CN110505653B

CN110505653B - Method, equipment and computer storage medium for controlling service quality

Info

Publication number: CN110505653B
Application number: CN201810475232.0A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 郭雅莉
Original assignee: Telecommunications Science and Technology Research Institute Co Ltd
Current assignee: Datang Mobile Communications Equipment Co Ltd
Priority date: 2018-05-17
Filing date: 2018-05-17
Publication date: 2021-01-22
Anticipated expiration: 2038-05-17
Also published as: WO2019218916A1; CN110505653A

Abstract

The invention discloses a method, equipment and computer storage medium for controlling service quality, which enables AN (AN) to carry out wireless resource scheduling for ensuring the transmission service quality of a data stream and meets the time delay requirement of URLLC (universal resource link control) service data transmission. The method comprises the steps that the SMF receives a policy control and charging PCC rule sent by the PCF, the PCC rule comprises a QoS requirement and a GBR requirement for a service data flow, and the PCC rule also indicates air interface transmission capacity; the SMF binds the service data flow corresponding to the PCC rules with the same QoS requirements to at least one QoS flow according to the QoS requirements, the GBR requirements and the air interface transmission capacity, and the sum of the GBRs of the PCC rules bound to the same QoS flow does not exceed the air interface transmission capacity; the SMF sends control information of at least one QoS flow to the access network AN, and the control information is used for carrying out wireless resource scheduling for guaranteeing the transmission service quality of the data flow for the at least one QoS flow.

Description

Method, equipment and computer storage medium for controlling service quality

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a method, an apparatus, and a computer storage medium for quality of service control.

Background

Referring to fig. 1, a network architecture diagram of a next generation NextGen network system is shown, and a process of determining qos control information based on the network architecture diagram is as follows: a Policy Control Function entity (PCF) sends Policy Control and Charging (PCC) rules at a Service Data Flow (SDF) level to a Session Management Function entity (SMF), where the PCC rules include Quality of Service (QoS) requirements, the SMF binds different PCC rules according to QoS parameters, the PCC rules with the same QoS requirements are bound to the same QoS flow, and assigns a flow identifier (QoS flow ID, QFI) to the bound QoS flow. The SMF sends the bound QoS flow and QFI to AN Access Network (AN), and when receiving a service data flow sent by a User Plane Function (UPF), the AN sends the service data flow to User Equipment (UE) by scheduling air interface resources according to the received QoS flow and QFI and using radio bearers with corresponding service quality, thereby ensuring that the service data obtains the corresponding service quality to meet the delay requirement of the service data. In fig. 1, N1-N4, N7, and N11 are all air interface resources.

The delay requirement of the existing service is generally within the range of 100ms-300ms, and the requirement on air interface resource scheduling is lower. The current NextGen network determines the QoS flow through the above process, and the scheduling of air interface resources to transmit the service data can meet the delay requirement of the service data. And the NextGen network system increases the support of URLLC (Ultra-Reliable and Low Latency Communications) service. The delay requirement of the URLLC service is shorter, generally within the range of 5ms-20ms, which has a higher requirement on air interface resource scheduling, that is, only the air interface resource with transmission capability within the range of 5ms-20ms can implement the URLLC service. In addition, the URLLC service generally has a requirement for Guaranteed Bit Rate (GBR) transmission, and for a data packet with a Bit Rate smaller than the GBR range, a network system must guarantee the QoS requirement of the transmitted data packet, for example, the requirement for transmission delay must be met.

However, if the QoS flow is determined only according to the QoS requirement according to the above procedure, the determined QoS flow may cause that the air interface cannot implement the QoS requirement on the QoS flow, so that the network cannot support the transmission of URLLC service data.

Disclosure of Invention

Embodiments of the present invention provide a method, AN apparatus, and a computer storage medium for quality of service control, so that AN can perform radio resource scheduling for ensuring quality of service of data stream transmission, thereby satisfying a delay requirement of URLLC service data transmission.

In a first aspect, a method for controlling quality of service is provided, the method comprising:

a session management function entity (SMF) receives a Policy Control and Charging (PCC) rule sent by a policy control function entity (PCF), wherein the PCC rule comprises a service quality (QoS) requirement and a Guaranteed Bit Rate (GBR) requirement on a service data flow, and the PCC rule also indicates air interface transmission capacity;

the SMF binds the service data flows corresponding to the PCC rules with the same QoS requirements to at least one QoS flow according to the QoS requirements, the GBR requirements and the air interface transmission capacity, wherein the sum of the GBRs of the PCC rules bound to the same QoS flow does not exceed the air interface transmission capacity;

and the SMF sends control information of the at least one QoS flow to AN access network AN, wherein the control information is used for carrying out wireless resource scheduling for guaranteeing the transmission service quality of the data flow for the at least one QoS flow.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the PCC rule may further indicate AN air interface transmission capability, so that the SMF binds the PCC rule while considering the air interface transmission capability, and thus, the obtained QoS flow considers the air interface transmission capability, so that the AN can perform radio resource scheduling for ensuring the quality of service of data stream transmission for the URLLC service.

Optionally, the QoS requirement includes a 5G network QoS indication 5QI, and the transmission capability of the air interface is a maximum burst data volume MDBV which can be transmitted by the air interface within a specific time window according to the 5QI requirement.

Optionally, the indicating of air interface transmission capability includes:

and indicating air interface transmission capability through the standardized MDBV value or the preset MDBV value pointed by the 5 QI.

Optionally, the MDBV is a preset value of the MDBV, and before the SMF receives the PCC rule sent by the PCF, the method further includes:

and the SMF receives the corresponding relation between the 5QI and the MDBV sent by the PCF.

The three optional modes describe several modes for the PCF to indicate air interface transmission capability in the embodiment of the present invention.

Optionally, the specific time window is a preset transmission delay, or a transmission delay corresponding to the 5QI, or a transmission delay sent by the PCF.

This alternative describes three implementations of a particular time window.

Optionally, the binding, by the SMF, the service data flows corresponding to the PCC rules with the same QoS requirements to at least one QoS flow according to the QoS requirements, the GBR requirements, and the air interface transmission capability includes:

if the data volume corresponding to the specific time window for monitoring the MBDV, which is allocated by the sum of the GBRs of the PCC rules with the same QoS requirement, does not exceed the MBDV, binding the service data flows corresponding to the PCC rules with the same QoS requirement to the same QoS flow;

otherwise, the service data flow corresponding to the PCC rules with the same QoS requirement is bound to a plurality of QoS flows, and the sum of GBRs of the PCC rules of each bound QoS flow does not exceed the air interface transmission capability.

This alternative describes how the SMF implements that the sum of GBRs of PCC rules bound to the same QoS flow does not exceed the air interface transmission capability.

Optionally, the sending, by the SMF, the control information of the at least one QoS flow to the access network AN includes:

the SMF sends the control information of the at least one QoS flow to the AN through AN access and mobility management function (AMF); wherein the control information comprises a 5QI of each QoS flow and a code rate requirement, the 5QI of each QoS flow is a 5QI of a PCC rule bound to the each QoS flow, and the code rate requirement of each QoS flow is a sum of GBRs of the PCC rules bound to the each QoS flow.

This alternative describes how the SMF sends control information for at least one QoS flow to the access network AN.

In a second aspect, a method for quality of service control is provided, the method comprising:

a policy control function entity PCF sends a policy control and charging PCC rule to a session management function entity SMF, wherein the PCC rule comprises a QoS requirement and a guaranteed bit rate GBR requirement for service data flow, and the PCC rule also indicates an air interface transmission capability, so that the SMF binds the service data flow corresponding to the PCC rule with the same QoS requirement to at least one QoS flow according to the QoS requirement, the GBR requirement and the air interface transmission capability, wherein the sum of GBRs of the PCC rules bound to the same QoS flow does not exceed the air interface transmission capability.

Optionally, the indicating of air interface transmission capability includes:

Optionally, the MDBV is a preset value, and before the PCF sends the PCC rule to the SMF, the method further includes:

and the PCF sends the corresponding relation between the 5QI and the MDBV to the SMF.

This alternative describes three implementations of a particular time window.

In a third aspect, a session management function, SMF, is provided, where the SMF includes:

a memory to store instructions;

a processor for reading the instructions in the memory, performing the following processes:

receiving a Policy Control and Charging (PCC) rule sent by a Policy Control Function (PCF) through a transceiver, wherein the PCC rule comprises a service quality (QoS) requirement and a Guaranteed Bit Rate (GBR) requirement on a service data flow, and the PCC rule also indicates air interface transmission capacity;

binding the service data flow corresponding to the PCC rules with the same QoS requirement to at least one QoS flow according to the QoS requirement, the GBR requirement and the air interface transmission capacity, wherein the sum of GBRs of the PCC rules bound to the same QoS flow does not exceed the air interface transmission capacity;

the transceiver is configured to send control information of the at least one QoS flow to AN access network AN, where the control information is used to perform radio resource scheduling for guaranteeing quality of service for data flow transmission for the at least one QoS flow.

Optionally, the processor is specifically configured to:

Optionally, the MDBV is a preset value of the MDBV, and the transceiver is further configured to, before receiving the PCC rule sent by the PCF:

and receiving the corresponding relation between the 5QI and the MDBV sent by the PCF.

Optionally, the processor is specifically configured to:

Optionally, the transceiver is specifically configured to:

sending control information of the at least one QoS flow to the AN through AN access and mobility management function (AMF); wherein the control information comprises a 5QI of each QoS flow and a code rate requirement, the 5QI of each QoS flow is a 5QI of a PCC rule bound to the each QoS flow, and the code rate requirement of each QoS flow is a sum of GBRs of the PCC rules bound to the each QoS flow.

The technical effects of the session management function entity SMF provided in the embodiment of the present invention may refer to the technical effects of the implementation manners of the first aspect, which are not described herein again.

In a fourth aspect, a policy control function PCF is provided, the PCF comprising:

a memory to store instructions;

sending a Policy Control and Charging (PCC) rule to a Session Management Function (SMF) through a transceiver, wherein the PCC rule comprises a quality of service (QoS) requirement and a Guaranteed Bit Rate (GBR) requirement for a service data flow, and the PCC rule further indicates an air interface transmission capability, so that the SMF binds the service data flow corresponding to the PCC rule with the same QoS requirement to at least one QoS flow according to the QoS requirement, the GBR requirement and the air interface transmission capability, wherein the sum of GBRs of the PCC rules bound to the same QoS flow does not exceed the air interface transmission capability.

Optionally, the processor is specifically configured to:

Optionally, the MDBV is a preset value, and before the transceiver sends the PCC rule to the SMF, the transceiver is further configured to:

and sending the corresponding relation between the 5QI and the MDBV to the SMF.

The technical effects of the policy control function entity PCF provided in the embodiment of the present invention can be seen in the technical effects of the implementation manners of the second aspect, which are not described herein again.

In a fifth aspect, a session management function, SMF, is provided, and includes:

a receiving unit, configured to receive a policy control and charging PCC rule sent by a policy control function entity PCF, where the PCC rule includes a requirement for quality of service (QoS) of a service data stream and a requirement for Guaranteed Bit Rate (GBR), and the PCC rule further indicates air interface transmission capability;

a binding unit, configured to bind, according to the QoS requirement, the GBR requirement, and the air interface transmission capability, service data flows corresponding to PCC rules with the same QoS requirement to at least one QoS flow, where a sum of GBRs of PCC rules bound to the same QoS flow does not exceed the air interface transmission capability;

a sending unit, configured to send control information of the at least one QoS flow to AN access network AN, where the control information is used to perform radio resource scheduling for guaranteeing quality of service for data flow transmission for the at least one QoS flow.

In a sixth aspect, a policy control function PCF is provided, the PCF comprising:

the device comprises a storage unit and a charging unit, wherein the storage unit is used for storing Policy Control and Charging (PCC) rules, the PCC rules comprise a service quality (QoS) requirement and a Guaranteed Bit Rate (GBR) requirement for service data flow, and the PCC rules also indicate air interface transmission capacity;

a sending unit, configured to send the PCC rule to a session management function entity SMF, so that the SMF binds, according to the QoS requirement, the GBR requirement, and the air interface transmission capability, a service data flow corresponding to a PCC rule with the same QoS requirement to at least one QoS flow, where a sum of GBRs of PCC rules bound to the same QoS flow does not exceed the air interface transmission capability.

In a seventh aspect, a computer storage medium is provided, on which a computer program is stored, which, when executed by a processor, implements the method according to any of the first or second aspects.

In the method for controlling quality of service provided in the embodiment of the present invention, the PCC rule sent by the PCF to the SMF may indicate an air interface transmission capability, so that the SMF may bind, according to the air interface transmission capability indicated by the PCC rule, the service data streams corresponding to the PCC rules having the same QoS requirements to one or more QoS streams, and the sum of GBRs of the PCC rules bound to the same QoS stream does not exceed the air interface transmission capability. The SMF sends the control information of one or more QoS flows to the AN, so that the AN can carry out wireless resource scheduling for guaranteeing the service quality of data flow transmission for at least one QoS flow according to the control information of one or more QoS flows. That is, the SMF not only considers the QoS requirements, but also binds the service data stream corresponding to the PCC rule to the QoS stream according to the transmission capability of the air interface, so that the air interface can achieve the QoS requirements on the QoS stream, and can better support the transmission of URLLC service data.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a network architecture diagram of a NextGen network system provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a method for controlling quality of service according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of an SMF according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of an SMF according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of a PCF provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a PCF according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention more clearly and completely apparent, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present invention.

The delay requirement of the existing service is generally within the range of 100ms-300ms, and the requirement on air interface resource scheduling is lower. The current NextGen network determines QoS flow through QoS requirements, and the scheduling of air interface resources to transmit service data can meet the delay requirements of the service data. And the NextGen network system increases the support of URLLC (Ultra-Reliable and Low Latency Communications) service. The delay requirement of the URLLC service is shorter, generally within the range of 5ms-20ms, which has a higher requirement on air interface resource scheduling, that is, only the air interface resource with transmission capability within the range of 5ms-20ms can implement the URLLC service. If the QoS flow is determined only according to the QoS requirement, the determined QoS flow may cause that the air interface cannot realize the QoS requirement on the QoS flow, so that the network cannot support the transmission of URLLC service data.

In view of this, an embodiment of the present invention provides a method for controlling quality of service, in which a PCC rule sent by a PCF to an SMF may indicate an air interface transmission capability, so that the SMF may bind, according to the air interface transmission capability indicated by the PCC rule, service data flows corresponding to PCC rules having the same QoS requirements to one or more QoS flows, and a sum of GBRs of the PCC rules bound to the same QoS flow does not exceed the air interface transmission capability. The SMF sends the control information of one or more QoS flows to the AN, so that the AN can carry out wireless resource scheduling for guaranteeing the service quality of data flow transmission for at least one QoS flow according to the control information of one or more QoS flows. That is, the SMF not only considers the QoS requirements, but also binds the service data stream corresponding to the PCC rule to the QoS stream according to the transmission capability of the air interface, so that the air interface can achieve the QoS requirements on the QoS stream, and can better support the transmission of URLLC service data.

The technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the invention is described below by combining the accompanying drawings.

Referring to fig. 2, an embodiment of the method for controlling quality of service according to the present invention can be applied to the network architecture shown in fig. 1, and the flow of the method is described as follows.

S201: and the PCF sends a PCC rule to the SMF, wherein the PCC rule comprises a service quality QoS requirement and a guaranteed bit rate GBR requirement for the service data flow, and the PCC rule also indicates air interface transmission capacity.

In the embodiment of the invention, when a service needs to be performed, the UPF receives the service data stream and sends the received service data stream to the AN, so that the AN sends the service data stream to the UE. Before the UPF receives the service data flow, the PCF sends a PCC rule corresponding to the upcoming service to the SMF, where the PCC rule includes a QoS requirement for the service data flow and a guaranteed bit rate GBR requirement, so that the SMF binds the received PCC rule to a QoS flow that can provide a corresponding QoS guarantee. In a 5G network, a QoS flow may be understood as a minimum granularity for QoS control to ensure the transmission quality of data, and all data in the same QoS flow receive the same data transmission processing and radio resource scheduling manner. The SMF sends the control information of the QoS flow to the UPF and the AN, respectively. Therefore, the UPF transmits the service data stream to the AN according to the received QoS stream, and the AN performs wireless resource scheduling for ensuring the service quality of the data stream transmission for the received QoS stream, so as to realize the transmission of the received service data stream to the UE.

For the URLLC service, the required transmission delay is low, generally within the range of 5ms to 20ms, which has higher requirements for air interface resource scheduling, that is, only the air interface resource with transmission capability within the range of 5ms to 20ms can implement the URLLC service. Therefore, in the embodiment of the present invention, the PCC rule may further indicate AN air interface transmission capability, so that the SMF binds the PCC rule while considering the air interface transmission capability, and thus, the obtained QoS flow considers the air interface transmission capability, so that the AN can perform radio resource scheduling for ensuring the quality of service of data stream transmission for the URLLC service.

Specifically, S202: and the SMF binds the service data flow corresponding to the PCC rules with the same QoS requirement to at least one QoS flow according to the QoS requirement, the GBR requirement and the air interface transmission capacity, wherein the sum of the GBRs of the PCC rules bound to the same QoS flow does not exceed the air interface transmission capacity.

The PCF may send one PCC rule to the SMF, or may send at least two PCC rules to the SMF. If the PCF sends a PCC rule to the SMF, that is, the SMF only receives one PCC rule, the SMF may bind the service data stream corresponding to the PCC rule to one QoS stream or multiple QoS streams according to the QoS requirement, the GBR requirement, and the air interface transmission capability, and as long as the sum of GBRs of PCC rules bound to the same QoS stream does not exceed the air interface transmission capability, the AN may perform wireless resource scheduling for ensuring the data stream transmission service quality for the received QoS stream, thereby implementing the service quality for transmitting the service data stream.

If the SMF receives at least two PCC rules, a PCC rule having the same QoS requirement of the received at least two PCC rules may be determined. Specifically, in this embodiment of the present invention, the QoS requirement may include a 5G network QoS Indicator (5G QoS Indicator, 5QI), and if 5QI in two PCC rules is the same, the two PCC rules may be considered to have the same QoS requirement. In a possible embodiment, the QoS requirement may also include Allocation and Retention Priority (ARP) information, and if 5QI is the same and ARP is the same in the two PCC rules, the two PCC rules may be considered to have the same QoS requirement.

After the SMF determines the PCC rules with the same QoS requirements, the air interface transmission capability needs to be considered before binding the service data flows corresponding to the PCC rules with the same QoS requirements, so that the sum of GBRs of the PCC rules bound to the same QoS flow does not exceed the air interface transmission capability. The transmission capability of the air interface may be understood as transmission delay allowed by the air interface, quality of service capability to be achieved when data is transmitted by the air interface, or maximum data volume allowed to be transmitted in a specified time. In the embodiment of the present invention, the transmission capability of the air interface is the Maximum Burst Volume (MDBV) that the air interface can transmit in a specific time window according to 5QI requirements.

Wherein, the specific time window can be the following:

the first method comprises the following steps: the specific time window is a preset transmission delay, for example, the network system presets the transmission delay, for example, 5ms to 10 ms.

And the second method comprises the following steps: the specific time window is the transmission delay corresponding to the 5QI, that is, the transmission delay indicated by the 5QI carried in the PCC rule.

And the third is that: the specific time window is the transmission delay sent by the PCF, and the PCF sends the PCC rule, or may send a signaling alone, where the signaling carries the transmission delay, for example, 7ms to 10 ms.

After the SMF determines the PCC rules with the same QoS requirements, the air interface transmission capability needs to be considered before binding the service data flows corresponding to the PCC rules with the same QoS requirements, so that the sum of GBRs of the PCC rules bound to the same QoS flow does not exceed the air interface transmission capability.

Specifically, the SMF first determines the air interface transmission capability indicated by the PCC rule. Possible implementations include the following three cases: the following example is based on monitoring the MDBV for a transmission delay corresponding to a particular time window of 5 QI.

In the first case: the value of 5QI included in the PCC rule sent by the PCF is a standardized value, i.e. a standard value specified for 5QI in the industry, as shown in table 1 below.

TABLE 1

5QI	Transmission time delay	MDBV
			10	5ms	160B
11	10ms	320B
			12	20ms	640B

Then, the SMF can obtain the value of the MDBV according to the value of the 5QI and the mapping relationship between the 5QI and the MDBV shown in table 1, that is, determine the air interface transmission capability. For example, if the value of 5QI is 10, the SMF may determine that the air interface transmission capability is 160B, which is the maximum transmission data amount in 5 ms. In the first case, the value of 5QI included in the PCC rule sent by the PCF may be a standard value as specified in table 1, so that the PCF may not send the MDBV to the SMF, and the SMF may default that the value of the MDBV is the value of the MDBV corresponding to the value of the 5 QI. Therefore, the PCF may indicate the air interface transmission capability by the value of the standardized MDBV pointed by the 5 QI.

The value of 5QI may be another preconfigured value for different operators. For example, a mobile operator pre-configures a value of 5QI to be 13, a value of the corresponding MDBV may be 320B, and although the value of the 5QI is not within the value range of the standard shown in table 1, each network element of the mobile operator network knows that when the value of the 5QI is 13, the value of the corresponding MDBV is 320B. For this situation, the value of 5QI in the PCC rule may be a value configured by an operator in advance, and as long as the SMF determines which operator is, the value of the corresponding MDBV may be determined. In this case, the PCF may also use the 5QI to point to the value of the preconfigured MDBV, which is simply the air interface transmission capability.

The PCF may send, to the SMF, a correspondence between the value of the 5QI and the value of the MDBV before sending the PCC rule to the SMF, so that after the SMF determines the value of the 5QI, the value of the MDBV is determined through the correspondence between the value of the 5QI and the value of the MDBV. Or, the PCF may also send the PCC rule and the corresponding relationship between the value of the 5QI and the value of the MDBV to the SMF through one signaling.

In the second case: the value of 5QI included in the PCC rule sent by the PCF is a standardized value, i.e. a standard value specified for 5QI in the industry as shown in table 1, and at the same time, the PCC rule sent by the PCF carries a preset value of MDBV. In this case, even if the SMF determines that the value of the 5QI is a standardized value, the SMF does not determine the value of the MDBV corresponding to the 5QI as the air interface transmission capability, but determines the value of the preset MDBV transmitted by the PCF as the air interface transmission capability.

In the third case: the value of 5QI included in the PCC rule sent by the PCF is a non-standardized value, and meanwhile, the PCC rule sent by the PCF carries a preset value of MDBV. In this case, the SMF determines the value of the preset MDBV sent by the PCF as the air interface transmission capability.

In the second and third cases, the PCF indicates the air interface transmission capability through the value of the preset MDBV, and the SMF needs to determine QoS parameters corresponding to 5QI, such as transmission delay, in addition to determining the air interface indication capability. At this time, the PCF may send, to the SMF, a QoS parameter corresponding to the 5QI, for example, a specific transmission delay and/or a corresponding relationship between a value of the 5QI and a value of the MDBV, before sending the PCC rule to the SMF, so that after the SMF determines the value of the 5QI, the PCF determines the specific transmission delay and/or the value of the MDBV according to the corresponding relationship between the value of the 5QI and the value of the MDBV. Or, the PCF may send the corresponding QoS parameter of 5QI and the PCC rule to the SMF through one signaling. The embodiment of the invention is not limited to the mode that PCF sends QoS parameters corresponding to 5 QI.

The PCF may indicate the air interface transmission capability through any one of the above three cases. After the SMF determines the air interface transmission capacity, the service data flows corresponding to the PCC rules with the same QoS requirements are bound to at least one QoS flow by combining the QoS requirements and the GBR requirements, and the sum of the GBRs of the PCC rules bound to the same QoS flow does not exceed the air interface transmission capacity.

Specifically, if the data volume corresponding to the specific time window for monitoring the MBDV allocated by the sum of GBRs of the PCC rules with the same QoS requirements does not exceed the MBDV, the PCC rules with the same QoS requirements are bound to the same QoS flow, otherwise, the PCC rules with the same QoS requirements are bound to a plurality of QoS flows, and the sum of GBRs of the PCC rules of each QoS flow after binding does not exceed the air interface transmission capability.

For convenience of understanding, how the QoS requirements, the GBR requirements, and the air interface transmission capability of the SMF bind the traffic data flows corresponding to the PCC rules having the same QoS requirements to at least one QoS flow is described in the following with specific examples, and the sum of the GBRs of the PCC rules bound to the same QoS flow does not exceed the air interface transmission capability.

For example, 5QI included in a PCC rule corresponding to one Service Data Flow (SDF) is 10, and 10 is a standardized value in table 1, it may be considered that transmission delay for transmitting the service data flow is not greater than 5ms, an air interface is at most capable of transmitting 160B data volume in a specific time window, that is, 5ms, and the specific time window for monitoring MDBV generally takes a delay consistent with the transmission delay, that is, 5 ms. Suppose that the SMF receives 3 PCC rules corresponding to 3 SDFs, 5QI of the 3 PCC rules are all 10, and ARP of the 3 PCC rules is also the same, i.e. the 3 PCC rules have the same QoS requirement. Wherein GBR of each PCC rule is set to 100kb/s, since GBR of each SDF averages to 5ms with (GBR/1000/8) × 5, i.e. 64B. If all the 3 PCC rules are bound to one QoS flow, the amount of data bound to this QoS flow is 64B × 3, i.e. 192B, which is obviously greater than the air interface transmission capacity, i.e. 160B. Therefore, only the service data flows corresponding to two PCC rules can be bound to the same QoS flow, and the service data flow corresponding to another PCC rule needs to establish a QoS flow separately, so that the data volume of each QoS flow does not exceed the capacity of the data volume that can be transmitted by the air interface.

S203: after binding at least one QoS flow, the SMF sends control information of the at least one QoS flow to the access network AN, wherein the control information is used for performing wireless resource scheduling for guaranteeing the transmission service quality of the data flow for the at least one QoS flow.

Specifically, after the SMF binds at least one QoS flow, each QoS flow may be assigned a flow identification (QoS flow ID, QFI). The SMF sends the QFI and the QoS parameter of each QoS flow, which may also be understood as control information of each QoS flow, to the AN through AN Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF). The control information of each QoS Flow includes a 5QI and a Guaranteed Flow Rate (GFBR) of each QoS Flow. The 5QI of each QoS flow is the 5QI of the PCC rule bound to each QoS flow, and the GFBR of each QoS flow is the sum of the GBRs of the PCC rules bound to each QoS flow.

The SMF may also send packet filtering information and a corresponding QFI included in all PCC rules bound to each QoS flow to the UPF, so that after receiving downlink data, the UPF matches the IP packet header of the received downlink data with a filter, stamps the corresponding QFI on the matched data packet, and sends the service data packet to the AN through AN air interface, for example, AN air interface N3 channel. And the AN uses the radio bearer with the corresponding service quality to send the data packet to the UE according to the QFI, thereby ensuring that the data packet obtains the corresponding service quality.

In the embodiment of the present invention, for convenience of describing the whole flow, the flow shown in fig. 2 describes a mixture of methods executed by the PCF and the SMF, but it should be understood that the PCF and the SMF can both independently execute their respective corresponding method steps.

The following describes technical solutions of a method for controlling quality of service according to embodiments of the present invention in a specific embodiment.

Example one

For a URLLC type service data flow, PCF makes PCC rule corresponding to the service data flow according to service requirement and operator strategy and sends it to SMF. The PCC rules sent by the PCF to the SMF include 5QI, ARP and/or GBR information, where 5QI is a standardized or pre-agreed value, e.g. pre-agreed for each operator. Thus, the SMF can determine, according to the value of the 5QI, a specific transmission delay corresponding to each 5QI and the maximum transmittable data volume MDBV within a specific time window for the air interface required by the transmission delay. Or, instead of using the standardized or preconfigured MDBV value, the PCF may additionally carry a new MDBV value in the PCC rule for covering the standardized or preconfigured MDBV value, so that the SMF determines that the MDBV value carried by the PCC rule is the air interface transmission capability.

Then, the SMF binds the service data streams corresponding to the PCC rules of the same 5QI and ARP to the same QoS stream according to the 5QI and ARP included in the PCC rules, and meanwhile, the SMF also considers that the sum of GBRs of the PCC rules bound to the same QoS stream cannot exceed the required air interface transmission capability corresponding to the 5QI, for example, the sum of GBRs is allocated to a specific time window for monitoring MBDV and cannot exceed the value of MBDV, otherwise, even though the PCC rules of the same QoS requirement cannot be aggregated into the same QoS stream, and a new QoS stream is established for transmission. The SMF allocates a QoS flow identity QFI to each QoS flow and will take the sum of GBRs in the PCC rules bound to the same QoS flow as the GFBR for the QoS flow.

And the SMF sends the QFIs of the one or more established QoS flows and the packet filtering information contained in the PCC rules bound to each QoS flow, namely the control information of the QoS flows to the UPF according to the binding result, and the UPF is used for filtering the downlink data to the corresponding QoS flows according to the packet filters for transmission.

The SMF sends the QFI of one or more established QoS flows and corresponding packet filtering information, namely control information of the QoS flows to the UE through the AMF, and the control information is used for the UE to filter uplink data to the corresponding QoS flows according to the packet filters for transmission.

The SMF sends the QFI of one or more established QoS flows and the corresponding QoS requirements, namely the control information of the QoS flows to the AN through the AMF, and the control information is used for guaranteeing the transmission of each QoS flow according to the QoS requirements by the AN.

Example two

The difference from the first embodiment is that the PCF defines non-standardized 5QI and sends QoS parameters corresponding to each 5QI to the SMF. The QoS parameters corresponding to 5QI include, for example, a specific transmission delay and the maximum amount of data MDBV that can be transmitted within a specific time window over the air interface required for this transmission delay. And each QoS parameter corresponding to the 5QI is sent to the SMF by the PCF in the sending of the PCC rule, or is combined into the PCC rule and is sent to the SMF through a signaling.

The SMF binds the service data flow corresponding to the received PCC rule to at least QoS flows, allocates a flow identifier for each QoS flow, sends the QFI of the established one or more QoS flows and corresponding packet filtering information to the UE, and sends the QFI of the established one or more QoS flows and corresponding QoS requirements, that is, control information of the QoS flows to the AN.

In summary, in the method for controlling quality of service provided in the embodiment of the present invention, the PCC rule sent by the PCF to the SMF may indicate an air interface transmission capability, so that the SMF may bind, according to the air interface transmission capability indicated by the PCC rule, the service data flows corresponding to the PCC rules having the same QoS requirement to one or more QoS flows, and the sum of GBRs of the PCC rules bound to the same QoS flow does not exceed the air interface transmission capability. The SMF sends the control information of one or more QoS flows to the AN, so that the AN can carry out wireless resource scheduling for guaranteeing the service quality of data flow transmission for at least one QoS flow according to the control information of one or more QoS flows. That is, the SMF not only considers the QoS requirements, but also binds the PCC rule to the QoS flow according to the transmission capability of the air interface, so that the air interface can achieve the QoS requirements on the QoS flow, and can better support the transmission of URLLC service data. The embodiment of the invention solves the problem of the QoS requirement support of the 5G network to the high-delay-sensitive URLLC service, so that the network can make the QoS requirement according to the service requirement and the transmission capability of an air interface, and the QoS requirement of the QoS flow can be effectively executed at the air interface, thereby ensuring the effective transmission and support of the network to the high-delay-sensitive URLLC service.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the PCF may indicate the air interface transmission capability through a standardized MDBV value pointed by a 5QI, or may indicate the air interface transmission capability through a preset MDBV value. Namely, the embodiment of the invention provides multiple modes for indicating the transmission capability of the air interface, and is flexible and diversified.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the specific time window may be a preset transmission delay, or a transmission delay corresponding to 5QI, or a transmission delay sent by PCF. Namely, the embodiment of the invention provides various modes for realizing the specific time window, and is flexible and diversified.

Referring to fig. 3, based on the same inventive concept, an embodiment of the present invention further provides an SMF, which includes a memory 301, a processor 302, and a transceiver 303. The memory 301 and the transceiver 303 may be connected to the processor 302 through a bus interface (fig. 3 is taken as an example), or may be connected to the processor 302 through a dedicated connection line.

Wherein the memory 301 may be used for storing programs and the transceiver 303 is used for transceiving data under the control of the processor 302. The processor 302 may be configured to read the program in the memory 301 and execute the following processes:

receiving, by a transceiver 303, a PCC rule sent by a PCF, where the PCC rule includes a requirement for quality of service (QoS) of a service data stream and a requirement for Guaranteed Bit Rate (GBR), and the PCC rule further indicates air interface transmission capability;

binding the service data flow corresponding to the PCC rules with the same QoS requirement to at least one QoS flow according to the QoS requirement, the GBR requirement and the air interface transmission capacity, wherein the sum of the GBRs of the PCC rules bound to the same QoS flow does not exceed the air interface transmission capacity;

the transceiver 303 is configured to send control information of at least one QoS flow to the access network AN, where the control information is used for performing radio resource scheduling for guaranteeing quality of service of data flow transmission for the at least one QoS flow.

Optionally, the processor 302 is specifically configured to:

and indicating air interface transmission capability through a standardized MDBV value or a preset MDBV value pointed by a 5 QI.

Optionally, the MDBV is a preset value of the MDBV, and the transceiver 303 is further configured to, before receiving the PCC rule sent by the PCF:

Optionally, the specific time window is a preset transmission delay, or a transmission delay corresponding to 5QI, or a transmission delay sent by the PCF.

Optionally, the processor 302 is specifically configured to:

if the data volume corresponding to the specific time window for monitoring the MBDV is not more than the data volume corresponding to the GBR sum of the PCC rules with the same QoS requirement, binding the service data flows corresponding to the PCC rules with the same QoS requirement to the same QoS flow;

otherwise, binding the service data flow corresponding to the PCC rules with the same QoS requirement to a plurality of QoS flows, wherein the sum of GBRs of the PCC rules of each bound QoS flow does not exceed the air interface transmission capability.

Optionally, the transceiver 303 is specifically configured to:

transmitting control information of at least one QoS flow to the AN through the AMF; wherein the control information comprises a 5QI of each QoS flow and a code rate requirement, the 5QI of each QoS flow is a 5QI of the PCC rule bound to each QoS flow, and the code rate requirement of each QoS flow is a sum of GBRs of the PCC rule bound to each QoS flow.

Wherein in fig. 3 the bus architecture may comprise any number of interconnected buses and bridges, with one or more processors, represented by processor 302, and various circuits of memory, represented by memory 301, being linked together. The bus architecture may also link together various other circuits such as peripherals, voltage regulators, power management circuits, and the like, which are well known in the art, and therefore, will not be described any further herein. The bus interface provides an interface. The transceiver 303 may be a number of elements, including a transmitter and a transceiver, providing a means for communicating with various other apparatus over a transmission medium. The processor 302 is responsible for managing the bus architecture and general processing, and the memory 301 may store data used by the processor 302 in performing operations.

Referring to fig. 4, based on the same inventive concept, an embodiment of the present invention provides an SMF, which includes a receiving unit 401, a binding unit 402, and a sending unit 403. The receiving unit 401 may be configured to receive a policy control and charging PCC rule sent by a policy control function entity PCF, where the PCC rule includes a requirement for quality of service (QoS) of a service data flow and a requirement for Guaranteed Bit Rate (GBR), and the PCC rule further indicates air interface transmission capability. The binding unit 402 may be configured to bind, according to the QoS requirement, the GBR requirement, and the air interface transmission capability, the service data flows corresponding to the PCC rules with the same QoS requirement to at least one QoS flow, where a sum of GBRs of the PCC rules bound to the same QoS flow does not exceed the air interface transmission capability. The sending unit 403 may be configured to send control information of at least one QoS flow to the access network AN, where the control information is used for performing radio resource scheduling for guaranteeing quality of service for data flow transmission for the at least one QoS flow.

Optionally, the binding unit 402 is specifically configured to:

Optionally, the MDBV is a preset value of the MDBV, and the receiving unit 401 is further configured to, before receiving the PCC rule sent by the PCF:

Optionally, the binding unit 402 is specifically configured to:

Optionally, the sending unit 403 is specifically configured to:

The physical devices corresponding to the receiving unit 401 and/or the sending unit 403 may be the transceiver 303 in fig. 3, and the physical devices corresponding to the binding unit 402 may be the processor 302 in fig. 3. The SMF may be configured to execute the method executed by the SMF side in the embodiment shown in fig. 2, and therefore, for functions and the like that can be realized by each functional module of the SMF, reference may be made to the description of the embodiment shown in fig. 2, which is not described in detail.

Referring to fig. 5, based on the same inventive concept, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a PCF including a memory 501, a processor 502, and a transceiver 503. The memory 501 and the transceiver 503 may be connected to the processor 502 through a bus interface (fig. 5 is taken as an example), or may be connected to the processor 502 through a dedicated connection line.

Wherein the memory 501 may be used for storing programs and the transceiver 303 is used for transceiving data under the control of the processor 302. The processor 502 may be configured to read the program in the memory 301 and execute the following processes:

the PCC rule is sent to the SMF through the transceiver 503, where the PCC rule includes a QoS requirement and a GBR requirement for a service data flow, and the PCC rule further indicates an air interface transmission capability, so that the SMF binds the service data flow corresponding to the PCC rule having the same QoS requirement to at least one QoS flow according to the QoS requirement, the GBR requirement, and the air interface transmission capability, where a sum of GBRs of PCC rules bound to the same QoS flow does not exceed the air interface transmission capability.

Optionally, the processor 502 is specifically configured to:

Optionally, the MDBV is a preset value, and before the transceiver 503 sends the PCC rule to the SMF, the transceiver is further configured to:

and sending the corresponding relation between the 5QI and the MDBV to the SMF.

Where in fig. 5 the bus architecture may include any number of interconnected buses and bridges, in particular one or more processors represented by processor 502 and various circuits of memory represented by memory 501 are linked together. The bus architecture may also link together various other circuits such as peripherals, voltage regulators, power management circuits, and the like, which are well known in the art, and therefore, will not be described any further herein. The bus interface provides an interface. The transceiver 503 may be a number of elements, including a transmitter and a transceiver, providing a means for communicating with various other apparatus over a transmission medium. The processor 502 is responsible for managing the bus architecture and general processing, and the memory 501 may store data used by the processor 502 in performing operations.

Referring to fig. 6, based on the same inventive concept, an embodiment of the present invention provides a PCF including a storage unit 601 and a sending unit 602. The storage unit may be configured to store a PCC rule, where the PCC rule includes a requirement for quality of service (QoS) of a service data flow and a requirement for Guaranteed Bit Rate (GBR), and the PCC rule further indicates air interface transmission capability. The sending unit may be configured to send the PCC rule to the SMF, so that the SMF binds, according to the QoS requirement, the GBR requirement, and the air interface transmission capability, the service data flows corresponding to the PCC rules with the same QoS requirement to at least one QoS flow, where a sum of GBRs of the PCC rules bound to the same QoS flow does not exceed the air interface transmission capability.

Optionally, the indicating of air interface transmission capability includes:

Optionally, the MDBV is a preset value, and before the sending unit 602 sends the PCC rule to the SMF, the sending unit is further configured to:

and sending the corresponding relation between the 5QI and the MDBV to the SMF.

The PCF may be configured to execute the method executed by the PCF side in the embodiment shown in fig. 2, and therefore, for functions and the like that can be realized by each functional module of the PCF, reference may be made to the description of the embodiment shown in fig. 2, which is not described in detail herein. The entity device corresponding to the storage unit 601 may be the memory 501 and the processor 502 in fig. 5, and the entity device corresponding to the sending unit 602 may be the transceiver 503 in fig. 5. The storage unit 601 is not indispensable and is therefore illustrated in fig. 6 by a broken line.

Based on the same inventive concept, the embodiment of the present invention provides a computer-readable storage medium, which stores computer instructions that, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to execute the method for controlling the quality of service provided by the embodiment shown in fig. 2.

In particular implementations, the computer-readable storage medium includes: various storage media capable of storing program codes, such as a Universal Serial Bus flash drive (USB), a removable hard disk, a Read-Only Memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), a magnetic disk, and an optical disk.

It will be clear to those skilled in the art that, for convenience and simplicity of description, the foregoing division of the functional modules is merely used as an example, and in practical applications, the above function distribution may be performed by different functional modules according to needs, that is, the internal structure of the device is divided into different functional modules to perform all or part of the above described functions. For the specific working processes of the system, the apparatus and the unit described above, reference may be made to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, and details are not described here again.

In the embodiments provided in the present invention, it should be understood that the disclosed apparatus and method may be implemented in other ways. For example, the above-described apparatus embodiments are merely illustrative, and for example, the division of the modules or units is only one logical division, and there may be other divisions when actually implemented, for example, a plurality of units or components may be combined or may be integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted, or not executed. In addition, the shown or discussed mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection may be an indirect coupling or communication connection through some interfaces, devices or units, and may be in an electrical, mechanical or other form.

The units described as separate parts may or may not be physically separate, and parts displayed as units may or may not be physical units, may be located in one place, or may be distributed on a plurality of network units. Some or all of the units can be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of the embodiment.

In addition, functional units in the embodiments of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units are integrated into one unit. The integrated unit can be realized in a form of hardware, and can also be realized in a form of a software functional unit.

The integrated unit, if implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as a stand-alone product, may be stored in a computer readable storage medium. Based on such understanding, the technical solution of the present application may be substantially implemented or contributed by the prior art, or all or part of the technical solution may be embodied in a software product, which is stored in a storage medium and includes instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, a network device, or the like) or a processor (processor) to execute all or part of the steps of the method according to the embodiments of the present application. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: various media capable of storing program codes, such as a Universal Serial Bus flash disk (usb flash disk), a removable hard disk, a Read-Only Memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), a magnetic disk, and an optical disk.

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

Claims

1. A method of quality of service control, comprising:

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the QoS requirement comprises a 5G network QoS indication 5QI, and wherein the transmission capability of the air interface is a maximum amount of bursty data MDBV that the air interface can transmit according to the 5QI requirement within a specific time window.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the indicating air interface transmission capability comprises:

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the MDBV is a value of a preset MDBV, and wherein the SMF, before receiving the PCC rules sent by the PCF, further comprises:

5. The method according to any of claims 2-4, wherein the specific time window is a predetermined transmission delay, or a transmission delay corresponding to the 5QI, or a transmission delay transmitted by the PCF.

6. The method of any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the SMF binding, according to the QoS requirement, the GBR requirement, and the air interface transmission capability, the traffic data flows corresponding to PCC rules having the same QoS requirement to at least one QoS flow, comprises:

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the SMF sending control information for the at least one QoS flow to AN Access Network (AN) comprises:

8. A method of quality of service control, comprising:

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the QoS requirement comprises a 5G network QoS indication 5QI, and wherein the transmission capability of the air interface is a maximum amount of bursty data MDBV that the air interface can transmit according to the 5QI requirement within a specific time window.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the indicating air interface transmission capability comprises:

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the MDBV is a preset value, and further comprising, before the PCF sends the PCC rule to the SMF:

12. The method according to any of claims 9-11, wherein the specific time window is a predetermined transmission delay, or a transmission delay corresponding to the 5QI, or a transmission delay transmitted by the PCF.

13. A session management function, SMF, comprising:

a memory to store instructions;

14. The SMF of claim 13, wherein the QoS requirement comprises a 5G network QoS indication 5QI, and wherein the transmission capability of the air interface is a maximum amount of bursty data MDBV that the air interface can transmit according to the 5QI requirement within a specific time window.

15. The SMF of claim 14, wherein the processor is further specifically configured to:

16. The SMF of claim 15, wherein the MDBV is a value of a preset MDBV, and wherein the transceiver, prior to receiving the PCC rule sent by the PCF, is further configured to:

17. The SMF according to any of claims 14-16, wherein said specific time window is a predetermined delay, or a delay corresponding to said 5QI, or a delay transmitted by said PCF.

18. The SMF of any of claims 13-16, wherein the processor is further configured to:

19. The SMF of claim 18, wherein the transceiver is specifically configured to:

20. A policy control function, PCF, comprising:

a memory to store instructions;

21. The PCF of claim 20 wherein the QoS requirements comprise a 5G network QoS indication 5QI, and wherein the transmission capability of the air interface is the maximum amount of bursty data MDBV that the air interface can transmit in accordance with the 5QI requirements within a particular time window.

22. The PCF of claim 21 wherein said processor is specifically configured to:

23. The PCF of claim 22 wherein the MDBV is a preset value, and wherein the transceiver is further configured to, prior to sending the PCC rule to the SMF:

and sending the corresponding relation between the 5QI and the MDBV to the SMF.

24. The PCF of any one of claims 21-23 wherein said specified time window is a predetermined transmission delay, or a transmission delay corresponding to said 5QI, or a transmission delay transmitted by said PCF.

25. A session management function, SMF, comprising:

26. A policy control function, PCF, comprising:

27. A computer storage medium on which a computer program is stored, which computer program, when being executed by a processor, carries out the method according to any one of claims 1-12.