WO2022126631A1

WO2022126631A1 - Method, apparatus and system for registering to multiple networks

Info

Publication number: WO2022126631A1
Application number: PCT/CN2020/137703
Authority: WO
Inventors: 孙海洋; 朱方园; 李岩
Original assignee: 华为技术有限公司
Priority date: 2020-12-18
Filing date: 2020-12-18
Publication date: 2022-06-23
Also published as: CN116762399A

Abstract

Embodiments of the present application provide a method, apparatus and system for registering to multiple networks. The method comprises: a network device or a terminal device determines, according to information of multiple network slices to be accessed by the terminal device, the multiple networks supporting the multiple network slices to be accessed by the terminal device, and then the terminal device can register to the multiple networks. The multiple networks may be multiple public land mobile networks (PLMNs), or may be multiple sub-networks in one PLMN, such as non-public networks (NPNs). By means of the method, the terminal device can access the multiple network slices by registering to the multiple networks, thereby satisfying the requirements of the network slices desired by the terminal device, better providing services for users, and improving the user experience.

Description

Method, apparatus and system for registering to multiple networks

technical field

The present application relates to the field of communications, and in particular, to a method, apparatus and system for registering with multiple networks.

Background technique

In the 5th generation (5G) mobile communication system, different types of application scenarios have different network requirements, and some even conflict with each other. Providing services for different types of application scenarios at the same time through a single network will result in complex network architecture, low network management efficiency, and low resource utilization efficiency. Network slicing technology can provide isolated network environments for different application scenarios by establishing virtual independent logical networks on the same network infrastructure, so that different application scenarios can customize network functions and features according to their own needs. In order to ensure the quality of service (QoS) requirements of different services. That is, through network slicing technology, a physical network is divided into multiple virtual networks. A virtual network is regarded as a "network slice", each network slice is independent of each other, and each network slice customizes and manages network functions according to the requirements of the application scenario. Therefore, a network slice corresponds to one or more specific services.

A public land mobile network (PLMN) is a network established and operated by operators to provide land mobile communication services to the public. The network slices supported by different PLMNs may be the same or different. In a roaming scenario, a user equipment (UE) moves from a home public land mobile network (HPLMN) to a visited public land mobile network (VPLMN). Since the network slices supported by HPLMN may not be exactly the same as those supported by VPLMN, and the UE expects to access multiple different network slices to obtain services of various types of services, the UE can use multiple network slices in HPLMN One of the network slices may no longer be available in this VPLMN. In this way, the UE cannot use all expected types of services, which reduces the user experience.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This application describes a method, apparatus and system for registering with multiple networks.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for registering with multiple networks, and the method is executed by a network device. The method includes: the network device acquires information of multiple network slices that the terminal device requests to access; the network device determines multiple networks associated with the multiple network slices, wherein each network slice in the multiple network slices is accessed by multiple network slices Supported by at least one network in the network; the network device sends information associated with multiple networks to the terminal device, and the information associated with the multiple networks is used for the terminal device to register with the multiple networks. According to the above solution, the network device determines multiple networks that can support the multiple network slices requested for access, and sends information associated with the multiple networks to the terminal device, so that the terminal device can register with the multiple networks, through the registered to the multiple networks. Multiple networks are used to use multiple network slices requested by the terminal device to access, so as to meet the requirements of the network slice expected to be used by the terminal device, better provide services for users, and improve user experience.

For example, multiple networks may refer to multiple PLMNs. For example, the above method can be applied to a scenario where the terminal device moves out of the HPLMN, which can be understood as a roaming scenario or a cross-PLMN scenario. Different PLMNs in the roaming place support different network slices. Through the above method, the terminal device can register with multiple PLMNs, and use multiple network slices that the terminal device requests to access through the multiple PLMNs. Alternatively, the multiple networks may refer to multiple subnets under one PLMN, for example, the subnets may refer to a non-public network NPN. The multiple subnets may be multiple subnets under the HPLMN, or may be multiple subnets under the VPLMN. Different subnets under an HPLMN or a VPLMN support different network slices. Through the above method, a terminal device can register with multiple subnets, and use multiple network slices that the terminal device requests to access through the multiple subnets. The above description is also applicable to the methods provided in other aspects of this application, and will not be repeated here.

"Registering to multiple networks" can be understood as "registering to multiple networks at the same time". "Concurrently" does not limit the terminal device to perform the action of registering to multiple networks at the same time. The terminal device can first register with the first network among the multiple networks, and then register with other networks among the multiple networks. When connecting to other networks in the plurality of networks, the terminal device remains registered in the first network. The above description is also applicable to the methods provided in other aspects of this application, and will not be repeated here.

For example, the network device may be a unified data management UDM appliance. The UDM apparatus may receive the information of the above-mentioned multiple network slices from the terminal equipment through the mobility management AMF apparatus, and send the information associated with the multiple networks to the terminal equipment through the AMF apparatus.

In a possible implementation manner, the method further includes: the network device receives capability information of the terminal device from the terminal device, where the capability information indicates that the terminal device has the capability of registering with multiple networks.

In a possible implementation manner, the network device determines multiple networks associated with multiple network slices, including: the network device obtains corresponding information, and the corresponding information is used to indicate the network to which the terminal device is allowed to register and the network to which the terminal device is allowed to register. The network slices supported by each network in ; the network device determines multiple networks associated with the multiple network slices according to the corresponding information and the information of the multiple network slices that the terminal device requests to access. That is to say, the network device acquires the network to which the terminal device is allowed to register and information about the network slices supported by each network in the network to which the terminal device is allowed to register, and then the network device obtains information about the multiple network slices that the terminal device requests to access according to the information to determine a plurality of networks, each of the plurality of network slices being supported by at least one of the plurality of networks.

Or, in another possible implementation manner, the network device determines multiple networks associated with multiple network slices, including: the network device sends the multiple network slices that the terminal device requests to access to the roaming preference application function SOR-AF apparatus information; the network equipment receives roaming preferred SOR information from the SOR-AF device, and the network equipment determines multiple networks according to the SOR information. That is to say, the SOR-AF apparatus determines multiple networks according to the information of multiple network slices that the terminal device requests to access, and feeds it back to the network device by means of SOR information. For example, this embodiment can be applied to the above-mentioned roaming scenario.

In a possible implementation manner, the above method further includes: the network device determines information associated with multiple networks, wherein the information associated with multiple networks indicates the multiple networks, or, when multiple networks include the terminal device currently registered the first network, the information associated with the multiple networks may also indicate information of at least one network in the multiple networks except the first network. That is, after the network device determines the multiple networks associated with the multiple network slices, the network currently registered by the terminal device can be removed to determine the information associated with the multiple networks. With this embodiment, the information of multiple networks is simplified.

In a possible implementation manner, the network device determining multiple networks associated with the multiple network slices includes: the network device determining a network set, where the network set includes the foregoing multiple networks. Then, the network device sends information of a network set including multiple networks to the terminal device, and the terminal device can satisfy the multiple network slices that the terminal device requests to access by registering with the multiple networks in the network set.

In another possible implementation manner, the network device determines multiple networks associated with multiple network slices, including: the network device determines multiple network sets, wherein each of the multiple network slices that the terminal device requests to access Network slicing is supported by at least one of the multiple networks in each of the multiple network sets, in other words, each network set in the multiple network sets includes multiple Multiple networks for network slicing. The network device may select one network set from multiple network sets as the determined multiple networks and send it to the terminal device. Alternatively, the network device may send multiple network sets that meet the conditions to the terminal device, where the multiple network sets include the network sets where the multiple networks to which the terminal device finally registers are located. For example, the network set where the multiple networks to which the terminal device is finally registered is located is the network set with the highest priority among the multiple network sets. Alternatively, when the network device sends information including multiple network sets that meet the conditions to the terminal device, the terminal device selects a network set that meets the conditions, and registers with the networks in the network set.

In a possible implementation manner, the network device sending information associated with multiple networks to the terminal device includes: the network device sending SOR information to the terminal device, where the SOR information includes information associated with multiple networks. That is, after the network device determines the multiple networks associated with the multiple network slices, the multiple networks associated with the multiple network slices are included in the SOR information, and the network device sends the terminal device through the SOR information the multiple networks associated with the multiple networks. information. For example, this implementation is suitable for roaming scenarios.

In a possible implementation manner, the method further includes: the network device sends, to the terminal device, indication information for registering with multiple networks, where the indication information is used to instruct the terminal device to register with multiple networks.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for registering with multiple networks, and the method is executed by a terminal device. The method includes: the terminal device sends information of multiple network slices that the terminal device requests to access to the network device; the terminal device receives information from the network device of multiple networks associated with the multiple network slices, wherein the multiple network slices are Each network slice is supported by at least one of the multiple networks; the terminal device registers with at least one of the multiple networks according to the information of the multiple networks. For example, if the terminal device has been registered to the first network of the multiple networks, the terminal device is registered to at least one network of the multiple networks except the first network; or, the terminal device is registered to the multiple networks. Regardless of the method, the terminal device eventually registers with the above-mentioned multiple networks. According to the above solution, the terminal device registers with the multiple networks according to the information received from the multiple networks, and uses the multiple network slices that the terminal device requests to access through the multiple networks registered to the multiple networks, so as to meet the expected use of the terminal device. meet the needs of network slicing, better serve users and improve user experience.

For the multiple networks, reference may be made to the description of the multiple networks in the first aspect, which is not repeated here.

For example, the network device may be a unified data management UDM appliance. The terminal device can send the information of multiple network slices for which access is requested to the UDM device through the AMF device, and can also receive the information of the above-mentioned multiple networks from the UDM device through the mobility management AMF device.

In a possible implementation manner, the method further includes: the terminal device sends capability information of the terminal device to the network device, where the capability information indicates that the terminal device has the capability of registering with multiple networks.

In a possible implementation manner, the terminal device receives information of multiple networks associated with multiple network slices from the network device, including: the terminal device receives roaming preference SOR information from the network device, where the SOR information includes information of multiple networks. That is, the terminal device can receive information of multiple networks associated with multiple network slices from the network device in the form of receiving SOR information. For example, this implementation is suitable for roaming scenarios. Further, the terminal device registers with at least one of the multiple networks according to the information of the multiple networks, including: the terminal device updates the operator-controlled selector or assists in updating the user-controlled selector according to the SOR information; The operator-controlled selector or the user-controlled selector is registered with at least one of the plurality of networks.

In a possible implementation manner, the method further includes: the terminal device receives, from the network device, indication information for registering with multiple networks, where the indication information is used to instruct the terminal device to register with multiple networks.

In a possible implementation manner, the terminal device receiving information of multiple networks associated with multiple network slices from the network device includes: the terminal device receiving multiple network sets from the network device, the multiple network sets including the first network set, The first set of networks includes a plurality of networks. Further, registering the terminal device with at least one of the multiple networks according to the information of the multiple networks includes: the terminal device selects the first network set from the multiple network sets, and according to the information of the multiple networks in the first network set, Register with at least one of the multiple networks. For example, the first network set is the network set with the highest priority among the plurality of network sets.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for registering with multiple networks, and the method is executed by a terminal device. The method includes: the terminal device receives first information from the network device, where the first information is used to indicate the network set and network slices supported by each network in the network set, or in other words, the first information includes the network set and each network in the network set The association of network slices supported by the network. The terminal device selects, from the network set, multiple networks associated with multiple network slices to be accessed by the terminal device, wherein each network slice in the multiple network slices is supported by at least one of the multiple networks; The terminal device is registered with at least one of the multiple networks. For example, if the terminal device has been registered to the first network of the multiple networks, the terminal device is registered to at least one network of the multiple networks except the first network; or, the terminal device is registered to the multiple networks. Regardless of the method, the terminal device eventually registers with the above-mentioned multiple networks. According to the above solution, the terminal device selects multiple networks and registers with the multiple networks, and uses the multiple network slices to be accessed by the terminal device through the multiple networks registered to, so as to meet the requirements of the network slices expected to be used by the terminal device. requirements, better serve users, and improve user experience.

For example, the network device may be a unified data management UDM appliance. The terminal device may receive the above-mentioned first information from the UDM device through the mobility management AMF device.

In a possible implementation manner, optionally, the method further includes: the terminal device sends capability information of the terminal device to the network device, where the capability information indicates that the terminal device has the capability of registering with multiple networks.

In a possible implementation manner, optionally, the method further includes: the terminal device sends, to the network device, information of multiple network slices that the terminal device requests to access.

In a possible implementation manner, the terminal device receiving the first information from the network device includes: the terminal device receiving the roaming preference SOR information from the network device, and the SOR information includes the above-mentioned first information, that is, the SOR information includes the network set and the network set. The association of network slices supported by each network in . That is to say, the terminal device can not only directly receive the network set and the association relationship of the network slices supported by each network in the network set from the network device, but in another implementation manner, the network set and the networks supported by each network in the network set The association relationship of slices can be presented in the form of SOR information. For example, this implementation is suitable for roaming scenarios. Further, the terminal device selects multiple networks associated with multiple network slices to be accessed by the terminal device from the network set, including: the terminal device updates the operator-controlled selector or assistant according to the first information in the SOR information. Update the selector controlled by the user; the terminal device selects multiple networks according to the updated selector controlled by the operator or the selector controlled by the user.

In a possible implementation manner, each network in the network set is a network to which the terminal device is allowed to register.

Or, in another possible implementation manner, if the terminal device sends information about multiple network slices that the terminal device requests to access to the network device, the received first information does not support requesting access with the terminal device. The network of any one of the multiple network slices can be removed. That is, each network in the network set supports at least one network slice among the multiple network slices that the terminal device requests to access.

In a possible implementation manner, the method further includes: the terminal device receiving, from the network device, indication information indicating that the terminal device is registered with multiple networks.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for registering with multiple networks, and the method is executed by a network device. The method includes: the network device obtains information of multiple network slices requested to be accessed by the terminal device; the network device determines first information according to the information of the multiple network slices requested to be accessed by the terminal device, where the first information is used to indicate a network set and Network slices supported by each network in the network set, wherein each network in the network set supports at least one network slice among the multiple network slices that the terminal device requests to access. The network device sends the first information to the terminal device, where the first information is used for the terminal device to register with multiple networks in the network set. According to the above solution, the network device determines a network set capable of supporting at least one network slice among the multiple network slices requested by the terminal device to access, and sends the network set and the network slice supported by each network in the network set to the terminal device. After the terminal device receives the first information, it registers with the network in the network set according to the first information, and uses multiple network slices to be accessed by the terminal device through the multiple networks registered to it, so as to achieve the network that the terminal device expects to use The demand for slicing can better serve users and improve user experience.

For example, the network device may be a unified data management UDM appliance. The UDM apparatus may receive information of multiple network slices requested to be accessed by the terminal equipment from the terminal equipment through the mobility management AMF apparatus, and send the first information to the terminal equipment through the AMF apparatus.

In a possible implementation manner, the network device determines the first information, including: the network device obtains corresponding information, and the corresponding information is used to indicate a network to which the terminal device is allowed to register and a network supported by each network in the network to which the terminal device is allowed to register. Slice; the network device determines the first information according to the corresponding information and the information of multiple network slices that the terminal device requests to access. That is to say, the network device knows the network to which the terminal device is allowed to register and the information about the network slices supported by each network in the network to which the terminal device is allowed to register, and then selects the network slices according to the information of the multiple network slices that the terminal device requests to access. A network set that supports at least one network slice among the multiple network slices requested to be accessed by the terminal device is obtained, and the information of the supported network slice corresponding to the network set is obtained and presented in the form of first information.

In another possible implementation manner, the network device determines the first information, including: the network device sends information about multiple network slices that the terminal device requests to access to the roaming preference application function SOR-AF device; After receiving the roaming preference SOR information, the network device determines the first information according to the SOR information. That is, the SOR-AF apparatus generates SOR information according to information of multiple network slices that the terminal device requests to access, and feeds back the SOR information to the network device, and the network device determines the first information according to the SOR information. For example, this implementation is suitable for roaming scenarios.

In a possible implementation manner, the network set in the first information indicates the multiple networks, or, when the network set includes the first network currently registered by the terminal device, the network set in the first information indicates the network other than the first network. at least one network. That is, the network device determining the first information includes: the network device determining the first information according to the first network currently registered by the terminal device. That is to say, after the network device determines multiple networks associated with multiple network slices, it may remove the network currently registered by the terminal device to determine the first information. With this implementation, the information of multiple networks is simplified.

In a possible implementation manner, sending the first information by the network device to the terminal device includes: the network device sends SOR information to the terminal device, where the SOR information includes the first information. That is, the network device sends the first information to the terminal device through the SOR information. For example, this implementation is suitable for roaming scenarios.

In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for registering with multiple networks, and the method is executed by a network device. The method includes: the network device receives capability information of the terminal device from the terminal device, the capability information indicating that the terminal device has the ability to register with multiple networks; the network device determines first information, where the first information is used to indicate the network set and each network set in the network set. network slices supported by each network; the network device sends the first information to the terminal device, where the first information is used for the terminal device to register with multiple networks in the network set. According to the above solution, when the terminal device has the ability to register with multiple networks, the network device determines a network set, and sends the network set and the network slices supported by each network in the network set to the terminal device. After receiving the first information, the terminal device registers to the network in the network set according to the network slice to be accessed by the terminal device and the first information, and uses the multiple network slices to be accessed by the terminal device through the multiple networks registered to, In order to meet the needs of network slices expected to be used by terminal devices, it can better provide services for users and improve user experience.

For example, the network device may be a unified data management UDM appliance. The UDM device may receive capability information of the terminal device from the terminal device through the mobility management AMF device, and send the first information to the terminal device through the AMF device.

In a possible implementation manner, the network device determines the first information, including: the network device obtains corresponding information, and the corresponding information is used to indicate a network to which the terminal device is allowed to register and a network supported by each network in the network to which the terminal device is allowed to register. Slicing; the network device determines the first information according to the corresponding information and the capability information of the terminal device. That is to say, the network device knows the network to which the terminal device is allowed to register and the network slice information supported by each network in the network to which the terminal device is allowed to register. A form of information presents the network to which the terminal device is allowed to register and information on the network slices supported by each of the networks to which the terminal device is allowed to register.

In another possible implementation manner, the network device determining the first information includes: the network device sends capability information of the terminal device to the roaming preference application function SOR-AF device; the network device receives the roaming preference SOR information from the SOR-AF device, and the network device The first information is determined according to the SOR information. That is, the SOR-AF apparatus generates the first information according to the capability information of the terminal device, and feeds it back to the network device in the form of SOR information, and the network device determines the first information according to the SOR information. For example, this implementation is suitable for roaming scenarios.

In a possible implementation manner, the network set in the first information indicates the multiple networks, or, when the network set includes the first network currently registered by the terminal device, the first information indicates at least one network other than the first network. That is, the network device determining the first information includes: the network device determining the first information according to the first network currently registered by the terminal device. That is to say, after the network device determines multiple networks associated with multiple network slices, it can remove the network currently registered by the terminal device to determine the first information to obtain the final multiple networks. With this implementation, the information of multiple networks is simplified.

In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for registering with multiple networks, and the method is performed by a unified data management UDM device. The method includes: the UDM apparatus obtains the identifier of the serving AMF, and separately stores the context information of multiple networks to which the terminal device is registered, and the context information corresponding to each network in the multiple networks includes the identifier of the serving AMF. That is to say, the network device stores the association information of the multiple networks and the AMF of the service corresponding to each of the multiple networks. When a terminal device registers with the network, the AMF of this service provides access management services for the terminal device. When the terminal device registers with the first network and subsequently registers with the second network, the UDM device will store the identifiers of the AMFs of the services corresponding to the first network and the first network, and the identifiers of the AMFs of the services corresponding to the second network and the second network , and will not trigger the terminal device to deregister with the first network.

In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for registering with multiple networks, the method being performed by an SOR-AF device. The method includes: the SOR-AF apparatus receives information of multiple network slices requested to be accessed by the terminal equipment from the network equipment; the SOR-AF apparatus generates roaming preference SOR information according to the information of the multiple network slices requested to be accessed by the terminal equipment, The SOR information is used to indicate multiple networks associated with multiple network slices, wherein each network slice in the multiple network slices is supported by at least one network in the multiple networks; the SOR-AF apparatus sends the SOR information to the network device .

In an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for registering with multiple networks, and the method is executed by a roaming preference application function SOR-AF device. The method includes: the SOR-AF apparatus receives information of multiple network slices requested to be accessed by the terminal equipment from the network equipment; the SOR-AF apparatus generates roaming preference SOR information according to the information of the multiple network slices requested to be accessed by the terminal equipment, The SOR information is used to indicate the network set and the network slices supported by each network in the network set, wherein each network slice in the multiple network slices is supported by at least one network in the network set; Send SOR information.

In a ninth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, including a processor, which is configured to read and run a program from a memory to implement the method ( For example, when the communication device is a unified data management (UDM) device), or, to implement the method as described above in the second aspect or any possible implementation manner (eg, when the communication device is a terminal device), or, to realize the method as described above The method of the third aspect or any possible implementation manner (for example, when the communication apparatus is a terminal device), or, to implement the method of the fourth aspect or any possible implementation manner (for example, when the communication apparatus is a terminal device) UDM device), or, to implement the method as the fifth aspect above or any possible implementation manner (for example, when the communication device is a UDM device), or, to implement the sixth aspect or any possible implementation manner as above (for example, when the communication device is a UDM device), or, to implement the method of the seventh aspect or any possible implementation manner (for example, when the communication device is a roaming preference application function SOR-AF device), Or, to implement the method according to the foregoing eighth aspect or any possible implementation manner (for example, when the communication device is a SOR-AF device).

In a tenth aspect, the embodiments of the present application provide a communication system, including a network device and a terminal device, the network device can perform the method of the first aspect or any possible implementation manner, and the terminal device can perform the second aspect or The method of any possible embodiment.

In an eleventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication system, including a network device and a terminal device, the terminal device can execute the method of the third aspect or any possible implementation manner, and the network device can execute the fourth aspect Or the method of any possible implementation manner, or, the network device may execute the fifth aspect or the method of any possible implementation manner.

In a twelfth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a communication system, including an access and mobility management function AMF device and a unified data management UDM device, where the UDM device can execute the method of the first aspect or any possible implementation manner , or, the UDM apparatus may perform the method of the fourth aspect or any possible implementation manner, or the UDM apparatus may perform the method of the fifth aspect or any possible implementation manner, or the UDM apparatus may perform the sixth aspect or the method of any possible implementation manner Aspect or the method of any possible embodiment.

In a thirteenth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a communication system, including a unified data management UDM device and a roaming preference application function SOR-AF device, where the UDM device can execute the method of the first aspect or any possible implementation manner , the SOR-AF device may perform the method of the embodiment of the seventh aspect; or, the UDM device may perform the method of the fourth aspect or any possible implementation manner or the fifth aspect or any possible implementation manner, the SOR - The AF device may perform the method of the eighth aspect or any possible embodiment.

In a fourteenth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a computer program product comprising instructions, which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of the first aspect or any possible implementation, or the second aspect or the method of any possible embodiment, or the third aspect or the method of any possible embodiment, or the fourth aspect or any possible embodiment, or the fifth aspect or any possible embodiment The method, or the method of the sixth aspect or any possible embodiment, or the method of the seventh aspect or any possible embodiment, or the method of the eighth aspect or any possible embodiment.

In a fifteenth aspect, the embodiments of the present application provide a computer-readable storage medium, where instructions are stored in the computer-readable storage medium, and when the computer-readable storage medium is run on a computer, cause a processor to execute the first aspect or any possible or the method of the second aspect or any possible embodiment, or the method of the third aspect or any possible embodiment, or the method of the fourth aspect or any possible embodiment, or the method of the fourth aspect or any possible embodiment The method of the fifth aspect or any possible embodiment, or the sixth aspect or any possible embodiment, or the seventh aspect or any possible embodiment, or the eighth aspect or any possible embodiment way method.

Description of drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of registering to multiple networks in a scenario applicable to an embodiment of the application;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of registering to multiple networks in another scenario applicable to an embodiment of the present application;

3 and 4 are schematic diagrams of network architectures in a roaming scenario to which the embodiments of the present application are applicable;

FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 are schematic diagrams of the network architecture in the PLMN to which the embodiment of the application is applied in a scenario where multiple subnets are laid out;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a communication apparatus provided according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of another communication apparatus provided according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of flow interaction of a method for registering to multiple networks according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of the interaction of a flow of SOR-AF generating SOR information according to an embodiment of the present application;

11 is a schematic diagram of another flow interaction of a method for registering to multiple networks according to an embodiment of the present application;

12 is a schematic diagram of flow interaction of another method for registering to multiple networks according to an embodiment of the present application;

13 is a schematic diagram of another SOR-AF generating SOR information process interaction according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 14 is another schematic interaction flow diagram of another method for registering with multiple networks according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed ways

In order to make the objectives, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present application more clear, the embodiments of the present application will be described in further detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The following will first introduce some concepts involved in this application:

1. Network slicing:

5G will usher in an era of the Internet of Everything. 5G supports three scenarios: eMBB, mMTC, and URLLC. The three scenarios include diversified and differentiated applications.

eMBB: Based on breakthroughs in spectrum utilization and spectrum bandwidth technology on the wireless side, 5G can provide a transmission rate that is more than 10 times faster than 4G. For the current popular AR/VR and high-definition video live broadcast, only the ultra-high speed of 5G can meet the demand, and the transmission speed of 4G cannot be supported. Now, when using VR to watch high-definition or large-scale interactive games, you need to use a network cable to obtain data. In the future, you can connect wirelessly through a 5G network, and VR/AR can get a fast experience.

mMTC: Through technologies such as multi-user shared access and ultra-dense heterogeneous networks, 5G can support access to 1 million devices per square kilometer, which is 10 times that of 4G. With the recent rapid development of smart cities, public facilities such as street lights, manhole covers, and water meters already have network connection capabilities and can be managed remotely, but 5G will have greater innovation. Based on the strong connection capability of the 5G network, the public equipment of various industries in the city can be connected to the intelligent management platform. These public facilities work together through the 5G network and can be managed in a unified manner with only a small number of maintenance personnel, greatly improving the operational efficiency of the city.

URLLC: The most typical application in 5G scenarios is autonomous driving. The most commonly used scenarios for autonomous driving, such as emergency braking, vehicle-to-vehicle, vehicle-to-person, vehicle-to-infrastructure and other multi-channel communications are carried out at the same time, requiring a large amount of data processing in an instant and make decisions. Therefore, the network needs to have large bandwidth, low latency and high reliability at the same time, and the 5G network has the ability to deal with this scenario.

In the 4G era, all application scenarios and customer groups are met through a single network. For example, if the network needs to provide the narrowband internet of things (NB-IoT) capability, the NB-related features on the network element must be enabled, and network reliability must be built. To increase the redundancy backup of the network element equipment level, through the continuous superposition of features to meet the continuous demands of the mass market.

However, the requirements of various services in vertical industries in terms of delay, number of connections, reliability, and security are far different and unpredictable. For example, AR services need to use ultra-high network bandwidth of >1600Mbps, and energy meter reading services need The network provides a large number of connections. Autonomous driving requires the network to ensure a low end-to-end latency of a few milliseconds and a high reliability of more than 99.999%. If you want to meet all current needs and possible future needs through a network, it is impossible to achieve. .

Network slicing technology allows operators to segment multiple virtual networks on one hardware infrastructure, allocate resources on demand, and flexibly combine capabilities to meet the different needs of various services. When a new requirement is proposed and the current network cannot meet the requirement, the operator only needs to create a new slicing network for this requirement without affecting the existing slicing network, so that the service can be launched at the fastest speed.

Network slicing is to virtualize multiple end-to-end networks based on a common hardware through slicing technology. Each network has different network functions and adapts to different types of service requirements. That is, a network slice is a logically isolated network used to support specific network capabilities and network characteristics. For example, after purchasing physical resources, operators use physical resources to virtualize an eMBB slicing network for public Internet services, and then use physical resources to virtualize a mMTC slicing network for the smart meter reading requirements of certain manufacturers in vertical industries. Each slice network provides services for different business scenarios.

Although various industries in vertical industries have various requirements for network functions, these requirements can be resolved into requirements for network functions such as network bandwidth, number of connections, delay, and reliability. The 5G standard also summarizes the requirements of different services for network functions into three typical scenarios. The corresponding types of network slices corresponding to these three typical scenarios are eMBB slices, mMTC slices, and URLLC slices.

2. Single network slice selection assistance information (S-NSSAI):

S-NSSAI is used to identify a network slice. According to the operator's operation or deployment needs, one S-NSSAI can be associated with one or more network slice instances, and one network slice instance can be associated with one or more S-NSSAIs. For example, eMBB slice 1, eMBB slice 2, and eMBB slice 3 are all eMBB slices, and their S-NSSAI values are all 0x01000000; eMBB+mMTC slice 4 can serve both eMBB type services and mMTC services. Provides services, so it is both an eMBB type slice and a mMTC type slice, and the corresponding S-NSSAI values are 0x01000000 and 0x02000000 respectively.

S-NSSAI includes two parts: slice/service type (SST) and slice differentiator (SD):

SST refers to the expected network slicing behavior in terms of features and services. For example, the standard value range of SST is 1, 2, and 3. A value of 1 indicates eMBB, a value of 2 indicates URLLC, and a value of 3 indicates massive Internet of things (MIoT).

SD is optional information used to supplement SST to distinguish multiple network slices of the same slice/service type.

The SST and SD parts are combined to represent a slice type and multiple slices of the same slice type. For example, the value of S-NSSAI is 0x01000000, 0x02000000, and 0x03000000, which represent eMBB type slices, URLLC type slices, and MIoT type slices, respectively. The S-NSSAI values of 0x01000001 and 0x01000002 indicate eMBB type slices, which can serve user group 1 and user group 2 respectively.

3. Network slice selection assistance information (NSSAI):

NSSAI is a collection of S-NSSNI. The NSSAI used in the 5G network includes requested NSSAI (requested NSSAI), allowed NSSAI (allowed NSSAI), rejected NSSAI (rejected NSSAI) and subscribed NSSAI (subscribed NSSAI), and their specific definitions are shown in Table 1:

Table 1

4. Selection of PLMN:

PLMN is a network established and operated by operators to provide land mobile communication services to the public. In the prior art, the UE selects the PLMN according to the following priorities:

First, the currently registered PLMN (registered PLMN), or a PLMN (equivalent RPLMN) equivalent to the currently registered PLMN;

Second, HPLMN, or PLMN (EPLMN) equivalent to HPLMN;

Third, user-controlled PLMN selector (user-controlled PLMN selector);

Fourth, operator-controlled PLMN selector.

The PLMN selectors in the third and fourth positions each include a set of priority PLMN lists for the UE to select, as shown in Table 2. Each PLMN selector includes a list of PLMNs in descending order of priority. If the UE cannot select the first and second PLMNs, it selects the PLMN according to the user-controlled PLMN selector in the third place, and then the UE selects the PLMN with the highest priority according to the order of the PLMNs in the PLMN selector. PLMN, for example, PLMN1 in Table 2. If the UE cannot select the PLMN in the first, second and third positions, it will select the PLMN according to the PLMN selector controlled by the operator in the fourth position. Similarly, the UE can select the PLMN according to the PLMN selector in the PLMN selector. , the PLMN with higher priority is selected first.

Table 2

用户控制的PLMN选择器/运营商控制的PLMN选择器User Controlled PLMN Selector / Operator Controlled PLMN Selector
PLMN1PLMN1
PLMN2PLMN2
PLMN3PLMN3
PLMN4PLMN4
PLMN5PLMN5

5. Steering of Roaming (SOR)

SOR is a technique in which the HPLMN directs roaming UEs to register with the preferred roaming network. For example, when the roaming agreement is changed, the UDM of the HPLMN sends roaming preference (steering of roaming, SOR) information to the UE. For example, the SOR information includes at least one of: (a) a list of preferred PLMN/access technology combinations, (b) a secured packet that Contains a list of combinations of the above preferred PLMNs or access technologies encapsulated by security mechanisms; (c) neither of the above is provided. Among them, (a) to (c) are generated according to the operator's data analysis.

The SOR information can be used to update the PLMN list in the above-mentioned user-controlled PLMN selector or operator-controlled PLMN selector. The UE selects and registers the PLMN according to the priority of the PLMN selector and the priority of the PLMN in the PLMN selector. For example, the default SOR information is used to update the operator-controlled PLMN selector.

In this application, registering with a network can also be understood as accessing the network, which is expressed as "registering" with the network below.

6. Non-Public Network (NPN)

NPN is a network for non-public network users, NPN can be used exclusively for private entities, such as enterprises. NPN can be deployed in different forms, specifically, NPN can be deployed as a completely independent network, can be hosted by PLMN, and can be used as a network slice of PLMN. There are two types of NPNs:

(1) NPN (Stand-alone non-public networks, SNPN) of independent networking

The SNPN is operated by the NPN operator and may not rely on the network functions provided by the PLMN. The UE subscribes to one or more NPNs, and a SNPN is identified by the combination of the PLMN ID and the network identifier (NID, Network identifier).

(2) Public network integrated NPN, or NPN (Public network integrated NPN, PNI-NPN)

PNI-NPN can provide NPN service through PLMN network, such as NPN function by allocating one or more network slices for NPN. The PNI-NPN has a concept of a closed access group (Closed Access Group, CAG), which can achieve the effect of preventing other UEs from registering with the NPN. PNI-NPN determines a CAG by the PLMN ID and CAG ID. The UE subscription information includes the CAG ID. Users without CAG-only indication information can support handover between PNI-NPN and PLMN networks.

The network slices supported by different PLMNs may be the same or different. As shown in Figure 1, in the roaming scenario shown in Figure 1, when the UE moves out of the HPLMN and roams to the VPLMN, the network slice supported by the HPLMN is different from the network slice supported by the VPLMN, that is, the S-NSSAI of the HPLMN can only be Individual VPLMN use. Therefore, the UE can only use a non-preferred VPLMN in some areas of the roaming place, and the VPLMN cannot support all the network slices that the UE expects to use, so the UE cannot use all the network slices that the UE wants to use in one PLMN.

For example, the UE wants to use service 1 and service 2, where service 1 is served by network slice 1 and service 2 is served by network slice 2. For example, the multiple network slices that the UE requests to access are network slice 1 and network slice 2. When the UE is in the HPLMN, the HPLMN can support network slice 1 and network slice 2, and the UE can use network slice 1 and network slice 2 when registering with the HPLMN. When the UE is roaming, the slices supported by different PLMNs located in the roaming place are as shown in Table 3:

table 3

PLMN IDPLMN ID	支持的网络切片Supported network slices
PLMN1PLMN1	S-NSSAI 1、S-NSSAI 3S-NSSAI 1, S-NSSAI 3
PLMN2PLMN2	S-NSSAI 2、S-NSSAI 4S-NSSAI 2, S-NSSAI 4
PLMN3PLMN3	S-NSSAI 1、S-NSSAI 4S-NSSAI 1, S-NSSAI 4
PLMN4PLMN4	S-NSSAI 3、S-NSSAI 5S-NSSAI 3, S-NSSAI 5
PLMN5PLMN5	S-NSSAI 2、S-NSSAI 5S-NSSAI 2, S-NSSAI 5

Among them, S-NSSAI 1, S-NSSAI 2, S-NSSAI 3, S-NSSAI 4, and S-NSSAI 5 are used to identify network slice 1, network slice 2, network slice 3, network slice 4, and network slice 5 respectively.

According to the current method for the UE to select a PLMN, the UE can select the PLMN with the highest priority as the VPLMN in the PLMN selector controlled by the operator according to the priority. As shown in Table 2, assuming that PLMN1 has the highest priority, the UE registers to PLMN1 as a VPLMN. However, regardless of the priority ordering among the PLMNs, the UE is only registered to one PLMN, so the UE cannot use network slice 1 and network slice 2 within one PLMN.

The network slices supported by different subnets (e.g., NPN) under the same PLMN may be the same or different, as shown in Figure 2. In the example of FIG. 2 , the PLMN may be an HPLMN, or it may also be a VPLMN. The PLMN includes sub-network 1 and sub-network 2 with overlapping coverage. Similar to Figure 1, the UE can use network slice 1 and network slice 2 before moving, but after moving, subnet 1 only supports network slice 1, and subnet 2 only supports network slice 2. Regardless of whether the UE is registered to Subnet 1 or to Subnet 2, the UE cannot use Network Slice 1 and Network Slice 2 within one subnet.

The problem to be solved by the present invention is how to meet the requirements of the network slice that the UE expects to use. Taking the above examples in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 as an example, the present application aims to provide a solution, so that the UE can use network slice 1 and network slice 2 in the above scenario.

The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application can be applied to various communication systems, such as long term evolution (long term evolution, LTE) system, LTE frequency division duplex (frequency division duplex, FDD) system, LTE time division duplex (time division duplex, TDD), fifth generation (5th generation, 5G) mobile communication systems or new radio (NR) systems, or applied to future communication systems or other similar communication systems. Taking the 5th generation (5G) mobile communication system as an example, the system includes a service-oriented network architecture and a reference point-based network architecture. In addition, the embodiments of the present application may also be applicable to other future-oriented communication technologies. The network architecture and service scenarios described in this application are for the purpose of illustrating the technical solutions of this application more clearly, and do not constitute a limitation on the technical solutions provided by this application. appears, the technical solutions provided in this application are also applicable to similar technical problems. All of the above systems include non-roaming scenarios and roaming scenarios.

As mentioned above, the present application can be applied to a roaming scenario (or a cross-PLMN scenario), or can also be applied to a scenario where multiple subnets (eg, NPN) are deployed in the same PLMN (HPLMN or VPLMN). When the present application is used in a roaming scenario, it can be applied to the network architecture of the communication system as shown in FIG. 3 or FIG. 4 . When the present application is used in a scenario where multiple subnets are laid out in the same PLMN, it can be applied to the network architecture of the communication system as shown in FIG. 5 or FIG. 6 .

For the roaming scenario, when the UE roams from HPLMN to VPLMN, according to whether the UE's user plane is VPLMN terminated or HPLMN terminated, roaming scenarios can be divided into local breakout roaming scenarios and home routed roaming scenarios. Roaming scene. In the roaming scenario, the VPLMN and the HPLMN can communicate with each other through their respective security edge protection proxy (SEPP) service interfaces, so as to realize the functions of message filtering and topology hiding across the PLMN control plane interface. 3 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture of a service-based interface. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture based on a point-to-point interface.

For the scenario where multiple subnets are laid out in the same PLMN, when the UE moves from the HPLMN to the VPLMN, multiple subnets, such as multiple NPNs, are laid out in the VPLMN. The network architecture applicable to this scenario is shown in Figure 5. When the UE is located in the HPLMN, multiple subnets, such as multiple NPNs, are laid out in the HPLMN, and the network architecture applicable to this scenario is shown in Figure 6 . 5 and 6 are schematic diagrams of a network architecture based on a point-to-point interface, and the principles of a schematic diagram of a network architecture based on a service interface are similar and will not be shown again.

"Service-based interface" refers to the use of service-based interfaces within the control plane under a service-oriented architecture. For example, Namf is a service-based interface provided by AMF network elements, and AMF network elements can communicate with other network functions through Namf. Nsmf is a service-based interface provided by SMF, and SMF can communicate with other network functions through Nsmf. Nnssf is a service-based interface provided by NSSF network elements, and NSSF network elements can communicate with other network functions through Nnssf. A functional network element can open its capabilities to authorized other functional network elements through a service-based interface, thereby providing network function (NF) services. In other words, NF services refer to the various capabilities that can be provided.

The above network architecture may include three parts, namely terminal equipment, radio access network (RAN) and core network.

The functions of some network elements involved in the network architecture will be described in detail below.

A terminal device is a device with wireless transceiver function. The terminal equipment is wirelessly connected to the access network equipment so as to be connected to the communication system. A terminal device may also be referred to as a terminal, user equipment (UE), a mobile station, a mobile terminal, and the like. The terminal equipment can be mobile phone, tablet computer, computer with wireless transceiver function, virtual reality terminal equipment, augmented reality terminal equipment, wireless terminal in industrial control, wireless terminal in unmanned driving, wireless terminal in remote surgery, smart grid Wireless terminals in smart cities, wireless terminals in transportation security, wireless terminals in smart cities, or wireless terminals in smart homes, etc. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form adopted by the terminal device. As an example and not a limitation, the terminal device may also be a wearable device. Wearable devices can also be called wearable smart devices or smart wearable devices, etc. It is a general term for the application of wearable technology to intelligently design daily wear and develop wearable devices, such as glasses, gloves, watches, clothing and shoes. Wait. A wearable device is a portable device that is worn directly on the body or integrated into the user's clothing or accessories. Wearable device is not only a hardware device, but also realizes powerful functions through software support, data interaction, and cloud interaction. In a broad sense, wearable smart devices include full-featured, large-scale, complete or partial functions without relying on smart phones, such as smart watches or smart glasses, and only focus on a certain type of application function, which needs to cooperate with other devices such as smart phones. Use, such as all kinds of smart bracelets, smart helmets, smart jewelry, etc. for physical sign monitoring. The terminal device may also be an on-board module, on-board component, on-board chip or on-board unit built into the vehicle as one or more components or units, and the vehicle passes the built-in on-board module, on-board module, on-board component, on-board chip or on-board unit. A unit may implement the methods of the present application.

RAN is used to implement wireless related functions. A node in the RAN may also be called an access network device or a base station, which is used to access the terminal device to the wireless network. The access network device may be a base station (base station), an LTE system or an evolved base station (evolved NodeB, eNodeB) in an LTE system (LTE-Advanced, LTE-A), a next-generation base station in a 5G communication system (next generation NodeB, gNB), transmission reception point (TRP), base band unit (BBU), WiFi access point (access point, AP), base station or WiFi system in future mobile communication systems access node etc. The radio access network device may also be a module or unit that completes some functions of the base station, for example, may be a centralized unit (central unit, CU) or a distributed unit (distributed unit, DU). The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form adopted by the wireless access network device. For example, in a network structure, the radio access network device may be a CU node, a DU node, or an access network device including a CU node and a DU node. Specifically, the CU node is used to support radio resource control (radio resource control, RRC), packet data convergence protocol (packet data convergence protocol, PDCP), service data adaptation protocol (service data adaptation protocol, SDAP) and other protocols; DU node Used to support radio link control (radio link control, RLC) layer protocol, medium access control (medium access control, MAC) layer protocol and physical layer protocol.

The core network network may include one or more of the following network elements: unified data management (UDM) network element, application function (AF) network element, access and mobility management function (access and mobility) management function, AMF) network element, session management function (session management function, SMF) network element, user plane function (user plane function, UPF) network element, and network slice selection function (network slice selection function, NSSF) network element, etc. . The above network elements may also be referred to as devices, equipment or entities, which are not limited in this application. For example, UDM network elements may also be referred to as UDM devices, UDM equipment or UDM entities. In the following description, abbreviated manner will be used, for example, "UDM network element" is abbreviated as "UDM", and "AMF network element" is abbreviated as "AMF".

AMF is used to be responsible for user mobility management. For example, mobility management includes mobility status management, assigning user temporary identities, authenticating and authorizing users, etc.

SMF is used for selection and reselection of UPF, network protocol (IP) address allocation, protocol data unit (PDU) session establishment, modification or release, quality of service (quality of service, QoS) control Wait.

The UDM is used to manage the subscription data, and to notify the corresponding network element when the subscription data is modified.

The AF is used to provide application layer services to the UE. On behalf of the application, AF interacts with other control network elements of the 5G network, including providing QoS requirements, charging policy requirements, and routing policy requirements. Among them, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 6 , the SOR-AF is an AF used for the above-mentioned SOR technology, and the SOR-AF is connected to the UDM.

UPF is interconnected with a data network (DN) for packet detection, routing and forwarding. For example, the UPF can be used as an uplink classifier (ULCL) to support traffic offloading and then forwarded to the data network, or the UPF can be used as a branching point (BP) to support multi-homed PDU sessions.

NSSF is used to be responsible for the selection of network slices. In the examples of FIGS. 3 to 5 , the H-NSSF is deployed in the HPLMN, and the V-NSSF is deployed in the VPLMN. According to the method of this embodiment of the present application, a point-to-point interface or a service-oriented operation between the UDM and the H-NSSF can be added.

The above-mentioned network elements can be implemented by either specified hardware, or by a software instance on specified hardware, or by a virtual function instantiated on a suitable platform, which is not limited in the present invention. .

When this application is applicable to cross-PLMN roaming scenarios, as shown in Figures 3 and 4, the UE roams to the VPLMN and registers with the network through the RAN located in the VPLMN. AMF, SMF, and NSSF in the following description refer to those located in the VPLMN, respectively AMF, SMF, NSSF of , while UDM and SOR-AF refer to UDM and SOR-AF located in HPLMN, respectively. When this application is applicable to the scenario where multiple subnets are deployed in the same VPLMN, as shown in Figure 5, the UE roams to the VPLMN and registers with the network through the RAN located in the VPLMN. AMF, SMF, and NSSF in the following description refer to AMF, SMF, NSSF located within the NPN range in VPLMN, while UDM and SOR-AF refer to UDM and SOR-AF located in HPLMN, respectively. When this application is applicable to the scenario where multiple subnets are deployed in the same HPLMN, as shown in Figure 6, AMF, SMF, NSSF, UDM and SOR-AF are all AMF, SMF, NSSF, UDM and SOR located in the current PLMN -AF. For NPN, functional network elements such as AMF, SMF, NSSF, UDM and SOR-AF may be co-located or may be set separately, which does not affect the implementation of the method in this application.

It should be noted that "plurality" refers to two or more than two, and in view of this, "plurality" may also be understood as "at least two" in the embodiments of the present application. "At least one" can be understood as one or more, such as one, two or more. For example, including at least one means including one, two or more, and does not limit which ones are included. For example, if at least one of A, B, and C is included, then A, B, C, A and B, A and C, B and C, or A and B and C may be included. Similarly, the understanding of descriptions such as "at least one" is similar.

FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 are schematic structural diagrams of a communication apparatus provided according to an embodiment of the present application, and the communication apparatus may be used to execute a method for registering with multiple networks. For ease of understanding, a method for registering with multiple networks according to an embodiment of the present application will be described first.

FIG. 9 is a schematic interactive flowchart of a method for registering to multiple networks according to an embodiment of the present application. Registering with multiple networks may be registering with multiple PLMNs, or may be registering with multiple subnets under one PLMN. The following description will be given by taking registration to multiple PLMNs as an example.

The method involves interaction between UE, AMF and UDM. When this method is used to register to multiple PLMNs in a cross-PLMN roaming scenario, the UE may be the UE in FIG. 3 or FIG. 4 , the AMF may be the AMF located in the VPLMN in FIG. 3 or FIG. 4 , and the UDM may be the AMF in FIG. 3 or FIG. 4 . Figure 4 UDM located in HPLMN. For example, the VPLMN may be any of the PLMNs in Table 3 above.

For example, this method includes the following steps:

Step 901, the UE sends a registration request (registration request) message to the AMF.

For example, the UE sends a registration request message to the RAN (not shown in FIG. 9 ), and the RAN sends the registration request message to the AMF after receiving the registration request message. For example, the RAN may be the RAN located in the VPLMN in FIG. 3 or FIG. 4 .

Correspondingly, the AMF receives the registration request message from the UE through the RAN.

In the example of FIG. 9 , the registration request message includes information of multiple network slices that the UE requests to access. The information of multiple network slices that the UE requests to access may be UE-requested NSSAI. For example, the multiple network slices that the UE requests to access are network slice 1 and network slice 2, and the UE requested NSSAI includes S-NSSAI 1 that identifies network slice 1 and S-NSSAI 2 that identifies network slice 2.

In addition, the registration request message may include the PLMN ID of the PLMN currently registered by the UE.

In addition, the registration request message may further include registration type information, for example, the registration type information may be used to indicate that the type of this registration is initial registration.

Optionally, the registration request message may further include UE capability information, where the capability information indicates that the UE has the capability to register with multiple networks. For example, the capability information is specifically used to indicate that a subscriber identity module (subscriber identity module, SIM) in the UE has the capability of registering with multiple PLMNs. For example, the UE sends the UE capability information to the network through a registration request message, and the UE capability information can be implemented by one bit. When the capability information has a first value (for example, 1), it indicates that the UE has the ability to register with multiple PLMNs; When the capability information has a second value (eg, 0), it indicates that the UE does not have the capability to register with multiple PLMNs. Alternatively, when the UE has the ability to register with multiple PLMNs, the UE sends the UE capability information to the network through a registration request message; when the UE does not have the ability to register with multiple PLMNs, the UE does not send the UE capability information.

After the AMF receives the registration request message, it executes the corresponding steps in the registration process. For example, if the AMF does not have the subscription information of the UE, the AMF invokes the servitization operation of acquiring the subscription information from the UDM, so as to obtain the subscription information of the UE.

Step 902, the AMF sends a request message a to the UDM. The request message a may include the information in the above registration request message. For example, the request message a may include information about multiple network slices that the UE requests to access, such as S-NSSAI 1 identifying network slice 1 and S-NSSAI identifying network slice 2 - NSSAI 2.

Correspondingly, the UDM receives the request message a from the AMF.

For example, the AMF may send the request message a to the UDM by invoking the service operation of the UDM.

Optionally, after receiving the request message a, the UDM first determines that the current PLMN cannot support all the multiple network slices that the UE requests to access. For example, the current PLMN is PLMN 1. As shown in Table 3 above, PLMN 1 supports network slice 1 identified by S-NSSAI 1 and network slice 3 identified by S-NSSAI 3, but cannot support network slice 2 identified by S-NSSAI 1 , thus triggering the UDM to execute the following step 903 .

Step 903, the UDM determines the network set.

The network set may be one network set, or may also be multiple network sets. Wherein, each network set includes multiple PLMNs, and each network slice that the UE requests to access is supported by at least one PLMN among the multiple PLMNs.

As mentioned above, the UE requests access to two network slices: network slice 1 and network slice 2. Then each network set includes at least two PLMNs, one of which supports network slice 1 and the other PLMN supports network slice 2. For example, in conjunction with the examples in Table 3 above, the network set may include one or more of: {PLMN1 and PLMN2}, {PLMN1 and PLMN5}, {PLMN2 and PLMN3}, {PLMN3 and PLMN5}. Wherein, the PLMNs in {} represent multiple PLMNs in a network set. Alternatively, the network set may include {PLMN1 and (PLMN2, PLMN5)}, and the PLMNs in ( ) are PLMNs that support the same network slice.

Optionally, there is no priority order among the foregoing multiple network sets. Alternatively, there is an order of priority among the above-mentioned multiple network sets. For example, the first network set is the highest priority network set. For example, {PLMN1 and PLMN2} are a network set with the highest priority, followed by {PLMN1 and PLMN5}, and so on.

In a possible implementation manner, the UDM may acquire SOR information through SOR-AF, where the SOR information includes the information of the foregoing network set, which will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 10 below.

In another implementation manner, the UDM may determine the network set according to information of multiple network slices that the UE requests to access.

For example, the UDM is configured with the S-NSSAI supported by the PLMN with the roaming agreement, or the UDM obtains the S-NSSAI supported by the PLMN with the roaming agreement from the NSSF (for example, the NSSF located in the HPLMN), and then according to the S-NSSAI supported by the PLMN with the roaming agreement The S-NSSAI supported by the PLMN and the subscription information of the UE determine the S-NSSAI supported by the PLMN that the UE is allowed to access. The S-NSSAI supported by the PLMN that the UE is allowed to access may be as described in Table 3 above. It can be understood that when the UDM obtains the S-NSSAI supported by the PLMN with the roaming agreement from the NSSF located in the HPLMN, it means that the interface or service operation between the UDM and the NSSF should be added in the existing network architecture.

Then, the UDM determines the network set according to the information of the multiple network slices that the UE requests to access and the S-NSSAI supported by each PLMN.

Optionally, the UDM may determine the network set according to the information of multiple network slices that the UE requests to access, the S-NSSAI supported by each PLMN, and the PLMN ID of the PLMN currently registered by the UE. For example, the request message a in step 902 also carries the PLMN ID of the PLMN currently registered by the UE, according to which the UDM learns the PLMN currently registered by the UE, and thus selects a network set including the PLMN currently registered by the UE. For example, if the PLMN currently registered by the UE is PLMN1, the network set may include one or more of: {PLMN1 and PLMN2} and {PLMN1 and PLMN5}.

For example, when the request message a contains UE capability information, the UDM has the capability of registering with multiple PLMNs according to the UE capability information, and then determines the network set. Alternatively, the above registration request message and request message a may not include UE capability information, and the UDM may default that the UE has the capability of registering with multiple PLMNs, and then performs the following operations.

Optionally, the UDM may also generate the SOR information including the foregoing network set according to the foregoing manner. The form of the SOR information can also refer to the specific description of FIG. 10 later.

It should be noted that the S-NSSAI that the UE requests to access considered in the above steps is the S-NSSAI included in the UE's subscription S-NSSAI. That is to say, regardless of whether the S-NSSAI that the UE requests to access is determined to be the S-NSSAI that allows access in the current PLMN, at least the S-NSSAI of the UE's subscription includes this S-NSSAI, or in other words, the S-NSSAI Network slices corresponding to NSSAI may be registered in other PLMNs. Otherwise, it is not necessary for the network side to consider the PLMN to which this S-NSSAI can be registered. In other words, the network equipment does not need to determine the PLMN for the S-NSSAI for which the UE requests access which is not included in the subscription S-NSSAI.

Step 904, the UDM sends a response message b to the AMF, where the response message b includes the information associated with the above network set. Correspondingly, the AMF receives a response message b from the UDM, where the response message b includes information associated with the aforementioned network set.

For example, when the UDM determines a network set through step 903, the UDM can send information associated with this network set through the response message b in step 904. When the UDM determines multiple network sets in step 903, the UDM can send the information of the multiple network sets through the response message b in step 904, or the UDM can use at least one of the priority of each network set and the PLMN currently registered by the UE. item to send information about some network sets in multiple network sets. For example, the UDM may send information of a network set with the highest priority among multiple network sets, or send information including one or more network sets in which the UE is currently registered with the PLMN.

Further optionally, the UDM may also determine the information associated with the network set according to the PLMN currently registered by the UE. The information associated with the network set may only include the PLMN to which the UE is to be additionally registered, but not the PLMN to which the UE is currently registered. For example, the PLMN currently registered by the UE is PLMN1, and the network set may include: {PLMN1 and PLMN2}, then the information associated with the network set may only include the information of PLMN2.

Optionally, the UDM also sends indication information to the AMF, where the indication information is used to instruct the UE to register with multiple PLMNs. For example, the UDM may send the above-mentioned information and indication information associated with the network set to the AMF through the response message b in step 904 .

For example, the UDM can send the above information to the AMF by invoking the service operation of the AMF.

Step 905, the AMF sends a registration acceptance message to the UE, where the registration acceptance message includes the above-mentioned information associated with the network set.

Optionally, the registration acceptance message further includes the above indication information.

Optionally, the registration acceptance message further includes at least one of allowed NSSAI and rejected NSSAI. Alternatively, the message sent by the AMF to the UE in step 905 may be a registration rejection message (not shown in the figure), and the registration rejection message includes the above-mentioned information associated with the network set. For example, with reference to the examples in Table 3 above, when the current PLMN is any of the above PLMNs, the allowed NSSAI and rejected NSSAI may be as described in Table 4.

Table 4

PLMN IDPLMN ID	Allowed NSSAIAllowed NSSAI	Rejected NSSAIRejected NSSAI
PLMN1PLMN1	S-NSSAI 1S-NSSAI 1	S-NSSAI 2S-NSSAI 2
PLMN2PLMN2	S-NSSAI 2S-NSSAI 2	S-NSSAI 1S-NSSAI 1
PLMN3PLMN3	S-NSSAI 1S-NSSAI 1	S-NSSAI 2S-NSSAI 2
PLMN4PLMN4	nullnull	S-NSSAI 1、S-NSSAI 2S-NSSAI 1, S-NSSAI 2
PLMN5PLMN5	S-NSSAI 2S-NSSAI 2	S-NSSAI 1S-NSSAI 1

For example, the AMF sends a registration accept message/registration rejection message to the RAN (not shown in FIG. 9 ), and the RAN sends the registration accept message/registration rejection message to the UE after receiving the registration accept message.

Correspondingly, the UE receives the Registration Accept message/Registration Reject message from the AMF through the RAN.

Step 906, the UE registers with at least one network among the multiple networks.

It should be noted that "registering with multiple PLMNs" in this application may be understood as "registering with multiple PLMNs at the same time", for example, simultaneously registering with multiple PLMNs in the network set. "Concurrently" does not necessarily mean that the UE needs to perform the action of registering with multiple PLMNs at the same time. The UE can first register with the first PLMN among the multiple PLMNs, and then register with the second PLMN among the multiple PLMNs, and when the UE registers When arriving at the second PLMN, the UE remains registered in the first PLMN. That is, the UE remains registered in multiple PLMNs.

In a possible implementation manner, when the UE receives a network set through step 905, the UE may register with the PLMN in the network set accordingly. It should be noted that, if the UE has already registered with the first PLMN among the multiple PLMNs through the registration process of the above steps 901 to 905, the UE only needs to additionally register with other PLMNs except the first PLMN among the multiple PLMNs; otherwise, the UE Additional registrations to these multiple PLMNs are possible.

For example, the information associated with the network set received by the UE is {PLMN1 and PLMN2}, and the UE has already registered with PLMN1 through the registration process of steps 901 to 905, the UE only needs to additionally register with PLMN2. Similarly, if the UE has already registered to PLMN2 through the above registration process, the UE only needs to additionally register to PLMN1. If the UE is currently registered to PLMN3, PLMN4 or PLMN5, the UE registers to PLMN1 and PLMN2. In this case, the UE can deregister from the current PLMN.

In another possible implementation manner, when the UE receives multiple network sets through step 905, the UE may first determine a network set (referred to as the first network set) from the multiple network sets. For example, the UE may randomly determine a network set from multiple network sets as the first network set, or the UE may determine the network set with the highest priority among the multiple network sets as the first network set, or the UE may determine a network set containing The network set of registered PLMNs is used as the first network set, or the UE may determine the first network set by combining the priority of each network set and the network set of registered PLMNs.

For example, the information associated with the network set received by the UE includes {PLMN1 and PLMN2}, {PLMN1 and PLMN5}, {PLMN2 and PLMN3}, {PLMN3 and PLMN5}. The UE may select the first set of networks according to any of the above methods, eg {PLMN1 and PLMN2}.

After the UE determines the first network set, the UE may register with the PLMN in the first network set accordingly. For how the UE operates, reference may be made to the description in the previous implementation manner, which will not be repeated here.

In another possible implementation manner, when the UE receives the information associated with multiple network sets in step 905, only the information that the UE is to be registered to the PLMN is included, that is, the information received by the UE in step 905 is the same as that of the multiple network sets. The information associated with each network set already does not include the network to which the UE has registered, so the UE may additionally register with the PLMN in the information.

Regardless of any of the above methods, the UE eventually registers with multiple PLMNs capable of supporting multiple network slices requested by the UE. After the UE registers with the above-mentioned multiple PLMNs, it can use the multiple requested network slices through the multiple PLMNs registered to. For example, when the UE wants to use the service provided by the network slice 2, a session corresponding to the network slice 2 is established, and then the UE accesses the network slice 2 through the session.

Through this method, the UE can register to multiple PLMNs according to the multiple network slices that the UE requests to access, so that the multiple network slices that the UE requests to access can be used in the combination of multiple PLMNs, so as to meet the requirements that the UE expects to use. The demand for network slicing provides better services for users and improves user experience.

As mentioned above, the method can also be applied to scenarios of multiple subnets within the same PLMN (HPLMN or VPLMN). The method in this scenario also involves the interaction between UE, AMF and UDM. The UE may be the UE in FIG. 5 or FIG. 6 , the AMF may be the AMF in FIG. 5 or FIG. 6 , and the UDM may be the UDM in FIG. 5 or FIG. 6 . Similarly, the UDM may determine one or more network sets, where each network set includes multiple subnets, and multiple network slices that the UE requests to access are supported by at least one of the multiple subnets, then, when the UE receives After obtaining the information associated with the network set, you can register to multiple subnets, and use the multiple network slices requested for access through the multiple subnets registered to. In this way, multiple network slices requested to be accessed by the UE can be used in combination of multiple subnets, thereby meeting the requirements of the network slices expected to be used by the UE, providing better services for users, and improving user experience.

As mentioned above, when the method is applied to a roaming scenario across PLMNs, the information associated with the network set can be implemented by means of SOR information, wherein the SOR information can either be generated by the UDM, or can also be requested by the UDM for SOR- AF generation. FIG. 10 will be described by taking the UDM requesting the SOR-AF to generate the SOR information as an example. FIG. 10 will be described in conjunction with FIG. 9 . For example, the method may include the following steps:

Step 1001, the UDM sends the information of multiple network slices that the UE requests to access to the SOR-AF. For example, the information of the multiple network slices that the UE requests to access may be the information of the multiple network slices that the UE requests to access, which is included in the request message a in step 902 in FIG. 9 .

For example, if the above-mentioned subscription information of the UE indicates that SOR information is provided to the UE in the case of initial registration of a VPLMN, the UDM determines to obtain the SOR information, and then executes the above-mentioned step 1001 .

Optionally, the UDM may also send UE capability information to the SOR-AF. For example, the UE capability information may be the UE capability information included in the request message a in step 902 in FIG. 9 .

Optionally, the UDM may also send the PLMN ID of the PLMN currently registered by the UE to the SOR-AF. For example, the PLMN ID of the PLMN currently registered by the UE may be the PLMN ID of the PLMN currently registered by the UE included in the request message a in step 902 in FIG. 9 .

Step 1002, the SOR-AF generates SOR information according to information of multiple network slices that the UE requests to access. The SOR information may indicate a network set. The network set may refer to the description of step 903 in FIG. 9 .

For example, the SOR-AF configures the S-NSSAI supported by the PLMN with the roaming agreement; or, the SOR-AF obtains the S-NSSAI supported by the PLMN with the roaming agreement from the NSSF. Then, the SOR-AF determines the S-NSSAI supported by the PLMN that the UE is allowed to access according to the S-NSSAI supported by the PLMN with the roaming agreement and the subscription information of the UE, and then according to the information and information of the multiple network slices that the UE requests to access. The S-NSSAI supported by each PLMN generates SOR information.

The SOR information may include one or more network sets, wherein each network set includes multiple PLMNs, and each network slice that the UE requests to access is supported by at least one PLMN among the multiple PLMNs.

As mentioned above, the UE requests access to two network slices: network slice 1 and network slice 2. Then each network set includes at least two PLMNs, one of which supports network slice 1 and the other PLMN supports network slice 2. For example, in conjunction with the examples in Table 3 above, the SOR information may include one or more of: {PLMN1 and PLMN2}, {PLMN1 and PLMN5}, {PLMN2 and PLMN3}, {PLMN3 and PLMN5}. Wherein, the PLMNs in {} represent multiple PLMNs in a network set. Alternatively, the network set may include {PLMN1 and (PLMN2, PLMN5)}, and the PLMNs in ( ) are PLMNs that support the same network slice.

Optionally, there is no priority order among multiple network sets in the above SOR information. Alternatively, there is an order of priority among multiple network sets in the above SOR information. For example, the network set ranked first in the SOR information is the network set with the highest priority. For example, {PLMN1 and PLMN2} are a network set with the highest priority, followed by {PLMN1 and PLMN5}, and so on.

Optionally, the SOR-AF may determine the SOR information according to the information of multiple network slices that the UE requests to access, the S-NSSAI supported by each PLMN, and the PLMN ID of the PLMN currently registered by the UE. For example, the SOR-AF may select the network set including the PLMN with which the UE is currently registered as the network set in the SOR information. For example, if the PLMN currently registered by the UE is PLMN1, the SOR information may include one or more of: {PLMN1 and PLMN2} and {PLMN1 and PLMN5}.

Optionally, if the SOR-AF receives the UE capability information, the SOR-AF may determine that the UE has the capability to access multiple PLMNs according to the UE capability information, and then determines the SOR information. Alternatively, the SOR-AF may generate SOR information by defaulting that the UE has the ability to register with multiple PLMNs.

Regardless of which of the above forms the network set is in, several forms of the above SOR information can be presented in a list of preferred PLMN or access technology combinations, or can also be presented in a secure package obtained by securely encapsulating the information. render.

Step 1003, the SOR-AF sends the above SOR information to the UDM.

Optionally, the SOR-AF also sends indication information to the UDM, where the indication information is used to instruct the UE to register with multiple PLMNs.

Correspondingly, the UDM receives the SOR information from the SOR-AF, determines the network set according to the SOR information, and then executes step 904 in FIG. That is, the registration acceptance message in step 905 includes SOR information. After receiving the SOR information, the UE registers to at least one of the multiple networks through step 906 .

For example, the registration of the UE to at least one of the multiple networks according to the SOR information may be implemented in the following manner:

The UE assists in updating the user-controlled PLMN selector or updating the operator-controlled PLMN selector according to the received SOR information including the foregoing network set information. Then, the UE performs PLMN selection according to the above selector and registers with multiple PLMNs.

Specifically, when the UE updates the operator-controlled PLMN selector according to the received SOR information, the UE can select and register the PLMN according to the updated operator-controlled PLMN selector. Alternatively, the UE may assist in updating the user-controlled PLMN selector according to the SOR information. When the SOR information is used to update the user-controlled PLMN selector, the UE provides the SOR information in a user-readable form to the user (eg, displayed to the user), and the user then selects the PLMN to register to. In an implementation manner, the UE may display the correspondence between each PLMN and the network slices supported by each on the user interface, and the user may select according to his/her own preference. After receiving the instruction of which PLMNs to be registered selected by the user, the UE updates the PLMN selector controlled by the user. For example, if the user selects PLMN1 and PLMN2 according to the information provided by the UE, the UE updates the PLMN selector controlled by the user to PLMN1 and PLMN2. When the UE uses the user-controlled PLMN selector, it can register to PLMN1 and PLMN2. In addition, if the current UE has already registered with PLMN1, it only needs to additionally register with PLMN2. The principles of how the UE updates the operator-controlled PLMN selector and the user-controlled PLMN selector according to the SOR information are similar. The following will take the UE updating the operator-controlled PLMN selector according to the SOR information as an example for description.

When the SOR information includes a network set, the UE updates the operator-controlled PLMN selector according to the SOR information, and the UE registers with the PLMN in the network set according to the updated operator-controlled PLMN selector. For example, the SOR information includes information for a network set. For example, when the network set includes PLMN1 and PLMN2, the updated operator-controlled PLMN selector is shown in Table 5. The UE can register to PLMN1 and PLMN2 according to the above method.

table 5

运营商控制的PLMN选择器Operator controlled PLMN selector
{PLMN1，PLMN2}{PLMN1, PLMN2}

When the SOR information includes information of at least two network sets, the UE updates the operator-controlled PLMN selector according to the SOR information, and the UE selects a network set and registers according to the updated operator-controlled PLMN selector. For example, the at least two network sets in the SOR information include: {PLMN1 and PLMN2}, {PLMN1 and PLMN5}, {PLMN2 and PLMN3}, {PLMN3 and PLMN5}. The updated operator-controlled PLMN selector is shown in Table 6.

Table 6

运营商控制的PLMN选择器Operator controlled PLMN selector
{PLMN1，PLMN2}{PLMN1, PLMN2}
{PLMN1，PLMN5}{PLMN1, PLMN5}
{PLMN2，PLMN3}{PLMN2, PLMN3}
{PLMN3，PLMN5}{PLMN3, PLMN5}

In a possible implementation manner, when each of the at least two network sets does not have a priority order, the UE randomly selects a network set, for example, the UE selects a PLMN in the first network set and registers. That is, the UE can select PLMN1 and PLMN2 and register.

Optionally, the UE may select a network set considering the currently registered PLMN, that is, select a network set including the currently registered PLMN. For example, if the UE has already registered to PLMN1 through the above registration process, the UE can select {PLMN1 and PLMN2} or {PLMN1 and PLMN5}, that is, the UE can additionally register to PLMN2 or PLMN5.

In another possible implementation manner, the network sets in the PLMN selector controlled by the operator are arranged in descending order of priority. The UE registers with the network set with the highest priority. As mentioned above, {PLMN1 and PLMN2} are a network set with the highest priority. Therefore, the UE registers to PLMN1 and PLMN2. If the UE is currently registered to PLMN1, the UE only needs to additionally register to PLMN2. Similarly, if the UE has already registered to PLMN2 through the above registration process, the UE only needs to additionally register to PLMN1. If the UE is currently registered to PLMN3, PLMN4 or PLMN5, the UE re-registers to PLMN1 and PLMN2. In this case, the UE can deregister from the current PLMN.

Further optionally, the UE may select a network set with the highest priority that includes the PLMN currently registered to in the PLMN selector controlled by the operator. For example, if the UE is currently registered to PLMN1, {PLMN1 and PLMN2} are the operators. The controlled PLMN selector includes a network set with the highest priority of the currently registered PLMN, and the UE only needs to additionally register to PLMN2.

It can be understood that when the SOR information is in the form of a security package, the UE first decapsulates the security package, and then selects and registers with the PLMN according to any of the above methods, which will not be repeated here.

After the UE registers with the above-mentioned multiple PLMNs, it can use the multiple requested network slices through the multiple PLMNs registered to.

Through this method, the UE can assist in updating the user-controlled PLMN selector or the operator-controlled PLMN selector according to the received SOR information. When the UE selects the PLMN to be accessed according to the updated selector, it has the opportunity to register to multiple PLMNs, so that multiple network slices that the UE requests to access have the opportunity to be used in the combination of multiple PLMNs, so as to meet the requirements of the network slices that the UE expects to use, provide better services for users, and improve the user experience.

In addition, in the above embodiments, after the UE receives the SOR information, the UDM may update the SOR information again, and deliver the updated SOR information to the UE again, which is not limited in this application.

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of another process interaction of a method for registering to multiple networks provided by the present application. This schematic will be described in conjunction with FIGS. 9 and 10 . Figure 11 relates to the interaction between network equipment and terminal equipment. For example, the network device may be the UDM in FIG. 9 or FIG. 10 , and the terminal device may be the UE in FIG. 9 . Optionally, the interaction may also involve an AMF, and the AMF may be the AMF in FIG. 9 . For example, the method includes the following steps:

Step 1101: The terminal device sends information of multiple network slices to which access is requested to the network device. Correspondingly, the network device receives from the terminal device information of multiple network slices that are requested to be accessed.

For example, the network device may be a UDM. The UDM may receive the information of the multiple network slices that are requested to be accessed from the terminal device through the AMF.

For example, the information of multiple network slices to which access is requested may be the terminal device requested NSSAI. For example, the multiple network slices that the terminal device requests to access are network slice 1 and network slice 2, and the NSSAI requested by the terminal device includes S-NSSAI 1 of network slice 1 and S-NSSAI 2 of network slice 2. For the information of the multiple network slices for which access is requested, reference may be made to the description in step 901 in FIG. 9 .

Optionally, the terminal device sends the terminal device capability information to the network device. The capability information indicates that the terminal device has the capability to register with multiple networks. For example, the capability information is specifically used to indicate that the SIM card in the terminal device has the capability of registering with multiple networks. For the terminal device capability information, reference may be made to the description in step 901 in FIG. 9 .

For other details of step 1101, reference may be made to the descriptions in step 901 and step 902 in FIG. 9 .

Step 1102, the network device determines a plurality of networks associated with the plurality of network slices according to the information of the plurality of network slices for which access is requested, wherein each network slice in the plurality of network slices is Supported by at least one of the multiple networks.

For example, multiple networks may refer to multiple PLMNs. Alternatively, the multiple networks may refer to multiple subnets under one PLMN, for example, the subnets may refer to a non-public network NPN. The multiple subnets may be multiple subnets under the HPLMN, or may be multiple subnets under the VPLMN.

The determination by the network device of multiple networks associated with multiple network slices may include the following situations:

In an optional situation, the network device determines a network set, the network set includes the above-mentioned multiple networks, and each network slice in the multiple network slices that the terminal device requests to access is replaced by a network slice in the multiple networks in the network set. Supported by at least one network, in other words, the network set includes multiple networks that respectively support multiple network slices that the terminal device requests to access. For example, the one network set includes a first network and a second network, wherein the first network supports network slice 1 and the second network supports network slice 2.

In an optional situation, the network device determines multiple network sets, wherein each network slice in the multiple network slices that the terminal device requests to access is replaced by a network slice in the multiple networks in each of the multiple network sets. Supported by at least one network, in other words, each of the multiple network sets includes multiple networks that respectively support multiple network slices that the terminal device requests to access. For example, the network device determines a plurality of network sets, wherein a first network set of the plurality of network sets includes a first network and a second network. Optionally, the first network set has the highest priority among the multiple network sets.

Optionally, in the above several situations, the network set may indicate other networks except the network to which the terminal device has been registered, that is, the network to which the current terminal device has been registered may not be included. For example, when the terminal device has been registered with the first network, the network set indicates information excluding other networks except the first network.

In a possible implementation manner, the network device determines multiple networks associated with multiple network slices, including: the network device sends information of multiple network slices that the terminal device requests to access to the roaming preference application function SOR-AF apparatus; the network The device receives the roaming preference SOR information from the SOR-AF device, and the network device determines a plurality of networks according to the SOR information. That is to say, the SOR-AF apparatus determines multiple networks according to the information of multiple network slices that the terminal device requests to access, and feeds it back to the network device by means of SOR information. For example, this embodiment can be applied to the roaming scenario described above. Details of this embodiment can be referred to the description of FIG. 10 .

Or, in another possible implementation manner, the network device determines multiple networks associated with multiple network slices, including: the network device obtains corresponding information, where the corresponding information is used to indicate the network to which the terminal device is allowed to register and the network to which the terminal device is allowed to register. The network slice supported by each network in the registered network; the network device determines multiple networks associated with the multiple network slices according to the corresponding information and the information of the multiple network slices that the terminal device requests to access. For example, the network device may first obtain the S-NSSAI supported by the PLMN with a roaming agreement from the NSSF or locally configured information, and determine the above correspondence according to the S-NSSAI supported by the PLMN with a roaming agreement and the subscription information of the terminal device. That is to say, the network device acquires the network to which the terminal device is allowed to register and information about the network slices supported by each network in the network to which the terminal device is allowed to register, and then the network device obtains information about the multiple network slices that the terminal device requests to access according to the information to determine a plurality of networks, each of the plurality of network slices being supported by at least one of the plurality of networks. For this embodiment, reference may be made to the description of step 903 in FIG. 9 .

For other details of step 1102, reference may be made to the description in step 903 in FIG. 9 .

Step 1103, the network device sends a plurality of network associated information to the terminal device. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the plurality of network associated information from the network device.

For information related to multiple networks, reference may be made to the description of step 904 in FIG. 9 .

For example, in a roaming scenario, the UDM network device may send SOR information to the terminal device, where the SOR information includes the information associated with the multiple networks.

For example, the UDM sends multiple network associated information to the terminal device through the AMF, and the terminal device receives multiple network associated information from the UDM through the AMF.

Optionally, after the network device determines multiple networks, the network device first determines the information associated with the multiple networks, and then sends the information associated with the multiple networks to the terminal device.

For example, the information associated with the plurality of networks indicates the plurality of networks. Alternatively, when the multiple networks include the first network to which the terminal device is currently registered, the information associated with the multiple networks includes information of at least one network in the multiple networks except the first network. That is, the information associated with the multiple networks may not include the network to which the terminal device is currently registered.

As mentioned above, the network device may determine one or more network sets, therefore, in step 1103, the network device may send information associated with the one or more network sets to the terminal device, wherein each network set indicates multiple At least one network in the network or multiple networks except the first network currently registered by the terminal device.

For other details of the information associated with multiple networks, reference may be made to the description of step 904 in FIG. 9 .

Further optionally, the network device further sends, to the terminal device, indication information indicating that the terminal device is registered with multiple networks. The multiple networks in the indication information may refer to multiple networks in general.

For other details of step 1103, reference may be made to the descriptions in steps 904 to 905 in FIG. 9 .

Step 1104: The terminal device registers with at least one network among the multiple networks according to the information associated with the multiple networks.

Registering to at least one of the multiple networks means: if the terminal device has been registered to the first network of the multiple networks, the terminal device is registered to the multiple networks except the first network at least one network; or, the terminal device registers with the multiple networks.

For example, the information associated with a plurality of networks indicates the above-mentioned first network and second network. When the terminal device has been registered to the first network through the above steps, the terminal device re-registers to the second network according to the received information associated with multiple networks. Otherwise, the terminal device registers with the first network and the second network according to the information of the multiple networks.

For example, this step includes the following situations:

In an optional situation, when the multiple network information includes information of one network set, the one network set includes the first network and the second network, and the terminal device registers with one network set in the network. In another optional situation, when the multiple network information includes information of multiple network sets, the terminal device selects one of the multiple network sets according to the multiple network information and registers with the network set For example, the terminal device selects a first network set among multiple network sets and registers with the network in the first network set, where the first network set includes the first network and the second network. Optionally, the first network set is the network set with the highest priority among the multiple network sets, that is, the terminal device registers with the network in the network set with the highest priority.

For example, the above description can be applied to the case where the terminal device directly registers with the multiple networks according to the received information of the multiple networks. Besides, the above description can also be applied to the case where the terminal device updates the operator-controlled PLMN selector or assists in updating the user-controlled PLMN selector according to the SOR information. Optionally, the terminal device updates the operator-controlled PLMN selector or assists in updating the user-controlled PLMN selector according to the SOR information, and then registers with the at least one of the networks. For example, when the above description is also applicable to the terminal device assisting in updating the network selector controlled by the user according to the SOR information, the terminal device prompts the user with third information according to the plurality of network information, and the third information is used to indicate The user selects multiple networks; the terminal device receives an instruction from the user, and registers with the multiple networks according to the instruction.

For other details of step 1104, reference may be made to the description of step 906 in FIG. 9 .

According to the above solution, the network device determines multiple networks capable of supporting multiple network slices requested for access, and sends information associated with the multiple networks to the terminal device, so that the terminal device can register with the multiple networks, and the terminal device can register with the multiple networks. It uses multiple network slices that the terminal device requests to access, so as to meet the requirements of the network slices expected to be used by the terminal device, better provide services to users, and improve user experience.

FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram of flow interaction of another method for registering to multiple networks provided by this application. Registering with multiple networks may be registering with multiple PLMNs, or may be registering with multiple subnets under one PLMN. The following description will be given by taking registration to multiple PLMNs as an example.

The method involves interaction between UE, AMF and UDM. When this method is used in a cross-PLMN roaming scenario, the UE may be the UE in FIG. 3 or FIG. 4 , the AMF may be the AMF located in the VPLMN in FIG. 3 or FIG. 4 , and the UDM may be the HPLMN in FIG. 3 or FIG. 4 . UDM. For example, the VPLMN may be any of the PLMNs in Table 3 above.

For example, the method includes the following steps:

Step 1201, the UE sends a registration request (registration request) message to the AMF.

For example, the UE sends a registration request message to the RAN (not shown in FIG. 12 ), and the RAN sends the registration request message to the AMF after receiving the registration request message. For example, the RAN may be the RAN located in the VPLMN in FIG. 3 or FIG. 4 .

In the example of FIG. 12 , the registration request message may include UE capability information, where the capability information indicates that the UE has the capability to register with multiple networks. For example, the capability information is specifically used to indicate that the SIM in the UE has the capability to register with multiple PLMNs. For the capability information, reference may be made to the description of step 901 in FIG. 9 , which will not be repeated here.

In the example of FIG. 12 , the registration request message may include information of multiple network slices that the UE requests to access. The information of multiple network slices that the UE requests to access may be UE-requested NSSAI. For example, the multiple network slices that the UE requests to access are network slice 1 and network slice 2, and the UE requested NSSAI includes S-NSSAI 1 that identifies network slice 1 and S-NSSAI 2 that identifies network slice 2. For information about the multiple network slices that the UE requests to access, reference may be made to the description of step 901 in FIG. 9 , and details are not repeated here.

In addition, the registration request message may further include registration type information, where the registration type information is used to indicate that the type of this registration is initial registration.

Step 1202, the AMF sends a request message c to the UDM.

Optionally, the request message c may include the information in the above-mentioned registration request message, for example, the request message c may include UE capability information, the information of multiple network slices that the UE requests to access or the PLMN ID of the PLMN currently registered by the UE. at least one of. For example, the information of multiple network slices that the UE requests to access are S-NSSAI 1 identifying network slice 1 and S-NSSAI 2 identifying network slice 2.

Correspondingly, the UDM receives the request message c from the AMF.

For example, the AMF may send the request message c to the UDM by invoking the service operation of the UDM.

Optionally, after receiving the request message c, the UDM first determines that the current PLMN cannot support all the multiple network slices that the UE requests to access. For example, the current PLMN is PLMN 1. As shown in Table 3 above, PLMN 1 supports network slice 1 identified by S-NSSAI 1 and network slice 3 identified by S-NSSAI 3, but cannot support network slice 2 identified by S-NSSAI 1 , thus triggering the UDM to execute the following step 1203 .

Step 1203, the UDM obtains the network set and information of network slices supported by each network in the network set.

Similar to FIG. 9 , the UDM can determine the network set and the information of the network slices supported by each network in the network set, or the UDM can obtain the information of the network set and the network slices supported by each network in the network set from the SOR-AF. The method for the UDM to obtain the information of the network set and the network slices supported by each network in the network set from the SOR-AF will be described in detail with reference to the following Figure 13 , and this implementation is applicable to the cross-PLMN roaming scenario.

The information about the network set and the network slice supported by each network in the network set may be the association information of the PLMN in the network set and the network slice supported by each PLMN. In a possible implementation manner, the PLMN in the network set is a PLMN to which the UE is allowed to register. For example, the PLMN to which the UE is allowed to register refers to the PLMN to which the UE is allowed to register at the same time. That is, the information of the network set and the network slices supported by each network in the network set may be in the form of a table, as shown in Table 3 above. Alternatively, the network set and information on network slices supported by each network in the network set may include: PLMN1 (S-NSSAI 1, S-NSSAI 3), PLMN2 (S-NSSAI 2, S-NSSAI 4), PLMN3 (S-NSSAI 2, S-NSSAI 4) NSSAI 1, S-NSSAI 4), PLMN4 (S-NSSAI 3, S-NSSAI 5), PLMN5 (S-NSSAI 2, S-NSSAI 5). For example, PLMN1 (S-NSSAI 1, S-NSSAI 3) indicates that PLMN1 supports network slice 1 corresponding to S-NSSAI 1 and network slice 3 corresponding to S-NSSAI 3.

In another possible implementation, when the above registration request message includes information about multiple network slices that the UE requests to access, the PLMN in the network set is at least one network that supports the multiple network slices that the UE requests to access. Sliced PLMN. That is to say, a PLMN that does not support at least one of the multiple network slices that the UE requests to access is not included in the network set. Taking the above example as an example, the PLMN 4 in Table 3 can neither support the network slice 1 that the UE requests to access, nor the network slice 2 that the UE requests to access. Similarly, the information of the network set and the network slices supported by each network in the network set may be in the form of a table, as shown in Table 7. Alternatively, the network set and information on network slices supported by each network in the network set may include: PLMN1 (S-NSSAI 1, S-NSSAI 3), PLMN2 (S-NSSAI 2, S-NSSAI 4), PLMN3 (S-NSSAI 2, S-NSSAI 4) NSSAI 1, S-NSSAI 4), PLMN5 (S-NSSAI 2, S-NSSAI 5).

Table 7

PLMN IDPLMN ID	支持的网络切片Supported network slices
PLMN1PLMN1	S-NSSAI 1、S-NSSAI 3S-NSSAI 1, S-NSSAI 3
PLMN2PLMN2	S-NSSAI 2、S-NSSAI 4S-NSSAI 2, S-NSSAI 4
PLMN3PLMN3	S-NSSAI 1、S-NSSAI 4S-NSSAI 1, S-NSSAI 4
PLMN5PLMN5	S-NSSAI 2、S-NSSAI 5S-NSSAI 2, S-NSSAI 5

For example, the UDM is configured with the S-NSSAI supported by the PLMN with the roaming agreement, or the UDM obtains the S-NSSAI supported by the PLMN with the roaming agreement from the NSSF (for example, the NSSF located in the HPLMN), and then according to the PLMN with the roaming agreement. The supported S-NSSAI and the UE's subscription information determine the S-NSSAI supported by the PLMN that the UE is allowed to access. The S-NSSAI supported by the PLMN that the UE is allowed to access may be as described in Table 3 above. It can be understood that when the UDM obtains the S-NSSAI supported by the PLMN with the roaming agreement from the NSSF located in the HPLMN, it means that the interface or service operation between the UDM and the NSSF should be added in the existing network architecture.

Then, the UDM can determine the network set and the network slices supported by each network in the network set according to the request message c.

For example, when the request message c includes UE capability information, the UDM has the capability of registering with multiple PLMNs according to the UE capability information, and then determines the network set and the network slices supported by each network in the network set. Alternatively, the above registration request message and request message c may not include UE capability information, and the UDM may default that the UE has the capability of registering with multiple PLMNs, and then performs the following operations.

Or, when the request message c includes information about the network slice that the UE requests to access, the UDM determines the difference between the multiple networks in the network set determined by the UDM and the network slice that the UE requests to access according to the information about the network slice that the UE requests to access. Information association. For this, reference may be made to the foregoing description, which will not be repeated here.

Alternatively, when the request message c includes the PLMN ID of the PLMN currently registered by the UE, the UDM can learn the PLMN currently registered by the UE accordingly, so as to select the network set including the PLMN currently registered by the UE and the network slice supported by each PLMN in the network set . For example, if the PLMN currently registered by the UE is PLMN1, the network set and the information of the network slices supported by each network in the network set include PLMN2, PLMN3, PLMN4, PLMN5 and the information of the corresponding supported network slices.

Optionally, when this implementation manner is applicable to a cross-PLMN roaming scenario, the UDM may also generate the SOR information including the foregoing network set according to the foregoing manner. The form of the SOR information can also refer to the specific description of FIG. 13 later.

Step 1204, the UDM sends a response message d to the AMF, where the response message d includes the network set in step 1203 and the information of the network slices supported by each network in the network set. Correspondingly, the AMF receives the response message d from the UDM.

With reference to the description of step 1203, in a possible implementation manner, the UDM may send the network set to which the UE is allowed to register and the information of network slices supported by each network in the network set through the response message d of step 1204. That is, the networks in the network set are the networks to which the UE is allowed to register.

Or, in another possible implementation manner, the UDM may send, through the response message d in step 1204, a network set that supports at least one network slice of the multiple network slices that the UE requests to access, and a network supported by each network in the network set slice information. That is to say, each network in the network set can support at least one network slice of the multiple network slices that the UE requests to access, and the UDM sends each network slice (including but not limited to the network slices supported by the network) through a response message. The network slice that the UE requests to access). Further optionally, the network set sent by the UDM does not include the information of the network currently registered by the UE.

Optionally, the UDM also sends indication information to the AMF, where the indication information is used to instruct the UE to register with multiple PLMNs. For example, the UDM may send the above-mentioned information and indication information related to the network set and the network slices supported by each network in the network set to the AMF through the response message d in step 1204 .

Step 1205, the AMF sends a registration acceptance message to the UE, where the registration acceptance message includes the above network set and the information of the network slices supported by each network in the network set.

Optionally, the registration acceptance message further includes at least one of allowed NSSAI and rejected NSSAI. Alternatively, the message sent by the AMF to the UE in step 905 may be a registration rejection message (not shown in the figure), and the registration rejection message includes the above network set and information on network slices supported by each network in the network set. Except that the content contained in the message is the network set and the network slices supported by each network in the network set, other details of this step may refer to the description of step 905 in FIG. 9 .

For example, the AMF sends a registration accept message/registration rejection message to the RAN (not shown in FIG. 12 ), and the RAN sends the registration accept message/registration rejection message to the UE after receiving the registration accept message.

Step 1206, the UE selects multiple networks associated with multiple network slices to be accessed by the UE.

In the first possible implementation manner, when the UE receives the network set that the UE is allowed to register and the information about the network slices supported by each network in the network set through step 1205, the UE can access the network slices according to the information of the multiple network slices to be accessed by the UE. The information and the information about the network set and the network slices supported by each network in the network set are received, and multiple PLMNs that support each of the multiple network slices to be accessed by the UE are selected.

For example, the network set received by the UE and the network slice information supported by each network in the network set are shown in Table 3 above. The multiple network slices to be accessed by the UE are network slice 1 and network slice 2. The UE can select PLMN1 and PLMN2, or PLMN1 and PLMN5, or PLMN2 and PLMN3, or PLMN3 and PLMN3. PLMN5.

In a second possible implementation manner, when the UE receives, in step 1205, a network set that supports at least one network slice of the multiple network slices that the UE requests to access, and information about network slices supported by each network in the network set, the UE Multiple PLMNs supporting each of the multiple network slices to be accessed by the UE may be selected according to the information of the multiple network slices to be accessed by the UE.

For example, the network set that supports at least one network slice of the multiple network slices that the UE requests to access and the information about the network slices supported by each network in the network set received by the UE, the multiple network slices that the UE requests to access are: For network slice 1 and network slice 2, the UE can select PLMN1 and PLMN2, or PLMN1 and PLMN5, or PLMN2 and PLMN3, or PLMN3 and PLMN5.

That is, regardless of whether a network in the network set can support at least one network slice of the plurality of network slices that the UE requests to access, the operation of the UE is similar. In other words, the UE may not perceive whether a network in the received network set can support at least one network slice of the multiple network slices that the UE requests to access.

Step 1207, the UE registers with at least one network among the multiple networks.

For example, the UE registers with at least one of the multiple networks according to the multiple networks associated with the multiple network slices to be accessed by the UE selected in step 1206 .

It should be noted that, if the UE has already registered to the first PLMN among the multiple PLMNs through the registration process of the above steps 1201 to 1205, the UE only needs to additionally register to other PLMNs except the first PLMN among the multiple PLMNs; otherwise, the UE can Additional registration to these multiple PLMNs.

For example, assuming that the UE chooses to register with PLMN1 and PLMN2, if the UE is currently registered with PLMN1, the UE only needs to additionally register with PLMN2. Similarly, if the UE has already registered with PLMN2 through the above registration process, the UE only needs to additionally register with PLMN1 . If the UE is currently registered to PLMN3, PLMN4 or PLMN5, the UE re-registers to PLMN1 and PLMN2. In this case, the UE can deregister from the current PLMN.

Regardless of any of the above methods, the UE eventually registers with multiple PLMNs capable of supporting multiple network slices to be accessed by the UE. After the UE registers with the above-mentioned multiple PLMNs, it can use the requested multiple network slices through the multiple PLMNs registered to. For example, when the UE wants to use the service provided by the network slice 2, a session corresponding to the network slice 2 is established, and then the network slice 2 is accessed through the session.

Through this method, the UE can register with multiple PLMNs according to the multiple network slices to be accessed, so that the multiple network slices to be accessed by the UE can be used in combination with multiple PLMNs, so as to meet the requirements that the UE expects to use. The demand for network slicing provides better services for users and improves user experience.

As mentioned above, the method can also be applied to scenarios of multiple subnets within the same PLMN (HPLMN or VPLMN). The method in this scenario also involves the interaction between UE, AMF and UDM. The UE may be the UE in FIG. 5 or FIG. 6 , the AMF may be the AMF located in the NPN in FIG. 5 , or the AMF located in the NPN1 in FIG. 6 , and the UDM may be the UDM in FIG. 5 or FIG. 6 . Similarly, the UDM can obtain information about the network set and the network slices supported by each network in the network set, where the network set includes multiple subnets, and the information on the network slices supported by each network in the network set is the information supported by the multiple subnets. Information about network slices. The network set here may include the identification of multiple subnets (eg, NPNs). Optionally, the network set may further include an identifier of the PLMN corresponding to each subnet. For example, the UDM can obtain the correspondence between each subnet ID and the S-NSSAI supported by the subnet, or the relationship between each subnet ID and the PLMN where the subnet is located and the S-NSSAI supported by the subnet. Correspondence. After receiving the information about the network set and the network slices supported by each network in the network set, the UE selects multiple subnets that support multiple network slices to be accessed by the UE, and registers with the multiple subnets. A subnet uses multiple network slices to be accessed. In this way, multiple network slices to be accessed by the UE can be used in combination with multiple subnets, thereby meeting the requirements of the network slices expected to be used by the UE, providing better services for users, and improving user experience.

As mentioned above, when the method is applied to a cross-PLMN scenario, the network set and the network slice information supported by each network in the network set can be implemented by means of SOR information, wherein the SOR information can either be generated by UDM, or, SOR-AF generation can also be requested by UDM. FIG. 13 will be described by taking the UDM requesting the SOR-AF to generate SOR information as an example. FIG. 13 will be described in conjunction with FIG. 12 . For example, the method may include the following steps:

Step 1301, the UDM sends a request message e to the SOR-AF. For example, the request message e may be the information included in the request message c in step 1202 in FIG. 12 .

For example, if the above-mentioned subscription information of the UE indicates that SOR information is provided to the UE in the case of initial registration of a VPLMN, the UDM determines to obtain the SOR information, and then executes the above-mentioned step 1301.

For example, the UDM may send the information of multiple network slices that the UE requests to access to the SOR-AF through the request message e. For example, the information of the multiple network slices that the UE requests to access may be the information of the multiple network slices that the UE requests to access, which is included in the request message c in step 1202 in FIG. 12 .

For example, the UDM may send the UE capability information to the SOR-AF through the request message e. For example, the UE capability information may be the UE capability information included in the request message c in step 1202 in FIG. 12 .

In addition, the UDM can also send the PLMN ID of the PLMN currently registered by the UE to the SOR-AF through the request message e. For example, the PLMN ID of the PLMN currently registered by the UE may be the PLMN ID of the PLMN currently registered by the UE included in the request message c in step 1202 in FIG. 12 .

Step 1302, the SOR-AF generates SOR information according to the information in the request message e, where the SOR information may indicate the network set and the network slices supported by each network in the network set. For the network set and the network slices supported by each network in the network set, reference may be made to the description of step 1203 in FIG. 12 .

For example, the SOR-AF configures the S-NSSAI supported by the PLMN with the roaming agreement; or, the SOR-AF obtains the S-NSSAI supported by the PLMN with the roaming agreement from the NSSF. Then, the SOR-AF determines the S-NSSAI supported by the PLMN that allows the UE to access according to the S-NSSAI supported by the PLMN with the roaming agreement and the subscription information of the UE, and then generates SOR information according to the S-NSSAI supported by each PLMN.

SOR information can have any of the following forms:

The first form: the SOR information includes the set of networks that the UE is allowed to register with and the information of the network slices supported by each network in the set of networks, as shown in Table 3 above. PLMN1, PLMN2, PLMN3, PLMN4 and PLMN5 in Table 3 are all PLMNs that the UE can register with, and the UE is allowed to register with any two or more PLMNs among the five PLMNs. For example, when the UE registers with PLMN1 and PLMN2, the UE can use the network slices S-NSSAI 1 and S-NSSAI 3 supported by PLMN1, and the network slices S-NSSAI 2 and S-NSSAI 4 supported by PLMN2.

That is, the generation of the SOR information may not consider multiple network slices that the UE requests to access. In this case, the request message e in the foregoing step 1301 may not carry the multiple network slice information that the UE requests to access.

The second form: the SOR information includes a set of networks that the UE is allowed to register with and a network slice supported by each network in the network set, and each network in the network set supports at least one network slice that the UE requests to access.

For example, when the request message e carries information of multiple network slices that the UE requests to access, compared with the first form above, the generation of the SOR information further considers the multiple network slices that the UE requests to access. That is to say, the SOR-AF can filter out the PLMN that can support at least one network slice among the multiple network slices that the UE requests to access according to the multiple network slices that the UE requests to access, and only provide this PLMN and the network supported by the PLMN. Slice associated information. Taking the above example as an example, the PLMN 4 in Table 3 can neither support the network slice 1 that the UE requests to access, nor the network slice 2 that the UE requests to access. Therefore, the SOR information can be as shown in Table 7 above.

Optionally, the request message e carries the UE capability information, and the SOR-AF may determine that the UE has the capability to access multiple PLMNs according to the UE capability information, and then determines the SOR information. Alternatively, the request message e may not carry the UE capability information, and the SOR-AF defaults that the UE has the capability of registering with multiple PLMNs, thereby generating the SOR information.

Regardless of which of the above forms is the information associated with the network and the respective network slicing support, several forms of the above SOR information may be presented as a list of combinations of preferred PLMNs or access technologies, or the information may be secured The security package obtained after encapsulation is presented.

Step 1303, the SOR-AF sends the above SOR information to the UDM.

Correspondingly, the UDM receives the SOR information from the SOR-AF, determines the network set and the network slices supported by each network in the network set according to the SOR information, and then executes step 1204 in FIG. 1205 Send the UE the network set and information of the network slices supported by each network in the network set. After receiving the SOR information, the UE selects multiple networks associated with multiple network slices to be accessed by the UE through step 1206 , and registers with at least one of the multiple networks through step 1207 .

For example, selecting multiple networks associated with multiple network slices to be accessed by the UE according to the SOR information may be implemented in the following manner:

The UE assists in updating the user-controlled PLMN selector or updating the operator-controlled PLMN selector according to the received SOR information. Then, the UE performs PLMN selection according to the above selector. The principles of how the UE updates the operator-controlled PLMN selector and the user-controlled PLMN selector according to the SOR information are similar. The following will take the UE updating the operator-controlled PLMN selector according to the SOR information as an example for description.

For example, when the SOR information has the first form described in step 1302, that is, the SOR information includes the network set that the UE is allowed to register with and the information of the network slices supported by each network in the network set, as shown in Table 3 above, the UE according to The SOR information updates the PLMN selector controlled by the operator, and the UE selects multiple PLMNs according to the updated PLMN selector controlled by the operator and the information of multiple network slices to be accessed. For example, the updated operator-controlled PLMN selector is shown in Table 8. For example, PLMN1 (S-NSSAI 1, S-NSSAI 3) indicates that PLMN1 supports network slice 1 corresponding to S-NSSAI 1 and network slice 3 corresponding to S-NSSAI 3.

Table 8

运营商控制的PLMN选择器Operator controlled PLMN selector
PLMN1(S-NSSAI 1、S-NSSAI 3)PLMN1 (S-NSSAI 1, S-NSSAI 3)

PLMN2(S-NSSAI 2、S-NSSAI 4)PLMN2 (S-NSSAI 2, S-NSSAI 4)
PLMN3(S-NSSAI 1、S-NSSAI 4)PLMN3 (S-NSSAI 1, S-NSSAI 4)
PLMN4(S-NSSAI 3、S-NSSAI 5)PLMN4 (S-NSSAI 3, S-NSSAI 5)
PLMN5(S-NSSAI 2、S-NSSAI 5)PLMN5 (S-NSSAI 2, S-NSSAI 5)

For example, the multiple network slices to be accessed by the UE are network slice 1 and network slice 2. The UE can select PLMN1 and PLMN2, or can also select PLMN1 and PLMN5, or can also select PLMN2 and PLMN3, or can also select PLMN3 and PLMN5. Assuming that the UE selects PLMN1 and PLMN2, if the UE is currently registered to PLMN1, the UE only needs to additionally register to PLMN2. Similarly, if the UE has already registered to PLMN2 through the above registration process, the UE only needs to additionally register to PLMN1. If the UE is currently registered to PLMN3, PLMN4 or PLMN5, the UE re-registers to PLMN1 and PLMN2. In this case, the UE can deregister from the current PLMN.

Optionally, the PLMNs in the operator-controlled PLMN selector are arranged in descending order of priority. The UE may select multiple PLMNs with relatively highest priorities according to multiple network slices to be accessed, that is, select PLMN1 and PLMN2.

Optionally, the UE may also select multiple PLMNs in consideration of the PLMN to which the UE is currently registered, that is, to select multiple PLMNs including the PLMN to which the UE is currently registered. For example, if the slices to be accessed by the UE are network slice 1 and network slice 2, and the UE has registered to PLMN1 through the above registration process, the UE can select PLMN1 and PLMN2 or select PLMN1 and PLMN5, that is, the UE can Additional registration to PLMN2 or PLMN5. Further optionally, the UE may also select the PLMN considering multiple network slices to be accessed by the UE, the PLMN to which the UE is currently registered, and the priority in the PLMN selector controlled by the operator. For example, the UE may select PLMN1 and PLMN2.

When the SOR information has the second form described in step 1302, as shown in Table 7 above, the UE updates the PLMN selector controlled by the operator according to the SOR information, and the UE selects multiple PLMN selectors according to the updated PLMN selector controlled by the operator PLMN. For example, the updated operator-controlled PLMN selector is shown in Table 9. For example, PLMN1 (S-NSSAI 1, S-NSSAI 3) indicates that PLMN1 supports network slice 1 corresponding to S-NSSAI 1 and network slice 3 corresponding to S-NSSAI 3.

Table 9

运营商控制的PLMN选择器Operator controlled PLMN selector
PLMN1(S-NSSAI 1、S-NSSAI 3)PLMN1 (S-NSSAI 1, S-NSSAI 3)
PLMN2(S-NSSAI 2、S-NSSAI 4)PLMN2 (S-NSSAI 2, S-NSSAI 4)
PLMN3(S-NSSAI 1、S-NSSAI 4)PLMN3 (S-NSSAI 1, S-NSSAI 4)
PLMN5(S-NSSAI 2、S-NSSAI 5)PLMN5 (S-NSSAI 2, S-NSSAI 5)

For example, the UE may select a PLMN in combination with Table 4 and Table 9 above. For example, when the above registration process is performed in PLMN1, the S-NSSAI 1 corresponding to network slice 1 to be accessed by the UE has been included in the allowed NSSAI, indicating that the UE can use network slice 1 in PLMN1, but the UE is to access network slice 1. The S-NSSAI 2 corresponding to the network slice 2 is included in the rejected NSSAI, indicating that the UE can not use the network slice 2 in the PLMN1. Then, the UE further selects a PLMN for network slice 2, that is, selects a PLMN that supports network slice 2. It can be seen from Table 9 that PLMN2 and PLMN5 support network slice 2, so the UE can choose PLMN2 or PLMN5 to register. Alternatively, the PLMNs in the operator-controlled PLMN selector are arranged in descending order of priority. The UE can select a PLMN with a higher priority, that is, choose to register with PLMN2.

When the above-mentioned registration process is performed in PLMN2, PLMN3 or PLMN5, the operations of the UE are similar, which will not be repeated here. When the above registration process is performed in PLMN4, the S-NSSAI 1 corresponding to network slice 1 and the S-NSSAI 2 corresponding to network slice 2 that the UE requests to access are included in the rejected NSSAI, indicating that the UE can not be used in PLMN4 Network Slice 1 and Network Slice 2. Then, the UE selects a PLMN for network slice 1 and a PLMN for network slice 2. It can be seen from Table 9 that PLMN1 and PLMN3 support network slice 1, and PLMN2 and PLMN5 support network slice 2, so the UE can select one PLMN from PLMN1 and PLMN3, and one PLMN from PLMN2 and PLMN5. Alternatively, the PLMNs in the operator-controlled PLMN selector are arranged in descending order of priority. The UE may select a PLMN with a higher priority, that is, choose to register with PLMN1 and PLMN2.

Alternatively, the UE may directly select the PLMN according to Table 9. For example, when the above registration process is performed in PLMN1, since PLMN1 supports network slice 1, network slice 2 is not supported. Then, the UE further selects a PLMN for network slice 2, that is, selects a PLMN that supports network slice 2. It can be seen from Table 9 that PLMN2 and PLMN5 support network slice 2, so the UE can choose to register with PLMN2 or PLMN5. Alternatively, the PLMNs in the operator-controlled PLMN selector are arranged in descending order of priority. The UE may select a PLMN with a higher priority, that is, choose to re-register to PLMN2. When the above registration process is performed in other PLMNs, the operations of the UE are similar, and are not repeated here.

After the UE registers with the above-mentioned multiple PLMNs, it can use the desired multiple network slices through the multiple PLMNs registered to.

Through this method, the UE can assist in updating the user-controlled PLMN selector or the operator-controlled PLMN selector according to the received SOR information. When the UE selects a PLMN according to the updated selector, it has the opportunity to register with multiple PLMNs. This enables multiple network slices to be accessed by the UE to have the opportunity to be used in combination with multiple PLMNs, thereby meeting the requirements of the network slices expected to be used by the UE, providing better services for users, and improving user experience.

FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram of another flow interaction of another method for registering to multiple networks provided by the present application. This schematic will be described in conjunction with the steps in FIGS. 12 and 13 . Figure 14 relates to the interaction between the network device and the terminal device. For example, the terminal device may be the UE in FIG. 12 , and the network device may be the UDM in FIG. 12 or FIG. 13 . Optionally, the interaction may also involve an AMF, and the AMF may be the AMF in FIG. 12 . For example, the method includes the following steps:

Step 1401, the terminal device sends a registration request message to the network device. Correspondingly, the network device receives the registration request message from the terminal device.

For example, the network device may be a UDM. The UDM may receive the above-mentioned registration request message from the terminal device through the AMF.

For example, the registration request message may include information of multiple network slices requested to be accessed by the terminal device, and the information of the multiple network slices requested to be accessed may be NSSAI requested by the terminal device. For example, the multiple network slices that the terminal device requests to access are network slice 1 and network slice 2, and the NSSAI requested by the terminal device includes S-NSSAI 1 of network slice 1 and S-NSSAI 2 of network slice 2. For the information of the multiple network slices for which access is requested, reference may be made to the description in step 1201 in FIG. 12 .

For example, the registration request message may include terminal device capability information. The capability information indicates that the terminal device has the capability to register with multiple networks. For example, the capability information is specifically used to indicate that the SIM card in the terminal device has the capability of registering with multiple networks. For the terminal device capability information, reference may be made to the description in step 1201 in FIG. 12 .

For other details of step 1401, reference may be made to the descriptions in step 1201 and step 1202 in FIG. 12 .

Step 1402: The network device determines first information, where the first information is used to indicate a network set and a network slice supported by each network in the network set.

For example, the first information includes association information between each network and network slices supported by each network. For example, the first information may be in the form of a list, as shown in FIG. 3 or FIG. 7 . For example, the set of networks may refer to the set of PLMNs. Alternatively, the network set may refer to a set of subnets under one PLMN, for example, the subnet may refer to a non-public network NPN. The multiple subnets may be multiple subnets under the HPLMN, or may be multiple subnets under the VPLMN.

In an optional case, the first information may include a network set to which the terminal device is allowed to register and a network slice supported by each network in the network set. That is, the network in the network set in the first information is a network to which the terminal device is allowed to register. In this case, the registration request message may not carry information of multiple network slices that the terminal device requests to access. That is to say, when the network device determines the first information, the information of multiple network slices that the terminal device requests to access may not be considered. This step may refer to the description in step 1203 in FIG. 12 .

In another optional situation, the first information may include a network set to which the terminal device is allowed to register and a network slice supported by each network in the network set, and each network in the network set supports the access requested by the terminal device. At least one network slice of the plurality of network slices. That is, the network in the network set in the first information is a network to which the terminal device is allowed to register, and the network can support at least one network slice among the multiple network slices that the terminal device requests to access. This case is a subset of the previous case, in which each network in the set of networks supports at least one network slice of the plurality of network slices that the terminal device requests to access. For example, the network set includes a first network and a second network, wherein the first network supports the network slice 1 that the terminal device requests to access, and the second network supports the network slice 2 that the terminal device requests to access, and the network set does not include A network that cannot support neither network slice 1 nor network slice 2. In this case, the registration request message carries information of multiple network slices that the terminal device requests to access.

Optionally, in the above several cases, the network set in the first information may indicate other networks except the network to which the terminal device has been registered, that is, may not include the network to which the current terminal device has been registered. For example, when the terminal device has been registered with the first network, the first information includes information about excluding other networks except the first network.

In a possible implementation manner, the network device determines the first information, including: the network device obtains corresponding information, and the corresponding information is used to indicate a network to which the terminal device is allowed to register and a network supported by each network in the network to which the terminal device is allowed to register. Slicing; the network device determines the first information according to the corresponding information, and optionally, further according to the information carried in the registration request message. For example, the network device can first obtain the S-NSSAI supported by the PLMN with the roaming agreement from the NSSF or locally configured information, and determine the above-mentioned correspondence according to the S-NSSAI supported by the PLMN with the roaming agreement and the subscription information of the terminal device. That is, the network device knows the network to which the terminal device is allowed to register and the information about the network slices supported by each network in the network to which the terminal device is allowed to register, and then presents the network to which the terminal device is allowed to register and Information about the network slices supported by each network in the network to which the end device is allowed to register. For details of this implementation, refer to the description of step 1203 in FIG. 12 .

In another possible implementation manner, the network device determining the first information includes: the network device sends a request message to the roaming preference application function SOR-AF apparatus, optionally, the request message carries the information carried in the registration request message; the network device The roaming preference SOR information is received from the SOR-AF device, and the network device determines the first information according to the SOR information. That is to say, the SOR-AF apparatus generates the first information, and feeds it back to the network device in the form of SOR information, and the network device determines the first information according to the SOR information. For example, this embodiment is suitable for cross-PLMN scenarios. Details of this embodiment can be referred to the description of FIG. 13 .

In a possible implementation manner, the network device determines the first information, and further includes: the network device determines the first information according to the first network currently registered by the terminal device, wherein the network set in the first information includes networks other than the first network. at least one network. That is to say, after the network device determines multiple networks associated with multiple network slices, it may remove the network currently registered by the terminal device to determine the first information.

For other details of step 1402, reference may be made to the description in step 1203 in FIG. 12 .

Step 1403, the network device sends the first information to the terminal device. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the first information from the network device.

The first information indicates the network set and information of network slices supported by each network in the network set. For information about the network set and the network slices supported by each network in the network set, reference may be made to the description of step 1203 in FIG. 12 .

For example, the UDM sends SOR information to the terminal device, and the SOR information includes the first information.

For example, the UDM sends the first information to the terminal device through the AMF, and the terminal device receives the first information from the UDM through the AMF.

Further optionally, the network device sends to the terminal device indication information that further includes instructing the terminal device to register with multiple networks.

For other details of this step, reference may be made to the descriptions in steps 1204 to 1205 in FIG. 12 .

Step 1404: The terminal device selects multiple networks associated with multiple network slices to be accessed from the network set in the first information, wherein each network slice in the multiple network slices is selected by the multiple network slices. Supported by at least one of the networks.

For example, the multiple network slices to be accessed by the terminal device include a first network slice and a second network slice. The terminal device selects the first network that supports the first network slice, and selects all network slices that support the second network slice. the second network.

For example, the above description may be applicable to the case where the terminal device directly selects multiple networks according to the received first information. Besides, the above description can also be applied to the case where the terminal device updates the network selector controlled by the operator or assists in updating the network selector controlled by the user according to the SOR information. Optionally, the terminal device updates the operator-controlled PLMN selector or assists in updating the user-controlled PLMN selector according to the SOR information, and then selects multiple networks according to the updated operator-controlled selector or user-controlled selector. When the above description can also be applied to when the terminal device assists in updating the network selector controlled by the user according to the SOR information, optionally, the terminal device prompts the user according to the received SOR information third information, where the third information is used for The user is instructed to select multiple networks; the terminal device receives an instruction from the user, and selects the multiple networks according to the instruction.

For other details of this step, reference may be made to the description of step 1206 in FIG. 12 .

Step 1405, the terminal device registers with at least one network among the multiple networks.

For example, taking the above example as an example, when the terminal device has already registered to the first network through the above steps, the terminal device re-registers to the second network according to the selected multiple networks. Otherwise, the terminal device registers with the first network and the second network according to the selected multiple networks.

For other details of this step, please refer to the description of step 1207 in FIG. 12 .

Through this method, the terminal device can register with multiple networks according to the multiple network slices to be accessed, so that the multiple network slices to be accessed by the terminal device can be used in the combination of multiple networks, so as to satisfy the needs of the terminal device. It is expected to use the network slicing requirements to better serve users and improve user experience.

It should be noted that each message in the above figures may have other names. In addition, the information transfer between each network element can also be realized by invoking the network function of each network element under the service-based architecture, which is not limited in the present invention.

In addition, in the embodiments shown in FIGS. 9 to 14 , the UDM may store context information of different networks separately, and the context information corresponding to each network includes an identifier (identifier, ID) of a serving AMF (serving AMF). The following description takes the network as a PLMN as an example, and the subnet under the same PLMN is also similar to the case of the PLMN. When a UE registers with a PLMN, the serving AMF provides access management services for the UE. That is to say, UDM stores the association information of different PLMNs and their corresponding service AMFs, as shown in Table 10:

Table 10

PLMN IDPLMN ID	AMF IDAMF ID
PLMN1PLMN1	AMF6AMF6
PLMN2PLMN2	AMF7AMF7
PLMN3PLMN3	AMF8AMF8

When the UE first registers to the first PLMN, and then registers to the second PLMN, if the two PLMNs belong to the PLMNs that the UDM allows the UE to register, the UDM will not perform the deregistration operation on the AMF of the service associated with the first PLMN, That is, the UDM will keep the AMF of the service associated with the first PLMN in a registered state. If the currently registered PLMN of the UE is PLMN1, and subsequently registers to PLMN2, the UDM will save the corresponding service AMF IDs of PLMN1 and PLMN2, and will not deregister the AMF6 corresponding to PLMN1.

The foregoing mainly introduces the solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application from the perspective of interaction between various network elements. Correspondingly, an embodiment of the present application further provides a communication apparatus, and the communication apparatus may be the terminal equipment in the above method embodiments, or an apparatus including the above terminal equipment, or a component that can be used for the terminal equipment; or, the communication apparatus may be It is the network device in the foregoing method embodiment, or an apparatus including the foregoing network device, or a component that can be used for the network device. It can be understood that, in order to realize the above-mentioned functions, the communication apparatus includes corresponding hardware structures and/or software modules for executing each function. Those skilled in the art should easily realize that the present application can be implemented in hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software with the units and algorithm steps of each example described in conjunction with the embodiments disclosed herein. Whether a function is performed by hardware or computer software driving hardware depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality using different methods for each particular application, but such implementations should not be considered beyond the scope of this application.

Returning to FIG. 7 , FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a communication apparatus provided according to an embodiment of the present application.

The communication apparatus includes a processing module 701 , a receiving module 702 and a sending module 703 . The processing module 701 is used to implement data processing by the communication device. The receiving module 702 is used to receive the content of the communication device and other units or network elements, and the sending module 703 is used to receive the content of the communication device and other units or network elements. It should be understood that the processing module 701 in this embodiment of the present application may be implemented by a processor or a processor-related circuit component (or referred to as a processing circuit), and the receiving module 702 may be implemented by a receiver or a receiver-related circuit component. The sending module 703 may be implemented by a transmitter or a transmitter-related circuit component.

Exemplarily, the communication device may be a communication device device, or a chip applied in the communication device device or other combined devices, components, etc. having the functions of the above-mentioned communication device device.

Exemplarily, the communication device may be any of the network equipment or UDM in FIG. 9 to FIG. 14 , may also be the AMF in FIG. 9 , FIG. 11 , FIG. 12 or FIG. 14 , or may be the one in FIG. 10 or FIG. 13 . The SOR-AF may also be the UE in FIG. 9 , FIG. 11 , FIG. 12 or FIG. 14 .

When the communication device is a network device or UDM, the receiving module 702 is configured to acquire information of multiple network slices that the terminal device requests to access (eg steps 902 and 902 in FIG. 9 , step 1101 in FIG. 11 ). The processing module 701 is configured to determine multiple networks associated with multiple network slices (eg, step 903 in FIG. 9 , steps 1001 to 1003 in FIG. 10 , and step 1102 in FIG. 11 ), wherein the multiple network slices Each network slice in is supported by at least one network of the plurality of networks. The sending module 703 is configured to send information associated with multiple networks to the terminal device (for example, steps 904 and 905 in FIG. 9 , step 1103 in FIG. 11 ), and the information associated with the multiple networks is used for the terminal device to register to the multiple networks.

Alternatively, the receiving module 702 is configured to acquire information of multiple network slices that the terminal device requests to access (eg, steps 1201 and 1202 in FIG. 12 , and step 1401 in FIG. 14 ). The processing module 701 is configured to determine the first information according to the information of the multiple network slices that the terminal device requests to access (for example, step 1203 in FIG. 12 , steps 1301 to 1303 in FIG. 13 , and step 1402 in FIG. 14 ). The information is used to indicate the network set and the network slices supported by each network in the network set, wherein each network in the network set supports at least one network slice among the multiple network slices that the terminal device requests to access. The sending module 703 is configured to send the first information to the terminal device (eg, steps 1204 and 1205 in FIG. 12 and step 1403 in FIG. 14 ).

Alternatively, the receiving module 702 is configured to acquire capability information of the terminal device, the capability information indicating that the terminal device has the capability to register with multiple networks (eg steps 1201 and 1202 in FIG. 12 , step 1401 in FIG. 14 ). The processing module 701 is configured to determine the first information (for example, step 1203 in FIG. 12 , steps 1301 to 1303 in FIG. 13 , and step 1402 in FIG. 14 ) when the terminal device has the ability to register with multiple networks. A piece of information is used to indicate the network set and the network slices supported by each network in the network set. The sending module 703 is configured to send the first information to the terminal device (eg, steps 1204 and 1205 in FIG. 12 and step 1403 in FIG. 14 ), where the first information is used for the terminal device to register with multiple networks in the network set.

In addition, the various modules described above may also be used to support other processes of the techniques described herein. For the beneficial effects, reference may be made to the foregoing description, which will not be repeated here.

When the communication device is a UE, the sending module 703 is configured to send information of multiple network slices that the terminal device requests to access to the network device (eg steps 901 and 902 in FIG. 9 , step 1101 in FIG. 11 ). The receiving module 702 is configured to receive information of multiple networks associated with multiple network slices from the network device (eg, steps 904 and 905 in FIG. 9 , and step 1103 in FIG. 11 ). The processing module 701 is configured to register with at least one of the multiple networks according to the information of the multiple networks (eg, step 906 in FIG. 9 , step 1104 in FIG. 11 ).

Alternatively, the receiving module 702 is configured to receive the first information from the network device, where the first information is used to indicate the network set and the network slices supported by each network in the network set (eg steps 1204 and 1205 in FIG. 12 , steps in FIG. 14 ) 1403). The processing module 701 is configured to select multiple networks (eg, step 1206 in FIG. 12 and step 1404 in FIG. 14 ) associated with multiple network slices to be accessed by the terminal device from the network set, and register with multiple networks. At least one of the networks (eg, step 1207 in Figure 12, and step 1405 in Figure 14).

When the communication device is an AMF, the receiving module 702 is used to perform steps 901 and 904 in FIG. 9 and steps 1201 and 1204 in FIG. 12 ; the sending module 703 is used to perform steps 902 and 905 in FIG. 9 . , and steps 1204 and 1205 in FIG. 12 . In addition, the various modules described above may also be used to support other processes of the techniques described herein. For the beneficial effects, reference may be made to the foregoing description, which will not be repeated here.

When the communication device is SOR-AF, the receiving module 702 is configured to receive, from the network device, information about multiple network slices that the terminal device requests to access (for example, step 1001 in FIG. 10 , step 1301 in FIG. 13 ); processing module 701 is used to generate roaming preference SOR information according to the information of multiple network slices that the terminal device requests to access (for example, step 1002 in FIG. 10 , step 1302 in FIG. 13 ); the sending module 703 is used to send the SOR information to the network device (eg step 1003 in FIG. 10, step 1303 in FIG. 13). The SOR information may indicate a plurality of networks, wherein each network slice of the plurality of network slices is supported by at least one network of the plurality of networks. Alternatively, the SOR information may indicate the network set and the network slices supported by each network in the network set, wherein each network in the network set supports at least one network slice among the multiple network slices that the terminal device requests to access. In addition, the various modules described above may also be used to support other processes of the techniques described herein. For the beneficial effects, reference may be made to the foregoing description, which will not be repeated here.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of another communication apparatus provided according to an embodiment of the present application. The communication apparatus includes: a processor 801 , a communication interface 802 , and a memory 803 . The processor 801, the communication interface 802 and the memory 803 can be connected to each other through a bus 804; the bus 804 can be a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) bus or an extended industry standard architecture (EISA) bus etc. The above-mentioned bus 804 can be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, and the like. For ease of representation, only one line is shown in FIG. 8, but it does not mean that there is only one bus or one type of bus. The processor 801 may be a central processing unit (CPU), a network processor (NP), or a combination of CPU and NP. The processor may further include a hardware chip. The above-mentioned hardware chip may be an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a programmable logic device (PLD) or a combination thereof. The above-mentioned PLD can be a complex programmable logic device (CPLD), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), a general-purpose array logic (Generic Array Logic, GAL) or any combination thereof. Memory 803 may be volatile memory or nonvolatile memory, or may include both volatile and nonvolatile memory. The non-volatile memory may be read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically programmable Erase programmable read-only memory (electrically EPROM, EEPROM) or flash memory. Volatile memory may be random access memory (RAM), which acts as an external cache.

Exemplarily, the communication device may be the network device UDM in any of FIG. 9 to FIG. 14 , the AMF in FIG. 9 , FIG. 11 , FIG. 12 or FIG. 14 , or the SOR in FIG. 10 or FIG. 13 . -AF, which can also be the UE in FIG. 9 , FIG. 11 , FIG. 12 or FIG. 14 .

The processor 801 is used for implementing data processing operations of the communication device, and the communication interface 802 is used for implementing receiving operations and sending operations of the communication device.

When the communication device is UDM, the communication interface 802 is used to obtain information of multiple network slices that the terminal device requests to access (eg, steps 902 and 902 in FIG. 9 , step 1101 in FIG. 11 ). The processor 801 is configured to determine multiple networks associated with multiple network slices (eg, step 903 in FIG. 9 , steps 1001 to 1003 in FIG. 10 , and step 1102 in FIG. 11 ), wherein the multiple network slices Each network slice in is supported by at least one network of the plurality of networks. The communication interface 802 is used to send information associated with multiple networks to the terminal device (for example, steps 904 and 905 in FIG. 9 , step 1103 in FIG. 11 ), and the information associated with the multiple networks is used for the terminal device to register to the multiple networks.

Alternatively, the communication interface 802 is used to acquire information of multiple network slices that the terminal device requests to access (for example, steps 1201 and 1202 in FIG. 12 , and step 1401 in FIG. 14 ). The processor 801 is configured to determine the first information according to the information of the multiple network slices that the terminal device requests to access (for example, step 1203 in FIG. 12 , steps 1301 to 1303 in FIG. 13 , and step 1402 in FIG. 14 ). The information is used to indicate the network set and the network slices supported by each network in the network set, wherein each network in the network set supports at least one network slice among the multiple network slices that the terminal device requests to access. The communication interface 802 is used to send the first information to the terminal device (eg, steps 1204 and 1205 in FIG. 12 , and step 1403 in FIG. 14 ).

Alternatively, the communication interface 802 is used to acquire capability information of the terminal device, the capability information indicating that the terminal device has the capability to register with multiple networks (eg steps 1201 and 1202 in FIG. 12 , step 1401 in FIG. 14 ). The processor 801 is configured to determine the first information (for example, step 1203 in FIG. 12 , steps 1301 to 1303 in FIG. 13 , and step 1402 in FIG. 14 ) when the terminal device has the ability to register with multiple networks. A piece of information is used to indicate the network set and the network slices supported by each network in the network set. The communication interface 802 is used to send the first information to the terminal device (eg steps 1204 and 1205 in FIG. 12 and step 1403 in FIG. 14 ), where the first information is used for the terminal device to register with multiple networks in the network set.

When the communication device is a UE, the communication interface 802 is configured to send information of multiple network slices that the terminal device requests to access to the network device (eg steps 901 and 902 in FIG. 9 , step 1101 in FIG. 11 ). The communication interface 802 is used to receive information from a network device of a plurality of networks associated with the plurality of network slices (eg, steps 904 and 905 in FIG. 9 , step 1103 in FIG. 11 ). The processor 801 is configured to register with at least one network among the multiple networks according to the information of the multiple networks (for example, step 906 in FIG. 9 and step 1104 in FIG. 11 ).

Alternatively, the communication interface 802 is configured to receive first information from the network device, the first information being used to indicate the network set and the network slices supported by each network in the network set (eg steps 1204 and 1205 in FIG. 12 , steps in FIG. 14 ) 1403). The processor 801 is configured to select multiple networks (eg, step 1206 in FIG. 12 or step 1404 in FIG. 14 ) associated with multiple network slices to be accessed by the terminal device from the network set, and register with the multiple networks (eg, step 1207 in FIG. 12 or step 1405 in FIG. 14 ).

When the communication device is an AMF, the communication interface 802 is used to execute steps 901 and 904 in FIG. 9 and steps 1201 and 1204 in FIG. 12 ; the communication interface 802 is used to execute steps 902 and 905 in FIG. 9 . , and steps 1204 and 1205 in FIG. 12 . In addition, the various modules described above may also be used to support other processes of the techniques described herein. For the beneficial effects, reference may be made to the foregoing description, which will not be repeated here.

When the communication device is SOR-AF, the communication interface 802 is configured to receive, from the network device, information about multiple network slices that the terminal device requests to access (for example, step 1001 in FIG. 10 , step 1301 in FIG. 13 ); the processor 801 is used to generate roaming preference SOR information according to the information of multiple network slices that the terminal device requests to access (for example, step 1002 in FIG. 10 , step 1302 in FIG. 13 ); the communication interface 802 is used to send the SOR information to the network device (eg step 1003 in FIG. 10, step 1303 in FIG. 13). The SOR information may indicate a plurality of networks, wherein each network slice of the plurality of network slices is supported by at least one network of the plurality of networks. Alternatively, the SOR information may indicate the network set and the network slices supported by each network in the network set, wherein each network in the network set supports at least one network slice among the multiple network slices that the terminal device requests to access. In addition, the various modules described above may also be used to support other processes of the techniques described herein. For the beneficial effects, reference may be made to the foregoing description, which will not be repeated here.

An embodiment of the present application provides a communication system, which includes the foregoing network device (eg, UDM) and a terminal device (eg, UE), wherein the network device executes the method performed by the UDM in any of the embodiments shown in FIG. 9 to FIG. 11 . , the terminal device executes the method executed by the UE in the embodiment shown in FIG. 9 or FIG. 11 .

An embodiment of the present application further provides a communication system, which includes the aforementioned network device (eg, UDM) and a terminal device (eg, UE), wherein the network device performs the operations performed by the UDM in any of the embodiments shown in FIG. 12 to FIG. 14 . method, the terminal device executes the method executed by the UE in the embodiment shown in FIG. 12 or FIG. 14 .

An embodiment of the present application further provides a communication system, which includes the aforementioned network device (such as UDM) and a network device (such as SOR-AF), wherein the UDM performs the method performed by the UDM in the embodiment shown in FIG. 10 or FIG. 13 , The SOR-AF performs the method performed by the SOR-AF in the embodiment shown in FIG. 10 or FIG. 13 .

An embodiment of the present application further provides a communication system, which includes the foregoing network device (eg, UDM) and network device (eg, AMF), wherein the UDM executes the UDM in the embodiment shown in FIG. 9 , FIG. 11 , FIG. 12 or FIG. 14 . For the method to be executed, the AMF executes the method executed by the AMF in the embodiment shown in FIG. 9 , FIG. 11 , FIG. 12 or FIG. 14 .

Embodiments of the present application further provide a computer-readable storage medium, where a computer program is stored in the computer-readable storage medium, and when the computer program is executed by a computer, the computer can implement FIGS. 9 to 14 provided by the foregoing method embodiments. The UDM-related process in any of the embodiments shown, or the computer may implement the AMF-related process in the embodiment shown in FIG. 9 , FIG. 11 , FIG. 12 or FIG. 14 provided by the above method embodiment. , or, the computer can implement the SOR-AF-related process in the embodiment shown in FIG. 10 or FIG. 13 provided by the above method embodiment, or the computer can implement the process shown in FIG. 9 and FIG. 9 provided by the above method embodiment. 11. The UE-related process in the embodiment shown in FIG. 12 or FIG. 14 .

An embodiment of the present application further provides a computer program product, where the computer program product is used to store a computer program, and when the computer program is executed by a computer, the computer can implement any one of FIG. 9 to FIG. 14 provided by the foregoing method embodiments. The UDM-related process in the illustrated embodiment, or the computer can implement the AMF-related process in the embodiment shown in FIG. 9 , FIG. 11 , FIG. 12 or FIG. 14 provided by the above method embodiment, or, The computer can implement the SOR-AF-related process in the embodiment shown in FIG. 10 or FIG. 13 provided by the above method embodiment, or the computer can implement the process shown in FIG. 9 , FIG. 11 , and FIG. 12 or the UE-related process in the embodiment shown in FIG. 14 .

The present application also provides a chip including a processor. The processor is configured to read and run the computer program stored in the memory to execute the corresponding operations and/or processes of the UDM, AMF, SOR-AF or UE in the method for registering to multiple networks provided in this application. Optionally, the chip further includes a memory, the memory and the processor are connected to the memory through a circuit or a wire, and the processor is used for reading and executing the computer program in the memory. Further optionally, the chip further includes a communication interface, and the processor is connected to the communication interface. The communication interface is used to receive processed data and/or information, and the processor acquires the data and/or information from the communication interface and processes the data and/or information. The communication interface may be an input/output interface, an interface circuit, an output circuit, an input circuit, a pin or a related circuit on the chip, and the like. The processor may also be embodied as a processing circuit or a logic circuit.

The above-mentioned chip can also be replaced by a chip system, which will not be repeated here.

The terms "comprising" and "having" in this application, and any variations thereof, are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, for example, a process, method, system, product or device comprising a series of steps or units is not necessarily limited to the explicitly listed Those steps or units listed may instead include other steps or units not expressly listed or inherent to these processes, methods, products or devices.

Those of ordinary skill in the art can realize that the units and algorithm steps of each example described in conjunction with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented in electronic hardware, or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether these functions are performed in hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality using different methods for each particular application, but such implementations should not be considered beyond the scope of this application.

Those skilled in the art can clearly understand that, for the convenience and brevity of description, the specific working process of the system, device and unit described above may refer to the corresponding process in the foregoing method embodiments, which will not be repeated here.

In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed system, apparatus and method may be implemented in other manners. For example, the apparatus embodiments described above are only illustrative. For example, the division of the units is only a logical function division. In actual implementation, there may be other division methods. For example, multiple units or components may be combined or Can be integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored, or not implemented. On the other hand, the shown or discussed mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection may be through some interfaces, indirect coupling or communication connection of devices or units, and may be in electrical, mechanical or other forms.

The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separated, and components displayed as units may or may not be physical units, that is, may be located in one place, or may be distributed to multiple network units. Some or all of the units may be selected according to actual conditions to achieve the purpose of the solution in this embodiment.

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

The functions, if implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as independent products, may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present application can be embodied in the form of a software product in essence, or the part that contributes to the prior art or the part of the technical solution, and the computer software product is stored in a storage medium, including Several instructions are used to cause a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to execute all or part of the steps of the methods described in the various embodiments of the present application. The aforementioned storage medium includes: U disk, mobile hard disk, read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), magnetic disk or optical disk and other media that can store program codes .

In addition, the terms "first" and "second" in the description and claims of the present application and the drawings are used to distinguish different objects, rather than to describe a specific order. Furthermore, the terms "comprising" and "having", and any variations thereof, are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion. For example, a process, method, system, product or device comprising a series of steps or units is not limited to the listed steps or units, but optionally also includes unlisted steps or units, or optionally also includes For other steps or units inherent to these processes, methods, products or devices.

Although the application has been described in conjunction with specific features and embodiments thereof, it will be apparent that various modifications and combinations can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the application. Accordingly, this specification and drawings are merely exemplary illustrations of the application as defined by the appended claims, and are deemed to cover any and all modifications, variations, combinations or equivalents within the scope of this application. Obviously, those skilled in the art can make various changes and modifications to the present application without departing from the spirit and scope of the present application. Thus, if these modifications and variations of the present application fall within the scope of the claims of the present application and their equivalents, the present application is also intended to include these modifications and variations.

Claims

A method of registering with multiple networks, the method comprising:

The network device obtains information of multiple network slices that the terminal device requests to access;

The network device determines a plurality of networks associated with the plurality of network slices, wherein each network slice of the plurality of network slices is supported by at least one network of the plurality of networks;

The network device sends information associated with the multiple networks to the terminal device, where the information associated with the multiple networks is used for the terminal device to register with the multiple networks.
The method of claim 1, the network device determining a plurality of networks associated with the plurality of network slices, comprising:

obtaining, by the network device, corresponding information, where the corresponding information is used to indicate a network to which the terminal device is allowed to register and a network slice supported by each network in the network to which the terminal device is allowed to register;

The network device determines the plurality of networks associated with the plurality of network slices according to the corresponding information and the information of the plurality of network slices that the terminal device requests to access.
The method of claim 1, the network device determining a plurality of networks associated with the plurality of network slices, comprising:

sending, by the network device to the roaming preference application function device, information of multiple network slices that the terminal device requests to access;

The network device receives roaming preference information from the roaming preference application function device, and determines the plurality of networks according to the SOR information.
According to the method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, the network device sends information associated with the multiple networks to the terminal device, comprising:

The network device sends roaming preference information to the terminal device, where the roaming preference information includes the information associated with the multiple networks.
The method of any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising:

The network device receives capability information of the terminal device from the terminal device, the capability information indicating that the terminal device has the capability to register with multiple networks.
The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5,

The multiple networks include a first network currently registered by the terminal device, and the information associated with the multiple networks indicates at least one network in the multiple networks other than the first network;

Alternatively, the information associated with the plurality of networks indicates the plurality of networks.
A method of registering with multiple networks, the method comprising:

The terminal device sends, to the network device, information about the multiple network slices that the terminal device requests to access;

The terminal device receives information from the network device for a plurality of networks associated with the plurality of network slices, wherein each network slice of the plurality of network slices is controlled by at least one network of the plurality of networks supported;

The terminal device registers with at least one of the multiple networks according to the information of the multiple networks.
The method according to claim 7, wherein the terminal device registers with at least one of the multiple networks according to the information of the multiple networks, comprising:

If the terminal device has been registered with the first network among the multiple networks, the terminal device is registered with at least one network other than the first network among the multiple networks; or,

The terminal device registers with the multiple networks according to the information of the multiple networks.
The method according to claim 7 or 8, wherein the terminal device receives information of a plurality of networks associated with the plurality of network slices from the network device, comprising:

The terminal device receives roaming preference information from the network device, where the roaming preference information includes information of the multiple networks.
The method according to claim 9, wherein the terminal device registers with at least one of the multiple networks according to the information of the multiple networks, comprising:

The terminal device updates the operator-controlled selector or assists in updating the user-controlled selector according to the roaming preference information;

The terminal device registers with at least one of the plurality of networks according to the updated operator-controlled selector or the user-controlled selector.
The method of any one of claims 7 to 10, further comprising:

The terminal device sends capability information of the terminal device to the network device, the capability information indicating that the terminal device has the capability to register with multiple networks.
A method of registering with multiple networks, the method comprising:

The terminal device receives first information from the network device, where the first information is used to indicate a network set and a network slice supported by each network in the network set;

The terminal device selects, from the network set, multiple networks associated with multiple network slices to be accessed by the terminal device, wherein each network slice in the multiple network slices is selected by the multiple network slices. supported by at least one of the networks;

The terminal device is registered with at least one of the plurality of networks.
The method according to claim 12, wherein the terminal device is registered to at least one of the plurality of networks, comprising:

If the terminal device has been registered with the first network among the multiple networks, the terminal device is registered with at least one network other than the first network among the multiple networks; or,

The terminal device is registered with the plurality of networks.
The method of claim 12 or 13, further comprising:

The terminal device sends capability information of the terminal device to the network device, the capability information indicating that the terminal device has the capability to register with multiple networks.
The method of any one of claims 12 to 14, further comprising:

The terminal device receives, from the network device, indication information indicating that the terminal device is registered with a plurality of networks.
The method according to any one of claims 12 to 15, wherein the terminal device receives the first information from the network device, comprising:

The terminal device receives roaming preference information from the network device, where the roaming preference information includes the first information.
The method according to claim 16, wherein the terminal device selects, from the network set, multiple networks associated with multiple network slices to be accessed by the terminal device, comprising:

The terminal device updates the operator-controlled selector or assists in updating the user-controlled selector according to the first information in the roaming preference information;

The terminal device selects the plurality of networks according to the updated operator-controlled selector or the user-controlled selector.
17. The method of any one of claims 12 to 17, wherein each network in the set of networks is a network to which the terminal device is allowed to register.
The method of any one of claims 12 to 17, further comprising:

The terminal device sends, to the network device, information of multiple network slices that the terminal device requests to access.
19. The method of claim 19, wherein each network in the set of networks supports at least one network slice of a plurality of network slices that the terminal device requests to access.
According to the method according to any one of claims 1 to 20, the network device is a unified data management apparatus.
According to the method according to any one of claims 1 to 21, the multiple networks are multiple public land mobile networks; or, the multiple networks are multiple subnets under the first public land mobile network.
23. The method of claim 22, wherein the plurality of subnetworks are a plurality of non-public networks.
A communication device, comprising a processor;

The processor is adapted to read and run a program from the memory to implement the method of any one of claims 1 to 6.
A communication device, comprising a processor;

The processor is configured to read and execute the program from the memory to implement the method according to any one of claims 7 to 11.
A communication device, comprising a processor;

The processor is used to read and run a program from the memory to implement the method according to any one of claims 12 to 20.
A computer program product comprising instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform a method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 23.
A computer-readable storage medium having stored therein instructions which, when run on a computer, cause a processor to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 23.