WO2023193894A1 - Contrôle d'admission de tranche de réseau - Google Patents

Contrôle d'admission de tranche de réseau Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2023193894A1
WO2023193894A1 PCT/EP2022/059068 EP2022059068W WO2023193894A1 WO 2023193894 A1 WO2023193894 A1 WO 2023193894A1 EP 2022059068 W EP2022059068 W EP 2022059068W WO 2023193894 A1 WO2023193894 A1 WO 2023193894A1
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WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
network slice
user equipment
admission control
packet data
data unit
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/EP2022/059068
Other languages
English (en)
Inventor
Siva VAKEESAR
Ali HAMIDIAN
Antonio Consoli
Original Assignee
Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. filed Critical Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
Priority to PCT/EP2022/059068 priority Critical patent/WO2023193894A1/fr
Publication of WO2023193894A1 publication Critical patent/WO2023193894A1/fr

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Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W48/00—Access restriction; Network selection; Access point selection
    • H04W48/02—Access restriction performed under specific conditions
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W76/00—Connection management
    • H04W76/30—Connection release
    • H04W76/38—Connection release triggered by timers

Definitions

  • Various example embodiments generally relate to the field of communication networks.
  • some example embodiments relate to admission control for a network slice.
  • a communication network may be configured with multiple network slices, in order to operate multiple virtualized logical networks within a single physical network.
  • a network slice which may be denoted for example by single network slice selection assistance information (S- NSSAI), may be subject to admission control.
  • a network slice admission control function (NSACF) may be used for this purpose.
  • Data traffic of user equipment (UE) at the user plane of the communication network may be arranged as one or more packet data unit (PDU) sessions.
  • PDU packet data unit
  • Example embodiments of the present disclosure improve network slice admission control in a communication network.
  • the foregoing and other benefits may be achieved by the features of the independent claims. Further implementation forms are apparent from the dependent claims, the description, and the drawings.
  • a device for enabling network slice admission control at a communication network may be configured to: receive, by a session management function, an indication of an allowed inactivity period associated with a packet data unit session, wherein the packet data unit session is associated with a network slice; and release the packet data unit session, in response to determining that the packet data unit session has been inactive for the allowed inactivity period.
  • This solution may enable configuration of an inactivity period and release of inactive PDU sessions in order to improve allocation of data transmission capacity in a communication network.
  • the device may be further configured to, in response to the release of the packet data unit session, transmit a request to deduct a current number of packet data unit sessions of the network slice by one to a network slice admission control function performing admission control for the network slice.
  • This solution may enable the network slice admission control function to perform admission control for the network slice considering inactivity of PDU sessions.
  • the device may be further configured to: receive a request to perform network slice admission control for the network slice based on a remaining maximum slice data rate of the network slice; and transmit the request to perform network slice admission control for the network slice based on the remaining maximum slice data rate of the network slice to the network slice admission control function.
  • This solution may enable configuration of the network slice admission control function to perform admission control for the network slice considering the remaining available data rate of the network slice.
  • the device may be further configured to identify the packet data unit session associated with the allowed inactivity period, or identify a user equipment associated with the packet data unit session to be associated with the request to perform network slice admission control for the network slice based on the remaining maximum slice data rate of the network slice, based on at least one of an identifier of the user equipment, a type of the user equipment, a category of the user equipment, an application identifier of an application running on the user equipment, a traffic category or traffic type of the user equipment, an application function service identifier associated with the user equipment, and single network slice selection assistance information or a network slice instance identifier of the packet data unit session.
  • This solution may enable configuration of network slice admission control parameters for specific UEs or PDU sessions.
  • the device may be further configured to: detect an event associated with the user equipment; calculate, based on one or more packet data unit sessions activated or deactivated by the event, one of an aggregate guaranteed flow bit rate, a maximum flow bit rate, a session aggregate maximum bit rate of the network slice, and a user equipment slice maximum bit rate, for updating the remaining maximum slice data rate of the network slice; and transmit an indication of the aggregate guaranteed flow bit rate, the maximum flow bit rate, the session aggregate maximum bit rate of the network slice, or the user equipment slice maximum bit rate of activated or deactivated sessions to a policy control function.
  • This solution may enable network slice admission control considering data rates of UEs impacted by events causing reconfiguration of network slice admission control.
  • the device may be further configured to transmit an identifier of the network slice admission control function to the policy control function for notifying the network slice admission control function about successful or unsuccessful session management policy association establishment, modification, or termination for the packet data unit session.
  • This solution may enable the network slice admission control to consider results of policy association by the policy control function.
  • the indication of the allowed inactivity period is received from the policy control function as a policy and charging control rule or from a user data management function based on a subscription to user data management function notifications.
  • This solution may enable a delivery of the allowed inactivity period via a policy control function.
  • the device may be further configured to: detect an event associated with the user equipment; determine a number of packet data unit sessions or a number of user equipment activated or deactivated by the event; and transmit, to the network slice admission control function, a request to update the current number of packet data unit sessions of the network slice or a current number of user equipment registered to the network slice based on the number of packet data unit sessions or the number of user equipment activated or deactivated by the event.
  • This solution may enable network slice admission control considering number of UEs impacted by events causing reconfiguration of network slice admission control.
  • the event comprises an access node release, a selective user plane activation or deactivation, transitioning to a radio resource control inactive state while being in a connection management connected state, transitioning to a radio resource control connected state while being in the connection management connected state, or triggering of a connection suspend or resume procedure.
  • This solution may enable network slice admission control considering data rates or the number of packet data unit sessions or the number of UEs impacted by particular events for which reconfiguration of network slice admission control is beneficial in terms of capacity allocation.
  • the device may be further configured to: receive an indication of a weighting between a current number of user equipment registered to the network slice and the current number of packet data unit sessions of the network slice for performing network slice admission control for the network slice; and transmit an indication of the weighting to the network slice admission control function.
  • This solution may enable configuration of relative importance of the number of registered UEs and PDU sessions for network slice admission control with respect to each other - for instance, if it is indicated that the network slice admission control has to be performed purely based on the number of PDU sessions, the network slice admission control function will not consider the number of registered UEs.
  • At least one of the indication of the allowed inactivity period, the indication of the weighting, or the request to perform network slice admission control for the network slice based on the remaining maximum slice data rate of the network slice is received from an application function.
  • This solution may enable external parameter provisioning for configuration of network slice admission control.
  • a device for network slice admission control at a communication network may be configured to: receive, from a policy control function, an indication of a successful or unsuccessful session management policy association establishment, modification, or termination for a packet data unit session of a user equipment; and perform network slice admission control for the packet data unit session of the user equipment for the network slice based on the indication of the successful or unsuccessful session management policy association establishment, modification, or termination associated with the packet data unit session of the user equipment, wherein the device for network slice admission control is configured to admit the packet data unit session, in response to receiving the indication of the successful session management policy association establishment, and reject the packet data unit session, in response to receiving the indication of the unsuccessful session management policy association establishment or the successful session management policy association termination.
  • This solution may enable network slice admission control based on network slice usage in order to improve allocation of data transmission capacity in a communication network.
  • the device may be further configured to: update a current number of user equipment registered to the network slice, in response to receiving, from an access and mobility management function, a request to update the current number of user equipment registered to the network slice; and perform the admission control for the packet data unit session of the user equipment for the network slice further based on the current number of user equipment registered to the network slice.
  • This solution may enable to consider also the number of registered UEs for network slice admission control.
  • the device may be further configured to: update a current number of packet data unit sessions of the network slice, in response to receiving, from a session management function, a request to update the current number of packet data unit sessions of the network slice; and perform the admission control for the packet data unit session of the user equipment for the network slice further based on the current number of packet data unit sessions of the network slice.
  • This solution may enable to consider also the number of PDU sessions for the purpose of network slice admission control.
  • the request to update the current number of user equipment registered to the network slice or the request to update the current number of packet data unit sessions of the network slice is received due to an event associated with at least one user equipment, the event comprising an access node release, a selective user plane activation or deactivation, transitioning to a radio resource control inactive state while being in a connection management connected state, transitioning to a radio resource control connected state while being in the connection management connected state, or triggering of a connection suspend or resume procedure.
  • This solution may enable to consider updates of the number of registered UEs and the number of PDU sessions in case of specific events for which reconfiguration of network slice admission control by updating the number of registered UEs and PDU sessions is beneficial.
  • the device may be further configured to: receive, from the session management function, an indication of an amount of increment or decrement associated with the update of the current number of packet data unit sessions or the update of the current number of user equipment registered to the network slice calculated by the session management function.
  • This solution may enable network slice admission control considering changes with respect to multiple UE registrations or PDU sessions.
  • the device may be further configured to: receive an indication of a weighting between the current number of user equipment registered to the network slice and the current number of packet data unit sessions of the network slice or a request to perform network slice admission control for the network slice based on a remaining maximum slice data rate of the network slice; and perform the admission control of the user equipment for the network slice further based on the weighting or the remaining maximum slice data rate of the network slice.
  • This solution may enable network slice admission control considering relative importance of the number of registered UEs and PDU sessions for network slice admission control.
  • the indication of the weighting or the request to perform network slice admission control for the network slice based on the remaining maximum slice data rate of the network slice is received from the access and mobility management function or the session management function.
  • This solution may enable efficient delivery of the weighting to the network slice admission control function.
  • the device may be further configured to request the policy control function to reserve transmission resources for the user equipment upon registration of the user equipment to the network slice or perform the network slice admission control for the network slice based on the remaining maximum slice data rate of the network slice, in response to detecting the user equipment to be associated with at least one of: a user equipment identifier, a given type of the user equipment, a given category of the user equipment, or a given traffic category or traffic type.
  • This solution may enable proactive and UE traffic specific, UE application specific or UE specific reservation of transmission resources in order to improve allocation of transmission resources.
  • the device may be further configured to perform the admission control for a packet data unit session associated with a user equipment identifier, a given type of the user equipment, a given category of the user equipment, or a given traffic category or traffic type, or a network slice, based on the indication of the successful or unsuccessful packet data unit session establishment of the user equipment, in response to receiving, from the session management function, an indication of a type of network slice admission control associated with the user equipment, wherein the type of admission control is indicative of admission control based on the remaining maximum slice data rate of the network slice.
  • This solution may enable configuration of slice usage based admission control for specific PDU sessions.
  • a device for enabling network slice admission control at a communication network configured to: receive, by an access and mobility management function, an indication of an allowed inactivity period associated with a user equipment; deregister the user equipment from a network slice, in response to determining that the user equipment has been inactive for the allowed inactivity period; and transmit a request to deduct a current number of user equipment registered to the network slice to a network slice admission control function configured to perform admission control for the network slice based on the current number of user equipment registered to the network slice.
  • This solution may enable configuration of an inactivity period and deregistration of an inactive UE in order to improve allocation of data transmission capacity in a communication network.
  • the device may be further configured to: receive an indication of a weighting between the current number of user equipment registered to the network slice and a current number of packet data unit sessions of the network slice, or a request to perform network slice admission control based on a remaining maximum slice data rate of the network slice; and transmit an indication of the weighting or the request to perform network slice admission control for the network slice based on the remaining maximum slice data rate of the network slice to the network slice admission control function.
  • This solution may enable configuration of relative importance of the number of registered UEs and PDU sessions for network slice admission control.
  • the device may be further configured to identify the user equipment as being associated with the allowed inactivity period, or to identify the user equipment as being associated with the request to perform network slice admission control for the network slice based on the remaining maximum slice data rate of the network slice, based on at least one of an identifier of the user equipment, a type of the user equipment, a category of the user equipment, an application identifier of an application running on the user equipment, a traffic category or traffic type of the user equipment, an application function service identifier associated with the user equipment, and single network slice selection assistance information or a network slice instance identifier of the packet data unit session of the user equipment.
  • This solution may enable configuration of network slice admission control parameters for specific UEs.
  • the device may be further configured to: receive a request for reserving transmission resources for the user equipment upon registration of the user equipment; and accept registration of the user equipment to the network slice, in response to confirming, based on the remaining maximum slice data rate of the network slice, availability of transmission resources requested for the user equipment at the network slice.
  • This solution may enable proactive and UE-specific reservation of transmission resources and network slice admission control.
  • the device may be further configured to transmit, to a policy control function, a request to decrement the remaining maximum slice data rate of the network slice based on the transmission resources requested for the user equipment.
  • This solution may enable network slice admission control based on currently available data rate at the network slice.
  • the device may be further configured to refrain from transmitting the request to deduct or a request to increment the current number of user equipment registered to the network slice upon deregistration or registration of the user equipment, if the weighting indicates that the current number of user equipment is not to be considered in network slice admission control.
  • This solution may enable network slice admission control based on the number of PDU sessions without considering the number of registered UEs.
  • the device may be further configured to: receive an indication of a service area for the user equipment; and deregister the user equipment from the network slice, in response to detecting the user equipment to be outside the service area.
  • This solution may enable network slice admission control to make capacity available due to UEs leaving respective service areas.
  • the AMF may liaise with a PCF to increment a remaining maximum slice data rate of the network slice by an appropriate amount in case resources are reserved ever since a UE has registered to a given network slice.
  • the indication of the allowed inactivity period, the indication of the weighting, the request to perform network slice admission control based on a remaining maximum slice data rate of the network slice, or the request for reserving transmission resources for the user equipment upon registration of the user equipment is received from an application function.
  • This solution may enable external parameter provisioning for configuration of network slice admission control.
  • a method for enabling network slice admission control at a communication network may comprise: receiving, by a session management function, an indication of an allowed inactivity period associated with a packet data unit session, wherein the packet data unit session is associated with a network slice; releasing the packet data unit session, in response to determining that the packet data unit session has been inactive for the allowed inactivity period.
  • This solution may enable configuration of an inactivity period and release of inactive PDU sessions in order to improve efficient use of data transmission capacity in a communication network.
  • a method for network slice admission control at a communication network may comprise: receiving, by a network slice admission control function from a policy control function, an indication of a successful or unsuccessful session management policy association establishment, modification, or termination for a packet data unit session of a user equipment; and performing admission control for the packet data unit session of the user equipment for the network slice based on the indication of the successful or unsuccessful session management policy association establishment, modification, or termination associated with the packet data unit session of the user equipment, wherein performing the admission control comprises: admitting the packet data unit session, in response to receiving the indication of the successful session management policy association establishment; and rejecting the packet data unit session, in response to receiving the indication of the unsuccessful session management policy association establishment or the successful session management policy association termination.
  • This solution may enable network slice admission control based on network slice usage in order to improve efficient use of data transmission capacity in a communication network.
  • a method for enabling network slice admission control at a communication network may comprise: receiving, by an access and mobility management function, an indication of an allowed inactivity period associated with a user equipment; deregistering the user equipment from a network slice, in response to determining that the user equipment has been inactive for the allowed inactivity period; and transmitting a request to deduct a current number of user equipment registered to the network slice by one to a network slice admission control function configured to perform admission control for the network slice based on the current number of user equipment registered to the network slice.
  • This solution may enable configuration of an inactivity period and deregistration of an inactive UE in order to improve efficient use of data transmission capacity in a communication network.
  • a computer program may comprise program code configured to cause performance of the method according to any of the fourth, fifth, or sixth aspect, when the computer program is executed on a computer.
  • Implementation forms of the present disclosure can thus provide devices, methods, and computer programs for improving network slice admission control in a communication network. Any implementation form may be combined with one or more other implementation forms. These and other aspects of the present disclosure will be apparent from the example embodiment(s) described below. DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
  • FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a communication network, according to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure
  • FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a device configured to practice one or more embodiments of the present disclosure
  • FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a flow chart for external parameter provisioning for network slice admission control, according to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure
  • FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a message sequence for external parameter provisioning for network slice admission control, according to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure
  • FIG. 5 illustrates an example of selective PDU session release and deregistration of user equipment based on an allowed inactivity period, according to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure
  • FIG. 6 illustrates an example of actions related to selective PDU session release and deregistration of user equipment based on an allowed inactivity period, according to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure
  • FIG. 7 illustrates an example of session management policy association and network slice admission control, according to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure
  • FIG. 8 illustrates an example of network slice admission control in case of an access node release, according to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure
  • FIG. 9 illustrates an example of a method for enabling network slice admission control at a communication network, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure
  • FIG. 10 illustrates an example of a method for network slice admission control at a communication network, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.
  • FIG. 11 illustrates an example of a method for enabling network slice admission control at a communication network, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.
  • FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a communication network.
  • One or more devices may access services via a radio access network RAN 120, which may comprise one or more access nodes (AN), for example, fifth generation (5G) base stations (gNB).
  • the UE 110 may communicate with a respective access node over an air interface, for example according to the 5GNR (new radio) standard defined by the 3 rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP).
  • a core network in this example the 5G core network (5GC) may comprise various network functions, examples of which are provided by network functions 131 to 139.
  • the network functions may communicate over a service based interface (SBI) bus. Communication interfaces between individual network functions, may be implemented over the SBI message bus.
  • SBI service based interface
  • An access and mobility management function (AMF) 131 may receive connection and session request related data from the UE 110 or an access node of the RAN 120, for example, over the N1 and N2 interfaces, respectively.
  • the AMF 131 may be control connection and mobility management in the communication network 100.
  • the AMF 131 may however delegate any session management related duties to a session management function (SMF) 132.
  • SMSF session management function
  • Information about available SMF(s) may be obtained by querying a network repository function (NRF, not shown), which may maintain information about services provided by various network functions (NF).
  • NRF network repository function
  • the SMF 132 may be configured to manage one or more communication sessions, for example, PDU sessions, within one or more user plane functions (UPF) 133.
  • the SMF 132 may communicate with the AMF 131, for example, to receive requests for establishment, update, or removal of communication sessions.
  • the SMF 132 may be configured to select a UPF for a PDU session.
  • Information about available UPF may be locally stored at the SMF 132, or the SMF 132 may retrieve this information from one or more other network functions, for example, the NRF.
  • Access nodes of the RAN 120 may be connected to the UPF 133, for example, by an N3 interface.
  • the UPF 133 may be configured to take care of the user data (service data) part of a communication session.
  • An application function (AF) 134 may be configured to enable external applications to affect operation of the network functions, for example, in terms of traffic routing or policy control. The application function 134 may be therefore used for external parameter provisioning to the network functions.
  • a network exposure function (NEF) 135 may be configured to enable exposure of capabilities and events as well as secure provision of data from external application(s) to the communication network 100. For example, external parameter provisioning by the AF 134 to other network functions may be routed via the NEF 135.
  • a user data management function (UDM) 136 may be configured to manage user data within communication network 100.
  • the UDM 136 may be associated with a unified data repository (UDR) 137, which may store user data such as customer profiles, subscription information, or other user related data.
  • UDR unified data repository
  • a policy control function (PCF) 138 may be configured to manage for example session management related policy rules and provide them as policy and charging control (PCC) rules to control plane fimction(s) to enforce the rules.
  • the PCF 138 may collect user related data (for example, subscription information) from the UDM 136.
  • a network slice admission control function (NSACF) 139 may monitor and control 1) the number of registered UEs per network slice (UE counter) and 2) the number of PDU sessions per network slice (PDU session counter). This may enable network operators to limit the number of PDU sessions and/or registered UEs on network slice level, for example, to avoid exceeding maximum capacity of the network slice.
  • Registered UEs may not be identical as some of them may be active while others may be inactive in terms of generating data traffic. Hence, maintaining a counter just representing a number of registered UEs may not provide an optimal solution.
  • Established PDU sessions may not be identical in terms of their resource usage. For example, some PDU sessions may be lightweight in terms of their resource usage whereas other PDU sessions may be heavyweight. In other words, PDU sessions using the same S-NSSAI may not be identical in terms of the number of quality-of-service (QoS) flows or types of data they carry, the number/type of QoS profiles per QoS flow, or the amount of resources they consume.
  • QoS quality-of-service
  • QoS parameters such as for example 5G QoS identifier (5QI), guaranteed flow bit rate (GFBR), maximum flow bit rate (MFBR), session aggregate maximum bit rate (Session- AMBR) and QoS characteristics
  • resource type for example, guaranteed/non- guaranteed bit rate, GBR/non-GBR
  • IO-GW input-output gateway
  • IAB integrated access and backhaul
  • S-NSSAI or NSI has amble resources.
  • This situation may create artificial resource shortage, whereby scarce and expensive resources (especially radio spectrum) are unnecessarily tied up and unused while rejecting new UE requests either to register or establish a PDU session on a network slice in question.
  • resources may be idling, thereby degrading user experience. This may also adversely impact to revenue potential of a mobile network operator (MNO). This may be also negatively perceived by customers.
  • MNO mobile network operator
  • NSAC network slice admission control
  • Relying only on the UE and PDU session counters may lead to a situation where a UE may register to a given S-NSSAI but may not use resources of that network slice, thus preventing others from using it in case of congestion.
  • network slice admission control purely relies on a counter representing a number of registered UEs per S-NSSAI, it can lead to resource idling or resource under-utilization while having the possibility of creating an artificial service outage.
  • UEs registering in network slices, without using them and/or keeping PDU sessions idle for extended periods of time could deny service for other UEs requesting to use these network slices. This may represent lost revenue for the operator as well as a perception for bad quality of service for the customer.
  • embodiments of the present disclosure consider enhancements for NSAC to ensure network controlled behaviour of network slice usage including UE registration and PDU session establishment, for example such that when performing NSAC, the network slice can serve UEs/PDU sessions with an actual activity. Furthermore, individual treating of different UE types, UE categories, applications, and traffic categories or types in admission control is enabled.
  • the 5GC may be desired to provide a way to inform the 5GC about how accurately network slice admission control is to be executed for a given S-NSSAI or NSI. For example, inform the 5GC whether the number of registered UEs per S-NSSAI (UE counter) and number of established PDU Sessions per S-NSSAI (PDU session counter) have equal weighting for a given UE type/category or S-NSSAI. It is for example possible that for a smartphone type of UE, the number of registered UEs per S-NSSAI may not be as important as the number of established PDU Sessions per S-NSSAI.
  • the 5GC may be desired to enable the 5GC to consider only one of the two counters for network slice admission control, depending on a UE type or category or S-NSSAI.
  • another consideration is how to inform the 5GC whether slice admission control is to consider UE usage, activity, and residual capacity (for example, Remaining Maximum Slice Data Rate for downlink (DL) or uplink (UL)) of a given S-NSSAI, for example depending on a UE type/category or S-NSSAI. How to learn certain UE behaviour for a given UE type or category may be considered in this respect too.
  • one or more of the following features may be considered: determining a resource requirement of a given QoS Flow, PDU Session or a UE,
  • NSAC Monitoring resource usage per network slice
  • residual capacity for example, Remaining Maximum Slice Data Rate for downlink (DL) or uplink (UL)
  • the above features may be implemented while largely re-using existing procedures and measurements. Hence, impacts on UE implementation or interoperability issues may be minimized.
  • Business or tariff models may be usage-based.
  • one aspect is how to extend these models such that they can be used for NS AC.
  • a charging model may be designed such that MNOs may not bother as to how many calls a customer makes or how many PDU Sessions a customer establishes; instead, customers may be billed or charged based on how long a given customer has used a given MNO resource or how much data a customer has consumed.
  • One approach for mitigating the above issues is to enable the 5GC to configure UE behaviour in terms of registering and de-registering to a given S-NSSAI for a given standardized traffic category.
  • Such configuration may be provided for example through an enhanced UE route selection policy (URSP).
  • URSP enhanced UE route selection policy
  • a UE may defer registering to a given S-NSSAI until real usage is expected.
  • a UE may be configured to deregister from an S- NSSAI once a corresponding PDU session has been released. This may enable to adjust the UE counter through new registration behaviour, but the already escalated problem associated with the PDU session counter may still exist. This approach may further cause unnecessary UE impacts, signalling and backwards compatibility issues.
  • Another issue is that even through the URSP, the network cannot expect a guaranteed behaviour from a UE. Alternatively, the 5GC could forcefully deregister a UE from a given S-NSSAI if deemed necessary.
  • RRC INACTIVE radio resource control
  • a UE may get configured a sub-optimal registration area (RA) along possibly with a sub-optimal AMF 131.
  • RA sub-optimal registration area
  • embodiments of the present disclosure enable configuring network functions to perform NSAC based on externally provided parameters, such as for example a reasonable inactivity time for PDU sessions of a particular UE or a group of UEs, a flag to indicate that NSAC is to be considered at UE registration, and/or a designated service are for a UE.
  • the AF 134 may indicate an allowed (reasonable) inactivity time for a given UE ID, UE type, UEs having specific RFSP index or Radio Capability, UE category or UEs running a special application (identified, for example, by an application identifier or AF- Service-Identifier) or those PDU sessions that use specific S-NSSAI or NSI-ID, or a traffic category or type.
  • AF-Service-Identifier may be associated with target traffic generated by a UE.
  • SMF 131 may release a PDU session that has been inactive longer than what is allowed and update the current number of PDU sessions per network slice, for example by triggering an Nnsacf_NSAC_NumOfPDUsUpdate_Request towards NSACF 139. Additionally, the AMF 131 may deregister a given inactive UE from a given S-NSSAI and update the current number of UEs registered to the network slice by triggering an Nnsacf_NSAC_NumOfUEsUpdate_Request towards the NSACF 139.
  • the AF 134 may further indicate whether S-NSSAI resources are requested to be appropriately reserved ever since a UE has registered to a network slice, irrespective of whether it has an active PDU session using a given S-NSSAI.
  • the AF 134 may additionally indicate how accurate the NSAC operation should be for a given UE ID, UEtype, UE category, UEs having specific RFSP index or Radio Capability or UEs running the special application or PDU sessions that use specific S- NSSAI or NSI-ID, or a traffic category or type.
  • Accurate NSAC may comprise considering anticipated slice usage of a given PDU session or a UE and comparing this against the remaining capacity (for example, Remaining Maximum Slice Data Rate for downlink (DL) or uplink (UL)) of a given S-NSSAI. Accordingly, a PDU session or registration of a UE may be admitted only if a given S-NSSAI has enough remaining data rate available (for example, Remaining Maximum Slice Data Rate for downlink (DL) or uplink (UL)) to accommodate the PDU session or UE demand in terms of minimum data rate that needs to be supported by the network slice.
  • DL Remaining Maximum Slice Data Rate for downlink
  • UL uplink
  • FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a device 200 configured to practice one or more embodiments.
  • the device 200 may comprise a network device implementing one or more network functions, or in general any device configured to implement any functionality described herein.
  • the device 200 may comprise at least one processor 202.
  • the at least one processor 202 may comprise, for example, one or more of various processing devices, such as for example a co-processor, a microprocessor, a controller, a digital signal processor (DSP), a processing circuitry with or without an accompanying DSP, or various other processing devices including integrated circuits such as, for example, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a microcontroller unit (MCU), a hardware accelerator, a special-purpose computer chip, or the like.
  • ASIC application specific integrated circuit
  • FPGA field programmable gate array
  • MCU microcontroller unit
  • the device 200 may further comprise at least one memory 204.
  • the memory 204 may be configured to store, for example, computer program code or the like, for example operating system software and application software.
  • the memory 204 may comprise one or more volatile memory devices, one or more non-volatile memory devices, and/or a combination thereof.
  • the memory may be embodied as magnetic storage devices (such as hard disk drives, magnetic tapes, etc.), optical magnetic storage devices, or semiconductor memories (such as mask ROM, PROM (programmable ROM), EPROM (erasable PROM), flash ROM, RAM (random access memory), etc.).
  • the device 200 may further comprise a communication interface 208 configured to enable the device 200 to transmit and/or receive information.
  • the communication interface 208 may comprise an internal communication interface such as for example an interface (for example, SBI) between different network functions of the device 200.
  • the device 200 may further comprise other components and/or functions such as for example a user interface (not shown) comprising at least one input device and/or at least one output device.
  • the input device may take various forms such a keyboard, a touch screen, or one or more embedded control buttons.
  • the output device may for example comprise a display, a speaker, or the like.
  • the device 200 When the device 200 is configured to implement some functionality, some component and/or components of the device, such as for example the at least one processor 202 and/or the at least one memory 204, may be configured to implement this functionality. Furthermore, when the at least one processor 202 is configured to implement some functionality, this functionality may be implemented using program code 206 comprised, for example, in the at least one memory 204.
  • the device 200 comprises a processor or processor circuitry, such as for example a microcontroller, configured by the program code 206, when executed, to execute the embodiments of the operations and functionality described herein.
  • the functionality described herein can be performed, at least in part, by one or more hardware logic components.
  • illustrative types of hardware logic components include field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), applicationspecific integrated circuits (ASICs), application-specific standard products (ASSPs), system- on-a-chip systems (SOCs), complex programmable logic devices (CPLDs), graphics processing units (GPUs), or the like.
  • FPGAs field-programmable gate arrays
  • ASICs applicationspecific integrated circuits
  • ASSPs application-specific standard products
  • SOCs system- on-a-chip systems
  • CPLDs complex programmable logic devices
  • GPUs graphics processing units
  • the device 200 may be configured to perform method(s) described herein or comprise means for performing method(s) described herein.
  • the means comprises the at least one processor 202, the at least one memory 204 including program code 206 configured to, when executed by the at least one processor 202, cause the device 200 to perform the method(s).
  • the device 200 may comprise, for example, a network device, for example, a server, a base station, or the like. Although the device 200 is illustrated as a single device, it is appreciated that, wherever applicable, functions of the device 200 may be distributed to a plurality of devices.
  • FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a flow chart for external parameter provisioning for network slice admission control.
  • admission control may be sub-optimal if the NSACF 139 applies the same logic to execute network slice admission control irrespective of the UE type, UE category, UE RAT (radio access technology)/frequency selection priority (RFSP) index, UE radio capability identifier (ID), application it runs, or traffic category or type.
  • UE type UE category
  • UE RAT radio access technology
  • RFSP frequency selection priority
  • ID UE radio capability identifier
  • the NSACF 139 or the 5GC in general may be informed about different admission control behaviour based on, for example, UE type, UE category, RFSP index, UE radio capability ID, or AF input.
  • a purpose of admission control may be to make sure that MNOs meet QoS requirements as demanded by its clients, while running their networks efficiently by accommodating as many UE connections as possible. This means that drawbacks associated with existing admission control methods need to be properly addressed.
  • One way of approaching this is to minimise or totally avoid instances where scarce network resources are unnecessarily tied up with inactive UEs.
  • arbitrarily releasing PDU sessions or deregistering UE from a given S-NSSAI as way to release tied-up resources may not always solve the issue. This is because registration behaviour or typical inactivity time may differ based on UE type, UE category and application type.
  • the AF 134 may be enabled to provide relevant parameters to the network functions, in order to enable effective NS AC.
  • the AF 134 may indicate an allowable inactivity period (or inactivity time) for an application using a given AF-Service-Identifier or S-NSSAI as part of an external parameter provisioning.
  • the allowable inactivity period may be associated with a particular network slice.
  • the allowable inactivity period may be thus applicable for that network slice.
  • the AF 134 may also indicate that the allowed inactivity period is applicable for particular UE(s) or PDU session(s), as noted above.
  • Separate inactivity periods may be provided for triggering a PDU session release and deregistration of a UE from the network slice. For example, a first allowed inactivity period may be provided to the SMF 132 for monitoring inactivity of a PDU session and for triggering release of the PDU session. A second allowed inactivity period may be provided to the AMF 132 for monitoring inactivity of a UE as a whole and to trigger deregistration of the UE.
  • the 5GC for example, any suitable network function thereof, such as the AMF 131 or the SMF 132, may determine whether an allowed inactivity period has been provided.
  • Another aspect to be considered by the 5GC is to run the network as efficiently as possible without unnecessarily tying up resources to PDU sessions that have been inactive for unreasonably longer period of time.
  • One way for the 5GC to determine how long a given PDU session can be reasonably inactive is to get the related input from the AF 134. Accordingly, as illustrated in FIG.
  • the AF 134 may indicate an allowed inactivity time for a given UE type, UE category, UE RFSP index, UE radio capability ID or identities of UEs that use a given application identifier, AF-Service-Identifier, S-NSSAI or NSI-ID. If an allowed inactivity period is provided, the SMF 132 may release PDU session(s), as described below with reference to operation 303. If not, the 5GC may execute an operation 304.
  • the allowed inactivity period may be used by the SMF 132 to release a PDU session if it has been inactive for longer than expected (i.e. for at least the allowed inactivity time).
  • the inactivity period may comprise a certain duration, which may not be linked to any absolute time.
  • a PDU session may be determined to be inactive whenever the PDU session has been inactive for the duration of the inactivity period, regardless of when the inactivity occurs with respect to absolute time.
  • the 5GC may continue monitoring for further indications of the allowed inactivity period, and/or violations thereof.
  • the AMF 131 may use a similar inactivity period to deregister a UE from a given network slice, identified for example by S-NSSAI.
  • the AMF 131 may receive an indication of an allowed inactivity period for deregistering UE, for example from the AF 134. If a UE has been inactive for the allowed inactivity period, the AMF 131 may deregister the UE from the network slice. The AMF 131 may then transmit to the NSACF 139 a request to deduct the UE counter.
  • the AMF 131 may refrain from transmitting the request to deduct the UE counter, or in general a request to update (deduct/increment) the UE counter upon (de)registration of the UE, if the weighting indicates that the current number of user equipment is not to be considered in network slice admission control, for example, if the weighting indicates a weight lower than or equal to a threshold (for example, zero) for the UE counter.
  • the NSACF 139 may be configured not to consider the UE counter when performing NSAC.
  • the allowed inactivity period for deregistering a UE may be different from the allowed inactivity period for releasing the PDU session.
  • the AMF 131 may determine a UE to be associated with the allowed inactivity period based on a frequency selection priority (RFSP Index) or UE radio capability Information or the resource and admission control subsystem (RACS) UE radio capability ID.
  • RFSP Index frequency selection priority
  • RACS resource and admission control subsystem
  • the AF 134 may also indicate to the AMF 131 whether resources are to be reserved for UEs when they register, i.e. upon the time of registration to the network slice. This may be applicable to particular type(s) of UE, for example, factory UEs, vehicular UE, or emergency workers using URLLC (ultra-reliable low latency communication) slice/service type (SST). This means that when a UE registration to a given S-NSSAI happens, the AMF 131 may check residual resource availability and accept the registration, in response to confirming (for example, from the PCF 138 in terms of remaining maximum slice data rate) availability of requested resources.
  • URLLC ultra-reliable low latency communication
  • the AMF 131 may get the NSACF 139 to liaise with the PCF 138 for the purpose of requesting to decrement the remaining maximum slice data rate of the network slice based on the transmission resources requested for the UE. This may enable policy control to consider the expected slice usage of the UE subject to registration.
  • the AMF 131 will provide the serving PCF-ID to a serving NSACF.
  • the 5GC can deregister a given UE ID, UE type or UE category from a given S-NSSAI or NSI-ID, if a given UE goes outside of its designated service area(s).
  • Both the AMF 131 and the SMF 132 may liaise with a corresponding NSACF 139 and update/deduct number of registered UEs per S-NSSAI (UE counter) and number of established PDU Sessions per S-NSSAI (PDU session counter), for example by triggering an Nnsacf_NSAC_NumOfUEsUpdate_Request or Nnsacf_NSAC_NumOfPDUsUpdate_Request respectively.
  • the AF 134 may define a service area, for example in terms of presence reporting areas (PRA), geographical zone identifiers, or absolute geographical coordinates that may be translated and represented by one or more cells or tracking areas (TA).
  • PRA presence reporting areas
  • TA tracking areas
  • the AMF 131 may get NSACF 139 to liaise with the PCF 138 for the purpose of requesting to increment the remaining maximum slice data rate of the network slice based on the transmission resources requested for the UE.
  • the 5GC may determine whether the AF 134 has provided a weighting for UE and PDU session counters.
  • the AF 134 may for example indicate whether resources are to be reserved (resulting in consideration of NSAC) once a UE is registered. This may be applicable for example for certain industrial OT UEs or vehicular UEs. This may indirectly mean whether the UE and PDU session counters have equal weighting when applied to NSAC. In the case of industrial or factory UEs or vehicular UEs, both the UE counter and the PDU session counter may have equal weighting. However, under other circumstances, PDU session counter may have the highest weighting and hence, NSAC may be based on the PDU counter without considering the UE counter.
  • the weighting may be provided by the AF 134 to the AMF 131 and/or the SMF 132. These network functions may transmit an indication of the weighting to the NSACF 139. If a weighting is provided, the 5GC (for example, the NSACF 139) may execute an operation 305. If not, the 5GC may execute an operation 306.
  • the 5GC may decide whether to maintain both the UE counter and the PDU counter. Depending on how important each counter is, the AMF 131 or the SMF 132 may liaise with the NSACF 139 to maintain those counters, for instance, if the UE counter is not to be used in NSAC associated with a given S-NSSAI or NSI-ID, the AMF 131 may not contact the NSACF 139 when UE registers to, or deregisters from, a given S-NSSAI or NSI. The 5GC may therefore perform the NSAC based on the UE counter, the PDU counter, or both. The NSACF 139 may update the counter(s) based on request(s) to update (i.e. deduct or increment) the counters received for example from the AMF 131 and/or the SMF 132. The NSACF 139 may therefore perform the NSAC for a UE based on the weighting.
  • the AF 134 may assign designated service areas per UE, for example, in terms of S-NSSAIs or NSI-Ids that may be used by a given UE.
  • a validity time may be associated with the service area(a). For example, when the 5GC sees that a given UE tries to register to or consume a given S-NSSAI or NSI outside of its time and spatial validity constraints, the UE may be deregistered by its serving AMF (for example, the AMF 131).
  • the 5GC may determine whether network slice usage per UE is to be considered in NSAC, i.e. how accurately the admission control is to be performed. Considering slice usage per UE may include considering residual capacity of the network slice. If slice usage is to be considered, the 5GC may be configured to perform admission control considering slice usage per UE at an operation 307. For example, the SMF 132 may transmit to the NSAC 139 a request to perform the NSAC for the network slice based on a remaining maximum slice data rate of the network slice. This parameter may indicate a maximum available data rate at the network slice. If not, the 5GC may continue monitoring whether the AF 134 will provide the allowed inactivity period.
  • the 5GC may perform admission control considering slice usage per UE. This may include updating the remaining maximum slice data rate of the network slice and performing the NSAC considering this parameter, for example, by NSACF the 139.
  • the PCF may perform admission control considering slice usage per UE. This may include updating the remaining maximum slice data rate of the network slice and performing the NSAC considering this parameter, for example, by NSACF the 139.
  • the PCF 138 may be configured to control session management (SM) policy association ofPDU sessions of the network slice, for example, based on the remaining maximum slice data rate of the network slice. Based on result of SM policy association for a UE, the PCF 138 may transmit to the NSACF 139 an indication of successful or unsuccessful SM policy association establishment, modification, or termination for the PDU session of the UE.
  • SM session management
  • the NSACF 139 may perform the NSAC for the PDU unit session for the network slice accordingly. For example, the NSACF 139 may admit the PDU session, in response to receiving an indication of successful SM policy association establishment. The NSACF 139 may reject the PDU session, in response to receiving an indication of unsuccessful SM policy association establishment or successful SM policy association termination. Hence, the NSACF 139 is enabled to consider also the network slice usage of a particular UE or PDU session, when performing the NSAC. This may improve accuracy of admission control for the network slice.
  • FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a message sequence for external parameter provisioning for network slice admission control.
  • a Network function 13X may comprise any suitable network function, for example, the AMF 131, the SMF 132, the PCF 138, or the NSACF 139.
  • the NF 13X may subscribe to UDM notifications, for example, by transmitting an Nudm_SDM_Subscribe_Request() to the UDM 136.
  • the subscription may be for UDM notifications of the allowed inactivity period(s), for example for a given UE ID, UE type, or UE category that uses a specific application identifier, AF-Service-Identifier, S-NSSAI or NSI-ID.
  • An RFSP index or a UE radio capability ID may be used to determine a UE type or UE category.
  • Possible UE types may include, for example, CIoT, RedCap, or smartphone.
  • Possible UE categories may include, for example, Cat-AT, as defined in the 3GPP standards.
  • the allowed inactivity period may be also defined for a certain traffic category or traffic type of the UE.
  • Traffic categories may include a set of applications sharing similar features. Examples of traffic categories include: enterprise (traffic from one or more applications related to an enterprise service), gaming (traffic from one or more applications related to a gaming service, for example, with low latency requirement), video streaming (traffic from one or more applications related to video streaming, for example, high-definition video streaming or 4K video streaming).
  • the IP/non-IP descriptor and domain descriptors may be mainly used for a single application granularity. They may not be optimized to reuse them to present the traffic category.
  • Traffic type profiles may include the following: high-priority video, premiuminternet, Internet, hosted- AV (audio/video), or voice-video.
  • the traffic type may be identified, for example, by a packet filter configured for one or more of the following: source/destination IP address, source/destination port number, protocol ID, type of service, flow label, security parameter index, packet filter direction.
  • the traffic type may be also identified by 6-tuple information, which may be carried in IP-layer and higher-layer protocol headers. The 6-tuple information may comprise destination address, source address, IP protocol, source port, destination port, and differentiated services code point (DSCP).
  • DSCP differentiated services code point
  • the NF 13X may identify a PDU session to be associated with the indicated allowed inactivity period, or to identify a UE associated with the PDU session to be associated with the request to perform the NS AC for the network slice based on the remaining maximum slice data rate of the network slice. The NF 13X may then apply the allowed inactivity period for the PDU session or configure slice usage based the NS AC for the UE.
  • the NF 13X may subscribe to the UDM 136 to get notified of any parameter changes related to the NSAC.
  • the AF 134 may transmit a request (for example, a flag) for reserving transmission resources for a UE upon registration of the UE to the network slice.
  • This request may indicate that transmission resources are requested to be allocated upon registration of a UE to the network slice, for example, , from the time the UE gets registered to a given network slice (identified, for example, by S-NSSAI or NSI-ID).
  • the NSACF 139 may liaise with the PCF 138 (for example, by transmitting a request) to reserve transmission resources for the UE upon registration of the UE to the network slice.
  • the NF 13X may subscribe for further NSAC related information, such as whether the NSAC is to be executed while considering slice usage (for example, , a maximum slice bit rate, UE Slice MBR) of a given UE and residual capacity of a given S-NSSAI or NSI-ID.
  • slice usage for example, , a maximum slice bit rate, UE Slice MBR
  • the NF 13X may subscribe to the UDM 136 for any notifications that will be triggered at an operation 408, upon detecting any changes to such NSAC specific information, such as an inactivity period(s) for a given UE ID, UE type, UE category that uses a specific application identifier, AF-Service-Identifier, S-NSSAI or NSI-ID, or traffic category or type.
  • the AF 134 may transmit an indication of the allowed inactivity period. The indication may be provided, for example, as an Nnef ParameterProvision Create/Update/Delete request to the NEF 135.
  • the AF 134 may also indicate to the NEF 135 whether accurate measures are requested to be taken in relation to admission control in terms of considering slice usage of a UE or a PDU session and residual capacity of a given S-NSSAI. Hence, the AF 134 may transmit to the NEF 135 a request to perform the NS AC for the given network slice based on the remaining maximum slice data rate of the network slice.
  • the slice usage may be defined as a maximum data rate demanded by a given UE or PDU session in downlink (DL) or uplink (UL).
  • the residual capacity may comprise the remaining maximum data rate that is possible given the current load. Also the residual capacity may be measured separately for downlink (DL) and uplink (UL).
  • Session-AMBR can be considered as a usage requirement for non-GBR sessions while GFBR/MFBR may be considered for GBR QoS flows.
  • UE Slice MBR which may include both non-GBR and GBR traffic, may be checked against remaining maximum DL or UL data rate for a given S-NSSAI or NSLID before admitting a new UE to register to that network slice.
  • a transaction reference ID may identify the transaction request (402) between the NEF 135 and the AF 134.
  • the NEF 135 may check whether the requestor (the AF 134) is allowed to perform the requested service operation by checking requestor's identifier (AF ID in this case).
  • the AF 134 may also transmit an indication of the weighting between the current number of UEs registered to the network slice and the current number of PDU sessions of the network slice.
  • the indications of the operation 402 may be included in the parameter provision create/update/delete request provided to the NEF 135.
  • the NEF 135 may provide the information received from the AF 134 to UDM the 136, for example, as a Nudm ParameterProvision Create/Update/Delete request. If AF 134 is authorised by the NEF 135 to provision the parameters, the NEF 135 may request to create, update and store, or delete the provisioned parameters, for example as part of expected UE behaviour parameters, for example using Nudm ParameterProvision Create, Nudm ParameterProvision Update or Nudm ParameterProvision Delete Request message. The message may include the data provisioned by the AF 134 and a NEF reference ID.
  • the expected UE behavioural information may comprise information on expected UE movement and communication characteristics.
  • NS AC related data provisioned by the AF 134 may be stored as part of service-specific parameters. If the AF 134 is not authorised to provision the parameters, the NEF 135 may continue to an operation 407 to indicate a reason for the failure in Nnef ParameterProvision Create/Update/Delete Response message. In this case, the operation 408 may not be performed.
  • the UDM 136 may provide the information received from the NEF 135 to the UDR 137, for example, as Nudr_DM_Create/Update/Delete request.
  • UDM 136 may read from UDR 137, for example using Nudr DM Query, corresponding subscription information in order to validate required data updates and authorize these changes for this expected UE behaviour related data. If the AF 134 is authorised by the UDM 136 to provision expected UE behaviour related parameters, the UDM 136 may resolve the GPSI-to-SUPI (generic public subscription identifier to subscription permanent identifier) for each UE.
  • GPSI-to-SUPI generator public subscription identifier to subscription permanent identifier
  • the UDM 136 may further request to create, update or delete the provisioned parameters as part of expected UE behaviour related data using the Nudr DM Create/Update/Delete Request message, the message including the data originally provisioned by the AF 134 at the operation 402.
  • the UDR 137 may store the provisioned data, for example, as part of expected UE behaviour and respond with Nudr DM Create/Update/Delete Response message at an operation 405.
  • the UDR 137 may notify each subscribed PCF about the update, for example, by sending a Nudr DM Notify message.
  • the UDM 136 may use the AF ID received from the NEF 135 at the operation 403 to associate the received parameter(s) with a particular subscribed data network name (DNN) and/or S-NSSAI.
  • DNN subscribed data network name
  • S-NSSAI subscribed data network name
  • the UDM 136 may respond to the request of the operation 403, for example, with Nudm ParameterProvision Create/Update/Delete response. If the procedure failed, a cause value may be set accordingly to indicate the reason for the failure.
  • the NEF 135 may respond the request of the operation 402 with Nnef ParameterProvision Create/Update/Delete Response. If the procedure failed, the cause value may be set accordingly to indicate the reason for the failure.
  • the UDM 136 may provide the parameters provisioned by the AF 134 to the NF 13X (for example, the AMF 131, the SMF 132, the PCF 138). It is however noted that it is possible to provide a subset of the parameters to the NF 13X, because not all parameters may be relevant to all network functions. This operation may be conditional. For example, it may occur only after a successful operation 405.
  • the UDM 136 may notify, for example, based on a subscription the NF 13X about updated expected UE behaviour related data, for example, using a Nudm_SDM_Notification Notify message.
  • the NF 13X may receive indication(s) of the parameter(s) provisioned by the AF 134. The parameter(s) may be thus received from the AF 134, for example, via the NEF 135 and the UDM 136.
  • the UDM 136 may perform Nudm_SDM_Notification (pertaining to AMF-associated parameters such as designated service areas per UE ID together with time validity criteria, request to reserve S-NSSAI resources at the time of a UE registration) service operation.
  • the AMF 131 may use the designated service areas per UE ID definitions to monitor UE mobility with respect to each defined service area with an intention to deregister a UE from a given S-NSSAI when the UE goes out of its designated service area.
  • the UDM 136 may perform Nudm_SDM_Notification (pertaining to SMF-associated parameters such as allowed inactivity period for a given UE type, UE category or UE running a given application) service operation.
  • the SMF 132 may store the received SMF-associated parameters.
  • FIG. 5 illustrates an example of a selective PDU session release and deregistration of user equipment based on an allowed inactivity period. This figure illustrates how the 5GC can release a given PDU session after the PDU session has been inactive longer than what is reasonable based on the indication of the allowed inactivity period received from the AF 134.
  • the solution extends the following two NSACF-based procedures to consider core network- initiated selective deactivation of user plane connection of an existing PDU session: (i) the number of UEs per network slice availability check and update procedure, and (ii) the number of PDU sessions per network slice availability check and update procedure.
  • a PDU session may be established for a UE 110. This may include transmission of a PDU session establishment request by the UE 110 to the AMF 131, a SMF selection by the AMF 131, a UPF selection by the SMF 132.
  • SM policy association may be performed between the SMF 132 and the PCF 138 in order to set desired policies for PDU session under establishment.
  • the PCF 138 may fetch relevant UE data, service data flow (SDF) data, or Application data (including Packet Flow Descriptions (PFDs) for application detection, AF request information for multiple UEs, for example relevant data specific to the UE 110 and or UE Application that includes the allowed inactivity period(s) for a give application.
  • SDF service data flow
  • PFDs Packet Flow Descriptions
  • the PCF 138 may create and activate PCC rule(s).
  • a timer for a PDU session release (allowed inactivity period) may be also indicated to the SMF 132 along with the rule activation.
  • the SMF 132 may activate the rules at the UPF 133.
  • the SMF 132 may also configure the UPF 133 to monitor the allowed inactivity period. This may involve new N4 interface handling to activate the PCC rule(s) with a request to notify the SMF 132 about inactivity of the PDU session, in response to detecting by the UPF 133 a violation of an allowed inactivity period.
  • the UE 110 may start using a given application. This may create data traffic between the UE 110 and an application server 140.
  • an N4 interface session may be established.
  • a serving PCF 138 may fetch the AF-provided data in terms of the allowed inactivity period, for example, associated with a given UE ID, UE type, UE category or UEs running a particular application (identified for example by an application identifier or AF service identifier) or those PDU sessions that use a specific S- NSSAI or NSI-ID, or a traffic category or type. If this inactivity period is included in a relevant PCC rule, the SMF 132 may coordinate the with UPF 133 to monitor inactivity of PDU sessions.
  • the UPF 133 may monitor the PDU session for inactivity, i.e. whether the PDU session has been inactive (no data traffic) for the allowed inactivity period.
  • the UPF 133 may perform N4 session reporting, for example, to indicate to the SMF 132 that the PDU session has been inactive for the allowed inactivity period.
  • release of the PDU session may be triggered, for example, in response to determining by SMF 132 (for example, based on the N4 session reporting) that the PDU session has been inactive for the allowed inactivity period. Accordingly, in case unreasonable inactivity is detected, the SMF 132 may release the full PDU session while deregistering the UE in question from a particular S-NSSAI. The SMF 132 may further liaise with the NSACF 139 to trigger an Nnsacf NSAC NumOfPDUsUpdate Request for the purpose of deducting the number of PDU sessions that have been released due to unreasonable inactivity from the current number of PDU Sessions per a network slice.
  • the AMF 131 may deregister the UE 110 from the network slice in question, in response to determining that the UE 110 has been inactive (for example, neither user plane data nor signalling communicated) for an allowed inactivity period of the UE 110.
  • This allowed inactivity period may be different from the allowed inactivity period used at the operation 510. For example, a first allowed inactivity period may be provided for triggering PDU session release by the SMF 132. A second allowed inactivity period may be provided for triggering UE deregistration by the AMF 131.
  • the AMF 131 may liaise with the NSACF 139 to trigger an Nnsacf NSAC NumOfUEsUpdate Request for the purpose of deducting the UE 110 from the current number of UEs registered to the network slice.
  • This solution may enable to extend the CN-initiated selective deactivation of user plane connection of an existing PDU session.
  • the SMF 132 may release the PDU session.
  • the AMF 131 may deregister the UE 110 from a given S-NSSAI, if the released PDU session is the only session that used a given S-NSSAI.
  • FIG. 6 illustrates an example of actions related to selective PDU session release and deregistration of user equipment based on an allowed inactivity period.
  • One target admission control is to make sure that any MNO meets QoS requirements as demanded by its clients while running its networks efficiently by accommodating as many UE connections as possible.
  • One way of approaching this is to minimise or totally avoid situations where scarce network resources are unnecessarily tied up with inactive UEs.
  • the network can release the PDU session and/or remove the S-NSSAI from the allowed NSSAI based on inactivity of the UE 110.
  • the procedure may be executed as follows:
  • the AF 134 which uses a particular network slice, may provide the UE inactivity parameters to relevant network functions, for example, via the UDM 136, for example, as described with reference to FIG. 4.
  • the UE inactivity parameters may comprise (first) allowed inactivity period for the PDU session (PDU session inactivity period), as well as (second) allowed inactivity period for S-NSSAI (S-NSSAI inactivity time).
  • the PDU session inactivity period may be associated with one DNN and S-NSSAI pair. It may indicate exactly when a given PDU session can be released after an observed inactivity.
  • the S-NSSAI inactivity period may be associated with one S-NSSAI. It may define exactly when the AMF 131 may remove that S-NSSAI from the allowed NSSAI after an observed inactivity of the UE 110 that has registered to a given S-NSSAI but not established a PDU session associated with that indicated S-NSSAI. It is however possible that the UE inactivity parameter(s) are set by the network operator and stored at the UDM 136 without AF provisioning.
  • the UE 110 may be registered to the network slice.
  • the AMF 131 may receive the S-NSSAI inactivity time from the UDM 136. If the UE registered on the indicated S-NSSAI, the AMF 131 may start monitoring the S-NSSAI inactivity time.
  • a PDU session may be established for the UE 110, for example, as described with reference to the operation 501.
  • the SMF 132 may receive the PDU session inactivity period from the UDM 136.
  • the SMF 132 may configure the indicated inactivity period value at the UPF 133 for monitoring violations of the allowed inactivity period.
  • the SMF 132 may determine that user plane (UP) connection of the PDU session may be released.
  • the UPF 133 may detect no traffic on the related PDU session at least over the configured PDU session inactivity period, the UPF 133 may will report this to the SMF 132. SMF 132 may then determine that the PDU session can be released.
  • UP user plane
  • the SMF 132 may trigger a PDU session release procedure for the PDU session, based on the inactivity detected by the UPF 133.
  • the SMF 132 may transmit a request to deduct a current number of PDU sessions of the network slice (by one) to the NSACF 139, which may be configured to perform admission control for the network slice based on the current number of PDU sessions (for example, not to admit more than a maximum number of PDU sessions for the network slice).
  • the AMF 131 may determine that allowed S-NSSAI may be deregistered. For example, the AMF 131 may detect that no PDU session associated with the indicated S-NSSAI is active for at least over the configured PDU session inactivity time, and in response, determine that the UE 110 may be deregistered from a given network slice (identified, for example, by an allowed S-NSSAI).
  • the AMF 131 may initiate a UE configuration update procedure to remove the indicated S-NSSAI from the allowed NSSAI of the UE 110.
  • the NEF 135 and the UDM 136 may be involved in provisioning of the UE inactivity param eter(s) to the network.
  • the SMF 132 may be configured with an inactivity-based trigger for PDU session release procedure.
  • the SMF 132 may further configure the UPF 133 to monitor the inactivity time.
  • the AMF 131 may be configured with an inactivity-based trigger for UE configuration update.
  • the AMF 131 may monitor S-NSSAI usage according to the S-NSSAI inactivity time received from the UDM 136.
  • the NSACF 139 may be configured to take into account the activity of UEs or PDU sessions when performing admission control for a particular network slice.
  • the SMF 132 may liaise with the PCF 138 and the NSACF 139 to exchange relevant information, for example, at the time of SM policy association establishment or modification, which may be part of a PDU session establishment procedure.
  • the PCF 138 may be configured to perform data rate monitoring and enforcement per S-NSSAI. Accordingly, if the S-NSSAI is subject to network slice data rate limitation, a remaining maximum slice data rate of the network slice, indicative of currently available capacity of the network slice in terms of available data rate, may be stored at the UDR 137, for example as data set "Policy Data" and a data subset "Network Slice Specific Policy Control Data".
  • the PCF 138 may interact with the UDR 137 to update the network slice specific policy control information per S-NSSAI at UDR 137, for example, the remaining maximum slice data rate per S-NSSAI. This may enable usage of multiple PCFs for the same S-NSSAI.
  • PDU session establishment request may be handled, for example as described with reference to the operation 501.
  • SM policy association establishment or modification may be performed.
  • the PCF 138 may check whether the remaining maximum slice data rate is higher than a minimum data rate demanded by a given PDU session.
  • authorized Session-AMBR may be checked against the remaining maximum slice data rate.
  • aggregate of GFBR or MFBR may be checked against the remaining maximum slice data rate. If the remaining maximum slice data rate is higher than the data rate that it is checked against, the PDU session may be admitted. If not, the PCF 138 may reject the establishment of the SM policy association during the PDU session establishment procedure.
  • the SMF 132, the PCF 138 and the NSACF 139 may coordinate for enabling a collective NSAC.
  • the SMF 132 may for example share the identifier of the NSACF 139 to the PCF 138 so that the PCF 138 can notify the NSACF 139 whether SM policy association was successful or not.
  • the NSACF 139 may be shared with the details of PCF ID that handles a given PDU Session so that the NSACF 139 can decide whether to admit or reject a given PDU session after liaising with that PCF.
  • the NSACF 139 may be configured to admit a given PDU session only if the associated SM policy association has succeeded.
  • the SMF 132 may trigger the number of PDU sessions per network slice availability check and update procedure towards the NSACF 139 when it liaises with PCF the 138 for the purpose of SM policy association establishment or modification or termination.
  • the NSACF 139 may rely mainly on the remaining maximum slice data rate and the actual data rate demanded by a PDU session and not merely on the current number of PDU sessions for the purpose of its admission control operations.
  • the PCF 138 may maintain network slice specific policy control information, which may be part of policy data for a given S-NSSAI. Such network slice specific policy control information may be maintained per NSI- ID too.
  • a PDU session release may be triggered, for example, in response to violation of the allowed inactivity period, as described above.
  • relevant information may be shared by the AMF 131 and/or the SMF 132 to the PCF 138, in order to enable the slice usage of particular UE or PDU session to be considered.
  • FIG. 8 illustrates an example of network slice admission control in case of an access node release.
  • a RAN connection release may occur between the UE 110 and the RAN 120.
  • the RAN connection release may comprise an access node (AN) release, for example, due to a radio link failure between the UE 110 and the access node of the RAM 120.
  • AN access node
  • the RAN 120 may transmit a UE context release request to the AMF 131 over the N2 interface.
  • the AMF 131 may transmit a UE context release command to the RAN 120 over the N2 interface.
  • the RAN connection release may be thus effected at an operation 804.
  • the RAN 120 may transmit a UE context release complete message to the AMF 131 over the N2 interface.
  • the AMF 131 may transmit an Nsmf_PDUSession_UpdateSMCOntextRequest() to the SMF 132.
  • the NSACF 139 may remove UE ID of the UE 110 from the UE counter and/or associated PDU sessions from the PDU counter.
  • Request(s) for updating the counter(s) may be received from the AMF 131 and/or the SMF 132, which may transmit the request(s) in response to detecting violation of associated inactivity period(s).
  • the PCF 138 may update the remaining maximum data rate accordingly.
  • the AMF 131 and/or the SMF 132 may liaise with the NSACF 139 to request the NSACF 139 to update the current number of PDU sessions per network slice and/or the current number of UEs registered to the network slice.
  • the PCF 138 may be liaised with in order to update the remaining maximum slice data rate.
  • the SMF 132 may calculate, based on identifying the PDU session(s) impacted (for example, activated or deactivated) by the RAN release, one of the following: an aggregate GFBR, MFBR, or Session- AMBR of the network slice, or a UE Slice MBR. These bit rates may be associated with all impacted sessions. An indication of the calculated data rate may be provided to the PCF 138, which may update the remaining maximum slice data rate of the network slice accordingly.
  • the SMF 132 may transmit the identifier of the NSACF 139 to the PCF 138, thus enabling the PCF 138 to notify the NSACF 139 about a successful or an unsuccessful SM policy association establishment, modification, or termination for the PDU session(s).
  • Activation of a PDU session may comprise initiation or resumption of data transmission on the PDU session.
  • Deactivation of a PDU session may comprise termination or suspension of data transmission on the PDU session.
  • the AMF 131 and the SMF 132 may be informed about whether the UE 110 has transitioned to an RRC inactive state (RRC INACTIVE) while being in a connection management (CM) connected state (CM_CONNECTED). Accordingly, if the UE 110 transitions between RRC_INACTIVE and RRC CONNECTED state while being in CM CONNECTED state, the current number of PDU sessions per network slice and/or the current number of UEs registered for a network slice may be updated to run network resources efficiently.
  • RRC INACTIVE RRC inactive state
  • CM_CONNECTED connection management
  • the AMF 131 and/or the SMF 132 may determine a number of PDU sessions a number of UEs impacted (for example, activated or deactivated) by the event. The AMF 131 and/or the SMF 132 may then transmit a request to NSACF the 139 for updating the UE counter or the PDU session counter accordingly. In other words, when such a transition happens, the AMF 131 or the SMF 132 may liaise with the NSACF 139, for example by triggering Nnsacf_NSAC_NumOfUEsUpdate_Request or Nnsacf NSAC NumOfPDUsUpdate Request procedures, respectively, in order to update the UE and PDU session counters.
  • the NSACF 139 may therefore receive the request(s) to update the counter(s) due to the above mentioned events, detected for example, by the AMF 131 and/or the SMF 132. Similarly, the AMF 131 and/or the SMF 132 may request the PCF 138 to update the remaining maximum slice data rate in order to cause network slice usage to be considered for the NS AC.
  • Activation of a UE may comprise the initiation or resumption of data transmission by the UE, for example on a particular PDU session. Deactivation of a UE may comprise a termination or suspension of data transmission by the UE.
  • FIG. 9 illustrates an example of a method for enabling network slice admission control at a communication network.
  • the method may comprise receiving, by a session management function, an indication of an allowed inactivity period associated with a packet data unit session, wherein the packet data unit session is associated with a network slice.
  • the method may comprise releasing the packet data unit session, in response to determining that the packet data unit session has been inactive for the allowed inactivity period.
  • FIG. 10 illustrates an example of a method for network slice admission control at a communication network.
  • the method may comprise receiving, by a network slice admission control function from a policy control function, an indication of a successful or unsuccessful session management policy association establishment, modification, or termination for a packet data unit session of a user equipment.
  • the method may comprise performing admission control for the packet data unit session of the user equipment for the network slice based on the indication of the successful or unsuccessful session management policy association establishment, modification, or termination associated with the packet data unit session of the user equipment, wherein performing the admission control comprises: admitting the packet data unit session, in response to receiving the indication of the successful session management policy association establishment; and rejecting the packet data unit session, in response to receiving the indication of the unsuccessful session management policy association establishment or the successful session management policy association termination.
  • FIG. 11 illustrates an example of a method for enabling network slice admission control at a communication network.
  • the method may comprise receiving, by an access and mobility management function, an indication of an allowed inactivity period associated with a user equipment.
  • the method may comprise deregistering the user equipment from a network slice, in response to determining that the user equipment has been inactive for the allowed inactivity period.
  • the method may comprise transmitting a request to deduct a current number of user equipment registered to the network slice by one to a network slice admission control function configured to perform admission control for the network.
  • An apparatus such as for example a network device configured to implement one or more network functions, may be configured to perform or cause performance of any aspect of the method(s) described herein.
  • a computer program or a computer program product may comprise instructions for causing, when executed, a device to perform any aspect of the method(s) described herein.
  • a device may comprise means for performing any aspect of the method(s) described herein.
  • the means comprises at least one processor, and memory including program code, the at least one processor, and program code configured to, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the device to perform any aspect of the method(s).
  • subjects may be referred to as ‘first’ or ‘second’ subjects, this does not necessarily indicate any order or importance of the subjects. Instead, such attributes may be used solely for the purpose of making a difference between subjects.

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
  • Signal Processing (AREA)
  • Computer Security & Cryptography (AREA)
  • Mobile Radio Communication Systems (AREA)

Abstract

Divers modes de réalisation illustratifs concernent le contrôle d'admission pour une tranche de réseau. Une fonction de gestion de session peut recevoir une indication d'une période d'inactivité autorisée associée à une session d'unité de données par paquets, la session d'unité de données par paquets étant associée à une tranche de réseau, et libérer la session d'unité de données par paquets, en réponse à la détermination que la session d'unité de données par paquets a été inactive pendant la période d'inactivité autorisée.
PCT/EP2022/059068 2022-04-06 2022-04-06 Contrôle d'admission de tranche de réseau WO2023193894A1 (fr)

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Citations (1)

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