CN111491010A

CN111491010A - Business cooperative processing method and related equipment

Info

Publication number: CN111491010A
Application number: CN202010224643.XA
Authority: CN
Inventors: 张卓筠
Original assignee: Tencent Technology Shenzhen Co Ltd
Current assignee: Tencent Technology Shenzhen Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-03-26
Filing date: 2020-03-26
Publication date: 2020-08-04

Abstract

The disclosure provides a service cooperative processing method and related equipment. The method comprises the following steps: receiving a first data packet from an edge server, wherein a source address and a destination address of the first data packet are respectively a network address of a target user terminal and a network address of a central server; detecting the first data packet by using a data packet detection rule of the edge cloud data transmission tunnel; if the first data packet meets the data packet detection rule of the edge cloud data transmission tunnel, packaging the first data packet according to the uplink core network tunnel information of the middle user plane function or the first protocol data unit session anchor point user plane function of the corresponding edge cloud data transmission tunnel; and sending the first data packet to a first protocol data unit session anchor point user plane function of the connection center server through the edge cloud data transmission tunnel, or sending the first data packet to the first protocol data unit session anchor point user plane function of the connection center server through the middle user plane function.

Description

Business cooperative processing method and related equipment

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of computer technologies, and in particular, to a method and an apparatus for service cooperative processing, an electronic device, and a computer-readable storage medium.

Background

Compared with 4G (4)^thGeneration, fourth generation) core network has problems due to insufficient Edge Computing (Edge Computing) support capability, and the 5G core network considers the requirement of Edge Computing support in the architecture and supports Edge Computing at both the network level and the capability opening level. At the level of the network, it is,for the local breakout mechanism, the 5G core network supports an Uplink Classifier (U L C L) function and a BP (Branch Point) function.

However, when the edge server and the central server are not directly connected, the 5G core network in the related art can only support single-point processing of the service, that is, the service is processed by the central server or by the edge server, and cannot support a scenario in which the service needs to be processed by both the central server and the edge server.

Therefore, a new service cooperative processing method and apparatus, an electronic device, and a computer-readable storage medium are needed.

It is to be noted that the information disclosed in the above background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the present disclosure.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the disclosure provides a service cooperative processing method and device, an electronic device and a computer readable storage medium, which can realize multi-point processing of services.

Additional features and advantages of the disclosure will be set forth in the detailed description which follows, or in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the disclosure.

The embodiment of the disclosure provides a service cooperative processing method, which includes: receiving a first data packet from an edge server, where a source address and a destination address of the first data packet are respectively a network address of a target user terminal and a network address of a central server, where the first data packet is generated by processing an uplink data packet of the target user terminal by the edge server, and the source address and the destination address of the uplink data packet are respectively the network address of the target user terminal and the network address of the edge server; detecting the first data packet by using a data packet detection rule of a side cloud data transmission tunnel; if the first data packet meets the data packet detection rule of the edge cloud data transmission tunnel, packaging the first data packet according to the uplink core network tunnel information of the middle user plane function or the first protocol data unit session anchor point user plane function of the corresponding edge cloud data transmission tunnel; and sending the first data packet to a session anchor point user plane function of the first protocol data unit connected with the central server through the edge cloud data transmission tunnel.

The embodiment of the disclosure provides a service cooperative processing method, which includes: receiving a first data packet from a session anchor user plane function or an intermediate user plane function of a second protocol data unit, where a source address and a destination address of the first data packet are respectively a network address of a target user terminal and a network address of a central server, where the first data packet is generated by processing an uplink data packet of the target user terminal by the edge server, and the source address and the destination address of the uplink data packet are respectively the network address of the target user terminal and the network address of the edge server; and sending the first data packet to the central server.

The embodiment of the present disclosure provides a service cooperative processing apparatus, where the apparatus includes: a first data packet receiving unit, configured to receive a first data packet from an edge server, where a source address and a destination address of the first data packet are a network address of a target user terminal and a network address of a central server, respectively, where the first data packet is generated by processing, by the edge server, an uplink data packet of the target user terminal, and the source address and the destination address of the uplink data packet are a network address of the target user terminal and a network address of the edge server, respectively; the first data packet detection unit is used for detecting the first data packet by using a data packet detection rule of a side cloud data transmission tunnel; a first data packet encapsulation unit, configured to encapsulate, if the first data packet meets a packet detection rule of the edge cloud data transmission tunnel, the first data packet according to uplink core network tunnel information corresponding to an intermediate user plane function of the edge cloud data transmission tunnel or a session anchor user plane function of a first protocol data unit; and the first data packet sending unit is used for sending the first data packet to the session anchor point user plane function of the first protocol data unit connected with the central server through the edge cloud data transmission tunnel.

The embodiment of the present disclosure provides a service cooperative processing apparatus, where the apparatus includes: a first data packet forwarding unit, configured to receive a first data packet from a second protocol data unit session anchor user plane function or an intermediate user plane function, where a source address and a destination address of the first data packet are a network address of a target user terminal and a network address of a central server, respectively, where the first data packet is generated by processing, by an edge server, an uplink data packet of the target user terminal, and the source address and the destination address of the uplink data packet are a network address of the target user terminal and a network address of the edge server, respectively; and the first data packet forwarding unit is used for sending the first data packet to the central server.

The embodiments of the present disclosure provide a computer-readable storage medium, on which a computer program is stored, and when the program is executed by a processor, the method for service cooperative processing as described in the embodiments above is implemented.

An embodiment of the present disclosure provides an electronic device, including: one or more processors; a storage device configured to store one or more programs, which when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to implement the service co-processing method as described in the above embodiments.

In the technical solutions provided in some embodiments of the present disclosure, when an Edge server receives an uplink Data packet from a target user terminal, the Edge server may process the uplink Data packet to generate a first Data packet, and further determine whether the first Data packet processed by the Edge server needs to be sent to a central server for processing, if the first Data packet needs to be sent to the central server for processing, the Edge server may set a destination address of the first Data packet as a Network address of the central server, then the Edge server sends the first Data packet to a session anchor user plane function of a second protocol Data unit, after the session anchor user plane function of the second protocol Data unit receives the first Data packet sent by the Edge server, the first Data packet may be detected by using a packet detection rule of an Edge cloud Data transmission tunnel, if a detection result is that the first Data packet satisfies the packet detection rule of the Edge cloud Data transmission tunnel, the session anchor user plane function of the second protocol Data unit may implement that the session anchor user plane function of the Edge Data unit is located on a local Network Data session anchor point 35c, and then the session anchor Data packet is sent to a local Network anchor point 35c, so that the first Data packet is located on a local Network Data packet, and the local Network Data session anchor point, the local Network Data packet, thus, the Network Data packet is implemented by the Network Data packet, the Network Data unit, the Network Data packet, and the Network Data packet is implemented by the Network Data unit, where the Network Data unit, the Network anchor point, the Network Data unit, where the Network Data unit is located on the Network Data unit, the Network anchor point, the Network Data unit, and the Network Data unit, where the Network Data unit is located on the Network Data unit, where the Network Data unit, the Network.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the disclosure.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments consistent with the present disclosure and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the disclosure. It is to be understood that the drawings in the following description are merely exemplary of the disclosure, and that other drawings may be derived from those drawings by one of ordinary skill in the art without the exercise of inventive faculty. In the drawings:

fig. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary system architecture to which a service co-processing method or a service co-processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may be applied;

FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic structural diagram of a computer system suitable for use with the electronic device used to implement embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 schematically illustrates a U L C L shunt architecture diagram in the related art;

FIG. 4 schematically shows a flow diagram of a business coprocessing method according to an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 5 schematically illustrates an architecture diagram supporting edge cloud coordination according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 schematically shows an architecture diagram supporting edge cloud coordination according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 schematically illustrates a flow diagram of a business coprocessing method according to an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 8 schematically illustrates a flow diagram of a business coprocessing method according to an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 9 schematically illustrates a business flow diagram of a business coprocessing method according to an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 10 schematically illustrates a business flow diagram of a business coprocessing method according to an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 11 schematically shows a flow diagram of a method of business coprocessing according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 12 schematically illustrates a flow diagram of a business coprocessing method according to an embodiment of the disclosure;

fig. 13 schematically shows a block diagram of a service coordination processing device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 14 schematically shows a block diagram of a service cooperative processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

Example embodiments will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. Example embodiments may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the examples set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the concept of example embodiments to those skilled in the art.

Furthermore, the described features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. In the following description, numerous specific details are provided to give a thorough understanding of embodiments of the disclosure. One skilled in the relevant art will recognize, however, that the subject matter of the present disclosure can be practiced without one or more of the specific details, or with other methods, components, devices, steps, and so forth. In other instances, well-known methods, devices, implementations, or operations have not been shown or described in detail to avoid obscuring aspects of the disclosure.

The block diagrams shown in the figures are functional entities only and do not necessarily correspond to physically separate entities. I.e. these functional entities may be implemented in the form of software, or in one or more hardware modules or integrated circuits, or in different networks and/or processor means and/or microcontroller means.

The flow charts shown in the drawings are merely illustrative and do not necessarily include all of the contents and operations/steps, nor do they necessarily have to be performed in the order described. For example, some operations/steps may be decomposed, and some operations/steps may be combined or partially combined, so that the actual execution sequence may be changed according to the actual situation.

Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of an exemplary system architecture 100 to which a business coprocessing method or business coprocessing apparatus of the embodiments of the disclosure can be applied.

As shown in fig. 1, the system architecture 100 may include

user terminals

101, 102, a network 103, and a server 104. The network 103 serves as a medium for providing communication links between the

user terminals

101, 102 and the server 104. Network 103 may include various connection types, such as wired, wireless communication links, or fiber optic cables, to name a few.

A user may use the

user terminals

101, 102 to interact with the server 104 over the network 103 to receive or send messages or the like. Among other things, the

user terminals

101, 102 may be various electronic devices having a display screen and supporting the ability to connect to the network 103, including but not limited to smartphones, tablets, laptop portable computers, desktop computers, wearable devices, virtual reality devices, augmented reality devices, gamepads, smart homes, and so forth.

The server 104 may be a server that provides various services, such as a business and back-office management server that provides support for devices operated by users with the

user terminals

101, 102. The service and background management server can analyze and process the received data such as the request and the like, and feed back the processing result to the user terminal. The servers 104 may be divided into edge servers and center servers depending on the deployment location. The edge server may receive an uplink data packet from the user terminal 101 (which may also be the user terminal 102), where a source address and a destination address of the uplink data packet of the user terminal 101 are a network address of the user terminal 101 and a network address of the edge server, respectively; the edge server can process an uplink data packet of the user terminal 101 to generate a first data packet, set a destination address of the first data packet as a network address of the central server, and then send the first data packet to a session anchor user plane function of a second protocol data unit, so that the session anchor user plane function of the second protocol data unit can detect the first data packet by using a data packet detection rule, if the first data packet meets the data packet detection rule of a corresponding edge cloud data transmission tunnel, the session anchor user plane function of the second protocol data unit encapsulates the first data packet according to uplink core network tunnel information of an intermediate user plane function of the corresponding edge cloud data transmission tunnel or the session anchor user plane function of the first protocol data unit, and then sends the first data packet to the session anchor user plane function of the first protocol data unit connected to the central server through the edge cloud data transmission tunnel Or sending the session anchor point user plane function of the first protocol data unit connected with the central server through the intermediate user plane function. The first protocol data unit session anchor user plane function can send the first data packet to the central server according to the destination address of the first data packet, that is, the network address of the central server, and the central server processes the first data packet, that is, the uplink data packet equivalent to the user terminal 101 is processed by the edge server and the central server in sequence, thereby realizing multipoint processing of services.

It should be understood that the number of the user terminals, the networks, and the servers in fig. 1 is only illustrative, and the server 104 may be a physical server, a server cluster composed of a plurality of servers, and a cloud server, and may have any number of user terminals, networks, and servers according to actual needs.

FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic structural diagram of a computer system suitable for use in implementing the electronic device of an embodiment of the present disclosure.

It should be noted that the computer system 200 of the electronic device shown in fig. 2 is only an example, and should not bring any limitation to the functions and the scope of the application of the embodiments of the present disclosure.

As shown in fig. 2, the computer system 200 includes a Central Processing Unit (CPU)201 that can perform various appropriate actions and processes in accordance with a program stored in a Read-Only Memory (ROM) 202 or a program loaded from a storage section 208 into a Random Access Memory (RAM) 203. In the RAM 203, various programs and data necessary for system operation are also stored. The CPU201, ROM 202, and RAM 203 are connected to each other via a bus 204. An input/output (I/O) interface 205 is also connected to bus 204.

To the I/O interface 205, AN input section 206 including a keyboard, a mouse, and the like, AN output section 207 including a terminal such as a Cathode Ray Tube (CRT), a liquid Crystal Display (L CD, &lttttranslation = L "&tttl &ttt/t &gtti required Crystal Display), and the like, a speaker, and the like, a storage section 208 including a hard disk and the like, and a communication section 209 including a Network interface card such as L AN (L oral Area Network) card, a modem, and the like are connected, the communication section 209 performs communication processing via a Network such as the internet, a driver 210 is also connected to the I/O interface 205 as necessary, a removable medium 211 such as a magnetic disk, AN optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a semiconductor memory, and the like is mounted on the driver 210 as necessary, so that a computer program read out therefrom is mounted into the storage section 208 as necessary.

In particular, the processes described below with reference to the flowcharts may be implemented as computer software programs, according to embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, embodiments of the present disclosure include a computer program product comprising a computer program embodied on a computer readable storage medium, the computer program containing program code for performing the method illustrated by the flow chart. In such an embodiment, the computer program may be downloaded and installed from a network through the communication section 209 and/or installed from the removable medium 211. The computer program, when executed by a Central Processing Unit (CPU)201, performs various functions defined in the methods and/or apparatus of the present application.

It should be noted that the computer readable storage medium shown in the present disclosure may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium or any combination of the two. A computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any combination of the foregoing. More specific examples of the computer readable storage medium may include, but are not limited to: an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a Random Access Memory (RAM), a Read-Only Memory (ROM), an Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EPROM) or flash Memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc Read-Only Memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. In the present disclosure, a computer readable storage medium may be any tangible medium that can contain, or store a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. In contrast, in the present disclosure, a computer-readable signal medium may include a propagated data signal with computer-readable program code embodied therein, for example, in baseband or as part of a carrier wave. Such a propagated data signal may take many forms, including, but not limited to, electro-magnetic, optical, or any suitable combination thereof. A computer readable signal medium may also be any computer readable storage medium that is not a computer readable storage medium and that can communicate, propagate, or transport a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. Program code embodied on a computer readable storage medium may be transmitted using any appropriate medium, including but not limited to: wireless, wire, fiber optic cable, RF (radio frequency), etc., or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the figures illustrate the architecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementations of methods, apparatus, and computer program products according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. In this regard, each block in the flowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portion of code, which comprises one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified logical function(s). It should also be noted that, in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of the block diagrams or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams or flowchart illustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-based systems which perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions.

The units described in the embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by software, or may be implemented by hardware, and the described units may also be disposed in a processor. Wherein the names of the elements do not in some way constitute a limitation on the elements themselves.

As another aspect, the present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium, which may be included in the electronic device described in the above embodiments; or may exist separately without being assembled into the electronic device. The computer-readable storage medium carries one or more programs which, when executed by an electronic device, cause the electronic device to implement the method as described in the embodiments below. For example, the electronic device may implement the steps shown in fig. 4 or fig. 7 or fig. 8 or fig. 11 or fig. 12.

First, some terms referred to in the embodiments of the present disclosure are explained.

AN (access network): refers to an implementation system composed of a series of transport entities between the core network and the terminal interface in the mobile communication system, which provides the transport bearer capability required for transporting the telecommunication service. This may refer to at least one access network comprising 4G base stations, or 5G base stations RAN (radio access network) and/or non-3GPP (non-3rd Generation Partnership Project, non-third Generation Partnership Project, such as wifi, fixed network access, etc.) access networks connected to a 5G core network.

RAN: is part of a mobile communication system. It exists between a device (e.g., a mobile phone, a computer, or any remotely controlled machine) and a Core Network (CN) to provide a wireless communication link between the two.

NF (network function): the 3GPP adopts or 3GPP defines network functions in a network that possess defined functional behavior and 3GPP defined interfaces.

AMF (Access and Mobility Management Function): the SM message transmission method is mainly responsible for access authentication, authorization and mobility Management, and may also provide transmission for an SM message between a UE (User Equipment) and an SMF (Session Management Function).

SMF: the session management function is mainly responsible for, and the session management function can also have an IP (Internet Protocol) address allocation function. All or part of the SMF functionality may be supported in a single instance of SMF: session management, such as session establishment, modification and release, including channel maintenance between UPF (User Plane Function) and AN node; UE IP address assignment and management (including optional authorization); configure the flow control of the UPF, route the flow to the correct destination, etc.

UPF, which transmits user plane packets by establishing PDU (Protocol Data Unit) sessions (Session), is responsible for routing, forwarding of packet Data, policy enforcement for packet Data, etc. some or all of the UPF functions may be supported in a single instance of UPF, such as packet routing and forwarding (e.g., support of uplink classifier U L C L to flow traffic to local Data networks, support of Branch Points (BP) to support multi-homed PDU sessions), etc.

In the related art, in the MEC enhancement (stub on enhancement of support for edge computing in the 5G Core Network) topic of 3GPP R17, a key problem of performing service coordination processing in different N6-L AN (L area Network) is proposed.

(1) After an upstream data packet of a certain service is processed by a service server (hereinafter referred to as an edge server) deployed in an edge data center (hereinafter referred to as a local data network, i.e., L ocalDN; or MEC), it needs to be continuously processed by a service server (hereinafter referred to as a center server) deployed in a core cloud data center (hereinafter referred to as a data network, i.e., DN).

(2) After a downlink data packet of a certain service is processed by a service server of a core cloud data center, the downlink data packet needs to be continuously processed by the service server of the edge data center, and then the downlink data packet is sent to the UE. Whether the downlink data packet needs to be processed continuously by the service server of the edge data center is determined by the service server of the core cloud data center.

However, for this scenario, when there is no direct connection between the edge data center and the core cloud data center, how to implement multipoint processing of the service is temporarily unrelated to the research on the standard. In view of the foregoing service multi-point processing scenario, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a service multi-point processing scheme, which is used to implement service multi-point processing when an edge data center and a core cloud data center are not directly connected, where the multi-point processing mainly includes processing by the edge data center and the core cloud data center.

In order to achieve the above requirements, the network architecture shown in fig. 3 is introduced into a 5G system, and a scheme called an uplink classifier U L C L in fig. 3 is an architecture diagram supporting traffic offload to an edge data center defined in a standard in the related art.

In the architecture of fig. 3, the gNB is a 5G base station, where the SMF may decide to insert one U L C L in the data path of the PDU Session (Session), i.e., U L C L is inserted in the user plane link of the UE, so that the I-UPF (intermediate-UPF) supports the U L C L function, may offload some uplink packets of the UE to the local data network, I-UPF, according to the data filters issued by the SMF, and forward downlink packets from the central server (center server) and the edge server (edge server) to the UE.

The SMF can decide to insert a UPF.SMF supporting U L0C L in a data path of a PDU session when PDU connection is established or after PDU establishment is completed, and decide to delete a UPF.SMF supporting U L C L in the data path of the PDU session after PDU establishment is completed, wherein the UPF.UE supporting U3876C L in the data path of the PDU session does not sense data transfer by U L C L or sense the function of inserting or deleting U L C L in the PDU session.

Fig. 4 schematically shows a flowchart of a service cooperation processing method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In the embodiment of fig. 4, the execution main body is PSA-UPF-2 (referred to as the second protocol data unit session anchor user plane function) for example, but the disclosure is not limited thereto.

As shown in fig. 4, the method provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure may include the following steps.

In step S410, a first data packet is received from an edge server, where a source address and a destination address of the first data packet are a network address of a target user terminal and a network address of a central server, respectively, where the first data packet is generated by processing, by the edge server, an uplink data packet of the target user terminal, and the source address and the destination address of the uplink data packet are a network address of the target user terminal and a network address of the edge server, respectively.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the target UE may be any UE, after the UE establishes the PDU session, the UE may send an uplink packet to an I-UPF (having a function of U L C L) through the gNB, and mark a source address of the uplink packet as a network address (e.g., an IP address) of the target UE, and a destination address of the uplink packet is a network address (e.g., an IP address) of an edge server in the MEC, so that the I-UPF supporting the function of U L C L may know, according to the destination address of the received uplink packet, that the uplink packet is to be sent to the edge server for processing, and at this time, the uplink packet may be sent to the edge server corresponding to the destination address of the uplink packet through a PSA-UPF-2 communicatively connected to the MEC.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, a side cloud data transmission tunnel may be established on PSA-UPF-1 and PSA-UPF-2, or PSA-UPF-1, I-UPF and PSA-UPF-2, and the side cloud data transmission tunnel is generally a tunnel based on a GTP (general packet radio service Tunneling Protocol) Protocol, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto. In the embodiment of the disclosure, the edge cloud data transmission tunnels refer to data transmission tunnels established on PSA-UPF-1 and PSA-UPF-2 or PSA-UPF-1, I-UPF and PSA-UPF-2 connecting the edge data center and the core cloud data center, and the edge cloud data transmission tunnels can be used for realizing data forwarding between the core cloud data center and the edge data center. The first protocol data unit session anchor point user plane function is connected with the central server, and the second protocol data unit session anchor point user plane function is connected with the edge server.

In this embodiment of the disclosure, an edge server in the MEC processes the uplink data packet sent by the target UE to generate a first data packet, and sets a source address of the first data packet to be still a network address of the target UE, and if it is determined that the first data packet needs to be further processed by the central server, the destination address of the first data packet may be set to be a network address of a certain central server or central servers in the DN, or an external network address (e.g., an IP address) of a cluster of central servers, and sends the first data packet to the PSA-UPF-2. The PSA-UPF-2 receives a first packet from the edge server with the destination address being the network address of the central server.

In an exemplary embodiment, the first packet may further include an additional source address, and the additional source address of the first packet may be a network address of the edge server.

In an exemplary embodiment, the first packet may further include an additional destination address, and the additional destination address of the first packet may be null or a default value.

For example, the edge server may add two fields of an additional source IP address and an additional destination IP address to a variable field portion of a header of an IP packet of the first packet, and set the additional source IP address of the first packet as the IP address of the edge server. Further, the additional destination IP address of the first packet may be set to a null or default value.

In other embodiments, if the edge server determines that the first packet generated after processing the uplink packet does not need to be processed by the central server, the destination address of the first packet generated after processing may be set as the network address of the target UE, and then the first packet is sent to PSA-UPF-2, and the PSA-UPF-2 receives the first packet from the edge server, where the destination address is the network address of the target UE.

In step S420, the first packet is detected according to a packet detection rule of the edge cloud data transmission tunnel.

In an exemplary embodiment, when the edge cloud data transmission tunnel is established, the method may further include: receiving a data packet detection rule of the edge cloud data transmission tunnel and uplink core network tunnel information of the intermediate user plane function or the first protocol data unit session anchor point user plane function corresponding to the edge cloud data transmission tunnel, which are sent by a Session Management Function (SMF).

When the PSA-UPF-2 receives the first data packet from the edge server, it detects the first data packet according to the data packet detection rule, and determines whether the first data packet is a downlink data packet to be sent to the target UE or an uplink data packet that needs to be forwarded to the center server through the edge cloud data transmission tunnel. If the PSA-UPF-2 detects that the source address of the first data packet is the same as the IP address of the target UE on the PSA-UPF-2, judging that the first data packet meets the data packet detection rule of the target UE corresponding to the edge cloud data transmission tunnel; and if the destination address of the first data packet is detected to be the same as the IP address of the target UE on the PSA-UPF-2, judging that the first data packet is a downlink data packet of the target UE.

As can be understood by those skilled in the art, in the embodiment of the present disclosure, the PSA-UPF-2 may further include other packet detection rules that are already defined in the existing standard in the process of detecting the first packet, the other packet detection rules may be sorted according to the set priority with the packet detection rules of the edge cloud data transmission tunnel provided in the embodiment of the present disclosure, and the PSA-UPF-2 sequentially detects the first packet according to the order from high to low of the priority by using the sorted packet detection rules until the packet detection rules of the edge cloud data transmission tunnel provided in the embodiment of the present disclosure are matched. In the description that follows in this disclosure, the detection process of other packet detection rules that have been defined in the existing standards is similarly omitted.

In step S430, if the first data packet satisfies the data packet detection rule of the edge cloud data transmission tunnel, the first data packet is encapsulated according to uplink core network tunnel information, which is sent by the SMF and corresponds to the middle user plane function of the edge cloud data transmission tunnel or the session anchor user plane function of the first protocol data unit.

If the edge cloud data transmission tunnel is established between the second protocol data unit session anchor point user plane function and the first protocol data unit session anchor point user plane function, the SMF sends the uplink core network tunnel information of the first protocol data unit session anchor point user plane function to the second protocol data unit session anchor point user plane function; if the edge cloud data transmission tunnel is established between the second protocol data unit session anchor point user plane function, the intermediate user plane function and the first protocol data unit session anchor point user plane function, the SMF sends the uplink core network tunnel information of the intermediate user plane function to the second protocol data unit session anchor point user plane function.

And when the PSA-UPF-2 judges that the first data packet meets the data packet detection rule of the corresponding edge cloud data transmission tunnel, the PSA-UPF-2 encapsulates the first data packet according to the received I-UPF of the corresponding edge cloud data transmission tunnel or the upstream core network tunnel information of the PSA-UPF-1.

In step S440, the first data packet is sent to the first pdu session anchor user plane function connected to the central server through the edge cloud data transmission tunnel.

In the embodiment of the disclosure, a first data packet of uplink core network tunnel information of an I-UPF which encapsulates a corresponding edge cloud data transmission tunnel can be forwarded to the I-UPF through the edge cloud data transmission tunnel, and then the I-UPF continues to send the first data packet to PSA-UPF-1 through the edge cloud data transmission tunnel; or, the first data packet of the upstream core network tunnel information of the PSA-UPF-1, which encapsulates the corresponding edge cloud data transmission tunnel, may be directly sent to the PSA-UPF-1 through the edge cloud data transmission tunnel. PSA-UPF-1 sends the first packet to a central server corresponding to the destination address of the first packet. After the central server receives the first data packet, it can be known that the first data packet is processed by another edge server according to the additional source IP address of the variable field part of the header of the IP packet of the first data packet.

In other embodiments, if the PSA-UPF-2 knows that the first packet is to be sent to the target UE according to the destination address of the first packet, the first packet is sent to the I-UPF again according to the method defined in the existing standard, and the I-UPF returns the first packet to the target UE through the gNB according to the destination address of the first packet.

In the service cooperative processing method provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure, when an edge server receives an uplink data packet from a target user terminal, the edge server processes the uplink data packet to generate a first data packet, and further determines whether the first data packet processed by the edge server needs to be sent to a central server for processing, if the first data packet needs to be sent to the central server for processing, the edge server may set a destination address of the first data packet as a network address of the central server, then the edge server sends the first data packet to a second protocol data unit session anchor point user plane function, and after receiving the first data packet sent by the edge server, the second protocol data unit session anchor point user plane function may detect the first data packet by using a packet detection rule of a cloud data transmission tunnel, if the detection result is that the first data packet meets the data packet detection rule of the edge cloud data transmission tunnel, the second protocol data unit session anchor user plane function can encapsulate the first data packet according to the intermediate user plane function of the corresponding edge cloud data transmission tunnel or the uplink core network tunnel information of the first protocol data unit session anchor user plane function, and then the second protocol data unit session anchor user plane function can send the encapsulated first data packet to the first protocol data unit session anchor user plane function through the edge cloud data transmission tunnel or finally to the first protocol data unit session anchor user plane function through the intermediate user plane function, so that the first protocol data unit session anchor user plane function can forward the first data packet to a central server corresponding to the destination address of the first data packet, therefore, multipoint processing of the service can be realized, namely, the service is processed by the edge server and then is processed by the central server.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the edge cloud data transmission tunnel may be established when a PDU session with a U L C L function is established, or when an SMF modifies an existing PDU session to add a U L C L function, or when an SMF modifies an existing PDU session to add a new Quality of Service (QoS) flow.

In other embodiments, for the PDU session supporting the BP function, since the implementation method for establishing the edge cloud data transmission tunnel is the same as the implementation method for establishing the edge cloud data transmission tunnel on the PDU session supporting the U L C L function, the PDU session supporting the U L C L function is taken as an example in the embodiments of the present disclosure.

Two cases in which the cloud data transmission tunnels are established on PSA-UPF-1 and PSA-UPF-2, or PSA-UPF-1, I-UPF and PSA-UPF-2 will be described below.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the edge cloud data transmission tunnel may be based on UE granularity, that is, an edge cloud data transmission tunnel is established for one PDU session of one UE, and the edge cloud data transmission tunnel may transmit only a data packet of the PDU session of the UE. Different edge cloud data transmission tunnels can be established for different PDU sessions of a single UE, and a plurality of edge cloud data transmission tunnels can also be established for different PDU sessions of a plurality of UEs.

In an exemplary embodiment, the establishment of the edge cloud data transport tunnel may also be based on UPF granularity, i.e., the edge cloud data transport tunnel is valid for all UEs on two identical PSA UPF-1 and PSA UPF-2 links, or on three identical PSA-UPF-1, I-UPF and PSA-UPF-2 links. A plurality of UEs may share the same edge cloud data transmission tunnel, where the plurality of UEs may be connected to the link through different gnbs or may be connected to the link through the same gNB, which is not limited in this disclosure.

In the embodiment of FIG. 5, the edge cloud data transmission tunnels established on PSA-UPF-1, I-UPF and PSA-UPF-2 are taken as examples for illustration.

In the embodiment of fig. 5, based on the above-defined splitting manner of U L C L, when a PDU session with U L C L function is established, the SMF will simultaneously trigger the establishment of a side cloud data transmission tunnel through the N4 session, where the side cloud data transmission tunnel is from PSA-UPF-2 connected to an edge server of the MEC to I-UPF, and then to PSA-UPF-1 connected to a central server deployed in the DN.

As shown in fig. 5, when the edge cloud data transmission tunnels are established on PSA-UPF-1, I-UPF and PSA-UPF-2, for the upstream packets sent by the UE, the SMF may respectively establish N4 sessions with PSA-UPF-2, I-UPF and PSA-UPF-1, and send CN Tunnel Info (core network Tunnel information) of I-UPF corresponding to the upstream of the edge cloud data transmission Tunnel to PSA-UPF-2 through N4 session with PSA-UPF-2, and send CN Tunnel Info of PSA-UPF-1 to I-UPF through N4 session with I-UPF. The SMF may also issue a corresponding packet detection rule to each UPF, for example, assuming that the SMF issues the packet detection rule corresponding to the edge cloud data transmission tunnel to the PSA-UPF-2, and according to the packet detection rule, the PSA-UPF-2 may know whether the first packet from the edge server needs to be continuously sent to the central server through the edge cloud data transmission tunnel for processing. When the PSA-UPF-2 receives a first data packet sent by the edge server, the PSA-UPF-2 judges how to process the first data packet according to the received data packet detection rule, encapsulates the first data packet according to the corresponding processing rule, and then transmits the encapsulated first data packet in the corresponding PDU session. For another example, the SMF may also issue a corresponding packet detection rule to the I-UPF, and according to the packet detection rule, the I-UPF may know whether the first packet from the PSA UPF-2 needs to be continuously sent to the central server for processing through the edge cloud data transmission tunnel, and forward the first packet on the corresponding PDU session after encapsulating the first packet according to the corresponding processing rule.

For the downstream data packet, the SMF may send the downstream CN Tunnel Info (core network Tunnel information) of the edge cloud data transmission Tunnel corresponding to the I-UPF to the PSA-UPF-1 through the N4 session with the PSA-UPF-1, and send the downstream CN Tunnel Info of the PSA-UPF-2 corresponding to the edge cloud data transmission Tunnel to the I-UPF through the N4 session with the I-UPF. The SMF may also issue a corresponding packet detection rule to each UPF, for example, assuming that the SMF issues a packet detection rule corresponding to the edge cloud data transmission tunnel to the PSA-UPF-1, and according to the packet detection rule, the PSA-UPF-1 may know whether the second packet from the central server needs to be continuously sent to the edge server through the edge cloud data transmission tunnel for processing. When the PSA-UPF-1 receives a second data packet sent by the central server, the PSA-UPF-1 judges how to process the second data packet according to the received data packet detection rule, packages the second data packet according to the corresponding processing rule, and then transmits the second data packet in the corresponding PDU session. For another example, the SMF may also issue a corresponding packet detection rule to the I-UPF, and according to the packet detection rule, the I-UPF may know whether the second packet from the PSA UPF-1 needs to be continuously sent to the edge server for processing through the edge cloud data transmission tunnel, and forward the second packet on the corresponding PDU session after encapsulating the second packet according to the corresponding processing rule.

The CN Tunnel Info may include parameters such as TEID (Tunnel Endpoint Identifier, used for uniquely identifying an Endpoint of a Tunnel, corresponding to a UE or a session of a UE) and IP address of the UPF device (for example, PSA-UPF-1, I-UPF and PSA-UPF-2 herein) of the corresponding PDU session. Generally, CN Tunnel Info is allocated by each UPF and sent to SMF through corresponding N4 session, and the present disclosure does not limit the allocation body of CN Tunnel Info.

Continuing with fig. 5, the UE sends the uplink data packet to the I-UPF on PDU session-1 through the N3 interface of the gNB, the I-UPF sends the uplink data packet sent by the UE to the PSA-UPF-2 through the N9 interface, and the PSA-UPF-2 sends the uplink data packet to a certain edge server in the MEC through the N6 interface according to the destination address of the uplink data packet, and the edge server can process the uplink data packet.

The following function enhancement can be performed through the edge cloud data transmission tunnel:

first, whether the upstream data packet processed by the edge server needs to be sent to the central server deployed in the DN for further processing is determined by the edge server deployed in the MEC. The destination address of the uplink data packet sent by the UE is the network address of the edge server deployed in the MEC. If the edge server finishes processing the uplink data packet of the UE and generates a first data packet that does not need to be continuously processed by the central server deployed in the DN, the edge server directly sends the first data packet generated after processing the uplink data packet (at this time, the first data packet is a downlink data packet) to the UE. If the edge server deployed in the MEC processes the first packet generated after completion and needs to continue to be processed by the central server deployed in the DN, the edge server deployed in the MEC sets the destination address of the first packet generated after processing to the network address of the central server deployed in the DN.

Secondly, when the PSA-UPF-2 receives the first packet from the edge server deployed in the MEC through the N6 interface, it may determine whether the first packet is addressed to a certain UE or needs to be forwarded through the edge cloud data transmission tunnel according to a packet detection rule. If the source address of the first packet is the same as the pre-stored IP address of the target UE on PSA-UPF-2, the first packet is considered to be that of the UE identified by the source address that needs to be sent to the PSA UPF-1 connected to the DN and needs to be sent by PSA UPF-1 to the central server deployed in the DN. PSA UPF-2 will forward the first packet as an upstream packet through the edge cloud data transport tunnel.

Third, PSA UPF-2 will mark this first packet as an upstream packet and encapsulate it with the upstream CN Tunnel Info of the edge cloud data transmission Tunnel, set the TEID value to the TEID value of the corresponding edge cloud data transmission Tunnel of the I-UPF in the edge cloud data transmission Tunnel, i.e. the above mentioned SMF provides the upstream CN Tunnel Info of the I-UPF of PSA UPF-2, and PSA UPF-2 will then send this first packet to the I-UPF through the edge cloud data transmission Tunnel via an N9 interface.

Fourthly, after the first data packet is received by the I-UPF, the CN Tunnel Info of the first data packet is detected, if the received CN Tunnel Info of the first data packet corresponds to the uplink CN Tunnel Info of the I-UPF of the edge cloud data transmission Tunnel, the I-UPF can judge that the first data packet needs to be sent to the central server through the edge cloud data transmission Tunnel, at the moment, the I-UPF continues to package the first data packet by the uplink CNTUNNEL Info of the PSA UPF-1 of the edge cloud data transmission Tunnel, the TEID value is set as the TEID value of the PSA UPF-1 of the edge cloud data transmission Tunnel corresponding to the edge cloud data transmission Tunnel, namely, when the SMF establishes the edge cloud data transmission Tunnel, the uplink CN Tunnel Info of the PSA UPF-1 of the I-UPF is provided to the I-UPF, and then the I-UPF further passes through another N9 interface to enable the first data packet to pass through the edge cloud data transmission Tunnel Sent to PSA UPF-1. PSA UPF-1 will send the first packet to the central server corresponding to the destination address of the first packet disposed in the DN via the N6 interface.

The fig. 5 embodiments are all described for the case of single-PDU session granularity for a single UE, where a side cloud data transmission tunnel may be established through I-UPF without establishing a direct additional connection between PSA UPF-1 and PSA UPF-2.

In the FIG. 6 embodiment, the edge cloud data transport tunnels may also be established directly on PSA UPF-1 and PSA UPF-2. That is, the SMF can determine whether the edge cloud data transmission tunnel needs to pass through the I-UPF as required, and if the edge cloud data transmission tunnel can be established between the PSA UPF-1 and the PSA aupf-2, the edge cloud data transmission tunnel can be established directly between the PSA UPF-1 and the PSA UPF-2 without passing through the I-UPF. At the moment, the edge cloud data transmission tunnel does not need to pass through the I-UPF, data transmission is faster and more timely, and the realization is simpler.

As shown in fig. 6, the difference from the above-mentioned embodiment of fig. 5 is that, when the SMF establishes the side cloud data transmission tunnel through the N4 session trigger, the upstream core network tunnel information and the corresponding packet detection rule of the PSA-UPF-1 corresponding to the side cloud data transmission tunnel are sent to the PSA-UPF-2, and the downstream core network tunnel information and the corresponding packet detection rule of the PSA-UPF-2 corresponding to the side cloud data transmission tunnel are sent to the PSA-UPF-1, that is, the side cloud data transmission tunnel is directly established on the PSA-UPF-1 and the PSA-UPF-2, without passing through the I-UPF relay.

If the edge cloud data transmission tunnel is established on the PSA UPF1 and the PSA UPF-2, the edge cloud data transmission tunnel may be applicable to all packets of the UE that have established the PDU session to the PSA UPF1 and the PSA UPF-2, or may be applicable to only a single UE.

Fig. 7 schematically shows a flowchart of a service cooperation processing method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 7, compared with the above embodiments, the method provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure may further include the following steps.

In step S710, a second data packet is received from the middle user plane function or the first pdu session anchor user plane function, where the second data packet is generated by the central server processing the first data packet, a source address and a destination address of the second data packet are a network address of the central server and a network address of the target ue, respectively, the second data packet further includes an additional destination address, and the additional destination address of the second data packet is a network address of the edge server.

In this disclosure, after receiving the first data packet, the central server may learn, according to the additional source IP address in the packet header of the IP packet of the first data packet, that the first data packet is processed by another edge server. After the central server processes the first data packet, a downlink second data packet may be generated, and the source address of the second data packet may be set to the IP address of the central server, and the destination address of the second data packet may be set to the IP address of the target UE.

In this disclosure, if the central server determines that the second packet further needs to be processed by the edge server that generated the first packet before, the central server may set the additional destination IP address of the second packet as the IP address of the edge server, and may set the additional source IP address of the second packet as a default value or null.

In other embodiments, if the central server determines that the second packet does not need to be subsequently processed by the edge server, the central server does not set an additional destination IP address and an additional source IP address of the second packet. In this case, the central server sends the second packet to PSA UPF-1, and PSA UPF-1 sends the second packet to I-UPF according to the method defined by the existing standard, and the I-UPF forwards the second packet to the target UE through the base station.

The central server sends the second packet to PSA UPF-1. In the process of establishing the edge cloud data transmission tunnel, the SMF issues a packet detection rule corresponding to the edge cloud data transmission tunnel to the PSA UPF-1 in advance for a downstream packet, where the packet detection rule is set to detect whether the downstream second packet includes an additional destination IP address, and if the downstream second packet includes the additional destination IP address, it is determined that the second packet needs to be forwarded to an edge server identified by the additional destination IP address through the edge cloud data transmission tunnel identified by the destination address of the second packet.

And if the edge cloud data transmission tunnels are established on the PSA UPF-1, the I-UPF and the PSA UPF-2, the PSA UPF-1 encapsulates the second data packet by using the downlink CN Tunnel Info of the I-UPF corresponding to the edge cloud data transmission Tunnel issued by the SMF, and forwards the encapsulated second data packet to the I-UPF. And after receiving the second data packet, the I-UPF judges according to a data packet detection rule issued by the SMF, wherein the data packet detection rule on the I-UPF is set to detect whether the TEID value of the downlink second data packet is the same as the downlink CN Tunnel Info of the cloud data transmission Tunnel corresponding to the I-UPF. And if the data packets are the same, the I-UPF encapsulates the second data packet by using the downlink CN Tunnel Info of the PSA UPF-2 corresponding to the edge cloud data transmission Tunnel, and forwards the second data packet to the PSA UPF-2 through the edge cloud data transmission Tunnel. The PSA UPF-2 receives the second packet from the I-UPF.

And if the edge cloud data transmission tunnels are established on the PSA UPF-1 and the PSA UPF-2, the PSA UPF-1 encapsulates the second data packet by using the downlink CN Tunnel Info of the PSA UPF-2 corresponding to the edge cloud data transmission Tunnel and issued by the SMF, and forwards the encapsulated second data packet to the PSA UPF-2. PSA UPF-2 receives the second data packet from PSA UPF-1.

In step S720, the second packet is sent to the edge server according to the additional destination address of the second packet.

PSA UPF-2, upon receiving the second packet with the additional destination IP address added thereto from either the I-UPF or PSA UPF-1, may send the second packet to the edge server that is consistent with the additional destination IP address.

Fig. 8 schematically shows a flowchart of a service cooperation processing method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 8, compared with the above embodiment, the method provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure may further include the following steps.

In step S810, a third data packet sent by the edge server is received, where the third data packet is generated by the edge server processing the second data packet, and a source address and a destination address of the third data packet are a network address of the edge server and a network address of the target user terminal, respectively.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, after receiving the second data packet to which the additional destination IP address is added, the edge server processes the second data packet, and may generate a third data packet. Since the IP address of the edge server is the additional destination IP address of the second packet and the destination IP address of the second packet is the IP address of the target UE, the edge server knows that the third packet is the target UE that needs to be sent to the target address tag of the second packet. Therefore, the edge server sets the destination address of the third packet to the destination address of the second packet (i.e., the IP address of the target UE), and sets the source address of the third packet to the IP address of the edge server. The edge server then sends the third packet to PSAUPF-2.

In step S820, the third data packet is sent to the target ue.

And after receiving the third data packet from the edge server, the PSA UPF-2 judges that the destination address of the third data packet is the same as the IP address of the target UE on the PSA UPF-2 according to a data packet detection rule issued by the SMF, then the PSA UPF-2 acquires that the third data packet is a downlink data packet sent to the target UE, then the PSA UPF-2 completes the encapsulation of the third data packet and forwards the encapsulated third data packet to the I-UPF, and the I-UPF judges that the third data packet is a downlink data packet sent to the target UE according to the TEID value of the third data packet, encapsulates the third data packet and sends the encapsulated third data packet to the target UE.

Fig. 9 schematically shows a business flow diagram of a business coprocessing method according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

As shown in fig. 9, the flow of sending the uplink data packet and the downlink data packet is described with reference to the edge cloud data transmission tunnel shown in fig. 5, and the flow may include the following steps.

Step 1, inserting the SMF into the function of supporting U L C L by the PDU session establishment flow initiated by the target UE or the PDU session modification flow initiated by the SMF and initiated by the target UE, wherein the function realizes the shunting of a specific data packet to PSA UPF-2 and further sends the data packet to a local data network.

And step 2, triggering by the SMF to establish a side cloud data transmission tunnel, establishing the side cloud data transmission tunnel on the PSA UPF-1, I-UPF and the PSA UPF-2, and issuing a corresponding data packet detection rule and CN tunnel Info information to the PSA UPF-1, I-UPF and the PSA UPF-2.

And step 3, sending the uplink data packet with the destination address of the edge server deployed in the MEC to the I-UPF through the gNB, wherein the uplink data packet is sent by the target UE and the destination address of the edge server is the network address of the edge server deployed in the MEC.

And 4, after receiving the uplink data packet, the I-UPF sends the uplink data packet to the PSA-UPF-2 according to the flow distribution rule configured by the SMF and used for realizing the U L C L function.

And step 5, after receiving the uplink data packet, the PSA-UPF-2 sends the uplink data packet to an edge server in the local DN.

And 6, after the edge server in the local DN processes the uplink data packet, generating a first data packet, and determining whether the first data packet generated by processing the uplink data packet needs to be sent to a central server in the DN. If the first data packet does not need to be sent to the central server for processing, the destination address of the first data packet is set as the network address of the target UE, and the first data packet can be directly sent to the target UE as a downlink data packet through PSA-UPF-2 and I-UPF; if the first data packet needs to be sent to a central server in the DN for continuous processing, setting the destination address of the first data packet as the network address of the central server in the DN, setting the source address of the first data packet as the IP address of the target UE, adding an additional source IP address field in the variable field part of the packet header of the IP packet of the first data packet, and setting the additional source IP address of the first data packet as the IP address of the edge server; in addition, in addition to the addition of the additional source IP address field, an additional destination IP address field may be additionally added, and the field may be set to null or a default value. The edge server sends the first packet to PSA-UPF-2.

Step 7, the PSA-UPF-2 receives the first data packet from the edge server. The PSA-UPF-2 judges how to forward the first data packet according to a data packet detection rule issued by the SMF. And if the source IP address of the first data packet is the same as the IP address of the target UE on the PSA-UPF-2, judging that the first data packet needs to be forwarded through the edge cloud data transmission tunnel, and judging which UE edge cloud data transmission tunnel needs to be forwarded according to the source IP address of the first data packet. PSA-UPF-2 sets the TEID value of the first data packet as the uplink CN Tunnelnfo of the I-UPF corresponding to the edge cloud data transmission tunnel, and then PSA-UPF-2 sends the I-UPF on the edge cloud data transmission tunnel of the target UE.

The I-UPF judges whether the first data packet needs to be forwarded through the edge cloud data transmission Tunnel according to a data packet detection rule issued by the SMF, namely if the TEID value of the first data packet is the same as the CN Tunnel Info of an uplink data packet of a corresponding edge cloud data transmission Tunnel distributed in the I-UPF, the first data packet is judged to need to be sent to the PSA-UPF-1 through the edge cloud data transmission Tunnel, the first data packet is packaged according to the uplink CN Tunnel Info of the PSA-UPF-1, which corresponds to the edge cloud data transmission Tunnel, and then the I-UPF sends the first data packet to the PSA-UPF-1 on the edge cloud data transmission Tunnel of the target UE.

And 8, after receiving the first data packet from the I-UPF, the PSA UPF-1 sends the first data packet to a central server corresponding to the destination address of the first data packet in the DN through an N6 interface according to the destination address of the first data packet.

Step 9, after receiving the first data packet, the central server may obtain, according to the additional source IP address in the packet header of the IP packet of the first data packet, that the first data packet has been processed by another edge server. The central server processes the first data packet to generate a downlink second data packet, sets a destination address of the second data packet as an IP address of the target UE, and sets a source address of the second data packet as the IP address of the central server. In addition, if the second packet needs to be processed by the edge server corresponding to the additional source IP address of the first packet and then sent to the target UE, the central server may set the additional destination IP address of the second packet to the IP address of the edge server. Furthermore, in addition to setting an additional destination address, an additional source IP address field of the second packet may be added and set to a default value or null. The central server sends the second packet to PSA UPF-1.

After receiving the downlink second data packet sent by the central server, the PSA UPF-1 may detect the downlink second data packet according to a data packet detection rule issued by the SMF, where the data packet detection rule corresponding to the edge cloud data transmission tunnel may be set to detect whether the downlink second data packet includes an additional target IP address.

Selecting 1:

step 10a, if the second data packet contains an additional destination IP address, the PSA UPF-1 determines that the second data packet satisfies a data packet detection rule of the edge cloud data transmission Tunnel, and forwards the second data packet to the edge server having the additional destination IP address identifier through the edge cloud data transmission Tunnel of the target UE having the destination address identifier, and encapsulates the second data packet according to the downlink CN Tunnel Info of the I-UPF of the corresponding edge cloud data transmission Tunnel of the target UE, and forwards the encapsulated second data packet to the I-UPF.

And after receiving the second data packet, the I-UPF judges according to a data packet detection rule issued by the SMF. The packet detection rule on the I-UPF is set to detect whether the TEID value of the second downlink packet is the same as the downlink CN Tunnel Info of the corresponding edge cloud data transmission Tunnel allocated by the I-UPF. If so, the second packet is encapsulated with the downstream CN Tunnel Info of PSA UPF-2 corresponding to the edge cloud data transmission Tunnel and forwarded to PSA UPF-2 through the edge cloud data transmission Tunnel.

Step 11a, PSA UPF-2 sends the second packet to the edge server that is consistent with the additional destination IP address of the second packet.

Step 12a, the edge server processes the second packet received from PSA UPF-2 to generate a third packet, and since the IP address of the edge server is the additional destination IP address of the second packet, the edge server knows that the third packet is intended to be sent to the target UE identified by the destination address of the second packet, the edge server sets the destination address of the third packet as the IP address of the target UE, and sets the source address of the third packet as the IP address of the edge server. The edge server then sends the third packet to PSA UPF-2.

And step 13a, after receiving the third data packet from the edge server, the PSA UPF-2 judges that the third data packet is a downlink data packet to be sent to the target UE according to a data packet detection rule issued by the SMF and a method defined by the existing standard, and then completes encapsulation of the third data packet and sends the encapsulated third data packet to the I-UPF.

And step 14a, the I-UPF judges that the third data packet is a downlink data packet sent to the target UE according to the TEID value of the third data packet, encapsulates the third data packet and sends the encapsulated third data packet to the target UE through the base station.

Selecting 2:

step 10b, the PSA UPF-1 detects the downlink second data packet according to the downlink data packet detection rule, if the second data packet does not contain an additional destination IP address, the PSA UPF-1 determines that the second data packet is a downlink data packet addressed to the target UE, and forwards the second data packet on the PDU session of the target UE corresponding to the destination address, encapsulates the second data packet according to the manner defined by the relevant standard, sends the encapsulated second data packet to the I-UPF, and further forwards the encapsulated second data packet to the target UE.

Fig. 10 schematically shows a business flow diagram of a business coprocessing method according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

As shown in fig. 10, the flow of sending the uplink data packet and the downlink data packet is described with reference to the edge cloud data transmission tunnel shown in fig. 6, and the flow may include the following steps.

And step 2, triggering by the SMF to establish a side cloud data transmission tunnel, establishing the side cloud data transmission tunnel on the PSA UPF-1 and the PSA UPF-2, and issuing a corresponding data packet detection rule and CN tunnel Info information to the PSA UPF-1 and the PSAUPF-2.

And 6, after the edge server in the local DN processes the uplink data packet, generating a first data packet, and determining whether the first data packet generated by processing the uplink data packet needs to be sent to a central server in the DN. If the first data packet does not need to be sent to the central server for processing, the destination address of the first data packet is set as the network address of the target UE, and the first data packet can be directly sent to the target UE as a downlink data packet through PSA-UPF-2 and I-UPF; if the first data packet needs to be sent to a central server in the DN for continuous processing, setting the destination address of the first data packet as the network address of the central server in the DN, setting the source address of the first data packet as the IP address of the target UE, adding an additional source IP address field in the variable field part of the packet header of the IP packet of the first data packet, and setting the additional source IP address of the first data packet as the IP address of the edge server; in addition, in addition to the addition of the field of the source IP address, an additional destination IP address may be additionally added, and the field may be set to null or a default value. The edge server sends the first packet to PSA-UPF-2.

Step 7, the PSA-UPF-2 receives the first data packet from the edge server. The PSA-UPF-2 judges how to forward the first data packet according to a data packet detection rule issued by the SMF. And if the source IP address of the first data packet is the same as the IP address of the target UE on the PSA-UPF-2, judging that the first data packet needs to be forwarded through the edge cloud data transmission tunnel, and judging which UE edge cloud data transmission tunnel needs to be forwarded according to the source IP address of the first data packet. PSA-UPF-2 sets the TEID value of the first data packet as the uplink CNTnnel Info of PSA-UPF-1 corresponding to the edge cloud data transmission tunnel, and then PSA-UPF-2 sends the TEID value of the first data packet to PSA-UPF-1 on the edge cloud data transmission tunnel of the target UE.

And 8, after receiving the first data packet from the PSA-UPF-2, the PSA UPF-1 sends the first data packet to a central server corresponding to the destination address of the first data packet in the DN through an N6 interface according to the destination address of the first data packet.

Step 9, after receiving the first data packet, the central server may obtain, according to the additional source IP address in the packet header of the IP packet of the first data packet, that the first data packet has been processed by another edge server. The central server processes the first data packet to generate a downlink second data packet, sets a destination address of the second data packet as an IP address of the target UE, and sets a source address of the second data packet as the IP address of the central server. In addition, if the second packet needs to be processed by the edge server corresponding to the additional source IP address of the first packet and then sent to the target UE, the central server may set the additional destination IP address of the second packet to the IP address of the edge server. Furthermore, in addition to setting an additional destination address, an additional source IP address field of the second packet may also be set to a default value or null. The central server sends the second packet to PSA UPF-1.

Selecting 1:

step 10a, if the second data packet includes an additional destination IP address, the PSA UPF-1 determines that the second data packet satisfies a data packet detection rule of the edge cloud data transmission Tunnel, and forwards the second data packet to the edge server having the additional destination IP address through the edge cloud data transmission Tunnel of the target UE having the destination address identifier, and encapsulates the second data packet according to the downlink CN Tunnel Info of the PSA-UPF-2 of the edge cloud data transmission Tunnel corresponding to the target UE, and forwards the second data packet to the PSA-UPF-2.

And step 13a, after receiving the third data packet from the edge server, the PSA UPF-2 judges that the third data packet is a downlink data packet to be sent to the target UE according to a data packet detection rule issued by the SMF and a method defined in the existing standard, and then completes encapsulation of the third data packet and sends the encapsulated third data packet to the I-UPF.

Selecting 2:

step 10b, the PSA UPF-1 detects the downlink second data packet according to the packet detection rule, if the second data packet does not include an additional destination IP address, the PSA UPF-1 determines that the second data packet is a downlink data packet addressed to the target UE, forwards the second data packet on the PDU session of the target UE corresponding to the destination address, encapsulates the second data packet according to the manner defined by the relevant standard, and sends the encapsulated second data packet to the I-UPF.

And step 11b, the I-UPF further forwards the second data packet to the target UE.

Fig. 11 schematically shows a flowchart of a service cooperation processing method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The method provided by the embodiment of the disclosure can be performed by PSA UPF-1, but the disclosure is not limited thereto. As shown in fig. 11, the method provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure may include the following steps.

In step S1110, a first data packet is received from a second pdu session anchor user plane function or an intermediate user plane function, where a source address and a destination address of the first data packet are respectively a network address of a target user terminal and a network address of a central server, where the first data packet is generated by processing an uplink data packet of the target user terminal by an edge server, and the source address and the destination address of the uplink data packet are respectively the network address of the target user terminal and the network address of the edge server.

In step S1120, the first data packet is sent to the central server.

In an exemplary embodiment, the method may further include: and receiving a data packet detection rule of the edge cloud data transmission tunnel sent by the session management function and downlink core network tunnel information of the session anchor user plane function or the middle user plane function of the second protocol data unit corresponding to the edge cloud data transmission tunnel.

Fig. 12 schematically shows a flowchart of a service cooperation processing method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 12, compared with the embodiment of fig. 11, the method may further include the following steps.

In step S1210, the second packet is detected according to the packet detection rule of the edge cloud data transmission tunnel.

In step S1220, if the second packet satisfies the packet detection rule of the edge cloud data transmission tunnel, where the second packet includes an additional destination address, and the additional destination address of the second packet is the network address of the edge server, the second packet is encapsulated by the downlink core network tunnel information of the session anchor user plane function or the middle user plane function of the second protocol data unit corresponding to the edge cloud data transmission tunnel.

In step S1230, the second data packet is sent to the session anchor user plane function of the second protocol data unit connected to the edge server through the edge cloud data transmission tunnel, or sent to the session anchor user plane function of the second protocol data unit connected to the edge server through the middle user plane function.

Reference may be made to the implementation of the embodiments of fig. 11 and 12 to the content of the other embodiments described above.

Fig. 13 schematically shows a block diagram of a service cooperative processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 13, a service coordination processing apparatus 1300 provided in the embodiment of the present disclosure may include: a first packet receiving unit 1310, a first packet detecting unit 1320, a first packet encapsulating unit 1330 and a first packet transmitting unit 1340.

The first packet receiving unit 1310 may be configured to receive a first packet from an edge server, where a source address and a destination address of the first packet are a network address of a target user terminal and a network address of a central server, respectively, where the first packet is generated by the edge server processing an uplink packet of the target user terminal, and the source address and the destination address of the uplink packet are the network address of the target user terminal and the network address of the edge server, respectively. The first packet detection unit 1320 may be configured to detect the first packet by using a packet detection rule of the edge cloud data transmission tunnel. The first data packet encapsulating unit 1330 may be configured to encapsulate the first data packet according to the uplink core network tunnel information corresponding to the middle user plane function of the edge cloud data transmission tunnel or the session anchor user plane function of the first protocol data unit, if the first data packet satisfies the packet detection rule of the edge cloud data transmission tunnel. The first packet sending unit 1340 may be configured to send the first packet to the first protocol data unit session anchor user plane function connected to the central server through the edge cloud data transmission tunnel, or send the first packet to the first protocol data unit session anchor user plane function connected to the central server through the intermediate user plane function.

In an exemplary embodiment, the service cooperative processing apparatus 1300 may further include: the packet detection rule and uplink core network tunnel information receiving unit may be configured to receive the packet detection rule of the edge cloud data transmission tunnel and the uplink core network tunnel information corresponding to the middle user plane function of the edge cloud data transmission tunnel or the session anchor user plane function of the first protocol data unit, where the packet detection rule and the uplink core network tunnel information are sent by the session management function.

In an exemplary embodiment, the first packet may further include an additional source address, and the additional source address of the first packet is a network address of the edge server.

In an exemplary embodiment, the first packet may further include an additional destination address, and the additional destination address of the first packet is null or a default value.

In an exemplary embodiment, the service cooperative processing apparatus 1300 may further include: a second packet receiving unit, configured to receive a second packet from the middle user plane function or the first pdu session anchor user plane function, where the second packet is generated by processing the first packet by the central server, a source address and a destination address of the second packet are a network address of the central server and a network address of the target user terminal, respectively, the second packet further includes an additional destination address, and the additional destination address of the second packet is a network address of the edge server; the second packet sending unit may be configured to send the second packet to the edge server according to an additional destination address of the second packet.

In an exemplary embodiment, the service cooperative processing apparatus 1300 may further include: a third packet receiving unit, configured to receive a third packet sent by the edge server, where the third packet is generated by the edge server processing the second packet, and a source address and a destination address of the third packet are a network address of the edge server and a network address of the target user terminal, respectively; a third data packet sending unit, configured to send the third data packet to the target ue.

The specific implementation of each unit in the service cooperative processing apparatus provided in the embodiment of the present disclosure may refer to the content in the service cooperative processing method, and is not described herein again.

Fig. 14 schematically shows a block diagram of a service cooperative processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 14, the service coordination processing apparatus 1400 provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure may include: a first packet forwarding unit 1410 and a first packet forwarding unit 1420.

The first packet forwarding unit 1410 may be configured to receive a first packet from a second pdu session anchor user plane function or an intermediate user plane function, where a source address and a destination address of the first packet are a network address of a target user terminal and a network address of a central server, respectively, where the first packet is generated by the edge server processing an uplink packet of the target user terminal, and the source address and the destination address of the uplink packet are a network address of the target user terminal and a network address of the edge server, respectively. The first packet forwarding unit 1420 may be configured to send the first packet to the central server.

In an exemplary embodiment, the service cooperative processing apparatus 1400 may further include: the downlink packet detection rule receiving unit may be configured to receive a downlink packet detection rule of the edge cloud data transmission tunnel sent by the session management function and downlink core network tunnel information of the session anchor user plane function or the middle user plane function of the second protocol data unit corresponding to the edge cloud data transmission tunnel.

In an exemplary embodiment, the service cooperative processing apparatus 1400 may further include: the second packet forwarding unit may be configured to receive a second packet from the central server, where the second packet is generated by the central server processing the first packet, and a source address and a destination address of the second packet are a network address of the central server and a network address of the target user terminal, respectively.

In an exemplary embodiment, the service cooperative processing apparatus 1400 may further include: a second packet detection unit, configured to detect the second packet by using a packet detection rule of the edge cloud data transmission tunnel; a second packet encapsulation unit, configured to encapsulate, if the second packet satisfies a packet detection rule of a side cloud data transmission tunnel, where the second packet includes an additional destination address, and the additional destination address of the second packet is a network address of the edge server, the second packet by using downlink core network tunnel information of a session anchor user plane function or a middle user plane function of the second protocol data unit corresponding to the side cloud data transmission tunnel; the second packet forwarding unit may be configured to send the second packet to the session anchor user plane function of the second protocol data unit connected to the edge server through the edge cloud data transmission tunnel, or send the second packet to the session anchor user plane function of the second protocol data unit connected to the edge server through the middle user plane function.

It should be noted that although in the above detailed description several units of the device for action execution are mentioned, this division is not mandatory. Indeed, the features and functions of two or more units described above may be embodied in one unit, in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure. Conversely, the features and functions of one unit described above may be further divided into embodiments by a plurality of units.

Through the above description of the embodiments, those skilled in the art will readily understand that the exemplary embodiments described herein may be implemented by software, or by software in combination with necessary hardware. Therefore, the technical solution according to the embodiments of the present disclosure may be embodied in the form of a software product, which may be stored in a non-volatile storage medium (which may be a CD-ROM, a usb disk, a removable hard disk, etc.) or on a network, and includes several instructions to enable a computing device (which may be a personal computer, a server, a touch terminal, or a network device, etc.) to execute the method according to the embodiments of the present disclosure.

Other embodiments of the disclosure will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of the specification and practice of the disclosure disclosed herein. This application is intended to cover any variations, uses, or adaptations of the disclosure following, in general, the principles of the disclosure and including such departures from the present disclosure as come within known or customary practice within the art to which the disclosure pertains. It is intended that the specification and examples be considered as exemplary only, with a true scope and spirit of the disclosure being indicated by the following claims.

It will be understood that the present disclosure is not limited to the precise arrangements described above and shown in the drawings and that various modifications and changes may be made without departing from the scope thereof. The scope of the present disclosure is limited only by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A service cooperative processing method is characterized by comprising the following steps:

receiving a first data packet from an edge server, where a source address and a destination address of the first data packet are respectively a network address of a target user terminal and a network address of a central server, where the first data packet is generated by processing an uplink data packet of the target user terminal by the edge server, and the source address and the destination address of the uplink data packet are respectively the network address of the target user terminal and the network address of the edge server;

detecting the first data packet by using a data packet detection rule of a side cloud data transmission tunnel;

if the first data packet meets the data packet detection rule of the edge cloud data transmission tunnel, packaging the first data packet according to the uplink core network tunnel information of the middle user plane function or the first protocol data unit session anchor point user plane function of the corresponding edge cloud data transmission tunnel;

and sending the first data packet to a session anchor point user plane function of the first protocol data unit connected with the central server through the edge cloud data transmission tunnel, or sending the first data packet to the session anchor point user plane function of the first protocol data unit connected with the central server through the middle user plane function.

2. The business coprocessing method of claim 1, further comprising:

and receiving a data packet detection rule of the edge cloud data transmission tunnel sent by a session management function and uplink core network tunnel information of the intermediate user plane function or the first protocol data unit session anchor point user plane function corresponding to the edge cloud data transmission tunnel.

3. The traffic co-processing method according to claim 1, wherein the first packet further includes an additional source address, and the additional source address of the first packet is a network address of the edge server.

4. The business coprocessing method of claim 3, wherein said first data packet further comprises an additional destination address, and said additional destination address of said first data packet is null or a default value.

5. The business coprocessing method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a second data packet from the middle user plane function or the first pdu session anchor user plane function, where the second data packet is generated by the central server processing the first data packet, and a source address and a destination address of the second data packet are respectively a network address of the central server and a network address of the target user terminal, the second data packet further includes an additional destination address, and the additional destination address of the second data packet is a network address of the edge server;

and sending the second data packet to the edge server according to the additional destination address of the second data packet.

6. The business coprocessing method of claim 5, further comprising:

receiving a third data packet sent by the edge server, where the third data packet is generated by the edge server processing the second data packet, and a source address and a destination address of the third data packet are a network address of the edge server and a network address of the target user terminal, respectively;

and sending the third data packet to the target user terminal.

7. A service cooperative processing method is characterized by comprising the following steps:

receiving a first data packet from a session anchor user plane function or an intermediate user plane function of a second protocol data unit, where a source address and a destination address of the first data packet are respectively a network address of a target user terminal and a network address of a central server, where the first data packet is generated by processing an uplink data packet of the target user terminal by the edge server, and the source address and the destination address of the uplink data packet are respectively the network address of the target user terminal and the network address of the edge server;

and sending the first data packet to the central server.

8. The business coprocessing method of claim 7, further comprising:

and receiving a data packet detection rule of the edge cloud data transmission tunnel sent by the session management function and downlink core network tunnel information of the session anchor user plane function or the middle user plane function of the second protocol data unit corresponding to the edge cloud data transmission tunnel.

9. The business coprocessing method of claim 8, further comprising:

and receiving a second data packet from the central server, wherein the second data packet is generated by processing the first data packet by the central server, and the source address and the destination address of the second data packet are respectively the network address of the central server and the network address of the target user terminal.

10. The business coprocessing method of claim 9, further comprising:

detecting the second data packet by using a data packet detection rule of the edge cloud data transmission tunnel;

if the second data packet meets the data packet detection rule of the edge cloud data transmission tunnel, the second data packet comprises an additional destination address, and the additional destination address of the second data packet is the network address of the edge server, encapsulating the second data packet by using downlink core network tunnel information of the session anchor user plane function or the middle user plane function of the second protocol data unit corresponding to the edge cloud data transmission tunnel;

and sending the second data packet to a session anchor user plane function of the second protocol data unit connected with the edge server through the edge cloud data transmission tunnel or sending the second data packet to the session anchor user plane function of the second protocol data unit connected with the edge server through the middle user plane function.

11. A service cooperation processing apparatus, comprising:

a first data packet receiving unit, configured to receive a first data packet from an edge server, where a source address and a destination address of the first data packet are a network address of a target user terminal and a network address of a central server, respectively, where the first data packet is generated by processing, by the edge server, an uplink data packet of the target user terminal, and the source address and the destination address of the uplink data packet are a network address of the target user terminal and a network address of the edge server, respectively;

the first data packet detection unit is used for detecting the first data packet by using a data packet detection rule of a side cloud data transmission tunnel;

a first data packet encapsulation unit, configured to encapsulate, if the first data packet meets a packet detection rule of the edge cloud data transmission tunnel, the first data packet according to uplink core network tunnel information corresponding to an intermediate user plane function of the edge cloud data transmission tunnel or a session anchor user plane function of a first protocol data unit;

a first data packet sending unit, configured to send the first data packet to a session anchor user plane function of the first protocol data unit connected to the central server through the edge cloud data transmission tunnel, or send the first data packet to the session anchor user plane function of the first protocol data unit connected to the central server through the intermediate user plane function.

12. A service cooperation processing apparatus, comprising:

a first data packet forwarding unit, configured to receive a first data packet from a second protocol data unit session anchor user plane function or an intermediate user plane function, where a source address and a destination address of the first data packet are a network address of a target user terminal and a network address of a central server, respectively, where the first data packet is generated by processing, by an edge server, an uplink data packet of the target user terminal, and the source address and the destination address of the uplink data packet are a network address of the target user terminal and a network address of the edge server, respectively;

and the first data packet forwarding unit is used for sending the first data packet to the central server.

13. An electronic device, comprising:

one or more processors;

a storage device configured to store one or more programs that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to implement the business coprocessing method of any one of claims 1 to 10.

14. A computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program, wherein the computer program is executed by a processor to implement the service co-processing method according to any one of claims 1 to 10.