CN110768810B

CN110768810B - Method, device and system for determining message flow description

Info

Publication number: CN110768810B
Application number: CN201810829613.4A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 王毓芳; 郭�东; 夏林瑾
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2018-07-25
Filing date: 2018-07-25
Publication date: 2021-03-30
Anticipated expiration: 2038-07-25
Also published as: WO2020019991A1; CN110768810A

Abstract

The application provides a method, a device and a system for determining a message flow description (PFD), wherein a slice attribute and/or an area attribute are/is added in PFD information, so that a capability open network element can send the following information to a session management network element: based on the PFD information after the slice attribute and/or the area attribute screening, it is not necessary to send all the PFD information to the session management network element, and/or the session management network element can send: the PFD information screened based on the slice attribute and/or the area attribute does not need to be sent to the user plane network element, which is beneficial to reducing resource overhead.

Description

Method, device and system for determining message flow description

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of communications, and more particularly, to a method, apparatus, and system for determining a message flow description.

Background

In a fifth generation (5th generation, 5G) system, a capability openness network element synchronizes all application (App) Identifiers (IDs) and corresponding Packet Flow Description (PFD) information to a session management network element. After the session management network element obtains all the PFD information, it may synchronize all the PFDs information to the user plane network element. Here, all application App IDs and corresponding message flow description PFDs information are all synchronized to the network element, and not all PFD information may be needed by the user plane network element or the session management network element. When the user plane network element or the session management network element unnecessarily synchronizes all the PFDs, the frequency of triggering cache swap (cache swap) is high, the performance of the network element is influenced, and unnecessary resource overhead is increased.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of this, the present application provides a method, an apparatus, and a system for determining a message flow description, which are helpful for reducing resource overhead by adding a slice attribute and/or an area attribute in PFD information.

In a first aspect, a method for determining a message flow description (PFD) is provided, including: the capability openness network element determines, according to first slice identification information, PFD information related to a network slice served by a session management network element, where the first slice identification information is used to indicate the network slice served by the session management network element and send the PFD information to the session management network element, and it is only necessary to send the PFD information including the first slice identification information without sending all the PFD information to the session management network element, which is helpful to reduce resource overhead.

Optionally, the method further comprises: the capability opening network element sends a first query request to a unified data storage network element, wherein the first query request comprises the first slice identification information;

the determining, by the capability openness network element, the PFD information related to the network slice serviced by the session management network element according to the first slice identification information includes: and the capability opening network element receives a query result from the unified data storage network element, wherein the query result comprises the PFD information.

Therefore, the capability openness network element can query the unified data storage network element to obtain the PFD information including the first slice identification information, and the obtaining mode is flexible.

Optionally, the method further comprises: the capability openness network element receives a first request message from the session management network element, where the first request message is used to request the PFD information, and the first request message includes the first slice identification information and the identification information of the session management network element. In this way, the capability openness network element can not only actively send the PFD information to the session management network element, but also send the PFD information based on the request of the session management network element.

Optionally, the method further comprises: the capability opening network element receives the following information from the application network element: identification information of the network slice which is required to take effect by the service corresponding to the application network element; and the capability opening network element stores the information of the PFD including the identification information of the network slice, which needs to take effect, of the service corresponding to the application network element in a unified data storage network element, so that the subsequent query and use are facilitated.

In a possible implementation manner, the determining, by the capability openness network element according to the first slice identification information, PFD information related to a network slice served by the session management network element includes: and the capability openness network element determines, according to the first slice identification information and the first area identification information, PFD information related to a network slice served by the session management network element and an area served by the session management network element, where the first area identification information is used to indicate the area served by the session management network element. In this way, the capability openness network element may send to the session management network element: the PFD information related to the network slice served by the session management network element and the area served by the session management network element does not need to send all the PFD information to the session management network element, which helps to reduce resource overhead.

Optionally, the method further comprises: the capability opening network element sends a second query request to a unified data storage network element, wherein the second query request comprises the first slice identification information and the first area identification information;

wherein, the determining, by the capability openness network element according to the first slice identification information, the PFD information related to the network slice served by the session management network element and the area served by the session management network element includes: and the capability opening network element receives a query result from the unified data storage network element, wherein the query result comprises the PFD information. In this way, the capability openness network element may query the unified data storage network element to obtain the PFD information including the first slice identification information and the first area identification information, and the obtaining manner is flexible.

Optionally, the method further comprises: the capability openness network element receives a second request message from the session management network element, where the second request message is used to request the PFD information, and the second request message includes the first slice identification information and the identification information of the session management network element. In this way, the capability openness network element can not only actively send the PFD information to the session management network element, but also send the PFD information based on the request of the session management network element.

Optionally, the method further comprises: the capability opening network element sends a third query request to a network storage function network element, wherein the third query request is used for querying an area served by the session management network element; and the capability opening network element receives the first area identification information from the network storage function network element. Thus, the capability openness network element may query the storage function network element for the area served by the session management network element.

Optionally, the first area identification information is external area identification information, where the external area identification information is used to indicate a geographic or administrative area served by the session management network element;

the second request message carries internal area identification information, where the internal area identification information is used to indicate a radio access area served by the session management network element, and correspondingly, the third query request is used to query a geographical or administrative area served by the session management network element, or,

the second request message does not carry the internal area identification information, and correspondingly, the third query request is used for querying a geographical or administrative area served by the session management network element.

Optionally, the first area identification information is internal area identification information, where the internal area identification information is used to indicate a radio access area served by the session management network element;

the second request message does not carry the internal area identification information, and correspondingly, the third query request is used for querying a wireless access area served by the session management network element.

Optionally, the first area identifier information is an internal area identifier information, where the internal area identifier information is used to indicate a radio access area served by the session management network element, and the second request message carries the internal area identifier information.

Optionally, the method further comprises: the capability opening network element receives the following information from the application network element: the identification information of the network slice, which needs to take effect, of the service corresponding to the application network element and the identification information of the geographical or administrative area, which needs to take effect, of the service corresponding to the application network element; and the capability opening network element stores the PFD information including the identification information of the network slice, which is required to take effect, of the service corresponding to the application network element and the identification information of the geographical or administrative area, which is required to take effect, of the service of the application network element in a unified data storage network element.

Optionally, the information of the PFD further includes identification information of a radio access area corresponding to a geographical or administrative area where the service of the application network element needs to take effect;

before the capability openness network element stores, in a unified data storage network element, information of a PFD including identification information of a network slice where a service corresponding to the application network element needs to take effect and identification information of a geographical or administrative area where the service of the application network element needs to take effect, the method further includes: the capability opening network element sends the following information to a network storage function network element: the identification information of the network slice, which is required to take effect by the service corresponding to the application network element, and the identification information of the geographical or administrative area, which is required to take effect by the service of the application network element;

the capability opening network element acquires the following information from the network storage function network element: identification information of a radio access area corresponding to the geography or administration where the service of the application network element needs to be effective.

In a second aspect, a method for determining a message flow description (PFD) is provided, including: the session management network element determines second PFD information according to second slice identification information, wherein the second slice identification information is used for indicating a network slice served by a user plane network element, and the second PFD information is information of a PFD related to the network slice served by the user plane network element; and the session management network element sends the second PFD information to the user plane network element, where the second PFD information includes the second slice identification information, and only the PFD information including the second slice identification information needs to be sent without sending all the PFD information to the user plane network element, which is beneficial to reducing resource overhead.

Optionally, the method further comprises: the session management network element receives first PFD information from the capability openness network element, where the first PFD information includes first slice identification information, and the first slice identification information is used to indicate a network slice served by the session management network element;

wherein, the determining, by the session management network element, the second PFD information according to the second slice identification information includes: and the session management network element uses the second slice identification information to screen the first PFD information to obtain the second PFD information. In this way, the session management network element may perform screening based on the first PFD information sent by the capability openness network element, so as to obtain the second PFD information.

Optionally, the method further comprises: the session management network element sends a first request message to a capability openness network element, where the first request message is used to request the first PFD information, and the first request message includes the first slice identification information and the identification information of the session management network element. In this way, the session management network element may actively send a request to the capability openness network element to obtain the first PFD information.

Optionally, the method further comprises: the session management network element receives a third request message from a user plane network element, where the third request message is used to request the second PFD information, and the third request message includes the second slice identification information and the identification information of the user plane network element. In this way, the session management network element may send the second PFD information to the user plane network element based on the request of the user plane network element.

Optionally, the determining, by the session management network element, the second PFD information according to the second slice identification information includes:

the session management network element determines, according to second slice identification information and second area identification information, the second PFD information, where the second PFD information is PFD information related to a network slice served by the user plane network element and an area served by the user plane network element, and the second area identification information is used to indicate the area served by the user plane network element, and the second PFD information includes the second area identification information and the second slice identification information. In this way, the session management network element may send to the user plane network element: and the PFD information related to the network slice served by the user plane network element and the area served by the user plane network element does not need to be sent to the user plane network element, which is beneficial to reducing resource overhead.

Optionally, the method further comprises: the session management network element receives first PFD information from a capability opening network element, wherein the first PFD information is PFD information related to the session management network element and comprises first slice identification information and first area identification information;

wherein, the determining, by the session management network element, the second PFD information according to the second area identification information and the second slice identification information includes: and the session management network element uses the second area identification information and the second slice identification information to screen the first PFD information to obtain the second PFD information.

Optionally, the method further comprises: the session management network element sends a second request message to the capability openness network element, where the second request message is used to request the first PFD information, the second request message includes first slice identification information and identification information of the session management network element, and the first slice identification information is used to indicate a network slice served by the session management network element. In this way, the session management network element may actively send a request to the capability openness network element to obtain the first PFD information.

Optionally, the second request message carries the first area identifier information, where the first area identifier information is used to indicate a radio access area served by the session management network element.

Optionally, the method further comprises: the session management network element receives a fourth request message from the user plane network element, where the fourth request message is used to request the second PFD information, and the fourth request message includes the second slice identification information and the identification information of the user plane network element.

Optionally, the method further comprises: the session management network element sends a third query request to a network storage function network element, wherein the third query request is used for querying an area served by the user plane network element;

and the session management network element receives the second area identification information from the network storage function network element.

Optionally, the second area identification information is external area identification information, where the external area identification information is used to indicate a geographical or administrative area served by the user plane network element;

the fourth request message carries an internal area identifier, where the internal area identifier is used to indicate a radio access area served by the user plane network element, and correspondingly, the third query request is used to query a geographical or administrative area served by the user plane network element, or,

the fourth request message does not carry the internal area identification information, and correspondingly, the third query request is used for querying a geographical or administrative area served by the user plane network element.

Optionally, the second area identification information is internal area identification information, where the internal area identification information is used to indicate a radio access area served by the user plane network element; the fourth request message does not carry the identification information of the internal area, and correspondingly, the third query request is used for querying a wireless access area served by the user plane network element.

Optionally, the second area identification information is internal area identification information, where the internal area identification information is used to indicate a radio access area served by the user plane network element, and the fourth request message carries the internal area identification information.

In a third aspect, a system for determining a message flow description (PFD) is provided, including: the system comprises a capability opening network element and a session management network element, wherein the capability opening network element is used for determining PFD information related to a network slice served by the session management network element according to first slice identification information, and the first slice identification information is used for indicating the network slice served by the session management network element; the session management network element is configured to receive the PFD information from the capability openness network element. In this way, the capability openness network element does not need to send all the PFD information to the session management network element, and only needs to send the PFD information including the first slice identification information, which is beneficial to reducing resource overhead.

Optionally, the system further comprises: a unified data storage network element. The capability openness network element is further configured to send a first query request to the unified data storage network element, where the first query request includes first slice identification information, and the first slice identification information is used to indicate a network slice served by the session management network element; correspondingly, the unified data storage network element is configured to send a query result to the capability openness network element, where the query result includes PFD information, and the PFD information includes the first slice identification information. Optionally, the first query request further includes first area identification information, where the first area identification information is used to indicate an area served by the session management network element; the PFD information further includes the first area identification information.

Optionally, the system further comprises: and a network storage function network element. The network element with the capability openness is further configured to send a second query request to a network storage function network element, where the second query request is used to query an area served by the session management network element; correspondingly, the network storage function network element is configured to send first area identifier information to the capability openness network element, where the first area identifier information is used to indicate an area served by the session management network element.

Optionally, the network storage function network element is further configured to acquire registration information of the network element, where the registration information includes slice identification information corresponding to the network element and identification information of a radio access area served by the network element, and the network element includes a session management network element and/or a user plane network element; the network storage function network element is further configured to manage: and mapping relation between the identification information of the wireless access area served by the network element and the identification information of the geographical or administrative area served by the network element.

Optionally, the system further comprises: the application network element is used for sending the following information to the capability open network element: identification information of a network slice, which is required to take effect by the service corresponding to the application network element, and identification information of a geographical or administrative area, which is required to take effect by the service of the application network element; correspondingly, the capability openness network element is configured to send, to the network storage function network element: identification information of a network slice, which is required to take effect by the service corresponding to the application network element, and identification information of a geographical or administrative area, which is required to take effect by the service of the application network element; correspondingly, the network storage function network element is configured to send, to the capability openness network element: identification information of a radio access area corresponding to the geography or administration where the service of the application network element needs to be effective.

In a fourth aspect, a system for determining a message flow description (PFD) is provided, including: a user plane network element, configured to send a second request message to a session management network element, where the second request message is used to request a PFD related to a network slice served by the user plane network element, and the second request message includes second slice identification information and identification information of the user plane network element, where the second slice identification information is used to indicate the network slice served by the user plane network element; the session management network element is configured to determine second PFD information according to the second slice identification information, where the second slice identification information is used to indicate a network slice served by the user plane network element, and the second PFD information is information of a PFD related to the network slice served by the user plane network element; the session management network element is further configured to send the second PFD information to the user plane network element, where the second PFD information includes the second slice identification information, and only the PFD information including the second slice identification information needs to be sent without sending all the PFD information to the user plane network element, which is beneficial to reducing resource overhead.

Optionally, the second request message further includes second area identification information, where the second area identification information is used to indicate an area served by the user plane network element; the second PFD information further includes the second area identification information.

Optionally, the system further comprises: and a network storage function network element. The session management network element is further configured to send a third query request to the network storage function network element, where the third query request is used to query an area served by the user plane network element; correspondingly, the network storage function network element is configured to send the second area identifier information to the session management network element.

In a fifth aspect, a method for determining a message flow description (PFD) is provided, including: the method comprises the steps that a user plane network element obtains time information, wherein the time information is used for indicating the effective time of a first PFD; and the user plane network element performs data stream operation on the first PFD carrying the time information based on the time information, which is favorable for providing the effective accuracy of the PFD. Therefore, the application network element can improve the deployment accuracy in service deployment based on the effective time of the PFD.

Optionally, the performing, by the user plane network element, a data flow rule matching operation on the first PFD carrying the time information based on the time information includes: and the user plane network element performs data flow rule matching and policy implementation on the first PFD within the effective time of the first PFD.

Optionally, the obtaining, by the user plane network element, PFD information includes: and the user plane network element receives the PFD information from the session management network element.

In a sixth aspect, a system for determining a message flow description PFD is provided, including: the unified data storage network element is used for sending a first PFD carrying time information to the capability opening network element, wherein the time information is used for indicating the effective time of the first PFD; the capability open network element is used for sending a first PFD carrying the time information to a session management network element; the session management network element is used for sending a first PFD carrying the time information to a user plane network element; and the user plane network element performs data stream operation on the first PFD carrying the time information based on the time information, which is favorable for providing the effective accuracy of the PFD. Therefore, the application network element can improve the deployment accuracy in service deployment based on the effective time of the PFD.

Optionally, the system further comprises: an application network element, configured to send PFD information to the capability openness network element, where the PFD information includes effective time of a PFD; and the unified data storage network element is used for storing the PFD information.

A seventh aspect provides a device for determining a message flow description PFD, where the device may be a capability-open network element or a chip. The apparatus has the functionality to implement a capability openning network element in any aspect or any possible implementation of any 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.

In an eighth aspect, an apparatus for determining a message flow description PFD is provided, where the apparatus may be a session management network element or a chip. The apparatus has the functionality to implement the session management network element in any aspect or any possible implementation of any 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.

In a ninth aspect, a device for determining a message flow description PFD is provided, where the device may be a user plane network element or a chip. The apparatus has the functionality to implement the session management network element in any aspect or any possible implementation of any 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.

In a tenth aspect, an apparatus is provided that includes a processor, a memory. The processor is connected with the memory. The memory is used for storing instructions and the processor is used for executing the instructions. The processor, when executing the instructions stored by the memory, causes the apparatus to perform the method of the capability openness network element in any of the above aspects or any possible implementation manner of any of the above aspects. It should be noted that the memory may be integrated into the processor or may be independent from the processor.

In an eleventh aspect, an apparatus is provided that includes a processor, a memory. The processor is connected with the memory. The memory is used for storing instructions and the processor is used for executing the instructions. The processor, when executing the instructions stored by the memory, causes the apparatus to perform the method of the session management network element in any of the above aspects or any possible implementation manner of any of the above aspects. It should be noted that the memory may be integrated into the processor or may be independent from the processor.

In a twelfth aspect, an apparatus is provided that includes a processor, a memory. The processor is connected with the memory. The memory is used for storing instructions and the processor is used for executing the instructions. The processor, when executing the instructions stored by the memory, causes the apparatus to perform the method of the user plane network element in any of the above aspects or any possible implementation manner of any of the above aspects. It should be noted that the memory may be integrated into the processor or may be independent from the processor.

In a thirteenth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, where the computer-readable storage medium stores a program, where the program makes a capability openness network element execute the method of the capability openness network element in any one of the above aspects or any possible implementation manner of any one of the above aspects.

In a fourteenth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, which stores a program that causes a session management network element to perform the method of the session management network element in any one of the above aspects or any possible implementation manner of any one of the above aspects.

In a fifteenth aspect, there is provided a computer readable storage medium storing a program for causing a user plane network element to perform the method of the user plane network element in any one of the above aspects or any possible implementation manner of any one of the above aspects.

In a sixteenth aspect, there is provided a communication chip having instructions stored thereon, which when run on a computer device, cause the communication chip to perform the method of any of the possible implementations of any of the above aspects.

A seventeenth aspect provides a computer program product comprising instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any of the above aspects or any possible implementation thereof.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a system architecture to which an embodiment of the present application is applied.

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of another system architecture to which the embodiments of the present application are applied.

Fig. 3 is a scene diagram to which the embodiment of the present application is applied.

FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram of a computer device to which embodiments of the present application are applied.

Fig. 5 is a schematic flow chart diagram of a method of determining a message flow description PFD according to one embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 6 is a schematic flow chart diagram of a method of determining a message flow description PFD according to another embodiment of the present application.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of an example according to an embodiment of the present application.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of another example according to an embodiment of the present application.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of yet another example according to an embodiment of the present application.

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of an example in accordance with an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 11 is a schematic block diagram of an apparatus for determining a message flow description PFD according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 12 is a schematic block diagram of an apparatus for determining a message flow description PFD according to another embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

The technical solution in the present application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The technical scheme of the embodiment of the application can be applied to various communication systems, for example: global system for mobile communications (GSM) systems, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) systems, Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) systems, General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, LTE Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) systems, LTE Time Division Duplex (TDD), universal mobile telecommunications system (universal mobile telecommunications system, UMTS), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) communication systems, future fifth generation (5G) or new radio system (2X), and the like.

Various aspects or features of the disclosure may be implemented as a method, apparatus, or article of manufacture using standard programming and/or engineering techniques. The term "article of manufacture" as used herein is intended to encompass a computer program accessible from any computer-readable device, carrier, or media. For example, computer-readable media can include but are not limited to magnetic storage devices (e.g., hard disk, floppy disk, magnetic strips, etc.), optical disks (e.g., Compact Disk (CD), Digital Versatile Disk (DVD), etc.), smart cards, and flash memory devices (e.g., erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), card, stick, or key drive, etc.). In addition, various storage media described herein can represent one or more devices and/or other machine-readable media for storing information. The term "machine-readable medium" can include, without being limited to, wireless channels and various other media capable of storing, containing, and/or carrying instruction(s) and/or data.

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a system architecture to which an embodiment of the present application is applied. As shown in fig. 1, the system 101 includes: capability opening network elements and session management network elements. The system 101 may be used to execute a relevant embodiment in which the capability openness network element issues the screened PFD information to the session management network element in the embodiment of the present application, and may specifically be used to execute the following implementation manner.

Implementation (1)

In implementation manner (1), the capability openness network element is configured to determine, according to first slice identification information, PFD information related to a network slice served by a session management network element, where the first slice identification information is used to indicate the network slice served by the session management network element; the session management network element is configured to receive the PFD information from the capability openness network element, where the PFD information includes the first slice identification information. In this way, the capability openness network element may screen the PFD information based on the first slice identification information, and send the PFD information obtained by the screening to the session management network element, so that the session management network element can obtain the enhanced PFD information.

Optionally, the system 101 may further include a unified data storage network element, where the unified data storage network element is configured to receive a first query request from the capability openness network element, where the first query request includes first slice identification information; the unified data storage network element is further configured to send a query result to the capability openness network element, where the query result includes PFD information, and the PFD information includes the first slice identification information. Therefore, the capability-opening network element can query the PFD information in the unified data storage network element, that is, the PFD information can be obtained flexibly.

Optionally, the system 101 may further include an application network element, where the application network element is configured to send, to the capability openness network element: identification information of the network slice which is required to take effect by the service corresponding to the application network element; correspondingly, the capability openness network element is configured to store, in the unified data storage network element, information of the PFD including identification information of the network slice, which is required to be validated by the service corresponding to the application network element. In this way, the capability openness network element may combine: and the identification information of the network slice, which needs to take effect by the service corresponding to the application network element, is stored in the unified data storage network element so as to be used when the PFD information is inquired subsequently.

Implementation (2)

In implementation manner (2), the capability openness network element is configured to determine, according to first slice identification information and first area identification information, PFD information related to a network slice served by a session management network element, where the first slice identification information is used to indicate the network slice served by the session management network element, and the first area identification information is used to indicate an area served by the session management network element; the capability openness network element is further configured to send the PFD information to the session management network element, where the PFD information includes the first slice identification information and the first area identification information, so that the session management network element can obtain enhanced PFD information. In this way, the capability openness network element may screen the PFD information based on the first slice identification information and the first area identification information, and send the PFD information obtained by the screening to the session management network element.

Optionally, the system 101 may further include a unified data storage network element, where the unified data storage network element is configured to receive a second query request from the capability openness network element, where the second query request includes the first slice identification information and the first area identification information; the unified data storage network element is further configured to send a query result to the capability openness network element, where the query result includes the PFD information, and the PFD information includes the first slice identification information and the first area identification information. Therefore, the capability-opening network element can query the PFD information in the unified data storage network element, that is, the PFD information can be obtained flexibly.

Optionally, the session management network element is further configured to send a second request message to the capability openness network element, where the second request message is used to request the PFD information, and the second request message includes the first slice identification information and the identification information of the session management network element.

Optionally, the system 101 further includes a network storage function network element. The capability opening network element is further configured to send a third query request to a network storage function network element, where the third query request is used to query an area served by the session management network element; correspondingly, the network storage function network element is configured to send the first area identifier information to the capability openness network element.

Optionally, the system 101 may further include an application network element, where the application network element is configured to send, to the capability openness network element: identification information of a network slice, which is required to take effect by the service corresponding to the application network element, and identification information of a geographical or administrative area, which is required to take effect by the service of the application network element; correspondingly, the capability openness network element is configured to store, in the unified data storage network element, the information of the PFD including the identification information of the network slice in which the service corresponding to the application network element needs to be validated and the identification information of the geographic or administrative area in which the service of the application network element needs to be validated, so as to be used when the PFD information is subsequently queried.

Implementation (3)

In implementation manner (3), the capability openness network element is configured to determine, according to first area identification information, PFD information related to an area served by the session management network element, where the first area identification information is used to indicate the area served by the session management network element; the capability openness network element is further configured to send the PFD information to the session management network element, where the PFD information includes the first area identification information, so that the session management network element can obtain enhanced PFD information. In this way, the capability openness network element may screen the PFD information based on the first area identification information, and send the PFD information obtained by the screening to the session management network element.

Optionally, the system 101 may further include a unified data storage network element, where the unified data storage network element is configured to receive an inquiry request for inquiring the PFD from the capability openness network element, and the inquiry request for inquiring the PFD includes the first area identification information; the unified data storage network element is further configured to send a query result to the capability openness network element, where the query result includes PFD information, and the PFD information includes the first area identification information. Therefore, the capability openness network element can query the first area identification information PFD information in the unified data storage network element, so that the PFD information can be obtained in a flexible manner.

Optionally, the system 101 may further include an application network element, where the application network element is configured to send, to the capability openness network element: identification information of a geographical or administrative region where a service corresponding to the application network element needs to take effect; correspondingly, the capability openness network element is configured to store, in the unified data storage network element, information of the PFD including identification information of a geographic or administrative area where a service corresponding to the application network element needs to be validated. In this way, the capability openness network element may combine: and the identification information of the geographical or administrative region, in which the service corresponding to the application network element needs to be effective, is stored in the unified data storage network element so as to be conveniently used when the PFD information is subsequently inquired.

It should be understood that the capability opening network element and the session management network element in the system 101 may be a single network element respectively, or may be implemented by multiple network elements together, or may be used as a functional module in a network element, which is not specifically limited in this embodiment of the present application.

It is understood that the above functions may be either network elements in a hardware device, software functions running on dedicated hardware, or virtualization functions instantiated on a platform (e.g., a cloud platform).

It should also be understood that the system 101 shown in fig. 1 may be applied to a 5G network and other possible networks in the future, and the embodiment of the present application is not particularly limited thereto.

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of another system architecture to which the embodiments of the present application are applied. As shown in fig. 2, the system 102 includes: a session management network element and a user plane network element. The system 102 may be configured to execute a relevant embodiment in which the session management network element issues the screened PFD information to the user plane network element in the embodiment of the present application, and may specifically be configured to execute the following implementation manner.

Implementation (1)

In implementation manner (1), the session management network element is configured to determine second PFD information according to second slice identification information, where the second slice identification information is used to indicate a network slice serviced by the user plane network element, and the second PFD information is information of a PFD related to the network slice serviced by the user plane network element; the session management network element is further configured to send the second PFD information to the user plane network element, where the second PFD information includes the second slice identification information. In this way, the session management network element may screen the PFD information based on the second slice identification information, and send the second PFD information obtained by the screening to the user plane network element.

Optionally, the system 102 may further include a capability openness network element. The capability openness network element is configured to send first PFD information to the session management network element, where the first PFD information includes the first slice identification information, and the first slice identification information is used to indicate a network slice served by the session management network element; correspondingly, the session management network element is configured to filter the first PFD information by using the second slice identification information, so as to obtain the second PFD information.

Implementation (2)

In implementation manner (2), the session management network element is configured to determine second PFD information according to second area identification information and second slice identification information, where the second area identification information is used to indicate an area served by a user plane network element, the second slice identification information is used to indicate a network slice served by the user plane network element, and the second PFD information is information of PFDs related to the network slice served by the user plane network element and the area served by the user plane network element; the session management network element is further configured to send the second PFD information to the user plane network element, where the second PFD information includes the second area identification information and the second slice identification information. In this way, the session management network element may screen the PFD information based on the second area identification information and the second slice identification information, and send the second PFD information obtained by the screening to the user plane network element.

Optionally, the system 102 may further include a capability openness network element. The capability openness network element is configured to send first PFD information to the session management network element, where the first PFD information includes the first slice identification information and first area identification information; correspondingly, the session management network element is configured to filter the first PFD information by using the second slice identification information and the second area identification information, so as to obtain the second PFD information. In this way, the session management network element may perform screening based on the first PFD information sent by the capability openness network element to obtain the second PFD information.

Optionally, the system 102 may further include a network storage function network element. The session management network element is configured to send a third query request to a network storage function network element, where the third query request is used to query an area served by the user plane network element; correspondingly, the network storage function network element is configured to send the second area identifier information to the session management network element. In this way, the session network element can query the area served by the user plane network element through the network storage function network element.

Implementation (3)

In implementation manner (3), the session management network element is configured to determine second PFD information according to second area identification information, where the second area identification information is used to indicate an area served by the user plane network element, and the second PFD information is information of a PFD related to the area served by the user plane network element; the session management network element is further configured to send the second PFD information to the user plane network element, where the second PFD information includes the second area identification information. In this way, the session management network element may screen the PFD information based on the second area identification information, and send the second PFD information obtained by the screening to the user plane network element.

Optionally, the system 102 may further include a capability openness network element. The capability open network element is configured to send first PFD information to the session management network element, where the first PFD information includes first area identification information; correspondingly, the session management network element is configured to filter the first PFD information by using the second area identifier information, so as to obtain the second PFD information. In this way, the session management network element may perform screening based on the first PFD information sent by the capability openness network element to obtain the second PFD information.

It should be understood that the session management network element and the user plane network element in the system 102 may be a single network element respectively, may also be implemented by multiple network elements together, and may also be used as a functional module in one network element, which is not specifically limited in this embodiment of the present application.

It should also be understood that the system 102 shown in fig. 2 may be applied to a 5G network and other possible networks in the future, and the embodiment of the present application is not particularly limited thereto.

It should be noted that, the capability opening network element and the session management network element in fig. 1, or the session management network element and the user plane network element in fig. 2, etc. are only names, and the names do not limit the network elements themselves. In the 5G network and other future networks, the network elements or entities corresponding to the capability opening network element, the session management network element, and the user plane network element may also be other names, which is not specifically limited in this embodiment of the present application. For example, the capability openness network element may be replaced by an NEF functional entity, the session management network element may be replaced by an SMF functional entity, the user plane network element may be replaced by an UPF functional entity, and the like, which are described in a unified manner and are not described in detail below.

Alternatively, the system 101 shown in fig. 1 may be applied to a 5G network, and as shown in fig. 3, the capability openness network element shown in fig. 1 may be a NEF 205 in 5G, and the session management network element shown in fig. 1 may be an SMF 202 in 5G. Optionally, the system 101 may further include other network elements shown in fig. 3, which is not limited to this.

Alternatively, the system 102 shown in fig. 2 may be applied to a 5G network, and as shown in fig. 3, the session management network element shown in fig. 2 may be the SMF 202 in 5G, and the user plane network element shown in fig. 2 may be the UPF 208 in 5G. Optionally, the system 102 may further include other network elements shown in fig. 3, which is not limited to this.

Fig. 3 shows a scene diagram to which an embodiment of the present application is applied. As shown in fig. 3, the system 200 includes: an AMF 201, a session management function network element (SMF) 202, a Radio Access Network (RAN) 203, an authentication server function network element (AUSF) 204, a network capability open Network Element (NEF) 205, a policy control function network element (PCF) 206, a Data Network (DN) 207, a user plane function network element (UPF) 208, a user equipment (user equipment, UE)209, an application function (application function, AF)210, a data storage network element (unified data retrieval, UDR)211, and a network storage function network element (NF) 212. NRF 212 supports service registration, status monitoring, and the like of network functions, and implements automated management, selection, and extension of network function services. Wherein, the UE 209 is connected to the AMF 201 through an N1 interface, and the UE 209 is connected to the RAN 203 through a Radio Resource Control (RRC) protocol; the RAN 203 is connected with the AMF 201 through an N2 interface, and the RAN 203 is connected with the UPF 208 through an N3 interface; a plurality of UPFs 208 are connected through an N9 interface, the UPFs 208 are connected with DN 207 through an N6 interface, and meanwhile, the UPFs 208 are connected with SMF 202 through an N4 interface; the SMF 202 is connected with the PCF 206 through an N7 interface, the SMF 202 is connected with the NEF 205 through an N29 interface, and meanwhile, the SMF 202 is connected with the AMF 201 through an N11 interface; a plurality of AMFs 201 are connected through an N14 interface, the AMFs 201 are connected with an AUSF 204 through an N12 interface, and meanwhile, the AMFs 201 are connected with a PCF 206 through an N15 interface; NEF 205 connects to UDR 211 through a servitized interface, optionally NRF 212 through a servitized interface; AMF 201 and SMF 202 obtain policy data from PCF 206 via N15 and N7 interfaces, respectively; AF 210 connects with NEF 205 through an N33 interface; the SMF 202 controls the UPF 208 via the N4 interface. Optionally, NRF 212 is coupled to SMF 202 and NRF 212 is coupled to UPF 208.

It should be noted that the name of each network element (e.g., SMF 202, NEF 205, AF 210, UDR 211, UPF 208, etc.) included in fig. 3 is only a name, and the name does not limit the function of the network element itself. In the 5G network and other networks in the future, the network elements may also be given other names, which is not specifically limited in the embodiment of the present application. For example, in a 6G network, some or all of the above network elements may use the terminology in 5G, or may use other nomenclature, and so on, which are described herein in a unified manner and will not be described again below.

The specific operation and beneficial effects of the network elements in the systems of fig. 1 to 3 can be referred to the description of the method embodiments below.

Fig. 4 shows a schematic block diagram of a computer device 300 (a means for determining a message flow describing a PFD) to which an embodiment of the present application is applied. The capability openness network element and the session management network element in fig. 1, or the capability openness network element and the user plane network element in fig. 2, may be implemented by way of the computer device in fig. 4; alternatively, NEF 205, SMF 202, or UPF 208 in fig. 3 may be implemented by way of a computer device in fig. 4.

As shown in fig. 4, the computer apparatus includes: a processor 301, a memory 302, and a transceiver 303.

The processor 301, memory 302, and transceiver 303 communicate with each other, passing control and/or data signals, through internal connection paths.

It will be appreciated that although not shown, the computer apparatus 300 may also include other devices, such as input devices, output devices, batteries, etc.

Optionally, in some embodiments, the memory 302 may store execution instructions for performing the methods of embodiments of the present application. The processor 301 may execute the instructions stored in the memory 302 to perform the steps of the method described below in combination with other hardware (e.g., the transceiver 303), and the specific working process and beneficial effects can be seen from the description of the method embodiment below.

The method disclosed in the embodiments of the present application may be applied to a processor, or may be implemented by a processor. The processor may be an integrated circuit chip having signal processing capabilities. In implementation, the steps of the above method may be performed by integrated logic circuits of hardware in a processor or instructions in the form of software. The processor may be a general purpose processor, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), an off-the-shelf programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic device, or discrete hardware components. The various methods, steps, and logic blocks disclosed in the embodiments of the present application may be implemented or performed. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor or the processor may be any conventional processor or the like. The steps of the method disclosed in connection with the embodiments of the present application may be directly implemented by a hardware decoding processor, or implemented by a combination of hardware and software modules in the decoding processor. The software modules may be located in a Random Access Memory (RAM), a flash memory, a read-only memory (ROM), a programmable ROM, an electrically erasable programmable memory, a register, or other storage media that are well known in the art. The storage medium is located in a memory, and a processor reads instructions in the memory and combines hardware thereof to complete the steps of the method.

The computer device 300 may be a general purpose computer device or a special purpose computer device. In a specific implementation, the computer device 300 may be a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a web server, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a wireless terminal device, a communication device, an embedded device, or a device with a similar structure as in fig. 4. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the type of the computer apparatus 300.

In the present embodiment, the PFD information may be associated with network slice information and/or an area (the area may be a radio access network area, a geographical or administrative area). In this way, the capability openness network element does not need to send all PFD information corresponding to the service (App) ID to the session management network element, but filters the PFD information through the first slice identification information and/or the first area identification information, and then sends the PFD information (e.g., the first PFD information) corresponding to the first slice identification information and the first area identification information, so as to reduce resource overhead.

Fig. 5 shows a schematic flow chart of a method 400 of determining a message flow description PFD according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 5, the method 400 includes:

s410, the capability openness network element determines PFD information related to the session management network element.

Specifically, the capability openness network element determines the PFD information related to the session management network element according to the first slice identification information and/or the first area identification information.

S420, the capability openness network element sends the PFD information to the session management network element. Correspondingly, the session management network element receives the PFD information from the capability openness network element.

It should be noted that, the capability openness network element may determine PFD information related to the session management network element by itself, or may query the PFD information related to the session management network element in the unified data storage network element, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

Optionally, the method 400 further comprises:

s430, the capability openness network element sends a query request to the unified data storage network element. Correspondingly, the unified data storage network element receives the query request from the capability opening network element. Alternatively, the unified data storage network element may be the UDR 211 in fig. 3.

S440, the unified data storage network element performs screening according to the query request.

S411, the unified data storage network element sends the query result to the capability opening network element.

In this embodiment of the present application, the capability openness network element may perform the screening of the PFD information through any one of the following three implementation manners, which are respectively: in a first implementation manner, the capability openness network element queries the PFD according to the first slice identification information; in a second implementation manner, the capability openness network element queries the PFD according to the first area identification information; in a third implementation manner, the capability openness network element queries the PFD according to the first slice identification information and the first area identification information. The three implementations will be described in detail below.

The first implementation mode comprises the following steps:

if the capability open network element queries the PFD with the slice identification information, S410 specifically is:

the capability openness network element determines PFD information related to a network slice served by a session management network element according to first slice identification information, wherein the first slice identification information is used for indicating the network slice served by the session management network element.

Accordingly, the PFD information sent by the capability openness network element to the session management network element in S420 includes the first slice identification information.

Optionally, the first slice identification Information may be Network Slice Selection Assistance Information (NSSAI) of a Network slice (Network slice) in which the session management Network element is located, or a single Network slice selection assistance Information (S-NSSAI), for example, the NSSAI may include a slice ID or a slice type (type).

Here, the PFD information may be associated with network slice information. In this way, the capability openness network element does not need to send all PFD information corresponding to the service (App) ID to the session management network element, but screens the PFD information through the first slice identification information, and then sends the PFD information (for example, the first PFD information) corresponding to the first slice identification information, thereby saving resource overhead.

Optionally, the query request in S430 is a first query request. Correspondingly, the unified data storage network element receives a first query request from the capability openness network element. Wherein the first query request includes the first slice identification information. Correspondingly, the step S440 specifically includes: and the unified data storage network element performs PFD information screening according to the first query request.

Specifically, the unified data storage network element filters the PFD information using the first slice identification information to obtain the PFD information conforming to the first slice identification information.

Accordingly, the query result in S411 includes PFD information related to the network slice served by the session network element. Correspondingly, S410 is specifically: and the capability opening network element receives the query result from the unified data storage network element.

Optionally, the method 400 further comprises: the session management network element sends a first request message to the capability openness network element, where the first request message is used to request the PFD information, and the first request message includes the first slice identification information and the identification information of the session management network element. Correspondingly, the capability openness network element receives a first request message from the session management network element.

Optionally, the first request message may be an inter-device synchronization request, where the synchronization request is used for requesting, by the session management network element, the synchronization PFD information from the capability openness network element.

Specifically, before the capability openness network element sends the PFD information to the session management network element, the session management network element may send a first request message to the capability openness network element to request the PFD information. The first request message may carry not only the identification information of the session management network element, for example, the identification information of the session management network element is an SMF ID, but also the first slice identification information. Thus, for the pull mode, after receiving the first request message of the session management network element, the capability openness network element sends the screened PFD information to the session management network element.

It should be noted that, in this embodiment of the application, the sending time of the first request message is not limited, that is, the first request message may be sent at any time, and specifically, in a pull mode, the session management network element may send the first request message to the capability openness network element at any time. It should be understood that, the above description is given by taking "before the capability openness network element sends the PFD information to the session management network element, the session management network element sends the first request message to the capability openness network element", or "after the capability openness network element sends the PFD information to the session management network element, the session management network element sends the first request message to the capability openness network element", which is not limited to this.

It should be understood that, for the embodiment in which the PFD information includes the slice attribute, since the PFDs defined by the APP ID only includes the slice attribute and does not include the area attribute, even if the area information (such as the first area identification information) is included in the first request message, the session management network element or the capability openness network element does not use the area information carried in the first request message when performing PFD screening. However, it is not limited herein whether the first request message carries the region information, because the session management network element or the capability openness network element cannot predict whether the PFDs defined by the APP ID includes the region attribute.

Optionally, the method 400 further comprises:

the capability opening network element receives the following information from the application network element: identification information of the network slice which is required to take effect by the service corresponding to the application network element;

and the capability opening network element stores the information of the PFD including the identification information of the network slice, which needs to take effect, of the service corresponding to the application network element in a unified data storage network element.

Optionally, the application network element may be an AF or a third party application, for example, AF 210 in fig. 3.

Specifically, the application network element may submit, to the capability openness network element, information (e.g., a slice ID) of a network slice that needs to be validated for a service corresponding to the application network element. Optionally, the application network element may also submit the App ID, the PFDs corresponding to the App ID, and information defined in a 3GPP protocol such as operation (operation) to the capability open network element. After receiving the information sent by the application network element, the capability openness network element may store corresponding PFD information (the PFD information carries information of a network slice that needs to be validated for a service corresponding to the application network element) in the unified data storage network element, so as to facilitate subsequent query and use.

Optionally, the method 400 may further include:

the capability opening network element sends the following information to a network storage function network element: and the service corresponding to the application network element needs the identification information of the network slice which takes effect. Correspondingly, the network storage function network element receives the following information from the capability opening network element: and the service corresponding to the application network element needs the identification information of the network slice which takes effect.

Specifically, the capability openness network element may send, by the application network element: and the identification information of the network slice, which needs to take effect, of the service corresponding to the application network element is sent to the network storage function network element.

The second implementation mode comprises the following steps:

if the capability open network element queries the PFD with the area identifier information, S410 specifically is:

the capability opening network element determines PFD information related to an area served by a session management network element according to first area identification information, wherein the first area identification information is used for indicating the area served by the session management network element. And the capability opening network element sends the PFD information to the session management network element.

In an embodiment where the PFD information includes the area attribute, optionally, the first query request includes the first area identification information. At this time, the unified data storage network element screens the PFD information based on the first area identification information to obtain the PFD information conforming to the first area identification information, and sends a query result to the capability opening network element, where the query result includes the PFD information conforming to the first area identification information.

In the embodiment that the PFD information includes the area attribute, optionally, the first request message may include the first area identification information and the identification information of the session management network element.

It should be understood that, for the embodiment in which the PFD information includes the region attribute, since the PFDs defined by the APP ID only includes the region attribute and does not include the slice attribute, even if the slice information (such as the first slice identification information) is included in the first request message, the session management network element or the capability openness network element does not use the slice information carried in the first request message when performing screening. However, it is not limited herein whether the slice information is carried in the first request message, because the session management network element or the capability openness network element cannot predict whether the PFDs defined by the APP ID include the slice attribute.

Optionally, the method 400 further comprises:

the capability opening network element receives the following information from the application network element: identification information of a geographical or administrative region where a service corresponding to the application network element needs to take effect;

and the capability opening network element stores the information of the PFD comprising the identification information of the geographical or administrative region, which is required to take effect, of the service corresponding to the application network element in a unified data storage network element.

Specifically, the application network element may submit, to the capability openness network element, identification information of a geographic or administrative area that a service corresponding to the application network element needs to take effect. Optionally, the application network element may also submit the App ID, the PFDs corresponding to the App ID, and information defined in a 3GPP protocol such as operation (operation) to the capability open network element. After receiving the information sent by the application network element, the capability openness network element may store corresponding PFD information (the PFD information carries identification information of a geographical or administrative area where a service corresponding to the application network element needs to take effect) in the unified data storage network element, so as to facilitate subsequent query and use.

Optionally, the method 400 may further include:

the capability opening network element sends the following information to a network storage function network element: and the identification information of the geographic or administrative region, in which the service corresponding to the application network element needs to take effect. Correspondingly, the network storage function network element receives the following information from the capability opening network element: and the identification information of the geographic or administrative region, in which the service corresponding to the application network element needs to take effect.

Specifically, the capability openness network element may send, by the application network element: and the identification information of the geographical or administrative region, which is required to be effective by the service corresponding to the application network element, is sent to a network storage function network element for subsequent use.

The third implementation mode comprises the following steps:

if the capability openness network element queries the PFD with the slice identification information and the area identification information, S410 specifically is:

and the capability openness network element determines, according to the first slice identification information and the first area identification information, PFD information related to a network slice served by the session management network element and an area served by the session management network element, where the first area identification information is used to indicate the area served by the session management network element.

Alternatively, the area served by the session management network element may be an inner area or an outer area. Wherein, the internal area can be understood as a wireless access area served by the session management network element; the outer area may be understood as the geographical or administrative area served by the session management network element. Here, the radio access area may be simply referred to as an access area, and refers to an area corresponding to a Tracking Area (TA) on the radio side, an IDs of a base station (e.g., gNB or eND), or the like.

If the first area identification information is used to indicate a radio access area served by the session management network element, the first area identification information may be area identification information inside an operator where the session management network element is located, for example, a tracking area TA ID or a base station (e.g., a gNB, or eND) ID served by the session management network element. If the first area identification information is used to indicate a geographic or administrative area served by the session management network element, the first area identification information may be an identification of the geographic or administrative area served by the session management network element, such as a provincial mark, a city-level area mark, a county-level area mark, a district-level area mark, and the like. Alternatively, in an actual deployment, the session management network element may serve the entire province, but the session management network element is located in one city in the province.

It should be noted that, the capability openness network element may determine, by itself, the PFD information related to the network slice served by the session management network element and the area served by the session management network element, and may also query, in the unified data storage network element, the PFD information related to the network slice served by the session management network element and the area served by the session management network element, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

Optionally, the query request in S430 is a second query request. Correspondingly, the unified data storage network element receives a second query request from the capability openness network element.

Wherein the second query request includes the first slice identification information and the first area identification information. Correspondingly, the unified data storage network element performs screening according to the second query request. Here, the unified data storage network element may store therein PFDs including slice attributes and area attributes (including identification information of a radio access area, or identification information of a geographical or administrative area).

Specifically, the unified data storage network element filters the PFD information using the first slice identification information and the first area identification information, and obtains the PFD information conforming to the first slice identification information and the first area identification information. The query result in S411 includes the PFD information related to the network slice served by the session network element and the area served by the session management network element. Correspondingly, S410 is specifically: and the capability opening network element receives the query result from the unified data storage network element.

Specifically, before the capability openness network element sends the PFD information to the session management network element, the capability openness network element may send a second query request (PFD request message) to the unified data storage network element to query the PFD information. The second query request may include information such as App ID. In this third implementation manner, the second query request may include the first slice identification information and the first area identification information. After receiving the second query request, the unified data storage network element may screen the App ID and the PFDs corresponding to the App ID according to the content included in the second query request, and send a query result to the capability openness network element, where the query result includes PFD information conforming to the first slice identification information and the first area identification information. Therefore, the capability-opening network element can flexibly acquire the PFD information. The method is not only suitable for the push mode, but also suitable for the pull mode. For the capability open network element, the push mode is that the capability open network element actively issues PFD information to the session management network element; the pull mode is that the capability opening network element issues PFD information to the session management network element based on the request of the session management network element.

In the third implementation manner, optionally, the method 400 further includes: and the session management network element sends a second request message to the capability openness network element, where the second request message is used to request the PFD information, and the second request message includes the first slice identification information and the identification information of the session management network element. Correspondingly, the capability openness network element receives a second request message from the session management network element.

Optionally, the second request message may be an inter-device synchronization request, where the synchronization request is used for requesting, by the session management network element, the synchronization PFD information from the capability openness network element.

Specifically, before the capability openness network element sends the PFD information to the session management network element, the session management network element may send a second request message to the capability openness network element to request the PFD information. The second request message may carry not only the first slice identification information but also the identification information of the session management network element, for example, the identification information of the session management network element is an SMF ID. In this way, for the pull mode, after receiving the second request message of the session management network element, the capability openness network element sends the screened PFD information to the session management network element.

It should be noted that, in this embodiment of the application, the sending time of the second request message is not limited, that is, the second request message may be sent at any time, and specifically, in a pull mode, the capability openness network element may send the second request message to the session management network element at any time. It should be understood that, the above description is given by taking "before the capability openness network element sends the PFD information to the session management network element, the session management network element sends the second request message to the capability openness network element", or "after the capability openness network element sends the PFD information to the session management network element, the session management network element sends the second request message to the capability openness network element", which is not limited to this.

In the third implementation manner, optionally, the second request message may carry internal area identifier information, where the internal area identifier information is used to indicate a radio access area served by the session management network element. Accordingly, the first area identification information is the internal area identification information. After receiving the second request message, the capability openness network element may filter, based on the internal area identification information, the identification information of the session management network element, and the first slice identification information carried in the second request message, PFD information related to the network slice served by the session management network element and the area served by the session management network element, or query, to the unified data storage network element, PFD information related to the network slice served by the session management network element and the area served by the session management network element. Here, the scenario in which this embodiment can be applied is: the PFD information stored in the unified data storage network element includes internal area identification information, that is, the PFD information of the internal area enhanced attribute is stored in the unified data storage network element. That is to say, in this scenario, if the first request message carries the internal area identifier information, the capability openness network element does not need to query the network storage function network element for the internal area identifier information, and based on the internal area identifier information, the PFD information of the internal area enhanced attribute can be obtained in the unified data storage network element, and the PFD information of the internal area enhanced attribute is sent to the session management network element.

There are various ways for the capability openness network element to acquire the area served by the session management network element, for example, if it is needed to acquire the radio access area served by the session management network element, the radio access area may be acquired in the second request message sent by the session management network element, or for example, if it is needed to acquire the radio access area or the external area served by the session management network element (the external area may be understood as the geographical or administrative area served by the session management network element), the radio access area or the external area may be acquired by querying in the network storage function network element, which is not limited in this embodiment of the application. The following describes a manner in which the capability openness network element queries the area identification information of the session management network element in the network storage function network element.

In the third implementation manner, optionally, the method 400 further includes: and the capability opening network element sends a third query request to a network storage function network element, wherein the third query request is used for querying an area served by the session management network element. Correspondingly, the network storage function network element receives a third query request from the capability openness network element. Alternatively, the network storage function network element may be NRF 212 in fig. 3.

And the network storage function network element sends the first area identification information to the capability opening network element. Correspondingly, the capability openness network element receives the first area identification information from the network storage function network element.

Specifically, the capability openness network element obtains the area served by the session management network element by sending a third query request to the network storage function network element, where the area may be a radio access area or a geographic or administrative area. Optionally, the third query request may carry identification information of the session management network element. And the network storage function network element inquires the area served by the session management network element according to the identification information of the session management network element and returns the first area identification information to the capacity opening network element. In this way, the capability openness network element can obtain the area served by the session management network element by querying the network storage function network element.

In the third implementation manner, optionally, the first area identification information is external area identification information, where the external area identification information is used to indicate a geographic or administrative area served by the session management network element; if the second request message sent by the session management network element to the capability openness network element carries the internal area identification information, where the internal area identification information is used to indicate the radio access area served by the session management network element, the third query request may be used to query the geographic or administrative area served by the session management network element, or if the second request message sent by the session management network element to the capability openness network element does not carry the internal area identification information, the third query request may still be used to query the geographic or administrative area served by the session management network element. Here, the scenario in which this embodiment is applied is: the PFD information stored in the unified data storage network element includes the external area identification information, that is, the PFD information of the external area enhanced attribute is stored in the unified data storage network element. That is to say, in this scenario, no matter whether the second request message carries the internal area identification information, the capability openness network element needs to query the network storage function network element about the geographic or administrative area served by the session management network element, and after the geographic or administrative area served by the session management network element is obtained, the PFD information of the external area enhanced attribute can be obtained in the unified data storage network element, and the PFD information of the external area enhanced attribute is sent to the session management network element.

In the third implementation manner, optionally, the first area identification information is internal area identification information, where the internal area identification information is used to indicate a radio access area served by the session management network element; if the second request message sent by the session management network element to the capability openness network element does not carry the internal area identification information, the third query request may be used to query the wireless access area served by the session management network element. Here, the scenario in which this embodiment is applied is: the PFD information stored in the unified data storage network element includes internal area identification information, that is, the PFD information of the internal area enhanced attribute is stored in the unified data storage network element. That is to say, in this scenario, if the second request message does not carry the internal area identification information, the capability openness network element needs to query the network storage function network element for the wireless access area served by the session management network element, and after the wireless access area served by the session management network element is obtained, the PFD information of the internal area enhanced attribute can be obtained in the unified data storage network element, and the PFD information of the internal area enhanced attribute is sent to the session management network element.

In the third implementation manner, optionally, the method 400 further includes:

the capability opening network element receives the following information from the application network element: the identification information of the network slice, which needs to take effect, of the service corresponding to the application network element and the identification information of the geographical or administrative area, which needs to take effect, of the service corresponding to the application network element;

the capability openness network element will: and storing the PFD information comprising the identification information of the network slice which is required to take effect by the service corresponding to the application network element and the identification information of the geographical or administrative area which is required to take effect by the service of the application network element in a unified data storage network element.

Specifically, the application network element may submit, to the capability openness network element, information (for example, a slice ID) of a network slice that needs to be validated for a service corresponding to the application network element, and information of an area where the service needs to be validated. The area here refers to the geographical or administrative area where the application network element is visible. Optionally, the application network element may also submit the App ID, the PFDs corresponding to the App ID, and information defined in a 3GPP protocol such as operation (operation) to the capability open network element. After receiving the information sent by the application network element, the capability openness network element may store corresponding PFD information (the PFD information carries information of a network slice that needs to be validated by a service corresponding to the application network element, and information of an area where the service needs to be validated, etc.) in the unified data storage network element, which is convenient for subsequent query and use.

Optionally, the capability openness network element is stored in the information of the PFD of the unified data storage network element, and may further include identification information of a radio access area corresponding to a geographic or administrative area where the service of the application network element needs to take effect;

before the capability openness network element stores, in a unified data storage network element, information of a PFD including identification information of a network slice where a service corresponding to the application network element needs to be validated and identification information of a geographical or administrative area where the service of the application network element needs to be validated, the method 400 further includes:

the capability opening network element sends the following information to a network storage function network element: the identification information of the network slice, which is required to take effect by the service corresponding to the application network element, and the identification information of the geographical or administrative area, which is required to take effect by the service of the application network element;

Specifically, the capability openness network element may send, by the application network element: and sending the identification information of the network slice, which is required to take effect by the service corresponding to the application network element, and the identification information of the geographical or administrative area, which is required to take effect by the service of the application network element, to a network storage function network element. The network storage function network element may map, according to the registration information of each network element, the identification information of the geographic or administrative area in which the service needs to be validated to the area identification information available inside the operator (i.e., the identification information of the radio access area), and return the area identification information to the capability opening network element. After receiving the capability openness network element, the capability openness network element may generate complete enhanced PFD information, where the complete enhanced PFD information includes: slice identification information, internal region identification information, external region identification information. And then, the capability opening network element stores the complete enhanced PFD information into the unified data storage network element, so that the subsequent query and use are facilitated.

It should be noted that, when the capability openness network element receives the external area identifier information, the corresponding internal area identifier may be acquired by the network storage function network element. The capability openness network element may determine, according to the mapping relationship between the internal area identification information and the external area identification information, whether the session management network element or the user plane network element serves an external area corresponding to the external area identification information, or whether the session management network element or the user plane network element serves an internal area corresponding to the internal area identification information.

For a scenario in which the PFD information includes the internal area identification information, optionally, the capability openness network element may further initiate an event subscription request to the network storage function network element, where the event subscription request is used to instruct the network storage function network element to: when the mapping relationship between the identification information of the geographic or administrative area and the identification information of the radio access area changes, the capability opening network element needs to be notified. This is because: if the network plan of the operator changes, for example, a new base station is deployed, or a new network element is on-line, or some network elements are cancelled, or the service radio access area or geographical or administrative area of the network element is changed, the changes may affect the mapping relationship, and further affect the accuracy of the enhanced PFD information stored in the unified data storage network element, thereby affecting the screening of the subsequent PFD information. Therefore, the capability openness network element needs to initiate the event subscription request to the network storage function network element.

Optionally, if the mapping relationship changes, the network storage function network element may send a change notification message to the capability openness network element, where the change notification message is used to notify the capability openness network element of the change of the mapping relationship. And after receiving the change notification message, the capability openness network element sends an update message to the unified data storage network element, wherein the update message is used for updating the enhanced PFD information stored in the unified data storage network element, so that the enhanced PFD information stored in the unified data storage network element is consistent with the actual network planning.

It should be understood that, in the three implementation manners of sending the screened PFD information to the session management network element by the capability openness network element, a person skilled in the art may reasonably combine or change and use optional implementation manners among the implementation manners to obtain a plurality of specific implementation manners that can be implemented, and these specific implementation manners all fall within the protection scope of the embodiment of the present application.

In the above, three implementation manners of sending the screened PFD information to the session management network element by the capability openness network element are described, and an embodiment of sending the PFD information to the user plane network element by the session management network element will be described below.

Fig. 6 shows a schematic flow chart of a method 500 of determining a message flow description, PFD, according to another embodiment. As shown in fig. 6, the method 500 includes:

s510, the session management network element determines second PFD information.

The second PFD information is information of PFDs related to network slices served by the user plane network element and/or areas served by the user plane network element.

Specifically, the session management network element may determine the second PFD information according to the second slice identification information and/or the second area identification information. The second slice identification information is used for indicating the slice served by the user plane network element. The second area identification information is used for indicating an area served by the user plane network element.

S520, the session management network element sends the second PFD information to the user plane network element. Correspondingly, the user plane network element receives the second PFD information from a session management network element.

Optionally, the method 500 further comprises:

s530, the session management network element receives first PFD information from a capability openness network element, where the first PFD information is information of a PFD related to the session management network element. Correspondingly, the session management network element receives the first PFD information sent by the capability openness network element.

Here, S530 corresponds to S420 in the above method 400. For the convenience of distinguishing, the PFD information in S420 (i.e., the PFD information sent by the capability openness network element to the session management network element) is described as first PFD information, and the PFD information sent by the session management network element to the user plane network element is described as second PFD information. After obtaining the first PFD information, the session management network element may store the first PFD information locally.

In this embodiment of the present application, the session management network element may perform the screening of the PFD information through any one of the following three implementation manners, which are respectively: in a first implementation manner, the session management network element queries the PFD according to the second slice identification information; in a second implementation manner, the session management network element queries the PFD according to the second area identification information; in a third implementation manner, the session management network element queries the PFD according to the second slice identification information and the second area identification information. The three implementations will be described in detail below.

The first implementation mode comprises the following steps:

if the session management network element queries the PFD with the slice identification information, S510 may specifically be:

and the session management network element determines second PFD information according to second slice identification information, where the second slice identification information is used to indicate a network slice serviced by the user plane network element, and the second PFD information is information of a PFD related to the network slice serviced by the user plane network element. Wherein the second PFD information includes the second slice identification information.

Optionally, the second slice identification information may be network slice selection assistance information NSSAI of a network slice in which the session management network element is located, or a single network slice selection assistance information S-NSSAI, for example, NSSAI may include a slice ID or a slice type.

In a first implementation, PFD information may be associated with network slice information. In this way, the session management network element does not need to send all PFD information corresponding to the App ID to the user plane network element, but screens the PFD information through the second slice identification information, and then sends the PFD information (for example, the second PFD information) corresponding to the second slice identification information, thereby saving resource overhead.

Optionally, the first PFD information includes first slice identification information, and accordingly, determining, by the session management network element according to the second slice identification information, the second PFD information may specifically be:

and the session management network element uses the second slice identification information to screen the first PFD information to obtain the second PFD information.

That is to say, the session management network element uses the second slice identifier information to filter the first PFD information based on the stored PFD information, so as to obtain second PFD information, and thus send the second PFD information to the user plane network element.

In the first implementation manner, optionally, the method 500 further includes: the session management network element sends a first request message to a capability openness network element, where the first request message is used to request the first PFD information, and the first request message includes the first slice identification information and the identification information of the session management network element. Correspondingly, the capability openness network element receives the first request message from the session management network element. Therefore, the session management network element sends a first request message to the capability openness network element to request the first PFD information.

It should be noted that the interaction between the session management network element and the user plane network element is also applicable to the push mode and the pull mode. For the session management network element, the push mode is that the session management network element actively issues PFD information to the user plane network element; the pull mode is that the session management network element issues PFD information to the user plane network element based on the request of the user plane network element.

In the first implementation manner, optionally, the method 500 further includes: and the user plane network element sends a third request message to the session management network element, where the third request message is used to request the second PFD information, and the third request message includes the second slice identification information and the identification information of the user plane network element. Correspondingly, the session management network element receives a third request message from the user plane network element.

Optionally, the third request message may be an inter-device synchronization request, where the synchronization request is used for a user plane network element to request a session management network element to synchronize PFD information.

Specifically, before the session management network element sends the second PFD information to the user plane network element, the user plane network element may send a third request message to the session management network element to request a PFD related to a network slice served by the user plane network element. The third request message may carry the second slice identification information and the identification information of the user plane network element, for example, the identification information of the user plane network element is a UPF ID. Therefore, in the pull mode, after receiving the third request message of the user plane network element, the session management network element sends the screened PFD information to the user plane network element.

For the process of the interaction between the session management network element and the network element (including the user plane network element, the network storage function network element, or the capability openness network element), the above describes an embodiment in which the PFD information includes the slice attribute or the area attribute, and the following describes an embodiment in which the PFD information includes the slice attribute and the area attribute.

The second implementation mode comprises the following steps:

if the session management network element queries the PFD with the area identification information, S510 may specifically be:

and the session management network element determines second PFD information according to second area identification information, where the second area identification information is used to indicate an area served by the user plane network element, and the second PFD information is information of a PFD related to the area served by the user plane network element. Wherein the second PFD information includes the second area identification information.

Alternatively, the area served by the user plane network element may be an inner area or an outer area. Wherein, the internal area can be understood as a wireless access area served by the user plane network element; the outer region may be understood as the geographical or administrative region served by the user plane network element.

If the second area identification information is used to indicate a radio access area served by the user plane, the second area identification information may be intra-operator area identification information served by the user plane network element, such as a tracking area TA ID or a base station (e.g., a gNB, or eND) ID served by the session management network element. If the second area identification information is used to indicate the geographical or administrative area served by the user plane network element, the second area identification information may be an identification of the geographical or administrative area served by the user plane network element, such as a provincial mark, a city-level area mark, a county-level area mark, a district-level area mark, and the like.

In the second implementation manner, the PFD information may be associated with the area identification information. In this way, the session management network element does not need to send all PFD information corresponding to the App ID to the user plane network element, but filters the PFD information through the second area identification information, and then sends the PFD information (for example, the second PFD information) corresponding to the second slice identification information, thereby saving resource overhead.

Optionally, the first PFD information received in S530 includes first area identification information, and accordingly, the determining, by the session management network element according to the second area identification information, the second PFD information may specifically be:

and the session management network element screens the first PFD information by using second area identification information to obtain second PFD information.

That is to say, the session management network element uses the second area identification information to filter the first PFD information based on the stored PFD information, so as to obtain the second PFD information, and thus send the second PFD information to the user plane network element.

In the second implementation manner, optionally, the session management network element may further send a request message for requesting the first PFD information to the capability openness network element, where the request message includes the second area identification information and the identification information of the session management network element. Correspondingly, the capability opening network element receives the request message from the session management network element. Therefore, the session management network element sends the request message to the capability openness network element to request the first PFD information.

In the second implementation manner, optionally, the user plane network element sends a request message for requesting the second PFD information to the session management network element, where the request message for requesting the second PFD information includes the second area identifier information and the identifier information of the user plane network element. Correspondingly, the session management network element receives a request message for requesting the second PFD information from the user plane network element.

Specifically, before the session management network element sends the second PFD information to the user plane network element, the user plane network element may send a request message for requesting the second PFD information to the session management network element to request a PFD related to an area served by the user plane network element. The request message for requesting the second PFD information may carry the second area identification information and the identification information of the user plane network element, for example, the identification information of the user plane network element is a UPF ID. Therefore, in the pull mode, after receiving the request message for requesting the second PFD information from the user plane network element, the session management network element sends the screened PFD information to the user plane network element.

The third implementation mode comprises the following steps:

if the session management network element queries the PFD using the area identification information and the slice identification information, S510 specifically is: the session management network element determines second PFD information according to second area identification information and second slice identification information, where the second area identification information is used to indicate an area served by a user plane network element, the second slice identification information is used to indicate a network slice served by the user plane network element, and the second PFD information is information of a PFD related to the network slice served by the user plane network element. Correspondingly, the second PFD information sent by the session management network element to the user plane network element includes: the second region identification information and the second slice identification information.

If the second area identification information is used to indicate a radio access area served by the user plane, the second area identification information may be intra-operator area identification information served by the user plane network element, such as a tracking area TA ID or a base station (e.g., a gNB, or eND) ID served by the session management network element. If the second area identification information is used to indicate the geographical or administrative area served by the user plane network element, the second area identification information may be an identification of the geographical or administrative area served by the user plane network element, such as a provincial mark, a city-level area mark, a county-level area mark, or a district-level area mark.

In the present embodiment, the PFD information may be associated with network slice information and an area (the area may be a radio access area, a geographical or administrative area). In this way, the session management network element does not need to send all PFD information corresponding to the App ID to the user plane network element, but screens the PFD information through the second slice identification information and the second area identification information, and then sends the PFD information (for example, the second PFD information) corresponding to the second slice identification information and the second area identification information, thereby saving resource overhead.

In the third implementation manner, optionally, the method 500 further includes:

the method comprises the steps that a capability opening network element sends first PFD information to a session management network element, wherein the first PFD information is PFD information related to the session management network element and comprises first network slice identification information and first area identification information. Correspondingly, the session management network element receives the first PFD information sent by the capability openness network element.

Here, S510 corresponds to S420 in the above method 400. For the convenience of distinguishing, the PFD information in S420 (i.e., the PFD information sent by the capability openness network element to the session management network element) is described as first PFD information, and the PFD information sent by the session management network element to the user plane network element is described as second PFD information. After obtaining the first PFD information, the session management network element may store the first PFD information locally.

In the third implementation manner, optionally, the determining, by the session management network element, the second PFD information according to the second area identification information and the second slice identification information includes: and the session management network element uses the second area identification information and the second slice identification information to screen the first PFD information to obtain the second PFD information.

That is to say, the session management network element uses the second area identification information and the second slice identification information to screen the first PFD information based on the stored PFD information, so as to obtain second PFD information, and thus send the second PFD information to the user plane network element.

the user plane network element sends a fourth request message to the session management network element, where the fourth request message is used to request a PFD related to a network slice served by the user plane network element and an area served by the user plane network element, and the fourth request message includes the second slice identification information and the identification information of the user plane network element. Correspondingly, the session management network element receives the fourth request message from the user plane network element.

It should be understood that, after receiving the fourth request message, if the fourth request message carries the internal area identification information, the session management network element may determine whether to query the mapping relationship between the internal area identification information and the external area identification information by the network storage function network element according to whether the first PFD information obtained from the capability openness network element carries the external area identification information. If the first PFD information carries the external area identification information, the session management network element needs to query the network storage function network element for the corresponding external area identification information based on the internal area identification information; if the first PFD information carries the internal area identification information, the session management network element does not need to query the network storage function network element.

Optionally, the fourth request message may be an inter-device synchronization request, where the synchronization request is used for a user plane network element to request a session management network element to synchronize PFD information.

Specifically, before the session management network element sends the second PFD information to the user plane network element, the user plane network element may send a fourth request message to the session management network element to request a PFD related to a network slice served by the user plane network element and an area served by the user plane network element. The fourth request message may carry the second slice identification information and the identification information of the user plane network element, for example, the identification information of the user plane network element is a UPF ID. Therefore, in the pull mode, after receiving the fourth request message of the user plane network element, the session management network element sends the screened PFD information to the user plane network element.

In the third implementation manner, optionally, the fourth request message may carry internal area identifier information, where the internal area identifier information is used to indicate a radio access area served by the user plane network element. Accordingly, the second area identification information is the internal area identification information. After receiving the fourth request message, the session management network element may screen PFD information related to a network slice serviced by the user plane network element based on the internal area identification information, the identification information of the user plane network element, and the second slice identification information carried in the fourth request message. The scenario in which this embodiment can be applied is: the PFD information stored in the unified data storage network element includes internal area identification information, that is, the PFD information of the internal area enhanced attribute is stored in the unified data storage network element. That is, in this scenario, the first PFD information sent by the capability openness network element to the session management network element is: the inner region enhances PFD information of the property. The session management network element may filter the first PFD information to obtain second PFD information based on the internal area identification information of the user plane network element, and send the second PFD information to the user plane network element.

There are various ways for the session management network element to acquire the area served by the user plane network element, for example, if it is required to acquire the radio access area served by the user plane network element, the radio access area may be acquired in the fourth request message sent by the user plane network element, or for example, if it is required to acquire the radio access area or the external area (the external area may be understood as a geographic or administrative area) served by the user plane network element, the radio access area or the external area may be acquired by querying in the network storage function network element, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application. The following describes a manner in which the session management network element queries the area identification information of the user plane network element in the network storage function network element.

In the third implementation manner, optionally, the method 500 further includes: and the session management network element sends a third query request to a network storage function network element, wherein the third query request is used for querying an area served by the user plane network element. Correspondingly, the network storage function network element receives a third query request from the session management network element.

And the network storage function network element sends the second area identification information to the session management network element. Correspondingly, the session management network element receives the second area identification information from the network storage function network element.

Specifically, the session management network element obtains the area served by the user plane network element, which may be a radio access area or a geographic or administrative area, by sending a third query request to the network storage function network element. Optionally, the third query request may carry identification information of the user plane network element. And the network storage function network element inquires the area served by the user plane network element according to the identification information of the user plane network element and returns the second area identification information to the session management network element. In this way, the session management network element can obtain the area served by the user plane network element by querying the network storage function network element.

In the third implementation manner, optionally, the second area identification information is external area identification information, where the external area identification information is used to indicate a geographic or administrative area served by the user plane network element; if a fourth request message sent by the user plane network element to the session management network element carries internal area identification information, where the internal area identification information is used to indicate a radio access area served by the user plane network element, the third query request may be used to query a geographical or administrative area served by the user plane network element, or if the fourth request message sent by the user plane network element to the session management network element does not carry the internal area identification information, the third query request may still be used to query the geographical or administrative area served by the user plane network element. The scenario in which this embodiment is applied is: the PFD information stored in the unified data storage network element includes the external area identification information, that is, the PFD information of the external area enhanced attribute is stored in the unified data storage network element. After receiving first PFD information (PFD information of an external area enhanced attribute) from a capability openness network element, a session management network element needs to query external area identification information of a user plane network element, then screens the first PFD information based on the external area identification information of the user plane network element to obtain second PFD information, and sends the second PFD information to the user plane network element, wherein the external area enhanced attribute is carried in the second PFD information.

In the third implementation manner, optionally, the second area identification information is internal area identification information, where the internal area identification information is used to indicate a radio access area served by the user plane network element; if the fourth request message sent by the user plane network element to the session management network element does not carry the internal area identification information, the third query request may be used to query the wireless access area served by the user plane network element. Here, the scenario in which this embodiment is applied is: the PFD information stored in the unified data storage network element includes internal area identification information, that is, the PFD information of the internal area enhanced attribute is stored in the unified data storage network element. After receiving the first PFD information (PFD information of the internal area enhanced attribute) from the capability openness network element, the session management network element needs to query the internal area identification information of the user plane network element, then, screen the first PFD information based on the internal area identification information of the user plane network element to obtain second PFD information, and send the second PFD information to the user plane network element, where the internal area enhanced attribute is carried in the second PFD information.

It should be understood that, in the three implementation manners of the session management network element sending the screened PFD information to the user plane network element, a person skilled in the art may reasonably combine or change and use optional implementation manners in each implementation manner to obtain a plurality of specific implementation manners that can be implemented, and these specific implementation manners all fall within the protection scope of the embodiment of the present application.

The embodiments of sending the screened PFD information to the session management network element by the capability openness network element and the embodiments of sending the screened PFD information to the user plane network element by the session management network element are described above, respectively, it should be understood that a person skilled in the art may reasonably combine and use the above embodiments, and the embodiments of combined use obviously also belong to the protection scope of the embodiments of the present application, for example, the method 400 and the method 500 may be combined and used, some embodiments of the method 400 may be combined and used with some embodiments of the method 500, which is not specifically limited.

In the above embodiment, whether the capability openness network element performs the area query to the network storage function network element or the session management network element performs the area query to the network storage function network element, the following principles may be followed:

1) the area information returned by the network storage function network element may include internal area identification information and external area identification information. And the session management network element or the capability opening network element determines which area identification information is used according to the PFD area attribute type.

2) If the request message sent by the session management network element to the capability opening network element carries the internal area identifier, the capability opening network element determines whether to interact with the network storage function network element according to the PFD area attribute type; and if the request message sent by the session management network element of the user plane network element carries the internal area identifier, the session management network element determines whether to interact with the network storage function network element according to the PFD area attribute type. Of course, if there is only an internal area in the PFD, it is not necessary to perform interaction between the capability openness network element or the session management network element and the network storage function network element to obtain the external area identification information.

Optionally, in various embodiments of the present application, a network storage function network element may store, in advance, registration information of each network element (including a user plane network element and/or a session management network element), where the registration information includes slice identification information corresponding to the network element and identification information of a radio access area served by the network element. Optionally, the registration information may also carry a type of the network element. The network storage function network element may manage: and mapping relation between the identification information of the wireless access area served by the network element and the identification information of the geographical or administrative area served by the network element. That is to say, the network storage function network element may perform network element topology management, implement mapping from a geographic or administrative area to an operator internal radio access area, and may be finally associated with a set of corresponding session management network elements or user plane network element identifiers.

In the embodiment of the application, the slice identification information and the area identification information can be associated aiming at the PFD information of the App ID, so that the definition of the App ID by a third party can be simplified, the management complexity is reduced, and the cost is reduced. In addition, in this application example, the capability openness network element may synchronize PFD information to the session management network element based on the PFD information with the enhanced attribute (that is, the PFD information including the slice attribute and/or the area attribute), and the session management network element may synchronize PFD information to the user plane network element based on the PFD information with the enhanced attribute, so that on one hand, the amount of rule synchronization data may be reduced, thereby reducing the resource overhead of the capability openness network element/the session management network element/the user plane network element, and on the other hand, the user plane network element may store more App ID information under the same cache capacity, thereby avoiding performance being affected by frequent exchange (cache swap) with the session management network element interaction.

To facilitate understanding by those skilled in the art, the embodiments of the present application are described below with reference to specific examples in fig. 7 to 9. In the following examples in fig. 7 to fig. 9, the capability openness network element takes NEF as an example, the session management network element takes SMF as an example, the user plane network element takes UPF as an example, the application network element takes AF as an example, the unified data storage network element takes UDR as an example, and the network storage function network element takes NRF as an example, which are collectively described herein.

Fig. 7 illustrates an example of filtering PFD information according to slice identification information and internal area identification information (in other words, the slice identification information and the internal area identification information are carried in the PFD). As shown in FIG. 7, the process includes three phases, the first phase is the generation and management of PFDs; the second stage is the process that the NEF issues PFDs to the SMF; the third stage is the process of SMF issuing PFDs to UPF. In this example, the PFD stored in the UDR carries the internal region identification information.

In the first stage, as a precondition, each network element may register with an NRF, which in this example specifically includes: the SMF1, SMF2, and UPF1 each transmit registration information to the NRF. Optionally, the registration information may carry information such as an identifier of the network element, a type of the network element, and a radio access area served by the network element. The NRF may perform network element topology management, implement mapping from a geographic or administrative area to a radio access area, and may finally be associated to a set of corresponding SMF or UPF network element identifiers.

The first stage comprises the following steps:

601, the AF sends information such as slice ID and outside area identification information to the NEF.

Specifically, in this example, when the AF sends the App ID corresponding to the PFDs to the NEF, the AF may carry the slice ID and the external area identification information in addition to the App ID, PFDs, and operation defined by the 3GPP protocol. The outside area indicated by the outside area identification information refers to a geographical/administrative area visible to the third party. Here, the slice ID refers to information of a network slice that the App ID needs to take effect; the outside area indicated by the outside area identification information is a geographical or administrative area in which the App ID needs to be validated.

602, after receiving the slice ID and the external area identification information of the AF, the NEF may send external geographic/administrative area information to the NRF to query the TA/g (e) NB ID set available inside the operator.

After obtaining the external geographical/administrative area information, the NRF maps the external area identifier of the geographical/administrative information to an available TA/g (e) NB ID set inside the operator according to the registration information of each network element.

603, NRF returns to NEF the TA/g (e) NB ID set available internally to the operator.

604, the NEF receives the TA/g (e) NB ID set available inside the operator, and generates complete enhanced PFDs information.

The enhanced PFDs information may carry slice ID and TA/g (e) NB ID inner region information, and may also carry outer region information, so as to facilitate indexing when a subsequent mapping relationship changes.

605, the NEF interacts with the UDR, storing the enhanced PFDs information into the UDR.

NEF makes event subscriptions to NRF 606. The purpose of the event subscription is to: when the mapping relation between the external geographic/administrative area and the operator TAI/g (e) NB ID changes, the NEF can timely know.

607, NRF updates the mapping relation. For example, when the network plan of the operator changes, such as new base station deployment/new network element online, the mapping relationship is affected.

The NRF sends 608 a change notification to the NEF. The change notification is used to inform NEF of the changed mapping relationship.

609, when receiving the change notification, the NEF initiates an update message corresponding to the PFDs to the UDR.

And the NEF updates the PFDs stored in the UDR based on the changed mapping relation, wherein the updating message is used for updating the PFD information with the changed mapping relation.

Thus, enhanced production and management of PFDs is achieved through multiple steps of the first stage.

The second stage comprises the following steps:

the SMF sends 610 a first synchronization request to the NEF. It should be understood that the drawings illustrate SMF1, and in fact SMF2 may also be illustrated, and SMF is described here as an example, and it is not distinguished between SMF1 and SMF 2.

Specifically, after the SMF is started, the local cache needs to be initialized to store the PFDs, and an inter-device synchronization request, that is, the first synchronization request, is initiated. Optionally, the first synchronization request carries the SMF id and slice IDs of the served slice. Optionally, the first synchronization request may further carry App IDs and identification information of a radio access area served by the SMF.

611, after receiving the first synchronization request, the NEF determines whether the first synchronization request carries the identification information of the radio access area served by the SMF.

There are two cases, case one: if not, the SMF related information needs to be inquired to the NRF, and step 612 is executed; case two: if the identification information of the radio access area served by the SMF is carried, step 614 is directly performed.

612, NEF initiates a first query request to NRF, where the first query request carries the identifier of SMF. The first query request is for querying identification information of a radio access area served by the SMF.

613, the NRF sends to the NEF identification information of the radio access area served by the SMF.

Specifically, the NRF inquires the identification information of the radio access area served by the SMF according to the SMF identification in the first inquiry request, and transmits the identification information of the radio access area served by the SMF to the NEF, so that the NRF may perform step 614. Optionally, the identification information of the radio access area served by the SMF may be a TA/g (e) NB IDs list.

614, the NEF queries the PFD information by using the area TA/g (e) NB IDs corresponding to the SMF as the identifier, the slice ID and the App IDs as the screening conditions. Here, the NEF may filter the query PFD information by itself to obtain PFD information related to the slice of the SMF, or may initiate a query request to the UDR (i.e., step 615), which is not limited herein.

Optionally 615, the NEF sends a second query request to the UDR.

For example, the second query request carries information such as an area TA/g (e) NB IDs identifier, a slice ID, and AppIDs corresponding to the SMF. The NEF takes the area TA/g (e) NB IDs corresponding to the SMF as identification, slice ID and App IDs as screening conditions, and sends a query request to the UDR.

And 616, after receiving the second query request, the UDR screens the App ID and PFDs thereof according to the carried query conditions (i.e. the slice ID and the area TA/g (e) NB IDs identifier corresponding to the SMF), so as to obtain first PFD information (i.e. the screened PFDs information related to the slice served by the SMF and the radio access area served by the SMF).

617, the UDR sends a query response to the NEF, the query response carrying the first PFD information. Correspondingly, the NEF obtains the first PFD information from the UDR.

618, the NEF issues the first PFD message to the SMF. The first PFD information includes enhanced attributes (i.e., TA/g (e) NB IDs ID, slice ID). Specifically, the NEF may send the App IDs and the first PFDs information of all PFDs information corresponding to the App IDs to the SMF. Correspondingly, the SMF receives the App IDs and the first PFD information of the NEF.

Therefore, through a plurality of steps of the second stage, the process that the NEF issues the screened PFD to the SMF based on the slice identification information and the internal region identification information is realized.

The third stage comprises:

619, the UPF sends a second synchronization request to the SMF.

Wherein, the second synchronization request carries the identification of the UPF and the slice IDs of the slices served by the UPF. Specifically, after the UPF is started, a local cache needs to be initialized to store the PFDs, and an inter-device synchronization request is initiated. Optionally, the second synchronization request may further carry App IDs and a wireless access area corresponding to the UPF.

And 620, after receiving the second synchronization request, the SMF determines whether the second synchronization request carries the identification information of the wireless access area served by the UPF. There are two cases, case one: if not, the NRF needs to query the NRF for the identification information of the wireless access area served by the UPF, and step 621 is executed; case two: if the identification information of the radio access area served by the UPF is carried, step 623 is directly performed.

621, the SMF sends a third query request to the NRF, the third query request carrying the identity of the UPF.

The NRF returns 622 identification information of the radio access zone served by the UPF to the SMF.

The NRF queries, according to the identification of the UPF in the third query request, the identification information of the radio access area served by the UPF, for example, a TA/g (e) NB IDs list, and returns the identification information of the radio access area served by the UPF to the SMF.

623, the SMF uses the UPF identifier and the corresponding area TA/g (e) NB IDs identifier as well as the slice ID and the App IDs as screening conditions to screen PFDs stored in the SMF, so as to obtain second PFD information. Wherein, the second PFD information is PFDs information related to the UPF after screening. Optionally, the slice ID of the UPF and the identification information of the served radio access area may be included in the second PFD information.

Optionally, the SMF may screen the first PFD information obtained in the second stage to obtain second PFD information.

624, SMF issues the second PFD message to UPF. Correspondingly, the UPF receives the second PFD information sent by the SMF. Optionally, the SMF may also send information such as App IDs to the UPF.

Therefore, through a plurality of steps of the third stage, the process that the SMF issues the screened PFD to the UPF based on the slice identification information and the internal region identification information is realized.

Fig. 8 illustrates an example of filtering PFD information according to slice identification information and outer region identification information (in other words, the slice identification information and the outer region identification information are carried in the PFD). As shown in fig. 8, the example in fig. 8 also includes three stages, similar to fig. 7, and the explanation of each stage can be seen from the foregoing description.

Similarly, in the first phase, each network element may also register with the NRF, and the registration process is described in the foregoing. Here, the NEF may open a geographical or administrative area to the AF, wherein each geographical or administrative area implements mapping and management with the radio access area planned by the operator network in the NRF.

The first stage comprises the following steps:

701, the AF transmits information such as slice ID and outside area identification information to the NEF.

The explanation in 701 may refer to the description in step 601, and is not repeated here.

The NEF stores the enhanced PFDs information into the UDR 702.

Here, after receiving the slice ID and the outer area identification information and other information transmitted by the AF, the NEF writes the enhanced PFDs carrying the slice ID and the outer area identification information and other information into the UDR.

Thus, enhanced production and management of PFDs is achieved by the above steps of the first stage.

The second stage comprises the following steps:

703, the SMF sends a first synchronization request to the NEF. (it should be understood that while SMF1 is illustrated, SMF2 may be, and is not described here as an example of SMF, and does not distinguish between SMF1 and SMF 2.)

704, the NEF initiates a first query request to the NRF, where the first query request carries the identification of the SMF. The first query request is for querying outside-zone identification information served by the SMF.

The NRF sends 705 the outer zone identification information served by the SMF to the NEF.

Specifically, after receiving the first query request, the NRF queries the radio access area (for example, TA/g (e) NB IDs) served by the SMF according to the identifier of the SMF in the first query request, queries the external area information (for example, an external area list corresponding to the SMF) corresponding to the radio access area served by the SMF according to the mapping relationship, and finally sends the external area information of the SMF to the NEF.

The NEF queries the PFD information based on the identification information of the outer region served by the SMF and the slice IDs of the slices served by the SMF 706.

Specifically, the NEF may locally query PFD information related to the outer region served by the SMF and the slice served by the SMF according to the outer region information of the SMF, the slice IDs of the slice served by the SMF, and the App IDs.

Optionally 707, the NEF sends a second query request to the UDR.

Wherein the second query request is for querying PFD information related to an outer region served by the SMF and a slice served by the SMF. Optionally, the second query request may carry information such as outer area information of the SMF, slice IDs of slices served by the SMF, and App IDs.

And 708, after receiving the second query request, the UDR performs PFD screening according to the query condition. The query condition is the content carried in the second query request.

709, UDR sends a query response to NEF. The first PFD information is included in the query response. Correspondingly, the NEF obtains the first PFD information from the UDR.

710, the NEF sends the first PFD message (the SMF-related PFDs message after screening) to the SMF. Wherein the first PFD information includes an enhanced attribute (i.e., outer region information of the SMF, slice ID). Optionally, the NEF may also send App IDs to the SMF. Correspondingly, the SMF receives App IDs and PFDs information of the NEF.

Therefore, through a plurality of steps of the second stage, the process that the NEF issues the screened PFD to the SMF based on the slice identification information and the external region identification information is realized.

The third stage comprises:

711, the UPF sends a second synchronization request to the SMF.

Wherein, the second synchronization request carries the UPF ID and the slice IDs of the served slices. Specifically, after the UPF is started, a local cache needs to be initialized to store the PFDs, and an inter-device synchronization request is initiated. Optionally, the second synchronization request may also carry App IDs. Optionally, the second synchronization request may also carry identification information of a radio access area served by the UPF.

After receiving the second synchronization request, the SMF may send a third query request to the NRF, where the third query request carries the identifier of the UPF 712.

713, the NRF sends the SMF identification information of the outer zone served by the UPF.

Specifically, after receiving the third query request, the NRF may query, based on the identifier of the UPF, the identifier information of the radio access area served by the UPF, then query, according to the identifier information of the radio access area served by the UPF, the corresponding external area information, and return the external area information of the UPF to the SMF.

The SMF performs a screening of the PFD information based on the identification information of the outer region served by the UPF and the slice IDs of the slices served by the UPF 714.

Specifically, the SMF uses the identifier of the UPF, the identifier information of the external area served by the UPF, the slice IDs of the slice served by the UPF, and the App IDs together as the screening condition to screen the PFDs stored in the SMF, thereby obtaining the second PFD information. Wherein, the second PFD information is PFDs information related to the outer region served by the UPF and the slice served by the UPF after being filtered. Optionally, the second PFD information may include a slice ID serviced by the UPF and identification information of an outer area serviced by the UPF.

Optionally, the SMF may filter the first PFD information obtained in the second stage by using an identifier of the UPF, identification information of an external area served by the UPF, slice IDs of a slice served by the UPF, and App IDs, to obtain second PFD information.

715, the SMF issues the second PFD information to the UPF. Correspondingly, the UPF receives the second PFD information sent by the SMF. Optionally, the SMF may also send information such as App IDs to the UPF.

Therefore, through a plurality of steps of the third stage, the process that the SMF issues the screened PFD to the UPF based on the slice identification information and the external region identification information is realized.

Fig. 9 illustrates an example of filtering PFD information according to slice identification information (in other words, the PFD carries slice identification information). As shown in fig. 9, similar to fig. 7 or fig. 8, the example in fig. 9 also includes three phases, and the flow includes three phases, the first phase is the generation and management of PFDs; the second stage is the process that the NEF issues PFDs to the SMF; the third stage is the process of SMF issuing PFDs to UPF. The difference from fig. 7 or 8 is that the flow related to the filtering of PFD in fig. 9 is performed based on slice identification information, and no internal region identification information or external region identification information is required.

In the first stage, as a precondition, each network element may register with an NRF, which in this example specifically includes: the SMF1, SMF2, and UPF1 each transmit registration information to the NRF. In the example of fig. 9, the registration information sent to the NRF by each network element carries identification information of slices served by the network element. Optionally, the registration information may also carry information such as an identifier of the network element, a type of the network element, and the like. Since the slice information is used as a condition for filtering the PFD in fig. 9, the NEF does not need to query the NRF for region information. NRF may perform network element topology management. Here, the NRF does not need to map the relationship of the inner region identification information and the outer region identification information.

The first stage comprises the following steps:

801, the AF transmits information such as slice ID to the NEF.

802, NEF stores enhancement PFDs information into UDR.

The slice ID is carried in the enhanced PFDs information. Here, when receiving information such as slice ID transmitted by the AF, the NEF writes enhancement PFDs carrying the information such as slice ID into the UDR.

Therefore, through the steps of the first stage, enhanced production and management of PFDs is achieved.

The second stage comprises the following steps:

803, the SMF sends a first synchronization request to the NEF. (it should be understood that while SMF1 is illustrated, SMF2 may be, and is not described here as an example of SMF, and does not distinguish between SMF1 and SMF 2.)

Specifically, after the SMF is started, the local cache needs to be initialized to store the PFDs, and an inter-device synchronization request, that is, the first synchronization request, is initiated. Optionally, the first synchronization request carries the SMF id and slice IDs of slices served by the SMF. Optionally, the first synchronization request may also carry App IDs.

It should be noted that if the first synchronization request in step 803 does not carry slice IDs of slices served by SMF, NEF may query NRF for slice IDs of slices served by SMF.

Optionally 803-1, the NEF sends a second query request to the NRF, the second query request for querying slice IDs of slices served by the SMF.

Optionally 803-2, the NEF sends a second query response to the NRF, the second query response including the slice IDs of the slices served by the SMF.

At 804, the NEF sends a first query request to the UDR.

Wherein the first query request is for querying PFD information related to a slice served by an SMF. Optionally, the first query request may carry information such as slice IDs and App IDs of a slice served by the SMF.

And 805, after receiving the first query request, the UDR performs PFD screening according to the query condition. The query condition is the content carried in the first query request.

806, the UDR sends a first query response to the NEF. The first query response carries first PFD information. Correspondingly, the NEF obtains the first PFD information from the UDR. The slice IDs of the slice served by the SMF is included in the first PFD information.

807, the NEF sends the first PFD information (the SMF-related PFDs information after the screening) to the SMF. Wherein the enhanced attributes (i.e., slice IDs of slices served by SMF) are included in the first PFD information. Specifically, the NEF may send App IDs and first PFD information to the SMF. Correspondingly, the SMF receives the App IDs and the first PFD information of the NEF.

Therefore, through a plurality of steps of the second stage, the process that the NEF issues the PFD screened by the slice information to the SMF based on the slice identification information is realized.

The third stage comprises:

808, the UPF sends a second synchronization request to the SMF.

Wherein, the second synchronization request carries the UPF identification. Optionally, the slice IDs of the slices served by the UPF may also be carried in the second synchronization request. Specifically, after the UPF is started, a local cache needs to be initialized to store the PFDs, and an inter-device synchronization request is initiated. Optionally, the second synchronization request may also carry App IDs.

It should be noted that if the second synchronization request in step 808 does not carry slice IDs of slices served by the UPF, the SMF may query the NRF for slice IDs of slices served by the UPF.

Optionally 808-1, the SMF sends a third query request to the NRF, said third query request for querying slice IDs of slices served by the UPF.

Optionally 808-2, the NEF sends a third query response to the NRF, the third query response including the slice IDs of the slices served by the UPF.

And 809, the SMF obtains the slice IDs of the slices served by the UPF, and carries out PFD information screening according to the slice IDs of the slices served by the UPF.

Specifically, the SMF uses the identifier of the UPF, the slice IDs of the slice served by the UPF, and the App IDs together as a screening condition to screen the PFDs stored in the SMF, so as to obtain second PFD information. The second PFD information is PFDs information related to the UPF after screening. The second PFD information includes a slice ID of the UPF.

Optionally, the SMF may filter the first PFD information obtained in the second stage by using the UPF identifier and the slice IDs of the slice served by the UPF, to obtain the second PFD information.

The SMF issues 810 a second PFD message to the UPF. Correspondingly, the UPF receives the second PFD information sent by the SMF. Optionally, the SMF may also send information such as App IDs to the UPF.

Therefore, through a plurality of steps of the third stage, the SMF issues the PFD screened by using the slice information to the UPF based on the slice identification information.

It should be understood that the examples in fig. 7 to 9 are only for facilitating the understanding of the embodiments of the present application by those skilled in the art, and are not intended to limit the embodiments of the present application to the specific scenarios illustrated. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various equivalent modifications or variations are possible in light of the examples of fig. 7-9, and such modifications or variations are intended to be included within the scope of the embodiments of the present application.

When the application network element performs service planning, the PFDs of the application network element will have effective time. For example, an internet television (OTT) wants a service to bring a newly deployed service server online at a predetermined time, but PFDs related to the service servers need to be configured in advance and issued to various SMF/UPF devices, etc. to be effective accurately at the predetermined time. At present, PFDs in the same AppID have no difference in effective time, and will take effect immediately after being issued to SMF or UPF, and cannot control PFDs to take effect together accurately at a set time, nor cannot newly add configuration corresponding to PFDs. The present application also provides an embodiment to increase the time to effect attribute in a PFD. This embodiment will be specifically described below.

In the embodiment of the application, the method comprises the following steps: the method comprises the steps that a user plane network element obtains time information, wherein the time information is used for indicating the effective time of a first PFD; and the user plane network element performs data flow operation on the first PFD carrying the time information based on the time information.

Optionally, the validation time may be a validation duration, including a validation start time and a validation end time. For example, the effective time may be an absolute time of a date (date)/time (time), or may be a periodic time of a week/time, which is not limited thereto.

Optionally, in the PFD information received by the user plane network element, there may be PFDs carrying time information, or some PFDs without time information may be stored.

Specifically, after obtaining the PFD carrying the time information, the user plane network element only performs the PFDs carrying the time information when performing the data volume rule matching and the policy implementation, and considers that the PFDs not carrying the time information are effective all the time. For example, the first PFD carries time information, and when the data streams are matched, the user plane mesh element only takes effect on the first PFD within the effective time of the first PFD, which is beneficial to providing accuracy of PFD effectiveness. Therefore, the application network element can improve the deployment accuracy in service deployment based on the effective time of the PFD.

Optionally, the first PFD carrying the time information is sent to a user plane network element by the session management network element.

Optionally, the session management network element obtains the first PFD carrying the time information through a capability openness network element. Optionally, the capability openness network element obtains the first PFD carrying the time information through a unified book storage network element.

For ease of understanding, the following description is made in conjunction with the interaction diagram in fig. 10. It should be understood that the flow in fig. 10 may adopt a standard flow defined by 3GPP, and the difference from the standard flow is that time information is added to the PFD information. As shown in fig. 10, includes:

901, the AF sends PFDs carrying time information to the NEF. Wherein the time information is used to indicate an effective time of the first PFD.

Specifically, the AF submits the App ID corresponding to the PFDs to the NEF, and can enhance the effective time to be carried in addition to the App ID, PFDs, and operation defined by the 3GPP protocol.

902, NEF sends the above PFDs carrying time information to UDR.

After receiving the time information, the NEF writes the enhanced PFDs carrying the time information into the UDR.

903, after the SMF is started, the SMF needs to initialize a local cache to store PFDs, and sends a first synchronization request to the NEF to acquire PFD information. Optionally, the App IDs may be carried in the first synchronization request. It should be understood that fig. 10 illustrates SMF1 as an example for interaction, and in fact, SMF1 and SMF2 are applicable to the process, and therefore, no distinction is made here.

904, after receiving the query, the NEF needs to query the UDR for the corresponding PFDs, and sends a first query request to the UDR, where the first query request carries the identifier of the SMF. Optionally, the first query request may also carry App IDs

905, after receiving the first query request, the UDR returns all PFDs corresponding to the App ID; not carrying App IDs would require returning all PFDs.

906, the NEF receives the PFDs information obtained from the UDR and sends the PFDs information to the SMF. These pieces of PFDs information include PFDs carrying time information, i.e., the first PFD.

907, the UPF sends a second query request to the SMF, the second query request being used for querying the PFD information.

Specifically, after the UPF is started, a local cache needs to be initialized to store the PFDs, and an inter-device synchronization request, that is, the second query request, is initiated to the SMF. Optionally, the App IDs may be carried in the second query request.

908, the SMF sends the PFDs carrying the time information to the UPF.

Here, if the second query request carries App IDs, the SMF returns PFDs corresponding to the App ID; not carrying App IDs would require returning all PFDs. Wherein, the first PFD carries time information.

The UPF performs 909 a data flow operation on the first PFD carrying the time information based on the current time.

Specifically, the first PFD in the UPF is only validated when the time information matches the current time and is used when the data stream is operating. For example, the time information is used to indicate an effective time of the first PFD, where the effective time is a time period, and the current time is a time, and if the current time falls within the effective time period, the first PFD is effective.

When the UPF matches a data stream, it needs to determine whether a PFD carries time information, and for a PFD (for example, a first PFD) carrying time information, the PFD takes effect according to the effective time indicated by the time information, and for a PFD not carrying time information, the PFD is considered to be effective all the time. Therefore, for some services needing to be effective at a specific time, the PFD does not need to be changed back and forth, and the service requirements can be better met.

It should be understood that the example in fig. 10 is merely for facilitating understanding of the embodiments of the present application by those skilled in the art, and is not intended to limit the embodiments of the present application to the specific context illustrated. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the example of fig. 10 that various equivalent modifications or variations may be made, and such modifications or variations also fall within the scope of the embodiments of the present application.

It should be understood that various aspects of the embodiments of the present application may be used in combination, and explanations or illustrations of various terms appearing in the embodiments may be mutually referred to or explained in the embodiments, which is not limited thereto.

The method for determining a message flow description PFD according to the embodiment of the present application is described above, and the apparatus according to the embodiment of the present application will be described below. It should be understood that the technical features described in the method embodiments are equally applicable to the following apparatus-side embodiments.

Fig. 11 shows a schematic block diagram of an apparatus 900 for determining a message flow description, PFD, according to an embodiment of the present application. Optionally, the specific form of the apparatus 900 may be a general-purpose computer device or a chip in a general-purpose computer device, which is not limited in this application. The apparatus 900 is a capability openness network element, and the apparatus 900 includes:

a determining module 910, configured to determine, according to first slice identification information, PFD information related to a network slice served by a session management network element, where the first slice identification information is used to indicate the network slice served by the session management network element;

a transceiver module 920, configured to send the PFD information to the session management network element.

In one implementation, the transceiver module 920 is further configured to:

sending a first query request to a unified data storage network element, wherein the first query request comprises the first slice identification information;

and receiving a query result from the unified data storage network element, wherein the query result comprises the PFD information.

Optionally, the transceiver module 920 is further configured to:

receiving a first request message from the session management network element, where the first request message is used to request the PFD information, and the first request message includes the first slice identification information and the identification information of the session management network element.

Optionally, the transceiver module 920 is further configured to:

receiving, from an application network element: identification information of the network slice which is required to take effect by the service corresponding to the application network element;

the device further comprises: a processing module 930, configured to store, in the unified data storage network element, information of the PFD including identification information of the network slice, where the service corresponding to the application network element needs to be validated.

In another implementation manner, the determining module 910 is specifically configured to:

and determining, according to the first slice identification information and first area identification information, PFD information related to a network slice served by the session management network element and an area served by the session management network element, where the first area identification information is used to indicate the area served by the session management network element.

Optionally, the transceiver module 920 is further configured to:

sending a second query request to a unified data storage network element, where the second query request includes the first slice identification information and the first area identification information;

Optionally, the transceiver module 920 is further configured to:

receiving a second request message from the session management network element, where the second request message is used to request the PFD information, and the second request message includes the first slice identification information and the identification information of the session management network element.

Optionally, the transceiver module 920 is further configured to:

sending a third query request to a network storage function network element, where the third query request is used to query an area served by the session management network element;

receiving the first area identification information from the network storage function network element.

Optionally, the transceiver module 920 is further configured to:

receiving, from an application network element: the identification information of the network slice, which needs to take effect, of the service corresponding to the application network element and the identification information of the geographical or administrative area, which needs to take effect, of the service corresponding to the application network element;

the device further comprises: a processing module 930, configured to store, in the unified data storage network element, information of the PFD including identification information of the network slice where the service corresponding to the application network element needs to be validated and identification information of the geographic or administrative area where the service of the application network element needs to be validated.

before the processing module 930 stores, in a unified data storage network element, information of a PFD including identification information of a network slice where a service corresponding to the application network element needs to be validated and identification information of a geographical or administrative area where the service of the application network element needs to be validated, the transceiver module 920 is further configured to:

and sending the following information to a network storage function network element: the identification information of the network slice, which is required to take effect by the service corresponding to the application network element, and the identification information of the geographical or administrative area, which is required to take effect by the service of the application network element;

acquiring, from the network storage function network element: identification information of a radio access area corresponding to the geography or administration where the service of the application network element needs to be effective.

In yet another implementation manner, the determining module 910 is configured to determine, according to first area identification information, PFD information related to an area served by a session management network element, where the first area identification information is used to indicate the area served by the session management network element; a transceiver module 920, configured to send the PFD information to the session management network element, where the PFD information includes the first area identifier information, so that the session management network element can obtain enhanced PFD information.

It should be understood that the apparatus 900 for determining a message flow description PFD according to the embodiment of the present application may correspond to the method for opening a network element in the foregoing method embodiment, and the above and other management operations and/or functions of each module in the apparatus 900 are respectively for implementing corresponding steps of the method for session managing a network element in the foregoing method embodiment, so that beneficial effects in the foregoing method embodiment may also be implemented, and for brevity, no detailed description is provided here.

It should also be appreciated that in the present embodiment, the apparatus 900 is presented in the form of a functional module. As used herein, a "module" may refer to an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), an electronic circuit, a processor and memory that execute one or more software or firmware programs, an integrated logic circuit, and/or other devices that may provide the described functionality. In a simple embodiment, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the apparatus 900 may take the form shown in FIG. 4. The determining module 910 and the processing module 930 may be implemented by the processor 301 and the memory 302 shown in fig. 4. The transceiver module 920 may be implemented by the transceiver 303 shown in fig. 4. In particular, the processor is implemented by executing a computer program stored in the memory. Alternatively, when the apparatus 900 is a chip, the functions and/or implementation procedures of the transceiver module 920 may also be implemented by pins, circuits or the like. Optionally, the memory is a storage unit in the chip, such as a register, a cache, and the like, and the storage unit may also be a storage unit located outside the chip in the computer device, such as the memory 302 in fig. 4. Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative elements and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware or combinations of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the implementation. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present application.

Fig. 12 shows a schematic block diagram of an apparatus 1000 for determining a message flow description PFD according to an embodiment of the present application. Optionally, the specific form of the apparatus 1000 may be a general-purpose computer device or a chip in a general-purpose computer device, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application. The apparatus 1000 is a session management network element, and the apparatus 1000 includes:

a determining module 1010, configured to determine second PFD information according to second slice identification information, where the second slice identification information is used to indicate a network slice served by a user plane network element, and the second PFD information is information of a PFD related to the network slice served by the user plane network element;

a transceiver module 1020, configured to send the second PFD information to the user plane network element, where the second PFD information includes the second slice identifier information.

In one implementation, the transceiver module 1020 is further configured to:

receiving first PFD information from the capability openness network element, where the first PFD information includes the first slice identification information and the first slice identification information is used to indicate a network slice served by the session management network element;

correspondingly, the determining module is configured to determine the second PFD information according to the second slice identification information, and specifically includes:

and screening the first PFD information by using the second slice identification information to obtain the second PFD information.

Optionally, the transceiver module 1020 is further configured to: and sending a first request message to a capability openness network element, where the first request message is used to request the first PFD information, and the first request message includes the first slice identification information and the identification information of the session management network element.

Optionally, the transceiver module 1020 is further configured to: receiving a third request message from a user plane network element, where the third request message is used to request the second PFD information, and the third request message includes the second slice identification information and the identification information of the user plane network element.

In another implementation manner, the determining module 1010 is configured to determine the second PFD information according to the second slice identification information, and specifically includes:

determining second PFD information according to second slice identification information and second area identification information, where the second PFD information is PFD information related to a network slice served by the user plane network element and an area served by the user plane network element, and the second area identification information is used to indicate the area served by the user plane network element, and the second PFD information includes the second area identification information and the second slice identification information.

Optionally, the transceiver module 1020 is further configured to: receiving first PFD information from a capability opening network element, wherein the first PFD information is information of a PFD related to the session management network element and comprises first slice identification information and first area identification information;

the determining module 1010 is configured to determine the second PFD information according to the second region identification information and the second slice identification information, and specifically includes:

and screening the first PFD information by using the second area identification information and the second slice identification information to obtain second PFD information.

Optionally, the transceiver module 1020 is further configured to: and sending a second request message to the capability openness network element, where the second request message is used to request the first PFD information, the second request message includes first slice identification information and identification information of the session management network element, and the first slice identification information is used to indicate a network slice served by the session management network element.

Optionally, the transceiver module 1020 is further configured to: receiving a fourth request message from the user plane network element, where the fourth request message is used to request the second PFD information, and the fourth request message includes the second slice identification information and the identification information of the user plane network element.

Optionally, the transceiver module 1020 is further configured to: sending a third query request to a network storage function network element, wherein the third query request is used for querying an area served by the user plane network element;

Optionally, the second area identification information is internal area identification information, where the internal area identification information is used to indicate a radio access area served by the user plane network element;

the fourth request message does not carry the identification information of the internal area, and correspondingly, the third query request is used for querying a wireless access area served by the user plane network element.

In yet another implementation, the determining module 1010 is configured to determine second PFD information according to second area identification information, where the second area identification information is used to indicate an area served by a user plane network element, and the second PFD information is information of a PFD related to the area served by the user plane network element; a transceiver module 1020, configured to send the second PFD information to the user plane network element, where the second PFD information includes the second area identifier information.

It should be understood that the apparatus 1000 for determining a message flow description PFD according to the embodiment of the present application may correspond to the method for session managing network elements in the foregoing method embodiment, and the above and other management operations and/or functions of each module in the apparatus 1000 are respectively for implementing corresponding steps of the method for session managing network elements in the foregoing method embodiment, so that beneficial effects in the foregoing method embodiment may also be implemented, and for brevity, no detailed description is provided here.

It should also be understood that in this embodiment, the apparatus 1000 is presented in the form of a functional module. As used herein, a "module" may refer to an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), an electronic circuit, a processor and memory that execute one or more software or firmware programs, an integrated logic circuit, and/or other devices that may provide the described functionality. In a simple embodiment, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the device 1000 may take the form shown in FIG. 4. The determination module 1010 may be implemented by the processor 301 and the memory 302 shown in fig. 4. The transceiver module 1020 may be implemented by the transceiver 303 shown in fig. 4. In particular, the processor is implemented by executing a computer program stored in the memory. Alternatively, when the apparatus 1000 is a chip, the functions and/or implementation processes of the sending module 1020 can also be implemented by pins or circuits, etc. Optionally, the memory is a storage unit in the chip, such as a register, a cache, and the like, and the storage unit may also be a storage unit located outside the chip in the computer device, such as the memory 302 in fig. 4. Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative elements and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware or combinations of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the implementation. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present application.

It should be understood that the term "and/or" herein is merely one type of association relationship that describes an associated object, meaning that three relationships may exist, e.g., a and/or B may mean: a exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone. In addition, the character "/" herein generally indicates that the former and latter related objects are in an "or" relationship.

It should also be understood that, in the various embodiments of the present application, the sequence numbers of the above-mentioned processes do not mean the execution sequence, and the execution sequence of each process should be determined by its function and inherent logic, and should not constitute any limitation to the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application.

It should also be understood that the numbers "first", "second", …, etc. appearing in the embodiments of the present application are only for distinguishing different objects, for example, distinguishing different "query requests", or distinguishing different "request messages", and do not limit the embodiments of the present application.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative elements and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware or combinations of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the implementation. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present application.

It is clear to those skilled in the art that, for convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the above-described systems, apparatuses and units may refer to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, and are not described herein again.

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

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

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

The functions, if implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as a stand-alone product, may be stored in a computer readable storage medium. Based on such understanding, the technical solution of the present application or portions thereof that substantially contribute to the prior art may be embodied in the form of a software product stored in a storage medium and including instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device) to execute all or part of the steps of the method according to the embodiments of the present application. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: various media capable of storing program codes, such as a U disk, a removable hard disk, a read-only memory ROM, a random access memory RAM, a magnetic disk, or an optical disk.

The above description is only for the specific embodiments of the present application, but the scope of the present application is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art can easily conceive of the changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the present application, and shall be covered by the scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A method for determining a PFD for a message flow description, comprising:

the method comprises the steps that a capability opening network element determines PFD information related to a network slice served by a session management network element according to first slice identification information, wherein the first slice identification information is used for indicating the network slice served by the session management network element;

and the capability opening network element sends the PFD information to the session management network element.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

the capability opening network element sends a first query request to a unified data storage network element, wherein the first query request comprises the first slice identification information;

wherein, the determining, by the capability openness network element according to the first slice identification information, the PFD information related to the network slice served by the session management network element includes:

and the capability opening network element receives a query result from the unified data storage network element, wherein the query result comprises the PFD information.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

the capability openness network element receives a first request message from the session management network element, where the first request message is used to request the PFD information, and the first request message includes the first slice identification information and the identification information of the session management network element.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising:

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining, by the capability openness network element, PFD information related to a network slice served by the session management network element according to the first slice identification information comprises:

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

the capability opening network element sends a second query request to a unified data storage network element, wherein the second query request comprises the first slice identification information and the first area identification information;

wherein, the determining, by the capability openness network element according to the first slice identification information, the PFD information related to the network slice served by the session management network element and the area served by the session management network element includes:

7. The method of claim 5 or 6, further comprising:

the capability openness network element receives a second request message from the session management network element, where the second request message is used to request the PFD information, and the second request message includes the first slice identification information and the identification information of the session management network element.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

the capability opening network element sends a third query request to a network storage function network element, wherein the third query request is used for querying an area served by the session management network element;

and the capability opening network element receives the first area identification information from the network storage function network element.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the first area identification information is external area identification information indicating a geographical or administrative area served by the session management network element;

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the first area identification information is inner area identification information, and wherein the inner area identification information is used to indicate a radio access area served by the session management network element;

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the first area identity information is an inner area identity information, the inner area identity information is used to indicate a radio access area served by the session management network element, and the second request message carries the inner area identity information.

12. The method of claim 5 or 6, further comprising:

and the capability opening network element stores the PFD information including the identification information of the network slice, which is required to take effect, of the service corresponding to the application network element and the identification information of the geographical or administrative area, which is required to take effect, of the service of the application network element in a unified data storage network element.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the information of the PFD further comprises identification information of a radio access area corresponding to a geographical or administrative area where the service of the application network element needs to be effected;

before the capability openness network element stores, in a unified data storage network element, information of a PFD including identification information of a network slice where a service corresponding to the application network element needs to take effect and identification information of a geographical or administrative area where the service of the application network element needs to take effect, the method further includes:

14. A method for determining a PFD for a message flow description, comprising:

the session management network element determines second PFD information according to second slice identification information, wherein the second slice identification information is used for indicating a network slice served by a user plane network element, and the second PFD information is information of a PFD related to the network slice served by the user plane network element;

and the session management network element sends the second PFD information to the user plane network element, where the second PFD information includes the second slice identification information.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

the session management network element receives first PFD information from a capability opening network element, wherein the first PFD information comprises first slice identification information, and the first slice identification information is used for indicating a network slice served by the session management network element;

wherein, the determining, by the session management network element, the second PFD information according to the second slice identification information includes:

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

the session management network element sends a first request message to a capability openness network element, where the first request message is used to request the first PFD information, and the first request message includes the first slice identification information and the identification information of the session management network element.

17. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 16, further comprising:

the session management network element receives a third request message from a user plane network element, where the third request message is used to request the second PFD information, and the third request message includes the second slice identification information and the identification information of the user plane network element.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein the determining, by the session management network element, the second PFD information according to the second slice identification information comprises:

the session management network element determines, according to second slice identification information and second area identification information, the second PFD information, where the second PFD information is PFD information related to a network slice served by the user plane network element and an area served by the user plane network element, and the second area identification information is used to indicate the area served by the user plane network element, and the second PFD information includes the second area identification information and the second slice identification information.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

the session management network element receives first PFD information from a capability opening network element, wherein the first PFD information is PFD information related to the session management network element and comprises first slice identification information and first area identification information;

wherein, the determining, by the session management network element, the second PFD information according to the second area identification information and the second slice identification information includes:

and the session management network element uses the second area identification information and the second slice identification information to screen the first PFD information to obtain the second PFD information.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

the session management network element sends a second request message to the capability openness network element, where the second request message is used to request the first PFD information, the second request message includes first slice identification information and identification information of the session management network element, and the first slice identification information is used to indicate a network slice served by the session management network element.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the second request message carries the first area identifier information, and wherein the first area identifier information is used to indicate a radio access area served by the session management network element.

22. The method of any one of claims 18 to 21, further comprising:

the session management network element receives a fourth request message from the user plane network element, where the fourth request message is used to request the second PFD information, and the fourth request message includes the second slice identification information and the identification information of the user plane network element.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

the session management network element sends a third query request to a network storage function network element, wherein the third query request is used for querying an area served by the user plane network element;

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the second area identification information is external area identification information, and the external area identification information is used to indicate a geographical or administrative area served by the user plane network element;

25. The method of claim 23, wherein the second area identification information is inner area identification information, and wherein the inner area identification information is used to indicate a radio access area served by the user plane network element;

26. The method of claim 22, wherein the second area identity information is inner area identity information, and wherein the inner area identity information is used to indicate a radio access area served by the user plane network element, and wherein the inner area identity information is carried in the fourth request message.

27. A system for determining a PFD described by a message flow, comprising:

the system comprises a capability opening network element and a session management network element, wherein the capability opening network element is used for determining PFD information related to a network slice served by the session management network element according to first slice identification information, and the first slice identification information is used for indicating the network slice served by the session management network element;

the session management network element is configured to receive the PFD information from the capability openness network element.

28. A system for determining a PFD described by a message flow, comprising:

a user plane network element, configured to send a second request message to a session management network element, where the second request message is used to request a PFD related to a network slice served by the user plane network element, and the second request message includes second slice identification information and identification information of the user plane network element, where the second slice identification information is used to indicate the network slice served by the user plane network element;

the session management network element is configured to determine second PFD information according to the second slice identification information, where the second slice identification information is used to indicate a network slice served by the user plane network element, and the second PFD information is information of a PFD related to the network slice served by the user plane network element;

the session management network element is further configured to send the second PFD information to the user plane network element, where the second PFD information includes the second slice identification information.

29. An apparatus for determining a message flow description (PFD), comprising:

a determining module, configured to determine, according to first slice identification information, PFD information related to a network slice served by a session management network element, where the first slice identification information is used to indicate the network slice served by the session management network element;

and the transceiver module is used for sending the PFD information to the session management network element.

30. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the transceiver module is further configured to:

31. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the determining module is specifically configured to:

32. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the transceiver module is further configured to:

33. The apparatus of claim 31 or 32, wherein the transceiver module is further configured to:

the device further comprises: and the processing module is used for storing the PFD information comprising the identification information of the network slice, which is required to take effect, of the service corresponding to the application network element and the identification information of the geographical or administrative area, which is required to take effect, of the service of the application network element in a unified data storage network element.

34. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein the information of the PFD further comprises identification information of a radio access area corresponding to a geographical or administrative area where the service of the application network element needs to be effected;

before the processing module stores, in the unified data storage network element, the PFD information including the identification information of the network slice in which the service corresponding to the application network element needs to take effect and the identification information of the geographic or administrative area in which the service of the application network element needs to take effect, the transceiver module is further configured to:

35. An apparatus for determining a message flow description (PFD), comprising:

a determining module, configured to determine second PFD information according to second slice identification information, where the second slice identification information is used to indicate a network slice served by a user plane network element, and the second PFD information is information of a PFD related to the network slice served by the user plane network element;

a transceiver module, configured to send the second PFD information to the user plane network element, where the second PFD information includes the second slice identifier information.

36. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein the transceiver module is further configured to:

receiving first PFD information from a capability opening network element, wherein the first PFD information comprises first slice identification information, and the first slice identification information is used for indicating a network slice served by a session management network element;

37. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein the determining module is configured to determine second PFD information according to the second slice identification information, and specifically comprises:

38. The apparatus of claim 37, wherein the transceiver module is further configured to: receiving a fourth request message from the user plane network element, where the fourth request message is used to request the second PFD information, and the fourth request message includes the second slice identification information and the identification information of the user plane network element.

39. The apparatus of claim 38, wherein the transceiver module is further configured to: sending a third query request to a network storage function network element, wherein the third query request is used for querying an area served by the user plane network element; the transceiver module is further configured to receive the second area identification information from the network storage function network element.