CN110149602B

CN110149602B - Policy control method, device and system

Info

Publication number: CN110149602B
Application number: CN201810150155.1A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 丁辉; 时书锋
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2018-02-13
Filing date: 2018-02-13
Publication date: 2020-07-07
Anticipated expiration: 2038-02-13
Also published as: WO2019158032A1; CN110149602A

Abstract

The embodiment of the application discloses a policy control method, a device and a system, which relate to the technical field of communication and aim to realize the usage monitoring of the same usage monitoring instance on a plurality of PSA. The method comprises the following steps: the method comprises the steps that a strategy control network element determines that a PDU session comprises a first PSA and a second PSA, and determines that the first PSA executes usage monitoring of a first usage monitoring instance corresponding to a first monitoring key; when the policy control network element determines that the usage monitoring on the first volume monitoring instance is also performed on the second PSA, the policy control network element allocates a second monitoring key to the first volume monitoring instance, and sends, to the session management network element, the PCC rule carrying the second monitoring key and information indicating a policy corresponding to the PCC rule on the second PSA, and the usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key.

Description

Policy control method, device and system

Technical Field

The embodiment of the application relates to the technical field of communication, in particular to a policy control method, device and system.

Background

In the fifth generation (5)^thGeneration, 5G) mobile communication system (5G system for short), a usage monitoring mechanism may be used to manage and control the real-time network resource usage. The usage monitoring may be performed for one or a group of service Data flows, or may be performed for a service Data flow on a whole Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session, without limitation. For example, in the 5G system, after the user access network establishes the PDU Session, the service data flow may be monitored or the PDU Session may be monitored at a PDU Session Anchor (PSA) included in the PDU Session.

However, for a traffic monitoring instance, existing 5G systems only support performing traffic monitoring for the traffic monitoring instance on one PSA included in the PDU session, and do not support performing traffic monitoring for the traffic monitoring instance on multiple PSAs included in the PDU session simultaneously.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the application provides a policy control method, a device and a system, so as to realize the usage monitoring of the same usage monitoring instance on a plurality of PSA.

In order to achieve the above purpose, the embodiment of the present application adopts the following technical solutions:

in a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a policy control method, where the method is performed by a policy control network element, the policy control network element determines that a PDU session includes a first PSA and a second PSA, and the policy control network element determines that usage monitoring of a first usage monitoring instance corresponding to a first monitoring key (monitoring key) is performed on the first PSA; the method comprises the following steps: determining to perform usage monitoring of the first instance of usage monitoring on the second PSA; assigning a second monitoring key to the first quantity monitoring instance; and sending Policy control information including Policy and Charging Control (PCC) rules and a usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key to the session management network element, wherein the PCC rules carry the second monitoring key and information indicating that a Policy corresponding to the PCC rules is executed on the second PSA. Based on the policy control method provided by the embodiment of the application, the PDU session comprises a plurality of PSAs, and under the condition that a certain PSA included in the PDU session performs usage monitoring of the usage monitoring instance, if the policy control network element determines that other PSAs included in the PDU session also perform usage monitoring of the usage monitoring instance, the policy control network element assigns a new monitoring key to the usage monitoring instance, and sends policy control information carrying the PCC rule and the new monitoring key usage threshold to the session management network element, so that the session management network element sends the PDR and the URR corresponding to the new monitoring key to other PSAs of the PDU session according to the new monitoring key carried by the PCC rule and the information indicating that the policy corresponding to the PCC rule is executed on other PSAs, in this manner, enabling other PSAs to perform dose monitoring based on the PDR and URR enables dose monitoring of the same instance of dose monitoring to be performed at multiple PSAs.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a policy control method, where the policy control method is performed by a policy control network element, the policy control network element determines that a PDU session includes a first PSA and a second PSA, and the policy control network element determines that usage monitoring of a first usage monitoring instance corresponding to a first monitoring key is performed on the first PSA; the method comprises the following steps: determining to perform usage monitoring of the first instance of usage monitoring on the second PSA; assigning a second monitoring key to the first quantity monitoring instance; and sending policy control information including the PCC rule, the usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key, and information indicating that the policy corresponding to the PCC rule is executed on the second PSA, to the session management network element, where the PCC rule carries the second monitoring key. Based on the policy control method provided by the embodiment of the application, the PDU session comprises a plurality of PSAs, and under the condition that a certain PSA included in the PDU session performs usage monitoring of the usage monitoring instance, if the policy control network element determines that other PSAs included in the PDU session also perform usage monitoring of the usage monitoring instance, the policy control network element assigns a new monitoring key to the usage monitoring instance, and sends policy control information carrying the PCC rule, the usage threshold corresponding to the second monitorangkey, and information indicating that the policy corresponding to the PCC rule is executed on the second PSA to the session management network element, so that the session management network element sends the PDR and the URR corresponding to the new monitoring key to other PSA of the PDU session according to the received information, in this manner, enabling other PSAs to perform dose monitoring based on the PDR and URR enables dose monitoring of the same instance of dose monitoring to be performed at multiple PSAs.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a policy control method, where the policy control method is executed by a policy control network element, the policy control network element determines that a PDU session includes a first PDU session anchor PSA and a second PSA, and the policy control network element determines that usage monitoring of a session-level usage monitoring instance corresponding to a first monitoring key is executed on the first PSA; the method comprises the following steps: determining to perform session level usage monitoring on the second PSA; assigning a second monitoring key to the session-level usage monitoring instance; and sending a usage threshold value corresponding to the second monitoring key and information policy control information for indicating that session level usage monitoring is performed on the second PSA or all PSAs included in the PDU session to a session management network element. Based on the policy control method provided in the embodiment of the present application, in a case that a PDU session includes multiple PSAs, and a certain PSA included in the PDU session performs usage monitoring of a session level usage monitoring instance corresponding to a first monitoring key, if a policy control network element determines that other PSAs included in the PDU session also perform usage monitoring on the session level usage monitoring instance, the policy control network element allocates a new monitoring key to the session level usage monitoring instance, and sends a usage threshold corresponding to a second monitoring key and information policy control information for instructing to perform session level usage monitoring on the second PSA or on all PSAs included in the PDU session, so that the session management network element sends a URR corresponding to the new monitoring key to the other PSAs of the PDU session according to the received information, and thus, the other PSAs perform usage monitoring according to the PDR and the URR, it is achieved that the usage monitoring of the session level usage monitoring instances is performed simultaneously at multiple PSAs.

In a first possible design, with reference to the first aspect, the second aspect, or the third aspect, the usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key is determined according to the usage quota of the first monitoring instance signed by the user, the accumulated usage of the first monitoring instance, and the usage threshold corresponding to the first monitoring instance issued by the policy control network element.

In a second possible design, with reference to the first aspect, the second aspect, the third aspect, or the first possible design, the policy control network element further stores a correspondence between the first quantity monitoring instance and the first monitoring key or the second monitoring key. In this way, the usage monitoring instances and their corresponding assigned monitoring keys can be conveniently counted on the cumulative usage of the usage monitoring instances subsequently, wherein the cumulative usage of all the received monitoring keys corresponding to the usage monitoring instances is corresponding to the cumulative usage of the usage monitoring instances.

In a third possible design, with reference to the first aspect, the second aspect, the third aspect, or any one of the foregoing possible designs, after the policy control network element sends the policy control information to the session management network element, the method further includes: the policy control network element receives the accumulated usage of any monitoring key corresponding to the first quantity monitoring instance reported by the session management network element; judging whether an allowed usage threshold corresponding to the first usage monitoring instance exists or not; under the condition that the allowed usage threshold exists, sending a new usage threshold corresponding to any monitoring key to the session management network element according to the allowed usage threshold; under the condition that no usage threshold is allowed, the policy control network element sends a stop notification for notifying the session management network element to stop monitoring the usage of any monitoring key to the session management network element; wherein any one of the monitoring keys is the first monitoring key or the second monitoring key. In this way, after the policy control network element receives the cumulative usage report of the monitering key, the policy control network element determines, by combining the cumulative usage and some other information, an allowed usage threshold corresponding to the usage monitoring instance corresponding to the monitering key, and allocates a new usage threshold to the monitering key or stops the usage monitoring of the URR corresponding to the monitering key according to the allowed usage threshold.

In a third possible design, the allowed usage threshold corresponding to the first volume monitoring instance is determined according to a usage limit of the first volume monitoring instance signed by the user, an accumulated usage of the first volume monitoring instance, and a usage threshold not receiving a response to the accumulated usage information among the usage thresholds of the monitoring key corresponding to the first volume monitoring instance issued by the policy control network element.

In a fourth possible design, in combination with the third possible design, when the policy control network element receives the accumulated usage of the first monitoring key reported by the session management network element, the policy control network element further receives an identifier of the first PSA sent by the session management network element; when the policy control network element receives the accumulated usage of the second monitoring key reported by the session management network element, the policy control network element also receives the identifier of the second PSA sent by the session management network element. That is, when the session management network element reports the cumulative amount of the monitoring key, the identifier of the PSA needs to be reported, so that the policy control network element knows from which PSA the cumulative amount of the monitoring key is monitored.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a policy control method, where the method is performed by a session management network element, a PDU session managed by the session management network element includes a first PSA and a second PSA, and the session management network element sends a Usage Reporting Rule (URR) corresponding to a first monitoring key to the first PSA, where the method may include: receiving policy control information from the policy control network element, where the policy control information includes a PCC rule and a usage threshold corresponding to a second monitoring key, where the PCC rule carries the second monitoring key, and information indicating that a policy corresponding to the PCC rule is to be executed on a second PSA; and sending a first Packet Detection Rule (PDR) corresponding to the PCC Rule and a URR corresponding to the second monitoring key to the second PSA. Based on the policy control method provided in the embodiment of the present application, when a PDU session includes multiple PSAs, and a session management network element has sent a URR corresponding to a first monitoring key to a certain PSA included in the PDU session, the session management network element receives policy control information which is sent by a policy control network element and carries a PCC rule and a usage threshold corresponding to a second monitoring key, and sends a PDR and a URR corresponding to the second monitoring key to other PSAs of the PDU session according to the second monitoring key carried by the PCC rule and information which is carried by the PCC rule and used for indicating that a policy corresponding to the PCC rule is executed on the other PSAs, so that the other PSAs perform usage monitoring according to the PDR and the URR, thereby implementing usage monitoring on the same usage monitoring instance by multiple PSAs.

In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a policy control method, where the method is performed by a session management network element, a PDU session managed by the session management network element includes a first PSA and a second PSA, and the session management network element sends a URR corresponding to a first monitoring key to the first PSA, where the method may include: the session management network element receives policy control information from the policy control network element, where the policy control information includes a PCC rule, a usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key, and information used to indicate that a policy corresponding to the PCC rule is executed on the second PSA, and the PCC rule carries the second monitoring key; and the session management network element sends the first PDR corresponding to the PCC rule and the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key to the second PSA. Based on the policy control method provided in the embodiment of the present application, when a PDU session includes multiple PSAs, and a session management network element has sent a URR corresponding to a first monitoring key to a certain PSA included in the PDU session, the session management network element receives policy control information, which is sent by a policy control network element and carries a PCC rule, a usage threshold corresponding to a second monitoring key, and information used to indicate that a policy corresponding to the PCC rule is executed on other PSAs included in the PDU session, and sends a PDR and a URR corresponding to the second monitoring key to other PSAs of the PDU session according to the second monitoring key carried by the PCC rule and the information used to indicate that a policy corresponding to the PCC rule is executed on other PSAs, so that the other PSAs perform usage monitoring according to the PDR and the URR, thereby implementing that the usage monitoring on the same usage monitoring instance is executed on multiple PSAs.

In a fifth possible design, with reference to the fourth or fifth aspect, before the session management network element sends, to the second PSA, the first PDR corresponding to the PCC rule and the second URR corresponding to the second monitoring key, the method further includes: and the session management network element determines the packet detection information of the first PDR according to the service data flow template in the PCC rule and determines the URR for the second monitoring key. In this way, before the session management network element sends the PDR and the URR to the second PSA, the PDR may be determined according to the PCC rule, and the URR may be determined for the second monitoring key, so that the PDR is associated with the URR.

In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a policy control method, where the method is performed by a session management network element, a PDU session managed by the session management network element includes a first PSA and a second PSA, the session management network element sends, to the first PSA, a URR corresponding to a first monitoring key, and the first monitoring key corresponds to a session-level usage monitoring instance; the method can comprise the following steps: the session management network element receives the usage threshold value corresponding to the second monitoring key and the policy control information used for indicating that the session level usage monitoring is performed on the second PSA or indicating that the session level usage monitoring is performed on all PSAs included in the PDU session from the policy control network element; and sending a URR corresponding to the second monitoring key to the second PSA, wherein the second URR is associated with at least one Packet Detection Rule (PDR) executed by the second PSA, and the traffic data matched by each PDR is included in the session-level usage monitoring. Based on the policy control method provided by the embodiment of the application, the PDU session comprises a plurality of PSAs, and the session management network element has sent the URR corresponding to the monitoring key corresponding to the session level usage monitoring instance to a PSA included in the PDU session, the session management network element receives the usage threshold value which is sent by the policy control network element and includes the new monitoring key corresponding to the session-level usage monitoring instance, and the policy control information which is used for indicating that the session-level usage monitoring is executed on other PSAs included in the PDU session or indicating that the session-level usage monitoring is executed on all PSAs included in the PDU session, sending URRs corresponding to the new monitoring keys corresponding to the session-level usage monitoring instances to other PSAs of the PDU session according to the indication of the policy control information, such that other PSAs perform usage monitoring based on the URR and at least one PDR associated with the URR, in this manner, it is achieved that usage monitoring is performed on the same session level usage monitoring instance at multiple PSAs.

In a sixth possible design, with reference to the fourth aspect, the fifth aspect, the sixth aspect, or the fifth possible design, the usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key is determined according to the usage limit of the first quantity monitoring instance signed by the user, the cumulative usage of the first quantity monitoring instance, and the usage threshold corresponding to the first quantity monitoring instance issued by the policy control network element.

In a seventh possible design, with reference to the fourth aspect, the fifth possible design, or the sixth possible design, after the session management network element sends the URR corresponding to the second monitorangkey and the first PDR corresponding to the PCC rule to the second PSA, or with reference to the sixth aspect, after the session management network element sends the URR corresponding to the second monitorangkey to the second PSA, the session management network element further performs the following process: the session management network element receives the cumulative usage of URRs reported by any PSA included in the PDU session, and reports the cumulative usage of the monitoring key to the policy control network element; or the session management network element receives the cumulative usage of the URRs reported by any PSA included in the PDU session, and the session management network element determines whether there is a remaining usage threshold corresponding to the monitoring key; under the condition that the residual usage threshold exists, the session management network element updates the usage threshold of the URR reported by any PSA according to the residual usage threshold; under the condition that no residual usage threshold value exists, the session management network element reports the accumulated usage of the monitoring key to the policy control network element; wherein the monitoring key is the monitoring key corresponding to the URR reported by any PSA, and the cumulative amount of monitoring key comprises the cumulative amount of URR reported by any PSA; either PSA is the first PSA or the second PSA. The remaining usage threshold is a usage threshold that has not been allocated to the URR in the usage thresholds corresponding to the monitoring key received by the session management network element from the policy management network element.

In an eighth possible design, in combination with the seventh possible design, when the session management network element reports the cumulative usage of the monitoring key to the policy control network element, the method further includes: the identity of any PSA is sent to the policy control network element. Therefore, the policy control network element can know the accumulated usage reported by which PSA, and a reference basis is provided for the policy control network element to subsequently formulate a monitoring policy.

In a ninth possible design, in combination with the seventh possible design or the eighth possible design, the method further includes: the session management network element receives a new usage threshold of the monitoring key sent by the policy control network element; or receiving a stop notification sent by the policy control network element for notifying the session management unit to stop monitoring the usage of the monitoring key, and sending a deletion request for requesting any PSA to delete the URR corresponding to the monitoring key or a stop request for requesting any PSA to stop monitoring the usage of the URR corresponding to the monitoring key to the any PSA. Thus, the usage threshold of monitoralkkey can be dynamically adjusted or the usage monitoring can be stopped according to the allowed usage threshold corresponding to the usage monitoring instance.

In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a policy control network element, where the policy control network element determines that a PDU session includes a first PSA and a second PSA, and determines that the first PSA executes usage monitoring of a first usage monitoring instance corresponding to a first monitoring key, and the policy control network element may implement the functions executed by the policy control network element in the above aspects or in each possible design, where the functions may be implemented by hardware or may be implemented by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software comprises one or more modules corresponding to the functions. Such as: the policy control network element may include: the device comprises a determining unit, an allocating unit, a sending unit and a receiving unit.

In one possible design, the determining unit is configured to determine that usage monitoring of the first instance of usage monitoring is performed on the second PSA; an assigning unit configured to assign a second monitoring key to the first quantity monitoring instance; a sending unit 73, configured to send the policy control information to the session management network element. The policy control information includes a PCC rule and a usage threshold corresponding to a second monitoring key, and the PCC rule carries the second monitoring key and information indicating that a policy corresponding to the PCC rule is executed on a second PSA; or the policy control information includes the PCC rule, the usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoraging key, and information indicating that the policy corresponding to the PCC rule is executed on the second PSA, where the PCC rule carries the second monitoraging key.

In yet another possible design, the determining unit is configured to determine that session level usage monitoring is performed on the second PSA; the allocation unit is used for allocating a second monitoring key to the session-level usage monitoring instance; a sending unit 73, configured to send the policy control information to the session management network element. Wherein the policy control information includes: a usage threshold corresponding to a second monitoring key, and information indicating that session level usage monitoring is performed on the second PSA or on all PSAs involved in the PDU session.

With reference to any one of the above possible designs, the receiving unit is configured to receive, after the sending unit sends the policy control information to the session management network element, the accumulated usage of any monitoring key corresponding to the first volume monitoring instance reported by the session management network element; the determining unit is further used for judging whether an allowed usage threshold corresponding to the first usage monitoring instance exists; a sending unit, configured to send, to the session management network element, a new usage threshold corresponding to any monitoring key according to the allowed usage threshold when the allowed usage threshold exists; and sending a stop notice to the session management network element under the condition that the usage threshold is not allowed, wherein the stop notice is used for informing the session management network element to stop monitoring the usage of any monitoring key. Wherein any one of the monitoring keys is the first monitoring key or the second monitoring key.

For a specific implementation manner of the policy control network element, reference may be made to the behavior function of the policy control network element in the policy control method provided by any one of the first aspect, the second aspect, the third aspect, or any one of the first possible design to the thirteenth possible design, and details are not repeated here. Therefore, the policy control network element provided can achieve the same beneficial effects as any one of the possible designs of the first aspect, the second aspect, the third aspect, or the first to the fourth possible designs.

In an eighth aspect, a policy control network element is provided, including: a processor and a memory; the memory is configured to store computer-executable instructions, and when the policy control network element is running, the processor executes the computer-executable instructions stored in the memory to cause the policy control network element to perform the policy control method according to any one of the first aspect, the second aspect, the third aspect, the first possible design to the fourth possible design.

In a ninth aspect, there is provided a computer-readable storage medium having stored therein instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the policy control method of any one of the first aspect, the second aspect, the third aspect, or the first possible design to the fourth possible design described above.

A tenth aspect provides a computer program product comprising instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of policy control according to any one of the first aspect, the second aspect, the third aspect, the first possible design to the fourth possible design.

In an eleventh aspect, a chip system is provided, where the chip system includes a processor and a communication interface, and is configured to support a policy control network element to implement the functions related in the foregoing aspects, for example, the policy control network element is supported to determine to perform usage monitoring on a first volume monitoring instance on a second PSA, allocate a second monitoring key to the first volume monitoring instance, and send policy control information including a PCC rule and a usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key to a session management network element through the communication interface; or the policy control network element is supported to execute session level usage monitoring on the second PSA, allocate a second monitoring key to the session level usage monitoring instance, and send a message to the session management network element, where the message includes: a usage threshold corresponding to a second monitoring key, and policy control information indicating information to perform session level usage monitoring on the second PSA or on all PSAs involved in the PDU session. In one possible design, the system-on-chip further includes a memory for storing program instructions and data necessary for the policy control network element. The chip system may be constituted by a chip, or may include a chip and other discrete devices.

For technical effects brought by any one of the design manners of the seventh aspect to the eleventh aspect, reference may be made to technical effects brought by different design manners of the first aspect, the second aspect, or the third aspect, and details are not repeated here.

In a twelfth aspect, a session management network element is provided, where a PDU session managed by the session management network element includes a first PSA and a second PSA, and the session management network element sends a URR corresponding to a first monitoring key to the first PSA, and the session management network element has a function of implementing the session management network element in the method according to the fourth aspect, the fifth aspect, or the sixth aspect. The function can be realized by hardware, and can also be realized by executing corresponding software by hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the functions described above. Such as: the session management network element may include: the device comprises a receiving unit, a sending unit and a determining unit.

In one possible design, the receiving unit is configured to receive policy control information from a policy control network element, and the sending unit is configured to send, to a second PSA, a first PDR corresponding to the PCC rule and a URR corresponding to a second monitoring key, where the first PDR carries an identifier of the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key, and the second monitoring key and the first monitoring key correspond to a same usage monitoring instance; the policy control information includes a PCC rule and a usage threshold corresponding to the second monitorngkey, and the PCC rule carries the second monitorngkey and information indicating a policy corresponding to the PCC rule on the second PSA; or the policy control information includes the PCC rule, information indicating a policy corresponding to the PCC rule on the second PSA, and a usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key, where the PCC rule carries the second monitoring key.

In another possible design, the receiving unit is configured to receive policy control information from a policy control network element; wherein the policy control information includes: a usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key, and information indicating that session level usage monitoring is performed on the second PSA or on all PSAs involved in the PDU session; and the sending unit is used for sending the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key to the second PSA.

In combination with any one of the above possible designs, the receiving unit is further configured to receive the cumulative usage of the URR reported by any PSA included in the PDU session after the sending unit sends the first packet detection rule PDR corresponding to the PCC rule and the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key to the second PSA, and the sending unit is further configured to report the cumulative usage of the monitoring key to the policy control network element; or, the receiving unit is further configured to receive the cumulative usage of the URRs reported by any PSA included in the PDU session after the transmitting unit transmits the first packet detection rule PDR corresponding to the PCC rule and the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key to the second PSA, and the determining unit is configured to determine whether there is a remaining usage threshold corresponding to the monitoring key, and update the usage threshold of the URR reported by any PSA according to the remaining usage threshold if there is a remaining usage threshold; a sending unit, further configured to report the cumulative usage of the monitoring key to the policy control network element when there is no remaining usage threshold; wherein the monitoring key is the monitoring key corresponding to the URR reported by any PSA, and the cumulative amount of monitoring key comprises the cumulative amount of URR reported by any PSA; either PSA is the first PSA or the second PSA.

For a specific implementation manner of the session management network element, reference may be made to a behavior function of the session management network element in the policy control method provided in the possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the fifth aspect, or the sixth aspect, and details are not repeated here. Therefore, the session management network element provided can achieve the same beneficial effects as any one of the possible designs of the fourth aspect, the fifth aspect, the sixth aspect, the fifth possible design and the ninth possible design.

In a thirteenth aspect, there is provided a session management network element, comprising: a processor and a memory; the memory is configured to store computer-executable instructions, and when the session management network element runs, the processor executes the computer-executable instructions stored by the memory to cause the session management network element to perform the policy control method according to any one of the fourth aspect, the fifth aspect, the sixth aspect, the fifth possible design to the ninth possible design.

In a fourteenth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, which stores instructions that, when executed on a computer, enable the computer to perform the policy control method according to any one of the fourth aspect, the fifth aspect, the sixth aspect, the fifth possible design, and the ninth possible design.

In a fifteenth aspect, a computer program product is provided that comprises instructions, which when run on a computer, enable the computer to perform the policy control method of any one of the fourth aspect, the fifth aspect, the sixth aspect, the fifth design, the ninth design, and the sixth design.

A sixteenth aspect provides a chip system, where the chip system includes a processor and a communication interface, and is configured to support a session management network element to implement the functions in the foregoing aspects, for example, the session management network element is supported to receive policy control information from a policy control network element, and send, to a second PSA, a first PDR corresponding to a PCC rule and a URR corresponding to a second monitoring key through the communication interface; or the session management network element is supported to receive the information from the policy control network element, and the information comprises: a usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key, and policy control information indicating information to perform session level usage monitoring on the second PSA or on all PSAs involved in the PDU session, and sending a URR corresponding to the second monitoring key to the second PSA via the communication interface. In one possible design, the system-on-chip further includes a memory for storing program instructions and data necessary for the session management network element. The chip system may be constituted by a chip, or may include a chip and other discrete devices.

For technical effects brought by any design manner in the twelfth aspect to the sixteenth aspect, reference may be made to technical effects brought by any design manner in the fourth aspect, the fifth aspect, the sixth aspect, or the fifth possible design to the ninth possible design, and details are not repeated herein.

A seventeenth aspect provides a policy control system comprising the policy control network element of any one of the seventh to eleventh aspects, the session management network element of any one of the twelfth to sixteenth aspects, and at least two PSAs.

These and other aspects of the present application will be more readily apparent from the following description of the embodiments.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a diagram of a system architecture provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 2 is a diagram of a 5G system architecture provided by an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4 is a flowchart of a policy control method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4a is a flowchart of reporting cumulative usage by PSA according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of another policy control method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6 is a flowchart of another policy control method provided in the embodiment of the present application;

fig. 7 is a structural diagram of a policy control network element according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8 is a structural diagram of a session management network element according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

First, in order to facilitate understanding of the embodiments of the present application, some technical terms related to the embodiments of the present application are described:

monitoring the usage amount: monitoring the usage of network resources, such as: the traffic monitoring method can monitor one service data stream data flow, can also monitor the usage of one group of service data flows, and even can monitor the usage of all service data flows on one PDU session without limitation. A user may subscribe to a traffic monitoring protocol with an operator, where the traffic monitoring protocol subscribed to by the user specifies the type of service data stream to be monitored and a subscribed traffic limit (volume limit or timelimit), such as: when a user signs an agreement with an operator, the operator can be selected to perform independent usage monitoring on network resources when the operator accesses the search fox video, and 1G flow is signed for the access of the search fox video. In the embodiment of the present application, the usage monitoring may be divided into two levels of traffic monitoring, namely, service data stream level usage monitoring and session level usage monitoring, according to different network resources monitored by the usage monitoring.

Example of monitoring of amount (monitering control entity): the method comprises the requirements signed by a user for carrying out usage monitoring on a service data stream independently, or a group of service data streams, or even all service data streams on a PDU session, and subscription information signed for the requirements, wherein the subscription information specifies the range of the monitored service data streams and the corresponding subscription information, such as usage quota and the like. For example, the user's access to the fox video and the traffic of 1G signed for accessing the fox video may be used as one usage monitoring instance, and the user's access to the green wave video and the fox video and the traffic of 1.5G signed for accessing the green wave video and the fox video may be used as one usage monitoring instance. In the embodiment of the present application, the usage monitoring instances may be divided into two levels of usage monitoring instances, namely, a service data stream level usage monitoring instance and a session level usage monitoring instance.

In general, the same usage monitoring instance may be assigned multiple different monitoring keys (monitoring keys), i.e., one usage monitoring instance corresponds to multiple monitoring keys. The Policy Control Function (PCF) may formulate corresponding usage monitoring information according to subscription information corresponding to one usage monitoring instance, and use the usage monitoring information to monitor the usage of the service access of the user.

PCC rules: the service data flow template may include control information for service data flow detection, and may further include control information for service data flow charging, traffic steering, and the like, without limitation. The PCF may issue a PCC Rule to a Session Management Function (SMF), and the SMF determines rules such as a PDR, a quality of service Enforcement Rule (QER), a Forwarding Enforcement Rule (FAR) and the like according to the PCC Rule.

Usage Monitoring Information (Usage Monitoring Information): the PCF may specify, for example, a monitoring key, a level indication for the usage monitoring instance for the monitoring key, and a usage threshold for the monitoring key. The Session Management Function (SMF) may determine a Usage Reporting Rule (URR) corresponding to the monitoring key according to the UsageMonitoring Information. In this embodiment, the PCF may include the PCC rule and the usage monitoring information together in the policy control information and send the policy control information to the SMF.

PDR: the rules formulated by the SMF for execution in the User Plane Function (UPF) may include packet inspection information for inspecting traffic data streams, and QER, FAR, URR, etc. rules associated therewith.

URR: the rules enacted by the SMF for performing usage monitoring at the UPF may include a usage threshold. The URR may be associated with the PDR, and the UPF may accumulate the usage amount of the detected service data stream and the URR associated with the PDR after detecting the service data stream according to the packet detection information in the PDR, and report the URR identifier and the accumulated usage amount to the SMF when the accumulated usage amount reaches a usage amount threshold carried by the URR. It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the URR and PDR association may refer to: the PDR includes an identification of the URR.

Embodiments of the present application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The policy control method provided in this embodiment of the application may be applied to the Network system shown in fig. 1, where the Network system may be a 5G system supporting a PDU session with multiple PSAs, and may also be a 4th generation (4G) (e.g., Evolved Packet System (EPS) mobile communication system, and may also be other mobile communication systems supporting user plane transmission paths with multiple anchors, without limitation, as shown in fig. 1, the Network system may include a terminal, an access Network device, a session management Network element, a policy control Network element, a splitter/combiner, a gateway Network element, and a Data Network (DN), where the terminal in fig. 1 may be used to connect to an access Network device deployed by an operator through a wireless air interface, and then the access Network device is accessed DN. through the splitter/combiner and the gateway Network element, and is mainly used to implement a wireless physical layer function, Resource scheduling and radio resource management, radio access control, mobility management, and the like. The session management network element may manage one or more gateway network elements, and is mainly used to implement session management functions such as establishment, release, and modification of a user plane transmission path. The policy control network element is mainly used for making information for service data flow detection and control information such as policy, charging, flow guiding and the like. The splitter/combiner is mainly used for distributing the service data streams uploaded by the terminal through the user plane transmission path to different gateway network elements under the condition that the same user plane transmission path comprises multiple anchor points, or combining the service data streams issued by different gateway network elements on the user plane transmission path and then sending the combined service data streams to the terminal. The gateway network element may be used as an anchor point on a user plane transmission path, and is mainly used for completing functions such as routing forwarding of user plane data, for example: a channel (i.e. a user plane transmission path) is established with the terminal, and a data packet between the terminal and the DN is forwarded on the channel, and the channel is responsible for filtering data messages of the terminal, transmitting/forwarding data, controlling rate, generating charging information and the like. The DN may comprise network devices (e.g., servers, routers, etc.), and is primarily used to provide various data traffic services to the terminal. It should be noted that fig. 1 is only an exemplary architecture diagram, and besides the functional units shown in fig. 1, the network architecture may also include other network elements, such as: a mobility management network element for managing movement of the terminal, a data management network element for managing subscription information of the user, and the like, which are not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

For example, assuming that the network system is a 5G system supporting a PDU session with multiple PSAs (as shown in fig. 2), the terminal in the network system may be a User Equipment (UE), such as: cell phones, computers, and may also be cellular phones, cordless phones, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phones, smart phones, Wireless Local Loop (WLL) stations, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), computers, laptops, handheld communication devices, handheld computing devices, satellite radios, wireless modem cards, Set Top Boxes (STBs), Customer Premises Equipment (CPE), and/or other devices used to communicate over a wireless system. The access network device may be AN Access Network (AN)/Radio Access Network (RAN) device, and the network may be composed of a plurality of 5G-AN/5G-RAN nodes, where the 5G-AN/5G-RAN nodes may be: an access node (AP), a next generation base station (NR nodeB, gNB), a Transmission Receive Point (TRP), a Transmission Point (TP), or some other access node. The session management network element may be an SMF in a 5G system. The policy control network element may be a PCF in a 5G system. The gateway network element may be a UPF in a 5G system. The splitter/combiner may be a Branching Point (BP) or an Uplink Classifier (UL CL) in a 5G system, such as: the splitter/combiner may be a BP in a 5G system when a Multi-Homing (Multi-Homing) manner is used to establish a PDU session for multiple PSAs, and may be an UL CL in the 5G system when a non-Multi-Homing manner is used to establish a PDU session for multiple PSAs. The mobility management network element may be an access & mobility management function (AMF) in the 5G system. The data management network element may be Unified Data Management (UDM) in the 5G system. In the 5G system shown in fig. 2, various network elements can establish a connection via a next generation Network (NG) interface to realize communication.

In the system shown in fig. 1, when the session management network element sends the URR corresponding to the first monitoring key to the PSA included in the PDU session managed by the session management network element, and the PSA performs usage monitoring on the first usage monitoring instance corresponding to the first monitoring key according to the URR corresponding to the first monitoring key, if it is determined that the PSA newly added to the PDU session also needs to perform usage monitoring on the first usage monitoring instance, the policy control network element may allocate a new second monitoring key to the newly added PSA, allocate a usage threshold to the second monitoring key, and send policy control information carrying the usage threshold of the second monitoring key to the session management network element, so that the session management network element determines the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key for the newly added PSA, and sends the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key to the newly added PSA, thereby implementing the usage monitoring. Specifically, this implementation can be seen with reference to fig. 4 to 6 described below.

In order to implement the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application, the session management network element and the policy control network element in fig. 1 may be implemented in the manner of the communication device in fig. 3. As shown in fig. 3, the communication device 200 includes at least one processor 201, communication lines 202, memory 203, and at least one communication interface 204.

The processor 201 may be a Central Processing Unit (CPU), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), or one or more integrated circuits configured to implement embodiments of the present application, such as: one or more microprocessors (DSPs), or one or more Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs).

The communication link 202 may include a path for transmitting information between the aforementioned components.

The communication interface 204 may be any device, such as a transceiver, for communicating with other devices or communication networks, such as an ethernet, a Radio Access Network (RAN), a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), etc.

The memory 203 may be a read-only memory (ROM) or other type of static storage device that can store static information and instructions, a Random Access Memory (RAM) or other type of dynamic storage device that can store information and instructions, an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) or other optical disk storage, optical disk storage (including compact disc, laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc, blu-ray disc, etc.), magnetic disk storage media or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer, but is not limited to these. The memory may be separate and coupled to the processor via communication line 202. The memory may also be integral to the processor.

The memory 203 is used for storing computer execution instructions for executing the scheme of the application, and is controlled by the processor 201 to execute. The processor 201 is configured to execute computer-executable instructions stored in the memory 203, so as to implement the policy control method provided by the following embodiments of the present application. Optionally, the computer-executable instructions in the embodiments of the present application may also be referred to as application program codes, which are not specifically limited in the embodiments of the present application.

In particular implementations, processor 201 may include one or more CPUs such as CPU0 and CPU1 in fig. 3, for example, as one embodiment.

In particular implementations, communication device 200 may include multiple processors, such as processor 201 and processor 207 in fig. 3, for example, as an example. Each of these processors may be a single core processor or a multi-CPU processor. A processor herein may refer to one or more devices, circuits, and/or processing cores for processing data (e.g., computer program instructions).

In particular implementations, communication device 200 may also include an output device 205 and an input device 206, as one embodiment. The output device 205 is in communication with the processor 201 and may display information in a variety of ways. For example, the output device 205 may be a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), a Light Emitting Diode (LED) display device, a Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) display device, a projector (projector), or the like. The input device 206 is in communication with the processor 201 and may receive user input in a variety of ways. For example, the input device 206 may be a mouse, a keyboard, a touch screen device, or a sensing device, among others.

It should be noted that the communication device 200 may be a general-purpose device or a special-purpose device. In particular implementations, the communication device 200 may be a desktop, laptop, web server, PDA, mobile phone, tablet, wireless terminal, embedded device, or a device with a similar structure as in fig. 3. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the type of the communication device 200.

With reference to fig. 1, the following specifically explains a technical solution provided in an embodiment of the present application by taking a session management network element as the session management network element shown in fig. 1, a policy control network element as the policy control network element shown in fig. 1, and a PSA as a gateway network element shown in fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a flowchart of a policy control method according to an embodiment of the present application, which is used to implement usage monitoring on multiple PSAs included in a PDU session for a first usage monitoring instance (e.g., a traffic data flow level usage monitoring instance). An application scenario of the method is that a session management network element manages a PDU session, where the PDU session may include multiple PSAs, such as a first PSA and a second PSA, where the session management network element sends a first URR corresponding to a first monitoring key to the first PSA, and the first PSA performs usage monitoring of a first usage monitoring instance corresponding to the first monitoring key. In this application scenario, steps 401 to 404 shown in fig. 4 may be performed to implement the usage monitoring on the same traffic data stream level usage monitoring instance performed on multiple PSAs of the same PDU session.

Step 401: the policy control network element determines to perform usage monitoring of the first usage monitoring instance at the second PSA.

Wherein the second PSA may be a PSA newly added on the PDU session.

In particular, the policy control network element may determine, at the second PSA, to perform usage monitoring of the first traffic monitoring instance according to a preset configuration, which may be used to specify which gateway network elements are allowed to access traffic monitored by the first traffic monitoring instance. And if the policy control network element inquires the preset configuration and determines that the second PSA is included in the gateway network element specified by the preset configuration, determining to execute the usage monitoring of the first usage monitoring instance on the second PSA. Such as: if the preset configuration specifies that the user is allowed to access the service on the search website on the UPF2, and the service on the search website is within the service range monitored by the usage monitoring instance 1, it is determined that the UPF2 performs usage monitoring on the usage monitoring instance 1.

The preset configuration may be configured in the policy control network element in advance by an operator, or may be obtained by the policy control network element from other network functional entities when step 401 is executed, which is not limited.

It can be understood that before the policy control network element determines to perform the usage monitoring on the first volume monitoring instance on the second PSA, the policy control network element will first know that the PDU session adds the second PSA, and then determine whether to perform the usage monitoring on the first volume monitoring instance on the second PSA. Specifically, the step of acquiring, by the policy control network element, that the PDU session has the newly added second PSA includes: and the session management network element sends an indication message carrying the newly-added second PSA to the policy control network element, and after receiving the message, the policy control network element determines the PDU session newly-added second PSA according to the indication of the newly-added second PSA carried by the message. The indication of adding the second PSA may be used to indicate the second PSA, and may include, but is not limited to, an identifier of the second PSA, where the identifier of the second PSA may include a Network Function identifier (NF ID) of the second PSA, or a Data Network Access Identifier (DNAI) of the second PSA, or an Internet Protocol Version 6 Prefix (Internet Protocol Version 6 Prefix, IPV6 Prefix) corresponding to the second PSA, without limitation.

Step 402: the policy control network element assigns a second monitoring key to the first quantity monitoring instance.

Wherein the second monitoring key is different from the first monitoring key, and the second monitoring key is a monitoring key newly allocated to the policy control network element for the first quantity monitoring instance.

In addition, in this embodiment of the present application, after the policy control network element allocates one monitoring key to the usage monitoring instance, the policy control network element may store a corresponding relationship between the usage monitoring instance and the monitoring key allocated thereto, for example: the policy control network element may store a correspondence between the first quantity monitoring instance and the second monitoring key, where the correspondence between the quantity monitoring instance and the monitoring key stored by the policy control network element includes: the first quantity monitoring instance corresponds to the first monitoring key and the second monitoring key.

Step 403: and the policy control network element sends policy control information to the session management network element, and the session management network element receives the policy control information sent by the policy control network element.

In one possible design, the policy control information includes, but is not limited to, a PCC rule and a usage threshold corresponding to the second monitorangkey; the PCC rule carries a second verifying key and information indicating a policy corresponding to the PCC rule to be executed on a second PSA. In yet another possible design, the policy control information includes, but is not limited to, a PCC rule, the second monitoring key, and information indicating that the policy corresponding to the PCC rule is to be executed on the second PSA.

The usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key is determined according to the usage quota of the first volume monitoring instance signed by the user, the accumulated usage of the first volume monitoring instance, and the usage threshold of the monitoring key (e.g., the first monitoring key) corresponding to the first volume monitoring instance and issued by the policy control network element. Such as: a difference between the usage quota of the first volume monitoring instance signed by the user, the accumulated usage of the first volume monitoring instance, and the usage threshold of the monitoring key corresponding to the first volume monitoring instance, which has been issued by the policy control network element, may be calculated, and the usage threshold smaller than or equal to the difference is taken as the usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key. The usage limit of the first volume monitoring instance signed by the user and the accumulated usage of the first volume monitoring instance may be included in subscription information of the user, the subscription information of the user may be obtained from the UDM by the policy control network element after the PDU session is established, and the subscription information of the user may be used to describe the usage limit signed by the user for the first volume monitoring instance and the accumulated usage of the first volume monitoring instance.

In any of the above possible designs, the information indicating that the policy corresponding to the PCC rule is executed on the second PSA may be an identifier of the second PSA, and the description of the identifier of the second PSA may refer to step 401 and is not repeated herein.

Step 404: and the session management network element sends the first PDR corresponding to the PCC rule and the URR corresponding to the second monitoralkkey to the second PSA.

Wherein, the first PDR may comprise detection information for detecting the traffic data stream packet; the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key may include the usage threshold and may also include an identification of the URR. The URRs corresponding to the first PDR and the second monitoring key may be determined by the session management network element before step 404, such as: prior to step 404, the session management network element may determine, according to the information indicating that the policy corresponding to the PCC rule is executed on the second PSA, to execute the policy corresponding to the PCC rule on the second PSA, trigger the session management network element to determine, according to the traffic data flow template in the PCC rule, packet detection information of the first PDR, and determine a URR for the second monitoring key. The first PDR includes an identifier of the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key, that is, the first PDR is associated with the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key.

Specifically, the determining, by the session management network element, the packet detection information of the first PDR according to the service data flow template in the PCC rule may include: control information for service data flow detection in a service data flow template in the PCC rule is added (or matched) to the first PDR as packet detection information.

Specifically, the determining, by the session management network element, the URR for the second monitoring key may refer to: the session management network element allocates a usage threshold to the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key, and includes the usage threshold in the URR, that is, determines the usage threshold of the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key; meanwhile, the session management network element may also allocate an identifier for the URR. The identifiers of the URRs corresponding to the second monitoring key and the URRs corresponding to the first monitoring key may be the same or different, and are not limited. Optionally, the session management network element allocates a usage threshold to the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key according to the usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key issued by the policy control network element, where: and the session management network element determines the usage threshold which is less than or equal to the usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key as the usage threshold of the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key.

In addition, in this embodiment of the present application, after the session management network element determines a URR for a certain monitoring key, the session management network element may further store a corresponding relationship between the monitoring key and the URR, where the corresponding relationship is as follows: the session management network element may store the correspondence between the first monitoring key and the URR1 after determining the URR1 for the first monitoring key, and may store the correspondence between the second monitoring key and the URR2 after determining the URR2 for the second monitoring key.

As can be seen from the above, in the scenario shown in fig. 4, when the policy control network element determines to execute the traffic data flow level usage monitoring instance on the new PSA of the PDU session, and the traffic data flow usage monitoring instance is the same as the usage monitoring instances performed by other PSAs included in the PDU session, the policy control network element newly allocates a monitoring key to the usage monitoring instance, sends a PCC rule carrying the new monitoring key, a usage threshold corresponding to the new monitoring key, and information indicating that the usage monitoring of the service data flow usage monitoring instance is executed on the newly added PSA to the session management network element, and after receiving the information, sending the PDR and the URR corresponding to the new monitoring key to the new PSA, so that the newly added PSA performs usage monitoring based on the PDR and the URR corresponding to the new monitoring key, thereby enabling usage monitoring to be performed at multiple PSAs for the same traffic data stream level usage monitoring instance.

Further, in the scheme shown in fig. 4, when any PSA (first PSA or second PSA) included in the PDU session receives the PDR and the URR, and performs the usage monitoring according to the PDR and the URR, if it is monitored that the PDR associated with the URR detects that the cumulative usage of the traffic data stream approaches or reaches the usage threshold of the URR, the PSA may report the cumulative usage of the URR to the session management network element, and perform the usage reporting process shown in fig. 4 a; or step 404 and steps 408-415 are performed. As shown in fig. 4a, the usage reporting process may include:

step 405: the session management network element receives the accumulated usage of the URR reported by any PSA included in the PDU session, and judges whether a remaining usage threshold corresponding to the monitoring key exists or not; if the remaining usage threshold corresponding to the monitoring key exists, executing step 406 to step 407; otherwise, step 408 is performed.

Any PSA may be, without limitation, the first PSA or the second PSA or another PSA included in the PDU session. The monitoring key in step 405 corresponds to the URR reported by any PSA, and may be the first monitoring key or the second monitoring key; any PSA is a first PSA when the monitoring key is a first monitoring key and a second PSA when the monitoring key is a second monitoring key.

The remaining usage threshold corresponding to the monitoring key may refer to: the difference value between the usage threshold of the monitoring key received by the session management network element from the policy control network element and the usage threshold allocated to the URR by the session management network element.

Specifically, the PSA may also carry an identifier of the URR when reporting the cumulative usage of the URR to the session management network element, and the session management network element may determine, according to the correspondence between the monitoring key and the URR stored by the PSA and the identifier of the URR, which monitoring key the URR reported by the PSA corresponds to, if the URR corresponds to the first monitoring key, calculate a difference between the usage threshold of the first monitoring key issued by the policy control network element and the cumulative usage of the URR, if the difference is zero, determine that there is no remaining usage threshold corresponding to the first monitoring key, otherwise, there is a remaining usage threshold corresponding to the first monitoring key. If the URR corresponds to the second monitoring key, calculating a difference between the usage threshold of the second monitoring key issued by the policy control network element and the cumulative usage of the URR, if the difference is zero, determining that the remaining usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key does not exist, otherwise, determining that the remaining usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key exists.

Step 406: and the session management network element updates the usage threshold of the URR reported by the PSA according to the remaining usage threshold corresponding to the monitering key, and sends the updated URR to the PSA.

Specifically, the updating, by the session management network element, the usage threshold of the URR reported by the PSA according to the remaining usage threshold corresponding to the monitoring key may include: and the session management network element takes a part of the remaining usage threshold or the whole usage threshold as a new usage threshold of the URR.

Such as: the usage threshold of the monitoring key1 is 300M, the usage threshold allocated to the URR by the session management network element is 200M, at this time, the remaining usage threshold corresponding to the monitoring key1 is 100M, and the session management network element may issue the 100M as a new usage threshold of the URR to the PSA.

Step 407: the PSA performs usage monitoring based on the updated URR.

Wherein the monitoring of the usage by the PSA based on the updated URR may include: and the PSA replaces the originally stored URR dosage threshold by the received URR dosage threshold, and the replaced dosage threshold is adopted for monitoring the dosage.

Such as: the original URR usage threshold is 200M, the URR usage threshold issued by the session management network element at this time is 100M, and the PSA uses the URR usage threshold of 100M to monitor the usage.

Step 408: and the session management network element reports the accumulated usage of the monitoring key to the policy control network element.

Wherein the cumulative amount of the monitoring key includes a sum of the cumulative amounts of the URRs corresponding to the monitoring key, such as: in the scenario shown in fig. 4a, the cumulative amount of monitering keys may include the cumulative amount of URRs reported by the PSA.

For example, if the monitoring key1 corresponds to URR1 and URR3, where the cumulative amount of URR1 is 100M and the cumulative amount of URR3 is 200M, the cumulative amount of monitoring key1 is 300M.

Further, in step 408, the session management network element may also send an identification of the PSA to the policy control network element. The PSA identifier can refer to the above description of the identifier of the second PSA, and is not repeated here.

Step 409: the policy control network element receives the accumulated usage of the monitoring key reported by the session management network element, and judges whether an allowed usage threshold corresponding to the first usage monitoring instance exists; in the case that the allowed usage threshold corresponding to the first usage monitoring instance exists, executing step 410-step 412; otherwise, steps 413-415 are performed.

Wherein, the first quantity monitoring example is a quantity monitoring example corresponding to the monitoring key. The allowed usage threshold corresponding to the first quantity monitoring instance may be based on a usage quota of the first quantity monitoring instance signed by the user, an accumulated usage of the first quantity monitoring instance, and a usage threshold that the policy control network element has allocated to the monitoring key corresponding to the first quantity monitoring instance (but has not received the accumulated usage response information about the monitoring key). Such as: a difference between the usage quota of the first volume monitoring instance subscribed by the user and the cumulative usage of the first volume monitoring instance and a usage threshold that the policy control network element has allocated to the monitoring key corresponding to the first volume monitoring instance (but has not received the cumulative usage response information about the monitoring key) may be calculated, and if the difference is zero, it is determined that the allowed usage threshold corresponding to the first volume monitoring instance does not exist, otherwise, the allowed usage threshold corresponding to the first volume monitoring instance exists. The usage quota of the first volume monitoring instance signed by the user and the accumulated usage of the first volume monitoring instance are as described in step 403, and are not described again. The accumulated usage response information reported by the session management network element may include accumulated usage of monitoring key; the cumulative usage response information may be information including the cumulative usage of the monitoring key.

For example, assuming that the usage limit contracted by the user for the usage monitoring instance 1 is 500M and the cumulative usage is 200M, taking the usage monitoring instances 1 corresponding to the monitoring key1 and 3 as an example, the policy control network element determines that the PSA1 performs usage monitoring for the usage monitoring instance 1, and issued a monitoring key1 threshold of 100M for PSA1, determined that PSA2 performed level monitoring for level monitoring example 1, and a threshold of 200M for the amount of monitoring key3 issued by the PSA2, when the policy control network element receives the accumulated usage 50M of the monitoring key1 reported by the session management network element and the identifier of the PSA1, determining that the PSA1 reports the accumulated usage of the URR, and the usage threshold 200M assigned to the monitoring key3 falls within the usage threshold that the policy control element has assigned to the monitoring key3 corresponding to the usage monitoring instance 1 (but has not received the cumulative usage associated with that monitoring key 3), at which point, the usage monitoring example 1 corresponds to an allowable usage threshold of 500M-200M-100M.

Step 410: and the policy control network element determines a new usage threshold of the monitoring key according to the allowed usage threshold corresponding to the first usage monitoring instance, and issues the new usage threshold of the monitoring key to the session management network element.

Step 411: and the session management network element receives the new usage threshold of the monitering key, updates the usage threshold of the URR according to the new usage threshold of the monitering key, and sends the updated URR to the PSA.

Step 412: the PSA performs usage monitoring based on the updated URR.

Step 413: and the policy control network element determines to stop monitoring the consumption of the monitoring key and sends a stop notice to the session management network element.

Wherein the stop notification is used to notify the session management network element to stop monitoring the usage of the monitoring key.

Step 414: the session management network element receives the stop notification and sends a delete request or a stop request to the PSA.

Wherein, the delete request can be used to request any PSA to delete the URR corresponding to the monitoring key; the stop request may be used to request that any PSA stop monitoring the URR corresponding to the monitoring key.

Step 415: the PSA receives a deletion request, and deletes the URR corresponding to the first verifying key according to the deletion request; or receiving a stopping request, and stopping monitoring the usage of the URR corresponding to the first monitoring key according to the stopping request.

Wherein, deleting the URR corresponding to the first verifying key may refer to: the URR is deleted from its associated PDR. Specifically, the identity of the URR may be deleted from the PDR associated with the URR.

Thus, after receiving the cumulative usage of the URR reported by the PSA, the session management element may reallocate the available usage threshold to the PSA, and may also send the cumulative usage of the monitoring key corresponding to the URR to the policy control element, so that the policy control element reissues the usage threshold corresponding to the monitoring key.

It should be noted that fig. 4a only illustrates the reporting process of the usage amount of one PSA. In the embodiment of the present application, a scheme of reporting the usage amount of two or more PSAs at the same time is also supported, and when two or more PSAs report the usage amount at the same time, an execution process of the scheme may be described with reference to fig. 4a, which is not described again.

Fig. 5 is a flowchart of a policy control method according to an embodiment of the present application, which is used to implement usage monitoring on multiple PSAs included in a PDU session for the same session level usage monitoring instance. An application scenario of the method is that a session management network element manages a PDU session, where the PDU session may include multiple PSAs, such as a first PSA and a second PSA, where the first PSA performs usage monitoring of a first usage monitoring instance corresponding to a first monitoring key, and the first usage monitoring instance is a session-level usage monitoring instance. In this application scenario, steps 501 to 504 shown in fig. 5 may be performed to implement the usage monitoring of the same session level usage monitoring instance performed on multiple PSAs of the same PDU session.

Step 501: the policy control network element determines to perform session level usage monitoring on the second PSA.

Step 501 may refer to step 401, and is not described again.

Step 502: the policy control network element assigns a second monitoring key to the first quantity monitoring instance.

Step 502 may refer to step 402, which is not described again.

Step 503: and the policy control network element sends policy control information to the session management network element, and the session management network element receives the policy control information sent by the policy control network element.

The usage monitoring information may include a usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key, and information indicating that session level usage monitoring is performed on the second PSA or that session level usage monitoring is performed on all PSAs included in the PDU session. In particular, session-level usage monitoring may be instructed to be performed on the second PSA by carrying an identification of the second PSA in the policy control information, such as: the information indicating that session level usage monitoring is performed at the second PSA may be an identification of the second PSA, and when the policy control information received by the session management network element includes the identification of the second PSA, it may be determined that session level usage monitoring is performed at the second PSA; similarly, it may be instructed to perform session level usage monitoring on all PSAs included in a PDU session by carrying an identification of the PDU session in the policy control information, such as: the information indicating that session level usage monitoring is performed on all PSAs comprised in the PDU session may be an identification of the PDU session, and when the identification of the PDU session is included in the policy control information received by the session management network element, it may be determined that session level usage monitoring is performed on all PSAs comprised in the PDU session. The identification of the second PSA can refer to the related description in fig. 4, and is not repeated.

The usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key is as described in step 403, and is not described again.

Step 504: and the session management network element sends the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key to the second PSA.

Wherein the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key is associated with all PDRs executing on the second PSA, and unless it is specified that service data matching a certain PDR is not included in session-level usage monitoring, the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key is not associated with the PDR, that is, the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key may be associated with all PDRs executing on the second PSA and whose matching service data is included in session-level usage monitoring. The URR corresponding to the second monitoring key may include a usage threshold, and a URR identifier. The URR corresponding to the second monitoring key may be determined by the session management network element prior to step 504. Such as: prior to step 504, the session management network element may determine to perform session level usage monitoring at the second PSA and to determine a URR for the second monitering key based on policy control information indicating to perform session level usage monitoring at the second PSA or to perform session level usage monitoring at all PSAs included in the PDU session; meanwhile, the session management network element may also allocate a corresponding URR identifier to the URR.

Specifically, the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key may be determined according to a usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key, such as: a partial usage threshold or a full usage threshold of the usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key may be used as the usage threshold of the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key.

As can be seen from the above, in the scheme shown in fig. 5, when the policy control network element determines to perform session level usage monitoring on the new PSA in the PDU session, and the session level usage monitoring is also performed on other PSAs included in the PDU session, a new monitoring key is assigned to the usage monitoring instance, information indicating that session level usage monitoring is performed on the new PSA and a usage threshold corresponding to the new monitoring key are sent to the session management network element, and after receiving the information, the session management network element sends a URR corresponding to the new monitoring key to the new PSA, so that the new PSA performs usage monitoring according to the URR corresponding to the monitoring key, thereby implementing usage monitoring on the same session level usage monitoring instance by multiple PSAs.

Further, in the scheme shown in fig. 5, when any PSA (first PSA or second PSA) included in the PDU session receives the PDR and the URR, and performs usage monitoring according to the PDR and the URR, if it is monitored that the PDR associated with the URR detects that the cumulative usage of the service data stream is close to or reaches the usage threshold of the URR, the PSA may report the cumulative usage of the URR to the session management network element, and after the session management network element receives the cumulative usage of the URR, the usage reporting process shown in fig. 4a is executed, which is not described again.

It should be noted that, fig. 4 and fig. 5 only describe the implementation of the first PSA and the second PSA that are included in the PDU session at the same time in the service data stream level usage monitoring instance or the session level usage monitoring instance, and it is understood that, for the same usage monitoring instance, the process that is implemented in two or more PSAs included in the PDU session at the same time may also refer to the above-mentioned scheme, and details are not repeated. In addition, the above fig. 4 and fig. 5 are respectively explained for traffic data flow level usage monitoring and session level usage monitoring, and in practical applications, it may also be implemented by combining the schemes in fig. 4 and fig. 5 to execute a traffic data flow usage monitoring instance and a session level usage monitoring instance on multiple PSAs included in a PDU session.

Taking the session management network element as the SMF in fig. 2, taking the policy control network element as the PCF in fig. 2, executing the traffic data flow usage monitoring instance and the session level usage monitoring instance on two PSAs, namely UPF1 and UPF2, included in the PDU session at the same time, where the traffic data flow usage monitoring instance corresponds to monitoring key1 and monitoring key 3; the session level usage monitoring instances correspond to the monitoring key2 and the monitoring key4 as examples, and the above technical solution is explained in detail. In particular, reference may be made to fig. 6.

Fig. 6 is a flowchart of a policy control method provided in an embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 6, the method includes:

step 601: the user establishes a PDU session through the UPF1, and the PCF determines to perform usage monitoring of the usage monitoring instance 1 and usage monitoring of the usage monitoring instance 2 at the UPF1 according to preset configuration.

The usage monitoring instance 1 is a service data stream level usage monitoring instance, and the usage monitoring instance 2 corresponds to a session level usage monitoring instance. The PCF determines, according to the preset configuration, that the usage monitoring of the usage monitoring instance 1 and the usage monitoring of the usage monitoring instance 2 are performed in the UPF1, referring to step 401 and step 501, which is not described again.

Step 602: the PCF formulates PCC rule 1, PCC rule 2, and traffic monitoring information 1 and traffic monitoring information 2 based on the subscription information of the user and sends PCC rule 1, PCC rule 2, traffic monitoring information 1 and traffic monitoring information 2 to the SMF, with an indication to perform PCC rule 3, PCC rule 4 at UPF2 and session level traffic monitoring at all PSAs of the PDU session or at UPF 1.

The subscription information of the user may be obtained from the UDM by the PCF when step 601 is executed, where the subscription information of the user may include subscription information of a service data flow Level and subscription information of a PDU session Level, and the subscription information of the service data flow Level includes monitoring key _ a, a service data flow Level Indication (SDF Level Indication), and a usage limit (volume limit and/or Time limit). The PDU Session level information includes a PDU Session level indication (Session level indication), and a usage limit (Voume limit and/or Time limit). The accumulated usage monitoring information comprises the usage information of the service data flow level and the usage information of the PDU session level; the usage information of the service data flow level includes monitoring key _ a, a service data flow level indication, and a cumulative usage (Voume usage and/or Time usage), and the usage information of the PDU session level includes a PDU session level indication, and a cumulative usage (Voume usage and/or Time usage).

Wherein, the monitoring key _ a corresponds to the usage monitoring instance; the service data stream level indication is used for indicating that the usage monitoring instance corresponding to the monitoring key _ a is a service data stream level usage monitoring instance, and the PDU session level indication is used for indicating that the PDU session level information corresponds to the session level usage monitoring instance

Wherein, PCC rule 1 includes monitering key1, and PCC rule 2 includes monitering key 2. Neither PCC rule 1 nor PCC rule 2 sets an indication to exclude the usage detected by the PCC rule from the session level usage, i.e. the PCF decides that the usage of both PCC rule 1 and PCC rule 2 should be accumulated on the session level usage monitoring. Usage monitoring information 1 corresponds to usage monitoring instance 1, including monitoring key1, PCC rule directive, usage threshold 1. The usage monitoring information 2 corresponds to the corresponding usage monitoring instance 2, including monitoring key2, session level indication, and usage threshold 2. The PCC rule indication may be a service data flow level indication, which is used to indicate that the monitoring key1 corresponds to a service data flow level usage monitoring instance.

The indication of PCC rule 3 and PCC rule 4 executed on UPF2 may be identification of UPF1, and the indication of session level usage monitoring executed on all PSAs or UPF1 of a PDU session may be identification of a PDU session.

It should be noted that when the SMF is configured with a policy for performing session level usage monitoring at all PSAs, no indication of performing session level usage monitoring at all PSAs of the PDU session or at UPF1 may be issued in step 602. The policy configured on the SMF to perform session-level usage monitoring at all PSAs may be issued by the PCF to the SMF prior to step 602.

Step 603: SMF receives PCC rule 1, PCC rule 2, traffic monitoring information 1, and traffic monitoring information 2, and an indication to perform PCC rule 3, PCC rule 4 at UPF2, and an indication to perform session level traffic monitoring on all PSAs of a PDU session or on UPF 1.

Step 604: the SMF makes a PDR1 according to a PCC rule 1, a PDR2 according to a PCC rule 2, a URR1 according to the usage monitoring information 1, and a URR2 according to the usage monitoring information 2.

The PDR1 includes packet detection information corresponding to the service data flow template of the PCC rule 1. The PDR2 includes packet detection information corresponding to the service data flow template in the PCC rule 2. The monitoring key1 corresponds to URR1, and the threshold value threshold1 of URR1 is less than or equal to threshold 1; monitering key2 corresponds to URR2, the threshold of use of URR2 is less than or equal to threshold2, and URR1 is associated with PDR1 and URR2 is associated with PDR1 and PDR 2.

Specifically, the SMF may determine the monitoring policy corresponding to PCC rule 1 and PCC rule 4 to be executed on UPF1 and execute session-level usage monitoring on UPF1 according to the indication of PCC rule 3 and PCC rule 4 executed on UPF2 and the indication of session-level usage monitoring executed on all PSAs of the PDU session or on UPF1, triggering SMF execution step 604.

Step 605: the SMF sends PDR1, PDR2, URR1, and URR2 to UPF 1.

Step 606: UPF1 performs dosage monitoring based on PDR1 and URR1 associated with PDR1, and based on PDR2, PDR1 and URR2 associated with PDR1 and PDR 2.

Further, after the UPF1 performs usage monitoring according to PDR1 and URR1 associated with PDR1, and performs usage monitoring according to PDR2, PDR1, PDR1, and URR2 associated with PDR2, the UPF1 may also report the cumulative usage to the SMF, and the process shown in fig. 4a is executed, which is not described again.

Step 607: the SMF adds a new PSA (e.g., UPF2) for the PDU session.

The PDU session is a session established on the UPF1, and the UPFs 1 and 2 are different UPFs, both managed by the SMF.

Specifically, the process of adding a PSA for the PDU session by the SMF is the prior art, and is not described in detail, and after the SMF adds a PSA for the PDU session, the SMF may store the correspondence between the PDU session and the UPF on the PDU session.

Step 608: the SMF sends an event notification to the PCF informing the PCF of the new addition of a PSA to the PDU session.

The event notification may include, among other things, an identification of the UPF2, and an identification of the PDU session.

The identifier of the UPF2 is used to identify the UPF2, and the identifier of the UPF2 may be NF ID of the UPF2 or DNAI of the UPF2, or IPV6 Prefix corresponding to the UPF2, without limitation.

In step 609, the PCF receives the event notification, determines to perform usage monitoring on the usage monitoring instances 1 and 2 at the UPF2 according to the preset configuration, and allocates a monitoring key3 to the usage monitoring instance 1 and a monitoring key4 to the usage monitoring instance 2.

Specifically, the PCF determines, according to the preset configuration, that the usage monitoring of the usage monitoring instance 1 and the usage monitoring of the usage monitoring instance 2 are performed in the UPF2, referring to step 401 and step 501, which is not described again.

In addition, the PCF may record the correspondence of the monitoring key _ a to the monitoring keys 1, 3, and the correspondence of the session-level usage monitoring instances to the monitoring keys 2, 4.

Step 610: and the PCF formulates a PCC rule 3, a PCC rule 4, usage monitoring information 3 and usage monitoring information 4 according to the subscription information of the user.

Wherein, the usage monitoring information 3 includes [ monitoring key3, PCC rule indication, usage threshold3 ]; the usage monitoring information 4 includes a monitoring key4, a session level indication, and a usage threshold value threshold 4. Specifically, step 610 may refer to step 602, and is not described again.

The usage threshold value threshold3 may be calculated according to the usage limit in the subscription information of the service data flow level, the cumulative usage in the usage information of the service data flow level, and the issued usage threshold value threshold1, as follows: threshold3 may be less than or equal to the usage limit-cumulative usage-threshold 1. Similarly, the threshold4 can be calculated according to the usage limit in the subscription information of the session level, the cumulative usage in the usage information of the session level, and the issued usage threshold2, such as: threshold4 may be less than or equal to the usage limit-cumulative usage-threshold 2. Such as: assuming that the usage limit of the usage monitoring instance 1 is 1000M, the cumulative usage is 500M, and the usage threshold of the issued monitoring key1 corresponding to the usage monitoring instance 1 is 100M, the usage threshold of the monitoring key3 may be smaller than or equal to 1000M-500M-100M-400M, for example, 200M.

It should be noted that step 610 may be performed throughout the lifetime of the PDU session containing both PSAs UPF1 and UPF 2.

Step 611: PCF sends PCC rule 3, PCC rule 4, traffic monitoring information 3, and traffic monitoring information 4 to SMF and executes an indication of PCC rule 3, PCC rule 4 at UPF 2.

It should be noted that if the PCF did not issue an indication that session level usage monitoring was performed at all PSAs of the PDU session or if the SMF did not have a policy configured to perform session level usage monitoring at all PSAs at step 602, the PCF also issues an indication that session level usage monitoring was performed at UPF2 or session level usage monitoring was performed at all PSAs at step 611.

Further, an indication to execute PCC rule 3 at UPF2 may be carried in PCC rule 3, and an indication to execute PCC rule 4 at UPF2 may be carried in PCC rule 4.

Step 612: SMF receives PCC rule 3, PCC rule 4, traffic monitoring information 3, traffic monitoring policy 4, an indication that PCC rule 3 and PCC rule 4 are executed on UPF 2.

Step 613: the SMF formulates a PDR3 according to a PCC rule 3, formulates a PDR4 according to a PCC rule 4, formulates a URR3 according to the usage monitoring information 3, formulates a URR4 according to the usage monitoring information 4, and sends a PDR3, a PDR4 and the associated URR3 and URR4 to the UPF 2.

The PDR3 includes packet detection information corresponding to the service data flow template in the PCC rule 3. The PDR4 includes packet detection information corresponding to the service data flow template in the PCC rule 4. The monitoring key3 corresponds to URR3, and the threshold value threshold3 of URR3 is less than or equal to threshold 3; monitering key4 corresponds to URR4, the usage threshold4 of URR4 is less than or equal to threshold4, and URR3 is associated with PDR3, and URR4 is associated with PDR3 and PDR4, i.e., URR3 is to associate all PDRs executing at UPF2 unless the PDR matched traffic data needs to be deducted from session level usage monitoring.

Specifically, the SMF determines to monitor the usage of the monitoring key3 on the UPF2 according to the monitoring key3 in the PCC rule 3 and the instruction of the PCC rule 3 to execute on the UPF2, and triggers the SMF to execute step 613 after determining to monitor the usage of the monitoring key4 on the UPF2 according to the instruction of performing session level usage monitoring on all PSAs included in the PDU session issued in step 602.

It should be noted that when threshold3 is less than threshold3, SMF can save the remaining amount after threshold3-threshold 3; when threshold4 is less than threshold4, SMF can save the amount remaining after threshold4-threshold 4.

In addition, in step 613, the SMF also stores the correspondence between URR and monitoring key. So far, the correspondence between URR and monitoring key stored in SMF includes: the monitoring key1 corresponds to URR1, the monitoring key2 corresponds to URR2, the monitoring key3 corresponds to URR3, and the monitoring key4 corresponds to URR 4.

Step 614, UPF2 performs usage monitoring based on PDR3 and URR3 associated with PDR3, and based on PDR3, PDR4 and URR4 associated with PDR3 and PDR 4.

Further, after step 614, the UPF2 may also report the accumulated usage to the SMF, and execute the process shown in fig. 4a, which is not described again.

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

In the embodiment of the present application, the functional modules may be divided according to the above method example for the session management network element and the policy control network element, for example, each functional module may be divided corresponding to each function, or two or more functions may be integrated into one processing module. The integrated module can be realized in a hardware mode, and can also be realized in a software functional module mode. It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the division of the module is schematic, and is only one logic function division, and there may be another division manner in actual implementation.

In the case of dividing the functional modules according to the respective functions, fig. 7 shows a possible composition diagram of the policy control network element involved in the above embodiment, where the policy control network element determines that one PDU session includes the first PSA and the second PSA, and determines that the first PSA performs usage monitoring of the first usage monitoring instance corresponding to the first monitoring key. As shown in fig. 7, the policy control network element may include: a determination unit 71, an assignment unit 72, a transmission unit 73, and a reception unit 74.

In one possible design, the determining unit 71 is configured to determine that usage monitoring of the first instance of usage monitoring is performed on the second PSA; an assigning unit 72, configured to assign a second monitoring key to the first quantity monitoring instance; a sending unit 73, configured to send the policy control information to the session management network element.

The policy control information includes a PCC rule and a usage threshold corresponding to a second monitoring key, and the PCC rule carries the second monitoring key and information indicating that a policy corresponding to the PCC rule is executed on a second PSA; or the policy control information includes the PCC rule, the usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key, and information indicating that the policy corresponding to the PCC rule is executed on the second PSA, where the PCC rule carries the second monitoring key.

In yet another possible design, the determining unit 71 is configured to determine that session level usage monitoring is performed on the second PSA; an assigning unit 72, configured to assign a second monitoring key to the session-level usage monitoring instance; a sending unit 73, configured to send the policy control information to the session management network element.

Wherein the policy control information includes: a usage threshold corresponding to a second monitoring key, and information indicating that session level usage monitoring is performed on the second PSA or on all PSAs involved in the PDU session.

With reference to any one of the above possible designs, the receiving unit 74 is configured to receive the accumulated usage of any monitorengkey corresponding to the first quantity monitoring instance reported by the session management network element after the sending unit 73 sends the policy control information to the session management network element; the determining unit 71 is further configured to determine whether an allowed usage threshold corresponding to the first usage monitoring instance exists; a sending unit 73, further configured to send, to the session management network element, a new usage threshold corresponding to any monitoring key according to the allowed usage threshold when the allowed usage threshold exists; and under the condition that the usage threshold is not allowed, sending a stop notification to the session management network element, wherein the stop notification is used for notifying the session management network element to stop the usage monitoring of the usage reporting rule URR corresponding to any monitoring key. Wherein any one of the monitoring keys is the first monitoring key or the second monitoring key.

It should be noted that all relevant contents of each step related to the above method embodiment may be referred to the functional description of the corresponding functional module, and are not described again. The policy control network element provided in the embodiment of the present application is configured to execute the policy control method, so that the same effect as that of the policy control method can be achieved.

In case of an integrated unit, the policy control network element may include a processing module and a communication module, where the processing module is configured to perform control management on actions of the policy control network element. The communication module is configured to support communication between the policy control network element and other network entities, for example, the functional module or the network entity shown in fig. 1. The policy control network element may further comprise a storage module for storing program code and data for the server. The processing module may be a processor or a controller. Which may implement or perform the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the disclosure. A processor may also be a combination of computing functions, e.g., comprising one or more microprocessors, a DSP and a microprocessor, or the like. The communication module may be a transceiver, a transceiving circuit or a communication interface, etc. The storage module may be a memory.

When the processing module is a processor, the communication module is a communication interface, and the storage module is a memory, the policy control network element according to the embodiment of the present application may be the communication device shown in fig. 3.

In the case of dividing the functional modules by corresponding functions, fig. 8 shows a schematic diagram of a possible composition of the session management network element related in the foregoing embodiment, where a PDU session managed by the session management network element includes a first PSA and a second PSA, and the session management network element sends a URR corresponding to the first monitoring key to the first PSA. As shown in fig. 8, the session management network element may include: a receiving unit 80, a transmitting unit 81, and a determining unit 82.

In a possible design, the receiving unit 80 is configured to receive policy control information from a policy control network element, and the sending unit 81 is configured to send a first PDR corresponding to the PCC rule and a URR corresponding to a second monitoring key to a second PSA, where the first PDR carries an identifier of the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key;

wherein the second monitoring key corresponds to the same usage monitoring instance as the first monitoring key. The policy control information includes a PCC rule and a usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key, and the PCC rule carries the second monitoring key and information indicating a policy corresponding to the PCC rule on the second PSA; or the policy control information includes the PCC rule, information indicating a policy corresponding to the PCC rule on the second PSA, and a usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key, where the PCC rule carries the second monitoring key.

In combination with this possible design, the determining unit 82 is configured to determine, before the sending unit 81 sends the first PDR corresponding to the PCC rule and the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key to the second PSA, the packet detection information of the first PDR according to the service data flow template in the PCC rule, and determine the URR for the second monitoring key.

In yet another possible design, the receiving unit 80 is configured to receive policy control information from a policy control network element; wherein the policy control information includes: a usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key, and information indicating that session level usage monitoring is performed on the second PSA or on all PSAs involved in the PDU session; a sending unit 81, configured to send the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key to the second PSA.

With reference to any one of the above possible designs, the receiving unit 80 is further configured to receive the cumulative usage of URRs reported by any PSA included in the PDU session after the sending unit 81 sends the first packet detection rule PDR corresponding to the PCC rule and the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key to the second PSA, and the sending unit 81 is further configured to report the cumulative usage of monitoring key to the policy control network element; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

a receiving unit 80, further configured to receive the cumulative usage of the URRs reported by any PSA included in the PDU session after the transmitting unit 81 transmits the first packet detection rule PDR corresponding to the PCC rule and the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key to the second PSA, and determine unit 82, further configured to determine whether there is a remaining usage threshold corresponding to monitoring key, and if there is a remaining usage threshold, update the usage threshold of the URR reported by any PSA according to the remaining usage threshold; a sending unit 81, configured to report the cumulative usage of the monitoring key to the policy control network element if there is no remaining usage threshold; wherein the monitering key is the monitering key corresponding to the URR reported by any PSA, and the cumulative amount of monitering key comprises the cumulative amount of URRs reported by any PSA; either PSA is the first PSA or the second PSA.

It should be noted that all relevant contents of each step related to the above method embodiment may be referred to the functional description of the corresponding functional module, and are not described again. The session management network element provided by the embodiment of the application is used for executing the policy control method, so that the same effect as the policy control method can be achieved.

In case of an integrated unit, the session management network element may comprise a processing module and a communication module, and the processing module is configured to control and manage the actions of the session management network element. The communication module is configured to support communication between the session management network element and other network entities, for example, the functional module or the network entity shown in fig. 1. The session management network element may further comprise a storage module for storing program code and data for the session management network element. The processing module may be a processor or a controller. Which may implement or perform the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the disclosure. A processor may also be a combination of computing functions, e.g., comprising one or more microprocessors, a DSP and a microprocessor, or the like. The communication module may be a transceiver, a transceiving circuit or a communication interface, etc. The storage module may be a memory. When the processing module is a processor, the communication module is a communication interface, and the storage module is a memory, the session management network element according to the embodiment of the present application may be the communication device shown in fig. 3.

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

While the present application has been described in connection with various embodiments, other variations to the disclosed embodiments can be understood and effected by those skilled in the art in practicing the claimed application, from a review of the drawings, the disclosure, and the appended claims. In the claims, the word "comprising" does not exclude other elements or steps, and the word "a" or "an" does not exclude a plurality. A single processor or other unit may fulfill the functions of several items recited in the claims. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in mutually different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used to advantage.

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

Claims

1. A strategy control method, a strategy control network element determines that a Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session comprises a first PDU session anchor point PSA and a second PSA, and the strategy control network element determines that the first PSA executes the usage monitoring of a first usage monitoring instance corresponding to a first monitoring key; characterized in that the method comprises:

the policy control network element determining to perform usage monitoring of the first usage monitoring instance on the second PSA;

the policy control network element allocates a second monitoring key to the first quantity monitoring instance;

the policy control network element sends policy control information to a session management network element, where the policy control information includes a Policy and Charging Control (PCC) rule and a usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key; the PCC rule carries the second monitoring key and information indicating a policy corresponding to the PCC rule to be executed on the second PSA.

2. The method of claim 1,

the usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key is determined according to the usage quota of the first volume monitoring instance signed by the user, the accumulated usage of the first volume monitoring instance, and the usage threshold of the monitoring key corresponding to the first volume monitoring instance issued by the policy control network element.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the method further comprises:

the policy control network element stores a correspondence between the first quantity monitoring instance and the first and second monitoring keys.

4. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein after the policy control network element sends policy control information to a session management network element, the method further comprises:

the policy control network element receives the accumulated usage of any monitoring key corresponding to the first volume monitoring instance reported by the session management network element;

the policy control network element judges whether an allowed usage threshold corresponding to the first usage monitoring instance exists; under the condition that the allowed usage threshold exists, the policy control network element sends a new usage threshold corresponding to any monitoring key to the session management network element according to the allowed usage threshold; under the condition that the allowed usage threshold does not exist, the policy control network element sends a stop notification to the session management network element, wherein the stop notification is used for notifying the session management network element to stop monitoring the usage of any monitoring key;

wherein any one of the monitering keys is the first monitering key or the second monitering key.

5. The method of claim 4,

when the policy control network element receives the accumulated usage of the first monitoring key reported by the session management network element, the policy control network element further receives an identifier of the first PSA sent by the session management network element;

when the policy control network element receives the accumulated usage of the second monitoring key reported by the session management network element, the policy control network element further receives the identifier of the second PSA sent by the session management network element.

6. A strategy control method, a protocol data unit PDU conversation managed by a conversation management network element comprises a first PDU conversation anchor point PSA and a second PSA, the conversation management network element sends a usage report rule URR corresponding to a first monitoring key to the first PSA; characterized in that the method comprises:

the session management network element receives policy control information from a policy control network element, wherein the policy control information includes a Policy and Charging Control (PCC) rule and a usage threshold corresponding to a second monitoring key; wherein the PCC rule carries the second monitoring key and information indicating a policy corresponding to the PCC rule at the second PSA, the second monitoring key corresponding to the first monitoring key for the first quantity monitoring instance;

and the session management network element sends, to the second PSA, a first packet detection rule PDR corresponding to the PCC rule and a URR corresponding to the second monitoring key, where the first PDR carries an identifier of the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein before the session management network element sends the first packet detection rule PDR corresponding to the PCC rule and the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key to the second PSA, the method further comprises:

and the session management network element determines the packet detection information of the first PDR according to a service data flow template in the PCC rule, and determines a URR for the second monitoring key.

8. The method according to claim 6 or 7,

9. The method according to claim 6 or 7, wherein after the session management network element sends the first packet detection rule PDR corresponding to the PCC rule and the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key to the second PSA, the method further comprises:

the session management network element receives the cumulative usage of the URR reported by any PSA included in the PDU session, and the session management network element reports the cumulative usage of the monitoring key to the policy control network element; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

the session management network element receives the cumulative usage of the URR reported by any PSA included in the PDU session, and the session management network element judges whether a residual usage threshold corresponding to the monitoring key exists or not; in the case that the remaining usage threshold exists, the session management network element updates the usage threshold of the URR reported by any PSA according to the remaining usage threshold; in the absence of the remaining usage threshold, the session management network element reporting the cumulative usage of the monitoring key to the policy control network element;

wherein the monitoring key is the monitoring key corresponding to the URR reported by any PSA, and the cumulative amount of the monitoring key comprises the cumulative amount of the URR reported by any PSA; either the PSA is the first PSA or the second PSA.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein when the session management network element reports the cumulative amount of the monitering key to the policy control network element, the method further comprises:

and the session management network element sends the identifier of any PSA to the policy control network element.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

the session management network element receives a new usage threshold of the monitoring key sent by the policy control network element; or, the session management network element receives a stop notification sent by the policy control network element, and sends a delete request or a stop request to any PSA, where the delete request is used to request any PSA to delete the URR corresponding to the monitoringkey, and the stop request is used to request any PSA to stop monitoring the usage of the URR corresponding to the monitorng key.

12. The method of claim 9,

the remaining usage threshold is a usage threshold that has not been allocated to the URR in the usage thresholds corresponding to the monitering key received by the session management network element from the policy management network element.

13. A strategy control network element determines that a Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session comprises a first PDU session anchor Point (PSA) and a second PSA, and the strategy control network element determines that the first PSA executes usage monitoring of a first usage monitoring instance corresponding to a first monitoring key; wherein the policy control network element comprises:

a determination unit to determine that usage monitoring of the first instance of usage monitoring is performed on the second PSA;

an assigning unit configured to assign a second monitoring key to the first quantity monitoring instance;

a sending unit, configured to send policy control information to a session management network element, where the policy control information includes a policy and charging control, PCC, rule and a usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key; the PCC rule carries the second monitoring key and information indicating a policy corresponding to the PCC rule to be executed on the second PSA.

14. The policy control network element according to claim 13,

15. The policy control network element according to claim 13 or 14,

the allocation unit is further configured to store a correspondence relationship between the first quantity monitoring instance and the first and second monitoring keys.

16. The policy control network element according to claim 13 or 14, wherein said policy control network element further comprises:

a receiving unit, configured to receive, after the sending unit sends the policy control information to the session management network element, the accumulated usage of any monitoring key corresponding to the first volume monitoring instance reported by the session management network element;

the determining unit is further configured to determine whether an allowed usage threshold corresponding to the first usage monitoring instance exists;

the sending unit is further configured to send, to the session management network element, a new usage threshold corresponding to any monitoring key according to the allowed usage threshold when the allowed usage threshold exists; sending a stop notification to the session management network element in the absence of the allowed usage threshold, where the stop notification is used to notify the session management network element to stop monitoring the usage of any monitoring key;

17. The policy control network element according to claim 16,

when the receiving unit receives the accumulated usage of the first monitoring key reported by the session management network element, the receiving unit is further configured to receive an identifier of the first PSA sent by the session management network element;

when the receiving unit receives the accumulated usage of the second monitoring key reported by the session management network element, the receiving unit is further configured to receive the identifier of the second PSA sent by the session management network element.

18. A conversation management network element, a Protocol Data Unit (PDU) conversation managed by the conversation management network element comprises a first PDU conversation anchor Point (PSA) and a second PSA, and the conversation management network element sends a Usage Reporting Rule (URR) corresponding to a first monitoring key monitorangekey to the first PSA; characterized in that said session management network element comprises:

a receiving unit, configured to receive policy control information from a policy control network element, where the policy control information includes a policy and charging control, PCC, rule and a usage threshold corresponding to a second monitoring key; wherein the PCC rule carries the second monitoring key and information indicating a policy corresponding to the PCC rule at the second PSA, the second monitoring key corresponding to the first monitoring key for the first quantity monitoring instance;

a sending unit, configured to send, to the second PSA, a first packet detection rule PDR corresponding to the PCC rule and a URR corresponding to the second monitoring key, where the first PDR carries an identifier of the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key.

19. The session management network element of claim 18, wherein the session management network element further comprises:

a determining unit, configured to determine, according to a service data flow template in the PCC rule, packet detection information of the first PDR and determine a URR for the second monitoring key before the sending unit sends, to the second PSA, the first packet detection rule PDR corresponding to the PCC rule and the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key.

20. The session management network element according to claim 18 or 19,

21. The session management network element of claim 19,

the receiving unit is further configured to receive, after the sending unit sends, to the second PSA, the first packet detection rule PDR corresponding to the PCC rule and the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key, an accumulated usage amount of the URR reported by any PSA included in the PDU session; the sending unit is further configured to report the cumulative amount of the monitoring key to the policy control network element; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

the receiving unit is further configured to receive an accumulated usage amount of the URR reported by any PSA included in the PDU session after the transmitting unit transmits the first packet detection rule PDR corresponding to the PCC rule and the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key to the second PSA, and the determining unit is further configured to determine whether there is a remaining usage amount threshold corresponding to the monitoring key, and update the usage amount threshold of the URR reported by any PSA according to the remaining usage amount threshold if there is the remaining usage amount threshold; the sending unit is further configured to report the accumulated usage of the monitoring key to the policy control network element if the remaining usage threshold does not exist;

22. The session management network element of claim 21, wherein when the sending unit reports the cumulative amount of the monitering key to the policy control network element, the sending unit is further configured to send an identification of any PSA to the policy control network element.

23. The session management network element of claim 21,

the receiving unit is further configured to receive a new usage threshold of the monitoring key sent by the policy control network element; or, the receiving unit is further configured to receive a stop notification sent by the policy control network element, and the sending unit is further configured to send a deletion request or a stop request to any PSA, where the deletion request is used to request any PSA to delete the URR corresponding to the monitoring key, and the stop request is used to request any PSA to stop monitoring the usage amount of the URR corresponding to the monitoring key.

24. The session management network element of claim 21,

25. A strategy control method, a strategy control network element determines that a Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session comprises a first PDU session anchor Point (PSA) and a second PSA, and the strategy control network element determines that the first PSA executes usage monitoring of a session level usage monitoring instance corresponding to a first monitoring key monitorage; characterized in that the method comprises:

the policy control network element determining to perform session level usage monitoring on the second PSA;

the strategy control network element distributes a second monitoring key to the session level usage monitoring instance;

the policy control network element sends policy control information to a session management network element; wherein the policy control information includes: a usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key, and information indicating that session level usage monitoring is performed on the second PSA or on all PSAs included in the PDU session.

26. The method of claim 25,

the usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key is determined according to the usage quota of the session level usage monitoring instance signed by the user, the accumulated usage of the session level usage monitoring instance, and the usage threshold of the monitoring key corresponding to the session level usage monitoring instance issued by the policy control network element.

27. The method according to any of claims 25 or 26, wherein after the policy control network element sends policy control information to a session management network element, the method further comprises:

the policy control network element receives the accumulated usage of any monitoring key corresponding to the session level usage monitoring instance reported by the session management network element;

the policy control network element judges whether an allowed usage threshold corresponding to the session level usage monitoring instance exists; under the condition that the allowed usage threshold exists, the policy control network element sends a new usage threshold corresponding to any monitoring key to the session management network element according to the allowed usage threshold; under the condition that the allowed usage threshold does not exist, the policy control network element sends a stop notification to the session management network element, wherein the stop notification is used for notifying the session management network element to stop monitoring the usage of any monitoring key;

28. A strategy control method, a protocol data unit PDU session managed by a session management network element comprises a first PDU session anchor point PSA and a second PSA, the session management network element sends a usage reporting rule URR corresponding to a first monitoring key to the first PSA, and the first monitoring key corresponds to a session level usage monitoring instance; characterized in that the method comprises:

the session management network element receives the policy control information from the policy control network element; wherein the policy control information includes: a usage threshold corresponding to a second monitoring key, and information indicating that session level usage monitoring is performed on the second PSA or on all PSAs included in the PDU session;

the session management network element sends the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key to the second PSA; wherein the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key is associated with at least one packet detection rule PDR executed by the second PSA, and traffic data matched by each PDR is included in session level usage monitoring.

29. The method of claim 28,

30. The method according to any of claims 28 or 29, wherein after the session management network element sends the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key to the second PSA, the method further comprises:

31. A strategy control network element determines that a Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session comprises a first PDU session anchor Point (PSA) and a second PSA, and the strategy control network element determines that the first PSA executes usage monitoring of a session level usage monitoring instance corresponding to a first monitoring key; wherein the policy control network element comprises:

a determination unit to determine to perform session level usage monitoring on the second PSA;

the allocation unit is used for allocating a second monitoring key to the session-level usage monitoring instance;

a sending unit, configured to send policy control information to a session management network element; wherein the policy control information includes: a usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key, and information indicating that session level usage monitoring is performed on the second PSA or on all PSAs included in the PDU session.

32. The policy control network element according to claim 31,

33. The policy control network element according to any one of claims 31 or 32, wherein said policy control network element further comprises:

a receiving unit, configured to receive, after the sending unit sends the policy control information to the session management network element, the accumulated usage of any monitoring key corresponding to the session level usage monitoring instance reported by the session management network element;

the determining unit is further configured to determine whether an allowed usage threshold corresponding to the session-level usage monitoring instance exists; the sending unit is further configured to send, to the session management network element, a new usage threshold corresponding to any monitoring key according to the allowed usage threshold when the allowed usage threshold exists; sending a stop notification to the session management network element in the absence of the allowed usage threshold, where the stop notification is used to notify the session management network element to stop monitoring the usage of any monitoring key;

34. A session management network element, a Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session managed by the session management network element comprises a first PDU session anchor Point (PSA) and a second PSA, the session management network element sends a Usage Reporting Rule (URR) corresponding to a first monitoring key to the first PSA, and the first monitoring key corresponds to a session-level usage monitoring instance; characterized in that said session management network element comprises:

a receiving unit, configured to receive policy control information from a policy control network element; wherein the policy control information includes: a usage threshold corresponding to a second monitoring key, and information indicating that session level usage monitoring is performed on the second PSA or on all PSAs included in the PDU session;

a sending unit, configured to send the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key to the second PSA.

35. The session management network element of claim 34,

36. A session management network element according to any one of claims 34 or 35,

the receiving unit is further configured to receive the cumulative usage of the URRs reported by any PSA included in the PDU session after the sending unit sends the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key to the second PSA, and the sending unit is further configured to report the cumulative usage of the monitoring key to the policy control network element; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

the receiving unit is further configured to receive, after the sending unit sends the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key to the second PSA, the cumulative usage amount of the URR reported by any PSA included in the PDU session, where the session management network element further includes: a determining unit, configured to determine whether there is a remaining usage threshold corresponding to the monitoring key; in the presence of the remaining usage threshold, updating the usage threshold of the URR reported by either PSA based on the remaining usage threshold; reporting, by the sending unit, the accumulated usage of the monitoring key to the policy control network element in the absence of the remaining usage threshold;