CN114025343B

CN114025343B - Communication method, UE, AMF and communication system

Info

Publication number: CN114025343B
Application number: CN202111288456.9A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 张伦泳
Original assignee: China United Network Communications Group Co Ltd
Current assignee: China United Network Communications Group Co Ltd
Priority date: 2021-11-02
Filing date: 2021-11-02
Publication date: 2023-06-23
Anticipated expiration: 2041-11-02
Also published as: CN114025343A

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a communication method applied to a first AMF, the communication method comprising: responding to a second registration request sent by the first UE, and sending a query to a home network, wherein the second registration request carries first auxiliary information and first network information; in the query result, if the first auxiliary information of the first UE belongs to a home network and a service corresponding to the first network exists in the home network, distributing second auxiliary information for the first UE; and advertising the second auxiliary information and the mapping relation between the second auxiliary information and the first auxiliary information to the first UE. The disclosure also provides a communication method applied to the first UE. The disclosure also provides a UE, an AMF and a communication system.

Description

Communication method, UE, AMF and communication system

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of communications, and in particular, to a communication method, a User Equipment (UE), an access management function (AMF, access Management Function), and a communication system.

Background

A Non-public network (NPN) is defined in the 5G network. NPN is used for private entities (e.g., enterprises) and may be deployed using virtual devices or physical devices. The NPN may be deployed as a completely independent network or may be hosted by or provided as part of a public land mobile network (PLMN, public Land Mobile Network).

A completely independently deployed NPN is referred to as an independent Non-Public Network (S-NPN), while an NPN hosted by or provided as part of a PLMN is referred to as a Public Network-based NPN (PNI-NPN, public Network Integrated Non-Public Network). PNI-NPN can be implemented by specifying a specific data network (DNN, data Network Name) or by partitioning individual network resources for NPN on the PLMN.

Disclosure of Invention

The present disclosure provides a communication method, a UE, an AMF, and a communication system.

In a first aspect, the present disclosure provides a communication method applied to a first user equipment UE, the communication method including:

initiating a first registration request to a first Access Management Function (AMF) of a roaming place network, wherein the first registration request carries first auxiliary information special for a home place network;

when the first auxiliary information and the mapping value thereof in the roaming network are not licensed, initiating a second registration request to the first AMF, wherein the second registration request carries the first auxiliary information and first network information so that the first AMF can allocate the mapping value and network resources to the first auxiliary information according to the first auxiliary information;

Wherein the first assistance information comprises single network fragment selection assistance information S-nsai that has been subscribed in the home network, the first network information comprising a network identification of the first network in the home network.

In a second aspect, the present disclosure provides a communication method applied to a first AMF, the communication method comprising:

responding to a second registration request, and sending a query to a home network, wherein the second registration request is a second registration request sent by a first UE in any one of the communication methods in the first aspect, and the second registration request carries first auxiliary information and first network information;

in the query result, if the first auxiliary information of the first UE belongs to a home network and a service corresponding to the first network exists in the home network, distributing second auxiliary information for the first UE;

and advertising the second auxiliary information and the mapping relation between the second auxiliary information and the first auxiliary information to the first UE.

Specifically, the allocating second auxiliary information to the first UE includes:

establishing a mapping relation between the second auxiliary information and the first auxiliary information;

And allocating corresponding network resources for the second auxiliary information, wherein the network resources comprise AMF in the roaming place network, a session management function entity SMF and a user plane function entity UPF for bearing network connection of user equipment to the first network.

Further, after the second auxiliary information and the mapping relation between the second auxiliary information and the first auxiliary information are announced to the first UE, the method further includes:

and when all the user equipment using the second auxiliary information leave the coverage area of the roaming area network, releasing the network resources corresponding to the second auxiliary information.

In a third aspect, the present disclosure provides a UE for a first UE, wherein the UE includes:

a first registration module, configured to initiate a first registration request to a first AMF of a roaming destination network, where the first registration request carries first auxiliary information dedicated to a home network;

a second registration module, configured to initiate a second registration request to the first AMF when the first auxiliary information and a mapping value thereof in the roaming network are not licensed, where the second registration request carries the first auxiliary information and first network information, so that the first AMF allocates a mapping value and network resources to the first auxiliary information according to the first auxiliary information;

In a fourth aspect, the present disclosure provides an AMF for a first AMF, wherein the AMF comprises:

a registration home query module, configured to send a query to a home network in response to receiving a second registration request, where the second registration request is a second registration request sent by a first UE in any one of the communication methods in the first aspect, and the second registration request carries first auxiliary information and first network information;

the auxiliary information distribution module is used for distributing second auxiliary information to the first UE if the first auxiliary information of the first UE belongs to a home network and a service corresponding to the first network exists in the home network in a query result;

and the auxiliary information notification module is used for notifying the second auxiliary information and the mapping relation between the second auxiliary information and the first auxiliary information to the first UE.

Further, the auxiliary information distribution module includes:

An auxiliary information mapping sub-module, configured to establish a mapping relationship between the second auxiliary information and the first auxiliary information;

and the resource allocation sub-module is used for allocating corresponding network resources for the second auxiliary information, and comprises AMF in the roaming area network, a session management function entity SMF and a user plane function entity UPF for bearing network connection of user equipment to the first network.

Further, the AMF further comprises:

and the resource recovery module is used for releasing the network resource corresponding to the second auxiliary information after all the user equipment using the second auxiliary information leave the coverage area of the roaming area network.

In a fifth aspect, the present disclosure provides a communication system including a first UE, a first AMF, characterized in that,

the first UE is a first UE in the communication method of the first aspect;

the first AMF is a first AMF in any one of the communication methods described in the second aspect;

the first AMF is further configured to:

if the first auxiliary information carried in the first registration request sent by the first UE is licensed in the roaming network, the second auxiliary information and the mapping relation between the second auxiliary information and the first auxiliary information are returned to the first UE, so that the first UE is connected to the network resource of the first network in the home network.

Further, the communication system further includes: a first network fragment selection function entity NSSF of the roaming place network, a first unified data management function entity UMD of the roaming place network, a second NSSF of the home place network and a second UMD of the home place network;

the first AMF is further configured to: after receiving a second registration request of a first UE, according to first auxiliary information carried in the second registration request, indicating the first NSSF to inquire whether the first UE belongs to the home network from the second NSSF, and indicating the first UMD to inquire whether a service corresponding to the first network information exists in the home network from the second UMD;

and determining whether to distribute second auxiliary information according to the query results of the first NSSF and the first UMD.

According to the communication method provided by the disclosure, registration is initiated to the first AMF of the roaming network according to the first auxiliary information registered by the first UE in the home location, the first AMF allocates the second auxiliary information and related resources, and establishes the mapping relation between the first auxiliary information and the second auxiliary information, and then other UEs can directly use the established mapping relation and related resources when applying registration to the first AMF based on the first auxiliary information, so that the problem that the roaming network is invisible to the bearing service after the UE is connected to the home network is solved, and the roaming network is convenient to provide corresponding service quality guarantee for the purpose. By the method, the problem of low resource utilization efficiency caused by the fact that when a plurality of users are connected to the same PNI-NPN at the same time, the respective tunnels still need to be established respectively can be solved.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the disclosure, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate the disclosure and together with the description serve to explain, but do not limit the disclosure. In the drawings:

fig. 1 is a flowchart of a communication method for a first UE provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 2 is a flowchart of another communication method provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure for a first UE;

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of a communication method for a first AMF provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart of another communication method for a first AMF provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a flow chart of yet another communication method for a first AMF provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of a UE provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of another UE provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of an AMF provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of an AMF neutron module provided by an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of an AMF neutron module provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 11 is a schematic illustration of another AMF provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 12 is a timing diagram of a PNI-NPN carried by a connecting home network in a roaming state provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

In order that those skilled in the art will better understand the present disclosure, a technical solution in the embodiments of the present disclosure will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings in which it is apparent that the described embodiments are only some embodiments of the present disclosure, not all embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be made by one of ordinary skill in the art without undue burden from the disclosure, are intended to be within the scope of the disclosure.

In 3GPP TS 23.501, a method of connecting to S-NPN through Non-3GPP interworking function entity (N3 IWF, non-3GPP InterWorking Function) functionality is defined. This approach is generally directed to S-NPN networks only. Although reference may also be made to the S-NPN method for the case of PNI-NPN to allow a User Equipment (UE) to connect to PNI-NPN. For example: when the UE is in the roaming network, it is connected to the N3IWF in the home network through tunneling and then connected to the NPN through the N3 IWF. However, this method has disadvantages in that: (1) For a roaming network, the traffic type carried in the tunnel where the UE connects to the N3IWF is not visible to the roaming network, which is inconvenient for the roaming network to provide a corresponding quality of service guarantee for this. (2) When multiple users under the same base station (or the same routing area or the same tracking area) need to be connected to the same PNI-NPN at the same time, the respective tunnels still need to be established respectively, and the resource utilization efficiency is reduced.

How to provide quality of service guarantee for UEs in a roaming network and to improve the efficiency of resource usage is a problem to be solved by the present disclosure.

The communication method provided by the present disclosure is conceived to initiate registration to a roaming access management function entity (AMF, access Management Function) according to first assistance information that a UE has registered in a home location. When the UE finds that the first assistance information is not licensed in the roaming network, it initiates registration again with the first assistance information specific to the bearer on the home network. The AMF allocates second auxiliary information and related resources, and informs the UE of the mapping of the first auxiliary information and the second auxiliary information. When other UE applies for registration to the AMF based on the first auxiliary information, the established mapping relation and related resources can be directly used.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a communication method for a first UE, as shown in fig. 1, where the steps of the method include:

step S110, a first registration request is initiated to a first AMF of a roaming place network, wherein the first registration request carries first auxiliary information special for the home place network;

step S120, when the first auxiliary information and the mapping value thereof in the roaming network are not licensed, initiating a second registration request to the first AMF, where the second registration request carries the first auxiliary information and first network information, so that the first AMF allocates the mapping value and network resource to the first auxiliary information according to the first auxiliary information;

Wherein the first assistance information comprises single network fragment selection assistance information (S-NSSAI, single Network Slice Selection Assistance Information) that has been subscribed in the home network, the first network information comprising a network identification of the first network in the home network.

The technical scheme of the present disclosure can solve the problem of low resource utilization efficiency caused by the need of establishing respective tunnels when a plurality of users are simultaneously connected to the same PNI-NPN. Therefore, for convenience of description in the embodiment of the present disclosure, the first network takes PNI-NPN as an example, and the first network information is a network identifier of PNI-NPN in the home network. It should be noted that the first network includes, but is not limited to, a PNI-NPN network, and may be any other network type suitable for the technical solution of the present disclosure.

As described above, the first UE in the roaming network initiates the first registration request to the first AMF of the roaming network with the network fragment selection assistance information (nsaai, network Slice Selection Assistance Information) carrying the first assistance information S-nsaai#1 in order to connect to the PNI-NPN network of the home location. The first AMF returns to the first UE an nsaai allowing the user equipment to use. If the NSSAI returned by the first AMF does not contain the S-NSSAI#1 requested by the first UE, the first UE immediately initiates a second registration request to the first AMF with the NSSAI carrying only the S-NSSAI#1, and marks the S-NSSAI#1 as "applied to PNI-NPN", and contains the network identification of the PNI-NPN in the home network.

The difference between the first registration request and the second registration request is that the nsai in the first registration request is a set, and is composed of one or more S-nsais, and may further include other network fragment selection auxiliary information besides S-nsai#1; the nsai in the second registration request carries only S-nsai #1, and contains no other network fragment selection assistance information, and S-nsai #1 is labeled "apply PNI-NPN", and contains the network identity of PNI-NPN in the home network. The first AMF receives the second registration request, and may determine that the second registration request is different from the first registration request according to the characteristics of the second registration request, so as to allocate second auxiliary information S-nsai#2 and related resources to the second request, and notify the mapping relationship between S-nsai#1 and S-nsai#2 to the first UE.

By adopting the method, the user equipment only needs to adjust the software processing flow in a small amount on the existing implementation mode, does not need to add new hardware equipment or greatly modify processing logic, does not have the problem of compatibility of new and old versions, and is convenient to implement in the existing network.

Further, as shown in fig. 2, the communication method further includes:

step S130, when the first auxiliary information is licensed in the roaming network, the network resource of the first network in the home network is connected in response to receiving the second auxiliary information replied by the first AMF and the mapping relation between the second auxiliary information and the first auxiliary information.

If the first UE sends out the first registration request carrying S-nsai#1, the AMF directly replies to S-nsai#2 and the mapping relation between S-nsai#2 and S-nsai#1, which indicates that other UE has sent out the second registration request before and successfully registers. At this time, the first UE may directly connect network resources of the home network PNI-NPN using the dedicated resources already allocated, without having to perform the registration step again. The problem of resource use efficiency low caused by the fact that when a plurality of users need to be connected to the same PNI-NPN at the same time, the respective tunnels still need to be established respectively is solved.

It should be noted that the first UE described herein does not specifically refer to only that the UE can issue the first registration request and the second registration request, but merely means a UE role that performs the corresponding steps. Any UE may be in the role of the first UE when performing the corresponding steps, as long as it has the features of the first UE described herein.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a communication method for a first AMF, as shown in fig. 3, including:

step S210, a query is sent to a home network in response to receiving a second registration request, wherein the second registration request is sent by a first UE in any one of the communication methods of the first aspect, and the second registration request carries first auxiliary information and first network information;

Step S220, in the query result, if the first auxiliary information of the first UE belongs to a home network and a service corresponding to the first network exists in the home network, second auxiliary information is distributed for the first UE;

step S230, notifying the second auxiliary information and the mapping relation between the second auxiliary information and the first auxiliary information to the first UE.

As described above, the first AMF may determine whether the first registration request or the second registration request is currently received based on the difference between the first registration request and the second registration request. When the first AMF receives the second registration request, it needs to first confirm, with the home network, whether the first auxiliary information S-nsai#1 carried in the second registration request is applied to the PNI-NPN in the home network, and whether the user equipment sending the second registration request subscribes to the corresponding PNI-NPN network service, or whether it has authority to connect to the corresponding PNI-NPN.

If the S-nsai #1 provided by the UE is applied to the PNI-NPN in the home network and the UE subscribes to the corresponding PNI-NPN network service, it indicates that the first AMF of the roaming network may map the assistance information and allocate related resources. The first AMF allocates second auxiliary information S-NSSAI#2 in a roaming network to the user, establishes a mapping relationship between S-NSSAI#2 and S-NSSAI#1, and notifies the UE of S-NSSAI#2 and the mapping relationship between S-NSSAI#2 and S-NSSAI#1.

In some embodiments, as shown in fig. 4, the step S210 specifically includes:

step S211, according to the first auxiliary information in the second registration request, indicating a first network fragment selection functional entity NSSF in the roaming network to query a second NSSF in a home network whether the first UE belongs to the home network;

step S212, according to the first auxiliary information in the second registration request, instructs the unified data management function entity UMD in the roaming network to query the UMD in the home network for whether the first UE has a service corresponding to the first network information in the home network.

The first AMF indicates a network fragment selection function (NSSF, network Slice Selection Function) in the roaming network to query the NSSF in the home network whether S-NSSAI #1 provided by the user equipment is applied to the PNI-NPN in the home network. Meanwhile, the first AMF instructs a unified data management function (UDM, unified Data Management) in the roaming network to query the UDM in the home network whether the ue subscribes to a corresponding PNI-NPN network service or whether there is a right to connect to the corresponding PNI-NPN. If the S-nsai #1 provided by the UE is applied to the PNI-NPN in the home network and the UE subscribes to the corresponding PNI-NPN network service, it indicates that the first AMF of the roaming network may map the assistance information and allocate related resources.

In some embodiments, as shown in fig. 5, the step S220 specifically includes:

step S221, establishing a mapping relation between the second auxiliary information and the first auxiliary information;

step S222, allocating corresponding network resources for the second auxiliary information, including AMF, session management function entity SMF, and user plane function entity UPF in the roaming network to carry network connection of the user equipment to the first network.

The first AMF in the roaming network not only establishes the mapping relation between the S-NSSAI#2 and the S-NSSAI#1, but also distributes relevant necessary network resources, not only realizes connection from a forwarding layer, but also realizes unified management from a control layer, solves the problem that the roaming network is invisible to bearing service after the user equipment is connected to the home network, and is convenient for the roaming network to provide corresponding service quality guarantee for the purpose.

In some embodiments, after the step S230, the method further includes:

and in response to receiving a first registration request of the user equipment, notifying the second auxiliary information and the mapping relation between the second auxiliary information and the first auxiliary information to the user equipment, wherein the first registration request carries the first auxiliary information special for the home network.

If the user equipment sends out the first registration request carrying the S-NSSAI#1, the first AMF directly replies the S-NSSAI#2 and the mapping relation between the S-NSSAI#2 and the S-NSSAI#1, so that the user equipment indicates that other user equipment has sent out the second registration request before and the registration is successful. At this time, the user equipment can directly connect network resources of the home network PNI-NPN using the dedicated resources already allocated, without having to perform the registration step again. The problem of resource use efficiency low caused by the fact that when a plurality of users need to be connected to the same PNI-NPN at the same time, the respective tunnels still need to be established respectively is solved.

In some embodiments, after the step S230, the method further includes:

After the user equipment sends out the second registration application carrying the S-NSSAI#1 for the first time, the user equipment applies for the special resource to the AMF of the roaming network, other user equipment can use the special resource together through the same S-NSSAI#1, and the utilization rate of the resource is improved.

However, as the applications of the user equipment increase, the occupation of dedicated resources increases, and even resources shared by a plurality of user equipments cannot be permanently reserved. Therefore, resources that are temporarily not used by the user equipment need to be timely recovered.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, by determining whether other ues are using the resource after the ue using S-nsai#2 leaves the coverage area of the roaming network, i.e. after the last ue using S-nsai#2 leaves the coverage area of the radio access network to which S-nsai#2 is allocated, the first AMF will recover the resource related to S-nsai#2 and cancel the value of S-nsai#2 and its mapping relation with S-nsai#1.

After the first AMF cancels the S-nsai#2 value, if there is a user equipment carrying the S-nsai#1 in the first registration request again, the user equipment and the first AMF need to re-execute the application steps from the first registration request and the second registration request.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a UE, as shown in fig. 6, including:

a first registration module 310, configured to initiate a first registration request to a first AMF of a roaming destination network, where the first registration request carries first auxiliary information dedicated to a home network;

a second registration module 320, configured to initiate a second registration request to the first AMF when the first auxiliary information and the mapping value thereof in the roaming network are not licensed, where the second registration request carries the first auxiliary information and the first network information, so that the first AMF allocates the mapping value and the network resource to the first auxiliary information according to the first auxiliary information;

A first UE in a roaming network initiates a first registration request to a first AMF of the roaming network with network fragment selection assistance information carrying first assistance information S-nsai#1 through a first registration module 310 in order to connect to a PNI-NPN network of a home location. The first AMF returns to the first UE an nsaai allowing the user equipment to use. If the S-nsai #1 requested by the first UE is not included in the nsai returned by the first AMF, the second registration module 320 of the first UE immediately initiates a second registration request with the nsai carrying only the S-nsai #1 to the first AMF and marks the S-nsai #1 as "apply PNI-NPN" and includes therein the network identification of the PNI-NPN in the home network.

The difference between the first registration request and the second registration request is that NSSAI in the first registration request is a set, and may contain other network partition selection auxiliary information besides S-nssai#1; the nsai in the second registration request carries only S-nsai #1, and contains no other network fragment selection assistance information, and S-nsai #1 is labeled "apply PNI-NPN", and contains the network identity of PNI-NPN in the home network. The first AMF receives the second registration request, and may determine that the second registration request is different from the first registration request according to the characteristics of the second registration request, so as to allocate second auxiliary information S-nsai#2 and related resources to the second request, and notify the mapping relationship between S-nsai#1 and S-nsai#2 to the first UE.

Further, as shown in fig. 7, the UE further includes:

the resource obtaining module 330 is configured to connect to a network resource of a first network in the home network in response to receiving second assistance information replied by the AMF and a mapping relationship between the second assistance information and the first assistance information when the first assistance information has been licensed in the roaming network.

If the user equipment sends out the first registration request carrying the S-NSSAI#1, the first AMF directly replies the S-NSSAI#2 and the mapping relation between the S-NSSAI#2 and the S-NSSAI#1, so that the user equipment indicates that other user equipment has sent out the second registration request before and the registration is successful. At this time, the user equipment may connect network resources of the home network PNI-NPN directly using the dedicated resources already allocated through the resource acquisition module 330 without having to perform the registration step again. The problem of resource use efficiency low caused by the fact that when a plurality of users need to be connected to the same PNI-NPN at the same time, the respective tunnels still need to be established respectively is solved.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides an AMF, as shown in fig. 8, comprising:

a registration home query module 410, configured to send a query to a home network in response to receiving a second registration request, where the second registration request is a second registration request sent by a first UE in any one of the communication methods of the first aspect, and the second registration request carries first auxiliary information and first network information;

an auxiliary information distribution module 420, configured to distribute, in a query result, second auxiliary information to the first UE if the first auxiliary information of the first UE belongs to a home network and there is a service corresponding to the first network in the home network;

and an auxiliary information notification module 430 configured to notify the first UE of the second auxiliary information and the mapping relationship between the second auxiliary information and the first auxiliary information.

Based on the distinction between the first registration request and the second registration request, the first AMF may determine whether the first registration request or the second registration request is currently received. When the first AMF receives the second registration request, the registration home query module 410 and the auxiliary information allocation module 420 first confirm, with the home network, whether the first auxiliary information S-nsai#1 carried in the second registration request is applied to the PNI-NPN in the home network, and whether the user equipment that issues the second registration request subscribes to the corresponding PNI-NPN network service, or whether it is authorized to connect to the corresponding PNI-NPN.

If the S-nsai #1 provided by the UE is applied to the PNI-NPN in the home network and the UE subscribes to the corresponding PNI-NPN network service, it indicates that the first AMF of the roaming network may map the assistance information and allocate related resources. The first AMF allocates a second auxiliary information S-nsai#2 in the roaming network to the user, establishes a mapping relationship between S-nsai#2 and S-nsai#1, and notifies the UE of the S-nsai#2 and the mapping relationship between S-nsai#2 and S-nsai#1 through the auxiliary information notification module 430.

In some embodiments, as shown in fig. 9, the registered home query module 410 includes:

an NSSF query sub-module 411, configured to instruct, according to the first auxiliary information in the second registration request, a first network fragment selection functional entity NSSF in the roaming network to query a second NSSF in a home network whether the first UE belongs to the home network;

a UMD query sub-module 412, configured to instruct, according to the first auxiliary information in the second registration request, a unified data management function entity UMD in a roaming network to query a UMD in a home network for whether a service corresponding to the first network information exists in the home network by the first UE.

The first AMF instructs the NSSF in the roaming network to query the NSSF in the home network through the NSSF query sub-module 411 whether the S-nsai #1 provided by the user equipment is applied to the PNI-NPN in the home network. Meanwhile, the first AMF instructs, through the UMD query sub-module 412, the UDM in the roaming network to query the UDM in the home network whether the user equipment subscribes to the corresponding PNI-NPN network service or whether there is a right to connect to the corresponding PNI-NPN. If the S-nsai #1 provided by the UE is applied to the PNI-NPN in the home network and the UE subscribes to the corresponding PNI-NPN network service, it indicates that the first AMF of the roaming network may map the assistance information and allocate related resources.

In some embodiments, as shown in fig. 10, the auxiliary information allocation module 420 includes:

an auxiliary information mapping sub-module 421 for establishing a mapping relationship between the second auxiliary information and the first auxiliary information;

the resource allocation sub-module 422 is configured to allocate corresponding network resources for the second auxiliary information, including an AMF in the roaming network, a session management function entity SMF, and a user plane function entity UPF to carry a network connection of the user equipment to the first network.

The first AMF in the roaming network not only establishes the mapping relationship between the S-nsai#2 and the S-nsai#1 through the auxiliary information mapping sub-module 421, but also allocates related necessary network resources through the resource allocation sub-module 422, so that connection is realized from the forwarding layer, and unified management is also realized from the control layer, the problem that the roaming network is invisible to the bearer service after the user equipment is connected to the home network is solved, and the roaming network is convenient to provide corresponding service quality guarantee for the purpose.

In some embodiments, the auxiliary information advertising module 430 is further configured to, in response to receiving a first registration request from the user equipment, advertise the second auxiliary information and a mapping relationship between the second auxiliary information and the first auxiliary information to the user equipment, where the first registration request carries the first auxiliary information that is specific to the home network.

If the ue sends out the first registration request carrying S-nsai#1, the first AMF directly replies to S-nsai#2 and the mapping relation between S-nsai#2 and S-nsai#1 through the auxiliary information notification module 430, which indicates that other ues have sent out the second registration request and successfully registered. At this time, the user equipment can directly connect network resources of the home network PNI-NPN using the dedicated resources already allocated, without having to perform the registration step again. The problem of resource use efficiency low caused by the fact that when a plurality of users need to be connected to the same PNI-NPN at the same time, the respective tunnels still need to be established respectively is solved.

Further, the AMF further comprises:

and the resource recycling module 440 is configured to release the network resource corresponding to the second auxiliary information after all the user equipments using the second auxiliary information leave the coverage area of the roaming network.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the resource recycling module 440 may withdraw the value of S-nsai#2 and its mapping relation with S-nsai#1 by determining whether other ues are using the resource after the ue using S-nsai#2 leaves the coverage area of the roaming network, i.e., after the last ue using S-nsai#2 leaves the coverage area of the radio access network allocated with S-nsai#2, the first AMF will recycle the resource related to S-nsai#2.

In a fifth aspect, embodiments of the present disclosure provide a communication system including a first UE, a first AMF, characterized in that,

the first UE corresponding to the first UE is a first UE in any one of the communication methods in the first aspect;

the first AMF corresponding to the first AMF is the first AMF in any one of the communication methods in the second aspect.

The first AMF is further configured to:

The communication system provided in the fifth aspect of the present disclosure is described below in connection with a specific embodiment.

Fig. 12 is a timing diagram of a PNI-NPN carried by a connecting home network in a roaming state provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 12, the steps are as follows:

in step S501, when the first UE initiates a first registration request to the roaming network in the roaming location, the first registration request carries S-nsai#1 allocated to the first UE in the home network and dedicated to PNI-NPN.

In step S502, the nsai allowed for the UE to use returned by the first AMF of the roaming network to the first UE does not include the S-nsai #1 requested by the UE.

Step S503, when the first UE recognizes that the roaming network is currently located, and the NSSAI received from the first AMF of the roaming network does not include the S-nssai#1 requested when the registration is requested, then immediately reinitiates the second registration request. Only S-nsai #1 is packaged in nsai in the second registration request, and S-nsai #1 is labeled as "apply PNI-NPN", and includes therein the network identity of PNI-NPN in the home network.

Step S504, the first AMF indicates NSSF in the roaming network _r To NSSF in home network _h It is queried whether the S-nsai #1 provided by the first UE is applied to PNI-NPN in the home network.

Step S505, first AMF indicates UDM in roaming zone network _r To UDM in home network _h And inquiring whether the first UE subscribes to the corresponding PNI-NPN network service (or whether the first UE has permission to connect the corresponding PNI-NPN).

In step S506, if the S-nsai#1 provided by the first UE is applied to the PNI-NPN in the home network and the first UE subscribes to the corresponding PNI-NPN network service, the first AMF allocates an S-nsai#2 in the roaming network to the first UE, and establishes a mapping relationship between the S-nsai#2 and the S-nsai#1.

In step S507, the first AMF returns the S-NSSAI#2 and the mapping relation between the S-NSSAI#2 and the S-NSSAI#1 to the first UE.

Step S508, the first AMF allocates corresponding network resources for S-nsai#2: at least AMFr, SMFr, UPFr carries the UE to PNI-NPN network connection.

In step S509, when there are other UEs in the coverage area of the radio access network to which S-nsai#2 has been allocated and S-nsai#1 is carried in the first registration request, the first AMF directly includes S-nsai#2 and the mapping relation between S-nsai#2 and S-nsai#1 in the nsai returned thereto.

Step S510, when the last UE using S-NSSAI#2 leaves the coverage area of the wireless access network allocated with S-NSSAI#2, the first AMF cancels the S-NSSAI#2 value. I.e. the UE carrying S-nsai #1 in the first registration request, then again needs to start execution from step S501.

According to the communication method provided by the embodiment of the disclosure, registration is initiated to the first AMF of the roaming network according to the first auxiliary information registered by the first UE at the home location, the first AMF distributes the second auxiliary information and related resources, and establishes the mapping relation between the first auxiliary information and the second auxiliary information, and then other UEs can directly use the established mapping relation and related resources when applying registration to the first AMF based on the first auxiliary information, so that the problem that the roaming network is invisible to bearing service after the UE is connected to the home network is solved, and the roaming network is convenient to provide corresponding service quality guarantee for the purpose; and the problem of low resource use efficiency caused by the fact that when a plurality of users need to be connected to the same PNI-NPN at the same time, the respective tunnels still need to be established respectively is solved.

It is to be understood that the above embodiments are merely exemplary embodiments employed to illustrate the principles of the present disclosure, however, the present disclosure is not limited thereto. Various modifications and improvements may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and substance of the disclosure, and are also considered to be within the scope of the disclosure.

Claims

1. A communication method applied to a first user equipment UE, the communication method comprising:

wherein the first assistance information includes single network fragment selection assistance information S-nsai that has been subscribed in the home network, the first network information including a network identification of a first network in the home network;

and when the first auxiliary information is licensed in the roaming area network, connecting to network resources of the first network in the home network in response to receiving second auxiliary information replied by the first AMF and the mapping relation between the second auxiliary information and the first auxiliary information.

2. A communication method applied to a first access management function entity AMF, the communication method comprising:

responding to a second registration request, and sending a query request to a home network, wherein the second registration request is a second registration request sent by a first User Equipment (UE) in the communication method of claim 1, and the second registration request carries first auxiliary information and first network information so that the first AMF can allocate a mapping value and network resources to the first auxiliary information according to the first auxiliary information; the second registration request is that the first user equipment UE initiates a first registration request to a first access management function entity AMF of a roaming place network, and is sent when the first auxiliary information and a mapping value thereof in the roaming place network are not licensed, wherein the first auxiliary information comprises single network fragment selection auxiliary information S-NSSAI subscribed in the home place network, and the first network information comprises a network identifier of a first network in the home place network; when the first auxiliary information is licensed in the roaming network, responding to the second auxiliary information received by the first AMF reply and the mapping relation between the second auxiliary information and the first auxiliary information, and connecting to network resources of the first network in the home network;

The query request includes querying whether the first UE is affiliated with the home network, and querying whether the first UE has a service corresponding to the first network information in the home network;

3. The communication method of claim 2, wherein the allocating the second assistance information to the first UE comprises:

4. A communication method according to any one of claims 2 to 3, wherein after the advertising of the second assistance information and the mapping relationship of the second assistance information and the first assistance information to the first UE, further comprising:

5. A user equipment, UE, for a first UE, the UE comprising:

a first registration module, configured to initiate a first registration request to a first access management function entity AMF of a roaming place network, where the first registration request carries first auxiliary information dedicated to a home place network;

6. An access management function entity, AMF, for a first AMF, the AMF comprising:

a registration home query module, configured to send a query to a home network in response to receiving a second registration request, where the second registration request is a second registration request sent by a first user equipment UE in the communication method of claim 1, and the second registration request carries first auxiliary information and first network information; the first AMF allocates a mapping value and network resources to the first auxiliary information according to the first auxiliary information; the second registration request is that the first user equipment UE initiates a first registration request to a first access management function entity AMF of a roaming place network, and is sent when the first auxiliary information and a mapping value thereof in the roaming place network are not licensed, wherein the first auxiliary information comprises single network fragment selection auxiliary information S-NSSAI subscribed in the home place network, and the first network information comprises a network identifier of a first network in the home place network; when the first auxiliary information is licensed in the roaming network, responding to the second auxiliary information received by the first AMF reply and the mapping relation between the second auxiliary information and the first auxiliary information, and connecting to network resources of the first network in the home network;

7. The AMF of claim 6, wherein the auxiliary information allocation module comprises:

8. The AMF of any one of claims 6-7, wherein said AMF further comprises:

9. A communication system comprising a first user equipment, UE, a first access management function, AMF, characterized in that,

the first UE is a first UE in the communication method of claim 1;

the first AMF is the first AMF in the communication method according to any one of claims 2 to 4;

the first AMF is further configured to:

10. The communication system according to claim 9, wherein the communication system further comprises: a first network fragment selection function entity NSSF of the roaming place network, a first unified data management function entity UMD of the roaming place network, a second NSSF of the home place network and a second UMD of the home place network;