CN114830606B

CN114830606B - Multicast communication method and device thereof

Info

Publication number: CN114830606B
Application number: CN201980102937.0A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 周润泽; 杨明月; 王远
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2019-12-18
Filing date: 2019-12-18
Publication date: 2024-04-12
Anticipated expiration: 2039-12-18
Also published as: CN114830606A; WO2021120072A1

Abstract

The embodiment of the application provides a multicast communication method and a device thereof, which are applied to a 5G LAN communication scene. Wherein the method may comprise: the session management network element acquires multicast information of the LAN group, wherein the multicast information comprises N6 interface information, and the N6 interface information can be used for indicating to forward a multicast message by using an N6 interface; determining a routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface according to the N6 interface information; transmitting a routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface to the user plane network element; and the user plane network element receives the multicast message, and sends the multicast message to the data network according to the routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface under the condition that the multicast message is matched with the routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface, so that the multicast message is sent to the data network.

Description

Multicast communication method and device thereof

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a multicast communication method and a device thereof.

Background

With the development of communication technology, a fifth generation (5 th-generation, 5G) mobile communication system/network (hereinafter, abbreviated as 5G system/network) has been developed. The 5G system is composed of a User Equipment (UE), AN Access Network (AN), and a Core Network (CN). The core network can be divided into a user plane and a control plane, the control plane is responsible for mobility and session management of the UE, and the user plane is responsible for transmission of service data of the UE.

The 5G system may provide a user with local area network (local area network, LAN) capability, referred to as a 5G LAN service, that is capable of providing network protocol (Internet protocol, IP) type communications or non-IP type (e.g., ethernet type) private communications for two or more devices in a group of devices. The 5G LAN service is mainly applied to the fields of home communication, enterprise office, factory manufacturing, internet of vehicles, power grid transformation and the like.

A 5G LAN may comprise a 5G LAN group and 5G LAN network resources (e.g., associated network devices), and a 5G LAN group may comprise a plurality of LAN members, which may be divided into two broad categories: the first class of LAN members are devices (e.g., mobile terminals) that access the network using 5G technology; the second type of LAN member is a device (e.g., a computer, a router, etc.) that accesses a network using a technology such as a fixed network or WiFi, and can be understood as a device in a Data Network (DN). Wherein members of the first class of LANs may be perceived and managed by the 5G core network and members of the second class of LANs are not generally perceived by the 5G core network.

The 5GLAN service may be initiated by a 5GLAN administrator, such as an application server (application function, AF), requesting the creation of a 5GLAN from the 5G system (or network) operator. The AF sends first class LAN member information, such as an identification of the mobile terminal, to the 5G network.

The 5G LAN service may support unicast communication, multicast communication, and broadcast communication. In a multicast communication scenario, one LAN member of a 5G LAN group may send a multicast message to other LAN members within the 5G LAN. In the case that the 5G LAN group includes LAN members of the second class, the 5G core network cannot determine whether to send the multicast message into the DN, since the LAN members of the second class are not perceived by the 5G core network.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the application provides a multicast communication method and a device thereof, and when a 5G LAN group comprises equipment in a data network, a multicast message can be sent to the data network.

A first aspect of an embodiment of the present application provides a multicast communication method, which may include:

acquiring multicast information of a LAN group, wherein the multicast information comprises N6 interface information; determining a routing rule corresponding to an N6 interface according to the N6 interface information, wherein the routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface is used for controlling a multicast message to be forwarded to a data network; and sending the routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface to the user plane network element.

The method provided in the first aspect may be performed by a session management network element or may be performed by a component (e.g., a processor, a chip, or a chip system, etc.) of the session management network element. In a multicast communication scene, under the condition that the 5G LAN group comprises equipment in a data network, a session management network element determines a routing rule corresponding to an N6 interface according to N6 interface information and sends the routing rule to a user plane network element, and the user plane network element sends a multicast message to the equipment in the data network according to the routing rule, so that the equipment in the data network can also receive the multicast message, the missing forwarding of the multicast message is avoided, and the forwarding rate of the multicast message is improved.

In one possible implementation, the session management network element obtains the multicast information of the LAN group from the application function network element, i.e. the session management network element requests the application function network element to directly provide it with the multicast information of the LAN group. The application function network element may create or update multicast information of the LAN group, and directly send the multicast information of the LAN group to the application function network element.

In one possible implementation, the session management network element obtains the multicast information of the LAN group from the policy control network element. The session management network element may obtain the multicast information of the LAN group from the application function network element through the policy control network element. The policy control network element can adjust the forwarding policy under the condition that the access mode of the equipment is changed, and the forwarding policy can comprise the multicast information of the LAN group, so that the session management network element can acquire the multicast information of the latest LAN group, and further, the user plane network element can acquire the routing rule corresponding to the latest N6 interface.

In one possible implementation, the N6 interface information includes one or more N6 interface forwarding addresses. In the first case, the number of the one or more N6 interface forwarding addresses is the same as the number of devices belonging to the LAN group in the data network, i.e. how many devices belong to the LAN group in the data network, the N6 interface information includes how many N6 interface forwarding addresses, and one N6 interface forwarding address corresponds to an address of one device. In case two, the one N6 interface forwarding address is an address of a designated device in the data network, for example, may be an address of a switch or a router in the data network, or an address of a device in the data network that belongs to the LAN group.

In one possible implementation manner, the routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface includes the one or more N6 interface forwarding addresses. For case one, how many devices the data network has belonging to the LAN group includes how many N6 interface forwarding addresses. For case two, an N6 interface forwarding address is included, where the N6 interface forwarding address is the address of the designated device in the data network.

In a possible implementation manner, the routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface further includes message replication indication information, where the message replication indication information is used to indicate replication of the multicast message. For the first case, how many N6 interface forwarding addresses user plane network elements copy how many copies of the multicast message, so that the user plane network elements send the copied multicast message to each device belonging to the LAN group in the data network. And in the second case, the user plane network element copies a multicast message so that the user plane network element sends the copied multicast message to the designated equipment, and the designated equipment sends the multicast message to each equipment.

In one possible implementation, the session management network element creates or updates the context information corresponding to the LAN group according to the multicast information. Creating or updating context information corresponding to the LAN group, wherein the context information comprises a first context and a second context, and the first context comprises a session context of a first type device belonging to the LAN group and is used for forwarding the multicast message to the first type device; the second context includes the multicast address of the LAN group and the N6 interface information (i.e., one or more N6 interface forwarding addresses).

A second aspect of embodiments of the present application provides a multicast communication method, which may include:

receiving a routing rule corresponding to an N6 interface from a session management network element;

receiving a multicast message;

and under the condition that the multicast message is matched with the routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface, sending the multicast message to the data network according to the routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface.

The method provided in the first aspect may be performed by a user plane network element or may be performed by a component (such as a processor, a chip, or a chip system) of the user plane network element. In a multicast communication scene, under the condition that the 5G LAN group comprises equipment in a data network, a user plane network element sends a multicast message to the data network according to a routing rule corresponding to an N6 interface, so that the equipment belonging to the 5G LAN group in the data network can receive the multicast message, thereby avoiding the missing forwarding of the multicast message and improving the forwarding rate of the multicast message.

In one possible implementation manner, the routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface includes one or more N6 interface forwarding addresses, and the user plane network element sends the multicast packet to the data network according to the one or more N6 interface forwarding addresses. In the first case, the number of N6 interface forwarding addresses included in the routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface is the same as the number of devices belonging to the LAN group in the data network, and one N6 interface forwarding address corresponds to an address of one device. In the second case, the routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface includes an N6 interface forwarding address, where the N6 interface forwarding address is an address of a designated device in the data network.

In a possible implementation manner, the routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface further includes message replication indication information, where the message replication indication information is used to indicate replication of the multicast message. The user plane network element copies one or more multicast messages and sends the copied multicast messages to the data network according to one or more N6 interface forwarding addresses. In the first case, the number of copies of the multicast message by the user plane network element is the same as the number of devices belonging to the LAN group in the data network, and the copied multicast message is sent to the corresponding device according to each N6 interface forwarding address. And secondly, the user plane network element copies the number of the multicast messages to be one, and sends the multicast messages to appointed equipment in the data network according to an N6 interface forwarding address included in the routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface.

A third aspect of the embodiments of the present application provides a communication device for implementing the above methods. The communication device may be the session management network element in the first aspect or a device including the session management network element; alternatively, the communication device may be a user plane network element in the second aspect or a device including the user plane network element. The communication device comprises corresponding modules, units or means (means) for implementing the above method, where the modules, units or means may be implemented by hardware, software, or implemented by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules or units corresponding to the functions described above.

A fourth aspect of the present application provides a communication device, including: a processor and a memory; the memory is configured to store computer instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the communication device to perform the method of any of the above aspects. The communication device may be the session management network element in the first aspect or a device including the session management network element; alternatively, the communication device may be a user plane network element in the second aspect or a device including the user plane network element.

A fifth aspect of embodiments of the present application provides a communication device, including: a processor; the processor is configured to couple to the memory and to execute the method according to any of the above aspects in response to the instructions after reading the instructions in the memory. The communication device may be the session management network element in the first aspect or a device including the session management network element; alternatively, the communication device may be a user plane network element in the second aspect or a device including the user plane network element.

A sixth aspect of the embodiments of the present application provides a computer readable storage medium having instructions stored therein, which when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any one of the above aspects.

A seventh aspect of the embodiments of the present application provides a computer program product comprising instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any of the above aspects.

An eighth aspect of the embodiments provides a communication device (e.g. the communication device may be a chip or a system-on-chip) comprising a processor for implementing the functions referred to in any of the above aspects. In one possible design, the communication device further includes a memory for holding necessary program instructions and data. When the communication device is a chip system, the communication device may be formed of a chip, or may include a chip and other discrete devices.

The technical effects of any one of the design manners of the third aspect to the eighth aspect may be referred to the technical effects of the first aspect or the second aspect, and are not repeated herein.

A ninth aspect of the embodiment of the present application provides a multicast communication system, including a session management network element and a user plane network element;

a session management network element, configured to obtain multicast information of a LAN group, where the multicast information includes N6 interface information; determining a routing rule corresponding to an N6 interface according to the N6 interface information, wherein the routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface is used for controlling a multicast message to be forwarded to a data network; sending a routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface to a user plane network element;

The user plane network element is used for receiving the routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface; receiving a multicast message; and under the condition that the multicast message is matched with the routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface, sending the multicast message to the data network according to the routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface.

In one possible implementation, the session management network element obtains the multicast information of the LAN group from the application function network element or the policy control network element.

In one possible implementation, the N6 interface information includes one or more N6 interface forwarding addresses.

In one possible implementation manner, the routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface includes one or more N6 interface forwarding addresses. The user plane network element is specifically configured to send a multicast packet to the data network according to the one or more N6 interface forwarding addresses.

In a possible implementation manner, the routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface further includes message replication indication information, where the message replication indication information is used to indicate replication of the multicast message. The user plane network element is specifically configured to copy the multicast packet, and send the copied multicast packet to the data network according to the one or more N6 interface forwarding addresses.

In one possible implementation, the number of N6 interface forwarding addresses included by the routing rules corresponding to the one or more N6 interfaces is the same as the number of devices belonging to the LAN group in the data network.

In one possible implementation, the one N6 interface forwarding address specifies an address of a device in the data network.

The technical effects of the ninth aspect may refer to the technical effects brought by any one of the possible implementation manners of the first aspect or the second aspect, which are not described herein.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture of a 5G system;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a user plane architecture of a 5G LAN service;

fig. 3 is a communication schematic diagram of a multicast communication;

fig. 4 is a schematic flow diagram of a user plane forwarding message;

fig. 5 is an exemplary diagram of multicast message forwarding;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture to which embodiments of the present application are applied;

fig. 7 is a flow chart of a multicast communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8 is a flow chart of another multicast communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 9 is a flow chart of another multicast communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of a communication device;

fig. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

In order to better understand the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application, first, the technologies or names related to the embodiments of the present application are described.

1. 5G system and 5G LAN

(1) The 5G system is composed of UE, access network and core network. Please refer to fig. 1, which is a schematic diagram of a network architecture of a 5G system.

The UE is equipment with a wireless receiving and transmitting function, can be deployed on land, and comprises indoor or outdoor, handheld, wearable or vehicle-mounted; can also be deployed on the water surface (such as ships, etc.); but may also be deployed in the air (e.g., on aircraft, balloon, satellite, etc.). The UE may be a mobile phone, a tablet (Pad), a computer with wireless transceiving function, a Virtual Reality (VR) terminal device, an augmented reality (augmented reality, AR) terminal device, a wireless terminal in industrial control (industrial control), a vehicle-mounted terminal device, a wireless terminal in unmanned driving (self driving), a wireless terminal in remote medical (remote medical), a wireless terminal in smart grid (smart grid), a wireless terminal in transportation security (transportation safety), a wireless terminal in smart city (smart city), a wireless terminal in smart home (smart home), a wearable terminal device, or the like. A UE may also be referred to as a terminal, mobile terminal, terminal device, access terminal device, vehicle terminal, industrial control terminal, UE unit, UE station, mobile station, remote terminal device, mobile device, UE agent, UE apparatus, or the like. The UE may also be fixed or mobile. Fig. 1 and the embodiments of the present application are described by taking UE as an example.

Wherein the access network may be a radio access network (radio access network, RAN). The access network can provide access function for authorized users in a specific area, and can determine transmission tunnels with different quality according to the level of the users, the service requirements and the like so as to transmit user data. The access network forwards control signals and user data between the UE and the core network. The access network may include access network devices (or referred to as access devices), which may be, for example, base stations in a long term evolution (long term evolution, LTE) system or base stations in a new radio, NR, system, base stations for subsequent evolution of 3GPP, access nodes in a WiFi system, wireless relay nodes, wireless backhaul nodes, etc. The base station may be: macro base station, micro base station, pico base station, small station, relay station, or balloon station, etc.

The core network is responsible for maintaining subscription data of the mobile network and providing session management, mobility management, policy management, security authentication and other functions for the UE. The core network may comprise the following network elements: user plane functions (user plane function, UPF), authentication service functions (authentication server function, AUSF), session management functions (session management function, SMF), network slice selection functions (network slice selection function, NSSF), network opening functions (network exposure function, NEF), network function warehousing functions (NF repository function, NRF), policy control functions (policy control function, PCF), unified data management (unified data management, UDM) and application servers (application function, AF). The network elements except UPF belong to the core network control plane network element.

UPF, configured to perform forwarding of user data packets according to a routing rule of the SMF, for example, sending uplink data to DN or other UPFs; and forwarding the downlink data to other UPFs or access networks. The interface between UPFs is an N19 interface, and the interface between UPFs and DNs is an N6 interface. AUSF for performing security authentication of the UE. AMF is mainly responsible for access management and mobility management of UE. SMF is mainly responsible for session management of UE, allocates resources for the session of UE, and releases the resources. Where the resources may include session quality of service (quality of service, qoS), routing rules, session paths, etc. NSSF for selecting a network slice for the UE. NEF for developing network functions to third parties. NRF for providing storage function and selection function of network function entity information for other network elements. UDM for storing user data, such as subscription data, authentication/authorization data, etc. PCF, responsible for providing policies, e.g., qoS policies, slice selection policies, etc., to AMFs, SMFs. The AF, which may be a third party device, may belong to an external data network or a core network.

The network architecture shown in fig. 1 further includes a Data Network (DN) for providing a business service to a user, which may be a private network; or an external network not under the control of an operator, such as the Internet (Internet); but also a proprietary network co-deployed by operators, such as a network providing an IP multimedia subsystem (IP multimedia subsystem, IMS).

(2) The 5G LAN service is capable of providing private communications of either IP type or non-IP type for two or more devices in a group of devices. For example, devices in a factory may form a 5G LAN group, and the devices in the 5G LAN group may send Ethernet packets to each other; alternatively, office equipment (e.g., cell phones, computers or notebook computers, etc.) of employees in a department of an enterprise may form a 5G LAN group, send IP packets to each other, etc.

The 5G network provides 5G LAN services to users, supporting the creation of dynamic LANs. The user provides LAN member identification to the network, which stores LAN member information and plans LAN communication resources (e.g., SMF network elements and UPF network elements serving this LAN). When a LAN member initiates access to LAN communication, the network associates the session context of the LAN member with the sessions of other LAN members, and constructs a LAN-level session context to reasonably rule user plane forwarding rules for data transmission of two or more LAN members. The network adopts a local breakout forwarding mode when two or two LAN members' sessions are served by the same UPF network element according to the LAN-level session context, which requires the UPF network element to enhance the ability to support local switching; when more than one UPF network element serves the 5G LAN group, a forwarding tunnel is established between any two UPF network elements to realize the forwarding of LAN data.

A 5G LAN includes at least one 5G LAN group and 5G LAN network resources (e.g., associated UPF network elements, SMF network elements, etc.). The 5G LAN may also be described as a 5G Virtual Network (VN) or a 5G LAN-type service (type service) or the like; the 5G LAN group (group) may also be described as a 5G VN group or a 5G LAN group or the like.

A 5G LAN group may include a plurality of LAN members. In the embodiment of the present application, LAN members may be classified into two types, and the first type of LAN member is a device that uses a 5G technology to access a network, for example, may be UE; the second type of LAN member is a device that accesses a network using technologies such as fixed network or WiFi, for example, may be a computer, a desktop computer, a router, etc., and may be understood as a device in a data network. A fixed network or a WiFi or other technology access network can be understood as a non-third generation partnership (3 ^rd -generation partnership project,3 GPP) technology access network.

In the embodiment of the application, the first class of LAN members are referred to as first class devices, and the second class of LAN members are referred to as second class devices.

Referring to fig. 2, a schematic diagram of a user plane architecture of a 5G LAN service is shown. Wherein the UE establishes a session to a UPF network element providing the 5G LAN service, thereby accessing the UPF network element providing the 5G LAN service. The UPF network element providing the 5G LAN service may interwork with an existing LAN in the data network, e.g. with a personal computer (personal computer, PC) in the LAN, through an N6 interface; alternatively, the UPF network element providing the 5G LAN service may also implement private communication by associating sessions of different devices through a UPF network element internal interface (internal interface) or a connection between UPF network elements, which is not specifically limited in the embodiments of the present application.

In fig. 2, UE 1, UE 2, UE 3 and UE 4 may form a 5G LAN group, and then UE 1, UE 2, UE 3 and UE 4 are LAN members of the 5G LAN group, and UE 1, UE 2, UE 3 and UE 4 access the network through access network devices and the 5G core network, i.e. access the network using the 5G technology, and UE 1, UE 2, UE 3 and UE 4 are devices of the first type.

In fig. 2, UE 1, UE 2, UE 3, UE 4 and devices 1 to n in the data network may form a 5G LAN group, and then UE 1, UE 2, UE 3 and UE 4 and devices 1 to n are LAN members of the 5G LAN group. Wherein, UE 1, UE 2, UE 3 and UE 4 access the network through access network equipment and 5G core network, and are first class equipment; devices 1 to n access the network by adopting a fixed network or a WiFi technology, and are devices of a second type. Wherein n is an integer greater than 1.

In order to facilitate distinguishing between the first type of device and the second type of device, in the embodiment of the present application, the first type of device is exemplified by UE, and the second type of device is exemplified by device (device).

2. Unicast (unicasting) communication, broadcast (broadcasting) communication, and multicast (multicasting or group casting) communication (1) unicast communication refer to one-to-one communication scheme. For example, in fig. 2, UE 1 sends a message to UE 2.

(2) Broadcast communication refers to a one-to-many communication scheme, in which a local area network (e.g., a 5G LAN) corresponds to a broadcast domain. Devices subscribed to the LAN may form a broadcast group (also referred to as a LAN group). Wherein devices subscribed to the LAN may be referred to as members of a broadcast group, that is, devices join a broadcast group (which may be one or more broadcast groups) during subscription.

(3) Multicast communication refers to a one-to-many communication mode, and a device may send a message to a device in a multicast group to which the device belongs. At least one multicast source and a plurality of multicast members may constitute a multicast group (also simply referred to as a multicast group). Multicast communication may also be described as multicast communication, etc., and correspondingly, a multicast group may also be described as a multicast group, etc.

The information source sending the message is called a multicast source by taking the multicast group address as a destination address, and the multicast user receiving the multicast data is called a multicast member. I.e. multicast is directional, from multicast source to multicast member. For example, members of the 5G LAN group include device 1, device 2, device 3, device 4, device 5, and device 6. Taking the device 1 as a multicast source, and the device 3, the device 5 and the device 6 as multicast members to form a multicast group, the corresponding communication schematic diagram can be shown in fig. 3, that is, the multicast message sent by the device 1 can be respectively transmitted to the device 3, the device 5 and the device 6 in the multicast group. In fig. 3, device 2 and device 4 are not members of the multicast group and therefore do not receive the multicast message.

In this embodiment of the present application, the multicast source may be determined by an application layer of an open system interconnection (open system interconnection, OSI) model, and if a device is to receive a multicast packet, the device may send an internet group management protocol (Internet group management protocol, IGMP) join (join) message to the network, and after the network records that the device joins a multicast group, the device forwards the multicast packet sent by the multicast source to the device, that is, multicast members may dynamically join the multicast group, which may refer to an existing implementation manner specifically and not be described herein. Accordingly, to leave a certain multicast group, a certain device may record that the device exits the multicast group by sending an IGMP leave (leave) message to the network, and the multicast message sent by the multicast source is not forwarded to the device.

Wherein, the multicast address can be a multicast IP version 4 (IP version 4, IPv 4) address or a multicast IP version 6 (IP version 6, IPv 6) address distributed by an Internet digital distribution mechanism (the internet assigned numbers authority, IANA), and the range of the multicast IPv4 address is 224.0.0.0-239.255.255.255; alternatively, the multicast address may be a multicast media access control (media access control, MAC) address in which the last bit of the upper 48 bits of the 48 bits is constant to 1; alternatively, the multicast address may be a reserved multicast address, such as a multicast MAC address with the previous 24 bits of 0x01005e or 224.0.0.1; alternatively, the multicast address may be another address, and the definition of the existing multicast address may be referred to specifically, which is not described herein.

3. Multicast information and routing rules

(1) Multicast information, managed by the AF network element, which may create or update the multicast information. In this embodiment of the present application, the AF network element is a network server that manages 5G LAN services, and is responsible for creation and management of 5G LAN groups, such as adding or deleting LAN members. The AF network element can also acquire the mode of accessing the network by the LAN members, namely, the AF network element can acquire which devices are accessed to the network by adopting the 5G technology, and which devices are accessed to the network by adopting the technologies such as the fixed network or WiFi. The AF network element may create a 5G LAN group and thus create multicast information for the 5G LAN group. The LAN members can create a 5G LAN group and multicast information of the 5G LAN group, and inform the AF network element of the multicast information; or, the LAN member informs the AF network element of the 5G LAN group created by the LAN member, and the AF network element creates the multicast information of the 5G LAN group.

The multicast information may include multicast message identification and multicast user information. The multicast message identifier may include a group identifier and a multicast address. The group identifier is used to identify the 5G LAN group, and may be a 5G LAN tag (tag) or a 5G LAN Identifier (ID). A multicast address (multicast address), which may also be referred to as a multicast communication address, is used to represent the address of the user plane packet, which may be used to match the routing rules. The multicast address may be a multicast IP address or a multicast MAC address, etc. Multicast user information, which may also be referred to as LAN member information, i.e., LAN member information belonging to the 5G LAN group. The LAN member information may include an Identity (ID) of the device, which may be, for example, an address (IP address or MAC address) of the device, a user ID or a general public user identifier (General public subscriber identifier, GPSI), or the like; the type of device, i.e. first type of device or second type of device, may also be included.

In one possible implementation, the multicast information further includes N6 interface forwarding addresses, N being an integer greater than or equal to 1, the specific value of N being dependent on the number of devices included in the data network that belong to the 5G LAN group. For example, for 5G LAN group 1, 3 devices belonging to the 5G LAN group are included in the data network, then n=3. An N6 interface forwarding address corresponds to a device address of a device in the data network.

In one possible implementation, the multicast information further includes an N6 interface forwarding address, where the N6 interface forwarding address may be an address of a server, an address of a switch, or a device address of a device in the data network, etc. The N6 interface forwarding address may also be an N6 tunnel identification. Optionally, the multicast information further includes N6 indication information for indicating that forwarding is performed using the N6 interface, that is, that a device belonging to the 5G LAN group exists in the data network.

(2) Routing rules for detecting messages and forwarding messages may include message detection rules (packet detection rule, PDR) and forwarding action rules (forwarding action rule, FAR) associated with the PDR, and optionally QoS enforcement rules (QoS enforcement rule, QER) and statistics reporting rules (usage reporting rule, URR) associated with the PDR. The routing rules can be divided into an uplink routing rule and a downlink routing rule, wherein the uplink routing rule is used for realizing transmission of uplink data packets, and the downlink routing rule is used for realizing transmission of downlink data packets. The uplink data packet refers to a data packet sent by the first device or the second device to the network device; downstream data includes packets that are sent by the network device to the first type of device or the second type of device.

The PDR is used for matching with the characteristic information of the message, and searching the PDR matched with the message. The FAR is used for realizing operations such as forwarding the message.

The meaning of the data packet and the message in the embodiment of the application is the same and can be replaced with each other.

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present application. Wherein, in the description of the present application, "/" means that the related objects are in a "or" relationship, unless otherwise specified, for example, a/B may mean a or B; the term "and/or" in this application is merely an association relation describing an association object, and means that three kinds of relations may exist, for example, a and/or B may mean: there are three cases, a alone, a and B together, and B alone, wherein a, B may be singular or plural. Also, in the description of the present application, unless otherwise indicated, "a plurality" means two or more than two. "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. In addition, in order to clearly describe the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, in the embodiments of the present application, the words "first", "second", and the like are used to distinguish the same item or similar items having substantially the same function and effect. It will be appreciated by those of skill in the art that the words "first," "second," and the like do not limit the amount and order of execution, and that the words "first," "second," and the like do not necessarily differ. Meanwhile, in the embodiments of the present application, words such as "exemplary" or "such as" are used to mean serving as examples, illustrations, or descriptions. Any embodiment or design described herein as "exemplary" or "for example" should not be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments or designs. Rather, the use of words such as "exemplary" or "such as" is intended to present related concepts in a concrete fashion that may be readily understood.

Currently, the 3GPP technical standard (technical standard, TS) 29.244 defines the manner in which a user plane forwards a message, and its architecture is shown in fig. 4. The working mechanism is that after the UPF network element receives the message from the entrance (such as N3 interface), the session to which the message belongs is determined according to the user plane protocol mark (such as tunnel endpoint identifier (tunnel endpoint identifier, TEID)) of the message. The UPF network element then uses the PDR(s) (possibly one or more) in the session context (context) to match the characteristic information of the message, finding the PDR that matches it. The PDR specifies FAR, QER and URR to which the message corresponds. And further, the UPF network element can execute operations such as forwarding (forward) on the message according to the FAR. The message forwarding method can be understood as a forwarding method for unicast messages.

In a unicast communication scenario, the SMF network element may send the session context to the UPF network element over the N4 session so that the UPF network element matches the unicast message using the PDR in the session context. If the destination address of a certain unicast message is not included in the session context, the unicast message may enter the N6 interface to be sent to the data network or discarded.

In the multicast communication scenario, however, the SMF network element may not store the session context of the first type device, and may notify the UPF network element of the session context of the first type device, but the UPF network element may not learn the session context of the second type device, so the UPF network element may not forward the multicast message to the data network.

For example, referring to fig. 5, an exemplary diagram of multicast message forwarding is shown. In fig. 5, it is assumed that UE 1, UE 2, UE 3 and devices 1 and 2 in the data network constitute a 5G LAN group, and UE 1 is a multicast source. The SMF network element keeps the session context of UE 1, UE 2 and UE 3 and informs the UPF network element of this. The UE 1 sends a multicast message, wherein the multicast address carried by the multicast message is the multicast address of the 5G LAN group, and the UPF network element matches the multicast message with the PDR in the session context under the condition of receiving the multicast message, the PDR with the target address being the multicast address and the FAR corresponding to the PDR are matched, and the forwarding address of the FAR comprises the addresses of the UE 2 and the UE 3, so that the UPF network element forwards the multicast message to the UE 2 and the UE 3. Since the UPF network element does not acquire the session context of device 1 and device 2, the UPF network element will not forward the multicast message to device 1 and device 2.

In view of this, the embodiments of the present application provide a multicast communication method and apparatus thereof, where a 5G LAN group includes devices in a data network, may send a multicast packet to the devices in the data network.

Referring to fig. 6, for a schematic diagram of a network architecture to which the embodiments of the present application are applied, the network architecture shown in fig. 6 includes a session management network element 601 and a user plane network element 602. The session management network element 601 and the user plane network element 602 may communicate directly, or may communicate through forwarding by other devices, which is not specifically limited in the embodiment of the present application.

In this embodiment of the present application, the session management network element 601 obtains multicast information of the LAN group, that is, obtains multicast information of the 5G LAN group, where the multicast information includes N6 interface information, and the N6 interface information may be used to instruct to forward the multicast packet using the N6 interface; determining a routing rule corresponding to an N6 interface according to the N6 interface information, wherein the routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface is used for controlling a multicast message to be forwarded to a data network; and sending the routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface to the user plane network element 602.

Correspondingly, the user plane network element 602 receives the routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface from the session management network element 601, matches the multicast message with the routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface when receiving the multicast message, if the matching is successful, the user plane network element 602 copies the message and sends the copied multicast message to the data network, so that the device in the data network can receive the multicast message, further avoid the missing forwarding of the multicast message, and improve the forwarding rate of the multicast message.

In one implementation, the N6 interface information includes one or more N6 interface forwarding addresses, and the instructing, by using the one or more N6 interface forwarding addresses, the user plane network element 602 to forward the multicast packet using the N6 interface may be understood as instructing the user plane network element 602 to forward the multicast packet to the data network through the N6 interface.

Further, the routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface determined by the session management network element 601 includes one or more N6 interface forwarding addresses, so that the user plane network element 602 sends the multicast packet to each N6 interface forwarding address through the N6 interface. The routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface further includes replication indication information, where the replication indication information is used to instruct the user plane network element 602 to replicate the multicast packet, and the user plane network element 602 may replicate one set of multicast packet for one N6 interface forwarding address, so that the user plane network element 602 sends the replicated N sets of multicast packets to N6 interface forwarding addresses respectively.

The N6 interface forwarding address may be understood as an address of a device in the data network, and may be an IP address or a MAC address. The number of the one or more N6 interface forwarding addresses is the same as the number of devices belonging to the 5G LAN group in the data network, for example, the 5G LAN group 1 includes devices 1 to 3 in the data network, then the N6 interface information includes 3N 6 interface forwarding addresses, and the routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface includes 3N 6 interface forwarding addresses, where the 3N 6 interface forwarding addresses are the address of the device 1, the address of the device 2, and the address of the device 3, respectively.

In another implementation manner, the N6 interface information includes an N6 interface forwarding address, where the N6 interface forwarding address may be an address of a designated device in the data network, and the designated device may be an address (e.g., an IP address or a MAC address of a server or a switch in the data network, or an N6 tunnel identifier, or an address of a certain device in the data network, or the like. Further, the designated device has an association relationship with the 5G LAN group, for example, the designated device is a server or a switch corresponding to the 5G LAN group in the data network, or a device belonging to the 5G LAN group in the data network. Optionally, the N6 interface information further includes N6 indication information, where the N6 indication information is used to indicate forwarding of the multicast packet using the N6 interface. If the N6 indication information indicates that the multicast message is not forwarded by using the N6 interface, it may be understood that the multicast message is forwarded to the first device, and is not forwarded to the data network, and the N6 interface information does not include the N6 interface forwarding address.

Further, the routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface determined by the session management network element 601 includes the forwarding address of the N6 interface, so that the user plane network element 602 sends the multicast packet to the data network through the N6 interface. The routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface further includes copy indication information, where the copy indication information is used to instruct the user plane network element 602 to copy a portion of the multicast packet, so that the user plane network element 602 sends the copied portion of the multicast packet to the data network.

The embodiment of the application can be applied to a multicast communication scene of a 5G LAN group comprising at least one first type device and at least one second type device, and can realize the forwarding of multicast messages to the second type devices.

Assuming that the network architecture shown in fig. 6 is applied to the 5G network shown in fig. 1, the network element or entity corresponding to the session management network element 601 may be an SMF network element in the 5G network, and the network element or entity corresponding to the user plane network element 602 may be a UPF network element in the 5G network. The network architecture shown in fig. 6 may further include PCF network elements, UDM network elements, NEF network elements, and AF network elements shown in fig. 1. In the following method embodiment, the session management network element 601 is exemplified by an SMF network element, the user plane network element 602 is exemplified by a UPF network element, and the first type of device is exemplified by a UE.

The multicast communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application will be described in detail based on the network architecture shown in fig. 1 or fig. 6. It should be noted that, in the embodiments of the present application, the multicast communication method is described by adopting an interactive manner, and names of messages or information interacted between network elements are used as examples, and are not limited to the embodiments of the present application.

Referring to fig. 7, a flowchart of a multicast communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application may include the following steps:

step 101, the AF network element sends multicast information of the 5G LAN group to the SMF network element through the intermediate network element. Correspondingly, the SMF network element receives multicast information of the 5G LAN group from the AF network element through the intermediate network element.

The multicast information of the 5G LAN group may be any multicast information of a 5G LAN group, where the 5G LAN group includes at least one first type device and at least one second type device. The multicast information may include N6 interface information, the N6 interface information including one or more N6 interface forwarding addresses. And one or more N6 interface forwarding addresses indicate to use an N6 interface to forward the multicast message, and indicate that the UPF network element needs to forward the multicast message to equipment belonging to the 5G LAN group in the data network under the condition of receiving the multicast message. The N6 interface forwarding address may be understood as a unicast address, which is an address of a second type of device, i.e. an address of a device in the data network comprised by the 5G LAN group. The number of one or more N6 interface forwarding addresses is the same as the number of devices belonging to the 5G LAN group in the data network, e.g. the 5G LAN group 1 comprises devices 1-3 in the data network, and the N6 interface information comprises 3N 6 interface forwarding addresses, which are the address of device 1, the address of device 2 and the address of device 3, respectively.

The multicast information also includes a group identification, i.e. a group identification of the 5G LAN group, indicating for which 5G LAN group the AF network element requests to configure the routing rules.

The multicast information also includes a multicast address, i.e. a multicast address of a 5G LAN group, indicating an address of a data packet of the user plane, which may be used for the UPF network element to detect which 5G LAN group the multicast packet is directed to. The equipment belonging to the same 5G LAN group can be configured with the same multicast address, and the equipment can be specifically configured in a data receiving module of the equipment, for example, a data link layer, when receiving a multicast message, the data link layer can judge whether a destination address carried by the multicast message is consistent with the configured multicast address, if so, the multicast message is indicated to be aimed at the equipment, and the data link layer can send the multicast message to an upper layer for processing; if the multicast messages are inconsistent, the multicast messages are not aimed at the equipment, the multicast messages are discarded, and the multicast messages are not sent to an upper layer for processing.

The multicast information of the 5G LAN group sent by the AF network element may be carried in the group configuration request, i.e. the group configuration request includes the multicast information of the 5G LAN group. The group configuration request is for requesting the SMF network element to configure the routing rules of the 5G LAN group.

The intermediate network element is configured to forward the multicast information of the 5G LAN group sent by the AF network element to the SMF network element, and may include one or more network elements such as a PCF network element or a NEF network element. For example, the intermediate network element is a PCF network element, and the AF network element sends the multicast information of the 5G LAN group to the PCF network element first, and then the PCF network element sends the multicast information of the 5G LAN group to the SMF network element.

Step 102, the smf network element determines, according to one or more N6 interface forwarding addresses, a routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface.

Optionally, if the SMF network element receives the multicast information of the 5G LAN group, it may search whether the context information corresponding to the 5G LAN group exists according to the group identifier. If not, the SMF network element may create and save context information corresponding to the 5G LAN group. If so, the SMF network element can update and store the context information corresponding to the 5G LAN group.

The context information corresponding to the created or updated 5G LAN group may include a first context and a second context. The first context includes a session context of the first type device, which may be understood as a protocol data unit (protocol data unit, PDU) session context established by the first type device for accessing the 5G LAN group. Optionally, the first context may also include a list of LAN members (e.g., a list of UE IDs) and addresses of the first type of devices. The second context includes the multicast address of the 5G LAN group and the N6 interface information (i.e., one or more N6 interface forwarding addresses). Optionally, the second context may also include a group identification of the 5G LAN group. Optionally, the second context may further include a data network name (data network name, DNN) corresponding to the 5G LAN group.

For the update case, the SMF network element adds the second context to the context information corresponding to the 5G LAN group upon receiving the multicast information of the 5G LAN group.

The SMF network element can create or update a routing rule corresponding to the 5G LAN group on the UPF network element under the condition of receiving the multicast information of the 5G LAN group; or, in the case of creating or updating the context information corresponding to the 5G LAN group, creating or updating the routing rule corresponding to the 5G LAN group on the UPF network element according to the created or updated context information. If the SMF network element has previously created a routing rule corresponding to the 5G LAN group on the UPF network element, the SMF network element updates the routing rule corresponding to the 5G LAN group of the UPF network element when receiving the multicast information of the 5G LAN group, that is, adds the routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface to the routing rule corresponding to the 5G LAN group.

Optionally, before creating or updating the routing rule corresponding to the 5G LAN group on the UPF network element, the SMF network element may select the UPF network element, and then create or update the routing rule corresponding to the 5G LAN group on the selected UPF network element, and how the SMF network element selects the UPF network element is not limited in the embodiment of the present application. Assume that the UPF network element in fig. 7 is the UPF network element selected by the SMF network element.

In this embodiment of the present application, the routing rules corresponding to the 5G LAN group include a routing rule for a first type of device and a routing rule for a second type of device. The routing rule for the first type device is the routing rule for the PDU session of the first type device, and description of the routing rule for the first type device in the existing multicast scenario may be referred to, which is not described herein.

The routing rule for the second class of equipment is the routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface, and the routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface comprises the PDR corresponding to the N6 interface and the FAR associated with the PDR. The content included in the PDR corresponding to the N6 interface may be presented in the form of table 1 below, and table 1 below does not constitute a limitation of the embodiments of the present application.

TABLE 1

The FAR associated with the PDR corresponding to the N6 interface may include content in the form of table 2 below, and table 2 below is not meant to limit embodiments of the present application.

TABLE 2

In the embodiment of the present application, the action (action) in table 1 and table 2 is referred to as copy instruction information. The PDR includes copy instruction information; and/or the FAR associated with the PDR includes copy indication information.

For example, based on the exemplary diagram shown in fig. 5, the 5G LAN group includes UE 1, UE 2, UE 3, and device 1 and device 2 in the data network, and assuming that the multicast address of the 5G LAN group is multicast address 1, the destination address included in the PDI in the PDR corresponding to the N6 interface is multicast address 1, and the forwarding address in the FAR associated with the PDR includes the address of device 1 and the address of device 2.

Step 103, the smf network element sends a routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface to the UPF network element. Correspondingly, the UPF network element receives the routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface from the SMF network element.

The routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface and the routing rule for the first class device may be carried in the same message, or may be carried in different messages.

The UPF network element receives the routing rule corresponding to the 5G LAN group from the SMF network element, and installs the routing rule corresponding to the 5G LAN group, namely, installs the routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface and the routing rule aiming at the first type of equipment. The routing rule corresponding to the 5G LAN group may be carried in an N4 session establishment message, for example, in an N4 session establishment request message; may also be carried in an N4 session update message, such as an N4 session update request message.

In step 104, the ue 1 sends a multicast packet to the UPF network element. Correspondingly, the UPF network element receives the multicast message from the UE 1.

UE 1 is any LAN member of the 5G LAN group, and is a first type of device, and the multicast packet sent to the UPF network element carries a destination address, for example, the destination address is multicast address 1.

Step 105, the upf network element replicates N copies of the multicast message.

And under the condition that the UPF network element receives the multicast message, matching the multicast message with a routing rule corresponding to the installed 5G LAN group, for example, matching a destination address carried by the multicast message with a destination address in a PDR corresponding to an N6 interface, and matching the destination address with a destination address in the PDR aiming at the first type of equipment.

If the multicast message is successfully matched with the PDR corresponding to the N6 interface, the UPF network element determines the FAR associated with the PDR, copies the multicast message according to the copy indication information included in the PDR or the copy indication information included in the FAR associated with the PDR, and modifies the destination address of the copied multicast message or multicast messages to be the N6 interface forwarding address.

For example, the destination address included in the PDI corresponding to the N6 interface is the multicast address 1, the destination address of the multicast message is the multicast address 1, then the multicast message is matched with the PDR corresponding to the N6 interface, the forwarding address in the FAR associated with the PDR includes the address of the device 1 and the address of the device 2, then the UPF network element copies two multicast messages, changes the destination address of one copy of the multicast message from the multicast address 1 to the address of the device 1, and changes the destination address of the other copy of the multicast message from the multicast address 1 to the address of the device 2.

If the multicast message is successfully matched with the PDR aiming at the first type of equipment, the UPF network element determines the FAR associated with the PDR, copies M parts of multicast messages according to the FAR, and modifies the destination address of the copied M parts of multicast messages into the address of each first type of equipment. Wherein M is an integer greater than or equal to 1, and is the number of first-class devices in the 5G LAN group.

The multicast message can be successfully matched with the PDR corresponding to the N6 interface or the PDR aiming at the first type of equipment, so that the UPF network element can forward the multicast message to the first type of equipment and the second type of equipment.

Step 106, the upf network element sends multicast messages to one or more devices in the data network respectively.

And the UPF network element respectively sends one multicast message to one or more devices in the data network according to the modified destination address of the N multicast messages. For example, the UPF network element replicates two multicast messages, the destination address of the first multicast message is the address of the device 1, and the destination address of the second multicast message is the address of the device 2, so that the UPF network element sends the first multicast message to the device 1 through the N6 interface according to the address of the device 1, and sends the second multicast message to the device 2 through the N6 interface according to the address of the device 2.

And the UPF network element respectively sends a multicast message to the first type of equipment according to the modified destination address of the M multicast messages. For example, the first type of device includes UE 2 and UE 3, the UPF network element copies a multicast packet for UE 2 and UE 3, the destination address of the first multicast packet is the address of UE 2, and the destination address of the second multicast packet is the address of UE 3, so that the UPF network element sends the first multicast packet to UE 2 and the second multicast packet to UE 3 through the access network device.

In fig. 7, the number of N6 interface forwarding addresses is equal to the number of copies of the multicast message = the number of devices belonging to the 5G LAN group in the data network.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 7, when the SMF network element obtains the multicast information of the 5G LAN group, where the multicast information of the 5G LAN group includes one or more N6 interface forwarding addresses in the data network, a routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface is determined according to the one or more N6 interface forwarding addresses, and the routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface is sent to the UPF network element, so that the UPF network element may forward the received multicast packet to one or more devices in the data network according to the routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface, thereby implementing that one or more devices in the data network may receive the multicast packet, avoiding missed forwarding of the multicast packet, and improving a forwarding rate of the multicast packet.

One or more devices in the data network belong to the 5G LAN group, the number of the one or more devices being the same as the number of the one or more N6 interface forwarding addresses. For example, a device in the data network belongs to the 5G LAN group, and then includes an N6 interface forwarding address, where the N6 interface forwarding address is the address of the device. As another example, two devices in the data network (device 1 and device 2) belong to the 5G ALN group, then two N6 interface forwarding addresses are included, the two N6 interface forwarding addresses being the address of device 1 and the address of device 2.

Referring to fig. 8, a flowchart of another multicast communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application may include the following steps:

step 201, the af network element sends multicast information of the 5G LAN group to the SMF network element through the intermediate network element. Correspondingly, the SMF network element receives multicast information of the 5G LAN group from the AF network element through the intermediate network element.

Step 201 differs from step 101 in that the multicast information of the 5G LAN group in step 201 includes an N6 interface forwarding address, where the N6 interface forwarding address is an address of a designated device in the data network, and the designated device may be, for example, an address (IP address or MAC address, etc.) of a server or a switch in the data network, or an address of a certain device in the data network, or an N6 tunnel identifier, etc. The multicast information of the 5G LAN group comprises the N6 interface forwarding address, and the multicast message is implicitly forwarded by using the N6 interface.

Further, the designated device has an association relationship with the 5G LAN group, for example, the designated device is a server or a switch corresponding to the 5G LAN group in the data network, or a device belonging to the 5G LAN group in the data network. Optionally, the N6 interface information further includes N6 indication information, where the N6 indication information is used to indicate forwarding of the multicast packet using the N6 interface.

Optionally, the multicast information of the 5G LAN group further includes N6 interface indication information, configured to indicate forwarding of the multicast packet using the N6 interface. If the N6 indication information indicates that the multicast message is not forwarded by using the N6 interface, it may be understood that the multicast message is forwarded to the first device, and is not forwarded to the data network, and the N6 interface information does not include the N6 interface forwarding address.

It will be appreciated that step 201 carries an N6 interface forwarding address, and step 101 carries N6 interface forwarding addresses, where N is the same number as the number of devices in the data network in the 5G LAN group.

The same parts of step 201 as those of step 101 can be referred to in the detailed description of step 101, and will not be described herein.

Step 202, the smf network element determines a routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface according to the N6 interface forwarding address.

Step 201 is different from step 101 in that the SMF network element determines, according to the N6 interface forwarding address, a routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface; the created or updated context information corresponding to the 5G LAN group includes a multicast address of the 5G LAN group and the N6 interface forwarding address.

The content included in the PDR corresponding to the N6 interface may be presented in the form of table 3 below, and table 3 below does not limit the embodiments of the present application.

TABLE 3 Table 3

The FAR associated with the PDR corresponding to the N6 interface may include contents presented in the form of table 4 below, and table 4 below is not meant to limit embodiments of the present application.

TABLE 4 Table 4

In one possible implementation, the routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface may include replication indication information (not limited to PDR inclusion or FAR inclusion) for indicating to replicate a multicast packet that is to be sent to the data network. It will be appreciated that the routing rules corresponding to the N6 interface include copy indication information for the data network.

In another possible implementation manner, the routing rule corresponding to the 5G LAN group includes copy indication information, where the copy number is equal to the number of first type devices in the 5G LAN group plus 1, and if the number of first type devices is M, the copy indication information is used to indicate that m+1 multicast packets are copied, and the added multicast packets are used to send to the data network.

In yet another possible implementation manner, in a case where the SMF network element receives the N6 interface indication information for indicating forwarding of the multicast packet using the N6 interface, the copy indication information may not be configured in a routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface or a routing rule corresponding to the 5G LAN group, the UPF network element may copy m+1 parts of the multicast packet by default, where M is the number of first-class devices in the 5G LAN group, and the increased part of the multicast packet is used for sending to the data network.

For example, based on the exemplary diagram shown in fig. 5, the 5G LAN group includes UE 1, UE 2, UE 3, and device 1 and device 2 in the data network, and assuming that the multicast address of the 5G LAN group is multicast address 1, the server addresses corresponding to device 1 and device 2 are address 2, the destination address included in the PDI in the PDR corresponding to the N6 interface is multicast address 1, and the forwarding address in the FAR associated with the PDR includes address 2.

In step 203, the smf network element sends a routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface to the UPF network element. Correspondingly, the UPF network element receives the routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface from the SMF network element.

In step 204, ue 1 sends a multicast message to the UPF network element. Correspondingly, the UPF network element receives the multicast message from the UE 1.

The implementation process of step 203 and step 204 may refer to the specific descriptions of step 103 and step 104, which are not described herein.

In step 205, the upf network element replicates a copy of the multicast message.

Step 205 differs from step 105 in that a copy of the multicast message is replicated in step 205 and the destination address of the replicated multicast message is modified to an N6 interface forwarding address, e.g., to the address of a server in the data network.

In step 206, the upf network element sends the multicast message to the data network.

The UPF network element sends the multicast message to the data network according to the destination address of the modified multicast message, for example, sends the multicast message to a server in the data network, and the server can further process the multicast message when receiving the multicast message, and forwards the multicast message to a device belonging to the 5G LAN group in the data network.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 8, when the SMF network element obtains the multicast information of the 5G LAN group, the multicast information of the 5G LAN group includes N6 interface indication information for indicating to forward the multicast packet using the N6 interface and an N6 interface forwarding address, and determines a routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface according to the N6 interface forwarding address, and sends the routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface to the UPF network element, so that the UPF network element may forward the received multicast packet to a designated device (for example, a server or a switch or a certain device) in the data network according to the routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface, thereby implementing that the device in the data network may receive the multicast packet, avoiding missing forwarding of the multicast packet, and improving the forwarding rate of the multicast packet.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 8, the UPF network element replicates a multicast packet and sends the multicast packet to a designated device in the data network; in the embodiment shown in fig. 7, the UPF network element replicates N parts of multicast packets, and sends each part of multicast packet to each device in the data network. Both the embodiments shown in fig. 7 and fig. 8 enable a device in a data network to receive a multicast message.

Referring to fig. 9, a flowchart of another multicast communication method according to an embodiment of the present application is provided, where the method may include the following steps:

in step 301, the smf network element obtains multicast information of the 5G LAN group from the PCF network element.

The manner in which LAN members of the 5G LAN group access the network may vary, for example, LAN member 1 may access the network using 5G technology for a certain period of time and may access the network using a fixed network for the next period of time. The change in access of LAN members may cause a change in the routing rules corresponding to the 5G LAN group. The 5G network may dynamically configure routing rules corresponding to the 5G LAN group on the UPF network element when the access manner of the LAN member changes.

The PCF network element may adjust a forwarding policy, which may include multicast information of the 5G LAN group, under the condition that it knows that the access manner of the LAN member changes. The PCF network element may subscribe to the access state of the LAN member from other networks in the 5G network, for example, from the AMF network element or the UDM network element, so as to determine whether the access mode of the LAN member is changed, and further adjust the forwarding policy.

The SMF network element obtains a forwarding policy from the PCF network element. Specifically, the SMF network element sends a forwarding policy acquisition request to the PCF network element, where the forwarding policy acquisition request carries a group identifier of the 5G LAN group; the PCF network element sends a forwarding policy acquisition response to the SMF network element, where the forwarding policy acquisition response includes a forwarding policy, which may include multicast information of the 5G LAN group. The SMF network element may periodically send a forwarding policy acquisition request to the PCF network element, so that the SMF network element may dynamically adjust the routing rule corresponding to the 5G LAN group.

For example, if the LAN members in the 5G LAN group are all the first type devices before, there is a device 1 changing from the first type device to the second type device in a certain period of time, and when the pcf network element learns about this situation, the pcf network element adjusts the multicast information of the 5G LAN group, for example, adds an N6 interface forwarding address to the multicast information of the 5G LAN group, where the N6 interface forwarding address may be an address of a designated device in the data network.

Step 302, the smf network element determines, according to the N6 interface forwarding address, a routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface.

In step 303, the smf network element sends a routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface to the UPF network element. Correspondingly, the UPF network element receives the routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface from the SMF network element.

In step 304, ue 1 sends a multicast message to the UPF network element. Correspondingly, the UPF network element receives the multicast message from the UE 1.

In step 305, the upf network element replicates a copy of the multicast message.

In step 306, the upf network element sends a multicast message to the data network.

The implementation process of step 302-step 306 can be referred to in the detailed description of step 202-step 206, and will not be described herein. As another possible implementation, if the multicast information of the 5G LAN group acquired from the PCF network element in step 301 includes a plurality of N6 interface forwarding addresses, steps 102-106 may be performed after step 301.

The embodiment shown in fig. 9 also enables a device in a data network to receive a multicast message. The embodiment shown in fig. 9 is different from the embodiments shown in fig. 7 and 8 in that in the embodiments shown in fig. 7 and 8, the SMF network element obtains multicast information of the 5G LAN group from the AF network element; in the embodiment shown in fig. 9, the SMF network element dynamically acquires the multicast information of the 5G LAN group from the PCF network element, and may dynamically adjust the routing rule corresponding to the 5G LAN group.

Fig. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application. The communication device 700 shown in fig. 10 may include a transceiving unit 701 and a processing unit 702. The transceiver unit 701 may include a transmitting unit for implementing a transmitting function and a receiving unit for implementing a receiving function, and the transceiver unit 701 may implement the transmitting function and/or the receiving function. The transceiving unit may also be described as a communication unit.

In one possible implementation, the communication device 700 may be a session management network element, a device in a session management network element, or a device that can be used in match with a session management network element.

A transceiver unit 701, configured to obtain multicast information of a LAN group, where the multicast information includes N6 interface information;

The processing unit 702 is configured to determine, according to the N6 interface information, a routing rule corresponding to an N6 interface, where the routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface is used to control forwarding of the multicast packet to the data network;

the transceiver unit 701 is further configured to send a routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface to a user plane network element.

Optionally, the transceiver 701 is specifically configured to obtain multicast information of the LAN group from an application function network element or a policy control network element.

Optionally, the N6 interface information includes one or more N6 interface forwarding addresses.

Optionally, the routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface further includes one or more N6 interface forwarding addresses.

Optionally, the routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface information includes message replication information, where the message replication information is used to indicate replication of the multicast message.

Optionally, the number of the one or more N6 interface forwarding addresses is the same as the number of devices belonging to the LAN group in the data network.

Optionally, the one N6 interface forwarding address is an address of a designated device in the data network.

Optionally, the processing unit 702 is further configured to create or update context information corresponding to the LAN group according to the multicast information.

In one possible implementation, the communication apparatus 700 may be a user plane network element, an apparatus in a user plane network element, or an apparatus that can be used in match with a user plane network element.

A transceiver unit 701, configured to receive a routing rule corresponding to an N6 interface from a session management network element; receiving a multicast message;

and the processing unit 702 is configured to determine whether the multicast packet matches a routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface, and send the multicast packet to the data network according to the routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface if the multicast packet matches the routing rule.

Optionally, the routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface includes one or more N6 interface forwarding addresses; the transceiver unit 701 is specifically configured to send a multicast packet to the data network according to the one or more N6 interface forwarding addresses.

Optionally, the routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface information further includes message replication information, where the message replication information is used to instruct to replicate the multicast message; the processing unit 702 is specifically configured to copy the multicast packet, and send the copied multicast packet to the data network according to one or more N6 interface forwarding addresses.

Fig. 11 shows a schematic structure of another communication device. The communication device 800 may be a user plane network element, a session management network element, a chip system, or a processor that supports the user plane network element to implement the method, or a chip, a chip system, or a processor that supports the session management network element to implement the method. The device can be used for realizing the method described in the method embodiment, and can be particularly referred to the description in the method embodiment.

The communication device 800 may include one or more processors 801. The processor 801 may be a general purpose processor or a special purpose processor, etc. 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 the communication device, execute software programs, and process data of the software programs.

Optionally, the communication device 800 may include one or more memories 802, on which instructions 804 may be stored, which may be executed on the processor 801, to cause the device 800 to perform the methods described in the method embodiments above. Optionally, the memory 802 may also store data therein. The processor 801 and the memory 802 may be provided separately or may be integrated.

Optionally, the communication device 800 may further include a transceiver 805, an antenna 806. The transceiver 805 may be referred to as a transceiver unit, a transceiver circuit, or the like, for implementing a transceiver function. The transceiver 805 may include a receiver, which may be referred to as a receiver or a receiving circuit, etc., for implementing a receiving function, and a transmitter; the transmitter may be referred to as a transmitter or a transmitting circuit, etc., for implementing a transmitting function.

The communication device 800 is a session management network element: the processor 801 is configured to perform step 102 in fig. 7; step 202 in fig. 8 is performed; step 302 in fig. 9 is performed. Transceiver 805 is configured to perform steps 101 and 103 of fig. 7; step 201 and step 203 in fig. 8 are performed; steps 301 and 303 in fig. 9 are performed.

The communication device 800 is a user plane network element: the processor 801 is configured to perform step 105 in fig. 7; step 205 in fig. 8 is performed; step 305 in fig. 9 is performed. Transceiver 805 is configured to perform steps 103, 104, and 106 in fig. 7; step 203, step 204 and step 206 in fig. 8 are performed; step 303, step 304, and step 306 in fig. 9 are performed.

In another alternative design, a transceiver may be included in processor 801 to implement the receive and transmit functions. For example, the transceiver may be a transceiver circuit, or an interface circuit. The transceiver circuitry, interface or interface circuitry for implementing the receive and transmit functions may be separate or may be integrated. The transceiver circuit, interface or interface circuit may be used for reading and writing codes/data, or the transceiver circuit, interface or interface circuit may be used for transmitting or transferring signals.

In yet another possible design, the processor 801 may have instructions 803 stored thereon, where the instructions 803 run on the processor 801, may cause the apparatus 800 to perform the method described in the method embodiments above. Instructions 803 may be solidified in processor 801, in which case processor 801 may be implemented in hardware.

In yet another possible design, communication device 800 may include circuitry that may implement the functions of transmitting or receiving or communicating in the foregoing method embodiments. The processors and transceivers described herein may be implemented on integrated circuits (integrated circuit, ICs), analog ICs, radio frequency integrated circuits RFICs, mixed signal ICs, application specific integrated circuits (application specific integrated circuit, ASIC), printed circuit boards (printed circuit board, PCB), electronic devices, and the like. The processor and transceiver may also be fabricated using a variety of IC process technologies such as complementary metal oxide semiconductor (complementary metal oxide semiconductor, CMOS), N-type metal oxide semiconductor (NMOS), P-type metal oxide semiconductor (positive channel metal oxide semiconductor, PMOS), bipolar junction transistor (Bipolar Junction Transistor, BJT), bipolar CMOS (BiCMOS), silicon germanium (SiGe), gallium arsenide (GaAs), etc.

The communication apparatus in the above embodiment description may be a network device or a terminal device, but the scope of the communication apparatus described in the present application is not limited thereto, and the structure of the communication apparatus may not be limited by fig. 11. The communication means may be a stand-alone device or may be part of a larger device.

Those of skill would further appreciate that the various illustrative logical blocks (illustrative logical block) and steps (steps) described in connection with the embodiments herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or combinations of both. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design requirements of the overall system. Those skilled in the art may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation is not to be understood as beyond the scope of the embodiments of the present application.

The present application also provides a computer readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program which when executed by a computer performs the functions of any of the method embodiments described above.

The present application also provides a computer program product which, when executed by a computer, implements the functions of any of the method embodiments described above.

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.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that: the first, second, etc. numbers referred to in this application are merely for convenience of description and are not intended to limit the scope of the embodiments of the present application, but also to indicate the sequence.

The correspondence relationship shown in each table in the present application may be configured or predefined. The values of the information in each table are merely examples, and may be configured as other values, which are not limited in this application. In the case of the correspondence between the configuration information and each parameter, it is not necessarily required to configure all the correspondence shown in each table. For example, in the table in the present application, the correspondence shown by some rows may not be configured. For another example, appropriate morphing adjustments, e.g., splitting, merging, etc., may be made based on the tables described above. The names of the parameters indicated in the tables may be other names which are understood by the communication device, and the values or expressions of the parameters may be other values or expressions which are understood by the communication device. When the tables are implemented, other data structures may be used, for example, an array, a queue, a container, a stack, a linear table, a pointer, a linked list, a tree, a graph, a structure, a class, a heap, a hash table, or a hash table.

Predefined in this application may be understood as defining, predefining, storing, pre-negotiating, pre-configuring, curing, or pre-firing.

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.

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 multicast communication, comprising:

the method comprises the steps that a session management network element obtains multicast information of a Local Area Network (LAN) group, wherein the multicast information comprises N6 interface information and a multicast address;

the session management network element determines a routing rule corresponding to an N6 interface according to the N6 interface information, wherein the routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface is used for controlling a multicast message sent by a device except a device in a data network in the LAN group to be forwarded to the device belonging to the LAN group in the data network, and a destination address of the multicast message is the multicast address; the routing rules corresponding to the N6 interface comprise a message detection rule PDR corresponding to the N6 interface and a forwarding action rule FAR associated with the PDR, wherein the PDR comprises the multicast address, and the FAR comprises the N6 interface information; the N6 interface information comprises one or more N6 interface forwarding addresses, and the N6 interface forwarding addresses are addresses of devices belonging to the LAN group in the data network;

and the session management network element sends the routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface to a user plane network element.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the session management network element obtains multicast information of the LAN group, comprising:

The session management network element obtains the multicast information of the LAN group from the application network element or the policy control network element.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface further comprises the one or more N6 interface forwarding addresses.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the number of the one or more N6 interface forwarding addresses is the same as the number of devices in the data network that belong to the LAN group.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the one N6 interface forwarding address is an address of a designated device in the data network.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1-5, further comprising:

the session management network element creates or updates the context information corresponding to the LAN group according to the multicast information; the created or updated context information corresponding to the LAN group includes a first context including a session context of devices in the LAN group other than the devices in the data network and a second context including a multicast address of the LAN group and the N6 interface information.

7. A method of multicast communication, comprising:

the user plane network element receives a routing rule corresponding to an N6 interface from the session management network element; the routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface comprises a PDR corresponding to the N6 interface and a FAR associated with the PDR, wherein the PDR comprises a multicast address of a LAN group, and the FAR comprises N6 interface information; the N6 interface information comprises one or more N6 interface forwarding addresses, and the N6 interface forwarding addresses are addresses of devices belonging to the LAN group in a data network;

the user plane network element receives a multicast message from a device in the LAN group except a device in the data network, wherein the destination address of the multicast message is the multicast address;

and under the condition that the multicast message is matched with the routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface, the user plane network element copies the multicast message and sends the multicast message to the equipment belonging to the LAN group in the data network according to the routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the sending, by the user plane network element, the multicast message to the data network according to the routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface, includes:

And the user plane network element sends the multicast message to a data network according to the one or more N6 interface forwarding addresses.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the number of the one or more N6 interface forwarding addresses is the same as the number of devices in the data network that belong to the LAN group.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the one N6 interface forwarding address is an address of a designated device in the data network.

11. A communication device, characterized in that it comprises means for performing the steps of any of claims 1-6.

12. A communication device, characterized in that it comprises means for performing the steps of any of claims 7-10.

13. A communication device comprising a processor and a memory;

the memory is used for storing computer instructions;

when the processor executes the instructions, to cause the communication device to perform the method of any of claims 1-6.

14. A communication device comprising a processor and a memory;

The memory is used for storing computer instructions;

the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the communication device to perform the method of any of claims 7-10.

15. A multicast communication system, comprising a session management network element and a user plane network element;

the session management network element is configured to obtain multicast information of a local area network LAN group, where the multicast information includes N6 interface information and a multicast address; determining a routing rule corresponding to an N6 interface according to the N6 interface information, wherein the routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface is used for controlling a multicast message sent by equipment except equipment in a data network in the LAN group to be forwarded to equipment belonging to the LAN group in the data network, and a destination address of the multicast message is the multicast address; sending a routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface to a user plane network element; the routing rules corresponding to the N6 interface comprise a message detection rule PDR corresponding to the N6 interface and a forwarding action rule FAR associated with the PDR, wherein the PDR comprises the multicast address, and the FAR comprises the N6 interface information; the N6 interface information comprises one or more N6 interface forwarding addresses, and the N6 interface forwarding addresses are addresses of devices belonging to the LAN group in the data network;

The user plane network element is configured to receive a routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface; receiving multicast messages from devices in the LAN group other than the devices in the data network; and copying the multicast message under the condition that the multicast message is matched with the routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface, and sending the multicast message to the equipment belonging to the LAN group in the data network according to the routing rule corresponding to the N6 interface.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the system further comprises a controller configured to control the controller,

the session management network element is specifically configured to obtain multicast information of the LAN group from an application function network element or a policy control network element.

17. The system according to claim 15, wherein the user plane network element is specifically configured to send the multicast packet to a data network according to the one or more N6 interface forwarding addresses.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the number of the one or more N6 interface forwarding addresses is the same as the number of devices belonging to the LAN group in the data network.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the one N6 interface forwarding address is an address of a designated device in the data network.