CN113207191A

CN113207191A - Session establishment method, device and equipment based on network slice and storage medium

Info

Publication number: CN113207191A
Application number: CN202110759436.9A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 俞一帆
Original assignee: Shenzhen Ailing Network Co Ltd
Current assignee: Shenzhen Ailing Network Co Ltd
Priority date: 2021-07-06
Filing date: 2021-07-06
Publication date: 2021-08-03
Anticipated expiration: 2041-07-06
Also published as: CN113207191B

Abstract

The application provides a session establishment method, a session establishment device and a session establishment storage medium based on network slices, and relates to the technical field of communication. The method comprises the following steps: the terminal sends a target Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session establishment request to a local Session Management Function (SMF); the PDU session setup request includes: terminal identification information and application information to be accessed; the terminal receives a bearing establishment notice sent by the base station according to the local access and mobile management function AMF instruction for establishing the radio bearing, wherein the bearing establishment notice is used for instructing the terminal to establish the radio bearing; after the local AMF determines that the terminal accesses the target network slice information corresponding to the application to be accessed, the local AMF instructs the local AMF to establish the PDU session through the SMF and then instructs the base station to establish the radio bearer. Compared with the prior art, the method and the device avoid the problems of high requirements on the terminal side and difficulty in implementation when the network slices corresponding to the applications are configured.

Description

Session establishment method, device and equipment based on network slice and storage medium

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a session establishment method, apparatus, device, and storage medium based on network slicing.

Background

A 5th generation mobile network (5G) local network is also called a private 5G network, and a 5G technology is used to create a private network on the local user site, where the private network has uniform connectivity, optimized services and a secure communication mode in a specific area, and provides characteristics of high transmission speed, low delay, mass connection and the like supported by the 5G technology. In an Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) scenario, sensors may be installed in a factory to monitor environmental conditions, support quality control, custom manufacturing, and the like. Through the 5G local network, the data of the sensors can be collected and analyzed, and the information of various aspects of factory operation can be mastered in a refined manner. Furthermore, the analysis result can be transmitted to an intelligent robot and the like through a 5G local network, and product manufacturing or factory goods transportation is supported. With the aid of the 5G local network, workers can wear the lightweight augmented reality equipment and complete equipment operation through a virtual environment.

Currently, there are many campuses, enterprise buildings, or public places where 5G local networks can be deployed. When a core network side deploys a network slice, when a terminal needs to initiate an application program, the terminal needs to configure the corresponding network slice information when the terminal uses the application program based on a pre-configured application program.

However, in the prior art, when the corresponding network slice information is configured when the terminal uses the application program, the terminal side needs to be provided with a built-in 5G chip with a slice function, and the terminal side application development needs to be performed based on a special interface provided by a chip manufacturer, so that the requirement on the terminal side is high, and especially for some terminals which do not support network slice configuration, different network slices cannot be configured when the terminal uses each application.

Disclosure of Invention

An object of the present application is to provide a session establishment method, device, apparatus and storage medium based on network slices, so as to solve the problem that it is not easy to implement when configuring network slices corresponding to applications in the prior art.

In order to achieve the above purpose, the technical solutions adopted in the embodiments of the present application are as follows:

in a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a session establishment method based on a network slice, where the method includes:

the terminal sends a target Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session establishment request to a local Session Management Function (SMF); the PDU session establishment request includes: terminal identification information and application information to be accessed;

the terminal receives a bearer establishment notification sent by a base station according to a local access and mobile management function (AMF) instruction for establishing a radio bearer, wherein the bearer establishment notification is used for instructing the terminal to establish the radio bearer; and the local AMF instructs the base station to establish the radio bearer after the SMF instructs the local AMF to confirm the establishment of the PDU session after the local Unified Data Management (UDM) determines that the terminal accesses the corresponding target network slice information when accessing the application to be accessed.

Optionally, a mapping relationship between each application program corresponding to the terminal identifier and the network slice is preconfigured on the cloud platform and transmitted to the local UDM.

In a second aspect, another embodiment of the present application provides a session establishment method based on network slices, where the method includes:

the cloud platform receives configuration information, wherein the configuration information comprises: the terminal identification and the identification of the corresponding network slice when the terminal accesses each application program;

the cloud platform stores the mapping relation between each application program corresponding to the terminal identification and the network slice according to the configuration information;

and the cloud platform sends the mapping relation between each application program corresponding to the terminal identification and the network slice to the local UDM.

Optionally, before the cloud platform receives the configuration information, the method further includes:

the cloud platform receives information of an application program to be created, wherein the information of the application program to be created comprises: application identification, network configuration information, and mirror image information.

Optionally, after the cloud platform sends the mapping relationship between each application program corresponding to the terminal identifier and the network slice to the local UDM, the method further includes:

and if the mapping relation is updated, sending the updated mapping relation to the local UDM.

In a third aspect, another embodiment of the present application provides a network slicing method, including:

a local UDM receives a signing query request sent by an SMF according to a Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session establishment request initiated by a terminal, wherein the PDU session establishment request comprises: terminal identification information and application information to be accessed; the subscription inquiry request includes: the terminal identification information and the application information to be accessed;

the local UDM determines target network slice information corresponding to the terminal identification information when accessing the application to be accessed according to the terminal identification information;

the local UDM sends subscription information to a local SMF, wherein the subscription information comprises: and the target network slice information is used for enabling the local SMF to indicate a local AMF indicating base station to establish a radio bearer with the terminal according to the target network slice information.

Optionally, the determining, by the local UDM, target network slice information corresponding to the terminal identification information when accessing the application to be accessed according to the terminal identification information includes:

the local UDM determines whether the terminal identification information is stored in the local UDM;

and if so, determining the target network slice according to the terminal identification information and the mapping relation between each application program corresponding to the terminal identification and the network slice.

Optionally, the method further comprises:

and the local UDM receives the mapping relation between each application program corresponding to the terminal identification and the network slice, which is sent by the cloud platform.

In a fourth aspect, another embodiment of the present application provides a session establishment apparatus based on network slices, where the apparatus includes: a transmitting module and a receiving module, wherein:

the sending module is used for sending a target Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session establishment request to a local Session Management Function (SMF) by the terminal; the PDU session establishment request includes: terminal identification information and application information to be accessed;

the receiving module is used for the terminal to receive a bearer establishment notification sent by a base station according to a local access and mobility management function (AMF) instruction for establishing a radio bearer, wherein the bearer establishment notification is used for instructing the terminal to establish the radio bearer; and the local AMF instructs the base station to establish the radio bearer after the SMF instructs the local AMF to confirm the establishment of the PDU session after the local Unified Data Management (UDM) determines that the terminal accesses the corresponding target network slice information when accessing the application to be accessed.

In a fifth aspect, another embodiment of the present application provides a session establishment apparatus based on network slices, where the apparatus includes: receiving module, storage module and sending module, wherein:

the receiving module is configured to receive configuration information by the cloud platform, where the configuration information includes: the terminal identification and the identification of the corresponding network slice when the terminal accesses each application program;

the storage module is used for storing the mapping relation between each application program corresponding to the terminal identification and the network slice by the cloud platform according to the configuration information;

and the sending module is used for sending the mapping relation between each application program corresponding to the terminal identifier and the network slice to the local UDM by the cloud platform.

Optionally, the receiving module is specifically configured to receive, by the cloud platform, information of an application program to be created, where the information of the application program to be created includes: application identification, network configuration information, and mirror image information.

Optionally, the sending module is specifically configured to send the updated mapping relationship to the local UDM if the mapping relationship is updated.

In a sixth aspect, another embodiment of the present application provides a session establishment apparatus based on network slices, where the apparatus includes: the device comprises a receiving module, a determining module and a sending module, wherein:

the receiving module is configured to receive, by the local UDM, a subscription inquiry request sent by the SMF according to a protocol data unit PDU session establishment request initiated by the terminal, where the PDU session establishment request includes: terminal identification information and application information to be accessed; the subscription inquiry request includes: the terminal identification information and the application information to be accessed;

the determining module is used for determining target network slice information corresponding to the terminal identification information when accessing the application to be accessed according to the terminal identification information by the local UDM;

the sending module is specifically configured to send, by the local UDM, subscription information to the local SMF, where the subscription information includes: and the target network slice information is used for enabling the local SMF to indicate a local AMF indicating base station to establish a radio bearer with the terminal according to the target network slice information.

Optionally, the determining module is specifically configured to determine, by the local UDM, whether the terminal identification information is stored in the local UDM; and if so, determining the target network slice according to the terminal identification information and the mapping relation between each application program corresponding to the terminal identification and the network slice.

In a seventh aspect, another embodiment of the present application provides a session establishment apparatus based on network slices, including: a processor, a storage medium and a bus, the storage medium storing machine-readable instructions executable by the processor, the processor and the storage medium communicating via the bus when the network slice based session establishment apparatus is running, the processor executing the machine-readable instructions to perform the steps of the method according to any one of the first aspect.

In an eighth aspect, another embodiment of the present application provides a storage medium having a computer program stored thereon, where the computer program is executed by a processor to perform the steps of the method according to any one of the above first aspects.

The beneficial effect of this application is: by adopting the session establishment method based on the network slice, as the corresponding target network slice information is preset at the local UDM side when the terminal accesses the application to be accessed, therefore, in the process of PDU session establishment, after the terminal sends a PDU session establishment request with the terminal identification information and the application information to be accessed to the SMF, the target network slice information corresponding to the terminal accessing the application to be accessed can be sent to the SMF after the UDM determines the target network slice information, the SMF indicates the local AMF to confirm that the base station establishes the radio bearer after establishing the PDU session, the terminal establishes the radio bearer after receiving the bearer establishment notification sent by the terminal, therefore, in the process of establishing the radio bearer, whether the terminal side supports the configuration of the network slices or not can be realized, the configuration of the network slices for each application can be realized, and the management and control of the network slices associated with the terminal and the application can be realized.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, the drawings that are required to be used in the embodiments will be briefly described below, it should be understood that the following drawings only illustrate some embodiments of the present application and therefore should not be considered as limiting the scope, and for those skilled in the art, other related drawings can be obtained from the drawings without inventive effort.

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture suitable for a session establishment method based on network slices according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a session establishment method based on network slices according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a session establishment method based on network slices according to another embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a session establishment method based on network slices according to another embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a session establishment method based on network slices according to another embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a session establishment method based on network slices according to another embodiment of the present application;

fig. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a session establishment method based on network slices according to another embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of a session establishment apparatus based on network slices according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of a session establishment apparatus based on network slices according to another embodiment of the present application;

fig. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of a session establishment apparatus based on network slices according to another embodiment of the present application;

fig. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of a session establishment apparatus based on network slices according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present application clearer, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present application, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are some embodiments of the present application, but not all embodiments.

The components of the embodiments of the present application, generally described and illustrated in the figures herein, can be arranged and designed in a wide variety of different configurations. Thus, the following detailed description of the embodiments of the present application, presented in the accompanying drawings, is not intended to limit the scope of the claimed application, but is merely representative of selected embodiments of the application. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments of the present application without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present application.

Additionally, the flowcharts used in this application illustrate operations implemented according to some embodiments of the present application. It should be understood that the operations of the flow diagrams may be performed out of order, and steps without logical context may be performed in reverse order or simultaneously. One skilled in the art, under the guidance of this application, may add one or more other operations to, or remove one or more operations from, the flowchart.

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture suitable for a session establishment method based on network slices according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 1, the network architecture may specifically include the following network elements:

1. terminal equipment (UE): and may also be referred to as user equipment, a terminal, an access terminal, a subscriber unit, a subscriber station, a mobile station, a remote terminal, a mobile device, a user terminal, a wireless communication device, a user agent, or user equipment. The UE may also be a cellular phone, a cordless phone, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phone, a Wireless Local Loop (WLL) station, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a handheld device with wireless communication function, a computing device or other processing device connected to a wireless modem, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, a terminal device in a 5G network or a terminal device in a Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) for future evolution, and the like, and may also be an end device, a logic entity, an intelligent device, a terminal device such as a mobile phone, an intelligent terminal, and the like, or a communication device such as a server, a gateway, a base station, a controller, and the like, or an Internet of things device such as a sensor, an electric meter, a water meter, and the like (Internet of things, IoT) device. The embodiments of the present application do not limit this.

2. Access Network (AN): the method provides a network access function for authorized users in a specific area, and can use transmission tunnels with different qualities according to the level of the users, the requirements of services and the like. The access network may be an access network employing different access technologies. There are two types of current radio access technologies: third Generation Partnership Project (3 GPP) access technologies such as the radio access technologies employed in 3G, 4G or 5G systems and non-third Generation Partnership Project (non-3 GPP) access technologies. The 3GPP Access technology refers to an Access technology meeting 3GPP standard specifications, and an Access Network adopting the 3GPP Access technology is referred to as a Radio Access Network (RAN), where an Access Network device in a 5G system is referred to as a next generation Base station (gNB). The non-3GPP access technology refers to an access technology that does not conform to the 3GPP standard specification, for example, an air interface technology represented by an Access Point (AP) in wifi.

An access network that implements an access network function based on a wireless communication technology may be referred to as a Radio Access Network (RAN). The radio access network can manage radio resources, provide access service for the terminal, and further complete the forwarding of control signals and user data between the terminal and the core network.

The access network equipment may include, among other things, equipment in the access network that communicates over the air-interface, through one or more sectors, with the wireless terminals. The access network system may be configured to interconvert received air frames with Internet Protocol (IP) packets as routers between the wireless terminal and the rest of the access network, which may include an IP network. The radio access network system may also coordinate management of attributes for the air interface. It should be understood that access network devices include, but are not limited to: evolved Node B (eNB), Radio Network Controller (RNC), Node B (Node B, NB), Base Station Controller (BSC), Base Transceiver Station (BTS), Home Base Station (e.g., Home evolved Node B, or Home Node B, HNB), baseband Unit (Base Band Unit, BBU), Access Point (AP) in Wireless Fidelity (WIFI) system, Wireless relay Node, Wireless return Node, Transmission Point (TP), etc., and may be 5G, such as NR, gbb in system, or transmission Point (TRP or TP), one or a group (including multiple antennas) of Base Station in 5G system, or may also be a transmission panel (NB) of a gbb in system, such as a BBU, or a Distributed Unit (DU), etc.

3. Access and mobility management function (AMF) entity: the method is mainly used for mobility management, access management, and the like, and can be used for implementing functions other than session management in Mobility Management Entity (MME) functions, such as functions of lawful interception, or access authorization (or authentication), and the like. In the embodiment of the present application, the method and the device can be used for implementing the functions of the access and mobility management network element.

4. Session Management Function (SMF) entity: the method is mainly used for session management, Internet Protocol (IP) address allocation and management of the UE, selection of a termination point of an interface capable of managing a user plane function, policy control or charging function, downlink data notification, and the like. In the embodiment of the present application, the method and the device can be used for implementing the function of the session management network element.

5. User Plane Function (UPF) entity: i.e. a data plane gateway. The method can be used for packet routing and forwarding, or quality of service (QoS) processing of user plane data, and the like. The user data can be accessed to a Data Network (DN) through the network element. In the embodiment of the application, the method can be used for realizing the function of the user plane gateway.

6. Network open function (NEF) entity: for securely opening services and capabilities, etc. provided by the 3GPP network functions to the outside.

7. Network storage function (NF) retrieval function, NRF) entity: the method is used for storing the description information of the network functional entity and the service provided by the network functional entity, and supporting service discovery, network element entity discovery and the like.

8. Policy Control Function (PCF) entity: the unified policy framework is used for guiding network behaviors, providing policy rule information for control plane function network elements (such as AMF and SMF network elements) and the like.

9. Unified Data Management (UDM) entity: for handling subscriber identification, access authentication, registration, or mobility management, etc.

10. Application Function (AF) entity: the method is used for carrying out data routing of application influence, accessing network open function network elements, or carrying out strategy control by interacting with a strategy framework and the like.

In the network architecture, an N1 interface is a reference point between a terminal and an AMF entity; the N2 interface is a reference point of AN and AMF entities, and is used for sending non-access stratum (NAS) messages and the like; the N3 interface is a reference point between AN and UPF entities, and is used for transmitting data of a user plane and the like; the N4 interface is a reference point between the SMF entity and the UPF entity, and is used to transmit information such as tunnel identification information, data buffer indication information, and downlink data notification message of the N3 connection.

11. Cloud Computing Platform (Cloud Computing Platform): also known as cloud platforms, refer to services based on hardware and software resources that provide computing, networking, and storage capabilities. Cloud computing platforms can be divided into 3 classes: the cloud computing platform comprises a storage type cloud platform taking data storage as a main part, a computing type cloud platform taking data processing as a main part and a comprehensive cloud computing platform taking computing and data storage processing into consideration. In an embodiment of the application, the cloud platform may be an application cloud platform, and provides the cloud platform for information interaction with a local UDM, where network slice information corresponding to each application program (hereinafter, also referred to as "application") used may be configured on the cloud platform, and terminal identification information of each application program may be used, so as to implement management and control of a network slice associated with the application program by the terminal.

It should be understood that the network architecture of the above application in the embodiment of the present application is only the network architecture described in the conventional point-to-point architecture and the service architecture, and the network architecture to which the embodiment of the present application is applied is not limited thereto, and any network architecture capable of implementing the functions of the above network elements is applicable to the embodiment of the present application. It should be understood that the above network elements may communicate with each other through a preset interface, which is not described herein again.

It should also be understood that the AMF entity, SMF entity, UPF entity, NEF entity, PCF entity, UDM entity shown in fig. 1 may be understood as network elements in the core network for implementing different functions, e.g. may be combined into network slices as needed. The core network elements may be independent devices, or may be integrated in the same device to implement different functions, which is not limited in this application.

Hereinafter, for convenience of description, an entity for implementing AMF is referred to as AMF, an entity for implementing PCF is referred to as PCF, and other references are similar and will not be described herein again. It should be understood that the above-mentioned names are only used for distinguishing different functions, and do not represent that these network elements are respectively independent physical devices, and the present application is not limited to the specific form of the above-mentioned network elements, for example, they may be integrated in the same physical device, or they may be different physical devices. Furthermore, the above nomenclature is only used to distinguish between different functions, and should not be construed as limiting the application in any way, and this application does not exclude the possibility of other nomenclature being used in 5G networks and other networks in the future. For example, in a 6G network, some or all of the above network elements may follow the terminology in 5G, and may also adopt other names, etc. The description is unified here, and will not be repeated below.

It should also be understood that the name of the interface between each network element in fig. 1 is only an example, and the name of the interface in the specific implementation may be other names, which is not specifically limited in this application. In addition, the name of the transmitted message (or signaling) between the network elements is only an example, and the function of the message itself is not limited in any way.

It should be understood that, before the present application is proposed, the precondition that the network slice can be used in the 5G local network in units of application programs in the prior art is that the terminal must have a built-in 5G chip with a slicing function and must develop the application program at the terminal side based on a dedicated interface provided by a chip manufacturer, so that the use is limited and the requirement on the terminal is high; according to the method and the device, the application program can be supported to use the 5G network slice without the operation on the terminal, a special interface provided by a chip manufacturer is not needed, and an application program developer only needs to input related configuration in advance when the application program is deployed and created on the cloud platform, so that the complexity of calling the 5G network slice capability by the application program is greatly simplified, and the applicability of configuring the corresponding network slice for each application program is improved.

The session establishment method based on network slices provided by the embodiments of the present application is explained below with reference to a plurality of specific application examples. Fig. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a session establishment method based on a network slice according to an embodiment of the present application, where an execution main body of the method may be a terminal, that is, a terminal device (UE) in fig. 1, and as shown in fig. 2, the method includes:

s101: and the terminal sends a target Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session establishment request to a local Session Management Function (SMF).

Wherein, the PDU conversation establishment request comprises: terminal identification information and application information to be accessed.

The information of the application to be accessed may be a name, an identifier, a number, etc. of the application to be accessed, and is not limited herein. In an embodiment of the present application, the terminal identification information may be, for example, International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) information, or International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) information, where the IMSI information is an Identity that is not repeated in all cellular networks and is used for distinguishing different users in the cellular networks. Of course, other identifiers such as the user account may be used, and are not limited herein.

S102: and the terminal receives a bearer establishment notification sent by the base station according to the local access and mobile management function AMF instruction to establish the radio bearer.

The bearer establishment notification is used for indicating the terminal to establish a radio bearer; after the local AMF determines that the terminal accesses the target network slice information corresponding to the application to be accessed, the local AMF instructs the local AMF to establish the PDU session through the SMF and then instructs the base station to establish the radio bearer.

In an embodiment of the application, a mapping relationship between each application program corresponding to the terminal identifier and the network slice is preconfigured on the cloud platform and transmitted to the local UDM, and the mapping relationship is written into the UDM before the terminal accesses the network, so that the local UDM can directly search the target network slice information corresponding to the terminal identifier information in the local record according to the terminal identifier information.

Fig. 3 is an interaction diagram of a network slice establishment procedure provided in an embodiment of the present application, in the following embodiments, as shown in fig. 3: in an embodiment of the present application, taking the terminal identification information as IMSI information as an example for explanation, a specific interaction process of the terminal sending a target protocol data unit PDU session establishment request to the local SMF may include, for example:

s201, the UE sends the PDU conversation to the local AMF.

And the PDU session comprises IMSI information of the UE.

S202, the local AMF selects a local SMF to carry out session establishment processing.

That is, after receiving the PDU session establishment request, the local AMF determines the local SMF.

S203, the local AMF sends a PDU session establishment message to the local SMF.

Wherein, the session setup message is a PDU session setup message containing IMSI information of the UE.

S204, the UE acquires corresponding network slice information.

In S204, after the local SMF acquires the IMSI information of the terminal from the session establishment message, it initiates UE subscription information query to the local UDM according to the IMSI information of the terminal. The local UDM returns user subscription information to the local SMF, where the user subscription information indicates network slice information that the UE can use, and the network slice information may be, for example, an Identity Document (ID) of the network slice.

And S205, the local SMF sends an acknowledgement message to the local AMF.

Wherein the acknowledgement message in S205 acknowledges that the PDU session can be established.

S206, the local SMF authenticates the PDU session.

And S207, the local SMF selects a local PCF.

S208, the local SMF acquires the PCC policy information from the local PCF.

And S209, the local SMF selects a local UPF.

S210, the local SMF updates the session policy information to the local PCF.

And S211, the local SMF sends the session information and the strategy information to the local UPF.

S212, the local SMF sends a session establishment accept message to the local AMF.

S213, the local AMF informs the local 5G base station to establish the radio bearer.

S214, the local 5G base station informs the UE to establish the radio bearer.

S215, the local 5G base station informs the local AMF to complete the establishment of the radio bearer.

S216, the local AMF informs the local SMF of corresponding tunnel information.

And S217, the local SMF informs the local UPF of the downlink tunnel information.

S218, the local SMF confirms the tunnel establishment to the local AMF.

And S219, finishing the PDU session establishment.

The PUD session established in S219 runs on the target network slice designated when the cloud application is established.

S220, the terminal initiates an access request to the cloud application through the PDU session, and the terminal service access request is received by the cloud application.

S221, the cloud application returns service data to the terminal service, and the service data reaches the terminal through the PDU session and returns the service data.

By adopting the session establishment method based on the network slice, as the corresponding target network slice information is preset at the local UDM side when the terminal accesses the application to be accessed, therefore, in the process of PDU session establishment, after the terminal sends a PDU session establishment request with the terminal identification information and the application information to be accessed to the SMF, the target network slice information corresponding to the terminal accessing the application to be accessed can be sent to the SMF after the UDM determines the target network slice information, the SMF indicates the local AMF to confirm that the base station establishes the radio bearer after establishing the PDU session, the terminal establishes the radio bearer after receiving the bearer establishment notification sent by the terminal, therefore, in the process of establishing the radio bearer, whether the terminal side supports the configuration of the network slices or not can be realized, the configuration of the network slices for each application can be realized, and the management and control of the network slices associated with the terminal and the application can be realized.

A network slicing method provided in the embodiments of the present application is explained below with reference to a plurality of specific application examples. Fig. 4 is a schematic flowchart of a session establishment method based on a network slice according to an embodiment of the present application, where an execution subject of the method may be the cloud platform in fig. 1, as shown in fig. 4, the method includes:

s301: the cloud platform receives the configuration information.

In an embodiment of the present application, the cloud platform may be, for example, a cloud application controller or a cloud application server, the configuration information may be, for example, input into the cloud platform by a user, and the configuration information includes: the terminal identification and the identification of the corresponding network slice when the terminal accesses each application program; the terminal identifier may be, for example, a terminal.

For example, in some possible embodiments, the manner in which the cloud platform receives the configuration information may include, for example:

the cloud platform receives application information such as an application name, network configuration of an application and an application mirror image input by a user, and then the user inputs network slice information, such as ID information of a network slice, which is required to be used when the terminal accesses the application, and inputs identification information of terminal equipment which allows the terminal equipment to access the application, such as IMSI information of the terminal equipment, to the cloud platform.

The ID information of the network slice and the associated network slice configuration information are pre-created by a 5G local network management system and stored in a local UDR, and the cloud application controller can read the information from the UDR through a local NEF when creating an application.

Furthermore, the terminal subscription information is also previously registered in the UDM by the 5G local network management system. When the cloud application controller creates an application, the IMSI information of the terminal input by a user is used as an index, and the terminal subscription information corresponding to the IMSI information is retrieved from the UDM through the local NEF. And if the corresponding subscription information exists in the UDM, the cloud application controller modifies the terminal subscription information in the UDM through the local NEF. Otherwise, the cloud application controller terminates the application creation process.

S302: and the cloud platform stores the mapping relation between each application program corresponding to the terminal identification and the network slice according to the configuration information.

S303: and the cloud platform sends the mapping relation between each application program corresponding to the terminal identification and the network slice to the local UDM.

By adopting the session establishment method based on the network slices, the configuration between the terminal and each application program can be carried out on the cloud platform side, the mapping relation between each application program corresponding to the terminal identification and the network slices is generated, and the configured mapping relation is sent to the local UDM for storage, so that when the PDU session establishment is initiated by a subsequent terminal, the UDM can directly determine the identification of the network slice corresponding to the terminal identification according to the terminal identification in the PDU session establishment request and the mapping relation prestored in the UDM, and the cloud platform can directly read and update the mapping relation data in the DUM, thereby realizing the management and control of the network slices associated with the terminal and each application.

Optionally, on the basis of the foregoing embodiments, the present application may further provide a session establishment method based on a network slice, where an implementation process of the foregoing method is described as follows with reference to the accompanying drawings. Fig. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a session establishment method based on network slices according to another embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 5, before S301, the method further includes:

s304: the cloud platform receives information of an application program to be created.

The information of the application program to be created comprises: application identification, network configuration information, and mirror image information.

Optionally, on the basis of the foregoing embodiments, the present application may further provide a session establishment method based on a network slice, where an implementation process of the foregoing method is described as follows with reference to the accompanying drawings. Fig. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a session establishment method based on network slices according to another embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 6, after S303, the method further includes:

s305: and if the mapping relation is updated, sending the updated mapping relation to the local UDM.

It can be seen that in the embodiment of the present application, if the mapping relationship is updated according to the requirement on the cloud platform side, the updated mapping relationship is synchronized to the UDM, that is, the mapping relationship between each application program corresponding to the terminal identifier and the network slice may be dynamically updated in the UDM. Specifically, the mapping relationship of the cloud platform can be configured or updated through a worker, and the worker can be connected with the cloud platform through a working terminal and perform operation, data and information interaction.

The above embodiment is the same as the session establishment method based on the network slice provided in fig. 2, and only different execution entities are involved, so that the beneficial effects are the same, and are not described herein again.

A network slicing method provided in the embodiments of the present application is explained below with reference to a plurality of specific application examples. Fig. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a session establishment method based on network slicing according to an embodiment of the present application, where an execution subject of the method may be the local UDM in fig. 1, as shown in fig. 7, the method includes:

s401: and the local UDM receives a signing inquiry request sent by the SMF according to a Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session establishment request initiated by the terminal.

The PDU session setup request includes: terminal identification information and application information to be accessed.

Correspondingly, the subscription inquiry request generated by the SMF according to the PDU session establishment request includes: terminal identification information and application information to be accessed.

S402: and the local UDM determines the corresponding target network slice information of the terminal identification information when accessing the application to be accessed according to the terminal identification information.

The local UDM receives the mapping relation between each application program corresponding to the terminal identification sent by the cloud platform and the network slice, and stores the received mapping relation into the local UDM.

S403: and the local UDM sends subscription information to the local SMF.

The subscription information includes: and slicing information of the target network so that the local SMF indicates the local AMF to indicate the base station to establish a radio bearer with the terminal according to the slicing information of the target network.

Optionally, in an embodiment of the present application, S302 may include: the local UDM determines whether the terminal identification information is stored in the local UDM; and if so, determining the target network slice according to the terminal identification information and the mapping relation between each application program corresponding to the terminal identification and the network slice. If not, the terminal device corresponding to the current terminal identification information does not have the corresponding network slice information when accessing the application to be accessed, so that the establishment of the PDU session can be ended, or the terminal device is returned to the terminal device without the permission of accessing the application to be accessed; specifically, the processing mode when the corresponding network slice information does not exist may be flexibly adjusted according to the user requirement, and is not limited to the embodiment described above.

The session establishment apparatus based on network slice provided in the present application is explained with reference to the accompanying drawings below, and the session establishment apparatus based on network slice can execute any one of the session establishment methods based on network slice in fig. 2 to fig. 3, and specific implementation and beneficial effects thereof refer to the above description, and are not described again below.

Fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of a session establishment apparatus based on network slices according to an embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 8, the apparatus includes: a sending module 601 and a receiving module 602, wherein:

a sending module 601, configured to send a target protocol data unit PDU session establishment request to a local session management function SMF by a terminal; the PDU session setup request includes: terminal identification information and application information to be accessed;

a receiving module 602, configured to receive, by a terminal, a bearer establishment notification sent by a base station according to a local access and mobility management function AMF instruction to establish a radio bearer, where the bearer establishment notification is used to instruct the terminal to establish the radio bearer; after the local AMF determines that the terminal accesses the target network slice information corresponding to the application to be accessed, the local AMF instructs the local AMF to establish the PDU session through the SMF and then instructs the base station to establish the radio bearer.

Optionally, mapping relationships between the application programs corresponding to the terminal identifiers and the network slices are preconfigured on the cloud platform and transmitted to the local UDM.

The session establishment apparatus based on network slice provided in the present application is explained with reference to the accompanying drawings below, and the session establishment apparatus based on network slice can execute any one of the session establishment methods based on network slice in fig. 3 to fig. 6, and specific implementation and beneficial effects thereof refer to the above description, and are not described again below.

Fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of a session establishment apparatus based on network slices according to another embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 9, the session establishment apparatus includes: a receiving module 701, a storing module 702 and a sending module 703, wherein:

a receiving module 701, configured to receive, by the cloud platform, configuration information, where the configuration information includes: the terminal identification and the identification of the corresponding network slice when the terminal accesses each application program;

a storage module 702, configured to store, by the cloud platform, mapping relationships between the application programs corresponding to the terminal identifiers and the network slices according to the configuration information;

the sending module 703 is configured to send, by the cloud platform, a mapping relationship between each application program corresponding to the terminal identifier and the network slice to the local UDM.

Optionally, the receiving module 701 is specifically configured to receive, by the cloud platform, information of an application program to be created, where the information of the application program to be created includes: application identification, network configuration information, and mirror image information.

Optionally, the sending module 703 is specifically configured to send the updated mapping relationship to the local UDM if the mapping relationship is updated.

The session establishment apparatus based on network slice provided in the present application is explained with reference to the drawings below, and the session establishment apparatus based on network slice can execute the session establishment method based on network slice in fig. 7, and specific implementation and beneficial effects thereof refer to the above description, and are not described again below.

Fig. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of a session establishment apparatus based on network slices according to another embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 10, the session establishment apparatus includes: a receiving module 801, a determining module 802 and a sending module 803, wherein:

a receiving module 801, configured to receive, by a local UDM, a subscription query request sent by an SMF according to a protocol data unit PDU session establishment request initiated by a terminal, where the PDU session establishment request includes: terminal identification information and application information to be accessed; the subscription inquiry request includes: terminal identification information and application information to be accessed;

a determining module 802, configured to determine, by the local UDM, target network slice information corresponding to the terminal identification information when accessing the application to be accessed according to the terminal identification information;

the sending module 803 is specifically configured to send, by the local UDM, subscription information to the local SMF, where the subscription information includes: and slicing information of the target network so that the local SMF indicates the local AMF to indicate the base station to establish a radio bearer with the terminal according to the slicing information of the target network.

Optionally, the determining module 802 is specifically configured to determine, by the local UDM, whether the terminal identification information is stored in the local UDM; and if so, determining the target network slice according to the terminal identification information and the mapping relation between each application program corresponding to the terminal identification and the network slice.

The above-mentioned apparatus is used for executing the method provided by the foregoing embodiment, and the implementation principle and technical effect are similar, which are not described herein again.

These above modules may be one or more integrated circuits configured to implement the above methods, such as: one or more Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), or one or more microprocessors, or one or more Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), etc. For another example, when one of the above modules is implemented in the form of a Processing element scheduler code, the Processing element may be a general-purpose processor, such as a Central Processing Unit (CPU) or other processor capable of calling program code. For another example, these modules may be integrated together and implemented in the form of a system-on-a-chip (SOC).

Fig. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of a session setup device based on network slice according to an embodiment of the present application, where the session setup device based on network slice may be integrated in a terminal device or a chip of the terminal device.

As shown in fig. 11, the network slice based session establishment apparatus includes: a processor 501, a storage medium 502, and a bus 503.

The processor 501 is used for storing a program, and the processor 501 calls the program stored in the storage medium 502 to execute the method embodiment corresponding to fig. 1-7. The specific implementation and technical effects are similar, and are not described herein again.

Optionally, the present application also provides a program product, such as a storage medium, on which a computer program is stored, including a program, which, when executed by a processor, performs embodiments corresponding to the above-described method.

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

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

In addition, functional units in the embodiments of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units are integrated into one unit. The integrated unit can be realized in a form of hardware, or in a form of hardware plus a software functional unit.

The integrated unit implemented in the form of a software functional unit may be stored in a computer readable storage medium. The software functional unit is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions for enabling a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device) or a processor (processor) to perform some steps of the methods according to the embodiments of the present application. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: a U disk, a removable hard disk, a Read-Only Memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), a magnetic disk or an optical disk, and other various media capable of storing program codes.

Claims

1. A session establishment method based on network slices is characterized by comprising the following steps:

2. The method of claim 1, wherein a mapping relationship between each application and the network slice corresponding to the terminal identity is preconfigured on a cloud platform and transmitted to a local UDM.

3. A session establishment method based on network slices is characterized by comprising the following steps:

4. The method of claim 3, wherein prior to the cloud platform receiving the configuration information, further comprising:

5. The method of claim 3, wherein after the cloud platform sends the mapping relationship between each application corresponding to the terminal identifier and the network slice to the local UDM, the method further comprises:

6. A method of network slicing, the method comprising:

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the determining, by the local UDM, target network slice information corresponding to the terminal identification information when accessing the application to be accessed according to the terminal identification information comprises:

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the method further comprises:

9. A session establishment apparatus based on network slicing, the apparatus comprising: a processor, a storage medium and a bus, the storage medium storing machine-readable instructions executable by the processor, the processor and the storage medium communicating via the bus when the network slice based session establishment apparatus is running, the processor executing the machine-readable instructions to perform the method of any of the above claims 1-7.

10. A storage medium, characterized in that the storage medium has stored thereon a computer program which, when being executed by a processor, performs the method of any of the preceding claims 1-7.