CN114071649B

CN114071649B - Method and device for accessing local network

Info

Publication number: CN114071649B
Application number: CN202110507770.5A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 李永翠; 倪慧; 吴义壮; 朱方园; 李岩
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-07-31
Filing date: 2021-05-10
Publication date: 2023-05-16
Anticipated expiration: 2041-05-10
Also published as: CN114071649A

Abstract

The application provides a method and a device for accessing a local network. The terminal, after acquiring the first network access identifier for indicating the first local network, may actively send a session establishment request to the session management function network element to request to establish a first session, where the first session is used for the terminal to access the first local network, and the session establishment request includes the first network access identifier. That is, the embodiment of the application can access the local network, thereby meeting the requirement of low-delay service and improving the service processing performance.

Description

Method and device for accessing local network

The present application claims priority from the chinese patent office, application number 202010759371.3, entitled "method and apparatus for accessing local network" filed 31 in 7/31/2020, and from the chinese patent office, application number 202110363865.4, entitled "method and apparatus for accessing local network" filed 2/2021, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of communications, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for accessing a local network.

Background

The rapid development of mobile communication has prompted the continuous emergence of various new services, and besides the traditional mobile bandwidth and the internet of things, mobile communication has spawned many new application fields, such as augmented reality (augmented reality, AR)/Virtual Reality (VR), internet of vehicles, industrial control, internet of things (internet of things, IOT) and the like, and simultaneously, higher demands are also being put on the performance of network bandwidth, time delay and the like. Therefore, in addition to the 5G application architecture, in order to effectively meet the requirements of high bandwidth and low latency required by the high-speed development of the internet of things and reduce the network load, a mobile edge computing (mobile edge computing, MEC) technology is proposed.

A local (DN) in the MEC architecture may serve users in an edge area closer to the terminal with respect to a Data Network (DN) in the 5G application architecture. In other words, a low latency traffic experience is provided by deploying traffic and traffic handling, resource scheduling functions to the edge network close to the terminal.

After introducing the MEC architecture, how the terminal accesses the local DN in the MEC architecture to meet the requirement of low-latency service needs to be solved.

Disclosure of Invention

The method and the device for accessing the local network can access the local DN, thereby meeting the requirement of low-delay service and improving the service processing performance.

In a first aspect, a method for accessing a local network is provided, the method comprising obtaining a first network access identifier, wherein the first network access identifier is used for indicating a first local network; and sending a session establishment request to a session management function network element, wherein the session establishment request is used for requesting to establish a first session, the first session is used for accessing the first local network by a terminal, and the session establishment request comprises the first network access identifier.

The terminal, after acquiring the first network access identifier for indicating the first local network, may actively send a session establishment request to the session management function network element to request to establish a first session, where the first session is used for the terminal to access the first local network, and the session establishment request includes the first network access identifier. That is, the terminal can access the local network, thereby meeting the requirement of low-delay service and improving the service processing performance.

In some possible implementations, the method further includes: acquiring at least one service and at least one network access identifier corresponding to the at least one service; wherein the at least one service includes a first service, and the obtaining a first network access identifier includes: and determining the first network access identifier corresponding to the first service according to the first service, wherein the at least one network access identifier comprises the first network access identifier.

After the terminal acquires at least one service and at least one network access identifier corresponding to the at least one service, the network access identifier corresponding to any one service can be determined, so that the terminal can be accessed to a local network for different services, the requirement of low-delay service can be met, and the service processing performance is improved.

In some possible implementations, the acquiring at least one service and at least one network access identifier corresponding to the at least one service includes: receiving a registration accept message from an access and mobility management function, the registration accept message comprising the at least one service and at least one network access identity corresponding to the at least one service; or receiving a configuration update order message from an access and mobility management function, the configuration update order message comprising the at least one service and at least one network access identity corresponding to the at least one service.

The terminal can acquire the at least one service and the at least one network access identifier corresponding to the at least one service through different messages, so that the flexibility of acquiring the network access identifier is improved.

In some possible implementations, the method further includes: acquiring at least one network access identifier corresponding to at least one position of the terminal; wherein the at least one location of the terminal includes a first location, and the obtaining the first network access identifier includes: and determining the first network access identifier corresponding to the first position according to the first position, wherein the at least one network access identifier comprises the first network access identifier.

The terminal may correspond to different network access identities at different locations. In this way, after the terminal obtains at least one network access identifier corresponding to at least one position, the terminal can obtain the network access identifier corresponding to any position, so that the terminal can access the local network for the terminal at different positions, thereby meeting the requirement of low-delay service and improving the service processing performance.

In some possible implementations, the method further includes: and determining the first network access identifier corresponding to the first position and the first service according to the first position and the first service.

The terminal can combine the position of the terminal (namely the first position) and the first service initiated by the terminal to determine the network access identifier corresponding to the first position and the first service, so that the terminal can be realized to be in different positions and access to the local network by the terminal initiating different services, thereby further meeting the requirement of low-delay service and improving the service processing performance.

In some possible implementations, the determining, according to the first location and the first service, the first network access identifier corresponding to the first location and the first service includes: and determining the first network access identifier according to at least one service and at least one network access identifier corresponding to the at least one service, at least one network access identifier corresponding to the at least one position, the first position and the first service.

Thus, the terminal can determine the network access identifier corresponding to the first service according to the first service, and then determine the network access identifier corresponding to the first position according to the first position. And then, the terminal can take the same network access identifier in the network access identifier corresponding to the first service and the network access identifier corresponding to the first position as the first network access identifier, so that the terminal can be realized as a terminal at a different position and a different service is accessed to a local network, thereby meeting the requirement of low-delay service and improving the service processing performance.

In some possible implementations, the method further includes: receiving at least one network access identifier corresponding to a first position of the terminal from the session management function network element; wherein, the obtaining the first network access identifier includes: the first network access identity is determined from the at least one network access identity.

The terminal may first obtain at least one network access identifier corresponding to the first location of the terminal, and then further select the first network access identifier from the at least one network access identifier. In this way, the first network access identifier is selected from a smaller range, so that a proper network access identifier is further selected, and further, the performance of service processing is further improved.

In some possible implementations, the determining the first network access identity from the at least one network access identity includes: and selecting the first network access identifier corresponding to the first service from the at least one network access identifier according to the first service.

In this way, the first network access identifier is selected from a smaller range, so that a proper network access identifier is further selected for different services, and further the performance of service processing is further improved.

In some possible implementations, the method further includes: acquiring at least one service and at least one network access identifier corresponding to the at least one service, wherein the at least one service comprises a second service; according to the second service, determining a network access identifier corresponding to the second service; and sending the second service according to the relation between the network access identifier corresponding to the second service and the first network access identifier.

The terminal can determine the session adopted by the second service according to whether the network access identifier corresponding to the second service is the same as the first network access identifier, so that the terminal is helped to select a proper session, and the service processing efficiency is improved.

In some possible implementations, the sending the target service according to the relationship between the network access identifier corresponding to the second service and the first network access identifier includes: if the network access identifier corresponding to the second service is the same as the first network access identifier, the second service is sent through the first session; if the network access identifier corresponding to the second service is different from the first network access identifier, the second service is sent through a second session, and the second session is used for the terminal to access a central network; or if the network access identifier corresponding to the second service is different from the first network access identifier, sending the second service through a third session, wherein the third session is used for the terminal to access the local network corresponding to the second service.

The terminal can determine that the first session is adopted for sending the second service when the network access identifier corresponding to the second service is the same as the first network access identifier, thereby saving signaling overhead for reestablishing the session.

In a second aspect, there is provided a method of accessing a home network, the method comprising: receiving a triggering message, wherein the triggering message is used for triggering a terminal to establish a session; and sending a first message according to the trigger message, wherein the first message is used for requesting to establish a first session, and the first session is used for the terminal to access a local network.

The session management function network element can actively trigger the terminal to initiate the session establishment for accessing the local network, thereby realizing the access to the local network, further meeting the requirement of low-delay service and improving the service processing performance.

In some possible implementations, the first message further includes a session identification of a second session for the terminal to access the central network.

In some possible implementations, the method further includes: selecting a target session for a target service from a first session and a second session according to a first routing condition and a second routing condition, wherein the first routing condition corresponds to the first session and the second routing condition corresponds to the second session; and sending the target service through the target session.

The first routing condition is a condition that the terminal selects a first session, and the second routing condition is a condition that the terminal selects a second session. Thus, when the terminal starts the target service, whether to select the first route or the second route can be determined according to the first route condition and the second route condition. And then, the terminal sends the target service through the selected route, thereby being beneficial to selecting a proper route to send the target service and improving the service processing efficiency.

In some possible implementations, the method further includes: transmitting first information, wherein the first information comprises a service identifier of a target service; receiving second information, wherein the second information comprises a session identifier of a target session corresponding to the service identifier of the target service; and sending the target service through the target session.

In a third aspect, there is provided a method of accessing a local network, the method comprising: sending a trigger message to a terminal, wherein the trigger message is used for triggering the terminal to establish a session; receiving a first session establishment request from the terminal, wherein the first session establishment request is used for requesting to establish a first session, and the first session is used for the terminal to access a local network; determining a target network access identifier according to the first session establishment request, wherein the target network access identifier is used for indicating a target local network; and determining a target UPF according to the target network access identifier.

In some possible implementations, the first session request includes a session identifier of a second session, where the second session is used for the terminal to access the central network, and determining, according to the first session establishment request, the target network access identifier includes: and determining the target network access identifier according to the session identifier of the second session and the mapping relationship, wherein the mapping relationship is the mapping relationship between the session identifier of at least one session and the network access identifier of at least one local network.

The session management function network element can acquire the target network access identifier corresponding to the session identifier of the second session according to the preset mapping relation, so that the terminal accesses the local network through the target network access identifier, thereby meeting the requirement of low-delay service and improving the service processing performance.

In some possible implementations, the method further includes: receiving first information, wherein the first information comprises a service identifier of a target service; determining a session identifier of a target session corresponding to the service identifier of the target service; and sending second information, wherein the second information comprises a session identifier of the target session.

In a fourth aspect, there is provided a method of accessing a home network, the method comprising: sending a trigger message to a terminal, wherein the trigger message is used for triggering the terminal to establish a session; receiving the first message from the terminal, wherein the first message is used for requesting to establish a first session, and the first session is used for the terminal to access a target local network; determining a target network access identifier according to the first message, wherein the target network access identifier is used for indicating a target local network; determining a first SMF according to the target network access identifier; and sending the target network access identifier to the first SMF, wherein the target network access identifier is used for determining a target UPF by the first SMF.

Under the condition that the SMF has a limited service range, the session management function network element can actively trigger the terminal to initiate the session establishment for accessing the local network, receive a first message from the terminal, further determine a target network access identifier according to the first message, and then determine a first SMF according to the target network access identifier, thereby realizing the establishment of the first session. Thus, the terminal can access the local network through the established first session, thereby meeting the requirement of low-delay service and improving the service processing performance.

In some possible implementations, the first message includes a session identification of a second session for the terminal to access a central network, the method further comprising: acquiring a session identifier of at least one session and a network access identifier of at least one local network corresponding to the session identifier of the at least one session; wherein, the determining, according to the first message, the target network access identifier includes: and determining the target network access identification corresponding to the session identification of the second session according to the session identification of the second session.

In some possible implementations, the method further includes: the mapping relationship is received from a second SMF, the second SMF being used by the terminal to establish the second session.

In some possible implementations, the method further includes: receiving a first request, wherein the first request comprises a target network access identifier; determining a session identifier of a target session corresponding to the target network access identifier; and sending a first response to the first network element, wherein the first response comprises the session identifier of the target session, or sending second information to the second network element, and the second information comprises the session identifier of the target session.

In some possible implementations, the first network element includes an SMF, and the second network element includes a terminal.

In some possible implementations, before determining the session identifier of the target session corresponding to the target network access identifier, the method further includes: and acquiring the corresponding relation between the target network access identifier and the session identifier of the target session.

In a fifth aspect, there is provided a method of accessing a home network, the method comprising: receiving first information, wherein the first information comprises a service identifier of the target service; determining a target network access identifier corresponding to the service identifier of the target service; and sending third information, wherein the third information comprises the target network access identifier.

In a sixth aspect, there is provided a method of accessing a home network, the method comprising: receiving first information, wherein the first information comprises a service identifier of the target service; determining a session identifier of a target session corresponding to the service identifier of the target service; and sending second information, wherein the second information comprises a session identifier of the target session.

In some possible implementations, the method further includes: acquiring a first corresponding relation, wherein the first corresponding relation comprises a corresponding relation between a target network access identifier corresponding to the target service and a session identifier of the target session; and determining the session identifier of the target session corresponding to the service identifier of the target service includes: and according to the first corresponding relation, the session identification of the target session corresponding to the service identification of the target service.

In some possible implementations, determining the session identifier of the target session corresponding to the service identifier of the target service includes: determining a target network access identifier corresponding to the service identifier of the target service; sending a first request, wherein the first request is used for requesting a session identifier of the target session corresponding to the target network access identifier; a first response is received, the first response including a session identification of the target session.

In a seventh aspect, a method of discovering an edge application server EAS is provided, the method comprising: receiving a discovery request from a first device, wherein the discovery request is used for requesting to discover the EAS, the discovery request comprises a preset condition, and the first device is a session management function network element or a terminal; determining at least one EAS satisfying the preset condition according to the discovery request; a discovery response message is sent to the first device, the discovery response message including an internet protocol, IP, address of the at least one EAS.

The AF receives the discovery request comprising the preset condition, and determines at least one EAS meeting the preset condition according to the discovery request, and further feeds back a discovery response message comprising the IP address of the at least one EAS to the AF, so that the discovery of the EAS which does not meet the requirement is avoided, and the effectiveness of the discovery of the EAS is improved.

In some possible implementations, the discovery request further includes at least one of an application identification, a list of network access identifications of the local network, and EAS requirements.

In some possible implementations, the response message further includes a service area for the terminal to determine whether to reinitiate the discovery request.

According to the service area, the terminal can determine whether to re-initiate the EAS request after the movement occurs, thereby improving the service quality of the service EAS.

In an eighth aspect, a method of discovering an edge application server EAS is provided, the method comprising: transmitting a discovery request, wherein the discovery request is used for requesting to discover an Edge Application Server (EAS), and the discovery request comprises a preset condition; a discovery response message is received, the discovery response message including an internet protocol, IP, address of at least one EAS that satisfies the preset condition.

The first device sends a discovery request including preset conditions to the AF, so that the AF determines at least one EAS meeting the preset conditions according to the discovery request, and further feeds back a discovery response message including the IP address of the at least one EAS to the AF, thereby avoiding discovering the EAS which does not meet the requirements, and further improving the effectiveness of discovering the EAS.

In some possible implementations, the method further includes: receiving parameter information from an AMF, wherein the parameter information is used for indicating a first position of a terminal and the application identifier requested by the terminal; and determining a network access identification list of a local network which can be connected with the terminal at the first position according to the parameter information and the network topology.

In some possible implementations, the method further includes: determining a target DNAI according to the IP address of the at least one EAS; and determining a shunting node according to the target DNAI, wherein the shunting node is used for shunting data of the access center network and the access local network.

In a ninth aspect, an apparatus for accessing a local network is provided, where the apparatus may be a terminal or a chip in the terminal. The apparatus has the functionality to implement the first aspect described above, as well as various possible implementations. The functions 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: the transceiver module may be at least one of a transceiver, a receiver, and a transmitter, and the processing module may include a receiving module and a transmitting module. The transceiver module may include a radio frequency circuit or 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 to the storage module, and the processing module may execute the instructions stored in the storage module or the instructions from other sources, so that the apparatus performs the communication method of the first aspect and various possible implementation manners. In this design, the device may be a terminal.

In another possible design, when the device is a chip, the chip includes: the transceiver module may include a receiving module and a transmitting module. The transceiver module may be, for example, an input/output interface, pins or circuitry 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 terminal to perform the above-described first aspect, as well as any possible implementation of the 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, cache, or the like. The memory module may also be a static memory device, random access memory (random access memory, RAM) or the like, located within the communication device, but external to the chip, such as read-only memory (ROM) or other type of static memory device that may store static information and instructions.

The processor referred to in any of the foregoing may be a general purpose Central Processing Unit (CPU), microprocessor, application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or one or more integrated circuits configured to control the execution of the programs in the communication methods of the foregoing aspects.

In a tenth aspect, an apparatus for accessing a home network is provided, where the apparatus may be an SMF or a chip within the SMF. The apparatus has the functionality to implement the second aspect described above, as well as various possible implementations. The functions 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: the transceiver module may include a receiving module and a transmitting module. The transceiver module may be, for example, at least one of a transceiver, a receiver, a transmitter, 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 coupled to the memory module and is operable to execute instructions stored by the memory module or derived from other instructions to cause the apparatus to perform the method of the second aspect, or any of the methods thereof.

In another possible design, when the device is a chip, the chip includes: the transceiver module may include a receiving module and a transmitting module. The transceiver module may be, for example, an input/output interface, pins or circuitry 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 SMF to perform the second aspect described above, as well as any possible implementation of the 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, cache, or the like. The memory module may also be a static memory device, random access memory (random access memory, RAM) or the like, located within the communication device, but external to the chip, such as read-only memory (ROM) or other type of static memory device that may store static information and instructions.

In an eleventh aspect, an apparatus for accessing a home network is provided, where the apparatus may be an SMF or a chip within the SMF. The apparatus has the functionality to implement the second, third or fourth aspects described above, as well as various possible implementations. The functions 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.

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 to the storage module, and the processing module may execute instructions stored by the storage module or derived from other instructions to cause the apparatus to perform the method of the second aspect, the third aspect or the fourth aspect, or any one of them.

In another possible design, when the device is a chip, the chip includes: the transceiver module may include a receiving module and a transmitting module. The transceiver module may be, for example, an input/output interface, pins or circuitry 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 SMF to perform the second, third or fourth aspects described above, as well as any possible implementation of the communication method.

The processor referred to in any of the above may be a general purpose Central Processing Unit (CPU), microprocessor, application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or one or more integrated circuits configured to control program execution of the methods of the second, third, or fourth aspects.

In a twelfth aspect, an apparatus for accessing a local network is provided, where the apparatus may be an AF or a chip within the AF. The apparatus has the functionality to implement the fifth aspect described above, as well as various possible implementations. The functions 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.

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 to the storage module, and the processing module may execute instructions stored in the storage module or derived from other instructions to cause the apparatus to perform the method of the fifth aspect, or any one of them.

In another possible design, when the device is a chip, the chip includes: the transceiver module may include a receiving module and a transmitting module. The transceiver module may be, for example, an input/output interface, pins or circuitry 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 AF to perform the fifth aspect described above, as well as any possible implementation of the communication method.

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 the program of the method of the fifth aspect.

In a thirteenth aspect, an apparatus for accessing a home network is provided, which may be a terminal or an SMF, or a chip within a terminal or an SMF. The apparatus has the functionality to implement the sixth aspect described above, as well as various possible implementations. The functions 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.

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 to the storage module, and the processing module may execute instructions stored in the storage module or derived from other instructions to cause the apparatus to perform the method of the sixth aspect, or any one of them.

In another possible design, when the device is a chip, the chip includes: the transceiver module may include a receiving module and a transmitting module. The transceiver module may be, for example, an input/output interface, pins or circuitry on the chip, etc. The processing module may be, for example, a processor. The processing module may execute instructions to cause the terminal or a chip within the SMF to perform the sixth aspect described above, as well as any possible implementation of the communication method.

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 in the method of the sixth aspect.

In a fourteenth aspect, a computer storage medium is provided, in which a program code is stored for instructing the execution of the method in any of the above first to sixth aspects, and any possible implementation thereof.

In a fifteenth aspect, there is provided a computer program product containing instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any one of the above first to sixth aspects, or any possible implementation thereof.

In a sixteenth aspect, a communication system is provided, comprising a device with functions implementing the methods and various possible designs of the first aspect described above and a session management function network element.

A seventeenth aspect provides a communication system comprising means for implementing the methods and various possible designs of the second aspect and means for implementing the methods and various possible designs of the fourth aspect.

An eighteenth aspect provides a communication system comprising a terminal and the above-described apparatus having functions for implementing the methods and various possible designs of the above-described third aspect.

A nineteenth aspect provides a communication system comprising means for implementing the methods and various possible designs of the fifth aspect and means for implementing the methods and various possible designs of the sixth aspect.

Based on the above technical solution, when the terminal obtains the first network access identifier for indicating the first local network, the terminal may actively send a session establishment request to the session management function network element to request to establish the first session, where the first session is used for the terminal to access the first local network, and the session establishment request includes the first network access identifier. That is, the embodiment of the application can access the local network, thereby meeting the requirement of low-delay service and improving the service processing performance.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of one possible network architecture of an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of another possible application architecture of an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a comparison of a 5G application architecture with a MEC architecture;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a business process model of an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 5 is a schematic flow chart diagram of a method of accessing a local network in accordance with one embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 6 is a schematic flow chart diagram of a method of accessing a local network in accordance with another embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 7 is a schematic flow chart diagram of a method of accessing a local network in accordance with yet another embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8 is a schematic flow chart diagram of a method of accessing a local network according to yet another embodiment of the present application;

fig. 9 is a schematic flow chart of a method of accessing a local network according to yet another embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 10 is a schematic flow chart diagram of a method of accessing a local network in accordance with yet another embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 11 is a schematic flow chart diagram of a method of accessing a local network according to yet another embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 12 is a schematic flow chart diagram of a method of discovering an edge application server EAS in accordance with one embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 13 is a schematic flow chart of a method of discovering an edge application server EAS in accordance with another embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 14 is a schematic block diagram of an apparatus for accessing a local network in accordance with one embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 15 is a schematic block diagram of an apparatus accessing a local network according to one embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 16 is a schematic block diagram of an apparatus for accessing a local network in accordance with another embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 17 is a schematic block diagram of an apparatus for accessing a local network according to another embodiment of the present application;

fig. 18 is a schematic block diagram of an apparatus for accessing a local network according to yet another embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 19 is a schematic block diagram of an apparatus for accessing a local network according to yet another embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 20 is a schematic block diagram of an apparatus for accessing a local network according to yet another embodiment of the present application;

fig. 21 is a schematic structural diagram of an apparatus for accessing a home network according to still another embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

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

The terminal in the embodiment of the present application may refer to a device with a wireless transceiver function, and may be referred to as a terminal (terminal), a User Equipment (UE), a Mobile Station (MS), a Mobile Terminal (MT), a vehicle-mounted terminal, a remote station, a remote terminal, and so on. The specific form of the terminal may be a mobile phone, a cellular phone, a cordless phone, a session initiation protocol (session initiation protocol, SIP) phone, a wearable tablet (pad), a desktop, a notebook, an all-in-one, a car-mounted terminal, a wireless local loop (wireless local loop, WLL) station, a personal digital assistant (personal digital assistant, PDA) or the like. The terminal can be applied to the following scenarios: virtual Reality (VR), augmented reality (augmented reality, AR), industrial control (industrial control), unmanned (self driving), tele-surgery (remote medical surgery), smart grid (smart grid), transportation safety (transportation safety), smart city (smart home), smart home (smart home), etc. The terminal may be fixed or mobile. It should be noted that the terminal may support at least one wireless communication technology, such as LTE, NR, wideband code division multiple access (wideband code division multiple access, WCDMA), etc.

In the embodiment of the application, the terminal comprises 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 (central processing unit, CPU), a memory management unit (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 processes 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 book, word processing software, instant messaging software and the like. Further, the embodiment of the present application is not particularly limited to the specific structure of the execution body of the method provided in the embodiment of the present application, as long as the communication can be performed by 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, and for example, the execution 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 in the terminal or the access network device that can call the program and execute the program.

Furthermore, 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, etc.), optical disks (e.g., compact Disk (CD), digital versatile disk (digital versatile disc, DVD), etc.), smart cards, and flash memory devices (e.g., erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), cards, sticks, key drives, etc.). Additionally, 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.

It will be appreciated that the access network devices and terminals may be deployed on land, including indoors or outdoors, hand held or vehicle mounted; the device can be deployed on the water surface; but also on aerial planes, balloons and satellites. The embodiment of the application does not limit the application scene of the wireless access network equipment and the terminal.

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of one possible network architecture of an embodiment of the present application. Taking a 5G network architecture as an example, the network architecture includes: terminal 101, (radio) access network device (radio access network, (R) AN) 102, user plane function (user plane function, UPF) element 103, DN element 104, authentication server function (authentication server function, AUSF) element 105, AMF element 106, session management function (session management function, SMF) element 107, network opening function (network exposure function, NEF) element 108, network function library function (network repository function, NRF) element 109, policy control function module (policy control function, PCF) element 110, unified data management (unified data management, UDM) element 111, network data analysis function entity (network data analytics function, NWDAF) element 112, and application function entity (application function, AF) element 113. The 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 (policy control function, PCF) network element 110, UDM network element 111, NSSF network element 112 are abbreviated as UPF103, DN104, AUSF105, AMF106, SMF107, NEF108, NRF109, PCF110, UDM111, NWDAF112, AF113.

The terminal 101 mainly accesses the 5G network through a wireless air interface and obtains services, and the terminal interacts with the RAN through the air interface and interacts with the AMF of the core network through non-access stratum (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 a data network and transmit the user data to a terminal through an 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 that serve the terminal are managed and controlled by the SMF network element.

DN104 can be the Internet or a private enterprise network. Such as operator services, internet access or third party services.

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 signaling processing parts, such as: access control, mobility management, attach and detach, gateway selection, etc., and the AMF106 may also provide a storage resource of a control plane for a session in the terminal to store a session identifier, an SMF network element identifier associated with the session identifier, etc. in case of providing services for the session.

SMF107 is responsible for user plane element selection, user plane element redirection, internet protocol (internet protocol, IP) address assignment, bearer establishment, modification and release, and quality of service (quality of service, qoS) control.

The NEF108 belongs to a core network control plane network element for taking charge of the outward opening of mobile network capabilities.

NRF109 belongs to a core network control plane network element for dynamic registration of service capabilities and network function discovery responsible for network functions.

PCF110 is primarily responsible for providing a unified policy framework to control network behavior, providing policy rules to control layer network functions, and acquiring subscriber subscription information associated with policy decisions.

The UDM111 belongs to a core network control plane network element, and belongs to a home subscriber server, and can be used for unified data management, and support functions such as 3GPP authentication, subscriber identity operation, authority grant, registration, mobility management, and the like.

The NWDAF112 is used for a network data analysis functional entity to provide a network data acquisition and analysis function based on technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence.

The AF 113 is used to interact with the 3GPP core network to provide services to affect traffic routing, access network capability opening, policy control, etc.

It can be appreciated that 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, nnrf 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, nnwdaf is a service-based interface presented by NWDAF112, and Naf is a service-based interface presented by AF 113. N1 is a reference point between the UE101 and the AMF106, N2 is a reference point between the (R) AN102 and the AMF106, and is used for sending non-access stratum (NAS) messages, etc.; n3 is a reference point between the (R) AN102 and the UPF103, for transmitting data of the user plane, etc.; n4 is a reference point between the SMF107 and the UPF103, and is used for transmitting information such as tunnel identification information of the N3 connection, data buffer indication information, and downlink data notification message; the N6 interface is a reference point between the UPF103 and the DN104, and is used for transmitting data of the user plane, etc.

Fig. 2 shows a schematic diagram of another possible application architecture (mobile edge computing (mobile edge computing, MEC) architecture) of an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 2, the application architecture includes a terminal 210, an edge data network (edge data network, EDN) 220, and an edge configuration server (edge configuration server, ECS) 230. Among other things, the EDN220 includes an edge application 221 and an edge enabled server (edge enabler server, EES) 222. The terminal includes an application client (application client) 211 and an edge-enabled client (edge enabler client, EEC) 212.

EDN 220：

One general understanding is that EDN corresponds to a data network, a special local data network (local DN), containing edge enabled functions, can be identified using a data network access identifier (DN access identifier, DNAI) and a data network name (data network name, DNN), and is a network logic concept. Another understanding of EDNs is that EDNs are peer-to-peer concepts of a central cloud, which can be understood to be a local data center (i.e., a geolocation concept), can be identified using DNAI, and can contain multiple local data networks (local DNs).

Edge application 221:

an edge application is an application deployed in an edge data network. The edge application may also be referred to as an "application instance". In particular, a server application (e.g., social media software, augmented Reality (AR), virtual Reality (VR)) deploys instances (instances) running on the EDN. An application may deploy one or more EAS in one or more EDNs, deploying EAS running in different EDNs may be considered different EAS of an application, they may share a domain name, or may use different domain names with applications deployed on the cloud, where the domain name may be a fully qualified domain name (fully qualified domain name, FQDN).

It is to be appreciated that EAS may also be referred to as edge applications (servers), application instances, edge application instances, mobile edge computing (mobile edge computing, MEC) applications (servers), EAS functions, and the like.

Application client 211:

the application client is a peer entity whose edge application is on the UE side. The application client is used for an application user (user) to acquire an application service from the application server. The application client is a client program applied on the terminal side, and can be connected to an application server on the cloud to acquire application services, and can also be connected to EAS deployed and run in one or more EDNs to acquire the application services.

EES 222：

The EES is deployed in the EDN, can provide some enabling capability for application examples deployed in the EDN, can better support deployment conditions of the application in the MEC, can also support registration of edge application, authentication and authentication of UE, provides IP address information of the application examples for the UE, and the like, can also further support obtaining identification and IP address information of the application examples, and further sends the identification and the IP address information of the application examples to an edge data network configuration server. Typically, EAS is registered with an EES, or information of an EAS is configured on an EES by a management system, which is referred to as the EAS associated EES, which controls/manages EAS registered/configured on the EES.

It is to be appreciated that the identification of the application instance described above can include a FQDN.

EEC 212：

EECs are peer entities of EES on the UE side. The EEC is used to register information of the EEC with the EES, to perform security authentication and authorization, to obtain an IP address of the EAS from the EES, to provide the application client with edge calculation enabling capabilities, such as the EAS discovery server returning the IP address of the EAS to the application client. EECs may be a sub-functional module implemented within an application client (application client, AC), or a module integrated into an operating system, or a stand-alone application.

ECS 230：

The ECS is responsible for configuration of the EDN, such as providing information of the EES to the UE. The ECS may also provide information of the application instance directly to the UE and interact with a domain name server (domain name server, DNS) of the application to obtain information of the application instance. Information of the application instance and the IP address may be further obtained and saved from other functional entities.

Fig. 3 shows a schematic diagram of a comparison of a 5G application architecture with a MEC architecture. The local DN in the MEC architecture may serve users in an edge area closer to the terminal relative to the DN network in the 5G application architecture. In other words, a low latency traffic experience is provided by deploying traffic and traffic handling, resource scheduling functions to the edge network close to the terminal. For example, as in fig. 3, the MEC is deployed at a submerged UPF (i.e., a local UPF) and the DN network is deployed at a remote (remote) UPF. The path for the UE to access the MEC platform is greatly shortened compared to the path for the UE to access the DN. That is, MEC technology can provide low latency services to users.

Fig. 4 shows a schematic diagram of a business process model according to an embodiment of the present application. The traffic processing can be performed by 3 connection models shown in fig. 4.

Connection model 1:

distributed anchor points. Traffic is distributed in the edge region and is accessed through anchors (PDU session anchor, PSA) located in the edge region. When the UE moves, path optimization can be achieved by replacing the anchor point. For example, the UE establishes a session in which the SSCmode is SSCmode2 or SSC mode3, and when the path is not optimal, the path is optimized by newly creating a session to replace an anchor point.

Connection model 2:

and (3) splitting. The service is deployed in both the edge region and the center region. And the service is shunted to the edge area by a shunting mode, namely a local anchor point is inserted, so that the access of the edge service is realized.

It is understood that the splitting point may be specifically an upstream classifier (uplink classifier, ULCL) or a Branching Point (BP).

Connection model 3:

multiple sessions. The service is deployed in both the edge region and the center region. And the access of the edge service is realized by a multi-session mode, namely, a session for accessing the edge service is established.

The terms referred to in this application are briefly described below.

1. A session:

in a 5G network, a terminal may access a data network by creating a protocol data unit (protocol data units, PDU) session. For example, a terminal may create multiple PDU sessions to access different data networks. The session type may include IPv4, IPv6, IPv4IPv6, ethernet (ethernet), unstructured (unstructured), or the like.

Session continuity modes may include session and service continuity (session and service continuity, SSC) mode (mode) 1, SSC mode2, or SSC mode3, etc. Wherein, the SSC mode1 may be that the network maintains continuity of the service provided to the terminal, the SSC mode2 may be that the network releases the service connection to the terminal and the corresponding PDU session, and the SSC mode3 may be that a new PDU session connection is established before the original connection is terminated.

2. UE routing policy (UE route selection policy, urs):

the urs may include correspondence of application identification (app ID) to application requirements. The application may be an internet of things application, or an internet of things application, and is not limited. The application identifier may also be represented by an IP five tuple, an IP triplet, etc. In addition, the application requirement in the correspondence relationship may be a subscription application requirement of the terminal device. The application requirements may be DNN, S-NSSAI, SSC mode, etc.

The terminal may determine a routing path for the application data flow based on the urs p, e.g. to which PDU session to route. When the session attribute of the PDU session is consistent with the application requirement of the application, the terminal can transmit the data of the application by adopting the PDU session; when the session attribute of the PDU session is inconsistent with the application requirements of the application, the terminal may initiate a new PDU session to establish a PDU session that meets the application requirements of the application.

Specifically, the urs may be preset in the terminal, or may be sent by the PCF to the terminal through the AMF. The terminal may preferentially select the urs to be delivered by the network device.

3. Domain name query:

in the internet surfing process, firstly, a terminal needs to determine an IP address corresponding to a domain name of a service to be accessed so as to send a data packet of the service to be accessed. This operation requires the terminal to query a domain name system (domain name system, DNS) server (server) to complete. Wherein DNS is a database of host information providing mapping and translation between domain names and internet protocol addresses. For example, the UE may resolve the domain name into a corresponding IP address through a DNS server, so as to implement access to a service by the UE. The correspondence of domain names and IP addresses may be referred to as DNS records, or resource records.

a. The terminal starts an Application (APP) and initiates a session establishment procedure or reuses the UE's existing session to establish a user plane connection between the terminal and the UPF. Further, during session establishment, the SMF may send a DNS server address to the terminal.

It will be appreciated that different applications correspond to different services. The application of the embodiment of the present application may be QQ, weChat, securities of a mobile phone, browsing by a mobile phone or downloading a file, which is not limited in this application.

b. For the APP, the terminal judges whether the related DNS records of the domain name corresponding to the APP exist.

For example, if the terminal stores the DNS record of the APP, the terminal may determine the IP address corresponding to the domain name according to the DNS record, and use the IP address as the destination IP of the service.

If the terminal does not store the DNS record of the APP, the terminal can initiate a DNS query procedure. The terminal sends a DNS request (query) message to the DNS server, where the DNS query message carries the domain name of the service.

It is understood that the DNS query message may be sent by the UE to the DNS server over the user plane connection with the UPF.

c. The DNS server receives the DNS query message, queries a database to obtain an IP address corresponding to the domain name, and returns a DNS response message to the terminal, wherein the DNS response message carries the IP address corresponding to the domain name and the residence time (TTL).

It is understood that TTL indicates the time that a DNS record can be cached. For example, the retention time is represented by 4 bytes, where a value of "0" indicates that the DNS record cannot be cached.

Fig. 5 shows a schematic flow chart of a method of accessing a local network according to an embodiment of the present application.

501, the terminal obtains a first network access identifier, where the first network access identifier is used to indicate a first local network.

In particular, one or more local networks may be included in the system, different local networks being identified by different network access identities (DN access identifier, DNAI). The local network may be a local DN in the MEC architecture shown in fig. 3.

It may be understood that the terminal may actively acquire the first network access identifier, or may passively receive the first network access identifier. For example, the active acquisition may be that the terminal sends a request to other devices to request to obtain the first network access identifier, and then obtains the first network access identifier in a response message that receives the request. The passive reception may be that the terminal directly receives the first network access identification periodically or temporarily sent by the other device.

It will also be appreciated that a session connection may or may not exist on the terminal prior to performing step 501. For example, the session connection of the terminal before performing step 501 may be a second session, which may be used for the terminal to access the central network. It should be noted that, the present application assumes that the session attribute is the same for the second session accessing the central network and the first session accessing the local network. The session attributes may be SSC mode, DNN, S-NSSAI, etc. For example, as shown in fig. 3, the first session is a session connection from UE, RAN, UPF to MEC in sequence, and the second session is a session connection from UE, RAN, UPF to DN in sequence. In addition, the access center network in the embodiment of the present application may be understood as a service needs to be processed through the center network, and the access local network may be understood as a service needs to be processed through the MEC.

It may be further understood that the session connection in the embodiment of the present application may be a user plane connection, a control plane connection, or a user plane connection and a control plane connection, which is not limited in this application.

In one embodiment, before step 501, the terminal may first obtain a first mapping relationship, where the first mapping relationship is a mapping relationship between at least one service and at least one network access identifier. In this way, step 501 may specifically be that the terminal determines, according to the first mapping relationship and the first service, a first network access identifier corresponding to the first service.

Specifically, after the terminal obtains the first mapping relationship, the network access identifier corresponding to any service can be determined according to the first mapping relationship. For example, according to the first mapping relationship and the first service, a network access identifier corresponding to the first service may be determined. In this embodiment of the present application, the terminal may use the network access identifier corresponding to the first service as the first network access identifier.

It may be understood that the at least one service corresponds to at least one network access identifier may be one service corresponds to one or network access identifiers, one service corresponds to a plurality of network access identifiers, or a plurality of services corresponds to one network access identifier, which is not limited in this application.

It is further understood that the terminal may directly obtain at least one service and at least one network access identifier corresponding to the at least one service. For convenience of description, the following embodiments take the example that the terminal obtains the first mapping relationship as an example, but the present application is not limited thereto.

For example, the mapping relationship between the at least one service and the at least one network access identifier may be as shown in table 1 below. Specifically, if the terminal accesses the service 1, the DNAI list= { DNAI1, DNAI3} corresponding to the service 1, that is, the network corresponding to the DNAI list is capable of providing the service 1 service for the terminal. Wherein service 1 may also be written as EAS1.

TABLE 1 first mapping form 1

Service 1	DNAI 1，DNAI3
		Service 2	DNAI 2，DNAI3，DNAI4

It is understood that the first mapping relationship may also be embodied in the form of table 2. Specifically, the network corresponding to DNAI1 can provide service 1, service 2, and service 3; the network corresponding to DNAI2 can provide service 4 and service 5; the network corresponding to DNAI3 can provide service 4 and service 6; the network to which DNAI4 corresponds is capable of providing traffic 7, traffic 8.

TABLE 2 first mapping form 2

It may be understood that the network access identifier corresponding to a service may be one or more, which is not limited in this application. In the first mapping relationship, if the network access identifier corresponding to the first service is a plurality of network access identifiers, the first network access identifier may be any one of the plurality of network access identifiers corresponding to the first service.

It will also be appreciated that the terminal may start an Application (APP), i.e. the first service, before determining the network access identifier corresponding to the first service.

Alternatively, the terminal acquiring the first mapping relation may be obtained from a registration accept message of the access and mobility management function. For example, the terminal receives a registration accept message from the access and mobility management function, the registration accept message comprising the first mapping relation.

Alternatively, the terminal may obtain the first mapping relation from a configuration update command message of the access and mobility management functions. For example, the terminal receives a configuration update command message from the access and mobility management function, the configuration update command message comprising the first mapping relation.

Specifically, the configuration update command message may be sent to the terminal by the mobility management function in the terminal configuration update procedure after the registration procedure. For example, the configuration update command message is a UE configuration update (UE configuration update, UCU) message.

Alternatively, the first mapping relationship may also be configured by the terminal itself, i.e. the terminal configures the first mapping relationship locally.

In another embodiment, before step 501, the terminal may first obtain a second mapping relationship, where the second mapping relationship is a mapping relationship between at least one location of the terminal and at least one network access identifier. In this way, step 501 may specifically be that the terminal determines the first network access identifier according to the second mapping relationship and the first location of the terminal.

Specifically, the location of the terminal may have a mapping relationship with the network access identifier. That is, the terminal may correspond to different network access identities at different locations. In this way, the terminal can obtain the network access identifier corresponding to any position according to the second mapping relation. In this embodiment of the present application, the terminal may use the network access identifier corresponding to the first location as the first network access identifier. That is, the established first session may be used to transmit various services while the terminal is in the first location.

It is to be understood that the at least one location corresponds to at least one network access identifier may be one location corresponds to one or network access identifiers, one location corresponds to a plurality of network access identifiers, or a plurality of locations corresponds to one network access identifier, which is not limited in this application.

It is further understood that the terminal may directly obtain at least one location and at least one network access identifier corresponding to the at least one location. For convenience of description, the following embodiments are described by taking the example that the terminal obtains the second mapping relationship, but are not limited thereto.

For example, the second mapping relationship between the at least one location and the at least one network access identifier may be as shown in table 3 below. Specifically, if the current location of the terminal is at location 1, the DNAI list= { DNAI1, DNAI2}, that is, the network corresponding to DNAI list is a home network capable of providing services to the terminal.

TABLE 3 second mapping relationship

Position 1	DNAI 1，DNAI2
		Position 2	DNAI 1，DNAI3，DNAI4

It may be understood that the network access identifier corresponding to the terminal at one location may be one or multiple, which is not limited in this application. In the second mapping relationship, if the network access identifier corresponding to the first location is a plurality of network access identifiers, the first network access identifier may be any one of the plurality of network access identifiers corresponding to the first location.

It may be appreciated that the second mapping relationship may be generated by the terminal itself or may be obtained from the core network during the session establishment procedure.

Optionally, the terminal may also determine the final DNAI based on the loading conditions of the EAS. For example, if the terminal selects DNAI1 as the final DNAI according to DNAI list= { DNAI1, DNAI2} corresponding to the location 1, and in combination with the loading condition of EAS. That is, different DNAIs may have an association with the load of EAS, so that the terminal may select DNAIs corresponding to EAS with idle load, or may select DNAIs corresponding to EAS with alarm load.

It will be appreciated that the present application is not limited as to how the terminal obtains the loading of EAS.

Optionally, the terminal may further determine the first network access identifier according to the first mapping relationship, the second mapping relationship, the first location, and the first service.

Specifically, the first mapping relationship is a mapping relationship between at least one service and at least one network access identifier, and the second mapping relationship is a mapping relationship between at least one location and at least one network access identifier. Thus, the terminal can determine the network access identifier corresponding to the first service according to the first service and the first mapping relation, and then determine the network access identifier corresponding to the first position according to the first position and the second mapping relation. And then, the terminal can take the same network access identifier in the network access identifier corresponding to the first service and the network access identifier corresponding to the first position as the first network access identifier. That is, at the first location, a transmission may be made over a first session for the first service.

It should be noted that, the terminal may also determine the first network access identifier by: the terminal determines a network access identifier corresponding to the first service according to the first service and the first mapping relation, and then determines the first network access identifier according to the determined network access identifier corresponding to the first service, the first position and the second mapping relation.

It should be noted that, the terminal may also determine the first network access identifier by: the terminal determines a network access identifier corresponding to the first position according to the first position and the second mapping relation, and then determines a first network access identifier according to the determined network access identifier corresponding to the first position, the first service and the first mapping relation.

In yet another embodiment, before step 501, the terminal may acquire at least one network access identifier corresponding to the first location of the terminal. Step 501 may thus be in particular that the terminal selects the first network access identity from the at least one network access identity.

Specifically, the terminal may acquire actively or passively receive at least one network access identifier corresponding to the first location. For example, the terminal may receive at least one network access identity corresponding to the first location from the session management function network element.

It is understood that the at least one network access identity may be regarded as a list of network access identities (DNAI list).

Optionally, the terminal may further select a first network access identifier from the at least one network access identifier according to the first service and the first mapping relation.

Specifically, the terminal may further determine a network access identifier corresponding to the first service according to the first mapping relationship. In this way, the terminal uses the network access identifier corresponding to the first service and the same network access identifier in the at least one network access identifier as the first network access identifier.

The terminal sends a session establishment request to a session management function network element, the session establishment request being for requesting establishment of a first session, the first session being for the terminal to access the first local network, and the session establishment request comprising the first network access identity 502.

Specifically, after the terminal obtains the first network access identifier, the terminal may actively send a session establishment request to the session management function network element.

It can be understood that the terminal may send an AS message to the access network device, where the AS message includes a NAS message, where the NAS message carries a session identifier and the session establishment request; the access network equipment sends an N2 message to the access and mobility management network element, wherein the N2 message comprises a session identifier and a session establishment request; the access and mobility management network element sends the session establishment request to the session management function network element.

It should be noted that the first network access identifier may be included in the NAS message. In this case, the NAS message contains a session identifier, a first network access identifier, and a session establishment request.

It is further understood that the session management function network element in the embodiment of the present application may be an SMF, but is not limited thereto. For convenience of description, the following examples will be described by taking SMF as an example.

Optionally, after step 502, when the terminal starts a new APP, that is, processes a new service (hereinafter referred to as "second service"), the terminal may first determine the network access identifier corresponding to the second service. The method for determining the network access identifier corresponding to the second service by the terminal may refer to the description of step 501, which is not repeated herein.

It is assumed that the application requirements of the second service are the same as the first service, i.e. the terminal may reuse the first session for transmitting the second service according to prior art. According to the foregoing description, the first session is a session accessing a local network, wherein the local network may be represented by a first network access identity. The local network may only be able to provide limited services, e.g. the local network deploys only the first service, the third service. In this case, a problem occurs when the terminal reuses the first session to transmit the second service according to the related art. The present application solves this problem by the following.

And the terminal judges whether the network access identifier corresponding to the second service is the same as the first network access identifier or not, and sends the second service.

Specifically, in the case that the network access identifier corresponding to the second service is the same as or different from the first network access identifier, the manner in which the terminal sends the second service may be different. It can be understood that the terminal sends the second service, which can be understood as a message transmitted by the terminal.

For example, if the network access identifier corresponding to the second service is the same as the first network access identifier, the terminal may send the second service using the first session.

For another example, if the network access identifier corresponding to the second service is different from the first network access identifier, the terminal may send the second service using the second session. The second session is for the terminal to access a central network.

For another example, if the network access identifier corresponding to the second service is different from the first network access identifier, the terminal may send the second service by using a third session. The third session may be a session connection to the local network re-established by the terminal for the second service.

It should be noted that, the terminal may not be able to determine the network access identifier corresponding to the second service, for example, when the second service is deployed in the central network, the first mapping relationship stored by the terminal may not include the second service and the corresponding network access identifier. In this case, the terminal may transmit a message of the second service using the second session. Wherein the second session is a session accessing the central network. Wherein, as previously described, the second session is established before the first session. When the terminal does not establish the second session before establishing the first session, the terminal can establish the new session to realize the message transmission of the second service. Wherein the newly-built session is a session accessing the central network.

Optionally, the terminal may specifically receive the IP address of the EAS in the first local network, and send the service to the EAS in the first local network according to the IP address of the EAS.

It is understood that the service may be the first service or the second service.

It is further understood that the IP address of the EAS may be carried in a session response message, may be sent separately, or may be carried in other messages, which is not limited in this application.

Alternatively, the terminal acquiring the IP address of EAS may specifically be that the terminal sends a DNS request message to the DNS server, where the DNS request message includes the domain name of the first service. And the DNS server determines the IP address of the corresponding EAS according to the domain name of the first service and sends a DNS response message to the terminal, wherein the DNS response message comprises the IP address of the EAS.

Specifically, the terminal may initiate a DNS query message to the DNS server on the user plane connection of the first session. The DNS query message includes the APP FQDN of the service to be sent (e.g., the APP FQDN is the domain name of the first service). And the DNS server receives the DNS query message and queries a database to obtain the IP address corresponding to the APP FQDN. The DNS server will return a DNS response message to the terminal, where the DNS response message includes the IP address corresponding to the APP FQDN.

Similarly, the terminal may also query the IP address of the EAS corresponding to the second service or other services.

Optionally, the terminal may also obtain the IP address of the EAS from the SMF.

It can be appreciated that DNS servers in embodiments of the present application may be distributed or centrally deployed.

Optionally, the terminal may also receive a service area identifier of the EAS, and send a session modification request to the session management function network element to request to change the session connection if the terminal moves out of the service area indicated by the service area identifier.

It will be appreciated that the service area identifier of the EAS received by the terminal may be carried in the session response message, may be sent separately, or may be carried in another message, which is not limited in this application.

In the embodiment of fig. 5, the terminal triggers an active new session procedure to create a first session to access the local network, which is applicable to the multi-session scenario in fig. 4 (i.e. connection model 3). Alternatively, the modification procedure of the existing session may be actively triggered by the terminal, and the modified session is used to access the local network, which embodiment is applicable to the offloading scenario (i.e. the connection model 2) in fig. 4.

Next, taking the existing session as a third session as an example, a method for actively triggering the modification procedure of the existing session by the terminal to access the home network is described in connection with fig. 6. It should be appreciated that this third session may be used to conduct traffic transmission and processing for EES and/or EAS and/or ECS.

The existing session may be used for the terminal to access the central network, or may be used for the terminal to access the local network, which is not limited herein.

S601, the terminal acquires a second network access identifier, wherein the second network access identifier is used for indicating a second local network.

It should be understood that one or more local networks may be included in the system, with different local networks identified by different network access identities (DN access identifier, DNAI), each having its corresponding service area, which may be understood as the service area of the EAS, as well as the service area of the EES or the service area of the ECS. The second network access identifier corresponds to a current location of the terminal, or the current terminal is in a service range of the second local network.

It should also be understood that the terminal may be configured to actively acquire the second network access identifier, or may be configured to passively receive the second network access identifier, or may be configured to pre-configure EES or ECS or EAS and information about a service range corresponding to the EES or ECS or EAS, where the service range information corresponding to the EES or ECS or EAS may be represented by at least one DNAI, where the at least one DNAI includes the second network access identifier.

In one possible implementation manner, the terminal actively acquires the second network access identifier may be that the terminal sends a request to other devices to request to acquire related information of EES/ECS/EAS, and further acquires information of EES or ECS or EAS and a corresponding service range thereof in a response message that receives the request, where the corresponding service range includes a service range corresponding to the second network access identifier, and may also be understood that DNAI corresponding to the service range of EES or ECS or EAS includes the second network access identifier.

By way of example and not limitation, a terminal (or EEC) sends a request to a network side (e.g., ECS or EES) to request for obtaining information of a service range corresponding to the information of the EES/ECS/EAS, and the information of the service range corresponding to the information of the EES/ECS/EAS is included in a response message that the terminal receives the request, where the information of the service range corresponding to the information of the EES/ECS/EAS may be represented by at least one DNAI, and the at least one DNAI includes the second network access identifier.

In one possible implementation, the terminal passively receives information about EES/ECS/EAS and its corresponding service range, which may be periodically or temporarily sent by other devices, directly received by the terminal.

It should be noted that, the network access identifier (which may be referred to as a third network access identifier) corresponding to the existing session (i.e., the third session) actively modified by the terminal is different from the service range of the second network access identifier, which may be understood that the service range of the third local network corresponding to the third network access identifier is different from the service range of the second local network corresponding to the second network access identifier, and the terminal is currently in the service range of the second local network. It can be understood that the current location of the terminal may be the location of the terminal after the terminal moves, and the above description may also be understood that the terminal is in the service range of the third local network before moving, and the terminal is in the service range of the second local network after moving.

In one embodiment, before step 601, the terminal may first obtain a first mapping relationship, where the first mapping relationship is a mapping relationship between at least one service and at least one network access identifier. The description of the first mapping relationship may refer to the corresponding embodiment of fig. 5, and will not be repeated herein.

In another embodiment, before step 601, the terminal may first obtain a second mapping relationship, where the second mapping relationship is a mapping relationship between at least one location of the terminal and at least one network access identifier. The description of the second mapping relationship may also refer to the corresponding embodiment of fig. 5, and will not be repeated herein.

Optionally, the terminal further determines the second network access identifier according to the first mapping relationship and the second service, or the second mapping relationship and the second position, where the second position is a current position of the terminal, and the second service is a service corresponding to the current position of the terminal. It will be appreciated that the current location of the terminal may be the location of the terminal after movement.

S602, the terminal sends information #a to the SMF, the information #a being used to request modification of the third session.

In one possible implementation, the terminal sends a PDU session modification request (i.e. information #a) to the SMF, where the request information is used to request modification of the third session, or the request information is used to request local offloading of the third session, and the request information includes a session identifier (which may be denoted as session 3) of the third session and a second network access identifier, where the session identifier of the third session is used to determine the modified session, and the second network access identifier is used to determine a local user plane anchor point corresponding to the second local network. It should be noted that, the information #a may also be a NAS message sent by the terminal to the AMF, including a session identifier of the third session, a second network access identifier, and a PDU session modification request.

Optionally, the information #a further includes service information, where the service information is used to indicate a service that needs to be locally split.

Alternatively, the terminal may determine the service information according to the EES/ECS/EAS related information acquired in step S601 and the location information of the UE. The terminal obtains the identification information of EAS1 and EAS2 and the service range information corresponding to EAS1 and EAS2, and determines that the terminal is in the service range of EAS1 and the service range of EAS2 simultaneously before moving according to the location information of the terminal, and the terminal is still in the service range of EAS1 after moving but is not in the service range of EAS2, where the service information included in the information #a may be the service information of EAS2, and it should be understood that the service information of EES/ECS/EAS may be the identification information of EES/ECS/EAS, such as IP quintuple and the like.

S603, the SMF determines a local user plane anchor.

In one possible implementation manner, the information #a received by the SMF includes a second network access identifier and a session identifier, the SMF determines a session to be modified according to the session identifier, and the SMF determines a local user plane anchor point corresponding to the second local network according to the second network access identifier. Optionally, the SMF further determines a split point corresponding to the second network according to the second network access identifier.

Optionally, when the information #a includes service information, the SMF may locally split a service corresponding to the service information according to the service information.

In the above embodiment, the modification procedure of the existing session is actively triggered by the terminal, and in another embodiment, the modification procedure of the existing session may also be triggered by the network side, for example, the modification procedure of the existing session is triggered by the SMF. The process of the SMF triggering the modification procedure of the existing session may be that the SMF obtains information #b from EAS (or EES or ECS), the SMF determines, according to the obtained information #b, a network access identifier corresponding to the current location of the terminal and a session identifier of the existing session of the terminal, the SMF determines, according to the session identifier, a session to be modified, and the SMF determines, according to the network access identifier, a splitting point and a local user plane anchor point corresponding to the network access identifier.

It should be noted that, the information #b may include location information of the terminal, a corresponding local network access identifier, service information, existing session information of the terminal, and so on, and it should be understood that, as long as the SMF can determine, according to the information #b, a network access identifier corresponding to a current location of the terminal and a session identifier of an existing session of the terminal, the application is not limited herein.

Optionally, the SMF may further obtain service information of the terminal from the EAS (or may also be EES or ECS), and locally split a service corresponding to the service information according to the service information. In the above embodiment, the terminal actively initiates the process of establishing the session, and in another possible implementation manner, the SMF may trigger the terminal to establish the session, and this implementation manner is described below with reference to fig. 7.

Fig. 7 shows a schematic flow chart of a method of accessing a local network according to an embodiment of the present application.

701, the terminal receives a trigger message sent by a session management function network element, where the trigger message is used to trigger the terminal to establish a session. Accordingly, the session management function network element sends the trigger message to the terminal.

Specifically, the session management function network element sends a trigger message to the terminal for triggering the terminal to establish a session.

It will be appreciated that prior to step 701, a session connection may exist between the terminal and the network. For example, the session connection of the terminal before performing step 701 may be a second session, which may be used for the terminal to access the central network. It should be noted that, the present application assumes that the session attribute is the same for the second session accessing the central network and the first session accessing the local network. The session attributes may be SSC mode, DNN, S-NSSAI, etc.

It will also be appreciated that the SMF in the embodiment shown in fig. 7 may manage all UPFs, i.e. the SMF Service Area (SA) as an entire PLMN.

Alternatively, the terminal may establish a session connection for the second session prior to step 701.

Specifically, the terminal starts a first service, and initiates a DNS query message to the RAN to obtain an EAS IP address corresponding to the first service. The DNS query message includes a domain name (e.g., FQDN 2) of the first service. The RAN sends the DNS query message to the PSA, which detects the DNS query message and sends it to the SMF. Wherein the PSA detects the DNS query message specifically may identify the traffic type according to the domain name in the DNS query message. For example, the PSA processes only some domain names belonging to a preset list of domain names, or service types. If the domain name in the DNS query message does not belong to the preset domain name list, the domain name is not sent to the SMF. The SMF may obtain the target DNAI (target DNAI) corresponding to the domain name in the query message according to the mapping relationship between the stored domain name and DNAI.

It can be understood that the mapping relationship between the domain name and DNAI stored in the SMF includes the correspondence between the identifier of the first service and the target DNAI. The correspondence may be regarded as a list or a table, which is not limited in this application. The identity of the first service may be represented by a domain name of the first service.

It is further understood that the DNS query message mentioned in this application may also be the first upstream message of the service. For example, the PSA detect DNS query message may be the first upstream message of the PSA detect traffic.

Optionally, the trigger message further includes indication information, where the indication information is used to indicate that the current session connection of the terminal is the second session.

Specifically, the indication information may indicate a cause value. The terminal receives the trigger message and can learn that the current session connection of the terminal is used for accessing the central network. This may facilitate session selection for subsequent transmission of new traffic.

Optionally, the triggering message further includes indication information, where the indication information is used to indicate that the terminal carries an identifier of the current session, that is, an identifier of the second session, when the first session is established, or the indication information is used to indicate that the terminal carries a session identifier of the existing session when the terminal newly establishes the session.

The terminal sends 702 a first message to the SMF according to the trigger message, the first message being for requesting to establish a first session, the first session being for the terminal to access the first local network.

It will be appreciated that the terminal sends a NAS message to the AMF, the NAS message comprising the session identification of the second session and the first session establishment request. The AMF sends a first message to the SMF, the first message including the first session establishment request, the first session establishment request may include a session identification of the second session. Wherein the first session establishment request comprises the session identification of the second session, which may also be understood as the first message comprising the session identification of the second session.

The smf determines 703 a target network access identity from the first message.

Optionally, if a second session exists between the terminal and the network before step 701, the first message may include a session identifier of the second session and a session identifier of the first session, so that the SMF determines, according to the session identifier of the second session and the mapping relationship, a target network access identifier corresponding to the session identifier of the second session. In addition, the SMF may use the target network access identifier corresponding to the session identifier of the second session in the first message as the network access identifier corresponding to the session identifier of the first session. The mapping relationship is the mapping relationship of at least one session identifier and at least one network access identifier. And the mapping relation comprises the corresponding relation between the identifier of the second session and the access identifier of the target network.

It may be appreciated that the SMF may pre-store a correspondence between at least one session identifier and at least one network access identifier, where the at least one session identifier includes a second session identifier. Or the SMF stores the corresponding relation between the session identifier of the second session and the target network access identifier in the process of establishing the second session. Thus, the SMF may determine the corresponding target network access identifier according to the second session identifier included in the first session establishment request.

It may also be appreciated that after receiving the first message, the SMF may save a correspondence between the session identifier of the first session and the target network access identifier. Alternatively, the SMF may store the correspondence between the session identifier of the first session, the session identifier of the second session, and the target network access identifier. The SMF may also store the correspondence between other sessions and the network access identifier, which is not limited in this application.

In the above description, the correspondence between the SMF storage session identifier and the target network access identifier is taken as an example. Optionally, the SMF may also store the target network access identifier. After the SMF receives the first message, a target UPF is determined for the first session according to the stored target network access identifier.

It should also be noted that, optionally, the mode of deleting the target network access identifier by the SMF or the correspondence between the session identifier and the target network access identifier includes: after the SMF determines a target UPF for the first session, the SMF deletes a target network access identifier or a corresponding relation; and/or deleting the target network access identifier or the corresponding relation after a period of time by the SMF; and/or deleting the target network access identifier or the corresponding relation when the SMF releases the second session.

It should also be noted that, optionally, during the new session 1 of the UE, the UE may send UE capability to the SMF, to indicate that the UE supports carrying the old session identifier. It is to be appreciated that UE capability can also be described as UE support carrying multiple session identities, and can also be described as UE being R17UE. Optionally, the SMF determines, according to the UE capability, a processing manner of the target network access identifier: (1) When the UE supports carrying the old session identifier, the SMF stores the corresponding relation between the target network access identifier and the session identifier; in the new session establishment process initiated by the UE, the SMF determines a target network access identifier according to the old session identifier carried by the UE and the corresponding relation, and selects a target UPF according to the target network access identifier. (2) When the UE does not support carrying the old session identifier, the SMF stores the target network access identifier, starts a timer, and when the timer expires, the SMF deletes the target network access identifier. In the new session establishment process initiated by the UE, the SMF selects a target UPF according to the stored target network access identifier.

The smf determines 704 a target UPF based on the target network access identity.

Specifically, after the SMF selects the target UPF, the terminal may connect to the target home network through the access network device and the target UPF, that is, complete the establishment of the first session connection. So that the terminal can perform traffic transmission and processing through the first session.

Wherein, the target local network refers to the local network where the first service in step 701 is located; the target UPF refers to a user plane function network element through which the terminal accesses the target home network.

Optionally, the terminal may specifically receive the IP address of the EAS in the first local network and send the service to the EAS in the first local network according to the IP address of the EAS.

In particular, the terminal acquiring the IP address of the EAS transmitting the first service may specifically be that the terminal sends a DNS query request message to the DNS server, the DNS query request message including the domain name (e.g. FQDN 1) of the first service. And the DNS server determines the IP address of the corresponding EAS according to the domain name of the first service and sends a DNS response message to the terminal, wherein the DNS response message comprises the IP address of the EAS.

In one possible implementation, the terminal may initiate the DNS query for the first service on the user plane connection of the first session.

In another possible implementation, the terminal may initiate the DNS query for the first service on a user plane connection of the second session. Wherein the user plane connection of the second session comprises the target UPF.

In yet another possible implementation manner, the terminal may not reinitiate the DNS query, and the SMF stores the DNS query request message corresponding to the first service when receiving the DNS query request message corresponding to the first service. And under the condition that the SMF determines that the establishment of the first session is completed, forwarding the stored DNS inquiry request message to a DNS server through a target UPF corresponding to the first session, acquiring an EAS IP corresponding to the first service from the DNS server, and then sending the EAS IP to the terminal by the target UPF, so that DNS inquiry is completed for the first service.

In yet another possible implementation, the terminal does not re-initiate the DNS query, and the SMF stores the DNS query request message corresponding to the first service when receiving the DNS query request message corresponding to the first service. And, the SMF forwards the DNS query request message to the DNS server, acquires the EAS IP corresponding to the first service from the DNS server, and then the SMF transmits the EAS IP to the UE. It will be appreciated that the SMF may carry the current location of the terminal when forwarding the DNS query message.

It can be appreciated that in the embodiment of the present application, the DNS server may be a centralized DNS server, or may be a local DNS server. Wherein, relatively speaking, the deployment location of the centralized DNS server is higher, and the deployment location of the local DNS server is lower. For example, the local DNS server is close to the terminal or close to the UPF.

Optionally, after step 704, in the case of starting a new APP (hereinafter referred to as "target service"), the terminal may further select one session from the first session and the second session as a target session according to the first routing condition and the second routing condition, and further perform service transmission and processing through the target session. Wherein, the first routing condition is that SMF is sent to the terminal in the first session establishment process; the second routing condition is that the SMF is sent to the terminal in the second session establishment procedure.

Specifically, the first routing condition is a condition that the terminal selects the first session, and the second routing condition is a condition that the terminal selects the second session. Thus, when the terminal starts the target service, whether to select the first route or the second route can be determined according to the first route condition and the second route condition. And then, the terminal sends the target service through the selected route.

It will be appreciated that this routing condition may also be referred to as a "forwarding rule".

It is also understood that when a new APP (hereinafter referred to as a "target service") is started, the terminal may directly obtain a domain name corresponding to the target service. When the first routing condition and the second routing condition are represented by the domain name of the service, the terminal can directly select the session according to the domain name corresponding to the target service, but when the first routing condition and the second routing condition are not represented by the domain name of the service (for example, when the first routing condition and the second routing condition are represented by the target IP address field), the terminal cannot acquire the IP corresponding to the target service when starting the target service, and therefore cannot select the session according to the first routing condition and the second routing condition.

Optionally, after step 704, in the case where the terminal starts a new APP (hereinafter referred to as "target service"), if the terminal does not acquire the first routing condition and the second routing condition, or the terminal cannot select a session from the first session and the second session by providing the acquired first routing condition and second routing condition, the terminal may select the session in the following manner.

It should be noted that after step 704, the terminal has established a first session for accessing the home network, the first session being served by PSA1, and a second session for accessing the central network, the second session being served by PSA2, wherein PSA1 and PSA2 are managed by SMF, in other words, the SMF may manage all UPFs, i.e. the SMF Service Area (SA) is the whole PLMN, it being understood that PSA is one of the UPFs.

It should be further noted that, in the process of establishing the first session and the second session, the corresponding relationship between the session identifier and the network access identifier is stored in the AMF, for example, the corresponding relationship between the network access identifier and the session identifier may be sent by the SMF to the AMF in the process of establishing the session. Table 4 shows one possible correspondence.

TABLE 4 Table 4

Session identification	Network access identification
		Session 1	DNAI-a
Session 2	\

In one possible implementation, the process of storing the session identifier and the network access identifier by the AMF may be that the terminal initiates a DNS query of the target service from an existing session (herein, for example, session 2), the SMF determines, according to the service identifier of the target service (for example, the service domain name of the target service) and the stored correspondence between the service identifier and the network access identifier, the target network access identifier corresponding to the service identifier of the target service (herein, referred to as DNAI-a), the SMF sends the target network access identifier to the AMF, and if the AMF does not query the session identifier of the target session corresponding to the target network access identifier, the AMF temporarily stores the correspondence between the target network access identifier and the session identifier of the session in which the terminal is currently located (i.e., the correspondence between session 2 and DNAI-a), then the terminal creates a session corresponding to the target service (herein, referred to as session 1), and in the process of the session, the AMF updates the correspondence between the originally stored target network access identifier and the session identifier (i.e., the correspondence between the session 2 and the new-a) to the new-created session identifier (i.e., the correspondence between the new session 2 and the new-a).

It is understood that the AMF may also store session identifications and corresponding DNAIs of other sessions, or may also store other DNAIs corresponding to session 1 and session 2 described above.

It should be noted that, the foregoing description takes the corresponding relationship between the AMF update target network access identifier and the session identifier as an example. Optionally, the AMF may further delete the correspondence between the target network access identifier and the session identifier. Specifically, in the process of newly creating the session (i.e., session 1), the AMF selects a target SMF according to the DNAI in the stored correspondence between the target network access identifier and the session identifier (i.e., the correspondence between session 2 and DNAI-a), and deletes the stored correspondence. It can be understood that the method for deleting the corresponding relation between the target network access identifier and the session identifier by the AMF may also be that: after a period of time, the AMF deletes the corresponding relation between the stored network access identifier and the session attribute; and/or, when the AMF releases the session 2, deleting the corresponding relation between the stored network access identifier and the session attribute.

It should be noted that, the foregoing description takes the corresponding relationship between the AMF storage target network access identifier and the session identifier as an example. Optionally, the AMF may also store the target network access identifier. At this time, in the process of newly establishing session 1 by the UE, the AMF selects a target SMF according to the stored target network access identifier. It can be understood that the method for deleting the stored target network access identifier by the AMF includes: after the AMF determines the target SMF for the session 1, namely, the AMF determines the target SMF according to the stored target network access identifier, the AMF deletes the target network access identifier; and/or, the AMF deletes the target network access identifier after a period of time; and/or, when the AMF releases the session 2 or the session 1, deleting the target network access identifier.

It should be noted that, optionally, during the process of the UE newly creating the session 1, the UE may send UE capability to the AMF, which is used to indicate that the UE supports carrying the old session identifier. It is to be appreciated that UE capability can also be described as UE support carrying multiple session identities, and can also be described as UE being R17UE. Optionally, the AMF determines, according to the UE capability, a processing manner of the target network access identifier: (1) When the UE supports carrying an old session identifier, the AMF stores the corresponding relation between the target network access identifier and the session identifier; in the new session establishment process initiated by the UE, the AMF determines a target network access identifier according to the old session identifier carried by the UE and the corresponding relation, and selects a target SMF according to the target network access identifier. (2) When the UE does not support carrying the old session identifier, the AMF stores the target network access identifier, and starts a timer, and when the timer times out, the AMF deletes the target network access identifier. In the new session establishment process initiated by the UE, the AMF selects a target SMF according to the stored target network access identifier.

Table 4 above describes the correspondence between the session identifier and the network access identifier stored in the AMF during the process of establishing the first session and the second session. It should be noted that, in another possible implementation manner, in the process of establishing the first session and the second session, the correspondence between the session attribute and the network access identifier is stored in the AMF. For example, the correspondence between the network access identifier and the session attribute may be sent by the SMF to the AMF during the session establishment procedure. For another example, the correspondence between the network access identifier and a part of session attributes may be that the SMF sends to the AMF during the session establishment process, and another part of session attributes may be that the UE sends to the AMF during the session establishment process. The session attribute refers to DNN, S-NSSAI, PDU session type, SSC mode, etc. corresponding to the session. Table 5 shows one possible correspondence.

TABLE 5

Session identification	Network access identification
		Some or all of the session attributes of session 1	DNAI-a
Some or all of the session attributes of session 2	\

In one possible implementation, the procedure of the AMF storing the session attribute and the network access identifier of the session may be that the terminal initiates a session establishment procedure (here, session 2 is taken as an example), including that the UE sends a NAS message to the AMF, carrying a session establishment request, DNN, S-nsai, and a session identifier; the AMF stores session identification, DNN and S-NSSAI, wherein the DNN, the S-NSSAI and the session identification are stored on the AMF as part of session attributes. The terminal initiates a DNS query of a target service on the session 2, and the SMF determines a target network access identifier (DNAI-a here) corresponding to the service identifier of the target service according to the service identifier (such as a service domain name of the target service) of the target service carried in the DNS query and the corresponding relation between the stored service identifier and the network access identifier, and sends the target network access identifier and part/all of session attributes to the AMF, wherein the part/all of session attributes comprise: DNN, S-NSSAI, SSC mode, session identifier, etc., and AMF stores the corresponding relation between the target network access identifier and part/all session attributes. To this end, the AMF may save the correspondence between the target network access identifier and the session attribute according to the partial session attribute received from the UE and the partial/full session attribute received from the SMF.

It may be understood that, at this time, the indication information included in the trigger message in step 701 is used to instruct the terminal to carry a session attribute when the first session is established, where the session attribute is sent by the UE to the AMF.

Further, when the AMF receives the first message sent by the terminal in step 702, the first message carries the session attribute. The AMF determines the network access identifier corresponding to the session attribute in the first message according to the session attribute in the first message and the corresponding relation between the stored network access identifier and the session attribute, and selects a new SMF according to the network access identifier.

Optionally, after the AMF selects the new SMF, the AMF deletes the stored correspondence between the network access identifier and the session attribute. Optionally, the AMF may delete the stored correspondence between the network access identifier and the session attribute after a period of time. Optionally, the AMF may delete the stored correspondence between the network access identifier and the session attribute when the session 2 is released.

Mode A

In the mode, in the process of inquiring the IP address corresponding to the target service, the SMF determines whether a new session is needed, if not, the new session needs to be further determined, the corresponding session identification is sent to the terminal, and if so, the SMF can trigger the terminal to establish the new session. It should be noted that, the description may also be replaced by SMF to determine whether the existing session can be reused, and if so, the identifier corresponding to the reused session is sent to the terminal; and if not, triggering the terminal to establish a session.

It should be noted that, if the terminal determines that there are multiple sessions according to the policy to meet the requirement of the target service, the terminal may optionally select one session to transmit a domain name query request corresponding to the target service.

Next, the mode a will be described in detail with reference to fig. 8, taking an example that the terminal selects the first session to transmit the domain name query request corresponding to the target service, where the PSA corresponding to the first session is denoted as PSA1.

S801, the terminal transmits information #a1 (i.e., first information) to the SMF, where the information #a1 is used to determine a session used to transmit a domain name query request corresponding to the target service, and the information #a1 includes a domain name of the target service.

It should be noted that, the information #a1 may also be described as an IP address corresponding to a domain name for determining the target service, in other words, the information #a1 may be a DNS query.

In one possible implementation, the terminal sends information #a1 to the SMF through the RAN and the PSA1, where the information #a1 is used to determine a session used to send a domain name query request corresponding to the target service, and the information #a1 includes a domain name of the target service, for example, the domain name of the target service is FQDN3.

The PSA1 to SMF transmission information #a1 may also be described as a domain name included in the PSA1 to SMF transmission information #a1.

Illustratively, the procedure for the terminal to send information #a1 to the SMF1 through the RAN and PSA1 may be: the terminal transmits the information #a1 to the RAN, the information #a1 including the domain name of the target service, the RAN transmits the information #a1 to the PSA1, and the information #a1 is reported to the SMF when the PSA1 detects the information #a1. The PSA1 may specifically identify the service type according to the domain name of the target service in the information #a1. For example, PSA1 processes only some domain names belonging to a preset list of domain names, or service types. If the domain name in the information #a1 does not belong to the preset domain name list, the information is not transmitted to the SMF. The SMF may obtain the target DNAI (target DNAI) corresponding to the domain name in the request information according to the mapping relationship between the stored domain name and DNAI.

It should be noted that, the information #a1 may be a domain name query request (DNS query), and the detection information #a1 and the reporting information #a1 may be implemented by other network elements besides PSA1, such as an edge application server discovery function network element (edge application server discovery function, EASDF), where the EASDF is used to process domain name related messages, e.g., DDNS query, DNS response, and may be deployed behind PSA 1.

It should be noted that, the manner in which the UE sends the information #a1 to the SMF may be that the UE sends the information #a1 to the SMF through the AMF, and the specific sending manner may refer to the prior art, which is not repeated herein.

S802, SMF determines whether there is a session identification corresponding to the target service.

In one possible implementation manner, if the domain name of the service stored in the SMF includes the domain name of the target service in the information #a1, the SMF determines that the session identifier corresponding to the domain name of the target service is included, and further, the SMF determines the session identifier corresponding to the domain name of the target service.

In one possible implementation manner, the SMF determines the session identifier corresponding to the domain name of the target service may be determined according to a correspondence between the domain name of the service and the network access identifier and a correspondence between the network access identifier and the session identifier. For example, the SMF determines the network access identifier DNAI corresponding to the target service according to the correspondence between the domain name of the stored service and the network access identifier, which may be denoted as DNAI-b; and the SMF determines the session identifier corresponding to DNAI-b according to the corresponding relation between the stored network access identifier and the session identifier, and the reused session identifier corresponding to the session can be recorded as session x.

In one possible implementation manner, the SMF determines the session identifier corresponding to the domain name of the target service may be determined according to a correspondence between the domain name of the service and the session identifier. The SMF determines, according to the stored correspondence between the domain name of the service and the network access identifier and the stored correspondence between the network access identifier and the session identifier, the correspondence between the domain name of the service and the session identifier, and determines, according to the correspondence between the domain name of the service and the session identifier, the session identifier corresponding to the domain name of the target service, where the reused session identifier may be denoted as session x.

It may be understood that, in the above implementation manner, the correspondence (or referred to as a mapping relationship) between the domain name of the service stored in the SMF and the DNAI includes the correspondence between the identifier of the target service and the target DNAI, and the correspondence between the network access identifier stored in the SMF and the session identifier includes the correspondence between the target network access identifier and the target session identifier. The correspondence may be regarded as a list or a table, which is not limited in this application. Wherein the identification of the target service may be represented by a domain name of the target service.

In one possible implementation, if the domain name of the target service in the information #a1 is not included in the domain names of the services stored in the SMF, the SMF determines that there is no session identifier corresponding to the domain name of the target service.

S803, the SMF sends information #a2 to the UE, the information #a2 being used to determine a session for transmitting the target service.

It should be noted that, the determined session for transmitting the target service may be one session (i.e., a reuse session) in the existing session, or may be a newly-built session.

In one possible implementation, if the SMF determines that there is a session identifier corresponding to the domain name of the target service, the SMF sends information #a2 to the UE, where the information #a2 includes the session identifier corresponding to the domain name of the target service, that is, session x, for indicating that the terminal uses session x to transmit the service.

In one possible implementation, if the SMF determines that there is no session corresponding to the domain name of the target service, the SMF sends information #a2 to the SMF1 for instructing the terminal to initiate a new session. Optionally, the information #a2 is null, i.e., does not contain the identity of the reuse session, or the identity of the reuse session is null.

Optionally, the information #a2 may further include indication information, where the indication information is used to indicate that the terminal uses the session x to transmit the target service, or indicate that there is no session identifier corresponding to the domain name of the target service in the existing session.

It should be noted that, the manner in which the SMF sends the information #a2 to the terminal may be that the SMF sends the information #a2 to the terminal through the AMF, and the specific sending manner may refer to the prior art, which is not repeated herein.

S804, the terminal determines a session for transmitting the target service.

In a possible implementation manner, the terminal receives the information #a2, and if the information #a2 includes a session identifier-session x corresponding to the target service, the terminal determines to transmit the target service through the session x.

Optionally, the terminal may initiate a domain name query request (i.e. DNS query) on the session x to obtain the IP address corresponding to the target service.

In one possible implementation manner, the terminal receives the information #a2, and if the information #a2 is null or the indication information in the information #a2 indicates that the session identifier corresponding to the domain name of the target service is not available in the existing session, the terminal may establish a new session so that the terminal may transmit the service on the newly established session. Optionally, the terminal initiates a domain name query request (i.e. DNS query) on the newly-built session to obtain the IP address corresponding to the target service. The manner in which the session is established may be referred to herein as the manner in which the first session is established, and will not be described in detail herein.

It should be noted that, the session identifier is represented by the session 1, the session 2, or the session x as an example, and it should be understood that the session identifier may be identified in other forms, which is not limited herein.

It should be further noted that, the method described in this embodiment is applicable not only to the case where the terminal has established the second session for accessing the central network and the first session for accessing the local network, but also to the case where the terminal has only established the second session for accessing the central network, where the method described in this embodiment may also be used to trigger the process of establishing the second session, and similarly, the method described in this embodiment may also be applicable to the case where the terminal has established the second session for accessing the central network and other sessions (such as the third session) for accessing other local networks, where the number of sessions for accessing the local network types that have been established by the terminal is not limited.

In the above embodiment, the terminal actively initiates the session establishment process or the SMF triggers the terminal to establish a session, in another possible implementation manner, the AMF triggers the terminal to establish a session, and this implementation manner is described below with reference to fig. 9.

Fig. 9 shows a schematic flow chart of a method of accessing a local network according to an embodiment of the present application.

Unless otherwise specified, the embodiment shown in fig. 9 has the same meaning as the embodiment shown in fig. 7 in terms of the same terms.

It should also be noted that, in the case where there is no logical contradiction, the embodiment shown in fig. 9 may be arbitrarily combined with the above-described respective embodiments.

901, the amf sends a trigger message to the terminal, where the trigger message is used to trigger the terminal to establish a session.

Alternatively, the terminal may establish a session connection for the second session prior to step 901.

Specifically, the terminal starts a first service, and initiates a DNS query message to the RAN to obtain an EAS IP address corresponding to the first service. The DNS query message includes a domain name (e.g., FQDN 2) of the first service. The RAN sends the DNS query message to the PSA, which detects the DNS query message and sends it to the SMF2. The PSA detection query message may specifically identify a service type according to a domain name in the DNS query message. For example, the PSA processes only some domain names belonging to a preset list of domain names, or service types. If the domain name in the DNS query message does not belong to the preset domain name list, the domain name is not sent to SMF2. The SMF2 may obtain the target DNAI (target DNAI) corresponding to the domain name in the query message according to the mapping relationship between the stored domain name and DNAI.

It can be understood that the mapping relationship between the domain name and DNAI stored in SMF2 includes the correspondence between the identifier of the first service and the target DNAI. The correspondence may be regarded as a list or a table, which is not limited in this application.

It may be understood that the trigger message sent by the AMF to the terminal means that the AMF receives the trigger message sent by the SMF2 and sends the trigger message to the terminal. Optionally, the SMF also sends a session identification of the second session and a target DNAI to the AMF. Accordingly, the AMF stores the session identification and target DNAI of the second session.

It is understood that the AMF may also store session identifications and corresponding DNAIs for other sessions.

The terminal sends a first message according to the trigger message, where the first message is used to request to establish a first session, and the first session is used for the terminal to access the local network.

It will be appreciated that the terminal sends a NAS message to the AMF, the NAS message comprising the session identification of the second session and the first session establishment request.

903, the amf determines the target network access identifier according to the first session establishment request.

Optionally, if a second session exists between the terminal and the network before step 901, the NAS message may include a session identifier of the second session, so that the AMF may determine, according to the session identifier and the mapping relationship of the second session, a target network access identifier corresponding to the session identifier of the second session. The mapping relationship is the mapping relationship of at least one session identifier and at least one network access identifier.

It may be appreciated that the AMF may pre-store the correspondence between at least one session identifier and at least one network access identifier, i.e. the AMF mentioned in step 901 stores the session identifier and the corresponding DNAI, where the at least one session identifier includes the second session identifier. Thus, the AMF may determine the corresponding target network access identifier according to the second session identifier included in the first session establishment request.

Alternatively, taking the mapping relationship as the second session identifier and the corresponding network access identifier as an example, the mapping relationship may be sent by the second SMF (i.e. SMF 2) to the AMF during the second session establishment procedure. Wherein the second SMF provides session management services for the second session.

Specifically, the second SMF (hereinafter may be referred to as "SMF 2") may be used to establish the second session for the terminal. The second SMF generates a mapping relation between the at least one session identifier and the at least one network access identifier, and sends the mapping relation to the AMF. Thus, the AMF can determine the target network access identifier corresponding to the session identifier of the second session according to the mapping relation.

The amf determines 904 a first SMF based on the target network access identification.

In particular, the SMF in the embodiments of the present application has a limited service range. Accordingly, the AMF may select a first SMF (hereinafter may be referred to as "SMF 1") capable of providing a service according to the target network access identification.

905, the amf sends the target network access identity to the first SMF.

The first SMF determines 906 a target UPF according to the target network access identifier.

Specifically, after the SMF1 selects the target UPF, the terminal may connect to the target home network through the access network device and the target UPF, that is, complete the establishment of the first session connection. So that the terminal can perform traffic transmission and processing through the first session.

Specifically, in the case that the terminal performs DNS query through the user plane connection of the previous second session, PSA1 sends a DNS query message to SMF2, SMF2 sends a DNS query to SMF1 through AMF, SMF1 adds the current location (location) of the UE in the DNS query, and sends the DNS query to the DNS server.

In yet another possible implementation manner, the terminal may not reinitiate the DNS query, and the SMF2 stores the DNS query request corresponding to the first service when receiving the DNS query message corresponding to the first service. The SMF2 forwards the stored DNS query to a DNS server through the AMF and the SMF1, acquires the EAS IP corresponding to the first service from the DNS server, and then the SMF2 or the SMF1 sends the EAS IP to the UE, so that the DNS query is completed for the first service.

Specifically, SMF2 buffers the DNS query of the second session until the first session is completed, and SMF2 sends the buffered DNS query to SMF1 through AMF, and SMF1 sends to the DNS server.

It will be appreciated that the SMF2 cache DNS query request mentioned above may be replaced by an AMF cache DNS query request.

It will be appreciated that the SMF may carry the current location of the terminal when forwarding the DNS query message.

In yet another possible implementation, the terminal does not re-initiate the DNS query, and the SMF2 stores the DNS query message corresponding to the first service when receiving the DNS query message corresponding to the first service. And, in case the SMF2 determines that the first session is established, forwarding the stored DNS query to the DNS server through the AMF, the SMF1, and the target UPF in step 706, acquiring the EAS IP corresponding to the first service from the DNS server, and transmitting the EAS IP to the terminal by the target UPF.

Optionally, after step 906, in the case where the terminal starts a new APP (hereinafter referred to as "target service"), if the terminal does not acquire the first routing condition and the second routing condition, or the terminal cannot select a session from the first session and the second session by providing the acquired first routing condition and second routing condition, the terminal may select the session in the following manner.

It should be noted that after step 906, the terminal has established a first session for accessing the home network, the first session being served by PSA1 and SMF1 (i.e., a first SMF), and a second session for accessing the central network, the second session being served by PSA2 and SMF2 (i.e., a second SMF). It should be appreciated that in this embodiment, each UPF is managed by its corresponding SMF, such as PSA1 being managed by SMF1, it being understood that PSA is one of the UPFs.

It should be further noted that, in the process of establishing the first session and the second session, the corresponding relationship between the session identifier, the network access identifier and the SMF identifier is stored in the AMF, where the corresponding relationship between the network access identifier and the session identifier may be sent to the AMF by the corresponding SMF in the process of establishing the session. As an example, table 6 shows one possible correspondence.

TABLE 6

Session identification	Network access identification	SMF identification
			Session 1	DNAI-a	SMF1
Session 2	\	SMF2

In one possible implementation, the process of saving the session identifier and the network access identifier by the AMF may be that the terminal initiates a DNS query of the target service from an existing session (herein, for example, session 2), after receiving the DNS query, the SMF determines, according to the service identifier of the target service (for example, the service domain name of the target service) carried in the DNS query and the corresponding relationship between the stored service identifier and the network access identifier, the target network access identifier corresponding to the service identifier of the target service (herein, referred to as DNAI-a), and sends the target network access identifier to the AMF, if the AMF does not query the session identifier of the target session corresponding to the target network access identifier, the AMF temporarily saves the corresponding relationship between the target network access identifier and the session identifier of the session in which the terminal is currently located (i.e., the corresponding relationship between session 2 and DNAI-a), and then the terminal creates a new session corresponding to the target service (herein, referred to as session 1), and in the process of the session, the AMF updates the corresponding relationship between the originally saved target network access identifier and the session identifier (i.e., the corresponding relationship between session 2 and dnai.e., the new session identifier and the new-a new-established relationship between the new session identifier and the new-established session identifier and the new-session identifier).

It is understood that the AMF may also store session identifiers of other sessions and corresponding DNAI and corresponding SMF identifiers, or may also store other DNAI corresponding to session 1 and session 2 described above.

Optionally, the foregoing description takes the corresponding relationship between the AMF storage target network access identifier and the session identifier as an example. Optionally, the AMF may also store the target network access identifier. At this time, in the process of newly establishing session 1 by the UE, the AMF selects a target SMF according to the stored target network access identifier. It can be understood that the method for deleting the stored target network access identifier by the AMF includes: after the AMF determines the target SMF for the session 1, namely, the AMF determines the target SMF according to the stored target network access identifier, the AMF deletes the target network access identifier; and/or, the AMF deletes the target network access identifier after a period of time; and/or, when the AMF releases the session 2 or the session 1, deleting the target network access identifier.

Mode B

In the mode, in the process of inquiring the IP address corresponding to the target service, the SMF inquires the AMF to determine whether a new session is needed or not, or the AMF determines whether a new session is needed or not, if the new session is not needed, the reused session is needed to be further determined, the corresponding session identifier is sent to the terminal, and if the new session is needed, the network side (such as the AMF or the SMF) can trigger the terminal to establish the new session. It should be noted that, the description may be replaced by SMF or AMF to determine whether the existing session can be reused, if so, the identifier corresponding to the reused session is sent to the terminal; and if not, triggering the terminal to establish a session.

It should be noted that, if there are multiple sessions to meet the requirement of the target service, the terminal may optionally select one session from the multiple sessions to transmit a domain name query request corresponding to the target service, and the terminal queries the AMF through the SMF corresponding to the session to determine whether to newly establish the session.

Next, the mode B will be described in detail with reference to fig. 10, taking an example that the terminal selects the first session to transmit the domain name query request corresponding to the target service, where the SMF corresponding to the first session is denoted as SMF1, and the PSA corresponding to the first session is denoted as PSA1.

S1001, the terminal sends information #b1 to the SMF1, where the information #b1 is used to determine a session used to send a domain name query request corresponding to the target service, and the information #b1 includes a domain name of the target service.

Note that, the information #b1 may also be described as an IP address corresponding to a domain name for determining the target service, in other words, the information #b1 may be a DNS query.

In one possible implementation, the terminal sends, to the SMF1 through the RAN and the PSA1, information #b1, where the information #b1 is used to determine a session used to send a domain name query request corresponding to the target service, and the information #b1 includes a domain name of the target service, for example, the domain name of the target service is FQDN3.

The PSA1 to SMF transmission information #b1 may also be described as a domain name included in the PSA1 to SMF transmission information #b1.

Illustratively, the procedure for the terminal to send information #b1 to SMF1 through RAN and PSA1 may be: the terminal transmits the information #b1 to the RAN, the information #b1 including the domain name of the target service, the RAN transmits the information #b1 to the PSA1, and the information #b1 is reported to the SMF1 when the PSA1 detects the information #b1. The PSA1 may specifically identify the service type according to the domain name of the target service in the information #b1. For example, PSA1 processes only some domain names belonging to a preset list of domain names, or service types. If the domain name in the information #b1 does not belong to the preset domain name list, the information is not transmitted to the SMF 1. The SMF1 may obtain the target DNAI (target DNAI) corresponding to the domain name in the request information according to the mapping relationship between the stored domain name and DNAI.

It should be noted that, the information #b1 may be a domain name query request (DNS query), and the detection information #b1 and the reporting information #b1 may be implemented by other network elements besides PSA1, such as an edge application server discovery function network element (edge application server discovery function, EASDF), where the EASDF is used to process domain name related messages, e.g., DDNS query, DNS response, and may be deployed behind PSA 1.

Note that, the manner in which the UE sends the information #a1 to the SMF1 may be that the UE sends the information #a1 to the SMF1 through the AMF, and the specific sending manner may refer to the prior art, which is not described herein in detail.

S1002, SMF1 determines a target network access identifier corresponding to the target service, where the target network access identifier may be denoted as DNAI-b.

In one possible implementation, the SMF1 determines a target network access identifier corresponding to the domain name of the target service in the information #b1, where the target network access identifier may be denoted as DNAI-b.

It should be noted that, before step S1001, the SMF1 may store the correspondence between the domain name of the service and the network access identifier, and after the SMF1 receives the information #b1, it may determine that the network access identifier corresponding to the domain name of the target service is DNAI-b according to the correspondence between the domain name of the service and the network access identifier.

S1003, the SMF1 sends a request #c to the AMF, where the request #c includes the target network access identifier, and the request #c is used to request to query a session identifier corresponding to the target network access identifier.

Optionally, the request #c may further include an identification of the current session, i.e., an identification of the first session.

In one possible implementation, SMF1 sends a session inquiry request (i.e., request #c) to the AMF, where the session inquiry request includes the target network access identifier DNAI-b, and the session inquiry request is used to request to inquire about a session identifier corresponding to the DNAI-b.

In another possible implementation, the SMF1 sends an N1N2 Transfer Message (i.e. request #c) on the Namf interface to the AMF, where the namf_communication_n1n2message Transfer includes the target network access identifier DNAI-b, and the N1N2 Transfer Message on the Namf interface is used to query the session identifier corresponding to the DNAI-b.

S1004, the AMF determines whether the session identifier corresponding to the target network access identifier exists.

In a possible implementation manner, if the network access identifier stored in the AMF includes DNAI-b in the information #b1, the AMF determines that the session identifier corresponding to the target network access identifier is included, further, the AMF determines the session identifier corresponding to the DNAI-b according to the correspondence between the stored network access identifier and the session identifier, and marks the reused session identifier as session x.

In one possible implementation, if the network access identifier stored in the AMF does not include DNAI-b in the information #b1, the AMF determines that there is no session identifier corresponding to the target network access identifier. Optionally, at this time, the AMF may trigger the terminal to create a session corresponding to the target service, where the process of creating the session may refer to the previous embodiment, which is not described herein in detail.

It may be appreciated that the AMF may pre-store a correspondence between at least one session identifier and at least one network access identifier, where the at least one network access identifier includes a target network access identifier. Thus, the AMF may determine the corresponding session identifier according to the target network access identifier included in the request #c. It should be understood that the AMF may store the correspondence between the session identifier and the network access identifier during the session establishment procedure.

In one possible implementation, if the request #c is a session inquiry request, the following steps S1005-S1007 may be performed.

In S1005, the AMF transmits a response #c to the SMF1, the response #c corresponding to the request #c.

In one possible implementation, if the AMF determines that there is a session identifier corresponding to the target network access identifier, the AMF sends a session inquiry response (i.e. response #c) to the SMF1, where the session inquiry response includes the session identifier corresponding to the DNAI-b, i.e. session x.

In one possible implementation, if the AMF determines that there is no session identifier corresponding to the target network access identifier, the AMF sends a session query response (i.e., response #c) to the SMF1, where the session query response is null, i.e., the AMF does not include an identifier of the reuse session, or the identifier of the reuse session is null.

Optionally, the response #c may further include indication information, where the indication information is used to indicate that the terminal uses session x to transmit the target service, or indicate that there is no session identifier corresponding to the target network access identifier in the existing session.

S1006, the SMF1 determines a session for transmitting the target service.

In one possible implementation manner, if the response #c includes the session identifier session x corresponding to the target network access identifier, the SMF1 determines that the target service is transmitted through the session x, that is, the SMF1 determines that the session x can be reused for the target service.

In one possible implementation, the SMF1 receives the response #c, and if the response #c is null, or the indication information in the information #a2 indicates that there is no session identifier corresponding to the target network access identifier in the existing session. Optionally, at this time, the SMF may trigger the terminal to create a session corresponding to the target service, where the process of creating the session may refer to the previous embodiment, which is not described herein in detail.

S1007, the SMF1 transmits information #b2 to the terminal, the information #b2 being used to determine a session for transmitting the target service.

In one possible implementation, if the SMF1 determines that there is a session identifier corresponding to the target network access identifier, the SMF1 sends information #b2 to the terminal, where the information #b2 includes the session identifier corresponding to the DNAI-b, i.e., session x.

In one possible implementation, if the SMF1 determines that there is no session corresponding to the target network access identifier, the SMF1 sends information #b2 to the terminal, where the information #b2 is used to trigger the terminal to establish a new session. Optionally, the information #b2 is null, i.e., does not contain the identity of the reuse session, or the identity of the reuse session is null.

Optionally, the information #b2 may further include indication information, where the indication information is used to indicate that the terminal uses session x to transmit the target service, or indicate that there is no session identifier corresponding to the target network access identifier in the existing session.

In another possible implementation, if the request #c is an N1N2 transmission Message (namf_communication_n1n2message Transfer) on the Namf interface, the following step S1008 may be performed.

S1008, the AMF sends information #b3 to the terminal, the information #b3 being used to determine a session for transmitting the target service.

In one possible implementation, if the AMF determines that there is a session identifier corresponding to the target network access identifier, the SMF1 sends a downlink NAS message (i.e. information #b3) to the terminal, where the NAS message includes the session identifier corresponding to the DNAI-b, i.e. session x.

In one possible implementation, if the AMF determines that there is no session identifier corresponding to the target network access identifier, the AMF sends a downlink NAS message (i.e., information #b3) to the terminal, where the NAS message is used to trigger the terminal to establish a new session. Optionally, the NAS message is null, i.e. does not contain the identity of the reuse session, or the identity of the reuse session is null.

Optionally, the information #b3 may further include indication information, where the indication information is used to indicate that the terminal uses session x to transmit the target service, or indicates that no session identifier corresponding to the target network access identifier exists in the existing session.

S1009, the terminal determines a session for transmitting the target service.

In one possible implementation manner, the terminal receives the information #b2 or the information #b3, and if the information #b2 or the information #b3 includes a session identifier-session x corresponding to the target service, the terminal determines to transmit the target service through the session x.

In one possible implementation manner, the terminal receives the information #b2 or the information #b3, and if the information #b2 or the information #b3 is null, or the indication information in the information #b2 or the information #b3 indicates that the session identifier corresponding to the target network access identifier is not available in the existing session, the terminal may establish a new session so that the terminal may transmit the service on the newly established session. Optionally, the terminal initiates a domain name query request (i.e. DNS query) on the newly-built session to obtain the IP address corresponding to the target service. The manner in which the session is established may be referred to herein as the manner in which the first session is established, and will not be described in detail herein.

Mode C

In the mode, in the process of inquiring the IP address corresponding to the target service, the SMF determines whether a new session is needed by acquiring the corresponding relation between the network access identifier and the session identifier, if the new session is not needed, the reused session is needed to be further determined, the corresponding session identifier is sent to the terminal, and if the new session is needed, the SMF triggers the terminal to create the new session. It should be noted that, the description may also be replaced by SMF to determine whether the existing session can be reused, if so, the identifier corresponding to the reused session is sent to the terminal; and if not, triggering the terminal to establish a session.

Next, this mode C will be described in detail with reference to fig. 11, taking an example that the terminal selects the second session (i.e., the session that the terminal uses to access the central network) to transmit the domain name query request corresponding to the target service.

S1101, the second SMF (i.e. SMF 2) obtains the correspondence between the network access identifier and the session identifier.

In one possible implementation, the second SMF obtains the correspondence between the network access identifier and the session identifier from the AMF.

It should be noted that, if a session (i.e., a second session) for accessing the central network is selected to transmit the domain name query request corresponding to the target service, the SMF2 corresponding to the second session may subscribe to the AMF to obtain the corresponding relationship between the network access identifier and the session identifier. In this way, the SMF2 can be made to acquire information of all existing sessions of the terminal accessing the home network.

As an example and not by way of limitation, the second SMF may obtain the correspondence between the network access identifier and the session identifier from the AMF, where the second SMF may obtain the correspondence from the AMF during the session establishment. Next, taking an establishment procedure of the first session and the second session as an example, a manner in which the second SMF obtains the correspondence between the network access identifier and the session identifier from the AMF will be described by way of example.

In the process of establishing the second session, after the SMF2 determines the network access identifier (which may be denoted as DNAI-a) corresponding to the service, the DNAI-a may be carried to send a subscription request to the AMF, where the subscription request is used to subscribe to the session identifier corresponding to the DNAI-a. Then, in the process of establishing the first session, the AMF sends the correspondence between the DNAI-a and the identifier of the first session to the SMF2, and the SMF2 stores the correspondence.

It should be noted that, if the selected session for transmitting the domain name query request corresponding to the target service is a session corresponding to the local network (i.e., the first session), the SMF1 corresponding to the first session may request the AMF for the correspondence between the network access identifier and the session identifier. In this way, the SMF1 can also obtain the information of all the existing sessions of the terminal accessing the home network stored in the AMF.

It should be appreciated that in this embodiment, each session is managed by its corresponding SMF, e.g., a first session is managed by SMF1 and a second session is managed by SMF 2.

S1102, the terminal sends information #d1 to the second SMF, where the information #d1 is used to determine a session used to send a domain name query request corresponding to the target service, and the information #d1 includes a domain name of the target service.

The step S1102 can refer to the description of the step S701 in fig. 7, and the description is not repeated here.

S1103, the second SMF determines whether there is a session identifier corresponding to the target service.

In one possible implementation manner, if the domain name of the service stored in the SMF2 includes the domain name of the target service in the information #a1, the SMF2 determines that there is a session identifier corresponding to the domain name of the target service, and further, the SMF2 determines that there is a session identifier corresponding to the domain name of the target service. It should be understood that the description may also be replaced, and the SMF2 determines the session identifier corresponding to the domain name of the target service.

As an example, but not limited to, the SMF2 may determine the session identifier corresponding to the domain name of the target service, where the SMF2 determines according to the correspondence between the domain name of the service and the network access identifier and the correspondence between the network access identifier and the session identifier. For example, SMF2 determines, according to the correspondence between the domain name of the stored service and the network access identifier, a network access identifier DNAI corresponding to the target service, which may be denoted as DNAI-b; the SMF2 determines a session identifier corresponding to DNAI-b according to the correspondence between the network access identifier and the session identifier obtained in step S1101, where the session identifier corresponding to the reused session may be denoted as session x.

As an example, but not limited to, the SMF2 may determine the session identifier corresponding to the domain name of the target service, where the SMF2 may also determine the session identifier according to the correspondence between the domain name of the service and the session identifier. For example, the SMF2 determines the corresponding relationship between the domain name of the service and the session identifier according to the stored corresponding relationship between the domain name of the service and the network access identifier and the corresponding relationship between the network access identifier and the session identifier obtained in step S1101, and then determines the session identifier corresponding to the domain name of the target service according to the corresponding relationship between the domain name of the service and the session identifier, where the reused session identifier corresponding to the session may be denoted as session x.

It may be understood that, in the above implementation manner, the correspondence (or referred to as a mapping relationship) between the domain name of the service stored by the SMF2 and the DNAI includes the correspondence between the identifier of the target service and the target DNAI, and the correspondence between the network access identifier and the session identifier obtained by the SMF2 includes the correspondence between the target network access identifier and the target session identifier. The correspondence may be regarded as a list or a table, which is not limited in this application. Wherein the identification of the target service may be represented by a domain name of the target service.

In one possible implementation, if the domain name of the target service in the information #d1 is not included in the domain names of the services stored in the SMF1, the SMF1 determines that there is no session identifier corresponding to the domain name of the target service.

S1104, the second SMF transmits information #d2 to the terminal, the information #d2 being used to determine a session for transmitting the target service.

The step S1104 may refer to the description of the step S803 in fig. 8, and is not repeated herein.

S1105, the terminal determines a session for transmitting the target service.

The step S1105 may refer to the description of the step S804 in fig. 8, which is not repeated herein.

It should be noted that, the method described in this embodiment is applicable not only to the case where the terminal has established the second session for accessing the central network and the first session for accessing the local network, but also to the case where the terminal has only established the second session for accessing the central network, where the method described in this embodiment may also be used to trigger the process of establishing the second session, and similarly, the method described in this embodiment may also be applicable to the case where the terminal has established the second session for accessing the central network and other sessions (such as the third session) for accessing other local networks, where the number of sessions for accessing the local network types that have been established by the terminal is not limited.

Fig. 12 shows a schematic flow chart of a method of discovering an edge application server EAS according to an embodiment of the application.

1101, the af receives a discovery request (discovery information request) from the first device, the discovery request requesting discovery of EAS, and the discovery request including a preset condition. Accordingly, the first device transmits the discovery request to the AF.

Alternatively, the AF in the embodiment shown in FIG. 12 may be the EES222 or the ECS230 in the MEC architecture shown in FIG. 2.

In one embodiment, the first device is an SMF.

Specifically, the terminal initiates a protocol data unit (protocol data units, PDU) session establishment procedure by sending a session establishment request to the AMF. The session establishment request may include at least one of parameters of a PDU session identification, single network slice selection assistance information (single network slice selection assistance information, S-nsai), data network name (data network name, DNN), EAS discovery message (discovery information), filter conditions (filter), etc. The EAS discovery information may carry a domain name or an application identifier for identifying a certain application, or may also carry location information of the terminal. The domain name or the application identifier is used for identifying the application requested by the terminal, and can be specifically identified by FQDN; the filter is used to indicate what conditions the application instance requested by the terminal satisfies. For example, a filter may be used to indicate that a UE-requested application instance may support multiplayer gaming, or to indicate what quality of service (quality of service, qoS) requirements a terminal-requested application instance meets. It will be appreciated that the terminal may determine the filter based on the local configuration.

AMF selects SMF according to S-NSSAI and DNN, and sends AMF identification, permanent identification of terminal, location information of terminal, PDU session identification, EAS discovery information, S-NSSAI and DNN parameters.

During session establishment, the SMF invokes a servicepolicy setup Control Request (npcf_smpolicy control_create Request) of the PCF to Request that measurement information related to the PDU session be obtained from the PCF. In this process, the SMF may send location information (location) of the terminal and a domain name or application identification in EAS discovery information to the PCF. PCF generates policy charging control rule (policy and charging control rule, PCC rule) from the corresponding relation among application identifier, deployment position of application server and domain name, and sends control Response message (npcf_SMPolicycontrol_create Response) to SMF through service operation policy, SMF saves the PCC rule, wherein the corresponding relation among application identifier, deployment position of application server and domain name is contained. Alternatively, the PCF may determine a corresponding AF ID or AF address according to the domain name or application identifier, and send the AF ID or AF address to the SMF. The AF may support domain name requested by the UE or application address resolution corresponding to the application identifier.

The SMF selects an anchor UPF for the PDU session and sends the discovery request to the AF, the discovery request including the filter.

It will be appreciated that the location information of the terminal may include a tracking area identity (tracking area identity, TAI) of the terminal.

In another embodiment, the first device is a terminal.

Specifically, the procedure of establishing session connection by the terminal is the same as that of the above embodiment, and is not limited to this in order to avoid repetition. After selecting the anchor UPF for the session, the SMF may send a session establishment accept message to the terminal, the session establishment accept message including the DNAI list corresponding to EAS discovery information. After receiving the DNAI list, the terminal performs step 1201.

Optionally, the discovery request further includes at least one of an application identification, a list of network access identifications of the local network, and EAS requirements.

Specifically, the application identifier may be an identifier of the application requested by the terminal. The network access identity list of the home network may comprise a plurality of network access identities DNAI, which may each be used to identify the location of a MEC platform to which the terminal is capable of connecting. The EAS requirement may be an EAS of the terminal requirement.

Alternatively, the SMF may determine the network access identity list of the home network according to location information of the terminal, network topology, and discovery message.

Specifically, the SMF may determine, according to the current location of the terminal, an MEC platform to which the terminal can be connected at the current location according to the application identifier requested by the terminal and the network topology in the discovery message. The location of the MEC platform is identified by DNAI, that is, a network access identification list (DNAI list) of the home network includes DNAI identifications of a plurality of MEC platforms to which the terminal can be connected at the current location.

It can be understood that the MEC platforms to which the terminal can be connected deploy applications required by the terminal, that is, applications corresponding to domain names or application identifiers in EAS discovery information.

1202, the AF determines at least one EAS that satisfies the preset condition based on the discovery request.

Specifically, the AF may store in the UDR the correspondence of each application identification (APP ID), the domain name supported by each application, the location of the MEC platform where each application is located, and the application instance information deployed under each MEC platform, as shown in table 7 below.

TABLE 7

The application instance may also be understood as an application server, where the application instance information includes an IP address corresponding to an application instance of the application, a service range of the application instance, and load information.

Thus the AF may select at least one EAS based on FQDN, filter and DNAI list. For example, if the DNAI list includes a plurality of DNAIs, the AF may select EAS based on the recombined FQDN, filter and table 3 above.

It is understood that the SMF may also configure the correspondence of table 3.

Optionally, the AF may also select the target EAS based on the FQDN, filter, and DNAI list, as well as the loading conditions of the EAS.

1203, the AF sends a discovery response message to the first device, the discovery response message including the IP address of the at least one EAS. Accordingly, the first device receives a discovery response message from the AF.

Specifically, the SMF determines the target DNAI based on the IP address of at least one EAS in the discovery response message.

Alternatively, if the first device is an SMF, the SMF may determine a shunting node (ul cl/BP network element) according to the target DNAI. The splitting node is used for splitting data of the access center network and the access local network. In addition, the SMF may send a session accept message to the terminal and carry the IP address of the target EAS in the session accept message. The terminal may then initiate transmission of traffic data based on the IP address of the target EAS.

Optionally, the discovery response message further includes a service area (serving area) for each EAS of the at least one EAS.

It will be appreciated that if the discovery response message includes a service area for each EAS, the session accept message may also include the service area for the target EAS. The terminal may determine whether to re-initiate the EAS request after the movement occurs according to the service area. For example, when the terminal initiates a modification procedure of the PDU session, a discovery request is carried.

It will be appreciated that if the first device is a terminal, the SMF may also send a new DNAI list to the terminal in real time after detecting that the terminal has moved.

Fig. 13 shows a schematic flow chart of a method of discovering an edge application server EAS according to an embodiment of the application.

Unless otherwise specified, the embodiment shown in fig. 13 has the same meaning as the embodiment shown in fig. 12 in terms of the same terms.

It should also be noted that the embodiment shown in fig. 13 may be combined with any implementation of the embodiment shown in fig. 12 in the case where there is no logical contradiction.

1301, the smf sends a discovery request to the PCF, the discovery request requesting discovery of EAS, the discovery request including a preset condition. Accordingly, the PCF receives the discovery request from the SMF.

It will be appreciated that the discovery request may be terminal initiated. I.e., the terminal sends to the SMF, which forwards to the PCF.

At 1302, the pcf determines, based on the discovery request, at least one EAS that satisfies a preset condition.

1303, the pcf sends the discovery response message to the SMF, the discovery response message including the IP address of the at least one EAS.

The various embodiments described herein may be separate solutions or may be combined according to inherent logic, which fall within the scope of the present application.

It will be appreciated that in the foregoing embodiments of the methods and operations performed by the respective devices may also be performed by components (e.g., chips or circuits) of the corresponding devices.

The foregoing description of the solution provided in the embodiments of the present application has been mainly presented from various interaction points of view. It will be appreciated that each network element, e.g. the transmitting device or the receiving device, in order to implement the above-mentioned functions, comprises corresponding hardware structures and/or software modules for performing each function. Those of 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 hardware or combinations of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is implemented as hardware or computer software driven 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.

The embodiment of the application may divide the function modules of the transmitting end device or the receiving end device according to the above method example, for example, each function module may be divided corresponding to each function, or two or more functions may be integrated into one processing module. The integrated modules described above may be implemented either in hardware or in software functional modules. It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the division of the modules is schematic, which is merely a logic function division, and other division manners may be implemented in actual implementation. The following description will be given by taking an example of dividing each function module into corresponding functions.

It should be understood that the specific examples in the embodiments of the present application are intended only to help those skilled in the art to better understand 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 various embodiments of the present application, the sequence numbers of the foregoing processes do not mean the order of execution, and the order of execution of the processes should be determined by the functions and internal logic thereof, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application.

The method provided in the embodiment of the present application is described in detail above with reference to fig. 5 to 13. The following describes in detail the apparatus provided in the embodiment of the present application with reference to fig. 14 to 21. It should be understood that the descriptions of the apparatus embodiments and the descriptions of the method embodiments correspond to each other, and thus, descriptions of details not described may be referred to the above method embodiments, which are not repeated herein for brevity.

Fig. 14 shows a schematic block diagram of an apparatus 1400 for accessing a local network according to an embodiment of the present application.

It should be appreciated that the apparatus 1400 may correspond to the terminal in the embodiment shown in fig. 5 and may have any of the functions of the terminal in the method. The apparatus 1400 includes a processing module 1410 and a transceiver module 1420.

The processing module 1410 is configured to obtain a first network access identifier, where the first network access identifier is used to indicate a first local network;

the transceiver module 1420 is configured to send a session establishment request to a session management function network element, where the session establishment request is used to request establishment of a first session, the first session is used for a terminal to access the first local network, and the session establishment request includes the first network access identifier.

Optionally, the transceiver module 1420 is further configured to obtain at least one service and at least one network access identifier corresponding to the at least one service;

wherein, the at least one service includes a first service, and the processing module 1410 is specifically configured to: and determining the first network access identifier corresponding to the first service according to the first service, wherein the at least one network access identifier comprises the first network access identifier.

Optionally, the transceiver module 1420 is specifically configured to:

receiving a registration accept message from an access and mobility management function, the registration accept message comprising the at least one service and at least one network access identity corresponding to the at least one service; or (b)

A configuration update order message is received from an access and mobility management function, the configuration update order message comprising the at least one service and at least one network access identity corresponding to the at least one service.

Optionally, the transceiver module 1420 is further configured to obtain at least one network access identifier corresponding to at least one location of the terminal; the at least one location of the terminal includes a first location, and the processing module 1410 is specifically configured to: and determining the first network access identifier corresponding to the first position according to the first position, wherein the at least one network access identifier comprises the first network access identifier.

Optionally, the processing module 1410 is further configured to determine, according to the first location and the first service, the first network access identifier corresponding to the first location and the first service

Optionally, the transceiver module 1420 is further configured to receive at least one network access identifier corresponding to a first location of the terminal from the session management function network element;

the processing module 1410 is specifically configured to:

the first network access identity is determined from the at least one network access identity.

Optionally, the processing module 1410 is specifically configured to: and selecting the first network access identifier corresponding to the first service from the at least one network access identifier according to the first service.

Optionally, the transceiver module 1420 is further configured to obtain at least one service and at least one network access identifier corresponding to the at least one service, where the at least one service includes a second service; the processing module 1410 is specifically configured to: according to the second service, determining a network access identifier corresponding to the second service; and controlling the transceiver module 1420 to transmit the second service according to the relationship between the network access identifier corresponding to the second service and the first network access identifier.

Optionally, the processing module 1410 is specifically configured to:

if the network access identifier corresponding to the second service is the same as the first network access identifier, controlling the transceiver module 1420 to send the second service through the first session;

if the network access identifier corresponding to the second service is different from the first network access identifier, controlling the transceiver module 1420 to send the second service through a second session, where the second session is used for the terminal to access a central network; or (b)

And if the network access identifier corresponding to the second service is different from the first network access identifier, controlling the transceiver module 1420 to send the second service through a third session, where the third session is used for the terminal to access the local network corresponding to the second service.

Fig. 15 shows an apparatus 1500 for accessing a local network according to an embodiment of the present application, where the apparatus 1500 may be a terminal as described in fig. 5. The apparatus may employ a hardware architecture as shown in fig. 15. The apparatus may include a processor 1510 and a transceiver 1520, and optionally, a memory 1530, the processor 1510, transceiver 1520, and memory 1530 communicating with each other through an internal connection path. The related functions performed by the processing module 1410 in fig. 14 may be performed by the processor 1510, and the related functions performed by the transceiver module 1420 may be performed by the processor 1510 controlling the transceiver 1520.

Alternatively, the processor 1510 may be a general purpose central processing unit (central processing unit, CPU), microprocessor, application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), special purpose processor, or one or more integrated circuits for performing the techniques of embodiments of the present application. In the alternative, 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 processing unit. The baseband processor may be used to process communication protocols and communication data, and the central processor may be used to control devices (e.g., base stations, terminals, or chips, etc.) accessing the local network, execute software programs, and process data from the software programs.

Alternatively, the processor 1510 may comprise one or more processors, e.g., one or more central processing units (central processing unit, CPU), which may be a single-core CPU or a multi-core CPU in the case of one CPU.

The transceiver 1520 is configured to transmit and receive data and/or signals, as well as to receive 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 1530 includes, but is not limited to, random access memory (random access memory, RAM), read-only memory (ROM), erasable programmable memory (erasable programmable read only memory, EPROM), compact disc read-only memory (compact disc read-only memory, CD-ROM), and the memory 1530 is for storing related instructions and data.

The memory 1530 is for storing program codes and data of the terminal, and may be a separate device or integrated in the processor 1510.

Specifically, the processor 1510 is configured to control information transmission between a transceiver and a terminal. Reference may be made specifically to the description of the method embodiments, and no further description is given here.

In a specific implementation, as an embodiment, the apparatus 1500 may further include an output device and an input device. The output device communicates with the processor 1510, which can display information in a variety of ways. For example, the output device may be a liquid crystal display (liquid crystal display, LCD), a light emitting diode (light emitting diode, LED) display device, a Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) display device, or a projector (projector), or the like. The input device(s) is in communication with the processor 701 and may receive input from a user in a variety of ways. For example, the input device may be a mouse, a keyboard, a touch screen device, a sensing device, or the like.

It will be appreciated that figure 15 shows only a simplified design of a device accessing a local network. In practical applications, the apparatus may further include other necessary elements, including but not limited to any number of transceivers, processors, controllers, memories, etc., and all terminals capable of implementing the present application are within the scope of protection of the present application.

In one possible design, the apparatus 1500 may be a chip, such as a communication chip, for example, that may be used in a terminal to implement the functions associated with the processor 1510 in the terminal. The chip can be a field programmable gate array for realizing related functions, an application specific integrated chip, a system chip, a central processing unit, a network processor, a digital signal processing circuit, a microcontroller, a programmable controller or other integrated chips. In the chip, one or more memories may optionally be included for storing program code that, when executed, causes the processor to perform the corresponding functions.

The embodiment of the application also provides a device which can be a terminal or a circuit. The apparatus may be configured to perform the actions performed by the terminal in the above-described method embodiments.

Fig. 16 shows a schematic block diagram of an apparatus 1600 for accessing a local network according to an embodiment of the present application.

It is to be appreciated that the apparatus 1600 may correspond to the SMF in the embodiment shown in fig. 7, and may have any of the functions of the SMF in the method. The apparatus 1600 includes a transceiver module 1610 and a processing module 1620.

The transceiver module 1610 is configured to send a trigger message to a terminal, where the trigger message is used to trigger the terminal to establish a session;

the transceiver module 1610 is further configured to receive a first session establishment request from the terminal, where the first session establishment request is used to request establishment of a first session, and the first session is used for the terminal to access a local network;

the processing module 1620 is configured to determine, according to the first session establishment request, a target network access identifier, where the target network access identifier is used to indicate a target local network;

the processing module 1620 is further configured to determine a target UPF according to the target network access identifier.

Optionally, the first session request includes a session identifier of a second session, where the second session is used for the terminal to access the central network, and the transceiver module 1610 is further configured to obtain a session identifier of at least one session and a network access identifier of at least one local network corresponding to the session identifier of the at least one session, where the session identifier of the at least one session includes the session identifier of the second session; the processing module 1620 is specifically configured to: and determining the target network access identification corresponding to the session identification of the second session according to the session identification of the second session.

Fig. 17 shows an apparatus 1700 for accessing a local network according to an embodiment of the present application, where the apparatus 1700 may be an SMF as described in fig. 7 or fig. 8. The apparatus may employ a hardware architecture as shown in fig. 17. The apparatus may include a processor 1710 and a transceiver 1720, and optionally, a memory 1730, the processor 1710, the transceiver 1720, and the memory 1730 communicating with each other through an internal connection path. The related functions performed by the processing module 1620 in fig. 16 may be performed by the processor 1710, and the related functions performed by the transceiver module 1610 may be performed by the processor 1710 controlling the transceiver 1720.

Alternatively, the processor 1710 may be a general purpose central processing unit (central processing unit, CPU), microprocessor, application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), special purpose processor, or one or more integrated circuits for performing the techniques of embodiments of the present application. In the alternative, 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 processing unit. The baseband processor may be used to process communication protocols and communication data, and the central processor may be used to control devices (e.g., base stations, terminals, or chips, etc.) accessing the local network, execute software programs, and process data from the software programs.

Alternatively, the processor 1710 may include one or more processors, including, for example, one or more central processing units (central processing unit, CPU), where the processor is a CPU, the CPU may be a single-core CPU or a multi-core CPU.

The transceiver 1720 is configured to transmit and receive data and/or signals, and to receive 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 1730 includes, but is not limited to, random access memory (random access memory, RAM), read-only memory (ROM), erasable programmable memory (erasable programmable read only memory, EPROM), compact disc read-only memory (compact disc read-only memory, CD-ROM), and the memory 1730 is used to store related instructions and data.

Memory 1730 is used for storing program codes and data for the terminal, and may be a separate device or integrated in processor 1710.

Specifically, the processor 1710 is configured to control the transceiver to perform information transmission with the terminal. Reference may be made specifically to the description of the method embodiments, and no further description is given here.

In a specific implementation, the apparatus 1700 may further comprise an output device and an input device, as an embodiment. An output device communicates with the processor 1710 and can display information in a variety of ways. For example, the output device may be a liquid crystal display (liquid crystal display, LCD), a light emitting diode (light emitting diode, LED) display device, a Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) display device, or a projector (projector), or the like. The input device(s) is in communication with the processor 701 and may receive input from a user in a variety of ways. For example, the input device may be a mouse, a keyboard, a touch screen device, a sensing device, or the like.

It will be appreciated that figure 17 shows only a simplified design of a device accessing a local network. In practical applications, the apparatus may further include other necessary elements, including but not limited to any number of transceivers, processors, controllers, memories, etc., and all terminals capable of implementing the present application are within the scope of protection of the present application.

In one possible design, the device 1700 may be a chip, such as a communication chip, operable in a terminal to perform the functions associated with the processor 1710 in the terminal. The chip can be a field programmable gate array for realizing related functions, an application specific integrated chip, a system chip, a central processing unit, a network processor, a digital signal processing circuit, a microcontroller, a programmable controller or other integrated chips. In the chip, one or more memories may optionally be included for storing program code that, when executed, causes the processor to perform the corresponding functions.

The embodiment of the application also provides a device which can be an SMF or a circuit. The apparatus may be configured to perform the actions performed by the terminal in the above-described method embodiments.

Fig. 18 shows a schematic block diagram of an apparatus 1800 for accessing a local network according to an embodiment of the present application.

It is to be understood that the apparatus 1800 may correspond to a terminal in the embodiment shown in fig. 7 or fig. 8, and may have any function of a terminal in the method. The apparatus 1800 includes a transceiver module 1810 and a processing module 1820.

The transceiver module 1810 is configured to receive a trigger message, where the trigger message is used to trigger a terminal to establish a session;

the processing module 1820 is configured to send, according to the trigger message, a first message through the transceiver module 1210, where the first message is used to request establishment of a first session, and the first session is used for the terminal to access a home network.

Optionally, the processing module 1820 is further configured to select a target session for the target service from the first session and the second session according to a first routing condition and a second routing condition, where the first routing condition corresponds to the first session and the second routing condition corresponds to the second session;

The transceiver module 1810 is further configured to send the target service through the target session.

Optionally, the first message includes a session identifier of a second session, where the second session is used for the terminal to access a central network, and the transceiver module 1810 is further configured to obtain a session identifier of at least one session and a network access identifier of at least one local network corresponding to the session identifier of the at least one session; the processing module 1820 is specifically configured to: and determining the target network access identification corresponding to the session identification of the second session according to the session identification of the second session.

Fig. 19 shows an apparatus 1900 for accessing a local network according to an embodiment of the present application, where the apparatus 1900 may be a terminal as described in fig. 5. The apparatus may employ a hardware architecture as shown in fig. 19. The apparatus may include a processor 1910 and a transceiver 1920, and optionally, a memory 1930, the processor 1910, the transceiver 1920, and the memory 1930 communicating with each other through an internal connection path. The relevant functions performed by the processing module 1420 in fig. 14 may be performed by the processor 1910, and the relevant functions performed by the transceiver module 1410 may be performed by the processor 1910 controlling the transceiver 1920.

Alternatively, the processor 1910 may be a general purpose central processing unit (central processing unit, CPU), microprocessor, application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), special purpose processor, or one or more integrated circuits for performing the techniques of embodiments of the present application. In the alternative, 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 processing unit. The baseband processor may be used to process communication protocols and communication data, and the central processor may be used to control devices (e.g., base stations, terminals, or chips, etc.) accessing the local network, execute software programs, and process data from the software programs.

Alternatively, the processor 1910 may include one or more processors, including, for example, one or more central processing units (central processing unit, CPU), which in the case of a CPU, may be a single-core CPU or a multi-core CPU.

The transceiver 1920 is configured to transmit and receive data and/or signals, and to receive 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 1930 includes, but is not limited to, random access memory (random access memory, RAM), read-only memory (ROM), erasable programmable memory (erasable programmable read only memory, EPROM), compact disc read-only memory (compact disc read-only memory, CD-ROM), and the memory 1930 is for storing related instructions and data.

Memory 1930 is used to store program codes and data for the terminal, and may be a separate device or integrated in processor 1910.

In particular, the processor 1910 is configured to control the transceiver to transmit information with the terminal. Reference may be made specifically to the description of the method embodiments, and no further description is given here.

In a specific implementation, as an embodiment, the apparatus 1900 may further include an output device and an input device. The output device(s) communicate with the processor 1910 and may display information in a variety of ways. For example, the output device may be a liquid crystal display (liquid crystal display, LCD), a light emitting diode (light emitting diode, LED) display device, a Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) display device, or a projector (projector), or the like. The input device(s) is in communication with the processor 701 and may receive input from a user in a variety of ways. For example, the input device may be a mouse, a keyboard, a touch screen device, a sensing device, or the like.

It will be appreciated that figure 19 shows only a simplified design of a device accessing a local network. In practical applications, the apparatus may further include other necessary elements, including but not limited to any number of transceivers, processors, controllers, memories, etc., and all terminals capable of implementing the present application are within the scope of protection of the present application.

In one possible design, the device 1900 may be a chip, for example, a communication chip usable in a terminal for implementing the functions associated with the processor 1910 in the terminal. The chip can be a field programmable gate array for realizing related functions, an application specific integrated chip, a system chip, a central processing unit, a network processor, a digital signal processing circuit, a microcontroller, a programmable controller or other integrated chips. In the chip, one or more memories may optionally be included for storing program code that, when executed, causes the processor to perform the corresponding functions.

Fig. 20 shows a schematic block diagram of an apparatus 2000 for accessing a local network according to an embodiment of the present application.

It should be appreciated that the apparatus 2000 may correspond to the AMF in the embodiment shown in fig. 5, and may have any function of the AMF in the method. The apparatus 2000 includes a transceiver module 2010 and a processing module 2020.

The transceiver module 2010 is configured to send a trigger message to a terminal, where the trigger message is used to trigger the terminal to establish a session;

the transceiver module 2010 is further configured to receive the first message from the terminal, where the first message is used to request to establish a first session, and the first session is used for the terminal to access a target local network;

the processing module 2020 is configured to determine, according to the first message, a target network access identifier, where the target network access identifier is used to indicate a target local network;

the processing module 2020 is further configured to determine, according to the target network access identifier, a first SMF;

the transceiver module 2010 is further configured to send the target network access identifier to the first SMF, where the target network access identifier is used by the first SMF to determine a target UPF.

Optionally, the first message includes a session identifier of a second session, where the second session is used for the terminal to access the central network, and the transceiver module 2010 is further configured to obtain the session identifier of at least one session and a network access identifier of at least one local network corresponding to the session identifier of the at least one session; the processing module 2020 is specifically configured to: and determining the target network access identification corresponding to the session identification of the second session according to the session identification and the mapping relation of the second session.

Optionally, the transceiver module 2010 is further configured to receive the mapping relationship from a second SMF, where the second SMF is used by a terminal to establish the second session.

Fig. 21 illustrates an apparatus 2100 for accessing a local network according to an embodiment of the present application, where the apparatus 2100 may be an AMF as described in fig. 7. The apparatus may employ a hardware architecture as shown in fig. 21. The apparatus may include a processor 2110 and a transceiver 2120, and optionally the apparatus may further include a memory 2130, the processor 2110, the transceiver 2120 and the memory 2130 communicating with each other through an internal connection path. The related functions performed by the processing module 2020 in fig. 20 may be performed by the processor 2110, and the related functions performed by the transceiver module 2010 may be performed by the processor 2110 controlling the transceiver 2120.

Alternatively, the processor 2110 may be a general-purpose central processing unit (central processing unit, CPU), microprocessor, application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), special-purpose processor, or one or more integrated circuits for performing the techniques of embodiments of the present application. In the alternative, 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 processing unit. The baseband processor may be used to process communication protocols and communication data, and the central processor may be used to control devices (e.g., base stations, terminals, or chips, etc.) accessing the local network, execute software programs, and process data from the software programs.

Alternatively, the processor 2110 may comprise one or more processors, for example, one or more central processing units (central processing unit, CPU), which in the case of a CPU, may be a single-core CPU or a multi-core CPU.

The transceiver 2120 is used to transmit and receive data and/or signals, as well as to receive 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 2130 includes, but is not limited to, random access memory (random access memory, RAM), read-only memory (ROM), erasable programmable memory (erasable programmable read only memory, EPROM), compact disc read-only memory (compact disc read-only memory, CD-ROM), the memory 2130 for storing related instructions and data.

The memory 2130 is used for storing program codes and data of the terminal and may be a separate device or integrated in the processor 2110.

Specifically, the processor 2110 is configured to control the transceiver to perform information transmission with the terminal. Reference may be made specifically to the description of the method embodiments, and no further description is given here.

In a specific implementation, as an embodiment, the apparatus 2100 may further include an output device and an input device. The output device communicates with the processor 2110 and can display information in a variety of ways. For example, the output device may be a liquid crystal display (liquid crystal display, LCD), a light emitting diode (light emitting diode, LED) display device, a Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) display device, or a projector (projector), or the like. The input device(s) is in communication with the processor 701 and may receive input from a user in a variety of ways. For example, the input device may be a mouse, a keyboard, a touch screen device, a sensing device, or the like.

It will be appreciated that figure 21 shows only a simplified design of a device accessing a local network. In practical applications, the apparatus may further include other necessary elements, including but not limited to any number of transceivers, processors, controllers, memories, etc., and all terminals capable of implementing the present application are within the scope of protection of the present application.

In one possible design, the device 2100 may be a chip, such as a communication chip, usable in a terminal to perform the functions associated with the processor 2110 in the terminal. The chip can be a field programmable gate array for realizing related functions, an application specific integrated chip, a system chip, a central processing unit, a network processor, a digital signal processing circuit, a microcontroller, a programmable controller or other integrated chips. In the chip, one or more memories may optionally be included for storing program code that, when executed, causes the processor to perform the corresponding functions.

The embodiment of the application also provides a device which can be an AMF or a circuit. The apparatus may be configured to perform the actions performed by the terminal in the above-described method embodiments.

In the above embodiments, it may be implemented in whole or in part 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 the computer instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the processes or functions described in accordance with embodiments of the present application are produced in whole or in part. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable apparatus. The computer instructions may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium, for example, the computer instructions may be transmitted from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center by a wired (e.g., coaxial cable, fiber optic, digital subscriber line (digital subscriber line, DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.). The computer readable storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device such as a server, data center, etc. that contains an integration of one or more 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 high-density digital video disc (digital video disc, DVD)), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., a Solid State Disk (SSD)), or the like.

It should be appreciated that the processor may be an integrated circuit chip with signal processing capabilities. In implementation, the steps of the above method embodiments may be implemented by integrated logic circuits of hardware in a processor or instructions in software form. The processor may be a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (digital signal processor, DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (application specific integrated circuit, ASIC), an off-the-shelf programmable gate array (field programmable gate array, FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic device, discrete hardware components. The disclosed methods, steps, and logic blocks 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 a method disclosed in connection with the embodiments of the present application may be embodied directly in hardware, in a decoded processor, or in a combination of hardware and software modules in a decoded processor. The software modules may be located in a random access memory, flash memory, read only memory, programmable read only memory, or electrically erasable programmable memory, registers, etc. as well known in the art. The storage medium is located in a memory, and the processor reads the information in the memory and, in combination with its hardware, performs the steps of the above method.

It will be appreciated that the memory in embodiments of the present application may be either volatile memory or nonvolatile memory, or may include both volatile and nonvolatile memory. The nonvolatile 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. The volatile memory may be random access memory (random access memory, RAM) which acts as an external cache. By way of example, and not limitation, many forms of RAM are available, such as Static RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double data rate SDRAM (DDR SDRAM), enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), synchronous Link DRAM (SLDRAM), and direct memory bus RAM (DR RAM).

In the present application, "at least one" means one or more, and "a plurality" means two or more. "and/or", describes an association relationship of an association object, and indicates that there may be three relationships, for example, a and/or B, and may indicate: a alone, a and B together, and B alone, wherein a, B may be singular or plural. The character "/" generally indicates that the context-dependent object is an "or" relationship. "at least one of" or the like means any combination of these items, including any combination of single item(s) or plural items(s). 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 plural.

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 various embodiments of the present application, the sequence numbers of the foregoing processes do not mean the order of execution, and the order of execution of the processes should be determined by the functions and internal logic thereof, and should not constitute any limitation on 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 may reside within a process and/or thread of execution and a component may be localized on one computer and/or distributed between 2 or more computers. Furthermore, 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 one another 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 first, second, and various numerical numbers referred to herein are merely descriptive convenience and are not intended to limit the scope of embodiments of the present application.

It should be understood that the term "and/or" is merely an association relationship describing the associated object, and means that three relationships may exist, for example, a and/or B may mean: a exists alone, A and B exist together, and B exists alone. Wherein a or B is present alone, the number of a or B is not limited. Taking a alone as an example, it is understood that there are 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 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.

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

In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, devices, and methods may be implemented in other manners. For example, the apparatus embodiments described above are merely illustrative, e.g., the division of the units is merely a logical function division, and there may be additional divisions when actually implemented, e.g., multiple units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted or not performed. Alternatively, the coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed with each other may be an indirect coupling or communication connection via some interfaces, devices or units, which may be in electrical, mechanical or other form.

The units described as separate units may or may not be physically separate, and units shown 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 may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of this embodiment.

In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated in one processing unit, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units may be integrated in 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 may be embodied essentially or in a part contributing to the prior art or in a part of the technical solution, in the form of a software product stored in a storage medium, including several instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to perform all or part of the steps of the methods described in the embodiments of the present application. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: a U-disk, a removable hard disk, a Read-Only Memory (ROM), a random access Memory (Random Access Memory, RAM), a magnetic disk, or an optical disk, or other various media capable of storing program codes.

The foregoing is merely 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 think about changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the present application, and the changes and substitutions are intended to 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 of accessing a local network, comprising:

sending a trigger message to a terminal, wherein the trigger message is used for triggering the terminal to establish a session;

receiving a first session establishment request from the terminal, wherein the first session establishment request is used for requesting to establish a first session, and the first session is used for the terminal to access a local network;

determining a target network access identifier according to the first session establishment request, wherein the target network access identifier is used for indicating a target local network;

determining a target user plane function network element according to the target network access identifier;

and deleting the target network access identifier in the process of establishing the first session.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first session request includes a session identification of a second session for the terminal to access a central network, the method further comprising:

acquiring a session identifier of at least one session and a network access identifier of at least one local network corresponding to the session identifier of the at least one session, wherein the session identifier of the at least one session comprises a session identifier of the second session;

Wherein, the determining, according to the first session establishment request, the target network access identifier includes:

and determining the target network access identification corresponding to the session identification of the second session according to the session identification of the second session.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the method further comprises:

receiving first information, wherein the first information comprises a service identifier of a target service;

determining a session identifier of a target session corresponding to the service identifier of the target service;

and sending second information, wherein the second information comprises a session identifier of the target session.

4. A method of accessing a local network, comprising:

receiving a first message from the terminal, wherein the first message is used for requesting to establish a first session, and the first session is used for the terminal to access a target local network;

determining a target network access identifier according to the first message, wherein the target network access identifier is used for indicating a target local network;

determining a first session management function network element according to the target network access identifier;

The target network access identifier is sent to the first session management function network element, and the target network access identifier is used for the first session management function network element to determine a target user plane function network element;

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the method further comprises:

the first session management function network element receives the target network access identifier and determines the target user plane function network element according to the target network access identifier.

6. The method according to claim 4 or 5, characterized in that the method further comprises:

and the terminal receives the trigger message and sends the first message according to the trigger message.

7. The method according to claim 4 or 5, wherein the first message comprises a session identification of a second session for the terminal to access a central network, the method further comprising:

acquiring a session identifier of at least one session and a network access identifier of at least one local network corresponding to the session identifier of the at least one session;

Wherein, the determining, according to the first message, the target network access identifier includes:

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the obtaining the session identification of the at least one session and the network access identification of the at least one local network corresponding to the session identification of the at least one session comprises:

receiving a session identifier of the at least one session and a network access identifier of at least one local network corresponding to the session identifier of the at least one session from a second session management function network element, where the second session management function network element is used for establishing the second session by a terminal.

9. The method according to claim 4 or 5, characterized in that the method further comprises:

receiving a first request, wherein the first request comprises a target network access identifier;

determining a session identifier of a target session corresponding to the target network access identifier;

transmitting a first response to the first network element, the first response including a session identification of the target session, or

And sending second information to a second network element, wherein the second information comprises a session identifier of the target session.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein prior to determining the session identification of the target session to which the target network access identification corresponds, the method further comprises:

and acquiring the corresponding relation between the target network access identifier and the session identifier of the target session.

11. A system for accessing a local network, comprising: an access and mobility management function network element and a first session management function network element, wherein the access and mobility management function network element is configured to perform the method according to any one of claims 4, 7 to 10, and the first session management function network element is configured to receive the target network access identity and determine the target user plane function network element according to the target network access identity.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the system further comprises: and the terminal is used for receiving the trigger message and sending the first message according to the trigger message.

13. An apparatus for accessing a local network, comprising a processor for invoking a program stored in memory to perform the method of any of claims 1 to 10.

14. An apparatus for accessing a local network, comprising: a processor and interface circuitry, the processor being for communicating with other devices through the interface circuitry and performing the method of any of claims 1 to 10.

15. A computer storage medium storing instructions which, when executed, implement the method of any one of claims 1 to 10.

16. An apparatus for accessing a local network, comprising: at least one functional module for performing the method of any one of claims 4, 7 to 10.