CN117395720A - Session management method, device, electronic equipment and storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

The disclosure provides a session management method, a session management device, electronic equipment and a computer readable storage medium, and relates to the technical field of server wireless networks. The method comprises the following steps: the target fusion session management function receives a PDU session request sent by user equipment through a real-time baseband processing function; sending PDU session request and corresponding control information to the target edge user plane function; when receiving PDU session response returned by the target edge user plane function, sending PDU session resource request to the radio bearer management function so that the radio bearer management function establishes the radio bearer between the user equipment and the access network, the target fusion session management function is directly responsible for the direct interaction with the user plane function and the radio bearer management function, avoiding the need of frequent processing and configuration of a plurality of network elements in the radio access network and the core network for realizing the same function, and avoiding the need of AMF forwarding interactive signaling between UE and SMF, thereby saving resources and reducing expenditure.

Description

Session management method, device, electronic equipment and storage medium

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of served wireless networks, and in particular, to a session management method, apparatus, electronic device, and computer readable storage medium.

Background

Both RAN (Radio Access Network ) and 5GC (5G Core Network,5G core network) contain PDU (Protocol Data Unit ) session management functions, and the session management functions of RAN and 5GC are implemented by independent deployment, and the base station needs to interact with UE (User Equipment), and SMF (Session Management Function ), UPF (User Plane Function, user plane function) respectively to establish PDU session, taking PDU session establishment procedure as an example, RAN side needs to allocate resources for PDU session and corresponding QoS (Quality of Service ) flows, and establish DRB (Data Radio Bearer ) for the corresponding UE; the SMF in the 5GC needs to establish a session, including UPF, RAN tunnel maintenance and the like; and the PDU session management function in 5GC is responsible for SMF, but the signaling interaction between UE and SMF requires RAN and AMF (Access and Mobility Management Function ) two anchor points to forward, which increases corresponding time delay and forwarding overhead, and has low interaction efficiency and PDU session management efficiency.

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

Disclosure of Invention

The present disclosure provides a session management method, apparatus, electronic device, and computer-readable storage medium, which overcome, at least to some extent, the problem of PDU session management inefficiency in the related art.

Other features and advantages of the present disclosure will be apparent from the following detailed description, or may be learned in part by the practice of the disclosure.

According to one aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a session management method applied to a target converged session management function, including: receiving PDU session request sent by user equipment through real-time baseband processing function; transmitting the PDU session request and corresponding control information to a target edge user plane function, wherein the control information comprises a data packet detection rule and a usage reporting rule; and when receiving the PDU session response returned by the target edge user plane function, sending a PDU session resource request to a radio bearer management function so that the radio bearer management function establishes a radio bearer between the user equipment and an access network.

In one embodiment of the present disclosure, further comprising: when a plurality of fusion session management functions exist, the real-time baseband processing function determines the target fusion session management function according to at least one of physical position and load information corresponding to the fusion session management function.

In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the sending the PDU session request and the corresponding control information to the target edge user plane function includes: when a plurality of edge user plane functions exist, determining the target edge user plane function according to at least one of the following information:

the physical position corresponding to the edge user plane function;

a data network list supported by the edge user plane function;

the service range corresponding to the edge user plane function;

load information of the edge user plane function;

and the position data of the user equipment.

In one embodiment of the present disclosure, an edge node includes: the session management function, the edge user plane function, the radio bearer management function, the radio connection control function and the mobility management function are integrated.

In one embodiment of the present disclosure, further comprising: the edge node interacts with a central node, wherein the central node comprises: core network control plane functions and core network central user plane functions.

In one embodiment of the present disclosure, when receiving the PDU session response returned by the target edge user plane function, sending a PDU session resource request to a radio bearer management function, so that the radio bearer management function establishes a radio bearer between the user equipment and an access network includes: transmitting a PDU session resource request to a radio bearer management function; the radio bearer management function sends a radio bearer establishment indication to the user equipment through the real-time baseband processing function, wherein the radio bearer establishment indication comprises: session identification, mapping rule from QoS stream to data radio bearer, header compression, integrity protection, encryption and decryption configuration information; the user equipment returns a radio bearer establishment response to the radio bearer management function through the real-time baseband processing function; and receiving a PDU session resource response returned by the radio bearer management function.

In one embodiment of the present disclosure, further comprising: transmitting a session establishment acceptance message to the user equipment through the real-time baseband processing function, wherein the session establishment acceptance message comprises: PDU session identification, type, address.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there is also provided a session management apparatus including:

the receiving module receives a PDU session request sent by the user equipment through a real-time baseband processing function;

the sending module sends the PDU session request and corresponding control information to a target edge user plane function, wherein the control information comprises a data packet detection rule and a usage report rule;

and the establishing module is used for sending a PDU session resource request to a radio bearer management function when receiving a PDU session response returned by the target edge user plane function, so that the radio bearer management function establishes a radio bearer between the user equipment and an access network.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there is also provided an electronic apparatus including: a processor; and a memory for storing executable instructions of the processor; wherein the processor is configured to perform any of the session management methods described above via execution of the executable instructions.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there is also provided a computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program which, when executed by a processor, implements the session management method of any one of the above.

The embodiment of the disclosure provides a session management method, a device, an electronic device and a computer readable storage medium, wherein a target fusion session management function of an edge node receives a PDU session request sent by user equipment through a real-time baseband processing function; sending PDU session request and corresponding control information to the target edge user plane function, wherein the control information comprises a data packet detection rule and a usage report rule; when receiving PDU session response returned by the target edge user plane function, sending PDU session resource request to the radio bearer management function so that the radio bearer management function establishes a radio bearer between the user equipment and the access Network, the target fusion session management function is directly responsible for direct interaction with the user plane function and the radio bearer management function, thereby avoiding that a plurality of Network elements are required to be frequently processed and configured in the RAN and the CN (Core Network) for realizing the same function, and no interactive signaling between the AMF forwarding UE and the SMF is required, and further saving AMF forwarding resources and reducing cost; and further, the signaling flow interaction and function processing efficiency are improved, and various requirements of different industries are met.

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

Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments consistent with the disclosure and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the disclosure. It will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that the drawings in the following description are merely examples of the disclosure and that other drawings may be derived from them without undue effort.

FIG. 1 illustrates a flow chart of a session management method in an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a method for establishing a radio bearer between a user equipment and an access network in an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 3 illustrates a schematic diagram of a session management apparatus in an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a convergence design architecture of a radio access network and a core network in an embodiment of the disclosure;

fig. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a method for user-triggered PDU session establishment in an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 illustrates a campus edge node deployment schematic in an embodiment of the present disclosure; and

fig. 7 shows a block diagram of an electronic device in an embodiment of the disclosure.

Detailed Description

Example embodiments will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the exemplary embodiments may be embodied in many forms and should not be construed as limited to the examples set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the concept of the example embodiments to those skilled in the art. The described features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments.

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

For ease of understanding, the following first explains the several terms involved in this disclosure as follows:

The RAN (Radio Access Network ) is the access of all wireless devices to a communication network. Here mainly several device antennas, feeders, RRUs (remote radio units) and BBUs (baseband processing units) are used.

The 5GC (5G Core Network) separates the user plane from the control plane, adopts a service architecture design, mainly comprises network functions, adopts a distributed function, is deployed according to actual needs, adds or withdraws new network functions, and does not affect the functions of the whole network.

The PDU (Protocol Data Unit ) refers to the unit of data transferred between peer levels.

A UE (User Equipment) is used to refer to all terminal devices participating in communications, and typical UEs include handsets, vehicles, roadside facilities, and the like participating in communications.

The SMF (Session Management Function ) is mainly responsible for interacting with separate data planes, creating, updating and deleting PDU sessions, and managing the session context with the UPF.

UPF (User Plane Function ) is an important component of the core network system architecture, mainly responsible for routing and forwarding of core network user plane packets, data and traffic identification, actions and policy enforcement.

QoS (Quality of Service ) allocates bandwidth for various services under limited bandwidth resources, providing end-to-end quality of service guarantees for the services.

The DRB (Data Radio Bearer ) refers to a radio bearer for transmitting user data, and is a generic term for different layer protocol entities and configurations allocated by a base station to a user equipment.

The AMF (Access and Mobility Management Function, access and mobility management functions) performs registration, connection, reachability, mobility management, provides session management message transmission channels for the UE and SMF, provides authentication and authentication functions for user access, and provides terminals and wireless core network control plane access points.

CN (Core Network) is a key part that plays a Core role in mobile communication system. It carries user data and control signaling and provides interworking functions with other networks.

The DNN (Data Network Name, data network identification) is used as an identifier of the packet data network of the particular network operator.

An AP (Access Point) serves as an identifier of a packet data network of a particular network operator.

The present exemplary embodiment will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and examples.

First, in the embodiments of the present disclosure, a session management method is provided, which may be performed by any electronic device having computing processing capabilities.

Fig. 1 shows a flow chart of a session management method in an embodiment of the present disclosure, and as shown in fig. 1, the session management method provided in the embodiment of the present disclosure is applied to a target fusion session management function, and includes the following steps:

s102, receiving PDU session request sent by user equipment through real-time baseband processing function.

The target converged session management function is a network element that merges session management functions in the radio access network and the core network, the converged session management function being directly responsible for direct interaction with the user plane functions and with the radio bearer management functions.

In one embodiment, the user equipment sends a PDU session request to the real-time baseband processing function, which sends a PDU session request to the target converged session management function.

In one embodiment, the PDU session request includes, but is not limited to: PDU session establishment request, PDU session modification request, etc.

In one embodiment, the edge node interacts with a central node, wherein the central node includes, but is not limited to: a core network control plane function and a core network central user plane function; edge nodes include, but are not limited to: session management function, edge user plane function, radio bearer management function, radio connection control function, and mobility management function.

In one embodiment, when there are multiple converged session management functions, the real-time baseband processing function determines a target converged session management function according to physical locations, load information, and the like corresponding to the converged session management functions; for example, the physical location and the weight of the load information corresponding to the converged session management function may be set, the corresponding performance values are calculated according to the physical location and the specific value of the load information corresponding to each converged session management function and the corresponding weight, the performance values of the plurality of converged session management functions are compared, and the converged session management function corresponding to the maximum performance value may be selected to be determined as the target converged session management function.

In one embodiment, a preference order of the converged session management functions may be obtained, for example, a physical location corresponding to the converged session management function is prioritized over the load information, the physical locations of the plurality of converged session management functions are prioritized, and when the physical locations are the same, the target converged session management function is determined in consideration of the load information and the like.

S104, sending PDU session request and corresponding control information to the target edge user plane function.

In one embodiment, the control information includes, but is not limited to: packet detection rules and usage reporting rules, additional information to implement protocol functions, such as: priority, quality of service, security control, etc.

In one embodiment, when there are multiple edge user plane functions, the target edge user plane function is determined from at least one of the following information:

physical locations corresponding to edge user plane functions;

a list of data networks supported by the edge user plane function;

service range corresponding to the edge user plane function;

load information of the edge user plane functions, e.g. dynamic load, relative static capacity in the edge user plane functions supporting the same data network identity;

location data of the user equipment;

PDU session type;

subscription data of the user equipment;

local operator policy, etc.

In one embodiment, according to the physical location corresponding to each edge user plane function, the specific value of the load information and the corresponding weight, the corresponding performance value is calculated, the performance values of the plurality of edge user plane functions are compared, and the edge user plane function corresponding to the maximum performance value can be selected to be determined as the target edge user plane function.

In one embodiment, a preferred order of edge user plane functions may be obtained, e.g., the physical location corresponding to an edge user plane function is prioritized over load information, the physical locations of multiple edge user plane functions are prioritized, and when the physical locations are the same, the target edge user plane function is determined in consideration of load information, etc.

And S106, when receiving the PDU session response returned by the target edge user plane function, sending a PDU session resource request to the radio bearer management function so that the radio bearer management function establishes a radio bearer between the user equipment and the access network.

In one embodiment, the PDU session response includes, but is not limited to: PDU session establishment response, PDU session modification response, etc.

In one embodiment, a session establishment acceptance message is sent to the user equipment through the real-time baseband processing function, wherein the session establishment acceptance message includes, but is not limited to: PDU session identification, type, address, etc.

In one embodiment, a PDU session resource request is sent to a radio bearer management function; the radio bearer management function sends a radio bearer setup indication to the user equipment through the real-time baseband processing function, wherein the radio bearer setup indication includes, but is not limited to: session identification, mapping rule from QoS stream to data radio bearer, header compression, integrity protection, encryption and decryption configuration information; the user equipment returns a radio bearer establishment response to the radio bearer management function through the real-time baseband processing function; and receiving a PDU session resource response returned by the radio bearer management function.

In one embodiment, a PDU session resource request is sent to a radio bearer management function; the radio bearer management function sends radio bearer setup instructions and radio configuration information to the user equipment through the real-time baseband processing function, wherein the radio configuration information includes, but is not limited to: session identification, mapping rule from QoS stream to data radio bearer, header compression, integrity protection, encryption and decryption configuration information; the user equipment returns a radio bearer establishment response to the radio bearer management function through the real-time baseband processing function; and receiving a PDU session resource response returned by the radio bearer management function.

In the embodiment, the AMF is not required to forward the interactive signaling between the UE and the SMF, so that AMF forwarding resources are saved, and the cost is reduced; the session management functions in the RAN and the CN are combined, the combined session management functions are directly responsible for the functions of the user plane and the direct interaction with the radio bearer management functions, so that the situation that a plurality of network elements are required to be frequently processed and configured for realizing the same function in the RAN and the CN is avoided, the redundancy of the functions is reduced, the efficiency of signaling transmission and PDU session management in the network is improved, the transmission delay is reduced, and the efficient deployment of the network functions and the improvement of the network control processing efficiency are facilitated.

Fig. 2 is a flowchart of a method for establishing a radio bearer between a user equipment and an access network in an embodiment of the present disclosure, as shown in fig. 2, where the method for establishing a radio bearer between a user equipment and an access network provided in the embodiment of the present disclosure includes the following steps:

in one embodiment of the present disclosure, when receiving a PDU session response returned by the target edge user plane function, sending a PDU session resource request to the radio bearer management function so that the radio bearer management function establishes a radio bearer between the user equipment and the access network comprises:

s202, sending PDU session resource request to the radio bearer management function.

In one embodiment, the PDU session resource request includes, but is not limited to: PDU session identification, RAN paging priority, redundant PDU session information, security indication, qoS monitoring request, etc.

S204, the radio bearer management function sends a radio bearer establishment instruction to the user equipment through the real-time baseband processing function.

In one embodiment, the radio bearer setup indication includes, but is not limited to, at least one of: session identification, mapping rules of QoS flow to data radio bearer, header compression, integrity protection, encryption and decryption configuration information.

In one embodiment, the radio bearer management function sends radio configuration information to the user equipment via the real-time baseband processing function, wherein the radio configuration information includes, but is not limited to, at least one of: session identification, qoS flow to data radio bearer mapping rules, header compression, integrity protection, encryption and decryption configuration information, etc.

S206, the user equipment returns a radio bearer establishment response to the radio bearer management function through the real-time baseband processing function.

In one embodiment, the radio bearer setup response includes, but is not limited to: radio bearer establishment success or failure information, radio bearer establishment failure cause, configuration information for user equipment, and the like.

S208, receiving PDU session resource response returned by the radio bearer management function.

In one embodiment, the PDU session resource request includes, but is not limited to: integrity protection results, qoS flows failing to build a list, PDU session resource settings unsuccessful transmission, etc.

In the above embodiment, the session management functions in the RAN and the CN are combined, and the integrated session management function is directly responsible for the direct interaction with the user plane function and the radio bearer management function, so that the RAN and the CN need multiple network elements to frequently process and configure for implementing the same function, thereby reducing redundancy of functions, improving efficiency of signaling transmission and PDU session management implemented in the network, reducing transmission delay, and being beneficial to implementing efficient deployment of network functions and improvement of network control processing efficiency.

Based on the same inventive concept, a session management apparatus is also provided in the embodiments of the present disclosure, as in the following embodiments. Since the principle of solving the problem of the embodiment of the device is similar to that of the embodiment of the method, the implementation of the embodiment of the device can be referred to the implementation of the embodiment of the method, and the repetition is omitted.

Fig. 3 shows a schematic diagram of a session management apparatus in an embodiment of the disclosure, and as shown in fig. 3, the session management apparatus 3 includes: a receiving module 301, a transmitting module 302 and a building module 303;

the receiving module 301 receives a PDU session request sent by the ue through a real-time baseband processing function.

In one embodiment, the receiving module 301 is further configured to send a PDU session request to the real-time baseband processing function by the user equipment, and send the PDU session request to the target converged session management function by the real-time baseband processing function.

And a sending module 302, configured to send the PDU session request and the corresponding control information to the target edge user plane function.

And the establishing module 303 is used for sending a PDU session resource request to the radio bearer management function when receiving a PDU session response returned by the target edge user plane function, so that the radio bearer management function establishes a radio bearer between the user equipment and the access network.

In one embodiment, the system further comprises a first selection module, when a plurality of fusion session management functions exist, the real-time baseband processing function determines a target fusion session management function according to physical positions, load information and the like corresponding to the fusion session management functions; for example, the physical location and the weight of the load information corresponding to the converged session management function may be set, the corresponding performance values are calculated according to the physical location and the specific value of the load information corresponding to each converged session management function and the corresponding weight, the performance values of the plurality of converged session management functions are compared, and the converged session management function corresponding to the maximum performance value may be selected to be determined as the target converged session management function.

In one embodiment, the method further includes a second selection module, where the preference order of the converged session management functions may be obtained, for example, the physical location corresponding to the converged session management functions is prioritized over the load information, the physical locations of the converged session management functions are prioritized, and when the physical locations are the same, the load information is considered again, and the target converged session management function is determined.

In one embodiment, the system further includes a third selection module, which calculates a corresponding performance value according to the physical location corresponding to each edge user plane function, the specific value of the load information, and the corresponding weight, compares the performance values of the plurality of edge user plane functions, and selects the edge user plane function corresponding to the maximum performance value to determine as the target edge user plane function.

In one embodiment, the method further includes a fourth selection module, which may obtain a preference order of the edge user plane functions, for example, the physical locations corresponding to the edge user plane functions are prioritized over the load information, the physical locations of the plurality of edge user plane functions are prioritized, and when the physical locations are the same, the load information is considered again, and the target edge user plane function is determined.

In the embodiment, the AMF is not required to forward the interactive signaling between the UE and the SMF, so that AMF forwarding resources are saved, and the cost is reduced; the session management functions in the RAN and the CN are combined, the combined session management functions are directly responsible for the functions of the user plane and the direct interaction with the radio bearer management functions, so that the situation that a plurality of network elements are required to be frequently processed and configured for realizing the same function in the RAN and the CN is avoided, the redundancy of the functions is reduced, the efficiency of signaling transmission and PDU session management in the network is improved, the transmission delay is reduced, and the efficient deployment of the network functions and the improvement of the network control processing efficiency are facilitated.

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a convergence design architecture of a radio access network and a core network in an embodiment of the disclosure, where, as shown in fig. 4, the convergence design architecture of the radio access network and the core network includes: center node 401 and edge node 402.

In one embodiment, the wireless access network and core network convergence design architecture may be implemented through an edge cloud platform.

The central node 401 is connected with a plurality of edge nodes 402 to realize distributed deployment, and the central node 401 comprises core network functions which are deployed in a centralized way, namely a core network control surface function 4011, a core network central user surface function 4012 and the like; the edge node 402 adopts a service network architecture, and deploys a radio access network function, a converged session management function 4021, an edge user plane function 4024 and the like; the integrated mobility management function 4023, the radio access network function includes a radio connection control function 4025, a radio bearer management function 4022, and the like.

The radio connection control function 4025 is an important function of a radio controller, and is mainly used for managing and controlling Access Points (APs). Through the wireless connection control function 4025, the wireless controller can realize the functions of the following aspects: centralized management and configuration of APs, wireless connection management of clients, wireless channel management, network load balancing, security policies and management, etc.

The converged mobility management function 4023 is for managing mobility of the user equipment. It includes mobility restriction, time subscription and notification, mobility update in the system, etc. In addition, the system also comprises functions of registration management, connection management, user accessibility management, access management, network slicing management, user data management, user equipment positioning service management and the like.

Since the real-time baseband function of the radio access network does not reach the clouding condition, the clouding function in the edge node 402 communicates with the user equipment through the real-time baseband function.

The user device may be a variety of electronic devices including, but not limited to, a smart phone, a tablet computer, a laptop portable computer, a desktop computer, and the like.

Alternatively, the clients of the applications installed in different user devices are the same or clients of the same type of application based on different operating systems. The specific form of the application client may also be different based on the different terminal platforms, for example, the application client may be a mobile phone client, a PC client, etc.

The edge node 402 interacts with the central node 401 and the edge user plane function 4024 needs to communicate with the core network control plane function 4011, the core network central user plane function 4012, and the like.

In one embodiment, the network selects an edge user plane function 4024 according to dynamic loading of the UPF, relative static capacity in the UPF supporting the same DNN, UPF location, location of the user equipment, DNN, PDU session type, subscription data of the user equipment, and local operator policy, etc., accesses the edge user plane function 4024, and inserts the offloading rules of the edge user plane function 4024 in advance. In this way, the splitting rule on each edge user plane function 4024 can be controlled to be as minimum as possible, which is beneficial to improving the performance of the user plane function.

In one embodiment, the edge user plane function 4024 and the core network central user plane function 4012 are used as anchor points, and all the core network data can be forwarded through the edge user plane function 4024 and the core network central user plane function 4012, so that the data can flow to the external network.

In one embodiment, the core network central user plane function 4012 is applicable to services which are insensitive in time delay, higher in throughput requirement and relatively concentrated, such as common internet access, and the like, and meets the functional requirements of 2G/3G/4G/5G/Fixed full fusion access, message identification, content charging and the like of a network, thereby having the network sharing capability of a virtual operator, improving the forwarding capability, providing security protection for interface flow, network address conversion function and the like; for example, the service control information of the ue application layer may be accessed from the core network central user plane function 4012.

In one embodiment, the UPF is sunk to the mobile edge node 402, so that the user can be identified based on DNN or IP address, and the user traffic is split according to the splitting policy, so that the data stream needing local processing is forwarded and routed locally, thereby avoiding traffic roundabout, reducing data forwarding time delay, and improving user experience.

In the above embodiment, according to the functional capability provided by the base station, a service-oriented radio access network and core network convergence design architecture is provided, which is favorable for realizing on-demand deployment, elastic expansion and contraction, efficient management and capability opening of network functions; the UPF is sunk to the network edge for deployment, so that transmission delay can be reduced, local distribution of data flow is realized, and data transmission pressure of a core network is relieved, thereby improving network data processing efficiency, meeting the requirements of the vertical industry on the aspects of ultra-low delay, ultra-high bandwidth, safety and the like of the network, avoiding forwarding of an intermediate network function (AMF), reducing functional redundancy, and improving the efficiency of PDU session management inside the network.

Fig. 5 shows a flowchart of a user-triggered PDU session establishment method in an embodiment of the present disclosure, and as shown in fig. 5, the user-triggered PDU session establishment method provided in the embodiment of the present disclosure includes the following steps:

Based on the fusion architecture of the wireless access network and the core network, a PDU session establishment method triggered by a user is provided, so that the interaction of signaling flow and the function processing efficiency are improved, and various requirements of different industries are met. The specific flow is as follows:

s502, the user equipment sends PDU session establishment request to the real-time baseband processing function.

If there are multiple converged session management functions, the real-time baseband processing function performs the selection of the converged session management functions, for example, the selection may be performed according to the physical location, different physical areas may be divided, and different session management functions are responsible for processing, or the selection may be performed while considering the load conditions of different converged session management functions.

S506, the real-time baseband processing function sends PDU session suggestion request to the selected converged session management function.

S508, if there are multiple edge user plane functions, the fusion session management function selects the appropriate edge user plane function.

In one embodiment, the different physical areas may be selected according to physical location, and the different edge user plane functions are responsible for processing. Or simultaneously consider a list of DNs (Data networks) supported by different edge user plane functions, a service range (TAC) of the edge user plane functions, a load condition of the edge user plane functions, a location of the user equipment, and so on.

S510, the fusion session management function sends PDU session establishment request and/or PDU session modification request to the edge user plane function, and provides control information related to the PDU session to the edge user plane function, such as data packet detection and usage reporting rules.

S512, the edge user plane function returns PDU session establishment response and/or PDU session modification response to the converged session management function.

S514, the converged session management function sends PDU session resource establishment request to the radio bearer management function, indicating establishment of data radio bearer.

S516, the converged session management function sends PDU session establishment acceptance message including PDU session identification, type, address and other information to the user equipment by the real-time baseband processing function.

S518, the radio bearer management function sends a data radio bearer establishment indication to the user equipment via the real-time baseband processing function, and sends radio configuration information for establishing a data radio bearer between the user equipment and the no access network.

In one embodiment, the radio configuration information establishes relevant information for the data radio bearer, such as session identification, mapping rules of QoS flows to the data radio bearer, header compression, integrity protection, encryption and decryption, etc. configuration information.

S520, the ue returns a data radio bearer setup response to the radio bearer management function via the real-time baseband processing function.

S522, the radio bearer management function sends a PDU session resource response to the converged session management function.

S524, the converged session management function sends a session modification request to the edge user plane function, and provides control information related to the PDU session to the edge user plane function, such as data packet detection and usage reporting rules.

S526, the edge user plane function returns a session modification response to the converged session management function.

In the above embodiment, the user PDU session management method saves intermediate network function (AMF) forwarding resources, reduces overhead, avoids that a plurality of network elements are required to be frequently processed and configured for realizing the same function in RAN and CN, reduces functional redundancy, improves efficiency of signaling transmission and PDU session management realized in network, reduces transmission delay, and is beneficial to realizing efficient deployment of network functions and improvement of network control processing efficiency.

Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating a park edge node deployment in an embodiment of the disclosure, as shown in fig. 6, where an edge node deploys a RAN/CN convergence function after a base station function and a core network function sink, for example, may include a real-time baseband processing function, a radio connection control, a radio bearer management, a converged mobility management, a converged wireless session management, a user plane function, and so on, so that efficient user PDU session establishment may be implemented.

The core network, the control plane is deployed centrally, typically a province or a large area, and the UPF is deployed in a distributed manner, typically an anchor core network central user plane function and a plurality of edge user plane functions of edge computation are deployed in a city or a large area. The edge computing system may be deployed in an edge machine room of an operator or an enterprise machine room of an enterprise campus. The distributed deployment of UPF on the mobile bearing network changes the data model and the bearing mode of the bearing network, namely, the flow is converted into a distributed multidirectional model from a centralized north-south model.

In one embodiment, the method can be applied to a clouding/servitizing wireless network, the servitizing wireless network can naturally support the fusion of functions with a sinking core network, flexible deployment and dynamic expansion and contraction of the RAN network can be realized, and the transmission efficiency between base stations and between the base stations and the core network is improved.

In the above embodiment, the UPF sinks to the edge side to support the fusion of the RAN function and the sinking CN function, so as to simplify the interactive signaling and reduce the transmission delay and unnecessary forwarding overhead.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the various aspects of the present disclosure may be implemented as a system, method, or program product. Accordingly, various aspects of the disclosure may be embodied in the following forms, namely: an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment (including firmware, micro-code, etc.) or an embodiment combining hardware and software aspects may be referred to herein as a "circuit," module "or" system.

An electronic device 700 according to such an embodiment of the present disclosure is described below with reference to fig. 7. The electronic device 700 shown in fig. 7 is merely an example and should not be construed to limit the functionality and scope of use of embodiments of the present disclosure in any way.

As shown in fig. 7, the electronic device 700 is embodied in the form of a general purpose computing device. Components of electronic device 700 may include, but are not limited to: the at least one processing unit 710, the at least one memory unit 720, and a bus 730 connecting the different system components, including the memory unit 720 and the processing unit 710.

Wherein the storage unit stores program code that is executable by the processing unit 710 such that the processing unit 710 performs steps according to various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure described in the above-described "exemplary methods" section of the present specification. For example, the processing unit 710 may perform the following steps of the method embodiment described above: the target fusion session management function of the edge node receives a PDU session request sent by user equipment through a real-time baseband processing function; sending PDU session request and corresponding control information to the target edge user plane function, wherein the control information comprises a data packet detection rule and a usage report rule; and when receiving PDU session response returned by the target edge user plane function, sending PDU session resource request to the radio bearer management function so that the radio bearer management function establishes a radio bearer between the user equipment and the access network, wherein the target fusion session management function is directly responsible for direct interaction with the user plane function and the radio bearer management function.

The memory unit 720 may include readable media in the form of volatile memory units, such as Random Access Memory (RAM) 7201 and/or cache memory 7202, and may further include Read Only Memory (ROM) 7203.

The storage unit 720 may also include a program/utility 7204 having a set (at least one) of program modules 7205, such program modules 7205 including, but not limited to: an operating system, one or more application programs, other program modules, and program data, each or some combination of which may include an implementation of a network environment.

Bus 730 may be a bus representing one or more of several types of bus structures including a memory unit bus or memory unit controller, a peripheral bus, an accelerated graphics port, a processing unit, or a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures.

The electronic device 700 may also communicate with one or more external devices 740 (e.g., keyboard, pointing device, bluetooth device, etc.), one or more devices that enable a user to interact with the electronic device 700, and/or any device (e.g., router, modem, etc.) that enables the electronic device 700 to communicate with one or more other computing devices. Such communication may occur through an input/output (I/O) interface 750. Also, electronic device 700 may communicate with one or more networks such as a Local Area Network (LAN), a Wide Area Network (WAN) and/or a public network, such as the Internet, through network adapter 760. As shown, network adapter 760 communicates with other modules of electronic device 700 over bus 730. It should be appreciated that although not shown, other hardware and/or software modules may be used in connection with electronic device 700, including, but not limited to: microcode, device drivers, redundant processing units, external disk drive arrays, RAID systems, tape drives, data backup storage systems, and the like.

From the above description of embodiments, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that the example embodiments described herein may be implemented in software, or may be implemented in software in combination with the necessary hardware. Thus, the technical solution according to the embodiments of the present disclosure may be embodied in the form of a software product, which may be stored in a non-volatile storage medium (may be a CD-ROM, a U-disk, a mobile hard disk, etc.) or on a network, including several instructions to cause a computing device (may be a personal computer, a server, a terminal device, or a network device, etc.) to perform the method according to the embodiments of the present disclosure.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, a computer-readable storage medium, which may be a readable signal medium or a readable storage medium, is also provided. On which a program product is stored which enables the implementation of the method described above of the present disclosure. In some possible implementations, various aspects of the disclosure may also be implemented in the form of a program product comprising program code for causing a terminal device to carry out the steps according to the various exemplary embodiments of the disclosure as described in the "exemplary methods" section of this specification, when the program product is run on the terminal device.

For example, a program product in an embodiment of the disclosure, when executed by a processor, performs a method of: the target fusion session management function of the edge node receives a PDU session request sent by user equipment through a real-time baseband processing function; sending PDU session request and corresponding control information to the target edge user plane function, wherein the control information comprises a data packet detection rule and a usage report rule; and when receiving PDU session response returned by the target edge user plane function, sending PDU session resource request to the radio bearer management function so that the radio bearer management function establishes a radio bearer between the user equipment and the access network, wherein the target fusion session management function is directly responsible for direct interaction with the user plane function and the radio bearer management function.

For example, a program product in an embodiment of the disclosure, when executed by a processor, performs a method of: the central node is connected with a plurality of edge nodes to realize distributed deployment, and comprises core network functions deployed in a centralized way, namely a core network control plane function, a core network central user plane function and the like; the edge node adopts a service network architecture, and deploys a wireless access network function, a converged session management function, an edge user plane function and the like; and the wireless access network function comprises a wireless connection control function, a wireless bearing management function and the like.

More specific examples of the computer readable storage medium in the present disclosure may include, but are not limited to: an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a Random Access Memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

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

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

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

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

Furthermore, although the steps of the methods in the present disclosure are depicted in a particular order in the drawings, this does not require or imply that the steps must be performed in that particular order or that all illustrated steps be performed in order to achieve desirable results. Additionally or alternatively, certain steps may be omitted, multiple steps combined into one step to perform, and/or one step decomposed into multiple steps to perform, etc.

From the description of the above embodiments, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that the example embodiments described herein may be implemented in software, or may be implemented in software in combination with the necessary hardware. Thus, the technical solution according to the embodiments of the present disclosure may be embodied in the form of a software product, which may be stored in a non-volatile storage medium (may be a CD-ROM, a U-disk, a mobile hard disk, etc.) or on a network, including several instructions to cause a computing device (may be a personal computer, a server, a mobile terminal, or a network device, etc.) to perform the method according to the embodiments of the present disclosure.

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

Claims (10)

1. A session management method, applied to a target converged session management function, comprising:

receiving PDU session request sent by user equipment through real-time baseband processing function;

sending the PDU session request and corresponding control information to a target edge user plane function;

and when receiving the PDU session response returned by the target edge user plane function, sending a PDU session resource request to a radio bearer management function so that the radio bearer management function establishes a radio bearer between the user equipment and an access network.

2. The session management method according to claim 1, further comprising: when a plurality of fusion session management functions exist, the real-time baseband processing function determines the target fusion session management function according to at least one of physical position and load information corresponding to the fusion session management function.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the sending the PDU session request and the corresponding control information to the target edge user plane function comprises:

when a plurality of edge user plane functions exist, determining the target edge user plane function according to at least one of the following information:

The physical position corresponding to the edge user plane function;

a data network list supported by the edge user plane function;

the service range corresponding to the edge user plane function;

load information of the edge user plane function;

and the position data of the user equipment.

4. A session management method according to claim 3, characterized in that the edge node comprises: the session management function, the edge user plane function, the radio bearer management function, the radio connection control function and the mobility management function are integrated.

5. The session management method according to claim 4, further comprising: the edge node interacts with a central node, wherein the central node comprises: core network control plane functions and core network central user plane functions.

6. The session management method according to claim 1, wherein when receiving the PDU session response returned by the target edge user plane function, sending a PDU session resource request to a radio bearer management function so that the radio bearer management function establishes a radio bearer between the user equipment and an access network comprises:

transmitting a PDU session resource request to a radio bearer management function;

The radio bearer management function sends a radio bearer establishment indication to the user equipment through the real-time baseband processing function, wherein the radio bearer establishment indication comprises: session identification, mapping rule from QoS stream to data radio bearer, header compression, integrity protection, encryption and decryption configuration information;

the user equipment returns a radio bearer establishment response to the radio bearer management function through the real-time baseband processing function;

and receiving a PDU session resource response returned by the radio bearer management function.

7. The session management method according to claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting a session establishment acceptance message to the user equipment through the real-time baseband processing function, wherein the session establishment acceptance message comprises: PDU session identification, type, address.

8. A session management apparatus, comprising:

the receiving module receives a PDU session request sent by the user equipment through a real-time baseband processing function;

the sending module sends the PDU session request and the corresponding control information to the target edge user plane function;

and the establishing module is used for sending a PDU session resource request to a radio bearer management function when receiving a PDU session response returned by the target edge user plane function, so that the radio bearer management function establishes a radio bearer between the user equipment and an access network.

9. An electronic device, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory for storing executable instructions of the processor;

wherein the processor is configured to perform the session management method of any of claims 1-7 via execution of the executable instructions.

10. A computer readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program, wherein the computer program, when executed by a processor, implements the session management method of any of claims 1 to 7.