CN117014851A

CN117014851A - Policy update synchronization method, system and storage medium

Info

Publication number: CN117014851A
Application number: CN202210460622.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 陈卓怡; 龙彪
Original assignee: China Telecom Corp Ltd
Current assignee: China Telecom Corp Ltd
Priority date: 2022-04-28
Filing date: 2022-04-28
Publication date: 2023-11-07

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a policy update synchronization method, a system, and a storage medium, wherein the method includes: when the first MME is switched to the second MME, the first MME sends information for establishing the strategy association to a corresponding network element so as to establish the strategy association between the second MME and the AMF; wherein, the first MME is an original service MME, and the second MME is a target service MME; the AMF sends policy update information to the second MME. According to the method and the system, after the user is switched from the 5G network to the 4G network and MME is further switched in the 4G network, the AMF can acquire that the switching occurs and determine the target service MME so as to ensure that the policy update information can be issued to the 4G network at the same time, so that the dynamic policy scheduling of the user from the 4G network to the 5G network is realized, and the use experience of the user is improved.

Description

Policy update synchronization method, system and storage medium

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a policy update synchronization method, system, and storage medium.

Background

The 4G and 5G have different network capabilities. For operators, users can access to the proper network, so that the service demands of the users can be guaranteed, and the operation cost can be reduced. In the related art, the ue and the base station perform reselection decisions between different access modes by detecting the radio signal strength of 4G or 5G. After the UE switches from the AMF (Access and Mobility Management Function, access and mobility management functions) in the 5G network to the MME (Mobility Management Entity ) in the 4G network, the AMF may continue to deliver the PCF dynamically updated AM policy parameters to the MME over the N26 interface. However, if the UE has an MME handover in the 4G network, that is, has changed to another MME, the AMF does not know that the MME handover has occurred, nor does it know the address of the other MME, and cannot send policy update information; the other MME can only select a proper RFSP Index according to the user registration data and the local policy of an operator and send the RFSP Index to a wireless side, so that the 4G network cannot realize dynamic policy scheduling of users from 4G to 5G, the users cannot be guided to receive 5G according to the high-value service used by the users, and the ping-pong problem of the users between the 4G/5G networks can be caused.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of the above, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method, a system and a storage medium for synchronizing policy updates.

According to a first aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a policy update synchronization method, including: when a first MME switches to a second MME, the first MME sends information for establishing policy association to a corresponding network element so as to establish policy association between the second MME and an AMF; wherein, the first MME is an original service MME, and the second MME is a target service MME; and the AMF sends policy update information to the second MME.

Optionally, the information for establishing policy association includes: dynamic policy information, validity time, AMF information, second MME information.

Optionally, when the first MME switches to the second MME, the first MME sending information for establishing policy association to the corresponding network element includes: in the tracking area updating TAU procedure, the first MME adds the information for establishing policy association to the UE context message replied by the second MME.

Optionally, when the first MME switches to the second MME, the first MME sending information for establishing policy association to the corresponding network element includes: in the S1 port switching procedure, the first MME adds the information for establishing policy association to a request message sent by the second MME.

Optionally, after the TAU procedure or the S1 port switching procedure is successful, the second MME sends a notification message to the AMF to notify the AMF to send the policy update information to the second MME; the AMF updates the UE related context information to delete the first MME and add the second MME; wherein the first MME releases a policy association with the AMF.

Optionally, when the first MME switches to the second MME, the first MME sending information for establishing policy association to the corresponding network element further includes: after the TAU procedure or the S1 port switching procedure is successful, the first MME sends the second MME information to the AMF to notify the AMF to send the policy update information to the second MME; the AMF updates the UE related context information to delete the first MME and add the second MME; wherein the first MME releases a policy association with the AMF.

Optionally, the dynamic policy information includes: RFSP Index and/or service area restrictions; the AMF information includes: one or more of ID, IP, FQDN information of the AMF; the second MME information includes: one or more of the ID, IP, FQDN information of the second MME.

Optionally, the sending, by the AMF, policy update information to the second MME includes: and the AMF sends the strategy updating information to the second MME through an N26 interface.

Optionally, the policy update information includes: update information of AM and/or UE policies.

According to a second aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a policy update synchronization system comprising: a first MME, a second MME and an AMF; the first MME is configured to send information for establishing policy association to a corresponding network element when switching to the second MME, so as to establish policy association between the second MME and the AMF; wherein, the first MME is an original service MME, and the second MME is a target service MME; the AMF is configured to send policy update information to the second MME.

Optionally, the first MME is further configured to add the information for establishing policy association in a UE context message replied to the second MME in a tracking area update TAU procedure.

Optionally, the first MME is further configured to add the information for establishing policy association in a request message sent to the second MME in an S1 port handover procedure.

Optionally, the second MME is configured to send a notification message to the AMF when the TAU procedure or the S1 port handover procedure is successful, to notify the AMF to send the policy update information to the second MME; the AMF is configured to update UE-related context information to delete the first MME and add the second MME; wherein the first MME releases a policy association with the AMF.

Optionally, the first MME is further configured to send the second MME information to the AMF after the TAU procedure or the S1 port handover procedure is successful, to notify the AMF to send the policy update information to the second MME; the AMF is configured to update UE-related context information to delete the first MME and add the second MME; wherein the first MME releases a policy association with the AMF.

Optionally, the AMF is configured to send the policy update information to the second MME through an N26 interface.

According to a third aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer readable storage medium storing computer instructions for execution by a processor of a method as described above.

The policy update synchronization method, the system and the storage medium can enable the AMF to acquire the occurrence of the switching and determine the target service MME after the user is switched from the 5G network to the 4G network and further switched from the MME in the 4G network, so as to ensure that the policy update information can be issued to the 4G network at the same time, realize the dynamic policy scheduling of the user from the 4G to the 5G, avoid the ping-pong problem caused by the mismatching of the mobility management policies in the 4G/5G network interoperation network, and improve the use experience of the user.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present disclosure or the solutions in the prior art, a brief description will be given below of the drawings required for the embodiments or the description of the prior art, it being obvious that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present disclosure, and that other drawings may be obtained according to these drawings without inventive faculty for a person skilled in the art.

FIG. 1 is a flow diagram of one embodiment of a policy update synchronization method according to the present disclosure;

fig. 2 is a flow diagram of establishing a new policy association by a second MME in one embodiment of a policy update synchronization method according to the present disclosure;

fig. 3 is a flow diagram of establishing a new policy association by a second MME in another embodiment of a policy update synchronization method according to the present disclosure;

fig. 4 is a flow diagram of establishing a new policy association by a first MME in one embodiment of a policy update synchronization method according to the present disclosure;

fig. 5 is a flow diagram of establishing a new policy association by a first MME in another embodiment of a policy update synchronization method according to the present disclosure;

fig. 6 is a block diagram of one embodiment of an update system of a routing policy according to the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

The present disclosure now will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which exemplary embodiments of the disclosure are shown. The following description of the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present disclosure will be made clearly and completely with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present disclosure, and it is apparent that the described embodiments are only some embodiments of the present disclosure, not all embodiments. Based on the embodiments in this disclosure, all other embodiments that a person of ordinary skill in the art would obtain without making any inventive effort are within the scope of protection of this disclosure.

FIG. 1 is a flow diagram of one embodiment of a policy update synchronization method according to the present disclosure, as shown in FIG. 1:

step 101, when the first MME switches to the second MME, the first MME sends information for establishing policy association to a corresponding network element, so as to establish policy association between the second MME and the AMF.

In one embodiment, the first MME is an original serving MME, i.e. the first MME is an MME to which the terminal is currently connected, and the second MME is a target serving MME, i.e. the second MME is a second MME to which the terminal is connected after MME switching is performed.

The information for establishing policy association includes one or more of dynamic policy information, validity time, AMF information, second MME information. The first MME may determine, for different application scenarios, content of information for establishing policy association, and send the content to a corresponding network element.

In step 102, the amf sends policy update information to the second MME. The policy update information is a new policy or content for updating an old policy, etc.

In one embodiment, the network enables intelligent scheduling triggered from the core network through NWDAF (Network Data Analytics Function, network data analysis function). The PCF (Policy Control Function ) may dynamically issue access and mobility management and user management policies AM policies, such as radio frequency selection priority parameters (or referred to as frequency selection priority Index, radio Frequency Selection Priority, abbreviated as RSFP Index), to the AMF according to analysis results of information such as user traffic behavior, network congestion status, etc., so as to implement dynamic 5G high/low frequency handover of the ue, or 5G to 4G handover or reselection.

The PCF may generate various UE policies, such as a urs (user equipment routing selection policy, user routing priority policy) or the like, which are used to direct the terminal to select an appropriate route for a particular traffic.

The PCF may send policy update information to the AMF based on existing criteria. For example, PCF issues AM policy or update information of AM policy to AMF through Npcf (PCF service interface) service. The PCF and the AMF are connected through an N15 interface, and the MME and the AMF are connected through an N26 interface, so that a mobility policy control channel from the PCF to the MME can be established. The AMF sends policy update information to the second MME through an N26 interface, wherein the policy update information comprises update information of the AM and/or UE policies.

By using the policy update synchronization method disclosed by the invention, when a user is switched from a 5G network to a 4G network and MME is further switched in the 4G network, the AMF can acquire that the switching occurs and determine a target service MME so as to ensure that policy update information can be issued to the 4G network at the same time.

When the UE accesses the 4G network, TAU (tracking area update) or S1 port handover is required. If the UE needs to continuously receive policy update information from the AMF through the MME in the 4G network, when TAU (tracking area update) or S1 port handover occurs, that is, when the serving MME changes, the original serving MME needs to send related information, for example, information such as network element information (including information such as IDs and addresses of the AMF and the second MME) and policy information (including information such as validity and parameters) to the corresponding network element, so that the AMF and the second MME can establish a new policy association relation for the UE, and it is ensured that a dynamic policy updated subsequently can be continuously sent to the 4G network.

In one embodiment, the information used to establish the policy association includes dynamic policy information, validity time, AMF information, etc.; dynamic policy information includes RFSP Index and service area restrictions, etc.; the AMF information includes one or more of ID, IP, FQDN (Fully Qualified Domain Name, full name) information of the AMF. Fig. 2 is a flow diagram of establishing a new policy association by a second MME in one embodiment of a policy update synchronization method according to the present disclosure, as shown in fig. 2:

in step 201, in the tracking area update TAU procedure, the first MME adds information for establishing policy association to the UE context message replied by the second MME.

Step 202, when the TAU procedure is successful, the second MME sends a notification message to the AMF to notify the AMF to send policy update information to the second MME. The second MME may adopt various notification messages, and notify the AMF to send policy update information to the second MME, where the notification messages carry ID or IP information of the second MME, and so on.

Step 203, the amf updates UE-related context information to delete the first MME and add the second MME; wherein the first MME releases a policy association with the AMF.

The AMF may delete the first MME and add the second MME using a variety of existing methods, establish a policy association with the second MME, and send policy update information to the second MME. The first MME may release the policy association with the AMF using a variety of existing methods, i.e., the first MME deletes policy association information with the AMF and stops receiving policy update information sent by the AMF.

Fig. 3 is a flow diagram of establishing a new policy association by a second MME in another embodiment of a policy update synchronization method according to the present disclosure, as shown in fig. 3:

in step 301, in the S1 port switching procedure, the first MME adds information for establishing policy association to a Forward Relocation Request message sent by the second MME.

Step 302, after the S1 port switching procedure is successful, the second MME sends a notification message to the AMF to notify the AMF to send policy update information to the second MME.

Step 303, the amf updates UE-related context information to delete the first MME and add the second MME; wherein the first MME releases a policy association with the AMF.

In one embodiment, the first MME is an original serving MME and the second MME is a target serving MME. For the TAU procedure: the first MME adds information such as dynamic policy information (e.g., RFSP Index and service area restriction), validity time, AMF information (one or more of ID, IP, FQDN information of AMF) and the like received from the 5GC in a UE context (context response) message replied to the second MME.

For the S1 port switching flow: the first MME adds information such as dynamic policy information (e.g., RFSP Index and service area restriction), validity time, AMF information (ID or IP information of AMF) and the like received from the 5GC to the Forward Relocation Request message sent to the second MME.

And after the TAU flow or the S1 port switching flow is successful, the second MME actively transmits a notification message to the AMF, and the notification message is used for notifying the AMF that the dynamic policy information updated subsequently is transmitted to the second MME. The AMF updates the UE-related context information (e.g., deletes the first MME, adds the second MME, etc.), the first MME releasing the UE-related policy association.

In one embodiment, the information for establishing policy association includes information such as dynamic policy information, valid time, second MME information, etc.; dynamic policy information includes RFSP Index and service area restrictions, etc.; the second MME information includes ID or IP information of the second MME, etc. Fig. 4 is a flow diagram of establishing a new policy association by a first MME in one embodiment of a policy update synchronization method according to the present disclosure, as shown in fig. 4:

in step 401, in the tracking area update TAU procedure, the first MME adds dynamic policy information and valid time to the UE context message replied by the second MME.

In step 402, after the TAU procedure is successful, the first MME sends second MME information to the AMF to notify the AMF to send policy update information to the second MME.

Step 403, the amf updates UE-related context information to delete the first MME and add the second MME; wherein the first MME releases a policy association with the AMF.

Fig. 5 is a flow diagram of establishing a new policy association by a first MME in another embodiment of a policy update synchronization method according to the present disclosure, as shown in fig. 5:

in step 501, in the S1 port switching procedure, the first MME adds dynamic policy information and valid time to a Forward Relocation Request message sent by the second MME.

Step 502, after the S1 port switching procedure, the first MME sends second MME information to the AMF to notify the AMF to send policy update information to the second MME.

The first MME may adopt various notification messages, and notify the AMF to send policy update information to the second MME, where the notification messages carry ID or IP information of the second MME, and so on.

Step 503, the amf updates UE-related context information to delete the first MME and add the second MME; wherein the first MME releases a policy association with the AMF.

In one embodiment, for the TAU procedure: the first MME adds information such as dynamic policy information (e.g., RFSP Index and service area restriction), valid time, etc., received from the 5GC in a UE context (context response) message replying to the second MME.

For the S1 port switching flow: the first MME adds information such as dynamic policy information (e.g., RFSP Index and service area restriction), validity time, etc. received from the 5GC to the Forward Relocation Request message sent to the second MME.

After the TAU flow or the S1 port switching flow is successful, the first MME sends second MME information (including ID or IP information of the second MME) to the AMF; the AMF updates UE-related context information (e.g., delete first MME, add second MME, etc.); the first MME releases the UE-related policy association.

If the policy association established between the second MME and the AMF is maintained, the AMF receives updated information of policies such as AM policies and UE policies sent from other network elements (e.g., PCF, etc.), and sends the updated information to the second MME through the N26 interface.

In one embodiment, when the user is in the 4G network registration idle state, the PCF may determine that the user will use a high-value service, for example, an interactive video/XR service, according to a user history behavior result analyzed by the NWDAF or receiving a third party AF service notification, and then the PCF may dynamically send RFSP Index policy update information to the MME through the AMF, and forward the RFSP Index policy update information to the wireless side by the MME, so as to guide the user to reselect to the 5G network, thereby improving user experience.

When the PCF receives intelligent analysis and suggestion information of 5G network congestion, the PCF decides to send updated RFSP Index strategy to the wireless side through AMF, and directs part of users to switch from 5G network to 4G network, so as to relieve congestion and ensure user experience. The PCF may simultaneously send the policy of the handed-off user to the newly registered MME (second serving MME). Because the user strategies of the 4G network and the 5G network are matched, the 4G network can be prevented from kicking the user back to the 5G because of user registration data or network default configuration, and the ping-pong problem is solved.

In one embodiment, as shown in fig. 6, the present disclosure provides a policy update synchronization system including a first MME61, a second MME62, and an AMF63. The first MME61 is configured to send information for establishing a policy association to a corresponding network element for establishing a policy association between the second MME62 and the AMF63 when switching itself to the second MME; wherein, the first MME61 is an original serving MME, and the second MME62 is a target serving MME.

AMF63 is configured to send policy update information to the second MME. For example, AMF63 is configured to send policy update information to second MME62 over the N26 interface; wherein the policy update information comprises update information of AM and/or UE policies.

In one embodiment, the information for establishing policy association includes one or more of dynamic policy information, validity time, AMF information, second MME information; dynamic policy information includes RFSP Index and service area restrictions, etc.; the AMF information includes one or more of ID, IP, FQDN information of the AMF, and the second MME information includes ID or IP information of the second MME, and the like.

The first MME61 is configured to add information for establishing a policy association in a UE context message replied to the second MME62 in a tracking area update TAU procedure. The first MME61 is configured to add information for establishing policy association in a Forward Relocation Request message sent to the second MME62 in the S1 port handover procedure.

The second MME62 is configured to send a notification message to the AMF63 to notify the AMF63 to send policy update information to the second MME62 when the TAU procedure or the S1 port handover procedure is successful. AMF63 is configured to update the UE-related context information to delete the first MME and add the second MME; wherein the first MME61 releases the policy association with the AMF63.

In one embodiment, the first MME61 is configured to add dynamic policy information and a valid time to the UE context message replied to the second MME62 in a tracking area update TAU procedure. The first MME61 is configured to add dynamic policy information and valid time to the Forward Relocation Request message sent by the second MME62 in the S1 port handover procedure.

The first MME61 is configured to send second MME information to the AMF63 to inform the AMF63 to send policy update information to the second MME62 when the TAU procedure or the S1 port handover procedure is successful. The AMF63 is configured to update UE-related context information to delete the first MME61 and add the second MME62; wherein the first MME61 releases the policy association with the AMF63.

In one embodiment, the present disclosure provides a computer readable storage medium storing computer instructions that when executed by a processor implement the policy update synchronization method of any of the embodiments above.

The policy update synchronization method, the system and the storage medium solve the problem that the prior art cannot realize that mobility policies support MME switching scenes in dynamic update of a 4G network, when a user switches from a 5G network to the 4G network and further performs MME switching in the 4G network, an AMF can acquire switching occurrence and determine a target service MME so as to ensure that policy update information can be sent to the 4G network at the same time, realize dynamic policy scheduling of the user from the 4G network to the 5G network, avoid ping-pong problems caused by mismatching of mobility management policies in the 4G/5G network interoperation network, and improve use experience of the user; and the change to the existing network is small, which is beneficial to the implementation of the technical scheme.

The methods and systems of the present disclosure may be implemented in a number of ways. For example, the methods and systems of the present disclosure may be implemented by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination of software, hardware, firmware. The above-described sequence of steps for the method is for illustration only, and the steps of the method of the present disclosure are not limited to the sequence specifically described above unless specifically stated otherwise. Furthermore, in some embodiments, the present disclosure may also be implemented as programs recorded in a recording medium, the programs including machine-readable instructions for implementing the methods according to the present disclosure. Thus, the present disclosure also covers a recording medium storing a program for executing the method according to the present disclosure.

The description of the present disclosure has been presented for purposes of illustration and description, and is not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the disclosure in the form disclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art. The embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the disclosure and the practical application, and to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the disclosure for various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated.

Claims

1. A policy update synchronization method, comprising:

when a first MME switches to a second MME, the first MME sends information for establishing policy association to a corresponding network element so as to establish policy association between the second MME and an AMF; wherein, the first MME is an original service MME, and the second MME is a target service MME;

and the AMF sends policy update information to the second MME.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein,

the information for establishing policy association includes: dynamic policy information, validity time, AMF information, second MME information.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the first MME sending information for establishing policy association to the corresponding network element when the first MME switches to the second MME comprises:

in the tracking area updating TAU procedure, the first MME adds the information for establishing policy association to the UE context message replied by the second MME.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the first MME sending information for establishing policy association to the corresponding network element when the first MME switches to the second MME comprises:

in the S1 port switching procedure, the first MME adds the information for establishing policy association to a request message sent by the second MME.

5. The method of claim 3 or 4, further comprising:

when the TAU procedure or the S1 port switching procedure is successful, the second MME sends a notification message to the AMF to notify the AMF to send the policy update information to the second MME;

the AMF updates the UE related context information to delete the first MME and add the second MME; wherein the first MME releases a policy association with the AMF.

6. The method of claim 3 or 4, the first MME sending information for establishing policy association to a corresponding network element when the first MME switches to the second MME further comprising:

after the TAU procedure or the S1 port switching procedure is successful, the first MME sends the second MME information to the AMF to notify the AMF to send the policy update information to the second MME;

7. The method of claim 2, wherein,

the dynamic policy information includes: rfspin and/or service area limitations;

the AMF information includes: one or more of ID, IP, FQDN information of the AMF;

the second MME information includes: one or more of the ID, IP, FQDN information of the second MME.

8. The method of claim 1, the AMF sending policy update information to the second MME comprising:

and the AMF sends the strategy updating information to the second MME through an N26 interface.

9. The method of any one of claim 1 to 8, wherein,

the policy update information includes: update information of AM and/or UE policies.

10. A policy update synchronization system, comprising: a first MME, a second MME and an AMF;

the first MME is configured to send information for establishing policy association to a corresponding network element when switching to the second MME, so as to establish policy association between the second MME and the AMF; wherein, the first MME is an original service MME, and the second MME is a target service MME;

the AMF is configured to send policy update information to the second MME.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein,

12. The system of claim 11, wherein,

the first MME is further configured to add the information for establishing policy association in a UE context message replied to the second MME in a tracking area update TAU procedure.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein,

the first MME is further configured to add the information for establishing policy association to a request message sent to the second MME in an S1 port handover procedure.

14. The system of claim 12 or 13, wherein,

the second MME is configured to send a notification message to the AMF when the TAU procedure or the S1 port handover procedure is successful, so as to notify the AMF to send the policy update information to the second MME;

the AMF is configured to update UE-related context information to delete the first MME and add the second MME; wherein the first MME releases a policy association with the AMF.

15. The system of claim 12 or 13, wherein,

the first MME is further configured to send the second MME information to the AMF when the TAU procedure or the S1 port handover procedure is successful, to notify the AMF to send the policy update information to the second MME;

16. The system of claim 11, wherein,

17. The system of claim 10, wherein,

the AMF is configured to send the policy update information to the second MME through an N26 interface.

18. The system of any one of claims 10-17, wherein,

19. A computer readable storage medium storing computer instructions for execution by a processor of the method of any one of claims 1 to 9.