WO2022172196A1

WO2022172196A1 - Flexible data subscription in 5gs

Info

Publication number: WO2022172196A1
Application number: PCT/IB2022/051210
Authority: WO
Inventors: Zhang FU; Ulf Mattsson; Stefan HÅKANSSON
Original assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget Lm Ericsson (Publ)
Priority date: 2021-02-10
Filing date: 2022-02-10
Publication date: 2022-08-18

Abstract

A method implemented in a consumer node is described. The consumer node is configured to communicate with at least one of a first producer node and a second producer node. The method includes receiving a response message, the response message: comprising information about the second producer node; and redirecting the consumer node to the second producer node. The second producer node is different from the first producer node. The method further includes, optionally, using the information about the second producer node to perform at least one action associated with the second producer node. Other methods, apparatuses, and systems are also described.

Description

FLEXIBLE DATA SUBSCRIPTION IN 5GS

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure relates to a method and system for flexible data subscription in, e.g., 3^rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) 5^th Generation (also called, 5G, New Radio and/or NR) or later.

BACKGROUND

NF Service Consumer - NF Service Producer interactions defined for a typical 5G Svstem(5GS)

The following interactions may be defined in clause 7.1.2 in the 3^rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Technical Specification (TS) 23.501 for network function (NF) service Consumer and NF service Producer interactions, as follows:

An end-to-end interaction between two NFs (e.g., Consumer and Producer) within an NF service framework may follow two mechanisms, irrespective of whether Direct Communication or Indirect Communication is used:

"Request-response": A Control Plane NF_B (NF Service Producer) is requested by another Control Plane NF_A (NF Service Consumer) to provide a certain NF service, which either performs an action or provides information or both. NF_B provides an NF service based on the request by NF_A. To fulfil the request, NF_B may in turn consume NF services from other NFs. In s request-response mechanism, communication is one to one between two NFs (consumer and producer), and a one-time response from the producer to a request from the consumer is expected within a certain timeframe. The NF Service Producer may also add a Binding Indication (see, for example 3GPP TS 23.501 clause 6.3.1.0) in the Response, which may be used by the NF Service Consumer to select suitable NF service producer instance(s) for subsequent requests. For indirect communication, the NF Service Consumer copies the Binding Indication into the Routing Binding indication, that is included in subsequent requests, to be used by a Service Communication Proxy (SCP) to discover a suitable NF service producer instance(s). FIG. 1 (e.g., FIG. 7.1.2-1: "Request-response" NF Service illustration in 3GPP 23.501) illustrates an example of one or more of the following steps:

1. - "Subscribe-Notify": A Control Plane NF_A (NF Service Consumer) subscribes to NF Service offered by another Control Plane NF_B (NF Service Producer). Multiple Control Plane NFs may subscribe to the same Control Plane NF Service. NF_B notifies the results of this NF service to the interested NF(s) that subscribed to the NF service. The subscription request may include the notification endpoint (e.g., Notification Target Address) and a Notification Correlation identifier (ID) (e.g., the notification universal resource locator (URL)) of the NF Service Consumer to which the event notification from the NF Service Producer should be sent to.

NOTE 1: The notification endpoint URL can contain both the notification endpoint and the Notification Correlation ID.

2. The NF Service Consumer may add a Binding Indication (see clause 6.3.1.0 in 3GPP TS 23.501) in the subscribe request, which may be used by the NF Service Producer to discover a suitable notification endpoint. For indirect communication, the NF Service Producer copies the Binding Indication into the Routing Binding Indication, that is included in the response, to be used by the SCP to discover a suitable notification target. The NF Service Producer may also add a Binding Indication (see clause 6.3.1.0 in 3GPP TS 23.50) in the subscribe response, which may be used by the NF Service Consumer (or SCP) to select suitable NF service producer instance(s) or NF producer service instance. In addition, the subscription request may include notification request for periodic updates or notification triggered through certain events (e.g., the information requested is changed, reaches certain threshold, etc.). The subscription for notification can be done through one of the following ways:

- Explicit subscription: A separate request/response exchange between the NF Service Consumer and the NF Service Producer;

- Implicit subscription: The subscription for notification is included as part of another NF service operation of the same NF Service; or - Default notification endpoint: Registration of a notification endpoint for each type of notification the NF consumer is interested to receive, as a NF service parameter with the network repository function (NRF) during the NF and NF service Registration procedure as specified in 3GPP TS 23.502 clause 4.17.1.

3. The NF Service Consumer may also add a Binding Indication (see clause 6.3.1.0 in 3GPP TS 23.501) in the response to the notification request, which may be used by the NF Service Producer to discover a suitable notification endpoint. For indirect communication, the NF Service Producer copies the Binding Indication into the Routing Binding indication that is included in subsequent notification requests. The binding indication is then used by the SCP to discover a suitable notification target.

FIG. 2 (e.g., FIG. 7.1.2-2: "Subscribe-Notify" NF Service illustration 1 in 3GPP TS 23.501) illustrates an example of one or more of the following:

A Control Plane NF_A may also subscribe to NF Service offered by Control Plane NF_B on behalf of Control Plane NF_C, i.e., it requests the NF Service Producer to send the event notification to another consumer(s). In this case, NF_A includes the notification endpoint (e.g., Notification Target Address) and a Notification Correlation ID, of the NF_C in the subscription request. NF_A may also additionally include the notification endpoint and a Notification Correlation ID of NF A associated with subscription change related Event ID(s), e.g., Subscription Correlation ID Change, in the subscription request, so that NF_A can receive the notification of the subscription change related event. The NF_A may add Binding Indication (see in 3GPP TS 23.501 clause 6.3.1.0) in the subscribe request.

FIG. 3 (e.g., FIG. 7.1.2-3: "Subscribe-Notify" NF Service illustration 2 in TS 23.501) illustrates an example of one or more of the following:

Routing of the messages for the NF interaction mechanisms above may be direct, as shown in the FIGS. 7.1.2-1 to 7.1.2-3, or indirect. In the case of Indirect Communication, a SCP is employed by the NF service consumer. The SCP routes messages between NF service consumers and NF service producers based on the Routing Binding Indication (e.g., if available) and may perform a discovery and an associated selection of the NF service producer on behalf of a NF service consumer. FIG. 4 (e.g., FIG. 7.1.2-4 in 3GPP TS 23.501) shows a principle for an example request-response interaction, and FIG. 5 (e.g., FIG. 7.1.2-5 in 3GPP TS 23.501) shows an example of a subscribe-notify interaction. NOTE (with respect to FIG. 5): The subscribe request and notify request can be routed by different SCPs.

Background for DCCF (Data Collection Coordination Function)

The Framework may include the following components:

1. Data Collection Coordination Function (DCCF).

2. with optional DCCF Adaptor (DA).

3. Messaging Framework (for Data Forwarding and Replication),

4. with optional Adaptors (3CA/Consumer Adaptor and 3PA/Producer Adaptor) to isolate the Messaging Framework protocol from the Data Source and the Data Consumer.

The interfaces subject to 3 GPP standardization are NF consumer-DCCF, DCCF-NF producer, DCCF-DA, NF consumer 3CA and NF producer-3PA. It is expected that 3PA can re-use existing interfaces and services.

FIG. 6 (e.g., FIG. 6.9.2.1-1 in 3GPP TS 23.501) illustrates an example Data Management Framework (“Framework”) for 3GPP 5^th Generation Core (5CG), as follows:

NOTE 1: When Data Source is Operations and Management (OA&M), OA&M services, as defined by SA working group 5 (WG5), are reused.

NOTE 2: The 3PA may alternatively be standalone or combined with the Data Source. A 3PA is not needed if the Data Source natively supports the message bus protocol.

NOTE 3: The 3CA may alternatively be standalone or combined with the Data Consumer. A 3CA is not needed if the Data Consumer natively supports the message bus protocol.

NOTE 4: The DA may alternatively be standalone or combined with the DCCF. A DA is not needed if the DCCF natively supports the message bus protocol.

NOTE 5: The intended Consumer of Data Management Framework services is a network data analytics function (NWDAF) Analytics Function or an NF requesting analytics, but as with other NF services, nothing precludes other Consumers (NFs) from using it.

NOTE 6: NWDAFs co-located with NFs can also be consumers of Data Management Framework services, thus avoiding duplicate data collection from the NFs, e.g., by co-located NWDAF and other NWDAFs.

NOTE 7: Adaptors (3CA, 3PA and DA) are not expected to be standardized by 3GPP, only the interface between 3GPP entities and the adaptors is under 3GPP scope.

Data Collection Coordination Function (DCCF)

The DCCF is a control-plane function that coordinates data collection and triggers data delivery to Data Consumers. A DCCF may support multiple Data Sources, Data Consumers, and Message Frameworks. However, to prevent duplicate data collection, each Data Source is associated with only one DCCF.

The DCCF provides the 3GPP defined Ndccf_DataExposure Service to Data Consumers (e.g., NWDAF), and uses the services of Data Sources (e.g., 3GPP NF) to obtain data. FIG. 6 (e.g., FIG. 6.9.2.1-1 in 3GPP TS 23.501) shows one DCCF for a 5G Core Network (5GC). There can be multiple instances of the DCCF, e.g., for network slices, geographic regions where Data Sources reside or for different Data Source types. A DCCF needed by a Consumer can be discovered using the NRF as described below.

NOTE 1: the DCCF is aware of the Data Sources it is coordinating. The network repository function (NRF) and unified data management (UDM) can provide the DCCF with the identity of 5GC Data Sources (e.g., an access and mobility management function (AMF) serving a user equipment (UE) (i.e., wireless device)). The DCCF also hides Data Source life cycle events and changes of entity serving a UE from the Data Consumer. For example, if an NF Data Source that serves a UE changes because of a life-cycle event, the NRF may notify a DCCF that has previously subscribed to NRF event notifications. The DCCF may also use the UDM to learn the new (UE, NF) association, thus making the change of the NF serving a UE transparent to the Data Consumer. NOTE 2: if there is more than one DCCF, they should coordinate the collection and distribution of data for orthogonal sets of Data Sources. In this case, a Data Consumer discovers the DCCF for the data the Data Consumer needs. The DCCF and the Message Framework deliver the data from the proscribed set of Data Sources. If a DCCF cannot serve a request from a Data Consumer, the DCCF may query the NRF to determine an acceptable DCCF and redirect the query accordingly.

NOTE 3: DCCF is not intended to support aggregation of analytics data across multiple NWDAFs. However, the DCCF keeps track of Consumer Requests to the NWDAF "Data Source.” Hence, the DCCF “knows” what analytics are being produced by an NWDAF. Therefore, the Data Management Framework can be used by a Consumer (which could be an NWDAF) that consumes (e.g., aggregates) analytics data from one or more NWDAF acting as a "Data Source" or from the Data Repository. The NWDAF acting as "Data Source" supplies Analytics output as "Data", using the services defined in 3GPP TS 23.288 clause 7 (e.g., subscribe/notify), similar to any other NF.

The DCCF may, one or more of:

- Receive data requests from Data Consumers via the Ndccf_DataExposure service. A Data Consumer may be a NWDAF Analytics function (3GPP Release 17 (Rel-17) NWDAF), and the contents of the service requests are based on 3GPP Release 16 (Rel-16) services (e.g., AMF or session management function (SMF) event exposure). The DCCF service may provide additional functionality, for example, to allow one request that requires multiple Data Sources (e.g., AMF and SMF), and allow formatting and processing of notifications according to conditions specified by the consumer as described in the bullet list below.

- If the Data Source is not specified in the Data Request, the DCCF determines the Data Source that can provide the data requested by the Data Consumer (e.g., an event requested by the Data Consumer for NF event exposure). For example, if the request is for UE specific data, the DCCF may query the NRF/UDM/BSF to determine which NF instance is serving the UE, as described in 3GPP

TS 23.288 Table 6.2.2.1-2: NF Services consumed by NWDAF to determine which NF instances are serving a UE. - If the Data Source is specified in the Data Request (e.g., the data consumer is configured with the data sources), the DCCF checks whether the Data is already collected from the Data Source. If not, it will request the Data to the specified Data Source.

- The DCCF checks if the Data Consumer is authorized to access DCCF services using the procedures specified in 3GPP TS 23.501 clause 7.1.4 "Network Function Service Authorization".

NOTE 1: Additional authorization for Consumers to access data from a

Data Source via the DCCF may be considered by SA working group 3 (WG3).

- Determine if the requested data is currently being produced by any Data Source and sent to the Messaging Framework. If the requested data is not being produced, a new subscription/request is sent towards the Data Source to trigger a new data collection. The DCCF then subscribes with the messaging framework for the Consumer to receive future notifications. Similarly, when the last Data Consumer of a specific data does no longer wants data, the DCCF cancels data collection from the Data Source and from the messaging framework (i.e., the Data Source is only producing the same data once when there are multiple Data Consumers and is not producing data that no Data Consumer needs).

The DCCF may determine if data is already being collected by maintaining a record of the prior requests it has made for data (e.g., via an Nnf_EventExposure service offered by the Data Source). If parameters in a prior request for data match those that are needed in a subsequent request, the DCCF may determine that the requested data is already being collected. The DCCF may then subscribe with the messaging framework for the new Consumer to receive future notifications.

Formatting conditions and Processing instructions requested by Data Consumers via the Ndccf_DataExposure service may be passed to the Messaging Framework via the Nda_Data_Management Service. The 3CA may then accordingly send notifications to the consumer. Formatting conditions determine when a notification is sent to the Consumer. For example, formatting may include one or more of:

- Notification Event clubbing (buffering and sending of several notifications in one message); - A Notification Time Window (e.g., notifications are buffered and sent between 2 and 3 AM);

- Cross event reference-based notification (when a subscribing NF is subscribing to multiple events (e.g., event X and event Y) the notification for an Event-X is buffered and reported only when the Event- Y occurs);

- Consumer triggered Notification;

- Exact time-based Notification without the event (Data is reported at an exact time, irrespective of event occurs or not, e.g., every 30 min);

- Mathematical calculation-based notification (e.g., Exponential time window: The first notification is sent after 5 min. The next notification is sent after 10 min, and the third is after 15 min etc.).

NOTE 2: The extent of formatting variations to be supported can be decided in the normative phase.

Processing instructions allow summarizing of notifications at 3CA to reduce the volume of data reported from the 3CA to the Data Consumer (e.g., when data from a Data Repository (historical data) is requested that comprises a large number of notifications). The type of processing is specified by the consumer and may result in joining the information from multiple notifications into a common report.

When the DCCF receives a request for historical data (e.g., an NWDAF requesting analytics previously generated by another NWDAF), the DCCF may trigger retrieval of the data from the Data Repository and make it available over the messaging framework.

The DCCF may also one or more of:

- Manages subscription requests and cancellations to the Messaging Framework on behalf of Data Consumers. The DCCF may use a native Messaging Framework protocol or alternatively a 3 GPP defined protocol with an adaptor that translates to the Messaging Framework protocol (as depicted in FIG. 6).

- If standalone 3PAs and 3CAs are used, the DCCF maintains the (NF, 3PA) and (NF, 3CA) associations. For DCCF discovery, the DCCF registers with the NRF and is discovered by Consumers or the SCP using the registration and discovery procedures defined for the Network Function Service Framework in 3GPP TS 23.502, clause 4.17. The DCCF profile in the NRF may specify one or more of:

- The slices (single network slice selection assistance information (S- NSSAIs)) that the DCCF Supports;

- The Source Types that a DCCF coordinates; and

- The serving area (e.g., list of tracking area identifiers (TAIs)) containing Data Sources that the DCCF coordinates.

Source Type may correspond to an NF Type (e.g., SMF, AMF, etc.), or different domains (e.g., OA&M). Hence, a Consumer or SCP may request or select a DCCF according to the type of information it is requesting, the network slices it supports and its serving area.

NOTE 3: Additional DCCF Profile parameters can be considered during the normative stage.

Messaging Framework

The Messaging Framework is not expected to be standardized by 3GPP. The Messaging Framework contains Messaging Infrastructure that propagates event information and data (e.g., streaming and notifications) from Data Sources to Data Consumers. Further, the Messaging Framework may support the pub- sub pattern, where data is published by producer adaptors (or data source if the data source natively supports the message bus protocol) and can be subscribed to by consumer adaptor (or data consumers if the data consumer natively supports the message bus protocol).

In addition, the Messaging Framework may support multiple event delivery mechanisms such as best effort or guaranteed delivery. For 3GPP purposes guaranteed delivery of events may be utilized.

The Messaging Framework may also include one or more Adaptors that translate between 3GPP defined protocols (e.g., 3GPP Release 16 (Rel-16) Nnwdaf_AnalyticsSubscription_Notify) and a Data Forwarding Protocol not specified by 3GPP. The Messaging Framework adaptors maintain subscription information, including formatting conditions and processing instructions received by the DA.

The Adaptor on the Producer side (3PA) allows any Source Data (e.g., from 3GPP Rel-16 OA&M or NF EventExposure) to be distributed via the framework without impact on the Data Source. The DCCF keeps track on the Adaptor instances. An Adaptor may be associated with specific NF types, manage one or more data Sources, and may be provisioned on the DCCF together with the sources it supports.

If the Messaging Framework directly supports 3 GPP interfaces, Adaptors may not be required.

Procedures for consumers and producers using 3CA and 3PA

An example procedure is given in FIG. 7 (e.g., figure 6.9.3-1 in 3GPP TS 23.501) for Data Collection & Distribution for Event Notifications (Subscribe/Notify). The procedure illustrates how the DCCF manages Data Sources so data are produced only once and how the DCCF interacts with the messaging framework so data are distributed to all subscribed Data Consumers. The procedure applies for consumers and producers using 3CA and 3PA, i.e., all steps are within 3 GPP remit.

Data handled by the messaging framework is associated with an identifier. The example procedure in FIG. 7 assumes that the Messaging Framework uses a Pub/Sub model based on "Data Tags" (which could for example be a "Topic" in some message framework protocols). The 3PA can publishes to a "Data Tag" and a 3CA that wishes to receive the data subscribes to the "Data Tag". A user equipment (UE) may refer to a wireless device (WD). Other options can also be supported. FIG. 7 illustrates the following steps:

1. Data Consumer-1 (e.g., NWDAF-1) sends a request for data to the DCCF. The message includes the Notification Target Address. The message may indicate whether the requested data should be sent to the Notification Target Address set to Data Consumer- 1 and/or to other Consumers such as Data Repository. The Notification Correlation ID of the Consumer- 1 is included in the request message and is used for notifications sent to Data Consumer- 1 (e.g., in step 8). 2. If the request is for UE data, the DCCF may query the UDM/NRF/BSF to determine the NF serving the UE.

3. The DCCF determines the Data Source (e.g., AMF-1) that can provide the data and checks that the requested data is not already being collected.

4. The DCCF controls the message bus and the adaptors so the notifications traverse the messaging framework. The subscription to the DA includes a Notification Correlation ID of the 3PA and the Notification Correlation ID for Data Consumer- 1 as received in step 1. The DA may associate these with a messaging framework. The 3PA is provided with its Notification Correlation ID and the "Data Tag". The 3CA will be provided with the consumer's notification endpoint, the Notification_Correlation_ID of the Consumer and the "Data Tag". The 3CA may then subscribe to the "Data Tag" in the messaging framework.

5. The DCCF sends a subscription request to a NF producer acting as a data source. The subscription includes the notification endpoint and Notification Correlation ID of the 3PA that is acting as the receiver for these notifications.

6. The Data Source acknowledges the request.

7. A Notification containing the Notification Correlation ID of the 3PA is sent to the 3PA after an event trigger at the Data Source. The 3PA publishes the data in the message framework. It may use "Data Tag" the associated with the Notification Correlation ID of the 3PA received in step 4.

8. When the data is published to the "Data Tag", the Messaging Framework makes it available to all subscribed 3CA. In this case the only subscriber is a 3CA serving consumer- 1. The 3CA maps the "Data Tag" to the Notification Correlation ID of the Data Consumer received in Step 4 (which was originally provided by Data Consumer- 1) and sends the notification to the notification endpoint of Data Consumer- 1.

9. Data Consumer-2 (e.g., NWDAF-2) sends a request for the same Data. The message may indicate whether the requested data should be sent to Data Consumer-2, and/or to other Consumers such as Data Repository. The Notification Correlation ID of Consumer-2 is included for notifications sent to Data Consumer-2.

10. The DCCF determines that the requested data is already being collected from a Data Source (e.g., AMF-1) and retrieves 3PA ID and the Notification Correlation ID of the 3PA. 11. The DCCF sends a subscription request to the Messaging Framework indicating that there is a new subscriber of the data. The subscribe message to the DA provides the 3PA ID, the 3PA Notification Correlation ID currently in use, and the Notification Correlation ID for Data Consumer-2 as received in step 9. The DA selects the existing "Data Tag" corresponding to the 3PA information and sends the 3CA Consumer-2's notification endpoint, the Notification_Correlation_ID of Consumer-2 and the "Data Tag". The 3CA may then subscribe to the "Data Tag" in the messaging framework.

NOTE: The 3CA for Consumer-2 may be different or the same from 3CA for Consumer- 1.

12. After an event is triggered in the data source, a Notification is sent to the 3PA and 3PA publishes the data to the corresponding "Data Tag” on the Messaging Framework.

13-14. When the data is published to the "Data Tag" the Messaging Framework makes it available to the subscribed 3CAs. In this case the 3CAs serving consumer- 1 and consumer-2 receive the data and send the notifications to the notification endpoints of Data Consumer- 1 and Data Consumer-2 using the Notification Correlation ID of Consumer- 1 and Consumer-2, respectively. A Data Repository also receives notifications if it has subscribed via the DCCF.

Application Function (AF) influence on traffic routing

In clause 4.3.6 of 3GPP TS 23.502, the procedure is defined for application function (AF) influence on traffic routing. The AF may send requests to influence SMF routing decisions for User Plane traffic of protocol/packet data unit (PDU) sessions. The request sends to a Network Element Function (NEF) or directly to policy control function (PCF). In the request, the AF can indicate to subscribe to SMF events. When the User Plane (UP) Management events happens, the SMF will sends the notification to AF either directly or via NEF. Below, it is shown an example of details of how to process AF requests to influence traffic routing for sessions not identified by a UE address based on e.g., clause 4.3.6.2 in 3GPP TS 23.502.

FIG. 8 (e.g., FIG. 4.3.6.2-1 in 3GPP TS 23.502) illustrates an example of processing AF requests to influence traffic routing for Sessions not identified by a UE address. NOTE 1: The 5GC functions used in this scenario are assumed to all belong to the same public land mobile network (PLMN) (Home PLMN/HPLMN in non roaming case or Visiting PLMN/VPLMN in the case of a PDU Session in local breakout (LBO) mode).

NOTE 2: Nnef_TrafficInfluence_Create or Nnef_TrafficInfluence_Update or Nnef_TrafficInfluence_Delete service operations invoked from an AF located in the HPLMN for local breakout and home routed roaming scenarios are not supported.

FIG. 8 illustrates one or more of the following steps:

1. To create a new request, the AF invokes an Nnef_TrafficInfluence_Create service operation. The content of this service operation (AF request) is defined in clause 5.2.6.7 in 3GPP TS 23.502. The request also contains an AF Transaction Id. If it subscribes to events related with PDU Sessions the AF indicates also where it desires to receive the corresponding notifications (AF notification reporting information).

To update or remove an existing request, the AF invokes an Nnef_TrafficInfluence_Update or Nnef_TrafficInfluence_Delete service operation providing the corresponding AF Transaction Id.

2. The AF sends its request to the NEF. If the request is sent directly from the AF to the PCF, the AF reaches the PCF selected for the existing PDU Session by configuration or by invoking Nbsf_management_Discovery service.

The NEF performs authorization control, including throttling of AF requests and, as described in clause 4.3.6.1 in 3GPP TS 23.502, mapping from the information provided by the AF into information needed by the 5GC.

3. (in cases of Nnef_TrafficInfluence_Create or Update): The NEF stores the AF request information in the UDR (Data Set = Application Data; Data Subset = AF traffic influence request information, Data Key = AF Transaction Internal ID, S- NSSAI and Data Network Name (DNN) and/or Internal Group Identifier (IGI) or subscription permanent identifier (SUPI)). NOTE 3: Both the AF Transaction Internal ID and, S-NSSAI and DNN and/or Internal Group Identifier or SUPI are regarded as Data Key when the AF request information are stored into the UDR, see Table 5.2.12.2.1-1 in TS 23.502.

(in cases of Nnef_TrafficInfluence_delete): The NEF deletes the AF requirements in the UDR (Data Set = Application Data; Data Subset = AF traffic influence request information, Data Key = AF Transaction Internal ID).

The NEF responds to the AF.

4. The PCF(s) that have subscribed to modifications of AF requests (Data Set = Application Data; Data Subset = AF traffic influence request information, Data Key = S-NSSAI and DNN and/or Internal Group Identifier or SUPI) receive(s) a Nudr_DM_Notify notification of data change from the UDR.

5. The PCF determines if existing PDU Sessions are potentially impacted by the AF request. For each of these PDU Sessions, the PCF updates the SMF with corresponding new PCC rule(s) by invoking Npcf_SMPolicyControl_UpdateNotify service operation as described in steps 5 and 6 in clause 4.16.5 in TS 23.502.

If the AF request includes a notification reporting request for UP path change, the PCF includes in the PCC rule(s) the information required for reporting the event, including the Notification Target Address pointing to the NEF or AF and the Notification Correlation ID containing the AF Transaction Internal ID.

6. When a policy and charging control (PCC) rule is received from the PCF, the SMF may take actions to reconfigure the User plane of the PDU Session. Some of the actions include the following:

- Add, replace or remove a user plane function (UPF) in the data path to e.g., act as an uplink (UF) CF or a Branching Point e.g., as described in clause 4.3.5 in

3 GPP TS 23.502.

- Allocate a new Prefix to the UE (e.g., when IPv6 multi-Horning applies)

- Update the UPF in the target Data Network Access Identifier (DNAI) with new traffic steering rules

- Subscribe to notifications from the AMF for an Area of Interest via Namf_EventExposure_Subscribe service operation. SUMMARY

Some embodiments advantageously provide a method and system for flexible data subscription in 5GS.

In some embodiments, a consumer node is configured to send a request message to the first producer node; receive a response message, the response message at least one of: comprising information about a second producer node and/or redirecting the consumer node to the second producer node, the second producer node being different from the first producer node; and optionally, use the information about the second producer node to at least one of send the request message to the second producer node and/or verify whether a received message is from the second producer node.

In some embodiments, first producer node is configured to receive a request message from a consumer node; and send a response message to the consumer node, the response message at least one of: comprising information about a second producer node and/or redirecting the consumer node to the second producer node, the second producer node being different from the first producer node.

In some embodiments, a producer node is configured to receive a message from at least one of a consumer node and another producer node, the producer node being different from the other producer node and the message comprising information about a request received by the other producer node for information associated with the consumer node; and as a result of receipt of the message, providing requested data for the consumer node.

According to one aspect, a method implemented in a consumer node is described. The consumer node is configured to communicate with at least one of a first producer node and a second producer node. The method includes receiving a response message, the response message: comprising information about the second producer node; and redirecting the consumer node to the second producer node, the second producer node being different from the first producer node. The method further includes, optionally, using the information about the second producer node to perform at least one action associated with the second producer node. In some embodiments, the method further includes transmitting a first request message to the first producer node, the response message being triggered in response to the first request message.

In some other embodiments, the method further includes maintaining a mapping between a notification identifier (ID) and endpoint information, the mapping being used to determine whether at least one received message is from the second producer node.

In one embodiment, at least one of: the information about the second producer node comprised in the response message includes at least one of a name associated with one of data and an event, a notification ID, and endpoint information for verifying the second producer node; and the endpoint information includes at least one of a host name, an Internet Protocol (IP) address, a medium access control (MAC) address, a network function (NF) ID and a NF set ID for the second producer node.

In another embodiment, the information about the second producer node comprised in the response message includes at least one of a network function (NF) instance identifier (ID), a service name and a uniform resource identifier (URI) for redirecting the consumer node to the second producer node.

In some embodiments, the at least one action associated with the second producer node includes determining whether a received message is from the second producer node.

In some other embodiments, when the response message comprises information about the second producer node and the second producer node is associated with a messaging framework, determining whether the received message is from the second producer node includes determining the received message is from one consumer adapter (CA) of the second producer node based on the information about the second producer node. The information about the second producer node includes CA information being provided to the first producer node and the consumer node by the second producer node and the first producer node, respectively.

In one embodiment, when the response message comprises information about the second producer node and the consumer node includes an application function (AF), determining whether the received message is from the second producer node includes determining the received message is from the second producer node based on the information about the second producer node. The received message is received in part in response to a management event request transmitted by the consumer node, and the information about the second producer node includes a producer node list including at least the second producer node. The second producer node is identified by a network node and configured to transmit at least an event notification to the consumer node.

In some embodiments, the at least one action associated with the second producer node includes transmitting a second request message to the second producer node.

In some other embodiments, when the response message redirects the consumer node to the second producer node, the second request message is transmitted to the second producer node to subscribe to the second producer node.

The second request message is determined based on service information of one consumer adapter (CA) of the second producer node provided to the first producer node and the consumer node by the second producer node and the first producer node, respectively.

According to another aspect, a consumer node configured to communicate with at least one of a first producer node and a second producer node is described.

The consumer node includes processing circuitry configured to cause the consumer node to receive a response message, the response message: comprising information about the second producer node; and redirecting the consumer node to the second producer node. The second producer node is different from the first producer node. Optionally, the information about the second producer node is used to perform at least one action associated with the second producer node.

In some embodiments, the processing circuitry is further configured to cause the consumer node to transmit a first request message to the first producer node. The response message is triggered in response to the first request message.

In some other embodiments, the processing circuitry is further configured to maintain a mapping between a notification identifier (ID) and endpoint information, where the mapping is used to determine whether at least one received message is from the second producer node.

In one embodiment, when the response message comprises information about the second producer node and the consumer node includes an application function (AF), determining whether the received message is from the second producer node includes determining the received message is from the second producer node based on the information about the second producer node. The received message is received in part in response to a management event request transmitted by the consumer node.

The information about the second producer node includes a producer node list including at least the second producer node. The second producer node is identified by a network node and configured to transmit at least an event notification to the consumer node.

In another embodiment, the at least one action associated with the second producer node includes transmitting a second request message to the second producer node.

In some embodiments, when the response message redirects the consumer node to the second producer node, the second request message is transmitted to the second producer node to subscribe to the second producer node. The second request message is determined based on service information of one consumer adapter (CA) of the second producer node provided to the first producer node and the consumer node by the second producer node and the first producer node, respectively.

According to one aspect, a method implemented in a first producer node configured to communicate at least with a consumer node and a second producer node is described. The method includes transmitting a response message to the consumer node, the response message: comprising information about the second producer node; and redirecting the consumer node to the second producer node. The second producer node is different from the first producer node. The information about the second producer node comprised in the response message is usable at least by the consumer node for verifying the second producer node.

In some embodiments, the method further includes receiving a first request message from the consumer node, where the response message is transmitted in response to the first request message.

In some other embodiments, the information about the second producer node comprised in the response message includes at least one of a name associated with one of data and an event, a notification ID, and endpoint information for verifying the second producer node.

In one embodiment, the endpoint information includes at least one of a host name, an Internet Protocol (IP) address, a medium access control (MAC) address, a network function (NF) ID, and a NF set ID for the second producer node. In another embodiment, the information about the second producer node comprised in the response message includes at least one of a network function (NF) instance identifier (ID), a service name, and a uniform resource identifier (URI) for redirecting the consumer node to the second producer node.

In some embodiments, the method further includes: transmitting an information request message to the second producer node; and receiving the information about the second producer node based on the transmitted information request message.

In some other embodiments, the information about the second producer node includes consumer adapter (CA) information, where the response message transmitted to the consumer node includes the information about the second producer node and triggers the consumer node to determine whether one message is from one consumer adapter (CA) of the second producer node.

In one embodiment, the consumer node includes an application function (AF), and the information about the second producer node includes a producer node list including at least the second producer node. The response message transmitted to the consumer node includes the information about the second producer node and triggers the consumer node to determine whether one message is from the second producer node. The second producer node is identified by a network node and configured to transmit at least an event notification to the consumer node.

In another embodiment, when the response message redirects the consumer node to the second producer node, the response message triggers the consumer node to transmit a second request message to the second producer node to subscribe to the second producer node.

In some embodiments, wherein the second request message is based on service information of one consumer adapter (CA) of the second producer node provided to the first producer node and the consumer node by the second producer node and the first producer node, respectively.

According to another aspect, a first producer node configured to communicate at least with a consumer node and a second producer node is described. The first producer node includes processing circuitry configured to: cause the first producer node to transmit a response message to the consumer node, where the response message: comprises information about the second producer node; and redirects the consumer node to the second producer node, the second producer node being different from the first producer node. The information about the second producer node comprised in the response message is usable at least by the consumer node for verifying the second producer node.

In some embodiments, the processing circuitry is further configured to cause the first producer node to receive a first request message from the consumer node, where the response message being transmitted in response to the first request message.

In one embodiment, the endpoint information includes at least one of a host name, an Internet Protocol (IP) address, a medium access control (MAC) address, a network function (NF) ID and a NF set ID for the second producer node.

In some embodiments, the processing circuit is further configured to cause the first producer node to: transmit an information request message to the second producer node; and receive the information about the second producer node based on the transmitted information request message.

In some other embodiments, the information about the second producer node includes consumer adapter (CA) information, where the response message transmitted to the consumer node includes the information about the second producer node and triggers the consumer node to determine whether one message is from one consumer adapter (CA) of the second producer node. In one embodiment, the consumer node includes an application function (AF), and the information about the second producer node includes a producer node list including at least the second producer node. The response message transmitted to the consumer node includes the information about the second producer node and triggers the consumer node to determine whether one message is from the second producer node. The second producer node is identified by a network node and configured to transmit at least an event notification to the consumer node.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more complete understanding of embodiments described herein, and the attendant advantages and features thereof, will be more readily understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 shows an example Request-response NF Service illustration;

FIG. 2 shows an example Subscribe-Notify NF Service illustration;

FIG. 3 shows an example Subscribe-Notify NF Service illustration;

FIG. 4 shows an example Request response using Indirect Communication;

FIG. 5 shows an example Subscribe-Notify using Indirect Communication;

FIG. 6 shows an example Data Management Framework for 5GC;

FIG. 7 shows an example Data Collection & Distribution for Event Notifications (Subscribe/Notify); FIG. 8 shows an example Processing of AF requests to influence traffic routing for Sessions not identified by a UE address;

FIG. 9 illustrates an example system architecture according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 10 illustrates yet another example system architecture and example hardware arrangements for devices in the system, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of an example process in a requestor according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 12 is a flowchart of an example process a request obtainer according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 13 is a flowchart of an example process a provider according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 14 is a flowchart of another example process in a requestor according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 15 is a flowchart of another example process a request obtainer according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 16 illustrates an example call flow diagram according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 17 illustrates an example call flow diagram according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 18 illustrates an example call flow diagram according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 19 illustrates an example call flow diagram according to some embodiments of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 20 illustrates an example call flow diagram according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the current standards, when a NF service (data) consumer subscribes to a NF service (data) producer, the consumer will always receive notifications from the same producer or the SCP (Service Communication Proxy). However, in some cases, the data or event could be generated by another NF (or entity) which is not the NF service producer. It may be a problem if the real data producer sends the notification to the data consumer, since the data consumer expect that the data should be from the NF service producer that it subscribed to, if it receives the data from somewhere else, the data consumer will be confused and rejects the data.

For example, based on the examples mentioned above, the data consumer subscribes data notification to the DCCF, but it will receive the data from the Messaging Framework or particularly a 3CA. The data consumer may be confused when it receives the data from a 3CA if it expects that the data should be from the DCCF.

As another example, based on the examples mentioned above, AF sends requests to influence SMF routing decisions for User Plane traffic of PDU sessions. The request sends to the NEF or directly to PCF. In the request, the AF can indicate to subscribe to SMF events. However, AF does not know which SMF will send the UP management events. Thus, if an attacker or other malicious actor obtains the notification ID and sends one or more fake UP management events to the AF, the AF is unable to verify if one or more of the received events are malicious.

Some embodiments of the present disclosure propose a solution to solve the problem that an NF service producer may allow some other NFs to send the data/event notification to the NF service consumer that requested the data/event notification.

In one embodiment, when the NF service consumer sends a subscription request to an NF service producer, the producer replies with a response message with information about the endpoint (e.g., another NF service producer, an AF, or another node), from where the NF service producer will receive the notification. In another embodiment, when the NF service consumer sends a subscription request to an NF service producer, the producer replies with a response message redirecting the consumer to subscribe to another NF.

In some embodiments, one or more of the proposed methods may be applied to the Data Management Framework mentioned above. In some embodiments, one or more of the proposed methods may be applied to the procedure of the AF influence on traffic routing mentioned above. Some embodiments of one or more of the proposed solutions make the Subscribe - Notification framework more flexible as compared with other solutions, such that the NF service consumer can receive notification from NFs other than the NF it subscribed to. The NF service producer may also redirect the NF service consumer to other NF service producers.

Before describing in detail exemplary embodiments, it is noted that the embodiments reside primarily in combinations of apparatus components and processing steps related to flexible data subscription in 5GS. Accordingly, the system and method components have been represented where appropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present disclosure so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein.

As used herein, relational terms, such as “first” and “second,” “top” and “bottom,” and the like, may be used solely to distinguish one entity or element from another entity or element without necessarily requiring or implying any physical or logical relationship or order between such entities or elements. The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the concepts described herein. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “includes” and/or “including” when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. In embodiments described herein, the joining term, “in communication with” and the like, may be used to indicate electrical or data communication, which may be accomplished by physical contact, induction, electromagnetic radiation, radio signaling, infrared signaling or optical signaling, for example. One having ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that multiple components may interoperate and modifications and variations are possible of achieving the electrical and data communication.

In some embodiments described herein, the term “coupled,” “connected,” and the like, may be used herein to indicate a connection, although not necessarily directly, and may include wired and/or wireless connections.

In some embodiments, the non-limiting terms wireless device (WD) or a user equipment (UE) are used interchangeably. The UE herein can be any type of wireless device capable of communicating with a network node or another UE over radio signals. In some embodiments, the UE may be an autonomous machine configured to communicate via IMS. The UE herein can by any type of communication device capable of communicating with another UE, an application server (AS), a network node, a server, an IMS NF or other IMS network node, via a wired connection and/or a wireless connection. The UE may also be a radio communication device, target device, device to device (D2D) UE, machine type UE or UE capable of machine to machine communication (M2M), low-cost and/or low-complexity UE, a sensor equipped with UE, Tablet, mobile terminals, smart phone, laptop embedded equipped (LEE), laptop mounted equipment (LME), USB dongles, Customer Premises Equipment (CPE), an Internet of Things (IoT) device, or a Narrowband IoT (NB-IOT) device etc.

In some embodiments, the term “node” is used herein and can be any kind of network node, such as, a Proxy-Call Session Control Function (P-CSCF) node, a mobility management node (e.g., Mobility Management Entity (MME) and/or Access and Mobility Function (AMF)), a gateway node (e.g., access gateway), a session management node (e.g., session management function (SMF) node), a user plane function (UPF) node, an AS node or any network node. In some embodiments, the network node may be, for example, a subscriber database node, a core network node, a Fifth Generation (5G) and/or New Radio (NR) network node, an Evolved Packet System (EPS) node, an Internet Protocol (IP) Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) node, an Serving-CSCF node, an Interrogating-CSCF node, a network repository function (NRF) node, a unified data management (UDM) node, a Network Exposure Function (NEF) node, a home subscriber server (HSS) node, a home location register (HER) node, etc.

In yet other embodiments, the network node may include any of base station (BS), radio base station, base transceiver station (BTS), base station controller (BSC), radio network controller (RNC), g Node B (gNB), evolved Node B (eNB or eNodeB), Node B, multi-standard radio (MSR) radio node such as MSR BS, multi-cell/multicast coordination entity (MCE), relay node, integrated access and backhaul (IAB), donor node controlling relay, radio access point (AP), transmission points, transmission nodes, Remote Radio Unit (RRU) Remote Radio Head (RRH), a core network node (e.g., mobile management entity (MME), self-organizing network (SON) node, a coordinating node, positioning node, MDT node, etc.), an external node (e.g., 3rd party node, a node external to the current network), nodes in distributed antenna system (DAS), a spectrum access system (SAS) node, an element management system (EMS), etc. The network node may also comprise test equipment. The term “radio node” used herein may be used to also denote a wireless device (WD) such as a wireless device (WD) or a radio network node.

In some embodiments, one or more of the nodes described herein may be more generally considered and/or comprise a network function (NF) and may be referred to as a NF node. For example, the consumer and producer nodes described herein may be NF nodes.

In some embodiments, a Third Generation Partnership Project (3 GPP) core network (e.g., 5GC) may include a Service Based Architecture (SBA) in which NFs (NFs) provide one or more services to one or more service consumers. This can be performed, for example, via Hyper Text Transfer Protocol/Representational State Transfer (HTTP/REST), application programming interfaces (APIs), etc. Generally, the various services may be considered self-contained functionalities that can be changed and modified in an isolated manner without affecting other services. Furthermore, the services may include various service operations, which may be more granular divisions of the overall service functionality. In some embodiments, in order to access a service, both the service name and the targeted service operation is to be indicated. The interactions between service consumers and service producers may be, for example, a “request/response” or “subscribe/notify” type or yet other types of interactions. In some embodiments, a network repository functions (NRF) may allow NFs to discover the services offered by other NFs, and Data Storage Functions (DSFs) may allow NFs to store its context. In some embodiments, the 5GC SBA model may provide e.g., modularity, reusability and/or self-containment of NFs, which may be compatible with virtualization technologies.

In some embodiments, one or more of the nodes described herein may be more generally considered and/or comprise an application function (AF) and may be referred to as an AF node. For example, the consumer and producer nodes described herein may be AF nodes.

In some embodiments, an AF may interact with a 3GPP core network (e.g., 5GC) to provide one or more of services. Based on operator deployment, an AF may be trusted by the operator to interact directly with relevant NFs (NFs). AFs not permitted by the operator to access directly the NFs may use, for example, an external exposure framework (e.g., via a network exposure function (NEF)) to interact with relevant NFs. In some embodiments, the AF may provide one or more services to a user/UE, in which, for example, a packet-based service data flow is provided to the user/UE, e.g., the streaming of video and/or audio data packets from a content provider to a subscriber of a mobile communications network. The AF may for example be attached to or part of the 3 GPP Policy and Charging (PCC) architecture and may be specified in one or more particular 3GPP Technical Specifications. IMS nodes, such as P-CSCF, S-CSCF, I-CSCF, etc. may be considered types of NFs.

In some embodiments, the various AF nodes and NF nodes that may be described herein may be referred to by their function names and/or more generally as network nodes and/or nodes.

A node described herein may include physical components, such as processors, allocated processing elements, or other computing hardware, computer memory, communication interfaces, and other supporting computing hardware. The node may use dedicated physical components, or the node may be allocated use of the physical components of another device, such as a computing device or resources of a datacenter, in which case the node may be said to be virtualized. A node may be associated with multiple physical components that may be located either in one location, or may be distributed across multiple locations.

As used herein, the terms “request” and “response” may be used interchangeably with “subscription” and “notification”, respectively. For example, a “request message” is used broadly to indicate e.g., a request message in a request- response interaction model and/or a subscription request in a subscription-notification interaction model. Similarly, “a message” or “response message” may indicate e.g., a response message in the request-response interaction model and/or a notification in the subscription-notification interaction model.

Note also that some embodiments of the present disclosure may be supported by standard documents disclosed in Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) technical specifications. That is, some embodiments of the description can be supported by the above documents. In addition, all the terms disclosed in the present document may be described by the above standard documents.

Note that although terminology from one particular wireless system, such as, for example, 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), Long Term Evolution (LTE), 5th Generation (5G) and/or New Radio (NR), may be used in this disclosure, this should not be seen as limiting the scope of the disclosure to only the aforementioned system. Other wireless systems, including without limitation 3GPP 6th Generation (6G) or later, Wide Band Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB) and Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), may also benefit from exploiting the ideas covered within this disclosure.

Note further, that functions described herein as being performed by a consumer node or a producer node described herein are not limited to performance by a single physical device and, in fact, can be distributed among several physical devices.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs. It will be further understood that terms used herein should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of this specification and the relevant art and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.

Referring again to the drawing figures, in which like elements are referred to by like reference numerals, there is shown in FIG. 9 a schematic diagram of the system 10, according to one embodiment, constructed in accordance with the principles of the present disclosure. The system 10 in FIG. 9 is a non-limiting example and other embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by one or more other systems and/or networks. Referring to FIG. 9, system 10 includes a consumer node 12, a first producer node 14 and a second producer node 16. The consumer node 12 may comprise one or more of: SCP, NF consumer, Data Consumer, NWDAF, Data Repository, AF, NF service consumer node, etc., and/or any other elements/components described herein. The first producer node 14 may comprise one or more of: NEF, PCF, DCCF, DA, service producer node, NF service producer, NF service producer node, etc., described herein. The second producer node 16 may comprise one or more of: Data Source, AMF, SMF (e.g., an SMF instance), service producer node, NF service producer, NF service producer node, framework such as a messaging framework, 3CA, 3PA, etc. described herein. However, the first producer node 14 is not limited as such and may comprise one or more of elements/components comprised in the second producer node 16 and/or any other elements/components. Similarly, the second producer node 16 is not limited as such and may comprise one or more of elements/components comprised in the first producer node 14 and/or any other elements/components.

It should be understood that the system 10 may include numerous nodes of those shown in FIG. 9, as well as, additional nodes not shown in FIG. 9. In addition, the system 10 may include many more connections/interfaces than those shown in FIG. 9. Thus, the quantities and connections shown in FIGS. 9 and 10 are merely to aid understanding and are not considered limiting to only the arrangements shown in those figures.

The system 10 may include one or more nodes having a requestor 18, a request obtainer 20 and a provider 22. Although request obtainer 20 and provider 22 are shown in FIG. 9 in separate nodes, in some embodiments, a producer node (e.g., any one of first producer node 14 and second producer node 16) may include both a request obtainer 20 and a provider 22.

In some embodiments, a consumer node 12 includes the requestor 18 which is configured to perform any of the steps/features/tasks/processes of the present disclosure, e.g., send a request message to the first producer node 14; receive a response message, the response message at least one of: comprising information about a second producer node 16 and/or redirecting the consumer node 12 to the second producer node 16, the second producer node 16 being different from the first producer node 14; and optionally, use the information about the second producer node 16 to verify whether a received message is from the second producer node 16.

In some embodiments, first producer node 14 includes the request obtainer 20 which is configured to perform any of the steps/features/tasks/processes of the present disclosure, e.g., receive a request message from a consumer node 12; and send a response message to the consumer node 12, the response message at least one of: comprising information about a second producer node 16 and/or redirecting the consumer node 12 to the second producer node 16, the second producer node 16 being different from the first producer node 14.

In some embodiments, a producer node (e.g., second producer node 16) includes the provider 22 which is configured to perform any of the steps/features/tasks/processes of the present disclosure, e.g., receive a message from at least one of a consumer node 12 and another producer node (e.g., first producer node 14), the producer node (e.g., second producer node 16) being different from the another producer node (e.g., first producer node 14) and the message comprising information about a request received by the other producer node (e.g., second producer node 16) for information associated with the consumer node 12; and as a result of receipt of the message, providing requested data for the consumer node 12.

Example implementations, in accordance with some embodiments, of a consumer node 12, a first producer node 14 and a second producer node 16 and a network node 24 (which may be any one or more of the nodes described herein), will now be described with reference to FIG. 10. The consumer node 12 includes a communication interface 30, processing circuitry 32, and memory 34. The communication interface 30 may be configured to communicate with any of the nodes in the system 10 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, the communication interface 30 may be formed as or may include, for example, one or more radio frequency (RF) transmitters, one or more RF receivers, and/or one or more RF transceivers, and/or may be considered a radio interface. In some embodiments, the communication interface 30 may also include a wired interface.

The processing circuitry 32 may include one or more processors 36 and memory, such as, the memory 34. In particular, in addition to a traditional processor and memory, the processing circuitry 32 may comprise integrated circuitry for processing and/or control, e.g., one or more processors and/or processor cores and/or FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Array) and/or ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuitry) adapted to execute instructions. The processor 36 may be configured to access (e.g., write to and/or read from) the memory 34, which may comprise any kind of volatile and/or nonvolatile memory, e.g., cache and/or buffer memory and/or RAM (Random Access Memory) and/or ROM (Read-Only Memory) and/or optical memory and/or EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory).

Thus, the consumer node 12 may further include software stored internally in, for example, memory 34, or stored in external memory (e.g., database) accessible by the consumer node 12 via an external connection. The software may be executable by the processing circuitry 32. The processing circuitry 32 may be configured to control any of the methods and/or processes described herein and/or to cause such methods, and/or processes to be performed, e.g., consumer node 12. The memory 34 is configured to store data, programmatic software code and/or other information described herein. In some embodiments, the software may include instructions stored in memory 34 that, when executed by the processor 36 and/or requestor 18 causes the processing circuitry 32 and/or configures the consumer node 12 to perform one or more of the processes described herein with respect to a consumer node 12.

The first producer node 14 includes a communication interface 40, processing circuitry 42, and memory 44. The communication interface 40 may be configured to communicate with any of the nodes in the system 10 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, the communication interface 40 may be formed as or may include, for example, one or more radio frequency (RF) transmitters, one or more RF receivers, and/or one or more RF transceivers, and/or may be considered a radio interface. In some embodiments, the communication interface 40 may also include a wired interface.

The processing circuitry 42 may include one or more processors 46 and memory, such as, the memory 44. In particular, in addition to a traditional processor and memory, the processing circuitry 42 may comprise integrated circuitry for processing and/or control, e.g., one or more processors and/or processor cores and/or FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Array) and/or ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuitry) adapted to execute instructions. The processor 46 may be configured to access (e.g., write to and/or read from) the memory 44, which may comprise any kind of volatile and/or nonvolatile memory, e.g., cache and/or buffer memory and/or RAM (Random Access Memory) and/or ROM (Read-Only Memory) and/or optical memory and/or EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory).

Thus, the first producer node 14 may further include software stored internally in, for example, memory 44, or stored in external memory (e.g., database) accessible by the first producer node 14 via an external connection. The software may be executable by the processing circuitry 42. The processing circuitry 42 may be configured to control any of the methods and/or processes described herein and/or to cause such methods, and/or processes to be performed, e.g., first producer node 14. The memory 44 is configured to store data, programmatic software code and/or other information described herein. In some embodiments, the software may include instructions stored in memory 44 that, when executed by the processor 46 and/or request obtainer 20 causes the processing circuitry 42 and/or configures the first producer node 14 to perform one or more of the processes described herein with respect to a first producer node 14.

The second producer node 16 includes a communication interface 50, processing circuitry 52, and memory 54. The communication interface 50 may be configured to communicate other elements in the system 10 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, the communication interface 50 may be formed as or may include, for example, one or more radio frequency (RF) transmitters, one or more RF receivers, and/or one or more RF transceivers, and/or may be considered a radio interface. In some embodiments, the communication interface 50 may also include a wired interface.

The processing circuitry 52 may include one or more processors 56 and memory, such as, the memory 54. In particular, in addition to a traditional processor and memory, the processing circuitry 52 may comprise integrated circuitry for processing and/or control, e.g., one or more processors and/or processor cores and/or FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Array) and/or ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuitry) adapted to execute instructions. The processor 56 may be configured to access (e.g., write to and/or read from) the memory 54, which may comprise any kind of volatile and/or nonvolatile memory, e.g., cache and/or buffer memory and/or RAM (Random Access Memory) and/or ROM (Read-Only Memory) and/or optical memory and/or EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory).

Thus, the second producer node 16 may further include software stored internally in, for example, memory 54, or stored in external memory (e.g., database) accessible by the second producer node 16 via an external connection. The software may be executable by the processing circuitry 52. The processing circuitry 52 may be configured to control any of the methods and/or processes described herein and/or to cause such methods, and/or processes to be performed, e.g., by the second producer node 16. The memory 54 is configured to store data, programmatic software code and/or other information described herein. In some embodiments, the software may include instructions stored in memory 54 that, when executed by the processor 56 and/or provider 22, causes the processing circuitry 52 and/or configures the second producer node 16 to perform the processes described herein with respect to the second producer node 16.

The network node 24 includes a communication interface 60, processing circuitry 62, and memory 64. The communication interface 60 may be configured to communicate with any of the nodes in the system 10 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, the communication interface 60 may be formed as or may include, for example, one or more radio frequency (RF) transmitters, one or more RF receivers, and/or one or more RF transceivers, and/or may be considered a radio interface. In some embodiments, the communication interface 60 may also include a wired interface.

The processing circuitry 62 may include one or more processors 66 and memory, such as, the memory 64. In particular, in addition to a traditional processor and memory, the processing circuitry 62 may comprise integrated circuitry for processing and/or control, e.g., one or more processors and/or processor cores and/or FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Array) and/or ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuitry) adapted to execute instructions. The processor 66 may be configured to access (e.g., write to and/or read from) the memory 64, which may comprise any kind of volatile and/or nonvolatile memory, e.g., cache and/or buffer memory and/or RAM (Random Access Memory) and/or ROM (Read-Only Memory) and/or optical memory and/or EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory).

Thus, the network node 24 may further include software stored internally in, for example, memory 64, or stored in external memory (e.g., database) accessible by the network node 24 via an external connection. The software may be executable by the processing circuitry 62. The processing circuitry 62 may be configured to control any of the methods and/or processes described herein and/or to cause such methods, and/or processes to be performed, e.g., by the network node 24. The memory 64 is configured to store data, programmatic software code and/or other information described herein. In some embodiments, the software may include instructions stored in memory 64 that, when executed by the processor 66, causes the processing circuitry 62 and/or configures the network node 24 to perform the processes described herein with respect to the network node 24.

In FIG. 10, the connection between the devices is shown without explicit reference to any intermediary devices or connections. However, it should be understood that intermediary devices and/or connections may exist between these devices, although not explicitly shown. Although FIG. 10 shows requestor 18, request obtainer 20 and provider 22, as being within a respective processor, it is contemplated that these elements may be implemented such that a portion of the elements is stored in a corresponding memory within the processing circuitry. In other words, the elements may be implemented in hardware or in a combination of hardware and software within the processing circuitry.

In some embodiments, the inner workings of a consumer node 12, a first producer node 14 and a second producer node 16 and a network node 24 from FIG. 10 may be as shown in FIG. 10 and independently, the surrounding network topology may be that of any of FIGS. 1-9.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of an example process according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. One or more Blocks and/or functions and/or methods performed by the consumer node 12 may be performed by one or more elements of consumer node 12 such as by requestor 18 in processing circuitry 32, memory 34, processor 36, communication interface 30, etc. according to the example process/method. The example process includes sending (Block S100), such as via requestor 18, processing circuitry 32, memory 34, processor 36, and/or communication interface 30, a request message to the first producer node. The process includes receiving (Block S102), such as via requestor 18, processing circuitry 32, memory 34, processor 36, and/or communication interface 30, a response message, the response message at least one of: comprising information about a second producer node and/or redirecting the consumer node to the second producer node, the second producer node being different from the first producer node. The process includes optionally, using (Block S104), such as via requestor 18, processing circuitry 32, memory 34, processor 36, and/or communication interface 30, the information about the second producer node to at least one of send the request message to the second producer node and/or verify whether a received message is from the second producer node.

In some embodiments, the method further includes maintaining, such as via requestor 18, processing circuitry 32, memory 34, processor 36, and/or communication interface 30, a mapping between the notification ID and the endpoint information, the mapping used to verify whether the received message is from the second producer node.

In some embodiments, one or more of: the information about the second producer node comprised in the response message comprises at least one of a name of a data/event, a notification identifier (ID) and endpoint information for verifying the second producer node; the information about the second producer node comprised in the response message comprises at least one of a network function (NF) instance identifier (ID), a service name and a uniform resource identifier (URI) for redirecting the request message to the second producer node; and the endpoint information comprises at least one of a host name, an Internet Protocol (IP) address, a medium access control (MAC) address, a network function (NF) ID and a NF set ID for the second producer node.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart of an example process according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. One or more Blocks and/or functions and/or methods performed by the first producer node 14 may be performed by one or more elements of the first producer node 14, such as by request obtainer 20 in processing circuitry 42, memory 44, processor 46, communication interface 40, etc. according to the example process/method. The example process includes receiving (Block S106), such as via request obtainer 20, processing circuitry 42, memory 44, processor 46, and/or communication interface 40, a request message from a consumer node. The process includes sending (Block S108), such as via request obtainer 20, processing circuitry 42, memory 44, processor 46, and/or communication interface 40, a response message to the consumer node, the response message at least one of: comprising information about a second producer node and/or redirecting the consumer node to the second producer node, the second producer node being different from the first producer node.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises subscribing to the second producer node as a result of the received request message, receiving data/event notification associated with the request message from the second producer node and sending the response message to the consumer node comprises sending the received data/event notification to the consumer node.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart of an example process according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. One or more Blocks and/or functions and/or methods performed by the second producer node 16 may be performed by one or more elements of second producer node 16 such as provider 22 in processing circuitry 52, memory 54, processor 56, communication interface 50, etc. according to the example process/method. The example process includes receiving (Block SI 10), such as via provider 22, processing circuitry 52, memory 54, processor 56, communication interface 50, a message from at least one of a consumer node and another producer node, the producer node being different from the another producer node and the message comprising information about a request received by the another producer node for information associated with the consumer node. The process includes as a result of receipt of the message, providing (Block S 112), such as via provider 22, processing circuitry 52, memory 54, processor 56 and/or communication interface 50, requested data for the consumer node.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart of another example process in a requestor according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. One or more Blocks and/or functions and/or methods performed by the consumer node 12 may be performed by one or more elements of consumer node 12 such as by requestor 18 in processing circuitry 32, memory 34, processor 36, communication interface 30, etc. according to the example process/method. The example process includes receiving (Block SI 14), such as via requestor 18, processing circuitry 32, memory 34, processor 36, and/or communication interface 30, a response message. The response message: comprises information about the second producer node; and redirects the consumer node to the second producer node. The second producer node is different from the first producer node. The process further includes, optionally, using (Block SI 16), such as via requestor 18, processing circuitry 32, memory 34, processor 36, and/or communication interface 30, the information about the second producer node to perform at least one action associated with the second producer node.

In some embodiments, the method further includes transmitting a first request message to the first producer node 14, the response message being triggered in response to the first request message.

In some other embodiments, the method further includes maintaining a mapping between a notification identifier (ID) and endpoint information. The mapping is used to determine whether at least one received message is from the second producer node 16.

In one embodiment, at least one of: the information about the second producer node 16 comprised in the response message includes at least one of a name associated with one of data and an event, a notification ID, and endpoint information for verifying the second producer node 16; and the endpoint information includes at least one of a host name, an Internet Protocol (IP) address, a medium access control (MAC) address, a network function (NF) ID and a NF set ID for the second producer node 16.

In another embodiment, the information about the second producer node 16 comprised in the response message includes at least one of a network function (NF) instance identifier (ID), a service name and a uniform resource identifier (URI) for redirecting the consumer node 12 to the second producer node 16.

In some embodiments, the at least one action associated with the second producer node 16 includes determining whether a received message is from the second producer node 16.

In some other embodiments, when the response message comprises information about the second producer node 16 and the second producer node 16 is associated with a messaging framework, determining whether the received message is from the second producer node 16 includes determining the received message is from one consumer adapter (CA) of the second producer node 16 based on the information about the second producer node 16. The information about the second producer node 16 includes CA information being provided to the first producer node 14 and the consumer node 12 by the second producer node 16 and the first producer node 14, respectively.

In one embodiment, when the response message comprises information about the second producer node 16 and the consumer node 12 includes an application function (AF), determining whether the received message is from the second producer node 16 includes determining the received message is from the second producer node 16 based on the information about the second producer node 16. The received message is received in part in response to a management event request transmitted by the consumer node 12, and the information about the second producer node 16 includes a producer node list including at least the second producer node 16. The second producer node 16 is identified by a network node 24 and configured to transmit at least an event notification to the consumer node 12.

In some embodiments, the at least one action associated with the second producer node 16 includes transmitting a second request message to the second producer node 16.

In some other embodiments, when the response message redirects the consumer node 12 to the second producer node 16, the second request message is transmitted to the second producer node 16 to subscribe to the second producer node 16. The second request message is determined based on service information of one consumer adapter (CA) of the second producer node 16 provided to the first producer node 14 and the consumer node 12 by the second producer node 16 and the first producer node 14, respectively.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart of another example process a request obtainer according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. One or more Blocks and/or functions and/or methods performed by the first producer node 14 may be performed by one or more elements of the first producer node 14, such as by request obtainer 20 in processing circuitry 42, memory 44, processor 46, communication interface 40, etc. according to the example process/method. The example process includes transmitting (Block SI 18), such as via request obtainer 20, processing circuitry 42, memory 44, processor 46, and/or communication interface 40, a response message to the consumer node, a response message to the consumer node. The response message: comprises information about the second producer node; and redirects the consumer node to the second producer node. The second producer node is different from the first producer node. The information about the second producer node comprised in the response message is usable at least by the consumer node for verifying the second producer node.

In some embodiments, the method further includes receiving a first request message from the consumer node 12, where the response message is transmitted in response to the first request message.

In some other embodiments, the information about the second producer node 16 comprised in the response message includes at least one of a name associated with one of data and an event, a notification ID, and endpoint information for verifying the second producer node 16.

In one embodiment, the endpoint information includes at least one of a host name, an Internet Protocol (IP) address, a medium access control (MAC) address, a network function (NF) ID, and a NF set ID for the second producer node 16.

In another embodiment, the information about the second producer node 16 comprised in the response message includes at least one of a network function (NF) instance identifier (ID), a service name, and a uniform resource identifier (URI) for redirecting the consumer node to the second producer node 16.

In some embodiments, the method further includes: transmitting an information request message to the second producer node 16; and receiving the information about the second producer node 16 based on the transmitted information request message.

In some other embodiments, the information about the second producer node 16 includes consumer adapter (CA) information, where the response message transmitted to the consumer node includes the information about the second producer node 16 and triggers the consumer node 12 to determine whether one message is from one consumer adapter (CA) of the second producer node 16.

In one embodiment, the consumer node 12 includes an application function (AF), and the information about the second producer node 16 includes a producer node list including at least the second producer node 16. The response message transmitted to the consumer node 12 includes the information about the second producer node 16 and triggers the consumer node to determine whether one message is from the second producer node 16. The second producer node 16 is identified by a network node 24 and configured to transmit at least an event notification to the consumer node 12.

In another embodiment, when the response message redirects the consumer node 12 to the second producer node 16, the response message triggers the consumer node 12 to transmit a second request message to the second producer node 16 to subscribe to the second producer node 16.

In some embodiments, wherein the second request message is based on service information of one consumer adapter (CA) of the second producer node 16 provided to the first producer node 14 and the consumer node 12 by the second producer node 16 and the first producer node 14, respectively.

Having generally described arrangements for flexible data subscription (e.g., subscription/request and corresponding notification/response), a more detailed description of some of the embodiments are provided as follows with reference to FIGS. 14-18, and which may be implemented by may be implemented by consumer node 12 (e.g., such as by requestor 18 in processing circuitry 32, memory 34, processor 36, communication interface 30), first producer node 14 (e.g., such as via request obtainer 20, processing circuitry 42, memory 44, processor 46, and/or communication interface 40) and/or second producer node 16 (e.g., such as via provider 22, processing circuitry 52, memory 54, processor 56, communication interface 50).

Below, a general procedure/process/method for two embodiments are described as examples of solutions proposed by some embodiments of the present disclosure, as follows:

Embodiment 1: an NF service producer node 14 provides the information of the endpoint from where the NF service consumer node 12 will receive the notification. An example of Embodiment 1 is illustrated in FIG. 16, which may include one or more of the following steps: S200. NF service consumer node 12 sends the subscription request to NF service producer 1. In the request, it includes the information of which data/event it is interested, notification ID and endpoint information for receiving the notification.

S202. NF service producer 1 (e.g., first producer node 14) determines that NF service producer 2 (e.g., second producer node 16) can send the data notification to the consumer. Therefore, producer 1 interacts with producer 2. Producer 1 (which may also be considered Provider 1) gives the consumer information (which data/event it is interested, notification ID and endpoint of receiving the notification) to producer 2. Producer 2 gives producer 1 the information of the endpoint for sending the notification.

The information of the endpoint for sending the notification could include e.g., a host name, an Internet Protocol (IP address), a medium access control (MAC) address, and/or a NF instance ID, NF set ID, etc.

S204. NF service producer 1 (e.g., producer node 14) response to the NF service consumer node 12 subscription. The response message includes the information about the endpoint from which the notification will be sent/received.

The NF service consumer nodes 12 maintains the mapping between the notification ID with the endpoint for sending/receiving the notification.

5206. NF service producer 2 (e.g., second producer node 16) sends data /event notifications to the consumer.

5207. NF service consumer node 12 verifies that the ID (e.g., NF instance ID, MAC, IP address, etc.) of the notification sender matches the information received in step S202.

Embodiment 2: the NF service producer node 14 redirects the NF service consumer node 12 to another NF service producer node 16, so that the consumer node 12 can subscribe to that NF service producer node 16 and receive the corresponding notifications. FIG. 17 illustrates an example of the procedure for Embodiment 2, as follows:

S208. NF service consumer node 12 sends the subscription request to NF service producer 1 (e.g., producer node 14). S210. Producer 1 (e.g., first producer node 14) redirects consumer node 12 to NF service producer 2 (e.g., second producer node 16) with the NF instance ID of the producer 2 (e.g., second producer node 16), service name that the consumer node 12 is to subscribe to and/or an identifier, such as a uniform resource identifier (URI) (for RESTful service) used in the service request.

S212. NF service consumer node 12 subscribes to NF service producer 2 (e.g., second producer node 16) and is provided with the notifications e.g., from second producer node 16.

Using the proposed method in the Data Management Framework

Applying Embodiment 1 to Data Management Framework

FIG. 18 is used to illustrate an example for how to use one or more of the proposed methods in Embodiment 1 in a Data Management Framework, which may include one or more of the following steps:

S214. Data Consumer-1 (e.g., consumer node 12a, e.g., NWDAF-1) sends a request for data to a first producer node (PD1 node) 14, such as, for example, DCCF. The message includes the Notification Target Address. The message may indicate whether the requested data should be sent to the Notification Target Address set to Data Consumer-1 (e.g., consumer node 12a) and/or to other Consumers such as Data Repository. The Notification Correlation ID of the Consumer- 1 (e.g., consumer node 12a) is included in the request message and is used for notifications sent to Data Consumer- 1 (e.g., consumer node 12a) (e.g., as in step S230 below).

S216. If the request is for UE data, the PD1 node 14 (e.g., DCCF) may query the UDM/NRF/BSF to determine the NF serving the UE.

S218. The PD1 node 14 (e.g., DCCF) determines the Data Source (e.g., network node (NN) 26 such as an AMF-1) that can provide the data and checks that the requested data is not already being collected.

S220. The PD1 node 14 (e.g., DCCF) controls the message bus and the adaptors so the notifications traverse the messaging framework. The subscription to a producer node 2 (PD2) 16 (e.g., framework comprising the DA) includes a Notification Correlation ID of the 3PA and the Notification Correlation ID for Data Consumer- 1 as received in step S208. The DA may associate these with a messaging framework. The 3PA is provided with its Notification Correlation ID and the "Data Tag". The PD2 16 (e.g., framework comprising the 3CA) may be provided with information about the consumer node 12a notification endpoint, the Notification_Correlation_ID of the Consumer (e.g., consumer node 12a) and the "Data Tag". The 3CA may then subscribe to the "Data Tag" in the messaging framework.

5222. The PD2 16 (e.g,, DA) responses to the subscription from PD1 node 14 (e.g., DCCF). The DA includes the endpoint information of the 3CA to the PD1 node 14 (e.g., DCCF). The endpoint information of the 3CA could be for example an IP address or a host name.

5223. The PD1 node 14 (e.g., DCCF) sends the subscription response to the Data Consumer-1 (e.g., consumer node 12a). In the response, the PD1 node 14 (e.g., DCCF) provides the endpoint information of PD2 16 (e.g., the 3CA) received in step S222.

5224. The PD1 node 14 (e.g., DCCF) sends a subscription request to a NF producer node (e.g., PD2 16) acting as a Data Source. The subscription includes the notification endpoint and Notification Correlation ID of the 3PA that is acting as the receiver for these notifications.

S226. The Data Source acknowledges the request with a Subscription ID.

S228. A Notification containing the Notification Correlation ID of the 3PA is sent from the Data Source to the 3PA after an event trigger at the Data Source. The 3PA publishes the data in the message framework. It may use the "Data Tag" associated with the Notification Correlation ID of the 3PA received in step S220.

S230. When the data is published to the "Data Tag", the Messaging Framework makes it available to all subscribed 3CAs. In this case the only subscriber is a 3CA serving consumer- 1 (e.g., consumer node 12a). This 3CA maps the "Data Tag" to the Notification Correlation ID of the Data Consumer received in Step S220 (which was originally provided by Data Consumer- 1 (e.g., consumer node 12a)) and sends the notification to the notification endpoint of Data Consumer- 1. When Data Consumer -1 (e.g., consumer node 12a) receives the notification message, it verifies if the message is from the 3CA according to the endpoint information received in step S223.

S232. Data Consumer-2 (e.g., consumer node 12b, e.g., NWDAF-2) sends a request for the same Data. The message may indicate whether the requested data should be sent to Data Consumer-2 (e.g., consumer node 12b), and/or to other Consumers such as Data Repository. The Notification Correlation ID of Consumer-2 is included for notifications sent to Data Consumer-2.

S234. The PD1 node 14 (e.g., DCCF) determines that the requested data is already being collected from a Data Source (e.g., AMF-1) and retrieves 3PA ID and the Notification Correlation ID of the 3PA.

S236. The PD1 node 14 (e.g., DCCF) sends a subscription request to the Messaging Framework indicating that there is a new subscriber of the data. The subscribe message to the DA provides the 3PA ID, the 3PA Notification Correlation ID currently in use, and the Notification Correlation ID for Data Consumer-2 as received in step 9. The DA selects the existing "Data Tag" corresponding to the 3PA information and sends the 3CA Consumer-2's notification endpoint, the Notification_Correlation_ID of Consumer-2 and the "Data Tag". The 3CA may then subscribe to the "Data Tag" in the messaging framework.

S238. The DA responds to the subscription from DCCF. DA includes the endpoint information of the 3CA to the PD1 node 14 (e.g., DCCF). The endpoint information of the 3CA could be for example an IP address or a host name.

Note that the 3CA in step S236 could be different from the 3CA in step

S220.

S240. The PD1 node 14 (e.g., DCCF) sends the subscription response to the Data Consumer-2 (e.g., consumer node 12b). In the response, the PD1 node 14 (e.g., DCCF) provides the endpoint information of the 3CA received in step S238.

NOTE: The 3CA for Consumer-2 may be different or the same from 3CA for Consumer- 1. S242. After an event is triggered in the data source, a Notification is sent to the 3PA and 3PA publishes the data to the corresponding "Data Tag" on the Messaging Framework.

S244 and S246. When the data is published to the "Data Tag" the Messaging Framework makes it available to the subscribed 3CAs. In this case the 3CAs serving consumer- 1 and consumer-2 receive the data and send the notifications to the notification endpoints of Data Consumer- 1 and Data Consumer-2 using the Notification Correlation ID of Consumer- 1 and Consumer-2, respectively.

Applying Embodiment 2 to Data Management Framework

FIG. 19 is used to illustrate an example for how to use one or more of the proposed methods in a Data Management Framework, which may include one or more of the following steps:

S248. Data Consumer-1 (e.g., consumer node 12 e.g., NWDAF-1) sends a request for data to the PD1 node 14 (e.g., DCCF). The message includes the Notification Target Address. The message may indicate whether the requested data should be sent to the Notification Target Address set to Data Consumer- 1 and/or to other Consumers such as Data Repository. The Notification Correlation ID of the Consumer- 1 (e.g., consumer node 12) is included in the request message and is used for notifications sent to Data Consumer- 1 (e.g., in step S268 below).

S250. If the request is for UE data, the PD1 node 14 (e.g., DCCF) may query the UDM/NRF/BSF to determine the NF serving the UE.

S252. The PD1 node 14 (e.g., DCCF) determines the Data Source (e.g., AMF- 1) that can provide the data and checks that the requested data is not already being collected.

S254. The subscription to the DA includes a Notification Correlation ID of the 3 PA and the Notification Correlation ID for Data Consumer- 1 as received in step S248 above. The DA may associate these with a messaging framework. The 3PA is provided with its Notification Correlation ID and the "Data Tag". DA chooses a 3CA for serving the data consumer (e.g., consumer node 12) and provides information of the 3CA to PD1 node 14 (e.g., DCCF), the information includes one or more of: IP address, a host name of the 3CA, the service name that the data consumer (e.g., consumer node 12) can subscribe to, e.g., N3ca_EventExposue_Subscribe service, as well as an ID, e.g., the URI used for the service. The URI reflects the notification endpoint, the Notification_Correlation_ID of the Consumer. The 3CA maintains a mapping with the URI and the “Data Tag”.

S256. The DA responses to the subscription from PD1 node 14 (e.g., DCCF). DA includes the service information of the 3CA to the PD1 node 14 (e.g., DCCF).

S258. The PD1 node 14 (e.g., DCCF) sends the subscription response to the Data Consumer- 1. In the response, the PD1 node 14 (e.g., DCCF) provides the service information of the 3CA received in step S256 above.

S260. The PD1 node 14 (e.g., DCCF) sends a subscription request to a NF producer acting as a data source. The subscription includes the notification endpoint and Notification Correlation ID of the 3PA that is acting as the receiver for these notifications.

S262. The Data Source acknowledges the request with a Subscription ID.

S264. Data Consumer- 1 uses the service information received in step S256 to subscribe the data to the 3CA. According to the URI used in the request, the 3CA will be provided with the consumer's notification endpoint, the

Notification_Correlation_ID of the Consumer (e.g., consumer node 12) and the "Data Tag" mapped to the URI. The 3CA may then subscribe to the "Data Tag" in the messaging framework.

S266. A Notification containing the Notification Correlation ID of the 3PA is sent to the 3PA after an event trigger at the Data Source. The 3PA publishes the data in the message framework. It may use "Data Tag" the associated with the Notification Correlation ID of the 3PA received in step S254.

S268. When the data is published to the "Data Tag", the Messaging Framework makes it available to all subscribed 3CA. In this case the only subscriber is a 3CA serving consumer- 1. This 3CA maps the "Data Tag" to the Notification Correlation ID of the Data Consumer (e.g., consumer node 12) received in Step S254 (which was originally provided by Data Consumer- 1) and sends the notification to the notification endpoint of Data Consumer- 1.

For simplicity, the procedure for Consumer-2 as in FIG. 18 is not shown again for FIG. 19.

Applying Embodiment 1 to the procedure of Application Function influence on traffic routing

FIG. 20 is used to illustrate an example for how to use Embodiment 1 to the procedure of AF influence on traffic routing. In some embodiments, the AF described herein may be comprised in a consumer node (CN) 12, the NEF described herein may be comprised in a PD1 (first producer node 14) and one or more of UDR, PCF, SMF and/or UPF may be comprised in a PD2 (second producer node 16).

The differences between FIG. 20 and FIG. 8 may include (i.e., not limited to including only) step S280 and step S282, as well as the AF’s action when it receives the UP Management event notification from the SMF. Thus, for ease of understanding, only steps S280 and S282 are described below.

In step S280, if AF indicates in the request that it wants to receive UP Management event, PCF identifies one or more of or all of the SMFs that would potentially send the event notification to the AF. PCF provides the SMF list (e.g., list of SMF ID, IP addresses, NF set ID) to NEF.

In step S282, if AF indicates in the request that it wants to receive UP Management event, NEF includes the SMF list, received in step S280, in the response message.

When the AF receives a UP Management event notification from an SMF instance, the AF verifies whether the SMF instance belongs to the SMF list received in step 3c above.

The following is a list on nonlimiting example embodiments:

Embodiment Al. A method implemented in a consumer node, the method comprising: sending a request message to a first producer node; receiving a response message, the response message at least one of: comprising information about a second producer node and/or redirecting the consumer node to the second producer node, the second producer node being different from the first producer node; and optionally, using the information about the second producer node to at least one of send the request message to the second producer node and/or verify whether a received message is from the second producer node.

Embodiment A2. The method of Embodiment Al, further comprising: maintain a mapping between the notification ID and the endpoint information, the mapping used to verify whether the received message is from the second producer node.

Embodiment A3. The method of any one of Embodiments Al and A2, wherein one or more of: the information about the second producer node comprised in the response message comprises at least one of a name of a data/event, a notification identifier (ID) and endpoint information for verifying the second producer node; the information about the second producer node comprised in the response message comprises at least one of a network function (NF) instance identifier (ID), a service name and a uniform resource identifier (URI) for redirecting the request message to the second producer node; and the endpoint information comprises at least one of a host name, an Internet Protocol (IP) address, a medium access control (MAC) address, a network function (NF) ID and a NF set ID for the second producer node.

Embodiment Bl. A method implemented in a first producer node, the method comprising: receiving a request message from a consumer node; and sending a response message to the consumer node, the response message at least one of: comprising information about a second producer node and/or redirecting the consumer node to the second producer node, the second producer node being different from the first producer node. the information about the second producer node comprised in the response message comprises at least one of a name of a data/event, a notification identifier (ID) and endpoint information for verifying the second producer node.

Embodiment B2. The method of Embodiment B 1, wherein one or more of: the information about the second producer node comprised in the response message comprises at least one of a name of a data/event, a notification identifier (ID) and endpoint information for verifying the second producer node; the information about the second producer node comprised in the response message comprises at least one of a network function (NF) instance identifier (ID), a service name and a uniform resource identifier (URI) for redirecting the request message to the second producer node; and the endpoint information comprises at least one of a host name, an Internet Protocol (IP) address, a medium access control (MAC) address, a network function (NF) ID and a NF set ID for the second producer node.

Embodiment Cl. A method implemented in a producer node, the method comprising: receiving a message from at least one of a consumer node and another producer node, the producer node being different from the another producer node and the message comprising information about a request received by the another producer node for information associated with the consumer node; and as a result of receipt of the message, providing requested data for the consumer node.

Embodiment Dl. A consumer node, the consumer node comprising processing circuitry and/or a communication interface, the processing circuitry and/or the communication interface configured to cause the consumer node to: send a request message to the first producer node; receive a response message, the response message at least one of: comprising information about a second producer node and/or redirecting the consumer node to the second producer node, the second producer node being different from the first producer node; and optionally, use the information about the second producer node to at least one of send the request message to the second producer node and/or verify whether a received message is from the second producer node.

Embodiment D2. The consumer node of Embodiment Dl, wherein the consumer node and/or the processing circuitry and/or the communication interface is configured to cause the consumer node to: maintain a mapping between the notification ID and the endpoint information, the mapping used to verify whether the received message is from the second producer node.

Embodiment D3. The consumer node of any one of Embodiments Dl and D2, wherein one or more of: the information about the second producer node comprised in the response message comprises at least one of a name of a data/event, a notification identifier (ID) and endpoint information for verifying the second producer node; the information about the second producer node comprised in the response message comprises at least one of a network function (NF) instance identifier (ID), a service name and a uniform resource identifier (URI) for redirecting the request message to the second producer node; and the endpoint information comprises at least one of a host name, an Internet Protocol (IP) address, a medium access control (MAC) address, a network function (NF) ID and a NF set ID for the second producer node.

Embodiment El . A first producer node, the first producer node comprising processing circuitry and/or a communication interface, the processing circuitry and/or the communication interface configured to cause the first producer node to: receive a request message from a consumer node; and send a response message to the consumer node, the response message at least one of: comprising information about a second producer node and/or redirecting the consumer node to the second producer node, the second producer node being different from the first producer node. Embodiment E2. The first producer node of Embodiment El, wherein one or more of: the information about the second producer node comprised in the response message comprises at least one of a name of a data/event, a notification identifier (ID) and endpoint information for verifying the second producer node; the information about the second producer node comprised in the response message comprises at least one of a network function (NF) instance identifier (ID), a service name and a uniform resource identifier (URI) for redirecting the request message to the second producer node; and the endpoint information comprises at least one of a host name, an Internet Protocol (IP) address, a medium access control (MAC) address, a network function (NF) ID and a NF set ID for the second producer node.

Embodiment FI . A producer node, the producer node comprising processing circuitry and/or a communication interface, the processing circuitry and/or the communication interface configured to cause the producer node to: receive a message from at least one of a consumer node and another producer node, the producer node being different from the another producer node and the message comprising information about a request received by the another producer node for information associated with the consumer node; and as a result of receipt of the message, provide requested data for the consumer node.

Abbreviations Explanation

DCCF Data Collection Coordination Function

DA DCCF Adaptor

3CA 3rd party Consumer Adaptor

3PA 3rd party Producer Adaptor

NF Network Function

URI Universal Resource Identifier

REST Representational state transfer

SCP Service Communication Proxy As will be appreciated by one of skill in the art, the concepts described herein may be embodied as a method, data processing system, and/or computer program product. Accordingly, the concepts described herein may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects all generally referred to herein as a “circuit” or “module.” Furthermore, the disclosure may take the form of a computer program product on a tangible computer usable storage medium having computer program code embodied in the medium that can be executed by a computer. Any suitable tangible computer readable medium may be utilized including hard disks, CD-ROMs, electronic storage devices, optical storage devices, or magnetic storage devices.

Some embodiments are described herein with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, systems and computer program products. It will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer readable memory or storage medium that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instruction means which implement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

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

It is to be understood that the functions/acts noted in the blocks may occur out of the order noted in the operational illustrations. For example, two blocks shown in succession may in fact be executed substantially concurrently or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality/acts involved. Although some of the diagrams include arrows on communication paths to show a primary direction of communication, it is to be understood that communication may occur in the opposite direction to the depicted arrows.

Computer program code for carrying out operations of the concepts described herein may be written in an object oriented programming language such as Java® or C++. However, the computer program code for carrying out operations of the disclosure may also be written in conventional procedural programming languages, such as the "C" programming language. The program code may execute entirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider).

Many different embodiments have been disclosed herein, in connection with the above description and the drawings. It will be understood that it would be unduly repetitious and obfuscating to literally describe and illustrate every combination and subcombination of these embodiments. Accordingly, all embodiments can be combined in any way and/or combination, and the present specification, including the drawings, may be construed to constitute a complete written description of all combinations and subcombinations of the embodiments described herein, and of the manner and process of making and using them, and may support claims to any such combination or subcombination.

It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that the embodiments described herein are not limited to what has been particularly shown and described herein above. In addition, unless mention was made above to the contrary, it should be noted that all of the accompanying drawings are not to scale. A variety of modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings without departing from the scope of the following claims.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A method implemented in a consumer node (12) configured to communicate with at least one of a first producer node (14) and a second producer node (16), the method comprising: receiving (SI 14) a response message, the response message: comprising information about the second producer node (16); and redirecting the consumer node (12) to the second producer node (16), the second producer node (16) being different from the first producer node (14); and optionally, using (SI 16) the information about the second producer node (16) to perform at least one action associated with the second producer node (16).

2. The method of Claim 1, wherein the method further includes: transmitting a first request message to the first producer node (14), the response message being triggered in response to the first request message.

3. The method of any one of Claims 1 and 2, wherein the method further includes: maintaining a mapping between a notification identifier (ID) and endpoint information, the mapping being used to determine whether at least one received message is from the second producer node (16).

4. The method of any one of Claims 1-3, wherein at least one of: the information about the second producer node (16) comprised in the response message includes at least one of a name associated with one of data and an event, a notification ID, and endpoint information for verifying the second producer node (16); and the endpoint information includes at least one of a host name, an Internet Protocol, IP, address, a medium access control, MAC, address, a network function, NF, ID and a NF set ID for the second producer node (16).

5. The method of any one of Claims 1-4, wherein the information about the second producer node (16) comprised in the response message includes at least one of a network function, NF, instance identifier, ID, a service name and a uniform resource identifier, URI, for redirecting the consumer node to the second producer node (16).

6. The method of any one of Claims 1-5, wherein the at least one action associated with the second producer node (16) includes: determining whether a received message is from the second producer node

(16).

7. The method of Claim 6, wherein when the response message comprises information about the second producer node (16) and the second producer node (16) is associated with a messaging framework, determining whether the received message is from the second producer node (16) includes: determining the received message is from one consumer adapter, CA, of the second producer node (16) based on the information about the second producer node (16), the information about the second producer node (16) including CA information being provided to the first producer node (14) and the consumer node (12) by the second producer node (16) and the first producer node (14), respectively.

8. The method of any one of Claims 6 and 7, wherein when the response message comprises information about the second producer node (16) and the consumer node (12) includes an application function, AF, determining whether the received message is from the second producer node (16) includes: determining the received message is from the second producer node (16) based on the information about the second producer node (16), the received message being received in part in response to a management event request transmitted by the consumer node (12), the information about the second producer node (16) including a producer node list including at least the second producer node (16), the second producer node (16) being identified by a network node and configured to transmit at least an event notification to the consumer node (12).

9. The method of any one of Claims 1-8, wherein the at least one action associated with the second producer node (16) includes: transmitting a second request message to the second producer node (16).

10. The method of Claim 9, wherein, when the response message redirects the consumer node (12) to the second producer node (16), the second request message is transmitted to the second producer node (16) to subscribe to the second producer node (16), the second request message being determined based on service information of one consumer adapter, CA, of the second producer node (16) provided to the first producer node (14) and the consumer node (12) by the second producer node (16) and the first producer node (14), respectively.

11. A consumer node (12) configured to communicate with at least one of a first producer node (14) and a second producer node (16), the consumer node (12) comprising processing circuitry (32) configured to: cause the consumer node (12) to receive a response message, the response message: comprising information about the second producer node (16); and redirecting the consumer node (12) to the second producer node (16), the second producer node (16) being different from the first producer node (14); and optionally, use the information about the second producer node (16) to perform at least one action associated with the second producer node (16).

12. The consumer node (12) of Claim 11, wherein the processing circuitry (32) is further configured to: cause the consumer node (12) to transmit a first request message to the first producer node (14), the response message being triggered in response to the first request message.

13. The consumer node (12) of any one of Claims 11 and 12, wherein the processing circuitry (32) is further configured to: maintain a mapping between a notification identifier, ID, and endpoint information, the mapping being used to determine whether at least one received message is from the second producer node (16).

14. The consumer node (12) of any one of Claims 11-13, wherein at least one of: the information about the second producer node (16) comprised in the response message includes at least one of a name associated with one of data and an event, a notification ID, and endpoint information for verifying the second producer node (16); and the endpoint information includes at least one of a host name, an Internet Protocol, IP, address, a medium access control (MAC) address, a network function, NF, ID and a NF set ID for the second producer node (16).

15. The consumer node (12) of any one of Claims 11-14, wherein the information about the second producer node (16) comprised in the response message includes at least one of a network function, NF, instance identifier, ID, a service name and a uniform resource identifier, URI, for redirecting the consumer node (12) to the second producer node (16).

16. The consumer node (12) of any one of Claims 11-15, wherein the at least one action associated with the second producer node (16) includes: determining whether a received message is from the second producer node

(16).

17. The consumer node (12) of Claim 16, wherein when the response message comprises information about the second producer node (16) and the second producer node (16) is associated with a messaging framework, determining whether the received message is from the second producer node (16) includes: determining the received message is from one consumer adapter, CA, of the second producer node (16) based on the information about the second producer node (16), the information about the second producer node (16) including CA information being provided to the first producer node (14) and the consumer node (12) by the second producer node (16) and the first producer node (14), respectively.

18. The consumer node (12) of any one of Claims 16 and 17 wherein when the response message comprises information about the second producer node (16) and the consumer node (12) includes an application function, AF, determining whether the received message is from the second producer node (16) includes: determining the received message is from the second producer node (16) based on the information about the second producer node (16), the received message being received in part in response to a management event request transmitted by the consumer node (12), the information about the second producer node (16) including a producer node list including at least the second producer node (16), the second producer node (16) being identified by a network node and configured to transmit at least an event notification to the consumer node (12).

19. The consumer node (12) of any one of Claims 11-18, wherein the at least one action associated with the second producer node (16) includes: transmitting a second request message to the second producer node (16).

20. The consumer node (12) of Claim 19, wherein, when the response message redirects the consumer node (12) to the second producer node (16), the second request message is transmitted to the second producer node (16) to subscribe to the second producer node (16), the second request message being determined based on service information of one consumer adapter, CA, of the second producer node (16) provided to the first producer node (14) and the consumer node (12) by the second producer node (16) and the first producer node (14), respectively.

21. A method implemented in a first producer node (14) configured to communicate at least with a consumer node (12) and a second producer node (16), the method comprising: transmitting (SI 18) a response message to the consumer node (12), the response message: comprising information about the second producer node (16); and redirecting the consumer node (12) to the second producer node (16), the second producer node (16) being different from the first producer node (14); and the information about the second producer node (16) comprised in the response message being usable at least by the consumer node (12) for verifying the second producer node (16).

22. The method of Claim 21, wherein the method further includes: receiving a first request message from the consumer node (12), the response message being transmitted in response to the first request message.

23. The method of any one of Claims 21-22, wherein the information about the second producer node (16) comprised in the response message includes at least one of a name associated with one of data and an event, a notification ID, and endpoint information for verifying the second producer node (16).

24. The method of Claim 23, wherein the endpoint information includes at least one of a host name, an Internet Protocol, IP, address, a medium access control, MAC, address, a network function, NF, ID, and a NF set ID for the second producer node (16).

25. The method of any one of Claims 21-24, wherein the information about the second producer node (16) comprised in the response message includes at least one of a network function, NF, instance identifier, ID, a service name, and a uniform resource identifier, URI, for redirecting the consumer node (12) to the second producer node (16).

26. The method of any one of Claims 21-25, wherein the method further includes: transmitting an information request message to the second producer node (16); and receiving the information about the second producer node (16) based on the transmitted information request message.

27. The method of any one of Claims 21-26, wherein the information about the second producer node (16) includes consumer adapter, CA, information, the response message transmitted to the consumer node (12) including the information about the second producer node (16) and triggering the consumer node (12) to determine whether one message is from one consumer adapter, CA, of the second producer node (16).

28. The method of any one of Claims 21-27, wherein the consumer node (12) includes an application function, AF, and the information about the second producer node (16) includes a producer node list including at least the second producer node (16), the response message transmitted to the consumer node (12) including the information about the second producer node (16) and triggering the consumer node (12) to determine whether one message is from the second producer node (16), the second producer node (16) being identified by a network node and configured to transmit at least an event notification to the consumer node (12).

29. The method of any one of Claims 21-28, wherein when the response message redirects the consumer node (12) to the second producer node (16), the response message triggers the consumer node (12) to transmit a second request message to the second producer node (16) to subscribe to the second producer node (16).

30. The method of Claim 29, wherein the second request message is based on service information of one consumer adapter, CA, of the second producer node (16) provided to the first producer node (14) and the consumer node (12) by the second producer node (16) and the first producer node (14), respectively.

31. A first producer node (14) configured to communicate at least with a consumer node (12) and a second producer node (16), the first producer node (14) comprising processing circuitry (42) configured to: cause the first producer node (14) to transmit a response message to the consumer node (12), the response message: comprising information about the second producer node (16); and redirecting the consumer node (12) to the second producer node (16), the second producer node (16) being different from the first producer node (14); and the information about the second producer node (16) comprised in the response message being usable at least by the consumer node (12) for verifying the second producer node (16).

32. The first producer node (14) of Claim 31, wherein the processing circuitry (42) is further configured to: cause the first producer node (14) to receive a first request message from the consumer node (12), the response message being transmitted in response to the first request message.

33. The first producer node (14) of any one of Claims 31-32, wherein the information about the second producer node (16) comprised in the response message includes at least one of a name associated with one of data and an event, a notification ID, and endpoint information for verifying the second producer node (16).

34. The first producer node (14) of Claim 33, wherein the endpoint information includes at least one of a host name, an Internet Protocol, IP, address, a medium access control, MAC, address, a network function (NF) ID, and a NF set ID for the second producer node (16).

35. The first producer node (14) of any one of Claims 31-34, wherein the information about the second producer node (16) comprised in the response message includes at least one of a network function, NF, instance identifier, ID, a service name, and a uniform resource identifier, URI, for redirecting the consumer node (12) to the second producer node (16).

36. The first producer node (14) of any one of Claims 31-35, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to cause the first producer node (14) to: transmit an information request message to the second producer node (16); and receive the information about the second producer node (16) based on the transmitted information request message.

37. The first producer node (14) of any one of Claims 31-36, wherein the information about the second producer node (16) includes consumer adapter, CA, information, the response message transmitted to the consumer node (12) including the information about the second producer node (16) and triggering the consumer node (12) to determine whether one message is from one consumer adapter, CA, of the second producer node (16).

38. The first producer node (14) of any one of Claims 31-37, wherein the consumer node (12) includes an application function, AF, and the information about the second producer node (16) includes a producer node list including at least the second producer node (16), the response message transmitted to the consumer node (12) including the information about the second producer node (16) and triggering the consumer node (12) to determine whether one message is from the second producer node (16), the second producer node (16) being identified by a network node and configured to transmit at least an event notification to the consumer node (12).

39. The first producer node (14) of any one of Claims 31-38, wherein when the response message redirects the consumer node (12) to the second producer node (16), the response message triggers the consumer node (12) to transmit a second request message to the second producer node (16) to subscribe to the second producer node (16).

40. The first producer node (14) of Claim 39, wherein the second request message is based on service information of one consumer adapter, CA, of the second producer node (16) provided to the first producer node (14) and the consumer node (12) by the second producer node (16) and the first producer node (14), respectively.