CN113301083B

CN113301083B - Network configuration method, device, system and storage medium

Info

Publication number: CN113301083B
Application number: CN202010610475.8A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 白常明
Original assignee: Alibaba Group Holding Ltd
Current assignee: Alibaba Group Holding Ltd
Priority date: 2020-06-29
Filing date: 2020-06-29
Publication date: 2022-06-03
Anticipated expiration: 2040-06-29
Also published as: CN113301083A

Abstract

The embodiment of the application provides a network configuration method, equipment, a system and a storage medium. In the embodiment of the application, the edge cloud system and the mobile communication network are fused, and a network configuration method capable of realizing cloud network cooperation is provided, so that the network configuration information of the mobile communication network by the cloud computing service can be communicated with network elements in the mobile communication network, cross-domain network configuration actions are realized, conditions are provided for realizing a new service mode based on cloud network fusion, and the edge cloud system can utilize the network support capability of the mobile communication network.

Description

Network configuration method, device, system and storage medium

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a network configuration method, device, system, and storage medium.

Background

With the arrival of the age of 5G and the internet of things and the gradual increase of cloud computing applications, the requirements of a terminal on the performances of time delay, bandwidth and the like of cloud resources are higher and higher, and the traditional centralized cloud network cannot meet the increasingly high cloud resource requirements of the terminal.

With the appearance of the edge computing technology, an edge cloud concept is generated, and the edge cloud can sink cloud computing resources and edge cloud nodes to a place close to a terminal, so that service response delay is reduced, and bandwidth cost is reduced. With the continuous maturity of edge clouds, the demand for network support capability is higher and higher, and a new service mode is urgently needed.

Disclosure of Invention

Various aspects of the present application provide a network configuration method, device, system, and storage medium, so that an edge cloud can implement a new service mode of cloud network convergence by using a network support capability of a mobile communication network.

An embodiment of the present application provides a network system, including: a network element in a mobile communication network, a central control device in an edge cloud system, and an application function AF network element; the center management and control device is configured to send network configuration information of a target cloud computing service on the mobile communication network to the AF network element, where the target cloud computing service is a cloud computing service that needs to depend on network resources and/or network capabilities in the mobile communication network in the edge cloud system; and the AF network element is used for carrying out network configuration on at least one network element related to the target cloud computing service in the mobile communication network according to the network configuration information.

The embodiment of the present application further provides a network configuration method, which is applicable to a central control device in an edge cloud system, and the method includes: acquiring network configuration information of a target cloud computing service on a mobile communication network, wherein the target cloud computing service is a cloud computing service which needs to depend on network resources and/or network capacity in the mobile communication network in the edge cloud system; and sending the network configuration information to an AF network element so that the AF network element can carry out network configuration on at least one network element related to the target cloud computing service in the mobile communication network according to the network configuration information.

The embodiment of the present application further provides a network configuration method, which is applicable to an application function AF network element, and the method includes: receiving network configuration information of a target cloud computing service to a mobile communication network, wherein the network configuration information is sent by a central management and control device in an edge cloud system, and the target cloud computing service is a cloud computing service which needs to depend on network resources and/or network capacity in the mobile communication network in the edge cloud system; and performing network configuration on at least one network element related to the target cloud computing service in the mobile communication network according to the network configuration information.

An embodiment of the present application further provides a central management and control device, including: a memory, a processor, and a communications component; the memory for storing a computer program; the processor, coupled with the memory, to execute the computer program to: acquiring network configuration information of a target cloud computing service on a mobile communication network, wherein the target cloud computing service is a cloud computing service which needs to depend on network resources and/or network capacity in the mobile communication network in the edge cloud system; and sending the network configuration information to an AF network element through the communication component, so that the AF network element performs network configuration on at least one network element related to the target cloud computing service in the mobile communication network according to the network configuration information.

An embodiment of the present application further provides an AF network element, including: a memory, a processor, and a communications component; the memory for storing a computer program; the processor, coupled with the memory, to execute the computer program to: receiving network configuration information of a target cloud computing service to a mobile communication network, which is sent by a central control device in an edge cloud system, through the communication assembly, wherein the target cloud computing service is a cloud computing service which needs to depend on network resources and/or network capacity in the mobile communication network in the edge cloud system; and performing network configuration on at least one network element related to the target cloud computing service in the mobile communication network according to the network configuration information.

Embodiments of the present application further provide a computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program, which, when executed by one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to implement the steps in the network configuration method provided by the embodiments of the present application.

In the embodiment of the application, the edge cloud system and the mobile communication network are fused, and a network configuration method capable of realizing cloud network cooperation is provided, so that the network configuration information of the mobile communication network by the cloud computing service can be communicated with network elements in the mobile communication network, cross-domain network configuration actions are realized, conditions are provided for realizing a new service mode based on cloud network fusion, and the edge cloud system can utilize the network support capability of the mobile communication network.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the application and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this application, illustrate embodiment(s) of the application and together with the description serve to explain the application and not to limit the application. In the drawings:

fig. 1a is a schematic structural diagram of a network system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present application;

fig. 1b is a schematic structural diagram of another network system provided in an exemplary embodiment of the present application;

fig. 1c is a schematic diagram of a network configuration performed by a network system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present application;

fig. 1d is a schematic view of an interaction flow for hosting MEC nodes in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 1e is a schematic view of another interaction flow for managing MEC nodes according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a network configuration method according to an exemplary embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3 is a flowchart illustrating another network configuration method according to an exemplary embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of a central management and control device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of an AF network element according to an exemplary embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present application more apparent, the technical solutions of the present application will be described in detail and completely with reference to the following specific embodiments of the present application and the accompanying drawings. It should be apparent that the described embodiments are only some of the embodiments of the present application, and not all of the embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present application.

With the continuous maturity of edge clouds, the requirement on the network supporting capability of the edge clouds is higher and higher, the network supporting capability of the edge cloud system is insufficient, and if the network supporting capability of the edge cloud system is directly expanded, the cost is higher. The mobile communication network has wide network coverage, has a nationwide backbone network, and has great advantages in the aspects of transmission networks, exchange and data and internet. In particular, with the advent of 5G networks, the network support capability of mobile communication networks has become more and more powerful. In view of this, an embodiment of the present application provides an Edge cloud Computing solution for merging an IT (Internet Technology, i.e., Internet Technology) network and a CT (Communication Technology), that is, an Edge cloud system is merged with a mobile Communication network, where the Edge cloud system may perform an Edge Computing service by using a network support capability of the mobile Communication network, and further, after merging with the mobile Communication network including a Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC) node, the MEC node closer to an end side may be used to provide an Edge Computing service for a user, which is beneficial to reducing service response delay and reducing bandwidth cost.

In the technical architecture of cloud network cooperation, an edge cloud system needs to interact with a core network of a mobile communication network. Currently, an edge cloud system is generally constructed by a cloud manufacturer based on a cloud computing form, and a mobile communication network is constructed by an operator based on a communication standard such as European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) standard. If the interconnection between the edge cloud system and the mobile communication network is to be realized, the interconnection between the edge cloud system and the mobile communication network is required to be realized at a network level, however, the mobile communication network is a network configuration architecture and a flow realized based on a communication standard, the edge cloud system is a network configuration architecture and a flow constructed based on a traditional cloud computing network, and the network configuration between the edge cloud system and the mobile communication network cannot be directly butted. In view of this, in the embodiment of the present application, a network configuration method is provided, which can communicate network configuration of a cloud computing service in an edge cloud system with a mobile communication network, implement a cross-domain network configuration action, enable the edge cloud system and the mobile communication network to implement interconnection and interworking at a network level, provide conditions for implementing a new service mode based on cloud network convergence, and enable the edge cloud system to utilize a network support capability of the mobile communication network.

The technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1a is a schematic structural diagram of a network system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 1a, the network system 100 includes: a network element 110 in the mobile communication network 105, a central management and control device 101 in the edge cloud system 104, and an Application Function (AF) network element 103.

The edge cloud system 104 in this embodiment is a cloud computing platform constructed on an edge infrastructure based on cloud computing technology and edge computing capability, and is a cloud platform having computing, networking, storage, security, and other capabilities at an edge location. The edge cloud is a relative concept, and refers to a cloud computing platform relatively close to an end side, or the edge cloud is different from a central cloud or a traditional cloud computing platform, where the central cloud or the traditional cloud computing platform may include a data center or a computer room with a large resource scale and a centralized location, and the edge cloud is composed of a plurality of edge cloud nodes 106, and the resource scale of a single edge cloud node 106 is small, but the coverage range of the edge cloud is wider.

In the edge cloud system 104 of this embodiment, a central management and control device 101 is deployed, and the central management and control device 101 uses an edge cloud node 106 as a management and control object to perform unified management and control on at least one edge cloud node 106 in the edge cloud system 104 in terms of resource scheduling, mirror image management, instance management, operation and maintenance, network, security, and the like, so as to place cloud computing services into each edge cloud node 106 for processing. In terms of deployment implementation, the central management and control device 101 may be deployed in one or more cloud computing data centers, or may be deployed in one or more conventional data centers, and the central management and control device 101 may also be deployed in one or more edge cloud nodes 106 managed by the central management and control device, which is not limited in this embodiment.

For the edge cloud node 106, various resources, such as computing resources like CPU and GPU, storage resources like memory and hard disk, and network resources like bandwidth, may be provided externally. In addition, the edge cloud node 106 may also create a corresponding instance according to the mirror image, and provide various cloud computing services to the outside through the instance. The image here refers to a basic file required to create an instance in the edge cloud node 106, and may be, for example, an image file such as an operating system, an application, or an operation configuration required to provide a cloud computing service for a user, and may be a file that meets the computing deployment requirement of the edge cloud node 106 and is manufactured according to a certain format according to a specific series of files. In addition, the image may be various forms, such as a Virtual Machine (VM) image file, a container (Docker) image file, or various types of application package files, and the image form may be related to a virtualization technology that needs to be used by the cloud computing service, which is not limited in this embodiment. Corresponding to mirroring, the implementation of an instance may be a virtual machine, a container, an application, or the like.

With the continuous maturity of edge clouds, the requirement on the network supporting capability of the edge clouds is higher and higher, the network supporting capability of the edge cloud system is insufficient, and if the network supporting capability of the edge cloud system is directly expanded, the cost is higher. The mobile communication network has wide network coverage, has a nationwide backbone network, and has great advantages in the aspects of transmission networks, exchange and data and internet. In particular, with the advent of 5G networks, the network support capability of mobile communication networks has become more and more powerful. In view of this, the mobile communication network 105 is introduced into the network system 100 of the embodiment of the present application, and the edge cloud system 104 and the mobile communication network 105 are integrated, so that the edge cloud system 104 can perform an edge computing service by using the network support capability of the mobile communication network 105, which is beneficial to reducing the service response delay and reducing the bandwidth cost.

In the embodiment of the present application, the network architecture of the mobile communication network 105 and the communication system adopted are not limited. For example, the mobile communication network may be a 4G-standard mobile communication network, a 5G-standard mobile communication network (referred to as a 5G network for short), or may be a higher-standard mobile communication network that may appear in the future. The mobile communication network 105 of any standard is divided from the application point of view, and its architecture mainly includes but is not limited to: an Access Network 107(Radio Access Network, RAN) and a Core Network 108(Core Network, CN); the architecture mainly includes a Backbone Network (Backbone Network) and an access Network, which are divided from the transmission perspective. Further, the mobile communication network may further include: support Network (Supporting Network). Both the access network 107 and the core network 108 include some functional entities (or called network elements). For example, the base station is a network element in the access network 107 and is mainly responsible for providing a wireless access function for a terminal (e.g., a mobile phone, a tablet computer, etc. of a user). The core network 108, serving as a "management center" of the mobile communication network, includes a network element 110 responsible for access and mobility management, a network element 110 responsible for data grouping, a network element 110 responsible for charging control, and the like, and is mainly responsible for managing data of a terminal, and performing related processing such as processing, distribution, charging, and the like on the data, so as to achieve the purpose of "route switching".

The access network 107 and the core network 108 of the mobile communication network 105 include different network elements 110 according to different network systems. As shown in fig. 1a and 1b, taking a 5G network as an example, the 5G access network 107 mainly includes a 5G base station; the 5G base station is mainly configured to provide a 5G air interface protocol function, and support communication with the user equipment and the 5G core network 108. According to the logic function division, the 5G base station can be divided into a 5G baseband unit and a 5G radio frequency unit which can be connected through a CPRI or eCPRI interface; the 5G baseband unit is responsible for NR baseband protocol processing, and the 5G radio frequency unit mainly completes the conversion of NR baseband signals and radio frequency signals and the receiving and transmitting processing functions of the NR radio frequency signals. From the device architecture perspective, the 5G base station may employ, but is not limited to: the Antenna comprises a Baseband processing Unit, an Active Antenna processing Unit (BBU-AAU), a distribution Unit, a Centralized Unit, an Active Antenna processing Unit (CU-DU-AAU), a BBU-RRU-Antenna (Antenna), a CU-DU-RRU-Antenna and the like. From the device morphology perspective, the 5G base station may include, but is not limited to: lamp pole basic station, well lid basic station, unmanned aerial vehicle basic station, 5G blade formula basic station, liquid cooling basic station etc.. Accordingly, as shown in fig. 1a, the 5G Core Network 108(5G Core Network, 5GC) includes, but is not limited to, the following Core Network elements 109: network elements such as an Authentication Server Function (AUSF), a User Plane Function (UPF), an Access and mobility Management Function (AMF), a Unified Data Management (UDM), a Network open Function (NEF), a Session Management Function (SMF), a Network Slice Selection Function (NSSF), a Network storage Function (NF) and a Policy Control Function (PCF). Wherein, the base station in the access network and the core network element 109 both belong to the network element 110 in the mobile communication network 105.

In an alternative embodiment, the mobile communication network 105 comprises, in addition to the above listed network elements 110: MEC node 102, as shown in fig. 1a and 1 b. MEC node 102 includes, among other things, a series of edge infrastructures including, but not limited to: distributed Data Centers (DCs), wireless rooms or clusters, edge devices such as computing devices and/or storage devices, and corresponding network environments, among others. The MEC node 102 may provide various resources to the outside, such as computing resources like CPU and GPU, storage resources like memory and hard disk, network resources like bandwidth, etc., and therefore, the MEC node 102 belongs to the network resources in the mobile communication network 105. In addition, the MEC node 102 may also create a corresponding instance according to the mirror image, and provide various cloud computing services to the outside through the instance. See above for a description of the mirror image.

In this embodiment, the number of MEC nodes 102 is not limited, and may be one or more, for example. It is noted that the location, number, capabilities, and contained infrastructure of different MEC nodes 102 may or may not be the same. In the present embodiment, the deployment location of the MEC node 102 in the mobile communication network 105 is not limited. For example, as shown in fig. 1a in the case where MEC node 102 is deployed in access network 107, after the base station(s), such terminal-initiated requests and related data may reach MEC node 102 via the base station. In an application scenario where the MEC node 102 is deployed on the access network 107 side, the network system 100 may provide some low latency edge computing services, such as drone delivery service, autopilot, telemedicine diagnosis, robotic collaboration, telesurgery, and so on. For another example, after the Control Plane/User Plane (C/U) function of the core network 108 is separated, the User Plane Gateway (GW-UP) function moves down to the access network 107 side, or moves down to the edge of the 5G core network, as shown in fig. 1b, GW-UP moves down to the edge of the core network 108, and the MEC node 102 may be deployed at GW-UP, in which case the network system 100 may provide some low-latency and high-bandwidth edge computing services, such as Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), mobile video monitoring, mobile broadcasting, public safety, and high definition video, for the end-side User. The GW-UP corresponds to a GW-CP, and the GW-CP corresponds to a control Plane (C-Plane) in the 5G core network, and resides on the core network 108 side. In fig. 1a and 1b, the number of MEC nodes 102 is illustrated as 1, but the present invention is not limited thereto.

In the technical architecture of cloud network coordination (or cloud network convergence) in the embodiment of the present application, the edge cloud system 104 needs to interact with the mobile communication network 105. If the interconnection between the edge cloud system 104 and the mobile communication network 105 is to be implemented, the interconnection between the edge cloud system 104 and the mobile communication network 105 needs to be implemented at a network level. The inter-working between the edge cloud system 104 and the mobile communication network 105 at the network level includes, but is not limited to, the inter-working between the edge cloud system 104 and a core network of the mobile communication network 105 at the network level. For example, the edge cloud system 104 may also perform interworking at a network level with the access network and the core network of the mobile communication network 105. In the embodiment of the present application, by means of the AF network element 103, the network configuration of the cloud computing service in the edge cloud system 104 is communicated with the mobile communication network 105, so as to implement a cross-domain network configuration action, so that the edge cloud system 104 and the mobile communication network 105 implement interconnection and interworking on a network layer, and provide conditions for implementing a new service mode based on cloud network convergence, thereby enabling the edge cloud system 104 to utilize the network support capability of the mobile communication network 105. The AF network element 103 is a network element that can interact with the edge cloud system 104 and the core network of the mobile communication network 105 at the same time, and may provide some functions such as application-aware routing, policy control, and NEF access, but is not limited thereto. The AF network element 103 may be an AF inside an operator of the mobile communication network 105, or may be an AF deployed by a third party (e.g., provider of the edge cloud system 104). If the AF network element 103 is an AF within the operator of the mobile communication network 105, the AF network element and other network elements in the mobile communication network 105 are in a trusted domain, and can directly interact with other network elements in the mobile communication network 105, such as an SMF, a UDM, and the like; if the AF network element 103 is a third party AF, it is not in a trusted domain with other network elements in the mobile communication network 105, and other network elements in the mobile communication network 105, such as SMF, UDM, etc., can be accessed through NEF network elements in the mobile communication network 105, so as to ensure the security of the mobile communication network 105. In fig. 1a and 1b, the AF network element 103 is illustrated as an example of an AF within the operator of the mobile communication network 105.

In this embodiment, as shown in fig. 1a, the central management and control device 101 may send network configuration information of the target cloud computing service on the mobile communication network 105 to the AF network element 103, so that the AF network element 103 performs network configuration on at least one network element 110 related to the target cloud computing service in the mobile communication network 105 according to the network configuration information. The target cloud computing service is a cloud computing service in the edge cloud system 104 that needs to depend on network resources and/or network capabilities in the mobile communication network 105. The AF network element 103 may receive network configuration information of the target cloud computing service to the mobile communication network 105, where the network configuration information is sent by the central management and control device 101; and performing network configuration on at least one network element 110 related to the target cloud computing service in the mobile communication network 105 according to the network configuration information. In the embodiment of the application, the network configuration of the cloud computing service in the edge cloud system can be communicated with the mobile communication network, so that a cross-domain network configuration action is realized, the edge cloud system 104 and the mobile communication network 105 realize interconnection and intercommunication on a network layer, conditions are provided for realizing a new service mode based on cloud network fusion, and the edge cloud system 104 can utilize the network support capability of the mobile communication network 105.

In this embodiment, the target cloud computing service is not limited, and may be, for example and without limitation: an online live broadcast service, an online education service, an online shopping service, an online game service, a cloud storage service, a mailbox service, or a VR service, etc. Wherein the target cloud computing service may be deployed on an edge cloud node 106 in the edge cloud system 104; alternatively, the node may be partially deployed on the edge cloud node 106 in the edge cloud system 104, and partially deployed on a node that can carry cloud computing services in the mobile communication network 105, such as the MEC node 102; alternatively, all of the nodes in the mobile communication network 105, such as the MEC node 102, which may carry cloud computing services, may be deployed. It should be noted that, depending on the target cloud computing service, the network resources and/or network capabilities of the mobile communication network 105 on which the target cloud computing service depends may also be different, and accordingly, the network element 110 related to the target cloud computing service in the mobile communication network 105 and the network configuration information of the target cloud computing service on the mobile communication network 105 may also be different. The network element 110 related to the target cloud computing service may be the core network element 109. For example, if the target cloud computing service needs to use network resources in the mobile communication network 105, such as the MEC node 102, the core network elements related to the target cloud computing service include, but are not limited to: UPF, GW-UP, etc., and accordingly, the network configuration information of the target cloud computing service to the mobile communication network 105 includes, but is not limited to: configuration of the forking rules used by the UPF, configuration of the resource configuration rules used by the MEC node 102, and the like. For another example, if the target cloud computing service needs to use the network slicing function provided by the mobile communication network 105, the core network elements related to the target cloud computing service include, but are not limited to: NSSF, etc., and accordingly, the network configuration information of the target cloud computing service to the mobile communication network 105 includes, but is not limited to: various configuration information related to the network slice, such as charging policy, routing policy, user data, authentication data, latency requirements, location requirements, bandwidth requirements, and the like. In addition to core network elements, the network elements 110 related to the target cloud computing service may also be access network elements, such as base stations. Here, if the network element related to the target cloud computing service is an access network element, the AF network element 103 may issue the network configuration information to the access network element through a core network element communicatively connected to the access network element, so as to complete network configuration on the access network element.

In this embodiment, the central managing and controlling device 101 may acquire or collect the network configuration information of the target cloud computing service on the mobile communication network 105 before sending the network configuration information of the target cloud computing service on the mobile communication network 105 to the AF network element 103. In this embodiment, the manner in which the center managing device 101 acquires the network configuration information of the target cloud computing service to the mobile communication network 105 is not limited. The following examples illustrate:

in an optional embodiment, the service demander may specify network resources and/or network capabilities in the mobile communication network 105 that are required to be used by the target cloud computing service, for example, a network slicing function that is required to be provided by the mobile communication network 105 to provide an isolated network environment for the target cloud computing service, and ensure the security of the target cloud computing service, where the network element 110 related to the target cloud computing service includes at least an NSSF network element capable of providing the network slicing function. For this situation, the service demander may determine network configuration information of the target cloud computing service on the mobile communication network 105 in advance, where the network configuration information is mainly network configuration information of the network element 110 related to the target cloud computing service in the mobile communication network 105; and may provide the network configuration information of the mobile communication network 105 by the target cloud computing service to the central managing and controlling device 101 through the service requirement description information. Based on this, the central management and control device 101 may obtain network configuration information of the target cloud computing service on the mobile communication network 105 from the service requirement description information provided by the service requirement party. Optionally, the service demander may provide service requirement description information to the central control device 101 through a human-computer interaction interface (e.g., a web page, an application page, a command window, or the like) provided by the central control device 101, based on which, the central control device 101 may receive the service requirement description information, and obtain network configuration information of the target cloud computing service on the mobile communication network from the service requirement description information provided by the service demander. Or, the service requirement description information of the service requirement party may be preset in the central control device 101, and based on this, the central control device 101 may directly obtain the preset service requirement description information.

In another optional embodiment, as shown in fig. 1c, the central management and control device 101 may obtain a target parameter corresponding to the target cloud computing Service, where the target parameter refers to a parameter related to a configuration requirement of the target cloud computing Service for the network, and for example, the target parameter includes at least one of a function parameter, a scheduling domain parameter, a Service-Level Agreement (SLA) parameter, a type parameter, and a Service object parameter of the target cloud computing Service; and generating network configuration information of the target cloud computing service to the mobile communication network 105 according to the target parameters corresponding to the target cloud computing service. Optionally, in a specific embodiment, as shown in fig. 1c, an AF Agent (Agent) function unit may be established inside the central management and control device 101, and the AF Agent function unit is responsible for collecting target parameters related to network configuration requirements of cloud computing services that need to be run or have been run on the edge cloud node 106 or the MEC node managed by the central management and control device 101, and in addition, the AF Agent function unit can also function as a translator, and map the target parameters related to the network configuration requirements of the cloud computing services to network configuration information for the mobile communication network 105. In this embodiment, the central management and control device 101 has a function of a translator, and may map a target parameter corresponding to a target cloud computing service to network configuration information of the target cloud computing service to at least one network element 110 related to the target cloud computing service in the mobile communication network 105. The target parameters of the target cloud computing service may be obtained by the central control device 101 from service requirement description information provided by the service requirement party through a human-computer interaction interface (e.g., a web page, an application page, a command window, or the like) provided by the central control device 101, or may be pre-built in the central control device 101, or may be obtained by other methods, which is not limited thereto.

In this embodiment, the function parameter in the target parameter refers to a parameter for describing a function that can be implemented by the target cloud computing service, for example, the function that can be implemented by the target cloud computing service may be an online video function, an online education function, a cloud storage function, an online medical function, and the like. The scheduling domain parameter in the target parameters refers to a parameter for describing a location of an area where the service demander requires to deploy the target cloud computing service, and may be, for example, area a, area B, city C, city D, or the like. The SLA parameters in the target parameters refer to parameters describing requirements of users on security, service quality level and the like of the target cloud computing service in the using process, and may include but are not limited to: security level, Quality of Service (QoS) parameters such as end-to-end delay parameter, bandwidth parameter, packet loss rate, etc. The type parameter in the target parameter refers to a parameter for describing a type of function implemented by the target cloud computing service, for example, the type of function implemented by the target cloud computing service may be, but is not limited to: the function types of the cloud computing service can be flexibly divided according to application requirements without limitation. The service object parameter in the target parameters refers to a parameter for describing an object that needs to use the target cloud computing service, for example, the service object of the target cloud computing service may be, but is not limited to: individual users, such as nationwide individual users, individual users in a certain region, individual users in a certain age group, and the like; but also enterprise users, such as specific enterprise users, enterprise users in a certain region, and so forth. In the embodiment of the application, the implementation form of each parameter in the target parameters is not limited, and can be flexibly set according to the application requirements.

According to different target cloud computing services, target parameters corresponding to the target cloud computing services are different. For example, the target cloud computing service is an online live broadcast service, and target parameters corresponding to the online live broadcast service may include: the system is deployed in city A, and provides online live broadcast service for users in city A, and parameters such as live broadcast times and live broadcast time periods of each day. As another example, the target cloud computing service is an online education service that may involve application scenarios including: the teacher is in city B lecture, has the student in city C and city D respectively to listen to the class, in order to guarantee that the teacher is in class the in-process language and the synchronization of action, avoids appearing video delay, need provide city B to city C, city D's end-to-end low-latency requirement, then this online education service corresponding target parameter can include: on-line education services need to be deployed in cities B, C and D, a service demander requires an end-to-end time delay parameter which can be achieved by the on-line education service, and the parameters such as the minimum network bandwidth and the network slicing function required by the on-line education service.

Of course, the manner of generating the network configuration information of the target cloud computing service to the mobile communication network according to the target parameter corresponding to the target cloud computing service and the generated network configuration information may also be different according to the different target parameters corresponding to the target cloud computing service. In an optional embodiment, the target parameters corresponding to the target cloud computing service include end-to-end QoS parameters in the SLA parameters, for example, end-to-end delay, end-to-end available bandwidth, and the like, and thus, a manner in which the central management and control device 101 generates network configuration information of the target cloud computing service on the mobile communication network is exemplarily described. For example, the central management and control device 101 may generate network configuration information of the target cloud computing service on the mobile communication network 105 according to the end-to-end QoS parameter in combination with the end-to-end network link related to the target cloud computing service; wherein the mobile communication network 105 provides at least part of the end-to-end network links. It should be noted that the mobile communication network may provide all end-to-end links related to the target cloud computing service, and may also provide at least part of end-to-end links related to the target cloud computing service, which may be determined according to a deployment location of the target cloud computing service in the network system 100, and is not limited thereto.

Further optionally, generating network configuration information of the target cloud computing service on the mobile communication network according to the end-to-end QoS parameter in combination with an end-to-end network link related to the target cloud computing service, including: under the condition that the mobile communication network provides partial links required by the target cloud computing service, splitting sub-Qos parameters corresponding to the partial links provided by the mobile communication network from the end-to-end QoS parameters; and generating network configuration information of the target cloud computing service to the mobile communication network according to the sub QoS parameters.

For example, the target cloud computing service is a live video service deployed on the MEC node 102 in the mobile communication network 105, and the service demander requires that an end-to-end delay from a terminal M (recording terminal) in a city E to a terminal N (viewing terminal) in a city F is less than 50 milliseconds (ms), and the live video service involves an end-to-end network link including: a partial link from the terminal M to the MEC node in the city E, a partial link from the MEC node in the city E to the MEC node in the city F, and a partial link from the MEC node in the city F to the terminal N, the end-to-end QoS parameter can be split into three sub QoS parameters, that is, a sub QoS parameter 1: the delay from the terminal M to the MEC node in the city E, which is known, e.g. assumed to be 20ms, sub-Qos parameter 2: the delay from the MEC node in city F to terminal N, which is known, is given by 10ms, sub QoS parameter 3: the time delay from the MEC node in city E to the MEC node in city F is a sub Qos parameter corresponding to a part of links provided by the mobile communication network 105 for the live video service. It can be seen that if the end-to-end delay corresponding to this part of link is less than or equal to 20ms, the end-to-end delay of the live video service will not exceed 50ms, and accordingly, the central management and control device 101 can split the sub QoS parameter corresponding to the part of link provided by the mobile communication network 105 from the end-to-end QoS parameter; furthermore, network configuration information of the target cloud computing service on the mobile communication network can be generated according to the sub-QoS parameters and provided to the AF network element 103, so that the AF network element 103 can perform network configuration on the relevant network elements, and thus the video live broadcast service meeting the end-to-end QoS parameter requirement can be obtained. The central management and control device 101 may directly provide the sub-QoS parameters to the AF network element 103 as network configuration information of the target cloud computing service to the mobile communication network, so that the AF network element 103 performs relevant network configuration; or, the sub QoS parameter may also be resolved into network configuration information of the target cloud computing service on the mobile communication network, for example, resolved into an address selection requirement for an MEC node, or information such as a requirement for a streaming priority corresponding to a live video service is provided to the AF network element 103, and relevant network configuration is performed from the AF network element 103.

In this embodiment of the application, a network configuration protocol is defined between the edge cloud system 104 and the mobile communication network 105, specifically between the central management and control device 101 and the AF network element 103, and the central management and control device 101 may send, based on the network configuration protocol, the network configuration information of the target cloud computing service on the mobile communication network 105 to the AF network element 103. Specifically, as shown in fig. 1c, the process of sending the network configuration information to the AF network element 103 by the central management and control device 101 includes: the central control device 101 encapsulates the network configuration information in a network configuration message according to an agreed network configuration protocol; and sending the network configuration message to the AF network element 103 through a network configuration protocol channel between the AF network element 103 and the network configuration message. The network configuration message is a message in a message format conforming to the requirements of the network configuration protocol, and the network configuration protocol channel is also a communication channel established according to the network configuration protocol. Further, as shown in fig. 1c, before sending a network configuration message to the AF network element 103 through a network configuration protocol channel between the central management and control device 101 and the AF network element 103, a network configuration protocol channel is established between the central management and control device 101 and the AF network element 103. Optionally, the central management and control device 101 (or the AF agent functional unit) sends a request for establishing a network configuration protocol channel to the AF network element 103, so as to request to establish the network configuration protocol channel with the AF network element 103; after the network configuration protocol channel is established, the AF network element 103 returns a message that the channel establishment is successful to the central management and control device 101 (or the AF proxy function unit). Wherein, the existing communication protocol, such as TCP/IP protocol, HTTP protocol, etc. can be used; or a completely new network configuration protocol which is defined or agreed by the provider of the edge cloud system 104 and the operator of the mobile communication network 105; the network configuration protocol may also be a network configuration protocol obtained by improving an existing communication protocol, such as a TCP/IP protocol, an HTTP protocol, and the like, which is not limited to this, and any protocol form that enables the AF network element 103 to identify the network configuration information sent by the central management and control device 101 is suitable for the embodiment of the present application. Correspondingly, according to different implementation manners of the network configuration protocol, the network configuration protocol channel established between the central control device 101 and the AF network element 103 may be an IP-based network channel, or may also be a network channel constructed based on a brand-new network configuration protocol and specially used for connecting the central control device 101 (or the AF agent functional unit) and the AF network element 103, which is not limited herein.

In some optional embodiments, the at least one network element 110 related to the target cloud computing service in the mobile communication network 105 is the core network element 109, and the network configuration performed by the AF network element on the at least one network element 110 related to the target cloud computing service in the mobile communication network 105 according to the network configuration information is actually a process of performing network configuration on the at least one core network element 109 related to the target cloud computing service in the mobile communication network 105 according to the network configuration information. Taking at least one network element related to the target cloud computing service as the core network element 109 as an example, no matter what implementation manner is adopted by the network configuration protocol, in optional embodiment W1, the network configuration protocol requires that the network configuration information is provided to the AF network element as a payload portion of a network configuration message, based on which, after obtaining the network configuration information of the target cloud computing service to the mobile communication network 105, the central management and control device 101 (or the AF proxy function unit) may encapsulate the network configuration information in the payload portion of the network configuration message, and then send the network configuration message to the AF network element 103 through a network configuration protocol channel between the AF network element 103 and the network configuration message, so that the AF network element 103 performs network configuration on at least one core network element related to the target cloud computing service in the mobile communication network 105. In an alternative embodiment W2, the network configuration protocol allows the identification information of the network element to be configured to be carried in the header of the message, and the rest of the network configuration information can only be provided to the AF network element as a payload part of the packet, based on which, after obtaining the network configuration information of the target cloud computing service to the mobile communication network 105, the identification information of the core network element to be configured in the network configuration information can be encapsulated in the message header of the network configuration message, the rest information in the network configuration information is encapsulated in the load part of the network configuration message, then, the network configuration message is sent to the AF network element 103 through the network configuration protocol channel between the AF network element 103 and the network configuration message, for the AF network element 103 to perform network configuration on at least one core network element related to the target cloud computing service in the mobile communication network 105. Optionally, the central management and control device 101 (or the AF agent functional unit) may send the network configuration packet to the AF network element 103 in an Application Programming Interface (API) manner. As shown in fig. 1c, for the AF network element 103, the network configuration message sent by the central control device 101 may be received, the network configuration message is analyzed, network configuration information is obtained, and network configuration is performed on at least one core network element related to the target cloud computing service in the mobile communication network 105 according to the network configuration information. Optionally, the AF network element 103 may further store the acquired network configuration information in the core network.

Optionally, if the network configuration protocol used in this embodiment of the present application is obtained by improving on the basis of a TCP/IP protocol and an HTTP protocol, in the optional embodiment W2, a header of an existing protocol packet may be extended, where a protocol field is added, for example, the protocol field is 8 bits, each bit represents a core network element, and each bit represents which core network element is predefined, and when a certain core network element needs to be configured, a position corresponding to the core network element to be configured may be 1, so as to indicate that network configuration needs to be performed on the core network element corresponding to the bit; other information in the pertinent network configuration information may be encapsulated in the payload portion of the network configuration message. Accordingly, the AF network element 103 may analyze the identifier information of the core network element to be configured from the header of the received network configuration packet, then analyze the rest information of the network configuration information from the payload portion of the packet, and perform network configuration on the analyzed core network element to be configured.

The description of the network configuration process is continued by taking at least one network element related to the target cloud computing service as a core network element as an example. Then, for the AF network element 103, in any way, after receiving the network configuration information sent by the central control device 101, at least one core network element 109 related to the target cloud computing service in the mobile communication network 105 and a configuration parameter corresponding to the core network element 109 may be determined according to the network configuration information, and the network configuration may be performed on the at least one core network element 109 according to the configuration parameter corresponding to the at least one core network element 109. Wherein the configuration parameters of the core network element 109 include configuration parameters related to characteristics, functions and/or attributes of the core network element 109. Taking an example that the core network element related to the target cloud computing service includes a UPF network element, where the UPF network element is used to offload traffic from a terminal, and the AF network element 103 may configure a data offloading rule required for offloading for the UPF network element. For another example, taking an example that the core network element related to the target cloud computing service includes an AMF network element, the AMF network element is responsible for access and mobility management functions, the AMF may control balance between loads of the terminals, and the AF network element 103 may configure a weight factor for balancing the loads for the AMF network element.

After each network element (including a core network element and possibly an access network element) related to the target cloud computing service in the mobile communication network performs network configuration, optionally, the AF network element 103 may return a network configuration completion notification message to the central management and control device 101, as shown in fig. 1a to fig. 1 c. After receiving the network configuration completion notification message, the central management and control device 101 performs resource and network scheduling, configuration and other actions on the target cloud computing service, so as to meet the subsequent operation requirements of the cloud computing service.

Further, in some embodiments of the present application, the mobile communication network 105 includes the MEC node 102, and in this scenario, the mobile communication network 105 may also include an MEC network management system, which is not shown in fig. 1a to 1 c. The MEC network management system uses the MEC node 102 as a control object to control at least one MEC node 102 in the mobile communication network 105 in various aspects such as resource scheduling, operation and maintenance, network, security, and the like. In deployment implementation, the MEC network management system may be deployed in the core network separately as an independent core network element, or the function of the MEC network management system may also be deployed in the core network in a distributed manner on a related network element, for example, AMF, PGW, PCF, and the like.

Based on the above, the central management and control device 101 may further establish a cooperative channel for performing cooperative management and control on the MEC node 102 according to a requirement with the MEC network management system, and manage the MEC node 102 based on the cooperative channel, so that the MEC node 102 may be closer to the end side, and the MEC node 102 may be used to provide edge computing services, such as the above-listed services of automatic driving, remote medical diagnosis, robot cooperation, remote surgery, AR, VR, mobile video monitoring, mobile broadcasting, public safety, high-definition video, and the like. In this embodiment, the central management and control device 101 may manage all MEC nodes 102 in the mobile communication network 105, or manage part of MEC nodes 102 in the mobile communication network 105, which is not limited herein. For convenience of differentiation and description, in the embodiment of the present application, the MEC node 102 hosted by the central management and control apparatus 101 is referred to as a target MEC node. The number of the target MEC nodes may be one or multiple.

In this embodiment, a physical link exists between the central control device 101 and the target MEC node, before the central control device 101 and the MEC network management system establish a cooperative channel, the physical link is in a disabled state, and the central control device 101 cannot manage the target MEC node; after the central management and control device 101 establishes the cooperative channel with the MEC network management system, the physical link is enabled and is in an available state, which means that the central management and control device 101 can manage the target MEC node. Based on the physical link, the central management and control device 101 may establish a direct channel with the target MEC node, and then manage the target MEC node based on the direct channel. After the target MEC node is managed by the central management and control device 101, the identity and the status of the target MEC node in the edge cloud system 104 are the same as or similar to those of the edge cloud node 106, and the central management and control device 106 may perform various kinds of management on the target MEC node.

With reference to the interaction flowchart shown in fig. 1d, a description is given below of a process of establishing a cooperative channel between the central control device 101 and the MEC network management system for performing cooperative control on the target MEC node, and performing admission management on the target MEC node based on the cooperative channel, where the embodiment shown in fig. 1d includes the following steps:

11c, each MEC node in the mobile communication network reports the MEC registration information to the MEC network management system.

12c, the target terminal reports the terminal registration information to the MEC network management system.

And 13c, the MEC network management system provides the information of candidate MEC nodes which can be managed in the mobile communication network to the central management and control equipment.

And 14c, the central management and control equipment determines a target MEC node from the candidate MEC nodes.

15c, the central management and control equipment initiates a resource admission application aiming at the target MEC node to the MEC network management system so as to establish a cooperative channel with the MEC network management system.

And 16c, the central management and control equipment manages the target MEC node based on a through channel between the central management and control equipment and the target MEC node.

In this embodiment, the sequence of step 11c and step 12c is not limited, for example, step 11c and step 12c may be performed simultaneously; step 11c may be performed first, and then step 12c may be performed; step 12c may be implemented first, and then step 11c may be implemented, which may be specifically determined according to the sequence in which the target terminal and the MEC node initiate registration to the MEC network management system.

In step 11c, the MEC registration information includes information of the MEC node, where the information of the MEC node includes information that can uniquely identify the MEC node, such as an ID, a MAC address, an IP address, location information, and the like of the MEC node, and may also include some other information, such as a resource type, an available resource amount, and the like included in the MEC node. In step 12c, the terminal registration information includes information of a target terminal, the target terminal is a terminal that needs to use the cloud computing service in the mobile communication network 105, and the information of the target terminal includes information that can uniquely identify the target device, such as an IP address, a MAC address, a device serial number, and the like of the target terminal, and may also include some other information, such as location information of the target terminal, information of a base station to which the target terminal belongs, and the like.

In step 13c, the MEC network management system may determine candidate MEC nodes capable of being managed from the MEC nodes reporting the MEC registration information according to a certain policy. For example, an MEC node with spare resources may be considered a candidate MEC node that may be hosted. For another example, an MEC node having an amount of free resources greater than a set threshold may be regarded as a candidate MEC node that can be managed. Still alternatively, MEC nodes with specified resources (e.g., GPUs or CPUs) may be taken as candidate MEC nodes that can be hosted. Wherein the information of the candidate MEC node comprises: the identification, geographic location, and resource information (e.g., number of resources, type of resources) that can be hosted on the candidate MEC node.

In this embodiment, a specific implementation manner of providing, by the MEC network management system, information of candidate MEC nodes that can be managed in the mobile communication network 105 to the central management and control device 101 is not limited. For example, the MEC network management system may actively push candidate MEC node information to the central management and control device 101; the MEC network management system may also receive request information of the central management and control device 101, where the request information includes a geographic location, a resource amount, a resource type, and the like of an MEC node that the central management and control device requires admission, and the MEC network management system provides information of candidate MEC nodes that can be admitted in the mobile communication network 105 to the central management and control device 101 according to the request information.

The candidate MEC nodes that can be managed in the mobile communication network 105 have resource information (e.g., resource quantity and resource type) that can be managed by the central management and control device 101, and in this embodiment, how the MEC network management system determines which resource information can be managed by the central management and control device 101 is not limited. For example, the MEC network management system may provide all resources in the candidate MEC nodes to the central management and control device 101, so that the central management and control device 101 manages all resources in the target MEC nodes determined by the central management and control device; or, the MEC network management system may reserve a part of resources in the candidate MEC nodes, and provide the remaining resource information to the central management and control device 101, so that the central management and control device 101 manages the remaining resources in the target MEC node determined by the central management and control device; or, the MEC network management system selects resource information meeting the requirements according to the requirements of the central management and control device 101, and provides the resource information to the central management and control device 101, so that the central management and control device 101 can manage the resources meeting the requirements in the target MEC node determined by the central management and control device 101.

For step 14c, the central management and control device 101 determines a target MEC node from the candidate MEC nodes according to the service requirement description information and the information of the candidate MEC nodes. The service requirement description information may include, but is not limited to, MEC node selection parameters, resource selection parameters, and the like. Alternatively, the service requirement description information may be provided to the central managing apparatus 101 by the service requirement party. For example, the central control device 101 may provide a human-computer interaction interface for a service demander, and the service demander may submit service requirement description information to the central control device 101 through the human-computer interaction interface provided by the central control device 101. The implementation form of the human-computer interaction interface is not limited in this embodiment.

In an optional embodiment, the man-machine interface provided by the central control apparatus 101 includes a query page and a purchase page. For an operator or a service demander of the network system 100, the operator or the service demander may enter an inquiry page provided by the central management and control device 101, and input service requirement description information on the inquiry page to inquire whether the MEC node meeting the service requirement description information exists in the network system 100; accordingly, the central management and control device 101 may obtain the service requirement description information, determine, from the candidate MEC nodes, the MEC node 102 meeting the edge computing requirement as a target MEC node according to the service requirement description information, and may return, to an operator or a service demander, information of the MEC node meeting the service requirement description information through a query page after the target MEC node is determined. Or, for the service demander, a purchase page provided by the central management and control device 101 may be entered, service requirement description information is input through the purchase page to request that the corresponding cloud computing service is deployed on the MEC node meeting the service requirement description information, the service requirement description information is provided to the central management and control device 101, and accordingly, the central management and control device 101 may determine, from the candidate MEC nodes, the MEC node 102 meeting the edge computing requirement as the target MEC node.

It should be noted that, besides the above man-machine interface manner, the central management and control device 101 may also obtain the service requirement description information in other manners. For example, the service demander may also embed service requirement description information in the central management and control device 101 in advance, and the central management and control device 101 may determine the target MEC node from the candidate MEC nodes according to the embedded service requirement description information and the information of the candidate MEC nodes. Or, the service demander may transmit the service requirement description information to the central control device 101 through other devices that can communicate with the central control device 101, such as terminal devices or configuration devices, in a wired or wireless communication manner, so that the central control device 101 may receive the service requirement description information transmitted by the other devices, and further determine the target MEC node from the candidate MEC nodes according to the service requirement description information transmitted by the other devices and the information of the candidate MEC nodes.

In an optional embodiment, the central management and control device 101 may parse the MEC node selection parameter and the resource selection parameter from the service requirement description information; and determining a target MEC node and target resources needing to be managed on the target MEC node from the candidate MEC nodes according to the MEC node selection parameters and the resource selection parameters and by combining the information of the candidate MEC nodes.

The resource selection parameters include the number of resources, the type of resources, and the like. The number of resources may be 1, 5, 100, etc., and the types of resources may include, but are not limited to, computing resources, storage resources, network resources, etc. In an alternative embodiment, the MEC node selection parameter includes: quality of Service (QoS) requirements for a scheduling domain and/or cloud computing Service; wherein the scheduling domain points to an area where the cloud computing service needs to be deployed, which determines the geographical location of the target MEC node. The QoS requirements of the cloud computing service may include requirements of the cloud computing service for network latency, load conditions, and/or bandwidth costs, among others. In the embodiment of the present application, the cloud computing service refers to a cloud computing service that needs to be deployed on a target MEC node managed by the central management and control device 101 or needs to be deployed on the edge cloud node 106. Based on this, the central management and control device 101 may select, as the target MEC node, an MEC node that can meet the scheduling domain and/or QoS requirements according to the geographic location of the candidate MEC node and the resource information that can be managed on the candidate MEC node.

For example, the central management and control device 101 may select, according to the scheduling domain, the MEC node 102 pointed by the scheduling domain as the target MEC node in combination with the geographic location of the candidate MEC node. Or, the central management and control device 101 may further select, according to the QoS requirement of the cloud computing service, for example, the requirements of network delay, load condition, and/or bandwidth cost, the MEC node 102 that meets the requirements of network delay, load condition, and bandwidth cost from the candidate MEC nodes as the target MEC node. Of course, the central management and control device 101 may also select, as the target MEC node, the MEC node 102 that can simultaneously satisfy the QoS requirements of the scheduling domain and the cloud computing service, according to the geographic location of the candidate MEC node and the resource information (e.g., resource amount, resource type, etc.) available for admission.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, a specific implementation that the center management and control device 101 acquires the target MEC node is not limited, and the target MEC node may be acquired according to the method provided in step 13c, or other manners may also be adopted. For example, the central management and control device 101 and the MEC network management system may negotiate a target MEC node that needs to be managed in advance.

In step 15c, after determining the target MEC node that needs to be managed, the central management and control device 101 initiates a resource management application for the target MEC node that needs to be managed to the MEC network management system, so as to establish a cooperative channel with the MEC network management system.

Optionally, for a resource admission application initiated by the central management and control device 101, the MEC network management system may not respond, and then the central management and control device 101 establishes a cooperative channel with the MEC network management system by default after initiating the resource admission application. Or, optionally, after the central management and control device 101 initiates a resource admission application, if the MEC network management system receives the resource admission application, a response message is returned to the central management and control device 101; after receiving a response message returned by the MEC network management system, the central control device 101 determines that a cooperation channel is established with the MEC network management system; otherwise, if the response message returned by the MEC network management system is not received, the MEC network management system can be initiated with the resource admission application aiming at the target MEC node again.

After the cooperative channel is established with the MEC network management system, the central management and control device 101 obtains the admission authority to the target MEC node, and then in step 16c, the admission to the target MEC node is started. Optionally, the central management and control device 101 may manage the target MEC node based on a through channel between the central management and control device and the target MEC node. Or, the central management and control device 101 may also manage the target MEC node through a cooperative channel between the central management and control device and the MEC network management system and a channel between the MEC network management system and the target MEC node.

The central management and control device 101 may manage the target MEC node, and includes at least one of the following management and control:

infrastructure management and control: managing and controlling the infrastructure of the target MEC node;

platform capacity management and control: managing and controlling the platform capacity of the target MEC node;

network channel management and control: and managing and controlling a direct channel between the direct channel and the target MEC node.

Regarding infrastructure management: the infrastructure of the target MEC node includes, but is not limited to: distributed Data Centers (DCs), wireless rooms or clusters, devices such as computing devices or storage devices, and corresponding network environments, etc. DC. The computer room or the cluster comprises a plurality of physical machines, and each physical machine can be provided with a plurality of resources such as virtual machines and containers. The method is mainly used for managing and controlling the infrastructure of the target MEC node, and mainly refers to a process for managing and controlling the infrastructure which can be managed in the target MEC node. The governing process includes but is not limited to: instruct the target MEC node to report infrastructure information that can be managed, instruct the target MEC node to configure infrastructure resources (e.g., virtual machines, containers, etc.) required by the central management and control device 101, and so on.

Regarding platform capability management: the platform capability of the target MEC node refers to some processing capability that the target MEC node has, such as operation and maintenance, alarm, acceleration, etc. The step of managing and controlling the platform capability of the target MEC node mainly refers to a process of determining whether the target MEC node has some capabilities required by the edge cloud system 104 and whether the target MEC node has capabilities required for providing cloud computing services, and controlling the target MEC node to perform operations such as configuration or installation of related programs and the like so that the target MEC node has corresponding capabilities in the absence of the target MEC node. For example, a game is deployed on a target MEC node, and if the game requires the use of an acceleration service, the central control device 101 needs to determine whether the target MEC node supports an acceleration service protocol, and if not, controls the target MEC node to install the acceleration service protocol; if the request is supported, whether the protocol version is in accordance with the latest version or not can be further judged, and if the protocol version is not in accordance with the latest version, the acceleration service protocol is updated to the latest version so as to accelerate management and control of the target MEC node. For another example, the edge cloud system 104 requests each edge cloud node to automatically report to the central control device 101 when an alarm event occurs, so that the central control device 101 needs to determine whether the target MEC node has an automatic alarm capability, and if not, the target MEC node is controlled to perform automatic alarm configuration, so that the target MEC node has the automatic alarm capability.

Regarding through channel management and control: the direct channel between the central control device 101 and the target MEC node needs to meet the requirements of the edge cloud system 104 or the service demand side on data transmission reliability, security and the like. Based on this, the central management and control device 101 may manage and control a network transmission protocol, an adopted encryption protocol, and the like used by the direct channel, for example, a network transmission protocol (TCP or UDP), an encryption protocol, and the like used by negotiation with the target MEC node, and establish a three-layer, four-layer, or higher channel with the target MEC node on the direct channel according to the negotiated network transmission protocol and encryption protocol, so as to perform secure data transmission.

Further, with reference to the interaction flowchart shown in fig. 1e, another embodiment that a cooperation channel for performing cooperative management and control on a target MEC node is established between the central management and control device 101 and the MEC network management system, and the target MEC node is managed based on the cooperation channel includes the following steps:

11d, each MEC node in the mobile communication network reports the MEC registration information to the MEC network management system.

12d, the target terminal reports the terminal registration information to the MEC network management system.

And 13d, the MEC network management system provides the information of candidate MEC nodes which can be managed in the mobile communication network to the central management and control equipment.

14d, the central management and control equipment determines target MEC nodes needing to be managed from the candidate MEC nodes.

And 15d, the central management and control equipment initiates a resource admission application aiming at the target MEC node to the MEC network management system.

And 16d, the central management and control equipment sends the resource configuration rule corresponding to the target MEC node to the MEC network management system.

And 17d, configuring a resource configuration rule for the target MEC node by the MEC network management system so as to establish a cooperative channel with the central control equipment.

And 18d, the central management and control equipment manages the target MEC node based on a through channel between the central management and control equipment and the target MEC node.

For details of steps 11d-14d, reference is made to steps 11c-14c, which are not described herein again.

In this embodiment, the sequence of the step 15d and the step 16d is not limited, wherein the step 15d and the step 16d may be implemented simultaneously; step 15d may be performed first, and then step 16d may be performed; step 16d may be performed first, and then step 15d may be performed, which is not limited. For example, in the process of initiating a resource admission application to the MEC network management system, the central management and control device 101 may simultaneously send the resource configuration rule corresponding to the target MEC node to the MEC network management system. Optionally, the central management and control device 101 may carry the resource configuration rule in the resource admission application and send the resource configuration rule to the MEC network management system. Or, after sending the resource admission application, the resource allocation rule may be sent to the MEC network management system through an independent communication process. Or, before sending the resource admission application, the resource allocation rule may be sent to the MEC network management system through an independent communication process.

The MEC network management system receives a resource configuration rule corresponding to a target MEC node sent by the central management and control equipment 101, and configures the resource configuration rule to the target MEC node which needs to be managed by the central management and control equipment 101, so that the target MEC node performs resource configuration for the cloud computing service.

In this embodiment, the resource configuration rules include some rules or policies that instruct the target MEC node to make resource reservations for the cloud computing service. For example, the target MEC node has a total of 10 virtual machine resources, which are numbered virtual machine 1, virtual machine 2, … …, and virtual machine 10, respectively. Deploying 3 cloud computing services on a target MEC node, namely a cloud computing service A1, a cloud computing service A2 and a cloud computing service A3, wherein each cloud computing service needs 2 virtual machine resources, a resource configuration rule can indicate that the target MEC node randomly reserves 6 virtual machine resources for the 3 cloud computing services, and the 6 virtual machine resources can be used by the 3 cloud computing services; alternatively, the resource configuration rule may instruct the target MEC node to allocate virtual machine 1 and virtual machine 2 for cloud computing service a1, allocate virtual machine 3 and virtual machine 4 for cloud computing service a2, and allocate virtual machine 5 and virtual machine 6 for cloud computing service A3. And for the target MEC node, performing resource reservation for the cloud computing service according to the resource allocation rule.

After the MEC network management system configures the resource configuration rule for the target MEC node that the central management and control device 101 needs to manage, it means that the cooperative channel is successfully established with the central management and control device 101. Further, the central management and control device 101 may manage the target MEC node based on a through channel between the central management and control device and the target MEC node. For a specific embodiment of the method for performing nanotube management on the target MEC node based on the pass-through channel, reference may be made to the foregoing description, and details are not described herein again.

In practical applications, the information related to the target MEC node may change. Information synchronization is also performed between the MEC network management system and the central management and control device 101 for the target MEC node. That is, the MEC network management system synchronizes the change information related to the target MEC node occurring in the mobile communication network 105 to the central management and control device 101; the central management and control device 101 also synchronizes the change information related to the target MEC node occurring in the edge cloud system 104 to the MEC network management system.

For example, the MEC network management system notifies the central management and control device 101 that a cloud computing service process is finished on a target MEC node in the mobile communication network 105, the central management and control device 101 determines to release resources occupied by the cloud computing service and sends a notification to the MEC network management system, and the MEC network management system releases the resources occupied by the cloud computing service on the target MEC node.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 1e, in the process of managing the target MEC node, the central control device 101 may send, to the MEC network management system, a data distribution rule corresponding to the target MEC node in addition to the resource configuration rule corresponding to the target MEC node, so that the MEC network management system establishes a data plane channel between the target terminal and the target MEC node. Or after the target MEC node is managed, the central management and control device 101 sends the data distribution rule corresponding to the target MEC node to the network management system, so that the MEC network management system establishes a data plane channel between the target terminal and the target MEC node. The MEC network management system configures the data distribution rule to the UPF network element connected with the target MEC node in the mobile communication network 105. Based on this, in the process of providing the cloud computing service for the user by using the target MEC node, the UPF network element in the mobile communication network 105 may offload data from the corresponding terminal to the cloud computing service on the target MEC node based on the data offloading rule, so as to establish a data plane channel between the terminal and the target MEC node, so that the terminal can enjoy the cloud computing service with high efficiency and low time delay. In this embodiment of the present application, the data offloading rule used by the UPF network element is not limited, and for example, the data offloading rule may be based on an IP five-tuple, or may be based on a DNS.

It should be noted that, in the embodiments shown in fig. 1d and fig. 1e, the cloud computing service that needs to be deployed on the target MEC node may be taken as an example of the target cloud computing service in the foregoing embodiments. Accordingly, the resource configuration rule sent by the central management and control device 101 to the MEC network management system in the process of hosting the target MEC node, and the data offloading rule sent to the MEC network management system in the process of hosting the target MEC node or after hosting the target MEC node may be regarded as a specific example of the network configuration information in the foregoing embodiment of the present application. The central control device 101 may send the resource configuration rule and the data offloading rule to an AF network element in the MEC network management system, and the AF network element configures the resource configuration rule to the target MEC node according to the processing path of NEF- > SMF- > UPF- > target MEC node, and configures the data offloading rule to an UPF network element connected to the target MEC node according to the processing path of NEF- > SMF- > UPF.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the coverage area of the mobile communication network 105 including the MEC node 102 is not limited, and a mobile communication network that has already made full coverage is applicable to the embodiment of the present application, and a mobile communication network that has just made partial coverage is also applicable to the embodiment of the present application. The overall coverage or the partial coverage herein refers to the overall coverage or the partial coverage of a designated geographical range, and the designated geographical range may be a continent, a country, a region, a province, or the like.

For a new type of mobile communication network, it usually takes a certain time to fully cover a designated regional area, and in this process, the mobile communication network may be gradually deployed in different regions, for example, first deployed in a first-line city, then deployed in a second-line city, then deployed in a third-line city, etc., or first deployed in a hot-spot city, and gradually deployed from the hot-spot city, a business area, then to a residential area, then to a far-suburb county, etc. In the embodiment of the present application, a local network that is gradually deployed and covers a part of an area is referred to as a hot spot coverage area, and with the gradual deployment of a mobile communication network, a plurality of hot spot coverage areas may appear, and local coverage of a specified geographical area may be achieved through the hot spot coverage areas. The coverage areas of the hotspots mentioned in the embodiments of the present application all include an MEC node and an MEC network management system. Further optionally, the hot spot coverage areas may further include an access network element and a core network element; optionally, the access network element and the core network element may be of the same standard or of different standards.

Taking the 5G network as an example, in the 5G network deployment process, a 5G hotspot coverage area may be deployed in a first-line city, a main city, an important area, or the like, and then a 5G hotspot coverage area may be deployed in a second-line city, and the like. Under the non-independent Networking (NSA) architecture, a 5G hot spot coverage area comprises a 5G base station and a 4G core network, or a 4G base station and a 5G core network, and further comprises an MEC node and an MEC network management system. Under an independent networking (SA) architecture, a 5G hot spot coverage area comprises a 5G base station and a 5G core network, and further comprises an MEC node and an MEC network management system. In this embodiment, the number and the deployment location of the 5G hot spot coverage area are not limited, and may be determined by a mobile communication network operator.

Under the condition that the mobile communication network comprises a plurality of hotspot coverage areas where the MEC nodes and the MEC network management systems are deployed, the MEC network management systems can also provide the information of the hotspot coverage areas to which the MEC network management systems belong to the central control equipment; for the central management and control device, a target hotspot coverage area can be selected from a plurality of hotspot coverage areas; determining a target MEC node needing to be managed from MEC nodes in a target hotspot coverage area; further, a resource admission application aiming at the target MEC node is initiated to the MEC network management system in the target hotspot region so as to establish a cooperative channel with the MEC network management system; and carrying out nano-management on the target MEC node based on the cooperative channel so as to provide cloud computing service by using the target MEC node.

In the embodiment of the present application, a manner of selecting a target hotspot coverage area from a plurality of hotspot coverage areas by a center management and control device is not limited, and the following examples illustrate that:

for example, the central management and control device may use a plurality of hot spot coverage areas as target hot spot coverage areas, so that fusion between the edge cloud system and all the hot spot coverage areas may be achieved, and more MEC nodes may be managed. Alternatively, if an edge cloud node does not exist in a certain hotspot coverage area, the provider of the edge cloud system 104 may add an edge cloud node in the hotspot coverage area.

For another example, the central management and control device may also select, according to the deployment location of the edge cloud node in the edge cloud system, a hotspot coverage area that may cover the edge cloud node from the multiple hotspot coverage areas as a target hotspot coverage area.

For another example, the central management and control device may also select, according to the edge computing requirement of the service demander, a hotspot coverage area satisfying the edge computing requirement from the multiple hotspot coverage areas as a target hotspot coverage area. For a game service provider, a game service needs to be deployed in the edge cloud system, and the time delay of the game service is required to be not more than 50 milliseconds, so that the central management and control equipment can select a hot spot coverage area closer to the terminal from a plurality of hot spot coverage areas as a target hot spot coverage area, and after the MEC nodes in the target hot spot coverage area are managed, the game service can be deployed on the managed MEC nodes, so that the purpose of deploying the game service nearby is achieved, and the time delay requirement of the game service is met.

In addition, several methods for selecting the target hotspot coverage area listed above may be used alternatively, or in combination with the above embodiments.

Further, in the case that the mobile communication network of the embodiment of the present application is a 5G mobile communication network, for areas that are not covered by the 5G mobile communication network but are covered by a 4G mobile communication network, for the areas, the central management and control device in the edge cloud system may establish a communication connection with a core network in the 4G mobile communication network in the areas, so that the user terminal in the area may reach the edge cloud system through the core network through a base station in the 4G mobile communication network, so that the user in the area may also use a cloud computing service provided by the edge cloud system.

Fig. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a network configuration method according to an exemplary embodiment of the present application. The method is suitable for a central management and control device in an edge cloud system, and as shown in fig. 2, the method includes:

201. the method comprises the steps of obtaining network configuration information of a target cloud computing service on a mobile communication network, wherein the target cloud computing service is a cloud computing service which needs to depend on network resources in the mobile communication network in an edge cloud system.

202. And sending the network configuration information to an AF network element so that the AF network element can carry out network configuration on at least one network element related to the target cloud computing service in the mobile communication network according to the network configuration information.

In an optional embodiment, before step 201, the method of this embodiment further includes: acquiring target parameters corresponding to target cloud computing services, wherein the target parameters comprise at least one of functional parameters, scheduling domain parameters, SLA parameters, type parameters and service object parameters; and generating network configuration information of the target cloud computing service to the mobile communication network according to the target parameters.

In an alternative embodiment, the target parameter comprises an end-to-end QoS parameter in the SLA parameter. Based on this, the generating of the network configuration information of the target cloud computing service to the mobile communication network according to the target parameter includes: combining an end-to-end network link related to the target cloud computing service, and generating network configuration information of the target cloud computing service on the mobile communication network according to the end-to-end QoS parameter; wherein the mobile communication network provides at least part of the end-to-end network links.

Further optionally, generating network configuration information of the target cloud computing service on the mobile communication network according to the end-to-end QoS parameter in combination with an end-to-end network link related to the target cloud computing service, including: under the condition that the mobile communication network provides part of links required by the target cloud computing service, splitting sub-Qos parameters corresponding to the part of links provided by the mobile communication network from the end-to-end QoS parameters; and generating network configuration information of the target cloud computing service to the mobile communication network according to the sub QoS parameters.

In an optional embodiment, before step 201, the method of this embodiment further includes: and acquiring network configuration information of the target cloud computing service on the mobile communication network from service requirement description information provided by a service requirement party.

In an optional embodiment, step 202, sending the network configuration information to the AF network element, includes: according to an agreed network configuration protocol, packaging the network configuration information in a network configuration message; and sending the network configuration message to an AF network element through a network configuration protocol channel between the AF network element and the network configuration message.

The network element related to the target cloud computing service may be a core network element, and may also be an access network element, such as a base station. In an optional embodiment, taking at least one network element related to the target cloud computing service as an example of a core network element, encapsulating the network configuration information in a network configuration message according to an agreed network configuration protocol, including: encapsulating the network configuration information in a load part of the network configuration message; or, the identification information of the core network element to be configured in the network configuration information is encapsulated in the message header of the network configuration message, and the rest information in the network configuration information is encapsulated in the load part of the network configuration message.

In an optional embodiment, after step 202, the method of this embodiment further includes: and receiving a network configuration completion notification message returned by the AF network element, and scheduling resources and networks for the target cloud computing service.

In an optional embodiment, the target cloud computing service or a part of functions thereof is deployed on a target MEC node hosted by the central management apparatus in the mobile communication network.

In this embodiment, the central management and control device in the edge cloud system is matched with the AF network element to implement a cloud network cooperative network configuration method, which can communicate network configuration information of the mobile communication network by the cloud computing service with the network element in the mobile communication network, implement a cross-domain network configuration action, provide conditions for implementing a new service mode based on cloud network fusion, and enable the edge cloud system to utilize the network support capability of the mobile communication network.

Fig. 3 is a flowchart illustrating another network configuration method according to an exemplary embodiment of the present application. The method is applicable to an AF network element, and as shown in fig. 3, the method includes:

301. receiving network configuration information of a target cloud computing service to a mobile communication network, wherein the network configuration information is sent by a central control device in an edge cloud system, and the target cloud computing service is a cloud computing service which needs to depend on network resources and/or network capacity in the mobile communication network in the edge cloud system.

302. And performing network configuration on at least one network element related to the target cloud computing service in the mobile communication network according to the network configuration information.

In an optional embodiment, in step 301, receiving network configuration information of the target cloud computing service to the mobile communication network, where the network configuration information is sent by the central control device, includes: receiving a network configuration message sent by a central control device through a network configuration protocol channel between the central control device and the network configuration protocol channel, wherein the network configuration message comprises network configuration information.

The network element related to the target cloud computing service may be a core network element, and may also be an access network element, such as a base station. In an optional embodiment, taking at least one network element related to the target cloud computing service as an example of a core network element, step 302, performing network configuration on at least one network element related to the target cloud computing service in the mobile communication network according to the network configuration information includes: determining at least one core network element related to the target cloud computing service in the mobile communication network and corresponding configuration parameters thereof according to the network configuration information; and performing network configuration on at least one core network element according to the configuration parameters corresponding to the at least one core network element. Wherein the configuration parameters of the core network element comprise configuration parameters related to characteristics, functions and/or attributes of the core network element.

Here, if the network element related to the target cloud computing service is an access network element, the AF network element 103 may issue the network configuration information to the access network element through a core network element communicatively connected to the access network element, so as to complete network configuration on the access network element.

In an optional embodiment, after step 302, the method of this embodiment further includes: and returning a network configuration completion notification message to the central control equipment so that the central control equipment can schedule resources and networks for the target cloud computing service.

In this embodiment, the AF network element and the central control device in the edge cloud system are mutually matched to implement a cloud network cooperative network configuration method, which can communicate network configuration information of a mobile communication network by a cloud computing service with network elements in the mobile communication network, implement a cross-domain network configuration action, provide conditions for implementing a new service mode based on cloud network fusion, and enable the edge cloud system to utilize network support capability of the mobile communication network.

It should be noted that the execution subjects of the steps of the methods provided in the above embodiments may be the same device, or different devices may be used as the execution subjects of the methods. For example, the execution subjects of step 201 to step 202 may be device a; for another example, the execution subject of step 201 may be device a, and the execution subject of step 202 may be device B; and so on.

In addition, in some of the flows described in the above embodiments and the drawings, a plurality of operations are included in a specific order, but it should be clearly understood that the operations may be executed out of the order presented herein or in parallel, and the sequence numbers of the operations, such as 201, 202, etc., are merely used for distinguishing different operations, and the sequence numbers do not represent any execution order per se. Additionally, the flows may include more or fewer operations, and the operations may be performed sequentially or in parallel. It should be noted that, the descriptions of "first", "second", etc. in this document are used for distinguishing different messages, devices, modules, etc., and do not represent a sequential order, nor limit the types of "first" and "second" to be different.

Fig. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of a central management and control device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 4, the center regulating apparatus includes: memory 41, processor 42 and communication component 43.

A memory 41 for storing a computer program and may be configured to store other various data to support operations on the central administration facility. Examples of such data include instructions for any application or method operating on the central governing device, and so forth.

A processor 42, coupled to the memory 41, for executing the computer program in the memory 41 to: acquiring network configuration information of a target cloud computing service on a mobile communication network, wherein the target cloud computing service is a cloud computing service which needs to depend on network resources and/or network capacity in the mobile communication network in the edge cloud system; and sending the network configuration information to an AF network element through a communication component 43, so that the AF network element performs network configuration on at least one network element related to the target cloud computing service in the mobile communication network according to the network configuration information.

In an alternative embodiment, processor 42 is further configured to: acquiring target parameters corresponding to target cloud computing services, wherein the target parameters comprise at least one of functional parameters, scheduling domain parameters, SLA parameters, type parameters and service object parameters; and generating network configuration information of the target cloud computing service to the mobile communication network according to the target parameters.

In an alternative embodiment, the target parameter comprises an end-to-end QoS parameter in the SLA parameter. Based on this, when generating the network configuration information of the target cloud computing service to the mobile communication network according to the target parameter, the processor 42 is configured to: combining an end-to-end network link related to the target cloud computing service, and generating network configuration information of the target cloud computing service on the mobile communication network according to the end-to-end QoS parameter; wherein the mobile communication network provides at least part of the end-to-end network links.

Further optionally, the processor 42, when generating the network configuration information of the target cloud computing service to the mobile communication network, is configured to: under the condition that the mobile communication network provides part of links required by the target cloud computing service, splitting sub-Qos parameters corresponding to the part of links provided by the mobile communication network from the end-to-end QoS parameters; and generating network configuration information of the target cloud computing service to the mobile communication network according to the sub QoS parameters.

In an alternative embodiment, processor 42 is further configured to: and acquiring network configuration information of the target cloud computing service on the mobile communication network from service requirement description information provided by a service requirement party.

In an optional embodiment, when the processor 42 sends the network configuration information to the AF network element through the communication component 43, specifically, to: according to an agreed network configuration protocol, packaging the network configuration information in a network configuration message; and sending the network configuration message to an AF network element through a network configuration protocol channel between the AF network element and the network configuration message.

The network element related to the target cloud computing service may be a core network element, and may also be an access network element, such as a base station. Further optionally, taking at least one network element related to the target cloud computing service as an example of a core network element, when the processor 42 encapsulates the network configuration information in a network configuration message according to an agreed network configuration protocol, the processor is configured to: encapsulating the network configuration information in a load part of the network configuration message; or, the identification information of the core network element to be configured in the network configuration information is encapsulated in the message header of the network configuration message, and the rest information in the network configuration information is encapsulated in the load part of the network configuration message.

In an alternative embodiment, processor 42 is further configured to: and receiving a network configuration completion notification message returned by the AF network element through the communication component 43, and scheduling resources and networks for the target cloud computing service.

Further, as shown in fig. 4, the center managing and controlling apparatus further includes: a display 44, a power supply component 45, an audio component 46, and the like. Only some of the components are schematically shown in fig. 4, and it is not meant that the central managing device includes only the components shown in fig. 4. In addition, the components shown by the dashed boxes in fig. 4 are optional components, but not necessarily optional components, and may be determined according to the implementation form of the central control device. If the central managing device is implemented as a traditional server, a cloud server, an array of servers, etc., the components shown in the dashed boxes may not be included.

Accordingly, the present application further provides a computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program, where the computer program, when executed by one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to implement the steps that can be performed by the central control device in the foregoing network configuration method embodiment.

Fig. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of an AF network element according to an exemplary embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 5, the AF network element includes: memory 51, processor 52 and communication component 53.

A memory 51 for storing a computer program and may be configured to store other various data to support operations on the AF network element. Examples of such data include instructions for any application or method operating on the AF network element, etc.

A processor 52 coupled to the memory 51 for executing the computer program in the memory 51 for: receiving network configuration information of a target cloud computing service to a mobile communication network, which is sent by a central management and control device in an edge cloud system, through a communication component 53, wherein the target cloud computing service is a cloud computing service which needs to depend on network resources and/or network capabilities in the mobile communication network in the edge cloud system; and performing network configuration on at least one network element related to the target cloud computing service in the mobile communication network according to the network configuration information.

In an optional embodiment, when receiving the network configuration information sent by the central control apparatus through the communication component 53, the processor 52 is configured to: receiving a network configuration message sent by a central control device through a network configuration protocol channel between the central control device and the network configuration protocol channel, wherein the network configuration message comprises network configuration information.

The network element related to the target cloud computing service may be a core network element, and may also be an access network element, such as a base station. In an optional embodiment, taking at least one network element related to the target cloud computing service as an example of a core network element, when the processor 52 performs network configuration on the at least one core network element according to the network configuration information, the processor is configured to: determining at least one core network element related to the target cloud computing service in the mobile communication network and corresponding configuration parameters thereof according to the network configuration information; and performing network configuration on at least one core network element according to the configuration parameters corresponding to the at least one core network element. Wherein the configuration parameters of the core network element comprise configuration parameters related to characteristics, functions and/or attributes of the core network element.

In an alternative embodiment, processor 52 is further configured to: and returning a network configuration completion notification message to the central control device through the communication component 53, so that the central control device schedules resources and networks for the target cloud computing service.

Further, as shown in fig. 5, the AF network element further includes: power supply components 54, and the like. Only some of the components are schematically shown in fig. 5, and it is not meant that the AF network element only includes the components shown in fig. 5.

Accordingly, the present application further provides a computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program, which when executed by one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to implement the steps that can be performed by the AF network element in the foregoing network configuration method embodiment.

The memory in the above embodiments may be implemented by any type or combination of volatile or non-volatile memory devices, such as Static Random Access Memory (SRAM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), read-only memory (ROM), magnetic memory, flash memory, magnetic or optical disks.

The communication component in the above embodiments is configured to facilitate communication between the device in which the communication component is located and other devices in a wired or wireless manner. The device where the communication component is located can access a wireless network based on a communication standard, such as a WiFi, a 2G, 3G, 4G/LTE, 5G and other mobile communication networks, or a combination thereof. In an exemplary embodiment, the communication component receives a broadcast signal or broadcast related information from an external broadcast management system via a broadcast channel. In one exemplary embodiment, the communication component further includes a Near Field Communication (NFC) module to facilitate short-range communications. For example, the NFC module may be implemented based on Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology, infrared data association (IrDA) technology, Ultra Wideband (UWB) technology, Bluetooth (BT) technology, and other technologies.

The display in the above embodiments includes a screen, which may include a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) and a Touch Panel (TP). If the screen includes a touch panel, the screen may be implemented as a touch screen to receive an input signal from a user. The touch panel includes one or more touch sensors to sense touch, slide, and gestures on the touch panel. The touch sensor may not only sense the boundary of a touch or slide action, but also detect the duration and pressure associated with the touch or slide operation.

The power supply components in the above embodiments provide power to various components of the device in which the power supply component is located. The power components may include a power management system, one or more power supplies, and other components associated with generating, managing, and distributing power for the device in which the power component is located.

The audio component in the above embodiments may be configured to output and/or input an audio signal. For example, the audio component includes a Microphone (MIC) configured to receive an external audio signal when the device in which the audio component is located is in an operational mode, such as a call mode, a recording mode, and a voice recognition mode. The received audio signal may further be stored in a memory or transmitted via a communication component. In some embodiments, the audio assembly further comprises a speaker for outputting audio signals.

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, embodiments of the present application may be provided as a method, system, or computer program product. Accordingly, the present application may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Furthermore, the present application may take the form of a computer program product embodied on one or more computer-usable storage media (including, but not limited to, disk storage, CD-ROM, optical storage, and the like) having computer-usable program code embodied therein.

The present application is described with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of the application. It will be understood that each flow and/or block of the flow diagrams and/or block diagrams, and combinations of flows and/or blocks in the flow diagrams and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, embedded processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instruction means which implement the function specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

In a typical configuration, a computing device includes one or more processors (CPUs), input/output interfaces, network interfaces, and memory.

The memory may include forms of volatile memory in a computer readable medium, Random Access Memory (RAM) and/or non-volatile memory, such as Read Only Memory (ROM) or flash memory (flash RAM). Memory is an example of a computer-readable medium.

Computer-readable media, including both non-transitory and non-transitory, removable and non-removable media, may implement information storage by any method or technology. The information may be computer readable instructions, data structures, modules of a program, or other data. Examples of computer storage media include, but are not limited to, phase change memory (PRAM), Static Random Access Memory (SRAM), Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), other types of Random Access Memory (RAM), Read Only Memory (ROM), Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM), flash memory or other memory technology, compact disc read only memory (CD-ROM), Digital Versatile Discs (DVD) or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other non-transmission medium that can be used to store information that can be accessed by a computing device. As defined herein, a computer readable medium does not include a transitory computer readable medium such as a modulated data signal and a carrier wave.

It should also be noted that the terms "comprises," "comprising," or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. Without further limitation, an element defined by the phrase "comprising an … …" does not exclude the presence of other like elements in a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises the element.

The above description is only an example of the present application and is not intended to limit the present application. Various modifications and changes may occur to those skilled in the art. Any modification, equivalent replacement, improvement, etc. made within the spirit and principle of the present application should be included in the scope of the claims of the present application.

Claims

1. A network system, comprising: a network element in a mobile communication network, a central management and control device in an edge cloud system, a target MEC node managed by the central management and control device, and an application function AF network element;

the center management and control device is configured to send network configuration information of a target cloud computing service on the mobile communication network to the AF network element, where the target cloud computing service is a cloud computing service that needs to depend on network resources and/or network capabilities in the mobile communication network in the edge cloud system;

the AF network element is used for carrying out network configuration on at least one network element related to the target cloud computing service in the mobile communication network according to the network configuration information; the target cloud computing service or a part of the functions thereof is deployed on the target MEC node, and the target MEC node is a network element in at least one network element related to the target cloud computing service.

2. The network system according to claim 1, wherein the central management and control device is further configured to:

acquiring target parameters corresponding to the target cloud computing service, wherein the target parameters comprise at least one of functional parameters, scheduling domain parameters, SLA parameters, type parameters and service object parameters;

and generating network configuration information of the target cloud computing service on the mobile communication network according to the target parameters.

3. The network system according to claim 2, wherein said objective parameters comprise end-to-end quality of service, QoS, parameters in said SLA parameters; the central management and control device is specifically configured to:

combining an end-to-end network link related to the target cloud computing service, and generating network configuration information of the target cloud computing service on the mobile communication network according to the end-to-end QoS parameter; wherein the mobile communication network provides at least part of the end-to-end network links.

4. The network system according to claim 1, wherein when sending the network configuration information to the AF network element, the central management and control device is specifically configured to:

according to an agreed network configuration protocol, the network configuration information is packaged in a network configuration message;

and sending the network configuration message to the AF network element through a network configuration protocol channel between the AF network element and the network configuration message.

5. The network system of claim 1, wherein the network element in the mobile communication network is a core network element, and the AF network element is specifically configured to:

determining at least one core network element related to the target cloud computing service in the mobile communication network and a corresponding configuration parameter according to the network configuration information;

and performing network configuration on the at least one core network element according to the configuration parameters corresponding to the at least one core network element.

6. The network system of claim 1, wherein the AF is further configured to: returning a network configuration completion notification message to the central management and control equipment;

the central management and control device is further configured to: and after the network configuration completion notification message is received, scheduling resources and networks for the target cloud computing service.

7. A network configuration method is applicable to a central management and control device in an edge cloud system, and comprises the following steps:

acquiring network configuration information of a target cloud computing service on a mobile communication network, wherein the target cloud computing service is a cloud computing service which needs to depend on network resources and/or network capacity in the mobile communication network in the edge cloud system;

sending the network configuration information to an AF network element, so that the AF network element performs network configuration on at least one network element related to the target cloud computing service in the mobile communication network according to the network configuration information, where the target cloud computing service is deployed at a target MEC node managed by the central management and control device, and the target MEC node is a network element in the at least one network element related to the target cloud computing service.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the target parameter comprises an end-to-end quality of service (QoS) parameter in the SLA parameter;

generating network configuration information of the target cloud computing service on the mobile communication network according to the target parameters, wherein the network configuration information comprises:

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein generating network configuration information of the target cloud computing service on the mobile communication network according to the end-to-end QoS parameter in combination with an end-to-end network link involved in the target cloud computing service comprises:

under the condition that the mobile communication network provides a part of links required by the target cloud computing service, splitting sub-Qos parameters corresponding to the part of links provided by the mobile communication network from the end-to-end QoS parameters;

and generating network configuration information of the target cloud computing service to the mobile communication network according to the sub QoS parameters.

11. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

and acquiring network configuration information of the target cloud computing service on the mobile communication network from service requirement description information provided by a service requirement party.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein sending the network configuration information to an AF network element comprises:

according to an agreed network configuration protocol, packaging the network configuration information in a network configuration message;

13. The method of claim 12, wherein if at least one network element related to the target cloud computing service is a core network element, encapsulating the network configuration information in a network configuration message according to an agreed network configuration protocol includes:

encapsulating the network configuration information in a payload portion of the network configuration packet; or

And encapsulating the identification information of the core network element to be configured in the network configuration information into the message head of the network configuration message, and encapsulating the rest information in the network configuration information into the load part of the network configuration message.

14. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

and receiving a network configuration completion notification message returned by the AF network element, and scheduling resources and networks for the target cloud computing service.

15. The method according to any one of claims 7 to 14, wherein the target cloud computing service or part of its functionality is deployed on a target MEC node hosted by the central hosting facility in the mobile communication network.

16. A network configuration method, adapted to an application function, AF, network element, the method comprising:

receiving network configuration information of a target cloud computing service to a mobile communication network, wherein the network configuration information is sent by a central management and control device in an edge cloud system, and the target cloud computing service is a cloud computing service which needs to depend on network resources and/or network capacity in the mobile communication network in the edge cloud system;

and performing network configuration on at least one network element related to the target cloud computing service in the mobile communication network according to the network configuration information, wherein the target cloud computing service is deployed at a target MEC node managed by the central management and control equipment, and the target MEC node is a network element in the at least one network element related to the target cloud computing service.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein receiving network configuration information of the mobile communication network, sent by a central management and control device in the edge cloud system, of the target cloud computing service comprises:

and receiving a network configuration message sent by the central control equipment through a network configuration protocol channel between the central control equipment and the network configuration protocol channel, wherein the network configuration message comprises the network configuration information.

18. The method according to claim 16 or 17, wherein if the at least one network element related to the target cloud computing service is a core network element, performing network configuration on the at least one network element related to the target cloud computing service in the mobile communication network according to the network configuration information includes:

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein the configuration parameters of the core network element comprise configuration parameters related to characteristics, functions and/or attributes of the core network element.

20. The method of claim 16 or 17, further comprising:

and returning a network configuration completion notification message to the central control equipment so that the central control equipment can schedule resources and networks for the target cloud computing service.

21. A central management and control device, comprising: a memory, a processor, and a communications component;

the memory for storing a computer program;

the processor, coupled with the memory, to execute the computer program to:

acquiring network configuration information of a target cloud computing service on a mobile communication network, wherein the target cloud computing service is a cloud computing service which needs to depend on network resources and/or network capacity in the mobile communication network in an edge cloud system;

sending the network configuration information to an AF network element through the communication component, so that the AF network element performs network configuration on at least one network element related to the target cloud computing service in the mobile communication network according to the network configuration information, where the target cloud computing service is deployed at a target MEC node hosted by the central management and control equipment, and the target MEC node is a network element in the at least one network element related to the target cloud computing service.

22. An AF network element, comprising: a memory, a processor, and a communications component;

the memory for storing a computer program;

the processor, coupled with the memory, to execute the computer program to:

receiving network configuration information of a target cloud computing service to a mobile communication network, wherein the network configuration information is sent by a central management and control device in an edge cloud system through the communication assembly, and the target cloud computing service is a cloud computing service which needs to depend on network resources and/or network capacity in the mobile communication network in the edge cloud system;

23. A computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program, wherein the computer program, when executed by one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to implement the steps of the method of any one of claims 7-20.