WO2022267950A1

WO2022267950A1 - Communication method and apparatus

Info

Publication number: WO2022267950A1
Application number: PCT/CN2022/098924
Authority: WO
Inventors: 陈晓光
Original assignee: 华为技术有限公司
Priority date: 2021-06-23
Filing date: 2022-06-15
Publication date: 2022-12-29
Also published as: CN115589624A

Abstract

Provided in the present application are a communication method and apparatus. The method is executed by a first core network element, and comprises: acquiring configuration information, wherein the configuration information comprises control relationship information between a plurality of industrial terminal devices; generating a group identifier according to the configuration information, wherein the group identifier is used for identifying a control relationship between a first industrial terminal device and at least one second industrial terminal device, and the plurality of industrial terminal devices comprise the first industrial terminal device and the at least one second industrial terminal device; and sending indication information to a user plane function (UPF) network element, wherein the indication information is used for indicating a correlation between the group identifier, the first industrial terminal device and the at least one second industrial terminal device. By means of the method of the present application, domain-based isolation of industrial terminal devices that access a 5G system can be realized.

Description

A communication method and device

This application claims the priority of a Chinese invention patent application with an application date of June 23, 2021, an application number of 202110697362.0, and an application name of "A Communication Method and Device", the entire contents of which are incorporated in this application by reference.

technical field

The present application relates to the field of industrial technology, and more specifically, relates to a communication method and device.

Background technique

The network connection in the factory can provide data transmission of the factory enterprise/workshop layer, monitoring control layer, field control layer and equipment layer. A single production line/workshop in the factory constitutes a configuration. The production line/workshop adopts a relatively independent subnet, and the networks of different workshops/production lines are isolated on the second layer, and they communicate with each other through Internet protocol (IP) addresses.

In traditional industrial systems, industrial network connections are mainly wired, and different industrial domains are naturally isolated in the form of wired. The introduction of the fifth generation (5th generation, 5G) system makes all industrial equipment (such as programmable logic controllers (PLCs) programmable logic controller, PLC), input/output (input/output, I/O) devices, etc.) are connected to the user plane function (user plane function, UPF), some of which are connected to UPF through 5G wireless, and some devices can Wired directly to UPF. In this case, devices in different domains will be aggregated on the UPF, and the original wired isolation scenario cannot be implemented. Therefore, a technology is urgently needed to solve the domain isolation problem caused by the access of industrial equipment in different domains to the 5G system.

Contents of the invention

This application provides a communication method that can realize domain-based isolation of industrial terminal equipment connected to a 5G system.

In a first aspect, a communication method is provided, the method is executed by a network element of a first core network, and the method includes: acquiring configuration information, where the configuration information includes control relationship information between a plurality of industrial terminal devices. A group identifier is generated according to the configuration information, and the group identifier is used to identify a control relationship between the first industrial terminal device and at least one second industrial terminal device, and the multiple industrial terminal devices include the first industrial terminal device and at least one second industrial terminal device. 2. Industrial terminal equipment. Sending indication information to the user plane function network element UPF, where the indication information is used to indicate the correspondence between the group identifier, the first industrial terminal device, and at least one second industrial terminal device.

In the technical solution of the present application, the group identifier is generated through the configuration information, and the group identifier is used to identify a group of control relationships, and then the corresponding relationship between the group identifier and the industrial terminal equipment included in the control relationship is sent to the UPF , so that when the UPF receives the broadcast or multicast message, it can forward the broadcast or multicast message to the corresponding industrial terminal device in the local area network according to the corresponding relationship in the indication information. Therefore, the method of the present application can realize domain-based isolation of industrial terminal equipment connected to the 5G system.

With reference to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes: obtaining the general public user identifier GPSI of the wireless terminal connected to the third industrial terminal device, where the third industrial terminal device is a plurality of industrial terminal devices Industrial terminal equipment that communicates wirelessly.

With reference to the first aspect, in some implementation manners of the first aspect, the configuration information includes media access control MAC addresses or Internet Protocol IP addresses of the plurality of industrial terminal devices and the third industrial terminal device.

With reference to the first aspect, in some implementation manners of the first aspect, sending the indication information to the UPF includes: sending the indication information to the application function network element AF, so that the AF forwards the indication information to the UPF.

With reference to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, obtaining configuration information includes: sending a request message to an enterprise network management system, where the request message is used to request configuration information; receiving the configuration information sent by the enterprise network management system information.

With reference to the first aspect, in some implementation manners of the first aspect, the first core network element is a topology functional network element TF, an application functional network element AF, a network opening functional network element NEF, or a user plane functional network element UPF.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain embodiments of the first aspect, the first industrial terminal device is a programmable logic controller PLC, and the second industrial terminal device is an industrial input/output I/O device.

In a second aspect, a communication method is provided, the method is performed by a user plane function network element UPF, and the method includes: receiving indication information, the indication information is used to indicate a group identifier, a first industrial terminal device, and at least one second industrial terminal For the corresponding relationship between devices, the group identifier is used to identify the control relationship between the first industrial terminal device and at least one second industrial terminal device; forwarding multicast or broadcast messages according to the indication information.

With reference to the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, forwarding the multicast or broadcast message according to the indication information includes: determining that the multicast or broadcast message includes the identifier of the first industrial terminal device; The multicast or broadcast message is forwarded to at least one second industrial terminal device.

With reference to the second aspect, in some implementation manners of the second aspect, receiving the indication information includes: receiving information from the topology function network element TF, the application function network element AF, the network opening function network element NEF, and the policy control function network element PCF Or the indication information of the session management function network element SMF.

With reference to the second aspect, in some embodiments of the second aspect, the first industrial terminal device is a programmable logic controller PLC, and the second industrial terminal device is an industrial input/output I/O device.

In a third aspect, a communication method is provided. The method is executed by an enterprise network management system. The method includes: generating configuration information, where the configuration information includes control relationship information between a plurality of industrial terminal devices; to send configuration information.

With reference to the third aspect, in some implementation manners of the third aspect, the configuration information includes MAC addresses or IP addresses of Internet Protocol in multiple industrial terminal devices.

With reference to the third aspect, in some embodiments of the third aspect, the method further includes: receiving a request message from a network element of the first core network, where the request message is used to request configuration information; sending the configuration information according to the request message .

In a fourth aspect, a communication device is provided, which may be a network element of a first core network, and the device includes a processing unit and a transceiver unit.

The processing unit is used to obtain configuration information, and the configuration information includes control relationship information among multiple industrial terminal devices.

The processing unit is also used to: generate a group identifier according to the configuration information, the group identifier is used to identify the control relationship between the first industrial terminal device and at least one second industrial terminal device, and the multiple industrial terminal devices include the first industrial terminal device and At least one second industrial terminal device.

The transceiver unit is configured to send indication information to the user plane function network element UPF, where the indication information is used to indicate the correspondence between the group identifier, the first industrial terminal equipment, and at least one second industrial terminal equipment.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in some implementations of the fourth aspect, the transceiver unit is further configured to: obtain the general public user identifier GPSI of the wireless terminal connected to the third industrial terminal device, where the third industrial terminal device is a plurality of industrial terminals Industrial terminal equipment that communicates wirelessly in equipment.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in some implementation manners of the fourth aspect, the configuration information includes media access control MAC addresses or Internet Protocol IP addresses of the plurality of industrial terminal devices and the third industrial terminal device.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in some implementation manners of the fourth aspect, the transceiving unit specifically: sends the indication information to the application function network element AF, so that the AF forwards the indication information to the UPF.

In conjunction with the fourth aspect, in some implementations of the fourth aspect, the transceiver unit is specifically configured to: send a request message to the enterprise network management system, where the request message is used to request configuration information; receive configuration information sent by the enterprise network management system .

With reference to the fourth aspect, in some implementation manners of the fourth aspect, the device may be a topology functional network element TF, an application functional network element AF, a network opening functional network element NEF, or a user plane functional network element UPF.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in certain embodiments of the fourth aspect, the first industrial terminal device is a programmable logic controller PLC, and the second industrial terminal device is an industrial input/output I/O device.

In a fifth aspect, a communication device is provided, which may be a user plane functional network element, and the device includes a processing unit and a transceiver unit.

The transceiver unit is configured to receive indication information, the indication information is used to indicate the corresponding relationship between the group identifier, the first industrial terminal equipment, and at least one second industrial terminal equipment, and the group identifier is used to identify the first industrial terminal equipment and at least one The control relationship between the second industrial terminal equipment.

The processing unit is configured to forward the multicast or broadcast message according to the indication information.

In conjunction with the fifth aspect, in some implementations of the fifth aspect, the processing unit is specifically configured to: determine that the multicast or broadcast message includes the identifier of the first industrial terminal device; forward the multicast or broadcast message to the At least one second industrial terminal device.

With reference to the fifth aspect, in some implementation manners of the fifth aspect, the transceiver unit is specifically configured to: receive information from the topology function network element TF, the application function network element AF, the network opening function network element NEF, and the policy control function network element PCF Or the indication information of the session management function network element SMF.

With reference to the fifth aspect, in certain embodiments of the fifth aspect, the first industrial terminal device is a programmable logic controller PLC, and the second industrial terminal device is an industrial input/output I/O device.

In a sixth aspect, a communication device is provided, which may be an enterprise network management system, and the device includes: a processing unit and a transceiver unit.

The processing unit is used to generate configuration information, where the configuration information includes control relationship information between multiple industrial terminal devices. The transceiver unit is configured to send the configuration information to the network element of the first core network.

With reference to the sixth aspect, in some embodiments of the sixth aspect, the configuration information includes MAC addresses or IP addresses of Internet Protocol in multiple industrial terminal devices.

With reference to the sixth aspect, in some implementations of the sixth aspect, the transceiver unit is further configured to: receive a request message from a network element of the first core network, where the request message is used to request configuration information; send the group according to the request message status information.

In a seventh aspect, a communication device is provided, including a processor and an interface circuit, and the interface circuit is used to receive signals from other communication devices other than the communication device and transmit them to the processor or send signals from the processor For other communication devices other than the communication device, the processor implements the method in the aforementioned first aspect, second aspect, or third aspect and any possible implementation thereof through a logic circuit or by executing code instructions.

In an eighth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, in which a computer program or instruction is stored, and when the computer program or instruction is executed, the aforementioned first aspect, second aspect or third aspect is realized. A method in an aspect and any possible implementations thereof.

A ninth aspect provides a computer program product containing instructions. When the instructions are executed, the method in the aforementioned first aspect, second aspect, or third aspect and any possible implementation manner thereof is implemented.

In a tenth aspect, a computer program is provided, the computer program includes codes or instructions, and when the codes or instructions are executed, the above-mentioned first aspect, second aspect or third aspect and any possible implementation thereof can be realized. method.

In an eleventh aspect, a chip system is provided, and the chip system includes a processor, and may further include a memory, for implementing the method in the aforementioned first aspect, second aspect, or third aspect and any possible implementation manners thereof. The system-on-a-chip may consist of chips, or may include chips and other discrete devices.

In a twelfth aspect, a communication system is provided, and the system includes the device in the fourth aspect, the fifth aspect, and/or the sixth aspect and any possible implementation thereof.

Description of drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture applicable to an embodiment of the present application.

Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of the composition of the industrial system and the flow of engineering information.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a network topology in a traditional industrial system.

Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of the network topology in the 5G industrial system.

Fig. 5 is a schematic flowchart of the communication method of the present application.

Fig. 6 is a schematic flowchart of the communication method of the present application.

Fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of a communication device provided by an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of a communication device provided by an embodiment of the present application.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of a communication device provided by an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 10 is a schematic diagram of a communication device provided by an embodiment of the present application.

detailed description

The technical solution in this application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

It should be understood that the names of all nodes and messages in this application are only the names set by this application for the convenience of description, and the names in actual networks may be different. It should not be understood that this application limits the names of various nodes and messages. On the contrary, Any name that has the same or similar function as the node or message used in this application is regarded as a method of this application or an equivalent replacement, and is within the scope of protection of this application, and will not be repeated below.

The technical solution of the embodiment of the present application can be applied to various communication systems, for example: long term evolution (long term evolution, LTE) system, LTE frequency division duplex (frequency division duplex, FDD) system, LTE time division duplex (time division duplex) , TDD), universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS), fifth generation (5th generation, 5G) system or new radio (new radio, NR) or other evolved communication systems, etc.

The technical solution provided by this application can also be applied to future communication systems, such as the sixth generation mobile communication system and the like. This application is not limited to this.

The technical solution provided by this application can also be applied to machine type communication (machine type communication, MTC), inter-machine communication long-term evolution technology (long term evolution-machine, LTE-M), device-to-device (device-to-device, D2D) A network, a machine to machine (M2M) network, an Internet of things (IoT) network, or other networks. Wherein, the IoT network may include, for example, the Internet of Vehicles. Among them, the communication methods in the Internet of Vehicles system are collectively referred to as vehicle to other devices (vehicle to X, V2X, X can represent anything), for example, the V2X can include: vehicle to vehicle (vehicle to vehicle, V2V) communication, vehicle and Infrastructure (vehicle to infrastructure, V2I) communication, vehicle to pedestrian (vehicle to pedestrian, V2P) or vehicle to network (vehicle to network, V2N) communication, etc.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture applicable to an embodiment of the present application. Each part involved in the network architecture shown in FIG. 1 will be described separately below.

1. User equipment (UE): User equipment can be called terminal equipment, wireless terminal, access terminal, user unit, user station, mobile station, mobile station, remote station, remote terminal, mobile device, user terminal, terminal , wireless communication device, user agent, or user device. In the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device may be a wireless terminal in industrial control (industrial control), and may also be a terminal device in an Internet of Things (Internet of Things, IoT) system. The user equipment in this application can also be understood as customer premise equipment (CPE). CPE is the user equipment defined in the third generation partnership project (3rd Generation Partnership Project, 3GPP), which can provide industrial terminal equipment with wireless For communication services, that is, the current industrial terminal equipment is connected to the 5G local area network (local area network, LAN) through the CPE. As an example but not a limitation, the terminal device in this application may be a 5G module or a 5G chip.

2. (wireless) access network (radio access network, RAN) node (node): provides network access functions for user equipment, and can use transmission tunnels of different qualities according to user levels and service requirements. The access network may be an access network using different access technologies. There are currently two types of wireless access technologies: 3GPP access technologies (such as those used in 3G, 4G or 5G systems) and non-3GPP (non-3GPP) access technologies. The 3GPP access technology refers to the access technology that complies with the 3GPP standard specifications. For example, the access network equipment in the 5G system is called the next generation Node Base station (gNB). A non-3GPP access technology refers to an access technology that does not comply with the 3GPP standard specification, for example, an air interface technology represented by an access point (access point, AP) in wireless fidelity (Wireless Fidelity, WiFi).

An access network that implements a network access function based on a wireless communication technology may be referred to as a radio access network (radio access network, RAN). The wireless access network can manage wireless resources, provide access services for terminal equipment, and then complete the forwarding of control signals and user data between the terminal and the core network.

The radio access network may include but not limited to: radio network controller (radio network controller, RNC), node B (Node B, NB), base station controller (base station controller, BSC), base transceiver station (base transceiver station, BTS), home base station (for example, home evolved NodeB, or home Node B, HNB), baseband unit (baseband unit, BBU), AP in WiFi system, wireless relay node, wireless backhaul node, transmission point (transmission point , TP) or transmission and reception point (transmission and reception point, TRP), etc., can also be gNB or transmission point (TRP or TP) in the 5G (eg, NR) system, one or a group of base stations in the 5G system ( Including multiple antenna panels) Antenna panels, or, can also be a network node that constitutes a gNB or a transmission point, such as a baseband unit (BBU), or a distributed unit (DU), or a next-generation communication 6G system base station etc. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the specific technology and specific equipment form adopted by the radio access network equipment.

In some deployments, a gNB may include a centralized unit (CU) and a DU. The gNB may also include an active antenna unit (active antenna unit, AAU for short). CU implements some functions of gNB, and DU implements some functions of gNB. For example, CU is responsible for processing non-real-time protocols and services, implementing radio resource control (radio resource control, RRC), packet data convergence protocol (packet data convergence protocol, PDCP) layer function. The DU is responsible for processing physical layer protocols and real-time services, realizing the functions of the radio link control (radio link control, RLC) layer, media access control (media access control, MAC) layer and physical (physical, PHY) layer. The AAU implements some physical layer processing functions, radio frequency processing and related functions of active antennas. Since the information of the RRC layer will eventually become the information of the PHY layer, or be transformed from the information of the PHY layer, under this architecture, high-level signaling, such as RRC layer signaling, can also be considered to be sent by the DU , or, sent by DU+AAU. It can be understood that the access network device may be a device including one or more of a CU node, a DU node, and an AAU node. In addition, the CU can also be divided into network devices in a core network (core network, CN), which is not limited in this application.

3. User plane network element: used for packet routing and forwarding and quality of service (QoS) processing of user plane data.

In a 5G communication system, the user plane network element may be a user plane function (user plane function, UPF) network element. In the future communication system, the user plane network element may still be a UPF network element, or may have other names, which are not limited in this application.

4. Data network: a network used to provide data transmission.

In a 5G communication system, the data network may be a data network (data network, DN). In future communication systems, the data network may still be a DN, or may have other names, which are not limited in this application.

5. Access management network element: used for routing and forwarding user plane data, or quality of service (QoS) processing of user plane data, etc.

In a 5G communication system, the access management network element may be an access and mobility management function (access and mobility management function, AMF) network element. In the future communication system, the access management network element may still be an AMF network element, or may have other names, which are not limited in this application.

6. Session management network element: can be used for session management, Internet Protocol (IP) address allocation and management of terminal equipment, selection of endpoints that can manage user plane functions, policy control and charging function interfaces, and downlink data notification Wait.

In a 5G communication system, the session management network element may be a session management function (session management function, SMF) network element. In the future communication system, the session management network element may still be an SMF network element, or may have other names, which are not limited in this application.

7. Policy control network element: a unified policy framework for guiding network behavior, providing policy rule information for network network elements (such as AMF, SMF network elements, etc.) or terminal devices.

In the 4G communication system, the policy control network element may be a policy and charging rules function (policy and charging rules function, PCRF) network element. In a 5G communication system, the policy control network element may be a policy control function (policy control function, PCF) network element. In the future communication system, the policy control network element may still be a PCF network element, or may have other names, which are not limited in this application.

8. Application network element: used for data routing for application impact, access to network open function network elements, and interaction with the policy framework for policy control, etc.

In a 5G communication system, the application network element may be an application function (application function, AF) network element. In the future communication system, the application network element may still be an AF network element, or may have other names, which are not limited in this application.

9. Network open network element: mainly used to support the opening of capabilities and events.

In the 5G communication system, the network exposure network element may be a network exposure function (network exposure function, NEF) network element. In the future communication system, the network element with the network opening function may still be an NEF network element, or may have other names, which are not limited in this application.

10. Data management network element: used to process terminal device identification, access authentication, registration, and mobility management.

In a 5G communication system, the data management network element may be a unified data management (unified data management, UDM) network element. In the future communication system, the unified data management may still be a UDM network element, or may have other names, which are not limited in this application.

It can be understood that the above-mentioned network element or function may be a network element in a hardware device, or a software function running on dedicated hardware, or a virtualization function instantiated on a platform (for example, a cloud platform).

For the convenience of description, in the follow-up of this application, the access management function network element is an AMF network element, the session management network element is an SMF network element, and the policy control network element is a PCF network element for example.

Further, the AMF network element is referred to as AMF, the SMF network element is referred to as SMF, and the PCF network element is referred to as PCF. That is, the AMF described later in this application can be replaced by an access management function network element, the SMF can be replaced by a session management function network element, and the PCF can be replaced by a policy control function network element.

For the convenience of description, this application takes the device as an example of an AMF entity, an SMF entity, and a PCF entity to describe the method for information transmission. For a device that is a chip in an AMF entity, a chip in an SMF entity, or a chip in a PCF entity For the implementation method of the chip, refer to the specific descriptions of the devices being the AMF entity, the SMF entity, and the PCF entity, and the introduction will not be repeated.

In the network architecture shown in FIG. 1 , N1, N2, N3, N4, etc. are interface serial numbers. The meanings of these interface serial numbers may refer to the meanings defined in the third generation partnership project ( ^3rd generation partnership project, 3GPP) standard agreement, and no limitation is made here.

It should be noted that the names of the various network elements involved in Figure 1 and the communication interfaces between the network elements are simply described using the current protocol as an example, but this does not limit that the embodiment of the present application can only be applied to currently known communication systems. Therefore, the standard names that appear when describing the current protocol as an example are all functional descriptions. This application does not limit the specific names of network elements, interfaces, or signaling, but only indicates the functions of network elements, interfaces, or signaling. It can be correspondingly extended to other systems, such as 2G, 3G, 4G or future communication systems.

Figure 1 is only an illustration of the applicable network architecture of the embodiment of the present application. The network architecture applicable to the embodiment of the present application is not limited thereto. Any network architecture that can realize the functions of the above-mentioned network elements is applicable to the implementation of the present application. example.

Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of the composition of the industrial system and the flow of engineering information. As shown in FIG. 2 , the factory equipment mainly includes enterprise IT system 210, monitoring and control software 220, controller 230 (for example, programmable logic controller (programmable logic controller, PLC)) and field device 240 (for example, input/output ( input/output, I/O) devices, sensors, etc.). Field devices 240 and controllers 230 may be collectively referred to as industrial terminal devices. In Figure 2, arrows indicate the flow of information flow. Wherein, the controller 230 can control the field device 240, so that the field device 240 executes the instruction of the controller 230, so as to complete the execution of the industrial task. The field devices can also send the collected information to the controller 230, and the controller 230 generates corresponding control instructions.

In traditional industrial systems, industrial network connections are mainly wired, and different industrial LANs are formed in the form of wired to achieve domain isolation. Isolation can make the control logic in each LAN independent of each other, and the multicast and broadcast messages in this domain will not be sent to other domains. At the same time, it can also avoid conflicts such as device address names. A LAN can be understood as a group of control relationships. Devices with control relationships belong to the same LAN, and control information such as multicast and broadcast is only used to control devices in the LAN. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a network topology in a traditional industrial system. In order to ensure that the control of each industrial area is not disturbed, each area is usually set as a different isolation domain through a local area network (LAN). As shown in (a) and (b) of Figure 3, controller 1, field device 1, and field device 2 belong to LAN1, and controller 2, field device 3, and field device 4 belong to LAN 2. The isolation domain makes LAN1 and LAN The control logic in 2 is independent of each other. Among them, the setting of the isolation domain can be realized by physical means. As shown in (a) of FIG. Connect to controller 2, thus physically forming 2 isolated domains LAN1 and LAN2. The setting of the isolation domain can also be realized through an industrial switch. Since each device has a different port connected to the switch, it is possible to configure the same virtual local area network identification (virtual local area network identification, VLAN) for the devices belonging to the same isolation domain on the industrial switch according to the port number. ID). As shown in (b) of Figure 3, field device 1, field device 2, field device 3, field device 4, controller 1, and controller 2 are all wired into the industrial switch, and the industrial switch is connected to field device 1. , field device 2, field device 3, field device 4, controller 1, and controller 2 port numbers are recorded as P1, P2, P3, P4, M1, M2 respectively, and the VLAN IDs of ports P1, P2, and M1 can be set to To be the same, such as VLAN ID=1, set the VLAN IDs of ports P3, P4, and M2 to be the same, such as VLAN ID=2, but the VLAN IDs of LAN 1 and LAN2 are different. It should be noted that field devices do not support modification of the VLAN ID (default VLAN ID = 0), and can only be configured on the switch according to the port number, and the VLAN ID configuration on the switch is manually configured.

The introduction of the fifth generation (5th generation, 5G) system enables the information exchange of all industrial terminal equipment (such as PLC, I/O equipment, etc.) Access to the UPF by means of a cable, and some devices can be directly connected to the UPF by cable. When using a wireless method, the industrial terminal device first accesses a wireless terminal (eg, UE, or CPE) through a wired method, and the wireless terminal provides wireless communication services for the industrial terminal device. For example, Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of the network topology in the 5G industrial system. As shown in Figure 4, controller 1 can connect to the UPF through a wired connection, and controller 2, field device 1, field device 2, field device 3, and field device 4 can connect to the UPF through 5G wireless. Among them, the field device 1, the field device 2, the field device 3, the field device 4, and the controller 2 respectively connect to the wireless terminal 1, the wireless terminal 2, the wireless terminal 3, the wireless terminal 4, and the wireless terminal 5 through a wired method. The wireless terminal 1, the wireless terminal 2, the wireless terminal 3, and the wireless terminal 4 access the UPF wirelessly.

It should be understood that when the wireless method is used, the address (for example, MAC address or IP address) of the industrial terminal device and the common public subscriber identifier (generic public subscription identifier, GPSI) of the wireless terminal can be regarded as binding, and the bound The address is used as the addressing address of the industrial terminal equipment for wireless communication. During wireless communication, it will be further converted into an internal address of the wireless communication system according to GPSI. Optionally, one wireless terminal may provide wireless communication services for multiple industrial terminal devices, that is, there may be a situation where the addresses of the wireless terminals bound to two industrial terminal devices are the same. In the process of data transmission, the wireless terminal can be regarded as a relay device. According to the bound address during wireless communication, the access network device first transmits the data packet to the wireless terminal corresponding to the GPSI in the address, and then the The wireless terminal is addressed and sent to the corresponding industrial terminal equipment in the binding address.

It should also be understood that in practical applications, the wireless terminal in this application may be an independent device, or a wireless module integrated or embedded in an industrial terminal device, which is not limited in this application.

In Figure 4, controller 1, field device 1, field device 2, wireless terminal 1, and wireless terminal 2 belong to LAN1, and controller 2, field device 3, field device 4, wireless terminal 3, wireless terminal 4, and wireless terminal 5 Belongs to LAN 2. In the 5G system, the industrial terminal devices in LAN1 and LAN2 are aggregated on the UPF, which cannot realize the isolation scenario of the original wired method. Therefore, a technology is urgently needed to solve the domain isolation problem caused by the access of industrial equipment in different domains to the 5G system.

The present application provides a communication method that can realize domain-based isolation of industrial terminal equipment connected to a 5G system.

The communication method provided by the embodiment of the present application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Fig. 5 is a communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application, and the method includes at least the following steps.

S510. The enterprise network management system generates configuration information, where the configuration information includes control relationship information between multiple industrial terminal devices.

It should be noted that configuration (configuration) is a commonly used term in the industrial field, and the configuration determines the control relationship between various industrial terminal devices. Before configuration, the automation engineer scans the entire network devices through the software of the engineering station, and discovers the devices in the network by sending special broadcast packets and receiving responses through the software. The configuration engineer configures the discovered devices according to the business process, and configures the control relationship between each device. After the configuration is completed, the control relationship and communication relationship between each device can be determined. The PLC programming engineer has a detailed understanding of the requirements of the production process and equipment for the control system, and designs the ladder diagram or writes the program list according to the requirements of the PLC programming language. After the PLC programming is completed, the industrial process execution stage can be entered.

In this application, the configuration information includes information such as the binding relationship between the wireless terminal and the industrial terminal equipment, the communication relationship (communication relationship, CR) or control relationship between multiple industrial terminal equipment, and optionally, the industrial terminal equipment The legal role of itself (for example, whether the device is a controller or an executive device).

Taking Figure 4 as an example, the configuration information may include: the communication relationship between controller 1, field device 1 and field device 2, the communication relationship between controller 2, field device 3 and field device 4, and the field device The binding relationship between 1 and wireless terminal 1, the binding relationship between field device 2 and wireless terminal 2, the binding relationship between field device 3 and wireless terminal 3, the binding relationship between field device 4 and wireless terminal 4, the binding relationship between controller 2 and The binding relationship of the wireless terminal 5.

Optionally, the configuration information may also include media access control (medium access control, MAC) addresses or Internet protocol (Internet protocol, IP) addresses of multiple industrial terminal devices.

It should be understood that in this application, the enterprise network management system can be understood as industrial configuration software.

Optionally, the configuration information may also include the MAC address or IP address of the wireless terminal connected to the third industrial terminal device, where the third industrial terminal device is an industrial terminal device that communicates wirelessly among the multiple industrial terminal devices .

In other words, in this application, the configuration information may include a plurality of industrial terminal devices and address information of wireless terminals to which the industrial terminal devices that communicate in a wireless manner are connected.

S520. The enterprise network management system sends the configuration information to the network element of the first core network.

In this application, the configuration information may be actively sent by the enterprise network management system to the network element of the first core network after generating the configuration information, or the enterprise network management system may receive a request message from the network element of the first core network, and According to the sending of the request message, this application makes no limitation.

S530, the first core network element generates a group identifier according to the configuration information, and the group identifier is used to identify a control relationship between the first industrial terminal device and at least one second industrial terminal device, wherein the plurality of industrial terminal devices include The first industrial terminal device and the at least one second industrial terminal device.

The first core network element can determine one or more group IDs according to the configuration information, and each group ID is used to identify a group of control relationships, or it can also be understood that each group ID identifies a local area network . Taking Figure 4 as an example, the first core network element can generate two group identifiers according to the configuration information, the group identifier 1 is used to identify the control relationship between the controller 1 and the field device 1, and the field device 2, and the group identifier 2 is used for To identify the control relationship between controller 2, field device 3, and field device 4, in other words, group ID 1 and group ID 2 respectively identify LAN 1 and LAN 2, controller 1, field device 1, and field device 2 Belongs to LAN 1, controller 2, field device 3, and field device 4 belong to LAN 2.

S540, the first core network element sends indication information to the user plane functional network element UPF, where the indication information is used to indicate the correspondence between the group identifier, the first industrial terminal device, and at least one second industrial terminal device.

That is, the network element of the first core network sends the correspondence between the group identifier and the devices in the group to the UPF.

In the architecture in FIG. 4 , the correspondence sent by the network element of the first core network may be the correspondence between addresses of group identifier 1, controller 1, field device 1, and field device 2, and/or group identifier 2, Correspondence among addresses of controller 2, field device 3, and field device 4.

S550, the UPF forwards the multicast or broadcast message according to the indication information.

Specifically, when the UPF receives a multicast or broadcast message, the UPF can determine the group identifier according to the correspondence in the indication information and the address information in the multicast or broadcast message, and then forward the multicast or broadcast message to the The group identifies the corresponding industrial terminal equipment.

In the technical solution of the present application, the group identifier is generated through the configuration information, and the group identifier is used to identify a group of control relationships, and then the corresponding relationship between the group identifier and the industrial terminal equipment included in the control relationship is sent to the UPF , so that when the UPF receives a broadcast or multicast message, it can forward the broadcast or multicast message to the corresponding industrial terminal device in the local area network according to the corresponding relationship. Therefore, the method of the present application can realize domain-based isolation of industrial terminal equipment connected to the 5G system.

In a possible implementation manner, S550, the UPF forwards the multicast or broadcast message according to the indication information, including: the UPF determines that the multicast or broadcast message includes the identifier of the first industrial terminal device, and the UPF forwards the multicast or broadcast message according to the indication information The multicast or broadcast message is forwarded to at least one second industrial terminal device.

For example, when the UPF receives a broadcast message from controller 1, the UPF determines that the broadcast message belongs to group ID 1 according to the correspondence and the source address of the broadcast message, and then forwards the broadcast message to the group ID 1 corresponding other industrial terminal devices, namely field device 1 and field device 2.

Optionally, the broadcast message can be forwarded to the wireless terminal devices corresponding to the group identifier 1, that is, wireless terminal 1 and wireless terminal 2, and then the wireless terminal devices are sent to other industrial terminal devices, that is, field device 1 and field device 2 .

Optionally, in the present application, the above method further includes: obtaining the general public user identifier GPSI of the wireless terminal connected to the third industrial terminal device, where the third industrial terminal device is an industrial terminal that communicates wirelessly among multiple industrial terminal devices. Terminal Equipment.

That is to say, the network element of the first core network can obtain the GPSI of the wireless terminal from the 3GPP network management system according to the MAC address or IP address of the wireless terminal in the configuration information, and combine the address of the industrial terminal equipment with the The GPSI of the wireless terminal is bound, so that when the industrial terminal equipment performs wireless communication, the bound address is used as the addressing address.

In a possible implementation manner, as shown in FIG. 6, the first core network element sends indication information to the user plane functional network element UPF, which can be implemented in the following ways:

Mode 1. The network element of the first core network directly sends the indication information to the UPF.

Mode 2. The first core network element sends the instruction information to the application function network element AF, and the AF sends the instruction information to the UPF through the network opening function network element NEF.

Mode 3. The first core network element sends the instruction information to the application function network element AF, and the AF sends the instruction information to the PCF through the network opening function network element NEF, and the UPF sends the instruction information to the UPF.

Mode 4. The first core network element sends the instruction information to the application function network element AF, and the AF sends the instruction information to the SMF through the network opening function network element NEF, and the SMF sends the instruction information to the UPF.

It should be understood that the above is only for illustration, and in practical applications, as long as it is a communication path to the UPF, it can be used to transmit the indication information.

In a possible implementation manner, the first core network element in this application may be a topology function (topology function, TF) network element, which may be an independent network element, or may be located on a certain network element, For example, it is located in the application function network element AF, the network opening function network element NEF, or the user plane function network element UPF. It should be understood that, when located in AF, NEF, or UPF, the first core network element may also be AF, NEF, or UPF, that is, the AF, NEF, or UPF implements the functions in this application. It should also be understood that when the first core network element is a UPF, that is, the UPF receives the configuration information, generates a group identifier, and forwards the information according to the correspondence between the group identifier, the first industrial terminal device, and at least one second industrial terminal device. data. Optionally, the first core network element may also be an integrated function located on a certain platform, for example, a mobile edge computing (mobile edge computing, MEC) platform, which is not limited in this application.

In a possible implementation, the first industrial terminal device is a programmable logic controller PLC, and the second industrial terminal device is an industrial input/output I/O device, that is, the control information sent by the PLC to the I/O device can be passed through The mode of this application realizes.

The communication method provided by the embodiment of the present application has been described in detail above with reference to FIG. 1 to FIG. 6 , and the communication device provided by the embodiment of the present application will be described below with reference to FIG. 7 to FIG. 6 . It should be understood that the devices shown in FIG. 7 to FIG. 9 can implement each step in the above method, and for the sake of brevity, details are not repeated here.

FIG. 7 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device 700 provided by an embodiment of the present application. The device 700 may be a first core network element, and the device 700 includes a processing unit 710 and a transceiver unit 720 .

The processing unit 710 is configured to acquire configuration information, where the configuration information includes control relationship information between multiple industrial terminal devices.

The processing unit 710 is further configured to: generate a group identifier according to the configuration information, the group identifier is used to identify the control relationship between the first industrial terminal device and at least one second industrial terminal device, and the multiple industrial terminal devices include the first industrial terminal device and at least one second industrial terminal device.

The transceiver unit 720 is configured to send indication information to the user plane functional network element UPF, where the indication information is used to indicate the correspondence between the group identifier, the first industrial terminal device, and at least one second industrial terminal device.

Optionally, the transceiver unit 720 is further configured to: acquire a GPSI of a wireless terminal connected to a third industrial terminal device, where the third industrial terminal device is an industrial terminal device that communicates wirelessly among the plurality of industrial terminal devices.

Optionally, the configuration information includes media access control MAC addresses or Internet Protocol IP addresses of the plurality of industrial terminal devices and the third industrial terminal device.

Optionally, the transceiving unit 720 is specifically configured to: send the indication information to the application function network element AF, so that the AF forwards the indication information to the UPF.

Optionally, the transceiver unit 720 is specifically configured to: send a request message to the enterprise network management system, where the request message is used to request configuration information; and receive configuration information sent by the enterprise network management system.

Optionally, the device may be a topology functional network element TF, an application functional network element AF, a network opening functional network element NEF, or a user plane functional network element UPF.

Optionally, the first industrial terminal device is a programmable logic controller PLC, and the second industrial terminal device is an industrial input/output I/O device.

FIG. 8 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device 800 provided by an embodiment of the present application. The device 800 may be a user plane function network element UPF, and the device 800 includes a processing unit 810 and a transceiver unit 820 .

The transceiver unit 820 is configured to receive indication information, the indication information is used to indicate the correspondence between the group identifier, the first industrial terminal equipment, and at least one second industrial terminal equipment, and the group identifier is used to identify the first industrial terminal equipment and at least one industrial terminal equipment. A control relationship between industrial terminal equipment.

The processing unit 810 is configured to forward the multicast or broadcast message according to the indication information.

Optionally, the processing unit 810 is specifically configured to: determine that the multicast or broadcast message includes the identifier of the first industrial terminal device;

The multicast or broadcast message is forwarded to at least one second industrial terminal device according to the indication information.

Optionally, the transceiver unit 820 is specifically configured to: receive the indication information from the topology function network element TF, the application function network element AF, the network opening function network element NEF, the policy control function network element PCF or the session management function network element SMF .

FIG. 9 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device 900 provided by an embodiment of the present application. The device 900 may be an enterprise network management system, and the device 900 includes: a processing unit 910 and a transceiver unit 920 .

The processing unit 910 is configured to generate configuration information, where the configuration information includes control relationship information between multiple industrial terminal devices.

The transceiver unit 920 is configured to send the configuration information to the network element of the first core network.

Optionally, the configuration information includes MAC addresses or IP addresses of Internet Protocol in multiple industrial terminal devices.

Optionally, the transceiving unit 920 is further configured to: receive a request message from a network element of the first core network, where the request message is used to request configuration information; and send the configuration information according to the request message.

Fig. 10 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device 1000 provided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 10 , the device 1000 includes a processor 1010 , a transceiver 1020 and a memory 1030 . Wherein, the processor 1010, the transceiver 1020 and the memory 1030 communicate with each other through an internal connection path, the memory 1030 is used to store instructions, and the processor 1010 is used to execute the instructions stored in the memory 1030 to control the transceiver 1020 to send signals and /or to receive a signal. Optionally, the processor 1010 and the memory 1030 may also be integrated together.

It should be understood that the apparatus 1000 may correspond to the first core network element, UPF or network management system in the above method embodiments, and may be used to execute the first core network element, UPF or network management system in the above method embodiments The individual steps and/or processes performed. Optionally, the memory 1030 may include read-only memory and random-access memory, and provides instructions and data to the processor. A portion of the memory may also include non-volatile random access memory. The memory 1030 may be an independent device, or may be integrated in the processor 1010 . The processor 1010 may be used to execute the instructions stored in the memory 1030, and when the processor 1010 executes the instructions stored in the memory, the processor 1010 is used to execute the above-mentioned communication with the first core network element, UPF or network management system. Each step and/or process of the corresponding method embodiment.

Optionally, the apparatus 1000 is the first core network element device in the foregoing embodiments.

Optionally, the device 1000 is the UPF in the foregoing embodiments.

Optionally, the apparatus 1000 is the network management system in the foregoing embodiments.

Wherein, the transceiver 1020 may include a transmitter and a receiver. The transceiver 1020 may further include antennas, and the number of antennas may be one or more. The processor 1010, the memory 1030 and the transceiver 1020 may be devices integrated on different chips. For example, the processor 1010 and the memory 1030 may be integrated in a baseband chip, and the transceiver 1020 may be integrated in a radio frequency chip. The processor 1010, the memory 1030 and the transceiver 1020 may also be devices integrated on the same chip. This application is not limited to this.

Optionally, the apparatus 1000 is a component configured in a network element device of the first core network, such as a circuit, a chip, a chip system, and the like.

Optionally, the device 1000 is a component configured in the UPF, such as a circuit, a chip, a chip system, and the like.

Optionally, the apparatus 1000 is a component configured in a network management system, such as a circuit, a chip, a chip system, and the like.

According to the method provided in the embodiment of the present application, the present application also provides a computer program product, the computer program product including: computer program code, when the computer program code is run on the computer, the computer is made to execute the computer program described in Fig. 5 to Fig. 6 . The method of any one of the embodiments is illustrated.

According to the methods provided in the embodiments of the present application, the present application also provides a computer-readable medium, the computer-readable medium stores program codes, and when the program codes are run on a computer, the computer is made to perform the operations shown in Fig. 5 to Fig. 6 . The method of any one of the embodiments is illustrated.

The present application also provides a chip, including a processor. The processor is used to read and run the computer program stored in the memory, so as to execute the corresponding operations and/or processes performed by the first core network element UPF or the network management system in the method for information transmission provided in this application. In a possible implementation manner, the chip further includes a memory, the memory is connected to the processor through a circuit or wires, and the processor is used to read and execute the computer program in the memory. Further in a possible implementation manner, the chip further includes a communication interface, and the processor is connected to the communication interface. The communication interface is used to receive processed data and/or information, and the processor obtains the data and/or information from the communication interface, and processes the data and/or information. The communication interface may be an input/output interface, interface circuit, output circuit, input circuit, pin or related circuit on the chip. The processor may also be embodied as processing circuitry or logic circuitry.

According to the methods provided in the embodiments of the present application, the present application further provides a system, which includes the foregoing apparatus or equipment.

The terms "component", "module", "system" and the like are used in this specification to refer to a computer-related entity, hardware, firmware, a combination of hardware and software, software, or software in execution. For example, a component may be, but is not limited to being, a process running on a processor, a processor, an object, an executable, a thread of execution, a program, and/or a computer. By way of illustration, both an application running on a computing device and the computing device can be components. One or more components can reside within a process and/or thread of execution and a component can be localized on one computer and/or distributed between two or more computers. In addition, these components can execute from various computer readable media having various data structures stored thereon. A component may, for example, be based on a signal having one or more packets of data (e.g., data from two components interacting with another component between a local system, a distributed system, and/or a network, such as the Internet via a signal interacting with other systems). Communicate through local and/or remote processes.

Those skilled in the art can appreciate that the units and algorithm steps of the examples described in conjunction with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented by electronic hardware, or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether these functions are executed by hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Those skilled in the art may use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be regarded as exceeding the scope of the present application.

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

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

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

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

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

The above is only a specific implementation of the application, but the scope of protection of the application is not limited thereto. Anyone familiar with the technical field can easily think of changes or substitutions within the technical scope disclosed in the application. Should be covered within the protection scope of this application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application should be determined by the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

A communication method, characterized in that the method is executed by a first core network element, including:

Obtaining configuration information, the configuration information including control relationship information between a plurality of industrial terminal equipment;

Generate a group identifier according to the configuration information, the group identifier is used to identify a control relationship between the first industrial terminal device and at least one second industrial terminal device, and the plurality of industrial terminal devices include the first industrial terminal device equipment and said at least one second industrial terminal equipment;

Sending indication information to the user plane function network element UPF, where the indication information is used to indicate the correspondence between the group identifier, the first industrial terminal device, and the at least one second industrial terminal device.
The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

Acquiring the general public user identifier GPSI of the wireless terminal connected to the third industrial terminal device, where the third industrial terminal device is an industrial terminal device that communicates in a wireless manner among the plurality of industrial terminal devices.
The method according to claim 2, wherein the configuration information includes MAC addresses or Internet Protocol IP addresses of the plurality of industrial terminal devices and the third industrial terminal device.
The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the sending indication information to the UPF includes:

Sending the indication information to the application function network element AF, so that the AF forwards the indication information to the UPF.
The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein said acquiring configuration information comprises:

sending a request message to an enterprise network management system, where the request message is used to request the configuration information;

The configuration information sent by the enterprise network management system is received.
The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the first core network element is a topology function network element TF, an application function network element AF, a network opening function network element NEF, or a user plane Functional network element UPF.
The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the first industrial terminal device is a programmable logic controller PLC, and the second industrial terminal device is an industrial input/output I/O device .
A communication method, characterized in that the method is executed by a user plane function network element UPF, including:

receiving indication information, where the indication information is used to indicate a correspondence between a group identifier, a first industrial terminal device, and at least one second industrial terminal device, and the group identifier is used to identify the first industrial terminal device and the a control relationship between at least one second industrial terminal device;

forward the multicast or broadcast message according to the indication information.
The method according to claim 8, wherein the forwarding of the multicast or broadcast message according to the indication information comprises:

determining that the multicast or broadcast message includes the identifier of the first industrial terminal device;

Forwarding the multicast or broadcast message to the at least one second industrial terminal device according to the indication information.
The method according to claim 8 or 9, wherein receiving indication information comprises:

The instruction information is received from the topology function network element TF, the application function network element AF, the network opening function network element NEF, the policy control function network element PCF or the session management function network element SMF.
The method according to any one of claims 8 to 10, wherein the first industrial terminal device is a programmable logic controller PLC, and the second industrial terminal device is an industrial input/output I/O device .
A communication method, characterized in that the method is executed by an enterprise network management system, comprising:

generating configuration information, the configuration information including control relationship information between a plurality of industrial terminal equipment;

Send the configuration information to the first core network element.
The method according to claim 12, wherein the configuration information includes MAC addresses or IP addresses of Internet Protocol in the plurality of industrial terminal devices.
The method according to claim 12 or 13, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving a request message from the network element of the first core network, where the request message is used to request the configuration information;

Sending the configuration information according to the request message.
A communication device, characterized in that it comprises: a unit for performing each step in the method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, or any one of claims 8 to 11, or according to any one of claims The unit of each step in the method described in any one of 12 to 14.
A communication device, characterized by comprising:

memory for storing computer instructions;

A processor configured to execute computer instructions stored in the memory so that the device performs the method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, or the method according to any one of claims 8 to 11 , or a method as claimed in any one of claims 12 to 14.
A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that a computer program is stored thereon, and the computer program is used to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, or the method according to any one of claims 8 to 11 A method according to one, or a method according to any one of claims 12 to 14.
A system on a chip, characterized in that it includes: a processor, the processor is used to execute a stored computer program, and the computer program is used to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, or the The method according to any one of claims 8 to 11, or the method according to any one of claims 12 to 14.