CN117223269A

CN117223269A - Method and apparatus for supporting federal learning in a wireless communication system

Info

Publication number: CN117223269A
Application number: CN202380011172.6A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 徐東垠; 朴重信; 金慧圣
Original assignee: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd
Current assignee: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd
Priority date: 2022-03-28
Filing date: 2023-03-16
Publication date: 2023-12-12

Abstract

A 5G or 6G communication system for supporting higher data rates is provided. A method and apparatus for supporting federal learning in a wireless communication system are provided. The method comprises the following steps: receiving a first request from the AF, the first request comprising a list of UE addresses, qoS references or individual QoS parameters, and alternative service requirements; and transmitting a first response message including a result of the UE address list to the AF in response to receiving the first request. The result of the UE address list includes information indicating whether the first request is granted for the UE address in the UE address list.

Description

Method and apparatus for supporting federal learning in a wireless communication system

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for supporting federal learning in a wireless communication system.

Background

The fifth generation (5G) mobile communication technology defines a wide frequency band, making high transmission rates and new services possible, and can be implemented not only in a "sub-6 GHz" frequency band such as 3.5GHz, but also in a "higher than 6GHz" frequency band called mmWave including 28GHz and 39 GHz. Further, it has been considered to implement a 6G mobile communication technology (referred to as a super 5G system) in a terahertz frequency band (e.g., 95GHz to 3THz frequency band) in order to achieve a transmission rate fifty times faster than that of the 5G mobile communication technology and an ultra-low delay of one tenth of that of the 5G mobile communication technology.

At the beginning of development of 5G mobile communication technology, in order to support services and meet performance requirements related to enhanced mobile broadband (embbb), ultra-reliable low-delay communication (URLLC), and large-scale machine type communication (mMTC), standardization for beamforming and large-scale MIMO is underway, parameter sets for mitigating radio wave path loss in millimeter waves and increasing millimeter wave transmission distances, supporting dynamic operations for effectively utilizing millimeter wave resources and slot formats (e.g., operating a plurality of subcarrier intervals), initial access techniques for supporting multi-beam transmission and broadband, definition and operation of BWP (bandwidth part), new channel coding methods for mass data transmission such as LDPC (low density parity check) codes and polarization codes for highly reliable transmission of control information, L2 preprocessing, and network slicing for providing wireless communication. In some embodiments, the network may comprise a private network dedicated to a particular service.

Currently, in view of services supported by the 5G mobile communication technology, improvements and performance enhancements are being discussed with respect to the initial 5G mobile communication technology, and there has been physical layer standardization with respect to technologies such as V2X (vehicle to everything) for assisting driving determination of autonomous vehicles based on information on the position and state of vehicles transmitted by the vehicles and for enhancing user convenience, NR-U (new radio unlicensed) aimed at system operation conforming to various regulatory-related requirements in unlicensed bands, NR UE power saving, non-terrestrial network (NTN), which is UE-satellite direct communication for providing coverage in an area where communication with a terrestrial network is unavailable, and positioning.

Furthermore, there has been standardization regarding technology in air interface architecture/protocols such as industrial internet of things (IIoT) for supporting new services through interworking and convergence with other industries, IAB (integrated access and backhaul) for providing nodes for network service area extension by supporting wireless backhaul links and access links in an integrated manner, mobility enhancement including conditional handover and DAPS (dual active protocol stack) handover, and two-step random access (two-step RACH for NR) for simplifying random access procedures. System architecture/services are also being standardized with respect to 5G baseline architecture (e.g., service-based architecture or service-based interface) for combining Network Function Virtualization (NFV) and Software Defined Network (SDN) technologies, as well as Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) for receiving services based on UE location.

As 5G mobile communication systems are commercialized, connection devices that have been exponentially increased will be connected to communication networks, and thus it is expected that enhanced functions and performances of the 5G mobile communication systems and integrated operations of the connection devices will be necessary. For this reason, new researches related to augmented reality (XR) are being arranged for effectively supporting AR (augmented reality), VR (virtual reality), MR (mixed reality), etc., improving 5G performance and reducing complexity by using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML), AI service support, metaspace service support, and unmanned aerial vehicle communication.

Furthermore, such development of the 5G mobile communication system will be taken as a basis, not only for developing a new waveform for providing terahertz band coverage of the 6G mobile communication technology, multi-antenna transmission technologies such as full-dimensional MIMO (FD-MIMO), array antennas and massive antennas, metamaterial-based lenses and antennas for improving terahertz band signal coverage, high-dimensional spatial multiplexing technology using OAM (orbital angular momentum) and RIS (reconfigurable intelligent surface), but also for developing a full duplex technology for improving frequency efficiency of the 6G mobile communication technology and improving a system network, AI-based communication technology for realizing system optimization by utilizing satellites and AI (artificial intelligence) and internalizing end-to-end AI support functions from a design stage, and next generation distributed computing technology for realizing services at a complexity level exceeding I. Thus, the limitation of the UE's operational capabilities can be eliminated by utilizing ultra-high performance communication and computing resources.

Disclosure of Invention

Technical problem

The mobile communication terminal application service provider may utilize a machine learning model for the service. To learn the machine learning model, an application service provider may utilize Federal Learning (FL). That is, the application running on each terminal learns the local model using the collected local data and transmits only the resulting local updates (i.e., gradients) to the server, and the server collects the local updates from the application to learn the global model and distributes the global model to the application again. Each application participating in the FL may have a different learning speed (i.e., a speed at which the learning result is transmitted to the server) depending on the network conditions of the terminal driving the application, and the overall learning speed of the FL is determined by the member having the slowest learning speed (i.e., the application or the terminal). Therefore, for efficient learning, it is important that terminals that can receive the allocation of the same network resources participate in the FL.

Since the overall learning speed of the FL is determined by the slowest learning speed of the members (i.e., applications or devices), the AF may require an address list (e.g., a set of device IP addresses) for a particular device, which may be allocated the same network resources from the member's address list.

Solution to the problem

The 5G mobile communication carrier may provide information (e.g., a UE address list) about terminals that can receive the allocation of the same QoS for FL traffic transmission to an application service provider performing federal learning through an Application Function (AF).

The technical problems to be achieved in the present disclosure are not limited to the above-described technical problems, and other technical problems not mentioned may be clearly understood by those of ordinary skill in the art to which the present disclosure pertains from the following description.

A method performed by a Network Exposure Function (NEF) in a wireless communication system, comprising: receiving a first request from an Application Function (AF), the first request comprising a list of User Equipment (UE) addresses, qoS references or individual QoS parameters, and alternative service requirements; and sending a first response message to the AF including a result for the list of UE addresses, wherein the result for the list of UE addresses includes whether to grant (grant) the first request for each UE address in the list of UE addresses.

The present disclosure provides a method for supporting federal learning in a mobile communication system. Specifically, the mobile communication system receives identifier information and quality of service (QoS) requirements of terminals capable of participating in federal learning from an external third party server (e.g., an Application Function (AF)), and the mobile communication system selects terminals capable of allocating network resources and allocates sub-network resources thereof (i.e., qoS flows) based on the requirements and transmits the result thereof to the AF.

Before proceeding with the following detailed description, it may be advantageous to set forth definitions of certain words and phrases used throughout this patent document: the terms "include" and "comprise" and their derivatives are intended to be inclusive and not limited to; the term "or" is inclusive, meaning and/or; the phrases "associated with … …" and "associated therewith," and derivatives thereof, may mean including, being included within … …, interconnected with … …, contained within … …, connected to or connected with … …, coupled to or coupled with … …, communicable with … …, cooperating with … …, interleaved, juxtaposed, proximate to, bound to or bound to … …, having properties of … …, and the like; and the term "controller" means any device, system, or portion thereof that controls at least one operation, such device may be implemented in hardware, firmware, or software, or some combination of at least two of the same. It should be noted that the functionality associated with any particular controller may be centralized or distributed, whether locally or remotely.

Furthermore, the various functions described below may be implemented or supported by one or more computer programs, each of which is formed from computer readable program code and embodied in a computer readable medium. The terms "application" and "program" refer to one or more computer programs, software components, sets of instructions, procedures, functions, objects, classes, instances, related data, or a portion thereof adapted for implementation in a suitable computer readable program code. The phrase "computer readable program code" includes any type of computer code, including source code, object code, and executable code. The phrase "computer readable medium" includes any type of medium capable of being accessed by a computer, such as Read Only Memory (ROM), random Access Memory (RAM), a hard disk drive, a Compact Disc (CD), a Digital Video Disc (DVD), or any other type of memory. "non-transitory" computer-readable media do not include wired, wireless, optical, or other communication links that transmit transitory electrical or other signals. Non-transitory computer readable media include media that can permanently store data and media that can store and subsequently rewrite data, such as rewritable optical disks or erasable memory devices.

Definitions for certain words and phrases are provided throughout this patent document, those of ordinary skill in the art should understand that in many, if not most instances, such definitions apply to prior as well as future uses of such defined words and phrases.

Advantageous effects of the invention

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, in a 5G system, an AF requests a PCF to generate QoS flows having the same QoS for a plurality of terminals through a NEF, and the PCF generates QoS flows having the same QoS for the terminals and transmits corresponding terminals and QoS information to the AF again. The external application service provider may receive information about terminals satisfying the requested QoS from the 5G system through the AF and receive network resource allocation satisfying the requested QoS of the terminals.

The effects obtainable in the present disclosure are not limited to the above-described effects, and other effects not mentioned may be clearly understood by those of ordinary skill in the art to which the present disclosure pertains from the following description.

Drawings

In the drawings, the same or similar reference numerals may be used for the same or similar components.

Fig. 1 illustrates a process in which an AF requests QoS flow allocation and terminal selection based on a requirement of a PCF by a NEF according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 2 shows a process in which an AF requests a terminal list update and QoS requirements in a FL group from a PCF through a NEF according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 3 illustrates a process of AF creation/update/deletion of parameters of FL service for UDM according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 4 illustrates the fact that the PCF recognizes, through the UDM, that the terminal corresponding to the PDU session belongs to the FL group during PDU session creation or modification, and determines QoS parameters according to QoS requirements received from the UDM, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 5 illustrates a configuration of a terminal according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 6 illustrates the composition of a network entity according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

Figures 1 through 6, discussed below, and the various embodiments used to describe the principles of the present disclosure in this patent document are by way of illustration only and should not be construed in any way to limit the scope of the disclosure. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the principles of the present disclosure may be implemented in any suitably arranged system or device.

Hereinafter, the operation principle of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Further, terms to be described later are terms defined in consideration of functions in the present disclosure. Since this may vary according to the intention or customization of the user or operator, its definition should be determined according to the contents throughout the specification.

For the same reason, some components are exaggerated, omitted, or schematically shown in the drawings. Furthermore, the size of each component cannot fully reflect the actual size. In each drawing, like reference numerals designate identical or corresponding components.

Advantages and features of the present disclosure and methods of accomplishing the same may become apparent with reference to the following detailed description of embodiments taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. However, the present disclosure is not limited to the embodiments disclosed below, but may be embodied in various different forms and the embodiments enable the present disclosure to be set forth fully and are provided to fully inform the person of ordinary skill in the art to which the present disclosure pertains and are limited only by the scope of the claims. Like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout the specification.

In this case, it will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations, and combinations of flowcharts, can be implemented by computer program instructions. Because such computer program instructions may be installed in a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus, instructions executed by the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus create means for implementing the functions described in the flowchart block or blocks. Because such computer program instructions may be stored in a computer-usable or computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, the instructions stored in the computer-usable or computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instruction means that implement the function specified in the flowchart block or blocks. Because the computer program instructions may be installed on a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, a series of operational steps are performed on the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a computer-implemented process; accordingly, instructions for executing a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus may provide steps for implementing the functions described in the flowchart block or blocks.

Furthermore, each block may represent a module, segment, or portion of code, which comprises one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified logical function(s). Further, it should be noted that in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of the order. For example, two blocks shown in succession may in fact be executed substantially concurrently or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality involved.

In this case, the term "-unit" used in this embodiment means a software or hardware component such as an FPGA or an ASIC, and "-unit" performs certain roles. However, "-unit" is not limited to software or hardware. The "-unit" may be configured to reside in an addressable storage medium or may be configured to reproduce one or more processors. Thus, as an example, "-unit" includes components such as software components, object-oriented software components, class components and task components, processes, functions, attributes, procedures, subroutines, segments of program code, drivers, firmware, microcode, circuitry, data, databases, data structures, tables, arrays, and variables. The functionality provided for in the components and "-units" may be combined into a fewer number of components and "-units", or may be further divided into additional components and "-units. Further, the components and "-units" may be implemented as one or more CPUs in a rendering device or a secure multimedia card.

Specific terms used in the following description are provided to aid in understanding the present disclosure, and the use of these specific terms may be changed to other forms without departing from the technical spirit of the present disclosure.

For convenience of description, terms indicating network entities, terms indicating messages, terms indicating identification information, etc. used in the description are exemplified. Accordingly, the present disclosure is not limited to the terms described below, and other terms indicating objects having equivalent technical meanings may be used.

Hereinafter, for convenience, the present disclosure uses terms and names defined in the 5G system standard, but is not limited by terms and names, and may be equally applied to systems conforming to other standards.

The present disclosure provides a method for supporting federal learning in a mobile communication system. In the present disclosure, a mobile communication system receives identifier information and quality of service (QoS) requirements of terminals capable of participating in federal learning from an external third party server (application function (AF)), and the mobile communication system selects terminals capable of allocating network resources and allocates sub-network resources (i.e., qoS flows) based on the requirements and transmits the result thereof to the AF.

The 5G core network is composed of an access and mobility management function (AMF) providing a mobility management function of the UE, a Session Management Function (SMF) providing a session management function, a User Plane Function (UPF) performing a data transmission role, a Policy Control Function (PCF) providing a policy control function, a Unified Data Management (UDM) providing a data management function such as subscriber data and policy control data, and a network function such as a Unified Data Repository (UDR) storing data of various network functions such as the UDM.

In the 3GPP system, a conceptual link connecting NFs in the 5G system is defined as a reference point.

The reference points included in the 5G system architecture are shown below:

-N1: a reference point between the UE and the AMF;

-N2: (R) a reference point between AN and AMF;

-N3: (R) a reference point between AN and UPF;

-N4: a reference point between SMF and UPF;

-N5: a reference point between PCF and AF;

-N6: a reference point between UPF and DN;

-N7: a reference point between the SMF and PCF;

-N8: a reference point between UDM and AMF;

-N9: a reference point between two core UPFs;

-N10: a reference point between UDM and SMF;

-N11: a reference point between AMF and SMF;

-N12: reference points between AMF and AUSF (authentication server function);

-N13: a reference point between the UDM and an authentication server function (AUSF);

-N14: a reference point between two AMFs; and

-N15: reference point between PCF and AMF in case of non-roaming scenario, reference point between PCF and AMF in the visited network in case of roaming scenario.

In 5G systems, network slicing refers to techniques and structures that implement virtualized, independent, and multiple logical networks in one physical network. To meet the specific requirements of the service/application, the network operators construct virtual end-to-end networks of the network slices to provide the service. In this case, the network slice is identified by an identifier of single network slice selection assistance information (S-NSSAI). The network may send an allowed set of slices (e.g., allowed nsais) to the terminal during a terminal registration procedure (e.g., a UE registration procedure), and the terminal may send and receive application data via a Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session generated by one of the S-nsais (i.e., network slices) in the set of slices.

The mobile communication system receives identifier information and quality of service (QoS) requirements of terminals capable of participating in federal learning from an external third party server (application function, AF), and the mobile communication system selects terminals that can allocate network resources and allocate sub-network resources (i.e., qoS flows) based on the requirements and transmits the result thereof to the AF. In terms used in the description of the present disclosure, aggregated QoS may be used and interpreted in the same sense as the same QoS, and group QoS. For example, the aggregated QoS request indicator and the same QoS request indicator, the aggregated QoS information and the same QoS information, and the aggregated QoS notification indicator and the same QoS notification indicator may be interpreted and used in the same sense.

Fig. 1 illustrates a process by which an AF requests QoS flow allocation and UE selection based on the PCF's requirements through the NEF, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to fig. 1, in step 101, the AF 100 may send a request message to the NEF 110. The request message sent by AF 100 to NEF 110 may include the following information:

(1) aggregate QoS request indicator, (2) UE address list, (3) requirement, [ alternate requirement ], (4) FL group id, (5) S-NSSAI, DNN, etc.

In the case where the request message sent by the AF 100 includes an aggregate QoS request indicator, the requirement may include a QoS reference (i.e., an identifier representing one of several predefined individual QoS parameters) or an individual QoS parameter. The AF 100 may include the following information in the alternative requirements so that the network may choose according to the situation:

a set of pairs (QoS reference or individual QoS parameters, the minimum selected number of UEs).

According to an embodiment, the request message may be an nnef_afsessionwithqos creation request message.

In step 102, when a request message is received from the AF 100 in step 101, the NEF 110 performs authorization on its request message. In this case, in the case where the number of UEs corresponding to the UE address list in the request message received from the AF 100 or the number of UEs included in the substitution requirement is greater than a predefined number, steps 103 and 104 may be omitted, and in step 105, the message transmitted to the AF may include an indicator indicating rejection of the request, a cause value indicating rejection due to exceeding the number of UEs, and the number of allowable UEs.

In step 103, the NEF 110 may store some or all of the information received from the AF 100 in step 101 in a unified data store (UDR). The NEF 110 may perform PCF discovery of the PCF 120 for a list of UE addresses received from the AF 100 through a Binding Support Function (BSF). The NEF 110 may transmit the UE address list or FL group id or an identifier of the UE corresponding to the UE address list in a PCF discovery request message to be transmitted to the BSF, and the BSF having received the message may transmit the PCF 120 and UE address and/or identifier information of the UE for which the PCF 120 is responsible to the NEF 110. The BSF may store FL group ids, PCF ids, and a list of UE addresses for each PCF.

In the case where multiple PCFs 120 are found, the NEF 110 may generate a separate identifier (sub-FL group id) for the list of UE addresses for each PCF and store the separate identifier as data associated with the FL group id in the UDR 140.

In case of finding a plurality of PCFs 120, the NEF 110 may send a request message to each PCF 120, and in this case, the request message includes only the address of the UE for which the corresponding PCF 120 is responsible in the list of UE addresses received from the AF 100 in step 101. NEF 110 may include a UE id corresponding to the UE address of each UE in a message to be sent to PCF 120.

In step 103, the NEF 110 may transmit information included in the message received from the AF 100 in step 101 to the PCF 120 in addition to the above-described information.

For example, in step 103, NEF 110 may send a request message corresponding to each UE to the corresponding PCF. For example, in step 103, NEF 110 may send a request message to the corresponding PCF for the UE corresponding to each PCF.

In the case where only the UE address list and the FL group id are present in the message received from the AF 100 in step 101, the NEF 110 may not transmit a message to the PCF 120, and transmit a response message that the FL group has been created to the AF 100 in step 105.

According to an embodiment, the message sent by NEF 110 to PCF 120 may be an npcf_policyAuthorization_Create request message.

In step 104, in the case that the aggregated QoS request indicator is included in the message received in step 103, PCF 120 may identify whether QoS corresponding to the requirements of the message received in step 103 is allowed for all UEs corresponding to the list of UE addresses included in the corresponding message. For all UEs that are allowed to provide QoS, PCF 120 may determine a QoS related parameter corresponding to the requirement and request to generate a QoS flow corresponding to the QoS related parameter to a Session Management Function (SMF). In the event that an alternative requirement is included in the message received in step 103, PCF 120 may dynamically select QoS-related parameters and UEs that meet the alternative requirement based on network conditions. When a new QoS parameter or UE is selected, PCF 120 may inform AF 100 of this via NEF 110.

PCF 120 may include the following information in the response message sent to NEF 110: whether the requested QoS is allowed for each UE corresponding to the list of UE ids or UE addresses that allow QoS; allowed QoS information (i.e., selected aggregated QoS information), number of allowed UEs, number of rejected UEs, etc.

According to an embodiment, the response message sent by PCF 120 to NEF 110 may be an npcf_policy authorization_create response message.

In step 105, NEF 110 can send the information received from PCF 120 to AF 100. In the case of receiving responses from multiple PCFs 120, NEF 110 may include a list of UE addresses for each PCF identified in step 103 and corresponding identifier information in a message sent to the corresponding AF 100. The AF 100 may identify information about the selected UEs for each PCF 120 and selected aggregate QoS information based thereon.

According to an embodiment, the response message sent by NEF 110 to AF 100 may be an nnef_afsessionwithqos creation response message.

In step 106, the AF 100 may send a subscription request message including the FL group id and the event id to the NEF 110 to request notification when a specific event identified by the event id occurs in the PCF 120 corresponding to the FL group id.

In step 107, PCF 120 may include the PCF group id in the notification message when the corresponding event occurs and send the notification message to AF 100 via NEF 110.

Fig. 2 shows a process in which the AF 100 requests UE list updates and QoS requirements in the FL group from the PCF 120 through the NEF 110, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to fig. 2, in step 201-a, the AF 100 may send a request message to the NEF 110 when updating a requirement or a UE address list. The request message sent by AF 100 to NEF 110 may include the following information:

(1) Aggregate QoS request indicator, (2) UE address list, (30) requirement, [ alternate requirement ], (4) FL group id, (5) S-NSSAI, DNN, etc.

a set of pairs (QoS reference or individual QoS parameters, minimum number of selected UEs).

According to an embodiment, the request message may be an nnef_afsessionwithqos update request message.

In step 201-b, in case the AF 100 updates aggregated QoS information selected for the FL group id by another PCF 120 (in case a new QoS is selected due to an alternative requirement), the AF 100 may request a QoS update from the corresponding PCF 120 through the NEF 110. The request message includes the following information:

(1) the selected aggregate QoS notification indicator, (2) the requirement, (3) the UE address list, (4) the FL group id, (5) the sub-FL group id, and so on.

According to an embodiment, the message may be an Nnef notification request message.

In step 202, when NEF 110 receives a request message from AF 100 in step 201, NEF 110 performs authorization on its request message. In this case, in the case where the number of UEs corresponding to the UE address list in the request message received from the AF 100 or the number of UEs included in the substitution requirement is greater than a predefined number, steps 203 and 204 may be omitted, and in step 205, the message transmitted to the AF 100 may include an indicator indicating rejection of the request, a cause value indicating rejection due to exceeding the number of UEs, and the number of allowable UEs.

In step 203, the NEF 110 may store some or all of the information received from the AF 100 in step 201 in the UDR 140. The NEF 110 may perform PCF discovery of the PCF 120 for a list of UE addresses received from the AF 100 through a Binding Support Function (BSF). The NEF 110 may send the UE address list or FL group id or an identifier of the UE corresponding to the UE address list in a PCF discovery request message to be sent to the BSF, and the BSF having received the message may send PCF 120 and UE identifier information and/or the UE address for which PCF 120 is responsible to NEF 110. In the case where a plurality of PCFs 120 are found, the NEF 110 transmits a request message to each PCF 120, and in this case, the request message includes only the address of the UE responsible for the corresponding PCF 120 from the list of UE addresses received from the AF 100 in step 201. NEF 110 may include a UE id corresponding to the UE address of each UE in a message to be sent to PCF 120.

For example, a Binding Support Function (BSF) may perform PCF discovery for multiple PCFs 120 for a list of UE addresses received from the NEF 110. For example, the BSF may send PCF discovery messages for multiple PCFs 120 for a list of UE addresses received from the NEF 110.

In addition to the above information, NEF 110 may send information included in the message received from AF 100 in step 201 to PCF 120.

For example, in step 203, NEF 110 may send a request message corresponding to each UE to the corresponding PCF. For example, in step 203, NEF 110 may send a request message to the corresponding PCF for the UE corresponding to each PCF.

In the case where only the UE address list and the FL group id are present in the message received from the AF 100 in step 201, the NEF 110 may not transmit the message to the PCF 120, but transmit a response message that the FL group has been created to the AF 100 in step 205.

According to an embodiment, the message sent by NEF 110 to PCF 120 may be an npcf_policy authorization_update request message.

In step 204, in the event that the aggregate QoS request indicator is included in the message received in step 203, PCF 120 may identify whether QoS corresponding to the requirements of the message received in step 203 is allowed for all UEs corresponding to the list of UE addresses included in the corresponding message. For all UEs that are allowed to provide QoS, PCF 120 may determine a QoS related parameter corresponding to the requirement and request to generate a QoS flow corresponding to the QoS related parameter to a Session Management Function (SMF). In the event that the message received in step 203 includes an alternative requirement, PCF 120 may select QoS-related parameters and UEs that satisfy the alternative requirement.

PCF 120 may include the following information in the response message to be sent to NEF 110: whether the requested QoS is allowed for each UE corresponding to the list of UE ids or UE addresses that allow QoS; the allowed QoS information, the number of allowed UEs, the number of rejected UEs, etc.

According to an embodiment, the message sent by NEF 110 to PCF 120 may be an npcf_policyAuthorization_update response message.

In step 205, NEF 110 can send the information received from PCF 120 to AF 100.

According to an embodiment, the message sent by NEF 110 to AF 100 may be an nnef_afsession withqos update/creation response message.

Fig. 3 illustrates a process in which the AF 100 creates/updates/deletes parameters for the FL service to the UDM 130 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to fig. 3, in accordance with an embodiment, in step 300, a Network Function (NF) 150 may send a subscription request message to the UDM 130. In this case, the message sent by the NF may be a nudm_sdm_subscnibe request message.

In step 301, the AF 100 may send the following parameters related to the FL service to the NEF 110 to request parameter creation/update/deletion:

(1) an aggregate QoS request indicator, (2) a list of UE addresses or UE ids, requirements, [ alternate requirements ], (3) FL group ids, (4) S-nsai, (5) DNN, [ selected aggregate QoS information ], etc.

According to an embodiment, the message sent by the AF 100 to the NEF 110 may be an nnef_parameter provision_create/Update/Delete request message.

In step 302, the NEF 110 may perform authorization on the request from the AF 100 and then send information included in the message received from the AF 100 to the UDM 130.

According to an embodiment, the message sent to the UDM 130 may be a nudm_parameter provision_create/Update/Delete request message, and the message may include a message received from the AF 100 or information included in a message received from the AF 100.

In step 303, to validate the change request of the information received in step 302, the UDM 130 may receive subscription information from the UDR 140. In this case, the UDM 130 may receive subscription information from the UDR 140 based on the UE id.

In step 304, if the authentication is successful in step 303, the UDM 130 may store the information received from the AF 100 in the UDR 140 using the following as a data key:

(1) FL group id, (2) sub-FL group id, etc.

In step 305, the UDM 130 may send the request result to the NEF 110. According to an embodiment, the message sent by the UDM 130 to the NEF 110 may be a nudm_parameter provision_create/Update/Delete response message.

In step 306, the NEF 110 may send the result received in step 305 to the AF 100. According to an embodiment, the message sent by NEF 110 to AF 100 may be an nnef_parameter provision_create/Update/Delete response message, and the result value may be included in the message.

In step 307, when there is an NF (e.g., PCF 120) corresponding to the changed information in step 304, UDM 130 may notify the NF of the updated information. For example, in the case where information about the UE included in the FL group id is changed, the UDM 130 may notify the PCF 120 of this, or in the case where QoS requirements corresponding to the FL group id are changed, the UDM 130 may notify the PCF 120 of this.

According to an embodiment, the message sent by the UDM 130 to the NF may be a nudm_sdm_substrice response message.

Fig. 4 illustrates the fact that the PCF 120 recognizes, through the UDM 130, that the UE corresponding to the PDU session belongs to the FL group during PDU session creation or modification, and determines QoS parameters according to QoS requirements received from the UDM 130, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to fig. 4, in step 0, PCF 120 may be in the process of PDU session creation or modification.

In step 401, PCF 120 may request subscriber information of the UE from UDM 130 during PDU session creation or modification. In this case, the request message may include the following information:

(1) UE id, (2) PDU session id, (3) FL group id, etc.

After the PCF 120 has received the FL group id from the UDM 130, the FL group id may be included in the PDU session modification procedure.

According to an embodiment, the message sent by PCF 120 to UDM 130 may be a nudm_sdm_get message.

In step 402, the UDM 130 may receive information about the corresponding UE or PDU session from the UDR 140 based on the information received from the PCF 120. Upon identifying that the corresponding UE or UE with the corresponding PDU session belongs to the FL group, UDM 130 may include the following information in the response message to be sent to PCF 120:

(1) an aggregate QoS request indicator, (2) a list of UE addresses or UE ids, (3) requirements, [ alternate requirements ], (4) FL group ids, (5) S-NSSAI, (6) DNN, [ selected aggregate QoS information ], etc.

In the case where an aggregate QoS request indicator is included in the received message, PCF 120 may identify whether QoS corresponding to the requirements of the received message is allowed for all UEs corresponding to the list of UE addresses included in the message. For all UEs that are allowed to provide QoS, PCF 120 may determine a QoS related parameter corresponding to the requirement and request to generate a QoS flow corresponding to the QoS related parameter to the SMF. In the event that an alternative requirement is included in the received message, PCF 120 may select QoS-related parameters and UEs that satisfy the alternative requirement. PCF 120 may inform UDM 130 of the determined QoS parameter information and the selected UE information.

According to an embodiment, the message received by PCF 120 from UDM 130 may be a nudm_sdm_get response message.

In step 403, in the event that the FL group id is included in the message received from UDM 130, PCF 120 may request a subscription to UDM 130, including the following information:

(1) UE id, (2) FL group id, (3) PDU session id, etc.

According to an embodiment, the message sent by PCF 120 to UDM 130 may be a nudm_sdm_substrice message.

In step 404, upon identifying that the data of the FL group id has changed, UDM 130 may notify subscribing PCF 120 of this. According to an embodiment, the message sent by the UDM 130 to the PCF 120 may be a nudm_sdm_notify message.

Fig. 5 illustrates a configuration of a UE according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to fig. 5, a UE according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may include a transceiver 520 and a controller 510 controlling the overall operation thereof. Transceiver 520 may include a transmitter 525 and a receiver 523.

Transceiver 520 may transmit signals to and receive signals from other network entities.

The controller 510 may control the UE to perform any of the operations of the above embodiments. The controller 510 and the transceiver 520 do not necessarily have to be implemented as separate modules, but may be implemented as a single component in the form of a single chip. The controller 510 and the transceiver 520 may be electrically connected. For example, the controller 510 may be a circuit, a dedicated circuit, or at least one processor. Furthermore, the operation of the UE may be achieved by including in any component in the UE a memory in which the device stores corresponding program code.

Referring to fig. 6, a network entity according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may include a transceiver 620 and a controller 610 controlling the overall operation thereof. The transceiver 620 may include a transmitter 625 and a receiver 623.

The transceiver 620 may transmit signals to and receive signals from other network entities.

The controller 610 may control the network entity to perform any one of the operations of the above embodiments. The controller 610 and the transceiver 620 do not necessarily have to be implemented as separate modules, but may be implemented as a single component in the form of a single chip. The controller 610 and the transceiver 620 may be electrically connected. For example, the controller 610 may be a circuit, a dedicated circuit, or at least one processor. Furthermore, the operation of the network entity may be achieved by including in any component in the network entity a memory in which the device stores the corresponding program code.

The network entity may mean any one of a base station, SMF, UPF, PCF, AF 100, NEF 110, UDM 130, UDR 140, NF 150, AUSF, etc.

It should be noted that the constituent diagrams, the exemplary diagrams of the control/data signal transmission method, the exemplary operation process diagrams, and the constituent diagrams shown in fig. 1 to 6 are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. That is, all components, entities, or operational steps described with reference to fig. 1 to 6 should not be construed as essential components of the embodiments of the present disclosure, and including only some components may be implemented within a scope not departing from the essence of the present disclosure.

The operations of the network entity or UE described above may be implemented by providing a memory device storing corresponding program code in any of the components in the network entity or UE of the device. That is, the controller of the device network entity or UE may perform the above operations by reading and executing program code stored in the memory device by a processor or Central Processing Unit (CPU).

The various components and modules of the device network entities, base stations, or UEs described in this specification may operate using hardware circuitry, such as complementary metal oxide semiconductor based logic circuitry, firmware, software, and/or a combination of hardware and firmware and/or software inserted into a machine-readable medium. For example, various electrical structures and methods may be implemented using circuits such as transistors, logic gates, and application specific integrated circuits.

In the detailed description of the present disclosure, although specific embodiments have been described, various modifications are possible without departing from the scope of the disclosure. Therefore, the scope of the present disclosure should not be limited to the described embodiments, and should be defined by the claims described below and claims equivalent to the claims.

While the present disclosure has been described with various embodiments, various changes and modifications may be suggested to one skilled in the art. The disclosure is intended to embrace such alterations and modifications that fall within the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

1. A method performed by a Network Exposure Function (NEF) in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:

receiving a first request from an Application Function (AF), the first request comprising a list of User Equipment (UE) addresses, qoS references or individual QoS parameters, and alternative service requirements; and

a first response message including the result of the list of UE addresses is sent to the AF,

wherein the result of the list of UE addresses includes whether to grant the first request for each UE address in the list of UE addresses.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting a second request to the PCF, the second request comprising a UE address included in the UE address list, the QoS reference or the separate QoS parameter, and the alternative service requirement; and

a second response message is received from the PCF that includes a result of the second request.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

performing authorization of the first request;

transmitting a Policy Control Function (PCF) discovery request associated with a UE address included in the UE address list to a Binding Support Function (BSF); and

a PCF discovery response message is received from the BSF in response to the PCF discovery request.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the alternative service requirements include one or more QoS references or individual QoS parameters.

5. A method performed by an Application Function (AF) in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:

transmitting a first request to a Network Exposure Function (NEF), the first request including a User Equipment (UE) address list, a QoS reference or a separate QoS parameter, and an alternative service requirement; and

a first response message is received from the NEF including the result of the list of UE addresses,

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the alternative service requirements include one or more QoS references or individual QoS parameters.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the first response message further comprises at least one of: the number of UEs for which the QoS from the UE address list is allowed, the number of UEs for which the QoS from the UE address list is denied, or the address of the UE for which the QoS from the UE address list is allowed.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the first response message further comprises a result of the list of UE addresses associated with the alternative service requirement.

9. A Network Exposure Function (NEF) in a wireless communication system, the NEF comprising:

a transceiver; and

a controller, wherein the controller is configured to:

10. The NEF of claim 9, wherein the controller is further configured to:

11. The NEF of claim 9, wherein the controller is further configured to:

performing authorization of the first request;

12. The NEF of claim 9, wherein the alternative service requirements include one or more QoS references or individual QoS parameters.

13. An Application Function (AF) in a wireless communication system, the AF comprising:

a transceiver; and

a controller, wherein the controller is configured to:

14. The AF of claim 13, wherein the alternative service requirements include one or more QoS references or individual QoS parameters.

15. The AF of claim 13, wherein the first response message further comprises at least one of: the number of the QoS-allowed UEs from the UE address list, the number of the QoS-denied UEs from the UE address list, or the address of the QoS-allowed UEs from the UE address list, and

wherein the first response message further includes a result of the list of UE addresses associated with the alternative service requirement.