CN118301562A

CN118301562A - Signaling processing method, system, equipment and storage medium

Info

Publication number: CN118301562A
Application number: CN202410549935.9A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 麦伟民; 周建二; 陈翔; 宋胜安; 李伟超; 陶小峰
Original assignee: Peng Cheng Laboratory
Current assignee: Peng Cheng Laboratory
Priority date: 2024-05-06
Filing date: 2024-05-06
Publication date: 2024-07-05

Abstract

The application discloses a signaling processing method, a system, a device and a storage medium, which relate to the technical field of communication and are applied to signaling processing equipment comprising a shared memory and a plurality of network function examples, wherein the equipment is in communication connection with a user state database, and the method comprises the following steps: receiving signaling information sent by a target user terminal, acquiring the context state of the target user terminal from a user state database, and storing the context state of the target user terminal into a shared memory; acquiring the context state of the target user terminal from the shared memory through each target instance, performing functional processing on signaling information sent by the target user terminal to obtain a functional processing result, and storing the context state obtained after the functional processing into the shared memory; and generating feedback signaling information according to the function processing result, and sending the feedback signaling information to the target user terminal. The application reduces the time delay of signaling processing and improves the efficiency of signaling processing.

Description

Signaling processing method, system, equipment and storage medium

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a signaling processing method, system, device, and storage medium.

Background

In the 5G mobile network, with the expansion of services such as the Internet of things, more large-scale and various devices are accessed into the network. This not only brings about an increase in data traffic but also a more dramatic increase in signaling traffic. The 5G core network (5GC,5G Core Network) processes the signaling and realizes various control functions, which separate the control plane from the user data plane; the control plane is decomposed into several Network elements or Network Functions (NF), which specifically include: an access and mobility management function (AMF, ACCESS AND Mobility Management Function), an authentication server function (AUSF, authentication Server Function), a session management function (SMF, session Management Function), a Unified data management (UDM, unified DATA MANAGEMENT), and the like; so as to realize various control functions of access and mobility, authentication, session establishment and management and the like of a User Equipment (UE).

Currently, stateless deployment of a 5G core network is one of the most recommended deployment modes. When the stateless core network is deployed, the context state of the user terminal is pre-stored in an external Database (DB) of the network function; when a network function receives the signaling information, it will first access the external database to obtain the context state of the required user terminal, and then process the signaling information according to the context state; after the processing is completed, the context state is updated and rewritten into an external database; if the signaling information is not processed, the signaling information is sent to the subsequent network function, and the subsequent network function executes the same processing steps. In stateless deployment, the network function itself only assumes the computational processing function, which enables decoupling of the network function from the context state of the user terminal, enabling high scalability of the network function. However, when each network function processes the signaling information, the steps of reading and writing are required to be performed to an external database, which results in a larger time delay for processing the signaling information and lower signaling processing efficiency.

The foregoing is provided merely for the purpose of facilitating understanding of the technical solutions of the present application and is not intended to represent an admission that the foregoing is prior art.

Disclosure of Invention

The application mainly aims to provide a signaling processing method, a system, equipment and a storage medium, aiming at reducing signaling processing time delay and improving signaling processing efficiency.

To achieve the above object, the present application provides a signaling processing method, which is applied to a signaling processing device, the signaling processing device is communicatively connected to a user status database, and the signaling processing device includes: the method for sharing the memory and the plurality of network function instances comprises the following steps:

Receiving signaling information sent by a target user terminal, acquiring a context state of the target user terminal from the user state database, and storing the context state of the target user terminal into the shared memory;

Acquiring the context state of the target user terminal from the shared memory through each target instance, performing functional processing on signaling information sent by the target user terminal based on the context state of the target user terminal to obtain a functional processing result, and storing the context state obtained after the functional processing into the shared memory, wherein the target instance is a network function instance which is determined from the network function instances and is used for processing the signaling information sent by the target user terminal;

and generating feedback signaling information according to the function processing result, and sending the feedback signaling information to the target user terminal.

In one embodiment, before the step of obtaining the context state of the target ue from the shared memory through each target instance, the method includes:

identifying a target function type in signaling information sent by the target user terminal, and determining network function examples belonging to the target function type in the network function examples as candidate examples;

and obtaining the forwarding weight corresponding to each candidate instance, and determining the target instance from each candidate instance according to the forwarding weight.

In an embodiment, the step of obtaining, by each target instance, the context state of the target ue from the shared memory, and performing functional processing on signaling information sent by the target ue based on the context state of the target ue includes:

acquiring a target context state from the shared memory through the target instance, wherein the target context state is a context state referred by the target instance when performing functional processing on signaling information received by the target instance;

performing functional processing on the payload corresponding to the signaling information received by the target instance based on the target context state, and storing the context state obtained after the functional processing into the shared memory;

If the payload obtained after the function processing has completed all the function processing, executing the step of generating feedback signaling information according to the function processing result through the target instance after obtaining a function processing result of completing all the function processing, and sending the feedback signaling information to the target user terminal;

And if the payload obtained after the function processing does not complete all the function processing, executing the step of acquiring the target context state from the shared memory through the next target instance of the target instance, and the subsequent steps.

In one embodiment, the step of storing the context state obtained after the function processing in the shared memory includes:

respectively storing the context state obtained after the function processing and the effective load obtained after the function processing into the shared memory through the target instance;

Before the step of obtaining the target context state from the shared memory and the step of the subsequent step are executed by the next target instance of the target instances, the method comprises the following steps:

And generating first signaling information through the target instance according to the context state obtained after the function processing and the respective storage address of the payload obtained after the function processing in the shared memory, and sending the first signaling information to the next target instance of the target instance through eBPF.

In an embodiment, after the step of performing, by the target instance, functional processing on the payload corresponding to the signaling information received by the target instance based on the target context state and storing the context state obtained after the functional processing in the shared memory, the method further includes:

and if the payload obtained after the function processing has completed all the function processing, storing the context state obtained after the function processing into the user state database.

In one embodiment, the step of receiving signaling information sent by the target ue and obtaining the context state of the target ue from the ue state database includes:

Receiving signaling information sent by the target user terminal, and identifying a target identifier in the signaling information sent by the target user terminal, wherein the target identifier is matched with the target user terminal;

And determining the context state pointed by the target identifier in the user state database as the context state of the target user terminal.

In an embodiment, the signaling processing device is in communication connection with a front-end forwarding module, the target user terminal is in communication connection with the front-end forwarding module, and the signaling information sent by the target user terminal is signaling information which is obtained by performing protocol conversion through the front-end forwarding module and accords with a communication protocol of the signaling processing device.

In addition, to achieve the above object, the present application also proposes a signaling processing system, including: the system comprises a front-end forwarding module, a user state database and at least one signaling processing device which is respectively in communication connection with the front-end forwarding module and the user state database;

the front-end forwarding module is in communication connection with a target user terminal and is used for carrying out protocol conversion on signaling information from the target user terminal and forwarding the signaling information to the signaling processing equipment;

The user state database is used for storing the context state of the target user terminal;

the signaling processing device includes: the system comprises a shared memory and a plurality of network function examples, wherein the shared memory and the network function examples are used for receiving signaling information sent by a target user terminal, acquiring the context state of the target user terminal from the user state database, and storing the context state of the target user terminal into the shared memory; acquiring the context state of the target user terminal from the shared memory through each target instance, performing functional processing on signaling information sent by the target user terminal based on the context state of the target user terminal to obtain a functional processing result, and storing the context state obtained after the functional processing into the shared memory, wherein the target instance is a network function instance which is determined from the network function instances and is used for processing the signaling information sent by the target user terminal; and generating feedback signaling information according to the function processing result, and sending the feedback signaling information to the target user terminal.

In addition, to achieve the above object, the present application also proposes a signaling processing apparatus including: a memory, a processor and a computer program stored on the memory and executable on the processor, the computer program being configured to implement the steps of the signalling processing method as described above.

Furthermore, to achieve the above object, the present application also proposes a storage medium, which is a computer-readable storage medium, on which a computer program is stored, which computer program, when being executed by a processor, implements the steps of the signaling processing method as described above.

One or more technical schemes provided by the application have at least the following technical effects: providing a signaling processing method which is applied to signaling processing equipment; the signaling processing device is communicatively coupled to the user state database and comprises: sharing a memory and a plurality of network function instances; acquiring the context state of the target user terminal from a user state database positioned outside the signaling processing equipment by receiving signaling information sent by the target user terminal, and storing the context state of the target user terminal into a shared memory positioned inside the signaling processing equipment; further, the context state of the target user terminal is obtained from the shared memory through each target instance, the signaling information sent by the target user terminal is subjected to function processing based on the context state of the target user terminal, a function processing result is obtained, the context state obtained after the function processing is stored in the shared memory, and the target instance is a network function instance for determining the signaling information sent by the target user terminal from each network function instance; and generating feedback signaling information according to the function processing result, and sending the feedback signaling information to the target user terminal. By setting the shared memory in the signaling processing equipment, a plurality of network function instances in the signaling processing equipment do not need to interact with an external user state database before and after each signaling processing when the signaling information of the same target user terminal is processed; and only need to read the context state of the target user terminal from the external database and store it in the internal shared memory when the first processing; furthermore, zero copy communication is realized through the internal shared memory, namely, the reading and writing of the context state of the target user terminal are realized in the signaling processing equipment; therefore, the interaction times between each network function instance and the external database in the signaling processing equipment are effectively reduced, the time delay of signaling processing is further reduced, and the signaling processing efficiency is improved.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments consistent with the application and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the application.

In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the application or the technical solutions of the prior art, the drawings which are used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art will be briefly described, and it will be obvious to a person skilled in the art that other drawings can be obtained from these drawings without inventive effort.

Fig. 1 is a schematic flow chart of a signaling processing method according to a first embodiment of the present application;

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a scenario of a front-end forwarding module according to the present application;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of an in-house deployment of the signaling processing apparatus of the present application;

Fig. 4 is a flow chart of the internal processing of the signaling processing device of the present application;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a signaling processing system according to the present application;

fig. 6 is a schematic device structure diagram of a hardware operating environment related to a signaling processing method in an embodiment of the present application.

The achievement of the objects, functional features and advantages of the present application will be further described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in conjunction with the embodiments.

Detailed Description

It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative of the technical solution of the present application and are not intended to limit the present application.

For a better understanding of the technical solution of the present application, the following detailed description will be given with reference to the drawings and the specific embodiments.

In the conventional technology, when the network function instance of the 5G core network receives the signaling information to be processed, the network function instance needs to access an external database to acquire the context state of the required user terminal, and then the signaling information is processed according to the context state; after the processing is completed, the network function instance needs to update the context state and rewrite the context state into an external database. If the signaling information is not processed, the signaling information needs to be sent to the subsequent network function instance, and the subsequent network function instance executes the same processing steps. It can be seen that when each network function instance processes signaling information, the steps of reading and writing need to be performed to an external database for multiple times, which results in a larger time delay for processing the signaling information and lower signaling processing efficiency.

The application provides a solution, through setting up the shared memory in the signalling processing equipment, make a plurality of network function examples in the signalling processing equipment, while processing the signalling information of the identical goal user terminal, do not need to interact with external user state database before and after each signalling processing; and only need to read the context state of the target user terminal from the external database and store it in the internal shared memory when the first processing; furthermore, zero copy communication is realized through the internal shared memory, namely, the reading and writing of the context state of the target user terminal are realized in the signaling processing equipment; therefore, the interaction times between each network function instance and the external database in the signaling processing equipment are effectively reduced, the time delay of signaling processing is further reduced, and the signaling processing efficiency is improved.

Referring to fig. 1, fig. 1 is a flowchart illustrating a first embodiment of a signaling processing method according to the present application.

It should be noted that the signaling processing method may be implemented by a signaling processing device, which may be a physical node, for example, a computer, a router, a switch, or other network device, configured to provide computing power and storage power in a network. The signaling processing device is in communication connection with an external user state database, the signaling processing device comprising: memory and multiple instances of network functions are shared. The signaling processing method comprises the following steps:

step S10, receiving signaling information sent by a target user terminal, acquiring the context state of the target user terminal from a user state database, and storing the context state of the target user terminal into a shared memory;

It should be appreciated that a user terminal is a device that a user uses to access and interact with a network service and may be an electronic device of a variety of forms and functions, including, but not limited to: computer, cell phone, tablet computer, smart watch, smart bracelet, internet of things device, etc.

The signaling processing device is a physical or logical entity, e.g. a working node, in the 5G core network control plane performing a specific task or providing a specific service; setting a shared memory in the signaling processing equipment, and deploying at least one network function in the signaling processing equipment in the form of a micro service container (namely network function instance); and the core network control plane may comprise a cluster of nodes formed by a plurality of signaling processing devices.

Network functions refer to software or hardware components in a network that process and forward data flows that can meet specific traffic demands.

The user state database stores the context states of a plurality of user terminals; the context state may include network capabilities of the user terminal, TAI (TRACKING AREA IDENTITY ), S1AP ID (S1 Application Protocol Identifier, S1 application protocol identifier), eNodeB ID (evolved NodeB identity), authentication information, negotiated security algorithm, generated keys, created connection information, bearer information, etc. The context state is saved after the user terminal is attached to the network and is continuously updated and maintained during the interaction of the user terminal with the network (e.g., the 5G core network). The context state is critical to processing the signaling information of the ue, if the context state of the ue is not used, the IP address, the PGW (PACKET DATA Network Gateway) of the ue, the created bearer, etc. cannot be determined, and further the signaling message sent by the ue may not be decrypted, and thus the signaling message may not be functionally processed.

The shared memory is a database integrated in each signaling processing device, so that the access time is short and the delay is low; in contrast, external memory (i.e., user state database) is located outside of the job and needs to be accessed through a bus or other interface, thus increasing access time and delay.

In a possible embodiment, the ue sends signaling information when there is a signaling processing requirement, so that the signaling processing device receives the signaling information sent by the target ue, and obtains, according to the signaling information, a context state of the target ue from a ue state database communicatively connected to the signaling processing device, where, for convenience of subsequent signaling processing, the signaling processing device stores the obtained context state of the target ue in a shared memory inside the signaling processing device.

Optionally, the signaling processing device may be provided with one or more functional units therein, configured to receive signaling information sent by the target user terminal, obtain a context state of the target user terminal from the user state database, and store the context state of the target user terminal in the shared memory; the subsequent functional processing of the signaling information may be implemented by a network function instance in the signaling processing device.

Exemplary, the signaling processing apparatus includes: the network function gateway receives the signaling information sent by the target user terminal through the network function gateway, acquires the context state of the target user terminal from the user state database, and stores the context state of the target user terminal into the shared memory.

In a possible implementation manner, the signaling processing device is in communication connection with the front-end forwarding module, and the target user terminal is in communication connection with the front-end forwarding module, and the signaling information sent by the target user terminal is the signaling information which is obtained by performing protocol conversion through the front-end forwarding module and accords with the communication protocol of the signaling processing device.

It should be understood that, although the conventional network function instance can implement stateless computation and state storage separation, the access and mobility management function (AMF) instance at the ingress of the 5G core network is often statically bound to the connection of the radio access network due to the limitation of the communication protocol; i.e. signaling information is sent from the user terminal to the 5G core network via the radio access network (RAN, radio Access Network), it is forwarded to the same access and mobility management function instance in one signaling event, so that the access and mobility management function instance is statically bound to the connection of the RAN, which can restrict the control plane from expanding the number of network function instances and the effect of handling large-scale inputs.

In a possible embodiment, a front-end forwarding module in communication connection with the signaling processing device is set in the control plane of the 5G core network, and the front-end forwarding module is further in communication connection with the target ue, so that signaling information sent by the target ue is received by the front-end forwarding module first; and then, the front-end forwarding module performs protocol conversion on the received signaling information to generate signaling information which is transmitted by the target user terminal and accords with the communication protocol of the signaling processing equipment, and then, the front-end forwarding module transmits the signaling information transmitted by the target user terminal to the signaling processing equipment.

Optionally, after the signaling processing device generates the feedback signaling information, the signaling processing device may send the feedback signaling information to the front-end forwarding module, and then perform protocol conversion on the received feedback signaling information through the front-end forwarding module, so as to generate feedback signaling information that accords with the communication protocol of the target user terminal, and send the feedback signaling information to the target user terminal.

Alternatively, the front-end forwarding module may be communicatively coupled to a plurality of signaling processing devices; when the front-end forwarding module sends the signaling information of the target user terminal to the signaling processing equipment, the target signaling processing equipment can be determined according to the load condition of each signaling processing equipment, and then the signaling information sent by the target user terminal after protocol conversion is sent to the target signaling processing equipment, so that the load among the signaling processing equipment of the 5G core network is balanced.

Exemplary, referring to fig. 2, a schematic diagram of a scenario of a front-end forwarding module; the front-end forwarding module is used as a middleware between a Radio Access Network (RAN) side of the user terminal and a 5GC (5G core network) comprising signaling processing equipment, and is used for decoupling an N2 interface between the RAN and the 5 GC; the front-end forwarding module inherits an SCTP (stream control transmission protocol ) server of the original 5GC mobility management function instance, is responsible for stable connection with the RAN side gNB (5G base station), and performs bidirectional conversion of the protocol. For signaling information sent to 5GC by RAN, converting SCTP protocol of N2 interface into HTTP/TCP protocol; for signaling messages sent by the 5GC to the RAN, the HTTP/TCP protocol is converted to SCTP protocol. Meanwhile, signaling messages sent to NF in 5GC are queued and buffered in a message queue of the front-end forwarding module.

In this embodiment, by setting a front-end forwarding module having a communication protocol conversion function and a signaling information forwarding function between the signaling processing device and the user terminal, the mobility management function instance of the 5GC can be decoupled from the RAN, so as to ensure high scalability of the 5GC control plane.

In a possible implementation manner, step S10, the step of receiving signaling information sent by the target user terminal and obtaining the context state of the target user terminal from the user state database includes:

Step S11, receiving signaling information sent by a target user terminal, and identifying a target identifier in the signaling information sent by the target user terminal, wherein the target identifier is matched with the target user terminal;

In a possible embodiment, after receiving the signaling information sent by the target ue, the signaling processing device identifies a target identifier encapsulated in the signaling information, where the target identifier matches with the target ue. When the user state database stores the context state corresponding to each user terminal, a mapping relationship between the identifier of the user terminal and the context state corresponding to the user terminal is established, and then the context state corresponding to the target user terminal can be obtained from the user state database through the specific target identifier.

Step S12, determining the context state pointed by the target identifier in the user state database as the context state of the target user terminal.

In a possible embodiment, the signaling processing device obtains the context state pointed to by the target identifier from the user state database to determine the context state as the target user terminal.

Exemplary, the signaling processing apparatus includes: a network function gateway; receiving signaling information sent by a target user terminal through a network function gateway, and identifying a target identifier in the signaling information sent by the target user terminal, wherein the target identifier is matched with the target user terminal; and determining the context state pointed by the target identifier in the user state database as the context state of the target user terminal.

In this embodiment, when the user state database stores the context states corresponding to the user terminals, a mapping relationship between the identifiers of the user terminals and the context states corresponding to the user terminals is established; therefore, through the specific target identifier, the initial context state corresponding to the target user terminal can be quickly and accurately acquired from the user state database, so that the processing efficiency of the signaling is improved.

Step S20, obtaining the context state of the target user terminal from the shared memory through each target instance, performing function processing on the signaling information sent by the target user terminal based on the context state of the target user terminal to obtain a function processing result, and storing the context state obtained after the function processing into the shared memory, wherein the target instance is a network function instance for determining the signaling information sent by the target user terminal from each network function instance;

In a possible embodiment, the function processing of the signaling information sent by the target user terminal may be implemented by a network function instance; when the signaling information is processed functionally, the context state of the target user terminal is required to be used as a reference, so that after the target instance for processing the signaling information sent by the target user terminal is determined from a plurality of network function instances, the context state of the target user terminal is obtained from the shared memory through each target instance, the signaling information sent by the target user terminal is processed functionally based on the context state of the target user terminal, a functional processing result is obtained, and meanwhile, the context state obtained after the functional processing is stored in the shared memory so as to be used by other target instances.

Optionally, the signaling processing device may determine, according to the signaling information sent by the target user terminal, a target function type corresponding to a function process required by the signaling information sent by the target user terminal, and further screen, from network function instances included in the signaling processing device, a network function instance that meets the target function type as the target instance.

Optionally, the signaling processing device may screen, from network function instances included in the signaling processing device, network function instances meeting a load required for performing function processing on signaling information sent by the target user terminal as the target instance according to signaling information sent by the target user terminal.

Step S30, generating feedback signaling information according to the function processing result, and sending the feedback signaling information to the target user terminal.

In a possible embodiment, after completing the functional processing of at least part of the signaling information sent by the target ue, the signaling processing device may generate feedback signaling information according to the functional processing result, and send the feedback signaling information to the target ue to complete the signaling information processing.

Exemplary, the signaling processing apparatus includes: a network function gateway; performing functional processing on the initial effective load through the target instance, and generating feedback signaling information according to the functional processing result; sending feedback signaling information to a network function gateway through a target instance; and then the feedback signaling information is sent to the target user terminal through the network function gateway. The network function gateway is used for reading data from an external user state database and storing the data in an internal shared memory, and forwarding signaling information at the same time; and the network function instance is used for performing actual function processing on the signaling information.

In this embodiment, by setting a shared memory in the signaling processing device, multiple network function instances in the signaling processing device need not interact with an external user state database before and after each signaling processing when processing signaling information of the same target user terminal; and only need to read the context state of the target user terminal from the external database and store it in the internal shared memory when the first processing; furthermore, zero copy communication is realized through the internal shared memory, namely, the reading and writing of the context state of the target user terminal are realized in the signaling processing equipment; therefore, the interaction times between each network function instance and the external database in the signaling processing equipment are effectively reduced, the time delay of signaling processing is further reduced, and the signaling processing efficiency is improved.

Further, based on the above first embodiment, a second embodiment of the signaling processing method of the present application is provided, in this embodiment, before step S30, the step of obtaining, by each target instance, the context state of the target user terminal from the shared memory, the method includes:

Step S21, identifying the target function type in the signaling information sent by the target user terminal, and determining the network function instance belonging to the target function type in the network function instances as a candidate instance;

In a possible embodiment, the signaling processing device identifies a target function type in the signaling information sent by the target user terminal, where the network function instance can be divided into a plurality of function types according to the functions of the network function instance; and the signaling processing equipment determines a network function instance belonging to the target function type from a plurality of network function instances contained in the signaling processing equipment as a candidate instance.

Step S22, obtaining the forwarding weights corresponding to the candidate instances, and determining the target instance from the candidate instances according to the forwarding weights.

In a possible embodiment, the signaling processing device further obtains forwarding weights corresponding to each candidate instance, where the forwarding weights are dynamically set values according to load conditions, function processing conditions and the like of each network function instance, and may be a probability value, a weight value, a priority level and the like; and the signaling processing equipment determines a target instance from the candidate instances according to the forwarding weight.

Optionally, the sum of forwarding weights of network function instances of each function type in the signaling processing device is 1.

Exemplary, the signaling processing apparatus includes: a network function gateway; identifying a target function type in signaling information sent by a target user terminal through a network function gateway, and determining a network function instance belonging to the target function type in each network function instance as a candidate instance; obtaining the forwarding weights corresponding to the candidate instances respectively through a network function gateway, and randomly generating a target value, wherein the forwarding weights are probability values, and the sum of the forwarding weights of the candidate instances is 1; and determining the candidate instance corresponding to the target forwarding weight containing the target value as a target instance through the network function gateway.

For example, referring to fig. 3, the shared memory of each signaling processing device stores a corresponding network function instance table, where the network function instance table can be dynamically updated, and its form is shown in table 1, and includes each function type, and a specific network function instance corresponding to each function type and its forwarding weight. If a network function instance is deployed in the signaling processing equipment in a certain function type, mapping the network function instance into a list of instance identification numbers and corresponding forwarding weight binary groups in the signaling processing equipment, wherein the sum of forwarding weights of the network function instances in the same function type is 1; if a certain function type has no network function instance deployed in the signaling processing device or needs to return to the RAN side (user terminal side), the function type is mapped into an identification number of a network function gateway.

Table 1:

In this embodiment, the target instance for processing the signaling information can be determined from the multiple network function instances through the function types and the forwarding weights of the network function instances, so that the signaling processing efficiency is effectively improved.

In a possible implementation manner, step S20, the step of obtaining, by each target instance, a context state of the target ue from the shared memory, and performing functional processing on signaling information sent by the target ue based on the context state of the target ue includes:

Step S23, obtaining a target context state from the shared memory through the target instance, wherein the target context state is a context state referred by the target instance when the target instance performs function processing on the signaling information received by the target instance;

In a possible embodiment, after receiving the signaling information, the target instance may obtain, from the shared memory, a context state, i.e. a target context state, required for performing functional processing on the signaling information received by the target instance according to the received signaling information.

Step S24, performing functional processing on the payload corresponding to the signaling information received by the target instance based on the target context state, and storing the context state obtained after the functional processing into the shared memory;

In a possible embodiment, when the target instance performs functional processing on the signaling information, the target instance performs functional processing on a payload of the signaling information, where the payload refers to useful information actually carried in the signaling information; the target instance uses the target context state as a reference to perform functional processing on the payload corresponding to the signaling information received by the target instance; and after the function processing, the target context state needs to be synchronously updated to obtain the context state obtained after the function processing, and the context state obtained after the function processing is further stored into the shared memory so as to be used by the subsequent target instance in the function processing.

Optionally, the payload corresponding to the signaling information received by the target case may be directly encapsulated in the signaling information received by the target case, or may be stored in the shared memory; namely, the storage address of the payload corresponding to the signaling information in the shared memory is encapsulated in the signaling information received by the target instance, and then the target instance can directly read the payload from the shared memory according to the received signaling information; therefore, the data volume of signaling information transmission between target examples can be effectively reduced, and the transmission efficiency is improved; meanwhile, the target instance reads data from the internal shared memory, and compared with the direct transmission of data with large data volume, the speed is higher, so that the signaling processing efficiency can be effectively improved through the operation.

Step S25, if the payload obtained after the function processing has completed all the function processing, after the function processing result of completing all the function processing is obtained, executing the step according to the function processing result by the target instance, generating feedback signaling information, and sending the feedback signaling information to the target user terminal;

In a possible embodiment, after the target instance completes the functional processing on the payload, it may be determined whether the payload obtained after the functional processing completes all the functional processing; and if the payload obtained after the function processing has completed all the function processing, executing step S30 through the target instance after obtaining the function processing result of completing all the function processing, generating feedback signaling information according to the function processing result, and sending the feedback signaling information to the target user terminal.

Exemplary, the signaling processing apparatus includes: a network function gateway; if the payload obtained after the function processing has completed all the function processing, the target instance generates feedback signaling information according to the function processing result of completing all the function processing after obtaining the function processing result of completing all the function processing, and sends the feedback signaling information to the network function gateway; and the network function gateway sends the feedback signaling information to the target user terminal.

In step S26, if the payload obtained after the function processing does not complete all the function processing, the step of obtaining the target context state from the shared memory and the subsequent steps are executed by the next target instance of the target instances.

In this embodiment, through the setting of the shared memory, when the multiple target instances in the signaling processing device perform functional processing on the payload of the signaling information received by the multiple target instances, the multiple target instances can be directly read from the shared memory without independently acquiring the target context state from the external user state database for reference, so that the interaction times between each network function instance in the signaling processing device and the external database are effectively reduced, the time delay of signaling processing is further reduced, and the signaling processing efficiency is improved.

In a possible embodiment, if the payload obtained after the function processing does not complete the whole function processing, which means that other target instances are needed to process the payload, step S23 is executed through the next target instance of the target instance, and the step of obtaining the target context state from the shared memory, and the subsequent steps, where the payload obtained after the function processing completes the whole function processing.

In a possible implementation manner, step S24, the step of storing the context state obtained after the function processing in the shared memory includes:

step S241, the context state obtained after the function processing and the effective load obtained after the function processing are respectively stored into a shared memory through a target instance;

in a possible embodiment, after the target instance performs the function processing on the payload of the signaling information, the context state obtained after the function processing and the payload obtained after the function processing are respectively stored into the shared memory, so that other network function instances can read.

In step S26, before the step of obtaining the target context state from the shared memory and the step of the subsequent step, the step of obtaining the target context state from the shared memory by the next target instance of the target instances includes:

In step S251, the target instance generates first signaling information according to the context state obtained after the function processing and the respective storage addresses of the payloads obtained after the function processing in the shared memory, and sends the first signaling information to the next target instance of the target instance through eBPF.

In a possible embodiment, after the target instance completes processing the payload, and stores the context state obtained after the function processing and the payload obtained after the function processing into the shared memory respectively, the target instance obtains respective storage addresses of the context state obtained after the function processing and the payload obtained after the function processing in the shared memory, and generates first signaling information according to the addresses; further sending the first signaling information to the next target instance through eBPF (Extended Berkeley PACKET FILTER ); the next target instance can read the context state obtained after the function processing and the payload obtained after the function processing from the shared memory according to the storage address in the received first signaling information, and perform further function processing.

It should be appreciated that conventionally communications between two instances of network functionality need to pass through a complete protocol stack, whereas communications by means of eBPF may bypass the complete protocol stack to effect communications; this approach to communication around the full protocol stack relies on the Socket mapping table of eBPFMaps. A section eBPF of program monitors all socket events and records the newly built socket into the mapping table. The other section eBPF of program intercepts all sent information, searches the socket opposite end in the demapping table, and then calls eBPF function to bypass the protocol stack to directly send data to the opposite end. This communication manner of bypassing the protocol stack may further improve the signaling processing efficiency.

For example, referring to fig. 3, a kernel space of the signaling processing device maintains a mapping relationship between an instance identifier of a network function instance and a Socket file descriptor corresponding to the instance identifier; for example, eBPF (Extended Berkeley PACKET FILTER ) Maps of sockets of Maps are shown in table 2, where sockets are abstractions of endpoints for two-way communication between application processes, for implementing network communication between endpoints of an application. eBPF Maps, the Socket mapping table uses the identification number of the network function instance deployed in the signaling processing device as a key value, and maps the key value to a Socket file descriptor corresponding to the network function instance. Therefore, after the first instance (i.e. the target instance) determines the second instance (i.e. the next target instance), a second instance identification number of the second instance can be obtained, and a second Socket file descriptor matched with the second instance identification number is obtained by matching based on the mapping relationship between the instance identification number of the network function instance and the Socket file descriptor corresponding to the instance identification number; and then, based on the second Socket file descriptor, the first signaling information is sent to the second instance.

Table 2:

Illustratively, referring to fig. 3, the signaling processing apparatus includes: and the network function gateway and the network function instance are respectively provided with respective descriptor forwarding agents, wherein the descriptor forwarding agents comprise Socket message processing programs expanded by eBPF tools. When the network function gateway or the network function instance where the descriptor forwarding proxy is located sends information, the descriptor forwarding proxy identifies and intercepts a target instance identification number in content to be sent (for example, first signaling information), obtains a target Socket file descriptor matched with the target instance identification number by matching based on a mapping relation between the instance identification number of the network function instance and a Socket file descriptor corresponding to the instance identification number, and sends the first signaling information to a Socket of the target instance based on the target Socket file descriptor.

Illustratively, referring to FIG. 4, the signaling processing device is communicatively coupled to the user state database and the front-end forwarding module, respectively; the signaling processing device includes: shared memory, a network function gateway, and a plurality of network function instances. Step A1, the network function gateway receives first signaling information from a target user terminal sent by a front-end forwarding module, and identifies a first payload in the first signaling information. And step A2, the network function gateway acquires a first context state corresponding to the target user terminal from the user state database, and stores the first context state and the first payload into the shared memory. Step A3, after determining the first target instance (instance 1) from the multiple network function instances, the network function gateway obtains a first identification number of the first target instance and generates second signaling information, where the second signaling information includes: the first payload and the first context state are each stored in the shared memory at a respective address, and a first target instance identification number. And step A4, the network function gateway sends the second signaling information to the first target instance. Step A5, the first target instance obtains the first payload and the first context state from the shared memory according to the storage address in the second signaling information, and then performs functional processing on the first payload based on the first context state. Step A6, the first target example judges whether the payload obtained after the function processing is completed with all the function processing; if not, determining a second target instance (instance n), and storing the payload (second payload) obtained after the function processing and the context state (second context state) obtained after the function processing into the shared memory, thereby generating third signaling information. Step A7, the first target instance sends the third signaling information to the second target instance. And step A8, the second target instance acquires a second payload and a second context state from the shared memory according to the storage address in the third signaling information, and further performs functional processing on the second payload based on the second context state. Step A9, the second target example judges whether the payload obtained after the function processing is completed with all the function processing; if yes, after the function processing result of all the function processing is obtained, generating feedback signaling information according to the function processing result, and sending the feedback signaling information to the network function gateway. And A10, the network function gateway sends the received feedback signaling information to the target user equipment, and stores the context state obtained after all the function processing is completed in a user state database.

In this embodiment, by sending the storage addresses of the payload and the context state in the shared memory between the target instances, the target instances read data from the internal shared memory, and the processing speed is faster than the processing speed of directly transmitting large data amount data, so that the signaling processing efficiency can be effectively improved through the above operations.

In a possible implementation manner, in step S24, the step of performing, by the target instance, functional processing on the payload corresponding to the signaling information received by the target instance based on the target context state, and storing the context state obtained after the functional processing in the shared memory further includes:

In step S242, if the payload obtained after the function processing has completed all the function processing, the context state obtained after the function processing is stored in the user state database.

In a possible embodiment, if the payload obtained after the function processing has completed all the function processing, the context state obtained after the function processing is stored in the user state database, so that other signaling processing devices can process the information signaling of the target user terminal.

In this embodiment, since the shared memory is provided in the signaling processing device, before the processing of the signaling information is not completed, the information may be stored in the shared memory until the processing of the signaling information is completed, and then stored in the external user state database, thereby effectively reducing the number of interactions with the external database, further reducing the time delay of the signaling processing, and improving the signaling processing efficiency.

It should be noted that the foregoing examples are only for understanding the present application, and are not meant to limit the signaling processing method of the present application, and more forms of simple transformation based on the technical concept are all within the scope of the present application.

The embodiment of the present application also provides a signaling processing system, referring to fig. 3, the system includes: the system comprises a front-end forwarding module, a user state database and at least one signaling processing device which is respectively in communication connection with the front-end forwarding module and the user state database;

The front-end forwarding module is in communication connection with the target user terminal and is used for carrying out protocol conversion on signaling information from the target user terminal and forwarding the signaling information to the signaling processing equipment;

In a possible implementation manner, referring to fig. 5, the signaling processing system includes a node cluster formed by a plurality of signaling processing devices, and after receiving signaling information from a target user terminal, the front-end forwarding module may determine the target signaling processing device from the node cluster, further perform protocol conversion on the signaling information, obtain signaling information sent by the target user terminal that meets a communication protocol of the target signaling processing device, and send the signaling information sent by the target user terminal to the target signaling processing device.

A user state database for storing the context state of the target user terminal;

The signaling processing device includes: the system comprises a shared memory and a plurality of network function examples, wherein the shared memory and the network function examples are used for receiving signaling information sent by a target user terminal, acquiring the context state of the target user terminal from a user state database and storing the context state of the target user terminal into the shared memory; acquiring the context state of a target user terminal from a shared memory through each target instance, performing functional processing on signaling information sent by the target user terminal based on the context state of the target user terminal to obtain a functional processing result, and storing the context state obtained after the functional processing into the shared memory, wherein the target instance is a network function instance for determining signaling information sent by the target user terminal from each network function instance; and generating feedback signaling information according to the function processing result, and sending the feedback signaling information to the target user terminal.

In a possible embodiment, referring to fig. 5, the signaling processing system includes a node cluster including a plurality of signaling processing devices, where the node cluster includes a master node and a plurality of signaling processing devices; the master node comprises a cluster network function control component; the cluster network function control component maintains a node network function instance table for each signaling processing device, and stores the node network function instance table in a shared memory of the corresponding signaling processing device, and updates the node network function instance table periodically.

In a possible implementation manner, the signaling processing device is further configured to identify a target function type in the signaling information sent by the target user terminal, and determine, as a candidate instance, a network function instance belonging to the target function type in each network function instance; and obtaining the forwarding weights corresponding to the candidate instances, and determining the target instance from the candidate instances according to the forwarding weights.

In a possible implementation manner, the signaling processing device is further configured to obtain, by the target instance, a target context state from the shared memory, where the target context state is a context state referred to when the target instance performs functional processing on signaling information received by the target instance; performing functional processing on the payload corresponding to the signaling information received by the target instance based on the target context state, and storing the context state obtained after the functional processing into a shared memory; if the payload obtained after the function processing has completed all the function processing, executing a step of generating feedback signaling information according to the function processing result through a target instance after obtaining a function processing result of completing all the function processing, and transmitting the feedback signaling information to the target user terminal; if the obtained effective load after the function processing does not complete all the function processing, the step of obtaining the target context state from the shared memory and the subsequent steps are executed through the next target instance of the target instances.

In a possible implementation manner, the signaling processing device is further configured to store, by the target instance, the context state obtained after the function processing and the payload obtained after the function processing into the shared memory, respectively.

In a possible implementation manner, the signaling processing device is further configured to generate, by the target instance, first signaling information according to the context state obtained after the function processing and the respective storage addresses of the payloads obtained after the function processing in the shared memory, and send, by eBPF, the first signaling information to a next target instance of the target instance.

In a possible implementation manner, the signaling processing device is further configured to store the context state obtained after the function processing in the user state database if the payload obtained after the function processing has completed all the function processing.

The signaling processing system provided by the embodiment of the application can solve the technical problems of higher signaling processing time delay and lower efficiency by adopting the signaling processing method in the embodiment. Compared with the prior art, the beneficial effects of the signaling processing system provided by the application are the same as those of the signaling processing method provided by the above embodiment, and other technical features in the signaling processing system are the same as those disclosed by the method of the above embodiment, and are not repeated here.

The embodiment of the application provides a signaling processing device, which comprises: at least one processor; and a memory communicatively coupled to the at least one processor; the memory stores instructions executable by the at least one processor, and the instructions are executed by the at least one processor, so that the at least one processor can perform the signaling processing method in the first embodiment.

Reference is now made to fig. 6, which is a schematic diagram illustrating a signaling processing device suitable for use in implementing embodiments of the present application. The signaling processing device in the embodiment of the present application may include, but is not limited to, a mobile terminal such as a mobile phone, a notebook computer, a digital broadcast receiver, a PDA (Personal DIGITAL ASSISTANT: personal digital assistant), a PAD (Portable Application Description: tablet), a PMP (Portable MEDIA PLAYER: portable multimedia player), an in-vehicle terminal (e.g., an in-vehicle navigation terminal), and the like, and a fixed terminal such as a digital TV, a desktop computer, and the like. The signaling processing device shown in fig. 6 is only an example and should not be construed as limiting the functionality and scope of use of the embodiments of the present application.

As shown in fig. 6, the signaling processing apparatus may include a processing device 1001 (e.g., a central processing unit, a graphics processor, etc.), which may perform various appropriate actions and processes according to a program stored in a Read Only Memory (ROM) 1002 or a program loaded from a storage device 1003 into a random access Memory (RAM: random Access Memory) 1004. In the RAM1004, various programs and data required for the operation of the signaling processing apparatus are also stored. The processing device 1001, the ROM1002, and the RAM1004 are connected to each other by a bus 1005. An input/output (I/O) interface 1006 is also connected to the bus. In general, the following systems may be connected to the I/O interface 1006: input devices 1007 including, for example, a touch screen, touchpad, keyboard, mouse, image sensor, microphone, accelerometer, gyroscope, and the like; an output device 1008 including, for example, a Liquid crystal display (LCD: liquid CRYSTAL DISPLAY), a speaker, a vibrator, and the like; storage device 1003 including, for example, a magnetic tape, a hard disk, and the like; and a signaling processing system 1009. The signaling processing system 1009 may allow the signaling processing device to communicate wirelessly or by wire with other devices to exchange data. While a signaling processing device having various systems is shown in the figures, it is to be understood that not all illustrated systems are required to be implemented or provided. More or fewer systems may alternatively be implemented or provided.

In particular, according to embodiments of the present disclosure, the processes described above with reference to flowcharts may be implemented as computer software programs. For example, embodiments of the present disclosure include a computer program product comprising a computer program embodied on a computer readable medium, the computer program comprising program code for performing the method shown in the flow chart. In such an embodiment, the computer program may be downloaded and installed from a network through a signaling processing system, or installed from the storage 1003, or installed from the ROM 1002. The above-described functions defined in the method of the disclosed embodiment of the application are performed when the computer program is executed by the processing device 1001.

The signaling processing device provided by the embodiment of the application can solve the technical problem that the real-time processing of the large data volume data of the pixel chip array is difficult to realize by adopting the signaling processing method in the embodiment. Compared with the prior art, the signaling processing device provided by the embodiment of the present application has the same beneficial effects as the signaling processing method provided by the above embodiment, and other technical features of the signaling processing device are the same as the features disclosed in the method of the previous embodiment, which are not described in detail herein.

It should be understood that portions of the disclosure of embodiments of the present application may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or a combination thereof. In the description of the above embodiments, particular features, structures, materials, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in any one or more embodiments or examples.

The foregoing is merely a specific implementation of the embodiments of the present application, but the scope of the embodiments of the present application is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art may easily think about changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the embodiments of the present application, and the changes or substitutions are intended to be covered by the scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the application is subject to the protection scope of the claims.

The embodiment of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program instructions (i.e., a computer program) stored thereon for performing the signaling processing method in the above embodiment.

The computer readable storage medium according to the embodiments of the present application may be, for example, a usb disk, but is not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, or device, or a combination of any of the foregoing. More specific examples of the computer-readable storage medium may include, but are not limited to: an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access Memory (RAM: random Access Memory), a Read-Only Memory (ROM: read Only Memory), an erasable programmable Read-Only Memory (EPROM: erasable Programmable Read Only Memory or flash Memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc Read-Only Memory (CD-ROM: CD-Read Only Memory), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. In this embodiment, a computer-readable storage medium may be any tangible medium that can contain, or store a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, or device. Program code embodied on a computer readable storage medium may be transmitted using any appropriate medium, including but not limited to: wire, fiber optic cable, RF (Radio Frequency), and the like, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

The above computer readable storage medium may be embodied in a signaling processing device; or may exist alone without being assembled into the signaling processing device.

The computer-readable storage medium carries one or more programs which, when executed by the signaling processing apparatus, cause the signaling processing apparatus to: receiving signaling information sent by a target user terminal, acquiring the context state of the target user terminal from a user state database, and storing the context state of the target user terminal into a shared memory; acquiring the context state of a target user terminal from a shared memory through each target instance, performing functional processing on signaling information sent by the target user terminal based on the context state of the target user terminal to obtain a functional processing result, and storing the context state obtained after the functional processing into the shared memory, wherein the target instance is a network function instance for determining signaling information sent by the target user terminal from each network function instance; and generating feedback signaling information according to the function processing result, and sending the feedback signaling information to the target user terminal.

Computer program code for carrying out operations for embodiments of the present application may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including an object oriented programming language such as Java, smalltalk, C ++ and conventional procedural programming languages, such as the "C" programming language or similar programming languages. The program code may execute entirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server. In the case of remote computers, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through any kind of network, including a local area network (LAN: local Area Network) or a wide area network (WAN: wide Area Network), or may be connected to an external computer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet service provider).

The flowcharts and block diagrams in the figures illustrate the architecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementations of systems, methods and computer program products according to various embodiments of the present application. In this regard, each block in the flowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portion of code, which comprises one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified logical function(s). It should also be noted that, in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-based systems which perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions.

The modules involved in the embodiments of the present application may be implemented in software or in hardware. Wherein the name of the module does not constitute a limitation of the unit itself in some cases.

The readable storage medium provided by the embodiment of the application is a computer readable storage medium, and the computer readable storage medium stores computer readable program instructions (i.e. a computer program) for executing the signaling processing method, so that the technical problem that real-time processing of large data amount data of the pixel chip array is difficult to realize can be solved. Compared with the prior art, the beneficial effects of the computer readable storage medium provided by the application are the same as those of the signaling processing method provided by the above embodiment, and are not described herein.

The foregoing description is only a partial embodiment of the present application, and is not intended to limit the scope of the present application, and all the equivalent structural changes made by the description and the accompanying drawings under the technical concept of the present application, or the direct/indirect application in other related technical fields are included in the scope of the present application.

Claims

1. A method of signalling processing, the method being applied to a signalling processing device, the signalling processing device being communicatively coupled to a user state database, the signalling processing device comprising: the method for sharing the memory and the plurality of network function instances comprises the following steps:

2. The signaling processing method of claim 1, comprising, prior to the step of obtaining the context state of the target user terminal from the shared memory by each target instance:

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of obtaining the context state of the target ue from the shared memory through each target instance and performing functional processing on signaling information sent by the target ue based on the context state of the target ue comprises:

4. The method of claim 3, wherein storing the context state obtained after the function processing in the shared memory comprises:

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising, after the step of performing, by the target instance, a function process on a payload corresponding to the signaling information received by the target instance based on the target context state, and storing the context state obtained after the function process in the shared memory:

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of receiving signaling information sent by the target user terminal and retrieving the context state of the target user terminal from the user state database comprises:

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the signaling processing device is communicatively connected to a front-end forwarding module, the target user terminal is communicatively connected to the front-end forwarding module, and the signaling information sent by the target user terminal is signaling information conforming to a communication protocol of the signaling processing device obtained by performing protocol conversion via the front-end forwarding module.

8. A signaling processing system, the system comprising: the system comprises a front-end forwarding module, a user state database and at least one signaling processing device which is respectively in communication connection with the front-end forwarding module and the user state database;

9. A signaling processing apparatus, characterized in that the signaling processing apparatus comprises: memory, a processor and a computer program stored on the memory and executable on the processor, the computer program being configured to implement the steps of the signaling processing method according to any of claims 1 to 7.

10. A storage medium, characterized in that the storage medium is a computer-readable storage medium, on which a computer program is stored, which computer program, when being executed by a processor, realizes the steps of the signaling processing method according to any of claims 1 to 7.