CN112449358A

CN112449358A - Method and device for counting service flow

Info

Publication number: CN112449358A
Application number: CN201910818906.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 高晓峰
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2019-08-30
Filing date: 2019-08-30
Publication date: 2021-03-05
Anticipated expiration: 2039-08-30
Also published as: CN112449358B; WO2021036441A1

Abstract

The application discloses a method and a device for counting service flow, which relate to the field of communication and can improve the flow inquiring and reporting accuracy between an SMF (short message function) and a UPF (unified power flow function) and reduce the signaling overhead. The method comprises the following steps: a first user plane function receives a session establishment request sent by a session management function, wherein the session establishment request comprises at least one URR cell using a reporting rule corresponding to a session stream, and each URR cell comprises a flow threshold; a first user plane function receives a first downlink data packet, wherein the first downlink data packet comprises an identifier of a session stream, a first URR bitmap table and an accumulated flow of the session stream; the URR bitmap table is used for indicating the URR cells related to the accumulated flow; and the first user plane function counts the newly increased flow of the URR cell indicated by the URR bitmap table according to the first downlink data packet, and if the newly increased flow reaches the flow threshold corresponding to the URR cell indicated by the URR bitmap table, the first user plane function sends a URR notification to the session management function. The method and the device are used for reporting the flow among the UPFs.

Description

Method and device for counting service flow

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of communications, and in particular, to a method and an apparatus for counting traffic.

Background

A fifth generation mobile communication technology (5G) network is dedicated to meet the huge challenges of diversified and differentiated services in the future, and not only needs to continuously face the challenges brought by mobile internet services, but also needs to meet the demanding requirements of diversified services in the vertical industry, such as ultrahigh speed, ultralow time delay, ultrahigh traffic, and the like. Therefore, in the 5G network architecture, an uplink classifier (UL CL) or a Branch Point (BP) function is defined to implement flexible deployment of the application in the network, and the application and the network cooperatively select an optimal data path, thereby implementing lowest transmission cost and providing bandwidth with highest efficiency to reduce service delay.

In specific implementation, the 5G network allows one session to have multiple User Plane Functions (UPFs) and multiple session anchors (session anchors) at the same time, and the 5G network can control different service flows through UL CL/BP to select different session anchors, thereby satisfying the requirement of service diversity. When one session has a plurality of UPF scenes, a charging function (CHF) can give flow quota management to all UPFs, and at the same time, a Session Management Function (SMF) is required to perform secondary management on a quota so as to perform coordinated allocation among the UPFs, and when the SMF determines that the usage amount of the quota of the session in the UPFs reaches a threshold, the flow is reported to the CHF. When the SMF performs secondary management on the quota, it needs to perform coordinated allocation among multiple UPFs, and there are multiple queries and reports between the SMF and the UPFs, which makes it difficult to accurately control the quota threshold, that is, the traffic finally summarized by the SMF may exceed the threshold and then be reported to the CHF, so that the traffic statistics and reporting are not accurate. Moreover, when the time for reporting the traffic by the two UPFs is inconsistent, if the SMF actively queries the traffic from the UPF, time loss will be generated, and especially in the scenario of quota exhaustion, signaling interaction between the SMF and the UPF is increased.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the application provides a method and a device for counting service traffic, which can improve the accuracy of flow query and report between an SMF (short message Filter) and a UPF (unified Power flow Filter) and reduce signaling overhead.

In a first aspect, a method for counting traffic flow is provided, including: a first user plane function receives a session establishment request sent by a session management function, wherein the session establishment request comprises at least one URR cell using a reporting rule corresponding to a session stream, and each URR cell comprises a flow threshold; a first user plane function receives a first downlink data packet, wherein the first downlink data packet comprises an identifier of a session stream, a first URR bitmap table and an accumulated flow of the session stream; the URR bitmap table is used for indicating the URR cells related to the accumulated flow; and the first user plane function counts the newly increased flow of the URR cell indicated by the URR bitmap table according to the first downlink data packet, and if the newly increased flow reaches a flow threshold value corresponding to the URR cell indicated by the URR bitmap table, the first user plane function sends a URR notification to the session management function, wherein the URR notification is used for applying for a new flow threshold value for the URR cell reaching the flow threshold value. Therefore, in the embodiment of the present application, the URR bit map is carried in the downlink data packet sent to the first user plane function by the session anchor Point (PSA) to indicate the URR cell or the service whose flow needs to be counted, so that the first user plane function can perform flow statistics according to the URR bit map to determine whether to send a URR notification to the SMF to apply for a new flow threshold. Therefore, the flow URR bitmap is carried in the downlink data packet, and the power consumption caused by multiple signaling interaction between the session anchor point and the SMF can be reduced by a mode of summarizing through the first user plane function, and the flow statistics is real-time and accurate.

In one possible design, the first user plane function is an uplink classifier UL CL or a branching point BP; the first user plane function receiving the first downlink packet comprises: the first user plane function receives a first downlink data packet sent by a second user plane function, and the second user plane function is a Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session anchor Point (PSA).

In one possible design, each URR cell further includes a URR bitmap index; the URR bitmap table comprises at least one bit value, the bit value corresponds to the index of the URR bitmap table, the bit value is a first indicating value or a second indicating value, the first indicating value is used for indicating that the URR cells corresponding to the index of the URR bitmap table need to accumulate flow, and the second indicating value is used for indicating that the URR cells corresponding to the index of the URR bitmap table do not need to accumulate flow. For example, the first indication value is 1, and the second indication value is 0. Because the bit in the URR bitmap has two bit values, the UL CL/BP can determine the index of the URR bitmap corresponding to the bit according to the first indicating value, and further can count the newly added flow of the URR cell corresponding to the index of the URR bitmap.

In one possible design, each URR cell further includes a URR identification; in each URR cell, one URR identifies one URR bitmap subscript map. Or, the URR identifier may be multiplexed to participate in traffic statistics without using the URR bitmap subscript. The URR bitmap subscript is used to consider that the service type signed by the user is less than the URR identifier, and the bit size occupied by the URR bitmap subscript is small.

In one possible design, the counting, by the first user plane function, the new flow of URR cells indicated by the first bit map according to the first downlink packet includes: and the first user plane function acquires a difference value between the accumulated flow carried in the first downlink data packet and the accumulated flow carried in the second downlink data packet received at the previous time, wherein the difference value is a newly added flow corresponding to the URR cell indicated by the URR bitmap table. The mode of carrying the accumulated flow in the downlink data packet to obtain the newly added flow can avoid signaling overhead caused by flow statistics of multiple signaling interactions.

In one possible design, the first downlink packet further includes a start flag of the session flow; the starting mark is used for indicating that the first downlink data packet is the first downlink data packet of the session flow; or, the first downlink data packet further includes an end mark, and the end mark is used for indicating that the first downlink data packet is the last downlink data packet of the session stream; the method further comprises the following steps: if the first downlink data packet comprises the starting mark, the first user plane function records the identifier of the session stream; if the first downlink packet includes an end marker, the first user plane function deletes the identifier of the first session stream. In this way, the first user plane function can timely record and delete the relevant parameters of the session stream by carrying the start flag and the end flag.

In a second aspect, a method for counting traffic flow is provided, including: the session management function sends a session establishment request to the first user plane function, wherein the session establishment request comprises at least one usage reporting rule URR cell corresponding to a session flow, and each URR cell comprises a flow threshold; the session management function receives URR notification sent by the first user plane function, and the URR notification is used for applying for a new flow threshold value for URR cells reaching the flow threshold value in the session flow; the session management function sends a URR notification to the policy control function PCF to obtain the new traffic threshold. The beneficial effects of the second aspect can be seen from the first aspect, and are not described in detail herein.

In one possible design, the first user plane function is an uplink classifier UL CL or a branching point BP; the session establishment request is used for instructing the first user plane function to send a URR notification to the session management function when determining that the newly added flow of the URR cell reaches the corresponding flow threshold.

In one possible design, each URR cell further includes a URR bitmap index; the URR bitmap subscript corresponds to at least one bit included in the URR bitmap, the bit value corresponding to the bit is a first indication value or a second indication value, the first indication value is used for indicating that the URR cells corresponding to the URR bitmap subscript need to accumulate flow, and the second indication value is used for indicating that the URR cells corresponding to the URR bitmap subscript do not need to accumulate flow.

In one possible design, each URR cell further includes a URR identification; in each URR cell, one URR identity is index mapped with one URR bitmap.

In one possible design, the method further includes: the session management function receives URR response sent by PCF, the URR response includes new flow threshold; the session management function sends a URR update notification to the first user plane function, the URR update notification including the new traffic threshold.

In one possible design, the method further includes: when the session management function determines that the first user plane function is deleted, if the session management function needs to update the URR cell, the session management function sends a session update request to the second user plane function, the second user plane function is a Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session anchor Point (PSA) which is associated with the first user plane function in a session, and the session update request is used for indicating the second user plane function to send a URR notification to the session management function. That is, when the first user plane function (UL CL/BP) is deleted, the second user plane function (PSA) may report traffic directly to the Session Management Function (SMF).

In a third aspect, a user plane function is provided, where the user plane function is a first user plane function, and the first user plane function includes: a receiving module, configured to receive a session establishment request sent by a session management function, where the session establishment request includes at least one URR cell using a reporting rule corresponding to a session flow, and each URR cell includes a flow threshold; the receiving module is further used for receiving a first downlink data packet, wherein the first downlink data packet comprises the identification of the session flow, the first URR bitmap table and the accumulated flow of the session flow; the URR bitmap table is used for indicating the URR cells related to the accumulated flow; the processing module is used for counting the newly increased flow of the URR cells indicated by the URR bitmap table according to the first downlink data packet; and the sending module is further used for sending a URR notification to the session management function if the newly added flow reaches the flow threshold corresponding to the URR cell indicated by the URR bitmap table, wherein the URR notification is used for applying for the new flow threshold for the URR cell reaching the flow threshold.

In one possible design, the first user plane function is an uplink classifier UL CL or a branching point BP; the receiving module is used for: and receiving a first downlink data packet sent by a second user plane function, wherein the second user plane function is a Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session anchor Point (PSA).

In one possible design, each URR cell further includes a URR bitmap index; the URR bitmap table comprises at least one bit value, the bit value corresponds to the index of the URR bitmap table, the bit value is a first indicating value or a second indicating value, the first indicating value is used for indicating that the URR cells corresponding to the index of the URR bitmap table need to accumulate flow, and the second indicating value is used for indicating that the URR cells corresponding to the index of the URR bitmap table do not need to accumulate flow.

In one possible design, each URR cell further includes a URR identification; in each URR cell, one URR identifies one URR bitmap subscript map.

In one possible design, the processing module is to: and acquiring a difference value between the accumulated flow carried in the first downlink data packet and the accumulated flow carried in the second downlink data packet received at the previous time, wherein the difference value is a newly added flow corresponding to the URR cell indicated by the URR bitmap table.

In one possible design, the first downlink packet further includes a start flag of the session flow; the starting mark is used for indicating that the first downlink data packet is the first downlink data packet of the session flow; or, the first downlink data packet further includes an end mark, and the end mark is used for indicating that the first downlink data packet is the last downlink data packet of the session stream; the processing module is further configured to: if the first downlink data packet comprises the starting mark, recording the identifier of the session stream; and if the first downlink data packet comprises the end mark, deleting the identifier of the first session flow.

In a fourth aspect, a session management function is provided, comprising: a sending module, configured to send a session establishment request to a first user plane function, where the session establishment request includes at least one usage reporting rule URR cell corresponding to a session flow, and each URR cell includes a flow threshold; a receiving module, configured to receive a URR notification sent by a first user plane function, where the URR notification is used to apply for a new traffic threshold for a URR cell that reaches the traffic threshold in a session flow; and the sending module is used for sending the URR notification to the policy control function PCF so as to acquire a new flow threshold.

In one possible design, the receiving module is further configured to receive a URR response sent by the PCF, where the URR response includes the new traffic threshold; the sending module is further configured to send a URR update notification to the first user plane function, where the URR update notification includes the new traffic threshold.

In one possible design, the sending module is further configured to: when the session management function determines that the first user plane function is deleted, if the session management function needs to update the URR cell, a session update request is sent to a second user plane function, the second user plane function is a Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session anchor Point (PSA) which is associated with the first user plane function in a session, and the session update request is used for indicating the second user plane function to send a URR notification to the session management function.

In yet another aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium, which includes computer instructions, when the computer instructions are executed on an electronic device, cause the electronic device to execute the program designed in the first aspect and/or the second aspect.

In a further aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a computer program product, which, when run on an electronic device, causes the electronic device to perform the method of the first aspect and/or the second aspect.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a signaling interaction diagram for performing coordinated traffic distribution among a plurality of UPFs;

fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4 is a schematic flow chart of a method for counting traffic according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 is a schematic flow chart of a method for counting traffic according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6 is a schematic flow chart of a method for counting traffic flow when deleting UL CL/BP according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

The embodiment of the application can be applied to a 5G network architecture, and how to accurately count and report the service flow in real time under the scene that one session has a plurality of UPFs.

When one session has multiple UPF scenes, if CHF manages session quotas uniformly and does not distinguish UPFs, SMF needs to manage quotas twice for each UPF, and a flow of performing coordinated allocation among multiple UPFs may be as shown in fig. 1.

1) The SMF sends a session management policy association (Npcf _ compact control _ Create) message to a Policy Control Function (PCF), determines that Policy Control and Charging (PCC) authorization is needed and requests to establish Session Management (SM) policy association with the PCF;

2) establishing a charging context (Npcf _ ConvergedCharging _ Create) between the SMF and the CHF;

3) the SMF establishes a PDU session anchor 1(PDU (Protocol Data Unit, Protocol Data Unit) session anchor, PSA) 1; then, the traffic is carried out between the SMF and the PSA 1;

4) SMF establishes PSA 2;

5) the PSA1 reports that the traffic has reached the threshold to the SMF through a Packet Forwarding Control Protocol (PFCP) session notification (PFCP session report);

6) in order to ensure reasonable quota allocation between PSA1 and PSA2, the SMF sends a PFCP session modification Request (PFCP session modification Request) message to PSA2, and requires PSA2 to report traffic usage immediately;

7) the SMF redistributes flow quota for PSA1 and PSA2 according to the flow reported by PSA1 and PSA2 and by combining the information of the residual quota and the like, and issues an updated flow threshold to PSA 1;

8) the SMF issues the updated flow threshold to the PSA 2.

Steps 5-8 above may be repeated until the threshold/quota delivered by the PCF/CHF is reached or exceeded.

It can be seen that, in order to ensure the reasonability of quota allocation between PSAs, there are multiple queries and reports between SMF and PSA, and finally, the summarized traffic may exceed a threshold, which makes it difficult to accurately control a quota threshold.

Aiming at the problem, the design idea of the application is to utilize the convergent point characteristic of UL CL/BP to report the URR, the identification of the URR is completed by PSA and carries the URR list corresponding to the conversation flow along with the packet in the downlink message, thereby achieving the purposes of accurate statistics and timely reporting of the flow.

The following first explains the network architecture of the present application.

The network architecture of the present application may be as shown in fig. 2, and includes a terminal device, AN Access Network (AN), a user plane function, a mobility management network element, a session management function, a policy control function, a charging function, a Data Network (DN), and the like.

Wherein, referring to fig. 3, the terminal device may be a User Equipment (UE), an access terminal, a UE unit, a UE station, a mobile station, a distant station, a remote terminal, a mobile device, a UE terminal, a wireless communication device, a UE agent, or a UE apparatus, etc. An access terminal may be a cellular telephone, a cordless telephone, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phone, a Wireless Local Loop (WLL) station, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a handheld device with wireless communication capabilities, a computing device or other processing device connected to a wireless modem, a vehicle mounted device, a wearable device, a terminal in a 5G network or a terminal in an evolved Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) network, etc.

The access network AN may comprise devices that are able to communicate with the terminal devices. For example, the access network includes a base station, which may be a relay station or an access point, etc. The base station may be a Base Transceiver Station (BTS) in a global system for mobile communication (GSM) or Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) network, or may be an nb (nodeb) in Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), or may be an eNB or enodeb (evolved nodeb) in LTE. The base station may also be a wireless controller in a Cloud Radio Access Network (CRAN) scenario. The base station may also be a network device in a 5G network or a network device in an evolved PLMN network; but also wearable devices or vehicle-mounted devices, etc.

In a 5G network architecture, the user plane function may be a UPF, and may be configured to: anchor point (when applicable) for intra/inter RAT mobility within Radio Access Technology (RAT); a session point interconnecting the external PDU with the data network; packet routing and forwarding (e.g., supporting uplink classifiers to route traffic flows to instances of the data network, supporting branch points to support multi-homed PDU sessions); packet inspection (e.g., service data flow template based application flow detection and flow description (PFD) of optional packets received from SMF); lawful interception; a traffic usage report; quality of Service (QoS) handling for the user plane, e.g., UL CL/DL rate enforcement, reflective QoS marking in DL; uplink traffic validation service data flow (SDF to QoS traffic mapping; transport level packet marking in uplink and downlink; downlink packet buffering and downlink data notification triggering; sending and forwarding one or more "end markers" to a source next generation radio access network (NG-RAN) node, etc.

In the 5G network architecture, the mobility management network element may be an access and mobility management function (AMF), and may be configured to: terminate non-access-stratum (NAS) (N1), NAS ciphering and integrity protection; registration management; connection management; reachability management; mobility management; lawful interception (interface applicable to AMF events and LI system; transmission for SM messages between UE and SMF; transparent proxy for routing SM messages; access authentication; access authorization; message transmission between UE and SMF; location service management for administrative services; transmission for location service messages between UE and Location Management Function (LMF) and between RAN and LMF, etc.

In a 5G network architecture, the session management function may be an SMF, and may be configured to: managing a session; UE Internet Protocol (IP) address allocation and management; selecting and controlling the UP function; configuring the transmission direction of the UPF and routing the transmission to a correct destination; controlling a portion of policy enforcement and QoS; a downlink data notification; configuring the flow control of the UPF, and routing the flow to a correct destination; terminating the interface to the policy control function, etc.

In a 5G network architecture, the policy control function may be a PCF, which may include: supporting a unified policy framework to manage network behavior; providing policy rules for control plane functions; access user information related to policy decisions in a Unified Data Repository (UDR), and the like.

In the 5G network architecture, the charging function may be CHF, and may be used for converged online and offline charging. CHF receives charging information reported by a Charging Trigger Function (CTF) (SMF can be used as CTF), generates a ticket or issues quota to CTF, and provides a charging function for UE.

The data network DN may include a variety of devices such as routers, servers, etc.

In the embodiment of the present application, by using the SMF and the UPF in the network architecture, signaling interaction between the SMF and the UPF can be reduced. In this embodiment of the present application, the UPF may be classified as UL CL for uplink, or may be a branch point BP, where UL CL may be an uplink traffic classifier and supports splitting of uplink traffic, and BP may be a branch point of a session and supports merging of downlink traffic. The UPF may also be the PSA, i.e., the PDU session anchor point. Two PSAs, PSA1 and PSA2, are shown in figure 2.

The methods in the following embodiments may all be implemented in the network architecture described above. In the following embodiments, the method of the present application is described by taking the above network architecture as an example.

An embodiment of the present application provides a method for counting traffic, as shown in fig. 4, including:

301. the session management function sends a session establishment request to the first user plane function, the session establishment request includes at least one usage reporting rule URR cell, and each URR cell includes a traffic threshold.

In the embodiment of the present application, the session management function may be an SMF; the user plane function may be UPF, which may be UL CL or BP, or PSA. When SMF sends session establishment request to UPF, the UPF is UC CL/BP. Namely, the first user plane function is UC CL/BP, which is denoted as the first UPF.

In this embodiment of the present application, the traffic threshold carried in the URR cell may indicate that the first UPF reports to the SMF when the statistical traffic reaches the traffic threshold.

302. The first user plane function receives a session establishment request sent by the session management function.

303. A first user plane function receives a first downlink data packet, wherein the first downlink data packet comprises an identifier of a session stream, a first URR bitmap table and an accumulated flow of the session stream; the URR bitmap table is used to indicate the URR cells to which the accumulated traffic relates.

In an embodiment of the present application, the first downlink packet may be sent by the second user plane function (second UPF) to the first UPF (UL CL/BP), and the second UPF is the PSA.

In this embodiment of the present application, the URR cells may correspond to different service types, bits in the URR bit map may correspond to one URR cell, when a downlink data packet received by the first UPF carries the URR bit map, values of bits in the bit map may indicate which services corresponding to the URR cells require statistical traffic, and a mapping relationship between bits in the bit map and the URR is issued by the SMF, so that services requiring statistical traffic indicated by the URR bit map may be counted according to accumulated traffic in the downlink data packet.

304. And the first user plane function counts the newly added flow of the URR cells indicated by the URR bitmap table according to the first downlink data packet.

The first UPF may obtain a difference value between an accumulated traffic carried in the first downlink data packet and an accumulated traffic carried in the second downlink data packet received at the previous time, where the difference value is a new traffic corresponding to the URR cell indicated by the URR bitmap table.

305. And if the newly added flow reaches the flow threshold corresponding to the URR cell indicated by the URR bitmap table, the first user plane function sends a URR notification to the session management function, and the URR notification is used for applying for a new flow threshold for the URR cell reaching the flow threshold.

306. The session management function receives a URR notification sent by the first user plane function.

307. The session management function sends URR notification to the policy control function PCF and the charging function CHF to obtain a new traffic threshold.

Therefore, in the embodiment of the application, the URR bitmap is carried in the downlink data packet sent by the PSA to the UL CL/BP to indicate the URR or the service whose traffic needs to be counted, which may facilitate the UL CL/BP to perform traffic statistics according to the URR bitmap to determine whether to send a URR notification to the SMF to apply for a new traffic threshold. Therefore, the flow URR bit chart is carried in the downlink data packet, and the power consumption caused by signaling interaction between the PSA and the SMF can be reduced by a mode of summarizing the UL CL/BP, so that the flow statistics is real-time and accurate.

The following takes the network framework shown in fig. 3 as an example to further explain the embodiments of the present application.

Corresponding to fig. 3, taking an example that the session management function is SMF, the policy control function is PCF, the charging function is CHF, the first user plane function is UL CL/BP, the second user plane function is PSA1, and the third user plane function is PSA2, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for counting traffic flows, as shown in fig. 5, including:

401. and the SMF calls the PCF to acquire the PCC strategy.

The PCC strategy is used for strategy control and flow charging such as packet network service data transmission QoS and the like, and aims to provide differentiated services for users.

402. The SMF invokes CHF to start charging.

After the user establishes the session connection, the SMF needs to perform services such as traffic charging for the user, and the SMF may invoke CHF to start performing traffic charging for the session according to the PCC policy.

403. SMF combines the PCC strategy issued by PCF, the charging strategy of CHF and the strategy of local configuration to generate URR cell, and establishes the mapping relation from URR ID to the index of URR bitmap and the URR bitmap.

URR cells can have two types, one type is a charging type and is used when SMF carries out charging reporting on CHF; one is a policy type, which is used when SMF reports policy to PCF. In each type, the URR cells can be further divided into session-level URRs and service-level URRs. Taking policy-type URR cells as an example, the session-level URR can be understood as that one session corresponds to one URR cell, and all streams of the session are associated to the URR cell; for its service level URR, the service level URR is issued by PCF, the strategy issued by PCF is associated with URR cell, and multiple strategies can be associated to the same URR cell. Taking the charging type URR cell as an example, its service level URR corresponds to a charging rate group/service number (RG/SID), the policy issued by PCF is associated to RG/SID, CHF allocates quota for RG/SID, SMF can create the URR cell corresponding to RG/SID.

In the embodiment of the present application, a service level URR is taken as an example for explanation, each URR cell corresponds to a service, each URR cell includes a URR identifier (URR ID), and each URR cell further includes a URR bitmap index (URR index).

It should be noted that, if there are few operator services and the URR is not configured locally in the SMF, and the URR is dynamically generated, the URR bitmap index may multiplex the dynamically generated URR ID for performing traffic statistics; if the SMF is configured with the URR locally, the bit size occupied by the URR ID is large, and the embodiments of the present application perform traffic statistics with the URR bitmap subscript, that is, convert the URR ID into a number in a session, so that the number range is reduced.

In the case that the URR cell includes a URR bitmap Index, the present application extends a credit URR IE (information element) of an N4 interface between the SMF and the UPF, and extends a URR Index field, and an exemplary extended format of the credit URR IE (URR cell) may be as shown in table 1.

TABLE 1

In table 1, the expression that This IE should uniquely identify a URR of all URRs configured for the PFCP session is that This IE identifies the URR of the URR amplitude all of the URRs configured for the PFCP session.

As can be seen from table 1, a URR cell includes a URR ID and a URR bitmap index, i.e., a URR ID maps a URR bitmap index.

Assuming that the URR Index ranges from 0 to 127, occupying 8 bits, there can be 128 URR indexes per session (session) at most. The specific format of the URR Index field may be as shown in table 2.

TABLE 2

In table 2, URR Index may be represented by 8 bits, and its type value may be 50000 and length may be n. For example, the URR Index may be represented as 10000000, 01000000, or the like.

For ease of description, the URR ID and URR bitmap subscripts are described herein in decimal 1, 2, 3 …, and so on.

Assuming that an operator has 100 services, each user subscribes to 32 services at most, if the number of URR ID is 1-100, the number of URR Index is 0-31, and the session of user 1 uses services with URR IDs of 10, 13, 57, and 89, then the mapping relationship between URR ID and URR Index established by SMF may be <10, 0>, <13, 1>, <57, 2>, <89, 3 >; the session of user 2 uses services with URR IDs of 11, 3, 5, and 8, and the mapping relationship between URR IDs and URR indexes established by SMF may be <11, 0>, <3, 1>, <5, 2>, <8, 3 >.

While the mapping relationship is established, for one session, a URR bitmap (bitmap) corresponding to a plurality of URR bitmap indexes includes at least one bit value, for example, when a user signs up for 32 services, there may be 32 bits to represent the bitmap indexes. Taking user 2 as an example, bit 0 in bitmap actually represents URR ID 11, bit 1 actually represents URR ID 3, and so on. In the URR bitmap table, the initial bit value of each URR bitmap subscript may be 0.

404. The SMF sends a first session setup request to the PSA1, the first session setup request including at least one URR cell, each URR cell including a URR bitmap index.

The SMF may send a first session establishment request to the PSA1 over the N4 interface. In this embodiment of the present application, the session establishment request may be a PFCP session authorization request.

When the user initiates a session, if the session of the user involves multiple services, the URR cell corresponding to the multiple services included in the first session establishment request is sent to the PSA 1. The format of the URR cell can be seen in table 1.

There may be multiple session anchors for a session, and the session anchors established in this embodiment are PSA1 and PSA 2.

405. The PSA1 sends a first session establishment response to the SMF.

The PSA1 may send a first session establishment response to the SMF over the N4 interface.

In this embodiment of the present application, the session establishment response may be a PFCP session authorization response.

406. The SMF sends a second session setup request to the PSA2, the second session setup request including at least one usage reporting rule, URR, cell, each URR cell including a URR bitmap index.

407. PSA2 sends a second session establishment response to the SMF.

408. SMF sends a third session establishment request to UL CL/BP, wherein the third session establishment request comprises at least one URR cell corresponding to the session flow, and each URR cell comprises a URR bitmap subscript and a flow threshold.

The SMF may send a third session setup request to the UL CL/BP over the N4 interface.

When a user initiates a session, if a session flow of the session of the user relates to multiple services, URR cells corresponding to the multiple services are all issued to UL CL/BP. The UL CL/BP can obtain the mapping relationship between the URR ID and the URR Index according to the URR ID and the URR Index carried in the plurality of URR cells, and then can perform statistics on the traffic according to the mapping relationship, the traffic threshold carried by each URR cell, and the URR bitmap in step 411. The format of the URR cell can be seen in table 1.

409. The UL CL/BP sends a third session setup response to the SMF.

410. PSA1 sends a first downstream packet to UL CL/BP, the first downstream packet including an identification of the session flow, a URR bitmap table, and an accumulated traffic of the session flow; the URR bitmap table is used to indicate the URR cells to which the accumulated traffic relates.

Taking fig. 2 as AN example, when the session anchor PSA1 corresponding to the session receives the first downlink data packet sent by the data network DN, the first downlink data packet may be sent to the terminal device through the session anchor PSA1 and the access network AN. The PSA1 receives the first downlink data packet carrying the identifier of the session flow (label Id), the URR bitmap table, and the cumulative traffic of the session flow (volume), and PSA1 may send the first downlink data packet to the UL CL/BP through the N9 interface. Specifically, downlink PDU session information (PDU type 0) in the first downlink packet may be extended to carry the identifier of the session flow, the URR bitmap table, and the accumulated traffic, and a specific format may be as shown in table 3.

TABLE 3

In table 3, URR BITMAP LEN represents the occupied bit length of the URR BITMAP table; lable Id represents the session flow ID, and the URR bitmap table corresponding to one flow is fixed; URR BITMP represents a URR bit map; volume represents the cumulative flow of the flow identified by the Lable Id; STA represents the start marker of the flow identified by lab Id; STO denotes the end marker of the flow identified by Lable Id.

The URR bitmap table comprises at least one bit value, the bit value corresponds to the index of the URR bitmap table, the bit value is a first indicating value or a second indicating value, the first indicating value is used for indicating that the URR cells corresponding to the index of the URR bitmap table need to accumulate flow, and the second indicating value is used for indicating that the URR cells corresponding to the index of the URR bitmap table do not need to accumulate flow. For example, the first indication value is 1, and the second indication value is 0.

The STA is used for indicating the first downlink data packet as the first downlink data packet of the session stream; or, the STO is used to indicate that the first downstream packet is the last downstream packet of the session flow. If the first downlink data packet comprises the STA, recording the identifier Lable Id of the session stream by the UL CL/BP; if the first downlink packet includes STO, the UL CL/BP deletes the identification of the session flow.

Likewise, downstream packets received by PSA2 are of a similar format to the first downstream packet received by PSA 1.

411. And the UL CL/BP counts the newly added flow of the URR cells indicated by the URR bitmap table according to the first downlink data packet.

Because the bit in the URR bitmap has two bit values, the UL CL/BP can determine the index of the URR bitmap corresponding to the bit according to the first indicating value, and further can count the newly added flow of the URR cell corresponding to the index of the URR bitmap.

In some embodiments, the UL CL/BP may obtain a difference value between an accumulated traffic carried in the first downlink data packet and an accumulated traffic carried in the second downlink data packet received last time, where the difference value is a new traffic corresponding to the URR cell indicated by the first bit map. For example, the bit value of the URR bitmap table is 01011000 (bit numbering is performed from the left end to the right end), the values of 0, 2, 5, 6, and 7 are 0, the index of the URR bitmap is 0, 2, 5, 6, and 7, and then the URR cells corresponding to the index of the URR bitmap is 0, 2, 5, 6, and 7 do not need to count the newly added traffic; the 1, 3, 4 th bits are 1, and the index of the corresponding URR bitmap is 1, 3, 4, so that the URR cells corresponding to the index of the URR bitmap is 1, 3, 4 need to count the newly added traffic. For the service level URR, when the traffic needs to be counted for the URR cell, the traffic needs to be counted for the service corresponding to the URR cell.

412. If the new flow reaches the flow threshold corresponding to the URR cell indicated by the URR bitmap table, the UL CL/BP sends a URR notification to the SMF, and the URR notification is used for applying for a new flow threshold for the URR cell reaching the flow threshold.

For example, when the traffic threshold corresponding to the URR cell is 100, if the newly added traffic reaches or exceeds the traffic threshold corresponding to the URR cell of 100, the UL CL/BP may notify the SMF that the traffic allocated by the URR cell is used up, indicating that the SMF applies for a new traffic threshold from the PCF, for example, the new traffic threshold is 200, and then, if the UL CL/BP continues to count that the newly added traffic reaches 200, the UL CL/BP may send the URR notification again to the SMF to apply for the new traffic threshold.

413. The SMF sends a URR notification to the PCF to obtain the new traffic threshold.

Accordingly, the SMF receives the URR response sent by the PCF, the URR response including the new traffic threshold.

In some embodiments, the SMF sends a URR update notification to the UL CL/BP, the URR update notification including the new traffic threshold.

Therefore, in the embodiment, the PSA can report the traffic to the UL CL/BP along with the data packet, perform traffic statistics on the UL CL/BP, and report the traffic to the SMF, and this process of reporting the traffic along with the data packet can ensure the accuracy of traffic reporting and avoid the problem of high signaling overhead caused by multiple signaling interactions between the SMF and the UPF.

In the above embodiment, UL CL/BP implements traffic accumulation and URR reporting functions. In some embodiments, as the user moves, the UL CL in the above embodiments may be deleted, and after the UL CL is deleted, the flow reporting of PSA1/PSA2 cannot report the flow to the SMF through the UL CL any more, and at this time, the PSA can report the flow to the SMF directly.

Illustratively, with fig. 3 as a network architecture, as shown in fig. 6:

501. the UE establishes a PDU session, the session comprises a plurality of sessions including UL CL/BP, PSA1, PSA2 and the like, and the UL CL/BP realizes traffic statistics and traffic reporting (see the corresponding embodiment of FIG. 4).

502. When the SMF notifies the UE to stop using the IPv6 prefix corresponding to PSA1 through an Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv 6) Router Advertisement, the UE may start using the IPv6 prefix corresponding to PSA2 for all traffic flows.

503. The SMF interacts with the (R) AN and updates the (R) AN tunneling information so that upstream traffic is sent from the (R) AN to the PSA2 without passing through the UL CL/BP.

504. SMF interacts with PSA2 through N4 interface, updating PSA2 tunneling information, while sending a session update request to PSA2 instructing PSA2 to send URR notifications to SMF.

Or, when the SMF determines that the first user plane function (PSA1) is deleted, if the SMF needs to update the URR cell, the SMF sends a session update request to the second user plane function (PSA2), the PSA2 being a protocol data unit PDU session anchor PSA associated with the PSA1, the session update request instructing the PSA2 to send a URR notification to the SMF.

Thus, the downstream traffic is sent directly from the PSA2 to the (R) AN, such that the entire upstream and downstream traffic path switch is complete. Namely, after UL CL/BP is deleted, PSA2 reports the statistical flow to SMF.

505. SMF sends a session (PFCP session) delete message to PSA1 to instruct PSA1 to release the session on PSA 1.

506. The SMF sends a Session (PFCP session) delete message to the UL CL/BP to instruct the UL CL/BP to release the session on PSA 1.

507. The PSA2 performs traffic statistics and reports the accumulated traffic to the SMF if a traffic threshold is reached.

The implementation of flow statistics by PSA2 can be seen in the implementation of flow statistics by UL CL/BP in steps 411 and 412.

Therefore, when the UL CL is deleted, other UPFs can report the URR flow to the SMF according to the flow accumulation in the data packet, so that the multi-UPF URR report is realized, and the signaling interaction between the SMF and the UPF is reduced.

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

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

In the case of dividing each functional module according to each function, fig. 7 shows a schematic structural diagram of an electronic device 70, where the electronic device 70 may be the user plane function, or UL CL/BP, and the electronic device 70 includes: a receiving unit 701, a processing unit 702, and a transmitting unit 703. The receiving unit 701 is configured to support the electronic device 70 to perform

processes

302 and 303 in fig. 4, corresponding processes to processes 408 and 410 in fig. 5, and corresponding processes to process 506 in fig. 6; the processing unit 702 is configured to support the electronic device 70 to execute the process 304 in fig. 4 and the process 411 in fig. 5, and the sending unit 703 is configured to support the electronic device 70 to execute the process 305 in fig. 4 and the processes 409 and 412 in fig. 5. All relevant contents of each step related to the above method embodiment may be referred to the functional description of the corresponding functional module, and are not described herein again.

In the case of an integrated unit, fig. 8 shows a schematic view of a possible configuration of the electronic device involved in the above-described embodiment. The electronic device 80 includes: a processing module 802 and a communication module 803. Processing module 802 is used to control and manage actions of the electronic device, e.g., processing module 802 is used to support electronic device 80 in performing process 304 in fig. 3, process 411 in fig. 5, and/or other processes for the techniques described herein. The communication module 803 is used for supporting communication between the electronic device and other network entities, for example, the functional modules or network entities shown in fig. 2 and 3. The communication module 803 includes the functions of the receiving unit 701 and the transmitting unit 703 described above. The electronic device 80 may also include a storage module 801 for storing program codes and data for the electronic device 80.

The Processing module 802 may be a Processor or a controller, such as a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a general purpose Processor, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), an Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or other Programmable logic device, a transistor logic device, a hardware component, or any combination thereof. Which may implement or perform the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the disclosure. A processor may also be a combination of computing functions, e.g., comprising one or more microprocessors, a DSP and a microprocessor, or the like. The communication module 803 may be a transceiver, a transceiving circuit or a communication interface, etc. The storage module 801 may be a memory.

When the processing module 802 is a processor, the communication module 803 is a communication interface, and the storage module 801 is a memory, the electronic device according to the embodiment of the present application may be the electronic device 90 shown in fig. 9.

Referring to fig. 9, the electronic device 90 includes: a processor 912, a communication interface 913, a memory 911, and a bus 914. Wherein, the communication interface 913, the processor 912, and the memory 911 are connected to each other by a bus 914; the bus 914 may be a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus, an Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA) bus, or the like. The bus may be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, etc. For ease of illustration, only one thick line is shown in FIG. 9, but this does not indicate only one bus or one type of bus.

In the case of dividing each functional module according to each function, fig. 10 shows a schematic structural diagram of an electronic device 10, where the electronic device 10 may be a session management function as described in the foregoing embodiments, or a possible structural diagram of an SMF, and the electronic device 10 includes a sending unit 1001, a receiving unit 1002, and a processing unit 1003. The sending unit 1001 is configured to support the electronic device 10 to perform the

processes

301 and 307 in fig. 4, the processes 404, 406, 408, 413 in fig. 5, and the processes 505, 506 in fig. 6; the receiving unit 1002 is used to support the electronic device 10 to execute the process 306 in fig. 3. The processing unit 1003 is configured to support the electronic device 10 to execute the processes 401, 402, and 403 in fig. 5 and the processes 502, 503, and 504 in fig. 6, where all relevant contents of each step related to the foregoing method embodiment may be referred to the functional description of the corresponding functional module, and are not described herein again.

Fig. 11 shows another possible schematic structural diagram of the electronic device 10 according to the above-described embodiment, in the case of an integrated unit. The electronic apparatus 11 includes: a processing module 1102 and a communication module 1103. Processing module 1102 is configured to control and manage actions of electronic device 11, e.g., processing module 1102 is configured to enable electronic device 11 to perform processes 401, 402, 403 in fig. 5, processes 502, 503, 504 in fig. 6, and/or other processes for the techniques described herein. The communication module 1103 is used for supporting communication between the electronic device 11 and other network entities, for example, the functional modules or network entities shown in fig. 2 and 3. Electronic device 11 may also include a storage module 1101 for storing program codes and data for electronic device 11.

The processing module 1102 may be a processor or controller, such as a CPU, general purpose processor, DSP, ASIC, FPGA or other programmable logic device, transistor logic device, hardware component, or any combination thereof. Which may implement or perform the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the disclosure. A processor may also be a combination of computing functions, e.g., comprising one or more microprocessors, a DSP and a microprocessor, or the like. The communication module 1103 may be a transceiver, a transceiving circuit, a communication interface, or the like. The storage module 1101 may be a memory.

When the processing module 1102 is a processor, the communication module 1103 is a communication interface, and the storage module 1101 is a memory, the electronic device 11 according to the embodiment of the present application may be the electronic device 12 shown in fig. 12.

Referring to fig. 12, the electronic device 12 includes: a processor 1212, a communication interface 1213, a memory 1211, and a bus 1214. Wherein, the communication interface 1213, the processor 1212 and the memory 1211 are connected to each other by the bus 1214; bus 1214 may be a PCI bus or EISA bus, etc. The bus may be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, etc. For ease of illustration, only one thick line is shown in FIG. 12, but this is not intended to represent only one bus or type of bus.

The steps of a method or algorithm described in connection with the disclosure herein may be embodied in hardware or in software instructions executed by a processor. The software instructions may be comprised of corresponding software modules that may be stored in Random Access Memory (RAM), flash Memory, Read Only Memory (ROM), Erasable Programmable ROM (EPROM), Electrically Erasable Programmable ROM (EEPROM), registers, a hard disk, a removable disk, a compact disc Read Only Memory (CD-ROM), or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor such the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. Of course, the storage medium may also be integral to the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in an ASIC. Additionally, the ASIC may reside in a core network interface device. Of course, the processor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components in a core network interface device.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that in one or more of the examples described above, the functions described herein may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, the functions may be stored on or transmitted over as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media includes both computer storage media and communication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. A storage media may be any available media that can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer.

The above is only an embodiment of the present application, but the scope of the present application is not limited thereto, and any changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the present disclosure should be covered by the scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A method for counting traffic flow, comprising:

a first user plane function receives a session establishment request sent by a session management function, wherein the session establishment request comprises at least one URR cell using a reporting rule corresponding to a session stream, and each URR cell comprises a flow threshold;

the first user plane function receives a first downlink data packet, wherein the first downlink data packet comprises the identification of the session flow, a URR bitmap table and the accumulated flow of the session flow; the URR bitmap table is used for indicating the URR cells related to the accumulated flow;

and the first user plane function counts the newly increased flow of the URR cell indicated by the URR bitmap according to the first downlink data packet, and if the newly increased flow reaches a flow threshold value corresponding to the URR cell indicated by the URR bitmap, the first user plane function sends a URR notification to the session management function, wherein the URR notification is used for applying for a new flow threshold value for the URR cell reaching the flow threshold value.

2. The method of claim 1,

the first user plane function is an uplink classifier UL CL or a branch point BP;

the first user plane function receiving a first downlink packet comprises:

and the first user plane function receives the first downlink data packet sent by the second user plane function, wherein the second user plane function is a Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session anchor Point (PSA).

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2,

each URR cell also includes a URR bitmap index;

the URR bitmap table comprises at least one bit value, the bit value corresponds to the index of the URR bitmap table, the bit value is a first indicating value or a second indicating value, the first indicating value is used for indicating that the URR cells corresponding to the index of the URR bitmap table need to accumulate flow, and the second indicating value is used for indicating that the URR cells corresponding to the index of the URR bitmap table do not need to accumulate flow.

4. The method of claim 3,

each URR cell also comprises a URR mark;

in each URR cell, one URR identifies one URR bitmap subscript map.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first user plane function counting the new flow of URR cells indicated by the first bit map based on the first downlink packet comprises:

and the first user plane function acquires a difference value between the accumulated flow carried in the first downlink data packet and the accumulated flow carried in the second downlink data packet received at the previous time, wherein the difference value is a newly added flow corresponding to the URR cell indicated by the URR bitmap table.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first downstream data packet further comprises a start marker for a session flow; the starting mark is used for indicating that the first downlink data packet is the first downlink data packet of the session stream; or, the first downlink data packet further includes an end flag, where the end flag is used to indicate that the first downlink data packet is the last downlink data packet of the session stream;

the method further comprises the following steps:

if the first downlink data packet comprises the starting mark, the first user plane function records the identifier of the session stream;

and if the first downlink data packet comprises the end mark, the first user plane function deletes the identifier of the conversation flow.

7. A method for counting traffic flow, comprising:

a session management function sends a session establishment request to a first user plane function, wherein the session establishment request comprises at least one usage reporting rule URR cell corresponding to a session flow, and each URR cell comprises a flow threshold;

the session management function receives a URR notification sent by the first user plane function, where the URR notification is used to apply for a new traffic threshold for a URR cell that reaches a traffic threshold in the session stream;

the session management function sends a URR notification to the policy control function PCF to obtain the new traffic threshold.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the first user plane function is an uplink classifier UL CL or a branching point BP; the session establishment request is used for indicating the first user plane function to send a URR notification to the session management function when determining that the newly added flow of the URR cell reaches a corresponding flow threshold.

9. The method according to claim 7 or 8,

each URR cell also includes a URR bitmap index;

the URR bitmap subscript corresponds to at least one bit included in the URR bitmap table, the bit value corresponding to the bit is a first indication value or a second indication value, the first indication value is used for indicating that the URR cells corresponding to the URR bitmap subscript need to accumulate flow, and the second indication value is used for indicating that the URR cells corresponding to the URR bitmap subscript do not need to accumulate flow.

10. The method of claim 9,

each URR cell also comprises a URR identification;

in each URR cell, one URR identity is index mapped with one URR bitmap.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

the session management function receives URR response sent by PCF, the URR response includes new flow threshold;

the session management function sends a URR update notification to the first user plane function, the URR update notification including a new traffic threshold.

12. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

when the session management function determines that the first user plane function is deleted, if the session management function needs to update the URR cell, the session management function sends a session update request to a second user plane function, where the second user plane function is a protocol data unit PDU session anchor PSA associated with the first user plane function, and the session update request is used to instruct the second user plane function to send a URR notification to the session management function.

13. A user plane function, wherein the user plane function is a first user plane function, and wherein the first user plane function comprises:

a receiving module, configured to receive a session establishment request sent by a session management function, where the session establishment request includes at least one URR cell using a reporting rule corresponding to a session flow, and each URR cell includes a flow threshold;

the receiving module is further configured to receive a first downlink data packet, where the first downlink data packet includes an identifier of the session flow, a URR bitmap table, and an accumulated flow of the session flow; the URR bitmap table is used for indicating the URR cells related to the accumulated flow;

the processing module is used for counting the newly increased flow of the URR cells indicated by the URR bitmap table according to the first downlink data packet;

and the sending module is further configured to send a URR notification to the session management function if the newly added flow reaches a flow threshold corresponding to the URR cell indicated by the URR bitmap table, where the URR notification is used to apply for a new flow threshold for the URR cell reaching the flow threshold.

14. The user plane function according to claim 13, wherein the first user plane function is an uplink classifier UL CL or a branching point BP;

the receiving module is used for:

and receiving the first downlink data packet sent by a second user plane function, wherein the second user plane function is a Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session anchor Point (PSA).

15. The user plane function according to claim 13 or 14,

each URR cell also includes a URR bitmap index;

the URR bitmap table comprises at least one bit value, the bit value corresponds to the index of the URR bitmap table, the bit value is a first indicating value or a second indicating value, the first indicating value is used for indicating that the URR cell corresponding to the index of the URR bitmap table needs to accumulate flow, and the second indicating value is used for indicating that the URR cell corresponding to the index of the URR bitmap table does not need to accumulate flow;

each URR cell also comprises a URR mark; in each URR cell, one URR identifies one URR bitmap subscript map.

16. The user plane function of claim 13, wherein the processing module is configured to:

and acquiring a difference value between the accumulated flow carried in the first downlink data packet and the accumulated flow carried in the second downlink data packet received at the previous time, wherein the difference value is a newly added flow corresponding to the URR cell indicated by the URR bitmap table.

17. The user plane function of claim 13 wherein the first downlink packet further comprises a start tag for the session flow; the starting mark is used for indicating that the first downlink data packet is the first downlink data packet of the session stream; or, the first downlink data packet further includes an end flag, where the end flag is used to indicate that the first downlink data packet is the last downlink data packet of the session stream;

the processing module is further configured to:

if the first downlink data packet comprises the starting mark, recording the identifier of the session stream;

and if the first downlink data packet comprises the end mark, deleting the identifier of the session stream.

18. A session management function, comprising:

a sending module, configured to send a session establishment request to a first user plane function, where the session establishment request includes at least one usage reporting rule URR cell corresponding to a session flow, and each URR cell includes a flow threshold;

a receiving module, configured to receive a URR notification sent by the first user plane function, where the URR notification is used to apply for a new traffic threshold for a URR cell that reaches a traffic threshold in the session flow;

and the sending module is used for sending the URR notification to the policy control function PCF so as to acquire a new flow threshold.

19. The session management function according to claim 18, wherein the first user plane function is an uplink classifier UL CL or a branching point BP; the session establishment request is used for indicating the first user plane function to send a URR notification to the session management function when determining that the newly added flow of the URR cell reaches a corresponding flow threshold.

20. A session management function according to claim 18 or 19, wherein each URR cell further comprises a URR bitmap index;

the index of the URR bitmap corresponds to at least one bit included by the URR bitmap, the bit value corresponding to the bit is a first indicating value or a second indicating value, the first indicating value is used for indicating that the URR cell corresponding to the index of the URR bitmap needs to accumulate flow, and the second indicating value is used for indicating that the URR cell corresponding to the index of the URR bitmap does not need to accumulate flow;

each URR cell also comprises a URR identification;

in each URR cell, one URR identity is index mapped with one URR bitmap.

21. The session management function of claim 20, wherein the receiving module is further configured to receive a URR response sent by the PCF, the URR response comprising a new traffic threshold;

the sending module is further configured to send a URR update notification to the first user plane function, where the URR update notification includes a new traffic threshold.

22. The session management function of claim 18, wherein the sending module is further configured to:

when the session management function determines that a first user plane function is deleted, if the session management function needs to update URR cells, a session update request is sent to a second user plane function, the second user plane function is a Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session anchor Point (PSA) which is associated with the first user plane function in a session, and the session update request is used for indicating the second user plane function to send a URR notification to the session management function.

23. A computer-readable storage medium comprising computer instructions that, when executed on an electronic device, cause the electronic device to perform the method of any of claims 1-12.

24. A computer program product, characterized in that, when the computer program product is run on an electronic device, it causes the electronic device to perform the method of any of claims 1-12.