CN115842856A

CN115842856A - Method, device, electronic equipment and readable medium for selecting network function instance

Info

Publication number: CN115842856A
Application number: CN202111098534.9A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 赵嵩; 牛煜霞
Original assignee: China Telecom Corp Ltd
Current assignee: China Telecom Corp Ltd
Priority date: 2021-09-18
Filing date: 2021-09-18
Publication date: 2023-03-24

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a method, an apparatus, an electronic device and a readable medium for selecting a network function instance, wherein the method comprises: sending a request instruction requesting the NF instance to the NRF; receiving a response instruction fed back by the NRF according to the request instruction, wherein the response instruction carries NF Profile meeting the request instruction, a first transmission delay and a second timestamp corresponding to the generated response instruction, and the NF Profile comprises a service delay and a second transmission delay of an NF example; determining a third transmission delay according to a fourth time stamp and a second time stamp corresponding to the received response instruction; determining the total time delay of the alternative NF instances according to the service time delay, the first transmission time delay, the second transmission time delay and the third transmission time delay; the NF instances that provide the service are determined from the total delay. By the embodiment of the disclosure, the reliability of the total time delay of the NF instance is improved, and the total time delay of the NF instance can meet the time delay required by a service consumption end.

Description

Method, device, electronic equipment and readable medium for selecting network function instance

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a method and an apparatus for selecting a network function instance, an electronic device, and a readable medium.

Background

Currently, from Rel-15, 3GPP (3 rd Generation Partnership Project) introduces NWDAF (Network Data analysis Function) in the core Network for Network Data analysis. The NWDAF may collect data from an NF (Network Function instance), generate an analysis result, and assist the NF that provides an analysis requirement to select a relevant policy, or train a relevant model.

In the related art, starting with Rel-17, an NWDAF instance provides an analysis service that can meet latency requirements. Specifically, the NWDAF instance writes Supported analytical Delay information into NF profile (attribute information of NF), and further provides a generation Delay of an analysis Service to a potential Service Consumer (Service Consumer), and the Service Consumer selects an appropriate NWDAF instance based on the generation Delay of the analysis Service.

However, when the Service Consumer selects any NWDAF instance to provide the analysis Service for the NWDAF instance, although the NF instance may complete data collection and analysis within the time defined by the Supported analytical Delay and the time defined by the Service request, and generate the analysis result, since the generation Delay of the analysis Service does not include the transmission Delay of the analysis request and the analysis result, it cannot be guaranteed that the analysis result still meets the Delay requirement when being transmitted to the Service provider.

It is to be noted that the information disclosed in the above background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the present disclosure, and thus may include information that does not constitute prior art known to those of ordinary skill in the art.

Disclosure of Invention

An object of the present disclosure is to provide a method, an apparatus, an electronic device and a readable medium for selecting a network function instance, which are used to overcome, at least to some extent, the problem that the total delay of a network function service does not meet the delay requirement due to the limitations and disadvantages of the related art.

According to a first aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, a method for selecting a network function instance is provided, which is applicable to a service consumer, and the method for selecting a network function instance includes: sending a request instruction for requesting a network function instance to a network repository function instance, wherein the request instruction carries a first timestamp corresponding to the request instruction; receiving a response instruction fed back by the network repository function instance according to the request instruction, wherein the response instruction carries a network function profile meeting the request instruction, a first transmission delay and a second timestamp corresponding to the response instruction, the network function profile comprises a service delay and a second transmission delay of the network function instance, the first transmission delay is determined by the network repository function instance according to the first timestamp and a third timestamp corresponding to the request instruction, and the second transmission delay is determined by an interaction process of the network function instance registering the network function profile to the network repository function instance; determining a third transmission delay according to a fourth timestamp corresponding to the received response instruction and the second timestamp; determining the total time delay of the alternative network function instances according to the service time delay, the first transmission time delay, the second transmission time delay and the third transmission time delay; and determining the network function instance providing the service according to the total time delay.

In an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure, determining the network function instance to provide the service according to the total latency comprises: sorting the alternative network function instances according to the total time delay; and selecting the alternative network function instances according to the sequencing result.

According to a second aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method for selecting a network function instance, which is applied to a network repository function instance, the method for selecting a network function instance includes: receiving a registration request of a network function profile sent by the alternative network function instance, wherein the registration request carries a fifth timestamp corresponding to the registration request; determining a sixth timestamp corresponding to the receiving of the registration request; determining a second transmission delay according to the fifth timestamp and the sixth timestamp; writing the second transmission delay and the service delay of the network function instance to the network function profile.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, further comprising: receiving a request instruction which is sent by the service consumption end and requests to view the network function profile, wherein the request instruction carries a first timestamp corresponding to the request instruction; determining a third timestamp corresponding to the receiving of the request instruction; and determining a first transmission delay according to the first time stamp and the third time stamp.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, further comprising: generating a response instruction corresponding to the request instruction, and determining to generate a second timestamp corresponding to the response instruction; and feeding back the response instruction to a service consumption end, wherein the response instruction carries a network function profile meeting the requirement of the request instruction, the first transmission delay and the second timestamp, and the moment when the service consumption end receives the response instruction corresponds to a fourth timestamp.

According to a third aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method for selecting a network function instance, which is applicable to a network function instance, and further includes: sending a registration request of an alternative network function profile to the network repository function instance, where the registration request carries a fifth timestamp corresponding to the generation of the registration request, and a time when the network repository function instance receives the registration request corresponds to a sixth timestamp.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, the service latency includes at least one of an analysis service latency, a data collection service latency, and a model-dependent service latency.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, the network function is one of a network data analysis function instance, a unified data management instance, an access and mobility function, a network open function instance, a session management function instance, an authentication service function instance, and a policy control function instance.

According to a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided an apparatus for selecting a network function instance, which is suitable for a service consumer, the apparatus for selecting a network function instance comprising: the communication module is configured to send a request instruction for requesting a network function instance to the network repository function instance, where the request instruction carries a first timestamp corresponding to the request instruction; the communication module is configured to receive a response instruction fed back by the network repository function instance according to the request instruction, where the response instruction carries a network function profile meeting requirements of the request instruction, a first transmission delay, and a second timestamp corresponding to the generation of the response instruction, where the network function profile includes a service delay and a second transmission delay of the network function instance, the first transmission delay is determined by the network repository function instance according to the first timestamp and a third timestamp corresponding to the reception of the request instruction, and the second transmission delay is determined by an interaction process of the network function instance registering the network function profile with the network repository function instance; the determining module is configured to determine a third transmission delay according to a fourth timestamp corresponding to the received response instruction and the second timestamp; the determining module is configured to determine a total time delay of the candidate network function instances according to the service time delay, the first transmission time delay, the second transmission time delay, and the third transmission time delay; the determining module is configured to determine the network function instance providing the service according to the total delay.

According to a fifth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided an apparatus for selecting a network function instance, which is adapted to a network repository function instance, the apparatus for selecting a network function instance comprising: a communication module, configured to receive a registration request of a network function profile sent by the alternative network function instance, where the registration request carries a fifth timestamp corresponding to the generation of the registration request; the determining module is used for determining a sixth timestamp corresponding to the received registration request; the determining module is further configured to determine a second transmission delay according to the fifth timestamp and the sixth timestamp; a write module configured to write the second transmission delay and the service delay of the network function instance into the network function profile.

According to a sixth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided an apparatus for selecting a network function instance, the apparatus adapted to select the network function instance, the apparatus comprising: a communication module, configured to send a registration request of an alternative network function profile to the network repository function instance, where the registration request carries a fifth timestamp corresponding to the generation of the registration request, and a time when the network repository function instance receives the registration request corresponds to a sixth timestamp.

According to a seventh aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided an electronic apparatus comprising: a memory; and a processor coupled to the memory, the processor configured to perform the method of any of the above based on instructions stored in the memory.

According to an eighth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer readable storage medium, having stored thereon a program which, when executed by a processor, implements a method of selecting a network function instance as in any one of the above.

According to the embodiment of the disclosure, the service delay is written in the NF profile, the second transmission delay is determined in the registering interaction process of the NF profile, the first transmission delay is further determined in the process of requesting the NF instance, the third transmission delay is determined in the process of responding to the request, and then the NF instance meeting the delay requirement is selected based on the total delay determined by the service delay, the first transmission delay, the second transmission delay and the third transmission delay.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the disclosure.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments consistent with the present disclosure and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the disclosure. It is to be understood that the drawings in the following description are merely exemplary of the disclosure, and that other drawings may be derived from those drawings by one of ordinary skill in the art without the exercise of inventive faculty.

FIG. 1 illustrates a flow chart of a method of selecting a network function instance in an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 2 illustrates a flow chart of a method of selecting a network function instance in another exemplary embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 3 illustrates a flow chart of a method of selecting a network function instance in another exemplary embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 4 illustrates a flow chart of a method of selecting a network function instance in another exemplary embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 5 illustrates a flow chart of a method of selecting a network function instance in another exemplary embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 6 illustrates a flow chart of a method of selecting a network function instance in another exemplary embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of an apparatus for selecting a network function instance in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of an apparatus for selecting a network function instance in another exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 9 is a block diagram of an apparatus for selecting a network function instance in another exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 10 is a block diagram of an electronic device in an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure.

Detailed Description

Example embodiments will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. Example embodiments may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the examples set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the concept of example embodiments to those skilled in the art. The described features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. In the following description, numerous specific details are provided to give a thorough understanding of embodiments of the disclosure. One skilled in the relevant art will recognize, however, that the subject matter of the present disclosure can be practiced without one or more of the specific details, or with other methods, components, devices, steps, and the like. In other instances, well-known technical solutions have not been shown or described in detail to avoid obscuring aspects of the present disclosure.

Further, the drawings are merely schematic illustrations of the present disclosure, in which the same reference numerals denote the same or similar parts, and thus, a repetitive description thereof will be omitted. Some of the block diagrams shown in the figures are functional entities and do not necessarily correspond to physically or logically separate entities. These functional entities may be implemented in the form of software, or in one or more hardware modules or integrated circuits, or in different networks and/or processor devices and/or microcontroller devices.

In a 5G core network SBA (Service-based Architecture), legacy network elements in an LTE (Long Term Evolution) network are replaced with Network Functions (NFs), each NF instance may provide many NF services.

In some embodiments, the NF of The 5G core Network SBA may include, but is not limited to, AMF (Access and Mobility Management Function), SMF (Session Management Function), AUSF (Authentication Server Function), UDM (The Unified Data Management), PCF (Policy Control Function), NEF (Network Exposure Function), and NRF (Network Repository Function).

In some embodiments, the AMF (Access and Mobility Management Function) performs registration, connection, reachability, mobility Management. And a session management message transmission channel is provided for the UE and the SMF, authentication and authorization functions are provided for the user during access, and the terminal and the wireless core network control plane access point are provided.

In some embodiments, the SMF (Session Management function) is responsible for tunnel maintenance, IP (Internet Protocol) address allocation and Management, function selection, policy enforcement, and control in QoS (Quality of Service), charging data collection, roaming, and the like. The SMF selects a UPF (User Port Function), which is a User Port Function, based on the granularity of a User group or session, and may allocate an IP address, collect billing data, and connect to a billing center.

In some embodiments, the PCF (Policy Control function) unifies a Policy framework that provides Policy rules for Control plane functions. The PCF issues control plane network functions.

In some embodiments, UDM (The Unified Data Management function) is used for 3GPP AKA authentication, user identification, access authorization, registration, mobility, subscription, sms Management, etc.

In some embodiments, NEF (Network Exposure Function), which opens the capabilities of each NF, transforms internal and external information for edge computing scenarios.

In some embodiments, the NRF is a new function that provides registration and discovery functionality, enabling Network Functions (NFs) to discover each other and communicate through API interfaces.

In some embodiments, the NRF may support NF service registration and NF service discovery. In order for the NRF to properly maintain information of available NF instances and the services they support, each NF instance informs the NRF during NF service registration of the list of NF services it supports and other NF instance information.

In some embodiments, each NF instance may have an NF profile, which may include, but is not limited to, an NF instance Identifier (ID), an NF type, a PLMN (Public Land Mobile Network), a Network slice related identifier, an FQDN (fully qualified domain name) or IP address of the NF, NF capability information, names of supported services, endpoint information of each supported service instance, and the like.

In some embodiments, NF service discovery may be implemented by supporting NF discovery (otherwise known as "NF selection") using NRF.

In some embodiments, the NF selection includes selecting one NF instance among NF instances discovered during NF service discovery.

In some embodiments, the NF selection may be implemented by the requestor NF. For example, UDM selection may be implemented by AMF.

In some embodiments, NF selection may be triggered for a terminal device when the terminal device attaches to a wireless network, or the terminal device initiates a service, or the terminal device terminates a service, etc. The NF selection procedure may be invoked when an SMS (short message service) message is sent to an unattached terminal device and cached in the network. When an SMS message is delivered to a terminal device, the NF selection procedure may be invoked once the terminal device is attached to the network.

In some embodiments, the NF service provider may register its NF services with the NRF. The NRF may maintain a NF profile for each NF instance. During NF service registration, the NF service provider may inform the NRF of the service consumers that the NF instance may service.

In some embodiments, the NF service consumer may obtain the NF profile from the NRF, i.e., the NF service consumer may send a request to the NRF to query the NF profile. For example, the request may be an HTTP request. The NF service consumer may then receive a response from the NRF that includes the NF profile.

Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to fig. 1 to 10.

Fig. 1 is a flow chart of a method of selecting a network function instance in an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure.

As shown in fig. 1, a method for selecting a network function instance according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is applicable to a service consumer, and the method for selecting a network function instance includes:

step S102, a request instruction for requesting the NF instance is sent to the NRF instance, and the request instruction carries a first time stamp corresponding to the request instruction.

Step S104, receiving a response instruction fed back by the NRF instance according to the request instruction, wherein the response instruction carries an NF profile meeting the requirements of the request instruction, a first transmission delay and a second time stamp corresponding to the generated response instruction, the NF profile comprises a service delay and a second transmission delay of the NF instance, the first transmission delay is determined by the NRF instance according to the first time stamp and a third time stamp corresponding to the received request instruction, and the second transmission delay is determined by an interactive process of registering the NF profile from the NF instance to the NRF instance.

In the above embodiment, the first transmission delay is the transmission delay of the service consumer sending a request instruction to view the NF profile to the NRF instance.

In the above embodiment, the second transport delay, i.e. the transport delay at which the NF instance sends a request to register the NF profile to the NRF instance.

In the above embodiment, the total latency of the NF profiles fed back by the NRF instance according to the request instruction all meets the latency required in the request instruction.

And step S106, determining a third transmission delay according to the fourth time stamp and the second time stamp corresponding to the receiving response instruction.

In the above embodiment, the third transmission delay reflects the transmission delay of the NRF instance feeding back the NF profile to the serving consumer.

And step S108, determining the total time delay of the alternative NF instances according to the service time delay, the first transmission time delay, the second transmission time delay and the third transmission time delay.

In the above embodiment, the reliability and accuracy of the total delay of the NF instance providing the service can be improved by performing weighted calculation on the service delay, the first transmission delay, the second transmission delay, and the third transmission delay.

And step S110, determining the NF example providing the service according to the total time delay.

In the above embodiment, the total delays for providing services to the NF instances are sorted in the form of a table, sorted in ascending order, and selected according to the priority order of the NF instances in the sorted table.

In the above embodiment, the NF instances satisfying the latency requirement are selected based on the total latency determined by the service latency, the first transmission latency, the second transmission latency, and the third transmission latency by writing the service latency into the NF profile and determining the second transmission latency during the registration interaction of the NF profile, further determining the first transmission latency during the request for the NWDAF, and determining the third transmission latency during the response to the request.

In the above embodiment, the Service Consumer (Service Consumer) is based on the first transmission delay tp ₃₂ And a second transmission delay tp ₅₄ Calculating the transmission delay td between the Service Consumer (Service Consumer) and the NRF instance _nrf Specifically, the following method may be adopted:

(1) Using tp directly or after comparison ₃₂ Or tp ₅₄ As td _nrf The value of (c).

(2) Calculating tp ₃₂ And tp ₅₄ Is taken as td _nrf The value of (c).

(3) Calculating tp ₃₂ And tp ₅₄ Is taken as td _nrf The value of (c).

In an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure, as shown in fig. 2, determining a network function instance providing a service according to the total latency includes:

step S202, sorting the alternative NF instances according to the total time delay.

And step S204, selecting the alternative NF instances according to the sorting result.

In the above embodiment, the service consumer may determine the total delay of the NF instances according to the fed back NF profile, and select the NF instances in order of the total delay from small to large.

As shown in fig. 3, the method for selecting a network function instance according to the present disclosure is applicable to an NRF instance, and the method for selecting a network function instance includes:

step S302, a registration request of the NF profile sent by the alternative NF instance is received, where the registration request carries a fifth timestamp corresponding to the generated registration request.

Step S304, determining a sixth timestamp corresponding to the received registration request.

Step S306, determining a second transmission delay according to the fifth timestamp and the sixth timestamp.

And step S308, writing the second transmission delay and the service delay of the NF instance into the NF profile.

In the above embodiment, after the NF Profile information of the NF instance is received by the Service Consumer (Service Consumer), the NF Profile information includes tp ₁₀ Recording tp based on the second transmission delay ₁₀ Calculating a transmission time delay td between the NF and NRF instances _nf The calculation method at least comprises the following two methods:

(1) Direct use of td _nf ＝tp ₁₀ 。

(2)td _nf ＝a*tp ₁₀ +b*tp ₁₀ Wherein a and b are weighting coefficients, and the weighting coefficients can be adjusted according to the observation error.

In an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure, as shown in fig. 4, the method of selecting a network function instance further includes:

step S402, receiving a request instruction which is sent by a service consumer and requests to view the NF profile, wherein the request instruction carries a first time stamp corresponding to the request instruction.

Step S404, determining a third timestamp corresponding to the receiving request instruction.

Step S406, determining a first transmission delay according to the first timestamp and the third timestamp.

In an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure, as shown in fig. 5, the method for selecting a network function instance further includes:

step S502, a response instruction corresponding to the request instruction is generated, and a second timestamp corresponding to the response instruction is determined.

Step S504, a response instruction is fed back to the service consumption end, the response instruction carries the NF profile meeting the requirement of the request instruction, the first transmission delay and the second timestamp, and the moment when the service consumption end receives the response instruction corresponds to the fourth timestamp.

As shown in fig. 6, the method for selecting a network function instance according to the present disclosure is applicable to an NF instance, and the method for selecting a network function instance further includes:

step S602, a registration request of the alternative NF profile is sent to the NRF instance, where the registration request carries a fifth timestamp corresponding to the generation of the registration request, and a time when the NRF instance receives the registration request corresponds to a sixth timestamp.

In the above embodiment, the Service Consumer (Service Consumer) is based on td _nrf And td _nf Estimating the transmission delay td between the Service Consumer (Service Consumer) and the NF instance to be selected (e.g. NWDAF instance) _trans The calculation method is as follows:

ta _trans ＝b*td _nrf +b*td _nf wherein c and b are weighting coefficients, and the weighting coefficients can be adjusted according to the observation error.

In the above embodiment, the Service Consumer (Service Consumer) will td _trans The NF instance is selected as an estimate of the propagation delay of the NF instance to be selected when providing Service to a Service Consumer (Service Consumer).

In the above embodiment, the Service Consumer (Service Consumer) will feedback the supported analytical delay information and td based on the NRF instance _trans As whether or not the NF instance is selected to provide a particular analysis service, the overall time delay td is calculated _total The method comprises the following steps:

td _total ＝e*supported analytic delay+f*td _trans where e and f are weighting coefficients, e =1.1 and f =2, for example, the weighting coefficients may be adjusted according to the observation error.

If td _total If the time is less than a specific time threshold, the Service Consumer (Service Consumer) adds the NF instance to the list of alternative NF instances.

Further, a Service Consumer (Service Consumer) may select a Service from td in the list of alternative NF instances _total Values are taken and arranged in ascending order. And taking the arranged list as a list with the selection priority arranged from high to low, and selecting the NF example.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, the network function is one of a network data analysis function (NWDAF) instance, a Unified Data Management (UDM) instance, an Access and Mobility Function (AMF), a network open function (NEF) instance, a Session Management Function (SMF) instance, an authentication service function (AUSF) instance, and a Policy Control Function (PCF) instance.

With reference to the foregoing embodiment, if the network function is a network data analysis function (NWDAF) instance, the service delay (i.e. delay for processing service content) specifically includes the following:

(1) For analytics services, the delay to process the content of the service is a supported analytical delay, provided by the NF instance, stored in the NF Profile.

(2) For a data collection service, the delay in processing the service content is the delay required for the NF instances to collect data, provided (or estimated) by the NF instances, stored in the NF profiles.

(3) For model-dependent services, the delay in processing service content is the delay required by the NF instance to provide the results of the model-dependent service (e.g., to provide model information or to complete model training/updating or output models), and is provided (or estimated) by the NF instance and stored in the NF Profile.

Corresponding to the method embodiment, the present disclosure also provides a corresponding device for selecting a network function instance, which may be used to execute the method embodiment.

As shown in fig. 7, an apparatus 700 for selecting a network function instance according to the present disclosure is adapted to serve a consuming side, and the apparatus 700 for selecting a network function instance includes:

the communication module 702 is configured to send a request instruction requesting an NF instance to the NRF instance, where the request instruction carries a first timestamp corresponding to the request instruction.

The communication module 702 is configured to receive a response instruction fed back by the NRF instance according to the request instruction, where the response instruction carries an NF profile meeting the request instruction, a first transmission delay, and a second timestamp corresponding to the response instruction, where the NF profile includes a service delay and a second transmission delay of the NF instance, the first transmission delay is determined by the NRF instance according to the first timestamp and a third timestamp corresponding to the request instruction, and the second transmission delay is determined by an interaction process in which the NF instance registers the NF profile with the NRF instance.

The determining module 704 is configured to determine the third transmission delay according to the fourth timestamp and the second timestamp corresponding to the received response instruction.

A determining module 704 configured to determine a total delay of the alternative NF instances based on the service delay, the first transmission delay, the second transmission delay, and the third transmission delay.

The determining module 704 is configured to determine the NF instances providing the service according to the total delay.

As shown in fig. 8, the apparatus 800 for selecting a network function instance according to the present disclosure is applicable to an NRF instance, and the apparatus 800 for selecting a network function instance includes:

the communication module 802 is configured to receive a registration request of the NF profile sent by the alternative NF instance, where the registration request carries a fifth timestamp corresponding to the generated registration request.

The determining module 804 is configured to determine a sixth timestamp corresponding to the received registration request.

The determining module 804 is further configured to determine the second transmission delay according to the fifth timestamp and the sixth timestamp.

A writing module 806 arranged to write the second propagation delay and the service delay of the NF instance into the NF profile.

As shown in fig. 9, the apparatus 900 for selecting an instance of a network function according to the present disclosure is adapted to an NF instance, and the apparatus 900 for selecting an instance of a network function includes:

the communication module 902 is configured to send a registration request of the alternative NF profile to the NRF instance, where the registration request carries a fifth timestamp corresponding to the generation of the registration request, and a time when the NRF instance receives the registration request corresponds to a sixth timestamp.

Since each function of the device for selecting the network function instance has been described in detail in the corresponding method embodiment, the disclosure is not repeated herein.

It should be noted that although in the above detailed description several modules or units of the device for action execution are mentioned, such a division is not mandatory. Indeed, the features and functionality of two or more modules or units described above may be embodied in one module or unit, according to embodiments of the present disclosure. Conversely, the features and functions of one module or unit described above may be further divided into embodiments by a plurality of modules or units.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, an electronic device capable of implementing the above method is also provided.

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, aspects of the present invention may be embodied as a system, method or program product. Accordingly, various aspects of the present invention may be embodied in the form of: an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment (including firmware, microcode, etc.) or an embodiment combining hardware and software aspects that may all generally be referred to herein as a "circuit," module "or" system.

An electronic device 1000 according to this embodiment of the invention is described below with reference to fig. 10. The electronic device 1000 shown in fig. 10 is only an example, and should not bring any limitation to the functions and the scope of use of the embodiments of the present invention.

As shown in fig. 10, the electronic device 1000 is embodied in the form of a general purpose computing device. The components of the electronic device 1000 may include, but are not limited to: the at least one processing unit 1010, the at least one memory unit 1020, and a bus 1030 that couples various system components including the memory unit 1020 and the processing unit 1010.

Wherein the storage unit stores program code that is executable by the processing unit 1010 to cause the processing unit 1010 to perform steps according to various exemplary embodiments of the present invention as described in the "exemplary methods" section above in this specification. For example, the processing unit 1010 may perform a method as shown in embodiments of the present disclosure.

The memory unit 1020 may include readable media in the form of volatile memory units, such as a random access memory unit (RAM) 10201 and/or a cache memory unit 10202, and may further include a read only memory unit (ROM) 10203.

The memory unit 1020 may also include a program/utility 10204 having a set (at least one) of program modules 10205, such program modules 10205 including, but not limited to: an operating system, one or more application programs, other program modules, and program data, each of which, or some combination thereof, may comprise an implementation of a network environment.

Bus 1030 may be any one or more of several types of bus structures including a memory unit bus or memory unit controller, a peripheral bus, an accelerated graphics port, a processing unit, and a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures.

The electronic device 1000 may also communicate with one or more external devices 1040 (e.g., keyboard, pointing device, bluetooth device, etc.), with one or more devices that enable a user to interact with the electronic device 1000, and/or with any devices (e.g., router, modem, etc.) that enable the electronic device 1000 to communicate with one or more other computing devices. Such communication may occur through input/output (I/O) interfaces 1050. Also, the electronic device 1000 may communicate with one or more networks (e.g., a Local Area Network (LAN), a Wide Area Network (WAN), and/or a public network such as the internet) via the network adapter 1060. As shown, the network adapter 1060 communicates with the other modules of the electronic device 1000 over the bus 1030. It should be appreciated that although not shown, other hardware and/or software modules may be used in conjunction with the electronic device 1000, including but not limited to: microcode, device drivers, redundant processing units, external disk drive arrays, RAID systems, tape drives, and data backup storage systems, among others.

Through the above description of the embodiments, those skilled in the art will readily understand that the exemplary embodiments described herein may be implemented by software, or by software in combination with necessary hardware. Therefore, the technical solution according to the embodiments of the present disclosure may be embodied in the form of a software product, which may be stored in a non-volatile storage medium (which may be a CD-ROM, a usb disk, a removable hard disk, etc.) or on a network, and includes several instructions to enable a computing device (which may be a personal computer, a server, a terminal device, or a network device, etc.) to execute the method according to the embodiments of the present disclosure.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, there is also provided a computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon a program product capable of implementing the above-described method of the present specification. In some possible embodiments, aspects of the invention may also be implemented in the form of a program product comprising program code means for causing a terminal device to carry out the steps according to various exemplary embodiments of the invention described in the above section "exemplary methods" of the present description, when said program product is run on the terminal device.

The program product for implementing the above method according to an embodiment of the present invention may employ a portable compact disc read only memory (CD-ROM) and include program codes, and may be run on a terminal device, such as a personal computer. However, the program product of the present invention is not limited in this regard and, in the present document, a readable storage medium may be any tangible medium that can contain, or store a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

The program product may employ any combination of one or more readable media. The readable medium may be a readable signal medium or a readable storage medium. A readable storage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any combination of the foregoing. More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the readable storage medium include: an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable disk, a hard disk, a Random Access Memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

A computer readable signal medium may include a propagated data signal with readable program code embodied therein, for example, in baseband or as part of a carrier wave. Such a propagated data signal may take many forms, including, but not limited to, electro-magnetic, optical, or any suitable combination thereof. A readable signal medium may also be any readable medium that is not a readable storage medium and that can communicate, propagate, or transport a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

Program code embodied on a readable medium may be transmitted using any appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless, wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

Program code for carrying out operations for aspects of the present invention may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including an object oriented programming language such as Java, C + + or the like and conventional procedural programming languages, such as the "C" programming language or similar programming languages. The program code may execute entirely on the user's computing device, partly on the user's device, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user's computing device and partly on a remote computing device, or entirely on the remote computing device or server. In the case of a remote computing device, the remote computing device may be connected to the user computing device through any kind of network, including a Local Area Network (LAN) or a Wide Area Network (WAN), or may be connected to an external computing device (e.g., through the internet using an internet service provider).

Furthermore, the above-described figures are merely schematic illustrations of processes involved in methods according to exemplary embodiments of the invention, and are not intended to be limiting. It will be readily understood that the processes shown in the above figures are not intended to indicate or limit the chronological order of the processes. In addition, it is also readily understood that these processes may be performed synchronously or asynchronously, e.g., in multiple modules.

Other embodiments of the disclosure will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of the specification and practice of the disclosure disclosed herein. This application is intended to cover any variations, uses, or adaptations of the disclosure following, in general, the principles of the disclosure and including such departures from the present disclosure as come within known or customary practice within the art to which the disclosure pertains. It is intended that the specification and examples be considered as exemplary only, with a true scope and spirit of the disclosure being indicated by the following claims.

Claims

1. A method for selecting a network function instance, the method being applicable to a service consumer, the method for selecting a network function instance comprising:

sending a request instruction for discovering a network function instance to a network function repository instance, wherein the request instruction carries a first timestamp corresponding to the request instruction;

receiving a response instruction fed back by the network function repository instance according to the request instruction, where the response instruction carries a network function profile of information of the network function instance meeting requirements of the request instruction, a first transmission delay, and a second timestamp corresponding to the generation of the response instruction, where the network function profile includes a service delay and a second transmission delay of the network function instance, the first transmission delay is determined by the network function repository instance according to the first timestamp and a third timestamp corresponding to the reception of the request instruction, and the second transmission delay is determined by an interaction process of the network function instance registering the network function profile with the network function repository instance;

determining a third transmission delay according to a fourth timestamp corresponding to the received response instruction and the second timestamp;

determining the total time delay of the alternative network function instances according to the service time delay, the first transmission time delay, the second transmission time delay and the third transmission time delay;

and determining the network function instance providing the service according to the total time delay.

2. The method of selecting a network function instance of claim 1, wherein determining the network function instance to provide services based on the total latency comprises:

sorting the alternative network function instances according to the total time delay;

and selecting the alternative network function examples according to the sequencing result.

3. A method for selecting a network function instance, the method being applicable to a network function repository instance, the method for selecting a network function instance comprising:

receiving a registration request of a network function profile sent by the alternative network function instance, wherein the registration request carries a fifth timestamp corresponding to the registration request;

determining a sixth timestamp corresponding to the receiving of the registration request;

determining a second transmission delay according to the fifth timestamp and the sixth timestamp;

writing the second transmission delay and the service delay of the network function instance to the network function profile.

4. The method of selecting a network function instance of claim 3, further comprising:

receiving a request instruction which is sent by the service consumption end and requests a network function instance, wherein the request instruction carries a first timestamp corresponding to the request instruction;

determining a third timestamp corresponding to the request instruction;

and determining a first transmission delay according to the first time stamp and the third time stamp.

5. The method of selecting a network function instance of claim 4, further comprising:

generating a response instruction corresponding to the request instruction, and determining to generate a second timestamp corresponding to the response instruction;

and feeding back the response instruction to a service consumption end, wherein the response instruction carries a network function profile meeting the requirement of the request instruction, the first transmission delay and the second timestamp, and the moment when the service consumption end receives the response instruction corresponds to a fourth timestamp.

6. A method for selecting a network function instance, the method being applicable to a network function instance, and the method for selecting a network function instance further comprising:

sending a registration request of the alternative network function profile to the network function repository instance, where the registration request carries a fifth timestamp corresponding to the generation of the registration request, and a time when the network function repository instance receives the registration request corresponds to a sixth timestamp.

7. The method of selecting a network function instance of any of claims 1-6,

the service delay includes at least one of an analysis service delay, a data collection service delay, and a model dependent service delay.

8. The method of selecting a network function instance according to any of claims 1-6,

the network function instance is one of a network data analysis function instance, a unified data management instance, an access and mobility management function instance, a network capability opening function instance, a session management function instance, an authentication server function instance, and a policy control function instance.

9. An apparatus for selecting network function instances, the apparatus adapted to serve a consumer, the apparatus for selecting network function instances comprising:

the communication module is configured to send a request instruction for requesting a network function instance to a network function repository instance, where the request instruction carries a first timestamp corresponding to the request instruction;

the communication module is configured to receive a response instruction fed back by the network function repository instance according to the request instruction, where the response instruction carries a network function profile meeting requirements of the request instruction, a first transmission delay, and a second timestamp corresponding to the generation of the response instruction, where the network function profile includes a service delay and a second transmission delay of the network function instance, the first transmission delay is determined by the network function repository instance according to the first timestamp and a third timestamp corresponding to the reception of the request instruction, and the second transmission delay is determined by an interaction process of the network function instance registering the network function profile with the network function repository instance;

the determining module is configured to determine a third transmission delay according to a fourth timestamp corresponding to the received response instruction and the second timestamp;

the determining module is configured to determine a total time delay of the candidate network function instances according to the service time delay, the first transmission time delay, the second transmission time delay, and the third transmission time delay;

the determining module is configured to determine the network function instance providing the service according to the total delay.

10. An apparatus for selecting an instance of a network function, the apparatus being adapted to store an instance of a network function repository, the apparatus for selecting an instance of a network function comprising:

a communication module, configured to receive a registration request of a network function profile sent by the alternative network function instance, where the registration request carries a fifth timestamp corresponding to the generation of the registration request;

a determining module configured to determine to receive a sixth timestamp corresponding to the registration request;

the determining module is further configured to determine a second transmission delay according to the fifth timestamp and the sixth timestamp;

a write module configured to write the second transmission delay and the service delay of the network function instance into the network function profile.

11. An apparatus for selecting network function instances, the apparatus adapted to select network function instances, the apparatus comprising:

a communication module, configured to send a registration request of an alternative network function profile to the network function repository instance, where the registration request carries a fifth timestamp corresponding to the generation of the registration request, and a time when the network function repository instance receives the registration request corresponds to a sixth timestamp.

12. An electronic device, comprising:

a memory; and

a processor coupled to the memory, the processor configured to perform the method of selecting a network function instance of any of claims 1-8 based on instructions stored in the memory.

13. A computer-readable storage medium, on which a program is stored which, when being executed by a processor, carries out the method of selecting a network function instance according to any one of claims 1 to 8.