CN111556539A - UE execution method and UE, SMF entity execution method and SMF entity - Google Patents

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a method performed by a user device and a corresponding user device, a method performed by a first type of session management function entity and a corresponding first type of session management function entity, and a method performed by a second type of session management function entity and a corresponding second type of session management function entity. The method performed by the user device comprises: determining an activation mode for activating the multicast service; and activating the multicast service according to the determined activation mode and at least through a first type session management function entity, wherein the first type session management function entity supports multicast/broadcast services.

Description

UE execution method and UE, SMF entity execution method and SMF entity

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of wireless communications, and more particularly, to a method performed by a User Equipment (UE) and a corresponding UE, and a method performed by a Session Management Function (SMF) entity and a corresponding SMF entity.

Background

Existing wireless communication systems may support Multimedia Broadcast and Multicast Services (MBMS). Specifically, the MBMS may be classified into a multicast service and a broadcast service. Multicasting, which may also be referred to as multicasting, is the transmission of the same content to multiple users. In the multicast manner, data for all target entities can be transmitted at once and data can be transmitted only for a specific user. Broadcasting also transmits the same content to a plurality of users, but it does not make a user's selection, and thus there may be a case where there is no user in the network but data transmission is performed.

In second/third generation wireless communication systems, some technical solutions for activating multicast services have been proposed. Fig. 1 shows a schematic flow chart of an existing method of activating a multicast service. As shown in fig. 1, in step 1, the UE may select an Access Point Name (APN) to establish a Protocol Data Unit (PDU) context (context), and assign an internet Protocol Address (IP Address) to the UE through the APN. In fig. 1, the APN is shown as a Gateway GPRS support entity (GGSN) and its identity may be APN 0. Then, in step 2, first, the UE may select an IP Multicast Address (IP Multicast Address), which may identify a specific Multicast service; the UE may then send an Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) Join (Join) packet to the network to indicate that the UE is to Join the multicast Group corresponding to the IP multicast address. Then, in step 3, the Broadcast/Multicast Service Center (BM-SC) authenticates whether the UE can join the Multicast group according to the subscription data of the UE, and gives the APN (here identified using APN1) to be used by the UE to join the Multicast group. The APN1 to be used by the UE is then delivered to the UE via steps 4a, 4b and 5. Then, in step 6, the UE initiates a new MBMS session according to the APN1 provided by the BM-SC, which must include APN1 and the MBMS capability (e.g., Quality of service (QoS) capability) of the UE. Then, in step 7, the Serving GPRS support entity (SGSN) checks whether the UE subscribes to the APN1, if the check fails, the SGSN notifies the GGSN of the failure, otherwise, the SGSN creates a multicast UE context for the IP address. Then, in step 8, the SGSN selects another GGSN (i.e., GGSN supporting the multicast service) according to the APN1, and transmits an MBMS creation request message including at least an identity of the UE, an APN1, and an IP multicast address to the GGSN. Then, in step 9, the BM-SC authorizes the UE according to the subscription information of the UE. Then, in step 10, if the context of any UE that is allowed to access and has no IP multicast address indication on the GGSN is authorized, that is, the UE is the multicast service identified by the first access IP multicast address on the GGSN, the UE registers with its upper entity BM-SC to indicate that the multicast service data needs to be sent to the GGSN when the multicast service data to the IP multicast address is subsequently sent. Then, in step 11, the GGSN creates an MBMS UE context for the UE corresponding to the IP multicast address, and then sends an indication that the creation of the MBMB UE context is successful to the SGSN. Then, in step 12, if there is no context of any UE indicated by the IP multicast address on the SGSN, that is, the UE is the multicast service identified by the first access IP multicast address on the SGSN, the UE registers with the upper-level entity GGSN to indicate that the multicast service data needs to be sent to the SGSN when the multicast service data to the IP multicast address is subsequently sent, in type step 10.

It can be seen that in the procedure shown in fig. 1, the UE needs to select an APN (e.g., APN0 described above) to obtain an APN (e.g., APN1 described above) to be used by the UE to join the multicast group, so as to activate the multicast context and actually join the multicast group. Therefore, the process shown in fig. 1 is more cumbersome, resulting in more information interaction between entities. In addition, in the flow shown in fig. 1, the UE needs to send an IGMP Join packet to the GGSN. Since IGMP is based on an IP network protocol rather than a mobile network protocol, and with the development of wireless communication technology (e.g., the advent of fifth generation wireless communication systems), some terminals that can only support mobile applications have appeared. Therefore, if the flow shown in fig. 1 is continuously used, there will be a case where these terminals that can only support mobile applications cannot issue IGMP Join packets. In addition, for some terminals, only data need be received, and no data need be transmitted. For example, a screen placed in a public place (e.g., a dining hall, a waiting hall) is used only for receiving data and displaying the data, and does not need to transmit the data. That is, these terminals need not be assigned IP addresses.

Furthermore, for IP terminals that are able to access a wireless communication network by some means (e.g. by means of a wireless modem), multicast traffic can be carried out by wireless means. However, as wireless communication technology develops, network architectures corresponding to the flow shown in fig. 1 change, and network entities in the network architectures also change. Therefore, how to perform multicast services in these new wireless communication systems by these IP terminals is a technical problem to be solved.

Further, prior to the fifth generation wireless communication systems, the QoS of the IP data flows was controlled by the BM-SC. In fifth generation wireless communication systems, Policy Control and Charging (PCC) architectures and techniques are proposed. The PCC architecture and technology are key technologies in a fifth generation wireless communication system, and may provide Policy control related to a user equipment routing Policy (URSP), Access and Mobility, or Session Management (SMF) entity, etc. to a UE, an Access and Mobility management Function (AMF) entity, and an SMF entity, so as to implement refined QoS and charging control of an IP data flow by an operator. Therefore, how to combine PCC with transmission of multicast/broadcast service data in the fifth generation wireless communication system is also a technical problem to be solved.

Disclosure of Invention

In order to overcome the drawbacks of the prior art, the present disclosure proposes a method performed by a user equipment and a corresponding user equipment, and a method performed by a session management function entity and a corresponding session management function entity.

According to an aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method performed by a user equipment, comprising: determining an activation mode for activating the multicast service; and activating the multicast service according to the determined activation mode and at least through a first type session management function entity, wherein the first type session management function entity supports multicast/broadcast services.

According to an example of the present disclosure, before the determining the activation manner for activating the multicast service, the method further includes: and determining a first identifier and a second identifier corresponding to the multicast service, wherein the first identifier and the second identifier are used for accessing and selecting the first type session management function entity by a mobility management function entity.

According to an example of the present disclosure, the first identifier is used to identify a network segment corresponding to the multicast service, and the second identifier is used to identify a data network corresponding to the multicast service.

According to an example of the present disclosure, the determining the first identifier and the second identifier corresponding to the multicast service includes: obtaining a user device routing strategy rule corresponding to each multicast service in at least one multicast service from a strategy control function entity, wherein each user device routing strategy rule at least comprises a multicast address of the corresponding multicast service; determining a user device routing strategy rule corresponding to the multicast service according to the multicast address of the multicast service; and determining a first identifier and a second identifier corresponding to the multicast service according to the determined user device routing policy rule.

According to an example of the present disclosure, the activating the multicast service according to the determined activation manner and through at least a first type session management function entity includes: determining a third identification, wherein the third identification is used for identifying a user equipment multicast service context established for activating the multicast service; sending a request for activating the user equipment multicast service context to the first type session management function entity, the request for activating the user equipment multicast service context comprising the third identifier and a multicast address of the multicast service; receiving a response to the request for activating the user equipment multicast service context from the first type session management function entity, the response including a fourth identification corresponding to the multicast service, wherein the fourth identification is used for the user equipment to determine whether the multicast service is activated.

According to an example of the present disclosure, wherein sending the request for activating the user equipment multicast service context to the first type session management function entity comprises: sending, via the access and mobility management function entity, a request to the first type session management function entity for activating the user equipment multicast service context.

According to an example of the present disclosure, wherein receiving a response to the request for activating the user equipment multicast service context from the first type session management function entity comprises: receiving a response to the request for activation of the user equipment multicast traffic context from the first type session management function entity via the serving base station of the user equipment and the access and mobility management function entity.

According to an example of the present disclosure, prior to the determining the third identity, the method further comprises: acquiring a first identifier, a second identifier and a multicast address from a second type session management function entity, wherein the second type session management function entity can support a protocol data unit session service; and judging whether the acquired first identifier is the same as the determined first identifier, whether the acquired second identifier is the same as the determined second identifier and whether the acquired multicast address is the same as the multicast address of the multicast service.

According to an example of the present disclosure, before the obtaining of the first identifier, the second identifier, and the multicast address from the second-type session management function entity, the method further includes: acquiring an internet protocol address from the second type session management function entity according to the first identifier and the second identifier; and sending a data packet to a network according to the acquired internet protocol address so that a second type user plane function entity in the network can acquire the data packet, wherein the second type user plane function entity can support a protocol data unit session service, and the data packet is used for indicating a multicast service which the user device wants to activate.

According to an example of the present disclosure, wherein obtaining an internet protocol address from the second type session management function entity according to the first identifier and the second identifier comprises: selecting the second type session management function entity and establishing a protocol data unit session according to the first identifier and the second identifier, and acquiring an internet protocol address from the second type session management function entity; and wherein the sending a data packet to a network according to the obtained internet protocol address so that a second type user plane functional entity in the network obtains the data packet comprises: according to the acquired internet protocol address, sending a data packet to a network so that a second type user plane functional entity participating in the establishment of the protocol data unit session in the network acquires the data packet; wherein the destination address of the packet is a multicast address of the multicast service or the protocol portion of the packet includes the multicast address of the multicast service.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method performed by a first type session management function entity supporting a multicast/broadcast service, including: receiving a request from a user device for activating a user device multicast service context established by the user device for activating a multicast service, the request for activating the user device multicast service context including the third identification and a multicast address of the multicast service, the third identification identifying the user device multicast service context; determining a response to the request to activate the user device multicast service context, wherein the response includes a fourth identification corresponding to the multicast service, wherein the fourth identification is used for the user device to determine whether the multicast service is activated; and sending the response to the user device.

According to an example of the present disclosure, the receiving, from the user equipment, a request for activating a multicast service context of the user equipment comprises: a request is received from the user device via an access and mobility management function entity for activating a user device multicast service context.

According to an example of the present disclosure, wherein the sending the response to the user equipment comprises: sending the response to the user equipment via a serving base station of the user equipment and an access and mobility management function entity.

According to an example of the present disclosure, further comprising: receiving, from the access and mobility management function entity, a dedicated identity of the user equipment and an identity of a serving base station of the user equipment.

According to an example of the present disclosure, further comprising: recording the identities of the serving base stations of the user devices in the user device multicast service context in order to obtain identities of the serving base stations of all user devices activating the multicast service by the first type session management function entity.

According to an example of the present disclosure, wherein determining a response to the request for activating the user device multicast service context comprises: determining whether the user device is capable of using the multicast service; when the user equipment can use the multicast service, sending a notice to a first type application function entity, wherein the first type application function entity supports the multicast/broadcast service, and the notice is a notice of the multicast service authorization request; and receiving a response to the notification from the first type application function entity, wherein the response to the notification includes a fourth identification corresponding to the multicast traffic.

According to an example of the present disclosure, wherein sending a notification to the first type of application function entity comprises: and sending a request to a multicast/broadcast service functional entity so that the multicast/broadcast service functional entity sends a notification to the first type application functional entity according to the request.

According to an example of the present disclosure, the request includes at least the first identity, the second identity, a multicast address of the multicast service, and an identity of the first type session management function entity, where the identity of the first type session management function entity facilitates the multicast/broadcast service function entity to obtain the first type session management function entity to which all user devices that are to activate the multicast service relate when activating the multicast service.

According to an example of the present disclosure, the notification comprises at least the first identity, the second identity, a multicast address of the multicast service, and an identity of the multicast/broadcast service functional entity, wherein the identity of the multicast/broadcast service functional entity facilitates the first type application functional entity to obtain the multicast/broadcast service functional entities involved by all user devices that are to activate the multicast service when activating the multicast service.

According to an example of the present disclosure, the sending, by the multicast/broadcast service function entity, a notification to the first type application function entity according to the request comprises: the multicast/broadcast service function entity sends a notification to the first type application function entity according to the request and via a network openness function entity.

According to an example of the present disclosure, the notification may further include an identifier of the first type application function entity, so that the network openness function entity determines the first type application function entity according to the identifier of the first type application function entity and sends a corresponding notification to the first type application function entity.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method performed by a second-type session management function entity capable of supporting a protocol data unit session service, including: establishing a protocol data unit session; assigning an internet protocol address to the user device; obtaining a multicast address of a multicast service to be activated by the user equipment from a second type user plane function entity participating in the establishment of the PDU session, wherein the multicast address is obtained after the user equipment sends a packet to a network including the second type user plane function entity according to the IP address, wherein the packet indicates the multicast service which the user equipment wants to activate; when the second-type session management function entity decides to instruct the user equipment to activate the multicast service, sending a request for instructing the user equipment to activate the multicast service to the user equipment, wherein the request for instructing the user equipment to activate the multicast service comprises a first identifier corresponding to the multicast service to be activated by the user equipment, a second identifier and a multicast address of the multicast service.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method performed by a first type session management function entity supporting a multicast/broadcast service, including: receiving a first request from a policy control function entity, wherein the first request is used for requesting the start of a multicast/broadcast service session, the first request at least comprises a fourth identification corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, a quality of service rule of at least one data flow corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, and an identification of the multicast/broadcast service session, wherein the fourth identification is an identification allocated to the multicast/broadcast service by a first type application function entity, and the first type application function entity supports the multicast/broadcast service; and performing the multicast/broadcast service session according to the first request.

According to an example of the present disclosure, the first request is determined by the policy control function entity according to a second request received from a multicast/broadcast service function entity, the second request being for the multicast/broadcast service function entity to request a start of a multicast/broadcast service session to the policy control function entity.

According to an example of the present disclosure, the second request includes at least the fourth identification, the identification of the first type session management function entity, information of at least one data flow corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, a quality of service requirement of the at least one data flow, and the identification of the multicast/broadcast service session.

According to an example of the present disclosure, wherein the policy control function entity is determined by the multicast/broadcast service function entity according to an identity of the first type session management function entity.

According to an example of the present disclosure, the second request is determined by the multicast/broadcast service functional entity according to a third request received from a network open functional entity or a first type application functional entity, the third request being for the network open functional entity or the first type application functional entity to request a start of a multicast/broadcast service session to the multicast/broadcast service functional entity.

According to an example of the present disclosure, the third request includes at least the fourth identification, information of at least one data flow corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, a quality of service requirement of the at least one data flow, and an identification of the multicast/broadcast service session.

According to an example of the present disclosure, the third request is determined by the network open function entity according to a fourth request received from the first type application function entity, the fourth request is for the first type application function entity to request the start of a multicast/broadcast service session to the network open function entity.

According to an example of the present disclosure, the fourth request includes at least the fourth identification, an identification of at least one multicast/broadcast service functional entity, information of at least one data flow corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, a quality of service requirement of the at least one data flow, and an identification of the multicast/broadcast service session.

According to an example of the present disclosure, any one of the first request, the second request, the third request, and the fourth request further includes an aggregated maximum rate corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service.

According to an example of the present disclosure, wherein the conducting the multicast/broadcast service session according to the first request comprises: and generating a service quality flow identification, a service quality configuration file and a service quality execution rule corresponding to each data flow according to the service quality rule of each data flow.

According to an example of the present disclosure, wherein the conducting the multicast/broadcast service session according to the first request further comprises: selecting a first type user plane functional entity according to the fourth identifier, wherein the first type user plane functional entity supports multicast/broadcast services; sending a fifth request to the selected first type of user plane functional entity, wherein the fifth request is used for establishing transmission resources of the multicast/broadcast service session; and obtaining a response to the fifth request from the selected first type user plane function entity, wherein the response to the fifth request comprises a second tunnel multicast address allocated by the selected first type user plane function entity for transmitting service data corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service and a sixth identification corresponding to the second tunnel multicast address, the second tunnel multicast address is used for multicast tunnel transmission between network entities, and the sixth identification is used for identifying a transmission tunnel of the multicast/broadcast service.

According to an example of the present disclosure, wherein the conducting the multicast/broadcast service session according to the first request further comprises: selecting a first type user plane functional entity according to the fourth identifier, wherein the first type user plane functional entity supports multicast/broadcast services; sending a fifth request to the selected first type user plane function entity, wherein the fifth request is used for establishing transmission resources of the multicast/broadcast service session, the fifth request includes a second tunnel multicast address allocated by the first type session management function entity for transmitting service data corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, and a sixth identifier corresponding to the second tunnel multicast address, wherein the second tunnel multicast address is used for multicast tunnel transmission between network entities, and the sixth identifier is used for identifying a transmission tunnel of the multicast/broadcast service; obtaining a response to the fifth request from the selected first type of user plane functional entity.

According to an example of the present disclosure, the fifth request includes at least a multicast/broadcast address of the multicast/broadcast service, a quality of service enforcement rule for the at least one data flow, and an aggregated maximum rate corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service.

According to an example of the present disclosure, the method further comprises: recording at least the second tunnel multicast address and the sixth identification in a multicast service context for each user device that has activated the multicast service.

According to an example of the present disclosure, the method further comprises: determining an identity of at least one serving base station according to a multicast service context of each user equipment that has activated the multicast/broadcast service; respectively determining the identifiers of corresponding access and mobile management functional entities according to the identifiers of all the service base stations; and sending first information to each access and mobility management functional entity respectively according to the identifier of each access and mobility management functional entity, wherein the first information at least comprises the identifier of the corresponding serving base station, the fourth identifier, the aggregated maximum rate corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, the qos flow identifier and qos profile corresponding to each data flow, the sixth identifier, and the second tunnel multicast address, so that each access and mobility management functional entity sends a sixth request to the corresponding serving base station, wherein the sixth request is used for requesting the start of a multicast/broadcast service session.

According to an example of the present disclosure, the sixth request includes the first identifier, the fourth identifier, an aggregated maximum rate corresponding to the multicast/broadcast traffic, a quality of service flow identifier and a quality of service profile corresponding to each data flow, the sixth identifier, and the second tunneling multicast address.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a user equipment including: a determining unit configured to determine an activation manner for activating the multicast service; and an activation unit configured to activate the multicast service according to the determined activation manner and through at least a first type session management function entity, wherein the first type session management function entity supports multicast/broadcast services.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a first type session management function entity supporting a multicast/broadcast service, including: a receiving unit configured to receive, from a user equipment, a request for activating a user equipment multicast service context established by the user equipment for activating a multicast service, the request for activating the user equipment multicast service context including the third identification and a multicast address of the multicast service, the third identification being used for identifying the user equipment multicast service context; a determining unit configured to determine a response to the request for activating the user equipment multicast service context, wherein the response includes a fourth identification corresponding to the multicast service, wherein the fourth identification is used for the user equipment to determine whether the multicast service is activated; and a transmitting unit configured to transmit the response to the user equipment.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a second type session management function entity capable of supporting a protocol data unit session service, including: an allocation unit configured to establish a pdu session and to allocate an ip address to a user device; an obtaining unit configured to obtain, from a second type user plane function entity participating in establishment of the pdu session, a multicast address of a multicast service to be activated by the user equipment, wherein the multicast address is obtained after the user equipment sends a packet to a network including the second type user plane function entity according to the internet protocol address, wherein the packet indicates the multicast service that the user equipment wants to activate; and a transmitting unit configured to transmit, to the user equipment, a request for instructing the user equipment to activate the multicast service when the second-type session management function entity decides to instruct the user equipment to activate the multicast service, wherein the request for instructing the user equipment to activate the multicast service includes a first identifier corresponding to the multicast service to be activated by the user equipment, a second identifier, and a multicast address of the multicast service.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a first type session management function entity supporting a multicast/broadcast service, including: a receiving unit configured to receive a first request from a policy control function entity, wherein the first request is used for requesting the start of a multicast/broadcast service session, the first request at least comprises a fourth identifier corresponding to a multicast/broadcast service, a quality of service rule of at least one data stream corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, and an identifier of the multicast/broadcast service session, wherein the fourth identifier is an identifier allocated to the multicast/broadcast service by a first type application function entity, and the first type application function entity supports the multicast/broadcast service; and a control unit configured to conduct the multicast/broadcast service session according to the first request.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a user equipment including: a processor; and a memory, wherein the memory has stored therein a computer-executable program that, when executed by the processor, performs the method performed by the user device described above.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a first type session management function entity supporting a multicast/broadcast service, including: a processor; and a memory, wherein the memory has stored therein a computer-executable program that, when executed by the processor, performs the method performed by the first-type session management function entity described above.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a second type session management function entity capable of supporting a protocol data unit session service, including: a processor; and a memory, wherein the memory has stored therein a computer-executable program that, when executed by the processor, performs the method performed by the second-type session management function entity described above.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions, which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform the above-described method.

According to the method performed by the user equipment and the corresponding user equipment in the above aspects of the present disclosure, the user equipment may determine an activation manner for activating the multicast service, and activate the multicast service according to the determined activation manner and at least through the first type session management function entity in the network, thereby optimizing or being compatible with a conventional process of activating the multicast service.

Further, according to the method performed by the first-type session management function entity and the corresponding first-type session management function entity in the above aspects of the present disclosure, in the process of activating the multicast service, the first-type session management function entity may receive, from the user equipment, the first identifier, the second identifier, the third identifier corresponding to the multicast service to be activated by the user equipment, and the multicast address of the multicast service, determine, according to at least these pieces of information, the fourth identifier corresponding to the multicast service, and feed back the fourth identifier to the user equipment, so that the user equipment activates the multicast service.

Further, according to the method performed by the first-type session management function entity and the corresponding first-type session management function entity of the above-mentioned aspects of the present disclosure, the first-type session management function entity may receive a request for requesting the start of a multicast/broadcast service session from the policy control function entity, and the request may include a fourth identification corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, a quality of service rule for at least one data flow corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, and an identification of the multicast/broadcast service session, and the first type session management function entity may conduct a multicast/broadcast service session according to the request, therefore, the transmission of the multicast/broadcast service data is facilitated, the PCC technology is applied to the transmission of the multicast/broadcast service data, and the transmission combination of the PCC and the multicast/broadcast service data is realized.

Drawings

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present disclosure will become more apparent by describing in more detail embodiments of the present disclosure with reference to the attached drawings. The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the embodiments of the disclosure and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the disclosure and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the disclosure and not to limit the disclosure. In the drawings, like reference numbers generally represent like parts or steps.

Fig. 1 shows a schematic flow chart of an existing method of activating a multicast service.

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of an architecture of a wireless communication system in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied.

Fig. 3 is a flowchart of a method performed by a user device for activating a multicast service according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 4 is a flowchart of a method performed by a user device for determining a first identity and a second identity corresponding to a multicast service according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 5 is a flowchart of a method performed by a first-type session management function entity when a user equipment activates a multicast service according to a first activation manner or a second activation manner according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 6 is a flowchart of a method performed by a second-type session management function entity when a user equipment activates a multicast service according to a second activation manner according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 7 is a flowchart of a method performed by a first type session management function entity for establishing a user plane according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 8 is an exemplary flow for activating a multicast service based on a first activation manner in a wireless communication system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 9 is an exemplary flow for activating a multicast service based on a second activation manner in a wireless communication system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 10 is an exemplary flow for establishing a user plane corresponding to a multicast/broadcast service in a wireless communication system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of a user device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of a first type session management function entity according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 13 is a schematic structural diagram of a second-type session management function entity according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 14 is another structural diagram of a first type session management function entity according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 15 shows an architecture of a device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present disclosure more apparent, example embodiments according to the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings, like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout. It should be understood that: the embodiments described herein are merely illustrative and should not be construed as limiting the scope of the disclosure. Further, a User Equipment (UE) as described herein may include various types of terminals, such as a mobile terminal or an IP terminal. For convenience, these terms are sometimes used interchangeably.

First, a wireless communication system in which an embodiment of the present disclosure can be applied is described with reference to fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of an architecture of a wireless communication system in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied. The wireless communication system may be a fifth generation (5G) wireless communication system, or may be any other type of wireless communication system, such as a 6G wireless communication system. Hereinafter, embodiments of the present disclosure are described taking a 5G wireless communication system as an example, but it should be appreciated that the following description may also be applicable to other types of wireless communication systems.

Specifically, the wireless communication system 200 includes a first type Application Function (AF) entity 201, a Network open Function (NEF) entity 202, a Multicast/Broadcast Service Function (MBSF) entity 203, a Policy Control Function (PCF) entity 204, a first type Session Management Function (SMF) entity 205, a first type Access and mobility management Function (Access and mobility Function, AMF) entity 206, a Multicast/Broadcast Service User plane (MBSU) entity 207, a first type User plane Function (User plane Function, UPF) entity 208, and a Radio Access Network (Radio Network) entity (RAN) entity 203, a serving entity of the first type Application Function (AF) entity, a serving entity of the first type Network (NEF) entity of the Network 202, the first type smsf entity of the first type Access Function (MBSF) entity 204, whereas the MBSU entity 207 and the first type UPF entity 208 belong to entities of the user plane. Each of the entities described herein may be one or more servers. In this disclosure, an "entity" may also be referred to as a node. For convenience, entities and nodes are sometimes used interchangeably.

In the present disclosure, the first type AF entity 201 may provide service data (e.g., MBS service data) and support the provision of the service data to downstream entities in the network in a multicast/broadcast manner, and thus may be referred to as an MBS AF, or MBS-AF, or MB-AF, or M-AF entity. The first type of SMF entity 205 is an SMF entity that supports multicast/broadcast services and, thus, may be referred to as an MBS SMF, or MBS-SMF, or MB-SMF, or M-SMF entity. The first type AMF entity 206 is an AMF entity supporting a multicast/broadcast service, and thus may be referred to as an mbasamf, or MBS-AMF, or MB-AMF, or M-AMF entity. The first type UPF entity 208 is a UPF entity that supports multicast/broadcast services and, thus, may be referred to as an MBS UPF, or MBS-UPF, or MB-UPF, or M-UPF entity. For convenience, these terms may sometimes be used interchangeably.

Further, the UE 210 may be connected to the RAN 209 through a Uu interface. The RAN 209 may be connected to the first-type AMF entity 206 via an N2 interface and to the first-type UPF entity 208 via an MB-N3 interface. The first-type UPF entity 208 may be connected to the first-type SMF entity 205 via an Nx interface and to the MBSU entity 207 via an N6 interface. The first-type AMF entity 206 is connected to the first-type SMF entity 205 via an MB-N11 interface. A first type of SMF entity 205 is connected to PCF entity 204 via an interface, e.g. Np. PCF entity 204 may be connected to MBSF entity 203 via an interface (e.g., Nq). Furthermore, the first type SMF entity 205 may also be directly connected to the MBSF entity 203 via an interface N6mb _ C interface. The MBSF entity 203 is connected to the NEF entity 202 via an NxMB-C interface. The NEF entity 202 is connected to the first type AF entity 201 through an N33 interface. The MBSU entity 207 is connected to the first type AF entity 201 via an NxMB-U interface.

The wireless communication system 200 may further include a second type AF entity, a second type SMF entity, a second type AMF entity, and a second type UPF entity (not shown). In the scenario of multicast/broadcast service, the second-type AF entity may have the functions of the first-type AF entity 201, the MBSF entity 203, and the MBSU entity 207. In addition, the second type AF entity may also support Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session traffic (e.g., IP type PDU session traffic). The second type of SMF entity may be an SMF entity supporting a protocol data unit session service (e.g., an IP type PDU session service). The second type AMF entity may be an AMF entity supporting a protocol data unit session service (e.g., an IP type PDU session service). The second type UPF entity may be a UPF entity supporting a protocol data unit session service (e.g., an IP type PDU session service).

In this case, the RAN 209 may be connected to the second-type AMF entity through an N2 interface and to the second-type UPF entity through an N3 interface. The second-type UPF entity may be connected to the second-type SMF entity through an N4 interface and to the second-type AF entity through an N6 interface. The second type AMF entity is connected to the second type SMF entity through an N11 interface. The second type SMF entity is connected to the above NEF entity 202/the above PCF entity 204 via an N7 interface. The NEF entity 202/the PCF entity 204 are connected to the second type AF entity via an N5 or an Nnef interface.

Further, in the present disclosure, the MBSF entity is an entity dedicated to the control plane of the MBS service, which may be used for the signaling part to satisfy the service layer capabilities in transport-only and full service modes, and may provide an interface to the first type AF entity or content provider in transport-only mode. The MBSU entity is an entity dedicated to the user plane of MBS traffic that can be used to process the payload portion to meet the traffic layer capabilities. The NEF entity may support QoS capability opening, event subscription capability opening, AF request traffic guidance, AF request parameter issuance, and the like. The PCF entity may support a unified policy framework to manage network behavior, provide policy rules to control the control plane, etc. The first type of SMF entity and the second type of SMF entity, similarly, may both support session management, etc., where the session management may include session establishment, modification, release, etc. The first type AMF entity and the second type AMF entity are similar and can support access authentication, mobility management, registration management, connection management and legal answering of the UE, session management information transmission between the UE and the SMF entity and the like. The first type of UPF entity and the second type of UPF entity, like each other, may have a packet routing function, for example, may obtain packets from a network and send packets to a RAN, etc. The RAN may be an access network formed by base stations. The base station here may be any type of base station, such as a 5G base station, a Next Generation (NG) RAN, or a base station in a conventional communication system or a WiFi AP, etc.

It should be understood that in the present disclosure, the term "multicast/broadcast service" means a multicast service or a broadcast service. Further, the term "multicast/broadcast address" appearing hereinafter means a multicast address or a broadcast address, and the term "multicast/broadcast address of a multicast/broadcast service" appearing hereinafter means a multicast address of a multicast service or a broadcast address of a broadcast service.

It should be appreciated that although one is shown in fig. 2 for the various types of entities, this is merely illustrative and the wireless communication system may include a greater number of entities. Furthermore, although one RAN and one UE are shown in fig. 2, this is merely illustrative and the wireless communication system may include more RANs and/or more UEs and, accordingly, the wireless communication system may include fewer or more cells.

In the present disclosure, when a UE wants to activate a multicast service, the UE may determine an activation manner for activating the multicast service and activate the multicast service according to the determined activation manner. During the process of activating the multicast service by the UE, information interaction between a plurality of entities (e.g., the first-type AF entity 201, the NEF entity 202, the MBSF entity 203, the PCF entity 204, the first-type SMF entity 205, the first-type AMF entity 206, the MBSU entity 207, the first-type UPF entity 208, etc. in fig. 2) in the wireless communication system is involved.

A method performed by the UE for activating the multicast service will be described below with reference to fig. 3. Fig. 3 is a flow chart of a method 300 performed by a user device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 3, in step S301, the UE determines an activation manner for activating the multicast service. In step S301, the determined activation manner may be a first activation manner or a second activation manner.

According to an example of the present disclosure, in the first activation mode, the UE does not need to establish a Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session and acquire an IP address (for example, an IP address is allocated by the SMF entity) before activating the multicast service. That is, in the first activation mode, the UE need not perform a step similar to step 1 shown in fig. 1. Therefore, the first activation method optimizes the traditional flow of activating the multicast service.

Further, according to an example of the present disclosure, in the second activation mode, the UE needs to establish one PDU session and acquire one IP address (e.g., one IP address is assigned by the SMF entity) before activating the multicast service. That is, in the second activation mode, the UE needs to perform a similar procedure to step 1 shown in fig. 1. Therefore, the second activation method is compatible with the traditional flow of activating the multicast service.

In this disclosure, in step S301, the UE may determine an activation manner for activating the multicast service according to its own attribute. The attributes described herein may refer to the UE's support capabilities for various applications. For example, when the UE supports only a mobile application or the UE does not require an IP data transmission function, the UE may determine that an activation manner for activating the multicast service is the first activation manner. For example, when the UE needs to support an IP-based application, the UE may determine that the activation manner for activating the multicast service is the second activation manner.

It should be appreciated that, in step S301, the UE may also determine an activation manner for activating the multicast service according to other manners, which is not limited by the present disclosure.

Further, according to an example of the present disclosure, before step S301, the method 300 may further include: the UE may determine a first identifier and a second identifier corresponding to the multicast service, where the first identifier and the second identifier are used for an access and mobility management function entity to select the session management function entity. Specifically, the first identifier may be used to identify a network segment corresponding to the multicast service. For example, the first identifier may be single network Slice Selection Assistance Information (S-NSSAI). In addition, the second identifier may be used to identify a data network corresponding to the multicast service. For example, the second identification may be a Data Network Name (DNN).

In this example, the UE may determine the first identity and the second identity corresponding to the multicast service through the method 400 illustrated in fig. 4. Fig. 4 is a flow chart of a method 400 performed by a user device for determining a first identity and a second identity corresponding to a multicast service according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

As shown in fig. 4, in step S401, the UE may obtain, from a Policy Control Function (PCF) entity, a user equipment routing policy (URSP) rule corresponding to each multicast service of the at least one multicast service, where each user equipment routing policy rule at least includes a multicast address of the corresponding multicast service.

For example, first, the UE may initiate a registration procedure with the network. According to a first implementation manner of this embodiment, the UE may register through communication between the RAN, the first type AMF entity, the first type SMF entity, the first type UPF entity, the UDM entity, the MBSF entity, the MBSU entity, and the PCF entity. Alternatively, according to a second implementation of the present disclosure, the UE may register through communication between the RAN, the second-type AMF entity, the second-type SMF entity, the second-type UPF entity, the UDM entity, and the PCF entity. The specific procedure may be similar to a conventional procedure in which the UE initiates a registration procedure to the network, and is not described herein again.

Then, in the first implementation manner, in the process of establishing a UE policy Association (UE policy Association) between the first-type AMF entity and the PCF entity, the PCF entity may provide, to the UE, the URSP rule corresponding to each multicast service in the at least one multicast service through the first-type AMF entity, and accordingly, the UE may obtain, from the PCF entity, the URSP rule corresponding to each multicast service in the at least one multicast service through the first-type AMF entity. Alternatively, in the second implementation manner described above, in the process of establishing the UE policy association between the second-type AMF entity and the PCF entity, the PCF entity may provide, to the UE, the URSP rules corresponding to each of the at least one multicast service through the second-type AMF entity, and accordingly, the UE may obtain, from the PCF entity, the URSP rules corresponding to each of the at least one multicast service through the second-type AMF entity.

Then, in step S402, the UE may determine a user equipment routing policy rule corresponding to the multicast service according to the multicast address of the multicast service. For example, when the UE wants to activate a multicast service, the UE may determine the URSP rule corresponding to the multicast service according to the multicast address of the multicast service.

Then, in step S403, the UE may determine a first identifier and a second identifier corresponding to the multicast service according to the determined user equipment routing policy rule. For example, the UE may obtain a routing Descriptor (Route Selection Descriptor) according to the URSP rule corresponding to the multicast service, where the routing Descriptor includes a first identifier and a second identifier; then, the UE takes the first identity and the second identity included in the routing descriptor as the first identity and the second identity corresponding to the multicast service.

It should be appreciated that in the present disclosure, the multicast address of the multicast service may be an IPv4 multicast address, and may also be an IPv6 multicast address, which is not limited by the present disclosure.

Returning to fig. 3, after step S301, in step S302, the UE activates the multicast service according to the determined activation manner and at least through the first-type session management function entity.

According to an example of the present disclosure, when the activation manner determined by the UE in step S301 is the first activation manner, the UE performs step S302'. In step S302', the UE activates the multicast service according to the first activation mode and at least through the first type session management function entity. In this example, step S302 'may include 3 sub-steps, step S3021', step S3022 ', and step S3023', respectively.

Specifically, in step S3021', the UE may determine a third identity identifying a user equipment multicast service context established for activating the multicast service. For example, the UE may assign an Identification (ID) to the UE multicast service context. The "user device multicast service context established for activating the multicast service" described herein may also be referred to as a user device multicast service context (MBS UEContext) for multicast services. Accordingly, the third identifier may also be referred to as an identifier of a user equipment multicast service Context (MBS UE Context ID) for the multicast service.

It is to be appreciated that the UE can use the multicast address of different multicast services to activate multiple different multicast services. Accordingly, the UE may assign different third identities for different multicast services, thereby respectively identifying user device multicast service contexts established for activating the different multicast services.

Then, in step S3022', the UE may transmit, to the first type session management function entity, a request for activating the user equipment multicast service context, the request for activating the user equipment multicast service context including the third identity and a multicast address of the multicast service. For example, the UE may send a request for activating the user equipment multicast service context to the first type session management function entity via the access and mobility management function entity. It should be appreciated that the AMF entity involved in step S3022' may be a first type AMF entity or a second type AMF entity. For example, when the first implementation manner is adopted in the UE-initiated network registration process described in step S401 above, the AMF entity involved in step S3022' may be a first-type AMF entity. When the second implementation manner is adopted in the UE-initiated network registration process described in step S401 above, the AMF entity involved in step S3022' may be a second type AMF entity.

Specifically, first, the UE may send an uplink-Access Stratum (NAS) Transport (UL NAS Transport) message to the AMF entity, where the UL NAS Transport message includes at least three cells, a first cell is a first identifier corresponding to the multicast service, a second cell is a second identifier corresponding to the multicast service, and a third cell is a request for activating MBS UE Context. The Request for activating the MBS UE Context may be denoted as an Active MBS UE Context Request, and may include a third identifier corresponding to the multicast service and a multicast address of the multicast service. In an example where the first identifier is an S-NSSAI, the second identifier is a DNN, and the third identifier is an MBS UE Context ID, the UL NAS Transport message sent by the UE to the AMF entity may include three cells, where the first cell is an S-NSSAI corresponding to the multicast service, the second cell is a DNN corresponding to the multicast service, and the third cell is a request for activating the MBS UE Context, where the request for activating the MBS UE Context includes the MBS UE Context ID corresponding to the multicast service and a multicast address of the multicast service.

In the present disclosure, the UE may encapsulate the "request to activate MBS UE Context" described herein using a specific format. For example, the specific format may be a session management Container (N1MBS SM Container) for multicast traffic associated with the N1 interface.

Then, the AMF entity may select a corresponding first type SMF entity according to the first identifier and the second identifier corresponding to the multicast service. In an example where the first identity is S-NSSAI and the second identity is DNN, the AMF entity may select a corresponding first type SMF entity according to S-NSSAI and DNN corresponding to the multicast service.

The AMF entity may then send a request to the corresponding first type SMF entity over the Nmb-SMF interface, which may be used to request the creation of an MBS UE Context related to the MBS session. This Request may be denoted as Nmb-smf _ mbssessing _ creatembuecontext Request. The request may include the first identity, the second identity corresponding to the multicast service, and the "request for activating MBS UE Context" described above. In the example where the first identity is an S-NSSAI, the second identity is a DNN, and the third identity is an MBS UE Context ID, the AMF entity may send a request to the first type SMF entity over the Nmb-SMF interface, which may include the S-NSSAI corresponding to the multicast service, the DNN corresponding to the multicast service, and the "request to activate MBS UE Context" described above.

Further, according to an example of the present disclosure, the request sent by the AMF entity to the first type SMF entity may further include a dedicated identity of the UE. For example, the UE dedicated identity may be a Subscription permanent identifier (SUPI). Further, according to another example of the present disclosure, the request sent by the AMF entity to the first type SMF entity may further include an identification of a serving base station of the UE. For example, the identity of the serving base station of the UE may be a corresponding RAN ID, which may be reported to the AMF entity by the RAN to which the UE accesses. Furthermore, according to another example of the present disclosure, the request sent by the AMF entity to the first type SMF entity may also include both a dedicated identity of the UE and an identity of a serving base station of said UE, e.g. the SUPI of the UE and a corresponding RAN ID.

After step S3022', the first-type SMF entity may record the received RAN ID in MBS UE context of the UE, so that the subsequent first-type SMF entity acquires the identities of the serving base stations of all user equipments activating the multicast service through the first-type SMF entity. In addition, the first type SMF entity determines a fourth identifier corresponding to the multicast service according to the received information, wherein the fourth identifier is an identifier allocated to the multicast service by the first type Application Function (AF) entity, and feeds the fourth identifier back to the AMF entity. These operations will be described in detail in the method performed by the first type of SMF entity, described below in connection with fig. 5.

The fourth identity described herein may be a Temporary Mobile Group Identity (TMGI) of the multicast service assignment activated by the AF entity of the first type based on the multicast address.

Then, in step S3023', the UE may receive a response to the request for activating the user equipment multicast service context from the first type session management function entity, the response including a fourth identification corresponding to the multicast service, wherein the fourth identification is used for the user equipment to determine whether the multicast service is activated. In particular, the UE may receive a response to the request for activating the user equipment multicast traffic context from the first type session management function entity via the serving base station of the user equipment and the access and mobility management function entity. For example, the first type SMF entity may send a fourth identity corresponding to the multicast traffic to the AMF entity. Then, the AMF entity may transmit a fourth identity corresponding to the multicast service to a serving base station of the UE. Accordingly, the UE may receive a fourth identification corresponding to the multicast service from its serving base station.

Specifically, first, the first-type SMF entity may send a response message to the AMF entity through the Nmb-SMF interface in response to the Nmb-smmbssession creatembuecontext Request sent by the AMF entity to the first-type SMF entity as described above with reference to step S3022'. The response information may be an acknowledgment of the Nmb-smfmmbssessing CreateMBSUEContextRequest sent by the AMF entity to the first type SMF entity as described above in connection with step S3022'. This response information may be denoted as Nmb-smf _ mbssessing _ CreateMBSUEContextResponse.

The first type SMF entity may then send another request message to the AMF entity over the Namf interface to handle the request sent by the AMF entity to the first type SMF entity for activating MBS UEContext as described above in connection with step S3022'. The another request information may include the "response to the request for activating the user equipment multicast service context" described above, and the "response to the request for activating the user equipment multicast service context" described above may include a fourth identification corresponding to the multicast service. For example, the another request information may be a message transmission related to the N1 interface, which may be denoted as Namf _ Communication _ N1MessageTransfer, communicated through the Namf interface, and may include a response to the request for activating the user equipment multicast service Context, for example, a response to activating MBS UE Context (Activate MBS Context). The response for activating the MBS UE Context comprises a fourth identification corresponding to the multicast service. In an example where the fourth identity is a TMGI, the response to activate MBS UE Context includes the TMGI corresponding to the multicast service.

In this disclosure, the first type of SMF entity may encapsulate the "activate MBS UEContext response" described herein using a specific format. For example, the specific format may be a session management Container (N1MBS SM Container) for multicast traffic associated with the N1 interface.

The AMF entity may then send a downlink NAS transport message associated with the N2 interface to the RAN over the N2 interface. This downlink NAS transport message related to the N2 interface may be denoted as N2 downlink NASTransport. The downlink NAS Transport message related to the N2 interface may include a downlink NAS Transport (DL NAS Transport) message including one cell, i.e., the "response to activate MBSUE Context" described above. Through the downlink NAS Transport message related to the N2 interface, the AMF entity may instruct the RAN to directly send a DL NAS Transport message to the UE. It should be understood that the "response to activate MBS UE Context" included in the DL NAS Transport message described herein may also be encapsulated by the N1MBS SM Context described above.

The RAN may then send the DL NAS Transport message described above to the UE. Accordingly, the UE may acquire the fourth identifier corresponding to the multicast service through the DL NAS Transport message. In an example where the fourth identity is a TMGI, the UE may acquire the TMGI corresponding to the multicast service through a DL NAS Transport message.

In the present disclosure, the UE successfully acquires the fourth identifier corresponding to the multicast service, which indicates that the UE activates the multicast service.

So far, an exemplary procedure has been described in which the UE activates the multicast service according to the first activation manner and at least through the first-type session management function entity. Next, an exemplary procedure for the UE to activate the multicast service according to the second activation manner and at least through the first-type session management function entity will be described.

According to an example of the present disclosure, when the activation manner determined by the UE in step S301 is the second activation manner, the UE performs step S302 ″. In step S302 ″, the UE activates the multicast service according to the second activation manner and at least through the first-type session management function entity. In this example, step S302 "may include 7 sub-steps, step S3021", step S3022 ", step S3023", S3024 ", step S3025", step S3026 "and step S3027", respectively. Furthermore, the SMF entities involved in steps S3021 ", S3022" and S3023 "are second-type SMF entities and the UPF entities involved are second-type UPF entities. Furthermore, the SMF entities involved in steps S3025 ", S3026" and S3027 "are a first type SMF entity and the UPF entities involved are a first type UPF entity.

Specifically, in step S3021 ″, the UE may obtain an internet protocol address (IP address) from the second-type session management function entity according to the first identifier and the second identifier corresponding to the multicast service. For example, the UE may select a second type session management function entity and establish a pdu session according to the first identifier and the second identifier, and obtain an ip address from the second type session management function entity. In an example where the first identity is S-NSSAI and the second identity is DNN, the UE may send a PDU session setup request to the network according to S-NSSAI and DNN corresponding to the multicast service, where the PDU session setup request may include S-NSSAI and DNN corresponding to the multicast service. Then, the AMF entity may select one second-type SMF entity from the plurality of second-type SMF entities according to the S-NSSAI and the DNN corresponding to the multicast service. The selected SMF entity of the second type may then select one UPF entity of the second type from a plurality of UPF entities of the second type and assign an IP address to the UE.

Then, in step S3022 ″, the UE may transmit a data packet to the network according to the acquired internet protocol address so that a second-type User Plane Function (UPF) entity in the network acquires the data packet. For example, the UE may send a data packet to the network according to the acquired Internet Protocol (IP) address so that a second-type user plane function entity participating in the establishment of the pdu session in the network acquires the data packet. Further, the data packet is used to indicate a multicast service that the user device wants to activate. The destination address of the data packet is a multicast address of the multicast service, or the protocol portion of the data packet includes the multicast address of the multicast service. For example, after step S3021 ″, the UE may transmit an IGMP Join packet to the network at the allocated IP address after the PDU session setup is completed. When IGMP version 1 or 2 is used, the destination IP address of the IGMP Join packet may be the multicast address of the multicast service. When IGMP version 3 is employed, the IGMP protocol portion of the IGMP Join packet may include the multicast address of the multicast traffic.

Then, in step S3023 ″, the UE may acquire one first identity, one second identity, and one multicast address from the second-type session management function entity.

Specifically, after step S3022 ″, the second-type SMF entity may acquire a multicast address of the multicast service to be activated by the user equipment from the second-type user plane functional entity. For example, the second-type UPF entity may be configured according to a Packet Detection Rule (PDR) of the second-type SMF entity, and report a multicast address corresponding to the IGMP Join Packet to the second-type SMF entity after detecting the IGMP Join Packet (e.g., report the multicast address corresponding to the IGMP Join Packet through an N4 session report message).

The second type SMF entity may then decide to order the user device to activate the multicast service. When the second-type SMF entity decides to instruct the user equipment to activate the multicast service, the second-type SMF entity may transmit a request for instructing the user equipment to activate the multicast service to the user equipment, wherein the request for instructing the user equipment to activate the multicast service includes a first identifier corresponding to the multicast service to be activated by the user equipment, a second identifier, and a multicast address of the multicast service. For example, the second type SMF entity may send a request to the user equipment via an access and mobility management function entity for instructing the user equipment to activate the multicast service.

For example, the second type SMF entity may send a message to the AMF entity over the Namf interface, which may be denoted as Namf _ Communication _ N1message transfer, via a message transfer related to the N1 interface communicated over the Namf interface. The message may include a request for instructing the user device to activate the multicast service. For example, the request for instructing the user equipment to activate the multicast service may be information for requesting MBS UE Context activation to instruct UEs to activate the multicast service. The information may include S-NSSAI, DNN corresponding to a multicast service to be activated by the user equipment and a multicast address of the multicast service, and may be represented as Request mbms Context Activation. Furthermore, the "Request MBS UE Context Activation" described herein may be encapsulated with the specific format described above (e.g., N1MBS SMContainer).

The AMF entity may then send a downlink NAS transport message associated with the N2 interface to the RAN over the N2 interface. This downlink NAS transport message related to the N2 interface may be denoted as N2 downlink NASTransport. The downlink NAS Transport message associated with the N2 interface may include a downlink NAS Transport (DL NAS Transport) message, which may include the "Request MBS UE Context Activation" encapsulated using N1MBS SMContainer described above. Through the downlink NAS Transport message related to the N2 interface, the AMF entity may instruct the RAN to directly send a DL NAS Transport message to the UE.

The RAN may then send the DL NAS Transport message described above to the UE. Accordingly, the UE may acquire one first identity, one second identity and one multicast address from the second-type SMF entity through the DL NAS Transport message.

After step S3023 ", in step S3024", the UE may determine whether the acquired first identity is the same as the determined first identity, whether the acquired second identity is the same as the determined second identity, and whether the acquired multicast address is the same as the multicast address of the multicast service. For example, the UE may determine, according to the DL NAS Transport message received from the RAN, whether the multicast address in the "Request MBS UE Context Activation" encapsulated using N1MBS SM Container is the same as the multicast address of the multicast service that the UE wants to activate, and whether the S-NSSAI and DNN in the "Request MBS UE Context Activation" encapsulated using N1MBS SM Container are the same as the S-NSSAI and DNN when the PDU session is established.

When the UE determines in step S3024 "that the obtained first identity is different from the determined first identity, and/or that the obtained second identity is different from the determined second identity, and/or that the obtained multicast address is different from the multicast address of the multicast service, the UE cannot activate the multicast service. In contrast, when the UE determines in step S3024 "that the obtained first identifier is the same as the determined first identifier, the obtained second identifier is the same as the determined second identifier, and the obtained multicast address is the same as the multicast address of the multicast service, the UE may activate the multicast service.

The UE may perform steps S3025 ", S3026" and S3027 "to activate the multicast service. Specifically, in step S3025 ", the UE may determine a third identity identifying a user equipment multicast service context established for activating the multicast service. Then, in step S3026 ″, the UE may transmit, to the first type session management function entity, a request for activating the user equipment multicast service context, where the request for activating the user equipment multicast service context includes the third identity and a multicast address of the multicast service. Then, in step S3027 ″, the UE may receive, from the first type session management function entity, a response to the request for activating the user equipment multicast service context, the response including a fourth identification corresponding to the multicast service, where the fourth identification is used for the user equipment to determine whether the multicast service is activated.

The steps S3025, S3026 and S3027 are similar to the steps S3021, S3022 and S3023 described above, respectively, and will not be described again.

It should be appreciated that although in the above example, the AMF entities involved in step S3021 ", step S3022" and step S3023 "are the same AMF entity as the AMF entities involved in step S3025", step S3026 "and step S3027". However, according to other examples of the present disclosure, the AMF entities involved in step S3021 ", step S3022" and step S3023 "may be different AMF entities from the AMF entities involved in step S3025", step S3026 "and step S3027".

According to the method performed by the user equipment of the embodiment of the present disclosure, the user equipment may determine an activation manner for activating the multicast service, and activate the multicast service according to the determined activation manner and at least through the first type session management function entity in the network, thereby optimizing or being compatible with a conventional process of activating the multicast service.

So far, the operation of the UE in the process of activating the multicast service has been described. It was mentioned above that in the process of activating the multicast service, the first type SMF entity is required to provide the UE with the fourth identity corresponding to the multicast service via the AMF entity. The operation of the first type SMF entity in activating the multicast service will be described below with reference to fig. 5. Fig. 5 is a flowchart of a method 500 performed by a first-type SMF entity when a UE activates multicast traffic according to a first activation manner/a second activation manner according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

As shown in fig. 5, in step S501, the first-type SMF entity receives, from a user equipment, a request for activating a user equipment multicast service context that is established for activating the multicast service by the user equipment, where the request for activating the user equipment multicast service context includes the third identifier and a multicast address of the multicast service, and the third identifier is used for identifying the user equipment multicast service context.

Specifically, first, the UE may send an uplink NAS Transport (UL NAS Transport) message to the AMF entity, where the UL NAS Transport message includes at least three information elements, a first information element is a first identifier corresponding to the multicast service, a second information element is a second identifier corresponding to the multicast service, and a third information element is a request for activating an MBS UE Context, where the request for activating the MBS UE Context includes a third identifier corresponding to the multicast service and a multicast address of the multicast service. In an example where the first identifier is S-NSSAI, the second identifier is DNN, and the third identifier is MBSUE Context ID, the UL NAS Transport message sent by the UE to the AMF entity may include three cells, where the first cell is S-NSSAI corresponding to the multicast service, the second cell is DNN corresponding to the multicast service, and the third cell is a request for activating MBS UE Context, where the request for activating MBS UE Context includes MBS UE Context ID corresponding to the multicast service and a multicast address of the multicast service.

In the present disclosure, the UE may encapsulate the "request to activate MBS UE Context" described herein using a specific format. For example, the specific format may be a session management Container (N1MBS SM Container) for multicast traffic associated with the N1 interface.

Then, the AMF entity may select a corresponding first type SMF entity according to the first identifier and the second identifier corresponding to the multicast service. In an example where the first identity is S-NSSAI and the second identity is DNN, the AMF entity may select a corresponding first type SMF entity according to S-NSSAI and DNN corresponding to the multicast service.

The AMF entity may then send a request to the corresponding first type SMF entity over the Nmb-SMF interface, which may be used to request the creation of an MBS UE Context related to the MBS session. This Request may be denoted as Nmb-smf _ mbssessing _ creatembuecontext Request. The request may include the first identity, the second identity corresponding to the multicast service, and the "request for activating MBS UE Context" described above. In the example where the first identity is an S-NSSAI, the second identity is a DNN, and the third identity is an MBS UE Context ID, the AMF entity may send a request to the first type SMF entity over the Nmb-SMF interface, which may include the S-NSSAI corresponding to the multicast service, the DNN corresponding to the multicast service, and the "request to activate MBS UE Context" described above.

Further, according to an example of the present disclosure, the request sent by the AMF entity to the first type SMF entity may further include a dedicated identity of the UE. For example, the UE dedicated identity may be a Subscription permanent identifier (SUPI). Further, according to another example of the present disclosure, the request sent by the AMF entity to the first type SMF entity may further include an identification of a serving base station of the UE. For example, the identity of the serving base station of the UE may be a corresponding RAN ID, which may be reported to the AMF entity by the RAN to which the UE has access. Furthermore, according to another example of the present disclosure, the request sent by the AMF entity to the first type SMF entity may also include both a dedicated identity of the UE and an identity of a serving base station of said UE, e.g. the SUPI of the UE and a corresponding RAN ID.

Further, according to an example of the present disclosure, the first-type SMF entity may record the identification of the serving base station of the user equipment in the user equipment multicast service context, so that the first-type SMF entity acquires the identifications of the serving base stations of all user equipments activating the multicast service through the first-type SMF entity to use when establishing a user plane of an MBS session. For example, the first type SMF entity may record the received RAN ID in MBS UE context of the UE.

Returning to fig. 5, after step S501, in step S502, the first-type SMF entity determines a response to the request for activating the user equipment multicast service context, wherein the response includes a fourth identification corresponding to the multicast service, wherein the fourth identification is used for the user equipment to determine whether the multicast service is activated. For example, the first-type SMF entity determines a fourth identifier corresponding to the multicast service according to at least the first identifier, the second identifier, and a multicast address of the multicast service, where the fourth identifier is an identifier allocated to the multicast service by the first-type application function entity.

According to an example of the present disclosure, step S502 may include three substeps, step S5021, step S5022, and step S5023.

Specifically, in step S5021, the first-type SMF entity may determine whether the user equipment is capable of using the multicast service. For example, the first-type SMF entity may obtain subscription Data of the UE from a Unified Data Management (UDM) entity to determine whether the UE subscribes to the multicast service. If the UE subscribes to the multicast service, the first-type SMF entity may determine that the UE is capable of using the multicast service. If the UE does not subscribe to the multicast service, the first-type SMF entity may determine that the UE cannot use the multicast service.

When the first-type SMF entity determines in step S5021 that the UE can use the multicast service, the first-type SMF entity may perform step S5022. In step S5022, the first-type SMF entity may send a notification to the first-type application function entity, where the notification is a notification of the multicast service authorization request. Specifically, the first type SMF entity may send a request to the multicast/broadcast service functional entity, so that the multicast/broadcast service functional entity sends a notification to the first type application functional entity according to the request. Then, the multicast/broadcast service functional entity may send a notification to the first type application functional entity directly according to the request, or send a notification to the first type application functional entity via the network open functional entity.

In this disclosure, the "request" in step S5022 may include at least a first identifier and a second identifier corresponding to the multicast service, a multicast address of the multicast service, and an identifier of the first type session management function entity, where the identifier of the first type session management function entity facilitates the multicast/broadcast service function entity to obtain the first type session management function entity involved by all user devices that are to activate the multicast service when activating the multicast service. In this disclosure, the "notification" in step S5022 may include at least a first identifier and a second identifier corresponding to the multicast service, a multicast address of the multicast service, and an identifier of the multicast/broadcast service functional entity, where the identifier of the multicast/broadcast service functional entity facilitates the first type application functional entity to obtain the multicast/broadcast service functional entities involved by all user devices that are to activate the multicast service when activating the multicast service. In addition, when the multicast/broadcast service functional entity sends a notification to the first type application functional entity via the network open functional entity, the "notification" sent by the multicast/broadcast service functional entity to the network open functional entity may further include an identifier of the first type application functional entity, so that the network open functional entity determines the first type application functional entity according to the identifier of the first type application functional entity and sends a corresponding notification to the first type application functional entity.

For example, first, the first-type SMF entity may determine a corresponding MBSF entity according to the first identifier, the second identifier, and the multicast address of the multicast service.

The first type of SMF entity may then send a request to the determined MBSF entity. The request may include a first identification and a second identification corresponding to the multicast service, a private identification and a public identification of the user device, a multicast address of the multicast service, and an identification of the first-type session management function entity (e.g., an SMF ID, i.e., an MB-SMF ID, of the first-type SMF entity). In addition, the first type SMF entity may also send other information to the determined MBSF entity, for example, information related to the UE location, such as one or more of a Cell Global Identifier (CGI), a Tracking Area Identifier (TAI), a Globally unique AMF Identifier (GUAMI), and the like.

In the example where the first identity is S-NSSAI, the second identity is DNN, the UE 'S private identity is SUPI, the UE' S public identity is GPSI, and the identity of the first type SMF entity is MB-SMF ID, the first type SMF entity may send a Request for an MBs authorization Request to the MBSF entity over the Nmbsf interface, which may be denoted as Nmbsf _ mbsauuthorizationrequest Request, and which may include the S-NSSAI and DNN corresponding to the multicast service, the UE 'S private identity SUPI, the UE' S public identity GPSI, the multicast address of the multicast service, and the MB-SMF ID. In addition, the request may also include CGI, TAI and GUAMI related to the UE location.

Then, according to an example of the present disclosure, the MBSF entity may record the identity of the first type SMF entity in the user equipment multicast service context, so that the MBSF entity acquires the first type session management function entities involved in activating the multicast service by all user equipments to activate the multicast service, so as to be used when establishing a user plane of an MBS session. For example, the MBSF entity may record the received MB-SMF ID in the MBS UE Context of the UE.

Furthermore, the MBSF entity may send a notification directly to the first type Application Function (AF) entity, which notification may comprise at least the first identity, the second identity, the multicast address of the multicast service, and an identity of the MBSF entity (e.g. an MBSF ID). Alternatively, the MBSF entity may send a notification to said first type Application Function (AF) entity via said network openfunction entity, which notification may comprise at least said first identity, said second identity, and a multicast address for said multicast traffic.

In an example where the MBSF entity sends a notification to the first type application function entity via the network openfunction entity, first, the MBSF entity may determine a corresponding first type AF entity according to the first identifier, the second identifier, and the multicast address of the multicast service. Then, the MBSF entity may send a first notification to the NEF entity, where the first notification may include the first identity, the second identity, the multicast address of the multicast service, an identity of the MBSF entity (e.g., MBSF ID), and an identity of the first type application function entity (e.g., AF ID of the first type AF entity, i.e., MBS AF ID, determined by the MBSF entity).

In an example where the first identifier is S-NSSAI, the second identifier is DNN, the identifier of the MBSF entity is MBSF ID, and the identifier of the first type application function entity is MBS AF ID, the MBSF entity may send a notification of an MBS authorization request to the NEF entity through the Nmbsf interface, which may be denoted as Nmbs _ MBS authorization request notification, and which may include S-NSSAI and DNN corresponding to the multicast service, the multicast address of the multicast service, the MBSF ID, and the MBS AF ID.

Then, after receiving the first notification, the network openness function entity may send a second notification to the first type application function entity according to the identifier of the first type application function entity, where the second notification may include the first identifier, the second identifier, the multicast address of the multicast service, and the identifier of the MBSF entity (e.g., an MBSF ID and its IP address).

In the example where the first identifier is S-NSSAI, the second identifier is DNN, and the identifier of the MBSF entity is MBSF ID, the NEF entity may send a notification of the MBS authorization request to the corresponding first-type AF entity according to the MBS AF ID through the Nnef interface, where the notification may be denoted as Nnef _ MBS authorization request notification, and the notification may include S-NSSAI and DNN corresponding to the multicast service, the multicast address of the multicast service, and the MBSF ID.

After step S5022, the first-type AF entity may record the received MBSF IDs for use in establishing the user plane for the MBS session. In addition, the first type AF entity may further determine a fourth identifier corresponding to the multicast service. The fourth identity described herein may be a Temporary Mobile Group Identity (TMGI) of the multicast service assignment activated by the AF entity of the first type based on the multicast address.

The fourth identity may be a TMGI when the first type AF entity receives a message from the NEF entity. Accordingly, the first-type AF entity may feed back, to the NEF entity through the Nnef interface, Response information of the notification of the MBS authorization request, where the Response information may be denoted as Nnef _ mbsauuthorization request notification Response, and the Response information may include the TMGI corresponding to the multicast service. Then, the NEF entity may feed back Response information to the notification of the MBS authorization request to the MBSF entity through the Nmbsf interface, where the Response information may be denoted as Nmbsf _ mbsauuthorizationrequestnotify Response, and the Response information may include the TMGI corresponding to the multicast service.

Then, the MBSF entity may create MBS UE Context based on the multicast address for the UE, and may then feed back a response message to the first type SMF entity, where the response message may be a response to the above-described Nmbsf _ mbsauthonizationrequest Request. The Response information may be an acknowledgement to the above-described Nmbsf _ mbsauuthorizationrequest Request, which may be denoted as Nmbsf _ mbsauuthorizationrequest Response.

Accordingly, in step S5023, the first-type SMF entity may receive a response to the notification from the first-type application function entity in step S5022, wherein the response to the notification includes a fourth identity corresponding to the multicast service, so as to obtain the fourth identity corresponding to the multicast service from the first-type application function entity. In an example where the fourth identity is a TMGI, the first type SMF entity may obtain a TMGI corresponding to the multicast service from an MBSF entity.

It is to be appreciated that the above-described steps (determining the corresponding first-type AF entity by the MBSF entity, sending the notification to the first-type AF entity via the NEF entity, and receiving the response to the notification from the first-type AF entity via the NEF entity) need not be performed if the MBSF entity has sent the above-described "notification of MBS authorization request (Nmbsf _ MBS authorization request Notify)" to the first-type AF entity and has received the response from the first-type AF entity via the NEF entity, or if the MBSF entity has sent the above-described "notification of MBS authorization request (Nmbsf _ MBS authorization request Notify)" to the first-type AF entity via the NEF entity and has received the response from the first-type AF entity via the NEF entity. This is because these operations have already been performed during the process of activating the multicast service of the multicast address by other UEs.

Furthermore, it is to be appreciated that when the multicast service is not successfully authorized by the first type AF entity, the response information fed back by the first type AF entity does not include the TMGI and may include a reason for the failure.

After step S5023, the first-type SMF entity may create MBS UEContext based on the multicast address for the UE, and then may feed back a response message to the AMF entity, where the response message may be a response to the Nmb-SMF _ mbssessue _ creatembuecontext Request described above. The Response information may be an acknowledgement to the Nmb-smf _ MBSSession _ creatembbsuecontext Request described above, which may be denoted Nmb-smf _ MBSSession _ creatembbsuecontext Response.

Then, in step S503, the first-type SMF entity transmits a response to the request for activating the user equipment multicast service context to the user equipment, wherein the response includes a fourth identifier corresponding to the multicast service. The first type of SMF entity may send the response to the user equipment via the serving base station of the user equipment and an access and mobility management function entity.

For example, the first-type SMF entity may send another request message to the AMF entity through the Namf interface to handle the request for activating MBS UEContext sent by the AMF entity to the first-type SMF entity as described above in connection with step S3022'. The another request information may include a fourth identification corresponding to the multicast service. For example, the further request information may be a message transmission related to the N1 interface, which may be denoted as Namf _ Communication _ N1message transfer, communicated over the Namf interface, and which includes a Response (active MBS Context Response) activating the MBS UE Context, which includes the fourth identity corresponding to the multicast service. In an example where the fourth identity is a TMGI, the response to activate MBS UE Context includes the TMGI corresponding to the multicast service.

In this disclosure, the first type of SMF entity may encapsulate the "activate MBS UEContext response" described herein using a specific format. For example, the specific format may be a session management Container (N1MBS SM Container) for multicast traffic associated with the N1 interface.

The AMF entity may then send a downlink NAS transport message associated with the N2 interface to the RAN over the N2 interface. This downlink NAS transport message related to the N2 interface may be denoted as N2 downlink NASTransport. The downlink NAS Transport message related to the N2 interface may include a downlink NAS Transport (DL NAS Transport) message including one cell, i.e., the "response to activate MBSUE Context" described above. Through the downlink NAS Transport message related to the N2 interface, the AMF entity may instruct the RAN to directly send a DL NAS Transport message to the UE. It should be understood that the "response to activate MBS UE Context" included in the DL NAS Transport message described herein may also be encapsulated by the N1MBS SM Context described above.

The RAN may then send the DL NAS Transport message described above to the UE. Accordingly, the UE may acquire the fourth identifier corresponding to the multicast service through the DL NAS Transport message. In an example where the fourth identity is a TMGI, the UE may acquire the TMGI corresponding to the multicast service through a DL NAS Transport message.

So far, a method 500 performed by a first type SMF entity when a UE activates a multicast service according to a first activation manner or a second activation manner has been described in connection with fig. 5.

In addition, for the second activation mode, the method 600 to be described below may also be performed before the method 500. Next, a method 600 performed by the second-type SMF entity when the UE activates the multicast service according to the second activation manner will be described with reference to fig. 6.

As shown in fig. 6, in step S601, the second type SMF entity may establish a protocol data unit session and assign an internet protocol address (IP address) to the user equipment. For example, in an example where the first identity is S-NSSAI and the second identity is DNN, the UE may send a PDU session setup request to the network according to S-NSSAI and DNN corresponding to the multicast service, which may include S-NSSAI and DNN corresponding to the multicast service. Then, the AMF entity may select one SMF entity from the plurality of SMF entities according to the S-NSSAI and the DNN corresponding to the multicast service. The selected SMF entity may then select a UPF entity from the plurality of UPF entities and assign an IP address to the UE.

Then, in step S602, a multicast address of a multicast service to be activated by the user equipment is obtained from a second type user plane function entity participating in the establishment of the pdu session, wherein the multicast address is obtained after the user equipment sends a packet to a network including the second type user plane function entity according to the internet protocol address, wherein the packet is used for indicating the multicast service that the user equipment wants to activate, a destination address of the packet is a multicast address of the multicast service, or a protocol portion of the packet includes the multicast address of the multicast service.

Specifically, the UE may send a data packet to the network according to the obtained IP address, so that the second-type user plane functional entity in the network obtains the data packet, where a destination address of the data packet is a multicast address of the multicast service, or a protocol portion of the data packet includes the multicast address of the multicast service. For example, the UE may send an IGMP Join packet to the network at the assigned IP address after the PDU session setup is completed. When IGMP version 1 or 2 is used, the destination IP address of the IGMP Join packet may be the multicast address of the multicast service. When IGMP version 3 is employed, the IGMP protocol portion of the IGMP Join packet may include the multicast address of the multicast traffic.

Accordingly, the second-type SMF entity may acquire the multicast address of the multicast service to be activated by the user equipment from the second-type user plane functional entity. For example, the second-type UPF entity may be configured according to a Packet Detection Rule (PDR) of the second-type SMF entity, and report a multicast address corresponding to the IGMP Join Packet to the second-type SMF entity after detecting the IGMP Join Packet (e.g., report the multicast address corresponding to the IGMP Join Packet through an N4 session report message).

When the second-type SMF entity decides to instruct the user equipment to activate the multicast service, the second-type SMF entity may perform step S603. In step S603, the second-type SMF entity may send, to the user equipment, a request for instructing the user equipment to activate the multicast service, where the request for instructing the user equipment to activate the multicast service includes a first identifier corresponding to the multicast service to be activated by the user equipment, a second identifier, and a multicast address of the multicast service. For example, the second type SMF entity may send a request to the user equipment via an access and mobility management function entity for instructing the user equipment to activate the multicast service.

For example, the second type SMF entity may send a message to the AMF entity over the Namf interface, which may be denoted as Namf _ Communication _ N1message transfer, via a message transfer related to the N1 interface communicated over the Namf interface. The message may include information for requesting MBS UE Context activation to instruct the UE to activate the multicast service. The information for requesting MBS UE Context activation may include S-NSSAI, DNN corresponding to a multicast service to be activated by the user equipment and a multicast address of the multicast service, and the information for requesting MBS UE Context activation may be represented as Request MBS UE Context. Furthermore, the "Request MBS UEContext Activation" described herein may be encapsulated with the specific format described above (e.g., N1MBS SM Container).

After step S603, the AMF entity may send a downlink NAS transport message related to the N2 interface to the RAN through the N2 interface. This downlink NAS transport message related to the N2 interface may be denoted as N2 downlink NASTransport. The downlink NAS Transport message associated with the N2 interface may include a downlink NAS Transport (DL NAS Transport) message, which may include the "Request MBS UE Context Activation" encapsulated using N1MBS SMContainer described above. Through the downlink NAS Transport message related to the N2 interface, the AMF entity may instruct the RAN to directly send a DL NAS Transport message to the UE. The RAN may then send the DL NAS Transport message described above to the UE. Accordingly, the UE can acquire one first identity, one second identity and one multicast address from the second-type SMF entity through a DL NASTransport message.

According to the method performed by the first-type session management function entity of the embodiment of the disclosure, in the process of activating the multicast service, the first-type session management function entity may receive, from the user device, the first identifier, the second identifier, the third identifier corresponding to the multicast service to be activated by the user device, and the multicast address of the multicast service, determine, according to at least these pieces of information, a fourth identifier corresponding to the multicast service, and feed back the fourth identifier to the user device, so that the user device activates the multicast service.

The above described procedure for activating multicast service is performed for each UE (i.e. Per UE). That is, when each UE of a plurality of UEs wants to activate the same multicast service, each UE of the plurality of UEs needs to go through the above-described procedure of activating the multicast service.

When one multicast service is activated, service data corresponding to the multicast service (may be simply referred to as "multicast service data") may be transmitted to the UE. In general, one multicast service may be activated for a plurality of UEs. Therefore, the multicast service data will be transmitted to each UE in a multicast manner. This process is performed for a plurality of UEs, which may be considered as one multicast group. That is, this process can be viewed as being performed for one multicast Group (i.e., Per Group).

Therefore, multicasting may also be referred to as multicasting, where the same content is transmitted to multiple users. In the multicast manner, data for all target entities can be transmitted at once and data can be transmitted only for a specific user. Broadcast is similar to multicast, in that the same content is transmitted to multiple users, but it does not make a user's choice.

Before multicast/broadcast service data is transmitted to each UE, a corresponding user plane needs to be established. The establishment of the user plane will involve a plurality of entities in the network, such as an AMF entity, a SMF entity of a first type, a UPF entity of a first type, an MBSF entity, an MBSU entity, a PCF entity, a NEF entity, and an AF entity of a first type. In addition, the establishment of the user plane takes Policy Control and Charging (PCC) technology into account.

The operation of the first type SMF entity in the process of establishing the user plane will be described below with reference to fig. 7. Fig. 7 is a flow diagram of a method 700 performed by a first type of SMF entity for establishing a user plane according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

As shown in fig. 7, in step S701, a first type SMF entity receives a first request from a Policy Control Function (PCF) entity, where the first request is used to request the start of a multicast/broadcast service Session (MBS Session), and the first request at least includes a fourth identifier corresponding to a multicast/broadcast service, a quality of service Rule (QoS Rule) of at least one data flow corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, and an identifier of the multicast/broadcast service Session, where the fourth identifier is an identifier allocated to the multicast/broadcast service by a first type application function entity, and the first type application function entity supports the multicast/broadcast service. Further, for a broadcast service, the first request may also include a broadcast address of the broadcast service, a first identification corresponding to the broadcast service (e.g., S-NSSAI used by the broadcast service), a second identification corresponding to the broadcast service (e.g., DNN used by the broadcast service), and a service area of the broadcast service (e.g., a geographic area such as a city).

According to an example of the present disclosure, the fourth identification in the first request may be the TMGI described above. The identification of the multicast/broadcast service session in the first request may be an ID of the multicast/broadcast service session. In addition, the first request may further include other information, for example, an expected duration (expected session duration) of the multicast/broadcast service session, and a data transmission time (time to MBS data transfer) of the multicast/broadcast service.

Further, according to an example of the present disclosure, the PCF entity corresponding to the first type of SMF entity may send a first request to the first type of SMF entity over the Nmb-SMF interface to request the start of the multicast/broadcast service session. This first Request may be denoted as Nmb-smf _ MBS Session Start Request.

Further, according to an example of the present disclosure, the first request in step S701 is determined by the policy control function entity according to a second request received from a multicast/broadcast service function (MBSF) entity, the second request including at least the fourth identification, the identification of the first type session management function entity, information of at least one data flow corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, a quality of service requirement of the at least one data flow, the identification of the multicast/broadcast service session, an expected duration of the multicast/broadcast service session, and a data transmission time of the multicast/broadcast service.

In this example, the MBSF entity may send a second request to the PCF entity over the Npcf interface to request the start of a multicast/broadcast traffic session. This second Request may be denoted as an Npcf _ mbssessuonstartrequest.

Further, in this example, the second request is determined by the multicast/broadcast service function entity according to a third request received from a network open function (NEF) entity, the third request including at least the fourth identification, information of at least one data flow corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, a quality of service requirement of the at least one data flow, an identification of the multicast/broadcast service session, an expected duration of the multicast/broadcast service session, and a data transmission time of the multicast/broadcast service.

For example, the NEF entity may send a third request to the MBSF entity through the Nmbsf interface to request the start of a multicast/broadcast service session. This third Request may be denoted as an Nmbsf mbssessuonstart Request.

Further, in this example, the third request is determined by the network open function entity according to a fourth request received from a first type Application Function (AF) entity, the fourth request comprising at least the fourth identification, an identification of at least one multicast/broadcast service function entity, information of at least one data flow corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, a quality of service requirement of the at least one data flow, an identification of the multicast/broadcast service session, an expected duration of the multicast/broadcast service session, and a data transmission time of the multicast/broadcast service.

For example, the first type AF entity may send a fourth request to the NEF entity over the Nnef interface to request the start of a multicast/broadcast service session. This fourth Request may be denoted as the Nnef _ MBS session start Request.

Exemplary procedures for the first type AF entity sending the fourth request to the NEF entity, the NEF entity sending the third request to the MBSF entity, the MBSF entity sending the second request to the PCF entity, and the PCF entity sending the first request to the first type SMF entity are given below.

Specifically, first, the first-type AF entity transmits a fourth request (Nnef _ MBS SessionStartRequest) to the NEF entity, where the fourth request may include a TMGI corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, at least one MBSF ID, information of at least one data flow corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, a quality of service requirement of the at least one data flow, an ID of a multicast/broadcast service session, an expected duration of the multicast/broadcast service session, and a data transmission time of the multicast/broadcast service.

Then, the NEF entity may transmit a third Request (Nmbsf _ mbssessuonstart Request) to the corresponding MBSF entity according to the MBSF ID, where the third Request may include the TMGI corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, information of at least one data flow corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, a quality of service requirement of the at least one data flow, an ID of the multicast/broadcast service session, an expected duration of the multicast/broadcast service session, and a data transmission time of the multicast/broadcast service. It is to be appreciated that there may be multiple MBSF entities in the wireless communication system, and that each MBSF entity may correspond to one or more SMF entities of the first type. Thus, the NEF entity may send the third request to each MBSF entity separately, but the third request sent to each MBSF entity may be the same.

Then, the MBSF entity may select one MBSU entity from the plurality of MBSU entities according to the first identifier corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, the second identifier, and the multicast/broadcast address of the multicast/broadcast service. Further, the MBSF entity may transmit a multicast/broadcast address of the multicast/broadcast service to the selected MBSU entity.

For example, the MBSF entity may send a Request for MBS Session Establishment to a selected MBSU entity through an N4 interface, which may be denoted as N4MBS Session Establishment Request and may include a multicast/broadcast address of the multicast/broadcast service, so that the MBSU entity establishes a GTP user plane tunneling tree from the MBSU entity to the MBUPF entity according to a multicast routing protocol, thereby enabling transmission of data (e.g., traffic data corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service) that the MBSU entity wants to send to the MB UPF entity in a tree-like GTP user plane tunnel. The MBSU entity may then assign a tunnel multicast address (e.g., a first tunnel multicast address) for transmitting traffic data corresponding to the multicast/broadcast traffic, wherein the first tunnel multicast address is used for multicast tunneling between network entities (e.g., multicast tunneling between the MBSU entity and the MB UPF entity). Specifically, the MBSU entity may allocate a multicast address of a GTP user plane tunnel through the N6 interface to the multicast/broadcast service, and use the multicast address of the allocated GTP user plane tunnel as the multicast address of the first tunnel. The "tunnel Multicast Address" described herein may also be referred to as a Transport layer IP Multicast Address (Transport IP Multicast Address). Then, the MBSU entity may assign a fifth identifier, for example, a Common-Tunnel End point ID (C-TEID), to the multicast/broadcast service, where the fifth identifier is used to identify a transmission Tunnel (e.g., a GTP-related transmission Tunnel) of the multicast/broadcast service. Then, the MBSU entity may feed back a Response message (N4MBS Session Establishment Response) to the MBSF entity in Response to a request for MBS Session Establishment (N4MBS Session Establishment request) sent by the MBSF entity to the MBSU entity. The response information may include the first tunnel multicast address and the fifth identification assigned by the MBSU entity.

For another example, the MBSF entity may send a Request for MBS Session Establishment to the selected MBSU entity through the N4 interface, where the Request may be denoted as N4MBS Session Establishment Request and may include the multicast/broadcast address of the multicast/broadcast service, the first tunneling multicast address allocated by the MBSF, and the fifth identifier, so that the MBSU entity establishes a GTP user plane tunneling tree from the MBSU entity to the MB UPF entity according to the multicast routing protocol, thereby enabling transmission of data (e.g., traffic data corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service) that the MBSU entity wants to send to the MB UPF entity in a tree-like GTP user plane tunnel. Then, the MBSU entity may feed back a Response message (N4MBS Session Establishment Response) to the MBSF entity in Response to the Request for MBS Session Establishment sent by the MBSF entity to the MBSU entity (N4MBS Session Establishment Request). The response information may be an acknowledgement of a Request (N4MBS Session Establishment Request) sent by the MBSF entity to the MBSU entity for MBS Session Establishment.

Further, in an example where there are multiple PCF entities, each corresponding to one or more SMF entities of the first type, the PCF entities are determined by the MBSF entity based on an identification of the SMF entities of the first type (e.g., MB-SMF ID). For example, the MBSF entity may determine the PCF entity corresponding to the MB-SMF ID based on the network configuration.

Then, the MBSF entity may send a second Request (Npcf _ mbssessuonstartrequest) to the corresponding PCF entity according to the MB-SMF ID, where the second Request may include the TMGI corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, an MB-SMF ID, information of at least one data flow corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, a quality of service requirement of the at least one data flow, an ID of a multicast/broadcast service session, an expected duration of the multicast/broadcast service session, and a data transmission time of the multicast/broadcast service. In this case, the message sent from the MBSF entity to the PCF entity contains only one MB-SMF ID. Further, in this case, when each PCF entity corresponds to a plurality of first-type SMF entities, the MBSF entity needs to send a plurality of second requests to the PCF entity according to the MB-SMF IDs of the plurality of first-type SMF entities, and each second request includes one MB-SMF ID, and parameters included in each second request other than the MB-SMF ID are the same. Consequently, subsequently, the PCF entity does not need to send the first request message again to each of the first type SMF entities.

Alternatively, the MBSF entity may send a second request to the corresponding PCF entity based on the MB-SMF ID, which may include the TMGI corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, a list of MB-SMF IDs, information of at least one data flow corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, quality of service requirements of the at least one data flow, an ID of a multicast/broadcast service session, an expected duration of the multicast/broadcast service session, and a data transmission time of the multicast/broadcast service. In this case, the message sent from the MBSF entity to the PCF entity contains a plurality of MB-SMF IDs. Therefore, subsequently, the PCF entity needs to send the first request message to the plurality of SMF entities of the first type, respectively.

Finally, the PCF entity may send a first Request (Nmb-SMF _ MBs session start Request) to a corresponding first type SMF entity based on the MB-SMF ID, which may include a TMGI corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, a quality of service rule for the at least one data flow, an ID of a multicast/broadcast service session, an expected duration of the multicast/broadcast service session, and a data transmission time of the multicast/broadcast service. In addition, for a broadcast service, the first request may further include a broadcast address of the broadcast service, S-NSSAI and DNN used by the broadcast service, and a service area of the broadcast service.

Further, the "at least one MBSF ID" in the third request described above is all MBSF IDs for which all UEs in the multicast group activate MBS UE Context. When different UEs correspond to the same MBSF ID, the first type AF entity may treat these same MBSF IDs as one MBSF ID. For the broadcast service, "at least one MBSF ID" in the third request described above is a list of MBSF IDs configured in the AF entity according to the broadcast address of the broadcast service, or a list of MBSF IDs determined according to the service area of the broadcast service.

In addition, the "information of at least one data stream corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service" in the above-described fourth request may be information of all data streams to be used for transmitting the multicast/broadcast service. The data flow here may be an IP flow. In this case, the information of each data flow may be determined by the IP triplet. The IP triplet may indicate that the destination IP address of the IP stream is a multicast/broadcast address, a destination port, and the communication protocol (e.g., UDP protocol) employed. It is to be appreciated that in other examples of the present disclosure, the information for each data flow may be determined by an IP five-tuple, or may be determined by other triplets, which is not limited by the present disclosure.

Further, the "quality of service Requirement of the at least one data flow" in the above-described fourth request may include a quality of service Requirement (QoS Requirement) corresponding to each data flow. The quality of service requirements for each data flow may include one or more of a QoS Class Identifier (QCI), an Allocation Retention Priority (ARP), a Priority Level (Priority Level), and the like. Further, the quality of service requirements of each data flow may be used to generate quality of service rules for each data flow in the first request. The specific generation method may adopt some existing generation methods, and the disclosure does not limit this.

Further, any of the first request, the second request, the third request, and the fourth request described above may further include an aggregated maximum rate corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service. The aggregate maximum rate may only have a value in the downlink direction and not in the uplink direction. Alternatively, the aggregate maximum rate may have both a value for the downlink direction and a value for the uplink direction. The aggregate maximum Rate may be an Aggregate Maximum Bit Rate (AMBR).

Returning to fig. 7, after step S701, in step S702, the first-type SMF entity performs the multicast/broadcast service session according to the first request. According to an example of the present disclosure, step S702 may include 8 sub-steps, step S7021 to step S7028, respectively.

Specifically, in step S7021, the first-type SMF entity may generate a quality of service Flow identifier (QoS Flow Identity, QFI), a quality of service Profile (QoS Profile), and a quality of service enforcement Rule (QER) corresponding to each data Flow according to a quality of service Rule of each data Flow of the at least one data Flow corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service. In the present disclosure, the quality of service flow identification corresponding to each data flow may also be referred to as a quality of service flow identification (MBS QFI) of the multicast/broadcast service. Further, the quality of service enforcement rules described herein may be similar to conventional N4QER rules.

Then, in step S7022, the first-type SMF entity may select one first-type user plane functional entity according to the fourth identifier. In an example where the fourth identifier is a TMGI, for the multicast service, the first-type SMF entity may determine a corresponding MBS UE Context according to the TMGI, and obtain the S-NSSAI, the DNN, and the multicast address included in the MBS UE Context according to the determined MBS UE Context. For the broadcast service, the broadcast address of the broadcast service, the S-NSSAI and DNN used by the broadcast service, and the service area of the broadcast service are included in the first request message. The first-type SMF entity may then select one first-type UPF entity from the plurality of first-type UPF entities based on the acquired S-NSSAI, DNN, and multicast/broadcast address.

Then, in step S7023, the first-type SMF entity may send a fifth request to the selected first-type user plane functional entity, where the fifth request is used to establish transmission resources of the multicast/broadcast service session. The fifth request includes at least a multicast/broadcast address of the multicast/broadcast service, a quality of service enforcement rule for at least one data stream corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, and an aggregated maximum rate (e.g., AMBR) corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service. For example, the first-type SMF entity may send a Request for requesting MBS Session Establishment, which may be denoted as N4MBS Session Establishment Request, to the selected first-type UPF entity through the N4 interface.

Then, in step S7024, the first-type SMF entity may obtain a response to the fifth request from the selected first-type user plane functional entity, where the response to the fifth request includes a tunneling multicast address (i.e., a second tunneling multicast address) allocated by the selected first-type user plane functional entity for transmitting traffic data corresponding to the multicast/broadcast traffic, and a sixth identity corresponding to the second tunneling multicast address, where the second tunneling multicast address is used for multicast tunneling between network entities (e.g., multicast tunneling between the first-type UPF entity and the RAN), and the sixth identity is used for identifying a transmission tunnel (e.g., a transmission tunnel related to GTP) of the multicast/broadcast traffic.

For example, the first-type UPF entity may establish a GTP user plane tunneling tree from the first-type UPF entity to the RAN according to the multicast routing protocol according to the received request, so as to transmit data (e.g., traffic data corresponding to the multicast/broadcast traffic) to be sent to the RAN by the first-type UPF entity in a tree-like GTP user plane tunnel. Then, the first type UPF entity may assign a tunneling multicast address for transmitting service data corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service. Specifically, the first-type UPF entity may allocate a multicast address of a GTP user plane tunnel through the N3 interface to the multicast/broadcast service, and use the multicast address of the allocated GTP user plane tunnel as the second tunneling multicast address. Then, the second-type UPF entity may assign a sixth identity, for example, a Common-Tunnel End point ID (C-TEID), to the multicast/broadcast service.

After the first-type UPF entity allocates the second tunneling multicast address and the sixth identifier to the multicast/broadcast service, the first-type UPF entity may send response information to the first-type SMF entity through the N4 interface, in response to the request for requesting MBS session establishment, which is sent by the first-type SMF entity to the first-type UPF entity, as described above. The response information may include a second tunneling multicast address corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service and a sixth identification corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service. This response information may be denoted as N4MBS Session establishment response.

Accordingly, the first-type SMF entity may acquire the second tunneling multicast address corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service from the selected first-type UPF entity and acquire the sixth identity corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service from the selected user plane functional entity. Then, for multicast traffic, the first-type SMF entity may record the second tunnel multicast address and the sixth identity in a multicast traffic context of each user equipment that has activated the multicast traffic. In addition, the first type SMF entity may further record an identification of the above PCF entity (PCF ID) and an identification of the first type UPF entity (MB-UPF ID) in a multicast service context of each user equipment that has activated the multicast service. For a broadcast service, the first-type SMF entity may record the second tunneling multicast address and the sixth identity in a broadcast service session context corresponding to the broadcast service. It is to be appreciated that for broadcast services, there is no broadcast service session context for each UE (i.e., per UE), there is only one entity-level broadcast service session context on the first type SMF entity. Different broadcast service session contexts may exist for different broadcast services.

It should be understood that in the present disclosure, the second tunneling multicast address and the sixth identification assigned by the first-type UPF entity uniquely correspond to the multicast/broadcast address of the multicast/broadcast service.

It should also be understood that in the present disclosure, the second tunnel multicast address assigned by the first-type UPF entity may be regarded as a tunnel multicast address assigned by a Core Network (CN), and the sixth identity assigned by the first-type UPF entity may be regarded as a sixth identity assigned by the CN.

It should be appreciated that in the present disclosure, the transmission channels of the data streams corresponding to different multicast/broadcast services may be distinguished by different fifth identifiers, and the multiple data streams corresponding to each multicast/broadcast service may be distinguished by the QFI described above.

Furthermore, it should be appreciated that the first-type UPF entity may also establish a transmission tree from the first-type AF entity to the MBSU entity. That is, the transmission from the first type AF entity to the MBSU entity may also be in a transport layer multicast manner. Alternatively, the multicast transmission from the first-type AF entity to the MBSU entity may also be implemented by a routing means (e.g. a router) between the first-type AF entity and the MBSU entity.

Furthermore, it is to be appreciated that when the first-type SMF entity corresponds to a plurality of first-type UPF entities, the first-type SMF entity may perform the above-described steps S7022 to S7024 for each first-type UPF entity.

Further, according to an example of the present disclosure, steps S7022 to S7024 may also be replaced with steps S7022 'to S7024' (not shown in the figure). In step S7022', the first-type SMF entity may select one first-type user plane functional entity according to the fourth identity. Then, in step S7023', the first-type SMF entity may send a fifth request to the selected first-type user plane function entity, where the fifth request is used to establish transmission resources of the multicast/broadcast service session, and the fifth request includes a second tunneling multicast address allocated by the first-type session management function entity for transmitting service data corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, and a sixth identifier corresponding to the second tunneling multicast address, where the second tunneling multicast address is used for multicast tunneling between network entities, and the sixth identifier is used to identify a transmission tunnel of the multicast/broadcast service. Then, in step S7024', the first-type SMF entity may obtain a response to the fifth request from the selected first-type user plane functional entity, wherein the response to the fifth request is an acknowledgement of the fifth request. That is, the second tunneling multicast address described herein may be assigned by the first-type SMF entity and notified to the selected first-type UPF entity by the first-type SMF entity.

In addition, in this example, the fifth request may also include a multicast/broadcast address of the multicast/broadcast service, a quality of service enforcement rule for at least one data flow corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, and an aggregated maximum rate (e.g., AMBR) corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service.

In addition, similarly, for multicast traffic, the first-type SMF entity may record the second tunnel multicast address and the sixth identity in a multicast traffic context of each user equipment that has activated the multicast traffic; for a broadcast service, the first-type SMF entity may record the second tunneling multicast address and the sixth identity in a broadcast service session context corresponding to the broadcast service. Furthermore, it is to be appreciated that when the first-type SMF entity corresponds to a plurality of first-type UPF entities, the first-type SMF entity may perform the above-described steps S7022 'to S7024' for each first-type UPF entity.

Then, for the multicast service, the first-type SMF entity may determine an identity (e.g., RAN ID) of at least one serving base station according to the respective user device multicast service context that has activated the multicast service, in step S7025. It has been described above that in the process of activating a multicast/broadcast service, a first type SMF entity may record the identity of the serving base station of a UE activating said multicast service in the MBS UE Context of that UE. Thus, in step S7025, the first type SMF entity may obtain all RAN IDs from the respective user equipment multicast service contexts that have activated the multicast service. For broadcast services, the first type of SMF entity may determine an identity (e.g., RAN ID) of at least one serving base station based on a service area of the broadcast service.

Then, in step S7026, for the multicast service, the first-type SMF entity may determine the identities of the corresponding access and mobility management function entities according to the identities of the serving base stations, respectively. For example, the first type of SMF entity may obtain a corresponding AMF ID from MBS UE Context corresponding to each RAN ID. For broadcast services, the SMF entities of the first type may determine the AMF ID corresponding to each RAN ID from the network configuration information.

Then, in step S7027, the first type SMF entity may send first information to the respective access and mobility management functional entities according to their identities, wherein the first information comprises at least an identification of the corresponding serving base station, the fourth identification, an aggregated maximum rate (e.g., AMBR) corresponding to the multicast/broadcast traffic, a quality of service flow identification and a quality of service profile corresponding to each data flow, the sixth identification, and the second tunneling multicast address, so that each access and mobility management functional entity sends a fifth request to the corresponding serving base station, wherein the fifth request includes the first identifier, the fourth identifier, a quality of service flow identifier and a quality of service profile corresponding to each data flow, the sixth identifier, and the second tunnel multicast address.

For example, the first type SMF entity may send, to the AMF entity through the Namf interface, an MBS message transmission related to the N2 interface, which may be denoted as Namf _ Communication _ N2MBSMessageTransfer, and may include a RAN ID, a TMGI, an aggregated maximum rate (e.g., AMBR) corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, a quality of service flow identification and a quality of service profile corresponding to each data flow, the sixth identification, and the second tunneled multicast address, and which is communicated through the Namf interface. Further, the "TMGI, the aggregated maximum rate (e.g., AMBR) corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, the quality of service flow identification and quality of service profile corresponding to each data flow, the sixth identification, and the second tunnel multicast address" described herein may be encapsulated using a particular format. For example, the specific format may be a session management Container (N2 MBS SM Container) for multicast/broadcast services associated with the N2 interface.

It should be appreciated that steps S7026 and S7027 are performed for each serving base station for which the SMF entity is intended. Further, in the present disclosure, when RAN IDs are different, the corresponding AMF IDs may be the same.

After step S7027, each access and mobility management function entity may send a sixth request to the corresponding serving base station, where the sixth request includes the first identifier, the fourth identifier, an aggregated maximum rate (e.g., AMBR) corresponding to the multicast/broadcast traffic, a quality of service flow identifier and a quality of service profile corresponding to each data flow, the sixth identifier, and the second tunneling multicast address. For example, the AMF entity may send a Request for requesting an MBS Session Start Request to the RAN through an N2 interface, which may be denoted as N2MBS Session Start Request, and may include S-NSSAI and TMGI corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, an aggregated maximum rate (e.g., AMBR) corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, quality of service flow identifications and quality of service profiles corresponding to respective data flows of the multicast/broadcast service, the sixth identification corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, and the second tunneling multicast address.

Then, the serving base station may transmit a response message to the AMF entity in response to the sixth request. For example, the RAN may send the response information to the AMF entity through the N2 interface in response to the above-described request sent by the AMF entity to the RAN for requesting the MBS session start. The response information may be an acknowledgement to the N2MBS Session Start Request sent by the AMF entity to the RAN described above and may be denoted as N2MBS Session Start response.

Then, the serving base station may allocate resources for transmitting MBS service data to its serving UEs to support data streams with different quality of service requirements. Accordingly, the UE may receive MBS service data through the allocated resources.

Then, the serving base station may join the transmission group corresponding to the second tunneling multicast address (e.g., CNN3 tunneling multicast address) described above and receive MBS service data from the first-type UPF entity. That is, a transmission tree from the first-type UPF entity to the serving base station may be established to transmit data (e.g., MBS service data) to be transmitted to the serving base station by the first-type UPF entity in a tree-like manner.

Then, the AMF entity may transmit a notification message to the first-type SMF entity to notify the information transmitted by the first-type SMF entity to the AMF entity described in the above-described step S7027. For example, the AMF entity may send the notification information to the first type SMF entity over the Namf interface. The notification information may be an acknowledgement of the information sent by the first type SMF entity to the AMF entity described in step S7027 above. The notification information may be an MBS message transmission related to the N2 interface, which may be denoted as Namf _ Communication _ N2MBSMessageTransfer, communicated over the Namf interface.

Then, the first type SMF entity may determine whether to immediately perform step S7028 after step S7024 or to perform step S7028 after step S7027 according to the network configuration. In step S7028, the first-type SMF entity may send a response message to the PCF entity in response to the first request sent by the PCF entity to the first-type SMF entity, described in step S701. For example, the Response information may be an acknowledgement of "Nmb-SMF _ MBS session start Request" transmitted by the PCF entity to the first-type SMF entity as described in step S701, and may be denoted as Nmb-SMF _ MBS session start Response.

Then, after step S7028, the PCF entity may send a response message to the MBSF entity in response to the second request sent by the MBSF entity to the PCF entity, described in step S701. For example, the Response information may be an acknowledgement of "Npcf _ MBS session start Request" transmitted by the MBSF entity to the PCF entity described in step S701, and may be denoted as Npcf _ MBS session start Response.

Then, when the MBSF entity receives the response messages of all PCF entities, or after a preset time after the MBSF entity receives the response messages of all PCF entities, the MBSF entity may send a response message to the NEF entity in response to the third request sent by the NEF entity to the MBSF entity, which is described in step S701 above. For example, the MBSF entity may transmit the Response information to the NEF entity through the Nmbsf interface, and the Response information may be denoted as Nmbsf _ mbssessuonstart Response.

Then, when the NEF entity receives the response information of all the MBSF entities, or after a preset time after the NEF entity receives the response information of all the MBSF entities, the NEF entity may send a response information to the first-type AF entity in response to the fourth request sent by the first-type AF entity to the NEF entity, which is described in step S701 above. For example, the NEF entity may send the Response information to the first type AF entity through the Nnef interface, and the Response information may be denoted as Nnef _ MBS session Response. Further, the response information may include a first list and a second list. The first list may be a list of MBSFIDs of MBSF entities that successfully establish a user plane corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service. The second list may be a list of MBSFIDs of MBSF entities that have not successfully established a user plane corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service.

Then, when the first type AF entity receives the response information of the NEF entity, or after a preset time after the first type AF entity receives the response information of the NEF entity, the above-mentioned procedure for establishing the user plane corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service may be performed again for the MBSF entity corresponding to the MBSFID in the second list.

So far, the user plane corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service has been successfully established. This means that the multicast/broadcast service can be started. For example, the first type AF entity may send multicast/broadcast service data (e.g., MBS data packets) with a destination IP address being a multicast/broadcast address of the multicast/broadcast service to each MBSU entity downstream. Each MBSU entity may then transmit multicast/broadcast service data to each first-type UPF entity by the transport layer multicast method described above. Each first-type UPF entity may then transmit multicast/broadcast service data to each RAN by the transport layer multicast method described above. Then, each RAN may transmit the multicast/broadcast service data to each UE through the resources allocated to the UE.

According to the method performed by the first-type session management function entity of the embodiment of the present disclosure, the first-type session management function entity may receive a request for requesting the start of a multicast/broadcast service session from a policy control function entity corresponding to the first-type session management function entity, and the request may include a fourth identification corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, a quality of service rule for at least one data flow corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, and an identification of the multicast/broadcast service session, and the first type session management function entity may conduct a multicast/broadcast service session according to the request, therefore, the transmission of the multicast/broadcast service data is facilitated, the PCC technology is applied to the transmission of the multicast/broadcast service data, and the transmission combination of the PCC and the multicast/broadcast service data is realized.

An exemplary flow of activating a multicast service and establishing a user plane corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service in a wireless communication system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure will be described below with reference to fig. 8-10, where fig. 8 is an exemplary flow of activating a multicast service based on a first activation manner in a wireless communication system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, fig. 9 is an exemplary flow of activating a multicast service based on a second activation manner in a wireless communication system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, and fig. 10 is an exemplary flow of establishing a user plane corresponding to a multicast/broadcast service in a wireless communication system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

First, a specific procedure for activating a multicast service based on a first activation manner in a wireless communication system is described with reference to fig. 8.

As shown in fig. 8, in step 1, the UE may initiate a registration procedure with the network, and the AMF entity establishes a UE Policy Association (UE Policy Association) with the PCF entity.

Then, in step 2, in the process of establishing UE policy association between the AMF entity and the PCF entity, the PCF entity may provide a plurality of URSP rules to the UE through the AMF entity, where each URSP rule corresponds to one multicast service and each URSP rule at least includes a multicast address of the corresponding multicast service.

Then, in step 3, the UE wants to activate a multicast service, and may query the relevant URSP rule according to the multicast address of the multicast service to obtain a routing Descriptor (Route Selection Descriptor), where the routing Descriptor includes an S-NSSAI and a DNN.

Then, in step 4, the UE decides to activate the multicast service in the first activation mode (i.e. the mode that optimizes the conventional activation of the multicast service).

Then, in step 5, the UE initiates a multicast service activation procedure to the multicast address of the multicast service. The UE may allocate an MBS UE Context ID to the MBS UE Context established for activating the multicast service. In addition, the UE may send an uplink non-access Transport (UL NAS Transport) message to the AMF entity, the message including three cells, wherein the first cell is the S-NSSAI obtained in step 3, the second cell is the DNN obtained in step 3, and the third cell is a request for activating MBS UE Context, the request for activating MBS UE Context including an MBS UE Context ID corresponding to the multicast service and a multicast address of the multicast service. In addition, the UE may encapsulate the request for activating MBS UE Context using a session management Container (N1MBS SM Container) for multicast traffic associated with the N1 interface.

Then, in step 6, the AMF entity may select one MB-SMF entity according to the received S-NSSAI and DNN, and send a Request (Nmb-SMF _ mbssessuecontext Request) for creating MBs UE Context related to the MBs session to the selected MB-SMF entity through the Nmb-SMF interface, the Request including the S-NSSAI corresponding to the multicast service, the DNN corresponding to the multicast service, the above-described "Request for activating MBs UE Context" encapsulated by the N1MBs SMContainer, and the SUPI and GPSI of the UE and the corresponding RAN ID. The MB-SMF entity may record this RAN ID in the MBs UE Context of the UE, so that the subsequent MB-SMF entity obtains the identities of the serving base stations of all the user devices that activate the multicast service through the MB-SMF entity, thereby facilitating establishment of the user plane corresponding to the multicast service.

Then, in step 7, the MB-SMF entity may determine whether the UE can use the multicast service according to subscription data of the UE obtained from the UDM entity (the interaction of the SMF entity with the UDM entity is not shown in the figure). If the UE can use the multicast service, the MB-SMF entity may determine the MBSF entity based on the received S-NSSAI, DNN and multicast address. Then, the MB-SMF entity may first send a notification of the MBs authorization Request (Nmbsf _ mbsautionrequest Request) to the MBSF entity through the Nmbsf interface, which may include S-NSSAI and DNN corresponding to the multicast service, UE specific identity SUPI, UE public identity GPSI, multicast address of the multicast service, MB-SMF ID, and information related to UE location (CGI, TAI, GUAMI, etc.). The MB-SMF ID in this notification may be recorded by the AF entity for use when establishing the user plane for the MBs session.

Then, in step 8, the MBSF entity may determine a corresponding MBS AF entity according to the received S-NSSAI, DNN and the multicast address of the multicast service. The MBSF entity may send a notification of the MBS authorization request (Nmbs _ MBS authorization request notification) to the NEF entity through the Nmbsf interface, and the notification may include S-NSSAI and DNN corresponding to the multicast service, a multicast address of the multicast service, an MBSF ID, and an MBS AF ID.

Then, in step 9, the NEF entity may send a notification (Nnef _ MBS authorization request notification) of the MBS authorization request to the corresponding MBS AF entity according to the MBS AF ID through the Nnef interface, and the notification may include S-NSSAI and DNN corresponding to the multicast service, the multicast address of the multicast service, and the MBSF ID. Furthermore, the MBSF ID in the notification may be recorded by the MBS AF entity for use in establishing the user plane corresponding to the multicast service.

Then, in step 10, the MBS AF may record the MBSF ID in the received message for use in establishing the user plane corresponding to the multicast service. If the MBS AF entity receives the message from the MBSF entity, the MBS AF entity may reply Response information (Nmbsf _ mbsauthonizationrequest notification Response) to the notification of the MBS authorization request to the MBSF entity through the Nmbsf interface, and the Response information may include the TMGI corresponding to the multicast service. If the MBS AF entity receives the message from the NEF entity, the MBS AF entity may reply response information (Nnef _ MBS authorization request notify response) to the notification of the MBS authorization request to the NEF entity through the Nnef interface, and the response information may include the TMGI corresponding to the multicast service. In addition, when the multicast service is not successfully authorized by the MBS AF entity, the response information fed back by the MBS AF entity does not include the TMGI and may include a reason for the failure.

Then, in step 11, the NEF entity may feed back Response information (Nmbsf _ MBS authorization request notification Response) of the notification of the MBS authorization request to the MBSF entity through the Nmbsf interface, where the Response information may include the TMGI corresponding to the multicast service.

If the above steps 8 to 11 are already performed during the process of activating the multicast service of the multicast address by other UEs, the above steps 8 to 11 may not be performed any more.

Then, in step 12, the MBSF entity may create MBS UEContext for the UE based on the multicast address. The MBSF entity may also record the MB-SMF ID in the UE's MBS UE Context. Then, the MBSF entity may feed back a Response message (Nmbsf _ MBs authorization Request Response) to the MB-SMF entity, which may be a Response to the above-described Nmbsf _ MBs authorization Request.

Then, in step 13, the MB-SMF entity may create MBs UEContext for the UE based on the multicast address, and may then feed back a Response message to the AMF entity, which may be a Response to the Nmb-SMF _ mbssessuesensitequecontext Request described above (Nmb-SMF _ mbssessuesessuesensit _ createmececonteext Response).

Then, in step 14, the MB-SMF entity decides to reply to the UE's request and sends another request message (Namf _ Communication _ N1MessageTransfer) to the AMF entity through the Namf interface. The other request information includes a Response (Activate MBS UE Context Response) activating MBS UE Context, which may include TMGI corresponding to the multicast service. Since the user plane corresponding to the multicast service is not established in the process of activating the multicast service, the other request information does not include an N2MBS session container given to the RAN by the SMF entity.

Then, in step 15, the AMF entity may send a downlink NAS Transport message (N2 downlink NAS Transport) associated with the N2 interface to the RAN through the N2 interface. The downlink NAS Transport message related to the N2 interface may include a downlink NAS Transport (DL NAS Transport) message including one information element, i.e., "response to activate MBS UE Context (TMGI)" described above. Through the downlink NAS Transport message related to the N2 interface, the AMF entity may instruct the RAN to directly send a DL NAS Transport message to the UE. The "response to activate MBS UE Context" included in the DL NAS Transport message described herein may also be encapsulated by N1MBS SM Context.

Then, in step 16, the RAN can send the DL NAS Transport message described above to the UE. Accordingly, the UE may acquire the TMGI corresponding to the multicast service through the DL NAS Transport message. The UE successfully acquires the TMGI corresponding to the multicast service, which indicates that the UE activates the multicast service.

Next, a specific procedure for activating the multicast service based on the second activation manner in the wireless communication system will be described with reference to fig. 9.

As shown in fig. 9, in step 1, the UE may perform steps 1 to 3 in fig. 8.

Then, in step 2, the UE decides to activate the multicast service in the second activation mode (i.e. compatible with the conventional mode of activating the multicast service).

Then, in step 3, the UE may send a PDU Session Establishment Request (PDU Session Establishment Request) to the network according to the S-NSSI and DNN obtained in step 1, where the PDU Session Establishment Request may include S-NSSAI and DNN corresponding to the multicast service. Then, the AMF entity may select one second-type SMF entity from the plurality of second-type SMF entities according to the S-NSSAI and the DNN corresponding to the multicast service. The selected SMF entity of the second type may then select one UPF entity of the second type from a plurality of UPF entities of the second type and assign an IP address to the UE.

Then, in step 4, the UE may send an IGMP Join packet to the network at the allocated IP address after the PDU session setup is completed. When IGMP version 1 or 2 is used, the destination IP address of the IGMP Join packet may be the multicast address of the multicast service. When IGMP version 3 is employed, the IGMP protocol portion of the IGMP Join packet may include the multicast address of the multicast traffic.

Then, in step 5, the second-type UPF entity may report the multicast address corresponding to the IGMP Join packet to the SMF entity through an N4 session report message after detecting the IGMP Join packet according to the PDR configuration of the second-type SMF entity.

Then, in step 6, the second type SMF entity decides to order the UE to activate said multicast service and sends a message (Namf _ Communication _ N1message transfer) to the AMF entity over the Namf interface. The message may include information (Request MBS UE Context activation) for requesting MBS UE Context activation to instruct the UE to activate the multicast service. The information for requesting MBS UE Context activation may include S-NSSAI, DNN corresponding to a multicast service to be activated by the UE and a multicast address of the multicast service. The information for requesting MBS UE Context activation may be encapsulated using N1MBS SM Context. Furthermore, here, the S-NSSAI, DNN may be determined by step 3 described above, and the multicast address of the multicast service may be determined by step 5 described above. Since the user plane corresponding to the multicast service is not established in the process of activating the multicast service, the information does not include the N2MBS session container given to the RAN by the second-type SMF entity.

Then, in step 7, the AMF entity may send a downlink NAS Transport message (N2 downlink NAS Transport) associated with the N2 interface to the RAN through the N2 interface, where the downlink NAS Transport message associated with the N2 interface may include a downlink NAS Transport (DL NAS Transport) message, and the DL NAS Transport message may include the above-described "Request MBS UE context information" encapsulated using the N1MBS SM Container. Through the downlink NAS Transport message related to the N2 interface, the AMF entity may instruct the RAN to directly send a DL NAS Transport message to the UE.

Then, in step 8, the RAN can send the DL NAS Transport message described above to the UE. Accordingly, the UE can acquire one S-NSSAI, one DNN, and one multicast address from the second-type SMF entity through the DL NAS Transport message. The UE may determine whether the acquired multicast address coincides with the multicast address that the UE wants to join in step 4 and whether the acquired S-NSSAI and DNN coincide with the S-NSSAI and DNN when the UE establishes the PDU session in step 3. If the three are consistent, step 9 is executed.

Then, in step 9, steps 5 to 16 in fig. 8 may be performed. Next, a specific procedure for establishing a user plane corresponding to a multicast/broadcast service in a wireless communication system is described with reference to fig. 10.

As shown in fig. 10, in step 1, the MBS AF entity may send a Request (Nnef _ MBS session start Request) to the NEF entity through the Nnef interface to Request the start of the multicast/broadcast service session. The request may include a TMGI corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, at least one MBSF ID, an aggregate maximum rate (e.g., AMBR) corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, information of at least one data stream corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, a quality of service requirement of the at least one data stream, an ID of a multicast/broadcast service session, an expected duration of the multicast/broadcast service session, and a data transmission time of the multicast/broadcast service. The quality of service requirement for each data flow described herein may include a QCI, an ARP, a Priority Level (Priority Level), etc. corresponding to the data flow. For broadcast services, the request may also include the broadcast address of the broadcast service, the S-NSSAI and DNN used by the broadcast service, and the service area (not shown) of the broadcast service. Furthermore, for multicast traffic, the "at least one MBSF ID" in the request is all MBSF IDs for which all UEs in the multicast group activate MBS UE Context. For the multicast service, when different UEs activate the multicast service, the MBSF IDs may be reported to the AF entities, respectively, and the AF entities may form an SMF ID list according to the reported MBSF IDs. When different UEs report the same MBSF ID, the same MBSF ID can be regarded as one MBSF ID. For the broadcast service, "at least one MBSF ID" in the request is a list of MBSF IDs configured in the AF according to the broadcast address of the broadcast service, or a list of MBSF IDs determined according to the service area of the broadcast service.

Then, in step 2, the NEF entity may send a Request (Nmbsf _ MBS session start Request) to the corresponding MBSF entity according to the MBSF ID, where the Request may include the TMGI corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, the aggregated maximum rate (e.g., AMBR) corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, information of at least one data flow corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, the quality of service requirement of the at least one data flow, the ID of the multicast/broadcast service session, the expected duration of the multicast/broadcast service session, and the data transmission time of the multicast/broadcast service. In addition, for a broadcast service, the request may also include the broadcast address of the broadcast service, the S-NSSAI and DNN used by the broadcast service, and the service area (not shown in the figure) of the broadcast service.

Then, in step 3, the MBSF entity may select one MBSU entity from the plurality of MBSU entities according to the S-NSSAI and DNN corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service and the multicast/broadcast address of the multicast/broadcast service. Furthermore, the MBSF entity may send a Request for MBS session establishment (N4MBS session establishment Request) to the selected MBSU entity through the N4 interface, which may include the multicast/broadcast address of the multicast/broadcast service. The MBSU entity can establish a GTP user plane tunnel transmission tree from the MBSU entity to the MB UPF entity according to a multicast routing protocol, thereby realizing the transmission of data (e.g., service data corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service) to be transmitted to the MB UPF entity by the MBSU entity in a tree-shaped GTP user plane tunnel manner. The MBSU entity may then assign a first tunneling multicast address for transmitting traffic data corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service. Specifically, the MBSU entity may allocate a multicast address of a GTP user plane tunnel through the N6 interface to the multicast/broadcast service, and use the multicast address of the allocated GTP user plane tunnel as the multicast address of the first tunnel. The MBSU entity may then assign a fifth identity, e.g., a Common-Tunnel End point ID (C-TEID), to the multicast/broadcast service. Then, the MBSU entity may feed back a Response message (N4MBS Session Establishment Response) to the MBSF entity in Response to a Request for MBS Session Establishment (N4MBS Session Establishment Request) sent by the MBSF entity to the MBSU entity. The response information may include the first tunnel multicast address and the fifth identification assigned by the MBSU entity. Alternatively, the MBSF entity may send a Request for MBS Session Establishment to the selected MBSU entity through the N4 interface, which may be denoted as N4MBS Session Establishment Request and may include the multicast/broadcast address of the multicast/broadcast service, the first tunneling multicast address allocated by the MBSF, and the fifth identity, so that the MBSU entity establishes a GTP user plane tunneling tree from the MBSU entity to the MB UPF entity according to the multicast routing protocol, thereby enabling transmission of data (e.g., traffic data corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service) that the MBSU entity wants to send to the MB UPF entity in a tree-like GTP user plane tunnel. Then, the MBSU entity may feed back a Response message (N4MBS Session Establishment Response) to the MBSF entity in Response to a Request for MBS Session Establishment (N4MBS Session Establishment Request) sent by the MBSF entity to the MBSU entity. The response information may be an acknowledgement of a Request (N4MBS Session Establishment Request) sent by the MBSF entity to the MBSU entity for MBS Session Establishment.

Then, in step 4, the MBSF entity may determine a PCF entity corresponding to the MB-SMF entity based on the MB-SMF ID according to the network configuration, and send a Request (Npcf _ MBs session start Request) to the corresponding PCF entity, where the Request may include a TMGI corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, an MB-SMF ID, an aggregate maximum rate (e.g., AMBR) corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, information of at least one data flow corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, a quality of service requirement of the at least one data flow, an ID of a multicast/broadcast service session, an expected duration of the multicast/broadcast service session, and a data transfer time of the multicast/broadcast service.

Then, in step 5, the PCF entity may send a Request (Nmb-SMF _ MBs session start Request) to the corresponding MB-SMF entity, which may include the TMGI corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, the aggregate maximum rate (e.g., AMBR) corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, the quality of service rule of the at least one data flow, the ID of the multicast/broadcast service session, the expected duration of the multicast/broadcast service session, and the data transmission time of the multicast/broadcast service, according to the MB-SMF ID obtained through step 4. For broadcast services, the request may also include the broadcast address of the broadcast service, the S-NSSAI and DNN used by the broadcast service, and the service area (not shown) of the broadcast service. Then, the MB-SMF entity may generate MBs QFI, QoS profile and N4QER rules corresponding to each data flow according to the received quality of service rule of at least one data flow corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service.

Then, in step 6, for the multicast service, the MB-SMF entity may determine a corresponding MBs UE Context according to the TMGI, and acquire the S-NSSAI, DNN, and multicast address included in the MBs UE Context according to the determined MBs UE Context. For the broadcast service, the request message of the PCF entity includes the broadcast address of the broadcast service, the S-NSSAI and DNN used by the broadcast service, and the service area (not shown in the figure) of the broadcast service. The MB-SMF entity may then select one MB-UPF entity from the plurality of MB-UPF entities based on the acquired S-NSSAI, DNN, and multicast/broadcast address. Then, the MB-SMF entity may send a Request for requesting MBs Session Establishment to the selected MB-UPF entity through the N4 interface (N4MBs Session Establishment Request). The request may include a multicast/broadcast address of the multicast/broadcast service, a quality of service enforcement rule for at least one data stream corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, and an aggregated maximum rate (e.g., AMBR) corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service. The MB-UPF entity may then establish a GTP user plane tunneling tree from the MB-UPF entity to the RAN according to the multicast routing protocol according to the received request, so as to transport data (e.g., service data corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service) that the MB-UPF entity wants to send to the RAN in a tree-like GTP user plane tunnel. Then, the MB-UPF entity may assign a second tunneling multicast address for transmitting service data corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service. Specifically, the MB-UPF entity may allocate a multicast address of a GTP user plane tunnel through the N3 interface to the multicast/broadcast service, and use the multicast address of the allocated GTP user plane tunnel as the second tunnel multicast address. The second-type UPF entity may then assign a sixth identity to the multicast/broadcast service. For the multicast service, the MB-SMF entity may record the PCF ID, the MB-UPF ID, the second tunnel multicast address corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, and the sixth identity in each MBs UE Context that has activated the multicast service. For a broadcast service, the MB-SMF entity may record the second tunneling multicast address and the sixth identity in a broadcast service session context corresponding to the broadcast service. It is to be appreciated that for broadcast services, there is no broadcast service session context for each UE (i.e., Per UE), there is only one entity-level broadcast service session context on the MB-SMF entity. Different broadcast service session contexts may exist for different broadcast services.

Then, in step 7, for the multicast service, the MB-SMF entity may determine all RAN IDs according to the respective MBs UE contexts that have activated the multicast service. Then, the MB-SMF entity may obtain the corresponding AMF ID from the MBs UE Context corresponding to each RAN ID, and send MBs message transmission (Namf _ Communication _ N2MBSMessageTransfer) related to the N2 interface, which is communicated through the Namf interface, to the AMF entity through the Namf interface. The message transmission includes the RAN ID, the TMGI, the aggregate maximum rate (e.g., AMBR) corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, the MBS QFI and QoS profile corresponding to each data flow, the second tunneling multicast address, and a sixth identification. Further, the "TMGI, the aggregated maximum rate (e.g., AMBR) corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, the MBS QFI and QoS profile corresponding to each data flow, the second tunneling multicast address, and the sixth identity" described herein may be encapsulated using the N2 MBSSM Container. For broadcast traffic, the MB-SMF entity may determine an identity (e.g., a RANID) of at least one serving base station from the service area of the broadcast traffic, and the MB-SMF may determine an AMFID corresponding to each RAN ID from the network configuration information.

Then, in step 8, the AMF entity may send a Request (N2 MBS Session Start Request) for requesting an MBS Session Start to the RAN through an N2 interface, and may include S-NSSAI and TMGI corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, an aggregated maximum rate (e.g., AMBR) corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, MBS QFI and QoS profiles corresponding to respective data streams of the multicast/broadcast service, a second tunneling multicast address corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, and a sixth identity. The MBS QFI and QoS profile corresponding to each data flow of the multicast/broadcast service described herein are determined by step 2 above, and the second tunneling multicast address and the sixth identity corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service described herein are determined by step 4 above.

Then, in step 9, the RAN may send a Response message (N2 mbssessustresponse) to the AMF entity via the N2 interface as an acknowledgement of the N2MBS session Start Request sent by the AMF entity to the RAN in step 8 above.

Then, in step 10, the RAN may allocate resources for transmitting MBS service data to the UEs served by the RAN to support data streams with different quality of service requirements. Accordingly, the UE may receive MBS service data through the allocated resources.

Then, in step 11, the RAN may join the transmission group corresponding to the second tunneling multicast address and receive MBS service data from the UPF entity.

Then, in step 12, the AMF entity may send a notification message (Namf _ Communication _ N2MBSMessageNotify) to the MB-SMF entity through the Namf interface as a response to the Namf _ Communication _ N2MBSMessageTransfer sent by the MB-SMF entity to the AMF entity in step 7 above.

The MB-SMF entity may then determine whether to immediately perform step 13 after step 6 or to perform step 13 after step 12 depending on the network configuration. In step 13, the MB-SMF entity may send a Response message (Nmb-SMF _ MBs session start Response) to the PCF entity over the Nsmf interface as an acknowledgement of the "Nmb-SMF _ MBs session start Request" sent by the PCF entity to the MB-SMF entity as described in step 5.

Then, after step 13, the PCF entity may send a Response message (Npcf _ MBS session start Response) to the MBSF entity in step 14 in Response to the Request (Npcf _ MBS session start Request) sent by the MBSF entity to the PCF entity in step 4.

Then, in step 15, when the MBSF entity receives the Response messages of all PCF entities, or after a preset time after the MBSF entity receives the Response messages of all PCF entities, the MBSF entity may send a Response message (Nmbsf _ MBS session start Response) to the NEF entity in Response to the Request (Nmbsf _ MBS session start Request) sent by the NEF entity to the MBSF entity in step 2 above.

Then, in step 16, when the NEF entity receives the Response information of all MBSF entities, or after a preset time after the NEF entity receives the Response information of all MBSF entities, the NEF entity may send a Response information (Nnef _ MBS session start Response) to the MBS AF entity through the Nnef interface. The response information may include a first list and a second list. The first list may be a list of MBSF IDs of MBSF entities that successfully establish a user plane corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service. The second list may be a list of MBSF IDs of MBSF entities that have not successfully established a user plane corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service. When the MBS AF entity receives the response information of the NEF entity, or after a preset time after the MBS AF entity receives the response information of the NEF entity, the above steps 1 to 16 may be performed again for the MBSF entities corresponding to the MBSF IDs in the second list.

Then, in step 17, the multicast/broadcast service can be started. The MBS AF entity may send MBS data packets whose destination IP address is the multicast/broadcast address of the multicast/broadcast service to each MBSU entity downstream. Each MBSU entity can then transmit multicast/broadcast service data to each MB-UPF entity by the transport layer multicast method described above. Then, each MB-UPF entity can send MBs data packets to each RAN by the transport layer multicast method described above. Then, each RAN may send MBS data packets to each UE through the resources allocated to the UE.

Hereinafter, a UE corresponding to the method illustrated in fig. 3 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is described with reference to fig. 11. Fig. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of a UE1100 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Since the function of the UE1100 is the same as the details of the method described above with reference to fig. 3, a detailed description of the same is omitted here for the sake of simplicity. As shown in fig. 11, UE1100 includes: a determining unit 1110 configured to determine an activation manner for activating a multicast/broadcast service from at least two activation manners, where the at least two activation manners include a first activation manner and a second activation manner; an activating unit 1120 configured to activate the multicast/broadcast service according to the determined activation manner and at least through a first type session management function entity, wherein the first type session management function entity supports the multicast/broadcast service. In addition to these two units, the UE1100 may include other components, however, since these components are not related to the content of the embodiments of the present disclosure, illustration and description thereof are omitted herein.

As shown in fig. 11, the determining unit 1110 determines an activation manner for activating the multicast/broadcast service from at least two activation manners. The activation manner determined by the determination unit 1110 may be a first activation manner or a second activation manner.

In the present disclosure, the determining unit 1110 may determine an activation manner for activating the multicast service according to its own attribute. The attributes described herein may refer to the UE's support capabilities for various applications. For example, when the UE supports only a mobile application or the UE does not require an IP data transmission function, the determining unit 1110 may determine that the activation manner for activating the multicast service is the first activation manner. For example, when the UE needs to support an IP-based application, the determining unit 1110 may determine that the activation manner for activating the multicast service is the second activation manner.

It should be appreciated that the determining unit 1110 may also determine the activation manner for activating the multicast service according to other manners, which is not limited by the present disclosure.

Furthermore, according to an example of the present disclosure, the determining unit 1110 may further determine a first identifier and a second identifier corresponding to the multicast service, where the first identifier and the second identifier are used for an access and mobility management function entity to select the session management function entity. Specifically, the first identifier may be used to identify a network segment corresponding to the multicast service. For example, the first identifier may be Single Network segment selection Assistance Information (S-NSSAI). In addition, the second identifier may be used to identify a data network corresponding to the multicast service. For example, the second identification may be a Data Network Name (DNN).

Specifically, the determining unit 1110 may obtain, from a Policy Control Function (PCF) entity, a user equipment routing Policy (UE Route Selection Policy Rule, URSP) Rule corresponding to each multicast service of the at least one multicast service, where each user equipment routing Policy Rule at least includes a multicast address of the corresponding multicast service.

For example, first, the UE may initiate a registration procedure with the network. According to a first implementation manner of this embodiment, the UE may register through communication between the RAN, the first type AMF entity, the first type SMF entity, the first type UPF entity, the UDM entity, the MBSF entity, the MBSU entity, and the PCF entity. Alternatively, according to a second implementation of the present disclosure, the UE may register through communication between the RAN, the second-type AMF entity, the second-type SMF entity, the second-type UPF entity, the UDM entity, and the PCF entity. The specific procedure may be similar to a conventional procedure in which the UE initiates a registration procedure to the network, and is not described herein again.

Then, in the first implementation manner, in the process of establishing a UE policy Association (UE policy Association) between the first-type AMF entity and the PCF entity, the PCF entity may provide, to the UE, the URSP rule corresponding to each multicast service in the at least one multicast service through the first-type AMF entity, and accordingly, the UE may obtain, from the PCF entity, the URSP rule corresponding to each multicast service in the at least one multicast service through the first-type AMF entity. Alternatively, in the second implementation manner described above, in the process of establishing the UE policy association between the second-type AMF entity and the PCF entity, the PCF entity may provide, to the UE, the URSP rules corresponding to each of the at least one multicast service through the second-type AMF entity, and accordingly, the UE may obtain, from the PCF entity, the URSP rules corresponding to each of the at least one multicast service through the second-type AMF entity.

Then, the determining unit 1110 may determine a user equipment routing policy rule corresponding to the multicast service according to the multicast address of the multicast service. For example, when the UE wants to activate a multicast service, the determining unit 1110 may determine the URSP rule corresponding to the multicast service according to the multicast address of the multicast service.

Then, the determining unit 1110 may determine the first identifier and the second identifier corresponding to the multicast service according to the determined user equipment routing policy rule. For example, the determining unit 1110 may obtain a routing Descriptor (Route Selection Descriptor) according to the URSP rule corresponding to the multicast service, where the routing Descriptor includes a first identifier and a second identifier; then, the UE takes the first identity and the second identity included in the routing descriptor as the first identity and the second identity corresponding to the multicast service.

It should be appreciated that in the present disclosure, the multicast address of the multicast service may be an IPv4 multicast address, and may also be an IPv6 multicast address, which is not limited by the present disclosure.

Thereafter, the activation unit 1120 activates the multicast service according to the determined activation manner and at least through the first type session management function entity.

According to an example of the present disclosure, when the activation manner determined by the determining unit 1110 is a first activation manner, the activating unit 1120 activates the multicast service according to the first activation manner and through at least a first type session management function entity. In this example, the UE1100 may further include a transmitting unit 1130 and a receiving unit 1140.

In particular, the determining unit 1110 may determine a third identification identifying a user device multicast service context established for activating the multicast service. For example, the determining unit 1110 may assign an Identification (ID) to the user equipment multicast service context. The "user device multicast service Context established for activating the multicast service" described herein may also be referred to as a user device multicast service Context (MBS UE Context) for multicast services. Accordingly, the third identifier may also be referred to as an identifier of a user equipment multicast service Context (MBS UE Context ID) for the multicast service.

Then, the sending unit 1130 may send, to the first type session management function entity, a request for activating the user equipment multicast service context, where the request for activating the user equipment multicast service context includes the third identifier and a multicast address of the multicast service. For example, the sending unit 1130 may send a request for activating the user equipment multicast service context to the first type session management function entity via the access and mobility management function entity.

Specifically, first, the sending unit 1130 may send an uplink Non-access stratum (NAS) Transport (UL NAS Transport) message to the AMF entity, where the UL NAS Transport message includes at least three cells, a first cell is a first identifier corresponding to the multicast service, a second cell is a second identifier corresponding to the multicast service, and a third cell is a request for activating MBS UE Context. The Request for activating MBS UE Context may be denoted as Active MBS UE Context Request and may include a third identity corresponding to the multicast service and a multicast address of the multicast service. In an example where the first identifier is an S-NSSAI, the second identifier is a DNN, and the third identifier is an MBS UE Context ID, the UL NAS Transport message sent by the UE to the AMF entity may include three cells, where the first cell is an S-NSSAI corresponding to the multicast service, the second cell is a DNN corresponding to the multicast service, and the third cell is a request for activating the MBS UE Context, where the request for activating the MBS UE Context includes the MBS UE Context ID corresponding to the multicast service and a multicast address of the multicast service.

In the present disclosure, the sending unit 1130 may encapsulate the "request for activating MBS UEContext" described herein using a specific format. For example, the specific format may be a session management Container (N1MBS SM Container) for multicast traffic associated with the N1 interface.

Then, the AMF entity may select a corresponding first type SMF entity according to the first identifier and the second identifier corresponding to the multicast service. In an example where the first identity is S-NSSAI and the second identity is DNN, the AMF entity may select a corresponding first type SMF entity according to S-NSSAI and DNN corresponding to the multicast service.

The AMF entity may then send a request to the corresponding first type SMF entity over the Nmb-SMF interface, which may be used to request the creation of an MBS UE Context related to the MBS session. This Request may be denoted as Nmb-smf _ mbssessing _ creatembuecontext Request. The request may include the first identity, the second identity corresponding to the multicast service, and the "request for activating MBS UE Context" described above. In the example where the first identity is an S-NSSAI, the second identity is a DNN, and the third identity is an MBS UE Context ID, the AMF entity may send a request to the first type SMF entity over the Nmb-SMF interface, which may include the S-NSSAI corresponding to the multicast service, the DNN corresponding to the multicast service, and the "request to activate MBS UE Context" described above.

Further, according to an example of the present disclosure, the request sent by the AMF entity to the first type SMF entity may further include a dedicated identity of the UE. For example, the UE dedicated identity may be a Subscription permanent identifier (SUPI). Further, according to another example of the present disclosure, the request sent by the AMF entity to the first type SMF entity may further include an identification of a serving base station of the UE. For example, the identity of the serving base station of the UE may be a corresponding RAN ID, which may be reported to the AMF entity by the RAN to which the UE accesses. Furthermore, according to another example of the present disclosure, the request sent by the AMF entity to the first type SMF entity may also include both a dedicated identity of the UE and an identity of a serving base station of said UE, e.g. the SUPI of the UE and a corresponding RAN ID.

Then, the first-type SMF entity may record the received RAN ID in MBS UE Context of the UE, so that the subsequent first-type SMF entity obtains the identities of the serving base stations of all the user apparatuses that activate the multicast service through the first-type SMF entity. In addition, the first type SMF entity determines a fourth identifier corresponding to the multicast service according to the received information, wherein the fourth identifier is an identifier allocated to the multicast service by the first type Application Function (AF) entity, and feeds the fourth identifier back to the AMF entity.

The fourth identity described herein may be a Temporary Mobile Group Identity (TMGI) of the multicast service assignment activated by the AF entity of the first type based on the multicast address.

Then, the receiving unit 1140 may receive a response to the request for activating the user equipment multicast service context from the first type session management function entity, the response including a fourth identification corresponding to the multicast service, wherein the fourth identification is used for the user equipment to determine whether the multicast service is activated. In particular, the receiving unit 1140 may receive a response to the request for activating the user equipment multicast service context from the first type session management function entity via the serving base station of the user equipment and the access and mobility management function entity. For example, the first type SMF entity may send a fourth identity corresponding to the multicast traffic to the AMF entity. Then, the AMF entity may transmit a fourth identity corresponding to the multicast service to a serving base station of the UE. Accordingly, the UE may receive a fourth identification corresponding to the multicast service from its serving base station.

Specifically, first, the first-type SMF entity may send a response message to the AMF entity through the Nmb-SMF interface in response to the Nmb-smmbssession creatembuecontext Request sent by the AMF entity to the first-type SMF entity as described above with reference to step S3022'. The response information may be an acknowledgment of the Nmb-smfmmbssessing CreateMBSUEContextRequest sent by the AMF entity to the first type SMF entity as described above in connection with step S3022'. This response information may be denoted as Nmb-smf _ mbssessing _ CreateMBSUEContextResponse.

The first type SMF entity may then send another request message to the AMF entity over the Namf interface to handle the request sent by the AMF entity to the first type SMF entity for activating MBS UEContext as described above in connection with step S3022'. The another request information may include the "response to the request for activating the user equipment multicast service context" described above, and the "response to the request for activating the user equipment multicast service context" described above may include a fourth identification corresponding to the multicast service. For example, the another request information may be a message transmission related to the N1 interface, which may be denoted as Namf _ Communication _ N1MessageTransfer, communicated through the Namf interface, and may include a response to the request for activating the user equipment multicast service Context, for example, a response to activating MBS UE Context (Activate MBS Context). The response for activating the MBS UE Context comprises a fourth identification corresponding to the multicast service. In an example where the fourth identity is a TMGI, the response to activate MBS UE Context includes the TMGI corresponding to the multicast service.

In this disclosure, the first type of SMF entity may encapsulate the "activate MBS UEContext response" described herein using a specific format. For example, the specific format may be a session management Container (N1MBS SM Container) for multicast traffic associated with the N1 interface.

The AMF entity may then send a downlink NAS transport message associated with the N2 interface to the RAN over the N2 interface. This downlink NAS transport message related to the N2 interface may be denoted as N2 downlink NASTransport. The downlink NAS Transport message related to the N2 interface may include a downlink NAS Transport (DL NAS Transport) message including one cell, i.e., the "response to activate MBSUE Context" described above. Through the downlink NAS Transport message related to the N2 interface, the AMF entity may instruct the RAN to directly send a DL NAS Transport message to the UE. It should be understood that the "response to activate MBS UE Context" included in the DL NAS Transport message described herein may also be encapsulated by the N1MBS SM Context described above.

The RAN may then send the DL NAS Transport message described above to the UE. Accordingly, the receiving unit 1140 may acquire the fourth identity corresponding to the multicast service through the DL NAS Transport message. In an example where the fourth identity is a TMGI, the UE may acquire the TMGI corresponding to the multicast service through a DL NAS Transport message.

In the present disclosure, the UE successfully acquires the fourth identifier corresponding to the multicast service, which indicates that the UE activates the multicast service.

So far, an exemplary procedure has been described in which the activation unit 1120 activates the multicast service according to the first activation manner and through at least the first-type session management function entity. Next, an exemplary flow of the activating unit 1120 activating the multicast service according to the second activation manner and at least through the first-type session management function entity will be described.

According to an example of the present disclosure, when the activation manner determined by the determining unit 1110 is a second activation manner, the activating unit 1120 activates the multicast service according to the second activation manner and through at least the first-type session management function entity. In this example, the UE1100 may further include the transmitting unit 1130 and the receiving unit 1140 described above.

Specifically, the activating unit 1120 may obtain an internet protocol address (IP address) from the second type session management function entity according to the first identifier and the second identifier corresponding to the multicast service. For example, the UE may select a second type session management function entity and establish a pdu session according to the first identifier and the second identifier, and obtain an ip address from the second type session management function entity. In an example where the first identity is S-NSSAI and the second identity is DNN, the UE may send a PDU session setup request to the network according to S-NSSAI and DNN corresponding to the multicast service, where the PDU session setup request may include S-NSSAI and DNN corresponding to the multicast service. Then, the AMF entity may select one second-type SMF entity from the plurality of second-type SMF entities according to the S-NSSAI and the DNN corresponding to the multicast service. The selected SMF entity of the second type may then select one UPF entity of the second type from a plurality of UPF entities of the second type and assign an IP address to the UE.

Then, the activation unit 1120 may transmit a data packet to a network according to the acquired internet protocol address so that a second type User Plane Function (UPF) entity in the network acquires the data packet. For example, the UE may send a data packet to the network according to the acquired Internet Protocol (IP) address so that a second-type user plane function entity participating in the establishment of the pdu session in the network acquires the data packet. Further, the data packet is used to indicate a multicast service that the user device wants to activate. The destination address of the data packet is a multicast address of the multicast service, or the protocol portion of the data packet includes the multicast address of the multicast service. For example, after step S3021 ″, the UE may transmit an IGMP Join packet to the network at the allocated IP address after the PDU session setup is completed. When IGMP version 1 or 2 is used, the destination IP address of the IGMP join packet may be the multicast address of the multicast service. When IGMP version 3 is used, the IGMP protocol portion of the IGMP join packet may include the multicast address of the multicast traffic.

Then, the activation unit 1120 may obtain a first identity, a second identity and a multicast address from the second type session management function entity.

In particular, the second-type SMF entity may obtain a multicast address of a multicast service to be activated by the user equipment from the second-type user plane functional entity. For example, the second-type UPF entity may be configured according to a Packet Detection Rule (PDR) of the second-type SMF entity, and report a multicast address corresponding to the IGMP Join Packet to the second-type SMF entity after detecting the IGMP Join Packet (e.g., report the multicast address corresponding to the IGMP Join Packet through an N4 session report message).

The second type SMF entity may then decide to order the user device to activate the multicast service. When the second-type SMF entity decides to instruct the user equipment to activate the multicast service, the second-type SMF entity may transmit a request for instructing the user equipment to activate the multicast service to the user equipment, wherein the request for instructing the user equipment to activate the multicast service includes a first identifier corresponding to the multicast service to be activated by the user equipment, a second identifier, and a multicast address of the multicast service. For example, the second type SMF entity may send a request to the user equipment via an access and mobility management function entity for instructing the user equipment to activate the multicast service.

For example, the second type SMF entity may send a message to the AMF entity over the Namf interface, which may be denoted as Namf _ Communication _ N1message transfer, via a message transfer related to the N1 interface communicated over the Namf interface. The message may include a request for instructing the user device to activate the multicast service. For example, the request for instructing the user equipment to activate the multicast service may be information for requesting MBS UE Context activation to instruct UEs to activate the multicast service. The information may include S-NSSAI, DNN corresponding to a multicast service to be activated by the user equipment and a multicast address of the multicast service, and may be represented as Request mbms Context Activation. Furthermore, the "Request MBS UE Context Activation" described herein may be encapsulated with the specific format described above (e.g., N1MBS SMContainer).

The AMF entity may then send a downlink NAS transport message associated with the N2 interface to the RAN over the N2 interface. This downlink NAS transport message related to the N2 interface may be denoted as N2 downlink NASTransport. The downlink NAS Transport message associated with the N2 interface may include a downlink NAS Transport (DL NAS Transport) message, which may include the "Request MBS UE Context Activation" encapsulated using N1MBS SMContainer described above. Through the downlink NAS Transport message related to the N2 interface, the AMF entity may instruct the RAN to directly send a DL NAS Transport message to the UE.

The RAN may then send the DL NAS Transport message described above to the UE. Accordingly, the activation unit 1120 may acquire a first identity, a second identity and a multicast address from the second-type SMF entity through the DL NAS Transport message.

The activation unit 1120 may determine whether the acquired first identity is the same as the determined first identity, whether the acquired second identity is the same as the determined second identity, and whether the acquired multicast address is the same as a multicast address of the multicast service. For example, the UE may determine, according to the DL NAS Transport message received from the RAN, whether the multicast address in the "Request MBS UE Context Activation" encapsulated using N1MBS SMContainer is the same as the multicast address of the multicast service that the UE wants to activate, and whether the S-NSSAI and DNN in the "Request MBS UE Context Activation" encapsulated using N1MBS SM Container are the same as the S-NSSAI and DNN when the PDU session is established.

When the activation unit 1120 determines that the obtained first identifier is different from the determined first identifier, and/or that the obtained second identifier is different from the determined second identifier, and/or that the obtained multicast address is different from the multicast address of the multicast service, the activation unit 1120 cannot activate the multicast service. In contrast, when the activation unit 1120 determines that the acquired first identifier is the same as the determined first identifier, the acquired second identifier is the same as the determined second identifier, and the acquired multicast address is the same as the multicast address of the multicast service, the activation unit 1120 may activate the multicast service.

In particular, the activation unit 1120 may determine a third identification identifying a user device multicast service context established for activating the multicast service. Then, the sending unit 1130 may send, to the first type session management function entity, a request for activating the user equipment multicast service context, where the request for activating the user equipment multicast service context includes the third identifier and a multicast address of the multicast service. Then, the receiving unit 1140 may receive a response to the request for activating the user equipment multicast service context from the first type session management function entity, the response including a fourth identification corresponding to the multicast service, wherein the fourth identification is used for the user equipment to determine whether the multicast service is activated.

According to the user device of the embodiment of the disclosure, the user device may determine an activation manner for activating the multicast service, and activate the multicast service according to the determined activation manner and at least through the first type session management function entity in the network, so as to optimize or be compatible with a conventional process for activating the multicast service.

Hereinafter, a first type SMF entity corresponding to the method illustrated in fig. 5 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is described with reference to fig. 12. Fig. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of a first type SMF entity 1200 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Since the function of the first type SMF entity 1200 is the same as the details of the method described above with reference to fig. 5, a detailed description of the same is omitted here for the sake of simplicity. As shown in fig. 12, the first-type SMF entity 1200 includes: a receiving unit 1210 configured to receive, from a user equipment, a request for activating a user equipment multicast service context established by the user equipment for activating a multicast service, the request for activating the user equipment multicast service context including the third identifier and a multicast address of the multicast service, the third identifier identifying the user equipment multicast service context; a determining unit 1220 configured to determine a response to the request for activating the user equipment multicast service context, wherein the response includes a fourth identification corresponding to the multicast service, wherein the fourth identification is used for the user equipment to determine whether the multicast service is activated; and a transmitting unit 1230 configured to transmit the response to the user equipment. In addition to these three units, the SMF entity 1200 may also include other components, however, since these components are not relevant to the contents of the embodiments of the present disclosure, illustration and description thereof are omitted here.

In this disclosure, the receiving unit 1210 receives, from a user equipment, a request for activating a user equipment multicast service context established by the user equipment for activating the multicast service, where the request for activating the user equipment multicast service context includes the third identifier and a multicast address of the multicast service, and the third identifier is used for identifying the user equipment multicast service context.

Specifically, first, the UE may send an uplink NAS Transport (UL NAS Transport) message to the AMF entity, where the UL NAS Transport message includes at least three information elements, a first information element is a first identifier corresponding to the multicast service, a second information element is a second identifier corresponding to the multicast service, and a third information element is a request for activating an MBS UE Context, where the request for activating the MBS UE Context includes a third identifier corresponding to the multicast service and a multicast address of the multicast service. In an example where the first identifier is S-NSSAI, the second identifier is DNN, and the third identifier is MBSUE Context ID, the UL NAS Transport message sent by the UE to the AMF entity may include three cells, where the first cell is S-NSSAI corresponding to the multicast service, the second cell is DNN corresponding to the multicast service, and the third cell is a request for activating MBS UE Context, where the request for activating MBS UE Context includes MBS UE Context ID corresponding to the multicast service and a multicast address of the multicast service.

In the present disclosure, the UE may encapsulate the "request to activate MBS UE Context" described herein using a specific format. For example, the specific format may be a session management Container (N1MBS SM Container) for multicast traffic associated with the N1 interface.

Then, the AMF entity may select a corresponding first type SMF entity according to the first identifier and the second identifier corresponding to the multicast service. In an example where the first identity is S-NSSAI and the second identity is DNN, the AMF entity may select a corresponding first type SMF entity according to S-NSSAI and DNN corresponding to the multicast service.

The AMF entity may then send a request to the corresponding first type SMF entity over the Nmb-SMF interface, which may be used to request the creation of an MBS UE Context related to the MBS session. This Request may be denoted as Nmb-smf _ mbssessing _ creatembuecontext Request. The request may include the first identity, the second identity corresponding to the multicast service, and the "request for activating MBS UE Context" described above. In the example where the first identity is an S-NSSAI, the second identity is a DNN, and the third identity is an MBS UE Context ID, the AMF entity may send a request to the first type SMF entity over the Nmb-SMF interface, which may include the S-NSSAI corresponding to the multicast service, the DNN corresponding to the multicast service, and the "request to activate MBS UE Context" described above.

Further, according to an example of the present disclosure, the request sent by the AMF entity to the first type SMF entity may further include a dedicated identity of the UE. For example, the UE dedicated identity may be a Subscription permanent identifier (SUPI). Further, according to another example of the present disclosure, the request sent by the AMF entity to the first type SMF entity may further include an identification of a serving base station of the UE. For example, the identity of the serving base station of the UE may be a corresponding RAN ID, which may be reported to the AMF entity by the RAN to which the UE accesses. Furthermore, according to another example of the present disclosure, the request sent by the AMF entity to the first type SMF entity may also include both a dedicated identity of the UE and an identity of a serving base station of said UE, e.g. the SUPI and the corresponding rand of the UE.

Further, according to an example of the present disclosure, the first-type SMF entity may record the identification of the serving base station of the user equipment in the user equipment multicast service context, so that the first-type SMF entity acquires the identifications of the serving base stations of all user equipments activating the multicast service through the first-type SMF entity to use when establishing a user plane of an MBS session. For example, the first type SMF entity may record the received RAN ID in MBS UE context of the UE.

Returning to fig. 12, the determining unit 1220 determines a response to the request for activating the user equipment multicast service context, wherein the response includes a fourth identification corresponding to the multicast service, wherein the fourth identification is used for the user equipment to determine whether the multicast service is activated. For example, the first-type SMF entity determines a fourth identifier corresponding to the multicast service according to at least the first identifier, the second identifier, and a multicast address of the multicast service, where the fourth identifier is an identifier allocated to the multicast service by the first-type application function entity.

Specifically, the determining unit 1220 may determine whether the user equipment is capable of using the multicast service. For example, the first-type SMF entity may obtain subscription Data of the UE from a Unified Data Management (UDM) entity to determine whether the UE subscribes to the multicast service. If the UE subscribes to the multicast service, the first-type SMF entity may determine that the UE is capable of using the multicast service. If the UE does not subscribe to the multicast service, the first-type SMF entity may determine that the UE cannot use the multicast service.

When the determining unit 1220 determines that the UE can use the multicast service, the transmitting unit 1230 may transmit a notification to the first type application function entity, wherein the notification is a notification of the multicast service authorization request. Specifically, the sending unit 1230 may send a request to the multicast/broadcast service functional entity, so that the multicast/broadcast service functional entity sends a notification to the first type application functional entity according to the request. Then, the multicast/broadcast service functional entity may send a notification to the first type application functional entity directly according to the request, or send a notification to the first type application functional entity via the network open functional entity.

For example, first, the determining unit 1220 may determine a corresponding MBSF entity according to the first identifier, the second identifier and a multicast address of the multicast service.

The sending unit 1230 may then send a request to the determined MBSF entity. The request may include a first identification and a second identification corresponding to the multicast service, a private identification and a public identification of the user device, a multicast address of the multicast service, and an identification of the first-type session management function entity (e.g., an SMF ID, i.e., an MB-SMF ID, of the first-type SMF entity). In addition, the first-type SMF entity may also send other information to the determined MBSF entity, for example, information related to the UE location, such as one or more of a Cell Global Identifier (CGI), a Tracking Area Identifier (TAI), a Globally unique AMF Identifier (GUAMI), and the like.

In the example where the first identity is S-NSSAI, the second identity is DNN, the UE 'S private identity is SUPI, the UE' S public identity is GPSI, and the identity of the first type SMF entity is MB-SMF ID, the first type SMF entity may send a Request for an MBs authorization Request to the MBSF entity over the Nmbsf interface, which may be denoted as Nmbsf _ mbsauuthorizationrequest Request, and which may include the S-NSSAI and DNN corresponding to the multicast service, the UE 'S private identity SUPI, the UE' S public identity GPSI, the multicast address of the multicast service, and the MB-SMF ID. In addition, the request may also include CGI, TAI and GUAMI related to the UE location.

Then, according to an example of the present disclosure, the MBSF entity may record the identity of the first type SMF entity in the user equipment multicast service context, so that the MBSF entity acquires the first type session management function entities involved in activating the multicast service by all user equipments to activate the multicast service, so as to be used when establishing a user plane of an MBS session. For example, the MBSF entity may record the received MB-SMF ID in the MBS UE Context of the UE.

Furthermore, the MBSF entity may send a notification directly to the first type Application Function (AF) entity, which notification may comprise at least the first identity, the second identity, the multicast address of the multicast service, and an identity of the MBSF entity (e.g. an MBSF ID). Alternatively, the MBSF entity may send a notification to said first type Application Function (AF) entity via said network openfunction entity, which notification may comprise at least said first identity, said second identity, and a multicast address for said multicast traffic.

In an example where the MBSF entity sends a notification to the first type application function entity via the network openfunction entity, first, the MBSF entity may determine a corresponding first type AF entity according to the first identifier, the second identifier, and the multicast address of the multicast service. Then, the MBSF entity may send a first notification to the NEF entity, where the first notification may include the first identity, the second identity, the multicast address of the multicast service, an identity of the MBSF entity (e.g., MBSF ID), and an identity of the first type application function entity (e.g., AF ID of the first type AF entity, i.e., MBS AF ID, determined by the MBSF entity).

In an example where the first identifier is S-NSSAI, the second identifier is DNN, the identifier of the MBSF entity is MBSF ID, and the identifier of the first type application function entity is MBS AF ID, the MBSF entity may send a notification of an MBS authorization request to the NEF entity through the Nmbsf interface, which may be denoted as Nmbs _ MBS authorization request notification, and which may include S-NSSAI and DNN corresponding to the multicast service, the multicast address of the multicast service, the MBSF ID, and the MBS AF ID.

Then, after receiving the first notification, the network openness function entity may send a second notification to the first type application function entity according to the identifier of the first type application function entity, where the second notification may include the first identifier, the second identifier, the multicast address of the multicast service, and the identifier of the MBSF entity (e.g., an MBSF ID and its IP address).

In the example where the first identifier is S-NSSAI, the second identifier is DNN, and the identifier of the MBSF entity is MBSF ID, the NEF entity may send a notification of the MBS authorization request to the corresponding first-type AF entity according to the MBS AF ID through the Nnef interface, where the notification may be denoted as Nnef _ MBS authorization request notification, and the notification may include S-NSSAI and DNN corresponding to the multicast service, the multicast address of the multicast service, and the MBSF ID.

Thereafter, the first type AF entity may record the received MBSF IDs for use in establishing the user plane for the MBS session. In addition, the first type AF entity may further determine a fourth identifier corresponding to the multicast service. The fourth identity described herein may be a Temporary Mobile Group Identity (TMGI) of the multicast service assignment activated by the AF entity of the first type based on the multicast address.

The fourth identity may be a TMGI when the first type AF entity receives a message from the NEF entity. Accordingly, the first-type AF entity may feed back, to the NEF entity through the Nnef interface, Response information of the notification of the MBS authorization request, where the Response information may be denoted as Nnef _ MBS authorization request notification Response, and the Response information may include the TMGI corresponding to the multicast service. Then, the NEF entity may feed back Response information to the notification of the MBS authorization request to the MBSF entity through the Nmbsf interface, where the Response information may be denoted as Nmbsf _ mbsauuthorizationrequest notification Response, and the Response information may include the TMGI corresponding to the multicast service.

Then, the MBSF entity may create MBS UE Context based on the multicast address for the UE, and may then feed back a response message to the first type SMF entity, where the response message may be a response to the above-described Nmbsf _ mbsauthonizationrequest Request. The Response information may be an acknowledgement to the above-described Nmbsf _ mbsauuthorizationrequest Request, which may be denoted as Nmbsf _ mbsauuthorizationrequest Response.

Accordingly, the receiving unit 1210 may receive a response to the notification from the first type application function entity, wherein the response to the notification includes a fourth identity corresponding to the multicast service, so as to obtain the fourth identity corresponding to the multicast service from the first type application function entity. In an example where the fourth identity is a TMGI, the first type SMF entity may obtain a TMGI corresponding to the multicast service from an MBSF entity.

Thereafter, the first type SMF entity may create MBS UE Context based on the multicast address for the UE, and then may feed back a response message to the AMF entity, where the response message may be a response to the Nmb-SMF _ mbssessuecretembsuecontext Request described above. The Response information may be an acknowledgement to the Nmb-smf _ MBSSession _ creatembbsuecontext Request described above, which may be denoted Nmb-smf _ MBSSession _ creatembbsuecontext Response.

Then, the sending unit 1230 sends a response to the user equipment for the request for activating the user equipment multicast service context, where the response includes a fourth identifier corresponding to the multicast service. The first type of SMF entity may send the response to the user equipment via the serving base station of the user equipment and an access and mobility management function entity.

For example, the first-type SMF entity may send another request message to the AMF entity through the Namf interface to handle the request for activating MBS UEContext sent by the AMF entity to the first-type SMF entity as described above in connection with step S3022'. The another request information may include a fourth identification corresponding to the multicast service. For example, the further request information may be a message transmission related to the N1 interface, which may be denoted as Namf _ Communication _ N1message transfer, communicated over the Namf interface, and which includes a Response (active MBS Context Response) activating the MBS UE Context, which includes the fourth identity corresponding to the multicast service. In an example where the fourth identity is a TMGI, the response to activate MBS UE Context includes the TMGI corresponding to the multicast service.

In this disclosure, the first type of SMF entity may encapsulate the "activate MBS UEContext response" described herein using a specific format. For example, the specific format may be a session management Container (N1 MBS SM Container) for multicast traffic associated with the N1 interface.

The AMF entity may then send a downlink NAS transport message associated with the N2 interface to the RAN over the N2 interface. This downlink NAS transport message related to the N2 interface may be denoted as N2 downlink NASTransport. The downlink NAS Transport message related to the N2 interface may include a downlink NAS Transport (DL NAS Transport) message including one cell, i.e., the "response to activate MBSUE Context" described above. Through the downlink NAS Transport message related to the N2 interface, the AMF entity may instruct the RAN to directly send a DL NAS Transport message to the UE. It should be understood that the "response to activate MBS UE Context" included in the DL NAS Transport message described herein may also be encapsulated by the N1 MBS SM Context described above.

The RAN may then send the DL NAS Transport message described above to the UE. Accordingly, the UE may acquire the fourth identifier corresponding to the multicast service through the DL NAS Transport message. In an example where the fourth identity is a TMGI, the UE may acquire the TMGI corresponding to the multicast service through a DL NAS Transport message.

According to the first-type session management function entity of the embodiment of the present disclosure, in the process of activating the multicast service, the first-type session management function entity may receive, from the user device, the first identifier, the second identifier, the third identifier corresponding to the multicast service to be activated by the user device, and the multicast address of the multicast service, determine, according to at least these pieces of information, the fourth identifier corresponding to the multicast service, and feed back the fourth identifier to the user device, so that the user device activates the multicast service.

Hereinafter, a second-type SMF entity corresponding to the method illustrated in fig. 6 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is described with reference to fig. 13. Fig. 13 is another structural schematic diagram of a second type SMF entity 1300 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Since the function of the SMF entity 1300 is the same as the details of the method described above with reference to fig. 6, a detailed description of the same is omitted here for the sake of simplicity. As shown in fig. 13, a second type SMF entity 1300 includes: an assigning unit 1310 configured to establish a pdu session and assign an ip address to the user device; an obtaining unit 1320, configured to obtain, from a second type user plane function entity participating in establishment of the pdu session, a multicast address of a multicast service to be activated by the user equipment, wherein the multicast address is obtained after the user equipment sends a packet to a network including the second type user plane function entity according to the internet protocol address, wherein the packet is used for indicating the multicast service that the user equipment wants to activate; a sending unit 1330 configured to send, to the user equipment, a request for instructing the user equipment to activate the multicast service when the second-type session management function entity decides to instruct the user equipment to activate the multicast service, where the request for instructing the user equipment to activate the multicast service includes a first identifier corresponding to the multicast service to be activated by the user equipment, a second identifier, and a multicast address of the multicast service. In addition to these three units, the second-type SMF entity 1300 may also include other components, however, since these components are not relevant to the contents of the embodiments of the present disclosure, illustration and description thereof are omitted herein.

First, the allocating unit 1310 may establish a protocol data unit session and allocate an internet protocol address (IP address) to the user device. For example, in an example where the first identity is S-NSSAI and the second identity is DNN, the UE may send a PDU session setup request to the network according to S-NSSAI and DNN corresponding to the multicast service, which may include S-NSSAI and DNN corresponding to the multicast service. Then, the AMF entity may select one SMF entity from the plurality of SMF entities according to the S-NSSAI and the DNN corresponding to the multicast service. The selected SMF entity may then select a UPF entity from the plurality of UPF entities and assign an IP address to the UE.

Then, the obtaining unit 1320 obtains, from the second type user plane function entity participating in the establishment of the pdu session, a multicast address of a multicast service to be activated by the user equipment, where the multicast address is obtained after the user equipment sends a packet to a network including the second type user plane function entity according to the internet protocol address, where the packet is used to indicate the multicast service that the user equipment wants to activate, and a destination address of the packet is a multicast address of the multicast service, or a protocol portion of the packet includes the multicast address of the multicast service.

Specifically, the UE may send a data packet to the network according to the obtained IP address, so that the second-type user plane functional entity in the network obtains the data packet, where a destination address of the data packet is a multicast address of the multicast service, or a protocol portion of the data packet includes the multicast address of the multicast service. For example, the UE may send an IGMP Join packet to the network at the assigned IP address after the PDU session setup is completed. When IGMP version 1 or 2 is used, the destination IP address of the IGMP Join packet may be the multicast address of the multicast service. When IGMP version 3 is employed, the IGMP protocol portion of the IGMP Join packet may include the multicast address of the multicast traffic.

Accordingly, the obtaining unit 1320 may obtain a multicast address of a multicast service to be activated by the user equipment from the second type user plane functional entity. For example, the second-type UPF entity may be configured according to a Packet Detection Rule (PDR) of the second-type SMF entity, and report a multicast address corresponding to the IGMP Join Packet to the second-type SMF entity after detecting the IGMP Join Packet (e.g., report the multicast address corresponding to the IGMP Join Packet through an N4 session report message).

When the second-type SMF entity decides to instruct the user equipment to activate the multicast service, the transmitting unit 1430 may transmit, to the user equipment, a request for instructing the user equipment to activate the multicast service, where the request for instructing the user equipment to activate the multicast service includes a first identifier corresponding to the multicast service to be activated by the user equipment, a second identifier, and a multicast address of the multicast service. For example, the transmitting unit 1430 may transmit a request for instructing the user equipment to activate the multicast service to the user equipment via an access and mobility management function entity.

For example, the sending unit 1430 may send a message to the AMF entity through the Namf interface, and the message may be transmitted through a message transfer related to the N1 interface, which may be denoted as Namf _ Communication _ N1MessageTransfer, communicated through the Namf interface. The message may include information for requesting MBS UE Context activation to instruct the UE to activate the multicast service. The information for requesting MBS UE Context Activation may include S-NSSAI, DNN corresponding to a multicast service to be activated by the user equipment and a multicast address of the multicast service, and the information for requesting MBS UE Context Activation may be represented as Request MBS UE Context Activation. Furthermore, the "Request MBS UEContext Activation" described herein may be encapsulated with the specific format described above (e.g., N1 MBS SM Container).

Thereafter, the AMF entity may send a downlink NAS transport message associated with the N2 interface to the RAN over the N2 interface. This downlink NAS transport message related to the N2 interface may be denoted as N2 downlink NASTransport. The downlink NAS Transport message associated with the N2 interface may include a downlink NAS Transport (DL NAS Transport) message, which may include the "Request MBS UE Context Activation" encapsulated using N1 MBS SMContainer described above. Through the downlink NAS Transport message related to the N2 interface, the AMF entity may instruct the RAN to directly send a DL NAS Transport message to the UE. The RAN may then send the DL NAS Transport message described above to the UE. Accordingly, the UE can acquire one first identity, one second identity and one multicast address from the second-type SMF entity through a DL NASTransport message.

According to the second-type session management function entity of the embodiment of the disclosure, in the process of activating the multicast service, the second-type session management function entity may assign an IP address to the user equipment, so that the user equipment activates the multicast service through the IP address.

Hereinafter, a first type SMF entity corresponding to the method illustrated in fig. 7 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is described with reference to fig. 14. Fig. 14 is another structural schematic diagram of a first-type SMF entity 1400 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Since the function of the first type SMF entity 1400 is the same as the details of the method described above with reference to fig. 7, a detailed description of the same is omitted here for the sake of simplicity. As shown in fig. 14, the first-type SMF entity 1400 includes: a receiving unit 1410 configured to receive a first request from a policy control function entity, wherein the first request is for requesting a start of a multicast/broadcast service session, the first request includes at least a fourth identifier corresponding to a multicast/broadcast service, a quality of service rule of at least one data flow corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, and an identifier of the multicast/broadcast service session, wherein the fourth identifier is an identifier assigned to the multicast/broadcast service by a first type application function entity, and the first type application function entity supports the multicast/broadcast service; and a control unit 1420 configured to conduct the multicast/broadcast service session according to the first request. The SMF entity 1400 may include other components in addition to the two units, however, since these components are not related to the contents of the embodiments of the present disclosure, illustration and description thereof are omitted herein.

In this disclosure, the receiving unit 1410 receives a first request from a Policy Control Function (PCF) entity, where the first request is used to request the start of a multicast/broadcast service Session (MBS Session), and the first request at least includes a fourth identifier corresponding to a multicast/broadcast service, a quality of service Rule (QoS Rule) of at least one data stream corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, and an identifier of the multicast/broadcast service Session, where the fourth identifier is an identifier allocated to the multicast/broadcast service by a first type application function entity, and the first type application function entity supports the multicast/broadcast service. Further, for a broadcast service, the first request may also include a broadcast address of the broadcast service, a first identification corresponding to the broadcast service (e.g., S-NSSAI used by the broadcast service), a second identification corresponding to the broadcast service (e.g., DNN used by the broadcast service), and a service area of the broadcast service (e.g., a geographic area such as a city).

According to an example of the present disclosure, the fourth identification in the first request may be the TMGI described above. The identification of the multicast/broadcast service session in the first request may be an ID of the multicast/broadcast service session. In addition, the first request may further include other information, for example, an expected duration (expected session duration) of the multicast/broadcast service session, and a data transmission time (time to MBS data transfer) of the multicast/broadcast service.

Further, according to an example of the present disclosure, the PCF entity corresponding to the first type of SMF entity may send a first request to the first type of SMF entity over the Nmb-SMF interface to request the start of the multicast/broadcast service session. This first Request may be denoted as Nmb-smf _ MBS Session Start Request.

Further, according to an example of the present disclosure, the first request is determined by the policy control function entity according to a second request received from a multicast/broadcast service function (MBSF) entity, the second request including at least the fourth identification, the identification of the first type session management function entity, information of at least one data flow corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, a quality of service requirement of the at least one data flow, the identification of the multicast/broadcast service session, an expected duration of the multicast/broadcast service session, and a data transmission time of the multicast/broadcast service.

In this example, the MBSF entity may send a second request to the PCF entity over the Npcf interface to request the start of a multicast/broadcast traffic session. This second request may be denoted as an Npcf _ mbssessuonstartrequests.

Further, in this example, the second request is determined by the multicast/broadcast service function entity according to a third request received from a network open function (NEF) entity, the third request including at least the fourth identification, information of at least one data flow corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, a quality of service requirement of the at least one data flow, an identification of the multicast/broadcast service session, an expected duration of the multicast/broadcast service session, and a data transmission time of the multicast/broadcast service.

For example, the NEF entity may send a third request to the MBSF entity through the Nmbsf interface to request the start of a multicast/broadcast service session. This third Request may be denoted as an Nmbsf mbssessuonstart Request.

Further, in this example, the third request is determined by the network open function entity according to a fourth request received from a first type Application Function (AF) entity, the fourth request comprising at least the fourth identification, an identification of at least one multicast/broadcast service function entity, information of at least one data flow corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, a quality of service requirement of the at least one data flow, an identification of the multicast/broadcast service session, an expected duration of the multicast/broadcast service session, and a data transmission time of the multicast/broadcast service.

For example, the first type AF entity may send a fourth request to the NEF entity over the Nnef interface to request the start of a multicast/broadcast service session. This fourth Request may be denoted as the Nnef _ MBS session start Request.

Further, any of the first request, the second request, the third request, and the fourth request described above may further include an aggregated maximum rate corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service. The aggregate maximum rate may only have a value in the downlink direction and not in the uplink direction. Alternatively, the aggregate maximum rate may have both a value for the downlink direction and a value for the uplink direction. The Aggregate Maximum Rate may be an Aggregate Maximum Bit Rate (AMBR).

Thereafter, the control unit 1420 performs the multicast/broadcast service session according to the first request. According to an example of the present disclosure, the first type SMF entity may further include a transmitting unit 1430.

Specifically, the control unit 1420 may generate a quality of service flow identifier (QoS FlowIdentity, QFI), a quality of service Profile (QoS Profile), and a quality of service enforcement rule (QER) corresponding to each data flow according to a quality of service rule of each data flow of the at least one data flow corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service. In the present disclosure, the quality of service flow identification corresponding to each data flow may also be referred to as a quality of service flow identification (MBS QFI) of the multicast/broadcast service. Further, the quality of service enforcement rules described herein may be similar to conventional N4 QER rules.

The control unit 1420 may then select one of the first type of user plane functionality entities based on said fourth identity. In the example where the fourth identifier is a TMGI, for the multicast service, the first-type SMF entity may determine a corresponding MBS UE Context according to the TMGI, and obtain the S-NSSAI, the DNN, and the multicast address included in the MBS UE Context according to the determined MBS UE Context. For the broadcast service, the broadcast address of the broadcast service, the S-NSSAI and DNN used by the broadcast service, and the service area of the broadcast service are included in the first request message. The first-type SMF entity may then select one first-type UPF entity from the plurality of first-type UPF entities based on the acquired S-NSSAI, DNN, and multicast/broadcast address.

Then, the transmitting unit 1430 may transmit a fifth request to the selected first type user plane function entity, wherein the fifth request is for establishing transmission resources of the multicast/broadcast service session. The fifth request includes at least a multicast/broadcast address of the multicast/broadcast service, a quality of service enforcement rule for at least one data stream corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, and an aggregated maximum rate (e.g., AMBR) corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service. For example, the first-type SMF entity may send a Request for requesting MBS Session Establishment, which may be denoted as N4 MBS Session Establishment Request, to the selected first-type UPF entity through the N4 interface.

Then, the receiving unit 1410 may obtain a response to the fifth request from the selected first type user plane functional entity, where the response to the fifth request includes a tunnel multicast address (i.e., a second tunnel multicast address) allocated by the selected first type user plane functional entity for transmitting service data corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, and a sixth identifier corresponding to the second tunnel multicast address, where the second tunnel multicast address is used for multicast tunneling between network entities (e.g., multicast tunneling between a first type UPF entity and a RAN), and the sixth identifier is used for identifying a transmission tunnel (e.g., a transmission tunnel related to GTP) of the multicast/broadcast service.

For example, the first-type UPF entity may establish a GTP user plane tunneling tree from the first-type UPF entity to the RAN according to the multicast routing protocol according to the received request, so as to transmit data (e.g., traffic data corresponding to the multicast/broadcast traffic) to be sent to the RAN by the first-type UPF entity in a tree-like GTP user plane tunnel. Then, the first type UPF entity may assign a tunneling multicast address for transmitting service data corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service. Specifically, the first-type UPF entity may allocate a multicast address of a GTP user plane tunnel through the N3 interface to the multicast/broadcast service, and use the multicast address of the allocated GTP user plane tunnel as the second tunneling multicast address. Then, the second-type UPF entity may assign a sixth identity, for example, a Common-Tunnel End point ID (C-TEID), to the multicast/broadcast service.

After the first-type UPF entity allocates the second tunneling multicast address and the sixth identifier to the multicast/broadcast service, the first-type UPF entity may send response information to the first-type SMF entity through the N4 interface, in response to the request for requesting MBS session establishment, which is sent by the first-type SMF entity to the first-type UPF entity, as described above. The response information may include a second tunneling multicast address corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service and a sixth identification corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service. This response information may be denoted as N4 MBS Session establishment response.

Accordingly, the first-type SMF entity may acquire the second tunneling multicast address corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service from the selected first-type UPF entity and acquire the sixth identity corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service from the selected user plane functional entity. Then, for multicast traffic, the first-type SMF entity may record the second tunnel multicast address and the sixth identity in a multicast traffic context of each user equipment that has activated the multicast traffic. In addition, the first type SMF entity may further record an identification of the above PCF entity (PCF ID) and an identification of the first type UPF entity (MB-UPF ID) in a multicast service context of each user equipment that has activated the multicast service. For a broadcast service, the first-type SMF entity may record the second tunneling multicast address and the sixth identity in a broadcast service session context corresponding to the broadcast service. It is to be appreciated that for broadcast services, there is no broadcast service session context for each UE (i.e., per UE), there is only one entity-level broadcast service session context on the first type SMF entity. Different broadcast service session contexts may exist for different broadcast services.

Further, according to an example of the present disclosure, the control unit 1420 may select one first type user plane functional entity according to the fourth identity. Then, the sending unit 1430 may send a fifth request to the selected first type user plane function entity, where the fifth request is used to establish transmission resources of the multicast/broadcast service session, and the fifth request includes a second tunneling multicast address allocated by the first type session management function entity for transmitting service data corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, and a sixth identifier corresponding to the second tunneling multicast address, where the second tunneling multicast address is used for multicast tunneling between network entities, and the sixth identifier is used to identify a transmission tunnel of the multicast/broadcast service. Then, the receiving unit 1410 may obtain a response to the fifth request from the selected first type user plane functional entity, wherein the response to the fifth request is an acknowledgement of the fifth request. That is, the second tunneling multicast address described herein may be assigned by the first-type SMF entity and notified to the selected first-type UPF entity by the first-type SMF entity.

For multicast services, control unit 1420 may then determine an identity (e.g., a RAN ID) of at least one serving base station based on the respective user device multicast service context that has activated the multicast service. It has been described above that in the process of activating a multicast/broadcast service, a first type SMF entity may record the identity of the serving base station of a UE activating said multicast service in the MBS UE Context of that UE. Accordingly, control unit 1420 may obtain all RAN IDs from the respective user devices multicast service contexts that have activated the multicast service. For broadcast traffic, the control unit 1420 may determine an identity (e.g., a rand) of at least one serving base station according to a service area of the broadcast traffic.

Then, for the multicast service, the control unit 1420 may determine the identities of the corresponding access and mobility management functional entities according to the identities of the respective serving base stations. For example, control unit 1420 may obtain the corresponding AMF ID from the MBSUE Context corresponding to each RAN ID. For broadcast services, the control unit 1420 may determine an AMF ID corresponding to each RAN ID according to the network configuration information.

Then, the sending unit 1430 may send first information to each access and mobility management function entity according to the identity of each access and mobility management function entity, wherein the first information at least includes the identity of the corresponding serving base station, the fourth identity, the aggregated maximum rate (e.g., AMBR) corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, the quality of service flow identity and quality of service profile corresponding to each data flow, the sixth identity, and the second tunnel multicast address, so that each access and mobility management function entity sends a fifth request to the corresponding serving base station, wherein the fifth request includes the first identity, the fourth identity, the aggregated maximum rate (e.g., AMBR) corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, the quality of service flow identity and quality of service profile corresponding to each data flow, the fifth request includes the first identity, the fourth identity, the aggregated maximum rate (e.g., AMBR) corresponding to each data flow, the first information, the second information, and the third information, The sixth identification and the second tunnel multicast address.

For example, the first type SMF entity may send, to the AMF entity through the Namf interface, an MBS message transmission related to the N2 interface, which may be denoted as Namf _ Communication _ N2MBSMessageTransfer, and may include a RAN ID, a TMGI, an aggregated maximum rate (e.g., AMBR) corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, a quality of service flow identification and a quality of service profile corresponding to each data flow, the sixth identification, and the second tunneled multicast address, and which is communicated through the Namf interface. Further, the "TMGI, the aggregated maximum rate (e.g., AMBR) corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, the quality of service flow identification and quality of service profile corresponding to each data flow, the sixth identification, and the second tunnel multicast address" described herein may be encapsulated using a particular format. For example, the specific format may be a session management Container (N2 MBS SM Container) for multicast/broadcast services associated with the N2 interface.

Thereafter, each access and mobility management function entity may send a sixth request to the corresponding serving base station, where the sixth request includes the first identifier, the fourth identifier, an aggregated maximum rate (e.g., AMBR) corresponding to the multicast/broadcast traffic, a quality of service flow identifier and a quality of service profile corresponding to each data flow, the sixth identifier, and the second tunnel multicast address. For example, the AMF entity may send a Request for requesting an MBS Session Start Request to the RAN through an N2 interface, which may be denoted as N2MBS Session Start Request, and may include S-NSSAI and TMGI corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, an aggregated maximum rate (e.g., AMBR) corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, quality of service flow identifications and quality of service profiles corresponding to respective data flows of the multicast/broadcast service, the sixth identification corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, and the second tunneling multicast address.

Then, the serving base station may transmit a response message to the AMF entity in response to the sixth request. For example, the RAN may send the response information to the AMF entity through the N2 interface in response to the above-described request sent by the AMF entity to the RAN for requesting the MBS session start. The response information may be an acknowledgement to the N2MBS Session Start Request sent by the AMF entity to the RAN described above and may be denoted as N2MBS Session Start response.

Then, the serving base station may allocate resources for transmitting MBS service data to its serving UEs to support data streams with different quality of service requirements. Accordingly, the UE may receive MBS service data through the allocated resources.

Then, the serving base station may join the transmission group corresponding to the second tunneling multicast address (e.g., CN N3 tunneling multicast address) described above and receive MBS service data from the first type UPF entity. That is, a transmission tree from the first-type UPF entity to the serving base station may be established to transmit data (e.g., MBS service data) to be transmitted to the serving base station by the first-type UPF entity in a tree-like manner.

Then, the AMF entity may transmit a notification message to the first-type SMF entity to notify the information transmitted by the first-type SMF entity to the AMF entity described in the above-described step S7027. For example, the AMF entity may send the notification information to the first type SMF entity over the Namf interface. The notification information may be an acknowledgement of the information sent by the first type SMF entity to the AMF entity described in step S7027 above. The notification information may be an MBS message transmission related to the N2 interface, which may be denoted as Namf _ Communication _ N2MBSMessageTransfer, communicated over the Namf interface.

Then, the sending unit 1430 may send a response message to the PCF entity in response to the first request sent by the PCF entity to the first type SMF entity. For example, the Response information may be an acknowledgement of "Nmb-SMF _ MBS session start Request" transmitted by the PCF entity to the first-type SMF entity as described in step S701, and may be denoted as Nmb-SMF _ MBS session start Response.

The PCF entity may then send a response message to the MBSF entity in response to the second request sent by the MBSF entity to the PCF entity, as described in step S701. For example, the Response information may be an acknowledgement of "Npcf _ MBS session start Request" transmitted by the MBSF entity to the PCF entity described in step S701, and may be denoted as Npcf _ MBS session start Response.

Then, when the MBSF entity receives the response messages of all PCF entities, or after a preset time after the MBSF entity receives the response messages of all PCF entities, the MBSF entity may send a response message to the NEF entity in response to the third request sent by the NEF entity to the MBSF entity, which is described in step S701 above. For example, the MBSF entity may transmit the Response information to the NEF entity through the Nmbsf interface, and the Response information may be denoted as Nmbsf _ mbssessuonstart Response.

Then, when the NEF entity receives the response information of all the MBSF entities, or after a preset time after the NEF entity receives the response information of all the MBSF entities, the NEF entity may send a response information to the first-type AF entity in response to the fourth request sent by the first-type AF entity to the NEF entity, which is described in step S701 above. For example, the NEF entity may send the Response information to the first type AF entity through the Nnef interface, and the Response information may be denoted as Nnef _ MBS session Response. Further, the response information may include a first list and a second list. The first list may be a list of MBSFIDs of MBSF entities that successfully establish a user plane corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service. The second list may be a list of MBSFIDs of MBSF entities that have not successfully established a user plane corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service.

Then, when the first type AF entity receives the response information of the NEF entity, or after a preset time after the first type AF entity receives the response information of the NEF entity, the above-mentioned procedure for establishing the user plane corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service may be performed again for the MBSF entity corresponding to the MBSFID in the second list.

So far, the user plane corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service has been successfully established. This means that the multicast/broadcast service can be started. For example, the first type AF entity may send multicast/broadcast service data (e.g., MBS data packets) with a destination IP address being a multicast/broadcast address of the multicast/broadcast service to each MBSU entity downstream. Each MBSU entity may then transmit multicast/broadcast service data to each first-type UPF entity by the transport layer multicast method described above. Each first-type UPF entity may then transmit multicast/broadcast service data to each RAN by the transport layer multicast method described above. Then, each RAN may transmit the multicast/broadcast service data to each UE through the resources allocated to the UE.

According to the first-type session management function entity of the disclosed embodiment, the first-type session management function entity may receive a request for requesting the start of a multicast/broadcast service session from a policy control function entity corresponding to the first-type session management function entity, and the request may include a fourth identification corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, a quality of service rule for at least one data flow corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, and an identification of the multicast/broadcast service session, and the first type session management function entity may conduct a multicast/broadcast service session according to the request, therefore, the transmission of the multicast/broadcast service data is facilitated, the PCC technology is applied to the transmission of the multicast/broadcast service data, and the transmission combination of the PCC and the multicast/broadcast service data is realized.

Furthermore, devices (e.g., UE, RAN, first/second type AMF entity, first/second type SMF entity, first/second type UPF entity, MBSF entity, MBSU entity, PCF entity, NEF entity, first/second type AF entity, etc.) according to embodiments of the present disclosure may also be implemented by means of the architecture of a computing device shown in fig. 15. Fig. 15 illustrates an architecture of the computing device. As shown in fig. 15, the computing device 1500 may include a bus 1510, one or more CPUs 1520, a Read Only Memory (ROM)1530, a Random Access Memory (RAM)1540, a communication port 1550 to a network, input/output components 1560, a hard disk 1570, and the like. Storage devices in the computing device 1500, such as the ROM 1530 or the hard disk 1570, may store various data or files used in computer processing and/or communications as well as program instructions executed by the CPU. The computing device 1500 may also include a user interface 1580. Of course, the architecture shown in FIG. 15 is merely exemplary, and one or more components of the computing device shown in FIG. 15 may be omitted as needed in implementing different devices.

Embodiments of the present disclosure may also be implemented as a computer-readable storage medium. A computer readable storage medium according to an embodiment of the present disclosure has computer readable instructions stored thereon. The computer readable instructions, when executed by a processor, may perform a method according to embodiments of the present disclosure described with reference to the above figures. The computer-readable storage medium includes, but is not limited to, volatile memory and/or non-volatile memory, for example. The volatile memory may include, for example, Random Access Memory (RAM), cache memory (cache), and/or the like. The non-volatile memory may include, for example, Read Only Memory (ROM), hard disk, flash memory, etc.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the disclosure of the present disclosure is susceptible to numerous variations and modifications. For example, the various devices or components described above may be implemented in hardware, or may be implemented in software, firmware, or a combination of some or all of the three.

Furthermore, as used in this disclosure and in the claims, the terms "a," "an," "the," and/or "the" are not intended to be inclusive in the singular, but rather are inclusive in the plural, unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. The use of "first," "second," and similar terms in this disclosure is not intended to indicate any order, quantity, or importance, but rather is used to distinguish one element from another. Likewise, the word "comprising" or "comprises", and the like, means that the element or item listed before the word covers the element or item listed after the word and its equivalents, but does not exclude other elements or items. The terms "connected" or "coupled" and the like are not restricted to physical or mechanical connections, but may include electrical connections, whether direct or indirect.

Furthermore, flow charts are used in this disclosure to illustrate operations performed by systems according to embodiments of the disclosure. It should be understood that the preceding or following operations are not necessarily performed in the exact order in which they are performed. Rather, various steps may be processed in reverse order or simultaneously. Meanwhile, other operations may be added to the processes, or a certain step or several steps of operations may be removed from the processes.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. It will be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.

While the present disclosure has been described in detail above, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present disclosure is not limited to the embodiments described in the present specification. The present disclosure can be implemented as modifications and variations without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure defined by the claims. Accordingly, the description of the present specification is for the purpose of illustration and is not intended to be in any way limiting of the present disclosure.

Claims (45)

1. A method performed by a user device, comprising:

determining an activation mode for activating the multicast service; and

activating the multicast service according to the determined activation mode and at least through a first type session management function entity, wherein the first type session management function entity supports multicast/broadcast services.

2. The method of claim 1, prior to the determining the activation means for activating the multicast service, the method further comprising:

and determining a first identifier and a second identifier corresponding to the multicast service, wherein the first identifier and the second identifier are used for accessing and selecting the first type session management function entity by a mobility management function entity.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the first identifier identifies a network slice corresponding to the multicast service and the second identifier identifies a data network corresponding to the multicast service.

4. The method of claim 2 or 3, wherein the determining the first identity and the second identity corresponding to the multicast traffic comprises:

obtaining a user device routing strategy rule corresponding to each multicast service in at least one multicast service from a strategy control function entity, wherein each user device routing strategy rule at least comprises a multicast address of the corresponding multicast service;

determining a user device routing strategy rule corresponding to the multicast service according to the multicast address of the multicast service; and

and determining a first identifier and a second identifier corresponding to the multicast service according to the determined routing policy rule of the user device.

5. The method according to claim 2 or 3, wherein said activating said multicast service according to said determined activation manner and at least by a first type session management function entity comprises:

determining a third identification, wherein the third identification is used for identifying a user equipment multicast service context established for activating the multicast service;

sending a request for activating the user equipment multicast service context to the first type session management function entity, the request for activating the user equipment multicast service context comprising the third identifier and a multicast address of the multicast service;

receiving a response to the request for activating the user equipment multicast service context from the first type session management function entity, the response including a fourth identification corresponding to the multicast service, wherein the fourth identification is used for the user equipment to determine whether the multicast service is activated.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein sending a request to the first type session management function entity to activate the user device multicast service context comprises:

sending, via the access and mobility management function entity, a request to the first type session management function entity for activating the user equipment multicast service context.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein receiving a response to the request to activate the user device multicast traffic context from the first type session management function entity comprises:

receiving a response to the request for activation of the user equipment multicast traffic context from the first type session management function entity via the serving base station of the user equipment and the access and mobility management function entity.

8. The method of any of claims 5 to 7, prior to said determining a third identity, the method further comprising:

acquiring a first identifier, a second identifier and a multicast address from a second type session management function entity, wherein the second type session management function entity can support a protocol data unit session service;

and judging whether the acquired first identifier is the same as the determined first identifier, whether the acquired second identifier is the same as the determined second identifier and whether the acquired multicast address is the same as the multicast address of the multicast service.

9. The method according to claim 8, before said obtaining a first identity, a second identity and a multicast address from the second type session management function entity, the method further comprising:

acquiring an internet protocol address from the second type session management function entity according to the first identifier and the second identifier; and

and sending a data packet to a network according to the acquired Internet protocol address so that a second type user plane function entity in the network acquires the data packet, wherein the second type user plane function entity can support a protocol data unit session service, and the data packet is used for indicating a multicast service which the user device wants to activate.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the first and second light sources are selected from the group consisting of a red light source, a green light source, and a blue light source,

wherein obtaining an internet protocol address from the second-type session management function entity according to the first identifier and the second identifier comprises:

selecting the second type session management function entity and establishing a protocol data unit session according to the first identifier and the second identifier, and acquiring an internet protocol address from the second type session management function entity; and

wherein the sending a data packet to a network according to the obtained internet protocol address so that a second type user plane function entity in the network obtains the data packet comprises:

according to the acquired internet protocol address, sending a data packet to a network so that a second type user plane functional entity participating in the establishment of the protocol data unit session in the network acquires the data packet;

wherein the destination address of the packet is a multicast address of the multicast service or the protocol portion of the packet includes the multicast address of the multicast service.

11. A method performed by a first type of session management function entity supporting multicast/broadcast services, comprising:

receiving a request from a user device for activating a user device multicast service context established by the user device for activating a multicast service, the request for activating the user device multicast service context including the third identification and a multicast address of the multicast service, the third identification identifying the user device multicast service context;

determining a response to the request to activate the user device multicast service context, wherein the response includes a fourth identification corresponding to the multicast service, wherein the fourth identification is used for the user device to determine whether the multicast service is activated; and

sending the response to the user device.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the receiving a request from a user device to activate a user device multicast service context comprises:

a request is received from the user device via an access and mobility management function entity for activating a user device multicast service context.

13. The method of claim 11 or 12, wherein sending the response to the user device comprises:

sending the response to the user equipment via a serving base station of the user equipment and an access and mobility management function entity.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

receiving, from the access and mobility management function entity, a dedicated identity of the user equipment and an identity of a serving base station of the user equipment.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

recording the identities of the serving base stations of the user devices in the user device multicast service context in order to obtain identities of the serving base stations of all user devices activating the multicast service by the first type session management function entity.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein determining a response to the request to activate a user device multicast service context comprises:

determining whether the user device is capable of using the multicast service;

when the user equipment can use the multicast service, sending a notice to a first type application function entity, wherein the first type application function entity supports the multicast/broadcast service, and the notice is a notice of the multicast service authorization request; and

receiving a response to the notification from the first type of application function entity, wherein the response to the notification includes a fourth identification corresponding to the multicast traffic.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein sending a notification to the first type of application function entity comprises:

and sending a request to a multicast/broadcast service functional entity so that the multicast/broadcast service functional entity sends a notification to the first type application functional entity according to the request.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein the request comprises at least the first identity, the second identity, a multicast address of the multicast service, and an identity of the first type of session management function entity, wherein the identity of the first type of session management function entity facilitates the multicast/broadcast service function entity to obtain the first type of session management function entity to which all user devices that are to activate the multicast service are involved in activating the multicast service.

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein the notification comprises at least the first identification, the second identification, a multicast address of the multicast service, and an identification of the multicast/broadcast service functional entity, wherein the identification of the multicast/broadcast service functional entity facilitates the first type application functional entity to obtain the multicast/broadcast service functional entity to which all user devices that are to activate the multicast service relate when activating the multicast service.

20. The method according to any of claims 17 to 19, wherein said multicast/broadcast service function entity sending a notification to said first type application function entity according to said request comprises:

the multicast/broadcast service function entity sends a notification to the first type application function entity according to the request and via a network openness function entity.

21. The method according to claim 20, wherein the notification further includes an identifier of the first type application function entity, so that the network openness function entity determines the first type application function entity according to the identifier of the first type application function entity and sends a corresponding notification to the first type application function entity.

22. A method performed by a second-type session management function entity capable of supporting a protocol data unit session service, comprising:

establishing a protocol data unit session;

assigning an internet protocol address to the user device;

obtaining a multicast address of a multicast service to be activated by the user equipment from a second type user plane function entity participating in the establishment of the PDU session, wherein the multicast address is obtained after the user equipment sends a packet to a network including the second type user plane function entity according to the IP address, wherein the packet indicates the multicast service which the user equipment wants to activate; and

when the second-type session management function entity decides to instruct the user equipment to activate the multicast service, sending a request for instructing the user equipment to activate the multicast service to the user equipment, wherein the request for instructing the user equipment to activate the multicast service comprises a first identifier corresponding to the multicast service to be activated by the user equipment, a second identifier and a multicast address of the multicast service.

23. A method performed by a first type of session management function entity supporting multicast/broadcast services, comprising:

receiving a first request from a policy control function entity, wherein the first request is used for requesting the start of a multicast/broadcast service session, the first request at least comprises a fourth identification corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, a quality of service rule of at least one data flow corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, and an identification of the multicast/broadcast service session, wherein the fourth identification is an identification allocated to the multicast/broadcast service by a first type application function entity, and the first type application function entity supports the multicast/broadcast service; and

and carrying out the multicast/broadcast service session according to the first request.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the first request is determined by the policy control function entity based on a second request received from a multicast/broadcast services function entity for the multicast/broadcast services function entity to request a start of a multicast/broadcast services session to the policy control function entity.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the second request comprises at least the fourth identification, an identification of the first type session management function entity, information of at least one data flow corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, a quality of service requirement of the at least one data flow, and an identification of the multicast/broadcast service session.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the policy control function entity is determined by the multicast/broadcast service function entity based on an identity of the first type session management function entity.

27. The method of claim 24, wherein the second request is determined by the multicast/broadcast service functional entity according to a third request received from a network open functional entity or a first type of application functional entity, the third request being for the network open functional entity or the first type of application functional entity to request a start of a multicast/broadcast service session to the multicast/broadcast service functional entity.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the third request comprises at least the fourth identification, information of at least one data flow corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, quality of service requirements of the at least one data flow, and an identification of the multicast/broadcast service session.

29. The method of claim 27, wherein the third request is determined by the network open function entity according to a fourth request received from the first type application function entity, the fourth request being for the first type application function entity to request a start of a multicast/broadcast service session to the network open function entity.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein the fourth request comprises at least the fourth identification, an identification of at least one multicast/broadcast service functional entity, information of at least one data flow corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, a quality of service requirement of the at least one data flow, and an identification of the multicast/broadcast service session.

31. The method of any of claims 23 to 30, wherein any of the first request, the second request, the third request, and the fourth request further comprises an aggregate maximum rate corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service.

32. The method of claim 23, wherein the conducting the multicast/broadcast service session according to the first request comprises:

and generating a service quality flow identification, a service quality configuration file and a service quality execution rule corresponding to each data flow according to the service quality rule of each data flow.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein the conducting the multicast/broadcast service session according to the first request further comprises:

selecting a first type user plane functional entity according to the fourth identifier, wherein the first type user plane functional entity supports multicast/broadcast services;

sending a fifth request to the selected first type of user plane functional entity, wherein the fifth request is used for establishing transmission resources of the multicast/broadcast service session; and

obtaining a response to the fifth request from the selected first type user plane function entity, the response to the fifth request comprising a second tunnel multicast address allocated by the selected first type user plane function entity for transmitting service data corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, and a sixth identification corresponding to the second tunnel multicast address, wherein the second tunnel multicast address is used for multicast tunnel transmission between network entities, and the sixth identification is used for identifying a transmission tunnel of the multicast/broadcast service.

34. The method of claim 32, wherein the conducting the multicast/broadcast service session according to the first request further comprises:

selecting a first type user plane functional entity according to the fourth identifier, wherein the first type user plane functional entity supports multicast/broadcast services;

sending a fifth request to the selected first type user plane function entity, wherein the fifth request is used for establishing transmission resources of the multicast/broadcast service session, the fifth request includes a second tunnel multicast address allocated by the first type session management function entity for transmitting service data corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, and a sixth identifier corresponding to the second tunnel multicast address, wherein the second tunnel multicast address is used for multicast tunnel transmission between network entities, and the sixth identifier is used for identifying a transmission tunnel of the multicast/broadcast service;

obtaining a response to the fifth request from the selected first type of user plane functional entity.

35. The method of claim 33 or 34, wherein the fifth request comprises at least a multicast/broadcast address of the multicast/broadcast service, a quality of service enforcement rule for the at least one data flow, and an aggregated maximum rate corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service.

36. The method of claim 33 or 34, further comprising:

recording the second tunnel multicast address and the sixth identification in a multicast service context of each user device that has activated the multicast service.

37. The method of claim 33 or 34, further comprising:

determining an identity of at least one serving base station according to a multicast service context of each user equipment that has activated the multicast/broadcast service;

respectively determining the identifiers of corresponding access and mobile management functional entities according to the identifiers of all the service base stations; and

and according to the identification of each access and mobility management functional entity, respectively sending first information to each access and mobility management functional entity, wherein the first information at least comprises the identification of the corresponding serving base station, the fourth identification, the aggregated maximum rate corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, the quality of service flow identification and quality of service configuration file corresponding to each data flow, the sixth identification and the second tunnel multicast address, so that each access and mobility management functional entity sends a sixth request to the corresponding serving base station, wherein the sixth request is used for requesting the start of a multicast/broadcast service session.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein the sixth request includes the first identification, the fourth identification, an aggregate maximum rate corresponding to the multicast/broadcast traffic, a quality of service flow identification and a quality of service profile corresponding to each data flow, the sixth identification, and the second tunneling multicast address.

39. A user device, comprising:

a determining unit configured to determine an activation manner for activating the multicast service; and

an activation unit configured to activate the multicast service according to the determined activation manner and through at least a first type session management function entity, wherein the first type session management function entity supports multicast/broadcast services.

40. A first type session management function entity, the first type session management function entity supporting multicast/broadcast services, comprising:

a receiving unit configured to receive, from a user equipment, a request for activating a user equipment multicast service context established by the user equipment for activating a multicast service, the request for activating the user equipment multicast service context including the third identification and a multicast address of the multicast service, the third identification being used for identifying the user equipment multicast service context;

a determining unit configured to determine a response to the request for activating the user equipment multicast service context, wherein the response includes a fourth identification corresponding to the multicast service, wherein the fourth identification is used for the user equipment to determine whether the multicast service is activated; and

a transmitting unit configured to transmit the response to the user equipment.

41. A second-type session management function entity, the second-type session management function entity capable of supporting a protocol data unit session service, comprising:

an allocation unit configured to establish a pdu session and to allocate an ip address to a user device;

an obtaining unit configured to obtain, from a second type user plane function entity participating in establishment of the pdu session, a multicast address of a multicast service to be activated by the user equipment, wherein the multicast address is obtained after the user equipment sends a packet to a network including the second type user plane function entity according to the internet protocol address, wherein the packet indicates the multicast service that the user equipment wants to activate; and

a sending unit configured to send, to the user equipment, a request for instructing the user equipment to activate the multicast service when the second-type session management function entity decides to instruct the user equipment to activate the multicast service, where the request for instructing the user equipment to activate the multicast service includes a first identifier corresponding to the multicast service to be activated by the user equipment, a second identifier, and a multicast address of the multicast service.

42. A first type session management function entity, the first type session management function entity supporting multicast/broadcast services, comprising:

a receiving unit configured to receive a first request from a policy control function entity, wherein the first request is used for requesting the start of a multicast/broadcast service session, the first request at least comprises a fourth identifier corresponding to a multicast/broadcast service, a quality of service rule of at least one data stream corresponding to the multicast/broadcast service, and an identifier of the multicast/broadcast service session, wherein the fourth identifier is an identifier allocated to the multicast/broadcast service by a first type application function entity, and the first type application function entity supports the multicast/broadcast service; and

a control unit configured to conduct the multicast/broadcast service session according to the first request.

43. A user device, comprising:

a processor; and

memory, wherein a computer-executable program is stored in the memory, which when executed by the processor performs the method of claims 1-10.

44. A first type session management function entity, the first type session management function entity supporting multicast/broadcast services, comprising:

a processor; and

memory, wherein a computer-executable program is stored in the memory, which when executed by the processor performs the method of claims 11-21 and 23-38 above.

45. A second-type session management function entity, the second-type session management function entity capable of supporting a protocol data unit session service, comprising:

a processor; and

memory, wherein a computer-executable program is stored in the memory, which when executed by the processor performs the method of claim 22.

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