CN110461027B

CN110461027B - Network slice selection method and device

Info

Publication number: CN110461027B
Application number: CN201810427973.1A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 苏偌宇; 武绍芸
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2018-05-07
Filing date: 2018-05-07
Publication date: 2020-11-17
Anticipated expiration: 2038-05-07
Also published as: CN110461027A

Abstract

A network slice selection method and device are used for selecting network slices for terminals which do not have NSSAI reporting capability. The method comprises the following steps: an access and mobility management function (AMF) sends a slice selection request to a Network Slice Selection Function (NSSF), wherein the slice selection request is used for requesting to select a network slice for a service of a terminal, the slice selection request carries dynamic characteristic information of the terminal, and the dynamic characteristic information is used for selecting the network slice; the AMF receives identification information of the network slice from the NSSF.

Description

Network slice selection method and device

Technical Field

The embodiment of the application relates to the technical field of communication, in particular to a network slice selection method and device.

Background

The 5th-generation (5G) system employs network slicing, which is a combination of hardware, software, policies, and spectrum that a network operator dynamically deploys from a business perspective to meet the quality of service for a particular set of users. The network slice provides the terminal with end-to-end network services from the radio access network to the core network. Specifically, in a network supporting the slicing technique, a network function is divided into a plurality of Virtual Network Function (VNF) modules, each VNF module may be configured to perform different network functions, such as sorting, segmenting, encrypting and decrypting, and the VNF modules are dynamically deployed in the network, so that network slices can be formed. Each network slice contains a set of function instances. Network slices can serve various types of traffic, with different traffic or different tenants having different requirements for security from a network security perspective. Due to the application of the network slice, an operator or a user can flexibly deploy network services according to different application scenes, and the utilization efficiency of physical network resources is improved. Meanwhile, the security of the network slice is ensured on the basis of independently configuring and managing the network slice.

In the prior art, after a terminal is attached to a network, the network selects a network slice of a service for the terminal. Specifically, the terminal sends Network Slice auxiliary Information (NSSAI) to the core Network, where the NSSAI includes a service type of the terminal and other Information used for selecting a Network Slice, and may also be an identifier of the Network Slice, and the core Network selects a Network Slice serving the terminal according to the NSSAI. However, for some terminals without NSSAI reporting capability, the core network cannot select a suitable network slice for the terminal through NSSAI.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the application provides a network slice selection method and a network slice selection device, which are used for solving the problem of how to select a network slice for a terminal without NSSAI reporting capability.

The embodiment of the application provides the following specific technical scheme:

in a first aspect, a network slice selection method is provided, where an execution subject of the method may be an access and mobility management function AMF, and steps of a specific method may be as follows: sending a slice selection request to a network slice selection function NSSF, and receiving identification information of the network slice from the NSSF, wherein the slice selection request is used for requesting to select the network slice for a service of a terminal, the slice selection request carries dynamic feature information of the terminal, and the dynamic feature information is used for selecting the network slice. Under the condition that the terminal has the NSSAI message, a proper network slice can be selected for the service of the terminal according to the dynamic characteristic information of the terminal, and the scheme does not depend on some static information acquired by the network side to select the network slice, but selects the network slice according to the dynamic characteristic information, can be adaptively changed along with the service change of the terminal, and has flexibility. In addition, by the network slice selection method, different network slices can be selected for different services, and when the terminal accesses a plurality of services, appropriate network slices can be selected for the services respectively.

In one possible design, the dynamic characteristics information is also obtained before sending a slice selection request to the NSSF.

In one possible design, before sending the slice selection request to the NSSF, a query request message is further sent to a network data analysis function NWDAF, where the query request message includes identification information of the terminal, and the query request message is used to request to query information of a network slice corresponding to the identification information of the terminal; receiving a response message to the query request message from the NWDAF, the response message indicating that the result of the query is a failure; in this scenario, the dynamic feature information may be acquired according to the response message. The data collection and summary analysis is realized by introducing the NWDAF, so that the decoupling of a software architecture is easier.

In one possible design, the dynamic characteristic information includes at least one of: signaling plane feature information, data plane feature information, and charging events.

In one possible design, the dynamic characteristic information includes at least one of: handover characteristics, location characteristics and traffic information.

In one possible design, the dynamic characteristic information includes at least one of: the motion speed of the terminal, the switching history information of the terminal, the location change frequency of the terminal, the frequency of the session of the service initiated by the terminal, the frequency of the paging request initiated by the AMF, the QoS negotiation frequency of the service, the QoS negotiation result of the service, the average packet length of the service, the packet arrival time interval of the service, and the charging strategy of the service; wherein the paging request is for paging the terminal. The network slice is selected according to the dynamic characteristic information, can be adaptively changed along with the service change of the terminal, and has flexibility, so that the selected network slice can be more adaptive to the service characteristic of the terminal.

In one possible design, the dynamic characteristic information is obtained by any one or more of the following methods: acquiring the location change frequency of the terminal and/or the frequency of the AMF initiating the paging request by the terminal; or, the AMF acquires the movement speed of the terminal and/or the switching history information of the terminal from the access network equipment; or, the AMF obtains at least one of the frequency of the session initiating the service, the QoS negotiation frequency of the service, and the QoS negotiation result of the service from a session management function SMF; or, the AMF obtains the average packet length of the service and/or the packet arrival time interval of the service from a user plane function UPF; or, the AMF obtains the charging policy of the service from a policy control function PCF. A method for specifically acquiring dynamic characteristic information is provided.

In one possible design, the AMF notifies the UPF to acquire feature information related to the service of the terminal through the SMF, specifically, the AMF sends a notification message to the SMF, and the SMF sends a notification message to the UPF to notify the UPF to acquire the dynamic feature information.

In one possible design, the location change frequency of the terminal may be obtained by: and receiving the position information of the terminal, and determining the position change frequency of the terminal according to the position information of the terminal. The position information of the terminal can be acquired by adopting the flow in the existing 3GPP TS23.502 standard, and the dynamic characteristic information of the position change frequency of the terminal is further acquired without introducing a new signaling flow.

In one possible design, the frequency of paging requests initiated by the AMF may be obtained by: counting the times of initiating the paging request to the terminal within the set time, and determining the frequency of initiating the paging request by the AMF according to the counted times of initiating the paging request to the terminal within the set time.

In one possible design, the manner of receiving the location information of the terminal may be: receiving a first N2message from an access network device in a registration management process, wherein the first N2message carries the position information of the terminal; and/or receiving a second N2message from the access network equipment in the service request process, wherein the second N2message carries the position information of the terminal. The position information of the terminal can be acquired by adopting the flow in the existing 3GPP TS23.502 standard, and the dynamic characteristic information of the position change frequency of the terminal is further acquired without introducing a new signaling flow.

In one possible design, the dynamic characteristic information is recorded in a service context of the terminal.

In a second aspect, a network slice selection method is provided, where an execution subject of the method may be a network slice selection function NSSF, and steps of a specific method may be as follows: receiving a slice selection request from an access and mobility management function (AMF), and sending identification information of the network slice to the AMF, wherein the slice selection request is used for requesting to select the network slice for a service of a terminal, the slice selection request carries dynamic characteristic information of the terminal, and the dynamic characteristic information is used for selecting the network slice. Under the condition that the terminal has the NSSAI message, a proper network slice can be selected for the service of the terminal according to the dynamic characteristic information of the terminal, and the scheme does not depend on some static information acquired by the network side to select the network slice, but selects the network slice according to the dynamic characteristic information, can be adaptively changed along with the service change of the terminal, and has flexibility. In addition, by the network slice selection method, different network slices can be selected for different services, and when the terminal accesses a plurality of services, appropriate network slices can be selected for the services respectively.

In one possible design, before sending the identification information of the network slice to the AMF, the dynamic feature information is also sent to a third-party application server, and the identification information of the network slice is received from the third-party application server; or, the dynamic characteristic information is sent to a network data analysis function NWDAF, and the identification information of the network slice is received from the NWDAF. The data collection and summary analysis is realized by introducing the NWDAF, so that the decoupling of a software architecture is easier. The network slice selection function can be opened to the third-party application server.

In one possible design, the network slice is further selected according to the slice selection request before the identification information of the network slice is sent to the AMF.

In one possible design, the network slice is selected according to the dynamic characteristic information of the terminal and the mapping relationship between the dynamic characteristic information and the network slice.

The mapping relationship may include a correspondence between a plurality of sets of dynamic feature information and a plurality of network slices, and a correspondence between a set of dynamic feature information and a network slice.

In one possible design, the mapping is obtained according to any one of the following: generating the mapping relation according to the network slice and the dynamic characteristic information of the terminal served by the network slice; or, receiving the mapping relationship from a sub-network slice management function NSSMF; or receiving the mapping relation from the operation management plane device. Various ways of obtaining the mapping relationships are provided.

In a third aspect, a network slice selection method is provided, where an execution subject of the method may be a network data analysis function NWDAF, and steps of a specific method may be as follows: and receiving dynamic characteristic information of a terminal, and selecting a network slice for the service of the terminal according to the dynamic characteristic information. Under the condition that the terminal has the NSSAI message, a proper network slice can be selected for the service of the terminal according to the dynamic characteristic information of the terminal, and the scheme does not depend on some static information acquired by the network side to select the network slice, but selects the network slice according to the dynamic characteristic information, can be adaptively changed along with the service change of the terminal, and has flexibility. In addition, by the network slice selection method, different network slices can be selected for different services, and when the terminal accesses a plurality of services, appropriate network slices can be selected for the services respectively.

In one possible design, the network slice is selected according to the dynamic characteristic information and the mapping relation between the dynamic characteristic information and the network slice.

In one possible design, after receiving the dynamic feature information of the terminal, the dynamic feature information of the terminal is further sent to a third-party application server, and the identification information of the network slice returned by the third-party application server is received. The dynamic characteristic information is used for the third-party application server to select the network slice for the service of the terminal according to the locally configured slice selection strategy, so that the network slice selection function can be opened to the third-party application server.

In a fourth aspect, a network slice selection method is provided, where an execution subject of the method may be an access network device, and steps of a specific method may be as follows: receiving a notification message from an access and mobility management function, AMF; and acquiring dynamic characteristic information of the terminal according to the notification message, wherein the dynamic characteristic information is used for selecting a network slice for the service of the terminal. The method comprises the steps that dynamic characteristic information of a terminal is acquired through access network equipment, the dynamic characteristic information of the terminal can be reported to an AMF (advanced multi-function framework) and further reported to NSSF (non-uniform resource locator) or NWDAF (non-uniform resource locator) through the AMF, under the condition that the terminal has reported NSSAI (non-uniform resource locator) information, a proper network slice can be selected for the service of the terminal according to the dynamic characteristic information of the terminal, the scheme does not depend on some static information acquired by a network side to select the network slice, the network slice is selected according to the dynamic characteristic information, the adaptive change can be achieved along with the service change of the terminal, and the flexibility. In addition, by the network slice selection method, different network slices can be selected for different services, and when the terminal accesses a plurality of services, appropriate network slices can be selected for the services respectively.

In one possible design, the movement speed of the terminal and/or handover history information of the terminal is obtained. This enables a network slice to be selected for the traffic of the terminal based on the speed of movement of the terminal and/or handover history information of said terminal.

In one possible design, the motion speed of the terminal is obtained according to the following method: and counting the times of switching among the cells of the terminal within the set time according to the received switching request message, and acquiring the movement speed of the terminal according to the times of switching among the cells of the terminal within the set time.

In one possible design, the handover history information of the terminal is obtained according to the following method: and according to the received switching request message, counting the time interval of the terminal for switching between the cells every two times, and according to the time interval of the terminal for switching between the cells every two times, obtaining the switching history information of the terminal.

It should be noted that the dynamic characteristic information, i.e. the motion speed of the terminal and/or the handover history information of the terminal, may be obtained by using the procedure in the existing 3GPP TS23.502 standard, without introducing a new signaling procedure.

In a fifth aspect, a network slice selection method is provided, where an execution subject of the method may be a session management function SMF, and steps of a specific method may be as follows: receiving a notification message from an access and mobility management function (AMF), and acquiring dynamic characteristic information of a terminal according to the notification message, wherein the dynamic characteristic information is used for selecting a network slice for a service of the terminal. The method comprises the steps that the SMF acquires dynamic characteristic information of the terminal, the dynamic characteristic information of the terminal can be reported to the AMF, the AMF further reports the dynamic characteristic information to NSSF or NWDAF, under the condition that the terminal reports NSSAI information, a proper network slice can be selected for the service of the terminal according to the dynamic characteristic information of the terminal, the scheme does not depend on some static information acquired by a network side to select the network slice, the network slice is selected according to the dynamic characteristic information, the method can be adaptively changed along with the service change of the terminal, and flexibility is achieved. In addition, by the network slice selection method, different network slices can be selected for different services, and when the terminal accesses a plurality of services, appropriate network slices can be selected for the services respectively.

In one possible design, according to the notification message, at least one of a frequency of a session in which the terminal initiates the service, a QoS negotiation frequency of the service, and a QoS negotiation result of the service is obtained.

In one possible design, the frequency of the session in which the terminal initiates the service is obtained by the following method: counting the times of receiving a protocol data unit session update context request from an access and mobility management function (AMF) in a service request flow within a set time, and determining the frequency of the session of the service initiated by the terminal according to the times; or, the SMF counts the number of times of receiving a packet data unit, PDU, session establishment context request from the AMF in a session management procedure within the set time, and determines the frequency of the session in which the terminal initiates the service according to the number of times.

In one possible design, the QoS negotiation frequency of the service is obtained by: the SMF receives signing data from a Unified Data Management (UDM) in a PDU session establishment process, wherein the signing data carries QoS quality description, and the SMF acquires QoS negotiation frequency of the service according to the QoS quality description; or, the SMF receives QoS information of the terminal from the AMF, and acquires a QoS negotiation frequency of the service according to the QoS information.

In one possible design, the QoS negotiation result of the service is obtained by the following method: the SMF receives signing data from the UDM in a PDU session establishment flow, the signing data carries QoS quality description, and the SMF acquires a QoS negotiation result of the service according to the QoS quality description; or, the SMF receives QoS information of the terminal from the AMF, and obtains a QoS negotiation result of the service according to the QoS information.

It should be noted that, the flow in the existing 3GPP TS23.502 standard may be adopted to obtain the dynamic characteristic information of the QoS negotiation frequency of the service and the QoS negotiation result of the service, and a new signaling flow does not need to be introduced.

In a sixth aspect, a network slice selection method is provided, where an execution subject of the method may be a user subscription description function UPF, and specific method steps may be as follows: receiving a notification message, and acquiring dynamic characteristic information of a terminal according to the notification message, wherein the dynamic characteristic information is used for selecting a network slice for a service of the terminal. The dynamic characteristic information of the terminal is acquired through the UPF, the dynamic characteristic information of the terminal can be reported to the AMF, and further reported to the NSSF or the NWDAF through the AMF, under the condition that the terminal has the reported NSSAI message, a proper network slice can be selected for the service of the terminal according to the dynamic characteristic information of the terminal, and the scheme does not depend on some static information acquired by a network side to select the network slice, but selects the network slice according to the dynamic characteristic information, can be adaptively changed along with the service change of the terminal, and has flexibility. In addition, by the network slice selection method, different network slices can be selected for different services, and when the terminal accesses a plurality of services, appropriate network slices can be selected for the services respectively.

In one possible design, the average packet length of the service and/or the packet arrival time interval of the service are obtained according to the notification message.

In one possible design, the average packet length of the service is obtained by: and receiving an N3 message from the access network equipment, and counting the average data packet length of the service according to the data packets of the service in the N3 message.

In one possible design, the packet arrival time interval of the service is obtained by: and receiving an N3 message from an access network device, and counting the arrival time interval of the data packet of the service according to the data packet of the service in the N3 message.

In one possible design, a notification message is received from the session management function SMF, the notification message coming from the access and mobility management function AMF.

A seventh aspect provides a network slice selection method, where an execution subject of the method may be a policy control function PCF, and steps of the specific method may be as follows: receiving a notification message from an access and mobility management function (AMF), and acquiring dynamic characteristic information of a terminal according to the notification message, wherein the dynamic characteristic information is used for selecting a network slice for a service of the terminal. The method comprises the steps that the PCF acquires dynamic characteristic information of a terminal, the dynamic characteristic information of the terminal can be reported to the AMF, the AMF further reports the dynamic characteristic information to NSSF or NWDAF, under the condition that the terminal reports NSSAI information, a proper network slice can be selected for service of the terminal according to the dynamic characteristic information of the terminal, the scheme does not depend on some static information acquired by a network side to select the network slice, the network slice is selected according to the dynamic characteristic information, the method can be adaptively changed along with service change of the terminal, and flexibility is achieved. In addition, by the network slice selection method, different network slices can be selected for different services, and when the terminal accesses a plurality of services, appropriate network slices can be selected for the services respectively.

In one possible design, the charging policy of the service is obtained according to the notification message.

In one possible design, a policy control acquisition operation message is received from a session management function SMF in a packet data unit PDU session establishment procedure, and a charging policy of the service is acquired from the policy control acquisition operation message. The dynamic characteristic information of the charging policy of the service can be acquired by adopting the flow in the existing 3GPP TS23.502 standard, and a new signaling flow is not required to be introduced.

In an eighth aspect, there is provided a network slice selection apparatus having functionality to implement access and mobility management function, AMF, behaviour in any one of the possible designs of the first aspect and the first aspect described above. The functions can be realized by hardware, and the functions can also be realized by executing corresponding software by hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above-described functions.

In one possible design, the device may be a chip or an integrated circuit.

In one possible design, the apparatus includes a memory storing a set of programs and a processor for executing the programs stored in the memory, and when the programs are executed, the apparatus may perform the method described in any one of the possible designs of the first aspect and the first aspect.

In one possible design, the apparatus further includes a transceiver for communicating between the apparatus and other network elements.

In one possible design, the device is an AMF.

In a ninth aspect, a network slice selection apparatus is provided, which has the function of implementing the NSSF behavior of the network slice selection function in any one of the possible designs of the second aspect and the second aspect. The functions can be realized by hardware, and the functions can also be realized by executing corresponding software by hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above-described functions.

In one possible design, the device may be a chip or an integrated circuit.

In one possible design, the apparatus includes a memory storing a set of programs and a processor for executing the programs stored in the memory, and when the programs are executed, the apparatus may perform the method described in any one of the possible designs of the second aspect and the second aspect.

In one possible design, the device is NSSF.

In a tenth aspect, there is provided a network slice selection apparatus having a function of implementing NWDAF behavior of the network data analysis function in any one of the possible designs of the third and fourth aspects. The functions can be realized by hardware, and the functions can also be realized by executing corresponding software by hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above-described functions.

In one possible design, the device may be a chip or an integrated circuit.

In one possible design, the apparatus includes a memory storing a set of programs and a processor for executing the programs stored in the memory, and when the programs are executed, the apparatus may perform the method described in any one of the possible designs of the third aspect and the third aspect.

In one possible design, the device is an NWDAF.

In an eleventh aspect, there is provided a network slice selection apparatus having functionality to implement the access network device behavior in any of the possible designs of the fourth and fourth aspects. The functions can be realized by hardware, and the functions can also be realized by executing corresponding software by hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above-described functions.

In one possible design, the device may be a chip or an integrated circuit.

In one possible design, the apparatus includes a memory storing a set of programs and a processor for executing the programs stored in the memory, and when the programs are executed, the apparatus may perform the method described in any one of the possible designs of the fourth aspect and the fourth aspect.

In one possible design, the apparatus is an access network device.

In a twelfth aspect, a network slice selection apparatus is provided, which has a function of implementing the SMF behavior in any one of the possible designs of the fifth and fifth aspects. The functions can be realized by hardware, and the functions can also be realized by executing corresponding software by hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above-described functions.

In one possible design, the device may be a chip or an integrated circuit.

In one possible design, the apparatus includes a memory storing a set of programs and a processor for executing the programs stored in the memory, and when the programs are executed, the apparatus may perform the method described in any one of the possible designs of the fifth aspect and the fifth aspect.

In one possible design, the device is an SMF.

In a thirteenth aspect, a network slice selection apparatus is provided, which has a function of implementing a user subscription description function UPF behavior in any one of the possible designs of the sixth aspect and the sixth aspect. The functions can be realized by hardware, and the functions can also be realized by executing corresponding software by hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above-described functions.

In one possible design, the device may be a chip or an integrated circuit.

In one possible design, the apparatus includes a memory storing a set of programs and a processor for executing the programs stored in the memory, and when the programs are executed, the apparatus may perform the method described in any one of the possible designs of the sixth aspect and the sixth aspect.

In one possible design, the device is a UPF.

A fourteenth aspect provides a network slice selection apparatus having functionality to implement the policy control function PCF behavior in any one of the possible designs of the seventh aspect and the seventh aspect described above. The functions can be realized by hardware, and the functions can also be realized by executing corresponding software by hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above-described functions.

In one possible design, the device may be a chip or an integrated circuit.

In one possible design, the apparatus includes a memory storing a set of programs and a processor executing the programs stored in the memory, and when the programs are executed, the apparatus may perform the method described in any one of the possible designs of the seventh aspect and the seventh aspect.

In one possible design, the device is a PCF.

In a ninth aspect, there is provided a chip, which is connected to a memory or which comprises a memory, for reading and executing a software program stored in said memory, for implementing the method as described in the first aspect, the second aspect, the third aspect, any of the possible designs of the first aspect, any of the possible designs of the second aspect, and any of the possible designs of the third aspect.

In a fifteenth aspect, a chip is provided, which is connected to a memory or which comprises a memory for reading and executing a software program stored in said memory for carrying out the method as described in the above aspects and in any possible design of aspects.

A sixteenth aspect provides a communication system comprising the apparatus of any two or more of the first to seventh aspects.

A seventeenth aspect provides a computer storage medium storing a computer program comprising instructions for performing the aspects and any possible design-wise method of the aspects.

In an eighteenth aspect, there is provided a computer program product which, when read and executed by a computer, causes the computer to perform the method as described in the aspects and any possible design of aspects.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a system architecture according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 2a is a second schematic diagram of a system architecture according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 2b is a third schematic diagram of a system architecture according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of a dynamic feature information record table in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a network slice selection method according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 5 is a second flowchart illustrating a network slice selection method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of feature information collected in a registration process in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of collecting feature information in a session establishment procedure in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8a is a schematic diagram of collecting characteristic information in a signaling flow in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8b is a schematic diagram illustrating an AMF acquiring terminal location information in a handover procedure in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of collecting characteristic information in a user plane process in the embodiment of the present application;

fig. 10 is a schematic diagram of one of the methods for obtaining a mapping relationship in the embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a second method for obtaining a mapping relationship according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example of a slicing template according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 13 is a schematic diagram of a third method for obtaining a mapping relationship in the embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram of the open function in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 15 is a third schematic flowchart of a network slice selection method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 16 is a schematic structural diagram of a network slice selection apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 17 is a second schematic structural diagram of a network slice selecting apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 18 is a third schematic structural diagram of a network slice selecting apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 19 is a fourth exemplary diagram illustrating a network slice selecting apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 20 is a fifth exemplary diagram of a network slice selection apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 21 is a sixth schematic structural diagram of a network slice selection apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 22 is a seventh schematic structural diagram of a network slice selecting apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 23 is an eighth schematic structural diagram of a network slice selecting apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

The application provides a network slice selection method and device, which are used for selecting a proper network slice for a terminal when the terminal does not report related information of the network slice. The method and the device are based on the same or similar conception of the same invention, and because the principles of solving the problems of the method and the device are similar, the implementation of the device and the method can be mutually referred, and repeated parts are not repeated. In the description of the embodiment of the present application, "and/or" describes an association relationship of associated objects, which means that three relationships may exist, for example, a and/or B may mean: a exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone. The character "/" generally indicates that the former and latter associated objects are in an "or" relationship. At least one referred to in this application means one or more; plural means two or more. In addition, it is to be understood that the terms first, second, etc. in the description of the present application are used for distinguishing between the descriptions and not necessarily for describing a sequential or chronological order. "at least one" means one or more; "at least one" means one or more; plural means two or more.

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

The network slice selection method provided by the embodiment of the application can be applied to communication systems of different radio access technologies, for example, a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, a 5th generation (5G) communication system, and other more possible communication systems.

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a system architecture to which the embodiment of the present application is applicable, and the embodiment of the present application is not limited to the system architecture shown in fig. 1. Each network element shown in fig. 1 may be hardware, or may be functionally divided into software, or a combination of the two. As shown in fig. 1, a system architecture provided in this embodiment of the present application includes a terminal, AN Access Network (AN) device, a mobility management network element (which may also be referred to as a mobility management function/mobility management function entity), a session management network element (which may also be referred to as a session management function/session management function entity), a user plane network element (which may also be referred to as a user plane function/user plane function entity), a policy control network element (or a policy control function/policy control function entity), a network slice selection network element (or a network slice selection function/network slice selection function entity), a network data analysis network element (or a network data analysis function/network data analysis function entity), and a data network (data network, DN). The terminal establishes communication with DN through AN equipment and user plane network element. The AN equipment is connected with the mobility management network element through AN N2 interface. The user plane network element and the AN device are connected through AN N3 interface, the user plane network element and the DN can be connected through AN N6 interface, and in addition, a plurality of user plane network elements can be connected through AN N9 interface (not shown in the figure). The interface name is only an example, and the embodiment of the present application is not limited to this specifically.

The network element shown in fig. 1 may be a network element in a 4G architecture or a network element in a 5G architecture.

It should be noted that, the network element described in this embodiment of the present application may also be referred to as a function or a functional entity, for example, a mobility management network element may also be referred to as a mobility management function or a mobility management functional entity, a session management network element may also be referred to as a session management function or a session management functional entity, a user plane network element may also be referred to as a user plane function or a user plane functional entity, and a policy control function may also be referred to as a policy control functional entity or a policy control network element.

The names of the network elements are not limited in this application, and those skilled in the art can replace the names of the network elements with other names to perform the same functions, all of which belong to the protection scope of this application.

For example, the system architecture shown in fig. 1 may be a 5G system architecture as shown in fig. 2a, or may be a 4G and 5G fused system architecture diagram as shown in fig. 2 b. Wherein the functions of the respective network elements or devices are as follows.

A terminal, also referred to as User Equipment (UE), a Mobile Station (MS), a Mobile Terminal (MT), a terminal device, etc., is a device that provides voice and/or data connectivity to a user. For example, the terminal includes a handheld device, a vehicle-mounted device, and the like having a wireless connection function. Currently, the terminal may be: a mobile phone (mobile phone), a tablet computer, a notebook computer, a palm top computer, a Mobile Internet Device (MID), a wearable device, a Virtual Reality (VR) device, an Augmented Reality (AR) device, a wireless terminal in industrial control (industrial control), a wireless terminal in self driving (self driving), a wireless terminal in remote surgery (remote medical supply), a wireless terminal in smart grid (smart grid), a wireless terminal in transportation safety (smart security), a wireless terminal in city (smart city), a wireless terminal in smart home (smart home), and the like.

The AN equipment is responsible for wireless side access of the terminal, and possible deployment forms comprise: a Centralized Unit (CU) and a Distributed Unit (DU) separate scenarios; and single site scenarios. The single station includes a gbb/NR-NB, a Transmission Reception Point (TRP), an evolved Node B (eNB), a Radio Network Controller (RNC), a Node B (NB), a Base Station Controller (BSC), a Base Transceiver Station (BTS), a home base station (e.g., home evolved Node B, or home Node B, HNB), a Base Band Unit (BBU), or a wireless fidelity (Wifi) access point (access point, AP), etc. In the 5G communication system, a single site is gNB/NR-NB. Among them, a CU supports Radio Resource Control (RRC), Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP), Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP), and other protocols. CUs are typically deployed at central offices with relatively rich computing resources. The DU mainly supports a Radio Link Control (RLC), a Medium Access Control (MAC) and a physical layer (PHY) protocol. The DU is generally deployed in a distributed manner, and in general, more than one DU is connected to one CU. The gNB has the functions of a CU and a DU, and is generally deployed as a single-site modality.

A mobility management network element, which may be an access and mobility management entity (AMF) in 5G; the Mobility Management Entity (MME) may also be a control plane function (SGW-C) of a Serving GateWay (SGW) in 4G; or all or part of the control function formed by the fusion of the network elements. The mobility management network element is responsible for access and mobility management of the terminal in the mobile network. The AMF is responsible for access and mobility management of the terminal, NAS message routing, SMF selection, and the like. The AMF may act as an intermediate network element for transmitting session management messages between the terminal and the SMF.

And the session management network element is responsible for forwarding path management, and if a message forwarding strategy is issued to the user plane network element, the user plane network element is instructed to process and forward the message according to the message forwarding strategy. The session management network element may be a Session Management Function (SMF) in 5G, and is responsible for session management, such as session creation/modification/deletion, user plane network element selection, and allocation and management of user plane tunnel information. The session management network element may also be a control plane function (SGW-C) of a serving gateway in 4G or a control plane function (PGW-C) of a Packet Data Network (PDN) gateway (gateway way, GW), and the session management network element may also be all or part of a control function formed after fusion of an SMF and a PGW-C network element.

The user plane network element may be a User Plane Function (UPF) in a 5G architecture, as shown in fig. 2a or fig. 2 b. The UPF is responsible for message processing and forwarding. The user plane network element may also be a forwarding plane function (PGW-U) of the PGW, a forwarding plane function (SGW-U) of the SGW, a router, a switch, or other physical or virtual forwarding devices.

The policy control function may be a Policy Control Function (PCF) entity in the 5G architecture, and may be used to take charge of functions such as policy control decision.

The network slice selection network element (or network slice selection function/network slice selection function entity) may be a Network Slice Selection Function (NSSF) in a 5G architecture, and is configured to select a suitable network slice for a service of a terminal.

The network data analysis network element (or network data analysis function/network data analysis functional entity) may be a network data analysis function (NWDAF) in a 5G architecture, and is configured to provide service functions, such as data storage and analysis, for a terminal or a network.

The DN, which provides a data transmission Service for the terminal, may be a PDN network, such as the internet (internet), IP Multimedia Service (IMS), and the like.

Currently, there are three types of network slices defined by the third generation partnership project (3GPP) protocol, namely enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), low-latency high-reliability (ulrllc), and massive Internet of Things (mliot). Each network slice type is specific to a particular traffic type. For example: the eMB slice type aims at services with high data rate and high mobility; the urrllc slices can be used to handle high reliability and low latency communication scenarios; the mliot slice may serve a large amount of traffic (e.g., sensor, wearable device traffic) with small data volume, tolerable latency, and infrequent access. As the requirements of users and services on network service customization are continuously increased, the differentiation between different network services is further increased. In the context of the intensive and commercial deployment of 5G communication network research into large-scale deployment, the types of network slices will grow dramatically in the foreseeable future.

Under each network slice type, one or more network slice instances may be deployed. An example of a network slice is a static network, which means that different logical networks are customized according to different service requirements on a physical or virtual network infrastructure. The example network slice may be a complete end-to-end network including the terminal, the access network, the transport network, the core network and the application server, and may provide complete communication services with certain network capabilities. The network slice instance may also be any combination of terminal, access network, transport network, core network and application server. In the description of the embodiments of the present application, both the network slice instance and the network slice type are represented by a network slice, and when describing the network slice, the network slice instance and the network slice type may be referred to as a network slice type or a network slice instance.

The existing protocol defines that a terminal can simultaneously access 8 network slices, and one service of the terminal is served by one network slice. Selecting a proper network slice for a service of the terminal can help to guarantee the network performance required by the service, improve the utilization rate of network resources, improve the experience of users on the service and enhance the commercial value of the users. The method provided by the embodiment of the application mainly describes how to select a proper Network Slice for the service of the terminal, and particularly aims at the terminal which does not have the capability of reporting Network Slice Selection Assistance Information (NSSAI). In the system architecture of the present application, when the terminal has the capability of reporting the NSSAI, the network may select a correct network slice for the service of the terminal according to the NSSAI. The following describes a method for selecting a suitable network slice for a terminal that does not have NSSAI reporting capability, or how to select a suitable network slice for a service of a terminal that does not report NSSAI. Of course, the method may also be applicable to terminals with any performance, for example, a terminal with the capability of reporting NSSAI may also be applicable, or a terminal that does not report NSSAI may be applicable, or a terminal that reports NSSAI may be applicable regardless of whether it reports NSSAI, which is not limited in this application.

In the following description of the embodiment of the present application, a mobility management network element is described by taking AN AMF as AN example, a network slice selection network element is described by taking AN NSSF as AN example, a network data analysis network element is described by taking AN NWDAF as AN example, AN apparatus is described by taking a base station as AN example, a policy control function is described by taking a PCF as AN example, a user plane network element is described by taking AN UPF as AN example, and a session management network element is described by taking AN SMF as AN example, which is not limited.

For convenience of understanding, the description will be first made on "dynamic feature information" referred to in the embodiments of the present application. The dynamic feature information is used to select a suitable network slice for the service of the terminal, and of course, the name of the dynamic feature information is merely exemplary and may be replaced by another name.

In the embodiment of the application, during the service processing process by using the accessed network slice, the terminal generates some characteristic information related to the service of the terminal, and some characteristic information is related to the characteristics of the terminal itself, for example, the characteristics related to the mobility of the terminal. Since one terminal may have a plurality of services, the feature information related to the feature of the terminal itself is applicable to each service of the terminal. The feature information generated by the terminal during the service processing may be referred to as dynamic feature information. The dynamic characteristic information may be information related to characteristics of the terminal itself, such as: the motion speed of the terminal, the handover history information of the terminal, and the location change frequency of the terminal. The dynamic profile information may also be information related to the service of the terminal, such as: the frequency of the session of the service initiated by the terminal, the frequency of the paging request initiated by the AMF, the quality of service (QoS) negotiation frequency of the service, the QoS negotiation result of the service of the terminal, the average packet length of the service of the terminal, the packet arrival time interval of the service of the terminal, and the charging policy of the service of the terminal; wherein the paging request is for paging the terminal.

Based on the above description of the dynamic feature information, from different perspectives, the dynamic feature information related to the present application may also have different classifications, and the following description will take two classifications as an example.

In one possible implementation, as shown in table 1, the dynamic feature information may include feature information of three layers, namely, a signaling plane, a data plane, and a charging event.

Specifically, the characteristic information of the signaling plane includes one or more of the following items: the method comprises the following steps of moving speed of a terminal, switching history information of the terminal, position change frequency of the terminal, frequency of a session of service initiated by the terminal, frequency of paging request initiated by a network side, QoS negotiation frequency of the service of the terminal and QoS negotiation result of the service of the terminal.

The frequency referred to in this application can be interpreted as the number of occurrences per unit time or within a set time period.

The characteristic information of the data plane comprises one or more of the following items: average packet length of traffic of the terminal, packet arrival time interval of traffic of the terminal.

The charging event includes a charging policy for the traffic of the terminal.

It should be noted that different dynamic characteristics information may be collected by different devices, as shown in table 1:

TABLE 1

In combination with the table 1:

1) the movement speed of the terminal and the handover history information of the terminal are collected by the access network device (i.e., the base station). For example, the base station collects handover history information and a terminal movement speed of the terminal in a handover request (handover request) message in a handover (handover) procedure. The base station may determine the moving speed of the terminal according to the number of times that the terminal switches between different cells within a period of time, optionally, the moving speed of the terminal may be divided into three levels (or levels) of high speed, medium speed, and low speed, the base station may report the level of the moving speed of the terminal according to the feature information of the moving speed of the terminal reported each time, and certainly, may also report the number of times that the terminal switches within a period of time, or report a value that is related according to the moving speed of the terminal and can represent the moving speed of the terminal. The handover history information of the terminal is some information related to the handover of the terminal, and may be, for example, a time interval between every two handovers of the terminal. For example, the handover history information of the terminal may include whether the terminal is frequently handed over between the cell 1 and the cell 2, for example, when the time interval between every two handovers of the terminal is less than a threshold, the terminal represents that the handover is frequent, otherwise, the terminal represents that the handover is not frequent. The granularity of the handover may be an inter-cell handover, or a handover of another granularity. For example, according to the characteristic information, for a service with a relatively high movement speed (i.e. high speed) or relatively frequent switching, a network slice with a slice type of V2X is selected; for traffic with a relatively low movement speed (i.e., low speed grade) or a low switching frequency, a network slice with a slice type of mliot is selected.

2) The position change frequency of the terminal is collected or counted by the AMF. The AMF collects or counts in some procedures, for example, in a registration management (registration management) procedure, the AMF receives location information (location information) in an N2message sent by a base station. The location information may include a cell identity or a Tracking Area Identity (TAI). The location change frequency of the terminal acquired by the AMF includes the frequency of the information change, which can be used to determine whether the location of the terminal changes frequently. Whether it changes frequently may be measured in terms of the frequency with which the location information changes, e.g., a frequency of location changes above a threshold value represents frequent changes, and otherwise represents infrequent changes (or relatively fixed). For example, according to the characteristic information of the location change frequency of the terminal, for the service of which the location of the terminal changes frequently, a network slice with the slice type of eMBB or V2X is selected; for a relatively fixed location of the terminal, a network slice of slice type mIoT is selected.

3) The frequency of the session of the terminal initiated service is collected or counted by the SMF. For example, in a service Request (service Request) flow, the SMF sends a Packet Data Unit (PDU) session update context Request (Nsmf _ pdusesion _ update smcontext Request) to the SMF, and for example, in a session management flow, the AMF sends a PDU session setup context Request (Namf _ pdusesion _ CreateSMContext Request) to the SMF. Specifically, the SMF counts the number of times or frequency of some messages, such as the service request or the session request, initiated by the terminal. For example, according to the feature information, for a service whose originating session is aperiodic, a network slice with a slice type of eMBB may be selected; for traffic where the originating session is periodic, a network slice of slice type mliot may be selected.

4) The frequency of the paging request initiated by the network side is collected or counted by the AMF. The AMF specifically counts the number of times of initiating a paging request (i.e., paging request) to the base station in a certain time interval, where the paging request is used for paging the terminal. For example, according to the characteristic information, for the traffic with regular frequency of paging request, a network slice with slice type of mliot may be selected. The regularity may mean that the number of times paging requests are initiated within the same time interval is fixed, for example, once a week.

5) The QoS negotiation frequency of the service of the terminal, and the QoS negotiation result of the service of the terminal are collected or counted by the SMF. In various service flows, according to the QoS requested by the terminal, the QoS subscribed by the terminal, the QoS default provided by the SMF, and the resource condition of the SMF itself, QoS negotiation needs to be performed to negotiate out the feasible QoS of the service. Various service flows comprise a PDU Session Establishment flow (PDU Session Establishment) and a PDU Session modification flow (PDU Session modification), wherein in the PDU Session Establishment flow, a PDU Session Establishment request sent by a terminal to a base station can carry QoS information. Generally, the QoS negotiation result only reduces the QoS, and therefore, for a service that frequently initiates negotiation or fails negotiation, it may be determined that the QoS required by the service is relatively high, and then, according to the feature information, for a service that frequently initiates negotiation or fails negotiation, a network slice that can provide a high experience feeling is selected, for example, a network slice that can provide a high-bandwidth video class is selected.

6) The method comprises the steps that the average data packet length of the service of a terminal is collected or counted by a UPF, the UPF counts the data packet length of a data plane or the average data packet length, the data packet length is a long packet when being larger than a set threshold, and the data packet length is a short packet when not larger than the set threshold. According to the characteristic information, for the service with the average data packet length larger than the set threshold, selecting the network slice with the slice type of eMBB, and for the service with the average data packet length not larger than the set threshold, selecting the network slice with the slice type of mIoT.

7) The UPF collects or counts the arrival time interval of the data packets of the service of the terminal, counts the arrival time interval of the data packets of the data plane, namely the time interval between the arrival of every two data packets, and selects the network slice according to the characteristic information. For example, for a fixed-length packet arrival interval service, a network slice of the slice type mliot is selected.

8) And the PCF collects or counts the charging strategy. For example, in the PDU session establishment procedure, the SMF obtains the charging policy from the policy control obtaining operation (Npcf _ SMPolicyControl _ Get operation) sent to the PCF. Charging policies for different services are different, e.g., for some services, charging is exempted; for some services, detailed charging is performed. Such as: charging exemption or rough charging is carried out on IoT type service, and detailed charging is carried out on different charging standards such as classification or time sharing and the like on eMBB type service. PCF counts the charging strategy of different services, and selects the network slice with corresponding type according to the characteristic information.

According to the description of the dynamic feature information in 1) to 8), a set of dynamic feature information may be considered to have a mapping relationship with one network slice, where a set of dynamic feature information may include one or more dynamic feature information. In a specific implementation, the NSSF or NWDAF may determine the network slice corresponding to the feature information according to a mapping relationship obtained in advance, or may determine a suitable network slice according to the feature information after the feature information is received without obtaining the mapping relationship in advance. For example, the NSSF or NWDAF obtains in advance that the characteristic information that the moving speed of the terminal is high has a mapping relationship with the network slice having the slice type V2X, and selects the network slice having the slice type V2X for the service in which the moving speed of the terminal is high based on the mapping relationship. When the mapping relationship is not obtained in advance, after the NSSF or NWDAF receives the characteristic information that the movement speed of the terminal is high, the network slice with the slice type V2X may be selected for the service of the terminal according to the characteristic information.

The above describes by which network elements the different characteristic information is collected, respectively. When receiving the notification of collecting the feature information, each network element may respectively create a service context of the terminal, for example, apply for a storage space in the context to store the feature information, and record the collected feature information in the storage space in the context.

For example, when the AMF creates a service context of the terminal in a registration flow, the AMF applies for a storage space in the context to store a location change frequency of the terminal, and records the location change frequency of the terminal; when a PDU session is established, the SMF applies a block of storage space in the service context of the terminal for storing the session characteristic information of the service, and starts to record the session characteristic information of the service. And the subsequent processes of repeated registration of the user, repeated establishment of PDU Session and the like are performed, and the AMF and the SMF respectively continuously record corresponding characteristic information in the context.

It should be noted that, the classification of the feature information in table 1 is only an example, and is performed for convenience of storing and expressing the feature information by each network element. Each network element can record the feature information acquired by the network element in the context of a feature information record table, the feature information record table can classify and record the feature information according to the mode of table 1, and the network element records or updates the acquired feature information under the corresponding category of the feature information record table. Of course, classification recording is not required, and the network element may record or update the collected feature information in the storage space applied by the context. Recording may also be performed according to other classifications. For example, the classification may be performed according to three categories, i.e., a handover feature, a location feature, and service information. Each network element stores the characteristic information according to these several categories. In the case of such classification, the specific structure of the feature information recording table is as shown in fig. 3. The short lines in fig. 3 represent categories and the long lines represent sub-categories under the categories. For example, the handover characteristics include a moving speed of the terminal (moving speed shown in fig. 3), handover history information of the terminal (handover history information shown in fig. 3); the location characteristics include a location change frequency of the terminal; the service information is further divided into session characteristics, data transmission characteristics and charging characteristics according to different collected network elements, where the session characteristics include a frequency at which a network side initiates a paging request (shown in fig. 3 as a paging frequency), a frequency at which a terminal initiates a service session (shown in fig. 3 as an initiation session frequency), a QoS negotiation frequency of the service of the terminal (shown in fig. 3 as a negotiation frequency), and a QoS negotiation result of a terminal service (not shown in fig. 3); the data transmission characteristics comprise the average data packet length of the service of the terminal (the average data packet length is shown in fig. 3), the data packet arrival time interval of the service of the terminal (the data packet arrival interval is shown in fig. 3); the charging features include a charging policy for the traffic of the terminal (shown in fig. 3 as a charging policy). The following configurations of the characteristic information recording tables shown in fig. 6 to 9 are based on the configuration shown in fig. 3.

Based on the above description, as shown in fig. 4, a flow of a network slice selection method provided in an embodiment of the present application is as follows.

S401, the AMF sends a slice selection request (slice select request) to the NSSF, and the NSSF receives the slice selection request from the AMF.

The slice selection request may be used to request to select a network slice for a service of a terminal, and the slice selection request may carry dynamic feature information of the terminal, where the dynamic feature information is used to select the network slice.

Illustratively, the AMF obtains the dynamic characteristics information before sending a slice selection request to the NSSF.

In combination with the above description of the dynamic feature information, the dynamic feature information may include one or more of the following dynamic feature information: the terminal movement speed, the terminal switching history information, the terminal location change frequency, the terminal session initiation frequency, the AMF paging initiation request frequency, the terminal QoS negotiation result, the terminal service average data packet length, the terminal service data packet arrival time interval, and the terminal service charging policy; wherein the paging request is for paging the terminal.

Based on the above-mentioned kind of the dynamic feature information, the dynamic feature information obtained by the AMF may be obtained by itself, or may be received from other network elements except the AMF.

Illustratively, the AMF may acquire a location change frequency of the terminal and/or a frequency of paging requests initiated by the AMF; the AMF can acquire the movement speed of the terminal and/or the switching history information of the terminal from the access network equipment; the AMF can obtain at least one of a frequency of a session for initiating a service, a QoS negotiation frequency of the service of the terminal and a QoS negotiation result of the service of the terminal from the SMF; the AMF can acquire the average data packet length of the service and/or the data packet arrival time interval of the service from the UPF; the AMF may obtain a charging policy for the service from the PCF.

The possible implementation manner of obtaining the position change frequency of the terminal by the AMF is as follows:

the AMF receives an N2message (which may be denoted as a first N2 message) from the access network device in the registration management procedure, where the first N2message carries the location information of the terminal, and the location information may include a cell identity or a TAI, or the AMF receives a second N2message from the access network device in the service request procedure, and the second N2message carries the location information of the terminal. And after receiving the position information of the terminal, the AMF determines the position change frequency of the terminal according to the position information of the terminal.

The possible implementation manner of the frequency of the AMF initiating the paging request for paging the terminal is as follows:

and the AMF counts the times of initiating the paging request to the terminal within the set time, and determines the frequency of initiating the paging request by the AMF according to the counted times of initiating the paging request to the terminal within the set time.

S402, the NSSF sends the identification information of the network slice to the AMF, and the AMF receives the identification information of the network slice from the NSSF.

Wherein the identification information of the network slice is used for identifying the network slice selected for the service of the terminal. For example, the identification information of the network slice is an identification of a network slice instance (NSI ID), optionally, after the NSSF receives the slice selection request from the AMF, the method further includes: and the NSSF selects the network slice for the service of the terminal according to the slice selection request message.

Before the S401AMF sends a slice selection request to the NSSF, the AMF may also obtain dynamic feature information of the terminal.

The AMF may acquire the dynamic feature information of the terminal by itself, or may receive the dynamic feature information of the terminal from each network element to acquire the dynamic feature information of the terminal.

In one example, the AMF triggers each network element to acquire dynamic feature information of the terminal.

Specifically, after accessing the default network slice, the terminal uses the default network slice to perform service processing. And generating dynamic characteristic information in the process of using the default network slice to process the service.

The AMF triggers the dynamic characteristic information of each network acquisition terminal by sending notification messages to each network element. And each network element receives the notification message sent by the AMF. The notification message may be a new signaling or service message sent separately, or may be carried in an existing signaling or service message. Each network element may include an access network device, PCF, SMF, and UPF. The AMF notifies the UPF of the dynamic feature information of the acquisition terminal through the SMF, that is, after the AMF sends a notification message to the SMF, the SMF notifies the UPF of the dynamic feature information of the acquisition terminal.

In another example, the AMF itself may also collect dynamic characteristics information of the terminal.

Specifically, the AMF, the access network device, the PCF, the SMF, and the UPF may respectively collect the dynamic feature information of the terminal in the manners described in the above 1) to 8).

Wherein, the collecting may also include receiving, and each network element collects the dynamic characteristic information of the terminal in the received message. In one possible implementation, when the AMF, the access network device, the PCF, the SMF, and the UPF create a service context of the terminal, add dynamic feature information of the terminal in the context, for example, apply for a block of storage space in the context to create a feature information record table, and record the collected feature information in the record table.

Alternatively, the AMF and the respective network elements may distinguish different services according to the identification of the DN (e.g., DN name, DNN). In the process of establishing the session by the terminal, each network element may obtain DNN information.

The method for selecting a network slice according to the embodiment of the present application is described in more detail below with reference to the flowchart shown in fig. 4. As shown in fig. 5, the flow of the network slice selection method is as follows. It should be noted that the method flow is introduced in a relatively comprehensive manner, some steps or descriptions are possible implementation manners, and any two or more steps in the method flow may form a scheme that needs to be protected in the embodiment of the present application, that is, when some steps are optional, the remaining steps may still form the scheme that needs to be protected in the embodiment of the present application, and the optional steps may also have other possible implementation manners. For example, S507 to S509 may correspond to the scheme shown in fig. 4, and belong to the scheme to be protected in the embodiment of the present application. In addition, in the following description, the steps executed by the access network device, AMF, SMF, NSSF, UPF, PCF, or NWDAF, which are respectively used as execution subjects, may form independent technical solutions respectively.

The description will be given by taking the service of the terminal as an example.

S501, the terminal sends a session establishment request message to the AMF, and the AMF receives the session establishment request message sent by the terminal.

Wherein, the session establishment request message does not carry NSSAI or information of other auxiliary selection network slices. The session establishment request message may include identification information of the terminal.

S502, the AMF selects an initial network slice for the service of the terminal according to the local policy.

The initial network slice may also be referred to as a default network slice or a default network slice.

Illustratively, the AMF selects an SMF for the service of the terminal, and the SMF selects an UPF for the service of the terminal according to the local policy.

The AMF may select an SMF for the service of the terminal according to the subscription data of the terminal, and the SMF selects an UPF for the service of the terminal according to the subscription data of the terminal.

S503, the AMF acquires the dynamic characteristic information of the terminal.

The AMF may acquire the dynamic feature information of the terminal by itself, or may receive the dynamic feature information of the terminal from each network element to acquire the dynamic feature information of the terminal. Specifically, reference may be made to the related description in the embodiment shown in fig. 4, and details are not repeated. Wherein, the AMF receives the dynamic feature information of the terminal from each network element through S504 to S506.

S504, the AMF triggers each network element to acquire the dynamic characteristic information.

S505, AMF, access network equipment, PCF, SMF and UPF collect dynamic characteristic information of the terminal respectively.

Specific details are described with reference to the method shown in fig. 4.

S506, each network element sends the acquired dynamic characteristic information of the terminal to the AMF, and the AMF receives the dynamic characteristic information sent by each network element.

Specifically, each network element sends the collected dynamic feature information (which may be simply referred to as feature information) of the terminal to the AMF. Wherein the UPF is sent to the AMF through the SMF. And the UPF sends the collected feature information to the SMF, and the SMF sends the feature information collected by the SMF and the received feature information from the UPF to the AMF. The access network equipment and the PCF respectively send the collected characteristic information to the AMF.

In one possible implementation, each network element may send the feature information to the AMF when the set threshold is reached. The threshold may be a time threshold, which may be specified in the protocol, or may be sent by the AMF, for example, by carrying the threshold in the notification message. After receiving the notification message, each network element starts timing, and initiates reporting when reaching a time threshold. The threshold of the PCF may be set slightly less than the threshold of the other network elements.

S507, the AMF receives a session establishment request message from the terminal.

Wherein the session establishment request message may be used to request establishment of a session for the service of the terminal.

S508, the AMF sends the dynamic characteristic information to the NSSF, and the NSSF receives the dynamic characteristic information sent by the AMF.

Specifically, the AMF sends a slice selection request message to the NSSF, where the slice selection request message carries the dynamic feature information. Exemplarily, the AMF uses the feature information collected by the AMF and the collected feature information sent by each network element as the dynamic feature information carried in the slice selection request. After the AMF collects the dynamic feature information, it waits for the terminal to initiate a session establishment request message (or referred to as a slice selection request) for the service again.

And S509, selecting a network slice for the service of the terminal by the NSSF.

Optionally, the NSSF acquires a mapping relationship between the dynamic feature information and the network slice, and the NSSF may acquire, according to the mapping relationship, the network slice corresponding to the dynamic feature information in the slice selection request as the network slice selected for the service of the terminal. The specific mapping manner is not limited in the embodiment of the present application, and for example, the mapping may be in a list form or in a function form.

Illustratively, after receiving the dynamic feature information sent by the AMF, the NSSF selects a network slice having a corresponding relationship with the dynamic feature information according to the mapping relationship, where the selected network slice is a suitable network slice selected by the service of the terminal.

The NSSF selects a network slice having a correspondence relationship with the dynamic characteristic information, and may be implemented in the following manner.

Since the dynamic profile sent by the AMF may contain a variety of profiles, there may be several possible situations:

the mapping relationship between the dynamic feature information acquired by the NSSF and the network slice is assumed as follows: a dynamic profile corresponds to a network slice, then:

if the dynamic characteristic information contains one kind of dynamic characteristic information, the NSSF selects a network slice which has a corresponding relation with the dynamic characteristic information; or, if the dynamic feature information includes multiple kinds of dynamic feature information, the NSSF selects one of the multiple kinds of dynamic feature information, and selects a network slice having a corresponding relationship with the dynamic feature information, optionally, may select dynamic feature information with higher category priority of the dynamic feature information, and the priority may be specified according to a protocol or configured according to a network.

For example, the NSSF determines that the location change frequency of the terminal changes slowly (if the location change frequency does not change within one month) according to the location change frequency of the terminal in the dynamic feature information, and selects a network slice with a slice type of mliot. Specifically, an mliot-type network slice with a light load may be selected according to the load distribution, or one mliot-type network slice may be selected according to a round-robin manner.

The mapping relationship between the dynamic feature information acquired by the NSSF and the network slice is assumed as follows: the combination of the multiple kinds of feature information corresponds to one network slice, and then:

if the dynamic characteristic information includes multiple kinds of characteristic information, the NSSF may select a network slice corresponding to a combination of the multiple kinds of characteristic information.

For example, the NSSF obtains the packet length of the service between 50 to 300bytes according to the characteristic information of the average packet length of the service of the terminal and the two characteristic information of the frequency of the session of the service initiated by the terminal, and selects the network slice with the slice type of V2X if the frequency of the session of the service initiated by the terminal is 10Hz, and similarly, the network slice with the lighter load of V2X type may be selected according to load distribution, or one network slice with the V2X type may be selected according to a round-robin selection manner.

S510, the NSSF notifies the AMF of the identification information of the selected network slice, and the AMF receives the identification information of the network slice.

Illustratively, the NSSF sends a slice selection response (slice select response) message to the AMF, where the slice selection response message carries identification information for the network slice, for example, the identification information of the network slice may be an identification (i.e., NSI ID) of a network slice instance, and the AMF determines the network slice serving the traffic of the terminal according to the NSI ID.

The flow of collecting characteristic information design of the AMF, the access network equipment, the PCF, the SMF and the UPF is introduced below.

Each network element can collect and count the characteristic information in several different signaling flows, and several related flows are described below, the following several related flows are standard flows, names and sending sequences of messages of the flows can refer to the existing standard flows, and the method for selecting the network slice is realized by carrying information or collecting information in the messages in the existing standard flows. Specifically, the classification according to the three categories of the handover feature, the location feature, and the service information is taken as an example for introduction, and the described contents such as the flow or the feature information are applicable to other classification forms.

In fig. 6 to 9, the feature information filled in the feature information record table by the network element is outlined by a black bold frame, for example, the base station in fig. 6 fills the handover feature information, and the AMF fills the paging frequency and location feature information.

As shown in fig. 6, in the registration procedure, the AMF may collect and record a location change frequency of the terminal and a frequency of a paging request initiated by the AMF, and the access network device (i.e., the base station) may collect and record handover feature information of the terminal, including a movement speed of the terminal and handover history information of the terminal. The registration process includes an initial registration process and/or a repeated registration process. The registration procedure may refer to the description of the registration procedure in the existing 3GPP TS23.502 standard.

As shown in fig. 7, in the PDU session establishment procedure, the SMF collects and records for each service: the frequency of the network side initiating the paging request, the frequency of the terminal initiating the session of the service, the QoS negotiation frequency of the service of the terminal, and the QoS negotiation result of the terminal service. The PCF records the charging policy. The PDU session establishment procedure may refer to the description of the PDU session establishment procedure in the existing 3GPP TS23.502 standard.

As shown in fig. 8a, the network element records feature information in some signaling flows, for example, a service request (service request) flow, a handover (handover) flow, and a PDU session modification (PDU session modification) flow. The signaling flows mentioned above may refer to the description of the signaling flows in the existing 3GPP TS23.502 standard. Specifically, in these signaling flows, the access network device (i.e., base station) collects and records the movement speed of the terminal and the switching history information of the terminal; the AMF acquires and records the position change frequency of the terminal; SMF collects and records: the frequency of a network side initiating a paging request, the frequency of a terminal initiating a service session, the QoS negotiation frequency of the service of the terminal and the QoS negotiation result of the service of the terminal; the PCF collects and records the charging strategy. For example, as shown in fig. 8b, the AMF acquires the location change frequency of the terminal in the handover procedure, specifically, the AMF receives a PDU session update context Response (Nsmf _ PDU _ update smcontext Response) message from the SMF and sends a Path Switch Request acknowledgement (N2Path Switch Request Ack) message to the access network device, and after receiving the PDU session update context Response message from the SMF and before sending the Path Switch Request acknowledgement message to the access network device, the AMF collects and records the location information of the terminal, and determines the location change frequency of the terminal according to the location information of the terminal.

As shown in fig. 9, the network element records feature information in the user plane flow, for example, the PCF collects and counts the charging policy in the user plane flow, and the UPF collects and counts the average packet length of the service of the terminal and the packet arrival time interval of the service of the terminal in the user plane flow.

How the NSSF obtains the mapping relationship between the dynamic feature information and the network slice (which may be simply referred to as mapping relationship) is described below.

In a possible implementation manner, the NSSF learns historical data, the historical data includes a network slice to which the historical service is correctly accessed and feature information of the historical service, and a mapping relationship is obtained by learning the historical data.

For example, as shown in fig. 10, the terminal has a capability of reporting NSSAI, and the NSSF accesses a network slice for the service of the terminal according to the NSSAI reported by the terminal. The NSSF triggers the dynamic feature information of the network element acquisition terminals in the network slices, for example, the NSSF sends a notification message to the AMF in the network slices, and the AMF notifies each network element to acquire the feature information. Two network slices, denoted by slice X and slice Y, are shown in fig. 10. The specific notification and collection process can refer to the related contents described above, and will not be described herein again. The AMF in each network slice collects the collected characteristic information to obtain dynamic characteristic information, and reports the corresponding relation (or mapping relation) between the dynamic characteristic information and the network slice to the NSSF, and the NSSF obtains the mapping relation between the dynamic characteristic information and the network slice.

In another possible implementation manner, as shown in fig. 11, when the NSSMF designs a network slice template, dynamic feature information corresponding to a network slice is configured in the network slice template, and when the NSSMF deploys a network slice, the NSSMF analyzes a mapping relationship in the network slice template and notifies the NSSF of the mapping relationship. An example of a possible network slice template is shown in fig. 12, where the slice type is eMBB, the slice instance number is 001, and the corresponding dynamic feature information includes: the originating service frequency is 10s, the average packet length is 500bytes, and the sending packet frequency is 1s, and may also include other characteristic information.

In another possible implementation, as shown in fig. 13, an operation management plane (OM) locally configures a mapping relationship between the dynamic feature information and the network slice to the NSSF, and the NSSF locally maintains the mapping relationship.

As shown in fig. 14, an embodiment of the present application further provides a method for selecting a network slice, where the network slice is selected by a third-party application server, as described below.

S1401, the AMF sends a slice selection request to the NSSF, and the NSSF receives the slice selection request sent by the AMF.

Wherein, the slice selection request carries the dynamic characteristic information of the terminal. The dynamic feature information may be obtained by the AMF, and the obtaining method may refer to S501 to S506 in fig. 5, which is not described herein again.

S1402, the NSSF sends the dynamic feature information received in S1401 to the third party application server, and the third party application server receives the dynamic feature information sent by the NSSF.

Wherein, the IP address of the third party application server can be statically configured on the NSSF.

And S1403, the third-party application server selects a network slice for the service of the terminal according to the slice selection strategy and the received dynamic characteristic information.

The slice selection policy may be statically configured on the third-party application server, or may be dynamically configured to the third-party application server, without limitation.

S1404, the third party application server sends the identification information of the selected network slice to the NSSF, and the NSSF receives the identification information of the network slice sent by the third party application server.

The identifier information of the network slice may refer to the related description in the foregoing embodiments, and is not described again.

S1405, the NSSF transmits the identification information of the network slice to the AMF, and the AMF receives the identification information of the network slice transmitted by the NSSF.

The description of this step can be referred to S510.

In addition, by the network slice selection method, different network slices can be selected for different services, and when the terminal accesses a plurality of services, the appropriate network slices can be respectively selected for the plurality of services, in a word, network performance required by the services can be guaranteed, network resource utilization rate can be improved, user experience on the services can be improved, and commercial value of a user can be enhanced.

In another possible design, the operation of selecting a network slice in the embodiment of the present application may also be performed by NWDAF, and in this application scenario, as shown in fig. 15, one possible implementation manner is as follows. For the following detailed operations of the method, reference may be made to the description of the network slice selection method described in the above embodiment, and repeated descriptions are omitted.

S1501 to S1502 are as described in S501 to S502.

S1503, the AMF sends a request message to the NWDAF, and the NWDAF receives the request message sent by the AMF.

The request message carries identification information of the terminal, for example, a user permanent identifier (SUPI) or an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI), and is configured to query the NWDAF for information of a network slice corresponding to the identification information of the terminal. The information of the network slice may refer to identification information of the network slice serving the service of the terminal, or may refer to information for assisting in selecting the network slice. Based on this, the AMF may query the NWDAF for information of a network slice accessed for a service of the terminal through the identification information of the terminal, or query the NWDAF for information for assisting in selecting the network slice, where the information for assisting in selecting the network slice may be NSSAI corresponding to the identification information of the terminal.

And S1504, the NWDAF determines that the information of the network slice corresponding to the identification information of the terminal does not exist according to the request message, and triggers the AMF to acquire the dynamic characteristic information of the terminal.

The interpretation of the information of the network slice is as described in S1503.

S1505-S1507 are the same as S504-S506. It should be noted that the PCF may have a communication interface with the NWDAF, and in S1505 to S1507, the NWDAF may directly transmit a notification message for collecting the dynamic feature information to the PCF, or the PCF may directly return the collected dynamic feature information to the NWDAF.

S1508, the AMF sends the dynamic characteristic information to the NWDAF, and the NWDAF receives the dynamic characteristic information sent by the AMF.

S1509 is the same as S507.

S1510, the AMF sends a slice selection request message to the NSSF, and the NSSF receives the slice selection request message sent by the AMF.

Optionally, the slice selection request message carries the identification information of the terminal, and may also carry the dynamic feature information.

S1511, the NSSF transmits a slice selection request message to the NWDAF, and the NWDAF receives the slice selection request message transmitted by the NSSF.

And S1512, the NWDAF selects a network slice for the service of the terminal according to the received slice selection request message.

Optionally, the NWDAF selects a network slice for the service of the terminal according to the dynamic feature information carried in the slice selection request message, or the NWDAF may also determine the obtained dynamic feature information of the terminal according to the identification information of the terminal carried in the slice selection request message, and select a network slice for the service of the terminal according to the dynamic feature information of the terminal.

Specifically, in this step, the method for selecting a network slice for the service of the terminal by the NWDAF may refer to the method for selecting a network slice for the service of the terminal by the NSSF in S409, and repeated details are not repeated. Similarly, the method for the NWDAF to obtain the mapping relationship between the dynamic feature information and the network slice may also refer to the operation of the NSSF, and the NWDAF may refer to the operation method of the NSSF, which has a similar principle and is not repeated here. It is understood that the operation of NSSF selecting network slices is replaced by NWDAF.

S1513, the NWDAF sends the identification information of the selected network slice to the NSSF, and the NSSF receives the identification information of the network slice sent by the NWDAF.

S1514 is the same as S510.

Similarly, as in the method described in fig. 14, the NWDAF may also open the function of network slice selection to the third-party application server, that is, in conjunction with the flow of fig. 15, after receiving the dynamic feature information, the NWDAF sends the dynamic feature information to the third-party application server, and the third-party application server selects a network slice according to a local policy and returns the network slice to the NWDAF.

Through the network slice selection method provided in fig. 15, in the case that the terminal has the NSSAI message for reporting, a suitable network slice can be selected for the service of the terminal according to the dynamic characteristic information of the terminal, and the scheme selects the network slice without depending on some static information acquired by the network side, but selects the network slice according to the dynamic characteristic information, and can be adaptively changed according to the service change of the terminal, so that the method has flexibility. According to the scheme, the NWDAF is introduced to realize data collection and summary analysis, and decoupling of a software architecture is easier.

Based on the same inventive concept of the above method embodiment, as shown in fig. 16, an embodiment of the present application further provides a network slice selecting apparatus 1600, which may be an AMF, and the apparatus 1600 may perform the operations performed by the method embodiment to provide the AMF. The apparatus 1600 includes a transmitting unit 1601 and a receiving unit 1602, and optionally, a processing unit 1603.

Wherein, the transmitting unit 1601 is configured to transmit a slice selection request to a network slice selection function NSSF.

A receiving unit 1602, configured to receive identification information of a network slice from the NSSF, where the slice selection request is used to request to select a network slice for a service of a terminal, and the slice selection request carries dynamic feature information of the terminal, where the dynamic feature information is used to select the network slice. Under the condition that the terminal has the NSSAI message, a proper network slice can be selected for the service of the terminal according to the dynamic characteristic information of the terminal, and the scheme does not depend on some static information acquired by the network side to select the network slice, but selects the network slice according to the dynamic characteristic information, can be adaptively changed along with the service change of the terminal, and has flexibility. In addition, by the network slice selection method, different network slices can be selected for different services, and when the terminal accesses a plurality of services, appropriate network slices can be selected for the services respectively.

Optionally, before sending the slice selection request to the NSSF, the processing unit 1603 is configured to obtain dynamic feature information.

Optionally, before sending the slice selection request to the NSSF, the sending unit 1601 is further configured to send an inquiry request message to the network data analysis function NWDAF, where the inquiry request message includes identification information of a terminal, and the inquiry request message is used to request to inquire information of a network slice corresponding to the identification information of the terminal; the receiving unit 1602 is further configured to receive a response message of the query request message from the NWDAF, where the response message is used to indicate that the result of the query is a failure; in this scenario, the dynamic feature information may be acquired according to the response message. The data collection and summary analysis is realized by introducing the NWDAF, so that the decoupling of a software architecture is easier.

Optionally, the dynamic feature information includes at least one of the following: signaling plane feature information, data plane feature information, and charging events.

Optionally, the dynamic feature information includes at least one of the following: handover characteristics, location characteristics and traffic information.

Optionally, the dynamic feature information includes at least one of the following: the method comprises the following steps that the movement speed of a terminal, the switching history information of the terminal, the position change frequency of the terminal, the frequency of a session of a service initiated by the terminal, the frequency of a paging request initiated by an AMF (advanced metering function) of the terminal, the QoS (quality of service) negotiation frequency of the service of the terminal, the QoS negotiation result of the service of the terminal, the average data packet length of the service of the terminal, the data packet arrival time interval of the service of the terminal and the charging strategy of the service of the terminal are obtained; wherein the paging request is for paging the terminal. The network slice is selected according to the dynamic characteristic information, can be adaptively changed along with the service change of the terminal, and has flexibility, so that the selected network slice can be more adaptive to the service characteristic of the terminal.

Optionally, the dynamic feature information is obtained by any one or more of the following methods: acquiring the position change frequency of a terminal and/or the frequency of initiating a paging request by an AMF (advanced mobile radio frame) through the terminal; or, the AMF acquires the movement speed of the terminal and/or the switching history information of the terminal from the access network equipment; or, the AMF obtains at least one of a frequency of a session for initiating a service, a QoS negotiation frequency of the service of the terminal, and a QoS negotiation result of the service of the terminal from a Session Management Function (SMF); or, the AMF obtains the average data packet length of the service and/or the data packet arrival time interval of the service from the user plane function UPF; or, the AMF obtains the charging policy of the service from the policy control function PCF. A method for specifically acquiring dynamic characteristic information is provided.

Alternatively, the processing unit 1603 may obtain the position change frequency of the terminal by the following method: and receiving the position information of the terminal, and determining the position change frequency of the terminal according to the position information of the terminal. The position information of the terminal can be acquired by adopting the flow in the existing 3GPP TS23.502 standard, and the dynamic characteristic information of the position change frequency of the terminal is further acquired without introducing a new signaling flow.

Optionally, the frequency of the AMF initiating the paging request may be obtained by the following method: counting the times of initiating the paging request to the terminal within the set time, and determining the frequency of initiating the paging request by the AMF according to the counted times of initiating the paging request to the terminal within the set time.

Optionally, the manner of receiving the location information of the terminal by the receiving unit 1602 may be as follows: receiving a first N2message from the access network equipment in a registration management process, wherein the first N2message carries the position information of the terminal; and/or receiving a second N2message from the access network equipment in the service request process, wherein the second N2message carries the position information of the terminal. The position information of the terminal can be acquired by adopting the flow in the existing 3GPP TS23.502 standard, and the dynamic characteristic information of the position change frequency of the terminal is further acquired without introducing a new signaling flow.

Optionally, the processing unit 1603 is further configured to record the dynamic feature information in a service context of the terminal.

Based on the same inventive concept of the above method embodiment, as shown in fig. 17, an embodiment of the present application further provides a network slice selecting apparatus 1700, where the apparatus may be an NSSF, and the apparatus 1700 may perform operations performed by the NSSF provided by the above method embodiment. The apparatus 1700 includes a transmitting unit 1701 and a receiving unit 1702, and optionally further includes a processing unit 1703. Wherein:

a receiving unit 1702 for receiving a slice selection request from an access and mobility management function, AMF;

a sending unit 1701, configured to send, to the AMF, identification information of the network slice, where the slice selection request is used to request to select a network slice for a service of a terminal, and the slice selection request carries dynamic feature information of the terminal, where the dynamic feature information is used to select the network slice.

Under the condition that the terminal has the NSSAI message, a proper network slice can be selected for the service of the terminal according to the dynamic characteristic information of the terminal, and the scheme does not depend on some static information acquired by the network side to select the network slice, but selects the network slice according to the dynamic characteristic information, can be adaptively changed along with the service change of the terminal, and has flexibility. In addition, by the network slice selection method, different network slices can be selected for different services, and when the terminal accesses a plurality of services, appropriate network slices can be selected for the services respectively.

Optionally, the sending unit 1701 is further configured to, before sending the identification information of the network slice to the AMF, send the dynamic feature information to a third-party application server, and receive the identification information of the network slice from the third-party application server; alternatively, the dynamic profile information is transmitted to a network data analysis function NWDAF and the identification information of the network slice is received from the NWDAF. The data collection and summary analysis is realized by introducing the NWDAF, so that the decoupling of a software architecture is easier. It may be achieved that the network slice selection function is opened to third party applications.

Optionally, before sending the identification information of the network slice to the AMF, the processing unit 1703 is configured to select the network slice according to the slice selection request.

Optionally, the processing unit 1703 is configured to select the network slice according to the dynamic feature information of the terminal and a mapping relationship between the dynamic feature information and the network slice.

Optionally, the processing unit 1703 is configured to obtain the mapping relationship according to any one of the following manners: generating the mapping relation according to the network slice and the dynamic characteristic information of the terminal served by the network slice; or, receiving the mapping relationship from the sub-network slice management function NSSMF; alternatively, the mapping relationship is received from the operation management plane device. Various ways of obtaining the mapping relationships are provided.

Optionally, the dynamic feature information includes at least one of the following: the terminal movement speed, the terminal switching history information, the terminal location change frequency, the terminal session initiation frequency, the AMF paging request initiation frequency, the terminal QoS negotiation result, the terminal service average data packet length, the terminal service data packet arrival time interval, and the terminal service charging policy; wherein the paging request is for paging the terminal. The network slice is selected according to the dynamic characteristic information, can be adaptively changed along with the service change of the terminal, and has flexibility, so that the selected network slice can be more adaptive to the service characteristic of the terminal.

Based on the same inventive concept of the above method embodiment, as shown in fig. 18, an embodiment of the present application further provides a network slice selecting apparatus 1800, which may be an NWDAF, and the apparatus 1800 may perform the operations performed by the method embodiment to provide the NWDAF. The apparatus 1800 comprises a receiving unit 1801 and a processing unit 1802. Optionally, a sending unit 1803 is further included.

A receiving unit 1801, configured to receive dynamic characteristic information of a terminal;

and selecting a network slice for the service of the terminal according to the dynamic characteristic information.

Optionally, the processing unit 1802 is configured to select the network slice according to the dynamic feature information and a mapping relationship between the dynamic feature information and the network slice.

Optionally, the processing unit 1802 is configured to obtain the mapping relationship according to any one of the following manners: generating the mapping relation according to the network slice and the dynamic characteristic information of the terminal served by the network slice; or, receiving the mapping relationship from the sub-network slice management function NSSMF; alternatively, the mapping relationship is received from the operation management plane device. Various ways of obtaining the mapping relationships are provided.

Optionally, the dynamic feature information includes at least one of the following: the mobile terminal comprises a motion speed of the terminal, switching history information of the terminal, a location change frequency of the terminal, a frequency of a session of the service initiated by the terminal, a frequency of a paging request initiated by the AMF, a QoS negotiation frequency of the service of the terminal, a QoS negotiation result of the service of the terminal, an average packet length of the service of the terminal, a packet arrival time interval of the service of the terminal, and a charging policy of the service of the terminal; wherein the paging request is for paging the terminal. The network slice is selected according to the dynamic characteristic information, can be adaptively changed along with the service change of the terminal, and has flexibility, so that the selected network slice can be more adaptive to the service characteristic of the terminal.

Optionally, after receiving the dynamic feature information of the terminal, the sending unit 1803 is configured to send the dynamic feature information of the terminal to the third-party application, and the receiving unit 1801 is further configured to receive the identifier information of the network slice, which is returned by the third-party application. The dynamic characteristic information is used for the third-party application to select the network slice for the service of the terminal according to the locally configured slice selection policy, so that the network slice selection function can be opened to the third-party application.

Based on the same inventive concept of the above method embodiment, as shown in fig. 19, an embodiment of the present application further provides a network slice selecting apparatus 1900, where the apparatus may be an access network device, and the apparatus 1900 may perform the operations performed by the access network device provided in the above method embodiment. The apparatus 1900 includes a receiving unit 1901, a processing unit 1902, and optionally, a transmitting unit 1903. Wherein:

a receiving unit 1901, configured to receive a notification message from an access and mobility management function AMF;

the processing unit 1902 is configured to obtain dynamic feature information of the terminal according to the notification message, where the dynamic feature information is used to select a network slice for a service of the terminal.

A sending unit 1903, configured to send the dynamic feature information of the terminal to the AMF.

The method comprises the steps that dynamic characteristic information of a terminal is acquired through access network equipment, the dynamic characteristic information of the terminal can be reported to an AMF (advanced multi-function framework) and further reported to NSSF (non-uniform resource locator) or NWDAF (non-uniform resource locator) through the AMF, under the condition that the terminal has reported NSSAI (non-uniform resource locator) information, a proper network slice can be selected for the service of the terminal according to the dynamic characteristic information of the terminal, the scheme does not depend on some static information acquired by a network side to select the network slice, the network slice is selected according to the dynamic characteristic information, the adaptive change can be achieved along with the service change of the terminal, and the flexibility. In addition, by the network slice selection method, different network slices can be selected for different services, and when the terminal accesses a plurality of services, appropriate network slices can be selected for the services respectively.

Optionally, the processing unit 1902 is configured to obtain a motion speed of the terminal and/or handover history information of the terminal. This enables selection of a network slice associated with the speed of movement of the terminal and/or handover history information for the terminal.

Optionally, the processing unit 1902 is configured to obtain a motion speed of the terminal and/or handover history information of the terminal according to the following methods: counting the times of switching among the cells of the terminal within a set time according to the received switching request message, and acquiring the movement speed of the terminal according to the times of switching among the cells of the terminal within the set time; and according to the received switching request message, counting the time interval of the terminal for switching between the cells every two times, and according to the time interval of the terminal for switching between the cells every two times, obtaining the switching history information of the terminal. The dynamic characteristic information of the movement speed of the terminal and/or the switching history information of the terminal can be obtained by adopting the flow in the existing 3GPP TS23.502 standard, and a new signaling flow is not required to be introduced.

Based on the same inventive concept of the above method embodiment, as shown in fig. 20, the present application further provides a network slice selecting apparatus 2000, which may be an AMF, and the apparatus 2000 may perform the operations performed by the method embodiment to provide the AMF. The apparatus 2000 includes a receiving unit 2001 and a processing unit 2002, and optionally further includes a sending unit 2003. Wherein:

a receiving unit 2001 for receiving a notification message from an access and mobility management function AMF;

the processing unit 2002 is configured to obtain dynamic feature information of the terminal according to the notification message, where the dynamic feature information is used to select a network slice for the service of the terminal.

A sending unit 2003, configured to send the dynamic characteristic information of the terminal to the AMF.

The method comprises the steps that the SMF acquires dynamic characteristic information of the terminal, the dynamic characteristic information of the terminal can be reported to the AMF, the AMF further reports the dynamic characteristic information to NSSF or NWDAF, under the condition that the terminal reports NSSAI information, a proper network slice can be selected for the service of the terminal according to the dynamic characteristic information of the terminal, the scheme does not depend on some static information acquired by a network side to select the network slice, the network slice is selected according to the dynamic characteristic information, the method can be adaptively changed along with the service change of the terminal, and flexibility is achieved. In addition, by the network slice selection method, different network slices can be selected for different services, and when the terminal accesses a plurality of services, appropriate network slices can be selected for the services respectively.

Optionally, the processing unit 2002 is configured to obtain, according to the notification message, at least one of a frequency of a session in which the terminal initiates the service, a QoS negotiation frequency of the service, and a QoS negotiation result of the service of the terminal.

Optionally, the processing unit 2002 is configured to obtain a frequency of a session in which the terminal initiates the service, by the following method: counting the number of times of receiving a protocol data unit session update context request from an access and mobility management function (AMF) in a service request flow within a set time, wherein the SMF determines the frequency of the session of the service initiated by the terminal according to the number of times, or counting the number of times of receiving a PDU session establishment context request from the AMF in the session management flow within the set time, and the SMF determines the frequency of the session of the service initiated by the terminal according to the number of times.

Optionally, the processing unit 2002 is configured to obtain a QoS negotiation frequency of the service by the following method: receiving signing data from a Unified Data Management (UDM) in a Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session establishment process, wherein the signing data carries QoS quality description, and acquiring QoS negotiation frequency of the service according to the QoS quality description; or, the SMF receives the QoS information of the terminal from the AMF, and acquires the QoS negotiation frequency of the service according to the QoS information.

Optionally, the processing unit 2002 is configured to obtain a QoS negotiation result of the service by the following method: receiving signing data from a Unified Data Management (UDM) in a Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session establishment flow, wherein the signing data carries QoS quality description, and acquiring a QoS negotiation result of the service according to the QoS quality description; or, the SMF receives the QoS information of the terminal from the AMF, and obtains the QoS negotiation result of the service according to the QoS information.

The flow in the existing 3GPP TS23.502 standard can be used to obtain the QoS negotiation frequency of the service and the dynamic feature information of the QoS negotiation result of the service, without introducing a new signaling flow.

Based on the same inventive concept of the above method embodiment, as shown in fig. 21, an embodiment of the present application further provides a network slice selecting apparatus 2100, which may be an access network device, and the apparatus 2100 may perform the operations performed by the access network device provided in the above method embodiment. The apparatus 2100 comprises a receiving unit 2101 and a processing unit 2102 and, optionally, a transmitting unit 2103. Wherein:

a receiving unit 2101 is configured to receive the notification message.

A processing unit 2102, configured to obtain dynamic feature information of the terminal according to the notification message, where the dynamic feature information is used to select a network slice for a service of the terminal.

The dynamic characteristic information of the terminal is acquired through the UPF, the dynamic characteristic information of the terminal can be reported to the AMF, and further reported to the NSSF or the NWDAF through the AMF, under the condition that the terminal has the reported NSSAI message, a proper network slice can be selected for the service of the terminal according to the dynamic characteristic information of the terminal, and the scheme does not depend on some static information acquired by a network side to select the network slice, but selects the network slice according to the dynamic characteristic information, can be adaptively changed along with the service change of the terminal, and has flexibility. In addition, by the network slice selection method, different network slices can be selected for different services, and when the terminal accesses a plurality of services, appropriate network slices can be selected for the services respectively.

Optionally, the processing unit 2102 is configured to obtain, according to the notification message, an average packet length of the service and a packet arrival time interval of the service.

Optionally, the processing unit 2102 is configured to obtain an average packet length of the service by: and receiving the N3 message from the access network equipment, and counting the average data packet length of the service and the data packet arrival time interval of the service according to the data packets of the service in the N3 message.

Optionally, the processing unit 2102 is configured to obtain the packet arrival time interval of the service by: and receiving the N3 message from the access network equipment, and counting the arrival time interval of the data packet of the service according to the data packet of the service in the N3 message.

Optionally, the processing unit 2102 is configured to receive an announcement message from the session management function SMF, where the announcement message is from the access and mobility management function AMF.

Based on the same inventive concept of the foregoing method embodiment, as shown in fig. 22, an embodiment of the present application further provides a network slice selecting apparatus 2200, which may be an access network device, and the apparatus 2200 may perform the operations performed by the access network device provided in the foregoing method embodiment. The apparatus 2200 includes a receiving unit 2201 and a processing unit 2202, and optionally further includes a transmitting unit 2203. Wherein:

a receiving unit 2201 for receiving a notification message from the access and mobility management function AMF.

A processing unit 2202, configured to obtain dynamic feature information of the terminal according to the notification message, where the dynamic feature information is used to select a network slice for a service of the terminal.

A sending unit 2203, configured to send the dynamic characteristic information of the terminal to the AMF.

The method comprises the steps that the PCF acquires dynamic characteristic information of a terminal, the dynamic characteristic information of the terminal can be reported to the AMF, the AMF further reports the dynamic characteristic information to NSSF or NWDAF, under the condition that the terminal reports NSSAI information, a proper network slice can be selected for service of the terminal according to the dynamic characteristic information of the terminal, the scheme does not depend on some static information acquired by a network side to select the network slice, the network slice is selected according to the dynamic characteristic information, the method can be adaptively changed along with service change of the terminal, and flexibility is achieved. In addition, by the network slice selection method, different network slices can be selected for different services, and when the terminal accesses a plurality of services, appropriate network slices can be selected for the services respectively.

Optionally, the processing unit 2202 is configured to obtain a charging policy of the service according to the notification message.

Optionally, the processing unit 2202 is configured to receive a policy control acquisition operation message from the session management function SMF in the PDU session establishment procedure, and acquire the charging policy of the service from the policy control acquisition operation message. The dynamic characteristic information of the charging policy of the service can be acquired by adopting the flow in the existing 3GPP TS23.502 standard, and a new signaling flow is not required to be introduced.

Based on the same inventive concept as that of the above-mentioned method embodiment, as shown in fig. 23, an embodiment of the present application further provides a network slice selecting apparatus 2300, where the communication apparatus 2300 is configured to implement operations performed by an AMF, an NSSF, an NWDAF, an access network device, an SMF, a UPF, or a PCF in the communication method provided by the above-mentioned embodiment, for a brief description, a schematic diagram of possible entity apparatuses of each network element described above is illustrated by referring to fig. 23, and it can be understood that fig. 23 is only a schematic diagram, and it may be applied to various network elements described above. The communication device 2300 includes: a transceiver 2301, a processor 2302, and a memory 2303. The processor 2302 is used for calling a set of programs, which when executed, cause the processor 2302 to perform the operations performed by the terminal in one of the communication methods provided by the above-described embodiments. The memory 2303 is used to store programs executed by the processor 2302. The above-described functional blocks in fig. 16 to 22, the transmitting unit and the receiving unit may be implemented by the processor 2302, and the processing unit may be implemented by the processor 2302.

Processor 2302 may be a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a Network Processor (NP), or a combination of a CPU and an NP.

The processor 2302 may further include a hardware chip. The hardware chip may be an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a Programmable Logic Device (PLD), or a combination thereof. The PLD may be a Complex Programmable Logic Device (CPLD), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), a General Array Logic (GAL), or any combination thereof.

The memory 2303 may include volatile memory (volatile memory), such as random-access memory (RAM); the memory 2303 may also include a non-volatile memory (non-volatile memory), such as a flash memory (flash memory), a Hard Disk Drive (HDD) or a solid-state drive (SSD); the memory 2303 may also include a combination of the above types of memory.

In the methods provided in the above embodiments of the present application, some or all of the operations and functions performed by the described network elements or devices may be implemented by chips or integrated circuits.

In order to implement the functions of the apparatus described in fig. 16 to fig. 23, an embodiment of the present application further provides a chip, which includes a processor and is configured to support the apparatus to implement the functions related to the method provided in the foregoing embodiment. In one possible design, the chip is connected to or includes a memory for storing the necessary program instructions and data for the device.

The embodiment of the application provides a computer storage medium, which stores a computer program, wherein the computer program comprises instructions for executing the method provided by the embodiment.

The present application provides a computer program product containing instructions, which when run on a computer, causes the computer to execute the method provided by the above embodiments.

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, embodiments of the present application may be provided as a method, system, or computer program product. Accordingly, the present application may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Furthermore, the present application may take the form of a computer program product embodied on one or more computer-usable storage media (including, but not limited to, disk storage, CD-ROM, optical storage, and the like) having computer-usable program code embodied therein.

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

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

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

While the preferred embodiments of the present application have been described, additional variations and modifications in those embodiments may occur to those skilled in the art once they learn of the basic inventive concepts. Therefore, it is intended that the appended claims be interpreted as including preferred embodiments and all alterations and modifications as fall within the scope of the application.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made in the embodiments of the present application without departing from the spirit and scope of the embodiments of the present application. Thus, if such modifications and variations of the embodiments of the present application fall within the scope of the claims of the present application and their equivalents, the present application is also intended to encompass such modifications and variations.

Claims

1. A method for network slice selection, comprising:

an access and mobility management function (AMF) sends a slice selection request to a Network Slice Selection Function (NSSF), wherein the slice selection request is used for requesting to select a network slice for a service of a terminal, the slice selection request carries dynamic characteristic information of the terminal, and the dynamic characteristic information is used for selecting the network slice; the dynamic characteristic information includes at least one of: the motion speed of the terminal, the switching history information of the terminal, the location change frequency of the terminal, the frequency of the session of the service initiated by the terminal, the frequency of the paging request initiated by the AMF, the QoS negotiation frequency of the service, the QoS negotiation result of the service, the average packet length of the service, the packet arrival time interval of the service, and the charging strategy of the service; wherein the paging request is for paging the terminal;

the AMF receives identification information of the network slice from the NSSF.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein prior to the AMF sending a slice selection request to the NSSF, further comprising:

the AMF acquires the dynamic characteristic information.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein prior to the AMF sending a slice selection request to the NSSF, further comprising:

the AMF sends a query request message to a network data analysis function (NWDAF), wherein the query request message contains identification information of the terminal, and the query request message is used for requesting to query information of a network slice corresponding to the identification information of the terminal;

the AMF receives a response message of the query request message from the NWDAF, wherein the response message is used for indicating that the query result is failure;

the AMF acquires the dynamic characteristic information, including: and the AMF acquires the dynamic characteristic information according to the response message.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the AMF obtaining the dynamic characteristics information comprises:

the AMF acquires the location change frequency of the terminal and/or the frequency of the AMF initiating the paging request; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

the AMF acquires the movement speed of the terminal and/or the switching history information of the terminal from access network equipment; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

the AMF acquires at least one of the frequency of the session of the service initiated by the terminal, the QoS negotiation frequency of the service initiated and the QoS negotiation result of the service from a Session Management Function (SMF); alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

the AMF acquires the average data packet length of the service and/or the data packet arrival time interval of the service from a User Plane Function (UPF); alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

and the AMF acquires the charging strategy of the service from a strategy control function PCF.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the AMF obtaining the location change frequency of the terminal comprises:

and the AMF receives the position information of the terminal and determines the position change frequency of the terminal according to the position information of the terminal.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the AMF acquiring a frequency at which the AMF initiates paging requests comprises:

the AMF counts the times of initiating the paging request to the terminal within the set time, and determines the frequency of initiating the paging request by the AMF according to the counted times of initiating the paging request to the terminal within the set time.

7. The method of claim 5 or 6, wherein the AMF receives the location information of the terminal, comprising:

the AMF receives a first N2message from access network equipment in a registration management process, wherein the first N2message carries the position information of the terminal; or the like, or, alternatively,

and the AMF receives a second N2message from the access network equipment in a service request process, wherein the second N2message carries the position information of the terminal.

8. A method for network slice selection, comprising:

a network slice selection function NSSF receives a slice selection request from an access and mobility management function AMF, wherein the slice selection request is used for requesting to select a network slice for a service of a terminal, the slice selection request carries dynamic characteristic information of the terminal, and the dynamic characteristic information is used for selecting the network slice; the dynamic characteristic information includes at least one of: the motion speed of the terminal, the switching history information of the terminal, the location change frequency of the terminal, the frequency of the session of the service initiated by the terminal, the frequency of the paging request initiated by the AMF, the QoS negotiation frequency of the service, the QoS negotiation result of the service, the average packet length of the service, the packet arrival time interval of the service, and the charging strategy of the service; wherein the paging request is for paging the terminal;

and the NSSF sends the identification information of the network slice to the AMF.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein before the NSSF sends the AMF identification information for the network slice, further comprising:

the NSSF sends the dynamic characteristic information to a third-party application server and receives the identification information of the network slice from the third-party application server; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

the NSSF sends the dynamic characteristic information to a network data analysis function (NWDAF) and receives identification information of the network slice from the NWDAF.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein before the NSSF sends the AMF identification information for the network slice, further comprising:

the NSSF selects the network slice according to the slice selection request.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the NSSF selects the network slice according to the slice selection request, comprising:

and the NSSF selects the network slice according to the dynamic characteristic information of the terminal and the mapping relation between the dynamic characteristic information and the network slice.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

the NSSF generates the mapping relation according to the network slice and the dynamic characteristic information of the terminal served by the network slice; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

the NSSF receiving the mapping from a sub-network slice management function NSSMF; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

the NSSF receives the mapping relation from the operation management plane equipment.

13. A method for network slice selection, comprising:

a network data analysis function NWDAF receives dynamic characteristic information of a terminal; the dynamic characteristic information includes at least one of: the motion speed of the terminal, the switching history information of the terminal, the position change frequency of the terminal, the frequency of a session of a service initiated by the terminal, the frequency of a paging request initiated by an AMF (advanced metering function), the QoS (quality of service) negotiation frequency of the service, the QoS negotiation result of the service, the average data packet length of the service, the data packet arrival time interval of the service and the charging strategy of the service; wherein the paging request is for paging the terminal;

and the NWDAF selects a network slice for the service of the terminal according to the dynamic characteristic information.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the NWDAF selecting a network slice for traffic of the terminal based on the dynamic profile information, comprising:

and the NWDAF selects the network slice according to the dynamic characteristic information and the mapping relation between the dynamic characteristic information and the network slice.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

the NWDAF generates the mapping relation according to the network slice and the dynamic characteristic information of the terminal served by the network slice; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

the NWDAF receives the mapping from a sub-network slice management function NSSMF; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

the NWDAF receives the mapping relationship from an operations management plane device.

16. A network slice selection apparatus, comprising:

a processor, coupled to the memory, for invoking a program in the memory and executing the program to implement the method of any one of claims 1-7.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, further comprising:

the memory is used for storing the program called by the processor.

18. A network slice selection apparatus, comprising:

a processor, coupled to the memory, for invoking a program in the memory and executing the program to implement the method of any one of claims 8-12.

19. A network slice selection apparatus, comprising:

a processor, coupled to the memory, for invoking a program in the memory and executing the program to implement the method of any one of claims 13-15.