CN116074819A - PDU session processing method, network equipment, device and storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

The embodiment of the application relates to the technical field of mobile communication and discloses a PDU session processing method, network equipment, a device and a storage medium, wherein the method comprises the following steps: receiving a protocol data unit PDU session establishment request of a first user equipment UE, and determining an available address field of a virtual network VN group to which the first UE belongs, wherein the available address field is associated with a first user plane function network element UPF, and the first UPF is an anchor UPF serving the first UE; wherein the available address segment is allocated when any UE in the VN group is activated on the first UPF for the first time; and according to the available address segment, distributing an Internet Protocol (IP) address to the first UE, and establishing a PDU session of the first UE. The embodiment of the application solves the problem of frequent information interaction between the control plane and the user plane in the PDU conversation processing process.

Description

PDU session processing method, network equipment, device and storage medium

technical field

The present application relates to the technical field of mobile communication, and in particular to a PDU session processing method, network equipment, device and storage medium.

Background technique

In the mobile communication system, the data transmitted between the user equipment (or terminal, User Equipment, UE) and the external network is transmitted in the form of data packets, and these data packets are usually called protocol data units (Protocol Data Unit, PDU); The data transmission link between the UE and the external network is regarded as a PDU session (Session). In the related art, during the process of PDU session processing, information interaction between the control plane and the user plane is frequent. For example, when the UE creates a PDU session, the session management function network element (Session Management Function, SMF) needs to configure packet detection rules (Packet Detection Rules, PDR) according to the Internet Protocol (Internet Protocol, IP) address of the PDU session, and pass the group level The N4 session update process updates the PDR to other PSA UPFs (PDUSession Anchor User Plane Function, user plane function network element of the PDU session anchor point) in the virtual network group (Virtual Network group, VN group).

Or, when the UE releases the PDU session process, the SMF also needs to initiate a group-level N4 session update process to other PSA UPFs in the VN group to remove the PDR related to the IP address.

Therefore, the UEs in the VN group create and/or release the PDU session process, resulting in frequent message interaction between the control plane and the user plane.

Contents of the invention

Embodiments of the present application provide a PDU session processing method, network equipment, device, and storage medium to solve the problem of frequent information interaction between the control plane and the user plane during the PDU session processing process.

In the first aspect, the embodiment of the present application provides a PDU session processing method, which is applied to the session management function network element SMF, and the method includes:

Receive a protocol data unit PDU session establishment request from the first user equipment UE, determine an available address segment of the virtual network VN group to which the first UE belongs, the available address segment is associated with the first user plane functional network element UPF, and the first UPF is an anchor UPF serving the first UE;

Wherein, the available address segment is allocated for any UE in the VN group when it is activated on the first UPF for the first time;

Allocating an Internet Protocol IP address to the first UE according to the available address segment, and establishing a PDU session of the first UE.

Optionally, before receiving the protocol data unit PDU session establishment request of the first user equipment UE, the method includes:

When any UE in the VN group is activated on the first UPF for the first time, determine the available address segment of the VN group;

Create the data packet processing rule for the group-level N4 session of the VN group according to the available address segment;

Sending a first group-level N4 session request to the second UPF, carrying the data packet processing rule in the first group-level N4 session request; the second UPF is the VN group except the first UPF Outer UPF.

Optionally, the determining the available address segment of the VN group includes:

Allocating an available address segment for the VN group;

receiving the first N4 session establishment response sent by the first UPF, and obtaining the available address segment of the VN group carried in the first N4 session establishment response;

or

Obtain the N4 association establishment request or the N4 association establishment response sent by the first UPF, and obtain the available address segment of the VN group from the N4 association establishment request or the N4 association establishment response.

Optionally, before receiving the first N4 session establishment response sent by the first UPF, the method includes:

Sending a first N4 session establishment request to the first UPF, where the first N4 session establishment request instructs the first UPF to allocate an available address segment for the VN group.

Optionally, the first group-level N4 session request includes an N4 session modification request, and the sending the first group-level N4 session request to the second UPF includes:

In the case where an N19 tunnel has been established between the first UPF and the second UPF, sending an N4 session modification request to the second UPF; or

When the N19 tunnel is not established between the first UPF and the second UPF, a second group-level N4 session establishment request is sent to the first UPF, and the second group-level N4 session establishment request carries the The N19 tunnel information of the second UPF, and create the packet processing rule for the group-level N4 session of the VN group according to the N19 tunnel information and the available address segment; send the first group-level N4 session to the second UPF session request.

Optionally, the sending the first group-level N4 session request to the second UPF, after carrying the data packet processing rule in the first group-level N4 session request, includes:

receiving the PDU session release request of the third UE in the VN group, and determining that the IP address of the third UE is the last released address in the available address segment, releasing the available address segment, and Sending a group-level N4 session modification request to the second UPF; the group-level N4 session modification request instructs the second UPF to delete the data packet processing rule.

Optionally, the allocating an Internet Protocol IP address to the first UE according to the available address segment includes:

When an available IP address exists in the available address segment, directly allocate an IP address to the first UE from the available address segment;

When there is no available IP address in the available address segment, re-allocate a new available address segment to the VN group to which the first UE belongs, and allocate an IP address to the first UE from the new available address segment.

In the second aspect, the embodiment of the present application also provides a method for processing a PDU session, which is applied to the first user plane function network element UPF, and the method includes:

Receiving a second N4 session establishment request from a session management function network element SMF; wherein, the second N4 session establishment request is sent after the SMF determines the available address segment associated with the first UPF of the VN group to which the first UE belongs;

Wherein, the available address segment is allocated to any UE in the VN group when it is activated on the first UPF for the first time.

Optionally, before receiving the second N4 session establishment request of the session management function network element SMF, the method further includes:

receiving the first N4 session establishment request of the SMF, the first N4 session establishment request instructing the first UPF to allocate an available address segment for the VN group; sending a first N4 session establishment response to the SMF, in the first N4 session establishment request An N4 session establishment response carries an available address segment allocated for the VN group;

and / or

Sending an N4 association establishment request or an N4 association establishment response to the SMF; in the N4 association establishment request or N4 association establishment response, the available address segment allocated for the VN group is carried.

In a third aspect, the embodiment of the present application further provides a network device, where the network device includes a session management function network element SMF, and the network device further includes:

Memory, Transceiver, Processor:

The memory is used to store computer programs; the transceiver is used to send and receive data under the control of the processor; the processor is used to read the computer programs in the memory and perform the following operations:

Receive a protocol data unit PDU session establishment request from the first user equipment UE, determine an available address segment of the virtual network VN group to which the first UE belongs, the available address segment is associated with the first user plane functional network element UPF, and the first UPF is an anchor UPF serving the first UE;

Wherein, the available address segment is allocated for any UE in the VN group when it is activated on the first UPF for the first time;

Allocating an Internet Protocol IP address to the first UE according to the available address segment, and establishing a PDU session of the first UE.

In a fourth aspect, the embodiment of the present application further provides a network device, the network device includes a first user plane function network element UPF, and the network device further includes:

Receive the second N4 session establishment request of the session management function network element SMF;

Wherein, the second N4 session establishment request is sent after the SMF determines the available address segment associated with the VN group to which the first UE belongs and the first UPF;

Wherein, the available address segment is allocated to any UE in the VN group when it is activated on the first UPF for the first time.

In the fifth aspect, the embodiment of the present application also provides a PDU session processing device, which is applied to a session management function network element SMF, and the device includes:

The address section determination module is configured to receive a protocol data unit PDU session establishment request of the first user equipment UE, and determine an available address section of the virtual network VN group to which the first UE belongs, and the available address section is related to the first user plane function network element UPF associating, the first UPF is an anchor UPF serving the first UE;

Wherein, the available address segment is allocated for any UE in the VN group when it is activated on the first UPF for the first time;

A session establishing module, configured to allocate an Internet Protocol IP address to the first UE according to the available address segment, and establish a PDU session of the first UE.

In the sixth aspect, the embodiment of the present application further provides a PDU session processing device, which is applied to the first user plane function network element UPF, and the device includes:

A receiving module, configured to receive a second N4 session establishment request from a session management function network element SMF;

Wherein, the second N4 session establishment request is sent after the SMF determines the available address segment associated with the VN group to which the first UE belongs and the first UPF;

The available address segment is allocated to any UE in the VN group when it is activated on the first UPF for the first time.

In the seventh aspect, the embodiment of the present application also provides an electronic device, the electronic device includes a memory, a processor, and a computer program stored on the memory and operable on the processor, when the processor executes the computer program, the As in the steps in the method above.

In an eighth aspect, the embodiment of the present application further provides a processor-readable storage medium, where a computer program is stored on the processor-readable storage medium, and when the computer program is executed by a processor, the steps in the above method are implemented.

In the embodiment of the present application, the PDU session establishment request of the first UE is received, and the Internet Protocol available address segment of the virtual network VN group to which the first UE belongs is determined; according to the available address segment, an Internet Protocol IP address is assigned to the first UE , establish the PDU session of the first UE; since the SMF sends a group-level N4 session request including data packet processing rules to the second UPF in the VN group when establishing the first PDU session corresponding to the available address segment, for the VN group Only when the first PDU session corresponding to the available address segment is established, the SMF initiates the group-level N4 session update process to other UPFs. When the subsequent PDU session is established again, the SMF does not need to initiate the group-level N4 session update process to achieve reduced control Message interaction between user plane and user plane.

Description of drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, the following will briefly introduce the accompanying drawings that need to be used in the description of the embodiments of the present application. Obviously, the accompanying drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present application , for those skilled in the art, other drawings can also be obtained according to these drawings without paying creative labor.

Fig. 1 is one of the flowcharts of the PDU session processing method provided by the embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a first example of an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a second example of an embodiment of the present application;

Fig. 4 is one of the schematic diagrams of the third example of the embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 5 is the second schematic diagram of the third example of the embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a fourth example of the embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a fifth example of the embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of a sixth example of an embodiment of the present application;

Fig. 9 is one of the schematic diagrams of the seventh example of the embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 10 is the second schematic diagram of the seventh example of the embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 11 is the second flowchart of the PDU session processing method provided by the embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 12 is the third flowchart of the PDU session processing method provided by the embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 13 is one of the structural block diagrams of the PDU session processing device provided by the embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 14 is the second structural block diagram of the PDU session processing device provided by the embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 15 is the third structural block diagram of the PDU session processing device provided by the embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 16 is one of the structural block diagrams of the network device provided by the embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 17 is the second structural block diagram of the network device provided by the embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 18 is a third structural block diagram of a network device provided by an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed ways

The term "and/or" in the embodiments of this application describes the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that there may be three relationships, for example, A and/or B, which may mean: A exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone These three situations. The character "/" generally indicates that the contextual objects are an "or" relationship.

The term "plurality" in the embodiments of the present application refers to two or more, and other quantifiers are similar.

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present application. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some of the embodiments of the present application, not all of them. Based on the embodiments in this application, all other embodiments obtained by persons of ordinary skill in the art without making creative efforts belong to the scope of protection of this application.

Embodiments of the present application provide a PDU session processing method, network equipment, device, and storage medium, which solve the problem of frequent information interaction between the control plane and the user plane during the PDU session processing process.

Among them, the method and the device are conceived based on the same application. Since the principle of solving problems of the method and the device is similar, the implementation of the device and the method can be referred to each other, and the repetition will not be repeated.

In addition, the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application can be applied to various systems, especially 5G systems. For example, the applicable system may be a global system of mobile communication (GSM) system, a code division multiple access (CDMA) system, a wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) general packet radio business (general packet radio service, GPRS) system, long term evolution (long term evolution, LTE) system, LTE frequency division duplex (frequency division duplex, FDD) system, LTE time division duplex (time division duplex, TDD) system, advanced long-term Evolution (long term evolution advanced, LTE-A) system, universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS), global interconnection microwave access (worldwide interoperability for microwave access, WiMAX) system, 5G new air interface (New Radio, NR) system, etc. . These various systems include end devices and network devices. The system may also include a core network part, such as an evolved packet system (Evolved Packet System, EPS), a 5G system (5GS), and the like.

The terminal equipment (or user equipment) involved in this embodiment of the present application may be a device that provides voice and/or data connectivity to users, a handheld device with a wireless connection function, or other processing devices connected to a wireless modem. In different systems, the name of the terminal equipment may be different. For example, in a 5G system, the terminal equipment may be called User Equipment (User Equipment, UE). The wireless terminal equipment can communicate with one or more core networks (Core Network, CN) via the radio access network (Radio AccessNetwork, RAN), and the wireless terminal equipment can be a mobile terminal equipment, such as a mobile phone (or called "cellular" telephones) and computers with mobile terminals, for example portable, pocket, hand-held, computer built-in or vehicle-mounted mobile devices, which exchange speech and/or data with the radio access network. For example, Personal Communication Service (PCS) phone, cordless phone, Session Initiated Protocol (SIP) phone, Wireless Local Loop (WLL) station, Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) ) and other equipment. Wireless terminal equipment can also be called system, subscriber unit, subscriber station, mobile station, mobile station, remote station, access point , remote terminal (remote terminal), access terminal (access terminal), user terminal (user terminal), user agent (user agent), and user device (user device), which are not limited in this embodiment of the application.

The network device involved in this embodiment of the present application may be a base station, and the base station may include multiple cells that provide services for terminals. Depending on the specific application, the base station can also be called an access point, or it can be a device in the access network that communicates with the wireless terminal device through one or more sectors on the air interface, or other names. The network device can be used to interchange received over-the-air frames with Internet Protocol (IP) packets and act as a router between the wireless terminal device and the rest of the access network, which can include the Internet Protocol (IP) communication network. Network devices may also coordinate attribute management for the air interface. For example, the network equipment involved in the embodiment of the present application may be a network equipment (Base Transceiver Station, BTS) in Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) or Code Division Multiple Access (Code Division Multiple Access, CDMA) ), it can also be a network device (NodeB) in Wide-band Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), or it can be an evolved network device in a long-term evolution (long term evolution, LTE) system (evolutional Node B, eNB or e-NodeB), a 5G base station (gNB) in the 5G network architecture (next generation system), or a Home evolved Node B (HeNB), a relay node (relaynode), The home base station (femto), pico base station (pico), etc. are not limited in this embodiment of the present application. In some network structures, a network device may include a centralized unit (centralized unit, CU) node and a distributed unit (distributed unit, DU) node, and the centralized unit and the distributed unit may also be arranged geographically separately.

One or more antennas can be used between the network device and the terminal device for Multi-Input Multi-Output (MIMO) transmission. The MIMO transmission can be Single User MIMO (Single User MIMO, SU-MIMO) or Multi-User MIMO ( Multiple User MIMO, MU-MIMO). According to the shape and number of root antenna combinations, MIMO transmission can be 2D-MIMO, 3D-MIMO, FD-MIMO, or massive-MIMO, or diversity transmission, precoding transmission, or beamforming transmission, etc.

As shown in Figure 1, the embodiment of the present application provides a method for processing a PDU session, the method is applied to a network device, optionally, the network device may be an SMF (hereinafter referred to as SMF), and the method may include The following steps:

Step 101, receiving a protocol data unit PDU session establishment request from the first user equipment UE, and determining an available address segment of the virtual network VN group to which the first UE belongs, the available address segment is associated with the first user plane function network element UPF, the The first UPF is an anchor UPF serving the first UE.

Wherein, the available address segment is allocated to any UE in the VN group when it is activated on the first UPF for the first time.

It can be understood that when any UE in the VN group is activated on the first UPF for the first time, the IP address in the available address segment associated with the first UPF is allocated for the first time, for example, the address segment information of the available address segment does not exist (SMF local does not exist); or the address segment information of the available address segment exists (SMF local exists), but the IP address in this segment is not allocated to any UE in the VN group.

If the IP address in the segment has already been allocated, the corresponding PDU session is not the first PDU session activated by the UE in the VN group on the first UPF.

Like this, the second UPF in the described VN group can record the data packet processing rule that comprises the address field information of the available address segment; Optionally, the data packet processing rule includes packet detection rules (Packet Detection Rules, PDR) and At least one of Forwarding Action Rules (FAR).

Among them, the VN group may include multiple UPFs, and the first UPF is the anchor UPF (hereinafter referred to as UPF1) serving the first UE (hereinafter referred to as UE1); for each UPF, the first PDU corresponding to the available address segment is established session (that is, any UE in the VN group activates and establishes a PDU session on the UPF for the first time), the SMF allocates an available address segment corresponding to the UPF for the VN group, and according to the available address segment, for The group-level N4 session of the VN group creates the packet processing rule, and carries the address segment information of the available address segment in the packet processing rule; and sends a group-level N4 session request to other UPFs in the VN group to A group-level N4 session update process is initiated, and the data packet processing rule is carried in the group-level N4 session request.

In this way, when a PDU session establishment request with the service anchor point of the UE on the UPF appears again in the VN group, the SMF allocates an IP address to the UE according to the available address segment, and other UPFs have obtained the IP address from the group-level N4 session request. Packet processing rules, SMF does not need to initiate the group-level N4 session update process; that is, for UPFs in the VN group, only when the first PDU session corresponding to the available address segment is established, SMF initiates group-level N4 sessions to other UPFs Update process: when the PDU session is established again later, the SMF does not need to initiate the group-level N4 session update process, so as to reduce the interaction between the control plane and the user plane message.

Step 102: Allocate an Internet Protocol IP address to the first UE according to the available address segment, and establish a PDU session of the first UE.

Wherein, the SMF determines that the anchor UPF of UE1 is UPF1, then allocates an IP address for UE1 according to the available address segment, and does not initiate a group-level N4 session update process to other UPFs in the group, and continues to establish the PDU session of UE1.

As a first example, taking UPF1 as an example, the second UE (hereinafter referred to as UE2) establishes the first PDU session corresponding to the available address segment on the UPF; the SMF allocates the available address segment for the VN group, and creates a data packet according to the address segment information The processing rule carries the data packet processing rule in the group-level N4 session request, and sends the group-level N4 session request to other UPFs in the VN group (ie, UPF2). Subsequently, UE1 requests to establish a PDU session, and the anchor UPF of UE1 is UPF1, then SMF assigns an IP address to UE1 according to the available address segment, and no longer sends a group-level N4 session request to UPF2. See Figure 2 for the process, which mainly includes the following steps :

In the first step, the SMF determines the IP address (IP allocated) allocated to UE1.

SMF receives UE1's PDU session establishment request, selects UPF1 as the anchor UPF of the PDU session, and SMF has allocated address segment A to the VN group to which UE1 belongs, then allocates an IP address for UE1 from address segment A.

Step 2, SMF sends N4 session establishment request (N4 Session Establishment Request) to UPF1.

Step 3, UPF1 returns N4 Session Establishment Response (N4 Session Establishment Response)

Step 4, Subsequent PDU Session Establishment Procedure (Subsequent PDU Session Establishment Procedure).

The SMF judges that the address segment assigned to the VN group is not the first assigned IP address, and no longer sends a group-level N4 session update request to UPF2, and continues the subsequent PDU session establishment process.

In the embodiment of the present application, the PDU session establishment request of the first UE is received, and the available address segment of the virtual network VN group to which the first UE belongs is determined; according to the available address segment, an Internet Protocol IP address is allocated to the first UE, and an IP address is established. The PDU session of the first UE; since the SMF sends a group-level N4 session request including data packet processing rules to the second UPF in the VN group when establishing the first PDU session corresponding to the available address segment, for the UPF in the VN group Only when the first PDU session corresponding to the available address segment is established, the SMF initiates the group-level N4 session update process to other UPFs. When the subsequent PDU session is established again, the SMF does not need to initiate the group-level N4 session update process. Interaction of user plane messages. The embodiment of the present application solves the problem of frequent information interaction between the control plane and the user plane during the process of PDU session processing.

Optionally, the allocating an Internet Protocol IP address to the first UE according to the available address segment includes:

When there is an available IP address in the available address section, directly assign an IP address to the first UE from the available address section; at the same time, do not initiate a group-level N4 session update process to other UPFs in the group, and continue to establish UE1 PDU session;

When there is no available IP address in the available address segment, re-allocate a new available address segment (or select a new available address segment) for the VN group to which the first UE belongs, and assign all IP addresses from the new available address segment The above-mentioned first UE assigns an IP address; optionally, there may be multiple available address segments, and when there is no IP address that can be allocated in the available address segment associated with the first UPF, a new available address is determined for the VN group part.

In an optional embodiment, before receiving the protocol data unit PDU session establishment request of the first user equipment UE, the method includes steps 11 to 13:

Step 11, when any UE in the VN group activates on the first UPF for the first time, determine the available address segment of the VN group.

Among them, UE2 is the UE that establishes the first PDU session corresponding to the available address segment on UPF1. When the SMF receives the PDU session establishment request of UE2, it determines the available address segment available for the VN group and determines the IP address obtained by UE2.

Step 12: Create the data packet processing rule for the group-level N4 session of the VN group according to the available address segment.

SMF allocates available address segments for VN groups, and creates data packet processing rules based on address segment information.

Step 13, sending a first group-level N4 session request to the second UPF, carrying the data packet processing rule in the first group-level N4 session request; A UPF other than UPF.

The SMF carries the data packet processing rules in the group-level N4 session request, and sends the group-level N4 session request to other UPFs in the VN group; when the PDU session with the UE's anchor UPF as UPF1 is established again later, the SMF does not need to initiate Group-level N4 session update process to reduce interaction between control plane and user plane messages.

As a second example, in conjunction with FIG. 3 , the process of first establishing a PDU session in which the anchor UPF of the UE is UPF1 mainly includes the following steps:

In the first step, the SMF determines the IP address (IP allocated) allocated to UE1.

SMF receives UE1's PDU session establishment request, selects UPF1 as the anchor UPF of the service, allocates an available address segment A for the 5GVN group to which UE1 belongs, and assigns an IP address to UE1 from address segment A.

Step 2, SMF sends N4 session establishment request (N4 Session Establishment Request) to UPF1.

Step 3, UPF1 returns N4 Session Establishment Response (N4 Session Establishment Response)

Step 4: SMF sends a group-level N4 session modification request to UPF2, including PDR, which includes address segment information [N4 Session Modification Request (IP segment within PDR)] of the available address segment.

SMF judges that UPF2 also serves the VN group, and an N19 forwarding tunnel has been established between UPF1 and UPF2, then SMF sends a group-level N4 session modification request to UPF2, and sends a packet containing address segment A information for the group-level N4 session Rules, data packet processing rules include packet filtering rules and forwarding behavior rules; schematically, packet filtering rules are shown in Table 1 below:

Table 1:

In step 5, UPF2 returns a group-level N4 session modification response (N4 Session Modification Response).

Step 6, Subsequent PDU Session Establishment Procedure (Subsequent PDU Session Establishment Procedure).

When the PDU session with UPF1 as the service anchor is established again later, the SMF judges that the address segment has been allocated to the VN group, and no longer sends a group-level N4 session update request to UPF2. The process can refer to the first example above, and will not be repeated here.

In an optional embodiment, in step 11, the determining the available address segment of the VN group includes step 111, step 112 or step 113:

Step 111, allocate an available address segment for the VN group.

Wherein, allocating an available address segment for the VN group and allocating an IP address for the second UE may be performed by the SMF. For specific processes, refer to the aforementioned first example and second example, and details will not be repeated here.

Step 112, receiving the first N4 session establishment response sent by the first UPF, and obtaining the available address segment of the VN group carried in the first N4 session establishment response;

In the process of establishing a PDU session, the allocation of available address segments for the VN group can also be performed by the UPF. The SMF receives the N4 session establishment response sent by the first UPF, and obtains the N4 session establishment response carrying the address segment allocated for the VN group. The available address segment of the VN group.

Step 113, obtain the N4 association establishment request or N4 association establishment response sent by the first UPF, and obtain the available address segment of the VN group from the N4 association establishment request or N4 association establishment response.

In addition, before the PDU session is established, each UPF serving the VN group can allocate an available address segment for the VN group; then when establishing the node-level association between the SMF and the first UPF, the N4 association establishment request sent by the first UPF can be obtained Or N4 association establishment response, from which the available address segment is obtained.

Wherein, as a third example, referring to Fig. 4, if SMF sends N4 association establishment request (N4 AssociationSetup Request) to UPF, then UPF will be the available address segment information (such as the scope of address segment, such as starting address and The end address, or the start address and subnet mask) are carried in the N4 Association Setup Response (N4 Association SetupResponse) and sent to the SMF.

Referring to Figure 5, if UPF (taking UPF1 as an example) sends an N4 Association Setup Request (N4Association SetupRequest) to SMF, UPF1 will allocate available address segment information for the VN group (such as the range of the address segment, such as the start address and end address , or the start address and subnet mask) are carried in the N4 association establishment request and sent to the SMF.

Further, in step 112, before receiving the first N4 session establishment response sent by the first UPF, the method includes:

Sending a first N4 session establishment request to the first UPF, where the first N4 session establishment request instructs the first UPF to allocate an available address segment for the VN group.

Before UPF1 performs the IP address allocation operation, the SMF first sends an N4 session establishment request to the first UPF, requesting UPF1 to allocate an available address segment for the VN group to which the second UE belongs, and to allocate an IP address for the second UE; as the first Four examples, in conjunction with Figure 6, the first PDU session process corresponding to the available address segment is established at UPF1, and the process of performing the IP address allocation operation by UPF1 mainly includes the following steps:

Step 1, SMF sends N4 session establishment request (N4 Session Establishment Request) to UPF1.

SMF receives UE1's PDU session establishment request, sends N4 session establishment request to UPF1, and requests UPF1 to allocate an IP address for UE1, and allocate an available address segment for the VN group to which UE1 belongs.

Step 2, UPF1 returns N4 Session Establishment Response (N4 Session Establishment Response).

UPF1 returns a session establishment response to N4, carrying the IP address allocated for UE1 and the address segment A allocated for the VN group to which UE1 belongs.

Step 3: SMF stores the relationship between address segment A on UPF1 and the VN group (store Segment A to UPF1), and the address allocation of address segment A.

Step 4: SMF sends a group-level N4 session modification request to UPF, including PDR, which includes address segment information [N4 Session Modification Request (IP segment within PDR)] of available address segments.

SMF judges that UPF2 also serves the VN group, and an N19 forwarding tunnel has been established between UPF1 and UPF2, then SMF sends a group-level N4 session modification request to UPF2, and sends a packet containing address segment A information for the group-level N4 session Rules, data packet processing rules include packet filtering rules and forwarding behavior rules; schematically, packet filtering rules are shown in Table 2 below:

Table 2:

In step 5, UPF2 returns a group-level N4 session modification response (N4 Session Modification Response).

Step 6, Subsequent PDU Session Establishment Procedure (Subsequent PDU Session Establishment Procedure).

As a fifth example, the subsequent re-establishment of the anchor point UPF as the PDU session process on UPF1 is shown in Figure 7, which mainly includes the following steps:

Step 1, SMF sends N4 session establishment request (N4 Session Establishment Request) to UPF1.

SMF receives UE1's PDU session establishment request, sends N4 session establishment request to UPF1, and requests UPF1 to allocate an IP address for UE1, and allocate an available address segment for the VN group to which UE1 belongs.

Step 2, UPF1 returns N4 Session Establishment Response (N4 Session Establishment Response).

UPF1 returns a session establishment response to N4, carrying the IP address allocated for UE1 and the address segment A allocated for the VN group to which UE1 belongs.

Step 3: SMF stores the relationship between address segment A on UPF1 and the VN group (store Segment A to UPF1), and the address allocation of address segment A.

Step 4, Subsequent PDU Session Establishment Procedure (Subsequent PDU Session Establishment Procedure).

The SMF judges that the address segment assigned to the VN group is not the first assigned IP address, and no longer sends a group-level N4 session update request to UPF2, and continues the subsequent PDU session establishment process.

In an optional embodiment, the group-level N4 session request includes an N4 session modification request;

Said step 13 includes step 131 or step 132:

Step 131: In the case that the N19 tunnel has been established between the first UPF and the second UPF, send an N4 session modification request to the second UPF.

In the case that UPF2 and UPF1 have established an N19 tunnel, it is sufficient for the SMF to directly send an N4 session modification request to UPF1, as in the foregoing first to fourth examples.

Step 132, when the N19 tunnel is not established between the first UPF and the second UPF, send a second group-level N4 session establishment request to the first UPF, and in the second group-level N4 session establishment request Carry the N19 tunnel information of the second UPF, during the establishment process, all the filters related to the address segment of UPF2 can be sent to UPF1 at one time, that is, according to the N19 tunnel information and the available address segment for the VN The group-level N4 session of the group creates the packet processing rule; sends the first group-level N4 session request to the second UPF;

As a sixth example, in conjunction with FIG. 8 , in the case that UPF2 and UPF1 have not established an N19 tunnel, the first establishment of the anchor UPF is the PDU session process of UPF1, and the process of performing the IP address allocation operation by the SMF mainly includes the following steps:

In the first step, the SMF determines the IP address (IP allocated) allocated to UE1.

SMF receives UE1's PDU session establishment request, selects UPF1 as the anchor UPF of the PDU session, allocates available address segment A for the 5G VN group to which UE1 belongs, and allocates an IP address for UE1 from address segment A.

Step 2, SMF sends N4 session establishment request [N4 Session Establishment Request(UPF1 N19 tunnel info, IP Segment List)] to UPF1.

SMF judges that UPF2 also serves the VN group, and UPF1 has not yet established an N19 forwarding tunnel with UPF2. The SMF sends a group-level N4 session establishment request to UPF1, carrying the N19 tunnel information of UPF2 (UPF2 N19 tunnel info), and according to the locally queried information about all available address segments (IP Segment List) allocated for the VN group on UPF2, the group The level N4 session sends data packet processing rules containing all available address segment information, and the data packet processing rules include packet filtering rules and forwarding behavior rules; schematically, the packet filtering rules are shown in Table 3 below:

table 3:

Step 3, UPF1 returns N4 Session Establishment Response (N4 Session Establishment Response)

Step 4: SMF sends a UPF2 group-level N4 session modification request, including PDR, which includes address segment information [N4 Session Modification Request (IP segment within PDR)] of available address segments.

The SMF judges that UPF2 also serves the VN group, and then the SMF sends a group-level N4 session modification request to UPF2.

Step 5, UPF2 returns N4 Session Modification Response (N4 Session Modification Response).

Step 6, Subsequent PDU Session Establishment Procedure (Subsequent PDU Session Establishment Procedure).

When the PDU session with the anchor point on UPF1 is established again later, the SMF judges that the address segment has been allocated for the VN group, and no longer sends a group-level N4 session update request to UPF2. The process can refer to the first example above, and will not be repeated here.

In an optional embodiment, the sending the first group-level N4 session request to the second UPF, after carrying the data packet processing rule in the first group-level N4 session request, includes:

receiving the PDU session release request of the third UE in the VN group, and determining that the IP address of the third UE is the last released address in the available address segment, releasing the available address segment, and Sending a group-level N4 session modification request to the second UPF; the group-level N4 session modification request instructs the second UPF to delete the data packet processing rule.

Wherein, the third UE (UE3) is a UE in the VN group, and the PDU session anchor UPF of the third UE is UPF1, UE3 may include UE1 or UE2, or may not include; determine the IP of the third UE When the address is the last released address in the available address segment, release the available address segment, and send a group-level N4 session modification request to the second UPF, and the group-level N4 session modification request indicates the The second UPF deletes the data packet processing rule including the address segment information, that is, when the IP address of UE3 is the last released address, the available address segment is released. As a seventh example, as shown in FIG. 9, the PDU The process of session release and address segment release mainly includes:

Step 1, SMF receives UE1's PDU session release request, and sends N4 session release request (N4 SessionRelease Request) to UPF1.

Step 2, UPF1 returns N4 Session Release Response (N4 Session Release Response).

Step 3, SMF judges that the IP of UE1 is the last released address in address segment A, then address segment A is also released (IP SegmentA Recycle).

In step 4, SMF sends a group-level N4 session modification request (N4 Session ModificationRequest) to UPF2, and deletes the data packet processing rule containing address segment A information.

In step 5, UPF2 returns a group-level N4 session modification response (N4 Session Modification Response).

Step 6, continue the subsequent PDU session release procedure (Subsequent PDU Session Release Procedure).

It can be understood that if the IP address of UE3 is not the last released address, only the IP address of UE3 will be released, and the address segment will not be released; as shown in Figure 10, the process of releasing the PDU session and not releasing the address segment is mainly include:

Step 1, SMF receives UE1's PDU session release request, and sends N4 session release request (N4 SessionRelease Request) to UPF1.

Step 2, UPF1 returns N4 Session Release Response (N4 Session Release Response).

In step 3, SMF judges that the IP of UE1 is not the last released address in address segment A, so it is still occupied by the VN group (IP SegmentA Occupied), and SMF does not need to send a group-level N4 session modification request to UPF2.

Step 4, continue the subsequent PDU session release procedure (Subsequent PDU Session Release Procedure).

In the embodiment of the present application, the PDU session establishment request of the first UE is received, and the Internet Protocol available address segment of the virtual network VN group to which the first UE belongs is determined; according to the available address segment, an Internet Protocol IP address is assigned to the first UE , establish the PDU session of the first UE; since the SMF sends a group-level N4 session request including data packet processing rules to the second UPF in the VN group when establishing the first PDU session corresponding to the available address segment, for the VN group Only when the first PDU session corresponding to the available address segment is established, the SMF initiates the group-level N4 session update process to other UPFs. When the subsequent PDU session is established again, the SMF does not need to initiate the group-level N4 session update process to achieve reduced control Message interaction between user plane and user plane.

Referring to FIG. 11 , the embodiment of the present application also provides a method for processing a PDU session, which is applied to the first user plane functional network element UPF, and the method includes:

Step 1101, receiving a second N4 session establishment request from a session management function network element SMF;

Wherein, the second N4 session establishment request is sent after the SMF determines the available address segment associated with the VN group to which the first UE belongs and the first UPF;

Wherein, the available address segment is allocated to any UE in the VN group when it is activated on the first UPF for the first time. It can be understood that when any UE in the VN group is activated on the first UPF for the first time, the IP address in the available address segment associated with the first UPF is allocated for the first time, for example, the address segment information of the available address segment does not exist (SMF local does not exist); or the address segment information of the available address segment exists (SMF local exists), but the IP address in this segment is not allocated to any UE in the VN group.

If the IP address in the segment has already been allocated, the corresponding PDU session is not the first PDU session activated by the UE in the VN group on the first UPF.

Optionally, the data packet processing rules include at least one of packet detection rules (Packet Detection Rules, PDR) and forwarding action rules (Forwarding Action Rules, FAR).

In this way, the data packet processing rule can be obtained by the second UPF (hereinafter referred to as UPF2) from the group-level N4 session request, and the group-level N4 session request is the first time any UE in the VN group with the SMF The first UPF (hereinafter referred to as UPF1) is the anchor UPF of the PDU session of the first UE (hereinafter referred to as UE1); where multiple UPFs can be included in the VN group, for each When the first PDU session corresponding to the available address segment is established on the UPF, the SMF allocates the available address segment corresponding to the UPF for the VN group, and according to the available address segment, the group-level The N4 session creates the data packet processing rule, carries the address segment information of the available address segment in the data packet processing rule; and sends a group-level N4 session request to other UPFs in the VN group to initiate a group-level N4 session update process , carrying the data packet processing rule in the group-level N4 session request.

In this way, when a PDU session establishment request with the service anchor point of the UE on the UPF appears again in the VN group, the SMF allocates an IP address to the UE according to the available address segment, and other UPFs have obtained the IP address from the group-level N4 session request. Packet processing rules, SMF does not need to initiate the group-level N4 session update process; that is, for UPFs in the VN group, only when the first PDU session corresponding to the available address segment is established, SMF initiates group-level N4 sessions to other UPFs Update process: when the PDU session is established again later, the SMF does not need to initiate the group-level N4 session update process, so as to reduce the interaction between the control plane and the user plane message.

Optionally, before receiving the second N4 session establishment request from the session management function network element SMF, the method further includes case 1 and/or case 2;

Case 1: receiving the first N4 session establishment request of the SMF, the first N4 session establishment request instructing the first UPF to allocate an available address segment for the VN group; sending the first N4 session establishment response to the SMF, and in The first N4 session establishment response carries an available address segment allocated for the VN group;

That is, before UPF1 performs an IP address allocation operation, the SMF first sends a first N4 session establishment request to the first UPF, requesting UPF1 to allocate an available address segment for the VN group to which the first UE belongs.

Case 2: Send an N4 association establishment request or an N4 association establishment response to the SMF; the N4 association establishment request or N4 association establishment response carries the available address segment allocated for the VN group.

Referring to the third example above, if the SMF sends an N4 Association Setup Request (N4 Association SetupRequest), the UPF will assign the available address segment information for the VN group (such as the range of the address segment, such as the start address and end address, or the start Address and subnet mask) are carried in the N4 Association Setup Response (N4 Association Setup Response) and sent to the SMF.

If UPF (take UPF1 as an example) sends an N4 Association Setup Request (N4 Association SetupRequest) to SMF, then UPF1 will assign information about the available address segment for the VN group (such as the range of the address segment, such as the start address and end address, or the origin address and subnet mask) are carried in the N4 association establishment request and sent to the SMF.

In the embodiment of the present application, the first N4 session establishment request of the session management function network element SMF is received; wherein, the N4 session establishment request is sent after the SMF determines the available address segment of the VN group to which the first UE belongs; wherein, The available address segment is allocated for any UE in the VN group when it is activated on the first UPF for the first time; since the SMF sends the second UPF in the VN group when establishing the first PDU session corresponding to the available address segment For the UPF in the VN group, only when the first PDU session corresponding to the available address segment is established, the SMF initiates the group-level N4 session update process to other UPFs, and then establishes the PDU session again When , the SMF does not need to initiate the group-level N4 session update process, so as to reduce the message interaction between the control plane and the user plane.

Referring to FIG. 12 , the embodiment of the present application also provides a method for processing a PDU session, which is applied to the second user plane function network element UPF, and the method includes:

Step 1201, receiving the group-level N4 session request sent by the session management function network element SMF, obtaining and recording the data packet processing rules carried in the group-level N4 session request;

Wherein, the group-level N4 session request is sent by the SMF when any UE in the VN group activates on the first UPF for the first time; the group-level N4 session request includes Packet processing rules determined by the available address segments of the VN group.

It can be understood that when any UE in the VN group is activated on the first UPF for the first time, the IP address in the available address segment associated with the first UPF is allocated for the first time, for example, the address segment information of the available address segment does not exist (SMF local does not exist); or the address segment information of the available address segment exists (SMF local exists), but the IP address in this segment is not allocated to any UE in the VN group.

If the IP address in the segment has already been allocated, the corresponding PDU session is not the first PDU session activated by the UE in the VN group on the first UPF.

In this way, the second UPF in the VN group records the data packet processing rules including the address segment information of the available address segment; optionally, the data packet processing rules include packet detection rules (Packet Detection Rules, PDR) and forwarding At least one of the Forwarding Action Rules (FAR).

The packet processing rule is obtained by the second UPF (hereinafter referred to as UPF2) from the group-level N4 session request, and the group-level N4 session request establishes an anchor point for the SMF for the first time on the first UPF in the VN group The first UPF is the anchor UPF (hereinafter referred to as UPF1) of the PDU session of the first UE (hereinafter referred to as UE1); wherein, the VN group may include multiple UPFs, and for each UPF, When the first PDU session corresponding to the available address segment is established on the UPF, the SMF allocates the available address segment corresponding to the UPF for the VN group, and creates a group-level N4 session for the VN group according to the available address segment The data packet processing rule carries the address segment information of the available address segment in the data packet processing rule; and sends a group-level N4 session request to other UPFs in the VN group to initiate a group-level N4 session update process. The packet processing rule is carried in the N4 session request.

In this way, when a PDU session establishment request with the anchor point on the UPF appears again in the VN group, the SMF allocates an IP address for the UE according to the available address segment, and other UPFs have obtained data packet processing from the group-level N4 session request. SMF does not need to initiate the group-level N4 session update process; that is, for the UPF in the VN group, only when the first PDU session corresponding to the available address segment is established, the SMF initiates the group-level N4 session update process to other UPFs. When the PDU session is established again later, the SMF does not need to initiate the group-level N4 session update process, so as to reduce the interaction between the control plane and the user plane messages.

Based on the same principle as the method provided in the embodiment of the present application, the embodiment of the present application also provides a PDU session processing device, which is applied to the session management function network element SMF, as shown in Figure 13, the device includes:

The address segment determining module 1301 is configured to receive a protocol data unit PDU session establishment request of the first user equipment UE, and determine an available address segment of the virtual network VN group to which the first UE belongs, and the available address segment is compatible with the first user plane functional network element UPF association, the first UPF is an anchor UPF serving the first UE;

Wherein, the available address segment is allocated to any UE in the VN group when it is activated on the first UPF for the first time.

It can be understood that when any UE in the VN group is activated on the first UPF for the first time, the IP address in the available address segment associated with the first UPF is allocated for the first time, for example, the address segment information of the available address segment does not exist (SMF local does not exist); or the address segment information of the available address segment exists (SMF local exists), but the IP address in this segment is not allocated to any UE in the VN group.

If the IP address in the segment has already been allocated, the corresponding PDU session is not the first PDU session activated by the UE in the VN group on the first UPF.

Like this, the second UPF in the described VN group can record the data packet processing rule that comprises the address field information of the available address segment; Optionally, the data packet processing rule includes packet detection rules (Packet Detection Rules, PDR) and At least one of Forwarding Action Rules (FAR).

Among them, the VN group may include multiple UPFs, and the first UPF is the anchor UPF (hereinafter referred to as UPF1) serving the first UE (hereinafter referred to as UE1); for each UPF, the first PDU corresponding to the available address segment is established session (that is, any UE in the VN group activates and establishes a PDU session on the UPF for the first time), the SMF allocates an available address segment corresponding to the UPF for the VN group, and according to the available address segment, for The group-level N4 session of the VN group creates the packet processing rule, and carries the address segment information of the available address segment in the packet processing rule; and sends a group-level N4 session request to other UPFs in the VN group to A group-level N4 session update process is initiated, and the data packet processing rule is carried in the group-level N4 session request.

In this way, when a PDU session establishment request with the service anchor of the UE on the UPF appears again in the VN group, the SMF allocates an IP address to the UE according to the available address segment, and other UPFs have obtained the IP address from the group-level N4 session request. Packet processing rules, SMF does not need to initiate the group-level N4 session update process; that is, for UPFs in the VN group, only when the first PDU session corresponding to the available address segment is established, SMF initiates group-level N4 sessions to other UPFs Update process; when the PDU session is established again later, the SMF does not need to initiate the group-level N4 session update process, so as to reduce the interaction between the control plane and the user plane message.

A session establishment module 1302, configured to allocate an Internet Protocol IP address to the first UE according to the available address segment, and establish a PDU session of the first UE.

Wherein, the SMF determines that the anchor point of UE1 is on UPF1, then allocates an IP address for UE1 according to the available address segment, and does not initiate a group-level N4 session update process to other UPFs in the group, and continues to establish the PDU session of UE1.

Optionally, in the embodiment of the present application, the device further includes:

The determining module is configured to, before the address segment determining module 1301 receives the protocol data unit PDU session establishment request of the first user equipment UE, when any UE in the VN group activates on the first UPF for the first time, Determine the available address segment of the VN group;

A creating module, configured to create the data packet processing rule for the group-level N4 session of the VN group according to the available address segment;

A sending module, configured to send a first group-level N4 session request to a second UPF, where the packet processing rule is carried in the first group-level N4 session request; UPFs other than the first UPF mentioned above.

Optionally, in the embodiment of the present application, the determination module includes:

An allocation submodule is used to allocate an available address segment for the VN group;

The first acquisition submodule is configured to receive the first N4 session establishment response sent by the first UPF, and acquire the available address segment of the VN group carried in the first N4 session establishment response;

or

The second obtaining submodule is configured to obtain the N4 association establishment request or the N4 association establishment response sent by the first UPF, and obtain the available address segment of the VN group from the N4 association establishment request or the N4 association establishment response

Optionally, in the embodiment of the present application, the device further includes:

A request sending module, configured to send a first N4 session establishment request to the first UPF, where the first N4 session establishment request instructs the first UPF to allocate an available address segment for the VN group.

Optionally, in this embodiment of the application, the group-level N4 session request includes an N4 session modification request;

The sending module includes:

The first sending submodule is configured to send an N4 session modification request to the second UPF when an N19 tunnel has been established between the first UPF and the second UPF; or

The second sending submodule is configured to send a second group-level N4 session establishment request to the first UPF when no N19 tunnel is established between the first UPF and the second UPF, and the second group Carry the N19 tunnel information of the second UPF in the N4 session establishment request of the second UPF, and create the packet processing rule for the group-level N4 session of the VN group according to the N19 tunnel information and the available address segment; The second UPF sends a first group level N4 session request.

Optionally, in this embodiment of the application, the sending module includes:

The release submodule is configured to receive the PDU session release request of the third UE in the VN group, and release the IP address of the third UE when it is determined that the IP address of the third UE is the last released address in the available address segment. The available address segment, and send a group-level N4 session modification request to the second UPF; the group-level N4 session modification request instructs the second UPF to delete the data packet processing rule.

Optionally, in this embodiment of the application, the session establishment module 1302 includes:

A first allocation submodule, configured to directly allocate an IP address to the first UE from the available address segment when there is an available IP address in the available address segment;

The second allocating submodule is configured to re-allocate a new available address segment for the VN group to which the first UE belongs when there is no available IP address in the available address segment, and assign the IP address from the new available address segment to the The first UE is assigned an IP address.

The PDU session processing device provided in the embodiment of the present application can realize the various processes implemented by the SMF in the method embodiments shown in FIGS. 1 to 9 . To avoid repetition, details are not repeated here.

In the PDU session processing device provided by this application, the address section determination module 1301 receives the PDU session establishment request of the first UE, and determines the Internet protocol available address section of the virtual network VN group to which the first UE belongs; the session establishment module 1302 according to the available address section , assigning an Internet Protocol IP address to the first UE, and establishing a PDU session of the first UE; since the SMF sends a packet processing Regular group-level N4 session request, for the UPF in the VN group, only when the first PDU session corresponding to the available address segment is established, the SMF initiates the group-level N4 session update process to other UPFs, and when the subsequent PDU session is established again, the SMF does not need to Initiate a group-level N4 session update process to reduce the interaction of messages between the control plane and the user plane.

The embodiment of the present application also provides a PDU session processing device, which is applied to the first user plane function network element UPF, as shown in Figure 14, the device includes:

A receiving module 1401, configured to receive a second N4 session establishment request from a session management function network element SMF;

Wherein, the second N4 session establishment request is sent after the SMF determines the available address segment associated with the VN group to which the first UE belongs and the first UPF;

Wherein, the available address segment is allocated to any UE in the VN group when it is activated on the first UPF for the first time. It can be understood that when any UE in the VN group is activated on the first UPF for the first time, the IP address in the available address segment associated with the first UPF is allocated for the first time, for example, the address segment information of the available address segment does not exist (SMF local does not exist); or the address segment information of the available address segment exists (SMF local exists), but the IP address in this segment is not allocated to any UE in the VN group.

If the IP address in the segment has already been allocated, the corresponding PDU session is not the first PDU session activated by the UE in the VN group on the first UPF.

Optionally, the data packet processing rules include at least one of packet detection rules (Packet Detection Rules, PDR) and forwarding action rules (Forwarding Action Rules, FAR).

In this way, the data packet processing rule can be obtained by the second UPF (hereinafter referred to as UPF2) from the group-level N4 session request, and the group-level N4 session request is the first time any UE in the VN group with the SMF The first UPF (hereinafter referred to as UPF1) is the anchor UPF of the PDU session of the first UE (hereinafter referred to as UE1); where multiple UPFs can be included in the VN group, for each When the first PDU session corresponding to the available address segment is established on the UPF, the SMF allocates the available address segment corresponding to the UPF for the VN group, and according to the available address segment, the group-level The N4 session creates the data packet processing rule, carries the address segment information of the available address segment in the data packet processing rule; and sends a group-level N4 session request to other UPFs in the VN group to initiate a group-level N4 session update process , carrying the data packet processing rule in the group-level N4 session request.

In this way, when a PDU session establishment request with the service anchor point of the UE on the UPF appears again in the VN group, the SMF allocates an IP address to the UE according to the available address segment, and other UPFs have obtained the IP address from the group-level N4 session request. Packet processing rules, SMF does not need to initiate the group-level N4 session update process; that is, for UPFs in the VN group, only when the first PDU session corresponding to the available address segment is established, SMF initiates group-level N4 sessions to other UPFs Update process: when the PDU session is established again later, the SMF does not need to initiate the group-level N4 session update process, so as to reduce the interaction between the control plane and the user plane message.

Optionally, in the embodiment of the present application, the device further includes:

A response sending module, configured to receive the first N4 session establishment request of the SMF, the first N4 session establishment request indicating that the first UPF allocates an available address segment for the VN group; sending the first N4 session establishment request to the SMF Response, carrying the available address segment allocated for the VN group in the first N4 session establishment response;

and / or

Sending an N4 association establishment request or an N4 association establishment response to the SMF; in the N4 association establishment request or N4 association establishment response, the available address segment allocated for the VN group is carried.

The PDU session processing device provided in the embodiment of the present application can implement the various processes implemented by the first UPF in the method embodiments in FIGS. 1 to 9 . To avoid repetition, details are not repeated here.

In the PDU session processing device provided by this application, the receiving module 1401 receives the second N4 session establishment request from the session management function network element SMF; the second N4 session establishment request determines the VN group to which the first UE belongs and the first UPF for the SMF Sent after the associated available address segment; since the SMF sends a group-level N4 session request including packet processing rules to the second UPF in the VN group when establishing the first PDU session corresponding to the available address segment, for the UPF in the VN group Only when the first PDU session corresponding to the available address segment is established, the SMF initiates the group-level N4 session update process to other UPFs. When the subsequent PDU session is established again, the SMF does not need to initiate the group-level N4 session update process. Interaction of user plane messages.

The embodiment of the present application also provides a PDU session processing device, which is applied to the second user plane function network element UPF, as shown in Figure 15, the device includes:

The acquiring module 1501 is configured to receive the group-level N4 session request sent by the session management function network element SMF, and acquire and record the data packet processing rules carried in the group-level N4 session request;

Wherein, the group-level N4 session request is sent by the SMF when any UE in the VN group activates on the first UPF for the first time; the group-level N4 session request includes Packet processing rules determined by the available address segments of the VN group.

The PDU session processing apparatus provided in the embodiment of the present application can implement the various processes implemented by the second UPF in the method embodiments in FIGS. 1 to 9 . To avoid repetition, details are not repeated here.

In the PDU session processing device provided by this application, the acquisition module 1501 receives the group-level N4 session request sent by the session management function network element SMF, acquires and records the data packet processing rules carried in the group-level N4 session request, and subsequently the VN group When the PDU session establishment request with the anchor point on UPF1 occurs again, the SMF allocates an IP address for the UE according to the available address segment. Since UPF2 has obtained the packet processing rules from the group-level N4 session request, the SMF does not need to initiate a group-level session request. N4 session update process.

It should be noted that the division of modules (units) in the embodiment of the present application is schematic, and is only a logical function division, and there may be other division methods in actual implementation. In addition, each functional module in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated into one processing module, each module may exist separately physically, or two or more modules may be integrated into one module. The above-mentioned integrated modules can be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of software function modules.

If the integrated modules are realized in the form of software function modules and sold or used as independent products, they can be stored in a processor-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present application is essentially or part of the contribution to the prior art or all or part of the technical solution can be embodied in the form of a software product, and the computer software product is stored in a storage medium , including several instructions to make a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) or a processor (processor) execute all or part of the steps of the methods described in the various embodiments of the present application. The aforementioned storage media include: U disk, mobile hard disk, read-only memory (Read-Only Memory, ROM), random access memory (Random Access Memory, RAM), magnetic disk or optical disc and other media that can store program codes. .

What needs to be explained here is that the above-mentioned device provided by the embodiment of the present application can realize all the method steps realized by the above-mentioned method embodiment, and can achieve the same technical effect. The part and the beneficial effect are described in detail.

As shown in FIG. 16, the embodiment of the present application also provides a network device, including a session management function network element SMF, and also includes a memory 1620, a transceiver 1640, and a processor 1610;

memory 1620 for storing computer programs;

Transceiver 1640, for receiving and sending data under the control of processor 1610;

Processor 1610, configured to read the computer program in the memory 1620 and perform the following operations:

Receive a protocol data unit PDU session establishment request from the first user equipment UE, determine an available address segment of the virtual network VN group to which the first UE belongs, the available address segment is associated with the first user plane functional network element UPF, and the first UPF is an anchor UPF serving the first UE;

Wherein, the available address segment is allocated for any UE in the VN group when it is activated on the first UPF for the first time;

Allocating an Internet Protocol IP address to the first UE according to the available address segment, and establishing a PDU session of the first UE.

Optionally, in this embodiment of the application, the processor 1610 further performs the following operations:

When any UE in the VN group is activated on the first UPF for the first time, determine the available address segment of the VN group;

Create the data packet processing rule for the group-level N4 session of the VN group according to the available address segment;

Sending a first group-level N4 session request to the second UPF, carrying the data packet processing rule in the first group-level N4 session request; the second UPF is the VN group except the first UPF Outer UPF.

Optionally, in this embodiment of the application, the processor 1610 further performs the following operations:

Allocating an available address segment for the VN group;

receiving the first N4 session establishment response sent by the first UPF, and obtaining the available address segment of the VN group carried in the first N4 session establishment response;

or

Obtain the N4 association establishment request or the N4 association establishment response sent by the first UPF, and obtain the available address segment of the VN group from the N4 association establishment request or the N4 association establishment response.

Optionally, in this embodiment of the present application, the processor 1610 further performs the following operations: sending a first N4 session establishment request to the first UPF, where the first N4 session establishment request indicates that the first UPF is the The above VN group allocates available address segments.

Optionally, in this embodiment of the application, the processor 1610 further performs the following operations:

In the case where an N19 tunnel has been established between the first UPF and the second UPF, sending an N4 session modification request to the second UPF; or

When the N19 tunnel is not established between the first UPF and the second UPF, a second group-level N4 session establishment request is sent to the first UPF, and the second group-level N4 session establishment request carries the The N19 tunnel information of the second UPF, and create the packet processing rule for the group-level N4 session of the VN group according to the N19 tunnel information and the available address segment; send the first group-level N4 session to the second UPF session request.

Optionally, in this embodiment of the application, the processor 1610 further performs the following operations:

receiving the PDU session release request of the third UE in the VN group, and determining that the IP address of the third UE is the last released address in the available address segment, releasing the available address segment, and Sending a group-level N4 session modification request to the second UPF; the group-level N4 session modification request instructs the second UPF to delete the data packet processing rule.

Optionally, in this embodiment of the application, the processor 1610 further performs the following operations:

When an available IP address exists in the available address segment, directly allocate an IP address to the first UE from the available address segment;

When there is no available IP address in the available address segment, re-allocate a new available address segment to the VN group to which the first UE belongs, and allocate an IP address to the first UE from the new available address segment.

Wherein, in FIG. 16 , the bus architecture may include any number of interconnected buses and bridges, specifically one or more processors 1610 represented by the processor 1610 and various circuits of the memory 1620 represented by the memory 1620 are linked together. The bus architecture can also link together various other circuits such as peripherals, voltage regulators, and power management circuits, etc., which are well known in the art and therefore will not be further described herein. Bus interface 1630 provides the interface. Transceiver 1640 may be a plurality of elements, including a transmitter and a receiver, providing a unit for communicating with various other devices over transmission media, including wireless channels, wired channels, optical cables, and other transmission media. The processor 1610 is responsible for managing the bus architecture and general processing, and the memory 1620 can store data used by the processor 1610 when performing operations.

The processor 1610 may be a central processing device (CPU), an application specific integrated circuit (Application Specific Integrated Circuit, ASIC), a field programmable gate array (Field-Programmable Gate Array, FPGA) or a complex programmable logic device (Complex Programmable Logic Device, CPLD), the processor 1610 may also adopt a multi-core architecture.

The processor 1610 is configured to execute any of the methods provided in the embodiments of the present application according to the obtained executable instructions by calling the computer program stored in the memory 1620 . The processor 1610 and the memory 1620 may also be arranged physically separately.

As shown in Figure 17, the embodiment of the present application also provides a network device, including a first user plane function network element UPF, and also includes a memory 1720, a transceiver 1740, and a processor 1710;

memory 1720, for storing computer programs;

Transceiver 1740, for receiving and sending data under the control of processor 1710;

Processor 1710, configured to read the computer program in the memory 1720 and perform the following operations:

Receiving a second N4 session establishment request from a session management function network element SMF; wherein, the second N4 session establishment request is sent after the SMF determines the available address segment associated with the first UPF of the VN group to which the first UE belongs;

Wherein, the available address segment is allocated to any UE in the VN group when it is activated on the first UPF for the first time.

Optionally, in this embodiment of the present application, the processor 1710 is also configured to read the computer program in the memory 1720 and perform the following operations:

receiving the first N4 session establishment request of the SMF, the first N4 session establishment request instructing the first UPF to allocate an available address segment for the VN group; sending a first N4 session establishment response to the SMF, in the first N4 session establishment request An N4 session establishment response carries an available address segment allocated for the VN group;

and / or

Sending an N4 association establishment request or an N4 association establishment response to the SMF; in the N4 association establishment request or N4 association establishment response, the available address segment allocated for the VN group is carried.

Wherein, in FIG. 17 , the bus architecture may include any number of interconnected buses and bridges, specifically one or more processors 1710 represented by the processor 1710 and various circuits of the memory 1720 represented by the memory 1720 are linked together. The bus architecture can also link together various other circuits such as peripherals, voltage regulators, and power management circuits, etc., which are well known in the art and therefore will not be further described herein. Bus interface 1730 provides the interface. Transceiver 1740 may be a plurality of elements, including a transmitter and a receiver, providing a unit for communicating with various other devices over transmission media, including wireless channels, wired channels, optical cables, and other transmission media. The processor 1710 is responsible for managing the bus architecture and general processing, and the memory 1720 can store data used by the processor 1710 when performing operations.

The processor 1710 may be a central processing device (CPU), an application specific integrated circuit (Application Specific Integrated Circuit, ASIC), a field programmable gate array (Field-Programmable Gate Array, FPGA) or a complex programmable logic device (Complex Programmable Logic Device, CPLD), the processor 1710 may also adopt a multi-core architecture.

The processor 1710 is configured to execute any of the methods provided in the embodiments of the present application according to the obtained executable instructions by calling the computer program stored in the memory 1720 . The processor 1710 and the memory 1720 may also be arranged physically separately.

As shown in Figure 18, the embodiment of the present application also provides a network device, including a second user plane function network element UPF, and also includes a memory 1820, a transceiver 1840, and a processor 1810;

memory 1820 for storing computer programs;

Transceiver 1840, for receiving and sending data under the control of processor 1810;

Processor 1810, configured to read the computer program in the memory 1820 and perform the following operations:

Receive the group-level N4 session request sent by the session management function network element SMF, obtain and record the packet processing rules carried in the group-level N4 session request;

Wherein, the group-level N4 session request is sent by the SMF when any UE in the VN group activates on the first UPF for the first time; the group-level N4 session request includes Packet processing rules determined by the available address segments of the VN group.

Wherein, in FIG. 18 , the bus architecture may include any number of interconnected buses and bridges, specifically one or more processors 1810 represented by the processor 1810 and various circuits of the memory 1820 represented by the memory 1820 are linked together. The bus architecture can also link together various other circuits such as peripherals, voltage regulators, and power management circuits, etc., which are well known in the art and therefore will not be further described herein. Bus interface 1830 provides the interface. Transceiver 1840 may be a plurality of elements, including a transmitter and a receiver, providing a unit for communicating with various other devices over transmission media, including wireless channels, wired channels, optical cables, and other transmission media. The processor 1810 is responsible for managing the bus architecture and general processing, and the memory 1820 can store data used by the processor 1810 when performing operations.

The processor 1810 may be a central processing device (CPU), an application specific integrated circuit (Application Specific Integrated Circuit, ASIC), a field programmable gate array (Field-Programmable Gate Array, FPGA) or a complex programmable logic device (Complex Programmable Logic Device, CPLD), the processor 1810 may also adopt a multi-core architecture.

The processor 1810 is configured to execute any one of the methods provided in the embodiments of the present application according to the obtained executable instructions by calling the computer program stored in the memory 1820 . The processor 1810 and the memory 1820 may also be arranged physically separately.

What needs to be explained here is that the above-mentioned device provided by the embodiment of the present application can realize all the method steps realized by the above-mentioned method embodiment, and can achieve the same technical effect. The part and the beneficial effect are described in detail.

The embodiment of the present application also provides a processor-readable storage medium, where a computer program is stored in the processor-readable storage medium, and the computer program is used to cause the processor to execute the method for processing a PDU session.

The processor-readable storage medium can be any available medium or data storage device that can be accessed by a processor, including but not limited to magnetic storage (e.g., floppy disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, magneto-optical disk (MO), etc.), optical storage (e.g., CD, DVD, BD, HVD, etc.), and semiconductor memory (such as ROM, EPROM, EEPROM, non-volatile memory (NANDFLASH), solid-state disk (SSD)), etc.

Those skilled in the art should understand that the embodiments of the present application may be provided as methods, systems, or computer program products. Accordingly, the present application may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment, or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Furthermore, the present application may take the form of a computer program product embodied on one or more computer-usable storage media (including but not limited to disk storage, optical storage, etc.) having computer-usable program code embodied therein.

The present application is described with reference to flowcharts and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of the present application. It should be understood that each procedure and/or block in the flowchart and/or block diagrams, and combinations of procedures and/or blocks in the flowchart and/or block diagrams can be implemented by computer-executable instructions. These computer-executable instructions can be provided to a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, embedded processor, or processor of other programmable data processing equipment to produce a machine, such that instructions executed by the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing equipment produce Means for realizing the functions specified in one or more procedures of the flowchart and/or one or more blocks of the block diagram.

These processor-executable instructions may also be stored in a processor-readable memory capable of directing a computer or other programmable data processing device to operate in a specific manner, such that the instructions stored in the processor-readable memory produce a manufacturing product, the instruction device realizes the functions specified in one or more procedures of the flow chart and/or one or more blocks of the block diagram.

These processor-executable instructions can also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing device, causing a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable device to produce a computer-implemented The executed instructions provide steps for implementing the functions specified in the procedure or procedures of the flowchart and/or the block or blocks of the block diagrams.

Obviously, those skilled in the art can make various changes and modifications to the application without departing from the spirit and scope of the application. In this way, if these modifications and variations of the present application fall within the scope of the claims of the present application and their equivalent technologies, the present application is also intended to include these modifications and variations.

Claims (14)

1. A PDU session handling method applied to a session management function network element SMF, the method comprising:

receiving a protocol data unit PDU session establishment request of a first user equipment UE, and determining an available address field of a virtual network VN group to which the first UE belongs, wherein the available address field is associated with a first user plane function network element UPF, and the first UPF is an anchor UPF serving the first UE;

wherein the available address segment is allocated when any UE in the VN group is activated on the first UPF for the first time;

and according to the available address segment, distributing an Internet Protocol (IP) address to the first UE, and establishing a PDU session of the first UE.

2. The PDU session handling method as claimed in claim 1, wherein prior to said receiving a protocol data unit, PDU, session establishment request of the first user equipment, UE, the method comprises:

determining an available address segment of the VN group when any UE within the VN group is first activated on the first UPF;

creating the data packet processing rule for the group-level N4 session of the VN group according to the available address segment;

sending a first group of level N4 session requests to a second UPF, wherein the first group of level N4 session requests carry the data packet processing rule; the second UPF is a UPF within the VN group other than the first UPF.

3. The PDU session processing method as recited in claim 2, wherein said determining an available address segment of said VN group comprises:

assigning an available address segment for the VN group;

receiving a first N4 session establishment response sent by the first UPF, and acquiring an available address segment of the VN group carried in the first N4 session establishment response;

or (b)

And acquiring an N4 association establishment request or an N4 association establishment response sent by the first UPF, and acquiring an available address segment of the VN group from the N4 association establishment request or the N4 association establishment response.

4. A PDU session handling method as recited in claim 3, wherein prior to said receiving a first N4 session setup response sent by said first UPF, said method further comprises:

and sending a first N4 session establishment request to the first UPF, wherein the first N4 session establishment request indicates the first UPF to allocate an available address segment for the VN group.

5. The PDU session handling method as recited in claim 2, wherein said first set of level N4 session requests comprises an N4 session modification request, said sending a first set of level N4 session requests to a second UPF comprising:

sending an N4 session modification request to a second UPF if an N19 tunnel has been established between the first and second UPFs; or alternatively

Under the condition that an N19 tunnel is not established between the first UPF and the second UPF, a second group-level N4 session establishment request is sent to the first UPF, N19 tunnel information of the second UPF is carried in the second group-level N4 session establishment request, and the data packet processing rule is established for the group-level N4 session of the VN group according to the N19 tunnel information and the available address field; a first set of level N4 session requests is sent to a second UPF.

6. The PDU session handling method of claim 2, wherein after said sending a first set of level N4 session requests to a second UPF, said packet handling rules are carried in said first set of level N4 session requests, said method further comprising:

receiving a PDU session release request of a third UE in the VN group, releasing the available address field under the condition that the IP address of the third UE is determined to be the last released address in the available address field, and sending a group-level N4 session modification request to the second UPF; the group level N4 session modification request instructs the second UPF to delete the packet processing rule.

7. The PDU session handling method as recited in claim 1, wherein said assigning an internet protocol, IP, address to said first UE based on said available address field comprises:

When the available IP address exists in the available address field, directly distributing an IP address to the first UE from the available address field;

and when the available IP address does not exist in the available address field, reassigning a new available address field to the VN to which the first UE belongs, and assigning the IP address to the first UE from the new available address field.

8. A PDU session handling method applied to a first user plane function network element UPF, the method comprising:

receiving a second N4 session establishment request of a session management function network element SMF; the second N4 session establishment request is sent after determining an available address segment associated with the first UPF by the VN group to which the first UE belongs for the SMF;

wherein the available address segment is allocated when any UE in the VN group is first activated on the first UPF.

9. The PDU session handling method as recited in claim 8, wherein said receiving a second N4 session establishment request of a session management function, SMF, said method further comprises:

receiving a first N4 session establishment request of the SMF, wherein the first N4 session establishment request indicates a first UPF to allocate an available address segment for the VN group; sending a first N4 session establishment response to the SMF, wherein the first N4 session establishment response carries an available address segment allocated for the VN group;

And/or

Sending an N4 association establishment request or an N4 association establishment response to the SMF; and carrying an available address segment allocated for the VN group in the N4 association establishment request or the N4 association establishment response.

10. A network device comprising a session management function, network element, SMF, the network device further comprising:

memory, transceiver, processor:

a memory for storing a computer program; a transceiver for transceiving data under control of the processor; a processor for reading the computer program in the memory and performing the following operations:

receiving a protocol data unit PDU session establishment request of a first user equipment UE, and determining an available address field of a virtual network VN group to which the first UE belongs, wherein the available address field is associated with a first user plane function network element UPF, and the first UPF is an anchor UPF serving the first UE;

wherein the available address segment is allocated when any UE in the VN group is activated on the first UPF for the first time;

and according to the available address segment, distributing an Internet Protocol (IP) address to the first UE, and establishing a PDU session of the first UE.

11. A network device comprising a second user plane function, UPF, characterized in that the network device further comprises:

Receiving a second N4 session establishment request of a session management function network element SMF;

the second N4 session establishment request is sent after determining an available address segment associated with the first UPF by the VN group to which the first UE belongs for the SMF;

wherein the available address segment is allocated when any UE in the VN group is first activated on the first UPF.

12. A PDU session handling device, applied to a session management function network element SMF, characterized in that it comprises:

an address segment determining module, configured to receive a protocol data unit PDU session establishment request of a first UE, determine an available address segment of a virtual network VN group to which the first UE belongs, where the available address segment is associated with a first user plane function network element UPF, and the first UPF is an anchor UPF serving the first UE;

wherein the available address segment is allocated when any UE in the VN group is activated on the first UPF for the first time;

and the session establishment module is used for allocating an Internet Protocol (IP) address to the first UE according to the available address segment and establishing a PDU session of the first UE.

13. A PDU session handling device, applied to a second user plane function network element UPF, characterized in that the device comprises:

A receiving module, configured to receive a second N4 session establishment request of the session management function network element SMF;

the second N4 session establishment request is sent after determining an available address segment associated with the first UPF by the VN group to which the first UE belongs for the SMF;

the available address segment is allocated for the first time any UE within the VN group is activated on the first UPF.

14. A processor-readable storage medium, characterized in that the processor-readable storage medium stores a computer program for causing the processor to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 9.

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