WO2019158032A1

WO2019158032A1 - Policy control method, device and system

Info

Publication number: WO2019158032A1
Application number: PCT/CN2019/074797
Authority: WO
Inventors: 丁辉; 时书锋
Original assignee: 华为技术有限公司
Priority date: 2018-02-13
Filing date: 2019-02-11
Publication date: 2019-08-22
Also published as: CN110149602B; CN110149602A

Abstract

Disclosed are a policy control method, device and system, which relate to the technical field of communications, so as to implement usage monitoring on the same usage monitoring instance on multiple PSAs. The method comprises: a policy control network element determining that one PDU session comprises a first PSA and a second PSA, and determining to execute usage monitoring of a first usage monitoring instance corresponding to a first monitoring key on a first PSA; when the policy control network element determines that the usage monitoring of the first usage monitoring instance is also executed on a second PSA, the policy control network element assigning a second monitoring key to the first usage monitoring instance, and sending, to a session management network element, a PCC rule carrying the second monitoring key and information indicating a policy corresponding to the PCC rule on a second PSA, and a usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key.

Description

Strategy control method, device and system

This application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 201810150155.1, entitled "Strategic Control Method, Equipment and System" on February 13, 2018, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference. In this application.

Technical field

The embodiments of the present invention relate to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a policy control method, device, and system.

Background technique

In the 5th Generation (5G) mobile communication system (referred to as 5G system), the usage monitoring mechanism can be used to control the real-time network resource usage. The usage monitoring can monitor one or a group of service data flows, and can also monitor the service data flow on the entire protocol data unit (PDU) session, and is not limited. For example, in a 5G system, after a user accesses a network to establish a PDU session, the service data stream can be monitored or monitored on a PDU Session Anchor (PSA) included in the PDU session. .

However, for a usage monitoring instance, the existing 5G system only supports the usage monitoring of the usage monitoring instance on one PSA included in the PDU session, and does not support simultaneous execution on multiple PSAs included in the PDU session. The usage monitoring of the usage monitoring instance.

Summary of the invention

The embodiment of the present application provides a policy control method, device, and system, so as to implement performing usage monitoring on the same usage monitoring instance on multiple PSAs.

To achieve the above objective, the embodiment of the present application adopts the following technical solutions:

In a first aspect, the embodiment of the present application provides a policy control method, where the method is performed by a policy control network element, where the policy control network element determines that a PDU session includes a first PSA and a second PSA, and the policy control network element determines the first PSA. Performing usage monitoring of the first usage monitoring instance corresponding to the first monitoring key; the method includes: determining to perform usage monitoring on the first usage monitoring instance on the second PSA; and assigning the first usage monitoring instance to the first usage monitoring instance And a policy control information, where the PCC rule carries a second monitoring key and is used for the session management network element to send the policy control information including a policy and a charging control (PCC) rule and a usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key. Information indicating a policy corresponding to the PCC rule is executed on the second PSA. In the case of the policy control method provided by the embodiment of the present application, if the PDU session includes multiple PSAs, and the PSA performs the usage monitoring of the usage monitoring instance, if the policy control network element determines the PDU session includes The other PSAs also perform the usage monitoring of the usage monitoring instance. The policy control network element allocates a new monitoring key to the usage monitoring instance, and sends a usage threshold that carries the PCC rule and the new monitoring key to the session management network element. Policy control information, so that the session management network element sends a PDR and a new monitoring key to other PSAs of the PDU session according to the new monitoring key carried by the PCC rule and the information indicating the policy corresponding to the PCC rule on the other PSA. Corresponding URR, in this way, enables other PSAs to perform usage monitoring according to the PDR and URR, and implements usage monitoring of the same usage monitoring instance in multiple PSAs.

In a second aspect, the embodiment of the present application provides a policy control method, which is performed by a policy control network element, where a policy control network element determines that a PDU session includes a first PSA and a second PSA, and the policy control network element determines the first PSA. Performing usage monitoring of the first usage monitoring instance corresponding to the first monitoring key; the method includes: determining to perform usage monitoring on the first usage monitoring instance on the second PSA; and assigning a second monitoring key to the first usage monitoring instance; Transmitting, by the session management network element, policy control information including a PCC rule, a usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key, and information indicating a policy corresponding to the PCC rule on the second PSA, where the PCC rule carries the second monitoring key . In the case of the policy control method provided by the embodiment of the present application, if the PDU session includes multiple PSAs, and the PSA performs the usage monitoring of the usage monitoring instance, if the policy control network element determines the PDU session includes The other PSAs also perform the usage monitoring of the usage monitoring instance. The policy control network element allocates a new monitoring key to the usage monitoring instance, and sends a usage threshold corresponding to the PCC rule and the second monitoring key to the session management network element. And policy control information for indicating information of a policy corresponding to the PCC rule on the second PSA, so that the session management network element sends the PDR and the URR corresponding to the new monitoring key to other PSAs of the PDU session according to the received information. In this way, other PSAs perform usage monitoring according to the PDR and the URR, and implement usage monitoring of the same usage monitoring instance in multiple PSAs.

In a third aspect, the embodiment of the present application provides a policy control method, where the method is performed by a policy control network element, where the policy control network element determines that a PDU session includes a first PDU session anchor point PSA and a second PSA, and the policy control network element Determining the usage monitoring of the session-level usage monitoring instance corresponding to the first monitoring key on the first PSA; the method includes: determining to perform session-level usage monitoring on the second PSA; and assigning a second monitoring key to the session-level usage monitoring instance; The session management network element sends an usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key, and information policy control information for indicating session level usage monitoring on the second PSA or all PSAs included in the PDU session. According to the policy control method provided by the embodiment of the present application, if the PDU session includes multiple PSAs, and the PSA includes a PSA that performs the usage monitoring of the session-level usage monitoring instance corresponding to the first monitoring key, if the policy is controlled The network element determines that the other PSAs included in the PDU session also perform the usage monitoring on the session-level usage monitoring instance, and the policy control network element allocates a new monitoring key to the session-level usage monitoring instance, and sends a second to the session management network element. a usage threshold corresponding to the monitoring key, and information policy control information for indicating session level usage monitoring on the second PSA or all PSAs included in the PDU session, so that the session management network element can send the information according to the received information. The other PSAs of the PDU session send the URR corresponding to the new monitoring key. In this way, the other PSAs perform usage monitoring according to the PDR and the URR, so that the usage monitoring of the session-level usage monitoring instance is performed simultaneously in multiple PSAs.

In a first possible design, in combination with the first aspect or the second aspect or the third aspect, the usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key is based on the usage quota of the first usage monitoring instance signed by the user, and the cumulative usage of the first usage monitoring instance. The usage threshold is determined by the usage threshold of the monitoring key corresponding to the first usage monitoring instance that has been delivered by the network element.

In a second possible design, in combination with the first aspect or the second aspect or the third aspect or the first possible design, the policy control network element further stores the first usage monitoring instance and the first monitoring key and the second monitoring key. Correspondence. In this way, the usage monitoring instance and its corresponding monitoring key can be configured to facilitate the subsequent collection of the cumulative usage of all the monitoring keys corresponding to the usage monitoring instance to the cumulative usage of the usage monitoring instance.

In a third possible design, in combination with the first aspect or the second aspect or the third aspect or any of the above possible designs, after the policy control network element sends the policy control information to the session management network element, the method further The method includes: the policy control network element receives the cumulative usage of any monitoring key corresponding to the first usage monitoring instance reported by the session management network element; and determines whether there is an allowable usage threshold corresponding to the first usage monitoring instance; if the allowed usage threshold is present, Sending a new usage threshold corresponding to any monitoring key to the session management network element according to the allowable usage threshold; if there is no usage threshold, the policy control network element sends a notification to the session management network element to notify the session management network element to stop The stop notification of the usage monitoring of any monitoring key; wherein any monitoring key is the first monitoring key or the second monitoring key. In this manner, after the policy control network element receives the cumulative usage report of the monitoring key, the cumulative usage amount and other information are used to determine the allowable usage threshold corresponding to the usage monitoring instance corresponding to the monitoring key, and the monitoring is based on the allowed usage threshold. The key allocates a new usage threshold or stops monitoring the usage of the URR corresponding to the monitoring key.

In the third possible design, the allowable usage threshold of the first usage monitoring instance is issued according to the usage quota of the first usage monitoring instance signed by the user, the cumulative usage of the first usage monitoring instance, and the policy control network element. The usage threshold of the monitoring key is not received in the usage threshold of the monitoring key corresponding to the first usage monitoring instance.

In a fourth possible design, in combination with the third possible design, when the policy control network element receives the cumulative usage of the first monitoring key reported by the session management network element, the policy control network element further receives the session management network element sent by the session management network element. The identifier of the first PSA, when the policy control network element receives the cumulative usage of the second monitoring key reported by the session management network element, the policy control network element further receives the identifier of the second PSA sent by the session management network element. That is, when the session management network element reports the cumulative usage of the monitoring key, it also needs to report the identifier of the PSA, so that the policy control network element can know which cumulative usage of the monitoring key comes from which PSA monitors the accumulated usage.

In a fourth aspect, the embodiment of the present application provides a policy control method, where the method is performed by a session management network element, and a PDU session managed by the session management network element includes a first PSA and a second PSA, and the session management network element A PSA sends a Usage Report Rule (URR) corresponding to the first monitoring key, and the method may include: receiving, by the policy control network element, policy control information including a PCC rule and a usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key, where The PCC rule carries a second monitoring key, and information for indicating a policy corresponding to the PCC rule on the second PSA; and a first packet detection rule (PDR) corresponding to the PCC rule is sent to the second PSA. The URR of the two monitoring key. Based on the policy control method provided by the embodiment of the present application, in a case where the PDU session includes multiple PSAs, and the session management network element has sent the URR corresponding to the first monitoring key to a PSA included in the PDU session, the session management network element Receiving, by the policy control network element, the policy control information that carries the usage threshold corresponding to the PCC rule and the second monitoring key, and the second monitoring key carried by the PCC rule and the PCC rule are used to indicate that the PCC rule is executed on other PSAs. Corresponding policy information, sending the PDR and the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key to other PSAs of the PDU session, so that other PSAs perform usage monitoring according to the PDR and the URR, thus implementing the same usage monitoring instance in multiple PSAs. Usage monitoring.

In a fifth aspect, the embodiment of the present application provides a policy control method, where the method is performed by a session management network element, where a PDU session managed by the session management network element includes a first PSA and a second PSA, and the session management network element The PSA sends the URR corresponding to the first monitoring key, and the method may include: the session management network element receives the usage threshold corresponding to the PCC rule and the second monitoring key from the policy control network element, and is used to indicate that the second PSA is executed on the second PSA. The policy control information of the information of the policy corresponding to the PCC rule, the PCC rule carrying the second monitoring key; the session management network element sending the first PDR corresponding to the PCC rule and the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key to the second PSA. Based on the policy control method provided by the embodiment of the present application, in a case where the PDU session includes multiple PSAs, and the session management network element has sent the URR corresponding to the first monitoring key to a PSA included in the PDU session, the session management network element Receiving, by the policy control network element, the policy control information that carries the PCC rule, the usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key, and the information indicating the policy corresponding to the execution of the PCC rule on the other PSAs included in the PDU session, according to the PCC rule. Carrying the second monitoring key, and the information indicating the policy corresponding to the execution of the PCC rule on the other PSA, sending the PDR and the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key to the other PSAs of the PDU session, so that the other PSAs are based on the PDR. The URR performs usage monitoring, thus implementing the monitoring of the usage of the same usage monitoring instance in multiple PSAs.

In a fifth possible design, in combination with the fourth aspect or the fifth aspect, before the session management network element sends the first PDR corresponding to the PCC rule and the second URR corresponding to the second monitoring key to the second PSA, the method The method further includes: determining, by the session management network element, packet detection information of the first PDR according to the service data flow template in the PCC rule, and determining a URR for the second monitoring key. In this way, before the session management network element sends the PDR and the URR to the second PSA, the PDR is determined according to the PCC rule, and the URR is determined for the second monitoring key, so that the PDR is associated with the URR.

In a sixth aspect, the embodiment of the present application provides a policy control method, where the method is performed by a session management network element, where a PDU session managed by the session management network element includes a first PSA and a second PSA, and the session management network element A PSA sends a URR corresponding to the first monitoring key, and the first monitoring key corresponds to the session-level usage monitoring instance. The method may include: the session management network element receives the usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key from the policy control network element, and uses Performing session level usage monitoring on the second PSA or policy control information indicating that session level usage monitoring is performed on all PSAs included in the PDU session; sending a URR corresponding to the second monitoring key to the second PSA, where The second URR is associated with at least one Packet Detection Rule (PDR) performed by the second PSA, and the service data matched by each PDR is included in the session level usage monitoring. Based on the policy control method provided by the embodiment of the present application, the PDU session includes multiple PSAs, and the session management network element has sent the URR corresponding to the monitoring key corresponding to the session-level usage monitoring instance to a PSA included in the PDU session. The session management network element receives the usage threshold of the new monitoring key corresponding to the session-level usage monitoring instance sent by the policy control network element, and indicates that the session-level usage monitoring is performed on other PSAs included in the PDU session. The policy control information indicating that the session-level usage monitoring is performed on all the PSAs included in the PDU session, and the URR corresponding to the new monitoring key corresponding to the session-level usage monitoring instance is sent to the other PSAs of the PDU session according to the indication of the policy control information. Therefore, other PSAs perform usage monitoring according to the URR and at least one PDR associated with the URR, thus implementing monitoring of usage of the same session-level usage monitoring instance in multiple PSAs.

In a sixth possible design, in combination with the fourth aspect or the fifth aspect or the sixth aspect or the fifth possible design, the usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key is based on the usage quota of the first usage monitoring instance signed by the user, The cumulative usage of the first usage monitoring instance is determined by the usage threshold of the monitoring key corresponding to the first usage monitoring instance that has been delivered by the policy control network element.

In a seventh possible design, in combination with the fourth aspect or the fifth aspect or the fifth possible design or the sixth possible design, the session management network element sends the first PDR corresponding to the PCC rule to the second PSA. After the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key, or in combination with the sixth aspect, after the session management network element sends the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key to the second PSA, the session management network element further performs the following process: the session management network element receives the PDU session. The cumulative usage of the URR of any PSA report included, the session management network element reports the cumulative usage of the monitoring key to the policy control network element; or the session management network element receives the cumulative usage of the URR of any PSA report included in the PDU session, the session The management network element determines whether there is a remaining usage threshold corresponding to the monitoring key; if there is a remaining usage threshold, the session management network element updates the usage threshold of the URR reported by any PSA according to the remaining usage threshold; In the case of the threshold, the session management network element reports the cumulative usage of the monitoring key to the policy control network element; wherein the monitoring key is The monitoring key corresponding to the URR of any PSA report, the cumulative usage of the monitoring key includes the cumulative usage of the URR reported by any PSA; any PSA is the first PSA or the second PSA. The remaining usage threshold is a usage threshold that is not allocated to the URR in the usage threshold corresponding to the monitoring key received by the session management network element from the policy management network element.

In an eighth possible design, in combination with the seventh possible design, when the session management network element reports the cumulative usage of the monitoring key to the policy control network element, the method further includes: sending any PSA to the policy control network element. Logo. In this way, the policy control network element learns which PSA reported the cumulative usage, and provides a reference for the policy control network element to subsequently develop a monitoring strategy.

In a ninth possible design, in combination with the seventh possible design or the eighth possible design, the method further includes: the session management network element receives a new usage threshold of the monitoring key sent by the policy control network element; or And receiving, by the policy control network element, a stop notification for notifying the session management unit to stop the usage monitoring of the monitoring key, and sending, to the any PSA, the requesting the PSA to delete the URR corresponding to the monitoring key. A request to delete or a stop request for requesting any of the PSAs to stop monitoring the usage of the URR corresponding to the monoring key. In this way, the usage threshold of the monitoring key can be dynamically adjusted according to the allowable usage threshold corresponding to the usage monitoring instance or the usage monitoring can be stopped.

In a seventh aspect, the embodiment of the present application provides a policy control network element, where the policy control network element determines that a PDU session includes a first PSA and a second PSA, and determines that the first PSA performs the first usage monitoring corresponding to the first monitoring key. In the usage monitoring of the instance, the policy control network element can implement the functions performed by the policy control network element in the above aspects or in each possible design, and the function can be implemented by hardware or by executing corresponding software through hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above functions. For example, the policy control network element may include: a determining unit, an allocating unit, a sending unit, and a receiving unit.

In a possible design, the determining unit is configured to determine that the usage monitoring of the first usage monitoring instance is performed on the second PSA; the allocating unit is configured to allocate a second monitoring key to the first usage monitoring instance; the sending unit 73, Used to send policy control information to the session management NE. The policy control information includes a PCC rule and a usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key, where the PCC rule carries a second monitoring key and information for indicating a policy corresponding to the PCC rule on the second PSA; or the policy control information includes the PCC. The rule, the usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key, and the information indicating the policy corresponding to the execution of the PCC rule on the second PSA, the PCC rule carries the second monitoring key.

In another possible design, the determining unit is configured to determine that the session level usage monitoring is performed on the second PSA; the allocating unit is configured to allocate a second monitoring key to the session level usage monitoring instance; and the sending unit 73 is configured to use the session The management NE sends the policy control information. The policy control information includes: a usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key, and information used to indicate that session level usage monitoring is performed on the second PSA or on all PSAs included in the PDU session.

In combination with any of the foregoing possible designs, the receiving unit is configured to receive, after the sending unit sends the policy control information to the session management network element, the cumulative usage of any monitoring key corresponding to the first usage monitoring instance reported by the session management network element; The determining unit is further configured to determine whether there is an allowable usage threshold corresponding to the first usage monitoring instance, and the sending unit is further configured to send, according to the allowable usage threshold, any monitoring key corresponding to the session management network element, if the allowable usage threshold is present. The new usage threshold; in the case where there is no allowable usage threshold, the stop notification is sent to the session management network element, wherein the stop notification is used to notify the session management network element to stop monitoring the usage of any monitoring key. Wherein, any monitoring key is the first monitoring key or the second monitoring key.

The specific implementation manner of the policy control network element may refer to the first aspect or the second aspect or the third aspect or the policy control method provided by any one of the first possible design to the thirteenth possible design. The behavior of the network control network element is not repeated here. Thus, the provided policy control network element can achieve the same benefits as any of the first aspect or the second aspect or the third aspect or any of the first possible design to the fourth possible design.

In an eighth aspect, a policy control network element is provided, including: a processor and a memory; the memory is configured to store a computer execution instruction, and when the policy control network element is running, the processor executes the computer execution instruction stored by the memory So that the policy control network element performs the policy control method as described in the first aspect or the second aspect or the third aspect or the first possible design to the fourth possible design.

A ninth aspect, a computer readable storage medium having instructions stored therein that, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform the first aspect or the second aspect or the third aspect described above Or a strategy control method as described in any of the first possible design to the fourth possible design.

According to a tenth aspect, there is provided a computer program product comprising instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the first aspect or the second aspect or the third aspect or the first possible design to the fourth Any of the possible designs may be designed as described in the policy control method.

In an eleventh aspect, a chip system is provided. The chip system includes a processor and a communication interface, and is configured to support a policy control network element to implement functions involved in the foregoing aspects, for example, supporting a policy control network element to determine on the second PSA. Performing the monitoring of the usage of the first usage monitoring instance, assigning a second monitoring key to the first usage monitoring instance, and transmitting the policy control information including the PCC rule and the usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key to the session management network element through the communication interface; or The policy control network element performs the session level usage monitoring on the second PSA, and allocates a second monitoring key to the session level usage monitoring instance, and sends the usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key to the session management network element, and is used for indicating Policy control information for performing session level usage monitoring information on the second PSA or on all PSAs included in the PDU session. In one possible design, the chip system further includes a memory for storing program instructions and data necessary for the policy control network element. The chip system can be composed of chips, and can also include chips and other discrete devices.

The technical effects brought by any one of the seventh aspect to the eleventh aspect can be seen in the technical effects brought by the first aspect or the second aspect or the different design manners of the third aspect. Narration.

According to a twelfth aspect, a session management network element is provided. The PDU session managed by the session management network element includes a first PSA and a second PSA, and the session management network element sends a URR corresponding to the first monitoring key to the first PSA. The session management network element has the function of implementing the session management network element in the method described in the fourth aspect or the fifth aspect or the sixth aspect. This function can be implemented in hardware or in hardware by executing the corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the functions described above. For example, the session management network element may include: a receiving unit, a sending unit, and a determining unit.

In a possible design, the receiving unit is configured to receive the policy control information from the policy control network element, and the sending unit is configured to send, to the second PSA, a URR corresponding to the first PDR and the second monitoring key corresponding to the PCC rule, where The first PDR carries the identifier of the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key, and the second monitoring key and the first monitoring key correspond to the same usage monitoring instance; the policy control information includes the PCC rule and the usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key, and the PCC rule carries a second monitoring key and information for indicating a policy corresponding to the PCC rule on the second PSA; or, the policy control information includes a PCC rule, information for indicating a policy corresponding to the PCC rule on the second PSA, and a second monitoring key The corresponding usage threshold, the PCC rule carries a second monitoring key.

In another possible design, the receiving unit is configured to receive policy control information from the policy control network element, where the policy control information includes: a usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key, and is used to indicate on the second PSA or And the sending unit is configured to send, to the second PSA, a URR corresponding to the second monitoring key.

In combination with any of the foregoing possible designs, the receiving unit is further configured to: after the sending unit sends the first packet detection rule PDR corresponding to the PCC rule and the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key to the second PSA, receive any one of the PDU sessions included The cumulative usage of the URR reported by the PSA, the sending unit is further configured to report the cumulative usage of the monitoring key to the policy control network element; or the receiving unit is further configured to send, by the sending unit, the first packet detection rule corresponding to the PCC rule to the second PSA. After the URR corresponding to the PDR and the second monitoring key, the cumulative usage of the URR reported by any PSA included in the PDU session is received, and the determining unit is configured to determine whether there is a remaining usage threshold corresponding to the monitoring key, and the remaining usage threshold is present. In this case, the usage threshold of the URR reported by any PSA is updated according to the remaining usage threshold; the sending unit is further configured to report the cumulative usage of the monitoring key to the policy control network element without the remaining usage threshold; wherein, monitoring Key is the monitoring key corresponding to the URR reported by any PSA. The cumulative usage of the monitoring key includes any PSA report. URR of the accumulated amount; PSA to any one of the first or the second PSA PSA.

For a specific implementation manner of the session management network element, reference may be made to the behavior of the session management network element in the policy control method provided by the fourth aspect or the fifth aspect or the possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, and details are not repeatedly described herein. Therefore, the provided session management network element can achieve the same beneficial effects as the fourth aspect or the fifth aspect or the sixth aspect or the fifth possible design to the ninth possible design. .

A thirteenth aspect provides a session management network element, including: a processor and a memory; the memory is configured to store a computer execution instruction, and when the session management network element is running, the processor executes the computer execution of the memory storage An instruction to cause the session management network element to perform the policy control method as described in any of the fourth aspect or the fifth aspect or the sixth aspect or the fifth possible design to the ninth possible design.

A fourteenth aspect, a computer readable storage medium having instructions stored therein that, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform the fourth aspect or the fifth aspect or the sixth aspect or The fifth possible design to the policy control method described in any of the possible designs of the ninth possible design.

In a fifteenth aspect, there is provided a computer program product comprising instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the fourth or fifth aspect or the sixth aspect or the fifth possible design to the ninth A strategy control method as described in any of the possible designs.

According to a sixteenth aspect, a chip system is provided, the chip system includes a processor and a communication interface, and is configured to support a session management network element to implement functions involved in the foregoing aspects, for example, supporting a session management network element to receive a policy control network element. The policy control information, and the first PDR corresponding to the PCC rule and the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key are sent to the second PSA through the communication interface; or the session management network element receives the information from the policy control network element, including: the second monitoring key The usage threshold, and policy control information for indicating information for performing session level usage monitoring on the second PSA or all PSAs included in the PDU session, and transmitting the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key to the second PSA through the communication interface. In one possible design, the chip system further includes a memory for storing program instructions and data necessary for the session management network element. The chip system can be composed of chips, and can also include chips and other discrete devices.

The technical effects brought by any one of the twelfth to sixteenth aspects can be referred to the fourth aspect or the fifth aspect or the sixth aspect or the fifth possible design to the ninth possible design. The technical effects brought by any possible design will not be described here.

In a seventeenth aspect, a policy control system is provided, the system comprising the policy control network element according to any one of the seventh aspect to the eleventh aspect, Session management network element, and at least two PSAs.

These and other aspects of the present application will be more readily apparent from the following description of the embodiments.

DRAWINGS

1 is a system architecture diagram provided by an embodiment of the present application;

2 is a schematic diagram of a 5G system architecture provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

4 is a flowchart of a policy control method according to an embodiment of the present application;

4a is a flowchart of a PSA reporting cumulative usage provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of still another method for controlling a policy according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of still another method for controlling a policy according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 7 is a structural diagram of a policy control network element according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 is a structural diagram of a session management network element according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Detailed ways

First, in order to facilitate understanding of the embodiments of the present application, some technical terms involved in the embodiments of the present application are described:

Usage monitoring: Monitors the usage of network resources, such as monitoring the traffic of a service data stream, monitoring the usage of a group of service data flows, and even measuring the usage of all service data flows in a PDU session. Monitoring, no restrictions. The user can sign a usage monitoring protocol with the operator. The usage monitoring protocol specified by the user specifies the type of service data flow to be monitored and the volume limit or time limit for which the contract is used. For example, the user signs the service with the operator. When the protocol is used, the operator can select a separate usage monitoring of the network resources when accessing the Sohu video, and sign 1G traffic for accessing Sohu video. In the embodiment of the present application, the usage monitoring may be divided into two levels of usage monitoring, such as service data flow level usage monitoring and session level usage monitoring, according to different monitoring network resources monitored by usage.

Monitoring control instance: includes user-contracted monitoring of usage of a service data flow, monitoring of a set of service data flows, and even monitoring of all service data flows in a PDU session. The requirements and the signing information signed for this demand, which regulates the scope of the monitored business data flow, and the corresponding contract information, such as the usage limit. For example, users can log in to Sohu video and sign 1G traffic for accessing Sohu video as an example of usage monitoring. They can also sign user access to Sina video and Sohu video, as well as access to Sina video and Sohu video. The 1.5G traffic is used as an example of usage monitoring. In the embodiment of the present application, the usage monitoring instance may be divided into two levels of usage monitoring examples: a service data flow level usage monitoring instance and a session level usage monitoring instance.

Generally, the same usage monitoring instance can be assigned multiple different monitoring keys, that is, one usage monitoring instance corresponds to multiple monitoring keys. The policy control function (PCF) can formulate corresponding usage monitoring information according to the subscription information corresponding to the usage monitoring instance, and use the usage monitoring information to monitor the usage of the user's service access.

The PCC rule is defined by the PCF and may include a service data flow template, where the service data flow template may include control information for service data flow detection, and may also include control information for service data flow charging, traffic steering, etc., not limit. The PCF can issue a PCC rule to the Session Management Function (SMF). The SMF determines the PDR, the QoS Enforcement Rule (QER), and the Forwarding Action Rule (FAR) according to the PCC rules. rule.

Usage monitoring information (Usage Monitoring Information): It is defined by the PCF. It usually includes the level indicator of the usage monitoring instance corresponding to the monitoring key and the monitoring key, and the usage threshold corresponding to the monitoring key. The Session Management Function (SMF) can determine the Usage Report Rule (URR) corresponding to the monitoring key based on the Usage Monitoring Information. In the embodiment of the present application, the PCF may include the PCC rule and the usage monitoring information in the policy control information and send the information to the SMF.

PDR: A rule defined by the SMF for execution in a User Plane Function (UPF) may include packet detection information for detecting a traffic data flow, and rules related to QER, FAR, URR, and the like.

URR: A rule established by the SMF to perform usage monitoring in the UPF, which may include a usage threshold. The URR can be associated with the PDR. After detecting the service data flow according to the packet detection information in the PDR, the UPF can accumulate the detected usage of the service data flow and the URR associated with the PDR. When the accumulated usage reaches the usage threshold of the URR, The UPF reports the URR logo and cumulative usage to the SMF. It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the association between the URR and the PDR may refer to: the PDR includes the identifier of the URR.

The embodiments of the present application are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The policy control method provided by the embodiment of the present application can be applied to the network system shown in FIG. 1 , and the network system can be a 5G system supporting a multi-PSA PDU session, or a fourth generation (4th generation, 4G) (eg, an evolution). An evolved packet system (EPS) mobile communication system may also be a mobile communication system that supports a multi-anchor user plane transmission path, and is not limited. As shown in FIG. 1 , the network system may include: The access network device, the session management network element, the policy control network element, the split/combiner, the gateway network element, and the data network (DN), wherein the terminal in FIG. 1 can be used to connect to the wireless air interface. The access network device deployed by the operator accesses the DN through the split/combiner and the gateway network element. The access network device is mainly used to implement the wireless physical layer function, resource scheduling, radio resource management, and radio access control. Functions such as mobility management. The session management network element can manage one or more gateway network elements, which are mainly used to implement session management functions such as establishing, releasing, and changing user plane transmission paths. The policy control network element is mainly used to formulate information for service data flow detection, and control information such as policy, charging, and traffic steering. The split/combiner is mainly used when the transmission path of the same user plane includes multiple anchor points. The service data stream that is uploaded by the terminal through the user plane transmission path is distributed to different gateway network elements, or the service data streams delivered by different gateway network elements on the user plane transmission path are combined and sent to the terminal. It can be used as an anchor point on the user plane transmission path. It is mainly used to complete the routing and forwarding of user plane data, such as establishing a channel with the terminal (ie, user plane transmission path), and forwarding between the terminal and the DN on the channel. Data packets, as well as data packet filtering, data transmission/retransmission, rate control, and generation of accounting information for the terminal. The DN can include network devices (such as servers, routers, etc.), and the DN is mainly used to provide more information for the terminal. Data service service. It should be noted that FIG. 1 is only an exemplary architecture diagram, and the network architecture may include the functional unit except the functional unit shown in FIG. The network element, such as a mobility management network element for managing the mobility of the terminal, a data management network element for managing the subscription information of the user, and the like, is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

For example, assuming that the network system is a 5G system supporting a multi-PSA PDU session (as shown in FIG. 2), the terminal in the network system may be a user equipment (UE), such as a mobile phone or a computer, or Cellular phone, cordless phone, session initiation protocol (SIP) phone, smart phone, wireless local loop (WLL) station, personal digital assistant (PDA), computer, laptop Computers, handheld communication devices, handheld computing devices, satellite wireless devices, wireless modem cards, set top boxes (STBs), customer premise equipment (CPE), and/or for use on wireless systems Other devices for communication. The access network device may be an access network (AN)/radio access network (RAN) device, and a network composed of multiple 5G-AN/5G-RAN nodes, the 5G-AN/ The 5G-RAN node may be: an access point (AP), a next generation base station (NR nodeB, gNB), a transmission receive point (TRP), a transmission point (TP), or some other connection. Into the node. The session management network element may be an SMF in a 5G system. The above policy control network element may be a PCF in a 5G system. The above gateway network element may be a UPF in a 5G system. The above-mentioned shunt/combiner can be a branching point (BP) or an uplink classifier (UL CL) in a 5G system, such as when multi-homing is established in a multi-homing manner. In the PDU session, the above-mentioned shunt/combiner may be a BP in a 5G system. When a multi-PSA PDU session is established in a non-Multi-Homing manner, the above-mentioned shunt/combiner may be a UL in a 5G system. CL. The mobility management network element may be an access and mobility function (AMF) in a 5G system. The above data management network element may be Unified Data Management (UDM) in the 5G system. In the 5G system shown in FIG. 2, connections can be established between different network elements through a Next Generation (NG) interface to implement communication.

In the system shown in FIG. 1, the session management network element sends a URR corresponding to the first monitoring key to the PSA included in the PDU session managed by the session management network element, and the PSA performs the first corresponding to the first monitoring key according to the URR corresponding to the first monitoring key. In the case of the usage monitoring of the usage monitoring instance, if it is determined that the PSA added to the PDU session needs to perform the usage monitoring of the first usage monitoring instance, the policy control network element may allocate a new second to the newly added PSA. The monitoring key is configured to allocate a usage threshold to the second monitoring key, and send the policy control information carrying the usage threshold of the second monitoring key to the session management network element, so that the session management network element determines the second monitoring key corresponding to the newly added PSA. URR, and send the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key to the newly added PSA to implement usage monitoring. Specifically, the implementation manner can be referred to the following FIG. 4 to FIG. 6 .

The session management network element and the policy control network element in FIG. 1 can be implemented in the manner of the communication device in FIG. 3 in order to implement the technical solution provided by the embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 3, the communication device 200 includes at least one processor 201, a communication line 202, a memory 203, and at least one communication interface 204.

The processor 201 can be a central processing unit (CPU), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or one or more integrated circuits configured to implement the embodiments of the present application. For example: one or more digital signal processors (DSPs), or one or more field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs).

Communication line 202 can include a path for communicating information between the components described above.

The communication interface 204 uses devices such as any transceiver for communicating with other devices or communication networks, such as Ethernet, radio access network (RAN), wireless local area networks (WLAN), etc. .

The memory 203 can be a read-only memory (ROM) or other type of static storage device that can store static information and instructions, a random access memory (RAM) or other type that can store information and instructions. The dynamic storage device can also be an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) or other optical disc storage, and a disc storage device. (including compact discs, laser discs, optical discs, digital versatile discs, Blu-ray discs, etc.), magnetic disk storage media or other magnetic storage devices, or can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and can be Any other media accessed, but not limited to this. The memory may be stand-alone and connected to the processor via communication line 202. The memory can also be integrated with the processor.

The memory 203 is used to store computer execution instructions for executing the solution of the present application, and is controlled by the processor 201 for execution. The processor 201 is configured to execute computer execution instructions stored in the memory 203, thereby implementing the policy control method provided by the following embodiments of the present application. Optionally, the computer-executed instructions in the embodiment of the present application may also be referred to as an application code, which is not specifically limited in this embodiment of the present application.

In a particular implementation, as an embodiment, processor 201 may include one or more CPUs, such as CPU0 and CPU1 in FIG.

In a particular implementation, as an embodiment, communication device 200 can include multiple processors, such as processor 201 and processor 207 in FIG. Each of these processors can be a single core processor or a multi-CPU processor. A processor herein may refer to one or more devices, circuits, and/or processing cores for processing data, such as computer program instructions.

In a particular implementation, as an embodiment, the communication device 200 can also include an output device 205 and an input device 206. Output device 205 is in communication with processor 201 and can display information in a variety of ways. For example, the output device 205 can be a liquid crystal display (LCD), a light emitting diode (LED) display device, a cathode ray tube (CRT) display device, or a projector. Wait. Input device 206 is in communication with processor 201 and can receive user input in a variety of ways. For example, input device 206 can be a mouse, keyboard, touch screen device or sensing device, and the like.

It should be noted that the foregoing communication device 200 may be a general-purpose device or a dedicated device. In a particular implementation, the communication device 200 can be a desktop, a portable computer, a web server, a PDA, a mobile handset, a tablet, a wireless terminal, an embedded device, or a device having a similar structure as in FIG. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the type of the communication device 200.

As shown in FIG. 1 , the session management network element is the session management network element shown in FIG. 1 , the policy control network element is the policy control network element shown in FIG. 1 , and the PSA is the gateway network element shown in FIG. 1 . The technical solutions provided are specifically described.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a policy control method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, where the method is used to implement a first usage monitoring instance (such as a service data flow level usage monitoring instance) on multiple PSAs included in a PDU session. Usage monitoring. The application scenario of the method is that the session management network element manages a PDU session, and the PDU session may include multiple PSAs, such as a first PSA and a second PSA, where the session management network element sends a first monitoring key corresponding to the first PSA. In the first URR, the first PSA performs usage monitoring of the first usage monitoring instance corresponding to the first monitoring key. In this application scenario, step 401-step 404 as shown in FIG. 4 may be performed to implement the usage monitoring of the same service data flow level usage monitoring instance on multiple PSAs of the same PDU session.

Step 401: The policy control network element determines to perform usage monitoring on the first usage monitoring instance on the second PSA.

The second PSA may be a new PSA on the PDU session.

Specifically, the policy control network element may determine, according to the preset configuration, performing usage monitoring on the first usage monitoring instance on the second PSA, where the preset configuration may be used to specify which services are allowed to access the first usage monitoring instance. Gateway network element. If the policy control network element queries the preset configuration, and determines that the second PSA is included in the gateway network element specified by the preset configuration, it is determined that the usage monitoring of the first usage monitoring instance is performed on the second PSA. For example, if the default configuration allows the user to access the service on the Sohu website on the UPF2, and the service on the Sohu website is within the service range monitored by the usage monitoring instance 1, it is determined that the UPF2 monitors the usage of the usage monitoring instance 1. .

The preset configuration may be pre-configured by the operator in the policy control network element, or may be obtained by the policy control network element from other network function entities when performing step 401, and is not limited.

It can be understood that, before the policy control network element determines that the usage monitoring of the first usage monitoring instance is performed on the second PSA, the policy control network element first learns that the PDU session adds a second PSA, and then determines whether it is The usage monitoring of the first usage monitoring instance is performed on the second PSA. Specifically, the policy control network element learns that the PDU session adds a second PSA, and the session management network element sends an indication message carrying the newly added second PSA to the policy control network element, and after receiving the message, the policy control network element receives the message according to the message. The carried indication of adding the second PSA determines that the second PSA is added to the PDU session. The indication of adding the second PSA may be used to indicate the second PSA, which may include, but is not limited to, the identifier of the second PSA, where the identifier of the second PSA may include the network function identifier (NF) of the second PSA. ID), or the Data Network Access Indentity (DNAI) of the second PSA, or the Internet Protocol Version 6 Prefix (IPV6 Prefix) corresponding to the second PSA, is not limited.

Step 402: The policy control network element allocates a second monitoring key to the first usage monitoring instance.

The second monitoring key is different from the first monitoring key, and is a monitoring key assigned by the policy control network element to the first usage monitoring instance.

In addition, in the embodiment of the present application, after the policy control network element allocates a monitoring key for the usage monitoring instance, the policy control network element can save the correspondence between the usage monitoring instance and its assigned monitoring key, for example, the policy control network element. The corresponding relationship between the first usage monitoring instance and the second monitoring key may be saved. The correspondence between the usage monitoring instance saved by the policy control NE and the monitoring key includes: the first usage monitoring instance and the first monitoring key and the second monitoring key. Correspondence.

Step 403: The policy control network element sends policy control information to the session management network element, and the session management network element receives the policy control information sent by the policy control network element.

In a possible design, the policy control information includes, but is not limited to, a PCC rule and a usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key; the PCC rule carries a second monitoring key, and a policy for indicating that the PCC rule is executed on the second PSA. information. In another possible design, the policy control information information includes, but is not limited to, a PCC rule, a usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key, and information for indicating a policy corresponding to the execution of the PCC rule on the second PSA, and the PCC rule carries the second Monitoring key.

The usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key is based on the usage quota of the first usage monitoring instance signed by the user, the cumulative usage of the first usage monitoring instance, and the monitoring key corresponding to the first usage monitoring instance delivered by the policy control network element. The usage threshold (as the first monitoring key) is determined. For example, the difference between the usage limit of the first usage monitoring instance and the usage amount of the first usage monitoring instance and the usage threshold of the monitoring key corresponding to the first usage monitoring instance delivered by the policy control network element may be calculated. The usage threshold less than or equal to the difference is used as the usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key. The usage quota of the first usage monitoring instance signed by the user and the cumulative usage of the first usage monitoring instance may be included in the subscription information of the user, and the subscription information of the user may be obtained by the policy control network element from the UDM after the PDU session is established, the user's The subscription information may be used to describe the usage quota of the user for the first usage monitoring instance and the cumulative usage of the first usage monitoring instance.

In any of the foregoing possible designs, the information used to indicate that the policy corresponding to the PCC rule is performed on the second PSA may be the identifier of the second PSA, and the related description of the identifier of the second PSA may be as described in step 401. ,No longer.

Step 404: The session management network element sends the first PDR corresponding to the PCC rule and the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key to the second PSA.

The first PDR may include the service data stream packet detection information. The URR corresponding to the second monitoring key may include a usage threshold, and may also include an identifier of the URR. The URR corresponding to the first PDR and the second monitoring key may be determined by the session management network element before step 404. For example, before step 404, the session management network element may be configured according to a policy for indicating that the PCC rule is executed on the second PSA. And determining, by using the service data element template in the PCC rule, the packet detection information of the first PDR, and determining the URR for the second monitoring key. The first PDR includes the identifier of the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key, that is, the first PDR is associated with the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key.

Specifically, the determining, by the session management network element, the packet detection information of the first PDR according to the service data flow template in the PCC rule may include: using the control information used for the service data flow detection in the service data flow template in the PCC rule as the packet detection information. Add (or match) to the first PDR.

Specifically, the session management network element determining the URR for the second monitoring key may be: the session management network element allocates a usage threshold for the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key, and includes the usage threshold in the URR, that is, determining that the second monitoring key corresponds to The URR usage threshold; at the same time, the session management network element can also assign an identifier to the URR. The URR corresponding to the second monitoring key and the URR corresponding to the first monitoring key may be the same or different, and are not limited. Optionally, the session management network element controls, according to the policy, that the usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key sent by the network element is a URR allocation usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key, for example, the session management network element is less than or equal to the second monitoring key. The usage threshold of the corresponding usage threshold is determined as the usage threshold of the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key.

In addition, in the embodiment of the present application, after the session management network element determines the URR for a certain monitoring key, the session management network element may further store the correspondence between the monitoring key and the URR, for example, the session management network element is the first monitoring key. After the URR1 is determined, the correspondence between the first monitoring key and the URR1 may be saved. After the URR2 is determined for the second monitoring key, the correspondence between the second monitoring key and the URR2 may be saved.

As can be seen from the above, in the solution shown in FIG. 4, when the policy control network element determines to perform the service data flow level usage monitoring instance on the newly added PSA in the PDU session, and the service data flow usage monitoring instance and the other included in the PDU session When the usage monitoring instance executed by the PSA is the same, the policy control NE allocates a monitoring key to the usage monitoring instance, and sends the PCC rule carrying the new monitoring key and the usage threshold corresponding to the new monitoring key to the session management NE. After receiving the information about the usage monitoring of the service data flow usage monitoring instance on the newly added PSA, the session management network element sends the PDR and the new monitoring key corresponding to the URR to the newly added PSA, so that the new The increased PSA performs usage monitoring based on the PDR and the URR corresponding to the new monitoring key, so as to implement the usage monitoring of the same service data flow level usage monitoring instance in multiple PSAs.

Further, in the solution shown in FIG. 4, when any PSA (the first PSA or the second PSA) included in the PDU session receives the PDR and the URR, and monitors the usage according to the PDR and the URR, if the PDR associated with the URR is monitored, When the cumulative usage of the service data flow is close to or reaches the usage threshold of the URR, the PSA may report the cumulative usage of the URR to the session management network element, and perform the usage reporting process shown in FIG. 4a; or perform step 404 and step 408-step. 415. As shown in FIG. 4a, the usage reporting process may include:

Step 405: The session management network element receives the cumulative usage of the URR of any PSA report included in the PDU session, and determines whether there is a remaining usage threshold corresponding to the monitoring key. If the remaining usage threshold corresponding to the monitoring key exists, the step is performed. 406 - Step 407; otherwise, step 408 is performed.

The foregoing PSA may be the first PSA or the second PSA or other PSAs included in the PDU session, and is not limited. The monitoring key in step 405 corresponds to the URR of any PSA report, and may be the first monitoring key or the second monitoring key. When the monitoring key is the first monitoring key, any PSA is the first PSA. When the monitoring key is the second monitoring key, any PSA is the second PSA.

The remaining usage threshold corresponding to the monitoring key may be the difference between the usage threshold of the monitoring key received by the session management network element from the policy control network element and the usage threshold allocated by the session management network element to the URR.

Specifically, the PSA may also carry the URR identifier when reporting the cumulative usage of the URR to the session management network element, and the session management network element may determine the PSA report according to the correspondence between the monitoring key and the URR and the URR identifier saved by the session management network element. The URR is associated with the monitoring key. If the URR is the first monitoring key, the calculation policy controls the difference between the usage threshold of the first monitoring key and the cumulative usage of the URR. If the difference is zero, then It is determined that there is no remaining usage threshold corresponding to the first monitoring key; otherwise, there is a remaining usage threshold corresponding to the first monitoring key. If the URR is associated with the second monitoring key, the calculation policy controls the difference between the usage threshold of the second monitoring key and the cumulative usage of the URR delivered by the network element. If the difference is zero, it is determined that the second monitoring key does not exist. Corresponding remaining usage threshold, otherwise, there is a remaining usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key.

Step 406: The session management network element updates the usage threshold of the URR reported by the PSA according to the remaining usage threshold corresponding to the monitoring key, and sends the updated URR to the PSA.

Specifically, the session management network element may update the UAR usage threshold of the PSA report according to the remaining usage threshold corresponding to the monitoring key, where the session management network element may use the partial usage threshold or the total usage threshold of the remaining usage threshold as the new URR threshold. Usage threshold.

For example, the usage threshold of the monitoring key1 is 300M, and the usage threshold of the session management NE assigned to the URR is 200M. In this case, the remaining usage threshold corresponding to the monitoring key1 is 100M, and the session management NE can use the 100M as the new URR. The usage threshold is sent to the PSA.

Step 407: The PSA performs usage monitoring according to the updated URR.

The PSA performs the usage monitoring according to the updated URR. The PSA replaces the usage threshold of the URR originally saved by the PSA with the usage threshold in the received URR, and uses the replaced usage threshold to monitor the usage.

For example, if the usage threshold of the original URR is 200M, and the usage threshold of the URR delivered by the session management NE is 100M, the PSA uses the URR with a usage threshold of 100M for usage monitoring.

Step 408: The session management network element reports the cumulative usage of the monitoring key to the policy control network element.

The cumulative usage of the monitoring key includes the sum of the cumulative usages of the URR corresponding to the monitoring key. For example, in the scheme shown in FIG. 4a, the cumulative usage of the monitoring key may include the cumulative usage of the URR reported by the PSA.

For example, if monitoring key1 corresponds to URR1 and URR3, where the cumulative usage of URR1 is 100M and the cumulative usage of URR3 is 200M, the cumulative usage of monitoring key1 is 300M.

In addition, in step 408, the session management network element may also send the identity of the PSA to the policy control network element. For the identifier of the PSA, reference may be made to the description of the identifier of the second PSA, and details are not described herein.

Step 409: The policy control network element receives the cumulative usage amount of the monitoring key reported by the session management network element, and determines whether there is an allowable usage threshold corresponding to the first usage monitoring instance; if there is an allowable usage threshold corresponding to the first usage monitoring instance, Steps 410 to 412 are performed; otherwise, steps 413 to 415 are performed.

The first usage monitoring instance is an usage monitoring instance corresponding to the monitoring key. The allowable usage threshold corresponding to the first usage monitoring instance may be based on the usage quota of the first usage monitoring instance signed by the user, the cumulative usage of the first usage monitoring instance, and the monitoring key corresponding to the first usage monitoring instance. (However, the usage threshold for the cumulative usage response information for this monitoring key has not been received). For example, the usage limit of the first usage monitoring instance signed by the user and the cumulative usage of the first usage monitoring instance and the monitoring key corresponding to the first usage monitoring instance may be calculated (but the monitoring key is not received). If the difference is zero, it is determined that there is no allowable usage threshold corresponding to the first usage monitoring instance; otherwise, there is an allowable usage threshold corresponding to the first usage monitoring instance. The usage limit of the first usage monitoring instance signed by the user and the cumulative usage of the first usage monitoring instance are as described in step 403, and details are not described herein. The cumulative usage response information reported by the session management network element may include the cumulative usage of the monitoring key; the cumulative usage response information may be information including the cumulative usage of the monitoring key.

For example, the usage monitoring instance 1 corresponds to the monitoring key1 and the monitoring key3. Assume that the usage quota for the usage monitoring instance 1 is 500M and the cumulative usage is 200M. The policy control NE determines the PSA1 to monitor the usage of the usage monitoring instance 1. And the usage threshold of the monitoring key1 for the PSA1 is 100M, and the PSA2 performs the usage monitoring of the usage monitoring instance 1 and the usage threshold of the monitoring key3 for the PSA2 is 200M. When the policy control network element receives the session management network element, When the cumulative usage of the monitoring key1 is 50M and the identifier of the PSA1, it is determined that the cumulative usage of the URR is reported by the PSA1, and the usage threshold 200M assigned to the monitoring key3 belongs to the monitoring key corresponding to the usage monitoring instance 1 of the policy control network element ( However, the usage threshold of the monitoring key 3 is not received. At this time, the allowable usage threshold corresponding to the usage monitoring instance 1 is 500M-200M-200M=100M.

Step 410: The policy control network element determines a new usage threshold of the monitoring key according to the allowable usage threshold corresponding to the first usage monitoring instance, and sends a new usage threshold of the monitoring key to the session management network element.

Step 411: The session management network element receives the new usage threshold of the monitoring key, updates the URR usage threshold according to the new usage threshold of the monitoring key, and sends the updated URR to the PSA.

Step 412: The PSA performs usage monitoring according to the updated URR.

Step 413: The policy control network element determines to stop monitoring the usage of the monitoring key, and sends a stop notification to the session management network element.

The stop notification is used to notify the session management network element to stop monitoring the usage of the monitoring key.

Step 414: The session management network element receives the stop notification, and sends a delete request or a stop request to the PSA.

The deletion request may be used to request any PSA to delete the URR corresponding to the monitoring key; the stop request may be used to request any PSA to stop monitoring the usage of the URR corresponding to the montoring key.

Step 415: The PSA receives the deletion request, deletes the URR corresponding to the first monitoring key according to the deletion request, or receives the stop request, and stops monitoring the usage of the URR corresponding to the first monitoring key according to the stop request.

The deleting the URR corresponding to the first monitoring key may refer to: deleting the URR from its associated PDR. Specifically, the identifier of the URR can be deleted from the PDR associated with the URR.

In this manner, after receiving the cumulative usage of the URR reported by the PSA, the session management network element may re-allocate the usage threshold of the URR to the PSA, or may send the cumulative usage of the monitoring key corresponding to the URR to the policy control network element. The policy control network element re-issues the usage threshold corresponding to the monitoring key.

It should be noted that FIG. 4a only illustrates the process of reporting the amount of PSA. In the embodiment of the present application, a scheme for simultaneously reporting the usage of two or more PSAs is also supported. When two or more PSAs are simultaneously reported, the execution process may be described with reference to FIG. 4a. .

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a method for controlling a policy according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The method is used to perform usage monitoring on an instance of a session level usage monitoring on multiple PSAs included in a PDU session. The application scenario of the method is that the session management network element manages a PDU session, and the PDU session may include multiple PSAs, such as a first PSA and a second PSA, where the first PSA performs the first usage monitoring instance corresponding to the first monitoring key. Usage monitoring, the first usage monitoring instance is a session-level usage monitoring instance. In this application scenario, step 501 to step 504 as shown in FIG. 5 may be performed to implement the usage monitoring of the same session-level usage monitoring instance on multiple PSAs of the same PDU session.

Step 501: The policy control network element determines to perform session level usage monitoring on the second PSA.

The step 501 can be referred to the step 401 and will not be described again.

Step 502: The policy control network element allocates a second monitoring key to the first usage monitoring instance.

The step 502 can be referred to the step 402 and will not be described again.

Step 503: The policy control network element sends policy control information to the session management network element, and the session management network element receives the policy control information sent by the policy control network element.

The usage monitoring information may include an usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key, and information used to indicate that the session-level usage monitoring is performed on the second PSA or the session-level usage monitoring is performed on all PSAs included in the PDU session. Specifically, the session level usage monitoring may be performed on the second PSA by carrying the identifier of the second PSA in the policy control information, for example, the information used to indicate that the session level usage monitoring is performed on the second PSA may be the second. The identifier of the PSA, when the policy control information received by the session management network element includes the identifier of the second PSA, may determine that the session level usage monitoring is performed on the second PSA; similarly, the PDU session may be carried in the policy control information. The identifier of the session indicates that the session level usage monitoring is performed on all the PSAs included in the PDU session. For example, the information used to indicate that the session level usage monitoring is performed on all the PSAs included in the PDU session may be the identifier of the PDU session. When the received policy control information includes the identifier of the PDU session, it may be determined that session level usage monitoring is performed on all PSAs included in the PDU session. The identifier of the second PSA can be referred to the related description in FIG. 4, and details are not described herein again.

The usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key is as described in step 403, and details are not described herein.

Step 504: The session management network element sends a URR corresponding to the second monitoring key to the second PSA.

The URR corresponding to the second monitoring key is associated with all the PDRs performed on the second PSA. The URR corresponding to the second monitoring key is not associated with the PDR unless the service data indicating that the PDR matches is not included in the session-level usage monitoring. That is, the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key may be associated with all the PDRs that are executed on the second PSA and whose matching service data is included in the session level usage monitoring. The URR corresponding to the second monitoring key may include a usage threshold and a URR identifier. The URR corresponding to the second monitoring key may be determined by the session management network element before step 504. For example, before step 504, the session management network element may perform policy control information for performing session level usage monitoring on the second PSA, or for performing session level usage monitoring on all PSAs included in the PDU session. Determining the session-level usage monitoring in the second PSA, and determining the URR for the second monitoring key; at the same time, the session management network element may also allocate a corresponding URR identifier for the URR.

Specifically, the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key may be determined according to the usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key. For example, the partial usage threshold or the total usage threshold of the usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key may be used as the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key. Usage threshold.

As can be seen from the above, in the solution shown in FIG. 5, when the policy control network element determines to perform session level usage monitoring on the PSA added in the PDU session, and the session level usage monitoring is also performed on other PSAs included in the PDU session. A new monitoring key is allocated to the usage monitoring instance, and the session management network element sends a message indicating that the session level usage monitoring is performed on the newly added PSA and the usage threshold corresponding to the new monitoring key, and the session management network element receives the After the information is sent, the URR corresponding to the new monitoring key is sent to the newly added PSA, so that the newly added PSA performs usage monitoring according to the URR corresponding to the monitoring key, so as to implement the usage of the same session-level usage monitoring instance in multiple PSAs. monitor.

Further, in the solution shown in FIG. 5, when any PSA (first PSA or second PSA) included in the PDU session receives the PDR and the URR, and monitors the usage according to the PDR and the URR, if the PDR associated with the URR is monitored, When the cumulative usage of the service data flow is close to or reaches the URR usage threshold, the PSA can report the cumulative usage of the URR to the session management network element. After the session management network element receives the cumulative usage of the URR, the amount shown in Figure 4a is executed. The reporting process will not be repeated.

It should be noted that, the foregoing FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 only describe the execution of the service data flow level usage monitoring instance or the session level usage monitoring instance in the first PSA and the second PSA included in the PDU session. It is understandable that For the process of performing the same usage monitoring instance and simultaneously performing the two or more PSAs included in the PDU session, reference may also be made to the foregoing solution, and details are not described herein. In addition, FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 respectively illustrate the traffic data level usage monitoring and the session level usage monitoring. In practical applications, the schemes of FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 can also be combined to implement multiple PSAs included in the PDU session. Perform business traffic usage monitoring instances and session-level usage monitoring instances.

The session management network element is the SMF of FIG. 2, and the policy control network element is the PCF of FIG. 2, and the service data flow usage monitoring instance and the session-level usage monitoring instance are simultaneously executed on the two PSAs of the UPF1 and the UPF2 included in the PDU session. The data flow usage monitoring instance corresponds to the monitoring key1 and the monitoring key3; the session-level usage monitoring instance corresponds to the monitoring key 2 and the monitoring key 4 as an example, and the above technical solution is described in detail. Specifically, it can be referred to FIG. 6.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a policy control method according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 6, the method includes:

Step 601: The user establishes a PDU session through the UPF1, and the PCF determines, according to the preset configuration, the usage monitoring of the usage monitoring instance 1 and the usage monitoring of the usage monitoring instance 2 in the UPF1.

The usage monitoring instance 1 is a service data flow level usage monitoring instance, and the usage monitoring instance 2 corresponds to a session level usage monitoring instance. The process of determining the usage monitoring of the quantity monitoring instance 1 and the quantity monitoring of the quantity monitoring instance 2 in the UPF1 according to the preset configuration may refer to the above steps 401 and 501, and details are not described herein.

Step 602: The PCF formulates the PCC rule 1, the PCC rule 2, the usage monitoring information 1 and the usage monitoring information 2 according to the subscription information of the user, and sends the PCC rule 1, the PCC rule 2, the usage monitoring information 1, and the usage monitoring information 2 to the SMF. And an indication of performing PCC Rule 3, PCC Rule 4 on UPF2 and performing session level usage monitoring on all PSAs of the PDU session or on UPF1.

The subscription information of the user may be obtained by the PCF from the UDM when the step 601 is performed. The subscription information of the user may include the subscription information of the service data flow level and the subscription information of the PDU session level, and the subscription information of the service data flow level includes the monitoring key_a, Service data flow level indication (SDF Level Indication), and usage quota (Voume limit and / or Time limit). The PDU session level information includes a PDU session level indication and a usage limit (Voume limit and/or Time limit). The cumulative usage monitoring information includes usage information at the service data flow level and usage information at the PDU session level; usage information at the service data flow level includes monitoring key_a, service data flow level indication, and cumulative usage (Voume usage and/or Time usage). The usage information of the PDU session level includes a PDU session level indication and a cumulative usage (Voume usage and/or Time usage).

The monitoring key_a corresponds to the usage monitoring instance; the service data flow level indication is used to indicate that the usage monitoring instance corresponding to the monitoring key_a is the service data flow level usage monitoring instance, and the PDU session level indication is used to indicate that the PDU session level information corresponds to the session level usage. Monitoring instance

Among them, the PCC rule 1 includes a monitoring key1, and the PCC rule 2 includes a monitoring key2. Both PCC Rule 1 and PCC Rule 2 do not set an indication that the amount detected by the PCC rule is excluded from the session level usage, that is, the PCF decision PCC Rule 1 and the PCC Rule 2 usage are accumulated to the session level usage monitoring. The usage monitoring information 1 corresponds to the usage monitoring example 1, including [monitoring key1, PCC rule indication, usage threshold threshold1]. The usage monitoring information 2 corresponds to the corresponding usage monitoring instance 2, including [monitoring key 2, session level indication, usage threshold threshold 2]. The PCC rule indication may be a service data flow level indication, and is used to indicate that the monitoring key1 corresponds to the service data flow level usage monitoring instance.

The indication that the PCC rule 3 and the PCC rule 4 are executed in the UPF2 may be the identifier of the UPF1, and the indication that the session level usage monitoring is performed on all the PSAs of the PDU session or on the UPF1 may be the identifier of the PDU session.

It should be noted that when the SMF performs the policy of performing the session-level usage monitoring on all the PSAs, the indication of the session-level usage monitoring on the PSAs of the PDU session or the UPF1 may not be performed in the step 602. The policy for performing session level usage monitoring on all PSAs configured on the SMF may be sent by the PCF to the SMF before step 602.

Step 603: The SMF receives the PCC rule 1, the PCC rule 2, the usage monitoring information 1 and the usage monitoring information 2, and performs the PCC rule 3, the PCC rule 4 indication in the UPF2, and executes the session level on all PSAs of the PDU session or on the UPF1. Instructions for usage monitoring.

Step 604: The SMF formulates PDR1 according to PCC rule 1, formulates PDR2 according to PCC rule 2, formulates URR1 according to usage monitoring information 1, and formulates URR2 according to usage monitoring information 2.

The PDR1 includes the packet detection information corresponding to the service data flow template of the PCC rule 1. PDR2 includes packet detection information corresponding to the service data flow template in PCC Rule 2. Monitoring key1 corresponds to URR1, URR1 usage threshold threshold1* is less than or equal to threshold1; monitoring key2 corresponds to URR2, URR2 usage threshold is less than or equal to threshold2*, and URR1 is associated with PDR1, and URR2 is associated with PDR1 and PDR2.

Specifically, the SMF may perform the PCC rule 1 and the PCC rule 4 on the UPF 1 according to the indication that the PCC rule 3 and the PCC rule 4 are executed in the UPF 2 and the session level usage monitoring is performed on all PSAs of the PDU session or on the UPF 1 . The monitoring policy, as well as performing session level usage monitoring on UPF1, triggers SMF to perform step 604.

Step 605: The SMF sends PDR1, PDR2, URR1, and URR2 to the UPF1.

Step 606: UPF1 performs usage monitoring according to PRR1 and PRR1 associated URR1, and performs usage monitoring according to PDR2, PDR1, and PDR1 and PDR2 associated URR2.

Further, the UPF1 performs the usage monitoring according to the URR1 associated with the PDR1 and the PDR1. After the usage monitoring is performed according to the URR2 associated with the PDR2, the PDR1, and the PDR1 and the PDR2, the UPF1 can also report the cumulative usage to the SMF, and the process shown in Figure 4a is performed. .

Step 607: The SMF adds a PSA (such as UPF2) to the PDU session.

The PDU session is a session established on the UPF1, and the UPF1 and the UPF2 are different UPFs, both of which are managed by the SMF.

Specifically, the SMF adds a PSA to the PDU session. The process of adding a PSA to the PDU session is not described. After the SMF adds a PSA to the PDU session, the SMF can save the correspondence between the PDU session and the UPF on the PDU session.

Step 608: The SMF sends an event notification to the PCF to notify the PCF to add a PSA to the PDU session.

The event notification may include an identifier of the UPF2 and an identifier of the PDU session.

The identifier of the UPF2 is used to identify the UPF2, and the identifier of the UPF2 may be the NF ID of the UPF2 or the DNAI of the UPF2, and may also be the IPV6Prefix corresponding to the UPF2, which is not limited.

Step 609: The PCF receives the event notification, determines the usage monitoring of the usage monitoring instance 1 and the usage monitoring instance 2 in the UPF2 according to the preset configuration, allocates the monitoring key 3 to the usage monitoring instance 1, and assigns the monitoring key 4 to the usage monitoring instance 2.

Specifically, the PCF determines, according to the preset configuration, the process of performing the usage monitoring of the usage monitoring instance 1 in the UPF2 and the monitoring of the usage of the usage monitoring instance 2, refer to the foregoing steps 401 and 501, and no further details are provided.

In addition, the PCF can also record the correspondence between the monitoring key_a and the monitoring key1 and the monitoring key3, and the correspondence between the session-level usage monitoring instance and the monitoring key 2 and the monitoring key 4.

Step 610: The PCF formulates the PCC rule 3, the PCC rule 4, the usage monitoring information 3, and the usage monitoring information 4 according to the subscription information of the user.

The usage monitoring information 3 includes [monitoring key3, PCC rule indication, usage threshold threshold3]; the usage monitoring information 4 includes [monitoring key4, session level indication, and usage threshold threshold4]. Specifically, step 610 can be referred to step 602 and will not be described again.

The usage threshold threshold3 can be calculated according to the usage quota in the subscription information of the service data flow level, the cumulative usage amount in the usage data of the service data flow level, and the threshold usage threshold threshold1. For example, threshold3 can be less than or equal to the usage amount. Limit - cumulative usage - threshold1. Similarly, threshold4 can be calculated according to the usage quota in the session-level subscription information, the cumulative usage in the session-level usage information, and the delivered usage threshold threshold2, for example, threshold4 can be less than or equal to the usage quota-cumulative usage- Threshold2. For example, if the usage limit of the usage monitoring instance 1 is 1000M and the cumulative usage is 500M, the usage threshold of the monitoring key1 corresponding to the usage monitoring instance 1 is 100M, and the usage threshold of the monitoring key3 can be less than or equal to 1000M-500M. -100M=400M, if it can be 200M.

It should be noted that step 610 can be performed during the entire lifetime of the PDU session including two PSAs of UPF1 and UPF2.

Step 611: The PCF sends the PCC rule 3, the PCC rule 4, the usage monitoring information 3, and the usage monitoring information 4 to the SMF, and executes the indication of the PCC rule 3 and the PCC rule 4 in the UPF2.

It should be noted that, in step 602, if the PCF does not deliver the policy of performing session-level usage monitoring on all PSAs in the PDU session or the SMF does not configure the policy for performing session-level usage monitoring on all PSAs, then in step 611, the PCF further The instructions for performing session level usage monitoring at UPF2 or performing session level usage monitoring at all PSAs are issued.

Further, the indication that PCC Rule 3 is executed in UPF2 may be carried in PCC Rule 3, and the indication that PCC Rule 4 is executed in UPF2 may be carried in PCC Rule 4.

Step 612: The SMF receives an indication that the PCC rule 3, the PCC rule 4, the usage monitoring information 3, the usage monitoring policy 4, the PCC rule 3, and the PCC rule 4 are executed on the UPF 2.

Step 613: The SMF formulates PDR3 according to PCC Rule 3, formulates PDR4 according to PCC Rule 4, formulates URR3 according to usage monitoring information 3, formulates URR4 according to usage monitoring information 4, and transmits PDR3, PDR4 and its associated URR3, URR4 to UPF2.

The PDR3 includes packet detection information corresponding to the service data flow template in the PCC rule 3. PDR4 includes packet detection information corresponding to the service data flow template in PCC Rule 4. Monitoring key3 corresponds to URR3, URR3 usage threshold threshold3* is less than or equal to threshold3; monitoring key4 corresponds to URR4, URR4 usage threshold threshold4* is less than or equal to threshold4, and URR3 is associated with PDR3, and URR4 is associated with PDR3 and PDR4, ie URR3 is associated with all PDRs executed in UPF2 unless the PDR-matched service data needs to be deducted from session-level usage monitoring.

Specifically, the SMF performs the usage monitoring on the monitoring key 3 on the UPF2 according to the monitoring key 3 in the PCC rule 3 and the indication that the PCC rule 3 is executed on the UPF2, and performs the performing on the PSA included in the PDU session according to the step 602. The indication of the session level usage monitoring determines that after the monitoring of the monitoring key 4 on the UPF2, the SMF is triggered to perform step 613.

It should be noted that when threshold3* is less than threshold3, the SMF can save the remaining amount after threshold3-threshold3*; when threshold4* is less than threshold4, the SMF can save the remaining amount after threshold4-threshold4*.

In addition, in step 613, the SMF also saves the correspondence between the URR and the monitoring key. At this point, the correspondence between the URR and the monitoring key stored in the SMF is: the monitoring key1 corresponds to URR1, the monitoring key2 corresponds to URR2, the monitoring key3 corresponds to URR3, and the monitoring key4 corresponds to URR4.

Step 614: UPF2 performs usage monitoring according to PRR3 and PRR3 associated URR3, and performs usage monitoring according to PDR3, PDR4, and PDR3 and PDR4 associated URR4.

Further, after step 614, the UPF2 may also report the accumulated usage to the SMF, and perform the process shown in FIG. 4a, and details are not described herein.

The solution provided by the embodiment of the present application is mainly introduced from the perspective of interaction between the network elements. It can be understood that, in order to implement the foregoing functions, the foregoing session management network element and the policy control network element include corresponding hardware structures and/or software modules for executing respective functions. Those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that the present application can be implemented in a combination of hardware or hardware and computer software in combination with the elements and algorithm steps of the various examples described in the embodiments disclosed herein. Whether a function is implemented in hardware or computer software to drive hardware depends on the specific application and design constraints of the solution. A person skilled in the art can use different methods to implement the described functions for each particular application, but such implementation should not be considered to be beyond the scope of the present application.

The embodiment of the present application may divide the function module of the session management network element and the policy control network element according to the foregoing method example. For example, each function module may be divided according to each function, or two or more functions may be integrated into one. Processing module. The above integrated modules can be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of software functional modules. It should be noted that the division of the module in the embodiment of the present application is schematic, and is only a logical function division, and the actual implementation may have another division manner.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing a possible composition of a policy control network element involved in the foregoing embodiment, where the policy control network element determines that a PDU session includes a first PSA and The second PSA determines that the first PSA performs usage monitoring of the first usage monitoring instance corresponding to the first monitoring key. As shown in FIG. 7, the policy control network element may include: a determining unit 71, an allocating unit 72, a transmitting unit 73, and a receiving unit 74.

In a possible design, the determining unit 71 is configured to determine that the usage monitoring of the first usage monitoring instance is performed on the second PSA; the allocating unit 72 is configured to allocate a second monitoring key to the first usage monitoring instance; 73. The method is configured to send policy control information to a session management network element.

The policy control information includes a PCC rule and a usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key, where the PCC rule carries a second monitoring key and information for indicating a policy corresponding to the PCC rule on the second PSA; or the policy control information includes the PCC. The rule, the usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key, and the information indicating the policy corresponding to the execution of the PCC rule on the second PSA, the PCC rule carries the second monitoring key.

In another possible design, the determining unit 71 is configured to determine that session level usage monitoring is performed on the second PSA; the allocating unit 72 is configured to allocate a second monitoring key for the session level usage monitoring instance; and the sending unit 73 is configured to: Send policy control information to the session management NE.

The policy control information includes: a usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key, and information used to indicate that session level usage monitoring is performed on the second PSA or on all PSAs included in the PDU session.

In combination with any of the foregoing possible designs, the receiving unit 74 is configured to receive, after the sending unit 73 sends the policy control information to the session management network element, the cumulative value of any monitoring key corresponding to the first usage monitoring instance reported by the session management network element. The determining unit 71 is further configured to determine whether there is an allowable usage threshold corresponding to the first usage monitoring instance, and the sending unit 73 is further configured to send, according to the allowable usage threshold, the session management network element, if the allowable usage threshold is present. a new usage threshold corresponding to a monitoring key; sending a stop notification to the session management network element if the usage threshold is not allowed, wherein the stop notification is used to notify the session management network element to stop the usage reporting rule corresponding to any monitoring key URR usage monitoring. Wherein, any monitoring key is the first monitoring key or the second monitoring key.

It should be noted that all relevant contents of the steps involved in the foregoing method embodiments may be referred to the functional descriptions of the corresponding functional modules, and details are not described herein. The policy control network element provided by the embodiment of the present application is used to execute the foregoing policy control method, so that the same effect as the foregoing policy control method can be achieved.

In the case of an integrated unit, the policy control network element may include a processing module and a communication module, and the processing module is configured to control and manage the action of the policy control network element. The communication module is used to support communication of policy control network elements with other network entities, such as with the functional modules or network entities shown in FIG. The policy control network element may further include a storage module for storing program code and data of the server. The processing module can be a processor or a controller. It is possible to implement or carry out the various illustrative logical blocks, modules and circuits described in connection with the present disclosure. The processor can also be a combination of computing functions, for example, including one or more microprocessor combinations, a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, and the like. The communication module can be a transceiver, a transceiver circuit, or a communication interface. The storage module can be a memory.

When the processing module is a processor, the communication module is a communication interface, and the storage module is a memory, the policy control network element involved in the embodiment of the present application may be the communication device shown in FIG.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing a possible composition of a session management network element involved in the foregoing embodiment, where a PDU session managed by the session management network element includes a first PSA. And the second PSA, the session management network element sends the URR corresponding to the first monitoring key to the first PSA. As shown in FIG. 8, the session management network element may include: a receiving unit 80, a sending unit 81, and a determining unit 82.

In a possible design, the receiving unit 80 is configured to receive the policy control information from the policy control network element, and the sending unit 81 is configured to send, to the second PSA, the first PDR corresponding to the PCC rule and the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key. The first PDR carries the identifier of the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key;

The second monitoring key and the first monitoring key correspond to the same usage monitoring instance. The policy control information includes a PCC rule and a usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key, and the PCC rule carries a second monitoring key and information for indicating a policy corresponding to the PCC rule on the second PSA; or the policy control information includes a PCC rule, The PCC rule carries a second monitoring key, which is used to indicate the policy of the policy corresponding to the PCC rule on the second PSA and the usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key.

In combination with the possible design, the determining unit 82 is configured to determine, according to the service data flow template in the PCC rule, before the sending unit 81 sends the first PDR corresponding to the PCC rule and the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key to the second PSA. A PDR packet detection information, and a URR for the second monitoring key.

In another possible design, the receiving unit 80 is configured to receive policy control information from the policy control network element, where the policy control information includes: a usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key, and is used to indicate the second PSA. Or the information of the session level usage monitoring performed on all the PSAs included in the PDU session; the sending unit 81 is configured to send the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key to the second PSA.

In combination with any of the foregoing possible designs, the receiving unit 80 is further configured to: after the sending unit 81 sends the first packet detection rule PDR corresponding to the PCC rule and the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key to the second PSA, the receiving the PDU session includes The sending unit 81 is further configured to report the cumulative usage of the monitoring key to the policy control network element, or the cumulative usage of the URR reported by any PSA; or

The receiving unit 80 is further configured to: after the sending unit 81 sends the first packet detection rule PDR corresponding to the PCC rule and the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key to the second PSA, receive the cumulative usage of the URR of any PSA report included in the PDU session. The determining unit 82 is further configured to determine whether there is a remaining usage threshold corresponding to the monitoring key, and if there is a remaining usage threshold, update the usage threshold of the URR reported by any PSA according to the remaining usage threshold; the sending unit 81, It is also used to report the cumulative usage of the monitoring key to the policy control network element without the remaining usage threshold; wherein the monitoring key is the monitoring key corresponding to the URR reported by any PSA, and the cumulative usage of the monitoring key includes any The cumulative amount of URR reported by the PSA; either PSA is the first PSA or the second PSA.

It should be noted that all relevant contents of the steps involved in the foregoing method embodiments may be referred to the functional descriptions of the corresponding functional modules, and details are not described herein. The session management network element provided by the embodiment of the present application is used to execute the foregoing policy control method, so that the same effect as the above policy control method can be achieved.

In the case of an integrated unit, the session management network element may include a processing module and a communication module, and the processing module is configured to control and manage the action of the session management network element. The communication module is used to support communication between the session management network element and other network entities, such as communication with the functional modules or network entities shown in FIG. The session management network element may further include a storage module for storing program code and data of the session management network element. The processing module can be a processor or a controller. It is possible to implement or carry out the various illustrative logical blocks, modules and circuits described in connection with the present disclosure. The processor can also be a combination of computing functions, for example, including one or more microprocessor combinations, a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, and the like. The communication module can be a transceiver, a transceiver circuit, or a communication interface. The storage module can be a memory. When the processing module is a processor, the communication module is a communication interface, and the storage module is a memory, the session management network element involved in the embodiment of the present application may be the communication device shown in FIG.

In the above embodiments, it may be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented using a software program, it may be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer program instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the processes or functions described in accordance with embodiments of the present application are generated in whole or in part. The computer can be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable device. The computer instructions can be stored in a computer readable storage medium or transferred from one computer readable storage medium to another computer readable storage medium, for example, the computer instructions can be from a website site, computer, server or data center Transmission to another website site, computer, server or data center via wired (eg coaxial cable, fiber optic, digital subscriber line (DSL)) or wireless (eg infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.). The computer readable storage medium can be any available media that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device that includes one or more servers, data centers, etc. that can be integrated with the media. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium (eg, a floppy disk, a hard disk, a magnetic tape), an optical medium (eg, a DVD), or a semiconductor medium (such as a solid state disk (SSD)) or the like.

Although the present application has been described herein in connection with the various embodiments, those skilled in the art can Other variations of the disclosed embodiments are achieved. In the claims, the word "comprising" does not exclude other components or steps, and "a" or "an" does not exclude a plurality. A single processor or other unit may fulfill several of the functions recited in the claims. Certain measures are recited in mutually different dependent claims, but this does not mean that the measures are not combined to produce a good effect.

While the present invention has been described in connection with the specific embodiments and embodiments thereof, various modifications and combinations can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the application. Accordingly, the description and drawings are to be regarded as It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and changes can be made in the present application without departing from the spirit and scope of the application. Thus, it is intended that the present invention cover the modifications and variations of the present invention.

Claims

A policy control method, the policy control network element determines that a protocol data unit PDU session includes a first PDU session anchor PSA and a second PSA, and the policy control network element determines that the first PSA performs a first monitoring key monitoring key corresponding to The usage monitoring of the first usage monitoring instance; characterized in that the method comprises:

The policy control network element determines to perform usage monitoring on the first usage monitoring instance on the second PSA;

The policy control network element allocates a second monitoring key to the first usage monitoring instance;

The policy control network element sends the policy control information to the session management network element, where the policy control information includes a policy charging control PCC rule and a usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key; the PCC rule carries the first And a second monitoring key and information for indicating a policy corresponding to the PCC rule being executed on the second PSA.
The method of claim 1 wherein

The usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key is based on the usage quota of the first usage monitoring instance that is subscribed by the user, the cumulative usage of the first usage monitoring instance, and the first that the policy control network element has delivered. The usage threshold of the monitoring key corresponding to the usage monitoring instance is determined.
The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the method further comprises:

The policy control network element stores a correspondence between the first usage monitoring instance and the first monitoring key and the second monitoring key.
The method according to any one of claims 1-3, wherein after the policy control network element sends the policy control information to the session management network element, the method further includes:

The policy control network element receives the cumulative usage of any monitoring key corresponding to the first usage monitoring instance reported by the session management network element;

The policy control network element determines whether there is an allowable usage threshold corresponding to the first usage monitoring instance; if the allowed usage threshold is present, the policy control network element manages the session according to the allowed usage threshold The network element sends a new usage threshold corresponding to any of the monitoring keys; in the case that the threshold is not allowed, the policy control network element sends a stop notification to the session management network element, where the stop notification is sent And configured to notify the session management network element to stop monitoring usage of any one of the monitoring keys;

The any monitoring key is the first monitoring key or the second monitoring key.
The method of claim 4 wherein:

When the policy control network element receives the cumulative usage of the first monitoring key reported by the session management network element, the policy control network element further receives the identifier of the first PSA sent by the session management network element. ;

When the policy control network element receives the cumulative usage of the second monitoring key reported by the session management network element, the policy control network element further receives the identifier of the second PSA sent by the session management network element. .
A policy control method, a protocol data unit PDU session managed by a session management network element includes a first PDU session anchor PSA and a second PSA, and the session management network element sends a first monitoring key to the first PSA. Corresponding usage reporting rule URR; characterized in that the method comprises:

The session management network element receives the policy control information from the policy control network element, where the policy control information includes a policy charging control PCC rule and a usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key; wherein the PCC rule carries the a second monitoring key and information indicating a policy corresponding to the PCC rule on the second PSA, where the second monitoring key and the first monitoring key correspond to the same usage monitoring instance;

The session management network element sends, to the second PSA, a first packet detection rule PDR corresponding to the PCC rule and a URR corresponding to the second monitoring key, where the first monitoring key carries the second monitoring key Corresponding URR logo.
The method according to claim 6, wherein before the session management network element sends the first packet detection rule PDR corresponding to the PCC rule and the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key to the second PSA The method further includes:

The session management network element determines packet detection information of the first PDR according to the service data flow template in the PCC rule, and determines a URR for the second monitoring key.
Method according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that

The usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key is based on the usage quota of the first usage monitoring instance that is subscribed by the user, the cumulative usage of the first usage monitoring instance, and the first that the policy control network element has delivered. The usage threshold of the monitoring key corresponding to the usage monitoring instance is determined.
The method according to any one of claims 6-8, wherein the session management network element sends the first packet detection rule PDR and the second monitoring key corresponding to the PCC rule to the second PSA. After the corresponding URR, the method further includes:

The session management network element receives the cumulative usage of the URR of any PSA report included in the PDU session, and the session management network element reports the cumulative usage of the monitoring key to the policy control network element; or

The session management network element receives the cumulative usage of the URR of any PSA report included in the PDU session, and the session management network element determines whether there is a remaining usage threshold corresponding to the monitoring key; In the case of the threshold, the session management network element updates the usage threshold of the URR reported by any of the PSAs according to the remaining usage threshold; if there is no remaining usage threshold, the session management network element The policy control network element reports the cumulative usage of the monitoring key;

The monitoring key is a monitoring key corresponding to the URR reported by any of the PSAs, and the cumulative usage of the monitoring key includes the cumulative usage of the URR reported by any one of the PSAs; A PSA or the second PSA.
The method according to claim 9, wherein when the session management network element reports the cumulative usage of the monitoring key to the policy control network element, the method further includes:

The session management network element sends the identifier of any one of the PSAs to the policy control network element.
The method according to claim 9 or 10, wherein the method further comprises:

The session management network element receives a new usage threshold of the monitoring key sent by the policy control network element; or the session management network element receives a stop notification sent by the policy control network element, to the Any PSA sends a delete request or a stop request, where the delete request is used to request the PSA to delete the URR corresponding to the monitoring key, and the stop request is used to request the any PSA to stop the monoring The usage of the URR corresponding to the key is monitored.
A method according to any one of claims 9-11, wherein

The remaining usage threshold is a usage threshold that is not allocated to the URR in the usage threshold corresponding to the monitoring key received by the session management network element from the policy management network element.
A policy control network element, wherein the policy control network element determines that a protocol data unit PDU session includes a first PDU session anchor PSA and a second PSA, and the policy control network element determines that the first PSA performs a first monitoring key The monitoring of the usage of the first usage monitoring instance corresponding to the monitoring key; wherein the policy control network element includes:

a determining unit, configured to perform performing usage monitoring on the first usage monitoring instance on the second PSA;

An allocating unit, configured to allocate a second monitoring key to the first usage monitoring instance;

a sending unit, configured to send policy control information to the session management network element, where the policy control information includes a policy charging control PCC rule and a usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key; the PCC rule carries the second A monitoring key and information for indicating a policy corresponding to the execution of the PCC rule on the second PSA.
The policy control network element according to claim 13, wherein

The usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key is based on the usage quota of the first usage monitoring instance that is subscribed by the user, the cumulative usage of the first usage monitoring instance, and the first that the policy control network element has delivered. The usage threshold of the monitoring key corresponding to the usage monitoring instance is determined.
The policy control network element according to claim 13 or 14, wherein

The allocating unit is further configured to save a correspondence between the first usage monitoring instance and the first monitoring key and the second monitoring key.
The policy control network element according to any one of claims 13 to 15, wherein the policy control network element further includes:

a receiving unit, configured to receive, after the sending unit sends the policy control information to the session management network element, the cumulative usage of any monitoring key corresponding to the first usage monitoring instance reported by the session management network element;

The determining unit is further configured to determine whether there is an allowable usage threshold corresponding to the first usage monitoring instance;

The sending unit is further configured to send, according to the allowable usage threshold, a new usage threshold corresponding to any of the monitoring keys according to the allowed usage threshold, if the allowed usage threshold is present; When the usage threshold is allowed, the stop notification is sent to the session management network element, where the stop notification is used to notify the session management network element to stop monitoring the usage of the any monitoring key;

The any monitoring key is the first monitoring key or the second monitoring key.
The policy control network element according to claim 16, wherein

The receiving unit is further configured to receive an identifier of the first PSA sent by the session management network element, when the receiving unit receives the cumulative usage of the first monitoring key reported by the session management network element;

The receiving unit is further configured to receive the identifier of the second PSA sent by the session management network element, when the receiving unit receives the cumulative usage of the second monitoring key reported by the session management network element.
A session management network element, the protocol data unit PDU session managed by the session management network element includes a first PDU session anchor point PSA and a second PSA, and the session management network element sends a first monitoring to the first PSA The usage-receiving rule URR corresponding to the key monitoring key is characterized in that: the session management network element includes:

a receiving unit, configured to receive policy control information from a policy control network element, where the policy control information includes a policy charging control PCC rule and a usage threshold corresponding to a second monitoring key; wherein the PCC rule carries the a second monitoring key and information indicating a policy corresponding to the PCC rule on the second PSA, where the second monitoring key and the first monitoring key correspond to the same usage monitoring instance;

a sending unit, configured to send, to the second PSA, a first packet detection rule PDR corresponding to the PCC rule and a URR corresponding to the second monitoring key, where the first PDR carries the second monitoring key The URR logo.
The session management network element according to claim 18, wherein the session management network element further comprises:

a determining unit, configured to: according to the service data in the PCC rule, before the sending unit sends the first packet detection rule PDR corresponding to the PCC rule and the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key to the second PSA The flow template determines packet detection information of the first PDR, and determines a URR for the second monitoring key.
A session management network element according to claim 18 or 19, characterized in that

The usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key is based on the usage quota of the first usage monitoring instance that is subscribed by the user, the cumulative usage of the first usage monitoring instance, and the first that the policy control network element has delivered. The usage threshold of the monitoring key corresponding to the usage monitoring instance is determined.
A session management network element according to any one of claims 19-20, characterized in that

The receiving unit is further configured to: after the sending unit sends the first packet detection rule PDR corresponding to the PCC rule and the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key to the second PSA, receiving the PDU session includes: The cumulative usage of the URR reported by any of the PSAs; the sending unit is further configured to report the cumulative usage of the monitoring key to the policy control network element; or

The receiving unit is further configured to: after the sending unit sends the first packet detection rule PDR corresponding to the PCC rule and the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key to the second PSA, receiving the PDU session includes: The determining unit is further configured to determine whether there is a remaining usage threshold corresponding to the monitoring key, and if the remaining usage threshold is present, according to the remaining The usage threshold is used to update the usage threshold of the URR of any one of the PSAs, and the sending unit is further configured to report the cumulative usage of the monitoring key to the policy control network element without the remaining usage threshold. ;

The monitoring key is a monitoring key corresponding to the URR reported by any of the PSAs, and the cumulative usage of the monitoring key includes the cumulative usage of the URR reported by any one of the PSAs; A PSA or the second PSA.
The session management network element according to claim 21, wherein when the sending unit reports the cumulative usage of the monitoring key to the policy control network element, the sending unit is further configured to use the policy The control network element sends the identifier of any of the PSAs.
A session management network element according to claim 21 or 22, wherein

The receiving unit is further configured to receive a new usage threshold of the monitoring key sent by the policy control network element; or the receiving unit is further configured to receive a stop notification sent by the policy control network element, where The sending unit is further configured to send a delete request or a stop request to the any PSA, where the delete request is used to request the any PSA to delete the URR corresponding to the monitoring key, and the stop request is used by the sending request. The usage of the URR corresponding to the monoring key is stopped at any one of the PSAs requested.
A session management network element according to any one of claims 21 to 23, characterized in that

The remaining usage threshold is a usage threshold that is not allocated to the URR in the usage threshold corresponding to the monitoring key received by the session management network element from the policy management network element.
A policy control method, the policy control network element determines that a protocol data unit PDU session includes a first PDU session anchor PSA and a second PSA, and the policy control network element determines that the first monitoring key is performed on the first PSA. The usage monitoring of the corresponding session-level usage monitoring instance; the method includes:

The policy control network element determines to perform session level usage monitoring on the second PSA;

The policy control network element allocates a second monitoring key to the session level usage monitoring instance;

The policy control network element sends policy control information to the session management network element, where the policy control information includes: a usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key, and is used to indicate on the second PSA or the Information for performing session level usage monitoring on all PSAs included in the PDU session.
The method of claim 25 wherein:

The usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key is based on the usage quota of the first usage monitoring instance that is subscribed by the user, the cumulative usage of the first usage monitoring instance, and the first that the policy control network element has delivered. The usage threshold of the monitoring key corresponding to the usage monitoring instance is determined.
The method according to any one of claims 25 or 26, wherein after the policy control network element sends the policy control information to the session management network element, the method further includes:

The policy control network element receives the cumulative usage of any monitoring key corresponding to the first usage monitoring instance reported by the session management network element;

The policy control network element determines whether there is an allowable usage threshold corresponding to the first usage monitoring instance; if the allowed usage threshold is present, the policy control network element manages the session according to the allowed usage threshold The network element sends a new usage threshold corresponding to any of the monitoring keys; in the case that the threshold is not allowed, the policy control network element sends a stop notification to the session management network element, where the stop notification is sent And configured to notify the session management network element to stop monitoring usage of any one of the monitoring keys;

The any monitoring key is the first monitoring key or the second monitoring key.
A policy control method, a protocol data unit PDU session managed by a session management network element includes a first PDU session anchor PSA and a second PSA, and the session management network element sends a first monitoring key to the first PSA. Corresponding usage reporting rule URR, the first monitoring key corresponding to the session-level usage monitoring instance; and the method includes:

The session management network element receives the policy control information from the policy control network element, where the policy control information includes: a usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key, and is used to indicate that the second PSA or the Information about performing session level usage monitoring on all PSAs included in the PDU session;

Transmitting, by the session management network element, a URR corresponding to the second monitoring key to the second PSA, where the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key is associated with at least one packet detection rule PDR performed by the second PSA, The business data matched by each PDR is included in the session level usage monitoring.
The method of claim 28 wherein:

The usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key is based on the usage quota of the first usage monitoring instance that is subscribed by the user, the cumulative usage of the first usage monitoring instance, and the first that the policy control network element has delivered. The usage threshold of the monitoring key corresponding to the usage monitoring instance is determined.
The method according to any one of claims 28 or 29, wherein after the session management network element sends the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key to the second PSA, the method further includes:

The session management network element receives the cumulative usage of the URR of any PSA report included in the PDU session, and the session management network element reports the cumulative usage of the monitoring key to the policy control network element; or

The session management network element receives the cumulative usage of the URR of any PSA report included in the PDU session, and the session management network element determines whether there is a remaining usage threshold corresponding to the monitoring key; In the case of the threshold, the session management network element updates the usage threshold of the URR reported by any of the PSAs according to the remaining usage threshold; if there is no remaining usage threshold, the session management network element The policy control network element reports the cumulative usage of the monitoring key;

The monitoring key is a monitoring key corresponding to the URR reported by any of the PSAs, and the cumulative usage of the monitoring key includes the cumulative usage of the URR reported by any one of the PSAs; A PSA or the second PSA.
A policy control network element, the policy control network element determining that a protocol data unit PDU session includes a first PDU session anchor point PSA and a second PSA, and the policy control network element determines that the first monitoring is performed on the first PSA The usage monitoring of the session-level usage monitoring instance corresponding to the key monitoring key is characterized in that the policy control network element includes:

a determining unit, configured to determine to perform session level usage monitoring on the second PSA;

An allocating unit, configured to allocate a second monitoring key to the session-level usage monitoring instance;

a sending unit, configured to send policy control information to the session management network element, where the policy control information includes: a usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key, and configured to indicate on the second PSA or in the Information for performing session level usage monitoring on all PSAs included in the PDU session.
The policy control network element according to claim 31, wherein

The usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key is based on the usage quota of the first usage monitoring instance that is subscribed by the user, the cumulative usage of the first usage monitoring instance, and the first that the policy control network element has delivered. The usage threshold of the monitoring key corresponding to the usage monitoring instance is determined.
The policy control network element according to any one of claims 31 or 32, wherein the policy control network element further comprises:

a receiving unit, configured to receive, after the sending unit sends the policy control information to the session management network element, the cumulative usage of any monitoring key corresponding to the first usage monitoring instance reported by the session management network element;

The determining unit is further configured to determine whether there is an allowable usage threshold corresponding to the first usage monitoring instance, and the sending unit is further configured to: according to the allowable usage threshold, if the allowed usage threshold is present The session management network element sends a new usage threshold corresponding to any of the monitoring keys; and if the allowed usage threshold is not, sends a stop notification to the session management network element, where the stop notification is used for Notifying the session management network element to stop monitoring usage of any of the monitoring keys;

The any monitoring key is the first monitoring key or the second monitoring key.
A session management network element, the protocol data unit PDU session managed by the session management network element includes a first PDU session anchor point PSA and a second PSA, and the session management network element sends a first monitoring to the first PSA The usage-receiving rule URR corresponding to the key monitoring key is characterized in that: the session management network element includes:

a receiving unit, configured to receive the policy control information from the policy control network element, where the policy control information includes: a usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key, and configured to indicate on the second PSA or the Information for performing session level usage monitoring on all PSAs included in the PDU session;

And a sending unit, configured to send, to the second PSA, a URR corresponding to the second monitoring key.
A session management network element according to claim 34, wherein

The usage threshold corresponding to the second monitoring key is based on the usage quota of the first usage monitoring instance that is subscribed by the user, the cumulative usage of the first usage monitoring instance, and the first that the policy control network element has delivered. The usage threshold of the monitoring key corresponding to the usage monitoring instance is determined.
A session management network element according to any one of claims 34 or 35,

The receiving unit is further configured to: after the sending unit sends the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key to the second PSA, receive a cumulative usage of the URR of any PSA report included in the PDU session, The sending unit is further configured to report the cumulative usage of the monitoring key to the policy control network element; or

The receiving unit is further configured to: after the sending unit sends the URR corresponding to the second monitoring key to the second PSA, receive a cumulative usage of the URR of any PSA report included in the PDU session, The session management network element further includes: a determining unit, configured to determine whether there is a remaining usage threshold corresponding to the monitoring key; and if the remaining usage threshold exists, updating any one of the remaining usage thresholds The usage threshold of the URR reported by the PSA; if there is no such remaining usage threshold, the cumulative usage of the monitoring key is reported to the policy control network element by the sending unit;

The monitoring key is a monitoring key corresponding to the URR reported by any of the PSAs, and the cumulative usage of the monitoring key includes the cumulative usage of the URR reported by any one of the PSAs; A PSA or the second PSA.
A policy control network element, comprising: a memory and a processor coupled to the memory;

The memory stores program instructions, and when the processor executes the program instructions, causes the policy control network element to perform the method of any of the above claims 1-5.
A session management network element, comprising: a memory and a processor coupled to the memory;

The memory stores program instructions, and when the processor executes the program instructions, causes the session management network element to perform the method of any of the preceding claims 6-12.
A policy control network element, comprising: a memory and a processor coupled to the memory;

The memory stores program instructions, and when the processor executes the program instructions, causes the policy control network element to perform the method of any one of the preceding claims 25-27.
A session management network element, comprising: a memory and a processor coupled to the memory;

The memory stores program instructions, and when the processor executes the program instructions, causes the session management network element to perform the method of any of the preceding claims 28-30.
A computer storage medium, comprising instructions that, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any of claims 1-5.
A computer storage medium, comprising instructions that, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any of claims 6-12.
A computer storage medium characterized by comprising instructions which, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 25-27.
A computer storage medium characterized by comprising instructions which, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 28-30.
A policy control system, comprising the policy control network element according to any one of claims 13-17 and the session management network element according to any one of claims 18-24.
A policy control system, comprising the policy control network element according to any one of claims 31-33 and the session management network element according to any one of claims 34-36.