CN113709766A

CN113709766A - Method and apparatus for policy control

Info

Publication number: CN113709766A
Application number: CN202010441348.XA
Authority: CN
Inventors: 李卓明; 吴问付
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-05-22
Filing date: 2020-05-22
Publication date: 2021-11-26
Also published as: WO2021233063A1

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for policy control are provided. The service processing network entity may select one quota control entity from the plurality of quota control entities according to slice quota information held by the plurality of quota control entities. That is, the service processing network entity may consider slice quota information of each quota control entity, select a suitable quota control entity (i.e., a first quota control entity) in advance, and send a policy request message to the first quota control entity. Compared with the traditional scheme, the embodiment of the application can improve the service processing efficiency while preventing the network slice from being excessively used.

Description

Method and apparatus for policy control

Technical Field

The present application relates to a communication method, and in particular, to a method and apparatus for policy control.

Background

A network slice (network slice) is a logical network with specific network characteristics, and is a key technology for meeting the requirements of a fifth generation (5th generation, 5G) mobile communication system on network differentiation proposed by the third generation partnership project (3 GPP). A5G physical network can be abstractly divided into a plurality of network slices, each network slice forms an end-to-end logic network, and the network slices are isolated from each other logically and do not influence each other. Thus, a network slice is a logical network with specific network characteristics divided out in the operator's communication network. The traffic of each network slice is identified using single-network slice selection assistance information (S-NSSAI). And the 5G network selects a network slice for the service according to the S-NSSAI carried in the terminal service request, and transmits the service data of the client in the selected network slice.

When an operator creates a network slice for a customer on the physical infrastructure of the 5G network according to a customer order, the operator and the customer will often determine some technical indexes supported by the network slice according to actual service requirements. Network slice size is often determined by these technical indicators. The network slices ordered by different customers tend to be of different sizes, the most common size parameters including at least one of the maximum number of registered terminals, the maximum number of sessions, and the maximum traffic bandwidth of the network slice.

In a conventional scheme, a User Data Repository (UDR) divides the maximum number of registered terminals or sessions of a network slice into several shares, and each share is allocated to some Policy Control Function (PCF) as an available quota. If the quota of a PCF is used up, the request is made to the UDR. The UDR sums the remaining quotas for each PCF instance and then readjusts the available quotas for each PCF. When the network slice service load is heavy, each PCF frequently applies quotas to the UDR, the UDR has to calculate the sum of the remaining quotas of each PCF instance, and then the quota allocation of each PCF is readjusted. Thus, each new user and each new session are processed by the centralized control point, which is heavy in processing load. Furthermore, scalability of the network slice size is limited by the processing bottleneck of a centralized control point. Therefore, how to control the scale parameters of the network slice needs to be solved.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a method and a device for policy control, which can control the scale parameters of network slices and improve the service processing efficiency.

In a first aspect, a method for policy control is provided, where the method includes a service processing network entity obtaining slice quota information held by a plurality of quota control entities corresponding to a network slice in at least one network slice; the service processing network entity determines a first quota control entity from the plurality of quota control entities according to the slice quota information held by the plurality of quota control entities; the service processing network entity sends a policy request message to the first quota controlling entity, where the policy request message is used to request a terminal to access a network slice in the at least one network slice, or the policy request message is used to request session connection to be established through a network slice in the at least one network slice.

The service processing network entity may select one quota control entity from the plurality of quota control entities according to slice quota information held by the plurality of quota control entities. That is, the service processing network entity may consider slice quota information of each quota control entity, select a suitable quota control entity (i.e., a first quota control entity) in advance, and send a policy request message to the first quota control entity. Compared with the conventional scheme that a PCF with the used quota is selected without considering the quota of the PCF, and the quota is distributed to the PCF again through UDR calculation, the method and the system can avoid signaling interaction of frequent quota adjustment and distribution, and improve the service processing efficiency.

In some possible implementation manners, the acquiring, by the service processing network entity, the slice quota information held by a plurality of quota control entities corresponding to a network slice in the at least one network slice includes: the service processing network entity acquires slice quota information held by the quota control entities from a network warehouse functional entity or a network configuration functional entity; or, the service processing network entity obtains slice quota information held by the quota control entities from the first messages of the quota control entities.

The service processing network entity can acquire the slice quota information held by the quota control entity in a plurality of ways, so that the flexibility of acquiring the slice quota information is improved.

In one possible implementation, the plurality of quota controlling entities may be quota controlling entities of the terminal home network.

In some possible implementations, the obtaining, by the traffic processing network entity from the network repository functional entity, the slice quota information held by the quota control entities includes: the service processing network entity receives an inquiry response message from the network warehouse function entity, wherein the inquiry response message comprises a plurality of PCFs corresponding to the network slice in the at least one network slice and slice quota information distributed by each PCF; the service processing network entity obtains the slice quota information distributed to each PCF in the plurality of PCFs from the query response message of the network configuration functional entity through the PCF positioned in the visiting network.

The service processing network entity may send an inquiry request to the NRF, receive an inquiry response message fed back by the NRF, and further obtain slice quota information allocated to each PCF from the inquiry response message. Thus, the service processing network entity can only send the quota information when the slice quota information is required (i.e., the service processing network entity sends the query request to the NRF), thereby saving signaling overhead.

In some possible implementations, the slice quota information includes any of an available quota held by the quota control entity, a proportion of the available quota held by the quota control entity to an overall quota for the network slice, a remaining quota held by the quota control entity, remaining quotas and held available quotas held by the quota control entity, a proportion of the remaining quota held by the quota control entity to the held available quota, a used quota for the network slice, a used quota held by the quota control entity, and a proportion of the held available quota or a used quota for the network slice to the available quota held by the quota control entity.

In some possible implementations, the determining, by the service processing network entity, a first quota control entity from the plurality of quota control entities according to the slice quota information held by the plurality of quota control entities includes: the service processing network entity determines a quota control entity with the largest available quota in the plurality of quota control entities as the first quota control entity; or the service processing network entity determines a quota control entity with the largest proportion of available quotas held in the quota control entities to the total network slice quota as the first quota control entity; or the first quota control entity determines a quota control entity with the largest remaining quota among the plurality of quota control entities as the first quota control entity; or the service processing network entity determines a quota control entity with the largest proportion of the remaining quotas held in the plurality of quota control entities to the available quotas held as the first quota control entity; or the service processing network entity determines a quota control entity with a smallest proportion of the used quota held in the plurality of quota control entities to the available quota held as the first quota control entity.

The service processing network entity may determine, as the first quota control entity, a quota control entity having the highest available quota currently held by the plurality of quota control entities each time. Namely, the service processing network entity transmits the service to be transmitted to the appropriate quota control entity in advance, thereby improving the service processing efficiency.

In some possible implementations, in a case that the first request message is used to request, for a terminal, to access a network slice in the at least one network slice, the traffic processing network entity is an access and mobility management function AMF, the quota control entity is a policy control function PCF, and the slice quota information includes at least one of a terminal quantity quota or a network slice traffic quota, and the method further includes: the AMF receives a policy request response message from the first PCF, wherein the policy request response message is used for indicating whether the terminal is allowed to access the at least one network slice; and the AMF determines to accept or reject the terminal to access the at least one network slice according to the strategy request response message.

In some possible implementations, in a case where the AMF determines to accept the terminal access to a network slice of the at least one network slice, the policy request response message is further configured to indicate a slice maximum rate for controlling the terminal, where the slice maximum rate is used to control a maximum traffic sent or received by the terminal through the slice, and the method further includes: and the AMF sends the maximum slicing rate of the terminal to the access network equipment.

Thus, by such limitation, it can be achieved that the traffic flow of the whole network slice does not exceed the maximum traffic bandwidth allowed by the slice.

In some possible implementations, in a case that the first request message is used to establish a session connection through a network slice in the at least one network slice, the service processing network entity is an access and mobility management function SMF, and the quota control entity is a policy control function PCF. The slice quota information includes at least one of a session quantity quota or a network slice traffic quota, and the method further includes: the SMF receives a policy request response message from the first PCF, wherein the policy request response message is used for indicating whether the session connection is allowed to be established through the first network slice; and the SMF determines to accept or reject the establishment of session connection through the first network slice according to the strategy request response message.

In some possible implementations, in a case where the SMF determines to accept establishment of a session connection through the first network slice, the SMF controls a maximum rate of the session connection, the maximum rate of the session connection is used to control a maximum traffic flow controlling the session connection, and the method further includes: and the SMF sends the maximum speed of the session connection to a user plane network function entity or access network equipment.

In a second aspect, a method for policy control is provided, the method comprising: a quota control entity acquires an available quota of a first network slice held by the quota control entity; the quota control entity determines a slice residual quota according to the available quota;

the quota control entity determines at least one of the following according to the available quota and/or the slice remaining quota:

whether a terminal is allowed to access the first network slice, or

The maximum service flow of the terminal in the slice of the first network slice, or

Whether to allow a session connection to be established in the first network slice, or

A maximum traffic flow of the session connection established within the first network slice.

The quota control entity obtains the available quota of the first network slice held by the quota control entity, and determines at least one operation according to the available quota, so that the service scale control of the whole network slice is realized, and the network resources are prevented from being excessively occupied. Or the quota control entity obtains the available quota of the first network slice held by the quota control entity, determines the slice residual quota according to the available quota, and further determines at least one operation according to the slice residual quota and the available quota, so that quota control on the whole network slice is realized, and the network slice is prevented from being used excessively.

In some possible implementations, the obtaining, by the quota control entity, the available quota held by the quota control entity includes:

the quota control entity receives an available quota held by the quota control entity from a unified data management entity or a user database entity or a network configuration function entity or a superior quota control entity.

In some possible implementations, the available quota includes at least one of a number of terminals held by the quota control entity that access the first network slice, a number of sessions held by the quota control entity that access the first network slice, or traffic held by the quota control entity that access the first network slice.

In some possible implementations, the determining, by the quota control entity, the slice remaining quota according to the available quota includes:

and the quota control entity determines the slice residual quota according to the used quota of the first network slice and the available quota which are held by the quota control entity.

In some possible implementations, the quota controlling entity is an access management policy control function PCF, where determining, by the quota controlling entity, whether to allow the terminal to access the first network slice according to the slice available quota includes: the PCF determines whether to allow the terminal to access the first network slice according to the held available quota of the service flow of the network slice or the held available quota of the number of the terminals of the network slice; or, the determining, by the quota control entity, the slice maximum service traffic of the terminal in the first network slice according to the slice remaining quota includes: and the PCF determines the maximum service flow of the terminal in the slice of the first network slice according to the remaining quota of the service flow of the network slice and the remaining quota of the number of the terminals of the network slice.

In some possible implementations, the PCF determining whether to allow the terminal to access the first network slice according to the held available quota of traffic flow for the network slice or the held available quota of the number of terminals for the network slice includes: when the sum of the slice maximum service flows of the authorized terminal does not exceed the held available quota of the service flows of the network slices, the PCF allows the terminal to access the first network slice, wherein the slice maximum service flow of the authorized terminal is the quotient of the remaining quota of the service flows of the network slices divided by the remaining quota of the number of the terminals of the network slices; or the PCF allows the terminal to access the first network slice when the number of the terminals accessing the network slice does not exceed the available quota of the number of the terminals of the network slice.

In some possible implementations, the quota controlling entity is a session management policy control function PCF, wherein determining, by the quota controlling entity according to the slice remaining quota, whether to allow establishment of a session connection in the first network slice comprises: the PCF determines whether to allow the session connection to be established in the first network slice according to the remaining quota of the service flow of the network slice or the remaining quota of the session number of the network slice; or, the determining, by the quota control entity according to the slice remaining quota, the maximum service flow of the session connection established in the first network slice includes: and the PCF determines the maximum service flow of the session connection according to the remaining quota of the service flow of the network slice and the remaining quota of the session number of the network slice.

In some possible implementations, the quota controlling entity is a session management policy control function PCF, and determining, by the quota controlling entity according to the slice available quota, whether to allow establishment of the session connection in the first network slice includes: when the sum of the authorized session maximum flow does not exceed the held service flow available quota of the network slice, the PCF allows the session connection to be established, wherein the session maximum flow authorized for the session connection is the quotient of the service flow available quota of the network slice divided by the available quota of the session number of the network slice; or the PCF allows the terminal to establish the session connection when the number of the sessions accessed to the network slice does not exceed the available quota of the number of the sessions of the network slice.

In some possible implementations, the method further includes: the quota control entity determines slice quota information, where the slice quota information is used by a service processing network entity to determine a first quota control entity from a plurality of quota control entities of the first network slice; the quota control entity sends the slice quota information to a network warehouse function entity, or the quota control entity sends a first message to the service processing network entity, wherein the first message carries the slice quota information.

In some possible implementations, the slice quota information includes an available quota of the first network slice held by the quota control entity, an available quota held by the quota control entity as a proportion of an overall quota of the first network slice, a remaining quota of the first network slice held by the quota control entity and an available quota of the first network slice held by the quota control entity, a remaining quota of the first network slice held by the quota control entity as a proportion of an available quota of the first network slice held by the quota control entity, a used quota of the first network slice held by the quota control entity and an available quota of the first network slice held by the quota control entity, or any of a ratio of used quota of the first network slice held by the quota control entity to available quota of the first network slice held by the quota control entity.

In a third aspect, an apparatus for policy control is provided, where the apparatus may be a service processing network entity or a chip within the service processing network entity. The apparatus has the functionality to implement the first aspect described above, as well as various possible implementations. The function can be realized by hardware, and can also be realized by executing corresponding software by hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the functions described above.

In one possible design, the apparatus includes: a receiving and sending module and a processing module. The transceiver module may include a receiving module and a transmitting module. The transceiver module may be at least one of a transceiver, a receiver, a transmitter, for example, and may include a radio frequency circuit or an antenna. The processing module may be a processor. Optionally, the apparatus further comprises a storage module, which may be a memory, for example. When included, the memory module is used to store instructions. The processing module is connected with the storage module, and the processing module can execute the instructions stored in the storage module or other instructions from other sources, so as to enable the apparatus to execute the communication method of the first aspect and various possible implementations. In this design, the apparatus may be a service processing network entity.

In another possible design, when the device is a chip, the chip includes: the device comprises a transceiver module and a processing module, wherein the transceiver module can comprise a receiving module and a transmitting module. The transceiver module may be, for example, an input/output interface, pin or circuit on the chip, etc. The processing module may be, for example, a processor. The processing module may execute instructions to cause a chip within the service processing network entity to perform the first aspect described above, and any possible implemented communication method. Alternatively, the processing module may execute instructions in a memory module, which may be an on-chip memory module, such as a register, a cache, and the like. The memory module may also be located within the communication device, but outside the chip, such as a read-only memory (ROM) or other types of static memory devices that may store static information and instructions, a Random Access Memory (RAM), and so on.

The processor mentioned in any of the above may be a general-purpose Central Processing Unit (CPU), a microprocessor, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or one or more integrated circuits for controlling the execution of programs of the communication methods in the above aspects.

In a fourth aspect, an apparatus for policy control is provided, where the apparatus may be a quota control entity or a chip within a quota control entity. The apparatus has the functionality to implement the second aspect described above, as well as various possible implementations. The function can be realized by hardware, and can also be realized by executing corresponding software by hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the functions described above.

In one possible design, the apparatus includes: a receiving and sending module and a processing module. The transceiver module may include a receiving module and a transmitting module. The transceiver module may be at least one of a transceiver, a receiver, a transmitter, for example, and may include a radio frequency circuit or an antenna. The processing module may be a processor.

Optionally, the apparatus further comprises a storage module, which may be a memory, for example. When included, the memory module is used to store instructions. The processing module is connected with the storage module, and the processing module can execute the instructions stored in the storage module or the instructions from other sources, so as to enable the apparatus to execute the communication method of the second aspect and various possible implementation manners. In this design, the apparatus may be a quota controlling entity.

In another possible design, when the device is a chip, the chip includes: the device comprises a transceiver module and a processing module, wherein the transceiver module can comprise a receiving module and a transmitting module. The transceiver module may be, for example, an input/output interface, pin or circuit on the chip, etc. The processing module may be, for example, a processor. The processing module may execute instructions to cause a chip within the quota control entity to perform the second aspect described above, and any possible implemented communication method.

Alternatively, the processing module may execute instructions in a memory module, which may be an on-chip memory module, such as a register, a cache, and the like. The memory module may also be located within the communication device, but outside the chip, such as a read-only memory (ROM) or other types of static memory devices that may store static information and instructions, a Random Access Memory (RAM), and so on.

In a fifth aspect, there is provided a computer storage medium having stored therein program code for instructing execution of instructions of the method of the first aspect, and any possible implementation thereof.

A sixth aspect provides a computer storage medium having stored therein program code for instructing execution of the instructions of the method of the second aspect, and any possible implementation thereof.

In a seventh aspect, there is provided a computer program product comprising instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of the first aspect described above, or any possible implementation thereof.

In an eighth aspect, there is provided a computer program product comprising instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of the second aspect described above, or any possible implementation thereof.

In a ninth aspect, there is provided a communication system comprising the apparatus of the third aspect and the apparatus of the fourth aspect.

Based on the above technical solution, the service processing network entity may select one quota control entity from the plurality of quota control entities according to slice quota information held by the plurality of quota control entities. That is, the service processing network entity may consider slice quota information of each quota control entity, select a suitable quota control entity (i.e., a first quota control entity) in advance, and send a policy request message to the first quota control entity. Compared with the conventional scheme that a PCF with the used quota is selected without considering the quota of the PCF, and then the quota is distributed to the PCF again through UDR calculation, the method and the system for allocating the quota for the PCF can ensure that the network slice is not used excessively, and meanwhile, the service processing efficiency is improved.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 2 is a schematic flow chart diagram of a method for policy control according to one embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 3 is a schematic flow chart diagram of a method for policy control in accordance with another embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 4 is a schematic flow chart diagram of a method for policy control in accordance with yet another embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 5 is a schematic flow chart diagram of a method for policy control of yet another embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 6 is a schematic block diagram of an apparatus for policy control according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 7 is a schematic block diagram of an apparatus for policy control according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 8 is a schematic block diagram of an apparatus for policy control in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 9 is a schematic configuration diagram of an apparatus for policy control according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

The technical solution in the present application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The technical scheme of the embodiment of the application can be applied to various communication systems, for example: global system for mobile communications (GSM) systems, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) systems, Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) systems, General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, LTE Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) systems, LTE Time Division Duplex (TDD), universal mobile telecommunications system (universal mobile telecommunications system, UMTS), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) communication systems, future fifth generation (5G) communication systems, or future radio NR systems.

The terminal in the embodiment of the present application is a device with a wireless transceiving function, and may be deployed on land, including indoors or outdoors, on the water surface (such as a ship, etc.), or in the air (such as an airplane, a balloon, a satellite, etc.). For example, the terminal can be a User Equipment (UE), an access terminal, a subscriber unit, a subscriber station, a mobile station, a remote terminal, a mobile device, a user terminal, a wireless communication device, a user agent, or a user equipment. The terminal may also be a cellular phone, a cordless phone, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phone, a Wireless Local Loop (WLL) station, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a tablet (pad), a computer with radio transceiver functionality, a Virtual Reality (VR) terminal device, an Augmented Reality (AR) terminal device, a wireless terminal in industrial control (industrial control), a wireless terminal in unmanned driving (self driving), a wireless terminal in telemedicine (remote medical), a wireless terminal in smart grid, a wireless terminal in transport security (transport security), a wireless terminal in smart city (smart city), a wireless terminal in home (smart home), a wireless modem with wireless modem functionality, a wireless modem functionality connected to a computing device or other computing device connected to the computing device or other computing device, A vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, a terminal in a future 5G network or a terminal in a Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) for future evolution, and the like. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technologies, device forms, and names used by the terminal.

The access network device in this embodiment of the application may be a device for communicating with a terminal, where the access network device may be a Base Transceiver Station (BTS) in a CDMA in a global system for mobile communications (GSM) system, a base station (NodeB, NB) in a WCDMA system, an evolved NodeB, eNB, or eNodeB in an LTE system, a wireless controller in a Cloud Radio Access Network (CRAN) scenario, or the access network device may be a relay station, an access point, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, and an access network device in a future 5G network or an access network device in a future evolved PLMN network, one or a group (including multiple antenna panels) of antenna panels of a base station in a 5G system, or a network node forming a gNB or a transmission point, such as a baseband unit (BBU), or Distributed Units (DUs), and the like, and the embodiments of the present application are not limited.

In some deployments, the gNB may include a Centralized Unit (CU) and a DU. The gNB may also include an Active Antenna Unit (AAU). The CU implements part of the function of the gNB and the DU implements part of the function of the gNB. For example, the CU is responsible for processing non-real-time protocols and services, and implementing functions of a Radio Resource Control (RRC) layer and a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer. The DU is responsible for processing a physical layer protocol and a real-time service, and implements functions of a Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, a Medium Access Control (MAC) layer, and a Physical (PHY) layer. The AAU implements part of the physical layer processing functions, radio frequency processing and active antenna related functions. Since the information of the RRC layer eventually becomes or is converted from the information of the PHY layer, the higher layer signaling, such as the RRC layer signaling, may also be considered to be transmitted by the DU or by the DU + AAU under this architecture. It is to be understood that the access network device may be a device comprising one or more of a CU node, a DU node, an AAU node. In addition, the CU may be divided into access network devices in an access network (RAN), or may be divided into access network devices in a Core Network (CN), which is not limited in this application.

In the embodiment of the present application, the terminal or the access network device includes a hardware layer, an operating system layer running on the hardware layer, and an application layer running on the operating system layer. The hardware layer includes hardware such as a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a Memory Management Unit (MMU), and a memory (also referred to as a main memory). The operating system may be any one or more computer operating systems that implement business processing through processes (processes), such as a Linux operating system, a Unix operating system, an Android operating system, an iOS operating system, or a windows operating system. The application layer comprises applications such as a browser, an address list, word processing software, instant messaging software and the like. The embodiment of the present application does not particularly limit a specific structure of the execution main body of the method provided in the embodiment of the present application, as long as the execution main body can communicate with the method provided in the embodiment of the present application by running the program recorded with the code of the method provided in the embodiment of the present application, for example, the execution main body of the method provided in the embodiment of the present application may be a terminal or an access network device, or a functional module capable of calling the program and executing the program in the terminal or the access network device.

In addition, various aspects or features of the present application may be implemented as a method, apparatus, or article of manufacture using standard programming and/or engineering techniques. For example, computer-readable media may include, but are not limited to: magnetic storage devices (e.g., hard disk, floppy disk, or magnetic tape), optical disks (e.g., Compact Disk (CD), Digital Versatile Disk (DVD), etc.), smart cards, and flash memory devices (e.g., erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), card, stick, or key drive, etc.). In addition, various storage media described herein can represent one or more devices and/or other machine-readable media for storing information. The term "machine-readable medium" can include, without being limited to, wireless channels and various other media capable of storing, containing, and/or carrying instruction(s) and/or data.

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a possible network architecture according to an embodiment of the present application. Taking 5G network architecture as an example, the network architecture includes: a terminal 101, a (radio) access network device (R) AN102, a User Plane Function (UPF) network element 103, a Data Network (DN) network element 104, AN authentication server function (AUSF) network element 105, AN access and mobility management function (AMF) network element 106, a Session Management Function (SMF) network element 107, a network open function (NEF) network element 108, a network function library function (NRF) network element 109, a Policy Control Function (PCF) network element 110, a Unified Data Management (UDM) network element 111, and AN NSSF network element 112. UPF network element 103, DN network element 104, AUSF network element 105, AMF network element 106, SMF network element 107, NEF network element 108, NRF network element 109, Policy Control Function (PCF) network element 110, UDM network element 111, NSSF network element 112 are referred to below simply as UPF103, DN104, AUSF105, AMF106, SMF107, NEF108, NRF109, PCF110, UDM111, NSSF112, Unified Data Repository (UDR) 113.

The terminal 101 is mainly accessed to the 5G network through a wireless air interface and obtains services, and interacts with the RAN through the air interface and interacts with the AMF of the core network through non-access stratum signaling (NAS). RAN102 is responsible for air interface resource scheduling and air interface connection management for terminal access networks. The UPF103 is responsible for forwarding and receiving user data in the terminal. For example, the UPF may receive user data from the data network and transmit the user data to the terminal through the access network device, and may also receive user data from the terminal through the access network device and forward the user data to the data network. The transmission resources and scheduling functions in the UPF103 for serving the terminal are managed and controlled by the SMF network element. DN104 may be used to provide data transmission services to terminals. The AUSF105 belongs to a core network control plane network element, and is mainly responsible for authentication and authorization of a user to ensure that the user is a legal user. The AMF106 belongs to a core network element and is mainly responsible for a signaling processing part, such as: the AMF106 may also provide a storage resource of a control plane for a session in the terminal when providing a service for the session, so as to store a session identifier, an SMF network element identifier associated with the session identifier, and the like. The SMF107 is responsible for user plane network element selection, user plane network element redirection, Internet Protocol (IP) address allocation, bearer establishment, modification, and release, and quality of service (QoS) control. NEF108 belongs to a core network control plane network element, and is responsible for opening mobile network capabilities to the outside. NRF109 belongs to a core network control plane network element, and is responsible for dynamic registration of service capabilities of network functions and network function discovery. PCF110 is primarily responsible for providing a unified policy framework to control network behavior, providing policy rules to control layer network functions, and acquiring user subscription information related to policy decisions. The UDM111 belongs to a core network control plane network element and a home subscriber server, and may be used for subscription information in service management, unified data management, and support functions such as 3GPP authentication, user identity operation, authority grant, registration, and mobility management. The NSSF112 is used to complete the network slice selection function for the terminal. The NSSF112 belongs to a core network control plane entity, and is responsible for selecting a target NSI. UDR113 is responsible for storing structured data information including subscription information, policy information, and network data or service data having a standard format definition.

It is understood that the DN may be a Public Data Network (PDN) network, such as the internet (internet), or a Local Access Data Network (LADN), such as a network of Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) nodes.

The PCF in the actual network may be further divided into multiple entities, such as a global PCF and a PCF in a slice, or a session management PCF (SM-PCF) and an access management PCF (AM-PCF), according to a hierarchy or a function.

In the network architecture, Nausf is a service-based interface presented by AUSF105, Namf is a service-based interface presented by AMF106, Nsmf is a service-based interface presented by SMF107, Nnef is a service-based interface presented by NEF108, nrrf is a service-based interface presented by NRF109, Npcf is a service-based interface presented by PCF110, Nudm is a service-based interface presented by UDM111, NSSF is a service-based interface presented by NSSF112, and Nudr is a service-based interface presented by UDR 113. N1 is a reference point between the UE101 and the AMF106, N2 is a reference point of the (R) AN102 and the AMF106, for non-access stratum (NAS) message transmission, etc.; n3 is a reference point between (R) AN102 and UPF103 for transmitting user plane data and the like; n4 is a reference point between SMF107 and UPF103, and is used to transmit information such as tunnel identification information, data cache indication information, and downlink data notification message of N3 connection; the N6 interface is a reference point between the UPF103 and DN104 for transmitting user plane data and the like.

The following is a description of terms involved in the present application.

1. Session attributes:

in a 5G network, a terminal may access a data network by creating a Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session. For example, a terminal may create multiple PDU sessions to access different data networks. Where each PDU session has a corresponding attribute, which may be referred to as a session attribute. Specifically, the session attribute may include at least one of network slice information, data network information, a session type (PDU session type), a session and service continuity mode (SSC mode), and an access type (access type).

The network slice information may be used to identify a network slice, for example, single network slice selection assistance information (S-NSSAI). The S-NSSAI is composed of a Slice Service Type (SST) and a Slice Differentiator (SD). SST is determined by network slice characteristics and can be specifically classified into enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), MIoT, Ultra Reliable and Low Latency Communications (URLLC), and V2X. SD is used to distinguish multiple network slices of the same SST. NSSAI is a set of S-NSSAIs, and one Network Slice Selection Assistance Information (NSSAI) may include 8S-NSSAIs. Specifically, the network slice information may include a slice identifier and a PLMN identifier, and at this time, the network slices under different PLMNs may adopt the same slice identifier. For example, the network slice information may include PLMN1, network slice 1, or PLMN2, network slice 1.

The data network information may be used to identify a Data Network (DN), for example, a Data Network Name (DNN). The DN may be the internet (internet) or a private corporate network, which is not limited in this application.

The session types may include IPv4, IPv6, IPv4IPv6, ethernet (ethernet), or unstructured (unstructured) types.

The session continuity pattern may include SSC mode1, SSC mode2, SSC mode3, or the like. Where the SSC mode1 can be the network maintaining continuity of services provided to the terminal, SSC mode2 can be the network releasing a service connection and corresponding PDU session to the terminal, and SSC mode3 can be the establishing of a new PDU session connection before the original connection is terminated.

The access type may be 3GPP access or Non- (Non) -3GPP access, without limitation.

It should be noted that the allowed session attribute refers to at least one of allowed slice information, allowed data network information, allowed session type, allowed session continuity mode, and allowed access type, for example, the allowed session attribute of the relay device is a session attribute allowed by the relay device itself, and the allowed session attribute of the remote device is a session attribute allowed by the remote device itself.

It should also be noted that "network slice" and "slice" are not distinguished in the following embodiments.

2. Maximum terminal number of network slice:

the maximum number of terminals of the network slice is the maximum allowed number of terminals that are registered to the network and can access the target network slice.

3. Maximum number of sessions of network slice:

the network slice maximum number of sessions is the maximum allowed number of PDUs accessed to this network slice.

4. Maximum traffic bandwidth of the network slice:

the maximum traffic bandwidth of a network slice is the maximum traffic bandwidth allowed to be used by all traffic transmitted through the network slice, that is, the maximum allowed network bandwidth occupied by all traffic transmitted by all PDUs accessed to the network slice.

The maximum traffic bandwidth of the network slice is divided into an uplink direction and a downlink direction. The uplink refers to a transmission direction of a service from the terminal to the network device, and the downlink refers to a transmission direction of a service from the network device to the terminal. The uplink and downlink directions can be controlled separately or only one direction can be controlled.

5. Signing session attribute:

the subscription session attribute may be a session attribute in subscription information. For example, if a terminal subscribes to a session attribute, that is, a session attribute subscribed to by the terminal, it indicates that the terminal can use the session attribute. The subscription session attributes may include at least one of a subscription slice, a subscription data network, a subscription session type, a subscription session continuity mode, and a subscription access type.

The subscription slice may be a slice in the subscription information. For example, if a terminal signs a slice, i.e., a signed slice of the terminal, it indicates that the terminal can use the slice. The subscription slice may be represented by subscription network slice selection assistance information (subscribed NSSAI).

6. Allowed session attributes:

the allowed session attribute may refer to an allowed session attribute of the terminal (e.g., a remote device or a relay device), that is, a session attribute allowed to be used by the terminal, or an attribute set by a session of the allowed terminal. For example, the session attribute may be a session attribute corresponding to the subscription information of the remote device or the relay device, may be a session attribute authorized to be used by the remote device or the relay device, and may also be an allowed session attribute of the remote device or the relay device when the remote device or the relay device is currently registered in the location.

7. Requirement session attributes:

the required session attributes may refer to session attributes required by the terminal (e.g., remote device). For example, it may be the session attribute required by the remote device to meet the requirement of transmitting data to the network, and it may also be the session attribute required by the remote device to meet the application requirement. The required session attribute may be determined by the remote device according to the application requirement and a routing policy (URSP), or may be determined by the remote device according to the subscription session attribute, which is not described herein again.

8. Allowing slicing:

it is understood that slices are allowed for use, e.g., slices allowed for end use, or slices allowed for AMF use. The slice allowed to be used by the terminal may be referred to as an allowed slice of the terminal, and the slice allowed to be used by the AMF may be referred to as an allowed slice of the AMF.

In particular, the allowed slice of the terminal may refer to a slice that the terminal may use when establishing the PDU session, or a part or all of a subscription slice of the terminal. The subscription slice refers to a slice in the subscription information and can be identified by the subscribed S-NSSAI.

It is to be appreciated that the allowed slice information may be used to indicate allowed slices, e.g., allowed slices may be identified by allowed network slice selection assistance information (allowed NSSAI). Specifically, the network side may provide a legal NSSAI for the terminal in the registration procedure to identify the allowed slice of the terminal.

9. Configuring a slice:

the slice indicated by the configuration slice information may be referred to as a configuration slice. The configuration slice information may be pre-configured at the terminal or notified to the terminal by the AMF in a registration procedure. If the configuration slice information is notified to the terminal by the AMF, the configuration slice indicated by the configuration slice information is a slice supported by a PLMN serving the terminal. The configuration slice is mainly used for requesting authorization from the network equipment by the terminal, and can become an allowed slice in the case of successful authorization. The configuration slice may be represented by configured network slice selection assistance information (configured NSSAI).

10. Requesting slicing:

the request slice of the terminal may refer to a slice that the terminal takes out a part or all of PLMNs that the terminal desires to access at the current serving PLMN from the configuration slice when registering with the network, and the request slice may be represented by requested network slice selection assistance information (requested nsai).

The request slice of the terminal may also refer to a slice indicated to be used by the terminal when the PDU session is established, and is identified by the S-NSSAI carried in the PDU session establishment request message.

In a conventional scheme, a unified data storage network element UDR divides the maximum number of registered terminals or sessions of a network slice into several shares, and each share is allocated to some PCFs as a quota that can be used. If the quota of a PCF is used up, the request is made to the UDR. The UDR sums the remaining quotas for each PCF instance and then readjusts the available quotas for each PCF. When the network slice service load is heavy, each PCF frequently applies quotas to the UDR, the UDR has to calculate the sum of the remaining quotas of each PCF instance, and then the quota allocation of each PCF is readjusted. Thus, each new user and each new session are processed by the centralized control point, which is heavy in processing load. Furthermore, scalability of the network slice size is limited by the processing bottleneck of a centralized control point. Therefore, how to control the scale parameters of the network slice needs to be solved.

Fig. 2 shows a schematic flow chart of a method for policy control of an embodiment of the application.

201, a service processing network entity obtains slice quota information held by a plurality of quota control entities corresponding to at least one network slice.

Specifically, the service processing network entity may obtain slice quota information held by each quota control entity of the plurality of quota control entities. The at least one network slice may be one network slice or a plurality of network slices. One network slice may correspond to one quota control entity, or may correspond to a plurality of quota control entities. The plurality of quota control entities may be all quota control entities corresponding to the at least one network slice.

It can be understood that a quota control entity corresponding to a network slice may be understood that all or part of a quota of the quota control entity is allocated for the network slice.

Optionally, the slice quota information may include any one of an available quota held by the quota control entity, a proportion of the available quota held by the quota control entity to the total quota of the network slice, a remaining quota held by the quota control entity and an available quota held by the quota control entity, a proportion of the remaining quota held by the quota control entity to the available quota held, a used quota of the network slice, a used quota held by the quota control entity and a proportion of the held available quota or a used quota of the network slice to the available quota held by the quota control entity.

In particular, the total amount of network slices may be a total quota for the entire network slice, which may be used to allocate to multiple PCFs. The available quota may be the total quota that a network slice allocates to a PCF. The remaining quota may be a quota that is left by deducting a currently used quota from a total quota allocated to a PCF and can be currently used.

It can be appreciated that the slice quota information can be for one quota control entity.

Optionally, the service processing network entity may be an SMF or an AMF. The quota controlling entity may be a policy control function PCF.

In one embodiment, before step 201, the terminal may initiate a registration request to the AMF through the access network device, where the registration request carries a slice identifier (requested NSSAI) for the requested network slice. The AMF obtains the slice information of the subscription from the UDM, and can know whether the network slice requested by the terminal is a newly accessed network slice (which may be referred to as a target network slice hereinafter) and whether the target network slice is limited by the scale parameter according to the slice information of the subscription. The AMF may send a slice selection request message to the NSSF, where the slice selection request message may carry a requested NSSAI of the terminal. The NSSF may determine the network slice that the terminal may access according to the current location of the terminal, the slice information signed by the terminal, and the network slice that the terminal requests to access. The NSSF puts the network slice that the terminal can currently access into an allowed NSSAI (e.g., which may be a list of network slices including one or more network slices allowed to access) and returns it to the AMF.

It is understood that one or more network slices limited by the size parameter may exist in the network slice corresponding to the allowed NSSAI.

It is further understood that at least one network slice in step 201 may be part or all of the network slices limited by the size parameter, which is not limited in this application.

In another embodiment, before step 201, the terminal may send a session request to the AMF through the access network device, where the session request carries the slice identifier S-NSSAI for the requested network slice. And the AMF processes the session establishment request, and selects to send a context creation request to the SMF in the slice so as to request to create a session management context of the terminal, wherein the session management context carries the S-NSSAI of the target slice. And the SMF acquires session management signing information of the terminal on the target slice from the UDM, wherein the session management signing information comprises whether the target slice corresponding to the S-NSSAI is signed or not and whether the target slice is controlled by the scale parameter or not. The SMF queries the NRF for the SM-PCF that manages the session policy of the target network slice. The SMF obtains the list of PCF entities managing the target network slice from the service discovery response message returned by the NRF.

It will be appreciated that the control of the size parameter may be whether the network slice has a maximum number of sessions limit, and/or an upstream/downstream maximum traffic bandwidth limit.

It can also be understood that, if the network slice has scale parameter control, the service discovery response message further includes quota information allocated by each PCF, that is, the S-NSSAI corresponding to the network slice, the number of sessions allocated by each PCF, and/or the uplink/downlink traffic bandwidth allocated by each PCF.

Optionally, in step 201, specifically, the service processing network entity obtains slice quota information held by the plurality of quota control entities from the network repository function entity NRF.

Specifically, the service processing network entity may actively acquire the slice quota information held by the quota control entities from the NRF, or passively receive the slice quota information held by the quota control entity from the NRF.

For example, the SMF may obtain slice quota information held by the plurality of quota control entities from the NRF. The AMF may also obtain slice quota information held by the plurality of quota control entities from the NRF.

Optionally, the obtaining, by the service processing network entity, the slice quota information held by the quota control entities from the NRF may specifically be receiving an inquiry response message of the NRF, where the inquiry response message carries the slice quota information held by the quota control entity corresponding to each network slice.

Specifically, the service processing network entity may send an inquiry request to the NRF, where the inquiry request may be used to request inquiry of the PCF responsible for each of the network slices corresponding to the allowed NSSAI. The service processing network entity may thus receive an inquiry response message indicating the PCF responsible for each network slice. In addition, if the network slice is a network slice with a limited size parameter, the query response message includes slice quota information for each PCF of the plurality of PCFs responsible for the network slice.

Optionally, in step 201, the slice quota information held by the quota control entities corresponding to the at least one network slice may be determined according to the slice quota information held by the quota control entity corresponding to each network slice.

For example, the at least one network slice is S-NSSA #1 and S-NSSA #2, and S-NSSA #1 corresponds to PCF1, PCF2, and PCF3, and quotas for PCF1, PCF2, and PCF3, respectively, for S-NSSA #1, 1000, 2000, and 3000, and quotas for PCF1, PCF2, and PCF3, respectively, for S-NSSA # 2. Quotas for PCF1, PCF2, and PCF3 for S-NSSA #1 and S-NSSA #2 are 3000, and 6000, respectively. I.e., the ratios of PCF1, PCF2 and PCF3 for S-NSSA #1 and S-NSSA #2 are 1:1: 2.

Optionally, the slice quota information in the NRF may be that each quota control entity (e.g., PCF) registers its respective slice quota information in the NRF as part of a network function profile (NF profile).

In one embodiment, the slice quota information held by the quota control entity may be obtained from the UDM or UDR.

Specifically, the service issuing entity may configure the size parameter of a network slice into the UDM or UDR, and the UDM or UDR queries all PCFs responsible for the network slice from the NRF according to the slice identifier of the network slice. In addition, the NRF also provides processing power for planning for this network slice by each of all PCFs responsible for the network slice. Thus, the UDM or UDR can obtain all PCFs responsible for the network slice and the processing power of each PCF for the network slice, and divide the slice quota of the network slice into several shares according to the processing power of each PCF. And the UDM or the UDR sends slice quota information to each PCF, wherein the slice quota information is used for indicating the slice quota divided for the corresponding PCF. For example, as shown in fig. 3.

In another embodiment, the slice quota information held by the quota control entity may be obtained from a network configuration function entity. For example, the network configuration function may be an Operation Administration and Maintenance (OAM) entity, or a master pcf (master pcf). The master PCF instance may be a previous PCF entity of all PCF entities responsible for the network slice, or may be one PCF of all PCF entities responsible for the network slice.

Specifically, the OAM entity or the master PCF may determine all PCF entities responsible for a network slice, so that the OAM or the master PCF may divide the network slice according to the scale parameter and the processing capability of each PCF entity in all PCF entities responsible for the network slice, and send the quota allocated to each PCF to the corresponding PCF via slice quota information. For example, as shown in fig. 4.

Optionally, the service processing network entity may obtain the slice quota information from the NRF by receiving an inquiry response message sent by the NRF, where the inquiry response message includes the slice quota information allocated to each PCF in the plurality of PCFs.

Specifically, the service processing network entity may send an inquiry request to the NRF, receive an inquiry response message fed back by the NRF, and further obtain slice quota information allocated to each PCF from the inquiry response message.

202, the service processing network entity determines a first quota control entity from the plurality of quota control entities according to the slice quota information held by the plurality of quota control entities.

Specifically, the service processing network entity may select one quota control entity from the plurality of quota control entities according to slice quota information held by the plurality of quota control entities. That is, the service processing network entity may select a suitable quota control entity in advance in consideration of slice quota information of each quota control entity. Compared with the conventional scheme that a PCF with the quota used up is selected without considering the quota of the PCF, and the quota is distributed to the PCF again through UDR calculation, the method and the system for the PCF can improve the service processing efficiency.

Optionally, the traffic processing network entity may determine, as the first quota control entity, a quota control entity having the largest available quota among the plurality of quota control entities.

Specifically, the traffic processing network entity may determine, as the first quota control entity, a quota control entity having the largest available quota currently held by the plurality of quota control entities each time. Namely, the service processing network entity transmits the service to be transmitted to the appropriate quota control entity in advance, thereby improving the service processing efficiency.

Optionally, the service processing network entity may determine, as the first quota control entity, a quota control entity that has a largest proportion of available quotas held in the plurality of quota control entities to the total quota of the network slice.

Optionally, the first quota control entity may determine, as the first quota control entity, a quota control entity having a largest remaining quota among the plurality of quota control entities.

Optionally, the service processing network entity may determine, as the first quota control entity, a quota control entity that has a largest proportion of remaining quotas held in the plurality of quota control entities to available quotas held.

Optionally, the traffic processing network entity may determine, as the first quota control entity, a quota control entity that has a smallest proportion of used quotas held by the plurality of quota control entities to available quotas held by the plurality of quota control entities.

203, the traffic processing network entity sends a first policy request message to the first quota controlling entity, where the first policy request message is used to request access to a network slice in the at least one network slice.

Optionally, in a case that the policy request message is used to request to access a network slice in the at least one network slice, the traffic processing network entity may be an access and mobility management function AMF, and the quota control entity may be a policy control function PCF.

Specifically, step 203 may be that the AMF sends the first policy request message to the first PCF.

Optionally, the slice quota information may be at least one of a terminal quantity quota or a network slice traffic quota.

In one embodiment, after step 203, the AMF may receive a first policy request response message from the first PCF indicating whether the terminal is allowed to access a network slice of the at least one network slice, such that the terminal may determine to accept or reject the terminal access to the at least one network slice based on the policy request response message.

Specifically, the first policy request response message is used to indicate that the terminal is allowed to access a network slice of the at least one network slice or is prohibited from accessing a network slice of the at least one network slice.

It may be appreciated that allowing the terminal to access the network slices of the at least one network slice may be allowing the terminal to access one or more of the at least one network slice (a partial network slice or a full network slice of the at least one network slice). The terminal is prohibited from accessing one or more of the at least one network slice (all of the at least one network slice).

It is also understood that a terminal accessing a network slice may be a network slice to which the terminal may register.

Optionally, in a case that the AMF determines that the terminal is allowed to register to a network slice of the at least one network slice, the first policy request response message is further configured to indicate a slice maximum rate for controlling the terminal, where the slice maximum rate is used to control a maximum traffic flow sent and/or received by the terminal through the slice. The AMF may also send the sliced maximum rate for the terminal to the access network device.

It can be understood that the service related in the embodiment of the present application may be a non-guaranteed bandwidth service, or may also be a guaranteed bandwidth service, which is not limited in the present application. For example, the maximum traffic flow may be the sum of the maximum traffic flows of the non-guaranteed bandwidth class service and the guaranteed bandwidth class service.

Optionally, the maximum rate of the slice of the terminal is the remaining total traffic bandwidth quota of the slice/(the remaining terminal quantity quota of the slice is the traffic proportion of the terminal).

Specifically, the traffic ratio of the terminal is an average value of the traffic flow rate of the slice of each terminal in the maximum rate ratio of the slice allowed by the terminal (wherein the average value is calculated by including terminals that have not established a session), or a ratio of the number of terminals that have established a session in the slice in the number of terminals that have successfully registered in the slice.

It can be understood that, in the subsequent process, if the remaining terminal quantity quota and the remaining total slice traffic bandwidth quota do not match, the PCF may further modify, by modifying the flow, the maximum terminal slice rate of some terminals that have registered in the network slice to be larger or smaller, which is not limited in the present application.

Optionally, the first PCF may determine whether to allow the terminal to access the network slice according to the held remaining quota of the traffic flow of the network slice; or the first PCF determines the slice maximum traffic flow of the terminal according to the remaining quota of the traffic flow of the first network slice and the available quota of the number of terminals of the first network slice.

Optionally, when the sum of slice maximum traffic of authorized terminals does not exceed the held available quota of traffic of the network slice, the first PCF allows the terminal to access the network slice, where the slice maximum traffic of the authorized terminals is a quotient of the remaining quota of the traffic of the network slice divided by the remaining quota of the number of terminals of the network slice; or the first PCF allows the terminal to access the network slice when the number of the terminals accessing the network slice does not exceed the available quota of the number of the terminals of the network slice.

Alternatively, the first PCF may be a PCF in a visited network, e.g., a V-PCF.

Specifically, for the case where the terminal is in a VPLMN (Visited Public Land Mobile Network), a roaming agreement exists between the HPLMN and the VPLMN, and a certain S-NSSAI (denoted as vS-NSSAI) of the VPLMN is specified to be mapped to the S-NSSAI (denoted as hS-NSSAI) subscribed by the UE of the HPLMN. If the maximum number of terminals or the maximum number of sessions or the maximum traffic bandwidth allowed to use the slice in the VPLMN is specified according to the roaming agreement, a portion of quota can be allocated to each PCF (denoted as V-PCF) of the VPLMN, and then the V-PCF performs the limitation of the size parameter.

It is understood that the network slice requesting access is a vS-NSSAI corresponding to the hS-NSSAI subscribed to by the user.

In another embodiment, after step 203, the AMF may receive a first policy request response message from the first PCF, the first policy request response message indicating a slice maximum rate for controlling the terminal, such that the AMF may learn to allow the terminal to access a first network slice of the at least one network slice. The AMF may also send the sliced maximum rate for the terminal to the access network device. The access network equipment controls the maximum flow sum of the non-guaranteed bandwidth service and the guaranteed bandwidth service which are sent by the terminal through the first network slice not to exceed the maximum rate of the first network slice of the terminal. Thus, by such limitation, it can be achieved that the traffic flow of the whole network slice does not exceed the maximum traffic bandwidth allowed by the slice.

Specifically, if the policy request response message is not used to indicate a slice maximum rate for controlling the terminal, the AMF may consider to deny the terminal access to a network slice of the at least one network slice.

Optionally, if the AMF determines to prohibit the terminal from accessing to a network slice in the at least one network slice according to the first policy request response message, the AMF may further select another quota controlling entity to access to a network slice in the at least one network slice.

Optionally, the first policy request response message may further include a rejection reason. For example, the first policy request response message is used to indicate that the terminal is denied access to a network slice of the at least one network slice because the quota is exhausted.

Specifically, if the first policy request response message is used to indicate that the terminal is denied access to a network slice of the at least one network slice because the quota is exhausted, the AMF may continue to select other quota controlling entities to access the network slice of the at least one network slice. For example, the AMF may try all other available PCFs, or may try a certain number of times and stop, which is not limited in this application.

It is to be understood that if the terminal is eventually denied access to a network slice in the at least one network slice because the quota is exhausted, the AMF will delete its corresponding S-NSSAI from the Allowed NSSAI; otherwise, it will remain in the Allowed NSSAI. And the AMF sends the Allowed NSSAI to the terminal and continues the subsequent registration process. If the subsequent flow causes the terminal registration failure, or the subsequent terminal cancels the network slice registration because the position moves or the requested NSSAI changes, the PCF synchronously deletes the access policy of the terminal on the PCF on the network slice, and the PCF restores the quota, wherein the quota includes the slice registration terminal quantity quota and the slice flow bandwidth quota occupied by the terminal, and is used when the subsequent other terminal accesses the network slice.

204, the service processing network entity sends a second policy request message to the first quota controlling entity, where the second policy request message is used to request that a session connection be established through a network slice in the at least one network slice.

Optionally, the first request message is used to establish a session connection through a network slice in the at least one network slice, where the service processing network entity is an access and mobility management function SMF, and the quota control entity is a policy control function PCF.

It is understood that the service processing network entity may select to execute step 203 or step 204, or may execute step 203 and step 204 at the same time, which is not limited in this application. For example, when the service processing network entity performs step 203 or step 204 simultaneously, the module having the AMF function in the service processing network entity sends the first policy request message, and the module having the SMF function sends the second policy request message.

In one embodiment, after step 204, the SMF may receive a second policy request response message from the first PCF indicating whether the session connection is allowed to be established through the first network slice, such that the terminal may determine to accept or reject the establishment of the session connection through the first network slice based on the second policy request response message.

Optionally, in a case that the SMF determines that the session connection is allowed to be established through the first network slice, the policy request response message is further used to indicate a maximum rate of controlling the session connection, where the maximum rate of the session connection is used to control a maximum traffic flow of controlling the session connection. The SMF may also send the maximum rate of the session connection to the user plane network function or the access network device.

Optionally, the first PCF determines whether to allow establishment of the session connection according to the remaining quota of the service traffic of the first network slice, or the first PCF determines the maximum service traffic of the session according to the remaining quota of the service traffic of the first network slice and the available quota of the number of sessions of the first network slice.

It is to be understood that the following embodiments are described by taking the first PCF as an example, and each PCF of the multiple PCFs corresponding to the at least one network slice may be implemented as the first PCF, which is not limited in this application.

Optionally, the first PCF allows the session connection to be established when a sum of authorized maximum session flows does not exceed the supported available quota of the service flow of the first network slice, where the maximum session flow authorized for the session connection is a quotient of the remaining quota of the service flow of the first network slice divided by the remaining quota of the session number of the first network slice, or the first PCF allows the session to be established when the number of sessions accessed to the first network slice does not exceed the supported available quota of the session number of the first network slice.

It will be appreciated that the first PCF may be a PCF in a visited network, e.g., a V-PCF.

In another embodiment, after step 204, the SMF may receive a policy request response message from the first PCF indicating a maximum rate at which to control the session connection, such that the AMF may learn to allow the session connection to be established via the first network slice. The SMF may also send the maximum rate of the session connection to the user plane network function or the access network device.

Specifically, if the policy request response message is not used to indicate a maximum rate for controlling the session connection, the SMF may consider to prohibit establishment of the session connection through the first network slice.

Optionally, if the PCF allows to establish the PDU session, determining a maximum session bit rate (MBR) authorized by the session, where the authorized session MBR is a maximum allowed total traffic of all non-GBR type traffic and all GBR type traffic in uplink/downlink in the PDU session. The PCF may send, to the SMF, an MBR granted to the Session through a policy & charging control rule (PCC rule), or may send, to the SMF, only an allowed maximum value of a non-GBR type traffic segment, that is, a Session-granted maximum rate (Session-AMBR).

Specifically, the authorized maximum traffic of the session is the sum of the maximum allowed traffic of all bandwidth guarantee services and non-bandwidth guarantee services of the session. And the PCF determines the maximum flow of the authorized session according to the remaining slice uplink/downlink flow bandwidth quota and the remaining slice session quantity quota. For example, the granted maximum upstream session traffic is the remaining slice upstream traffic bandwidth quota/remaining slice session number quota. The maximum authorized downlink traffic is equal to the remaining slice downlink traffic bandwidth quota/the remaining slice session number quota.

Optionally, the second policy request response message may further include a rejection reason. For example, the second policy request response message is used to indicate that the terminal is denied establishment of a session connection through the first network slice because the quota is exhausted.

Specifically, if the second policy request response message is used to indicate that the terminal is denied to establish the session connection through the first network slice because the quota is exhausted, the SMF may continue to select another quota control entity to access to establish the session connection through the first network slice. For example, SMF may try all other available PCFs, or try a certain number of times and stop, which is not limited in this application.

Optionally, after the session establishment, the SMF may reply to the AMF with a session context setup response message.

Specifically, the SMF sends the Session-AMBR authorized by the Session to the UPF through the N4 interface, and the UPF controls the traffic bandwidths of the uplink and downlink non-GBR type services of the Session according to the received UL Session-AMBR and DL Session-AMBR in the subsequent Session data transmission process. For GBR type traffic, the SMF derives a quality of Service Flow (QoS Flow) detection rule, a QoS Flow identifier, and guaranteed rates and maximum rates of uplink and downlink for each QoS Flow, i.e., gfbr (guaranteed Flow Bit rate) and mfbr (maximum Flow Bit rate), from the PCC rule received from the PCF. If the PCF sends the MBR authorized for the session to the SMF through the PCC rule, the SMF ensures that the sum of the MFBRs of all QoS flows in the session is smaller than the MBR authorized for the session. And then sent to the UPF over the N4 interface. The UPF controls the flow bandwidth of the uplink and downlink GBR type services according to the UL MFBR and the DL MFBR respectively. If the UPF detects that the new QoS Flow is reported to the SMF, the SMF finds that once the sum of the MFBRs of all QoS flows in the session after the bandwidth is allocated to the new QoS Flow exceeds the MBR authorized by the session, the SMF modifies the MFBR of the original QoS Flow, so that the sum of the MFBRs of all QoS flows in the session is smaller than the MBR authorized by the session after the new QoS Flow is added. If the PCF does not send the MBR authorized by the session to the SMF through the PCC rule, after the UPF detects that the new QoS Flow is reported to the SMF, the SMF requests the PCF to authorize the GFBR and the MFBR of the new QoS Flow. And when determining the authorized MFBR of the new QoS Flow, the PCF ensures that the sum of the MFBRs of all QoS flows in the session is less than the MBR authorized for the session. The PCF finds that once the sum of the MFBRs of all the QoS flows in the session exceeds the MBR authorized by the session after the bandwidth is allocated to the new QoS Flow, the PCF modifies the MFBR of the original QoS Flow so that the sum of the MFBRs of all the QoS flows in the session is smaller than the MBR authorized by the session after the new QoS Flow is added.

It can be understood that the PCF deducts the authorized maximum traffic of the session from the slice upstream/downstream traffic bandwidth quota each time bandwidth authorization is performed.

Optionally, the PCF carries the allocated Session maximum traffic bandwidth in the modified Session management policy response message, where the Session-AMBR of the non-bandwidth provisioning service and/or the MBR of the bandwidth provisioning service are included. If QoS Flow ends or PDU Session releases, SM-PCF will reclaim Flow bandwidth quota and Session quantity quota.

Optionally, the SMF may also send the authorized session maximum traffic bandwidth to the UPF. The UPF can be the UPF of the session directly connected with the gNB; in addition, if the session has only one anchor point, the UPF may be an anchor point UPF; if the session has multiple anchor points or multiple branches, the UPF may be a UPF of a branch point.

Specifically, the UPF performs session maximum traffic limitation, and controls the sum of the bandwidths of the non-bandwidth guarantee service and the guarantee service not to exceed the authorized session maximum traffic bandwidth.

Optionally, if the remaining slice session number quota does not match the remaining slice traffic bandwidth quota, for example, the remaining slice traffic bandwidth quota is smaller than the product of the remaining slice session number quota and the minimum guaranteed bandwidth of the session, the PCF may further reduce the maximum rate of the established session by modifying the flow. Similarly, if the remaining slice traffic bandwidth quota is greater than the product of the remaining slice session number quota and the maximum bandwidth of the subscribed session, the maximum rate modification of the established session is increased.

Fig. 5 shows a schematic flow chart of a method for policy control according to an embodiment of the present application.

It should be noted that the same terms in the embodiment shown in fig. 4 and the embodiment shown in fig. 2 have the same meanings, and are not repeated herein to avoid redundancy.

501, a service processing network entity obtains slice quota information held by a plurality of quota control entities corresponding to at least one network slice.

502, the service processing network entity determines a first quota control entity from the plurality of quota control entities according to the slice quota information held by the plurality of quota control entities.

503, the service processing network entity sends a first policy request message to the second quota controlling entity, where the first policy request message is used to request access to a network slice in the at least one network slice.

The second quota controlling entity sends a first policy request message to the first quota controlling entity, where the first policy request message is used to request access to a network slice in the at least one network slice.

505, the service processing network entity and the second quota controlling entity send a second policy request message, where the second policy request message is used to request that a session connection be established through a network slice in the at least one network slice.

The second quota controlling entity sends a second policy request message to the first quota controlling entity, where the second policy request message is used to request that a session connection be established through a network slice in the at least one network slice.

It will be appreciated that the service processing network entity may choose to perform steps 503 and 504, and may also perform steps 505 and 506. Step 503 and step 505 may also be performed simultaneously, which is not limited in this application. For example, when the service processing network entity performs step 503 or step 505 simultaneously, the module having the AMF function in the service processing network entity sends the first policy request message, and the module having the SMF function sends the second policy request message.

It will be appreciated that the first PCF of the embodiment shown in fig. 5 may be the H-PCF if the roaming agreement does not specify the maximum number of terminals, the maximum number of sessions or the maximum traffic bandwidth that are allowed to use the slice at the VPLMN, but rather wishes to continue the restriction of the size parameter performed by the PCF of the HPLMN (denoted as H-PCF).

The various embodiments described herein may be implemented as stand-alone solutions or combined in accordance with inherent logic and are intended to fall within the scope of the present application.

It is to be understood that, in the above method embodiments, the method and the operation implemented by the service processing network entity may also be implemented by a component (e.g., a chip or a circuit) available to the service processing network entity, and the method and the operation implemented by the quota control entity may also be implemented by a component (e.g., a chip or a circuit) available to the quota control entity.

The above description mainly introduces the scheme provided by the embodiments of the present application from various interaction perspectives. It is understood that each network element, for example, the transmitting end device or the receiving end device, includes a corresponding hardware structure and/or software module for performing each function in order to implement the above functions. Those of skill in the art would appreciate that the various illustrative components and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as hardware or combinations of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is performed as hardware or computer software drives hardware depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the solution. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present application.

In the embodiment of the present application, the functional modules may be divided according to the above method example for the transmitting end device or the receiving end device, for example, each functional module may be divided corresponding to each function, or two or more functions may be integrated into one processing module. The integrated module can be realized in a form of hardware or a form of a software functional module. It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the division of the module is schematic, and is only one logic function division, and there may be another division manner in actual implementation. The following description will be given by taking an example in which each functional module is divided by using a corresponding function.

It should be understood that the specific examples in the embodiments of the present application are for the purpose of promoting a better understanding of the embodiments of the present application and are not intended to limit the scope of the embodiments of the present application.

It should be understood that, in the various embodiments of the present application, the sequence numbers of the above-mentioned processes do not mean the execution sequence, and the execution sequence of each process should be determined by its function and inherent logic, and should not constitute any limitation to the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application.

The method provided by the embodiment of the present application is described in detail above with reference to fig. 2 to 4. Hereinafter, the apparatus provided in the embodiment of the present application will be described in detail with reference to fig. 5 to 8. It should be understood that the description of the apparatus embodiments corresponds to the description of the method embodiments, and therefore, for brevity, details are not repeated here, since the details that are not described in detail may be referred to the above method embodiments.

Fig. 6 shows a schematic block diagram of an apparatus 600 for policy control according to an embodiment of the present application.

It is to be understood that the apparatus 600 may correspond to the service processing network entity or a chip within the service processing network entity in the embodiment shown in fig. 2, and may have any function of the service processing network entity in the method embodiment shown in fig. 2. For example, the apparatus 600 includes a processing module 610 and a transceiver module 620.

The processing module 610 is configured to obtain slice quota information held by a plurality of quota control entities corresponding to a network slice in at least one network slice;

the processing module 610 is further configured to determine, according to slice quota information held by the plurality of quota control entities, a first quota control entity from the plurality of quota control entities;

the transceiver module 620 is configured to send a policy request message to the first quota controlling entity, where the policy request message is used to request a terminal to access a network slice in the at least one network slice, or the policy request message is used to request a session connection to be established through a network slice in the at least one network slice.

Optionally, the processing module 610 is specifically configured to: the transceiver module 620 acquires slice quota information held by the quota control entities from a network repository functional entity or a network configuration functional entity; or, the transceiver module 620 acquires slice quota information held by the quota control entities from the first message of the quota control entities.

Optionally, the processing module 610 is specifically configured to: receiving, by the transceiver module 620, an inquiry response message from the network repository functional entity, where the inquiry response message includes multiple PCFs corresponding to network slices in the at least one network slice and slice quota information allocated by each PCF;

the processing module 610 is specifically configured to: and acquiring the slice quota information distributed to each PCF in the plurality of PCFs from the query response message of the network configuration functional entity through the PCF positioned in the visited network.

Optionally, the slice quota information includes any one of an available quota held by the quota control entity, a proportion of the available quota held by the quota control entity to the total quota of the network slice, a remaining quota held by the quota control entity, remaining quotas and available quotas held by the quota control entity, a proportion of the remaining quota held by the quota control entity to the available quota held, a used quota of the network slice, a used quota held by the quota control entity, and a proportion of the used quota held by the available quota or the network slice to the available quota held by the quota control entity.

Optionally, the processing module 610 is specifically configured to:

determining a quota control entity having a maximum available quota among the plurality of quota control entities as the first quota control entity; or

Determining a quota control entity with a largest proportion of available quotas held in the plurality of quota control entities to the total network slice quota as the first quota control entity; or

Determining a quota control entity with the highest remaining quota among the plurality of quota control entities as the first quota control entity; or

Determining a quota control entity with a largest proportion of remaining quotas held in the plurality of quota control entities to available quotas held as the first quota control entity; or

Determining a quota control entity with a smallest proportion of used quotas held in the plurality of quota control entities to available quotas held as the first quota control entity.

Optionally, in a case that the first request message is used to request, for a terminal, to access a network slice in the at least one network slice, the traffic processing network entity is an access and mobility management function AMF, the quota control entity is a policy control function PCF, the slice quota information includes at least one of a terminal quantity quota or a network slice traffic quota, and the transceiver module 620 is further configured to receive a policy request response message from the first PCF, where the policy request response message is used to indicate whether the terminal is allowed to access the at least one network slice; the processing module 610 is further configured to determine to accept or reject the terminal from accessing to the at least one network slice according to the policy request response message.

Optionally, in a case that the AMF determines to accept the terminal to access a network slice in the at least one network slice, the policy request response message is further configured to indicate a maximum rate of slicing for controlling the terminal, where the maximum rate of slicing is used to control a maximum traffic sent or received by the terminal through the slice, and the transceiver module 620 is further configured to send the maximum rate of slicing for the terminal to an access network device.

Optionally, the first request message is used to establish a session connection through a network slice in the at least one network slice, where the service processing network entity is an access and mobility management function SMF, and the quota control entity is a policy control function PCF. The slice quota information includes at least one of a session quantity quota or a network slice traffic quota, and the transceiver module 620 is further configured to receive a policy request response message from the first PCF, where the policy request response message is used to indicate whether to allow establishment of a session connection through the first network slice; the processing module 610 is further configured to determine to accept or reject establishment of a session connection through the first network slice according to the policy request response message.

Optionally, in a case that the SMF determines to accept establishment of a session connection through the first network slice, the SMF controls a maximum rate of the session connection, where the maximum rate of the session connection is used to control a maximum traffic flow of the session connection, and the transceiver module 620 is further used to send the maximum rate of the session connection to a user plane network function entity or an access network device.

Fig. 7 illustrates a communication apparatus 700 provided in an embodiment of the present application, where the apparatus 700 may be a service processing network entity described in fig. 6. The apparatus may employ a hardware architecture as shown in fig. 7. The apparatus may include a processor 710 and a transceiver 730, and optionally, the apparatus may further include a memory 740, the processor 710, the transceiver 730, and the memory 740 communicating with each other through an internal connection path. The related functions implemented by the processing module 610 in fig. 6 may be implemented by the processor 710, and the related functions implemented by the transceiver module 620 may be implemented by the processor 710 controlling the transceiver 730.

Alternatively, the processor 710 may be a general processing unit (CPU), a microprocessor, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a special-purpose processor, or one or more integrated circuits for performing the embodiments of the present application. Alternatively, a processor may refer to one or more devices, circuits, and/or processing cores for processing data (e.g., computer program instructions). For example, a baseband processor, or a central processor. The baseband processor may be configured to process communication protocols and communication data, and the central processor may be configured to control the communication device, execute software programs, and process data of the software programs.

Optionally, the processor 710 may include one or more processors, for example, one or more Central Processing Units (CPUs), and in the case that the processor is one CPU, the CPU may be a single-core CPU or a multi-core CPU.

The transceiver 730 is used for transmitting and receiving data and/or signals, as well as receiving data and/or signals. The transceiver may include a transmitter for transmitting data and/or signals and a receiver for receiving data and/or signals.

The memory 740 includes, but is not limited to, a Random Access Memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EPROM), and a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), and the memory 740 is used for storing relevant instructions and data.

The memory 740 is used for storing program codes and data of the service processing network entity, and may be a separate device or integrated in the processor 710.

Specifically, the processor 710 is configured to control the transceiver to perform information transmission with a quota control entity. Specifically, reference may be made to the description of the method embodiment, which is not repeated herein.

In particular implementations, apparatus 700 may also include an output device and an input device, as one embodiment. An output device is in communication with processor 710 and may display information in a variety of ways. For example, the output device may be a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), a Light Emitting Diode (LED) display device, a Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) display device, a projector (projector), or the like. An input device is in communication with the processor 710 and may receive user input in a variety of ways. For example, the input device may be a mouse, a keyboard, a touch screen device, or a sensing device, among others.

It will be appreciated that fig. 7 only shows a simplified design of the communication device. In practical applications, the apparatus may also include necessary other elements respectively, including but not limited to any number of transceivers, processors, controllers, memories, etc., and all the service processing network entities that can implement the present application are within the protection scope of the present application.

In one possible design, the apparatus 700 may be a chip, for example, a communication chip that may be used in a service processing network entity, and is used for implementing the relevant functions of the processor 710 in the service processing network entity. The chip can be a field programmable gate array, a special integrated chip, a system chip, a central processing unit, a network processor, a digital signal processing circuit and a microcontroller which realize related functions, and can also adopt a programmable controller or other integrated chips. The chip may optionally include one or more memories for storing program code that, when executed, causes the processor to implement corresponding functions.

The embodiment of the present application further provides an apparatus, which may be a service processing network entity or a circuit. The apparatus may be configured to perform the actions performed by the service processing network entity in the above-described method embodiments.

Fig. 8 shows a schematic block diagram of an apparatus 800 for policy control according to an embodiment of the present application.

It should be understood that the apparatus 800 may correspond to the quota control entity or a chip within the quota control entity shown in fig. 2, and may have any function of the quota control entity in the method. For example, the apparatus 800 includes a transceiver module 810 and a processing module 820.

The transceiver module 810 is configured to obtain an available quota of a first network slice held by the quota control entity;

the processing module 820 is configured to determine a slice remaining quota according to the available quota;

the processing module 820 is further configured to determine, according to the slice available quota and/or the slice remaining quota, at least one of the following:

whether a terminal is allowed to access the first network slice, or

Optionally, the transceiver module 810 is further configured to receive an available quota held by the quota control entity from a unified data management entity, a user database entity, a network configuration function entity, or a higher-level quota control entity.

Optionally, the available quota includes at least one of a number of terminals held by the quota control entity that access the first network slice, a number of sessions held by the quota control entity that access the first network slice, or traffic flow held by the quota control entity that access the first network slice.

Optionally, the processing module 820 is specifically configured to: determining a slice remaining quota according to the used quota of the first network slice and the available quota which are held by the quota control entity.

Optionally, the quota controlling entity is an access management policy control function PCF, wherein the processing module 820 is specifically configured to:

determining whether to allow the terminal to access the first network slice according to the held available quota of the service flow of the network slice or the held available quota of the number of the terminals of the network slice; or

And determining the maximum service flow of the terminal in the slice of the first network slice according to the remaining quota of the service flow of the network slice and the remaining quota of the number of the terminals of the network slice.

Optionally, the processing module 820 is specifically configured to:

when the sum of the slice maximum service flows of the authorized terminal does not exceed the held available quota of the service flows of the network slices, allowing the terminal to access the first network slice, wherein the slice maximum service flow of the authorized terminal is the quotient of the remaining quota of the service flows of the network slices divided by the remaining quota of the number of the terminals of the network slices; or

Allowing the terminal to access the first network slice when the number of terminals accessing the network slice does not exceed the held available quota of the number of terminals of the network slice.

Optionally, the quota controlling entity is a session management policy control function PCF, wherein the processing module 820 is specifically configured to:

determining whether to allow the session connection to be established in the first network slice according to the remaining quota of the service flow of the network slice or the remaining quota of the session number of the network slice; or

And determining the maximum service flow of the session connection according to the remaining quota of the service flow of the network slice and the remaining quota of the session number of the network slice.

Optionally, the processing module 820 is specifically configured to:

when the sum of the authorized session maximum traffic does not exceed the held available quota of the traffic of the network slice, allowing the session connection to be established, wherein the session maximum traffic authorized for the session connection is a quotient of the available quota of the traffic of the network slice divided by the available quota of the number of sessions of the network slice; or

Allowing the terminal to establish the session connection when the number of sessions accessed to the network slice does not exceed the held available quota of the number of sessions of the network slice.

Optionally, the processing module 820 is further configured to determine slice quota information, where the slice quota information is used for a service processing network entity to determine a first quota control entity from a plurality of quota control entities of the first network slice;

the transceiver module 810 is further configured to send the slice quota information to a network repository function entity, or

The transceiver module 810 is further configured to send a first message to the service processing network entity, where the first message carries the slice quota information.

Optionally, the slice quota information includes an available quota of the first network slice held by the quota control entity, an available quota held by the quota control entity accounts for a proportion of a total quota of the first network slice, a remaining quota of the first network slice held by the quota control entity and an available quota of the first network slice held by the quota control entity, a remaining quota of the first network slice held by the quota control entity accounts for a proportion of an available quota of the first network slice held by the quota control entity, a used quota of the first network slice held by the quota control entity and an available quota of the first network slice held by the quota control entity, or any of a ratio of used quota of the first network slice held by the quota control entity to available quota of the first network slice held by the quota control entity.

Fig. 9 illustrates an apparatus 900 for policy control according to an embodiment of the present application, where the apparatus 900 may be a quota control entity described in fig. 8. The apparatus may employ a hardware architecture as shown in fig. 9. The apparatus may include a processor 910 and a transceiver 920, and optionally a memory 930, the processor 910, the transceiver 920, and the memory 930 being in communication with each other via an internal connection path. The related functions implemented by the processing module 820 in the embodiment shown in fig. 8 can be implemented by the processor 910, and the related functions implemented by the transceiver module 810 can be implemented by the processor 910 controlling the transceiver 920.

Alternatively, the processor 910 may be a general-purpose Central Processing Unit (CPU), a microprocessor, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a special-purpose processor, or one or more integrated circuits for executing the embodiments of the present application. Alternatively, a processor may refer to one or more devices, circuits, and/or processing cores for processing data (e.g., computer program instructions). For example, a baseband processor, or a central processor. The baseband processor may be used to process communication protocols and communication data, and the central processor may be used to control a communication device (e.g., a base station, a terminal, or a chip), execute a software program, and process data of the software program.

Optionally, the processor 910 may include one or more processors, for example, one or more Central Processing Units (CPUs), and in the case that the processor is one CPU, the CPU may be a single-core CPU, or a multi-core CPU.

The transceiver 920 is used for transmitting and receiving data and/or signals, and receiving data and/or signals. The transceiver may include a transmitter for transmitting data and/or signals and a receiver for receiving data and/or signals.

The memory 930 includes, but is not limited to, a Random Access Memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EPROM), and a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), and the memory 930 is used for storing relevant instructions and data.

The memory 930 is used to store program codes and data of the quota control entity, and may be a separate device or integrated in the processor 910.

Specifically, the processor 910 is configured to control the transceiver to perform information transmission with a service processing network entity. Specifically, reference may be made to the description of the method embodiment, which is not repeated herein.

In particular implementations, apparatus 900 may also include an output device and an input device, as one embodiment. An output device, which is in communication with the processor 910, may display information in a variety of ways. For example, the output device may be a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), a Light Emitting Diode (LED) display device, a Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) display device, a projector (projector), or the like. An input device is in communication with the processor 910 and may receive user input in a variety of ways. For example, the input device may be a mouse, a keyboard, a touch screen device, or a sensing device, among others.

It will be appreciated that fig. 9 only shows a simplified design of the communication device. In practical applications, the apparatuses may further include necessary other elements respectively, including but not limited to any number of transceivers, processors, controllers, memories, etc., and all quota control entities that can implement the present application are within the protection scope of the present application.

In one possible design, the apparatus 900 may be a chip, for example, a communication chip that may be used in a quota control entity, and is used to implement the related functions of the processor 910 in the quota control entity. The chip can be a field programmable gate array, a special integrated chip, a system chip, a central processing unit, a network processor, a digital signal processing circuit and a microcontroller which realize related functions, and can also adopt a programmable controller or other integrated chips. The chip may optionally include one or more memories for storing program code that, when executed, causes the processor to implement corresponding functions.

The embodiment of the present application further provides a device, which may be a quota control entity or a circuit. The apparatus may be configured to perform the actions performed by the quota control entity in the above method embodiments.

In the above embodiments, the implementation may be wholly or partially realized by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, may be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When loaded and executed on a computer, cause the processes or functions described in accordance with the embodiments of the application to occur, in whole or in part. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a network of computers, or other programmable device. The computer instructions may be stored on a computer readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer readable storage medium to another, for example, from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center via wire (e.g., coaxial cable, fiber optic, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.). The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device, such as a server, a data center, etc., that incorporates one or more of the available media. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium (e.g., a floppy disk, a hard disk, a magnetic tape), an optical medium (e.g., a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., a Solid State Disk (SSD)), among others.

It should be understood that the processor may be an integrated circuit chip having signal processing capabilities. In implementation, the steps of the above method embodiments may be performed by integrated logic circuits of hardware in a processor or instructions in the form of software. The processor may be a general purpose processor, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), an off-the-shelf programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic device, or discrete hardware components. The various methods, steps, and logic blocks disclosed in the embodiments of the present application may be implemented or performed. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor or the processor may be any conventional processor or the like. The steps of the method disclosed in connection with the embodiments of the present application may be directly implemented by a hardware decoding processor, or implemented by a combination of hardware and software modules in the decoding processor. The software module may be located in ram, flash memory, rom, prom, or eprom, registers, etc. storage media as is well known in the art. The storage medium is located in a memory, and a processor reads information in the memory and completes the steps of the method in combination with hardware of the processor.

It will be appreciated that the memory in the embodiments of the subject application can be either volatile memory or nonvolatile memory, or can include both volatile and nonvolatile memory. The non-volatile memory may be a read-only memory (ROM), a Programmable ROM (PROM), an Erasable PROM (EPROM), an electrically Erasable EPROM (EEPROM), or a flash memory. Volatile memory can be Random Access Memory (RAM), which acts as external cache memory. By way of example, but not limitation, many forms of RAM are available, such as Static Random Access Memory (SRAM), Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory (SDRAM), double data rate SDRAM, enhanced SDRAM, SLDRAM, Synchronous Link DRAM (SLDRAM), and direct bus RAM (DR RAM).

In the present application, "at least one" means one or more, "a plurality" means two or more. "and/or" describes the association relationship of the associated objects, meaning that there may be three relationships, e.g., a and/or B, which may mean: a exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone, wherein A and B can be singular or plural. The character "/" generally indicates that the former and latter associated objects are in an "or" relationship. "at least one of the following" or similar expressions refer to any combination of these items, including any combination of the singular or plural items. For example, at least one (one) of a, b, or c, may represent: a, b, c, a-b, a-c, b-c, or a-b-c, wherein a, b, c may be single or multiple.

It should be appreciated that reference throughout this specification to "one embodiment" or "an embodiment" means that a particular feature, structure or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present application. Thus, the appearances of the phrases "in one embodiment" or "in an embodiment" in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. It should be understood that, in the various embodiments of the present application, the sequence numbers of the above-mentioned processes do not mean the execution sequence, and the execution sequence of each process should be determined by its function and inherent logic, and should not constitute any limitation to the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application.

As used in this specification, the terms "component," "module," "system," and the like are intended to refer to a computer-related entity, either hardware, firmware, a combination of hardware and software, or software in execution. For example, a component may be, but is not limited to being, a process running on a processor, an object, an executable, a thread of execution, a program, and/or a computer. By way of illustration, both an application running on a computing device and the computing device can be a component. One or more components can reside within a process and/or thread of execution and a component can be localized on one computer and/or distributed between 2 or more computers. In addition, these components can execute from various computer readable media having various data structures stored thereon. The components may communicate by way of local and/or remote processes such as in accordance with a signal having one or more data packets (e.g., data from two components interacting with another component in a local system, distributed system, and/or across a network such as the internet with other systems by way of the signal).

It should also be understood that the reference herein to first, second, and various numerical designations is merely a convenient division to describe and is not intended to limit the scope of the embodiments of the present application.

It should be understood that the term "and/or" herein is merely one type of association relationship that describes an associated object, meaning that three relationships may exist, e.g., a and/or B may mean: a exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone. Wherein A or B is present alone, and the number of A or B is not limited. Taking the case of a being present alone, it is understood to have one or more a.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative elements and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware or combinations of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the implementation. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present application.

It is clear to those skilled in the art that, for convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the above-described systems, apparatuses and units may refer to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, and are not described herein again.

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

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

In addition, functional units in the embodiments of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units are integrated into one unit.

The functions, if implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as a stand-alone product, may be stored in a computer readable storage medium. Based on such understanding, the technical solution of the present application or portions thereof that substantially contribute to the prior art may be embodied in the form of a software product stored in a storage medium and including instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device) to execute all or part of the steps of the method according to the embodiments of the present application. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: various media capable of storing program codes, such as a usb disk, a removable hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), a magnetic disk, or an optical disk.

The above description is only for the specific embodiments of the present application, but the scope of the present application is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art can easily conceive of the changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the present application, and shall be covered by the scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A method for policy control, comprising:

a service processing network entity acquires slice quota information held by a plurality of quota control entities corresponding to network slices in at least one network slice;

the service processing network entity determines a first quota control entity from the plurality of quota control entities according to the slice quota information held by the plurality of quota control entities;

the service processing network entity sends a policy request message to the first quota controlling entity, where the policy request message is used to request a terminal to access a network slice in the at least one network slice, or the policy request message is used to request session connection to be established through a network slice in the at least one network slice.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the obtaining, by the traffic processing network entity, the slice quota information held by a plurality of quota control entities corresponding to a network slice in the at least one network slice comprises:

the service processing network entity acquires slice quota information held by the quota control entities from a network warehouse functional entity or a network configuration functional entity; or,

the service processing network entity acquires slice quota information held by the quota control entities from the first messages of the quota control entities.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the obtaining, by the traffic processing network entity, slice quota information held by the quota control entities from a network repository function entity comprises:

the service processing network entity receives an inquiry response message from the network warehouse function entity, wherein the inquiry response message comprises a plurality of PCFs corresponding to the network slice in the at least one network slice and slice quota information distributed by each PCF;

the service processing network entity obtains the slice quota information distributed to each PCF in the plurality of PCFs from the query response message of the network configuration functional entity through the PCF positioned in the visiting network.

4. The method of any of claims 1 to 3, wherein the slice quota information comprises any of an available quota held by a quota control entity, a proportion of the available quota held by the quota control entity to a total quota of the network slice, a remaining quota held by the quota control entity and an available quota held, a proportion of the remaining quota held by the quota control entity to the available quota held, a used quota of the network slice, a used quota held by the quota control entity, and a proportion of the used quota held by the quota control entity or the used quota of the network slice to the available quota held by the quota control entity.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the determining, by the traffic processing network entity, a first quota control entity from the plurality of quota control entities based on slice quota information held by the plurality of quota control entities comprises:

the service processing network entity determines a quota control entity with the largest available quota in the plurality of quota control entities as the first quota control entity; or

The service processing network entity determines a quota control entity with the largest proportion of available quotas held in the quota control entities to the total network slice quota as the first quota control entity; or

The first quota control entity determines a quota control entity with the largest remaining quota among the plurality of quota control entities as the first quota control entity; or

The service processing network entity determines a quota control entity with the largest proportion of the remaining quota held in the plurality of quota control entities to the available quota held as the first quota control entity; or

The service processing network entity determines a quota control entity with a smallest proportion of the used quota held in the plurality of quota control entities to the available quota held as the first quota control entity.

6. The method according to any of claims 1 to 5, wherein the first request message is used for requesting, for a terminal, to access a network slice in the at least one network slice, where the traffic processing network entity is an access and mobility management function (AMF), the quota control entity is a Policy Control Function (PCF), the slice quota information includes at least one of a terminal quantity quota or a network slice traffic quota, and the method further includes:

the AMF receives a policy request response message from the first PCF, wherein the policy request response message is used for indicating whether the terminal is allowed to access the at least one network slice;

and the AMF determines to accept or reject the terminal to access the at least one network slice according to the strategy request response message.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein in a case that the AMF determines to accept the terminal access to a network slice of the at least one network slice, the policy request response message is further used for indicating a slice maximum rate for controlling the terminal, the slice maximum rate being used for controlling a maximum traffic volume sent or received by the terminal through the slice, the method further comprising:

and the AMF sends the maximum slicing rate of the terminal to the access network equipment.

8. The method according to any of claims 1 to 5, wherein the first request message is used for establishing a session connection through a network slice of the at least one network slice, and the traffic processing network entity is an access and mobility management function, SMF, and the quota control entity is a policy control function, PCF. The slice quota information includes at least one of a session quantity quota or a network slice traffic quota, and the method further includes:

the SMF receives a policy request response message from the first PCF, wherein the policy request response message is used for indicating whether the session connection is allowed to be established through the first network slice;

and the SMF determines to accept or reject the establishment of session connection through the first network slice according to the strategy request response message.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein if the SMF determines to accept establishment of a session connection through the first network slice, the SMF controls a maximum rate of the session connection, and wherein the maximum rate of the session connection is used to control a maximum traffic flow for controlling the session connection, the method further comprising:

and the SMF sends the maximum speed of the session connection to a user plane network function entity or access network equipment.

10. A method for policy control, comprising:

a quota control entity acquires an available quota of a first network slice held by the quota control entity;

the quota control entity determines a slice residual quota according to the available quota;

the quota control entity determines at least one of the following according to the slice available quota and/or the slice remaining quota:

whether a terminal is allowed to access the first network slice, or

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the obtaining, by the quota control entity, the available quota held by the quota control entity comprises:

12. The method of claim 10 or 11, wherein the available quota comprises at least one of a number of terminals held by the quota control entity that have access to the first network slice, a number of sessions held by the quota control entity that have access to the first network slice, or traffic held by the quota control entity that have access to the first network slice.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the quota controlling entity determining the slice remaining quota based on the available quota comprises:

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the quota controlling entity is an access management Policy Control Function (PCF), and wherein determining, by the quota controlling entity, whether to allow the terminal to access the first network slice according to the slice available quota comprises:

the PCF determines whether to allow the terminal to access the first network slice according to the held available quota of the service flow of the network slice or the held available quota of the number of the terminals of the network slice; or

Wherein the determining, by the quota control entity, the slice maximum service traffic of the terminal in the first network slice according to the slice remaining quota includes:

and the PCF determines the maximum service flow of the terminal in the slice of the first network slice according to the remaining quota of the service flow of the network slice and the remaining quota of the number of the terminals of the network slice.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the PCF determining whether to allow the terminal to access the first network slice based on an available quota of traffic flow for the network slice or an available quota of a number of terminals for the network slice comprises:

when the sum of the slice maximum service flows of the authorized terminal does not exceed the held available quota of the service flows of the network slices, the PCF allows the terminal to access the first network slice, wherein the slice maximum service flow of the authorized terminal is the quotient of the remaining quota of the service flows of the network slices divided by the remaining quota of the number of the terminals of the network slices; or

And the PCF allows the terminal to access the first network slice when the number of the terminals accessing the network slice does not exceed the available quota of the number of the terminals of the network slice.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein the quota controlling entity is a session management policy control function PCF, and wherein determining, by the quota controlling entity, whether to allow establishment of a session connection in the first network slice according to the slice remaining quota comprises:

the PCF determines whether to allow the session connection to be established in the first network slice according to the remaining quota of the service flow of the network slice or the remaining quota of the session number of the network slice; or

Wherein the determining, by the quota control entity according to the slice remaining quota, the maximum service flow of the session connection established in the first network slice includes:

and the PCF determines the maximum service flow of the session connection according to the remaining quota of the service flow of the network slice and the remaining quota of the session number of the network slice.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein the quota controlling entity is a session management policy control function PCF, and wherein determining, by the quota controlling entity, whether to allow the session connection to be established in the first network slice according to the slice available quota comprises:

when the sum of the authorized session maximum flow does not exceed the held service flow available quota of the network slice, the PCF allows the session connection to be established, wherein the session maximum flow authorized for the session connection is the quotient of the service flow available quota of the network slice divided by the available quota of the session number of the network slice; or

And the PCF allows the terminal to establish the session connection when the number of the sessions accessed to the network slice does not exceed the available quota of the number of the sessions of the network slice.

18. The method according to any one of claims 10 to 17, further comprising:

the quota control entity determines slice quota information, where the slice quota information is used by a service processing network entity to determine a first quota control entity from a plurality of quota control entities of the first network slice;

the quota control entity sends the slice quota information to a network warehouse function entity, or

And the quota control entity sends a first message to the service processing network entity, wherein the first message carries the slice quota information.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the slice quota information comprises an available quota of the first network slice held by the quota control entity, a proportion of the available quota held by the quota control entity to the total quota of the first network slice, a remaining quota of the first network slice held by the quota control entity and an available quota of the first network slice held by the quota control entity, a proportion of a remaining quota of the first network slice held by the quota control entity to an available quota of the first network slice held by the quota control entity, a used quota of the first network slice held by the control entity and an available quota of the first network slice held by the quota control entity Any one of a usage quota, or a proportion of a used quota of the first network slice held by the quota control entity to an available quota of the first network slice held by the quota control entity.

20. An apparatus for policy control, characterized by being configured to perform the method of any one of claims 1-19.

21. An apparatus for policy control comprising a processor and a memory, the memory for storing program instructions, the processor for invoking the program instructions to perform the method of any of claims 1-19.

22. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that the computer-readable medium stores program code for execution by a device, the program code comprising instructions for performing the method of any of claims 1 to 19.

23. A chip comprising a processor and a data interface, the processor reading instructions stored on a memory through the data interface to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 19.