CN117939544A

CN117939544A - Method, device and system for distributing bearing identifiers

Info

Publication number: CN117939544A
Application number: CN202211284626.0A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 陈可; 段安利
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2022-10-17
Filing date: 2022-10-17
Publication date: 2024-04-26

Abstract

The embodiment of the application provides a method, a device and a system for distributing bearing identifiers. The method comprises the following steps: determining first allocation indication information; and sending the first allocation indication information to a first device, wherein the first allocation indication information is used for triggering an allocation bearer identification process aiming at the first session management network element, the first session management network element provides M1 sessions, and the allocation bearer identification process is used for allocating bearer identifications for at least one session in the M1 sessions, wherein M1 is a positive integer. By the method, after the first session management network element receives the first allocation indication information, the first session management network element can request to allocate the bearing identification, so that the session can have the corresponding bearing, the continuity of the service is ensured, and the experience of the user is improved.

Description

Method, device and system for distributing bearing identifiers

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of communications, and in particular, to a method, an apparatus, and a system for allocating a bearer identifier.

Background

At present, mobile communication systems of different systems support switching of terminal equipment and provide services for the same terminal equipment. If a session is supported for handover of the mobile communication system in the subscription information of the terminal device, the session may be provided by a different mobile communication system. For example, a session of the terminal device is allowed to be switched between the fifth generation mobile communication system and the fourth generation mobile communication system, if the session is provided by the fifth generation mobile communication system, when the terminal device is switched to the fourth generation mobile communication system, if the session does not carry the identifier, the fourth generation mobile communication system discards the session, thereby affecting the continuity of the service and reducing the user experience.

Disclosure of Invention

The application describes a method, a device and a system for distributing bearing identifiers.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for allocating a bearer identifier. The method comprises the following steps: determining first allocation indication information; and sending the first allocation indication information to a first device, wherein the first allocation indication information is used for triggering an allocation bearer identification process aiming at the first session management network element, the first session management network element provides M1 sessions, and the allocation bearer identification process is used for allocating bearer identifications for at least one session in the M1 sessions, wherein M1 is a positive integer. By the method, after the first device receives the first allocation indication information, the first device can initiate the process of allocating the bearing identification, so that the session can have the corresponding bearing, the continuity of the service is ensured, and the experience of the user is improved.

It will be appreciated that the method may be performed by the first mobility management element or by other network elements or devices, and the application is not limited thereto.

It will be appreciated that the bearer identification is used to identify the bearer that is allocated for the session by the communication system. For example, the bearer identification may be understood as an identification of a bearer in the first network, or may be an identification of a bearer in a network different from the first network. It should be appreciated that if a certain communication system does not allocate a bearer for a certain session, the session is discarded when it is handed over from another network to the first network, so that continuity of service cannot be guaranteed.

It should be understood that the M1 sessions may be one session or multiple sessions, that is, the first session management network element may provide one or more sessions. One session may be assigned one or more bearer identities and the bearer identities of the multiple sessions may be different.

In a possible case, the bearer identification allocation procedure is used to allocate a bearer identification to a part of the M1 sessions, where the part of the sessions are sessions that allow different network handover in subscription data of the session, that is, only sessions supporting the network handover may be allocated with the bearer identification.

The above description is also applicable to descriptions of other aspects of the present application, and will not be repeated.

In a possible implementation manner, M2 sessions do not have a bearer identifier, the M2 sessions include the M1 sessions, the M2 sessions have the same data network name, and the M2 sessions correspond to the same terminal device. In other words, the first session management network element may provide only part of the sessions of the terminal device, and M2 sessions of the terminal device have the same data network name, and none of the M2 sessions has a bearer identification. It is understood that M2 is a positive integer greater than or equal to M1. In addition, the method is also applicable to other scenes, such as any scene requiring triggering of bearer identification allocation based on service requirements.

A possible implementation manner, the method further includes: the first session is released, the first session has the same data network name as the M2 sessions, the first session has a bearer identification, the M2 sessions include the M1 sessions, and the M2 sessions correspond to the same terminal device. Wherein M2 is a positive integer. It is to be appreciated that the first session may be a last session with a bearer identification among a plurality of sessions with the same data network name, the plurality of sessions being sessions of the same terminal device.

A possible implementation manner, the method further includes: and no bearer with a bearer identifier exists in the first session and the M2 sessions. That is, when the bearers of the session set corresponding to the same data network name of the terminal device are all bearers without bearer identifiers, that is, any session in the session set has no bearer identifier, the execution of the method in this aspect is triggered.

A possible implementation manner, the method further includes: and sending first information to the first session management network element, wherein the first information is used for indicating bearer identifiers of L sessions in the M1 sessions, the M1 sessions comprise the L sessions, and the L is a positive integer. If the first information is a bearer identification, the implementation may be understood as sending the bearer identification to the first session management network element. Or the implementation manner may also be understood that the information for determining the bearer identifier is sent to the first session management network element, that is, the first information is the information for determining the bearer identifier, for example, the first session management network element may determine the bearer identifier according to the first information, specifically, the first session management network element may locally query the bearer identifier corresponding to the first information, or may obtain the bearer identifier corresponding to the first information from other network elements, which is not limited in the present application. It should be noted that, the M1 sessions do not necessarily support network handover, so L should be less than or equal to M1, and the bearer identifier of the L sessions is one or more sessions supporting network handover. It should be understood that, when the implementation is implemented, the first information may be sent to the first session network element through one message, or may be sent through multiple messages. The implementation manner is also applicable to the description of the case that the first device is a terminal device, and will not be repeated.

It should be understood that in a practical case, multiple sessions of the terminal device may be provided by different session management network elements, and thus only L sessions of the M1 sessions may be provided by the first session management network element.

In the method shown in this aspect, the first device may be a different execution body.

In a first possible scenario, the first device is a first session management network element. This can be achieved in several possible ways:

a possible implementation manner, the method further includes: an allocation request is received from the first session management network element, the allocation request requesting allocation of a bearer identification. The implementation manner may receive an allocation request from the first session management network element after execution of the method of the first aspect, i.e. after sending the first allocation indication information to the first session management network element. It will be appreciated that the bearer identity is not a specific one, but is merely for requesting that the first managing network element be allocated one or more bearer identities.

A possible implementation manner, the method further includes: sending second allocation indication information to a second session management network element, wherein the second allocation indication information is used for triggering an allocation bearer identification process aiming at the second session management network element, the second session management network element provides M3 sessions, the allocation bearer identification process is used for allocating bearer identifications for at least one session in the M3 sessions, the M3 sessions and the M1 sessions have the same data network name, and the M3 sessions and the M1 sessions correspond to the same terminal equipment; an allocation request from the second session management network element is received, the allocation request being for requesting allocation of a bearer identification. It should be understood that the second session management network element is different from the first session management network element, and the second session management network element may be one or more, and the second allocation indication information may be the same as the first allocation indication information or may be different, depending on the actual application, but the second allocation indication information has the same function as the first allocation indication information. In other words, in this implementation manner, the plurality of session management network elements may each receive the allocation indication information, and further trigger the process of allocating the bearer identifier. This may simplify the processing logic for performing the method of the first aspect.

Wherein, a possible implementation manner, the method further comprises: and sending an allocation failure response to the second session management network element, wherein the allocation failure response is used for indicating that the request for allocating the bearer identification fails. It may be understood that after the bearer identifier is allocated to the first session management network element, the other session management network elements are no longer allocated with the bearer identifier, and then response information of allocation failure is sent to the second session management network element. For example, the reasons that cause the second session management network element to receive the allocation failure response may include, but are not limited to, one or more of the following: the first session management network element has a higher priority than the second session management network element, or the sessions supported by the first session management network element include all the sessions supported by the second session management network element, or the number of the sessions provided by the first session management network element is greater than the number of the sessions provided by the second session management network element.

A possible implementation manner, the sending the first allocation indication information to the first session management network element includes: determining the first session management network element from N session management network elements, wherein the N session management network elements provide M2 sessions, the data network names of the M2 sessions and the M1 sessions are first data network names, and the M2 sessions and the M1 sessions correspond to the same terminal equipment; and sending the allocation indication information to the first session management network element.

A possible implementation manner, the determining the first session management network element from the N session management network elements includes: determining a session with the highest priority from the M2 sessions as a second session, wherein the second session is provided by the first session management network element; the first session management network element is selected. That is, the first session management network element may be a session management network element corresponding to a session with the highest priority. When the network is switched, the service supported by the session with the highest priority can be ensured to be continuous, and the use experience of the user is improved. The method for determining the first session management network element from the N session management network elements may include, but is not limited to, the following:

According to a first possible implementation manner, the first session management network element is selected according to the priorities of the N session management network elements, where the first session management network element is a network element with the highest priority among the N session management network elements. That is, the first session management network element may be the session management network element with the highest priority. In a possible situation, the service provided by the session management network element with the highest priority is the service with the highest priority, and further, when the network is switched, the service with the highest priority can be ensured to be continuous, so that the use experience of a user is improved. In another possible scenario, each of the N session management network elements may provide one or more sessions with different priorities, and the average value of the priorities of the sessions provided by each session management network element may be the same or different.

A second possible implementation manner, the determining the first session management network element from the N session management network elements includes: and selecting one session management network element from the N session management network elements as the first session management network element. That is, the first session management network element may be a randomly selected session management network element.

A third possible implementation manner, the determining the first session management network element from the N session management network elements includes: the first session management network element is selected from the N session management network elements, and the first session management network element is the session management network element with the largest session number in the N session management network elements. Through the implementation mode, the multiple sessions of the terminal equipment can be distributed to the bearing identifiers as far as possible, so that the method can ensure the service continuity of the terminal equipment during network switching and improve the use experience of users.

It will be appreciated that the three possible implementations described above may be used in combination. For example, when there are a plurality of session management network elements with the highest priority, one session management network element may be selected randomly from the plurality of session management network elements with the same priority as the first session management network element, or the session management network element with the highest session number from the plurality of session management network elements with the same priority is selected.

In a second possible case, the first device is a terminal device. This can be achieved in several possible ways:

A possible implementation manner, the method further includes: transmitting a first data network name to the terminal device; receiving the first allocation indication information and/or session identification information from the terminal device, wherein the session identification information comprises identification information of a third session, the M1 sessions comprise the third session, and the data network names of the M1 sessions are the first data network names; triggering an assigned bearer identification procedure for the first session management network element.

The term "receiving the first allocation indication information and/or session identification information from the terminal device" is understood to mean that only session identification information is received, or only first allocation indication information is received, or that the first allocation indication information and the session identification information are received. When receiving the session identification information means that the apparatus or device performing the method of the first aspect subsequently triggers a procedure for bearer allocation for the session identified by the session identification information. When only the first allocation indication information is received, it can be understood that the terminal device does not have a preference for which session or sessions to allocate bearer identities. The above description is also applicable to descriptions of corresponding technical solutions in other aspects, and will not be repeated.

In one possible implementation, when the session identification information includes identification information of a third session, the method includes: the session identification information includes identification information of K sessions, the M1 sessions include the K sessions, and the identification information of the K sessions includes identification information of the third session. It should be understood that the terminal device selects K sessions, where K is one or more and K is a positive integer. It should be noted that, the K sessions may be all sessions corresponding to the first session management network element, or may be part of multiple sessions, or may be one session (i.e., the third session) among the sessions having the first data network name of the terminal device. When K is 1, the session may be a session selected by the terminal device at random, or may be a session selected by the terminal device according to user behavior habit preference, or may be a session in which an instruction of the user is received. When the third session is a session selected by the terminal device according to the user behavior habit preference, the user behavior habit preference may be a service commonly used by the user, such as a game service, and then the third session is a session corresponding to the game service. According to the implementation mode, in the subsequent distribution flow of the bearing identifier, the probability that the terminal equipment or the user selects the session according to the requirement to be distributed to the bearing identifier is improved, and the user experience is improved.

A possible implementation manner, the method further includes: and sending a session list to the terminal equipment, wherein the session in the session list is a session supporting network switching in subscription information of the terminal equipment, and the session list comprises the third session. It should be understood that, if the terminal device receives the session list, the terminal device may select a session from the session list and trigger the allocation procedure of the bearer identifier of the selected session, thereby improving the success probability of allocation of the bearer identifier. In particular, the session selected by the terminal device may include the third session, i.e. the third session may be a session supporting network handover.

A possible implementation manner, the method further includes: and sending network intercommunication indicating information to the first session management network element, wherein the network intercommunication indicating information is used for indicating the first session management network element to initiate a process of distributing bearing identification.

The advantages of the above implementation manner of this aspect are equally applicable to the description of the advantages of the corresponding method of other aspects, and will not be repeated.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for allocating a bearer identifier. The method comprises the following steps: receiving first allocation indication information and a first data network name from a first mobility management network element; and sending session identification information and/or the first allocation indication information to the first mobility management function network element, wherein the session identification information and/or the first allocation indication information trigger an allocation bearer identification process for a first session management network element, the first session management network element provides M1 sessions, the allocation bearer identification process is used for allocating bearer identifications for at least one session in the M1 sessions, M1 is a positive integer, and the data network names of the M1 sessions are the first data network names.

By the method, the first mobility management function network element can trigger the process of distributing the bearing identifier aiming at the first session management network element, so that the session of the terminal equipment has the bearing identifier, the session with the bearing identifier can be switched to the network, the session is promoted, the session can have the corresponding bearing, the continuity of the service is ensured, and the experience of the user is promoted.

It will be appreciated that the method may be performed by a terminal device or by other network elements or devices, and the application is not limited thereto.

In one possible implementation manner, M2 sessions do not have a bearer identifier, the M2 sessions include the M1 sessions, the data network names of the M2 sessions are the first data network names, and the session identified by the session identifier information includes the M2 sessions; wherein sending session identification information to the first mobility management function network element includes: and sending the identification information of the M2 sessions to the first mobility management function network element. In other words, in this implementation, the session identification information is information of identifications of all sessions of the first data network name.

One possible implementation manner, M2 sessions do not have a bearer identifier, the M2 sessions include the M1 sessions, and a data network name of the M2 sessions is the first data network name; wherein sending session identification information to the first mobility management function network element includes: selecting a session identified by the session identification information from the M2 sessions; and sending the session identification information to the first mobility management function network element. It should be understood that the session identified by the session identification information may be one or more sessions, where the session identification information includes an identification of the one or more sessions. In other words, the session identification information includes identification information of a part of the sessions in M2, that is, the execution subject in this aspect selects a part of the sessions from M2 sessions, and in a specific implementation, the execution subject may select a part of the sessions according to a preference of a user, may randomly select a part of the sessions, or may select a part of the sessions according to other policies, which is not limited by the present application.

A possible implementation manner, the method further includes: and receiving a session list from the first mobility management function network element, wherein the session in the session list is a session supporting network switching in subscription information, and the session in the session list comprises the session identified by the session identification information. That is, the executing body of this aspect may select one or more sessions from the session list, that is, in the foregoing two implementations, the M2 sessions may be sessions in the session list, or the sessions identified by the session identification information are all sessions in the session list. The implementation manner can further ensure that the process of allocating the bearing identifier for the first session management network element is successfully executed.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for allocating a bearer identifier. The method comprises the following steps: receiving first allocation indication information from a mobility management function network element; and sending an allocation request to the mobility management function network element according to the first allocation indication information, wherein the allocation request is used for requesting allocation of the bearing identifier. The method can trigger the distribution of the bearing identifiers, thereby further improving the continuity of the service.

The method of this aspect may be performed by the first session management network element, or may be performed by any apparatus, device, network element, etc. having a session management function, and the present application is not limited.

In a possible embodiment, the method further comprises: and providing M1 sessions, wherein the request allocation bearer identification is used for requesting the mobility management function network element to allocate the bearer identification for at least one session in the M1 sessions, and M1 is a positive integer.

In a possible embodiment, the method further comprises: and receiving first information from the mobility management function network element, wherein the first information is used for indicating bearer identifications of L sessions in M1 sessions, the M1 sessions comprise the L sessions, and L is a positive integer.

In a possible embodiment, the method further comprises: and releasing the first session, wherein the data network names of the first session and the M1 sessions are the first data network names, and the first session has a bearing identifier, wherein M1 is a positive integer. It will be appreciated that the first session may be provided for other network elements and not necessarily by the enforcement agent of this aspect. The first session is released, or said first session is released, as a scenario of triggering the allocation of the bearer identification, for example, the first session is the last session with the bearer identification in a session set of the terminal device, and the data network name of each session in the session set is the first data network name.

In a possible embodiment, the method further comprises: the bearer with the bearer identification in the first session is released. That is, any session of the terminal device with the first data network name has no bearer with the bearer identification.

In a possible implementation, the first session is provided by the first session management network element.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communications apparatus comprising a processor configured to read and run a program from a memory to implement a method as in the first aspect or any of the possible embodiments, or to implement a method as in the second aspect or any of the possible embodiments, or to implement a method as in the third aspect or any of the possible embodiments.

In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication system comprising a first session management network element and a mobility management network element, the mobility management network element being capable of performing the method of the first aspect and any of the possible embodiments of the first aspect, the first session management network element being capable of performing the method as in the third aspect and any of the possible embodiments of the third aspect.

In a sixth aspect, embodiments of the application provide a computer program product comprising instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method as in any one of the possible implementations of the first aspect, or the method of any one of the possible implementations of the second aspect, or the method of any one of the possible implementations of the third aspect.

In a seventh aspect, embodiments of the application provide a computer readable storage medium having instructions stored therein which, when run on a computer, cause a processor to perform a method as in any of the possible implementations of the first aspect, or of the second aspect and of any of the possible implementations of the second aspect, or of any of the possible implementations of the third aspect and of any of the possible implementations of the third aspect.

In an eighth aspect, embodiments of the application provide a chip comprising a processor and interface circuitry coupled to the processor for executing a computer program or instructions such that the method as in any of the possible implementations of the first aspect, or the method of any of the possible implementations of the second aspect, or the method of any of the possible implementations of the third aspect, is performed.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture of a communication system to which the present application is applicable;

fig. 2 is a diagram of a method for allocating bearer identities according to the present application;

fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of another method for allocating bearer identities to which the present application is applicable;

fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of another method for allocating bearer identities to which the present application is applicable;

fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of another method for allocating bearer identities to which the present application is applicable;

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 another communication device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present application more apparent, the embodiments of the present application will be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The technical solution of the embodiment of the present application may be applied to various communication systems, such as a fourth generation (4th generation,4G) mobile communication system, a long term evolution (long term evolution, LTE) system, an LTE frequency division duplex (frequency division duplex, FDD) system, an LTE time division duplex (time division duplex, TDD), a fifth generation (5th generation,5G) mobile communication system, or a New Radio (NR) system, or to future communication systems or other similar communication systems. For example, the network provided by the 4G mobile communication system may be referred to as a 4G mobile communication system, and the like, and will not be described again. It should be noted that, the network architecture and the service scenario described in the present application are for more clearly describing the technical solution of the present application, and do not constitute a limitation on the technical solution provided by the present application, and those skilled in the art can know that, with the evolution of the network architecture and the appearance of the new service scenario, the technical solution provided by the present application is equally applicable to similar technical problems.

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture according to an embodiment of the present application. Fig. 1 is an illustration of a 5G mobile communication system. The network architecture may include user equipment, radio access network equipment, user plane network elements, data networks, mobility management network elements, session management network elements, data management network elements, and the like. The individual network elements involved in the network architecture are described separately below.

1. User Equipment (UE): user equipment may also be called a terminal, terminal device, access terminal, subscriber unit, subscriber station, mobile station, remote terminal, mobile device, user terminal, wireless communication device, user agent, user device, target terminal. The user device may be a device with a wireless transceiving function, such as a mobile phone (mobile phone), a tablet (pad), a computer with a wireless transceiving function, a Virtual Reality (VR) terminal, an augmented reality (augmented reality, AR) terminal, a wireless terminal in an industrial control (industrial control), a wireless terminal in an unmanned (SELF DRIVING), a wireless terminal in a remote medical (remote medium), a wireless terminal in a smart grid (SMART GRID), a wireless terminal in a transportation security (transportation safety), a wireless terminal in a smart city (SMART CITY), a wireless terminal in a smart home (smart home), a cellular phone, a cordless phone, a session initiation protocol (session initiation protocol, SIP) phone, a wireless local loop (wireless local loop, WLL) station, a personal digital assistant (personal DIGITAL ASSISTANT, PDA), a handheld device with a wireless communication function, a computing device or other processing device connected to a wireless modem, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, a terminal in a 5G mobile communication system, or a future evolution network, etc. The wearable device can also be called as a wearable intelligent device, and is a generic name for intelligently designing daily wearing and developing wearable devices by applying a wearable technology, such as glasses, gloves, watches, clothes, shoes and the like. The wearable device is a portable device that is worn directly on the body or integrated into the clothing or accessories of the user. The wearable device is not only a hardware device, but also can realize a powerful function through software support, data interaction and cloud interaction. The generalized wearable intelligent device includes full functionality, large size, and may not rely on the smart phone to implement complete or partial functionality, such as: smart watches or smart glasses, etc., and focus on only certain types of application functions, and need to be used in combination with other devices, such as smart phones, for example, various smart bracelets, smart jewelry, etc. for physical sign monitoring.

2. Radio access network (radio access network, RAN) device: may be referred to as an access network device, an access device. The RAN can manage radio resources, provide access services for the ue, and complete forwarding of ue data between the ue and the core network, and may also be understood as a base station in the network.

The access network device in the embodiment of the present application may be any communication device with a wireless transceiver function for communicating with the user equipment. The access network device includes, but is not limited to: an evolved Node B (eNB), a radio network controller (radio network controller, RNC), a Node B (Node B, NB), a base station controller (base station controller, BSC), a base transceiver station (base transceiver station, BTS), a home evolved Node B, heNB, or home Node B, HNB), a baseband unit (baseBand unit, BBU), an Access Point (AP) in a wireless fidelity (WIRELESS FIDELITY, WIFI) system, a wireless relay Node, a wireless backhaul Node, a transmission point (transmission point, TP), or a transmission reception point (transmission and reception point, TRP), etc., may also be a gNB in a 5G mobile communication system, such as an NR system, or a transmission point (TRP or TP), one or a set of antenna panels (including multiple antenna panels) of a base station in a 5G mobile communication system, or may also be a network Node constituting a gNB or a transmission point, such as a baseband unit (BBU), or a Distributed Unit (DU), etc.

In some deployments, the gNB may include a centralized unit (centralized unit, CU) and DUs. The gNB may also include an active antenna unit (ACTIVE ANTENNA units, AAU). The CU implements part of the functionality of the gNB and the DU implements part of the functionality of the gNB. For example, the CU is responsible for handling non-real time protocols and services, implementing the functions of the radio resource control (radio resource control, RRC), packet data convergence layer protocol (PACKET DATA convergence protocol, PDCP) layer. The DU is responsible for handling physical layer protocols and real-time services, and implements functions of a radio link control (radio link control, RLC) layer, a Medium Access Control (MAC) layer, and a Physical (PHY) layer. The AAU realizes part of physical layer processing function, radio frequency processing and related functions of the active antenna. The information of the RRC layer is generated by the CU and finally becomes PHY layer information through PHY layer encapsulation of DU or is converted from the information of the PHY layer. Thus, under this architecture, higher layer signaling, such as RRC layer signaling, may also be considered to be sent by a DU, or by a du+aau. It is understood that the access network device may be a device comprising one or more of a CU node, a DU node, an AAU node. In addition, the CU may be divided into access network devices in the access network, or may be divided into access network devices in a Core Network (CN), which is not limited by the present application.

3. User plane network element: as an interface with the data network, the functions of user plane data forwarding, charging statistics based on session/stream level, bandwidth limitation and the like are completed. I.e., packet routing and forwarding, quality of service (quality of service, qoS) handling of user plane data, etc. In the 5G mobile communication system, the user plane network element may be a user plane function (user plane function, UPF) network element. In a 4G mobile communication system, the user plane network element may be a user plane packet data network gateway (PACKET DATA network gateway for user plane, PGW-U).

4. Data network: providing, for example, operator services, internet access, or third party services, including servers, server-side implementation of video source coding, rendering, etc. In the 5G mobile communication system, the data network may be a Data Network (DN).

5. Mobility management network element: the method is mainly used for mobility management, access management and the like. In the 5G mobile communication system, the access management network element may be an access and mobility management function (ACCESS AND mobility management function, AMF), which mainly performs functions such as mobility management, access authentication/authorization, etc. In the 4G mobile communication system, the mobility management network element may be a Mobility Management Entity (MME) MANAGEMENT ENTITY.

6. Session management network element: the method is mainly used for session management, network interconnection protocol (internet protocol, IP) address allocation and management of user equipment, terminal node of selecting manageable user plane function, strategy control and charging function interface, downlink data notification and the like. In the 5G mobile communication system, the session management network element may be a session management function (session management function, SMF) network element, to complete terminal IP address allocation, UPF selection, and charging and QoS policy control, etc. In a 4G mobile communication system, the session management network element may be a control plane packet data network gateway (PACKET DATA network gateway for control plane, PGW-C).

7. Data management network element: for managing subscription data and for informing the corresponding network element when the subscription data is modified. In the 5G mobile communication system, the data management network element may be a unified data management network element (unified DATA MANAGEMENT, UDM) network element. In a 4G mobile communication system, the data management network element may be (home subscriber server, HSS).

The functional network elements may be network elements in hardware devices, software functions running on dedicated hardware, or virtualized functions instantiated on a platform (e.g., a cloud platform). The functional network element may divide one or more services and further, services may occur that exist independent of network functionality. In the present application, the instance of the above-described functional network element, or the instance of the service included in the above-described functional network element, or the instance of the service existing independently of the network function may be referred to as a service instance. The network elements described above may also be referred to as devices, apparatuses or entities, and the application is not limited thereto, e.g. a UDM network element may also be referred to as a UDM device, UDM apparatus or UDM entity. In the following description, it will be referred to simply, for example, "UDM network element" is referred to simply as "UDM" and "AMF network element" is referred to simply as "AMF". The 5G mobile communication system may be simply referred to as a 5G system, and similarly, the 4G mobile communication system may be simply referred to as a 4G system. The user equipment is denoted as terminal equipment hereinafter.

Currently, the network deployment is not in a single form, i.e. the network supports the communication of the terminal devices using at least two types of communication systems. For example, the terminal device may implement communication by switching between the 4G system and the 5G system, which may also be understood that the network deploys the 4G system and the 5G system at the same time, and supports a function that the 4G system and the 5G system alternately provide services for the terminal device.

For example, when the 5G system provides services for the terminal device, there may be one or more sessions of the terminal device having the same data network name (data network name, DNN), and the AMF in the 5G system may allocate an evolved PACKET SYSTEM bearer identity (EBI) to at least one of the plurality of sessions, so that when the terminal device is a device supporting the 4G system and the 5G system handover function, and the system serving the terminal device is handed over from the 5G system to the 4G system, the bearer identified by the EBI in the 4G system provides the plurality of sessions. For example, the type of session may be a voice traffic type or a data traffic type. Different sessions of the terminal device may be provided by one or more SMFs in the 5G system and thus multiple sessions with the same DNN may be provided by multiple SMFs. Services distributed over different network slices may be provided by different SMFs, for example, when multiple sessions of the same DNN of a terminal device are distributed over different network slices, the multiple sessions with the same DNN may be provided by different SMFs. When a plurality of sessions of the terminal device are provided by the 5G system and the plurality of sessions having the same DNN are provided by the plurality of SMFs, respectively, the AMF allocates the EBI to only the session in one of the plurality of SMFs.

The above solution may result in that in some cases, no EBI is available for any session with the same DNN in the terminal device, e.g. a session with EBI allocated among the plurality of sessions with the same DNN is released, and for example, bearers of all sessions with EBI among the plurality of sessions with the same DNN are released. In this case, if the system serving the terminal device is switched from the 5G system to the 4G system, the session is lost, which eventually leads to interruption of the service and affects the experience of the terminal device.

It should be understood that, in addition to the above scenario, when the capability or subscription information of the terminal device is changed, a change in the state of a session supporting network handover with the same DNN may also be caused, for example, when the capability information or subscription information of the terminal device is changed, then the session corresponding to the DNN may be terminated accordingly, resulting in a change in the number of sessions with EBIs, and finally, a change in the number of sessions with EBIs may also be caused, and any session with the same DNN in the terminal device may not have EBIs.

Therefore, the present application provides a method for allocating bearer identities, which is used for solving the above-mentioned problems. The method of the application is applicable to any scene which can lead to no EBI in any session with the same DNN in the terminal equipment. In addition, the method is also applicable to other scenes, such as any scene requiring triggering of bearer identification allocation based on service requirements. By the method, the service continuity can be ensured, and the user experience is improved.

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a method for allocating bearer identities according to the present application, where the method may be performed by a first mobility management network element and a first device, the first mobility management network element may refer to a description of the mobility management network element in fig. 1, and the first device may refer to a description of the session management network element in fig. 1, or refer to a description of the terminal device in fig. 1. The method may comprise the steps of:

The first mobility management network element determines 201 a first allocation indication information.

It will be appreciated that the bearer identification is used to identify a bearer that the communication system allocates for the session. For example, the bearer identifier may be understood as an identifier of a bearer in the 4G system, or may be an identifier of a bearer in another communication system. It should be appreciated that if a certain communication system does not allocate a bearer for a certain session, the session is discarded when it is handed over from another communication system to the communication system, and continuity of service cannot be guaranteed.

The first allocation indication information is used for triggering an allocation bearer identification procedure for a first session management network element, the first session management network element provides M1 sessions, and the allocation bearer identification procedure is used for allocating bearer identifications for at least one session in the M1 sessions, wherein M1 is a positive integer. It should be understood that the M1 sessions may be one session or multiple sessions, that is, the first session management network element may provide one or more sessions. One session may be assigned one or more bearer identities and the bearer identities before the plurality of sessions are different.

The above description is also applicable to descriptions of other embodiments of the present application, and will not be repeated.

In one possible implementation manner, M2 sessions do not have a bearer identifier, the M2 sessions include the M1 sessions, the data network names of the M2 sessions are all first data network names, and the M2 sessions correspond to the same terminal device. In other words, the first session management network element may provide only part of the sessions of the terminal device, and none of the M2 sessions has a bearer identity. It is understood that M2 is a positive integer greater than or equal to M1.

A possible implementation manner, the method further includes: the first session is released, the first session has the same data network name as the M2 sessions, the first session has a bearer identification, the M2 sessions include the M1 sessions, and the M2 sessions correspond to the same terminal device. Wherein M2 is a positive integer. It should be understood that the first session may be provided by the first session management network element, or may be provided by another session management network element (not shown in the figure), which is not a limitation of the present application. It will be appreciated that the first session is released, or released, as a scenario triggering the allocation of the bearer identification, for example, the first session may be a session having the bearer identification among a plurality of sessions having the same data network name, the last session having the bearer identification, the plurality of sessions being sessions of the same terminal device.

In another possible implementation manner, the method further includes: the bearer with the bearer identification in the first session and the M2 sessions are released. That is, when the bearers of the session set corresponding to the same data network name (e.g., the first data network name) are all bearers without bearer identification, that is, any session in the session set has no bearer identification, the execution of the method is triggered.

That is, when the first session is released, or after the bearer with the bearer identification is released, any session of the plurality of sessions with the same data network name has no bearer identification, and the execution of the method may be triggered.

202, The first mobility management network element sends the first allocation indication information to the first device.

Correspondingly, the first device receives the first allocation indication information from the first mobility management network element.

First case: when the first apparatus is a first session management network element, this step may comprise the following implementation.

A possible implementation manner, the sending the first allocation indication information to the first session management network element includes: determining the first session management network element from N session management network elements, wherein the N session management network elements provide M2 sessions, the M2 sessions and the M1 sessions have the same data network name, and the M2 sessions and the M1 sessions correspond to the same terminal equipment; and sending the allocation indication information to the first session management network element.

The method for determining the first session management network element from the N session management network elements may include, but is not limited to, the following:

a first possible implementation determines the first session management network element according to a priority policy.

In a possible case, the first session management network element is selected according to the priorities of the N session management network elements, where the first session management network element is a network element with the highest priority among the N session management network elements. One possible understanding is that the service provided by the session management network element with the highest priority is the service with the highest priority, and further, when the network is switched, the service with the highest priority can be ensured to be continuous, so that the use experience of the user is improved.

In another possible scenario, each of the N session management network elements may provide one or more sessions, where the priorities of the sessions may not be identical, and the average of the priorities of the one or more sessions provided by each session management network element may be identical or different, "the first session management network element is the network element with the highest priority among the N session management network elements" may be understood as the session management network element with the highest average of the priorities among the N session management network elements.

In yet another possible scenario, determining a session with the highest priority from the M2 sessions as a second session, the second session being provided by the first session management network element; the first session management network element is selected. That is, the first session management network element may be a session management network element corresponding to a session with the highest priority. When the network is switched, the service supported by the session with the highest priority can be ensured to be continuous, and the use experience of the user is improved.

A third possible implementation manner, the determining the first session management network element from the N session management network elements includes: the first session management network element is selected from the N session management network elements, and the first session management network element is the session management network element with the largest session number in the N session management network elements. Through the implementation manner, more sessions of the terminal equipment can be distributed to the bearing identifiers as much as possible, so that the use experience of a user is improved.

It will be appreciated that the various possible implementations described above may be used in combination. For example, when there are a plurality of session management network elements with the highest priority, one session management network element may be selected randomly from the plurality of session management network elements with the same priority as the first session management network element, or the session management network element with the highest session number from the plurality of session management network elements with the same priority is selected.

It should be appreciated that the first mobility management network element may also send second allocation indication information to a second session management network element (not shown in the figure). In this case, the method may be understood as that the first mobility management network element may send allocation indication information to the plurality of session management network elements for subsequent triggering of the bearer identification allocation procedure (otherwise referred to as the bearer identification allocation procedure). The second allocation indication information may be the same as or different from the first allocation indication information, and the present application is not limited thereto.

Further, the method may further include:

The first mobility management network element receives an allocation request from the first session management network element.

Correspondingly, the first session management network element sends the allocation request to the first mobility management network element.

The allocation request is for requesting allocation of a bearer identification. It will be appreciated that the bearer identification herein is not a specific one, but merely is for requesting that the first managing network element be allocated one or more bearer identifications.

In particular, this action may be performed after 201.

In addition, if the first mobility management network element further sends second allocation indication information to the second session management network element, in this step, the first mobility management network element may further receive an allocation request from the second session management network element, where the allocation request is used to request allocation of the bearer identifier.

The second allocation indication information is used for triggering an allocation bearer identification process for the second session management network element, the second session management network element provides M3 sessions, the allocation bearer identification process is used for allocating bearer identifications for at least one session in the M3 sessions, the M3 sessions and the M1 sessions have the same data network name, and the M3 sessions and the M1 sessions correspond to the same terminal device.

It should be understood that the second session management network element is different from the first session management network element, and the second session management network element may be one or more, and the second allocation indication information may be the same as the first allocation indication information or may be different, depending on the actual application, but the second allocation indication information has the same function as the first allocation indication information. In other words, in this implementation manner, the plurality of session management network elements may each receive the allocation indication information, and further trigger the process of allocating the bearer identifier.

In the second case, the first apparatus is a terminal device, and the method may include the following implementation manner.

The term "receiving the first allocation indication information and/or session identification information from the terminal device" is understood to mean that only session identification information is received, or only first allocation indication information is received, or that the first allocation indication information and the session identification information are received. When receiving the session identification information means that the terminal device subsequently triggers the flow of bearer allocation for the session identified by the session identification information. When only the first allocation indication information is received, it can be understood that the terminal device does not have a preference for which session or sessions to allocate bearer identities.

In one possible implementation, when the session identification information includes identification information of a third session, the method includes: the session identification information includes identification information of K sessions, the M1 sessions include the K sessions, and the identification information of the K sessions includes identification information of the third session. It should be understood that the terminal device selects K sessions, where K is one or more and K is a positive integer. It should be noted that, the K sessions may be all sessions corresponding to the first session management network element, or may be part of sessions, or may be one session (for example, the third session) in the sessions corresponding to the first data network name of the terminal device. When K is 1, the session may be a session selected by the terminal device at random, or may be a session selected by the terminal device according to user behavior habit preference, or may be a session in which an instruction of the user is received. When the third session is a session selected by the terminal device according to the user behavior habit preference, the user behavior habit preference may be a service commonly used by the user, such as a game service, and then the third session is a session corresponding to the game service. According to the implementation mode, in the subsequent distribution flow of the bearing identifier, the probability that the terminal equipment or the user selects the session according to the requirement to be distributed to the bearing identifier is improved, and the user experience is improved.

A possible implementation manner, the method further includes: and sending a session list to the terminal equipment, wherein the session in the session list is a session supporting network switching in subscription information of the terminal equipment, and the session list comprises the third session. It should be understood that, if the terminal device receives the session list, the terminal device may select a session from the session list, and trigger an allocation procedure of a bearer identifier of the selected session, thereby improving a success probability of allocation of the bearer identifier and further improving user experience. In particular, the session selected by the terminal device may include the third session, i.e. the third session may be a session supporting network handover.

Further, the method shown in this embodiment may further include: the first mobility management network element sends first information to the first session management network element.

The first information is used for indicating bearer identities of L sessions in the M1 sessions, the M1 sessions comprise the L sessions, and L is a positive integer. In this implementation, it may be a possible case that the first information includes bearer identities of the L sessions, where the number of bearer identities may be greater than or equal to L, that is, more than one bearer identity may be allocated to each session; in another possible case, the first information may be information for determining bearer identities of the L sessions, for example, the bearer identities of the L sessions may be queried in local information or from other network elements according to the first information. The application is not limited.

It should be understood that, when the implementation is implemented, the first information may be sent to the first session network element through one message, or may be sent through multiple messages.

It will be appreciated that if the first apparatus is a first session management network element, this step may be performed after the first mobility management network element receives an allocation request from the first session management network element.

In one possible implementation manner, if the first mobility management network element receives not only the allocation request from the first session management network element, but also the allocation request from the second session management network element, the method further includes: and sending an allocation failure response to the second session management network element, wherein the allocation failure response is used for indicating that the request for allocating the bearing identification fails. It may be appreciated that after the bearer identities are allocated to one or more sessions provided by the first session management network element, one or more sessions provided by other session management network elements are no longer allocated with the bearer identities, and then response information of allocation failure is sent to the second session management network element. For example, the reasons that cause the second session management network element to receive the allocation failure response may include, but are not limited to, one or more of the following: the first session management network element has a higher priority than the second session management network element, or the sessions supported by the first session management network element include all sessions supported by the second session management network element, or the first session management network element provides a greater number of sessions than the second session management network element.

It will be appreciated that if the first apparatus is a terminal device, this step may be performed after the first mobility management network element receives the first allocation indication information and/or session identification information from the terminal device.

By the method shown in fig. 2, the mobility management network element sends allocation indication information to the first device, and triggers the allocation flow of the bearer identifier, so as to implement allocation of the bearer identifier. Furthermore, the method can enable the session of the terminal equipment to have the bearing identifier in time, reduce the probability of call drop when the session is switched to other networks, further ensure the continuity of the service and improve the experience of the user.

With reference to fig. 2, fig. 3 is another session handover method provided in the present application, where a UE in the method may be a terminal device in fig. 1, a RAN may be an access network device in fig. 1, an AMF may be a mobility management network element in fig. 1 or fig. 2, and SMF1 and SM2 may be session management network elements in fig. 1, where SMF1 may refer to a description of a first session management network element in fig. 2, SMF2 may refer to a description of a second session management network element in fig. 2, and UDM may be a data management network element in fig. 1. This embodiment is described taking the UE served by a 5G system as an example.

The method may comprise the steps of:

301, a first session is released.

This step may be referred to the description of fig. 2 regarding the first session release.

The first session is a session of the UE.

For example, the current first session may be a session in a 5G system.

For example, the first session may be a protocol data unit (protocol data unit, PDU) session.

It should be understood that the DNN of the first session may be the first data network name in the method shown in fig. 2, hereinafter simply referred to as the first DNN.

The first session has a corresponding bearer identification, which may be, for example, the first EBI. The description of the bearer identifier shown in fig. 2 may be referred to for the first EBI, which is not described in detail. For example, the expression form of the bearer identifier may be any arabic number, or may be other random code sequences, which is not limited in the present application. The above description also applies to the description of other embodiments of the application.

Before the execution of the step 301, the first session may be provided by any SMF, that is, the first session may be provided by SMF1, SMF2, or other SMFs in the 5G system, which is not limited by the present application.

The release of the first session may be described in section 4.3.4 of technical standards (TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION, TS) 23.502 in the third generation partnership project (3rd Generation Partnership Project,3GPP), and will not be described again.

Or step 301 may be replaced by releasing the bearer with the bearer identification in any session with the corresponding first DNN of the UE. That is, any session of the UE corresponding to the first DNN has no bearer with a bearer identification. In which case the execution of the subsequent steps is triggered as well. The above description may also refer to a description of another possible implementation in 201 in fig. 2.

The amf determines 302 that each session in the set of sessions has no bearer identification.

The session set includes at least one session of the UE, and the DNN of each session in the session set is the first DNN. The session set may refer to the description of M2 sessions in fig. 2, and the value of the number of sessions included in the session set may be M2.

The AMF determines that each session in the session set has no bearer identifier, which can be understood that the AMF determines whether any session in the session set has a bearer identifier, and if no session in the session set has the bearer identifier, the AMF determines that each session in the session set has no bearer identifier. In other words, the AMF may perceive that each session in the session set has no bearer identification.

303, The amf sends reassignment indication information to SMF1 and SMF 2.

It should be understood that after the AMF determines the reassignment indication information, the AMF sends the reassignment indication information to SMF1 and SMF 2.

This step may refer to the description in fig. 2 at 202 regarding the first mobility management network element sending the first allocation indication information to the first session management network element and the second allocation indication information to the second session management network element. The reassignment indication information may refer to the description of the first assignment indication information and the second assignment indication information in fig. 2.

For example, the AMF transmits a session management update message including the reassignment indication information to SMF1 and SMF 2. In particular, the session management update message may be represented by Namf _ PDUSession _ UpdateSMContext. It should be understood that this step may be understood that the AMF sends a first session management update message to the SMF1, and the AMF sends a second session management update message to the SMF2, where the first session management update message may include the reassignment first indication information, and the second session management update message may include the reassignment second indication information, and the first session management update message may be the same as or different from the second session management update message, and the present application is not limited thereto.

Specifically, the reassignment indication information may be denoted EBI reallocation indication.

Any one session in the session set is provided by either SMF1 or SMF 2. It should be appreciated that if at least one session in the session set is provided by SMF3, and SMF3 is different from SMF1 and SMF2, the AMF may send reassignment indication information to SMF1, SMF2, and SMF 3. That is, in this step, the AMF transmits the reassignment indication information to a plurality of SMFs, any one of which provides at least one session in the session set.

The reassignment indication information is used for indicating reassignment of the bearer identification, or is used for triggering the network element which receives the reassignment indication information to trigger the assignment flow of the bearer identification.

304, The amf receives the reassignment request from the bearer identities of SMF1 and SMF 2.

This step may refer to the description in fig. 2 regarding the first mobility management network element receiving an allocation request from the first session management network element, and the first mobility management network element may also receive a description of an allocation request from the second session management network element. Wherein the reassignment request of the bearer identification may refer to the description of the assignment request in fig. 2. And will not be described in detail.

It should be understood that in 303, any SMF that receives the reassignment indication information may send a reassignment request for the bearer identification to the AMF.

The bearer identification reassignment request is used to request the AMF to reassign the bearer identification. For example, the reassignment request received by the AMF from the bearer identification of the SMF1 is used to request the AMF to reassign the bearer identification for the SMF 1.

For example, in particular, the reassignment request for the bearer identification may be denoted Namf _communication_ EBIAssignment Request.

The amf sends 305 a first bearer identification to SMF 1.

This embodiment is described taking an example in which the AMF determines the SMF1 from a plurality of SMFs (including SMF1 and SMF 2) and transmits a first bearer identification to the SMF1.

The first bearer identification may refer to a description in fig. 2 in which the first mobility management network element sends first information to the first session management network element.

For example, the AMF sends, to the SMF1, reassignment response information of the bearer identification, where the reassignment response information of the bearer identification includes the first bearer identification. Specifically, the reassignment response information of the bearer identification may be represented by Namf _communication_ EBIAssignment Response.

For example, the first bearer identification may be the same as the bearer identification before the first session is released, or may be different from the bearer identification before the first session is released, which is not limited by the present application.

It should be understood that if the SMF1 provides multiple sessions with the first DNN, in this step, the AMF may also send multiple bearer identities allocated for the multiple sessions to the SMF, where the bearer identities of different sessions may be different or the same, and the present application is not limited.

For example, the AMF receives the reassignment requests from SMF1 and SMF2 in 304, the AMF selects SMF1 of SMF1 and SMF2, assigns a first bearer identification to the session provided by the SMF1, and finally sends the first bearer identification to SMF 1. Specifically, how to select the method for determining SMF1 from the plurality of SMFs may refer to the description of determining the first session management network element in the first case in step 202 in fig. 2, which is not repeated.

At 306, the amf sends a reassignment failure response of the bearer identification to SMF 2.

The reassignment failure response may refer to the description of the assignment failure response in fig. 2.

The failed response of the reassignment of the bearer identification is used to inform SMF2 that the request for reassignment of the bearer identification is denied.

The SMF2 is the SMF in 305 that does not receive the first bearer identification from the AMF. It should be appreciated that at least one SMF other than SMF1 of the plurality of SMFs providing any one session in the set of sessions may receive a reassignment failure response from the bearer identification of the AMF.

This step is an optional step. That is, SMF2 does not receive any response message, and similar to SMF2 receiving the reassignment failure response, SMF2 can be made aware that the reassignment request of the bearer identification is denied.

307, Session modification procedure.

During the execution of this step, one or more sessions provided by the SMF1 are configured with corresponding bearer identities. In addition, the AMF configures a first bearer identification to the SMF1.

In addition, the SMF1 may send the first bearer identification to the RAN through the AMF after receiving the first bearer identification in 305. After receiving the first bearer identification, the RAN sends the first bearer identification to the terminal equipment.

The session modification procedure may refer to the description in section 4.3.3.2 in 3gpp TS23.502 and section 4.11.1.4 in TS23.502, and will not be described in detail.

In this embodiment, the AMF may detect that no bearer identifier exists in any session having the same DNN in the terminal device, and trigger allocation of the bearer identifier, specifically, the AMF sends reassignment indication information to a plurality of SMFs, and after receiving a reassignment request, selects one of the SMFs, and allocates the bearer identifier to one or more sessions provided by the SMF. By the scheme of the embodiment, the problem of session discarding caused by no bearer identification of any session with the same DNN in the terminal equipment is solved when the session of the terminal equipment is switched from the 5G system to the 4G system, the continuity of service is ensured, and the experience of the terminal equipment is improved.

Furthermore, 303 and 304 in this embodiment may also be optional. When 303 and 304 are not executed, the solution in this embodiment may be understood that the AMF does not trigger the SMF to request to reallocate the bearer identifier any more, but the AMF directly allocates the bearer identifier to the weight, which saves signaling interaction between the AMF and the SMF, and may reduce the burden of the SMF.

Furthermore, it should be understood that, in step 305, if the AMF selects SMF1 according to the priority policy, when the priority information is changed, for example, the priority of SMF2 changes from a priority lower than SMF1 to a priority higher than SMF1, the AMF may cancel the first bearer identification allocated to SMF1, or the AMF may withdraw the first bearer identification allocated to SMF1, allocate the second bearer identification to SMF2, and continue to perform the subsequent steps. The second bearer identification may be the same as or different from the first bearer identification, and the present application is not limited thereto. The above description is also applicable to descriptions of other embodiments of the present application, and will not be repeated.

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a session switching method according to another embodiment of the present application, with reference to fig. 2 and fig. 3. The UE in the method may be a terminal device in fig. 1, the RAN may be an access network device in fig. 1, the AMF may be a mobility management network element in fig. 1 or fig. 2, the SMFs 1 and SM2 may be session management network elements in fig. 1, where the SMF1 may refer to a description of a first session management network element in fig. 2, the SMF2 may refer to a description of a second session management network element in fig. 2, and the UDM may be a data management network element in fig. 1.

The method may comprise the steps of:

401, a first session is released.

The amf determines 402 that each session in the set of sessions has no bearer identification.

This steps 401 and 402 may refer to the descriptions of steps 301 and 302 in fig. 3, and will not be repeated.

403, The amf sends reassignment indication information to SMF 1.

For example, the AMF selects SMF1 and transmits reassignment instruction information to SMF1. The AMF selection of SMF1 is also understood to mean that AMF determines or screens out SMF1.

The specific implementation manner of the selection SMF1 may refer to the description of the determining the first session management network element in the first case in step 202 in fig. 2, which is not repeated.

That is, the AMF transmits the reassignment indication information to only one SMF (i.e., SMF 1), and the selected SMF1 provides at least one session of the session set.

The reassignment indication information may refer to the description of the reassignment indication information in fig. 3.

404, The amf receives a reassignment request from the SMF1 for the bearer identification.

The request for reassignment of the bearer identification in this step may refer to the description of the request for reassignment of the bearer identification in fig. 3.

The amf sends 405 a first bearer identification to SMF 1.

406, Session modifying flow.

Steps 405 and 406 may be described with reference to steps 305 and 307 in fig. 3, and will not be described again.

In this embodiment, the AMF may detect that no bearer identifier exists in any session with the same DNN in the terminal device, select one SMF, and send reassignment indication information for the SMF, thereby triggering a procedure for bearer identifiers for the SMF. The scheme of the embodiment not only improves the continuity of the service, but also further reduces the number of signaling interactions in the network, lightens the burden of the network and reduces the complexity of the scheme.

It will be appreciated that steps 403 and 404 in fig. 4 are also optional, similar to the scheme shown in fig. 3, and will not be repeated.

Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of another session switching method according to the present application. The UE in the method may be a terminal device in fig. 1, the RAN may be an access network device in fig. 1, the AMF may be a mobility management network element in fig. 1 or fig. 2, the SMFs 1 and SM2 may be session management network elements in fig. 1, where the SMF1 may refer to a description of a first session management network element in fig. 2, the SMF2 may refer to a description of a second session management network element in fig. 2, and the UDM may be a data management network element in fig. 1.

The method may comprise the steps of:

501, a first session is released.

502, The amf determines that each session in the set of sessions has no bearer identification.

The steps 501 and 502 may refer to the descriptions of the steps 301 and 302 in fig. 3, and will not be repeated.

503, The amf sends the reassignment indication information and the data network name to the UE.

The reassignment indication information may refer to the descriptions of the reassignment indication information in fig. 3 and fig. 4, and will not be described again. This step may be described with reference to 202 of fig. 2 when the first apparatus is a terminal device.

For example, the AMF sends a configuration update request to the UE, where the configuration update request includes the reassignment indication information and the data network name. In particular, the configuration update request may be represented by Configuration Update Command.

The data network name may be the first data network name in fig. 2. The first data network name in this step is a specific data network name. The data network name is the data network name corresponding to the session set in 502.

The reassignment indication information may be used to trigger the UE to perform 504.

Further, in this step, the AMF may also send a session list to the UE, for example, the session list may be a PDU session list (PDU session list). The session list may include information of a session supporting network handover, that is, the subsequent UE may select a session from the session list, so as to ensure that the session requested by the subsequent UE is a session supporting network handover, thereby further improving the success rate of allocating a bearer identifier to the terminal device.

At 504, the ue sends a session identification and reassignment indication information to the AMF.

This step may refer to the description in fig. 2 regarding "receiving the first allocation indication information and/or session identification information from the terminal device".

Accordingly, when the AMF receives the session identifier and the reassignment indication information from the UE, the AMF initiates a bearer identifier assignment procedure for the session corresponding to the session identifier according to the reassignment indication information, see 505 and 506 for details.

For example, the UE sends a session modification request to the AMF, where the session modification request includes a session identifier and reassignment indication information. The session modification request is used to request the AMF to trigger the execution of a modification procedure for the session. The order in which the modification procedure of the session and the allocation procedure of the bearer identification are started is not limited.

In a first possible case, the session identifier may be an identifier of all sessions corresponding to the data network name of the UE, and the session identifier may be one or more. It should be appreciated that in a specific implementation, when the session identifier is multiple, the UE sends multiple session modification requests to the AMF, each session modification request including a session identifier. It will be appreciated that one or more of the session identifications described above may also be included in a session modification request.

In a second possible case, the UE selects, from all the sessions corresponding to the data network name, a session with the highest priority among all the sessions, where the session identifier is an identifier of the session with the highest priority selected by the UE. For example, the UE may select according to the behavior habit of the user, and then select the session with the highest priority is the session corresponding to the most preferred or most commonly used service of the user. For another example, the UE may select according to a user instruction, which is the highest priority session.

In a third possible scenario, the UE receives a list of sessions from the AMF in 503, then in 504 the UE selects the session with the highest priority from the list of sessions, and then the session identification is the identification of the session with the highest priority in the list of sessions.

It should be appreciated that in the second possible scenario, the session with the highest priority selected by the UE may not be the session with different subscription information for the UE. That is, here the UE is a session that is selected to be important to the UE or the user according to its own choice or according to the user's choice, but it does not mean that the session selected by the UE in this case must be a session supporting network handover, because which sessions of the user have the capability to support network handover may be determined by subscription information of the UE. For example, if the user prefers to play a particular game, then the session selected by the UE with the highest priority is the session of the particular game, then the session identifier is the identifier of the session of the game, if the session corresponding to the game supports network switching, then the subsequent 505 and 506 execution succeeds, otherwise, 505 and 506 execution fails. That is, when the UE receives the session list from the AMF and selects the session from the session list in 503, the method can further improve the success rate of bearer allocation, save trial-and-error time, and further improve the experience of the user.

The above several possible cases may be referred to the description in step 202 of fig. 2 when the first apparatus is a terminal device.

505, The amf sends session update information to SMF 1.

For example, the AMF transmits a PDU session update session management context (Nsmf _ PDUSession _ UpdateSMContext) message including session update information to the SMF 1.

For example, the session update information may include a network switch identifier. The network switch identification may be referred to as an interoperability identification, and a particular network switch identification may be denoted epsInterworkingInd. It should be understood that network handover may be understood as an interoperation, and in particular, an interoperation may be understood as a handover between different networks. The network switch identifier may refer to the description of the network interworking indication information in fig. 2, and will not be described in detail.

Optionally, the session update information may include one or more bearer identities, which are used in allocating a bearer identity for the session provided by the SMF in the following step 506. The one or more bearer identities may refer to the description of the first bearer identity described above.

If the first possible case is 504, the AMF sends the session update information to SMF1 505. It should be noted that, since in the first possible scenario in step 504, the AMF receives the identities of all sessions corresponding to the data network name of the UE, in an actual implementation, all sessions corresponding to the data network name of the UE will generally be provided by more than one SMF, and in this step, the AMF may select one SMF, for example, SMF1, and send session update information to the SMF 1. The specific manner of selecting the SMF may refer to the description of determining the first session management network element in fig. 2, which is not described herein.

If the second and third possible cases are 504, the session identifier is one, and the session identified by the session identifier is provided as SMF1, then the AMF sends 505 the session update information to the SMF 1.

The session update information is used to trigger execution 506.

506, Session modifying flow.

This step may be described with reference to 307 of fig. 3 and 406 of fig. 4, and will not be described again.

In addition, it can be understood that, if the session update information does not include any bearer identifier, in step 506, the bearer allocation procedure may also be triggered and executed during the session modification procedure, and the specific bearer allocation procedure may refer to the description in section 4.11.1.4 in TS23.502, which is not repeated. Finally, at least one session of SMF1 may be assigned a bearer identification.

By the method, when the AMF discovers that a certain UE does not have the bearer identification in a plurality of sessions corresponding to a certain data network name, the AMF can enable the UE to trigger the allocation flow of the bearer identification. Through the method shown in the embodiment, the UE may initiate according to its own needs, for example, according to the behavior habit preference of the user, or may directly acquire the instruction of the user, so that in the subsequent allocation flow of the bearer identifier, the probability that the session selected by the UE according to the needs is allocated to the bearer identifier is improved, which is beneficial to improving the experience of the user.

Based on the above-mentioned method embodiments of fig. 2 to 5, fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application.

The communication device comprises a processing module 601, a receiving module 602 and a transmitting module 603. The processing module 601 is configured to implement processing of data by the communication device. The receiving module 602 is configured to receive contents of a communication device and other units or network elements, and the sending module 603 is configured to receive contents of a communication device and other units or network elements. It is to be appreciated that the processing module 601 in embodiments of the present application may be implemented by a processor or processor-related circuit component (alternatively referred to as a processing circuit), and the receiving module 602 may be implemented by a receiver or receiver-related circuit component. The transmit module 603 may be implemented by a transmitter or transmitter related circuit components.

The communication device may be a communication device apparatus, a chip applied in the communication device apparatus, or other combination devices, components, etc. having the functions of the communication device apparatus.

When the communication device is a first mobility management network element or AMF, the processing module 601 is configured to determine first allocation indication information (e.g. 201 in fig. 2); the sending module 603 is configured to send the first allocation indication information (e.g. 202 in fig. 2, 303 in fig. 3, 403 in fig. 4, and 503 in fig. 5) to the first device, where the first allocation indication information is used to trigger an allocation bearer identification procedure for the first session management network element, the first session management network element provides M1 sessions, and the allocation bearer identification procedure is used to allocate a bearer identification for at least one session of the M1 sessions, where M1 is a positive integer.

Furthermore, the various modules described above may also be used in other processes that support the techniques described herein. The advantages are described above and will not be repeated here.

When the communication device is a first session management network element or SMF1, the receiving module 602 is configured to receive first allocation indication information (e.g. 202 in fig. 2, 303 in fig. 3, 403 in fig. 4, and 503 in fig. 5) from a mobility management function network element; the processing module 601 and the sending module 603 are configured to send an allocation request (e.g. 304 in fig. 3, 404 in fig. 4) to the mobility management function network element according to the first allocation indication information, where the allocation request is used to request allocation of a bearer identifier.

The receiving module 602 is configured to receive first allocation indication information (e.g. 503 in fig. 5) from a mobility management function network element when the communication device is a terminal device or a UE; the processing module 601 and the sending module 603 are configured to send an allocation request (e.g. 504 in fig. 5) to the mobility management function network element according to the first allocation indication information, where the allocation request is used to request allocation of a bearer identifier.

Fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of another communication device according to an embodiment of the present application, based on the above-mentioned method embodiments of fig. 2 to 4, where the communication device includes: a processor 701, a communication interface 702, a memory 703. Wherein the processor 701, the communication interface 702, and the memory 703 may be interconnected by a bus 704; bus 704 may be a peripheral component interconnect standard (PERIPHERAL COMPONENT INTERCONNECT, PCI) bus, or an extended industry standard architecture (extended industry standard architecture, EISA) bus, among others. The bus 704 may be classified into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, and the like. For ease of illustration, only one line is shown in fig. 7, but not only one bus or one type of bus. The processor 701 may be a central processor (central processing unit, CPU), a network processor (network processor, NP) or a combination of CPU and NP. The processor may further comprise a hardware chip. The hardware chip may be an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a programmable logic device (programmable logic device, PLD), or a combination thereof. The PLD may be a complex programmable Logic device (complex programmable Logic device, CPLD), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) GATE ARRAY, general-purpose array Logic (GENERIC ARRAY Logic, GAL), or any combination thereof. The memory 703 may be volatile memory or nonvolatile memory, or may include both volatile and nonvolatile memory. The nonvolatile memory may be a read-only memory (ROM), a Programmable ROM (PROM), an erasable programmable ROM (erasable PROM), an electrically erasable programmable EPROM (EEPROM), or a flash memory. The volatile memory may be random access memory (random access memory, RAM) which acts as external cache memory.

The processor 701 is configured to implement a data processing operation of the communication device, and the communication interface 702 is configured to implement a receiving operation and a transmitting operation of the communication device.

When the communication device is a first mobility management network element or AMF, the processor 701 is configured to determine first allocation indication information (e.g. 201 in fig. 2); the communication interface 702 is configured to send the first allocation indication information (e.g. 202 in fig. 2, 303 in fig. 3, 403 in fig. 4, and 503 in fig. 5) to the first device, where the first allocation indication information is used to trigger an allocation bearer identification procedure for the first session management network element, the first session management network element providing M1 sessions, and the allocation bearer identification procedure is used to allocate a bearer identification for at least one session of the M1 sessions, where the M1 is a positive integer.

When the communication device is a first session management network element or SMF1, the communication interface 702 is configured to receive first allocation indication information (e.g. 202 in fig. 2, 303 in fig. 3, 403 in fig. 4, and 503 in fig. 5) from a mobility management function network element; the processor 701 and the communication interface 702 are configured to send an allocation request (e.g. 304 in fig. 3, 404 in fig. 4) to the mobility management function network element according to the first allocation indication information, the allocation request being used to request allocation of a bearer identification.

When the communication apparatus is a terminal device or a UE, the communication interface 702 is configured to receive first allocation indication information (e.g. 503 in fig. 5) from a mobility management function network element; the processor 701 and the communication interface 702 are configured to send an allocation request (e.g. 504 in fig. 5) to the mobility management function network element according to the first allocation indication information, the allocation request being for requesting allocation of a bearer identification.

The embodiment of the application provides a communication system, which comprises the first mobility management network element and the first session management network element, wherein the first mobility management network element executes a method executed by the first mobility management network element or the AMF in any one of the embodiments shown in fig. 2 to 5, and the first session management network element executes a method executed by the first session management network element or the SMF1 in any one of the embodiments shown in fig. 2 to 5.

The embodiment of the present application further provides a computer readable storage medium, where the computer readable storage medium stores a computer program, where the computer program when executed by a computer may implement a procedure related to the first mobility management network element or the AMF in any one of the embodiments shown in fig. 2 to 5 provided by the foregoing method embodiment, or the computer may implement a procedure related to the first session management network element or the SMF1 in any one of the embodiments shown in fig. 2 to 5 provided by the foregoing method embodiment.

The embodiment of the present application further provides a computer program product, where the computer program product is configured to store a computer program, where the computer program when executed by a computer may implement a procedure related to the first mobility management network element or the AMF in any one of the embodiments shown in fig. 2 to 5 provided by the foregoing method embodiment, or the computer may implement a procedure related to the first session management network element or the SMF1 in any one of the embodiments shown in fig. 2 to 5 provided by the foregoing method embodiment.

The application also provides a chip comprising a processor. The processor is configured to read and execute a computer program stored in the memory, so as to perform the corresponding operations and/or procedures of the first mobility management network element or AMF, the first session management network element or SMF1 in the method provided by the present application. Optionally, the chip further comprises a memory, the memory is connected with the processor through a circuit or a wire, and the processor is used for reading and executing the computer program in the memory. Further optionally, the chip further comprises a communication interface, and the processor is connected to the communication interface. The communication interface is used for receiving the processed data and/or information, and the processor acquires the data and/or information from the communication interface and processes the data and/or information. The communication interface may be an input/output interface, interface circuitry, output circuitry, input circuitry, pins, or related circuitry, etc. on the chip. The processor may also be embodied as processing circuitry or logic circuitry.

The chip may be replaced by a chip system, and will not be described herein.

The terms "comprises," "comprising," and "having," and any variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, system, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of steps or elements is not necessarily limited to those steps or elements expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus.

In the present application, "at least one" means one or more, and "a plurality" means two or more. "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 alone, a and B together, and B alone, wherein a, B may be singular or plural. The character "/" generally indicates that the context-dependent object is an "or" relationship. "at least one item" 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 (item) may represent: a, b, c, a-b, a-c, b-c, or a-b-c, wherein a, b, c may be single or plural.

The system architecture and the service scenario described in the embodiments of the present application are for more clearly describing the technical solution provided in the embodiments of the present application, and do not constitute a limitation on the technical solution provided in the embodiments of the present application, and those skilled in the art can know that, with the evolution of the network architecture and the appearance of a new service scenario, the technical solution provided in the embodiments of the present application is equally applicable to similar technical problems.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative elements and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, or combinations of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the solution. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present application.

In the several embodiments provided by the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, devices, and methods may be implemented in other manners. For example, the apparatus embodiments described above are merely illustrative, e.g., the division of the units is merely a logical function division, and there may be additional divisions when actually implemented, e.g., multiple units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted or not performed. Alternatively, the coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed with each other may be an indirect coupling or communication connection via some interfaces, devices or units, which may be in electrical, mechanical or other form.

The units described as separate units may or may not be physically separate, and units shown as units may or may not be physical units, may be located in one place, or may be distributed over a plurality of network units. The object of the present embodiment can be achieved by actually selecting some or all of the units therein.

In addition, each functional unit in the embodiments of the present application may be integrated in one processing unit, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units may be integrated in one unit.

The functions, if implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as a stand-alone product, may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present application may be embodied essentially or in a part contributing to the prior art or in a part of the technical solution, in the form of a software product stored in a storage medium, comprising several instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, a network device, etc.) to perform all or part of the steps of the method according to the embodiments of the present application. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: a U-disk, a removable hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (random access memory, RAM), a magnetic disk, or an optical disk, or other various media capable of storing program codes.

Furthermore, the terms first and second and the like in the description and in the claims, and in the figures, are used for distinguishing between different objects and not necessarily for describing a particular sequential or chronological order. Furthermore, the terms "comprise" and "have," as well as any variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion. For example, a process, method, system, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of steps or elements is not limited to only those listed steps or elements but may include other steps or elements not listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus.

Although the 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 application. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the present application without departing from the spirit or scope of the application. Thus, it is intended that the present application also include such modifications and alterations insofar as they come within the scope of the appended claims or the equivalents thereof.

The foregoing is merely illustrative of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art will readily recognize that variations or substitutions are within the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the protection scope of the present invention shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A method for allocating bearer identities, the method comprising:

determining first allocation indication information;

And sending the first allocation indication information to a first device, wherein the first allocation indication information is used for triggering an allocation bearer identification process aiming at a first session management network element, the first session management network element provides M1 sessions, and the allocation bearer identification process is used for allocating bearer identifications for at least one session in the M1 sessions, wherein M1 is a positive integer.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining the position of the substrate comprises,

The M2 sessions do not bear the identification, the M2 sessions comprise the M1 sessions, the data network names of the M2 sessions are first data network names, and the M2 sessions correspond to the same terminal equipment.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the method further comprises:

And releasing the first session, wherein the data network names of the first session and the M2 sessions are first data network names, the first session is provided with a bearing identifier, the M2 sessions comprise the M1 sessions, and the M2 sessions correspond to the same terminal equipment.

4. A method according to any of claims 1-3, wherein the first device is the first session management network element.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the method further comprises:

an allocation request from the first session management network element is received, the allocation request being for requesting allocation of a bearer identification.

6. The method according to claim 4 or 5, characterized in that the method further comprises:

Sending second allocation indication information to a second session management network element, wherein the second allocation indication information is used for triggering an allocation bearer identification process aiming at the second session management network element, the second session management network element provides M3 sessions, the allocation bearer identification process is used for allocating bearer identifications for at least one session in the M3 sessions, the data network names of the M3 sessions and the M1 sessions are first data network names, and the M3 sessions and the M1 sessions correspond to the same terminal equipment;

and receiving an allocation request from the second session management network element, wherein the allocation request is used for requesting to allocate a bearing identifier.

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

And sending an allocation failure response to the second session management network element, wherein the allocation failure response is used for indicating that the request for allocating the bearing identification fails.

8. The method according to claim 4 or 5, wherein said sending the first allocation indication information to the first session management network element comprises:

Determining the first session management network element from N session management network elements, wherein the N session management network elements provide M2 sessions, the data network names of the M2 sessions and the M1 sessions are first data network names, and the M2 sessions and the M1 sessions correspond to the same terminal equipment;

and sending the allocation indication information to the first session management network element.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the determining the first session management network element from the N session management network elements comprises:

Determining a session with the highest priority from the M2 sessions as a second session, wherein the second session is provided by the first session management network element;

the first session management network element is selected.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the determining the first session management network element from the N session management network elements comprises:

And selecting the first session management network element according to the priorities of the N session management network elements, wherein the first session management network element is the network element with the highest priority in the N session management network elements.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the determining the first session management network element from the N session management network elements comprises:

And selecting one session management network element from the N session management network elements as the first session management network element.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the determining the first session management network element from the N session management network elements comprises:

And selecting the first session management network element from the N session management network elements, wherein the first session management network element is the session management network element with the largest session number in the N session management network elements.

13. A method according to any of claims 1-3, characterized in that the first device is a terminal equipment.

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

Transmitting a first data network name to the terminal equipment;

Receiving the first allocation indication information and/or session identification information from the terminal equipment, wherein the session identification information comprises identification information of a third session, the M1 sessions comprise the third session, and the data network names of the M1 sessions are the first data network names;

triggering an assigned bearer identification procedure for the first session management network element.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the session identification information includes identification information of a third session, comprising:

The session identification information comprises identification information of K sessions, the M1 sessions comprise the K sessions, and the identification information of the K sessions comprises identification information of the third session.

16. The method according to claim 14 or 15, characterized in that the method further comprises:

and sending a session list to the terminal equipment, wherein the session in the session list is a session supporting network switching in subscription information of the terminal equipment, and the session list comprises the third session.

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

And sending network intercommunication indicating information to the first session management network element, wherein the network intercommunication indicating information is used for indicating the first session management network element to initiate a process of distributing bearing identification.

18. The method according to any one of claims 1-17, further comprising:

And sending first information to the first session management network element, wherein the first information is used for indicating bearer identifiers of L sessions in the M1 sessions, the M1 sessions comprise the L sessions, and the L is a positive integer.

19. A method for allocating bearer identities, the method comprising:

receiving first allocation indication information and a first data network name from a first mobility management network element;

Transmitting session identification information and/or the first allocation indication information to the first mobility management function network element, wherein the session identification information and/or the first allocation indication information triggers an allocation bearer identification process for a first session management network element, the first session management network element provides M1 sessions, and the allocation bearer identification process is used for allocating bearer identifications for at least one session in the M1 sessions, wherein M1 is a positive integer, and data network names of the M1 sessions are the first data network names.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein M2 sessions do not have bearer identities, wherein the M2 sessions comprise the M1 sessions, wherein the data network names of the M2 sessions are the first data network name, and wherein the sessions identified by the session identity information comprise the M2 sessions;

The sending session identification information to the first mobility management function network element includes:

And sending the identification information of the M2 sessions to the first mobility management function network element.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein M2 sessions have no bearer identification, wherein the M2 sessions include the M1 sessions, and wherein the data network names of the M2 sessions are the first data network names;

transmitting session identification information to the first mobility management function network element, including:

Selecting a session identified by the session identification information from the M2 sessions;

And sending the session identification information to the first mobility management function network element.

22. The method according to any one of claims 19 to 21, further comprising:

Receiving a session list from the first mobility management function network element, wherein the session in the session list is a session supporting network switching in subscription information, and the session in the session list comprises the session identified by the session identification information.

23. A method for allocating bearer identities, the method comprising:

Receiving first allocation indication information from a mobility management function network element;

and sending an allocation request to the mobility management function network element according to the first allocation indication information, wherein the allocation request is used for requesting to allocate a bearing identifier.

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

And providing M1 sessions, wherein the request allocation bearer identification is used for requesting the self-mobility management function network element to allocate bearer identifications for at least one session in the M1 sessions, and M1 is a positive integer.

25. The method according to claim 23 or 24, characterized in that the method further comprises:

And receiving first information from the mobility management function network element, wherein the first information is used for indicating bearer identifications of L sessions in M1 sessions, the M1 sessions comprise the L sessions, and L is a positive integer.

26. The method according to any one of claims 23 to 25, further comprising:

And releasing a first session, wherein the first session and M1 sessions have the same data network name, the first session has a bearing identifier, and M1 is a positive integer.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the first session is provided by the first session management network element.

28. A communication device comprising a processor;

The processor is configured to read and run a program from a memory to implement the method of any one of claims 1 to 18, or the method of any one of claims 19 to 22, or the method of any one of claims 23 to 27.

29. A computer readable storage medium having instructions stored therein which, when run on a computer, cause a processor to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 18, or the method of any one of claims 19 to 22, or the method of any one of claims 23 to 27.

30. A computer program product comprising instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 18, or the method of any one of claims 19 to 22, or the method of any one of claims 23 to 27.