CN116156578A

CN116156578A - Method and device for subscribing configuration files

Info

Publication number: CN116156578A
Application number: CN202111390672.4A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 林玮健
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2021-11-23
Filing date: 2021-11-23
Publication date: 2023-05-23

Abstract

The application provides a method and a device for subscribing configuration files, which are used for reducing signaling interaction between an AMF and an NRF. In the method, the first access and mobility management function network element can subscribe the configuration file of the access and mobility management function network element in the same area as the first access and mobility management function network element according to the subscription message, and compared with subscribing the configuration file of the access and mobility management function network element one by one, signaling interaction between the first access and mobility management function network element and the configuration file management network element can be reduced. In addition, if there is a newly added access and mobility management function network element in the area, other access and mobility management function network elements in the area can also sense that the newly added access and mobility management function network element configuration file can be received.

Description

Method and device for subscribing configuration files

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of wireless communications technologies, and in particular, to a method and an apparatus for subscribing to a configuration file.

Background

In the fifth generation of mobile communication technology (5 ^th generation technology, 5G), the access and mobility management function network element (access and mobility management function, AMF) may subscribe to other AMF information with the network warehousing function network element (network repository function, NRF). For example, the source AMF may send an instance identification (instance identifier, instance ID) of the target AMF to which the NRF wants to subscribe, and the NRF may send a configuration file of the target AMF to the source AMF.

In the above technical solution, the source AMF should first acquire the identifier of the target AMF, and then subscribe the configuration file of the identifier of the target AMF by using the identifier of the target AMF. Interaction with the NRF exists in the process of acquiring the identifier of the target AMF by the source AMF, and the source AMF needs to subscribe the NRF to the configuration file of the target AMF according to the identifier of the target AMF, so that a great amount of signaling overhead is caused. The existing method has the problem that the efficiency of subscribing configuration files of other AMFs between the AMFs is low.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a method and a device for subscribing configuration files, which are used for reducing signaling interaction between an AMF and an NRF.

In a first aspect, a method of subscribing to a configuration file is provided, which may be applied to an AMF or to a chip. In the method, a first AMF sends a subscription message to a profile management network element. The subscription message is used for subscribing to the configuration file of the second AMF and comprises identification information of the area. The second AMF and the first AMF are assigned to the region. The first AMF receives a first profile of the second AMF from the profile management network element. The first configuration file comprises first load information of the second AMF, and the first configuration file is a configuration file of the second AMF.

Based on the above scheme, the first AMF can subscribe to the configuration file of the second AMF belonging to the same area as the first AMF according to the subscription message, and compared with subscribing to the configuration file of the AMF one by one, signaling interaction between the first AMF and the configuration file management network element can be reduced. In addition, if there is a new AMF in the area, other AMFs in the area can also sense that the configuration file of the new AMF can be received.

Alternatively, the first configuration file may include load information of the second AMF. The load information of the second AMF is used to indicate the number of users the second AMF is providing service, or the load information of the second AMF is used to indicate the ratio of the number of users the second AMF is providing service to the maximum number of users the second AMF is capable of providing service. Alternatively, the load information of the second AMF may be used to indicate the number of users that may also be carried. For example, if the maximum number of users that the second AMF can provide services is 100 and the number of users that are providing services is 30, then the number of users that the second AMF can also carry is 70, and then the load information of the second AMF can include 70.

In one possible implementation, the subscription message further includes identification information of the set. It should be noted that the area may include one or more sets, where the one or more sets may include a set where the first AMF and the second AMF are located.

Based on the above scheme, the first AMF can subscribe to the configuration file of at least one AMF belonging to the same set according to the set identifier, and compared with the configuration files subscribing to the AMFs one by one, signaling interaction between the first AMF and the configuration file management network element can be reduced.

In one possible implementation, the first AMF migrates the user of the first AMF service into the second AMF according to the first load information of the second AMF.

Based on the above scheme, the first AMF may receive the configuration file of the subscribed second AMF from the configuration file management network element, so the first AMF may determine the load information of the second AMF according to the configuration file of the second AMF, so that the user of the first AMF service may be migrated to the second AMF to achieve load information balancing.

In one possible implementation, the first AMF migrates the user of the first AMF service to the second AMF when the first load information of the first AMF is greater than the first load information of the second AMF.

Further, the first AMF migrates the user of the first AMF service to the second AMF when a difference of the value of the first load information of the first AMF minus the value of the first load information of the second AMF is greater than or equal to a first threshold.

Based on the above scheme, the first AMF may perform the user migration operation to the second AMF when the load information of the second AMF is lower than the load information of the first AMF, or even when the load information of the second AMF differs greatly from the load information of the first AMF.

In one possible implementation, the first AMF migrates some or all of the plurality of users of the first AMF service to the second AMF.

Optionally, the first configuration file further includes first capacity information of the second AMF, and the first AMF may determine the number of users migrated to the second AMF according to the first capacity information.

Based on the above scheme, the first AMF may migrate all or part of the users to the second AMF, and the number of migrated users may be determined according to the capacity information of the second AMF, so as to reduce the possibility of overload of the second AMF.

In one possible implementation, the first AMF sends migration information to the profile management network element. The migration information includes migration direction information and migration quantity information, the migration direction information is used for indicating that the first AMF migrates users of the first AMF service to the second AMF, and the migration quantity information is used for indicating the quantity of the users of the first AMF service migrated from the first AMF to the second AMF.

Alternatively, the migration information may be used to determine a configuration file of the first AMF. In other words, after the profile management network element receives migration information from the first AMF, the profile of the first AMF may be determined. The configuration file management network element determines the configuration file of the first AMF, which may also be understood as the configuration file management network element updates the configuration file of the first AMF.

In the related art, when any AMF senses that there is a difference between its own load information and the load information of other AMFs, it performs load information migration. For example, when the source AMF senses that the load information of the target AMF is lower than the load information of the source AMF, the source AMF may migrate a user to the target AMF to reduce a difference between the load information of the source AMF and the load information of the target AMF. However, in some scenarios, the source AMF needs to migrate a part of users to the target AMF, and in the migration process, the load information of the target AMF is larger than that of the source AMF, so that the target AMF will migrate a part of users back to the source AMF, which results in low migration success rate of users. Based on the scheme, the first AMF can send migration direction information and migration quantity information, and after the second AMF receives the migration direction information and the migration quantity information, whether load information between the first AMF and the second AMF reaches equilibrium or not after user migration is finished can be determined, whether user migration needs to be continued or not is further determined, possibility of user migration can be reduced, and user migration success rate is improved.

In one possible implementation, the first AMF receives a second configuration file of the second AMF from the configuration file management network element. The second configuration file includes second load information of the second AMF. The second profile is a profile of a second AMF. And stopping migrating the user of the first AMF service by the first AMF when the second load information of the first AMF is smaller than or equal to the second load information of the second AMF.

Further, the first AMF stops migrating the user of the first AMF service when a difference of the value of the second load information of the first AMF minus the value of the second load information of the second AMF is less than or equal to a second threshold.

Based on the above scheme, the first AMF may determine, according to the second AMF and the load information, that when the load information of the first AMF is less than or equal to the load information of the second AMF, or when the load information of the first AMF is less different from the load information of the second AMF, the first AMF may stop user migration, so as to reduce the possibility of overload of the second AMF.

In one possible implementation, the first AMF sends migration status information to the profile management network element, where the migration status information is used to indicate users that migrate all of the first AMF services.

Based on the above scheme, when the migration status information of the first AMF indicates migration out of all users, the second AMF may determine that user reversion is not performed even if there is a difference in load information of the first AMF greater than or equal to load information of the second AMF, even when the difference is greater.

In one possible implementation, the area further includes a third AMF. The first AMF receives migration direction information of the third AMF from the profile management network element. The migration direction information of the third AMF is used to indicate a user migrating the third AMF service to the second AMF. The first AMF determines a first migration rate, the first migration rate representing a number of users of the first AMF service migrated to the second AMF per unit time. The first AMF migrates the user of the first AMF service to the second AMF according to a first migration rate, and the first migration rate is smaller than or equal to a third threshold.

Based on the above scheme, when the first AMF determines that the third AMF performs user migration to the second AMF, the first AMF may perform user migration at the first migration rate, so as to reduce the possibility of overload of the second AMF.

In one possible implementation, the first AMF receives a migration rate of the third AMF from the profile management network element. The migration rate indicates the number of users of the third AMF service migrated to the second AMF per unit time. The first AMF determines a second migration rate from the migration rate of the third AMF. Wherein the second migration rate is greater than the first migration rate. The first AMF migrates the user of the first AMF service to the second AMF at the second migration rate.

Based on the above scheme, the first AMF may determine whether the second AMF has an overload risk according to the migration rate of the third AMF, and when determining that the second AMF has no overload risk, the first AMF may increase the migration rate to complete user migration as soon as possible.

In one possible implementation, the first AMF may determine the second rate based on a migration rate of the third AMF and first load information of the second AMF.

Based on the above scheme, the first AMF may consider the load information of the second AMF when determining the second mobility, so as to reduce the risk of overload of the second mobility management function network element.

In a second aspect, a method of subscribing to a profile is provided. The method may be applied to a profile management network element or to a chip. In the method, a profile management network element subscribes to messages from receiving from a first AMF. The subscription message is used for subscribing to the configuration file of the second AMF and comprises the identification information of the area. Wherein the second AMF and the first AMF are assigned to the aforementioned region. The profile management network element sends a first profile of the second AMF to the first AMF. The first configuration file comprises load information of the second AMF, and the first configuration file is a configuration file of the second AMF.

Based on the above scheme, the first AMF can subscribe to the configuration file of the second AMF belonging to the same area as the first AMF according to the subscription message, and compared with subscribing to the configuration file of the AMF one by one, signaling interaction between the first AMF and the configuration file management network element can be reduced.

In one possible implementation, the profile management network element receives load information of the second AMF from the second AMF, the load information of the second AMF being used to determine the profile of the second AMF.

Optionally, the profile management network element receives capability information of the second AMF from the second AMF, where the capability information of the second AMF is used to determine a profile of the second AMF.

It should be noted that, the above determination of the configuration file of the second AMF may also be understood as updating the configuration file of the second AMF. For example, after the profile management network element receives the load information of the second AMF from the second AMF, the profile management network element may update the profile of the second AMF. For another example, after the profile management network element receives the capacity information of the second AMF from the second AMF, the profile management network element may update the profile of the second AMF.

Based on the above scheme, the configuration file management network element may determine or update the configuration file of the second AMF according to the information such as the load information and the capacity information reported by the second AMF, and send the configuration file to the first AMF subscribed to the configuration file of the second AMF.

In one possible implementation, the profile management network element receives migration information of the first AMF from the first AMF. The migration information includes migration direction information and migration quantity information, the migration direction information is used for indicating that the first AMF migrates users of the first AMF service to the second AMF, and the migration quantity information is used for indicating the quantity of the users of the first AMF service migrated from the first AMF to the second AMF. The profile management network element sends migration information to the second AMF.

Based on the above scheme, the first AMF may send migration direction information and migration quantity information, and the configuration file management network element may send the migration information to the second AMF subscribed to the configuration file of the first AMF, so after the second AMF receives the migration direction information and migration quantity information, it may be determined whether load information between the first AMF and the second AMF reaches equilibrium after user migration is finished, and further, it may be determined whether user migration needs to be continued, so that possibility of user migration may be reduced, and user migration success rate may be improved.

In one possible implementation, the profile management network element receives migration status information of the first AMF from the first AMF, where the migration status information is used to indicate that all users are migrated. The profile management network element sends migration status information to the second AMF.

Optionally, the migration information and/or the migration status information may be sent to the second AMF through status notification information.

Based on the above scheme, the first AMF may indicate migration out of all users through the migration status information, and the profile management Wang Yuan may send the migration status information to the second AMF subscribed to the profile of the first AMF, so that the second AMF may determine that user returning is not performed even if the load information of the first AMF is greater than or equal to the load information of the second AMF, or even if the load information of the first AMF is greater than or equal to the load information of the second AMF.

In a possible implementation manner, the area includes a third AMF, the configuration file management network element receives a migration rate of the third AMF from the third AMF, the migration rate represents the number of users migrated from the third AMF to the second AMF in a unit time, and the migration rate is used for determining a migration rate of the first AMF to migrate the users. The configuration file management network element sends the migration rate of the third AMF to the first AMF.

Based on the above scheme, the configuration file management network element may send the migration rate of the third AMF to the first AMF, so that the first AMF may determine, according to the migration rate of the third AMF, whether the second AMF has an overload risk, and when determining that the second AMF has no overload risk, the first AMF may increase the migration rate to complete user migration as soon as possible.

In a third aspect, a method of subscribing to a configuration file is provided, which may be applied to an AMF or to a chip. In the method, the second AMF sends a subscription message to the profile management network element. The subscription message is used for subscribing to the configuration file of the first AMF and comprises identification information of the area. Wherein the second AMF and the first AMF are assigned to the aforementioned region. The second AMF receives a configuration file of the first AMF from the configuration file management network element. The configuration file comprises migration state information, wherein the migration state information is used for indicating migration of all users. And the second AMF determines whether to migrate the user of the second AMF service to the first AMF according to the migration status information.

Alternatively, the second AMF may determine, according to the migration status information, a user who does not migrate the second AMF service to the first AMF.

In one possible implementation, the second AMF sends load information of the second AMF to the profile management network element, where the load information of the second AMF is used for determining a user migration policy of the first AMF.

Based on the above scheme, the second AMF may report load information to the profile management network element, so that the profile management network element sends the profile of the second AMF to the AMF subscribed to the profile of the second AMF, to determine whether to perform user migration.

In the above first to third aspects, the profile management network element may be a network warehousing function network element (network repository function, NRF) or an operation and maintenance center (operation and maintenance center, OMC) or a service control point (service control point, SCP).

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, which may be an access and mobility management function network element, and may also be a chip for the access and mobility management function network element. The apparatus has a function of implementing any implementation method of the first aspect or a function of implementing any implementation method of the third aspect. The functions can be realized by hardware, and can also be realized by executing corresponding software by hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the functions described above.

In a fifth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a communication device, which may be a profile management network element, or may be a chip or a module for a profile management network element. The apparatus has the function of implementing any implementation method of the second aspect. The functions can be realized by hardware, and can also be realized by executing corresponding software by hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the functions described above.

In a sixth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a communication device comprising a processor and a memory; the memory is configured to store computer instructions that, when executed by the apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform any of the implementation methods of the first to third aspects described above.

In a seventh aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a communication device comprising means for performing the steps of any implementation method of the first to third aspects described above.

In an eighth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a communication device, including a processor and an interface circuit, where the processor is configured to communicate with other devices through the interface circuit, and perform any implementation method of the first aspect to the third aspect. The processor includes one or more.

In a ninth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a communications apparatus comprising a processor coupled to a memory, the processor configured to invoke a program stored in the memory to perform any implementation method of the first aspect to the third aspect. The memory may be located within the device or may be located external to the device. And the processor may be one or more.

In a tenth aspect, embodiments of the present application further provide a computer readable storage medium having instructions stored therein that, when run on a communication device, cause any implementation method of the first to third aspects described above to be performed.

In an eleventh aspect, embodiments of the present application further provide a computer program product comprising a computer program or instructions which, when executed by a communication device, cause any implementation of the above first to third aspects to be performed.

In a twelfth aspect, embodiments of the present application further provide a chip system, including: a processor configured to perform any implementation method of the first to third aspects.

In a thirteenth aspect, embodiments of the present application further provide a communication system, including: the communication device of the fourth aspect and the communication device of the fifth aspect.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a fifth generation (5th generation,5G) network architecture schematic based on a servitization architecture;

FIG. 2 is one of exemplary flowcharts of a method for subscribing to a profile provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 3 is one of exemplary flowcharts of a method of subscribing to a profile provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 4 is one of exemplary flowcharts of a method of subscribing to a profile provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 5 is one of exemplary flowcharts of a method of subscribing to a profile provided by an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

In order to facilitate understanding of the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application, the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application are described below through the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a fifth generation (5th generation,5G) network architecture based on a servitization architecture. The 5G network architecture shown in fig. 1 may include three parts, namely an operator network, a terminal, and a Data Network (DN). This will be described briefly.

The operator network may include one or more of the following: network warehousing function (Network Repository Function, NRF) network elements, access and mobility management function (access and mobility management function, AMF) network elements, session management function (session management function, SMF) network elements, user plane function (user plane function, UPF) network elements or radio access network (radio access network, RAN) equipment, etc. In the above-mentioned operator network, the network elements other than the radio access network device may be referred to as core network elements.

The access and mobility management function network element is used for executing mobility management, access authentication/authorization and other functions. In addition, the access and mobility management function network element is also responsible for delivering user policies to the terminal.

The session management function network element is used for executing the functions of session management, execution of control strategies, selection of user plane function network elements, internet protocol (internet protocol, IP) address allocation of the terminal and the like.

The user plane function network element is used for completing the functions of user plane data forwarding, charging statistics based on session/stream level, bandwidth limitation and the like.

The network storage function network element can be used for providing a network element discovery function and providing network element information corresponding to the network element type based on the requests of other network elements. The network storage function network element also provides network element management services, such as network element registration, updating, deregistration, network element state subscription, pushing and the like.

Nnrf, namf, nsmf in fig. 1 are service interfaces provided for the NRF, AMF and SMF, respectively, and are used for invoking corresponding service operations. The meaning of these interfaces can be seen in the meaning defined in the third generation partnership project (3rd generation partnership project,3GPP) standard protocol.

It will be appreciated that the network elements or functions described above may be either network elements in a hardware device, software functions running on dedicated hardware, or virtualized functions instantiated on a platform (e.g., a cloud platform). Alternatively, the network element or the function may be implemented by one device, or may be implemented by a plurality of devices together, or may be a functional module in one device, which is not specifically limited in this embodiment of the present application.

The mobility management network element and the network storage function network element in the embodiment of the present application may be network elements having the functions of the mobility management network element and the network storage function network element shown in fig. 1, respectively. For convenience of explanation, the mobility management network element and the network storage function network element are respectively referred to as AMF and NRF in the following description of the present application. It should be noted that, in future communications, the mobility management network element and the network storage function network element may still be referred to as AMF and NRF, or may have other names, which is not limited in this application. The AMF and NRF appearing later in the application can be replaced by a mobility management network element and a network storage function network element.

The radio access network device may be a base station (base station), an evolved NodeB (eNodeB), a transmission and reception point (transmission reception point, TRP), a next generation base station (gNB) in a 5G mobile communication system, a next generation base station in a 6G mobile communication system, a base station in a future mobile communication system, or an access node in a wireless fidelity (wireless fidelity, wiFi) system, or may be a module or unit that performs a function of a base station part, for example, may be a Central Unit (CU), or may be a Distributed Unit (DU). The radio access network device may be a macro base station, a micro base station, an indoor station, a relay node, a donor node, or the like. The radio access network device is represented by RAN in fig. 1. The embodiment of the application does not limit the specific technology and the specific equipment form adopted by the wireless access network equipment.

A terminal may also be referred to as a terminal device, user Equipment (UE), mobile station, mobile terminal, etc. The terminal is represented by UE in fig. 1. The terminal may be widely applied to various scenes, for example, device-to-device (D2D), vehicle-to-device (vehicle to everything, V2X) communication, machine-type communication (MTC), internet of things (internet of things, IOT), virtual reality, augmented reality, industrial control, autopilot, telemedicine, smart grid, smart furniture, smart office, smart wear, smart transportation, smart city, and the like. The terminal can be a mobile phone, a tablet personal computer, a computer with a wireless receiving and transmitting function, a wearable device, a vehicle, an unmanned aerial vehicle, a helicopter, an airplane, a ship, a robot, a mechanical arm, intelligent household equipment and the like. The embodiment of the application does not limit the specific technology and the specific equipment form adopted by the terminal.

The radio access network equipment and terminals may be fixed in location or may be mobile. The radio access network devices and terminals may be deployed on land, including indoor or outdoor, hand-held or vehicle-mounted; the device can be deployed on the water surface; but also on aerial planes, balloons and satellites. The embodiment of the application does not limit the application scene of the wireless access network equipment and the terminal.

The data network, which is a network located outside the operator network, is identified by a DN in fig. 1. The operator network can access a plurality of data networks, a plurality of services can be deployed in the data networks, and services such as data and/or voice can be provided for the terminal. For example, the data network is a private network of an intelligent plant, the sensors installed in the plant of the intelligent plant may be terminals, and the data network is provided with a control server of the sensors, and the control server may provide services for the sensors. The sensor may communicate with the control server, obtain instructions from the control server, transmit collected sensor data to the control server, etc., according to the instructions. For another example, the data network is an internal office network of a company, and the mobile phone or computer of the staff of the company may be a terminal, and the mobile phone or computer of the staff may access information, data resources, etc. on the internal office network of the company.

In order to facilitate understanding of the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application, technical terms related to the embodiments of the present application are explained and illustrated below.

1) The set identification of AMFs, which may also be referred to as AMF set ID, is used to identify one set of AMFs. Wherein, one AMF set comprises at least one AMF.

2) The area identifier of the AMF, which may also be referred to as an AMF region ID, is used to identify an AMF area, where the AMF area includes at least one AMF set.

3) AMF identification, which may also be referred to as instance identification of an AMF, may also be referred to as AMF instance ID, is used to identify an AMF.

4) The configuration file may also be referred to as a network element configuration file and may also be referred to as an NFprofile, and in this application, the configuration file may be used to describe load information of the AMF, for example, the configuration file may include information such as capability information (capability) and load information (load) of the AMF.

Taking the technical scheme of the application as an example, the method is suitable for a 5G system. In a scenario of user migration of the 5G system, if a user wants to migrate to one or more target AMFs, a source AMF first queries an NRF for an identification of the one or more target AMFs, and then subscribes to a NRF for configuration files of the one or more target AMFs, thereby determining a user migration policy according to the obtained configuration files of the one or more target AMFs. In particular, the plurality of AMFs related to user migration are all AMFs in the same area or AMFs in the same set. Specifically, after querying the identifier of the target AMF, the source AMF sends the identifier of the target AMF to the NRF, where the identifier of the target AMF is used to subscribe to the configuration file of the target AMF. The configuration file may include information such as capacity information and load information of the target AMF. When load information of the target AMF changes, the NRF may transmit a configuration file of the target AMF to the source AMF.

In addition, when the source AMF senses that the load information of the target AMF is lower than the load information of the source AMF, the source AMF may send a message to the target AMF, where the message is used to migrate the user of the source AMF service to the target AMF. For example, the message may be a non-access stratum (non access stratum, NAS) message, and in particular, the source AMF may send the NAS message directly to the target AMF, or the source AMF may send the NAS message to the target AMF through the base station.

If the source AMF sends the NAS message to the target AMF, the NAS message may carry information of the user, such as access information, context information, and identification information. After receiving the NAS message, the target AMF may determine the base station accessed by the user according to the base station-terminal-NG application protocol-identity (RAN-UE-NG application protocol-identity, RAN-UE-NGAP-ID) in the access information. The target AMF may send a message to the base station to which the user has access, where the message may be used to inform the base station that the user has migrated to the target AMF. In this way, the base station can establish a connection with the target AMF and provide services to the user through the target AMF.

If the source AMF sends the NAS message to the target AMF through the base station, the NAS message can carry the information of the user, such as access information, identification information and the like. The base station may determine which users are migrated to the target AMF by RAN-UE-NGAP-ID in the access information. The base station may establish a connection with the target AMF and provide services to those users migrating to the target AMF through the target AMF.

In the above method, if the target AMF is at least two AMFs, when the source AMF subscribes to the configuration files of the at least two AMFs, the source AMF needs to acquire the identifiers of the at least two target AMFs first, and then sends a subscription message to the NRF, where the subscription message includes the identifiers of the at least two target AMFs, so as to realize subscription of the configuration files of the at least two targets. The source AMF needs to interact with the NRF to acquire the identification of the target AMF, and the source AMF also needs to interact with the NRF to subscribe the configuration file of the target AMF to the NRF according to the identification of the target AMF, so that more signaling interaction between the AMF and the NRF can be caused.

In addition, other problems exist with this approach at present. For example, since the AMF cannot timely sense a new AMF, the source AMF cannot subscribe to the configuration file of the new AMF, thereby causing a problem of unbalanced load information between the new AMF and other AMFs. For another example, when the source AMF fails and performs user migration to the target AMF, if the load information of the source AMF is smaller than the load information of the target AMF at a certain moment, and if the target AMF also subscribes to the configuration file of the source AMF, the target AMF determines that the load information of the source AMF at the moment is lower than the target AMF according to the configuration file of the source AMF, then the AMF performs an action of migrating the user to the source AMF, that is, the problem of user migration.

In view of this, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for subscribing to a configuration file, which is used for user migration of an AMF, and the method is specifically described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Here, the execution subject in the implementation method described below is not limited to the current names, for example, AMF and NRF, and the AMF for implementing the method shown in the present application may be an AMF device in a 5G communication system, or may be a device or entity having the same core concept or function. Similarly, the messages mentioned in the present application are not limited by names, and any messages with the same function and different names are also applicable to the method of the present application, and are not repeated.

Fig. 2 is an exemplary flowchart of a method for subscribing to a configuration file, which is provided in an embodiment of the present application, and may be applied to a first AMF and a configuration file management network element. The method may comprise the following steps.

S201: the first AMF sends a subscription message to the profile management network element.

Correspondingly, the configuration file management network element receives the subscription message.

Wherein the first AMF may be an AMF as shown in fig. 1. The profile management network element may be an NRF as shown in fig. 1. In a possible implementation, the profile management network element may also be a fourth generation mobile communication technology (4 ^th generation mobile technology, 4G) or service control points (service control point, SCP). The OMC has the main functions of maintenance test function, obstacle detection and processing function, system state monitoring function, system real-time control function, office data modification, performance management, user tracking, alarm and telephone traffic statistics function and the like. For example, the OMC may implement, through a user tracking function, a technical solution that receives a subscription message from a first AMF, queries a configuration file of a second AMF to which the first AMF wants to subscribe, and returns the configuration file of the second AMF to the first AMF. The SCP stores therein user data and service logic,mainly realizes the following functions: the SCP may receive the query information from the service switching point (service switching point, SSP) and query the database to return the queried information to the SSP, e.g. the profile management network element is regarded as the SCP and the first AMF and the second AMF are regarded as the SSP, and the SCP may receive the subscription message sent by the first AMF and query the profile of the second AMF to return to the first AMF.

The subscription message may be used to subscribe to information of the second AMF. For example, the subscribe message may be used to subscribe to a profile of the second AMF. Wherein the first AMF and the second AMF may be AMFs in the same area. The first AMF and the second AMF may also be AMFs in the same set. For example, a region may include one or more sets. All the AMFs described below may be the same set or the AMFs in the same area, which will not be described in detail later.

In one possible implementation manner, the subscription message may include an area identifier of an area where the first AMF is located, and may further include a set identifier of a set where the first AMF is located. Specifically, if the subscription message includes the area identifier, the subscription message is used to subscribe to the configuration file of the second AMF in the area identified by the area identifier. If the subscription message also includes a set identifier, the subscription message is used to subscribe to a configuration file of a second AMF in the set identified by the set identifier. In a possible case, if the subscription message includes a region identifier, the subscription message is used to subscribe to a configuration file of at least one AMF including the second AMF in the region identified by the region identifier, and if the subscription message also includes a set identifier, the set identifier is the same. For example, the first AMF, the second AMF and the third AMF are located in the same area, where the area includes only the first AMF, the second AMF and the third AMF, the first AMF may send a subscription message to the profile management network element, where the subscription message includes an identifier of the area, the subscription message is used to subscribe to a profile of the second AMF and a profile of the third AMF, and in a similar manner, the second AMF may also subscribe to a profile of the first AMF and a profile of the third AMF, and the third AMF may also subscribe to a profile of the first AMF and a profile of the second AMF.

S202: the profile management network element sends a first profile of the second AMF to the first AMF.

Accordingly, the first AMF receives the first configuration file from the second AMF of the configuration file management network element.

The first configuration file is a configuration file of a second AMF.

It may be appreciated that, since the first AMF subscribes to the information of the second AMF, for example, subscribes to the configuration file of the second AMF, in step S201, the configuration file management network element may send the first configuration file to the first AMF in this step. In a possible case, when the load information of the second AMF changes, the profile management network element sends the first profile of the second AMF to the first AMF.

For example, the first profile may include load information of the second AMF. The load information includes a load, and the description thereof will not be repeated. The load information of the second AMF is used to indicate the number of users the second AMF is providing service, or the load information of the second AMF is used to indicate the ratio of the number of users the second AMF is providing service to the maximum number of users the second AMF is capable of providing service. Alternatively, the load information of the second AMF may be used to indicate the number of users that may also be carried. For example, if the maximum number of users that the second AMF can provide services is 100 and the number of users that are providing services is 30, then the number of users that the second AMF can also carry is 70, and then the load information of the second AMF can include 70. In the embodiment of the present application, the load of the second AMF is used to indicate the ratio of the number of users that the second AMF is providing services to the maximum value.

For example, the determination of the first profile may be made by one of two ways: when the load information of the second AMF changes, the second AMF may send the capacity information of the second AMF and the load information of the second AMF to the configuration file management network element, where the capacity information includes a capacity, and will not be described in detail later. The configuration file management network element generates the first configuration file, wherein the first configuration file comprises the capacity information of the second AMF and the load information of the second AMF. Or when the load information of the second AMF changes, the second AMF generates the first configuration file, the first configuration file comprises the capacity information of the second AMF and the load information of the second AMF, and the second AMF sends the first configuration file to the configuration file management network element.

In one possible implementation manner, after the configuration file management network element may obtain the load information of the second AMF from the second AMF, determine that the load information of the second AMF is changed, and then send the first configuration file to the first AMF subscribed to the configuration file of the second AMF. Alternatively, in another possible implementation, the profile management network element may periodically send the first profile to a first AMF subscribed to the profile of the second AMF. It should be understood that the embodiments of the present application do not specifically limit when the configuration file management network element sends the configuration file of the second AMF to the first AMF subscribed to the configuration file of the second AMF.

It should be understood that, the first configuration file is to enable the first AMF to determine the load information and the capacity information of the second AMF, and in this embodiment of the present application, the load information and the capacity information of the second AMF are not limited to be transmitted through the configuration file. Optionally, the profile management network element may send the load information and the capacity information of the second AMF to the first AMF through a message.

S203: and the first AMF determines a migration strategy according to the load information of the second AMF.

For example, the first AMF may determine whether user migration is required according to the load information of the second AMF. For example, if the load value in the load information of the second AMF is smaller than the load value in the load information of the first AMF, the first AMF determines that the user of the first AMF service needs to be migrated to the second AMF. In other words, the first AMF may migrate the user of the first AMF service to the second AMF according to the capacity information of the second AMF and the load information of the second AMF.

Further, if the load value of the second AMF is smaller than the load value of the first AMF, and if the value obtained by subtracting the load value of the second AMF from the load value of the first AMF is greater than or equal to the first threshold, the first AMF determines that the user served by the first AMF needs to be migrated to the second AMF. Specifically, the first threshold may be represented by a value or a percentage, such as 100, 1%, 5% or 10%, for example, if the first threshold is 100, it means that the maximum value obtained by subtracting the load of the second AMF from the load of the second AMF cannot exceed 100. The first threshold may be set according to an empirical value, and is not limited in this application.

The first AMF may determine the number of users migrated to the second AMF according to the capacity information of the second AMF and the load information of the second AMF, and make the number of users served by the second AMF less than the capacity upper limit value of the second AMF after the first AMF migrates the number of users to the second AMF. The upper limit value of the capacity of the second AMF may be the capacity of the second AMF, or the upper limit value of the capacity of the second AMF may be a percentage of the capacity of the second AMF, such as 75% of the capacity of the second AMF or 85% of the capacity of the second AMF. Further, as one possible scenario, the number of users that the first AMF migrates to the second AMF may be determined according to the capacity information of the second AMF, the load information of the second AMF, and the load information of the first AMF. After the above number of users are migrated, the load information of the first AMF and the load information of the second AMF may reach a certain balance, without necessarily requiring that the load information of the first AMF is the same as the load information of the second AMF.

For example, assume that the load of the first AMF is 90% and the load of the second AMF is 55%. Wherein, the capacity of the first AMF and the second AMF is 100. The load of the first AMF is greater than the load of the second AMF, so the first AMF determines to migrate the user to the second AMF. For another example, assume that the load of the first AMF is 90%, the load of the second AMF is 55%, and the first threshold is 10%. Wherein, the capacity of the first AMF and the second AMF is 100. The value obtained by subtracting the load of the second AMF from the load of the first AMF is 99% -55% =44%, greater than the first threshold (10%), so the first AMF determines to migrate the user to the second AMF. Since the capacity of the second AMF is 100, the number of users that the second AMF is providing services is 100×55% =55, and the first AMF may determine that the number of users migrated to the second AMF is 15 to 20, that is, the number of users migrated determined by the first AMF is one number of 15 to 20. The load of the first AMF would be in the range of 70% to 75% and the load of the second AMF would be in the range of 70% to 75%. The method can thus achieve the effect of reducing the load of the first AMF.

In one possible implementation manner, after the first AMF determines the migration policy, for example, after the first AMF determines to migrate the user to the second AMF, the first AMF may send information of the user to be migrated to the second AMF, etc. to be used for migrating the user of the first AMF service to the second AMF. Specifically, the first AMF may send information of the user to be migrated to the second AMF through the NAS message. For example, the first AMF may send a NAS message to the second AMF, or the first AMF may forward the NAS message to the second AMF through the RAN. It should be noted that, the transmission of information between AMFs may be implemented by the transmission of NAS messages. Other parts in this application are not described in detail.

In connection with the above steps S201-S203, this embodiment may include, but is not limited to, the following cases and their related steps:

a first possible scenario is: in the process of migrating the user, the first AMF receives a second configuration file, wherein the second configuration file is an updated configuration file of the second AMF at a certain moment in the process, and the first AMF determines to migrate the user to the second AMF according to the second configuration file. This situation may be understood as a dynamic process, that is, during a user migration, as the user of the second AMF changes continuously, the first AMF may obtain an updated configuration file of the second AMF, and the updated configuration file may include load information of the second AMF at a certain moment in the dynamic process. For example, in this process, the second AMF may send load information of the current second AMF to the profile management network element, so that the profile management network element obtains the second profile, where the second profile includes the load information of the current second AMF. That is, in the process of user migration, the first AMF may continuously acquire the updated configuration file of the second AMF, dynamically adjust the number of user migration according to the updated configuration file of the second AMF, and sense whether other AMFs exist or not and migrate to the second AMF in the migration process, so that the first AMF may continuously track the latest load information condition of the second AMF, and finally achieve load information equalization of the first AMF and the second AMF. It should be understood that, in the embodiment of the present application, the description is given taking the constant capacity information of the second AMF as an example, if the capacity information of the second AMF changes at a certain moment, the load information of the second AMF will also change, and then the second AMF may send the current load information of the second AMF and the capacity information of the second AMF to the configuration file management network element. In summary, the capacity information of the second AMF or the load information of the second AMF may be used for the first AMF to determine the number of users migrating to the second AMF, so as to achieve the effect of reducing the load of the first AMF.

A second possible scenario: the first AMF also sends migration information to the second AMF.

One possible implementation, the migration information may include migration direction information and migration quantity information. The migration direction information is the second AMF, which means that the user is migrated to the second AMF. For example, the migration direction information may indicate identification information of the second AMF, such as an ID of the second AMF. The migration number information is the determined number of user migration. It can be understood that, after the second AMF receives the migration information, the configuration file management network element may stop updating and sending the second configuration file, that is, the second AMF waits for the first AMF to migrate the user with the migration quantity information to itself according to the migration information, during the migration of the user, even if the second AMF senses that the load of the first AMF minus the load of the second AMF is smaller than the first threshold value, even if the load of the first AMF is lower than the load of the second AMF, the second AMF will not migrate the user to the first AMF, thereby preventing the problem that the user load balancing is difficult to reach the steady state, and solving the problem that the AMF performs the error migration of the user.

It should be noted that, in one possible case, the migration information may be transmitted through a configuration file. For example, the first AMF may send migration information to the profile management network element. The profile management network element may update the profile of the first AMF according to the migration information, and send the updated profile of the first AMF to the second AMF. The updated configuration file of the first AMF may include migration information of the first AMF. In another possible case, the migration information may be transmitted through a message. For example, the first AMF may send migration information to the second AMF, and the second AMF may send the migration information of the first AMF to the second AMF through a message.

Further, in another possible implementation manner, the migration information further includes migration status information. For example, the migration status information is to migrate out all users. For example, the first AMF sends migration information to the second AMF, and migration status information in the migration information is that all users are migrated, so that after the second AMF receives the migration information, in a user migration process, even if the second AMF senses that a value of a load of the first AMF minus a load of the second AMF is smaller than a first threshold value, and even if the load of the first AMF is lower than the load of the second AMF, the second AMF will not migrate the users back to the first AMF, thereby preventing the problem that load balancing of the users is difficult to reach a stable state, and solving the problem that the AMF performs error migration of the users.

Also, in one possible scenario, the migration status information may be transmitted through a configuration file. For example, the first AMF may send migration status information to the profile management network element. The profile management network element may update the profile of the first AMF according to the migration status information, and send the updated profile of the first AMF to the second AMF. And the updated configuration file of the first AMF may include migration status information of the first AMF. In another possible case, the migration status information may be transmitted through a message. For example, the first AMF may send the migration status information to the second AMF, and the second AMF may send the migration status information of the first AMF to the second AMF through a message.

It can be understood that, since the second AMF may subscribe to the configuration file of the first AMF, the second AMF may acquire the configuration file of the first AMF during the migration process, thereby acquiring capacity information of the first AMF, load information of the first AMF, migration information, and the like, so as to determine whether the load information of the two AMFs is balanced according to the information of the first AMF. For example, assume that in the configuration file of the first AMF, the capacity is 100, the load is 75%, the migration direction is the second AMF, and the migration number is 20. The second AMF determines that the capacity of the second AMF is 100 and the load is 30%, so that the second AMF may determine that the load of the first AMF is 55% and the load of the second AMF is 50% after the first AMF finishes the user migration, and although the load of the first AMF and the load of the second AMF are different, the second AMF may determine that the load of the first AMF and the load of the second AMF reach balance, that is, the difference between the load of the first AMF and the load of the second AMF is less than a first threshold (10%), so that the second AMF may determine that the user migration operation is not performed any more, and the user migration operation of the second AMF is reduced due to the change of the load information of the first AMF and the load information of the second AMF in the user migration process.

Alternatively, there may be a user accessing the first AMF during the user migration, so the load information of the first AMF may change, and similarly, the load information of the second AMF may change. Because the first AMF subscribes to the configuration file of the second AMF, in the process of continuously updating the configuration file of the second AMF, the first AMF can adjust the migration strategy according to the information such as the load information, the capacity information, the load information of the first AMF and the like of the second AMF, for example, the migration direction information and the migration quantity information are redetermined, so that the load information balance of the AMF is realized, and the effect of the load information balance is further ensured.

Third possible case: in addition to the first AMF migrating users to the second AMF, there are other AMFs within the area or the collection, such as a third AMF, migrating users to the second AMF. In step 201, the first AMF subscribes to the configuration file of the third AMF from the configuration file management network element, then in step S202, the first AMF receives the configuration file of the third AMF from the configuration file management network element, in step S203, the first AMF determines that the third AMF migrates the user to the second AMF according to the configuration file of the third AMF, and then the first AMF may determine a migration policy, specifically, the first AMF determines the number of migrated users to the second AMF in combination with the number of migrated users in the configuration file of the third AMF. In addition, the rate of the user migrated from the first AMF to the second AMF may be adjusted by the first AMF, for example, the first AMF may perform the user migration at a rate of 2 users/second at the beginning of the user migration, and then the first AMF may sense an increased rate of the number of users of the second AMF, and adjust the rate of subsequent user migration of the first AMF according to the increased rate.

In the scheme shown in fig. 2, the first AMF may subscribe to the configuration file of at least one AMF in the area where the first AMF is located through the area identifier, so that signaling interaction between the first AMF and the configuration file management network element may be reduced. In addition, the first AMF can determine a migration policy through the subscribed configuration file of at least one AMF, and perform user migration so as to balance load information of the first AMF and the at least one AMF.

It should be understood that this embodiment is also applicable to a case where more than two AMFs exist in one set, and taking the example that the above-mentioned AMFs are all AMFs in the same area, a first AMF may subscribe to configuration files of all AMFs in the area, and the second AMF is the same, and furthermore, the above-mentioned AMFs are all the same in the same set. Because the number of AMFs or the area of the AMFs or the set of the AMFs are different, the methods for expanding the same ideas are all within the protection scope of the application, and reference may be made to the description of the embodiment, which is not repeated.

In connection with the embodiment shown in fig. 2, fig. 3 is an exemplary flowchart of a method for subscribing to a configuration file according to an embodiment of the present application. The present embodiment relates to an O-AMF, a T-AMF1, a T-AMF2, and an NRF, where the O-AMF may be understood as a source AMF, specifically an AMF migrating out of a user, and the T-AMF may be understood as a target AMF, specifically an AMF receiving a user from the source AMF. Taking the AMF that O-AMF, T-AMF1 and T-AMF2 are all the same area as the AMF, the O-AMF migrates users to the T-AMF1 and the T-AMF2 as an example for description. Wherein, the O-AMF may refer to the description of the first AMF in fig. 2, the T-AMF1 or the T-AMF2 may refer to the description of the second AMF in fig. 2, and the NRF may refer to the description of the profile management network element in fig. 2. This embodiment includes the following steps.

S301: the NRF receives the subscription message.

This step may refer to the description of S201 previously described.

This embodiment is illustrated by taking the example that the O-AMF subscribes to the configuration file of T-AMF1 and the configuration file of T-AMF 2.

It can be understood that the T-AMF1 and the T-AMF2 may also send subscription messages to the NRF, and the implementation method implemented by sending subscription messages to the NRF by referring to the O-AMF will not be described in detail. In the following steps of this embodiment, the subscription message is also sent by the T-AMF1 and the T-AMF2, which will not be described in detail later.

S302: the NRF sends to the O-AMF configuration file 1 of T-AMF1 and configuration file 1 of T-AMF 2.

This step may refer to the description of S202 previously described.

Specifically, the NRF receives the first load information of the T-AMF1 from the T-AMF1, and generates the configuration file 1 of the T-AMF1. The configuration file of the T-AMF1 comprises the first load information. The NRF then sends profile 1 of T-AMF1 to the O-AMF. In particular, the method of determining the configuration file shown in fig. 2 may be implemented. And the other is the same.

S303: the O-AMF determines a migration strategy according to the first load information of the T-AMF1.

This step may be performed with reference to S203 described above.

For example, the O-AMF may migrate a user of the O-AMF service to the T-AMF1 based on the first load information of the T-AMF1. It is understood that the O-AMF migrates the user of the O-AMF service to the T-AMF2 according to the first load information of the T-AMF 2. In particular, if the O-AMF is to migrate the users to the T-AMF1 and the T-AMF2, the number of users to the T-AMF1 and the T-AMF2 should be determined by considering the first load information of the T-AMF1 and the first load information of the T-AMF2, respectively. Specifically, the O-AMF may further determine the number of users to the T-AMF1 and the T-AMF2 according to the capacity information of the T-AMF1 and the capacity information of the T-AMF2, respectively, so as to prevent overload of the users of the services of the T-AMF1 and the T-AMF2 after migration.

S304: O-AMF migrates users to T-AMF1 and T-AMF 2.

This step may be implemented with reference to the relevant description in the embodiment shown in fig. 2.

It should be understood that the O-AMF implements the migration of the user according to the migration policy formulated in step S303. Specifically, the O-AMF may send the information of the user to be migrated to the T-AMF1 and the T-AMF2, respectively, and may be implemented with reference to the related description in the embodiment shown in fig. 2, which is not described herein.

S305: the O-AMF transmits migration information of the O-AMF to the NRF.

Specifically, the migration information may include migration number information and migration direction information.

It should be understood that S305 may be implemented before S304, after S304, or S305 may be implemented simultaneously with S304.

S306: NRF sends migration information of O-AMF to T-AMF1 and T-AMF2, respectively.

For example, the migration information for the O-AMF includes the number of users migrated to the T-AMF1 and the number of users migrated to the T-AMF 2.

S305 and this step may be implemented with reference to the second possible scenario in the embodiment shown in fig. 2. In the process of user migration, the number of users served by each AMF is continuously changed, and the execution of S305 and S306 can enable T-AMF1 and T-AMF2 to know migration information of the O-AMF, so that each can determine whether user migration is finished or not and determine whether to migrate users to other AMFs according to the migration information. In other words, taking T-AMF1 as an example, if T-AMF1 knows the migration information of the O-AMF, then T-AMF1 may not migrate the user back to the O-AMF any more, or even, since T-AMF1 finds that the O-AMF migrates the user to T-AMF2, then T-AMF1 may consider not migrating the user to T-AMF2 any more.

In the technical scheme shown in fig. 3, users of the O-AMF service may be migrated to the T-AMF1 and the T-AMF2 through S301 to S306 to achieve load information balancing. In a possible case, the O-AMF may migrate the user conforming to the migration quantity information to the T-AMF1 and/or the T-AMF2 according to the migration quantity information determined in S303. In a possible case, new users may access the O-AMF, the T-AMF1 and the T-AMF2 in the process of user migration, so the NRF may send the updated T-AMF1 and/or the updated configuration file of the T-AMF2 to the O-AMF, so that the O-AMF may determine whether to adjust the migration direction information and the migration quantity information, or whether to stop the user migration operation, which may specifically include the following operations.

S307: the NRF sends to the O-AMF configuration file 2 of T-AMF1 and configuration file 2 of T-AMF 2.

This step may refer to the description of S202 previously described.

Specifically, after the NRF receives the second load information of the T-AMF1 from the T-AMF1, the NRF generates the configuration file 2 of the T-AMF1, which may be implemented with reference to the configuration file determining method shown in fig. 2. The NRF then sends profile 2 of T-AMF1 to the O-AMF. The configuration files all comprise load information. And the other is the same.

S308: the O-AMF determines a migration strategy according to the second load information of the T-AMF 1.

For example, the O-AMF may determine whether to adjust the migration direction information and the migration number information according to the second load information of the T-AMF 1. Alternatively, the O-AMF may determine whether to stop the user migration operation according to the second load information of the T-AMF 1.

This step may be implemented with reference to S203.

For example, in the case where the second load of the T-AMF1 is greater than or equal to the O-AMF, the O-AMF may stop the user migration operation if the further O-AMF obtains a value greater than or equal to the first threshold value by subtracting the second load of the T-AMF1 from the load of the O-AMF. And the O-AMF determines the same migration strategy according to the load information of the T-AMF 2.

It should be understood that the O-AMF may determine whether to perform adjustment of the migration policy according to the information in the configuration file obtained in step S307, for example, the second load information, and if no adjustment of the migration policy is required, this step is an optional step.

In addition, it should be noted that, after the execution of this step is completed, the execution step S304 is returned, i.e. the step of migrating the user is executed. This process may be performed iteratively until the user migration is complete and a user equilibrium state is reached.

To facilitate an understanding of the embodiment shown in fig. 3, fig. 3 is further described in terms of specific embodiments below. It should be understood that the detailed description and specific values set forth below are intended to be exemplary only and are not intended to limit the embodiments.

For example, the configuration file 1 of the T-AMF1 in S302 includes capacity information and load information of the T-AMF 1. And the other is the same. Specifically, configuration file 1 of T-AMF1 includes a capacity of 200% for T-AMF1 and a load of 45% for T-AMF 1. The configuration file 1 of the T-AMF2 comprises the capacity of the T-AMF2 as 100, and the load of the T-AMF2 as 35%. In S303, it is described that the O-AMF determines whether the value obtained by subtracting the first load of the T-AMF1 from the load of the O-AMF is greater than or equal to the first threshold value, and the same applies to the T-AMF 2. Assuming a first threshold of 5%, the capacity of the O-AMF is 100 and the load is 95%. The difference of the load of the O-AMF minus the first load of the T-AMF1 is greater than the first threshold and the difference of the load of the O-AMF minus the first load of the T-AMF2 is greater than the first threshold in S303. The O-AMF may migrate users to T-AMF1 and T-AMF 2. In addition, since the number of users that the O-AMF is providing service is 95, the number of users that the T-AMF1 is providing service is 90, and the number of users that the T-AMF2 is providing service is 35. Therefore, the O-AMF can migrate 16 users to the T-AMF1 and 22 users to the T-AMF2 to achieve load balancing. Specifically, the operation of the O-AMF to perform the user migration to the T-AMF1 and the T-AMF2 may be implemented with reference to S304. In S305, the migration information may include a migration direction information of T-AMF1, a migration number of 16 in the migration number information, and a migration direction information of T-AMF2, and a migration number of 22 in the migration number information.

Configuration file 2 of T-AMF1 in S307 includes a capacity of 200 and a load of 53% for T-AMF 1. Configuration file 2 of T-AMF2 includes a capacity of 100 and a load of 57% for T-AMF 2. In S307, the capacity of the O-AMF is assumed to be 100 and the load is assumed to be 57%. The O-AMF may determine that a difference of the load of the O-AMF minus the first load of the T-AMF1 is less than a first threshold and that a difference of the load of the O-AMF minus the first load of the T-AMF2 is less than the first threshold. The O-AMF determines to stop the user migration operation in S308.

In the scheme shown in fig. 3, the AMF set or the AMF area where the O-AMF is located includes a plurality of AMFs, such as T-AMF1 and T-AMF2, and the O-AMF may subscribe to the configuration file of the T-AMF1 and the configuration file of the T-AMF2 by subscribing to the configuration file of the AMF in the AMF area or the AMF set where the O-AMF is located, so that signaling interaction between the O-AMF and the configuration file management network element in the subscription process may be reduced. In addition, the O-AMF can perform user migration operation according to the load information and capacity information of the T-AMF1 and the load information of the T-AMF2, so that the load information of the AMF in an AMF area or an AMF set where the O-AMF is located can be balanced.

In connection with the embodiment illustrated in fig. 2, fig. 4 is an exemplary flowchart of a method for subscribing to a profile provided in an embodiment of the present application. In this embodiment, O-AMF, T-AMF1, T-AMF2 and NRF are referred to, and O-AMF, T-AMF1 and T-AMF2 are AMF of the same area, and migration users of O-AMF to T-AMF1 and T-AMF2 are described as an example. Wherein, the O-AMF may refer to the first AMF in fig. 2, the T-AMF1 or the T-AMF2 may refer to the second AMF in fig. 2, and the NRF may refer to the configuration file management network element in fig. 2. This embodiment includes the following steps.

S401: the NRF receives the subscription message.

This step may be performed with reference to the aforementioned S301.

S402: the NRF sends to the O-AMF configuration file 1 of T-AMF1 and configuration file 1 of T-AMF 2.

This step may be implemented with reference to S301.

Specifically, the NRF receives the first load information of the T-AMF1 from the T-AMF1, and generates the configuration file 1 of the T-AMF 1. The configuration file of the T-AMF1 comprises the first load information. The NRF then sends profile 1 of T-AMF1 to the O-AMF. In particular, the method of determining the configuration file shown in fig. 2 may be implemented. And the other is the same.

S403: the O-AMF receives a logoff command or an upgrade command.

The logout command or the upgrade command may be sent from the OMC to the O-AMF. The execution sequence of S403 in the embodiment of the present application is not specifically limited, and S403 may be executed before S401 or S402, or may be executed after S401 or S402, or may be executed simultaneously with S401 or S402.

S404: the O-AMF determines a migration strategy according to the first load information of the T-AMF1.

This step may be implemented with reference to S303.

For example, the O-AMF migrates a user of the O-AMF service to the T-AMF1 according to the first load information of the T-AMF1. The O-AMF performs user migration to the T-AMF 2.

S405: O-AMF migrates users to T-AMF1 and T-AMF 2.

This step may be implemented with reference to S304.

It should be understood that the O-AMF implements the migration of the user according to the migration policy formulated in step S404. Specifically, the O-AMF may send the information of the user to be migrated to the T-AMF1 and the T-AMF2, respectively, and may be implemented with reference to the related description in the embodiment shown in fig. 2, which is not described herein.

S406: the O-AMF sends migration status information of the O-AMF to the NRF.

Since the O-AMF receives the logout command or the upgrade command, the O-AMF needs to migrate out of all users. Thus, the migration status information may be used to migrate all users of the O-AMF service.

This step may be carried out with reference to the second possible case in the method embodiment shown in fig. 2.

S407: the NRF transmits migration status information of the O-AMF to the T-AMF1 and the T-AMF 2.

This step may be carried out with reference to the second possible case in the method embodiment shown in fig. 2. The NRF sends migration status information of the O-AMF to the T-AMF2 as such.

S408: T-AMF1 determines not to migrate the user to O-AMF.

Since the migration status information of the O-AMF indicates all users that migrate out of the O-AMF service, the T-AMF1 determines not to migrate users to the O-AMF even if the load information of the T-AMF1 differs greatly from the load information of the O-AMF.

This step may be carried out with reference to the second possible case in the method embodiment shown in fig. 2. T-AMF2 determines not to migrate the user to O-AMF.

S409: the O-AMF continues the user migration operation until all users migrate to T-AMF1 and T-AMF2.

The user migration operation of the O-AMF in this step may be performed with reference to S303.

S410: the O-AMF performs an upgrade operation or a logout operation.

To facilitate an understanding of the embodiment shown in fig. 4, fig. 4 is further described in terms of specific embodiments below. It should be understood that the detailed description and specific values set forth below are intended to be exemplary only and are not intended to limit the embodiments.

For example, the configuration file 1 of the T-AMF1 includes capacity information and load information of the T-AMF1 in S402. Similarly, configuration file 1 of T-AMF2 may include capacity information and load information of T-AMF2. Specifically, configuration file 1 of T-AMF1 includes a capacity of 200% for T-AMF1 and a load of 45% for T-AMF 1. The configuration file 1 of the T-AMF2 comprises the capacity of the T-AMF2 as 100, and the load of the T-AMF2 as 35%. In S403, the O-AMF needs to migrate out of all users because it receives the logout command or the upgrade command. In S404 the O-AMF may determine the number of users migrated to T-AMF1 and the O-AMF may determine the number of users migrated to T-AMF2. O-AMF may migrate the user to T-AMF1 and T-AMF2 through S405. Since the migration status information indicates that the O-AMF migrates out of all users in S406, the T-AMF1 and T-AMF2 determine not to migrate users to the O-AMF in S408. Then, the O-AMF completes the user migration operation through S409 and performs the upgrade operation or the logout operation through S410.

In the scheme shown in fig. 4, when the O-AMF wants to drop out the network or upgrade, all users need to be migrated, the O-AMF may send migration status information to the NRF to indicate that the O-AMF migrates to remove all users, so that the T-AMF1 and the T-AMF2 do not execute the user migration operation, and the problem of user migration caused by the large difference between the load information of the O-AMF and the load information of the T-AMF1 and the load information of the T-AMF2 in the user migration process is reduced. Unlike the scheme shown in fig. 3, in the scheme shown in fig. 4, the O-AMF may migrate all users of the O-AMF service to the T-AMF and/or T-AMF2, and the O-AMF may reduce the possibility of user migration by sending migration status information indicating migration of all users.

In connection with the embodiment shown in fig. 2, fig. 5 is an exemplary flowchart of a method for subscribing to a configuration file according to an embodiment of the present application. In this embodiment, O-AMF1, O-AMF2, T-AMF1 and NRF are described by taking an AMF in which O-AMF1, O-AMF2 and T-AMF2 are the same region as examples. Wherein, the O-AMF1 and the O-AMF2 may refer to the first AMF in fig. 2, the T-AMF1 may refer to the second AMF in fig. 2, and the NRF may refer to the configuration file management network element in fig. 2. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 5, which is illustrated by way of example with both O-AMF1 and O-AMF2 migrating users to T-AMF1, the following steps may be included.

S501: the NRF receives the subscription message.

Specifically, for example, the NRF receives subscription messages from the O-AMF1 and the O-AMF2, and the subscription messages may refer to the description of step S301. It can be understood that the T-AMF1 may also send a subscription message to the NRF, and the implementation method implemented by sending the subscription message to the NRF with reference to the O-AMF1 will not be described in detail.

S502: NRF sends configuration file 1 of T-AMF1 and configuration file of O-AMF2 to O-AMF1, NRF sends configuration file 1 of T-AMF1 and configuration file of O-AMF1 to O-AMF 2.

Specifically, for example, the NRF receives the first load information of the T-AMF1 from the T-AMF1 and generates the configuration file 1 of the T-AMF 1. The configuration file of the T-AMF1 comprises the first load information. The NRF then sends profile 1 of T-AMF1 to the O-AMF. In particular, the method of determining the configuration file shown in fig. 2 may be implemented. And the other is the same.

In a possible case, the T-AMF1 may be an AMF with an upgrade ended, a fault restored, or a newly built network. For newly built network-entered AMFs, the network element state (NF status) may be updated to the NRF as an active state. For example, T-AMF1 may send load information of T-AMF1 to NRF to update the state to an active state. When the load information of the T-AMF1 is 0%, the NRF may update the network element state of the T-AMF1 to the active state.

S503: O-AMF1 determines migration policy 1,O-AMF2 based on the first load information of T-AMF1 and determines migration policy 2 based on the first load information of T-AMF1.

This step may be implemented with reference to S203.

For example, the O-AMF1 may determine a migration policy 1 according to the first load information of the T-AMF1, and migrate the user of the O-AMF1 service to the T-AMF1. And the O-AMF2 determines the migration strategy 2 to be the same according to the first load information of the T-AMF1.

S504: O-AMF1 sends migration information of O-AMF1 to NRF, and O-AMF2 sends migration information of O-AMF2 to NRF.

Specifically, the migration information may include migration direction information of the O-AMF1 and migration number information of the O-AMF 1. It is understood that the migration information of the O-AMF2 is sent to the NRF by the O-AMF2 as such.

S505: the NRF transmits migration information of the O-AMF2 to the O-AMF1, and transmits migration information of the O-AMF1 to the O-AMF 2.

Specifically, after the NRF receives migration information from the O-AMF2, it sends the migration information of the O-AMF2 to the O-AMF 1. And the other is the same.

S506: O-AMF1 migrates users to T-AMF1 at a first migration rate, and O-AMF2 migrates users to T-AMF1 at a third migration rate.

This step may be implemented with reference to the third possible scenario in the embodiment shown in fig. 2.

Specifically, when the O-AMF1 determines that the O-AMF2 still exists according to the migration information of the O-AMF2 and the user is migrated to the T-AMF1, the O-AMF1 can migrate the user to the T-AMF1 by adopting the first migration rate. The O-AMF2 adopts a third migration rate to migrate the user to the T-AMF1. The O-AMF1 may send the information of the user to be migrated to the T-AMF1, which may be implemented with reference to the related description in the embodiment shown in fig. 2, which is not described herein. O-AMF2 migrates the user to T-AMF1.

S507: the O-AMF1 sends the first migration rate to the NRF.

This step may be implemented with reference to the third possible scenario in the embodiment shown in fig. 2. The O-AMF2 sends the third migration rate to the NRF as such.

S508: the NRF sends a first migration rate to the T-AMF.

This step may be implemented with reference to the third possible scenario in the embodiment shown in fig. 2. The NRF sends the third migration rate to O-AMF1 as such.

It should be understood that if S507 and S508 are not performed, that is, the O-AMF1 does not transmit the first migration rate to the NRF and the O-AMF2 does not transmit the third migration rate to the NRF, the O-AMF1 may determine the migration rate of the O-AMF2 according to the migration information of the O-AMF2 in S505. O-AMF2 is the same.

S509: O-AMF1 migrates users to T-AMF1 at the second migration rate, and O-AMF2 migrates users to T-AMF1 at the fourth migration rate.

Specifically, O-AMF1 may determine whether T-AMF1 is at risk of overload based on the third migration rate of O-AMF 2. If O-AMF1 determines that T-AMF1 is not at risk of overload, the migration rate may be increased. Thus, the O-AMF1 may determine the second migration rate according to the third migration rate of the O-AMF2, and perform the user migration using the second migration rate. It is understood that O-AMF2 is the same.

To facilitate an understanding of the embodiment shown in fig. 5, fig. 5 is further described in terms of specific embodiments below. It should be understood that the detailed description and specific values set forth below are intended to be exemplary only and are not intended to limit the embodiments.

For example, the capacity information and the load information of the O-AMF1 may be included in the configuration file 1 of the O-AMF1 in S502. The configuration file of the O-AMF2 may include capacity information and load information of the O-AMF 2. The configuration file of the T-AMF1 may include capacity information and load information of the T-AMF 1. The capacity information includes a capacity and the load information includes a load. Specifically, the configuration file 1 of the O-AMF1 includes a capacity of 100% and a load of 65% of the O-AMF 1. The configuration file 1 of the O-AMF2 comprises the capacity of the O-AMF2 as 100 percent and the load as 75 percent. The configuration file 1 of the T-AMF1 comprises 100% of capacity and 0% of load of the T-AMF 1. In S503, the difference of the load of O-AMF1 minus the first load of T-AMF1 is greater than a first threshold. The O-AMF1 can determine the migration policy. For example, O-AMF1 may determine the number of users migrating to T-AMF1 and O-AMF2 determines the migration policy is the same. Suppose that the number of users for O-AMF1 migration to T-AMF1 is 30 and the number of users for O-AMF2 migration to T-AMF1 is 15. In S504, O-AMF1 transmits migration information to NRF, and O-AMF2 transmits migration information to NRF. In S505, the O-AMF1 may determine that there are more users for the O-AMF2 to migrate to the T-AMF1, so in S506, the O-AMF1 may migrate to the T-AMF1 at the first migration rate, and the O-AMF2 is the same. In S507 and S508, O-AMF1 may determine a migration rate of O-AMF2, such as a third migration rate, O-AMF2, and so forth. In S509, the O-AMF1 may determine whether T-AMF1 is at risk of overload according to the third migration rate of the O-AMF2, thereby determining whether the migration rate needs to be changed. For example, O-AMF1 determines that T-AMF1 is not at risk of overload, and O-AMF1 performs user migration to T-AMF1 at a second migration rate. O-AMF2 is the same. It should be appreciated that the first migration rate and the third migration rate may be the same or different. The second migration rate may be greater than the first migration rate and the fourth migration rate may be greater than the third migration rate. The second migration rate and the fourth migration rate are the same or different.

In the scheme shown in fig. 5, the O-AMF1 and the O-AMF2 may subscribe to information of all AMFs in the AMF area or the set through the area identifier or the set identifier, and when there is a newly-networked T-AMF1 in the AMF area or the AMF set subscribed by the O-AMF1 and the O-AMF2, the configuration file management network element may also not need to subscribe again, and may send the information of the newly-networked T-AMF1 to the O-AMF1 and the O-AMF2. In addition, when the O-AMF11 determines that there are other AMFs, such as the O-AMF2, and also migrates the user to the T-AMF1, the lower first migration rate may be used to migrate the user to the T-AMF1, so as to avoid overload of the T-AMF1, and when the O-AMF1 determines that the T-AMF1 does not have the risk of overload, the migration rate may be increased, so as to make the load of the AMF reach equilibrium as soon as possible.

Fig. 6 and fig. 7 are schematic structural diagrams of possible communication devices according to embodiments of the present application. These communication devices may be used to implement the functions of the first AMF, the second AMF or the configuration file management network element in the above method embodiments, so that the beneficial effects of the above method embodiments may also be implemented. In the embodiment of the present application, the communication device may be an AMF or a configuration file management network element, and may also be a module (such as a chip) applied to the AMF or the configuration file management network element.

As shown in fig. 6, the communication apparatus 600 includes a processing unit 610 and a transceiving unit 620. The communication device 600 is configured to implement the functions of the first AMF, the second AMF or the profile management network element in the method embodiments shown in fig. 2 to 5.

When the communication apparatus 600 is used to implement the functionality of the first AMF: a processing unit 610, configured to generate a subscription message. And a transceiver unit 620, configured to send a subscription message to the profile management network element. The transceiver unit 620 is further configured to receive the first configuration file of the second AMF from the configuration file management network element. Wherein the subscription message and the first configuration file may be referred to as related descriptions in the method embodiments shown in fig. 2 to 5.

In a possible implementation manner, the processing unit 610 is further configured to migrate the user of the first AMF service to the second AMF according to the load information of the second AMF.

In one possible implementation, the processing unit 610 is specifically configured to: the first AMF migrates the user of the first AMF service to the second AMF when a difference of the value of the first load information of the first AMF minus the value of the first load information of the second AMF is greater than or equal to a first threshold.

In one possible implementation, the processing unit 610 is specifically configured to: and migrating all or part of the users of the first AMF service to the second AMF.

In one possible implementation, the transceiver unit 620 is further configured to: and transmitting migration information to the configuration file management network element. Migration information may be found in the relevant descriptions in the method embodiments shown in fig. 2-5.

In one possible implementation, the transceiver unit 620 is further configured to: a second profile of a second AMF is received from a profile management network element. The processing unit 610 is further configured to: and stopping migrating the user of the first AMF service when the difference value of the second load information of the first AMF minus the second load information of the second AMF is less than or equal to a second threshold value.

In one possible implementation, the transceiver unit 620 is further configured to: and sending the migration state information to the configuration file management network element. The migration status information may be referred to in the relevant description of the method embodiments shown in fig. 2 to 5.

In a possible implementation manner, the area further includes a third AMF, and the transceiver unit 620 is further configured to: and receiving migration direction information of the third AMF from the configuration file management network element. The processing unit 610 is further configured to: and determining a first migration rate, and migrating the user of the first AMF service to the second AMF according to the first migration rate, wherein the first migration rate is smaller than or equal to a third threshold value. The migration direction information and the first migration rate of the third AMF may be described with reference to the method embodiments shown in fig. 2 to 5.

In one possible implementation, the transceiver unit 620 is further configured to: the migration rate of the third AMF is received from the profile management network element. The processing unit 610 is further configured to: and determining a second migration rate according to the migration rate of the third AMF. The processing unit 610 is further configured to: and migrating the user of the first AMF service to the second AMF according to the second migration rate. The migration rate of the third AMF and the second migration rate may be described with reference to the method embodiments shown in fig. 2 to 5.

When the communication device 600 is used to implement the functions of a profile management network element: the transceiver unit 620 is configured to receive a subscription message from the first AMF. The processing unit 610 is configured to generate a first configuration file of the second AMF. The transceiver unit 620 is further configured to send the first configuration file of the second AMF to the first AMF. The subscription message and the first profile may be referred to in the relevant description of the method embodiments shown in fig. 2-5.

In one possible implementation, the transceiver unit 620 is further configured to: load information of the second AMF is received from the second AMF.

In one possible implementation, the transceiver unit 620 is further configured to: and receiving migration information of the first AMF from the first AMF, and sending the migration information to the second AMF. Migration information may be found in the relevant descriptions in the method embodiments shown in fig. 2-5.

In one possible implementation, the transceiver unit 620 is further configured to: migration status information of the first AMF is received from the first AMF. The migration status information may be referred to in the relevant description of the method embodiments shown in fig. 2 to 5.

In one possible implementation, the area includes a third AMF, and the transceiver unit 620 is further configured to: and receiving the migration rate of the third AMF from the third AMF, and sending the migration rate of the third AMF to the first AMF. The migration rate can be seen from the relevant description in the method embodiments shown in fig. 2 to 5.

When the communication device 600 is used to implement the functionality of the second AMF: and a transceiver unit 620, configured to send a subscription message to the profile management network element. The transceiver unit 620 is further configured to receive a configuration file of the first AMF from the configuration file management network element. The configuration file comprises migration state information, wherein the migration state information is used for indicating migration of all users. The processing unit 610 is configured to determine whether to migrate the user of the second AMF service to the first AMF according to the migration status information. The migration status information may be referred to in the relevant description of the method embodiments shown in fig. 2 to 5.

In a possible implementation manner, the transceiver unit 620 is further configured to send load information of the second AMF to the profile management network element. The load information of the second AMF may be referred to as related description in the method embodiments shown in fig. 2 to 5.

The above-mentioned more detailed descriptions of the processing unit 610 and the transceiver unit 620 may be directly obtained by referring to the related descriptions in the method embodiments shown in fig. 2 to 5, which are not repeated herein.

As shown in fig. 7, the communication device 700 includes a processor 710 and an interface circuit 720. Processor 710 and interface circuit 720 are coupled to each other. It is understood that the interface circuit 720 may be a transceiver or an input-output interface. Optionally, the communication device 700 may further comprise a memory 730 for storing instructions to be executed by the processor 710 or for storing input data required by the processor 710 to execute instructions or for storing data generated after the processor 710 executes instructions.

When the communication device 700 is used to implement the methods shown in fig. 2 to 5, the processor 710 is configured to implement the functions of the processing unit 610, and the interface circuit 720 is configured to implement the functions of the transceiver unit 620.

Specifically, when the communication apparatus 700 is used to implement the function of the first AMF: processor 710 is configured to execute instructions stored in memory 730 to generate a subscription message. Interface circuit 720 for outputting the subscription message to the profile management network element. The interface circuit 720 is further configured to input the first configuration file of the second AMF from the configuration file management network element.

When the communication device 700 is used to implement the functionality of a profile management network element: interface circuitry 720 for inputting subscription messages from the first AMF. Processor 710 is configured to execute instructions stored in memory 730 to generate a first configuration file for the second AMF. The interface circuit 720 is further configured to output the first configuration file of the second AMF to the first AMF.

When the communication device 700 is used to implement the functionality of the second AMF: interface circuit 720 for outputting the subscription message to the profile management network element. The interface circuit 720 is further configured to input a configuration file of the first AMF from the configuration file management network element. The configuration file comprises migration state information, wherein the migration state information is used for indicating migration of all users. The processor 710 is configured to execute the instructions stored in the memory 730, and determine whether to migrate the user of the second AMF service to the first AMF based on the migration status information.

The above-mentioned more detailed description of the processor 710 and the interface circuit 720 can be directly obtained by referring to the related description in the method embodiments shown in fig. 2 to 5, and details are not repeated here.

It is to be appreciated that the processor in embodiments of the present application may be a central processing unit (Central Processing Unit, CPU), but may also be other general purpose processors, digital signal processors (Digital Signal Processor, DSP), application specific integrated circuits (Application Specific Integrated Circuit, ASIC), field programmable gate arrays (Field Programmable Gate Array, FPGA) or other programmable logic devices, transistor logic devices, hardware components, or any combination thereof. The general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, it may be any conventional processor.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that: the various numbers of first, second, etc. referred to in this application are merely for convenience of description and are not intended to limit the scope of embodiments of the present application, nor to indicate a sequence. "and/or", describes an association relationship of an association object, and indicates that there may be three relationships, for example, a and/or B, and may indicate: a exists alone, A and B exist together, and B exists alone. The character "/" generally indicates that the context-dependent object is an "or" relationship. "at least one" means one or more. At least two means two or more. "at least one" or the like, refers to any combination of these items, including any combination of single item(s) or plural items(s). For example, at least one of a, b, or c (species ) may represent: a, b, c, a-b, a-c, b-c, or a-b-c, wherein a, b, c may be single or plural. "plurality" means two or more, and the like.

It should be understood that, in various embodiments of the present application, the sequence numbers of the foregoing processes do not mean the order of execution, and the order of execution of the processes should be determined by the functions and internal logic thereof, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application.

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

In the above embodiments, it may be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, may be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When loaded and executed on a computer, produces a flow or function in accordance with embodiments of the present application, in whole or in part. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable apparatus. The computer instructions may be stored in or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another, for example, by wired (e.g., coaxial cable, optical fiber, digital Subscriber Line (DSL)), or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.). The computer readable storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device including one or more servers, data centers, etc. that can be integrated with the available medium. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium (e.g., a floppy disk, a hard disk, a magnetic tape), an optical medium (e.g., a DVD), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., a Solid State Disk (SSD)), or the like.

The various illustrative logical blocks and circuits described in the embodiments of the present application may be implemented or performed with a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor, an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the general purpose processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a digital signal processor and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a digital signal processor core, or any other similar configuration.

The steps of a method or algorithm described in the embodiments of the present application may be embodied directly in hardware, in a software element executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. The software cells may be stored in random access Memory (Random Access Memory, RAM), flash Memory, read-Only Memory (ROM), EPROM Memory, EEPROM Memory, registers, hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. In an example, a storage medium may be coupled to the processor such that the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may be integral to the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in an ASIC.

In one or more exemplary designs, the functions described herein may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination of the three. If implemented in software, the functions may be stored on a computer-readable medium or transmitted as one or more instructions or code on the computer-readable medium. Computer readable media includes both computer storage media and communication media that facilitate transfer of computer programs from one place to another. A storage media may be any available media that can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer. For example, such computer-readable media may include, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that may be used to carry or store program code in the form of instructions or data structures and other data structures that may be read by a general or special purpose computer, or a general or special purpose processor. Further, any connection is properly termed a computer-readable medium, e.g., if the software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source via a coaxial cable, fiber optic computer, twisted pair, digital Subscriber Line (DSL), or wireless such as infrared, radio, and microwave, and is also included in the definition of computer-readable medium. The disks (disks) and disks (disks) include compact disks, laser disks, optical disks, digital versatile disks (Digital Versatile Disc, DVD), floppy disk and blu-ray disk where disks usually reproduce data magnetically, while disks usually reproduce data optically with lasers. Combinations of the above may also be included within the computer-readable media.

Claims

1. A method of subscribing to a profile, comprising:

the method comprises the steps that a first access and mobility management function network element (AMF) sends a subscription message to a configuration file management network element, wherein the subscription message is used for subscribing a configuration file of a second AMF and comprises identification information of an area; wherein the second AMF and the first AMF are assigned to the area;

the first AMF receives a first configuration file of the second AMF from the configuration file management network element, wherein the first configuration file comprises first load information of the second AMF; the first configuration file is a configuration file of the second AMF.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the subscription message further includes identification information of a collection, and wherein the region includes the collection.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising:

and the first AMF migrates the user of the first AMF service to the second AMF according to the first load information of the second AMF.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the first AMF migrating the user of the first AMF service into the second AMF according to the first load information of the second AMF comprises:

And when the difference value of the first load information of the first AMF minus the first load information of the second AMF is greater than or equal to a first threshold value, the first AMF migrates the user of the first AMF service to the second AMF.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising:

the first AMF sends migration information to the configuration file management network element; the migration information includes migration direction information and migration quantity information, the migration direction information is used for indicating that the first AMF migrates users of the first AMF service to the second AMF, and the migration quantity information is used for indicating the quantity of users of the first AMF service migrated from the first AMF to the second AMF.

6. The method as recited in claim 5, further comprising:

the first AMF receives a second configuration file of the second AMF from the configuration file management network element, wherein the second configuration file comprises second load information of the second AMF; the second configuration file is a configuration file of the second AMF;

and stopping migrating the user of the first AMF service by the first AMF when the difference value of the second load information of the first AMF subtracted by the second load information of the second AMF is smaller than or equal to a second threshold value.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising:

and the first AMF sends migration state information to a configuration file management network element, wherein the migration state information is used for indicating users migrating all the first AMF services.

8. The method of any one of claims 1-4, further comprising a third AMF in the region, the method further comprising:

the first AMF receives migration direction information of the third AMF from the configuration file management network element; the migration direction information of the third AMF is used for indicating the third AMF to migrate the user of the third AMF service to the second AMF;

the first AMF determines a first migration rate, wherein the first migration rate represents the number of users of the first AMF service migrated to the second AMF in unit time;

and the first AMF migrates the user of the first AMF service to the second AMF according to the first migration rate, wherein the first migration rate is smaller than or equal to a third threshold value.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the method further comprises:

the first AMF receives the migration rate of the third AMF from the configuration file management network element;

The first AMF determines a second migration rate according to the migration rate of the third AMF; wherein the second migration rate is greater than the first migration rate;

and the first AMF migrates the user of the first AMF service to the second AMF according to the second migration rate.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the first AMF determining a second migration rate from the migration rate of the third AMF comprises:

the first AMF determines a second rate according to the migration rate of the third AMF and the first load information of the second AMF.

11. The method according to any of claims 1-10, wherein the profile management network element is a network warehousing function network element or an operation maintenance center or a service control point.

12. A method of subscribing to a profile, comprising:

the configuration file management network element receives a subscription message from a first access and mobility management function network element AMF; the subscription message is used for subscribing the configuration file of the second AMF and comprises the identification information of the region; wherein the second AMF and the first AMF are assigned to the area;

the configuration file management network element sends a first configuration file of the second AMF to the first AMF; the first configuration file comprises load information of the second AMF; the first configuration file is a configuration file of the second AMF.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the subscription message further includes set identification information, and wherein the region includes the set.

14. The method according to claim 12 or 13, wherein before the profile management network element sends the first profile of the second AMF to the first AMF, further comprising:

the configuration file management network element receives load information of the second AMF from the second AMF, wherein the load information of the second AMF is used for determining a configuration file of the second AMF.

15. The method according to any one of claims 12 to 14, further comprising:

the configuration file management network element receives migration information of the first AMF from the first AMF; the migration information includes migration direction information and migration quantity information, the migration direction information is used for indicating that the first AMF migrates users of the first AMF service to the second AMF, and the migration quantity information is used for indicating the quantity of users of the first AMF service migrated from the first AMF to the second AMF;

and the configuration file management network element sends the migration information to the second AMF.

16. The method according to any one of claims 12 to 14, further comprising:

the configuration file management network element receives migration status information of the first AMF from the first AMF, wherein the migration status information is used for indicating all users to migrate;

and the configuration file management network element sends the migration status information to the second AMF.

17. The method according to any one of claims 12 to 16, further comprising:

the area comprises a third AMF, the configuration file management network element receives the migration rate of the third AMF from the third AMF, the migration rate represents the number of users migrated from the third AMF to the second AMF in unit time, and the migration rate is used for determining the migration rate of the first AMF to migrate the users;

and the configuration file management network element sends the migration rate of the third AMF to the first AMF.

18. The method according to any of claims 12-17, wherein the profile management network element is a network warehousing function network element or an operation and maintenance center or a service control point.

19. A communication device comprising means for performing the method of any one of claims 1-11 or means for performing the method of any one of claims 12-18.

20. A communication device comprising a processor and interface circuitry for receiving signals from other communication devices than the communication device and transmitting to the processor or sending signals from the processor to other communication devices than the communication device, the processor being configured to implement the method of any one of claims 1 to 11 or to implement the method of any one of claims 12 to 18 by logic circuitry or execution of code instructions.

21. A computer readable storage medium, characterized in that the storage medium has stored therein a computer program or instructions which, when executed by a communication device, implement the method of any of claims 1 to 18.

22. A computer program product comprising computer executable instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the method of any one of claims 1 to 11 to be performed; or the method of any one of claims 12-18.

23. A communication system comprising a first access and mobility management function network element for performing the method according to any of claims 1-11, a profile management network element for performing the method according to any of claims 12-18.