CN114095869B

CN114095869B - Method, device and system for scheduling multi-access edge computing nodes for terminal

Info

Publication number: CN114095869B
Application number: CN202210012384.3A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 杨文虎; 张海康; 熊正烨; 郑明军; 杨玉强
Original assignee: Guangdong Ocean University
Current assignee: Guangdong Ocean University
Priority date: 2022-01-07
Filing date: 2022-01-07
Publication date: 2022-05-03
Anticipated expiration: 2042-01-07
Also published as: CN114095869A

Abstract

The embodiment of the application provides a method, a device and a system for scheduling multi-access edge computing nodes for a terminal, wherein the method comprises the following steps: receiving a request message from a terminal, wherein the request message comprises information used for determining service characteristics of service contents requested to be accessed by the terminal and/or user levels of the terminal; according to the service characteristics and/or the user grade information, under the condition that the multi-access edge computing node provides service for the terminal, the position information of the terminal is obtained; and feeding back a response result to the terminal according to the position information of the terminal, wherein the response result comprises information used for determining service equipment, and the service equipment is a target multi-access edge computing node capable of providing service for the terminal under the condition that the target multi-access edge computing node meeting the service characteristics and/or the user level exists in an area corresponding to the position information. The user is dispatched to the nearest multi-access edge computing node, so that the lowest access delay experience can be provided for the user, and the user experience is improved.

Description

Method, device and system for scheduling multi-access edge computing nodes for terminal

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of communications, and in particular, to a method, an apparatus, and a system for scheduling multiple access edge computing nodes for a terminal.

Background

With the development of communication technology, especially the maturity and wide application of mobile internet technology, users access video services through various terminals such as computers, mobile phones, pads and the like, the video services prosper and enrich the lives of people, and the development of various industries is promoted. In the process that a user accesses a video service through a terminal device, a communication access network and a content distribution network are both important network infrastructures: the terminal accesses the internet through a mobile network or a fixed broadband network, and the video service is pushed to a server near the terminal through a content distribution network, so that the terminal can obtain balanced user experience.

In the prior art, because the network nodes of the content distribution network are deployed in province and city units, and the content distribution network nodes are also in a wide geographical location range, such as being centrally scheduled by global load balancing equipment in province and city, but because the coverage range of the network nodes of each content distribution network is large, when a user requires high-quality data or the transmission efficiency of the data is high, the network nodes of the content distribution network still have high delay in distributing the data, and therefore, the content distribution network in the prior art cannot meet the requirement that the user requires high-quality data or the transmission efficiency of the data is high.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of the foregoing problems, embodiments of the present application provide a method, an apparatus, and a system for scheduling a multi-access edge computing node for a terminal, so as to schedule a target multi-access edge computing node, which can meet service characteristics and/or a user class of the terminal, for the terminal according to location information of the terminal, thereby achieving high quality data transmission or transmission efficiency.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for scheduling multiple access edge computing nodes for a terminal, including: the global load balancing device receives a request message from a terminal, wherein the request message comprises information used for determining service characteristics of service contents requested to be accessed by the terminal and/or user levels of the terminal. And the global load balancing equipment acquires the position information of the terminal under the condition of determining that the terminal is provided with service through a multi-access edge computing node according to the service characteristics and/or the information of the user level. And the global load balancing equipment feeds back a response result to the terminal according to the position information of the terminal, wherein the response result comprises information used for determining service equipment, and the service equipment is a target multi-access edge computing node capable of providing service for the terminal under the condition that the target multi-access edge computing node meeting the service characteristics and/or the user level exists in an area corresponding to the position information.

In the method for scheduling multi-access edge computing nodes for a terminal provided in the embodiment of the present application, after a global load balancing device obtains a request message of the terminal, after determining a service feature of a service content requested to access and/or information of a user class of the terminal, if it is determined that a multi-access edge computing node is required to provide a service for the terminal, it is determined according to location information of the terminal that if an area corresponding to the location information has a target multi-access edge computing node satisfying the service feature and/or the user class, information of the target multi-access edge computing node is fed back to the terminal, so that the terminal can obtain the service content requested to access by the terminal from the target multi-access edge computing node according to the information of the target multi-access edge computing node, and response time to the request message of the terminal is reduced, the method provides the lowest access delay experience for the user, improves the service transmission efficiency, and ensures the high-quality transmission of the service, thereby improving the experience of the user.

In a possible implementation manner of the present application, in a case that the response result includes information of the target multi-access edge computing node, the response result may further include first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate the terminal to obtain the service content through the target multi-access edge computing node. Therefore, the terminal can definitely obtain the service content through the target multi-access edge computing node according to the first indication information.

In one possible implementation manner of the present application, the global load balancing device is provided with location information distributed by one or more multiple access edge computing nodes.

In a possible implementation manner of the present application, in a case that there is no multi-access edge computing node satisfying the service characteristics and/or the user class in the area, the response result is used by the terminal to determine that the service content is acquired through a central node providing a service for the terminal. Therefore, the terminal can determine to continue to use the accessed central node to acquire the service content, or the central node can be the central node accessed by the terminal or the central node determined by the global load balancing device for the terminal again.

In one possible implementation manner of the present application, the acquiring, by a global load balancing device, the location information of the terminal includes: the global load balancing equipment sends a position request message to first equipment, wherein the position request message is used for requesting the position information of the terminal; and the global load balancing equipment receives the position information of the terminal from the first equipment, wherein the first equipment is a user server of the terminal, or the first equipment is an NEF network element of a mobile network accessed by the terminal, or the first equipment is a home gateway accessed by the terminal.

In a possible implementation manner of the present application, the request message includes first address information and/or identification information of the terminal, where the first address information is used to determine a service feature of service content requested to be accessed by the terminal, and the identification information of the terminal is used to determine a user level of the terminal, where the service feature includes one or more of the following parameters: rate, delay, packet loss rate. Therefore, the global load balancing equipment can determine the service characteristics of the service content which the terminal requests to access according to the first address information. The identification information of the terminal is convenient for the global load balancing equipment to determine the user level of the terminal, and further can determine whether to select the multi-access edge computing node to provide service for the terminal according to the user level and the service characteristics. Thereby improving the efficiency of the terminal accessing the service content.

In a possible implementation manner of the present application, the determining, by the global load balancing device, that the terminal is served by the multi-access edge computing node according to the service feature and/or the information of the user class includes: and under the condition that the service characteristics and/or the user level information meet preset requirements, determining that the terminal is provided with service through a multi-access edge computing node by the global load balancing equipment, wherein the preset requirements comprise: the user grade is higher than or equal to a preset user grade, and/or the service characteristics accord with preset service characteristics.

In one possible implementation manner of the present application, the target multi-access edge computing node is a multi-access edge computing node closest to the location of the terminal in the area. Therefore, the terminal can obtain better service experience conveniently.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for scheduling a multi-access edge computing node for a terminal, where the method includes: a terminal sends a request message to global load balancing equipment, wherein the request message comprises service characteristics used for determining service content requested to be accessed by the terminal and/or information of a user level of the terminal; the terminal receives a response result from the global load balancing equipment, wherein the response result comprises information used for determining service equipment, the service equipment is a target multi-access edge computing node capable of providing service for the terminal, and the target multi-access edge computing node is located in an area corresponding to the position information of the terminal; and the terminal establishes communication connection with the target multi-access edge computing node and acquires the service content from the target multi-access edge computing node through the communication connection.

In a possible implementation manner of the present application, in a case that the response result includes information of the target multi-access edge computing node, the response result may further include first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate the terminal to obtain the service content through the target multi-access edge computing node.

In a possible implementation manner of the present application, in a case that the response result is used by the terminal to determine that the service content is obtained through a central node providing a service for the terminal, the method provided in the embodiment of the present application further includes: and the terminal acquires the service content through a central node providing service for the terminal.

In a possible implementation manner of the present application, in a case that the response result is used by the terminal to determine that the service content is obtained through the central node providing the service for the terminal, the response result includes information of the central node, or the response result includes second indication information, where the second indication information is used to indicate the terminal to obtain the service content through the central node providing the service for the terminal.

In a possible implementation manner of the present application, the target multi-access edge computing node is a multi-access edge computing node closest to the location of the terminal in the area.

In one possible implementation manner of the present application, the request message includes: the method comprises the following steps that first address information and/or identification information of the terminal are/is used for determining service characteristics of service contents which the terminal requests to access, and the identification information of the terminal is used for determining a user level of the terminal.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an apparatus for scheduling a multi-access edge computing node for a terminal, where the apparatus may be a global load balancing device or a chip applied in the global load balancing device, and the apparatus includes: the terminal comprises a communication module and a processing module, wherein the communication module is used for receiving a request message from the terminal, and the request message comprises information used for determining the service characteristics of the service content requested to be accessed by the terminal and/or the user level of the terminal. And the processing module is used for determining to provide service for the terminal through the multi-access edge computing node according to the service characteristics and/or the user grade information. And the communication module is also used for acquiring the position information of the terminal. The processing module is further configured to feed back a response result to the terminal through the communication module according to the location information of the terminal, where the response result includes information used to determine a service device, and the service device is a target multi-access edge computing node capable of providing a service for the terminal when a target multi-access edge computing node satisfying the service characteristics and/or the user class exists in an area corresponding to the location information.

In a possible implementation manner of the present application, the communication module is specifically configured to send a location request message to the first device, where the location request message is used to request location information of the terminal; and the first device is a user server providing services for the terminal, or the first device is an NEF network element of a mobile network to which the terminal is accessed, or the first device is a home broadband gateway to which the terminal is accessed.

In one possible implementation manner of the present application, the processing unit is specifically configured to include: and determining to provide service for the terminal through a multi-access edge computing node under the condition that the service characteristics and/or the user level information meet preset requirements, wherein the preset requirements comprise: the user grade is higher than or equal to a preset user grade, and/or the service characteristics accord with preset service characteristics.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an apparatus for scheduling a multi-access edge computing node for a terminal, where the apparatus may be a terminal or a chip applied in the terminal, and the apparatus includes: the communication module is used for sending a request message to the global load balancing equipment, wherein the request message comprises information used for determining the service characteristics of the service content requested to be accessed by the terminal and/or the user level of the terminal; a communication module, configured to receive a response result from the global load balancing device, where the response result includes information used to determine a service device, where the service device is a target multi-access edge computing node capable of providing a service for the terminal, and the target multi-access edge computing node is located in an area corresponding to location information of the terminal; the processing unit is used for establishing communication connection with the target multi-access edge computing node, and the communication module is also used for acquiring the service content from the target multi-access edge computing node through the communication connection.

In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication system, including: the terminal is configured to execute the method described in the second aspect or any possible implementation manner of the second aspect, and the global load balancing device is configured to execute the method described in the first aspect or any possible implementation manner of the first aspect.

In a sixth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a computer program product comprising instructions that, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform a method for scheduling multiple access edge computing nodes for a terminal, as described in the first aspect or in various possible implementations of the first aspect.

In a seventh aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a computer program product including instructions that, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method for scheduling multiple access edge computing nodes for a terminal described in the second aspect or various possible implementations of the second aspect.

In an eighth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a communications apparatus for implementing various methods in various possible designs of any one of the first to the second aspects. The communication device may be the global load balancing apparatus, or a device including the global load balancing apparatus, or a component (e.g., a chip) applied in the global load balancing apparatus. The communication device comprises modules and units corresponding to the implementation of the method, and the modules and units can be implemented by hardware, software or hardware to execute corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules or units corresponding to the above functions.

In a ninth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a communication device for implementing various methods in various possible designs of any one of the second to the second aspects. The communication device may be the terminal, or a device including the terminal, or a component (e.g., a chip) applied in the terminal. The communication device comprises modules and units corresponding to the implementation of the method, and the modules and units can be implemented by hardware, software or hardware to execute corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules or units corresponding to the above functions.

In a tenth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a chip, where the chip includes a processor, and the processor is configured to read and execute a computer program stored in a memory to perform the method in the first aspect and any possible implementation manner thereof.

In an eleventh aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a chip including a processor, and the processor is configured to read and execute a computer program stored in a memory to perform the method in the second aspect and any possible implementation manner thereof.

Alternatively, the chip may be a single chip, or a chip module composed of a plurality of chips.

Optionally, the chip further comprises a memory, and the memory and the processor are connected with the memory through a circuit or a wire.

Further optionally, the system-on-chip further comprises a communication interface. The communication interface is used for communicating with other modules outside the chip.

In an alternative manner, the global load balancing device is provided with location information of distribution of multiple access edge computing nodes.

In a twelfth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium, where a computer program or an instruction is stored in the computer-readable storage medium, and when the computer program or the instruction is executed on a computer, the computer is caused to execute the method for scheduling multiple access edge computing nodes for a terminal as described in any one of the possible implementations of the first aspect to the first aspect. The computer may be a global load balancing device.

In a thirteenth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a computer-readable storage medium, in which a computer program or an instruction is stored, and when the computer program or the instruction is executed on a computer, the computer is caused to execute the method for scheduling multiple access edge computing nodes for a terminal as described in any one of the possible implementations of the second aspect to the second aspect. The computer may be a terminal.

In a fourteenth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a computer program product including instructions that, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method for scheduling multiple access edge computing nodes for a terminal described in the first aspect or in various possible implementations of the first aspect.

In a fifteenth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a computer program product comprising instructions that, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform a method for scheduling multiple access edge computing nodes for a terminal as described in the second aspect or in various possible implementations of the second aspect.

Any one of the above-provided apparatuses, or computer-readable storage media, or computer program products, or chips, or communication systems is configured to execute the corresponding methods provided above, and therefore, the beneficial effects that can be achieved by the apparatuses can refer to the beneficial effects of the corresponding schemes in the corresponding methods provided above, which are not described herein again.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, the drawings needed to be used in the description of the embodiments are briefly introduced below, and it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are some embodiments of the present application, and it is obvious for those skilled in the art to obtain other drawings without creative efforts.

Fig. 1 is a system architecture diagram of a content distribution network scheduling method supporting edge computing node scheduling according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 2 is a schematic flowchart of a content distribution network scheduling method supporting edge computing node scheduling according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of a chip according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present application clearer, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present application, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are some embodiments of the present application, but not all embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present application.

Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this application belongs; the terminology used in the description of the application herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the application; the terms "comprising" and "having," and any variations thereof, in the description and claims of this application and the description of the figures are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions.

Reference herein to "an embodiment" means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment can be included in at least one embodiment of the application. The appearances of the phrase "an embodiment" in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment, nor are separate or alternative embodiments mutually exclusive of other embodiments. It is explicitly and implicitly understood by one skilled in the art that the embodiments described herein can be combined with other embodiments.

The term "and/or" herein is merely an association describing an associated object, meaning that three relationships may exist, e.g., a and/or B, may mean: there are three cases of A, A and B, and B. In addition, the character "/" herein generally indicates that the former and latter related objects are in an "or" relationship.

Furthermore, the terms "first," "second," and the like in the description and claims of the present application or in the above-described drawings are used for distinguishing between different objects and not necessarily for describing a particular sequential order, and may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of the features.

In the description of the present application, unless otherwise specified, "plurality" means two or more (including two), and similarly, "plural" means two or more (including two).

In the description of the present application, it should be noted that, unless otherwise explicitly specified or limited, the terms "mounted," "connected," and "connected" are to be construed broadly, e.g., "connected" or "connected" of a mechanical structure may refer to a physical connection, e.g., a physical connection may be a fixed connection, e.g., a fixed connection by a fastener, such as a screw, bolt, or other fastener; the physical connection can also be a detachable connection, such as a mutual snap-fit or snap-fit connection; the physical connection may also be an integral connection, for example, a connection made by welding, gluing or integrally forming the connection. "connected" or "connected" of circuit structures may mean not only physically connected but also electrically connected or signal-connected, for example, directly connected, i.e., physically connected, or indirectly connected through at least one intervening component, as long as the circuits are in communication, or communication between the interiors of two components; signal connection may refer to signal connection through a medium, such as radio waves, in addition to signal connection through circuitry. The specific meaning of the above terms in the present application can be understood in a specific case by those of ordinary skill in the art.

In order to make the technical solutions better understood by those skilled in the art, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The transmission efficiency of data in the network is basically related to the quality of data, the number of data transmission devices and the transmission efficiency of the data transmission devices, and due to the development of the live broadcast, online shopping and video industries, application scenarios with high requirements on data transmission rate are gradually generated, for example: scenes such as network ticket robbery, 4K and 8K video playing and the like all need higher data transmission efficiency.

As shown in fig. 1, fig. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an architecture of a communication system provided in an embodiment of the present application, where the communication system includes: a terminal 101, a Global Load balancing device (GSLB) 103, and one or more multi-access Edge Computing nodes (MECs) 104 interact with each other.

Optionally, the terminal 101 accesses a core Network through an access Network, where the core Network may include an Application Function (AF) Network element and a Network Exposure Function (NEF) Network element. The access network may include a network covered by a base station or a network covered by AN Access Network (AN).

Optionally, the communication System may further include a local Domain Name System (DNS) server 102, and the terminal 101 may access the local Domain Name server 102 through an access network to which it accesses, and then communicate with the global load balancing device 103 through the local Domain Name server 102.

In order to reduce the time delay and enable the terminal to obtain the required Content nearby, so as to improve the response speed of the terminal accessing the website, the MEC generally has a Content Distribution Network (CDN) 104 function, and compared with a conventional CDN, the MEC is closer to a radio access Network and has a deeper sinking position. Due to the reduction of the physical distance, the natural mobile edge calculation is further reduced compared with the CDN time delay, and the MEC also comprises the localized calculation capability and the capability opening capability, so that the method has the characteristics of low time delay and intellectualization, and can play a great role in application scenes such as Internet of vehicles, intelligent medical treatment and the like which require intellectualization besides the application scene of the traditional CDN.

Optionally, the communication system further includes: content Distribution Network (CDN). The content delivery network is used for delivering the content of the website to the multi-access edge computing node closest to the terminal, so that the terminal 101 can obtain the required content nearby, the congestion condition of the Internet network is solved, and the response speed of the terminal 101 for accessing the website is improved.

Optionally, the communication system may further include: an AF network element, and a NEF network element in communication with the AF network element. GSLB103 may obtain the location information of terminal 101 from NEF network element through the AF network element. Specifically, the AF network element may communicate with a 5G Core network (5G Core, 5 GC) through the NEF network element. For example, the AF network element obtains the location information of the terminal 101 from an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) network element in the 5GC through the NEF network element.

In the case where the terminal 101 accesses the server through the fixed network to acquire a service, the communication system may further include: a home gateway. The terminal 101 may access the network through a home gateway.

The terminal 101 may be a static device, such as a device fixedly installed in a place, for example, a desktop computer, but the terminal 101 may also be a mobile device, for example, a mobile phone, a wearable device, etc.

Terminals (terminals) may include a variety of handheld devices with wireless communication capabilities, in-vehicle devices, wearable devices, computing devices, or other processing devices connected to a wireless modem; a subscriber unit (subscriber unit), a cellular phone (cellular phone), a smart phone (smart phone), a wireless data card, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) computer, a tablet computer, a wireless modem (modem), a handheld device (dhhand), a laptop computer (laptop computer), a cordless phone (cordless phone) or a Wireless Local Loop (WLL) station, a Machine Type Communication (MTC) terminal, a User Equipment (UE), a Mobile Station (MS), a terminal equipment (terminal device) or a relay user equipment, etc. may also be included. The relay user equipment may be, for example, a 5G home gateway (RG). For convenience of description, the above-mentioned devices are collectively referred to as a terminal in this application.

It should be understood that the terminal in this embodiment of the application can be a terminal in multiple vertical industry application fields such as internet of things terminal equipment, ports, intelligent factories, railway traffic, logistics, unmanned aerial vehicles and unmanned vehicles. For example: mobile robots (Mobile Robot), Automated Guided Vehicles (AGV), unmanned vehicles, control devices and sensors on trains, control devices and sensors (sensors) deployed in factories, and the like.

As an example, in the embodiment of the present application, the terminal may also be a wearable device. Wearable equipment can also be called wearable intelligent equipment, is the general term of equipment that uses wearable technique to carry out intelligent design, develop can dress to daily wearing, such as glasses, gloves, wrist-watch, dress and shoes. A wearable device is a portable device that is worn directly on the body or integrated into the clothing or accessories of the user. The wearable device is not only a hardware device, but also realizes powerful functions through software support, data interaction and cloud interaction. The generalized wearable smart device includes full functionality, large size, and can implement full or partial functionality without relying on a smart phone, such as: smart watches or smart glasses and the like, and only focus on a certain type of application functions, and need to be used in cooperation with other devices such as smart phones, such as various smart bracelets for physical sign monitoring, smart jewelry and the like. The terminal may also be a sensor device applied to a factory.

Multiple-access Edge Computing node (MEC): the mobile edge computing proposed by the european telecommunications standards institute ETSI is a technology based on the architecture of 5G evolution and deeply merging the mobile access network with the internet service. The MEC can provide services and cloud computing functions required by IT of telecommunication users nearby by using the wireless access network, so as to create a telecommunication service environment with high performance, low delay and high bandwidth, accelerate the rapid downloading of various contents, services and applications in the network, and enable consumers to enjoy uninterrupted high-quality network experience. The MEC can improve user experience and save bandwidth resources on one hand, and provides third party application integration by sinking computing capacity to the mobile edge node on the other hand, thereby providing infinite possibility for service innovation of the mobile edge entrance. The seamless integration of mobile networks and mobile applications will provide a powerful weapon for dealing with various ott (overtetop) applications.

Global Load balancing device (GSLB): the main purpose is to direct the terminal's request to the nearest node (or area) throughout the network. Thus, proximity determination is the primary function of global load balancing. Local load balancing is generally limited to a certain area, and the goal is to find a most suitable node to provide service in a specific area.

The multi-access edge computing node 104 may be a server, a server cluster composed of several servers, or a cloud computing service center. The multi-access edge computing node 104 may also be a server that provides various services, such as a background server that provides support for pages displayed on the terminal 101.

It should be noted that, the method for scheduling multiple access edge computing nodes for a terminal provided in the embodiment of the present application may be executed by the global load balancing device 103, or may be executed by a chip disposed in the global load balancing device 103, or the method for scheduling multiple access edge computing nodes for a terminal provided in the embodiment of the present application may be executed by the terminal 101, or may be executed by a chip disposed in the terminal 101. This is not limited in the embodiment of the present application, and the following embodiment describes an example in which the global load balancing device 103 and the terminal 101 interact with each other.

As shown in fig. 2, fig. 2 is an interaction diagram for scheduling a multi-access edge computing node for a terminal according to an embodiment of the present application, where the method includes:

step 201, the terminal 101 sends a request message to the global load balancing device 103, and correspondingly, the global load balancing device 103 receives the request message from the terminal 101. Wherein the request message includes information for determining a service characteristic of the service content requested to be accessed by the terminal 101 and/or a user rating of the terminal 101. For example, the request message may be a DNS request message.

As an example, the traffic characteristics include one or more of the following parameters: speed, time delay, packet loss rate and service quality. For example, the quality of service may be intelligibility. For example, the video requested to be accessed by the terminal 101 is a high-definition video or a picture with a resolution higher than a specified resolution, or a low-definition video or a picture with a resolution lower than a specified resolution.

In one possible implementation of the present application, step 101 may be implemented by: the terminal 101 sends a request message to the local domain name server 102, and after receiving the request message, the local domain name server 102 sends the request message to the global load balancing device 103, and optionally, the request message may be carried in a content acquisition request message. The scheme can be applied to the scene that the terminal 101 and the global load balancing device 103 cannot directly communicate with each other. In a scenario where the terminal 101 and the global load balancing device 103 can communicate with each other, the terminal 101 may directly send the request message to the global load balancing device 103 without going through the local domain name server 102.

Various communication client applications may be installed on the terminal 101, that is, a request message sent by the terminal 101 may be sent to the global load balancing device 103 by the corresponding local domain name server 102. For example, the client application may be: web browser applications, video-like applications, shopping-like applications, search-like applications, instant messaging tools, mailbox clients, social platform software, and the like.

As an example, the request message includes first address information and/or identification information of the terminal. The first address information is used for determining the service characteristics of the service content which the terminal requests to access, and the identification information of the terminal is used for determining the user level of the terminal. For example, the first address information may be a web page address corresponding to the service content requested to be accessed, such as a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) address or an IP address.

Step 202, the global load balancing device 103 obtains the location information of the terminal 101 when determining that the terminal 101 is served by the multi-access edge computing node according to the service characteristics and/or the user level information.

The location information of the terminal 101 is used to determine the area where the terminal 101 is located, such as the terminal 101 is located in province a, and/or city a/district.

Step 203, the global load balancing device 103 feeds back a response result to the terminal 101 according to the position information of the terminal 101, and correspondingly, the terminal 101 receives the response result from the global load balancing device 103. The response result includes information for determining the service device, and the service device is the target multi-access edge computing node 105 capable of providing service for the terminal 101 when the target multi-access edge computing node 105 meeting the service characteristics and/or the user level exists in the area corresponding to the location information.

As an example, the information for determining the service device may be information of the service device or information associated with the service device, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

For example, if the terminal 101 is located at the a place, and the terminal 101 accesses the service content through the service device located in the B city before that, but this may cause a larger time delay, so in order to provide a better service for the terminal 101, in the case that the a place is deployed with the multiple access edge computing node a, if the terminal 101 accesses the service content through the multiple access edge computing node a deployed at the a place, the time delay may be reduced, so the global load balancing device 103 may select the target multiple access edge computing node 105 for providing the service for the terminal 101 from the area corresponding to the location information according to the location information of the terminal 101 after acquiring the request message, to provide the service for the terminal 101 better for the multiple access edge computing node a, thereby improving the experience of the terminal 101.

In a possible implementation manner of the present application, assuming that there are multiple access edge computing nodes in an area corresponding to the location information of the terminal 101, the target multiple access edge computing node is a multiple access edge computing node closest to the terminal 101 in the area corresponding to the location information of the terminal 101, and/or the target multiple access edge computing node is a load lower than a preset threshold in the area corresponding to the location information of the terminal 101. For example, the terminal 101 needs to access the service content X, a, B, a, C, a, C, a, B, a, C, a, B, a, C, a, C, B, a, C, a, B, a, B, a, C, a, C, a, C, a, C, a, C, a, C, a. Optionally, if the multi-access edge computing node B is closest to the terminal 101 but the load of the multi-access edge computing node B is highest among the 3 multi-access edge computing nodes in the multi-access edge computing nodes a to C, and although the load of the multi-access edge computing node a is lower than the preset load threshold value compared to the case where the multi-access edge computing node B is far from the terminal 101 than the multi-access edge computing node B, the multi-access edge computing node a may be preferentially selected to provide a service for the terminal 101 in this case, that is, the target multi-access edge computing node 105 is the multi-access edge computing node a, which may better ensure the experience of the terminal 101 when obtaining service content from the multi-access edge computing node a.

It should be noted that if the multiple-access edge computing node D cannot provide the service content X, although the multiple-access edge computing node D is located at a, the global load balancing device 103 does not consider the multiple-access edge computing node D when selecting the target multiple-access edge computing node 105 for the terminal 101 in the area corresponding to the location information, unless the global load balancing device 103 notifies other devices that the service content X is deployed on the multiple-access edge computing node D, the global load balancing device 103 may consider the multiple-access edge computing node D when selecting the target multiple-access edge computing node 105 for the terminal 101 at a.

For example, assume that a plurality of multi-access edge computing nodes are deployed in a, but only the service content X provided by the multi-access edge computing node a is high-definition service content, and the service content provided by the remaining multi-access edge computing nodes is low-definition service content, but the terminal 101 needs to access the high-definition service content (that is, the service quality corresponding to the service feature is high-definition), and the target multi-access edge computing node 105 is the multi-access edge computing node a.

Step 204, the terminal 101 establishes a communication connection with the target multi-access edge computing node 105, and obtains the service content from the target multi-access edge computing node 105 through the communication connection.

In the method for scheduling multi-access edge computing nodes for a terminal according to the embodiment, after a global load balancing device obtains a request message of the terminal, after determining a service feature of a service content requested to be accessed and/or information of a user class of the terminal, if it is determined that the multi-access edge computing node is required to provide service for the terminal, if it is determined according to the location information of the terminal that a target multi-access edge computing node 105 meeting the service feature and/or the user class exists in an area corresponding to the location information, the information of the target multi-access edge computing node 105 is fed back to the terminal, so that the terminal can obtain the service content requested to be accessed by the terminal from the target multi-access edge computing node 105 according to the information of the target multi-access edge computing node 105, and the response time to the request message of the terminal is reduced, the method provides the lowest access delay experience for the user, improves the service transmission efficiency, and ensures the high-quality transmission of the service, thereby improving the experience of the user.

In a possible implementation manner of the present application, in the case that the response result includes information for determining the target multi-access edge computing node 105, the response result may further include first indication information, where the first indication information is used to instruct the terminal 101 to acquire the relevant service, such as access the service content, through the target multi-access edge computing node 105.

In a possible implementation manner of the present application, the global load balancing device 103 is deployed with location distribution information of one or more multiple access edge computing nodes, so that after the global load balancing device 103 acquires the location information of the terminal 101, it may determine whether there is a multiple access edge computing node located in an area corresponding to the location information of the terminal 101 according to the location distribution information of the one or more multiple access edge computing nodes.

In a possible implementation manner of the present application, the global load balancing device 103 may also obtain, from other devices, location distribution information of one or more multiple access edge computing nodes located in an area corresponding to the location information of the terminal 101. For example, after determining the area corresponding to the location information of the terminal 101, the global load balancing device 103 may send an edge computing node query message to a device X that manages multiple access edge computing nodes located in the area, so as to obtain distribution information of the multiple access edge computing nodes located in the area from the device X. The optional edge computing node query message includes at least an area corresponding to the location information of the terminal 101. For example, the location information of the terminal 101 indicates that the terminal 101 is located in the a11 area of a city, the edge calculation node query message includes at least the a11 area of a city and third indication information indicating distribution information providing multi-access edge calculation nodes.

In a possible implementation manner of the present application, when selecting a target multi-access edge computing node 105 for a terminal 101, the global load balancing device 103 may further refer to load information of the multi-access edge computing node or whether the multi-access edge computing node is available, so the method provided in this embodiment of the present application may further include: the global load balancing device 103 obtains the state information of the multi-access edge computing node located in the area corresponding to the location information of the terminal 101. The state information is used for reflecting whether the load of the multi-access edge computing node exceeds a preset load threshold, or for reflecting the load level of the multi-access edge computing node, such as medium load, low load and high load, and/or for reflecting whether the state of the multi-access edge computing node is available, such as if one multi-access edge computing node is currently in a fault state, or is in an unavailable state such as shutdown, or is not in an available state such as fault, startup, or the like.

In a possible implementation manner, if the global load balancing device 103 stores at least state information of a multi-access edge computing node located in an area corresponding to the location information of the terminal 101, the global load balancing device 103 obtains the state information of the multi-access edge computing node located in the area corresponding to the location information of the terminal 101, and may implement the following steps: the global load balancing device 103 obtains the state information of the multi-access edge computing node located in the area corresponding to the location information of the terminal 101 from the internal storage.

In a possible implementation manner, if the global load balancing device 103 does not store the state information of the multi-access edge computing node in the area corresponding to the location information of the terminal 101, the global load balancing device 103 obtains the state information of the multi-access edge computing node located in the area corresponding to the location information of the terminal 101, and may implement the following steps: the global load balancing device 103 sends an inquiry request message to the designated device, where the inquiry request message is used to request the state information of the multi-access edge computing node located in the area corresponding to the location information of the terminal 101. In this way, the designated device may provide the state information of the multi-access edge computing node located in the area corresponding to the location information of the terminal 101 to the global load balancing device 103 according to the query request message. As an example, the designated device may be a multi-access edge computing node located in an area corresponding to the location information of the terminal 101. For example, if the global load balancing device 103 needs to acquire the state information of the multi-access edge computing node a located in the area corresponding to the location information of the terminal 101, an inquiry request message may be sent to the multi-access edge computing node a. As another example, the specific device may be a device that manages a multi-access edge computing node located in an area corresponding to the location information of the terminal 101, and the device may be capable of acquiring status information of the multi-access edge computing node located in the area corresponding to the location information of the terminal 101. The embodiment of the present application does not limit this.

In one possible implementation manner of the present application, the step 102 may be implemented by: under the condition that the service characteristics and/or the user level information meet preset requirements, the global load balancing device 103 determines to provide services for the terminal 101 through a multi-access edge computing node, where the preset requirements include: the user grade is higher than or equal to a preset user grade, and/or the service characteristics accord with preset service characteristics.

For example, if the service characteristic of the service content requested to be accessed by the terminal 101 is a low-latency service (i.e., the latency is lower than or equal to the preset latency threshold), the global load balancing device 103 may determine to provide a service for the terminal through the multi-access edge computing node. If the service characteristic of the service content requested to be accessed by the terminal 101 is a high-latency service (i.e. the latency is higher than the preset latency threshold), the global load balancing device 103 may determine that the terminal does not need to be served by the multi-access edge computing node.

For example, different service requirements corresponding to different user classes are different, and when the user class is higher than a preset user class, a better service can be provided for the terminal 101, so that the terminal can be provided with a service by accessing a multi-access edge computing node located near the terminal 101. For example, if the terminal a and the terminal B are both located in the area a, but the user level of the terminal a is higher than the preset user level, and the user level of the terminal B is lower than the preset user level, when the terminal a and the terminal B both need to access the service content X, the terminal a may be served by the multi-access edge computing node located in the area a, and the terminal B may be served by the multi-access edge computing node located in the other area. Therefore, the high-level user can be ensured to obtain better service experience.

If the traffic characteristic of the traffic content requested to be accessed by the terminal 101 is high rate (i.e., the rate is higher than or equal to the preset rate threshold), the global load balancing device 103 may determine to provide services for the terminal through the multi-access edge computing node. If the service characteristic of the service content requested to be accessed by the terminal 101 is a low rate (i.e., the rate is lower than the preset rate threshold), the global load balancing device 103 may determine that the terminal does not need to be served by the multi-access edge computing node.

In a possible implementation manner of the present application, the acquiring, by the global load balancing device 101, the location information of the terminal includes: the global load balancing device 103 sends a location request message to the first device, where the location request message is used to request location information of the terminal 101; the global load balancing device 103 receives the location information of the terminal 101 from the first device.

The first device is a user server of the terminal 101, where the user server stores location information of the terminal 101 or can obtain the location information of the terminal 101, or the first device is an NEF network element of a mobile network to which the terminal 101 accesses, or the first device is a home broadband gateway to which the terminal 101 accesses. For example, if the terminal 101 is a desktop computer, the global load balancing device 101 may obtain the location information of the terminal 101 through the home broadband gateway accessed by the terminal 101. For example, if the terminal 101 is a mobile device, the global load balancing device 101 may obtain the location information of the terminal 101 through an NEF network element of an accessed mobile network. Or the location information of the terminal 101 is obtained through an AMF network element accessed by the terminal 101 or a base station accessed by the terminal 101, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

For example, taking the first device as a user server as an example, the global load balancing device 103 sends a request to the user server to acquire GPS positioning information of the user. The global load balancing device 103 receives the GPS positioning information of the terminal 101 sent by the user server. The global load balancing device 103 obtains the location information of the terminal 101 from the GPS positioning information of the terminal 101.

Taking the first device as an NEF network element as an example, the step of acquiring the location information of the terminal 101 by the global load balancing device according to the request message of the terminal 101 specifically includes: the global load balancing device 103 sends a request for acquiring the location information of the terminal 101 to the NEF network element through the AF network element, so that the NEF network element can acquire the location information of the terminal 101 from an access network or core network device to which the terminal 101 is accessed according to the identification information of the terminal 101.

If the user is a user request sent by a mobile network terminal, after receiving a user request message, the global load balancing device sends a request for obtaining user location information to the mobile network terminal connected to the user, because the user needs to connect through a nearby port of the mobile network when connecting the mobile network, that is, to obtain location information of the port of the mobile network, the approximate area information of the user can be obtained, and because the location information of the port of the mobile network generally includes an accurate setting location of the port, and the area of the port of the mobile network, that is, the global load balancing device obtains the port information of the mobile network connected to the user, the approximate range of the user can be obtained, which is equivalent to obtaining the location information of the user.

In practical application, the port area of the mobile network is limited, that is, the location information of the port of the mobile network is obtained, which is equivalent to the more accurate location information of the user, and the embodiment performs positioning by obtaining the mobile network side; in this embodiment, the global load balancing device requests the mobile network to obtain the location information of the user.

Taking the first device as a home gateway (such as a broadband network gateway) as an example, the global load balancing device 103 sends a request for acquiring location information to a broadband network gateway accessed by the terminal 101 through a network protocol; the global load balancing device 103 receives gateway interface information fed back by the broadband network gateway of the terminal 101; the global load balancing device 103 obtains the location information of the terminal 101 according to the gateway interface information.

If the terminal 101 receives a user request sent by the broadband network, the global load balancing device 103 sends a request for obtaining user location information to a gateway of the broadband network connected to the terminal 101 after receiving the request message from the terminal 101.

In practical application, the gateway interface information of the broadband network includes the location information of the broadband network, and the broadband network sends the gateway interface information to the global load balancing device, and the global load balancing device can obtain the specific location information of the broadband network according to the gateway interface information, which is equivalent to obtain the specific location information of the user.

In a possible embodiment of the present application, although the global load balancing device 103 determines that it is necessary to determine an access edge node for the terminal 101 to provide a service for the terminal 101 according to the request message of the terminal 101, in an actual situation, there may also be a situation that there is no target multi-access edge computing node 105 corresponding to the service feature and/or the user class of the terminal 101 in the area corresponding to the location information of the terminal 101, and therefore, in the case that there is no multi-access edge computing node satisfying the service feature and/or the user class in the area, the response result is used for the terminal 101 to determine that the service content is obtained through the central node providing a service for the terminal 101. This facilitates the terminal 101 to determine to retrieve the service content from the central node. For example, the central node may be a server deployed at a remote end and capable of providing service content for the terminal 101. For example, the terminal 101 is located in city a, the terminal 101 needs to access video a, the server deployed with the video a is deployed in city B, the terminal 101 originally wants to access the video a through the server deployed at a far end (i.e., in city B), and if the MEC is not determined for the terminal 101, the terminal 101 continues to access the video a through the server deployed in city B.

For example, the terminal 101 is located in an area a, and as described above, although one or more multiple access edge computing nodes D are deployed in the area a, the multiple access edge computing nodes cannot provide service content requested to be accessed by the terminal 101 for the terminal 101, or the provided service content does not conform to service characteristics requested by the terminal 101, for example, the terminal 101 requests to access a high-rate service/a low-latency service, but the multiple access edge computing nodes D can only provide a low-rate service/a high-latency service, and the central node can provide the high-rate service/the low-latency service, so the global load balancing device 103 can determine that the area does not have a multiple access edge computing node providing services for the terminal 101, and can determine that the terminal 101 is provided with services through the central node.

In a case that the service device is a central node, the method provided in the embodiment of the present application may further include: and the terminal acquires the service content through the central node.

It should be noted that the central node may be a central node accessed by the terminal 101, or may be a central node redetermined for the terminal 101 by the global load balancing device 103, and in the case of the redetermined central node, before the terminal 101 acquires the service content through the central node, the terminal 101 needs to establish a communication connection with the central node, and a specific process of establishing a communication connection may refer to descriptions in the prior art, which is not described herein again.

The above description mainly introduces the scheme of the embodiment of the present application from the perspective of the network element. It is to be understood that each network element, such as a terminal, a global load balancing device, etc., includes a corresponding structure and/or software module for performing each function in order to implement the above functions. Those of skill in the art would readily 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 performed as hardware or computer software drives hardware depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the solution. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present application.

In the embodiment of the present application, the terminal and the global load balancing device may be exemplified according to the method described above to perform the division of the functional units, for example, each functional unit may be divided corresponding to each function, or two or more functions may be integrated into one processing unit. The integrated unit can be realized in a form of hardware, and can also be realized in a form of a software functional unit. It should be noted that the division of the unit in the embodiment of the present application is schematic, and is only a logic function division, and there may be another division manner in actual implementation.

The method of the embodiment of the present application is described above with reference to fig. 3, and a communication apparatus for performing the method provided by the embodiment of the present application is described below. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the method and apparatus can be combined and referred to each other, and the communication apparatus provided in the embodiments of the present application can perform the steps performed by the first terminal in the above communication method.

In case of using an integrated unit, fig. 3 shows a communication apparatus as referred to in the above embodiments, which may include: a communication module 2113 and a processing module 2112.

In an alternative implementation, the communications apparatus can also include a storage module 2111 for storing program codes and data for the communications apparatus.

In one example, the communication device is the terminal 101, or a chip applied in the terminal 101. In this case, the communication module 2113 is used to support the communication device in communication with an external network element (e.g., a global load balancing device). For example, the communication module 2113 is used for performing the transceiving operation of the terminal 101 in the above method embodiment. The processing module 2112 is configured to perform the processing operation of the terminal 101 in the above method embodiment.

For example, the communication module 2113 is configured to perform the sending action performed by the terminal 101 in step 201 and the receiving action performed by the terminal 101 in step 203 of fig. 2 in the foregoing embodiment. A processing module 2112, configured to enable the communication apparatus to perform the processing actions performed by the terminal 101 in the above embodiments, such as step 204.

In an example, the communication apparatus is the global load balancing device 103, or a chip applied in the global load balancing device 103. In this case, the communication module 2113 is used to support the communication device to communicate with an external network element (e.g., the terminal 101). For example, the communication module 2113 is configured to perform the transceiving operation of the global load balancing device 103 in the foregoing method embodiment. The processing module 2112 is configured to perform the processing operation of the global load balancing apparatus 103 in the foregoing method embodiment.

For example, the communication module 2113 is configured to perform the receiving action performed by the global load balancing apparatus 103 in step 201 and the sending action performed by the global load balancing apparatus 103 in step 203 in fig. 2 of the foregoing embodiments. A processing module 2112 for enabling the communication device to perform the processing actions performed by the terminal 101 in the above embodiments, such as step 202.

It should be noted that the communication module 2113 shown in fig. 3 may also be replaced by a communication unit, and the processing module 2112 may also be replaced by a processing unit. The memory module 2111 may also be replaced with a memory cell. The processing unit is used for controlling and managing the operation of the communication device, and for example, the processing unit is used for executing the steps of information/data processing in the communication device. The communication unit is used for supporting the steps of information/data transmission or reception of the communication device.

In one possible implementation, the communication unit may include a receiving unit for receiving a signal and a transmitting unit for transmitting a signal.

The processing module 2112 may be a processor or controller, such as a central processing unit, general purpose processor, digital signal processor, application specific integrated circuit, field programmable gate array or other programmable logic device, transistor logic device, hardware component, or any combination thereof. Which may implement or perform the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the disclosure. A processor may also be a combination of computing functions, e.g., a combination of one or more microprocessors, a digital signal processor and a microprocessor, or the like. The communication module may be a transceiver, a transceiving circuit or a communication interface, etc. The storage module may be a memory.

When the processing module 2112 is the processor 21, the communication module 2113 is the transceiver 23, and the storage module 2111 is the memory 22, the communication device according to the present application may be the communication apparatus shown in fig. 4.

The above communication module may be a kind of communication interface of the apparatus for receiving signals from other apparatuses. For example, when the device is implemented in the form of a chip, the communication module is a communication interface for the chip to receive signals from or transmit signals to other chips or devices.

Fig. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of a chip 220 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Chip 220 includes one or more (including two) processors 2210 and a communication interface 2230.

Optionally, the chip 220 further includes a memory 2240, where the memory 2240 may include a read only memory and a random access memory, and provides operating instructions and data to the processor 2210. A portion of memory 2240 may also include non-volatile random access memory (NVRAM).

In some embodiments, memory 2240 stores elements, execution modules or data structures, or a subset thereof, or an extended set thereof.

In the embodiment of the present application, by calling an operation instruction stored in the memory 2240 (the operation instruction may be stored in an operating system), a corresponding operation is performed.

Processor 2210 controls processing operations of terminal 101 or global load balancing device 103, and processor 2210 may also be referred to as a Central Processing Unit (CPU).

Memory 2240 may include both read-only memory and random-access memory, and provides instructions and data to processor 2210. A portion of the memory 2240 may also include NVRAM. For example, in-application memory 2240, communication interface 2230, and memory 2240 are coupled via a bus system 2220, which bus system 2220 may include a power bus, a control bus, a status signal bus, and so forth, in addition to the data bus. But for the sake of clarity the various buses are labeled in figure 5 as the bus system 2220.

The methods disclosed in the embodiments of the present application may be implemented in processor 2210, or implemented by processor 2210. Processor 2210 may be an integrated circuit chip having signal processing capabilities. In implementation, the steps of the above-described method may be performed by instructions in the form of hardware, integrated logic circuits, or software in processor 2210. The processor 2210 may be a general purpose processor, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), an ASIC, an off-the-shelf programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components. The various methods, steps, and logic blocks disclosed in the embodiments of the present application may be implemented or performed. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor or the processor may be any conventional processor or the like. The steps of the method disclosed in connection with the embodiments of the present application may be directly implemented by a hardware decoding processor, or implemented by a combination of hardware and software modules in the decoding processor. The software module may be located in ram, flash memory, rom, prom, or eprom, registers, etc. storage media as is well known in the art. The storage medium is located in the memory 2240, and the processor 2210 reads the information in the memory 2240, and performs the steps of the above method in conjunction with the hardware thereof.

In one possible implementation, the communication interface 2230 is configured to perform the steps of receiving and transmitting by the terminal 101 in the embodiment shown in fig. 2. Processor 2210 is used to perform the steps of the processing of terminal 101 in the embodiment shown in fig. 2.

In one possible implementation, the communication interface 2230 is configured to perform the steps of receiving and transmitting by the global load balancing apparatus 103 in the embodiment shown in fig. 2. Processor 2210 is used to perform the steps of the processing of global load balancing device 103 in the embodiment shown in fig. 2.

In one aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided having stored therein instructions that, when executed, implement the functions performed by the terminal 101 as in fig. 2.

In one aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, having stored therein instructions that, when executed, implement the functions performed by the global load balancing apparatus 103 as in fig. 2.

In one aspect, a computer program product comprising instructions is provided, which when executed, implements the functionality as performed by the terminal 101 in fig. 2.

In one aspect, a computer program product comprising instructions is provided, which when executed, implement the functions as performed by the global load balancing apparatus 103 in fig. 2.

In one aspect, a chip is provided, which is applied in a terminal, and the chip includes at least one processor and a communication interface, the communication interface is coupled with the at least one processor, and the processor is configured to execute instructions to implement the functions performed by the terminal 101 in fig. 2.

In one aspect, a chip is provided, the chip is applied in a terminal, and the chip includes at least one processor and a communication interface, the communication interface is coupled with the at least one processor, and the processor is configured to execute instructions to implement the functions performed by the global load balancing apparatus 103 in fig. 2.

An embodiment of the present application provides a communication system, including: a terminal 101 and a global load balancing device 103. The terminal 101 is configured to execute the function executed by the terminal 101 in fig. 2, and the global load balancing device 103 is configured to execute the function executed by the global load balancing device 103 in fig. 2.

Claims

1. A method for scheduling multiple access edge computing nodes for a terminal, the method comprising:

receiving a request message from a terminal by global load balancing equipment, wherein the request message comprises service characteristics used for determining service content requested to be accessed by the terminal and information of a user level of the terminal;

the global load balancing equipment acquires the position information of the terminal under the condition of determining that the terminal is provided with service through a multi-access edge computing node according to the service characteristics and the information of the user grade;

the global load balancing equipment acquires the state information of the multi-access edge computing node in the area corresponding to the position information according to the position information of the terminal, wherein the state information is at least used for reflecting whether the state of the multi-access edge computing node is available or not;

the global load balancing equipment feeds back a response result to the terminal according to the position information and the state information of the terminal, wherein the response result comprises information used for determining service equipment, and the service equipment is in an available state and can provide service for the terminal under the condition that a target multi-access edge computing node meeting the service characteristics and the user level exists in an area corresponding to the position information;

in the case that the multi-access edge computing node satisfying the service characteristics and the user class does not exist in the area, the response result is used for determining that the service content is acquired through a central node providing service for the terminal;

wherein, the determining, by the global load balancing device according to the service characteristics and the user class information, that the terminal is served by the multi-access edge computing node includes: and determining to provide service for the terminal through the multi-access edge computing node under the condition that the service characteristics and the user level information meet preset requirements, wherein the preset requirements comprise: the user grade is higher than or equal to a preset user grade and the service characteristics accord with preset service characteristics;

the method for acquiring the position information of the terminal by the global load balancing equipment comprises the following steps: the global load balancing equipment sends a position request message to first equipment, wherein the position request message is used for requesting the position information of the terminal; the global load balancing equipment receives the position information of the terminal from the first equipment; the first device is a NEF network element of a mobile network accessed by the terminal.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the request message includes first address information and identification information of the terminal, the first address information is used for determining service characteristics of the service content requested to be accessed by the terminal, the identification information of the terminal is used for determining a user class of the terminal, and the service characteristics include one or more of the following parameters: speed, time delay, packet loss rate and service quality.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the target multi-access edge computing node is a multi-access edge computing node closest to the terminal in the area, and/or wherein the target multi-access edge computing node is a node with a load below a preset load threshold in the area.

4. A method for scheduling multiple access edge computing nodes for a terminal, the method comprising:

a terminal sends a request message to global load balancing equipment, wherein the request message comprises service characteristics used for determining service content requested to be accessed by the terminal and information of a user level of the terminal;

the terminal receives a response result from the global load balancing equipment, wherein the response result comprises information used for determining service equipment;

when the service device is a target multi-access edge computing node capable of providing service for the terminal, the target multi-access edge computing node is determined to be provided by the global load balancing device under the condition that the service characteristics and the user level information meet preset requirements, where the preset requirements include: the user level is higher than or equal to a preset user level, the service features accord with preset service features, the target multi-access edge computing node is located in an area corresponding to the position information of the terminal, and when the state information of the target multi-access edge computing node is in an available state, the terminal establishes communication connection with the target multi-access edge computing node and acquires the service contents from the target multi-access edge computing node through the communication connection;

when the response result is used for the terminal to determine that the service content is acquired through a central node providing service for the terminal, the terminal acquires the service content through the central node;

the location information of the terminal is obtained by the global load balancing device from a first device, and the first device is an NEF network element of a mobile network to which the terminal is accessed.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the target multi-access edge computing node is a multi-access edge computing node closest to the terminal in the area, and/or wherein the target multi-access edge computing node is a node with a load below a preset load threshold in the area.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the request message comprises: the first address information is used for determining the service characteristics of the service content which the terminal requests to access, and the identification information of the terminal is used for determining the user level of the terminal.

7. An apparatus for scheduling a serving device for a terminal, comprising:

a communication module and a processing module connected with the communication module, wherein the processing module is used for executing the steps related to the processing in the method of any one of claims 1-3; the communication module is used for executing the steps related to receiving/sending in the method of any claim 1-3.

8. An apparatus for scheduling serving devices for a terminal, comprising:

a communication module and a processing module connected with the communication module, wherein the processing module is used for executing the steps related to the processing in the method of any one of claims 4-6; the communication module is used for executing the steps related to receiving/sending in the method of any one of claims 4 to 6.

9. A chip comprising a processor coupled to a communication interface, the processor being configured to run a computer program or instructions to implement a method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3 or 4 to 6, the communication interface being configured to communicate with a module external to the chip.

10. A communication device, comprising: a communication interface and at least one processor coupled with a memory, the at least one processor to execute instructions stored in the memory to perform the method of any of claims 1-3, or claims 4-6.