE into the address of the second equipment to which the UE belongs currently based on the one-to-one correspondence relationship between the configured address combinations and the addresses of the second equipment, wherein each address combination at least comprises one public IP address and one private IP address.

the first equipment maps the public IP address of the UE into the IP Domain ID based on the one-to-one corresponding relation between the configured public IP address and the IP Domain ID;

and the first equipment maps the private IP address of the UE to the address of the second equipment to which the UE belongs currently based on the IP Domain ID to which the second equipment belongs.

When the IP address of the UE is an IPv6 address, determining, by the second device, an address of the second device to which the UE currently belongs, based on a mapping relationship between the IP address of the terminal UE and the address of the second device, where the second device at least includes a PDN gateway P-GW/gateway GPRS support node GGSN/policy and charging enforcement function PCEF, P-GW/PCEF, and GGSN/PCEF, the method includes:

the first device determines the address of the second device to which the UE currently belongs based on the pre-configured mapping relationship between the IPv6 address and the address of the second device, or

The first device maps to the second device address to which the UE currently belongs based on the combination of the IPv6 address after the third device is converted and the IPv6 address before the third device is converted, or

And the first equipment is mapped to the address of the second equipment to which the UE belongs currently based on the IPv6 address converted by the third equipment, the IP Domain ID and the IPv6 address before the third equipment is converted.

Wherein, the querying, to a second device, address information of a policy and charging rule functional unit PCRF responsible for policy and charging control PCC control of the UE based on an address of the second device to which the UE currently belongs and a query interface preset between the first device and the second device includes:

the method comprises the steps that a first device sends a query message to a second device through a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) or a hypertext transfer security protocol (HTTPS) or a Diameter protocol based on a query interface preset between the first device and the second device, wherein the query message at least comprises a device identifier of UE;

the first device receives a response message corresponding to the query message sent by the second device, where the response message includes address information of a policy and charging rule functional unit PCRF responsible for policy and charging control PCC control of the UE, and the address information of the PCRF at least includes a host name of the PCRF.

The invention also provides another method for addressing PCRF, which comprises the following steps:

the second equipment receives inquiry information which is sent by the first equipment and at least has equipment identification of the UE;

when the query message sent by the first device further includes APN information, the second device sends the stored PCRF address information corresponding to the PCC regulation of the APN in charge of the UE to the first device as a response message, so that the first device addresses the PCRF according to the response message;

when the query message sent by the first device does not include APN information, the second device sends the stored PCRF address information corresponding to PCC regulation and control of the target APN of the UE to the first device as a response message, so that the first device addresses the PCRF according to the response message, and the target APN is pre-configured in the second device.

According to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided a first apparatus comprising:

a determining module, configured to determine, based on a mapping relationship between a pre-configured IP address of the UE and an address of a second device, that the first device at least includes a policy and charging control application function AF, a service capability opening function SCEF, an application access control AAC, and a third party ICP server, and that the second device includes a PDN gateway P-GW/gateway GPRS support node GGSN/policy and charging enforcement function PCEF, P-GW/PCEF, and GGSN/PCEF, and that the second device address to which the UE currently belongs;

the query module is used for querying the address information of a policy and charging rule functional unit (PCRF) responsible for the Policy and Charging Control (PCC) management and control of the UE to second equipment based on the address of the second equipment to which the UE belongs currently and a query interface preset between the first equipment and the second equipment;

and the addressing module is used for including the address information of the PCRF in a request AAR message initiated by the first equipment to the PCRF and sending the request AAR message to a Diameter routing agent node DRA, so that the DRA forwards the AAR message to the corresponding PCRF according to the address information of the PCRF, or directly addresses the corresponding PCRF according to the address information of the PCRF.

The present invention also provides a second device comprising:

a receiving module, configured to receive query information sent by a first device and at least carrying a device identifier of a UE;

a response module, configured to, when an inquiry message sent by a first device further includes APN information, send, by a second device, stored PCRF address information corresponding to PCC management and control of the APN of the UE to the first device as a response message, so that the first device addresses the PCRF according to the response message;

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer program product comprising program code for performing a method of addressing a PCRF as described above.

The invention provides a method for addressing PCRF, which determines the address of the second equipment to which UE belongs currently through the mapping relation between the IP address of the UE and the address of the second equipment which is configured in advance in the first equipment, and sets a query interface between the first equipment and the second equipment, thereby accurately obtaining the address information of PCRF, and enabling the PCRF to be correctly addressed through a Diameter signaling network in a quasi-direct connection or direct connection mode.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of an architecture after PCC architecture is introduced into existing networking;

fig. 2 is a flowchart of a method for addressing a PCRF according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 3 is a flowchart of another method for addressing a PCRF according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4 is a diagram of a first device structure according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 5 is a structural diagram of a second device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

The following detailed description of embodiments of the present invention is provided in connection with the accompanying drawings and examples. The following examples are intended to illustrate the invention but are not intended to limit the scope of the invention.

In the prior art, because the binding relationship between the private IP address allocated to the UE by the P-GW/GGSN and the host name of the selected PCRF is recorded and stored in the DRA, but the IP address of the UE included in the AAR by the AF may be a private IP address of the user before the SGi/Gi interface firewall is converted, or may be a public IP address of the user after the SGi/Gi interface firewall is converted, when the IP address of the UE included in the AAR by the AF is a public IP address of the user after the SGi/Gi interface firewall is converted, since the IP address of the UE obtained by the AF must be different from the IP address allocated to the UE by the P-GW/GGSN, the AF cannot correctly address the PCRF through the DRA; when the IP address of the UE contained in the AAR by the AF is the private IP address of the user before the SGi/Gi interface firewall is converted, the private IP addresses allocated to the user by different P-GW/GGSNs may overlap, and thus the AF may not be correctly addressed to the PCRF through the DRA.

For the problem that the AF cannot correctly address the PCRF through the DRA in the prior art, two solutions are provided in the prior art, where a scheme 1 is as follows:

AF sends AAR message to all PCRF POOL belonging to MSISDN identification number of mobile user; after each PCRF in the PCRF POOL receives the AAR message, the MSISDN is matched with the user currently in charge of management and control, if the MSISDN is matched with the user, the AAR message is accepted, and the PCC policy management and control on the user is executed through a Gx interface subsequently; if not, the AAR message is ignored.

However, the prior art provides scheme 1 with the following disadvantages: the Rx message volume is multiplied, for example: if there are 3 PCRFs in PCRF POOL, the Rx interface signaling message volume is 3 times of the original Rx interface signaling message volume, the increased Rx interface signaling message volume is 2 times, and the increased N times of signaling messages are invalid signaling, which additionally occupies the larger equipment processing capacity resource of DRA; the Rx message volume is multiplied, and when the Rx interface signaling message volume is large, overload of each PCRF device in the PCRF POOL may be caused. For example: 3 PCRF devices in the PCRF POOL, wherein the processing capacity of each device is 100 multi-user, and the whole PCRF POOL has 300 multi-user capacity; if the user capacity to be managed and controlled is 110 ten thousand users when the AF is busy, each PCRF device in the PCRF POOL needs to process the AAR signaling service of 110 ten thousand users, exceeding 100 universal user capacity of each PCRF; when the PCRF does not have a session or cannot inquire the Gx session due to a fault, the returned reason values are the same, and when the PCRF really has a fault, the positioning is difficult; the AF must obtain the MSISDN by other means.

Scheme 2 is as follows:

according to the different characteristics of user private IP addresses distributed by P-GW/GGSN connected with the same SGi/Gi interface firewall, AF maps the user public IP address to SGi/Gi firewall identification IP-domain ID, and provides the IP-domain ID and the user private IP address in AAR message; the DRA analyzes the host name of P-GW/GGSN in CCR-I, maps the host name into IP-domain ID, records and stores the binding relationship of the IP-domain ID, the user IP address and the selected PCRF host name, and synchronizes to another paired DRA, and the process can be called as a new session binding process.

Then the AAR message sent by AF through Rx interface contains IP-domain ID and user private IP address; and the DRA analyzes the AAR message, selects PCRF equipment currently responsible for user PCC policy control in PCRF POOL according to the recorded and stored binding relationship of the IP-domain ID, the user private IP address and the PCRF host name, and forwards the AAR message.

However, the scheme 2 provided by the prior art has the following defects: the new session binding process occupies more hardware processing capacity resources of the DRA, and particularly, the mapping from the host name of the P-GW/GGSN to the IP-domain ID is required to be completed firstly, and the selected PCRF host name is bound by combining the IP-domain ID and 2 parameters of the user IP address; in addition, in the Rx interface process, the IP-domain ID and 2 parameters of the user IP address need to be combined to match and bind the PCRF host name, and the DRA processing capacity resources occupied by the PCRF host name are very large; when the service requirement proportion of the Rx interface is low, the invalid 'new session binding' proportion of the Gx interface is large, and in addition, the price of the DRA software function License is high, so that the wasted DRA equipment investment is large; for example: if only 100 users of 300 ten thousand users have the PCC policy control requirement of the AF, only 100 users of the 300 ten thousand users of the new session bindings performed by the DRA on the Gx interface have the new session bindings of 100 ten thousand users, and the other 200 ten thousand users of the new session bindings are invalid for service application; AF needs to be configured in advance, and a public IP address of a user is mapped into data of an IP-domain ID; DRA is required to be configured in advance, and the host name of P-GW/GGSN is mapped into data of IP-domain ID; the user public IP address, the P-GW/GGSN host name and the IP-domain ID have a certain relationship, and the consistency of AF data and DRA data which are configured in advance by AF needs to be kept, and the consistency of the modification of AF data and DRA data needs to be kept when the connection relationship between the P-GW/GGSN and the SGi/Gi firewall is adjusted.

Aiming at the problem that the AF can not correctly address the PCRF through DRA in the prior art and the defects of the solution 1 and the solution 2, the embodiment of the invention provides a system for the AF to address the PCRF, which determines the address of the P-GW/GGSN to which the UE belongs currently through the mapping relation between the IP address of the UE and the address of the P-GW/GGSN which are configured in advance in the AF, and sets a query interface between the AF and the P-GW/GGSN, thereby accurately obtaining the host name of the PCRF and enabling the PCRF to be correctly addressed through a Diameter signaling network in a quasi-direct connection or direct connection mode.

Specifically, fig. 2 is a flowchart of a method for addressing a PCRF according to an embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 2, an execution main body of the method is a first device, where the first device includes, but is not limited to, a policy and charging control application function af (application function), a service Capability Exposure function scef (service Capability Exposure function), an application Access control aac (application Access control), and a third party service platform, for example: an application server for ICP, the method comprising:

s1, based on a mapping relation between a pre-configured IP address of the terminal UE and an address of a second device, a first device at least comprises a policy and charging control application function AF, a service capability opening function SCEF, an application access control AAC and a third party ICP server, and a second device at least comprises a PDN gateway P-GW/gateway GPRS support node GGSN/policy and charging execution function PCEF, a P-GW/PCEF and a GGSN/PCEF, and determines the address of the second device to which the UE belongs currently;

s2, the first device queries the address information of a policy and charging rule function unit (PCRF) responsible for the Policy and Charging Control (PCC) management and control of the UE to the second device based on the address of the second device to which the UE belongs currently and a query interface preset between the first device and the second device;

s3, the first device includes the address information of the PCRF in a request AAR message initiated by the first device to the PCRF and sends the request AAR message to a Diameter routing agent node DRA, so that the DRA forwards the AAR message to the corresponding PCRF according to the address information of the PCRF, or directly addresses the corresponding PCRF according to the address information of the PCRF.

It should be noted that the first device provided in all embodiments of the present invention includes, but is not limited to, a policy and charging control application function af (application function), a service Capability opening function scef (service Capability Exposure function), an application Access control aac (application Access control), and a third-party service platform, for example: the application server of the ICP, which is preferably used in the embodiment of the present invention to explain the present invention by taking AF as an example;

all of the second devices include: P-GW/GGSN/PCEF, P-GW/PCEF, GGSN/PCEF, P-GW/GGSN, P-GW, GGSN; the PCC includes network elements such as PCRF and PCEF, wherein: the PCEF is usually combined with P-GW/GGSN, P-GW, GGSN, and P-GW/GGSN, P-GW, GGSN are the abbreviations of P-GW/GGSN/PCEF, P-GW/PCEF, GGSN/PCEF. In the embodiment of the present invention, a P-GW/GGSN is preferably used as an example to describe the scheme.

It can be understood that the solution provided by the present invention is implemented in the following premises:

(1) UE accesses MME through 4G wireless network to establish load bearing, or UE accesses SGSN through 2/3G wireless network to initiate PDP establishment request; the P-GW/GGSN distributes a private IP address for the UE and initiates a PCC service flow, and MSISDN, APN, the private IP address distributed for the UE, the host name of the P-GW/GGSN and other information are carried in CCR-I information; the DRA addresses the PCRF POOL to which the user MSISDN belongs according to the information such as the APN, the MSISDN and the like in the CCR-I message, and selects one PCRF to forward the CCR-I message in the PCRF POOL according to a proportional service load sharing principle; PCRF processes UE business submitted by P-GW/GGSN, and records MSISDN of UE, private IP address distributed to UE by P-GW/GGSN, host name of P-GW/GGSN to which UE belongs currently, then returns CCA-I message to P-GW/GGSN; the DRA forwards the CCA-I message to the P-GW/GGSN according to the host name of the P-GW/GGSN in the CCA-I message, the P-GW/GGSN records and stores the PCRF identification currently responsible for PCC policy control of the UE, and the follow-up PDP/bearer establishment flow of the UE is completed.

(2) And the P-GW/GGSN transmits the IP message transmitted by the UE to an IP network through NAT/PAT equipment, and the NAT/PAT equipment can convert the private IP address of the UE into a public IP address. The NAT/PAT device can be called a third device; including but not limited to firewalls and like devices. The preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to a fireproof wall as an example.

(3) When the P-GW/GGSN allocates IPv6 address for the user, (1) the PCRF in the CCR-I message in the process acquires the IPv6 address of the UE; and in the process (2), the firewall does not generally translate the IPv6 address of the UE, and in the embodiment of the present invention, the firewall is supported to translate the IPv6 address of the UE at the same time.

It should be noted that multiple P-GW/GGSNs may share a firewall, and the private IP addresses of multiple P-GW/GGSNs connected to the same firewall cannot be duplicated.

It can be understood that, in the processes of (2) and (3), the third device converts the IP address of the UE, the IP address of the UE before the third device converts is an IP address allocated by the P-GW/GGSN, and the IP address of the UE after the third device converts is an IP address of an application for the UE to access the internet and the like. The method is suitable for the IP address of the UE before the conversion of the third equipment is an IPv4 private address, an IPv6 address and an IPv4 public address, and the IP address of the UE after the conversion of the third equipment is an IPv4 public address and an IPv6 address; the method is suitable for the scene that the IP address of the UE before the conversion of the third equipment is different from the IP address of the UE after the conversion of the third equipment, and is also suitable for the scene that the third equipment is not used or the third equipment is not used for converting the IP address of the UE. In the embodiment of the present invention, the most complicated and most common IP address of the UE before the third device is converted is the IPv4 private address, and the IP address of the UE after the third device is converted is the IPv4 public address.

In the above environment, the AF needs to execute a PCC policy on the UE, that is, the AF needs to correctly address the PCRF by using the method provided by the embodiment of the present invention.

In this embodiment of the present invention, specifically, in S1, in the embodiment of the present invention, a mapping relationship between an IP address and an address of a P-GW/GGSN is pre-configured in an AF, and through the mapping relationship, the AF can address, from the acquired IP address of the UE, an address of the P-GW/GGSN to which the UE belongs currently, where the address of the P-GW/GGSN includes the IP address of the P-GW/GGSN or the host name of the P-GW/GGSN.

In S2, different from the prior art, the embodiment of the present invention adds an interface between the AF and the P-GW/GGSN in the networking, and the AF can correctly send the query message to the address of the P-GW/GGSN determined in S1 through the interface, and obtain the address information of the PCRF through the response message of the P-GW/GGSN.

In S3, after obtaining PCRF address information currently responsible for PCC policy control of the UE, the AF sends an AAR message through an Rx interface, where the AAR message carries PCRF address information, and the DRA routes the AAR message to a corresponding PCRF according to the PCRF address information, thereby completing an addressing process from the AF to the PCRF, or directly addressing to the corresponding PCRF according to the PCRF address information by using a direct connection method.

The address of the PCRF at least comprises the host name of the PCRF, and also can comprise other address information which can be used for the Diameter signaling network to address the PCRF and identifies the PCRF, such as the IP address of the PCRF and the like.

It can be understood that, after receiving the AAR message of the Rx interface, the PCRF performs corresponding PCC policy management and control on the corresponding UE.

Compared with solution 1, since the solution provided by the embodiment of the present invention does not need to send AAR messages to all PCRF groups in the PCRF POOL and does not need to acquire MSISDN, the message volume of the Rx interface is not increased, and all problems corresponding to solution 1 do not occur in the embodiment of the present invention.

Compared with solution 2, the embodiment of the present invention does not have the "new session binding" procedure in solution 2, and therefore, the negative effect that the "new session binding" procedure occupies more resources in solution 2 does not occur in the embodiment of the present invention.

Meanwhile, in the embodiment of the invention, the query message traffic of the AF accessing the P-GW/GGSN is only related to the number of users and the traffic of the AF needing to execute PCC policy control, and does not occupy related resources of other network elements, so that the problem that data consistency needs to be configured for the P-GW/GGSN, DRA and PCRF in the solution 2 is avoided.

In summary, the method for addressing the PCRF provided by the present invention determines the address of the P-GW/GGSN to which the UE currently belongs through the mapping relationship between the IP address of the UE and the address of the P-GW/GGSN, which is pre-configured in the AF, and sets the query interface between the AF and the P-GW/GGSN, so as to accurately obtain the address information of the PCRF, so that the AF can correctly address the PCRF through the DRA or through a direct connection manner.

On the basis of the above embodiment, before determining the address of the second device to which the UE currently belongs, the method further includes:

The third device refers to all IP address translation devices such as network address translation/port address translation (NAT/PAT), including but not limited to a firewall, which is specifically described in the embodiment as an example.

If the acquired IP address of the UE is an IPv6 address, the embodiment of the present invention further includes the case where the IPv6 address of the UE is not subjected to address translation by a firewall and is subjected to address translation by a firewall.

Specifically, the AF may be an operator's own platform, such as: SCEF, AAC, AF, etc., and may also be a third party service platform, for example: the ICP application server, AF obtains the UE private IP address and UE public IP address through other methods, further, under the condition that UE adopts IPv6 address and IP address conversion is not carried out through firewall, AF obtains the UE IPv6 address through other methods; in the case where the UE employs an IPv6 address and is firewall-translated for an IP address, the AF obtains the IPv6 address of the UE before firewall translation and the IPv6 address of the UE after firewall translation by other means. The other modes can be as follows: the service application platform (third platform) sends the information to AAC/SCEF/AF; the service platform obtains the private IP address and the IPv6 address of the UE in a private mode, and obtains the public IP address and the IPv6 address of the UE by receiving the IP message sent by the UE.

On the basis of the foregoing embodiment, when the IP address of the UE is an IPv4 address, determining, based on a mapping relationship between the IP address of the terminal UE and the address of the second device configured in advance, the address of the second device to which the UE currently belongs, where the second device at least includes a PDN gateway P-GW/gateway GPRS support node GGSN/policy and charging enforcement function PCEF, P-GW/PCEF, and GGSN/PCEF, includes:

The address combination is the combination of the IP address before the firewall conversion and the IP address after the firewall conversion, and comprises the following steps: the combination of the IPv4 private IP address and the IPv4 public IP address or the IPv6 address or the combination of the IPv6 address before the firewall conversion and the IPv6 address after the firewall conversion, and the embodiment of the invention also configures the one-to-one corresponding relation of the IPv6 address and the P-GW/GGSN address.

And mapping the public IP address of the UE and the private IP address of the UE into the address of the P-GW/GGSN based on the one-to-one correspondence between the configured address combination and the address of the P-GW/GGSN, wherein each address combination at least comprises a public IP address and a private IP address.

It can be understood that, in the embodiment of the present invention, address combinations are mapped in one-to-one correspondence with addresses of P-GW/GGSN, where the address combinations at least include a public IP address and a private IP address, and the mapping relationship is shown in table 1:

table 1 a preconfigured mapping relationship provided in an embodiment of the present invention

It can be understood that, in an actual existing network, all the existing networks usually appear in the form of address segments, a segment of continuous IP address is called an IP address segment in the embodiment of the present invention, and 1P-GW/GGSN usually has 1 or more discontinuous private IP address segments; similarly, 1 firewall usually has 1 or more discontinuous public IP address segments, table 1 is only a partial mapping relationship provided by the embodiment of the present invention for example, the specific number of address combinations is set according to the actual situation, and the P-GW/GGSN1, P-GW/GGSN2, and P-GW/GGSN3 in table 1 are P-GW/GGSN with 3 different host names, so that according to table 1, the embodiment of the present invention can accurately determine the address of the P-GW/GGSN according to the combination of the public IP address and the private IP address.

It can be understood that, since 1P-GW/GGSN usually has multiple discontinuous private IP address segments, 1 firewall usually has multiple discontinuous public IP address segments, and 1 firewall is responsible for address translation of multiple P-GW/GGSNs, multiple public address segments of the same firewall all correspond to each private address segment, each private address segment necessarily belongs to 1P-GW/GGSN, but for P-GW/GGSNs under different firewalls (new public address segments), its private address segments will repeat.

Then, the embodiment of the present invention needs to further refine the configured mapping relationship, and table 2 is another preconfigured mapping relationship provided by the embodiment of the present invention.

Table 2 another preconfigured mapping relationship provided in this embodiment of the present invention

Wherein, IP address segment A-1-IP address segment A-M in Table 2 represents all public IP address segments after firewall A conversion, IP address segment B-1-IP address segment B-M in Table 2 represents all public IP address segments after firewall B conversion, IP address segment 1-IP address segment 1-n represents private IP address segment shared by P-GW/GGSN1 and P-GW/GGSN3, but it is accessed to firewall A and firewall B respectively, similarly, IP address segment 2-1-IP address segment 2-n represents private IP address segment of P-GW/GGSN2, and is accessed to firewall A together with P-GW/GGSN1, then the private IP address of P-GW/GGSN accessing to the same firewall is not heavy; the private IP addresses of the P-GW/GGSN accessing different firewalls may be duplicated.

As shown in table 2, the embodiment of the present invention corresponds to a plurality of address field combinations for each UE address of P-GW/GGSN.

For example, A-1 to A-M all belong to public IP address segment A, and 1-1 to 1-n all belong to private address segment 1, then all address segment combinations of public IP address segment A and private address segment 1 correspond to the host name of P-GW/GGSN 1.

When the IP address of the UE is an IPv6 address, determining, based on a mapping relationship between the pre-configured IP address of the terminal UE and an address of a second device, the address of the second device to which the UE currently belongs, where the second device at least includes a PDN gateway P-GW/gateway GPRS support node GGSN/policy and charging enforcement function PCEF, P-GW/PCEF, and GGSN/PCEF, and the method includes:

It can be understood that, when the IP addresses of the UE are the IPv4 private address and the IPv4 public address, a group of second devices sharing the IPv4 public address may be identified as 1 IP Domain ID by means of the IP Domain ID, and the 1 IP Domain ID may include one or more second devices, and the IP Domain IDs of the second devices not sharing the IPv4 public address are different; the IP Domain ID may be the number of the firewall in case the translation of the IPv4 private address of the UE for which the group of second devices is responsible to the IPv4 public address is done by the firewall.

In the embodiment of the invention, another configured mapping relation is provided, firstly, a group of firewalls connected with P-GW/GGSN are identified by mapping the public IP address of UE into IP-Domain-ID; then the private IP address of the UE is mapped to the address of the P-GW/GGSN in the IP-Domain-ID.

Table 3 is a mapping relationship for mapping a public IP address to an IP-Domain-ID according to the embodiment of the present invention, and table 4 is a mapping relationship for mapping a private IP address of a UE to an address of a P-GW/GGSN within the IP-Domain-ID according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Table 3 mapping relationship for mapping public IP address to IP-Domain-ID provided in the embodiment of the present invention

Table 4 mapping relation for mapping private IP address of UE to address of P-GW/GGSN in IP-Domain-ID according to embodiments of the present invention

Similarly, when both the public IP address and the private IP address may include a plurality of discontinuous IP address segments, the mapping relationship in the embodiment of the present invention may also be shown in tables 5 and 6.

Table 5 another mapping relationship for mapping a public IP address into an IP-Domain-ID according to the embodiment of the present invention

Public IP address of UE	IP-Domain-ID
		IP address segment A-1	IP-Domain-ID of Firewall A
IP address segment A-2	IP-Domain-ID of Firewall A
		……	IP-Domain-ID of Firewall A
IP address segment A-M	IP-Domain-ID of Firewall A
		IP address field B-1	IP-Domain-ID of Firewall B
IP address field B-2	IP-Domain-ID of Firewall B
		……	IP-Domain-ID of Firewall B
IP address field B-M	IP-Domain-ID of Firewall B

The IP address sections A-1 to A-M in the table 5 represent all public IP address sections after the firewall A is converted, and the IP address sections B-1 to B-M in the table 5 represent all public IP address sections after the firewall B is converted.

Table 6 another mapping relationship for mapping the private IP address of the UE to the address of the P-GW/GGSN in the IP-Domain-ID according to the embodiment of the present invention

Similarly, IP address segments A-1 to A-M represent all public IP address segments after firewall A conversion, IP address segments B-1 to B-M in Table 2 represent all public IP address segments after firewall B conversion, IP address segments 1-1 to 1-n represent private IP address segments shared by P-GW/GGSN1 and P-GW/GGSN3, but are respectively accessed to firewall A and firewall B, and similarly, IP address segments 2-1 to 2-n represent private IP address segments of P-GW/2, and are accessed to firewall A together with P-GW/GGSN1, so that the private IP addresses of P-GW/GGSN accessing to the same firewall are not the same; the private IP addresses of the P-GW/GGSN accessing different firewalls may be duplicated.

No matter the mapping relation provided by tables 3 and 4 or the mapping relation provided by tables 5 and 6 is used, the embodiment of the invention can accurately determine the address of the P-GW/GGSN through the acquired private IP address and public IP address.

On the basis of the foregoing embodiment, the querying, to a second device, address information of a policy and charging rule function unit PCRF, which is responsible for policy and charging control PCC management and control of the UE, based on an address of the second device to which the UE currently belongs and a query interface preset between the first device and the second device, includes:

The HTTP, including HTTP/1.0, HTTP/1.1, HTTP/2.0, and other subsequent versions, the API interface type at the upper layers of HTTP and HTTPS may be RESTful, etc.

It can be understood that the AF configures the IP address or host name/domain name of P-GW/GGSN, and when the AF configures the IP address of P-GW/GGSN, the AF can directly access P-GW/GGSN through the IP network; when the host name/domain name of the P-GW/GGSN is configured in the AF, the AF queries the DNS according to the host name/domain name of the P-GW/GGSN to obtain the IP address of the P-GW/GGSN, and then accesses the P-GW/GGSN through the IP network.

The interface protocol used by the query interface preset between the AF and the P-GW/GGSN in the embodiment of the invention is the HTTP protocol or the HTTPS protocol, and the communication process can be accurately and efficiently completed through the HTTP or the HTTPS protocol, and the implementation is easy.

The other scheme provided by the embodiment of the invention is that an interface protocol used by a query interface between the AF and the P-GW/GGSN is a Diameter protocol, and the Diameter protocol can safely and reliably transmit messages and can keep the compatibility of the existing network.

In the embodiment of the present invention, two types of query messages are provided, one is a query message containing APN information, and the other is a query message not containing APN information, and the query messages for both types include the device identifier of the UE. The device identity of the UE is used to identify the UE device, including but not limited to: the private IP address of the UE, the MSISDN of the UE, the IMSI of the UE, the IMEI of the UE, and other identities of the UE that can be obtained by both the AF and P-GW/GGSN.

For example: the query message including the APN information may include four cases, that is, the private IP address of the APN and the UE, the MSISDN of the APN and the UE, the IMSI of the APN and the UE, and the IMEI of the APN and the UE, and a free combination of the four cases.

It is understood that the second device may perform different processing according to whether the query message contains APN information.

Fig. 3 is a flowchart of another method for addressing a PCRF according to an embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 3, the method includes:

1. the second equipment receives inquiry information which is sent by the first equipment and at least has equipment identification of the UE;

2. when the query message sent by the first device further includes APN information, the second device sends the stored PCRF address information corresponding to the PCC regulation of the APN in charge of the UE to the first device as a response message, so that the first device addresses the PCRF according to the response message;

The main execution body of the method provided in the embodiment of the present invention in fig. 3 is a second device, and specifically, the second device may perform corresponding processing according to whether the query message sent by the first device contains APN information:

for the query message containing the APN information, the P-GW/GGSN returns the PCRF host name which is stored by the P-GW/GGSN and is responsible for PCC control of the corresponding APN of the UE to the AF;

and for the query message which does not contain the APN information, the P-GW/GGSN returns the PCRF host name which is stored by the P-GW/GGSN and is responsible for the specific APN of the UE, such as PCC regulation of the Internet service APN, to the AF.

Further, in the response message returned to the AF by the P-GW/GGSN, at least the PCRF hostname controlled by the PCC of the corresponding APN of the UE may be included, and the IP address of the PCRF and other address information of other identification PCRFs that may be used for the Diameter signaling network to address the PCRF may also be included, and according to the service requirement, the response message returned to the AF may also include: and the Gx interface host name of the P-GW/GGSN, the private IP address of the UE, the MSISDN, the APN, the radio access type RAT and other information of the UE stored by the second equipment.

Fig. 4 is a structural diagram of a first device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 4, the first device includes: a determination module 3, a query module 4 and an addressing module 5, wherein:

the determining module 3 is configured to determine, based on a mapping relationship between a preconfigured IP address of the terminal UE and an address of a second device, that the first device at least includes a policy and charging control application function AF, a service capability opening function SCEF, an application access control AAC, and a third party ICP server, and that the second device at least includes a PDN gateway P-GW/gateway GPRS support node GGSN/policy and charging enforcement function PCEF, P-GW/PCEF, and GGSN/PCEF, and that the second device address to which the UE currently belongs;

the query module 4 is configured to query, to the second device, address information of a policy and charging rule function unit PCRF, which is responsible for policy and charging control PCC control of the UE, based on an address of the second device to which the UE currently belongs and a query interface preset between the first device and the second device;

the addressing module 5 is configured to include the address information of the PCRF in a request AAR message initiated by the first device to the PCRF, and send the request AAR message to a Diameter routing agent node DRA, so that the DRA forwards the AAR message to a corresponding PCRF according to the address information of the PCRF, or directly address the corresponding PCRF according to the address information of the PCRF.

For details, reference may be made to the above embodiments for how to address the PCRF by using the determining module 3, the querying module 4, and the addressing module 5, and details of the embodiments of the present invention are not described herein again.

Fig. 5 is a structural diagram of a second device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 5, the second device includes: a receiving module 6 and a responding module 7, wherein:

the receiving module 6 is configured to receive query information sent by a first device and at least carrying a device identifier of a UE;

the response module 7 is configured to, when the query message sent by the first device further includes APN information, send, by the second device, stored PCRF address information corresponding to PCC management and control of the APN of the UE to the first device as a response message, so that the first device addresses the PCRF according to the response message;

For details, how to address the PCRF by using the receiving module 6 and the responding module 7 may refer to the above embodiments, which are not described herein again.

The embodiment of the invention provides a system for addressing PCRF, which comprises: at least one processor; and at least one memory communicatively coupled to the processor, wherein:

the memory stores program instructions executable by the processor, the processor calls the program instructions to perform the methods provided by the method embodiments, for example, including: the method comprises the steps that first equipment at least comprises a policy and charging control Application Function (AF), a service capability opening function (SCEF), an Application Access Control (AAC) and a third party ICP server based on a mapping relation between a pre-configured IP address of terminal equipment (UE) and an address of second equipment, the second equipment at least comprises a Packet Data Network (PDN) gateway P-GW/Gateway GPRS Support Node (GGSN)/Policy and Charging Execution Function (PCEF), P-GW/PCEF and GGSN/PCEF, and the address of the second equipment to which the UE belongs currently is determined; the first equipment queries address information of a policy and charging rule functional unit (PCRF) responsible for Policy and Charging Control (PCC) control of the UE to second equipment on the basis of a second equipment address to which the UE belongs currently and a query interface preset between the first equipment and the second equipment; the method comprises the steps that first equipment contains address information of a PCRF in a request AAR message initiated by the first equipment to the PCRF and sends the request AAR message to a Diameter routing agent node DRA, so that the DRA forwards the AAR message to the corresponding PCRF according to the address information of the PCRF, or directly addresses the corresponding PCRF according to the address information of the PCRF, and second equipment receives query information which is sent by the first equipment and at least carries equipment identification of UE; when the query message sent by the first device further includes APN information, the second device sends the stored PCRF address information corresponding to the PCC regulation of the APN in charge of the UE to the first device as a response message, so that the first device addresses the PCRF according to the response message; when the query message sent by the first device does not include APN information, the second device sends the stored PCRF address information corresponding to PCC regulation and control of the target APN of the UE to the first device as a response message, so that the first device addresses the PCRF according to the response message, and the target APN is pre-configured in the second device.

The present embodiment discloses a computer program product comprising a computer program stored on a non-transitory computer readable storage medium, the computer program comprising program instructions which, when executed by a computer, enable the computer to perform the method provided by the above-mentioned method embodiments, for example, comprising: the method comprises the steps that first equipment at least comprises a policy and charging control Application Function (AF), a service capability opening function (SCEF), an Application Access Control (AAC) and a third party ICP server based on a mapping relation between a pre-configured IP address of terminal equipment (UE) and an address of second equipment, the second equipment at least comprises a Packet Data Network (PDN) gateway P-GW/Gateway GPRS Support Node (GGSN)/Policy and Charging Execution Function (PCEF), P-GW/PCEF and GGSN/PCEF, and the address of the second equipment to which the UE belongs currently is determined; the first equipment queries address information of a policy and charging rule functional unit (PCRF) responsible for Policy and Charging Control (PCC) control of the UE to second equipment on the basis of a second equipment address to which the UE belongs currently and a query interface preset between the first equipment and the second equipment; the method comprises the steps that first equipment contains address information of a PCRF in a request AAR message initiated by the first equipment to the PCRF and sends the request AAR message to a Diameter routing agent node DRA, so that the DRA forwards the AAR message to the corresponding PCRF according to the address information of the PCRF, or directly addresses the corresponding PCRF according to the address information of the PCRF, and second equipment receives query information which is sent by the first equipment and at least carries equipment identification of UE; when the query message sent by the first device further includes APN information, the second device sends the stored PCRF address information corresponding to the PCC regulation of the APN in charge of the UE to the first device as a response message, so that the first device addresses the PCRF according to the response message; when the query message sent by the first device does not include APN information, the second device sends the stored PCRF address information corresponding to PCC regulation and control of the target APN of the UE to the first device as a response message, so that the first device addresses the PCRF according to the response message, and the target APN is pre-configured in the second device.

The present embodiments provide a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer instructions that cause the computer to perform the methods provided by the above method embodiments, for example, including: the method comprises the steps that first equipment at least comprises a policy and charging control Application Function (AF), a service capability opening function (SCEF), an Application Access Control (AAC) and a third party ICP server based on a mapping relation between a pre-configured IP address of terminal equipment (UE) and an address of second equipment, the second equipment at least comprises a Packet Data Network (PDN) gateway P-GW/Gateway GPRS Support Node (GGSN)/Policy and Charging Execution Function (PCEF), P-GW/PCEF and GGSN/PCEF, and the address of the second equipment to which the UE belongs currently is determined; the first equipment queries address information of a policy and charging rule functional unit (PCRF) responsible for Policy and Charging Control (PCC) control of the UE to second equipment on the basis of a second equipment address to which the UE belongs currently and a query interface preset between the first equipment and the second equipment; the method comprises the steps that first equipment contains address information of a PCRF in a request AAR message initiated by the first equipment to the PCRF and sends the request AAR message to a Diameter routing agent node DRA, so that the DRA forwards the AAR message to the corresponding PCRF according to the address information of the PCRF, or directly addresses the corresponding PCRF according to the address information of the PCRF, and second equipment receives query information which is sent by the first equipment and at least carries equipment identification of UE; when the query message sent by the first device further includes APN information, the second device sends the stored PCRF address information corresponding to the PCC regulation of the APN in charge of the UE to the first device as a response message, so that the first device addresses the PCRF according to the response message; when the query message sent by the first device does not include APN information, the second device sends the stored PCRF address information corresponding to PCC regulation and control of the target APN of the UE to the first device as a response message, so that the first device addresses the PCRF according to the response message, and the target APN is pre-configured in the second device.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will understand that: all or part of the steps for implementing the method embodiments may be implemented by hardware related to program instructions, and the program may be stored in a computer readable storage medium, and when executed, the program performs the steps including the method embodiments; and the aforementioned storage medium includes: various media that can store program codes, such as ROM, RAM, magnetic or optical disks.

Through the above description of the embodiments, those skilled in the art will clearly understand that each embodiment can be implemented by software plus a necessary general hardware platform, and certainly can also be implemented by hardware. With this understanding in mind, the above-described technical solutions may be embodied in the form of a software product, which can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium such as ROM/RAM, magnetic disk, optical disk, etc., and includes instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to execute the methods described in the embodiments or some parts of the embodiments.

Finally, the method of the present application is only a preferred embodiment and is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. Any modification, equivalent replacement, or improvement made within the spirit and principle of the present invention should be included in the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A method of addressing a PCRF, comprising:

the first equipment contains the address information of the PCRF in a request AAR message initiated by the first equipment to the PCRF and sends the request AAR message to a Diameter routing agent node DRA, so that the DRA forwards the AAR message to the corresponding PCRF according to the address information of the PCRF, or directly addresses the corresponding PCRF according to the address information of the PCRF;

before determining the second device address to which the UE currently belongs, the method further includes:

2. The method of claim 1, wherein when the IP address of the UE is an IPv4 address, determining the second device address to which the UE currently belongs based on a mapping relationship between the pre-configured IP address of the UE and the second device address, where the second device at least includes a PDN gateway P-GW/gateway GPRS support node GGSN/policy and charging enforcement function PCEF, a P-GW/PCEF, and a GGSN/PCEF, includes:

3. The method of claim 1, wherein when the IP address of the UE is an IPv4 address, determining the second device address to which the UE currently belongs based on a mapping relationship between the pre-configured IP address of the UE and the second device address, where the second device at least includes a PDN gateway P-GW/gateway GPRS support node GGSN/policy and charging enforcement function PCEF, a P-GW/PCEF, and a GGSN/PCEF, includes:

and the first equipment maps the private IP address of the UE to the address of the second equipment to which the UE belongs currently based on the IP DomainID to which the second equipment belongs.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein when the IP address of the UE is an IPv6 address, determining the second device address to which the UE currently belongs based on a mapping relationship between the pre-configured IP address of the UE and the second device address, where the second device at least includes a PDN gateway P-GW/gateway GPRS support node GGSN/policy and charging enforcement function PCEF, a P-GW/PCEF, and a GGSN/PCEF, includes:

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the querying, based on a second device address to which the UE currently belongs and a query interface preset between a first device and the second device, address information of a policy and charging rules function PCRF responsible for PCC control of the UE from the second device comprises:

6. A method of addressing a PCRF, comprising:

when the query message sent by the first device does not include APN information, the second device sends the stored PCRF address information corresponding to PCC management and control of the target APN of the UE to the first device as a response message, so that the first device addresses the PCRF according to the response message, and the target APN is pre-configured in the second device;

before the second device receives the query information with at least the device identifier of the UE sent by the first device, the method further includes:

7. A first device, comprising:

the addressing module is used for including the address information of the PCRF in a request AAR message initiated by first equipment to the PCRF and sending the request AAR message to a Diameter routing agent node DRA, so that the DRA forwards the AAR message to the corresponding PCRF according to the address information of the PCRF, or directly addresses the corresponding PCRF according to the address information of the PCRF;

before determining the address of the second device to which the UE belongs currently, the method further comprises the following steps:

8. A second apparatus, comprising:

before the second device receives the query information sent by the first device and at least with the device identity of the UE, the method further includes: