CN117499877A

CN117499877A - Management method, communication device and communication system of hot spot equipment

Info

Publication number: CN117499877A
Application number: CN202210876527.5A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 胡翔
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2022-07-25
Filing date: 2022-07-25
Publication date: 2024-02-02
Also published as: WO2024021833A1

Abstract

The embodiment of the application provides a management method, a communication device and a communication system of hot spot equipment. In the method, the policy control network element instructs the user plane network element to detect the number of devices accessed to the terminal device through the hot spot sharing technology, and notifies the policy control network element when the number of the devices accessed to the terminal device through the hot spot sharing technology is detected to be greater than or equal to a hot spot access threshold, so that the policy control network element knows that the number of the devices accessed to the terminal device through the hot spot sharing technology is greater than or equal to the hot spot access threshold, and the policy control network element can conveniently determine a charging mode or a control mode of the terminal device, so that reasonable charging and accurate control of the terminal device are realized.

Description

Management method, communication device and communication system of hot spot equipment

Technical Field

The embodiment of the application relates to the technical field of communication, in particular to a management method, a communication device and a communication system of hot spot equipment.

Background

At present, a terminal device such as a smart phone has a hotspot sharing function, and when the terminal device starts hotspot sharing, other devices such as a notebook computer can be accessed to the terminal device through connection modes such as wireless fidelity (wireless fidelity, wiFi), bluetooth or universal serial bus (Universal Serial Bus, USB) physical connection and the like, so that internet surfing is realized.

However, how to effectively manage the terminal device with the hotspot sharing function is to be solved.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the application provides a management method, a communication device and a communication system of hot spot equipment, which are used for effectively managing terminal equipment with a hot spot sharing function.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for managing a hotspot device, where the method may be performed by a user plane network element or a module (such as a chip) applied to the user plane network element. Taking the user plane network element to execute the method as an example, the method comprises the following steps: the user plane network element receives indication information from the strategy control network element, the indication information indicates that when a first event occurs, the first event is sent to the strategy control network element, and the first event is that the number of devices accessed to the terminal device through a hot spot sharing technology is larger than or equal to a hot spot access threshold value; when the first event occurs, the user plane network element sends the first event to the policy control network element.

According to the scheme, the policy control network element indicates the user plane network element to detect the number of the devices accessed to the terminal device through the hot spot sharing technology, and notifies the policy control network element when the number of the devices accessed to the terminal device through the hot spot sharing technology is detected to be larger than or equal to the hot spot access threshold, so that the policy control network element can know that the number of the devices accessed to the terminal device through the hot spot sharing technology is larger than or equal to the hot spot access threshold, and the policy control network element can conveniently determine a charging mode or a control mode of the terminal device, so that reasonable charging and accurate control of the terminal device are achieved.

In a possible implementation method, the user plane network element receives the hotspot access threshold from the policy control network element; alternatively, the indication information includes the hotspot access threshold.

According to the scheme, the policy control network element configures the hot spot access threshold for the user plane network element, so that accurate configuration of the hot spot access threshold can be realized.

In a possible implementation method, the user plane network element determines the hot spot access threshold according to the service package of the terminal device; or the user plane network element determines the hot spot access threshold according to the configuration information in the user plane network element.

According to the scheme, the user plane network element determines the hot spot access threshold value, and the strategy control network element is not required to configure the hot spot access threshold value for the user plane network element, so that signaling overhead can be reduced.

In a possible implementation method, the user plane network element receives a first charging rule from the policy control network element, where the first charging rule is determined according to the first event; and the user plane network element charges the terminal equipment according to the first charging rule.

By the scheme, the charging rule can be effectively set, and reasonable charging of the terminal equipment is achieved.

In a possible implementation method, the user plane network element receives a first control policy rule from the policy control network element, the first control policy rule being determined according to the first event; and the user plane network element controls the terminal equipment according to the first control strategy rule.

By the scheme, the control strategy rule can be effectively set, and reasonable control of the terminal equipment is achieved.

In a possible implementation method, when a second event occurs, the user plane network element sends the second event to the policy control network element, where the second event indicates that the number of devices accessed to the terminal device through the hotspot sharing technology is less than or equal to the hotspot access threshold.

In a possible implementation method, the user plane network element receives a second charging rule from the policy control network element, where the second charging rule is determined according to the second event; and the user plane network element charges the terminal equipment according to the second charging rule.

That is, when the number of devices accessed to the terminal device through the hotspot sharing technology is changed, the charging rule is adaptively modified. The above description is applicable to descriptions of other aspects, and will not be repeated.

In a possible implementation method, the user plane network element receives a second control policy rule from the policy control network element, where the second control policy rule is determined according to the second event; and the user plane network element controls the terminal equipment according to the second control strategy rule.

That is, when the number of devices accessed to the terminal device through the hotspot sharing technology is changed, the control policy rule is adaptively modified. The above description is applicable to descriptions of other aspects, and will not be repeated.

In a possible implementation method, the user plane network element receives a plurality of data packets from the terminal device, where each data packet in the plurality of data packets includes a timestamp; the user plane network element determines a reference value of a clock source corresponding to the data packets according to the time stamp in each data packet of the data packets; and the user plane network element determines the number of the devices accessed to the terminal device through the hot spot sharing technology according to the reference values of the clock sources corresponding to the data packets.

By the aid of the scheme, the number of the devices accessed to the terminal device through the hot spot sharing technology can be accurately determined.

In a possible implementation method, the user plane network element determines the number of devices accessed to the terminal device through the hot spot sharing technology according to the number and/or type of heartbeat messages detected in one or more periods, where the heartbeat messages originate from the terminal device or are accessed to the terminal device through the hot spot sharing technology.

In one possible implementation method, the user plane network element obtains a network traffic characteristic parameter corresponding to an internet protocol (internet protocol, IP) address in a network; and the user plane network element determines the number of the devices accessed to the terminal device through the hot spot sharing technology according to the network flow characteristic parameters.

In a possible implementation method, the user plane network element obtains a plurality of hypertext transfer protocol (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol, HTTP) request messages, the HTTP request messages including device parameters; and the user plane network element determines the number of the devices accessed to the terminal device through the hot spot sharing technology according to the device parameters in the HTTP request messages.

In a second aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a method for managing a hotspot device, where the method may be performed by a policy control network element or a module (e.g. a chip) applied to the policy control network element. Taking the policy control network element as an example, the method comprises the following steps: the method comprises the steps that a policy control network element sends indication information to a user plane network element, the indication information indicates that when a first event occurs, the first event is sent to the policy control network element, and the first event is that the number of devices accessed to terminal equipment through a hot spot sharing technology is larger than or equal to a hot spot access threshold value; when the first event occurs, the policy control element receives the first event from the user plane element.

In a possible implementation method, the policy control network element sends the hotspot access threshold to the user plane network element; alternatively, the indication information includes the hotspot access threshold.

In a possible implementation method, the policy control network element determines a first charging rule according to the first event, where the first charging rule is used for charging the terminal device; the policy control network element sends the first charging rule to the user plane network element.

In a possible implementation method, the policy control network element determines a first control policy rule according to the first event, where the first control policy rule is used to control the terminal device; the policy control network element sends the first control policy rule to the user plane network element.

In a possible implementation method, the policy control network element receives a second event from the user plane network element, where the second event indicates that the number of devices accessed to the terminal device through the hotspot sharing technology is less than or equal to the hotspot access threshold.

In a possible implementation method, the policy control network element determines a second charging rule according to the second event, where the second charging rule is used for charging the terminal device; the policy control network element sends the second charging rule to the user plane network element.

In a possible implementation method, the policy control network element determines a second control policy rule according to the second event, where the second control policy rule is used to control the terminal device; the policy control network element sends the second control policy rule to the user plane network element.

In a third aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a method for managing a hotspot device, where the method may be performed by a user plane network element or a module (e.g. a chip) applied to the user plane network element. Taking the user plane network element to execute the method as an example, the method comprises the following steps: the user plane network element receives indication information from the strategy control network element, wherein the indication information indicates that when the number of the devices accessed to the terminal device through the hot spot sharing technology is changed, the changed number of the devices is sent to the strategy control network element; when the number of devices accessed to the terminal device through the hot spot sharing technology is changed from the first number to the second number, the user plane network element sends the second number to the policy control network element.

According to the scheme, the policy control network element indicates the user plane network element to detect the number of the devices accessed to the terminal device through the hot spot sharing technology, and after detecting that the number of the devices accessed to the terminal device through the hot spot sharing technology is changed, the policy control network element sends the changed number of the devices to the policy control network element, so that the policy control network element decides a charging mode or a control mode of the terminal device according to the changed number of the devices, and reasonable charging and accurate control of the terminal device are achieved.

In a possible implementation method, the user plane network element receives a charging rule from the policy control network element, the charging rule being determined according to the second number; and the user plane network element charges the terminal equipment according to the charging rule.

In a possible implementation method, the user plane network element receives a control policy rule from the policy control network element, the control policy rule being determined according to the second number; and the user plane network element controls the terminal equipment according to the control strategy rule.

In a possible implementation method, the user plane network element acquires network flow characteristic parameters corresponding to a plurality of data packets; and the user plane network element determines the number of the devices accessed to the terminal device through the hot spot sharing technology according to the network flow characteristic parameters.

In a possible implementation method, the user plane network element acquires a plurality of HTTP request messages, where the HTTP request messages include device parameters; and the user plane network element determines the number of the devices accessed to the terminal device through the hot spot sharing technology according to the device parameters in the HTTP request messages.

In a fourth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a method for managing a hotspot device, where the method may be performed by a policy control network element or a module (e.g. a chip) applied to the policy control network element. Taking the policy control network element as an example, the method comprises the following steps: the method comprises the steps that a policy control network element sends indication information to a user plane network element, wherein the indication information indicates that when the number of devices accessed to terminal equipment through a hot spot sharing technology changes, the changed number of the devices is sent to the policy control network element; when the number of devices accessed to the terminal device by the hot spot sharing technology is changed from the first number to the second number, the policy control network element receives the second number from the user plane network element.

According to the scheme, the policy control network element indicates the user plane network element to detect the number of the devices accessed to the terminal device through the hot spot sharing technology, and after detecting that the number of the devices accessed to the terminal device through the hot spot sharing technology is changed, the policy control network element sends the changed number of the devices to the policy control network element, so that the policy control network element can decide a charging mode or a control mode of the terminal device according to the changed number of the devices, and the policy control network element is beneficial to realizing reasonable charging and accurate control of the terminal device.

In a possible implementation method, the policy control network element determines a charging rule according to the second number; the policy control network element sends the charging rule to the user plane network element.

In a possible implementation method, the policy control network element determines a control policy rule according to the second number; the policy control network element sends the control policy rule to the user plane network element.

In a fifth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a communication device, which may be a user plane network element or a module (e.g. a chip) applied in the user plane network element. The apparatus has the function of implementing any implementation method of the first aspect. The functions can be realized by hardware, and can also be realized by executing corresponding software by hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the functions described above.

In a sixth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a communications device, which may be a policy control network element or a module (e.g. a chip) applied in the policy control network element. The apparatus has the function of implementing any implementation method of the second aspect. The functions can be realized by hardware, and can also be realized by executing corresponding software by hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the functions described above.

In a seventh aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a communication device, which may be a user plane network element or a module (e.g. a chip) applied in the user plane network element. The apparatus has a function of implementing any implementation method of the third aspect. The functions can be realized by hardware, and can also be realized by executing corresponding software by hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the functions described above.

In an eighth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a communications device, which may be a policy control network element or a module (e.g., a chip) applied in the policy control network element. The apparatus has a function of implementing any implementation method of the fourth aspect. The functions can be realized by hardware, and can also be realized by executing corresponding software by hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the functions described above.

In a ninth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, including a processor coupled to a memory, where the processor is configured to invoke a program stored in the memory to perform any implementation method of the first aspect to the fourth aspect. The memory may be located within the device or may be located external to the device. And the processor may be one or more.

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

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

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

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

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

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

In a sixteenth aspect, embodiments of the present application further provide a communication system, including: a user plane network element for performing any of the implementation methods of the first aspect described above, and a policy control network element for performing any of the implementation methods of the second aspect described above.

In a seventeenth aspect, embodiments of the present application further provide a communication system, including: a user plane network element for performing any of the implementation methods in the third aspect and a policy control network element for performing any of the implementation methods in the fourth aspect.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a 5G network architecture based on a servitization architecture;

fig. 2 (a) is a flow chart of a method for managing a hotspot device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 2 (b) is a flow chart of a method for managing a hotspot device according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 2 (c) is an example diagram of determining a number of devices accessed to a terminal device through a hotspot sharing technique;

fig. 3 is a flow chart of a method for managing a hotspot device according to an embodiment of the present application;

Fig. 4 is a flowchart of a method for managing a hotspot device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 is a flowchart of a method for managing a hotspot device according to an embodiment of the present application;

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

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

Detailed Description

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a fifth generation (5th generation,5G) network architecture based on a servitization architecture. The 5G network architecture shown in fig. 1 may include a terminal device, an access network, a core network, and a Data Network (DN). The terminal equipment accesses the data network through the access network and the core network.

The terminal device may be a User Equipment (UE), a mobile station, a mobile terminal, or the like. Fig. 1 illustrates an example of a terminal device as a UE. The terminal device may be widely applied to various scenes, for example, device-to-device (D2D), vehicle-to-device (vehicle to everything, V2X) communication, machine-type communication (MTC), internet of things (internet of things, IOT), virtual reality, augmented reality, industrial control, autopilot, telemedicine, smart grid, smart furniture, smart office, smart wear, smart transportation, smart city, and the like. The terminal equipment can be a mobile phone, a tablet personal computer, a computer with a wireless receiving and transmitting function, a wearable device, a vehicle, an urban air vehicle (such as an unmanned aerial vehicle, a helicopter and the like), a ship, a robot, a mechanical arm, intelligent household equipment and the like.

The access network is used for realizing the function related to access, can provide the network access function for authorized users in a specific area, and can determine transmission links with different qualities according to the level of the users, the service requirements and the like so as to transmit user data. The access network forwards control signals and user data between the terminal device and the core network. The access network may include access network devices, which may be devices providing access to terminal devices, and may include radio access network (radio access network, RAN) devices and wired access network devices. Fig. 1 is a depiction of an access network device as an example RAN. The RAN device is mainly responsible for radio resource management, quality of service (quality of service, qoS) management, data compression, encryption, and other functions on the air interface side. The RAN equipment may include various forms of base stations, such as macro base stations, micro base stations (also referred to as small stations), relay stations, access points, balloon stations, and the like. In systems employing different radio access technologies, the names of the base station enabled devices may vary, for example, in 5G systems, referred to as RAN or next-generation base stations (gNB), in long term evolution (long term evolution, LTE) systems, referred to as evolved nodebs (enbs or enodebs).

The access network device and the terminal device may be fixed in location or may be mobile. The access network equipment and the terminal equipment can be deployed on land, including indoor or outdoor, handheld or vehicle-mounted; the device can be deployed on the water surface; but also on aerial planes, balloons and satellites. The application scene of the access network equipment and the terminal equipment is not limited in the embodiment of the application.

The core network is responsible for maintaining subscription data of the mobile network and providing session management, mobility management, policy management, security authentication and other functions for the terminal equipment. Including but not limited to one or more of the following: an application function (application function, AF) network element, a unified data management (unified data management, UDM) network element, a policy control function (policy control function, PCF) network element, a session management function (session management function, SMF) network element, an access and mobility management function (access and mobility management function, AMF) network element, a user plane function (user plane function, UPF) network element. For convenience of description, for example, hereinafter, the unified data management network element is simply referred to as UDM, and other network elements are similar.

AMF is mainly responsible for mobility management in mobile networks, such as user location update, user registration network, user handover, etc.

SMF is mainly responsible for session management in mobile networks, e.g. session establishment, modification, release. Specific functions are, for example, assigning IP addresses to users, selecting a UPF that provides a message forwarding function, etc.

UPF is mainly responsible for forwarding and receiving user data, and can receive the user data from a data network and transmit the user data to terminal equipment through access network equipment; user data may also be received from the terminal device via the access network device and forwarded to the data network.

UDM comprising functions of performing management of subscription data, user access authorization, etc.

AF, delivering the demands of the application side on the network side, e.g. QoS demands or user status event subscriptions, etc. The AF may be a third party functional entity or an application service deployed by an operator, such as an IP multimedia subsystem (IP Multimedia Subsystem, IMS) voice call service.

PCF mainly supports providing unified policy framework to control network behavior, providing policy rules to control layer network function, and meanwhile is responsible for acquiring user subscription information related to policy decision. The PCF may provide policies, such as QoS policies, slice selection policies, etc., to the AMF or SMF.

DN, on which multiple services can be deployed, can provide services such as data and/or voice for terminal equipment. For example, the DN is a private network of an intelligent plant, the sensors installed in the plant of the intelligent plant may be terminal devices, a control server of the sensors is disposed in the DN, and the control server may serve the sensors. The sensor may communicate with the control server, obtain instructions from the control server, transmit collected sensor data to the control server, etc., according to the instructions. For another example, DN is an internal office network of a company, where a mobile phone or a computer of an employee of the company may be a terminal device, and the mobile phone or the computer of the employee may access information, data resources, etc. on the internal office network of the company.

Namf, npcf, nsmf, nudm, naf in fig. 1 are service interfaces provided by AMF, PCF, SMF, UDM, AF, respectively, for invoking corresponding service operations. N1, N2, N3, N4, and N6 are interface serial numbers, and the meaning of these interface serial numbers is as follows:

1) N1: the interface between the AMF and the terminal device may be used to communicate non-access stratum (non access stratum, NAS) signaling (e.g., including QoS rules from the AMF) etc. to the terminal device.

2) N2: the interface between the AMF and the RAN may be used to transfer radio bearer control information from the core network side to the access network device, etc.

3) N3: the interface between RAN and UPF is mainly used for transferring the uplink and downlink user plane data between access network equipment and UPF.

4) N4: the interface between SMF and UPF can be used to transfer information between control plane and user plane, including control plane-oriented forwarding rule, qoS rule, flow statistics rule, etc. issuing and user plane information reporting.

5) N6: and the interface of the UPF and the DN is used for transmitting uplink and downlink user data streams between the UPF and the DN.

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

The application of the technology is that devices such as a notebook computer (Laptop), a desktop computer, a Tablet computer (Tablet) or other intelligent terminals can be connected to the intelligent terminal with the internet function through wired or wireless (for example, wiFi, bluetooth or USB physical connection) and other connection modes, so that packet data service can be provided for devices other than the intelligent terminal with the internet function. For example, the network sharing technology may be a network sharing technology (thering), wherein an intelligent terminal providing the thering function may be referred to as a thering user.

With the popularization of intelligent terminals with network sharing technology, a large number of non-signed devices such as notebook computers and tablet computers can use network traffic through the network sharing technology of the intelligent terminals. Because the operator cannot perceive the terminal equipment using the network sharing technology to access the network, the operator cannot analyze and judge the actual situation of the equipment using the network traffic, and thus cannot better provide services for the user.

Fig. 2 (a) is a flow chart of a method for managing a hotspot device according to an embodiment of the present application. The method comprises the following steps:

in step 201a, the policy control network element sends indication information to the user plane network element.

Accordingly, the user plane network element receives the indication information.

The policy control network element sends the indication information to the user plane network element, and specifically, the policy control network element may send the indication information to the user plane network element through the session management network element.

When the embodiment of the application is applied to a 5G scene, the policy control network element is a PCF network element, the session management network element is an SMF network element, and the user plane network element is a UPF network element.

When the embodiment of the present application is applied to a 4G scenario, the policy Control network element is a policy and charging rules function (Policy and Charging Rules Function, PCRF) network element, the session management network element is a packet data network gateway-Control Plane (PGW-C) network element, and the User Plane network element is a packet data network gateway-User Plane (Packet Data Network Gateway-User Plane, PGW-U) network element.

Of course, the embodiments of the present application may also be applied to future communication scenarios, such as sixth generation (6th generation,6G) communication scenarios, which are not limited in this application. The implementation of the policy control network element, the session management network element, and the user plane network element is described in detail herein, and will not be described in detail later.

The indication information indicates that when the first event occurs, the first event is sent to the policy control network element. The first event is that the number of devices accessed to the terminal device through the hotspot sharing technology is greater than or equal to a hotspot access threshold, or the first event is that the number of devices accessed to the terminal device through the hotspot sharing technology is greater than the hotspot access threshold.

In step 202a, when a first event occurs, the user plane network element sends the first event to the policy control network element.

Accordingly, the policy control network element receives the first event.

After receiving the indication information, the user plane network element detects the number of devices accessed to the terminal device through the hot spot sharing technology, and when the user plane network element detects that the number of devices accessed to the terminal device through the hot spot sharing technology is larger than a hot spot access threshold value, the user plane network element indicates that a first event occurs, so that the user plane network element sends the first event to the policy control network element, and the policy control network element can acquire: the number of devices accessed to the terminal device through the hotspot sharing technology is greater than or equal to the hotspot access threshold.

For example, assuming that the hotspot access threshold is 5, the indication information is used to indicate that, when the number of devices accessed to the terminal device 1 through the hotspot sharing technology is greater than or equal to 5, the indication information is reported to the policy control network element. Therefore, the user plane network element detects the devices accessed to the terminal device 1 through the hot spot sharing technology, and when detecting that the number of the devices accessed to the terminal device 1 through the hot spot sharing technology is greater than or equal to 5, reports the number to the policy control network element: the number of devices accessed to the terminal device 1 by the hot spot sharing technique is greater than or equal to 5.

In an implementation method, before the step 202a, the user plane network element receives the hot spot access threshold from the policy control network element, that is, the policy control network element provides the hot spot access threshold to the user plane network element. The hotspot access threshold and the indication information may be sent in the same message or may be sent in a different message.

In still another implementation method, the indication information includes the hotspot access threshold.

In yet another implementation method, the user plane network element determines a hotspot access threshold according to a service package of the terminal device. That is, the hotspot access thresholds corresponding to different service packages may be the same or different.

In yet another implementation method, the user plane network element determines a hotspot access threshold according to configuration information in the user plane network element.

According to the scheme, the policy control network element indicates the user plane network element to detect the number of the devices accessed to the terminal device through the hot spot sharing technology, and notifies the policy control network element when the number of the devices accessed to the terminal device through the hot spot sharing technology is detected to be larger than or equal to the hot spot access threshold, so that the policy control network element can know that the number of the devices accessed to the terminal device through the hot spot sharing technology is larger than or equal to the hot spot access threshold, the policy control network element can conveniently determine a charging mode or a control mode of the terminal device, and reasonable charging and accurate control of the terminal device can be facilitated.

In an implementation method, following the above step 202a, the following step 203a and/or step 204a may also be performed.

In step 203a, the policy control network element sends a first charging rule to the user plane network element.

Accordingly, the user plane network element receives the first charging rule.

After the policy control network element receives the first event, if the number of the devices accessed to the terminal device through the hot spot sharing technology is greater than or equal to the hot spot access threshold, the policy control network element updates the charging rule to obtain a first charging rule. And then the policy control network element sends a first charging rule to the user plane network element, and the user plane network element charges the terminal equipment according to the first charging rule.

For example, the first charging rule may increase the flow unit price (or flow usage rate) as compared to the charging rule before the update, or may be updated to begin charging from a previous non-charging update. The specific implementation method of the charging rule is not limited in the embodiment of the application. Therefore, the method can effectively set the charging rule and realize reasonable charging of the terminal equipment.

In step 204a, the policy control network element sends a first control policy rule to the user plane network element.

Accordingly, the user plane network element receives the first control policy rule.

After the policy control network element receives the first event, if the number of the devices accessed to the terminal device through the hot spot sharing technology is greater than or equal to the hot spot access threshold, the policy control network element updates the control policy rule to obtain the first control policy rule. And then the policy control network element sends a first control policy rule to the user plane network element, and the user plane network element controls the terminal equipment according to the first control policy rule.

For example, the first control policy rule may limit traffic bandwidth or reduce traffic network speed of the device, etc., as compared to the control policy rule prior to the update. The embodiment of the application does not limit the specific implementation method of the control strategy rule. The method can effectively set the control strategy rule and realize reasonable control of the terminal equipment.

In an implementation method, following the above step 202a, the following step 205a may also be performed.

In step 205a, when the second event occurs, the user plane network element sends the second event to the policy control network element.

Accordingly, the policy control network element receives the second event.

The second event indicates that the number of devices accessed to the terminal device through the hotspot sharing technique is less than or equal to the hotspot access threshold.

It will be appreciated that the second event is a different event from the first event, that is, when the number of devices accessed to the terminal device by the hotspot sharing technology changes, for example, the number changes from greater than the hotspot access threshold to less than or equal to the hotspot access threshold, the user plane network element informs the policy control network element of the change in the number. In other words, the user plane network element can dynamically sense the variation of the number and inform the policy control network element of the variation of the number in real time, thereby realizing the dynamic management of the terminal equipment.

In an implementation method, following step 205a, the following step 206a and/or step 207a may also be performed.

In step 206a, the policy control network element sends the second charging rule to the user plane network element.

Accordingly, the user plane network element receives the second charging rule.

After the policy control network element receives the second event, if the number of the devices accessed to the terminal device through the hot spot sharing technology is less than or equal to the hot spot access threshold, the policy control network element updates the charging rule to obtain a second charging rule. And then the policy control network element sends a second charging rule to the user plane network element, and the user plane network element charges the terminal equipment according to the second charging rule.

For example, the second charging rule may reduce the flow unit price (or flow usage rate) as compared to the charging rule prior to the update, or may be updated from the previous charging to no charging. The specific implementation method of the charging rule is not limited in the embodiment of the application. The method can effectively set the charging rules and realize reasonable charging of the terminal equipment.

Step 207a, the policy control network element sends a second control policy rule to the user plane network element.

Accordingly, the user plane network element receives the second control policy rule.

After the policy control network element receives the second event, if the number of the devices accessed to the terminal device through the hot spot sharing technology is less than or equal to the hot spot access threshold, the policy control network element updates the control policy rule to obtain a second control policy rule. And then the strategy control network element sends a second control strategy rule to the user plane network element, and the user plane network element controls the terminal equipment according to the second control strategy rule.

For example, the first control policy rule may promote bandwidth traffic of the device or promote traffic network speed of the device, and so on, as compared to the control policy rule prior to the update. The embodiment of the application does not limit the specific implementation method of the control strategy rule. The method can effectively set the control strategy rule and realize reasonable control of the terminal equipment.

The following describes a method for implementing the detection of the number of devices accessed to the terminal device by the hotspot sharing technology by the user plane network element. The following methods 1 to 4 are only examples, and the present application does not limit an implementation method for detecting the number of devices accessed to a terminal device through a hotspot sharing technology by using a user plane network element.

In the method 1, a user plane network element receives a plurality of data packets from a terminal device, each data packet in the plurality of data packets comprises a time stamp, the user plane network element determines a reference value of a clock source corresponding to the plurality of data packets according to the time stamp in each data packet in the plurality of data packets, and the user plane network element determines the number of devices accessed to the terminal device through a hot spot sharing technology according to the reference value of the clock source corresponding to the plurality of data packets.

If the terminal equipment starts hot spot sharing and other equipment accesses the terminal equipment through a hot spot sharing technology, the other equipment sends data packets through the terminal equipment, so that the user plane network element receives a plurality of data packets from the terminal equipment, wherein the data packets comprise both the data packets sent by the terminal equipment and the data packets sent by the other equipment.

When a data packet is transmitted, the data packet carries a time stamp, whether it is a terminal device or other devices accessed to the terminal device through a hot spot sharing technology, wherein the time stamp is related to the clock source of the device generating the data packet. Therefore, the user plane network element can determine the reference value of the clock source corresponding to the data packet according to the obtained time stamp in the data packet. Since the reference values of the same clock source are the same, the user plane can determine the number of devices accessed to the terminal device through the hot spot sharing technology according to the number of the reference values of different clock sources. The reference value of the clock source can be understood as the value of the clock source at a certain reference time. The clock sources of different devices have different values at the same time, i.e. the reference values of the clock sources of different devices are different.

For example, the user plane network element determines that there are 5 kinds of reference values according to the time stamps in the received multiple data packets, and 1 reference value in the 5 kinds of reference values is a reference value of a clock source of the terminal device that starts hot spot sharing, and the other 4 reference values are reference values of clock sources of other devices that are accessed to the terminal device through the hot spot sharing technology, so that the user plane network element determines that the number of devices that are accessed to the terminal device through the hot spot sharing technology is 4.

The method is described below in connection with an example. For example, UE1 is a device that has hotspot sharing turned on, and then device 1, device 2, and device 3 access UE1 through the hotspot turned on by UE1. The following describes a method for the user plane network element to identify the number of devices 3 that are accessed to UE1 by the hot spot sharing technique.

At power-on of UE1, the clock source of UE1 generates an initial value (indicated by initial timestamp 1), for example, 1000. Then, as time passes, the value of the clock source increases by a fixed amount (indicated by numbysec) for every 1 second, which takes a value of 1000. Such as 2000 for the clock source after 1 second of UE1 power on, 3000 for the clock source after 2 seconds of UE1 power on, and so on. When the UE1 generates the data packet, the current value of the clock source of the UE1 is acquired, and then the data packet carries the value as a timestamp (timestamp). For example, at time t1, the clock source of UE1 takes a value of timestamp1, and UE1 carries the timestamp1 in the data packet. Similarly, at time t2, the clock source of UE1 takes a value of timestamp2, UE1 carries the timestamp2 in the packet, and so on.

Similarly, when the device 1 is turned on, the clock source of the device 1 generates an initial value (indicated by initial timestamp 2), for example, the initial value is 2000. Then, as time passes, the value of the clock source increases by a fixed amount (indicated by numbysec) for every 1 second, which takes a value of 1000. For example, the clock source is updated to 3000 after 1 second of device 1 is turned on, the clock source is updated to 4000 after 2 seconds of device 1 is turned on, and so on. When the device 1 generates a data packet, the current value of the clock source of the device 1 is acquired, and then the value is carried in the data packet as a timestamp. For example, at time t3, the clock source of device 1 takes the value of timestamp3, and device 1 carries this timestamp3 in the data packet. Similarly, at time t4, the clock source of device 1 takes the value of timestamp4, device 1 carries the timestamp4 in the packet, and so on.

Similarly, devices 2, 3 will also carry corresponding timetags in the data packets.

Therefore, the user plane network element carries a time stamp in the data packet received from UE1, device 2 or device 3. The user plane network element can sample at different moments to obtain timestamps in a plurality of data packets, and obtain a plurality of straight lines with the same slope by performing function fitting on the plurality of timestamps obtained by sampling at the moments, wherein the number of the straight lines represents the total number of devices from which the plurality of data packets are derived, and the user plane network element can also understand that the initial values of different devices represented by the plurality of straight lines obtained by fitting are different. Since the initial values of different devices at power-on are random values, the number of initial values can be regarded as the number of devices. Taking fig. 2 (c) as an example, the user plane network element samples at time tx and time ty to obtain a plurality of data packets respectively, obtains a timestamp in the data packets, and then fits the plurality of timestamps obtained by sampling to obtain 4 straight lines. The data packets corresponding to the same straight line are derived from the same device, so that 4 straight lines indicate that the adopted data packets are derived from 4 devices, and the 4 devices are UE1, device 2 and device 3. The user plane network element determines that the number of devices accessed to UE1 through the hot spot sharing technique is 4-1=3.

The method 2, the user plane network element determines the number of devices accessed to the terminal device through the hot spot sharing technology according to the number and/or the type of the heartbeat messages detected in one or more periods, wherein the heartbeat messages are from the terminal device or the devices accessed to the terminal device through the hot spot sharing technology.

The operating system (e.g. IOS, android, windows) of the terminal device periodically sends heartbeat messages to the application server, the terminal device sends out heartbeat messages to reach the user plane network element, and the user plane network element forwards the heartbeat messages to the application server. The user plane network element can thus detect the heartbeat message of the terminal device.

For other devices accessed to the terminal device through the hot spot sharing technology, the operating system of the device also periodically sends heartbeat messages to the application server, when the device sends out the heartbeat messages, the heartbeat messages reach the user plane network element through the terminal device, and then the user plane network element forwards the heartbeat messages to the application server. The user plane network element may thus detect the heartbeat message of the device.

In one implementation method, if the types of heartbeat messages sent by different devices are different, the user plane network element may determine the number of devices accessed to the terminal device through the hot spot sharing technology according to the type of heartbeat messages detected in one or more periods. For example, terminal device 1 shares a hotspot, and then 3 devices, respectively device 1, device 2, and device 3, all access terminal device 1 through the hotspot sharing technology. If the user plane network element is able to detect 4 types of heartbeat messages from the terminal device 1 in one or more periods, the user plane network element determines that the number of devices accessed to the terminal device 1 through the hot spot sharing technique is 4-1=3.

In still another implementation method, since the heartbeat message transmission periods of devices with the same type of operating system type are the same, the number of devices accessed to the terminal device 1 through the hot spot sharing technology can be determined by detecting the number of heartbeat messages in one period. For example, the device with the android operating system sends heartbeat messages according to the period T1, the device with the apple operating system sends heartbeat messages according to the period T2, the user plane network element can detect the number of heartbeat messages sent by the android device, for example, K1, in a period of a period T1, and detect the number of heartbeat messages sent by the apple device, for example, K2, in a period of a period T2, and then the user plane network element determines that the number of devices accessed to the terminal device 1 through the hot spot sharing technology is (k1+k2) -1.

It will be appreciated that this method 2 may be used simultaneously with method 1. For example, while detecting the characteristics of the heartbeat message, the method 1 is used to determine a plurality of data packets with the same characteristics, so that the number of devices accessed to the terminal device 1 through the hot spot sharing technology can be more accurately determined.

The method 3, the user plane network element obtains the network flow characteristic parameters corresponding to the data packets, and the user plane network element determines the number of the devices accessed to the terminal device through the hot spot sharing technology according to the network flow characteristic parameters.

Hotspot access is essentially a network address translation (network address translation, NAT) behavior, and traffic identification is essentially to divide an IP address in a network into an IP address of a NAT device and an IP address of a common host, which has a certain similarity with the identification of hotspot sharing behavior, where a terminal device that has turned on a hotspot sharing function may be regarded as a NAT device, and other devices that have not turned on a hotspot sharing function may be regarded as common hosts. The general idea of the method is to acquire the IP addresses in the network, then take each IP address as an example in data mining, and the NAT equipment in the network and the common host are connected through the data mining.

Then, the user plane network element further determines the number of devices accessed to the NAT device through the hot spot sharing technology, and the specific method comprises the following steps: the user plane network element collects data packets, and then analyzes network flow characteristic parameters corresponding to the collected data packets according to the machine learning/depth model to determine the number of devices accessed to the terminal device through the hot spot sharing technology. The network flow characteristic parameters corresponding to the data packet comprise one or more of data packet arrival time, IP layer information in the data packet and transmission control protocol (Transmission Control protocol, TCP) layer information in the data packet. The machine learning/depth model is trained in advance according to the collected network flow characteristic parameters in a plurality of data packets and the label information of the NAT equipment.

The method 4, the user plane network element obtains a plurality of HTTP request messages, the HTTP request messages comprise equipment parameters, and the user plane network element determines the number of the equipment accessed to the terminal equipment through the hot spot sharing technology according to the equipment parameters in the HTTP request messages.

When the equipment accesses the HTTP service, an HTTP request message is sent, and a user agent field in the message header of the HTTP request message carries one or more parameters of the operating system type of the equipment, the browser type of the equipment or the equipment type and the like, so that the user plane network element can judge whether the equipment is the equipment accessed to the terminal equipment through the hot spot sharing technology according to the parameters carried in the message header of the HTTP request message, and further determine the quantity of the equipment accessed to the terminal equipment through the hot spot sharing technology.

Similarly, the various methods described above may be used in conjunction with one another to determine the number of devices that are accessed to a terminal device via a hotspot sharing technique. And will not be described in detail.

Fig. 2 (b) is a flow chart of a method for managing a hotspot device according to an embodiment of the present application. The method comprises the following steps:

step 201b, the policy control network element sends indication information to the user plane network element.

The transmission action may be described with reference to step 201 a.

The indication information indicates that when the number of the devices accessed to the terminal device through the hot spot sharing technology changes, the changed number of the devices is sent to the policy control network element.

In step 202b, when the number of devices accessed to the terminal device by the hot spot sharing technology changes from the first number to the second number, the user plane network element sends the second number to the policy control network element.

That is, when the user plane network element determines that the number of devices accessed to the terminal device through the hot spot sharing technology is changed, the changed number of devices is sent to the policy control network element.

According to the scheme, the policy control network element indicates the user plane network element to detect the number of the devices accessed to the terminal device through the hot spot sharing technology, and after detecting that the number of the devices accessed to the terminal device through the hot spot sharing technology is changed, the policy control network element sends the changed number of the devices to the policy control network element, so that the policy control network element decides a charging mode or a control mode of the terminal device according to the changed number of the devices, and further reasonable charging and accurate control of the terminal device are facilitated.

In an implementation method, after the above step 202b, the following step 203b may be further performed, or the step 204b may be performed, or the steps 203b and 204b may be performed.

Step 203b, the policy control network element sends the charging rules to the user plane network element.

Accordingly, the user plane network element receives the charging rule.

And after receiving the second quantity, the policy control network element determines a charging rule according to the second quantity. And then the policy control network element sends the charging rule to the user plane network element, and the user plane network element charges the terminal equipment according to the charging rule.

In an implementation method, an interval is defined for the number of devices accessed to a terminal device through a hot spot sharing technology, and a charging rule is set for each interval. For example, when the number of devices belongs to the interval of 0 to 2, the charging rule 1 is set, when the number of devices belongs to the interval of 3 to 5, the charging rule 2 is set, and so on. The specific implementation method of the charging rule is not limited in the embodiment of the application. The method can effectively set the charging rules and realize reasonable charging of the terminal equipment.

Step 204b, the policy control network element sends the control policy rules to the user plane network element.

Accordingly, the user plane network element receives the control policy rule.

And after the policy control network element receives the second number, determining a control policy rule according to the second number. And then, the strategy control network element sends a control strategy rule to the user plane network element, and the user plane network element controls the terminal equipment according to the control strategy rule.

In an implementation method, the embodiment of the application defines intervals for the number of devices accessed to the terminal device through a hot spot sharing technology, and sets a control policy rule for each interval. For example, when the number of devices falls within the interval 0 to 2, the control policy rule 1 is set, when the number of devices falls within the interval 3 to 5, the control policy rule 2 is set, and so on. The embodiment of the application does not limit the specific implementation method of the control strategy rule. The method can effectively set the control strategy rule and realize reasonable control of the terminal equipment.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of fig. 2 (b), the implementation method for detecting the number of devices accessed to the terminal device by the hotspot sharing technology by using the user plane network element may refer to the related description in the embodiment of fig. 2 (a), and the embodiment of fig. 2 (b) is not repeated.

The embodiments of fig. 2 (a) and 2 (b) described above will be described below with reference to specific embodiments. Among these, the following embodiments of fig. 3 and 5 are specific examples of the embodiment of fig. 2 (a) described above, and the following embodiment of fig. 4 is a specific example of the embodiment of fig. 2 (b) described above.

Fig. 3 is a flowchart of a method for managing a hotspot device according to an embodiment of the present application. The method comprises the following steps:

step 301, the terminal device sends a session establishment request message to the session management network element.

The terminal equipment has the internet surfing capability and the hotspot sharing function. For example, the terminal device is a smart phone or the like.

In 4G, the session management network element is PGW-C. In 5G, the session management network element is an SMF.

In 5G, the session establishment request message may be an nsmf_pduse_ CreateSMContext Request message.

Step 302, the session management network element sends a policy establishment request message to the policy control network element.

In 4G, the policy control network element is a PCRF, and the session management network element (i.e., PGW-C) sends a policy establishment request message to the PCRF through a Gx interface between the PGW-C and the PCRF.

In 5G, the policy control network element is a PCF, and the session management network element (i.e., SMF) sends a policy setup request message to the PCF via an N7 interface between the SMF and the PCF.

In 5G, the policy setup Request message may be an npcf_smplicycorol_create_request message.

The policy establishment request message is used to request a user policy.

Step 303, the policy control network element sends a policy establishment response message to the session management network element.

In 5G, the policy setup response message may be an npcf_smplicycorol_create_request message.

The policy establishment response message comprises a hotspot access exceeding threshold reporting event and a hotspot access threshold, wherein the hotspot access exceeding threshold reporting event is used for indicating that when the event that the number of devices accessed to the terminal equipment through a hotspot sharing technology exceeds the hotspot access threshold occurs, the event is reported. The policy control network element may obtain subscription data of the terminal device locally, and obtain a hotspot access threshold corresponding to the terminal device from the subscription data.

In one implementation, in 4G, the policy establishment response message includes a credit control result (credit control answer, CCA) message or a Re-authorization Request (RAR) message, where the CCA message or the RAR message includes a hotspot access exceeding threshold reporting event and a hotspot access threshold.

Wherein the hot spot access exceeding threshold reporting event is a specific example of the indication information in the embodiment of fig. 2 (a) described above.

Taking the CCA message as an example, the CCA message currently includes an Event-Trigger field.

In the 4G application scenario, the application may extend the Event-Trigger field, and increase the value range of the Event-Trigger, for example, newly increase the value of the Event-Trigger to TETHERING _exposed_num_report, where TETHERING _exposed_num_report is an example of a REPORT Event that the hot spot access EXCEEDs the threshold. Accordingly, a thering-NUM-Threshold corresponding to TETHERING _exposed_num_report is also added, which is one example of a hotspot access Threshold. When the Event-Trigger value in the CCA message is TETHERING _exposed_num_report, the CCA message further includes a curing-NUM-Threshold. Wherein the TETHERING _exposed_num_report and the curing-NUM-Threshold are referred to as an attribute-value pair (attributevalue pair, AVP).

In yet another implementation, in the 5G application scenario, the policy setup response message includes smpolicy resolution. The contents of the portion contained in this SmPolicyDecision are shown in Table 1.

TABLE 1

Wherein policctrlreqtriggers are existing attributes, and the value of policctrlreqtriggers is represented by policcontrol requesttriggers. In the embodiment of the present application, the value range of the newly added policctrlreqtriggers, for example, the value of the newly added policctrlreqtriggers is TETHERING _exposed_num_report, and the TETHERING _exposed_num_report is an example of a event that the hot spot access EXCEEDs the threshold.

Wherein, the heating_num_threshold is a newly added attribute, and the heating_num_threshold is an example of a hotspot access Threshold.

Step 304, the session management network element sends a session establishment request message to the user plane network element.

In 4G, the user plane element is a PGW-U, and the session management element (i.e., PGW-C) sends a session establishment request message to the PGW-U through an Sx interface between the PGW-C and the PGW-U.

In 5G, the user plane element is a UPF, and the session management element (i.e., the SMF) sends a session establishment request message to the UPF through an N4 interface between the SMF and the UPF.

In the 5G, the session establishment request message may be an N4 Session Establish Request message.

The session establishment request message comprises a hot spot access exceeding threshold reporting event and a hot spot access threshold.

In one implementation, the session establishment request message includes a usage reporting rule (Usage Reporting Rule, URR) including Extended Reporting Triggers and a thering_num_threshold. Included in this Extended Reporting Triggers is a hotspot access over Threshold reporting event, which is one example of a hotspot access Threshold.

In step 305, the user plane network element starts the detection of the hot spot access according to the event that the hot spot access exceeds the threshold.

The implementation method for detecting the number of devices accessed to the terminal device by the hotspot sharing technology by using the user plane network element may refer to the related description in the embodiment of fig. 2 (a), and will not be described again.

Step 306, the user plane network element sends a session establishment response message to the session management network element.

In the 5G, the session establishment response message may be an N4 Session Establish Response message.

Step 307, the user plane network element sends a session report request message to the session management network element.

In the 5G, the session report request message may be an N4 Session Reporting Request message.

Specifically, when the user plane network element detects that the number of devices accessed to the terminal device through the hot spot sharing technology exceeds a hot spot access threshold, the user plane network element sends a session report request message to the session management network element, wherein the session report request message comprises a hot spot access exceeding threshold event, and the hot spot access exceeding threshold event indicates that the number of devices accessed to the terminal device through the hot spot sharing technology exceeds a hot spot access threshold.

Wherein the hot spot access exceeding threshold event is a specific example of the first event in the embodiment of fig. 2 (a) described above.

Illustratively, extendedUsage Report Triggers is included in the session report request message, and ExtendedUsage Report Triggers may include a hotspot access exceeding a threshold event. Step 308, the session management network element sends a policy update request message to the policy control network element.

In 5G, the policy Update Request message may be an npcf_smplicycontrol_update_request message.

The policy update request message includes a hotspot access exceeding threshold event.

In step 309, the policy control network element determines charging rule 1 and/or control policy rule 1 for the terminal device.

And triggering the policy control network element to determine a charging rule 1 and/or a control policy rule 1 for the terminal equipment according to a pre-configured policy or a subscription policy by the policy control network element when the hot spot access received by the policy control network element exceeds a threshold event.

In step 310, the policy control network element sends a policy update response message to the session management network element.

In 5G, the policy Update Response message may be an npcf_smplicycontrol_update_response message.

The policy update response message includes charging rules 1 for the terminal device and/or control policy rules 1 for the terminal device.

Step 311, the session management network element sends a session modification request message to the user plane network element.

In the 5G, the session modification request message may be an N4 Session Modification Request message.

The session modification request message includes charging rules 1 and/or control policy rules 1 for the terminal device. In one implementation, the session modification request message includes a packet detection rule (Packet Detection Rule, PDR), where the PDR includes charging rule 1 and/or control policy rule 1 for the terminal device.

In step 312, the user plane network element charges the terminal device according to the charging rule 1 for the terminal device and/or controls the terminal device according to the control policy rule 1 for the terminal device.

Optionally, when the user plane network element detects that the number of devices accessed to the terminal device through the hotspot sharing technology changes from exceeding the hotspot access threshold to being below the hotspot access threshold, the following steps 313 to 318 may be further performed after step 312.

Step 313, the user plane network element sends a session report request message to the session management network element.

Specifically, when the user plane network element detects that the number of devices accessed to the terminal device through the hotspot sharing technology is changed from exceeding the hotspot access threshold to being lower than the hotspot access threshold, the user plane network element sends a session report request message to the session management network element, wherein the session report request message comprises a hotspot access lower-threshold event, and the hotspot access lower-threshold event indicates that the number of devices accessed to the terminal device through the hotspot sharing technology is lower than the hotspot access threshold.

Wherein the hot spot access below threshold event is a specific example of the second event in the embodiment of fig. 2 (a) described above.

Illustratively, extendedUsage Report Triggers is included in the session report request message, and ExtendedUsage Report Triggers may include a hotspot access below threshold event.

In step 314, the session management network element sends a policy update request message to the policy control network element.

The policy update request message includes a hotspot access below threshold event.

In step 315, the policy control network element determines charging rules 2 and/or control policy rules 2 for the terminal device.

And the hot spot access received by the policy control network element is lower than a threshold event, and the policy control network element is triggered to determine a charging rule 2 and/or a control policy rule 2 for the terminal equipment according to a pre-configured policy or a subscription policy.

Step 316, the policy control network element sends a policy update response message to the session management network element.

The policy update response message includes charging rules 2 for the terminal device and/or control policy rules 2 for the terminal device.

In step 317, the session management network element sends a session modification request message to the user plane network element.

The session modification request message includes charging rules 2 for the terminal device and/or control policy rules 2 for the terminal device. In an implementation method, the session modification request message includes a PDR, where the PDR includes charging rules 2 for the terminal device and/or control policy rules 2 for the terminal device.

In step 318, the user plane network element charges the terminal device according to the charging rule 2 for the terminal device and/or controls the terminal device according to the control policy rule 2 for the terminal device.

According to the scheme, the user plane network element can detect the number of the devices accessed to the terminal device through the hot spot sharing technology, and when detecting that the number of the devices accessed to the terminal device through the hot spot sharing technology exceeds a hot spot access threshold value, report a hot spot access exceeding threshold event, and trigger the policy control network element to determine corresponding charging rules and/or control policy rules. And the user plane network element can also report that the hot spot access is lower than a threshold event when detecting that the number of the devices accessed to the terminal device through the hot spot sharing technology is lower than a hot spot access threshold value, and trigger the policy control network element to determine a corresponding charging rule and/or a control policy rule. The scheme can realize accurate charging and effective control according to the terminal equipment.

It should be noted that, the above steps 303 and 304 may be understood as a specific implementation of the step 201a in the embodiment of fig. 2 (a), the above steps 307 and 308 may be understood as a specific implementation of the step 202a in the embodiment of fig. 2 (a), the above steps 310 and 311 may be understood as a specific implementation of the step 203a and 204a in the embodiment of fig. 2 (a), the above steps 313 and 314 may be understood as a specific implementation of the step 205a in the embodiment of fig. 2 (a), the above steps 316 and 317 may be understood as a specific implementation of the step 206a and 207a in the embodiment of fig. 2 (a), and the specific implementation thereof may refer to the related description in the embodiment of fig. 2 (a) and will not be repeated.

Fig. 4 is a flowchart of a method for managing a hotspot device according to an embodiment of the present application. The method comprises the following steps:

step 401, the terminal device sends a session establishment request message to the session management network element.

Step 402, the session management network element sends a policy establishment request message to the policy control network element.

The policy establishment request message is used to request a user policy.

Step 403, the policy control network element sends a policy establishment response message to the session management network element.

The policy establishment response message includes a number reporting event of the hotspot access device, where the number reporting event of the hotspot access device is used to indicate that, when an event occurs that the number of devices accessed to the terminal device by the hotspot sharing technology changes, the number of changed devices is reported.

In an implementation method, in 4G, the policy establishment response message includes a CCA message or a RAR message, where the CCA message or the RAR message includes a number reporting event of the hotspot access device.

Wherein the number reporting event of the hotspot access device is a specific example of the indication information in the embodiment of fig. 2 (b) described above.

In the 4G application scenario, the application can expand the Event-Trigger, and increase the value range of the Event-Trigger, for example, the value of the newly increased Event-Trigger is TETHERING _NUM_REPORT, and the TETHERING _NUM_REPORT is an example of the number reporting Event of the hot spot access device.

In yet another implementation, in the 5G application scenario, the policy setup response message includes smpolicy resolution. The contents of the portion contained in this SmPolicyDecision are shown in Table 2.

TABLE 2

Wherein policctrlreqtriggers are existing attributes, and the value of policctrlreqtriggers is represented by policcontrol requesttriggers. In the embodiment of the application, the value range of policctrlreqtriggers is newly increased, for example, the value of policctrlreqtriggers is newly increased to TETHERING _num_report. The TETHERING _num_report is one example of a number reporting event for a hotspot access device.

Step 404, the session management network element sends a session establishment request message to the user plane network element.

The session establishment request message includes the number reporting event of the hotspot access device.

In one implementation, the session establishment request message includes a URR including Extended Reporting Triggers therein. The Extended Reporting Triggers includes a number of hot spot access devices reporting events.

In step 405, the user plane network element starts hot spot access detection according to the number of hot spot access devices reporting events.

Step 406, the user plane network element sends a session establishment response message to the session management network element.

Step 407, the user plane network element sends a session report request message to the session management network element.

Specifically, when the user plane network element detects that the number of devices accessed to the terminal device through the hot spot sharing technology changes, the user plane network element sends a session report request message to the session management network element, where the session report request message includes the number of devices accessed to the terminal device through the hot spot sharing technology, and the number refers to the number of changed devices.

In one implementation, the session report request message may include ExtendedUsage Report Triggers, and the ExtendedUsage Report Triggers may include the number of devices accessed to the terminal device via a hotspot sharing technique. In step 408, the session management network element sends a policy update request message to the policy control network element.

The policy update request message includes the number of devices that are accessed to the terminal device through the hotspot sharing technology.

In step 409, the policy control network element determines charging rules and/or control policy rules for the terminal device.

The method comprises the steps that the policy control network element triggers the policy control network element to determine charging rules for terminal equipment and/or control policy rules for the terminal equipment according to a preset policy or a subscription policy according to the number of equipment which is received by the policy control network element and is accessed to the terminal equipment through a hot spot sharing technology.

In step 410, the policy control network element sends a policy update response message to the session management network element.

The policy update response message includes charging rules and/or control policy rules for the terminal device.

In step 411, the session management network element sends a session modification request message to the user plane network element.

The session modification request message includes charging rules and/or control policy rules for the terminal device. In an implementation method, the session modification request message includes a PDR, where the PDR includes charging rules and/or control policy rules for the terminal device.

In step 412, the user plane network element charges the terminal device according to the charging rule for the terminal device and/or controls the terminal device according to the control policy rule for the terminal device.

Subsequently, if the user plane network element detects that the number of devices accessed to the terminal device through the hotspot sharing technology changes, the above steps 407 to 412 are repeatedly performed.

According to the scheme, the user plane network element can detect the number of the devices accessed to the terminal device through the hot spot sharing technology, report the detected number of the devices accessed to the terminal device through the hot spot sharing technology, and trigger the policy control network element to determine the corresponding charging rules and/or the control policy rules. The scheme can realize accurate charging and effective control according to the terminal equipment.

It should be noted that, the above step 403 and step 404 may be understood as a specific implementation of the step 201b in the embodiment of fig. 2 (b), the above step 407 and step 408 may be understood as a specific implementation of the step 202b in the embodiment of fig. 2 (b), and the above step 410 and step 411 may be understood as a specific implementation of the step 203b and step 204b in the embodiment of fig. 2 (b), and the specific implementation thereof may refer to the related description in the embodiment of fig. 2 (b) and will not be repeated.

Fig. 5 is a flowchart of a method for managing a hotspot device according to an embodiment of the present application. The method comprises the following steps:

step 501, the terminal device sends a session establishment request message to the session management network element.

Step 502, the session management network element sends a policy establishment request message to the policy control network element.

The policy establishment request message is used to request a user policy.

In step 503, the policy control network element sends a policy establishment response message to the session management network element.

The policy establishment response message comprises a hotspot access exceeding threshold reporting event, wherein the hotspot access exceeding threshold reporting event is used for indicating that when the event that the number of devices accessed to the terminal equipment through a hotspot sharing technology exceeds the hotspot access threshold occurs, the event is reported.

In an implementation method, in 4G, the policy establishment response message includes a CCA message or a RAR message, where the CCA message or the RAR message includes a hotspot access exceeding threshold reporting event.

In the 4G application scene, the application can expand the Event-Trigger, and increase the value range of the Event-Trigger, for example, the value of the newly increased Event-Trigger is TETHERING _EXCEED_NUM_REPORT. The TETHERING _exposed_num_report is one example of a hotspot access exceeding threshold reporting event.

In yet another implementation, in the 5G application scenario, the policy setup response message includes smpolicy resolution. The contents of the portion contained in this SmPolicyDecision are shown in Table 3.

TABLE 3 Table 3

Wherein policctrlreqtriggers are existing attributes, and the value of policctrlreqtriggers is represented by policcontrol requesttriggers. In the embodiment of the application, the value range of the newly added policctrlreqtriggers is, for example, the value of the newly added policctrlreqtriggers is TETHERING _exposed_num_report. The TETHERING _exposed_num_report is one example of a hotspot access exceeding threshold reporting event.

Step 504, the session management network element sends a session establishment request message to the user plane network element.

The session establishment request message includes a report event that the hot spot access exceeds a threshold.

In one implementation, the session establishment request message includes a URR including Extended Reporting Triggers therein. The Extended Reporting Triggers includes a hotspot access exceeded threshold reporting event.

And 505, the user plane network element starts hot spot access detection according to the event that the hot spot access exceeds the threshold value.

Step 506, the user plane network element sends a session establishment response message to the session management network element.

In step 507, the user plane network element sends a session report request message to the session management network element.

Wherein the hot spot access threshold is preconfigured on the user plane network element. Or the user plane network element determines the hot spot access threshold according to the service package of the terminal equipment.

Illustratively, extendedUsage Report Triggers is included in the session report request message, and ExtendedUsage Report Triggers may include a hotspot access exceeding a threshold event.

Step 508, the session management network element sends a policy update request message to the policy control network element.

Step 509, the policy control network element determines charging rule 1 and/or control policy rule 1 for the terminal device.

Step 510, the policy control network element sends a policy update response message to the session management network element.

The policy update response message includes charging rules 1 and/or control policy rules 1 for the terminal device.

In step 511, the session management network element sends a session modification request message to the user plane network element.

The session modification request message includes charging rules 1 and/or control policy rules 1 for the terminal device. In an implementation method, the session modification request message includes a PDR, where the PDR includes charging rule 1 and/or control policy rule 1 for the terminal device.

In step 512, the user plane network element charges the terminal device according to the charging rule 1 for the terminal device and/or controls the terminal device according to the control policy rule 1 for the terminal device.

Optionally, when the user plane network element detects that the number of devices accessed to the terminal device through the hotspot sharing technology changes from exceeding the hotspot access threshold to being below the hotspot access threshold, the following steps 513 to 518 may also be performed.

In step 513, the user plane network element sends a session report request message to the session management network element.

Step 514, the session management network element sends a policy update request message to the policy control network element.

In step 515, the policy control network element determines charging rules 2 and/or control policy rules 2 for the terminal device.

In step 516, the policy control network element sends a policy update response message to the session management network element.

The policy update response message includes charging rules 2 and/or control policy rules 2 for the terminal device.

Step 517, the session management network element sends a session modification request message to the user plane network element.

The session modification request message includes charging rules 2 and/or control policy rules 2 for the terminal device. In an implementation method, the session modification request message includes a PDR, where the PDR includes charging rules 2 and/or control policy rules 2 for the terminal device.

In step 518, the user plane network element charges the terminal device according to the charging rule 2 for the terminal device, and/or controls the terminal device according to the control policy rule 2 for the terminal device.

It should be noted that, the above step 503 and step 504 may be understood as a specific implementation of the step 201a in the embodiment of fig. 2 (a), the above step 507 and step 508 may be understood as a specific implementation of the step 202a in the embodiment of fig. 2 (a), the above step 510 and step 511 may be understood as a specific implementation of the step 203a and step 204a in the embodiment of fig. 2 (a), the above step 513 and step 514 may be understood as a specific implementation of the step 205a in the embodiment of fig. 2 (a), the above step 516 and step 517 may be understood as a specific implementation of the step 206a and step 207a in the embodiment of fig. 2 (a), and the specific implementation thereof may refer to the related description in the embodiment of fig. 2 (a) and will not be repeated.

It will be appreciated that, in order to implement the functions in the above embodiments, the user plane network element or the policy control network element comprises corresponding hardware structures and/or software modules that perform the respective functions. Those of skill in the art will readily appreciate that the elements and method steps of the examples described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is implemented as hardware or computer software driven hardware depends upon the particular application scenario and design constraints imposed on the solution.

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

The communication device 600 shown in fig. 6 includes a processing unit 610 and a transceiving unit 620. The communication device 600 is configured to implement the functions of the user plane network element or the policy control network element in the above-described method embodiment.

When the communication apparatus 600 is configured to implement the functions of the user plane network element in the embodiments of fig. 2 (a), fig. 3, or fig. 5, the transceiver unit 620 is configured to receive indication information from a policy control network element, where the indication information indicates that, when a first event occurs, the first event is sent to the policy control network element, where the first event is that the number of devices accessed to the terminal device through a hotspot sharing technology is greater than or equal to a hotspot access threshold; when the first event occurs, the first event is sent to the policy control network element.

In a possible implementation method, a transceiver unit 620 is configured to receive the hotspot access threshold from the policy control network element; alternatively, the indication information includes the hotspot access threshold.

In a possible implementation method, the processing unit 610 is configured to determine the hotspot access threshold according to a service package of the terminal device; or, the processing unit 610 is configured to determine the hotspot access threshold according to the configuration information in the user plane network element.

In a possible implementation method, the transceiver unit 620 is configured to receive a first charging rule from the policy control network element, where the first charging rule is determined according to the first event; and the processing unit 610 is configured to charge the terminal device according to the first charging rule.

In a possible implementation method, the transceiver unit 620 is configured to receive a first control policy rule from the policy control network element, where the first control policy rule is determined according to the first event; and the processing unit 610 is configured to control the terminal device according to the first control policy rule.

In a possible implementation method, the transceiver unit 620 is configured to send a second event to the policy control network element when the second event occurs, where the second event indicates that the number of devices accessed to the terminal device through the hotspot sharing technology is less than or equal to the hotspot access threshold.

In a possible implementation method, the transceiver unit 620 is configured to receive a second charging rule from the policy control network element, where the second charging rule is determined according to the second event; and the processing unit 610 is configured to charge the terminal device according to the second charging rule.

In a possible implementation method, the transceiver unit 620 is configured to receive a second control policy rule from the policy control network element, where the second control policy rule is determined according to the second event; and the processing unit 610 is configured to control the terminal device according to the second control policy rule.

In a possible implementation method, the transceiver unit 620 is configured to receive a plurality of data packets from the terminal device, where each data packet in the plurality of data packets includes a timestamp; a processing unit 610, configured to determine a reference value of a clock source corresponding to the plurality of data packets according to a timestamp in each of the plurality of data packets; and determining the number of the devices accessed to the terminal device through the hot spot sharing technology according to the reference values of the clock sources corresponding to the data packets.

In a possible implementation method, the processing unit 610 is configured to determine, according to the number and/or type of heartbeat messages detected in one or more periods, the number of devices that are accessed to the terminal device through the hotspot sharing technology, where the heartbeat messages originate from the terminal device or are accessed to the terminal device through the hotspot sharing technology.

In a possible implementation method, a processing unit 610 is configured to obtain network traffic characteristic parameters corresponding to a plurality of data packets; and determining the number of the devices accessed to the terminal device through the hot spot sharing technology according to the network flow characteristic parameters.

In a possible implementation method, the processing unit 610 is configured to obtain a plurality of HTTP request messages, where the HTTP request messages include device parameters; and determining the number of devices accessed to the terminal device through the hot spot sharing technology according to the device parameters in the HTTP request messages.

When the communication apparatus 600 is configured to implement the function of the policy control network element in the embodiment of fig. 2 (a), fig. 3, or fig. 5, the transceiver unit 620 is configured to send indication information to the user plane network element, where the indication information indicates that, when a first event occurs, the first event is sent to the policy control network element, where the first event is that the number of devices accessed to the terminal device through the hotspot sharing technology is greater than or equal to a hotspot access threshold; when the first event occurs, the first event from the user plane network element is received.

In a possible implementation method, the transceiver unit 620 is configured to send the hotspot access threshold to the user plane network element; alternatively, the indication information includes the hotspot access threshold.

In a possible implementation method, the processing unit 610 is configured to determine a first charging rule according to the first event; a transceiver unit 620, configured to send the first charging rule to the user plane network element.

In a possible implementation method, the processing unit 610 is configured to determine a first control policy rule according to the first event; a transceiver unit 620, configured to send the first control policy rule to the user plane network element.

In a possible implementation method, the transceiver unit 620 is configured to receive a second event from the user plane network element, where the second event indicates that the number of devices accessed to the terminal device through the hotspot sharing technology is less than or equal to the hotspot access threshold.

In a possible implementation method, the processing unit 610 is configured to determine a second charging rule according to the second event; a transceiver unit 620, configured to send the second charging rule to the user plane network element.

In a possible implementation method, the processing unit 610 is configured to determine a second control policy rule according to the second event; a transceiver unit 620, configured to send the second control policy rule to the user plane network element.

When the communication apparatus 600 is configured to implement the function of the user plane network element in the embodiment of fig. 2 (b) or fig. 4, the transceiver unit 620 is configured to receive indication information from a policy control network element, where the indication information indicates that, when the number of devices accessed to the terminal device by using the hotspot sharing technology changes, the number of changed devices is sent to the policy control network element; and when the number of the devices accessed to the terminal device through the hot spot sharing technology is changed from the first number to the second number, sending the second number to the strategy control network element.

In a possible implementation method, the transceiver unit 620 is configured to receive a charging rule from the policy control network element, where the charging rule is determined according to the second number; and the processing unit 610 is configured to charge the terminal device according to the charging rule.

In a possible implementation method, the transceiver unit 620 is configured to receive a control policy rule from the policy control network element, where the control policy rule is determined according to the second number; and the processing unit 610 is configured to control the terminal device according to the control policy rule.

When the communication apparatus 600 is configured to implement the function of the policy control network element in the embodiment of fig. 2 (b) or fig. 4, the transceiver unit 620 is configured to send indication information to the user plane network element, where the indication information indicates that, when the number of devices accessed to the terminal device by the hotspot sharing technology changes, the number of changed devices is sent to the policy control network element; and when the number of the devices accessed to the terminal device through the hot spot sharing technology is changed from the first number to the second number, receiving the second number from the user plane network element.

In a possible implementation method, the processing unit 610 is configured to determine a charging rule according to the second number; a transceiver unit 620, configured to send the charging rule to the user plane network element.

In a possible implementation method, the processing unit 610 is configured to determine a control policy rule according to the second number; a transceiver unit 620, configured to send the control policy rule to the user plane network element.

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

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

When the communication device 700 is used to implement the above-mentioned method embodiment, the processor 710 is configured to implement the function of the above-mentioned processing unit 610, and the interface circuit 720 is configured to implement the function of the above-mentioned transceiver unit 620.

It is to be appreciated that the processor in embodiments of the present application may be a central processing unit (central processing unit, CPU), but may also be other general purpose processors, digital signal processors (digital signal processor, DSP), application specific integrated circuits (application specific integrated circuit, ASIC), field programmable gate arrays (field programmable gate array, FPGA) or other programmable logic devices, transistor logic devices, hardware components, or any combination thereof. The general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, it may be any conventional processor.

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

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

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

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

The various illustrative logical blocks and circuits described in the embodiments of the present application may be implemented or performed with a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor, an application specific integrated circuit, a field programmable gate array or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination of the above. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the general purpose processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a digital signal processor and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a digital signal processor core, or any other similar configuration.

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

These computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

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

Those of skill in the art will appreciate that in one or more of the examples described above, the functions described herein may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, these functions may be stored on or transmitted over as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media includes both computer storage media and communication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. A storage media may be any available media that can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer.

The foregoing embodiments have been provided for the purpose of illustrating the technical solution and advantageous effects of the present application in further detail, and it should be understood that the foregoing embodiments are merely illustrative of the present application and are not intended to limit the scope of the present application, and any modifications, equivalents, improvements, etc. made on the basis of the technical solution of the present application should be included in the scope of the present application. The foregoing description of the specification may enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the content of the application, and any modifications may be made based on the disclosure as will be apparent to the person skilled in the art, and the basic principles described herein may be applied to other variations without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention of the application. Thus, the disclosure is not limited to the embodiments and designs described herein but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.

Although the present application has been described in connection with specific features and embodiments thereof, it will be apparent that various modifications and combinations can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the application. Accordingly, the specification and drawings are merely exemplary illustrations of the present application as defined in the appended claims and are considered to cover any and all modifications, variations, combinations, or equivalents that fall within the scope of the present application. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present application without departing from the scope of the application. Thus, if such modifications and variations of the present application fall within the scope of the claims and the equivalents thereof, the present application is intended to include such modifications and variations as well.

Claims

1. A method for managing a hotspot device, comprising:

the method comprises the steps that a user plane network element receives indication information from a strategy control network element, the indication information indicates that when a first event occurs, the first event is sent to the strategy control network element, and the first event is that the number of devices accessed to terminal equipment through a hot spot sharing technology is larger than or equal to a hot spot access threshold;

and when the first event occurs, the user plane network element sends the first event to the strategy control network element.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

the user plane network element receives the hot spot access threshold value from the strategy control network element; or,

the indication information includes the hotspot access threshold.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

the user plane network element determines the hot spot access threshold according to the service package of the terminal equipment; or,

and the user plane network element determines the hot spot access threshold according to the configuration information in the user plane network element.

4. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the method further comprises:

the user plane network element receives a first charging rule from the policy control network element, wherein the first charging rule is determined according to the first event;

and the user plane network element charges the terminal equipment according to the first charging rule.

5. The method of any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the method further comprises:

the user plane network element receives a first control policy rule from the policy control network element, the first control policy rule being determined according to the first event;

And the user plane network element controls the terminal equipment according to the first control strategy rule.

6. The method of any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the method further comprises:

and when a second event occurs, the user plane network element sends the second event to the policy control network element, wherein the second event indicates that the number of devices accessed to the terminal device through a hot spot sharing technology is smaller than or equal to the hot spot access threshold.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the method further comprises:

the user plane network element receives a second charging rule from the policy control network element, wherein the second charging rule is determined according to the second event;

and the user plane network element charges the terminal equipment according to the second charging rule.

8. The method of claim 6 or 7, wherein the method further comprises:

the user plane network element receives a second control policy rule from the policy control network element, wherein the second control policy rule is determined according to the second event;

and the user plane network element controls the terminal equipment according to the second control strategy rule.

9. The method of any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the method further comprises:

the user plane network element receives a plurality of data packets from the terminal equipment, wherein each data packet in the plurality of data packets comprises a time stamp;

the user plane network element determines a reference value of a clock source corresponding to the data packets according to the time stamp in each data packet of the data packets;

and the user plane network element determines the number of the devices accessed to the terminal device through the hot spot sharing technology according to the reference values of the clock sources corresponding to the data packets.

10. The method of any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the method further comprises:

and the user plane network element determines the number of devices accessed to the terminal device through a hot spot sharing technology according to the number and/or the type of the heartbeat messages detected in one or more periods, wherein the heartbeat messages are originated from the terminal device or the devices accessed to the terminal device through the hot spot sharing technology.

11. The method of any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the method further comprises:

the user plane network element acquires network flow characteristic parameters corresponding to a plurality of data packets;

And the user plane network element determines the number of the devices accessed to the terminal device through the hot spot sharing technology according to the network flow characteristic parameters.

12. The method of any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the method further comprises:

the user plane network element acquires a plurality of HTTP request messages, wherein the HTTP request messages comprise equipment parameters;

and the user plane network element determines the number of the devices accessed to the terminal device through the hot spot sharing technology according to the device parameters in the HTTP request messages.

13. A method for managing a hotspot device, comprising:

the method comprises the steps that a policy control network element sends indication information to a user plane network element, the indication information indicates that when a first event occurs, the first event is sent to the policy control network element, and the first event is that the number of devices accessed to terminal equipment through a hot spot sharing technology is larger than or equal to a hot spot access threshold value;

when the first event occurs, the policy control network element receives the first event from the user plane network element.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the method further comprises:

The policy control network element sends the hot spot access threshold value to the user plane network element; or,

the indication information includes the hotspot access threshold.

15. The method of claim 13 or 14, wherein the method further comprises:

the policy control network element determines a first charging rule according to the first event, wherein the first charging rule is used for charging the terminal equipment;

and the policy control network element sends the first charging rule to the user plane network element.

16. The method of any one of claims 13 to 15, wherein the method further comprises:

the policy control network element determines a first control policy rule according to the first event, wherein the first control policy rule is used for controlling the terminal equipment;

and the strategy control network element sends the first control strategy rule to the user plane network element.

17. The method of any one of claims 13 to 16, wherein the method further comprises:

and the policy control network element receives a second event from the user plane network element, wherein the second event represents that the number of devices accessed to the terminal device through a hot spot sharing technology is smaller than or equal to the hot spot access threshold.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the method further comprises:

the policy control network element determines a second charging rule according to the second event, wherein the second charging rule is used for charging the terminal equipment;

and the policy control network element sends the second charging rule to the user plane network element.

19. The method of claim 17 or 18, wherein the method further comprises:

the policy control network element determines a second control policy rule according to the second event, wherein the second control policy rule is used for controlling the terminal equipment;

and the strategy control network element sends the second control strategy rule to the user plane network element.

20. A method for managing a hotspot device, comprising:

the user plane network element receives indication information from the strategy control network element, wherein the indication information indicates that when the number of the devices accessed to the terminal device through the hot spot sharing technology is changed, the changed number of the devices is sent to the strategy control network element;

and when the number of the devices accessed to the terminal device through the hot spot sharing technology is changed from the first number to the second number, the user plane network element sends the second number to the strategy control network element.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the method further comprises:

the user plane network element receives a charging rule from the policy control network element, wherein the charging rule is determined according to the second number;

and the user plane network element charges the terminal equipment according to the charging rule.

22. The method of claim 20 or 21, wherein the method further comprises:

the user plane network element receives a control strategy rule from the strategy control network element, wherein the control strategy rule is determined according to the second quantity;

and the user plane network element controls the terminal equipment according to the control strategy rule.

23. A method for managing a hotspot device, comprising:

the method comprises the steps that a policy control network element sends indication information to a user plane network element, wherein the indication information indicates that when the number of devices accessed to terminal equipment through a hot spot sharing technology changes, the changed number of the devices is sent to the policy control network element;

when the number of devices accessed to the terminal device through the hot spot sharing technology is changed from the first number to the second number, the policy control network element receives the second number from the user plane network element.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the method further comprises:

the policy control network element determines a charging rule according to the second quantity, wherein the charging rule is used for charging the terminal equipment;

and the policy control network element sends the charging rule to the user plane network element.

25. The method of claim 23 or 24, wherein the method further comprises:

the policy control network element determines a control policy rule according to the second quantity, wherein the control policy rule is used for controlling the terminal equipment;

and the policy control network element sends the control policy rule to the user plane network element.

26. A communication device comprising a processor and interface circuitry for receiving signals from other communication devices than the communication device and transmitting to the processor or sending signals from the processor to other communication devices than the communication device, the processor being configured to implement the method of any one of claims 1 to 12, or to implement the method of any one of claims 13 to 19, or to implement the method of any one of claims 20 to 22, or to implement the method of any one of claims 23 to 25, by logic circuitry or execution of code instructions.

27. A computer program product comprising a computer program which, when executed by a communication device, implements the method of any one of claims 1 to 12, or implements the method of any one of claims 13 to 19, or implements the method of any one of claims 20 to 22, or implements the method of any one of claims 23 to 25.

28. A computer readable storage medium, characterized in that the storage medium has stored therein a computer program or instructions which, when executed by a communication device, implements the method of any one of claims 1 to 12, or implements the method of any one of claims 13 to 19, or implements the method of any one of claims 20 to 22, or implements the method of any one of claims 23 to 25.

29. A communication system comprising a user plane network element for performing the method of any one of claims 1 to 12 and a policy control network element for performing the method of any one of claims 13 to 19.

30. A communication system comprising a user plane network element for performing the method of any one of claims 20 to 22 and a policy control network element for performing the method of any one of claims 23 to 25.