CN111818575A

CN111818575A - User access method and access network equipment

Info

Publication number: CN111818575A
Application number: CN202010753463.0A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 杨艳; 冯毅; 张涛; 张忠皓
Original assignee: China United Network Communications Group Co Ltd
Current assignee: China United Network Communications Group Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-07-30
Filing date: 2020-07-30
Publication date: 2020-10-23
Anticipated expiration: 2040-07-30
Also published as: CN111818575B

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention provides a user access method and access network equipment, relates to the technical field of communication, and can meet the access requirements of user terminals corresponding to different services as far as possible on the basis of capacity. The access network equipment configures two paths of carriers for each operator in a plurality of operators respectively, the two paths of carriers comprise public network carriers and private network carriers, the public network carriers provide support for public network services, and the private network carriers provide support for private network services, and the method comprises the following steps: acquiring the reserved flow of each service in the current unit time; when determining that a target service with a reserved flow rate larger than a first preset percentage of a preset unit flow rate of the target service exists in all services carried by access network equipment, determining a target bandwidth required by the target service in the current unit time according to the reserved flow rate of the target service; and determining whether a new user terminal corresponding to the target service is allowed to access in the current unit time or not according to the type of the target service and the target bandwidth.

Description

User access method and access network equipment

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a user access method and an access network device.

Background

With the continuous evolution of networks, diversified industry application demands have exploded greatly. Network requirements for industry users have become an important deployment requirement for 5G. The fifth generation mobile communication technology (5th-generation, 5G) network provides multiple slicing modes, which can satisfy the demands of both customers (2C) and enterprises (2B). However, the 5G device (5G base station) uses 192-element multi-element antenna devices, and the frequency band used by the 5G device is 3.5GHz, and the coverage range is significantly smaller than that of the device in the frequency band of 2GHz or less, which results in the multiplied number of stations (number of base stations) in a unit area, and thus, the high base station cost and the dense number of stations result in the exponential increase of the network construction cost. Therefore, operators are seeking a solution for co-establishing a base station by multiple operators and performing network deployment by using the co-established base station. The co-building of the base station means that one base station can meet the requirements of multiple operators, and the equipment of the multiple operators is not centralized in the same base station for deployment.

How to meet the access complaints of 2B (which can be understood as private network) users and 2C (which can be understood as public network) users of different operators as much as possible under the condition that resources of the shared base station after co-construction are limited becomes a problem to be solved urgently.

Disclosure of Invention

Embodiments of the present invention provide a user access method and an access network device, which can satisfy access requirements of user terminals corresponding to different services carried by a shared base station based on traffic.

In order to achieve the above purpose, the embodiment of the invention adopts the following technical scheme:

in a first aspect, a user access method is provided, which is applied to an access network device, where the access network device configures two carriers for each operator in multiple operators, where the two carriers include a public network carrier and a private network carrier, the public network carrier provides support for a public network service, and the private network carrier provides support for a private network service, and the method includes: acquiring the reserved flow of each service in the public network service and the private network service of each operator in the current unit time; when determining that the target service exists in all services carried by the access network equipment, determining a target bandwidth required by the target service in the current unit time according to the reserved flow of the target service; the reserved flow of the target service is larger than a first preset percentage of a preset unit flow of the target service, and the preset unit flow is the preset flow in unit time; and determining whether a new user terminal corresponding to the target service is allowed to access in the current unit time or not according to the type of the target service and the target bandwidth.

In the technical solution provided in the foregoing embodiment, after acquiring the reserved traffic of each service in all public network services and private network services in the current unit time, the access network device determines whether there is a reserved traffic corresponding to a target service that is greater than a first preset percentage of a preset unit traffic of the target service. If the reserved flow exceeds the preset unit flow, the bandwidth required by the target service in the current unit time, namely the target bandwidth, can be determined according to the reserved flow, and whether a new user terminal corresponding to the target service is allowed to access in the current unit time or not is determined according to the type of the target service and the target bandwidth. Therefore, the access network equipment carries two types of services, namely public network service and private network service, the priorities of the two types of services are different, and whether a new user terminal corresponding to the target service is allowed to be accessed in the current unit time can be determined according to the type of the target service and the target bandwidth, so that the access requirements of the shared base station, namely the user terminals corresponding to the different services carried by the access network equipment are met as much as possible by considering the service priorities and the overall resource conditions.

In a second aspect, an access network device is provided, where the access network device configures two carriers for each operator in multiple operators, where the two carriers include a public network carrier and a private network carrier, the public network carrier provides support for a public network service, and the private network carrier provides support for a private network service, and includes: the acquisition module is used for acquiring the reserved flow of each service in the public network service and the private network service of each operator in the current unit time; the processing module is used for determining the target bandwidth required by the target service in the current unit time according to the reserved flow of the target service acquired by the acquisition module when the target service exists in all services borne by the access network equipment; the reserved flow of the target service is larger than a first preset percentage of a preset unit flow of the target service, and the preset unit flow is the preset flow in unit time; the processing module is further configured to determine whether to allow a new user terminal corresponding to the target service to access in the current unit time according to the type of the target service and the target bandwidth.

In a third aspect, an access network device is provided, where the access network device configures two carriers for each of multiple operators, where the two carriers include a public network carrier and a private network carrier, the public network carrier provides support for a public network service, and the private network carrier provides support for a private network service. The access network device includes: the device comprises an acquisition module and a processing module. The acquisition module is used for acquiring the reserved flow of each service in the public network service and the private network service of each operator in the current unit time; the processing module is used for determining the target bandwidth required by the target service in the current unit time according to the reserved flow of the target service acquired by the acquisition module when the target service exists in all services borne by the access network equipment; the reserved flow of the target service is larger than a first preset percentage of a preset unit flow of the target service, and the preset unit flow is the preset flow in unit time; the processing module is further configured to determine whether to allow a new user terminal corresponding to the target service to access in the current unit time according to the type of the target service and the target bandwidth.

In a fourth aspect, an access network device is provided, where the access network device configures two carriers for each operator in multiple operators, where the two carriers include a public network carrier and a private network carrier, the public network carrier provides support for a public network service, and the private network carrier provides support for a private network service, and the access network device includes: a memory, a processor, a bus, and a communication interface; the memory is used for storing computer execution instructions, and the processor is connected with the memory through a bus; when the access network device is operating, the processor executes the computer-executable instructions stored by the memory to cause the access network device to perform the user access method as provided by the first aspect.

In a fifth aspect, there is provided a computer readable storage medium comprising computer executable instructions which, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform the user access method as provided in the first aspect.

It should be noted that the above instructions may be stored in whole or in part on a computer-readable storage medium. The computer readable storage medium may be packaged together with or separately from the processor of the access network device, which is not limited in this respect.

A sixth aspect provides a computer program product which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the user access method as provided in the first aspect.

It can be understood that the solutions of the second aspect to the fifth aspect provided above are all used for executing the corresponding method provided in the first aspect above, and therefore, the beneficial effects that can be achieved by the solutions can refer to the beneficial effects in the corresponding methods provided above, and are not described herein again.

It should be understood that in the present application, the names of the above-mentioned access network devices do not constitute a limitation on the devices or functional modules themselves, which may appear by other names in an actual implementation. Insofar as the functions of the respective devices or functional blocks are similar to those of the present invention, they are within the scope of the claims of the present invention and their equivalents. In addition, the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the application.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art will be briefly described below, it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present invention, and for those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained according to the drawings without creative efforts.

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a system architecture to which a user access method according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied;

fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a system architecture to which another user access method according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied;

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

fig. 4 is a first flowchart illustrating a user access method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of a preparation flow of a user access method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a user access method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 7 is a third schematic flowchart of a user access method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of another access network device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of another access network device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of a computer program product according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present invention, and not all of the embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

It should be noted that, in the embodiments of the present invention, words such as "exemplary" or "for example" are used to indicate examples, illustrations or explanations. Any embodiment or design described as "exemplary" or "e.g.," an embodiment of the present invention is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments or designs. Rather, use of the word "exemplary" or "such as" is intended to present concepts related in a concrete fashion.

It should be noted that, in the embodiments of the present invention, "of", "corresponding" and "corresponding" may be sometimes used in combination, and it should be noted that, when the difference is not emphasized, the intended meaning is consistent.

For the convenience of clearly describing the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention, in the embodiments of the present invention, the words "first", "second", and the like are used for distinguishing the same items or similar items with basically the same functions and actions, and those skilled in the art can understand that the words "first", "second", and the like are not limited in number or execution order.

At present, because the single cost of the 5G base station is high, and because the coverage area of the base station is small, the number of sites to be arranged in a unit area is large, and the cost of completing the deployment of the 5G communication network is high. Therefore, at present, a shared base station is co-established by a plurality of operators, so that the service requirements of the plurality of operators can be borne. However, how to satisfy the access requirements of users corresponding to private network services and users corresponding to public network services of different operators for the co-established shared base station is a problem to be solved urgently.

In view of the above problems, embodiments of the present application provide a user access method, which can meet access requirements of user terminals corresponding to different services carried by a shared base station (access network device) co-established by different operators based on capacity (traffic). The method is applied to the system architecture as shown in fig. 1, and the system may include: the terminal 01, the access network device 02 and at least one core network device 03(03-1, 03-2, 03-3 and 03-4), wherein each core network device 03 corresponds to an operator core network (a private network core network (supporting 2B services) or a public network core network (supporting 2C services)); for example, referring to fig. 1, 03-1 may correspond to a core network of a public network of an operator a, 03-2 may correspond to a core network of a private network of the operator a, 03-3 may correspond to a core network of a public network of an operator B, and 03-4 may correspond to a core network of a private network of the operator B. After the access network device 02 of the terminal 01 is connected with the access network device, the terminal can access the core network of the public network or the core network of the private network of the corresponding operator through different core network devices 03. Of course, only one core network device 03 may actually exist, and the functions of the above-mentioned multiple core network devices may be completed.

In this embodiment, the access network device 02 may be an access network device (BTS) in a global system for mobile communication (GSM), a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), an access network device (Node B, NB) in a Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), an access network device (evolved Node B, eNB) in a Long Term Evolution (Long Term Evolution, LTE), an access network device (eNB) in an internet of things (IoT) or a narrowband internet of things (IoT-NB-PLMN), an access network device in a future 5G mobile communication network or a future evolved Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN), which is not limited in this respect.

For example, the terminal 01 in the embodiment of the present application may be named differently, such as a User Equipment (UE), an access terminal, a terminal unit, a terminal station, a mobile station, a remote terminal, a mobile device, a wireless communication device, a vehicle user equipment, a terminal agent, or a terminal device. The terminal may specifically be a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a desktop, a laptop, a handheld computer, a notebook, an ultra-mobile personal computer (UMPC), a netbook, a cellular phone, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), an Augmented Reality (AR) Virtual Reality (VR) device, and other devices that can communicate with a base station, and the specific form of the terminal is not particularly limited in the embodiment of the present application.

It should be noted that, in the present application, one operator core network corresponds to one public network and a plurality of private networks, a public network service (2C service) refers to all services in one public network, and a private network service (2B service) refers to all services in one private network.

Illustratively, referring to fig. 2, the functional modules in the core network device 03 may include a traffic distribution requirement collecting module 031, a traffic dependency analyzing module 032, a critical capacity customizing module 033, and a differentiated carrier bandwidth customizing module 034. The service distribution requirement collecting module 031 may collect network data of a private network service or a public network service of an operator corresponding to the access network device 02 (e.g., a base station) connected thereto. The network data may include: traffic related data of a service corresponding to the network (average capacity/traffic per target unit time (e.g., hour), maximum capacity/traffic per target unit time (e.g., hour)), traffic flow or the number of users, and the like.

The service dependency analysis module 032 may determine, through a certain calculation, whether the service in the actual scene corresponding to the network data mainly depends on the capacity (flow) by using the network data acquired by the corresponding service distribution demand collection module 031 in cooperation with the service dependency analysis module 032 in the other core network device corresponding to the access network device 02 connected thereto. Of course, if all the core networks correspond to the same core network device, the service dependency analysis module included therein independently completes the above calculation process.

The critical capacity customizing module 033 may calculate, by matching with the critical capacity customizing modules 032 in other core network devices corresponding to the access network device 02 connected thereto, the promised capacity (preset unit flow) per unit time recommended for the public network service and the private network service of different operators according to the network data acquired by the service distribution demand collecting module 031 corresponding thereto. Of course, if all the core networks correspond to the same core network device, the key capacity customization module included therein independently completes the above calculation process. For example, taking a unit time of 1 second and a target unit time of 1 hour as an example, the preset unit flow rate of the public network service can be calculated by the following formula:

wherein, T^PU _YFor presetting of the public network serviceUnit flow rate, T^PU _MaxIs the maximum hourly flow, T, of the public network traffic^PU _meanThe average hourly flow of the public network traffic.

The preset unit flow of the private network service can be calculated by the following formula:

wherein, T^Pr _YFor a predetermined unit flow, T, of the private network service^Pr _MaxFor the maximum hourly flow, T, of the private network traffic^Pr _meanThe average hourly flow of the public network traffic.

The differentiated carrier bandwidth customizing module 034 may calculate a preset total bandwidth (initial bandwidth) of each carrier according to network data (capacity requirement condition) acquired by the service distribution requirement collecting module 031 corresponding to the differentiated carrier bandwidth customizing module through cooperation with the key capacity customizing module 032 in other core network devices corresponding to the access network device 02 connected to the differentiated carrier bandwidth customizing module. Of course, if all the core networks correspond to the same core network device, the differentiated carrier bandwidth customizing modules included therein independently complete the calculating process.

Illustratively, when the access network device corresponding to the core network device provides two carriers for each operator, where the two carriers include a public network carrier and a private network carrier, the public network carrier provides support for a public network service, and the private network carrier provides support for a private network service, and the preset total bandwidth of any one of the public network carriers can be calculated according to the following formula:

wherein, W_NTiFor a preset total bandwidth, T, of the carrier i of the operator^PU _YiFor the preset unit flow, T, of public network service in carrier i of operator^PU _YnPresetting unit flow, T, for nth public network service carried by access network equipment^Pr _YmPre-staging of mth private network traffic carried for access network devicesAnd setting unit flow, floor as rounding-down, and W as the total bandwidth of the access network equipment.

The preset total bandwidth of any private network carrier can be calculated according to the following formula:

wherein, W_NTiPresetting total bandwidth, T, for private network carrier k^Pr _YkjFor the preset unit flow, T, of the jth private network service in the private network carrier k^PU _YnPresetting unit flow, T, for nth public network service carried by access network equipment^Pr _YmAnd (3) presetting unit flow for the mth private network service borne by the access network equipment, wherein floor is rounded downwards, and W is the total bandwidth of the access network equipment.

Illustratively, referring to fig. 2 in conjunction with fig. 1, the access network device 02 includes a traffic real-time monitoring module 021, a traffic distinguishing module 022, and a network load balancing module 023. The traffic real-time monitoring module 021 can collect the reserved traffic of private network service and public network service of each operator according to the time granularity of unit time (1 second). The traffic determination module 022 may determine whether to deny or allow the subsequent network load balancing module 023 to the access request of the user terminal of each service according to the traffic of each service acquired by the traffic real-time monitoring module 031 and the reservation traffic corresponding to each service.

Illustratively, taking a 5G communication network as an example, referring to fig. 3, a practical device in the access network device 02 may include a radio frequency unit and a baseband processing unit. The radio frequency unit is connected to the baseband processing unit through a common public radio interface (cpri (ecrpi)), and the public network core network (5GC1) of the operator a, the public network core network (5GC2) of the operator B, the private network core network (5GC3) of the operator a, and the private network core network (5GC4) of the operator B are connected to the baseband processing unit of the access network device 2 through NG interfaces.

The 5G baseband processing unit includes a Control Plane (CP) and a User Plane (UP). The control plane has an identification module (specifically, the identification module can be judged by a PLMN (public land mobile network), an APN (access point name), a DNN (Data network name), and the like) for the private network core network and the public network core network of different operators, so that the public network core network and the private network core network of different operators can be distinguished. The traffic real-time monitoring module 021, the traffic discrimination module 022, and the network load balancing module 023 may also all be disposed in the CP.

The 5G radio frequency unit comprises an antenna unit, a switch and a transceiver. The transceiver includes a Digital Up Conversion (DUC), a digital to analog converter (DAC), a transmission antenna (TX), a reception antenna (RX), an analog to digital converter (ADC), and a Digital Down Conversion (DDC).

In a specific implementation, in the technical scheme provided by the present invention, the access network device 02 configures two carriers for each of multiple operators, where the two carriers include a public network carrier and a private network carrier, where the public network carrier provides support for a public network service of one operator, and the private network carrier provides support for a private network service of one operator. Each path of carrier includes an uplink carrier and a downlink carrier, a communication link corresponding to the uplink carrier is composed of the antenna unit, the switch, the RX, the ADC, the DDC, and the 5G baseband processing unit in fig. 3, and a communication link corresponding to the downlink carrier is composed of the antenna unit, the switch, the TX, the DAC, the DUC, and the 5G baseband processing unit in fig. 3. When initiating private network service or public network service, the user terminals corresponding to the operator 1 and the operator 2 transmit related data through the communication link corresponding to the uplink carrier and the communication link corresponding to the downlink carrier.

For example, as shown in fig. 3, when 2 operators (operator a and operator B, respectively) are accessed in the access network device 02, a user terminal of the operator a may transmit via a first carrier when initiating a private network service; when the user terminal of the operator A initiates the private network service, the private network service can be transmitted through the second carrier; when initiating public network service, the user terminal of the operator B can transmit through the third carrier; when initiating the private network service, the user terminal of the operator B may transmit via the fourth carrier. Wherein the first carrier comprises a first transceiver (DUC1, DAC1, TX1, DDC1, ADC1, RX1), a first combiner, a switch, and an antenna unit; the second carrier comprises a second transceiver (DUC2, DAC2, TX2, DDC2, ADC2, RX2), a second combiner, a switch and an antenna unit; the third carrier comprises a third transceiver (DUC3, DAC3, TX3, DDC3, ADC3, RX3), a first combiner, a switch and an antenna unit; the fourth carrier includes a fourth transceiver (DUC4, DAC4, TX4, DDC4, ADC4, RX4), a second combiner, a switch, and an antenna unit.

Based on the contents shown in fig. 1 to fig. 3, an embodiment of the present application provides a user access method, which is applied to the access network device 02. Referring to fig. 4, the method includes 401-:

401. and acquiring the reserved flow of each service carried by the access network equipment in the current unit time.

Illustratively, to ensure that access requests of the user terminal are processed based on capacity in time, the unit time may be one second. Of course, the unit time may be smaller as the technology actually allows, and is not limited specifically here.

For example, in practice, step 401 may be executed by the aforementioned real-time flow monitoring module, and the record after data collection is as follows:

TABLE 1

Wherein YY represents the year, MM represents the month, DD represents the day of the MM month, HH: SS stands for time minute second.

Optionally, as shown in fig. 5, because the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application determines whether the user terminal of each service is accessible based on the traffic, and if the traffic required by each service is not large, and the performance of the co-established shared base station is not affected at all, the technical solution does not need to be executed, so before step 401, the core network device 03 further needs to execute the following steps:

and S1, acquiring the average flow of each target unit time of each service loaded by the access network equipment in busy hour in a preset time period before the current unit time.

For example, the target unit time may be 1 hour; in order to save the computing resources and ensure that the collected data can reflect the traffic usage of each service carried by the access network device, the preset time period may be two consecutive weeks of tuesday (any working day) and sunday (any resting day). The busy hour can be determined by the traffic using condition of the corresponding user of the operator, for example, the busy hour can be 9:00-11:00 and 14:00-17:00 in working days, and the non-working day can be 10:00-17: 00.

Illustratively, the step S1 is mainly performed by the traffic distribution requirement collecting module 033 in the core network device 03 shown in fig. 2.

And S2, determining the large flow target unit time according to the average flow of each target unit time of all services belonging to busy hours in a preset time period.

Illustratively, when the sum of average flows of all the services in a target unit time in busy hours in a preset time period is greater than a third preset ratio of the average flows in the target unit time in busy hours, the target unit time is determined to be a large flow target unit time.

And S3, judging whether the ratio of the number of the large-flow target unit time to the total target unit time corresponding to busy hours in a preset time period is larger than a second preset percentage.

When the ratio of the number of the large-flow target unit time to the total target unit time corresponding to all busy hours is larger than a second preset percentage, executing S4; when the ratio of the number of the large flow target unit times to the total target unit times corresponding to all busy hours is not greater than the second preset percentage, S1 is performed.

Illustratively, the second predetermined percentage may be 30%, or any other feasible value, and is not limited herein.

And S4, sending a corresponding instruction to the access network equipment to enable the access network equipment to acquire the reserved flow of each service carried by the access network equipment in the current unit time.

Because the traffic used by each service in the time of the large flow target unit time is more, it can be considered as very traffic dependent, and if the ratio of the large flow target unit time to the total target unit time in busy exceeds a certain ratio, it indicates that each service carried by the access network device is more traffic dependent, and a corresponding instruction needs to be sent to the access network device to enable the access network device to execute the technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the present application.

For example, the steps S2-S4 are performed by the service dependency analysis module 032 in the core network device 03 shown in fig. 2.

It should be noted that, in practice, the core network device may not execute the step S3, and after the step S2, it is determined whether to execute the step S1 or send a corresponding command to the core network device to execute the step 401 according to the ratio of the number of the large flow target unit time to the total target unit time number corresponding to the busy hour in the preset time period. In addition, the ratio of the number of the large flow target unit time to the total target unit time number corresponding to all busy hours is equal to a second preset percentage, which can be attributed to a case that the ratio of the number of the large flow target unit time to the total target unit time number corresponding to all busy hours is greater than the second preset percentage, or can be attributed to a case that the ratio of the number of the large flow target unit time to the total target unit time number corresponding to all busy hours is less than the second preset percentage, and the case that the ratio of the number of the large flow target unit time to the total target unit time number corresponding to all busy hours is less than the second preset percentage in the example corresponding to fig. 5 is taken as an example, but the present application does not specifically limit this.

402. When determining that the target service exists in all services carried by the access network equipment, determining the target bandwidth required by the target service in the current unit time according to the reserved flow of the target service.

After determining the reserved traffic of each service, the traffic real-time monitoring module may send the determined reserved traffic to the traffic determination module. The traffic discrimination module may determine whether a target service exists in all services carried by the access network, where a reserved traffic of the target service is greater than a first preset percentage of a preset unit traffic of the target service, and the preset unit traffic is a preset traffic in unit time, that is, data calculated by the key capacity customization module in the above embodiment. If the target service does not exist, the access network equipment allows the user terminals corresponding to all the services to normally access the access network equipment within the current unit time. If the target service exists, a network load balancing module judges whether to start load balancing among carriers, and in addition, the user terminal corresponding to the services except the target service is allowed to normally access the access network equipment in the current unit time. Specifically, the network load balancing module may determine the bandwidth required by the target service in the current unit time, that is, the target bandwidth, according to the reserved traffic.

It can be understood that the above normal access network device refers to a situation that the current 5QI (5G QoS Identifier) is maintained, and a new user terminal corresponding to each service is allowed to access the access network device. The 5QI is used to identify the Qos (Quality of Service) of 5G. In addition, since the base station needs to be set aside a part of the emergency bearer capacity, the first preset percentage may be 95% (for example only, and may be any other feasible value in practice).

For example, in the embodiment of the present invention, the network load balancing module determines the target bandwidth according to the reserved traffic, and specifically may adopt the following target formula:

wherein, W^w _NTaddIs the target bandwidth of the target traffic,

for the reserved traffic of the target service,

to connect toThe reserved flow of the kth public network service carried by the network access equipment,

and W is the total bandwidth of the access network equipment.

403. And determining whether a new user terminal corresponding to the target service is allowed to access in the current unit time or not according to the type of the target service and the target bandwidth.

After determining the target bandwidth, the network load balancing module may determine whether to allow a new user terminal corresponding to the target service to access in the current unit time according to the type of the target service and the target bandwidth.

For example, in practice, there is a situation where a certain user terminal needs more traffic in the current unit time than in the previous unit time, and in this case, the new user terminal may refer to a specific service corresponding to the newly added traffic; in practice, there is a case that the user terminal corresponding to the public network service or the private network service in the previous unit time is no longer accessed to the network in the current unit time, and in this case, the new user terminal may refer to an optional part of the user terminals in the current unit time as the new user terminal, and the number of the user terminals left after the selection is the same as the number of the user terminals in the previous unit time. Of course, there may be any other possible situations (for example, if the priorities of the user terminals belonging to the same service (public network service or private network service) are different, a new user terminal needs to be selected from a part of user terminals with a lower priority according to the priority), and the new user terminal is specifically selected according to the specific situation.

Optionally, as shown in fig. 6, the 403 step may specifically include 403a and 403 b:

403a, if the target service is a public network service of the target operator, determining whether to allow a new user terminal corresponding to the target service to access in the current unit time according to the target bandwidth and the remaining bandwidth of the public network carriers of other operators except the target operator.

Optionally, in the embodiment of the present invention, when the network load balancing module determines the remaining bandwidth of the public network carrier of any one operator except the target operator, the network load balancing module may first calculate the bandwidth usage amount of the public network carrier of the certain operator. Then, the remaining bandwidth of the operator's public network carrier is obtained by subtracting the bandwidth usage amount of the operator's public network carrier from the total bandwidth of the operator's public network carrier.

Specifically, the network load balancing module may use the following formula to calculate the bandwidth usage of the public network carrier of a certain operator:

wherein, Wⁱ _PUThe carrier is the bandwidth usage of the public network carrier of the operator i, and the operator i is not the target operator. T isⁱ _PUThe reserved traffic corresponding to the public network service of the operator i,

represents the sum of the reserved flows corresponding to all public network services under the access network equipment,

the sum of the reserved flow corresponding to all private network services under the access network equipment is represented, and W represents the total bandwidth of the access network equipment.

Then, the network load balancing module subtracts the bandwidth usage amount of the public network carrier of the operator i from the total bandwidth of the public network carrier of the operator i, so as to obtain the remaining bandwidth of the public network carrier of the operator i.

Illustratively, referring to fig. 7, 403a specifically includes 4031a and 4032 a:

4031a, if the target service is a public network service of a target operator, when it is determined that a second preset percentage of the remaining bandwidth of the public network carrier of the first operator is greater than or equal to the target bandwidth, in the multiple operators, resources corresponding to the remaining bandwidth of the public network carrier of the first operator are allocated to the public network carrier of the target operator within the current unit time, and then a new user terminal corresponding to the target service is allowed to access.

It can be understood that the allowance here may be that the access network device allows the service request of the user terminal, establishes a corresponding connection, and issues a corresponding configuration; but any other feasible way.

The allocating of the resources means that the access network device allocates the remaining bandwidth of the public network carrier of the first operator to the public network carrier of the target operator, so that the bandwidth resources of the public network carrier of the target operator are increased by the allocated bandwidth resources on the original basis, and the bandwidth resources of the public network carrier of the corresponding first operator are decreased by the allocated bandwidth resources on the original basis.

In an implementable manner, the access network device sets different priorities for each operator (such as operator a, operator B, and operator C), so that when a certain public network service of operator a and a certain public network service of operator B both need to invoke resources from a public network carrier of a first operator for use, if the priority of operator a is greater than the priority of operator B, the allocated resources are preferentially allocated to the public network carrier where the public network service of operator a is located, so as to provide access for a new user terminal corresponding to the public network service. In addition, if there are multiple public network carriers of the first operator, it is preferred to allocate resources from the public network carrier of the first operator with a lower priority of the corresponding operator.

It should be noted that, in practical applications, when the access network device allocates the resource of the public network carrier of the first operator to the public network carrier of the target operator for use, the determination of the target service and the bandwidth requirement thereof in the foregoing embodiment may be performed again after a certain period of time has elapsed, and if the public network carrier of the target operator does not need additional resources, the resource is reallocated to the public network carrier of the first operator.

4032a, when it is determined that the second preset percentage of the remaining bandwidth of the public network carrier of each of the multiple operators is smaller than the target bandwidth, forbidding access of a new user terminal corresponding to the target service in the current unit time.

It can be understood that the prohibition here may be that the access network device rejects the service request of the user terminal; but any other feasible way.

And 403b, if the target service is the private network service of the target operator, determining whether to allow a new user terminal corresponding to the target service to access in the current unit time according to the target bandwidth and the residual bandwidths of the public network carriers of all the operators.

Alternatively, as shown with reference to FIG. 7, 403b may include 4031b-4034 b:

4031b, if the target service is a private network service of the target operator, when it is determined that the remaining bandwidth of the public network carrier of the target operator is greater than or equal to the target bandwidth, allocating resources corresponding to the remaining bandwidth of the public network carrier of the target operator to the private network carrier of the target operator in the current unit time, and allowing a new user terminal corresponding to the target service to access.

For the description of resource allocation, reference may be made to the above-mentioned related expressions after 4031a, and details are not repeated here.

4032b, when it is determined that the remaining bandwidth of the public network carrier of the target operator is smaller than the target bandwidth, determine whether the remaining bandwidth of the public network carrier of the other operators except the target operator is greater than or equal to the target bandwidth.

When the residual bandwidth of the public network carriers of other operators except the target operator is determined to be larger than or equal to the target bandwidth, 4033b is executed; 4034b is performed when it is determined that the remaining bandwidth of the public network carriers of the other operators than the target operator is less than the target bandwidth.

4033b, in the current unit time, allocating resources corresponding to the residual bandwidth of the public network carrier of the second operator to the private network carrier of the target operator, and allowing a new user terminal corresponding to the target service to access.

4034b, forbidding the access of a new user terminal corresponding to the target service in the current unit time.

It should be noted that all the allowed accesses (allowing some new ues or allowing some ues) in the foregoing embodiments refer to the case of maintaining the current 5QI (5G QoS Identifier) (used to identify QoS (Quality of Service)) unchanged, and allowing each corresponding ue to access.

In the technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the application, after acquiring the reserved flow of each service in all public network services and private network services in the current unit time, the access network equipment judges whether the reserved flow corresponding to the target service is larger than a first preset percentage of the preset unit flow of the target service. If the reserved flow exceeds the preset unit flow, the bandwidth required by the target service in the current unit time, namely the target bandwidth, can be determined according to the reserved flow, and whether a new user terminal corresponding to the target service is allowed to access in the current unit time or not is determined according to the type of the target service and the target bandwidth. Therefore, the access network equipment carries two types of services, namely public network service and private network service, the priorities of the two types of services are different, and whether a new user terminal corresponding to the target service is allowed to be accessed in the current unit time can be determined according to the type of the target service and the target bandwidth, so that the access requirements of the shared base station, namely the user terminals corresponding to the different services carried by the access network equipment are met as much as possible by considering the service priorities and the overall resource conditions.

The scheme provided by the embodiment of the invention is mainly introduced from the perspective of a method. To implement the above functions, it includes hardware structures and/or software modules for performing the respective functions. Those of skill in the art will readily appreciate that the present invention can be implemented in hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software, with the exemplary elements and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein. Whether a function is performed as hardware or computer software drives hardware depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the solution. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present invention.

The embodiment of the present invention may perform functional module division on the access network device according to the above method example, for example, each functional module may be divided corresponding to each function, or two or more functions may be integrated into one processing module. The integrated module can be realized in a hardware mode, and can also be realized in a software functional module mode. It should be noted that, the division of the modules in the embodiment of the present invention is schematic, and is only a logic function division, and there may be another division manner in actual implementation.

Referring to fig. 8, a schematic structural diagram of an access network device 02 provided in the embodiment of the present application is specifically shown, where the schematic structural diagram includes: an acquisition module 31 and a processing module 32. The acquiring module is equivalent to the traffic real-time monitoring module 021, and the processing module is equivalent to the traffic judging module 022 and the load balancing module 023. The obtaining module 31 may perform the step 401 in the foregoing embodiment, and the processing module 32 may perform the

steps

402 and 403 in the foregoing embodiment.

Specifically, the obtaining module 31 is configured to obtain a reserved flow of each service in the public network service and the private network service of each operator in the current unit time;

a processing module 32, configured to determine, when it is determined that a target service exists in all services carried by the access network device 02, a target bandwidth required by the target service in the current unit time according to the reserved traffic of the target service acquired by the acquisition module 31; the reserved flow of the target service is larger than a first preset percentage of a preset unit flow of the target service, and the preset unit flow is the preset flow in unit time;

the processing module 32 is further configured to determine whether to allow a new ue corresponding to the target service to access in the current unit time according to the type of the target service and the target bandwidth.

Optionally, the processing module 32 is specifically configured to: if the target service is the public network service of the target operator, determining whether a new user terminal corresponding to the target service is allowed to be accessed in the current unit time according to the target bandwidth and the residual bandwidths of the public network carriers of other operators except the target operator;

and if the target service is the private network service of the target operator, determining whether a new user terminal corresponding to the target service is allowed to be accessed in the current unit time according to the target bandwidth and the residual bandwidths of the public network carriers of all the operators.

Optionally, the processing module 32 is specifically configured to: if the target service is the public network service of the target operator, when determining that a second preset percentage of the residual bandwidth of the public network carrier of the first operator is larger than or equal to the target bandwidth exists in the plurality of operators, allocating resources corresponding to the residual bandwidth of the public network carrier of the first operator to the public network carrier of the target operator in the current unit time, and allowing a new user terminal corresponding to the target service to access;

and when determining that the second preset percentage of the residual bandwidth of the public network carrier of each operator in the plurality of operators is smaller than the target bandwidth, forbidding the access of a new user terminal corresponding to the target service in the current unit time.

Optionally, the processing module 32 is specifically configured to: if the target service is the private network service of the target operator, when the residual bandwidth of the public network carrier of the target operator is determined to be greater than or equal to the target bandwidth, allocating resources corresponding to the residual bandwidth of the public network carrier of the target operator to the private network carrier of the target operator in the current unit time, and then allowing a new user terminal corresponding to the target service to access;

when determining that the residual bandwidth of the public network carrier of the target operator is smaller than the target bandwidth, judging whether the residual bandwidth of the public network carriers of other operators except the target operator is larger than or equal to the target bandwidth;

if the fact that the residual bandwidth of the public network carrier of the second operator is larger than or equal to the target bandwidth exists in other operators is determined, resources corresponding to the residual bandwidth of the public network carrier of the second operator are allocated to the private network carrier of the target operator in the current unit time, and a new user terminal corresponding to the target service is allowed to access;

and if the residual bandwidth of the public network carrier of each operator in the plurality of operators is determined to be smaller than the target bandwidth, the access of a new user terminal corresponding to the target service is forbidden in the current unit time.

The access network device provided in the embodiment of the present application is mainly configured to execute the user access method provided in the foregoing embodiment, so that the corresponding beneficial effects can be expressed by referring to the foregoing embodiment, and are not described herein again.

In the case of an integrated module, the access network device comprises: the device comprises a storage unit, a processing unit and an interface unit. The processing unit is used for controlling management, for example, the processing unit is used for supporting the access network device to execute the steps executed by the processing module 32 in the foregoing embodiment; the interface unit is used for supporting the information interaction between the access network equipment and other devices. Such as interaction with user terminals and core network equipment. A storage unit for program codes and data for the access network device.

For example, the processing unit is a processor, the storage unit is a memory, and the interface unit is a communication interface. Referring to fig. 9, an embodiment of the present invention further provides another access network device, which includes a memory 41, a processor 42, a bus 43, and a communication interface 44; the memory 41 is used for storing computer execution instructions, and the processor 42 is connected with the memory 41 through a bus 43; when the access network device is operating, the processor 42 executes computer-executable instructions stored by the memory 41 to cause the access network device to perform the user access method provided by the above-described embodiments.

In particular implementations, processor 42(42-1 and 42-2) may include one or more CPUs, such as CPU0 and CPU1 shown in FIG. 9, for example, as one embodiment. And as an example, the access network equipment may include a plurality of processors 42, such as processor 42-1 and processor 42-2 shown in fig. 9. Each of the processors 42 may be a Single-core processor (Single-CPU) or a Multi-core processor (Multi-CPU). Processor 42 may refer herein to one or more devices, circuits, and/or processing cores that process data (e.g., computer program instructions).

The Memory 41 may be a Read-Only Memory 41 (ROM) or other type of static storage device that can store static information and instructions, a Random Access Memory (RAM) or other type of dynamic storage device that can store information and instructions, an electrically erasable programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM), a compact disc Read-Only Memory (CD-ROM) or other optical disc storage, optical disc storage (including compact disc, laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc, blu-ray disc, etc.), a magnetic disc storage medium or other magnetic storage device, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer, but is not limited to these. The memory 41 may be self-contained and coupled to the processor 42 via a bus 43. The memory 41 may also be integrated with the processor 42.

In a specific implementation, the memory 41 is used for storing data in the present application and computer-executable instructions corresponding to software programs for executing the present application. The processor 42 may access various functions of the network equipment by running or executing software programs stored in the memory 41 and invoking data stored in the memory 41.

The communication interface 44 is any device, such as a transceiver, for communicating with other devices or communication networks, such as a control system, a Radio Access Network (RAN), a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), and the like. The communication interface 44 may include a receiving unit implementing a receiving function and a transmitting unit implementing a transmitting function.

The bus 43 may be an Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus, a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus, an extended ISA (enhanced industry standard architecture) bus, or the like. The bus 43 may be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, etc. For ease of illustration, only one thick line is shown in FIG. 9, but this does not indicate only one bus or one type of bus.

The embodiment of the present invention further provides a computer storage medium, where the computer storage medium includes a computer execution instruction, and when the computer execution instruction runs on a computer, the computer is enabled to execute the user access method provided in the foregoing embodiment.

The embodiment of the present invention further provides a computer program product, where the computer program product includes a computer program for executing on a computer, the computer program may be directly loaded into a memory and contains a software code, and the computer program can be loaded into and executed by the computer to implement the user access method provided by the foregoing embodiment.

FIG. 10 schematically illustrates a conceptual partial view of a computer program product provided by an embodiment of the invention, which in one embodiment is provided using a signal bearing medium 410. The signal bearing medium 410 may include one or more program instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, may provide the functions or portions of the functions described above with respect to fig. 4. Thus, for example, referring to the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 4, one or more features of 401-403 may be undertaken by one or more instructions associated with the signal bearing medium 410. Further, the program instructions in FIG. 10 also describe example instructions.

In some examples, signal bearing medium 410 may include a computer readable medium 411, such as, but not limited to, a hard disk drive, a Compact Disc (CD), a Digital Video Disc (DVD), a digital tape, a memory, a read-only memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), or the like.

In some implementations, the signal bearing medium 410 may comprise a computer recordable medium 412 such as, but not limited to, a memory, a read/write (R/W) CD, a R/W DVD, and the like.

In some implementations, the signal bearing medium 410 may include a communication medium 413, such as, but not limited to, a digital and/or analog communication medium (e.g., a fiber optic cable, a waveguide, a wired communications link, a wireless communication link, etc.).

The signal bearing medium 410 may be conveyed by a wireless form of communication medium 413, such as a wireless communication medium compliant with the IEEE802.41 standard or other transport protocol. The one or more program instructions may be, for example, computer-executable instructions or logic-implementing instructions.

In some examples, a write data device for receiving and storing external data may also be included, which may be configured to provide various operations, functions, or actions in response to one or more program instructions via the computer-readable medium 411, the computer-recordable medium 412, and/or the communication medium 413.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that, in one or more of the examples described above, the functions described in this invention may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, the functions may be stored on or transmitted over as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media includes both computer-readable storage media and communication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. A storage media may be any available media that can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer.

Through the above description of the embodiments, it is 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 completed by different functional modules according to needs, that is, the internal structure of the device may be divided into different functional modules to complete all or part of the above described functions.

In the several embodiments provided in the present application, 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 function division, and there may be other division ways in actual implementation. For example, various elements or components may be combined or may be integrated into another device, or some features may be omitted, or not implemented. 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. Units described as separate parts may or may not be physically separate, and parts displayed as units may be one physical unit or a plurality of physical units, may be located in one place, or may be distributed to a plurality of different places. 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 invention 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 readable storage medium. Based on such understanding, the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application may be essentially or partially contributed to by the prior art, or all or part of the technical solutions may be embodied in the form of a software product, where the software product is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions to enable a device (which may be a single chip, a chip, 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 invention. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: various media capable of storing program codes, such as a U disk, a removable hard disk, a ROM, a RAM, a magnetic disk, or an optical disk.

The above description is only for the specific embodiment of the present invention, but the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto, and any changes or substitutions that can be easily conceived by those skilled in the art within the technical scope of the present invention are included in the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the protection scope of the present invention shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A user access method is applied to access network equipment, the access network equipment respectively configures two paths of carriers for each operator in a plurality of operators, the two paths of carriers comprise a public network carrier and a private network carrier, the public network carrier provides support for public network services, and the private network carrier provides support for private network services, and the method is characterized by comprising the following steps:

acquiring the reserved flow of each service in the public network service and the private network service of each operator in the current unit time;

when determining that a target service exists in all services carried by the access network equipment, determining a target bandwidth required by the target service in the current unit time according to the reserved flow of the target service; the reserved flow of the target service is larger than a first preset percentage of a preset unit flow of the target service, and the preset unit flow is a preset flow in unit time;

and determining whether a new user terminal corresponding to the target service is allowed to access in the current unit time or not according to the type of the target service and the target bandwidth.

2. The user access method according to claim 1, wherein the determining, according to the type of the target service and the target bandwidth, whether to allow a new user terminal corresponding to the target service to access in the current unit time comprises:

if the target service is a public network service of a target operator, determining whether a new user terminal corresponding to the target service is allowed to access in the current unit time according to the target bandwidth and the residual bandwidths of public network carriers of other operators except the target operator;

and if the target service is the private network service of the target operator, determining whether a new user terminal corresponding to the target service is allowed to access in the current unit time according to the target bandwidth and the residual bandwidths of the public network carriers of all the operators.

3. The user access method according to claim 2, wherein if the target service is a public network service of a target operator, determining whether to allow a new user terminal corresponding to the target service to access in the current unit time according to the target bandwidth and a remaining bandwidth of a public network carrier of an operator other than the target operator, includes:

if the target service is the public network service of the target operator, when it is determined that a second preset percentage of the residual bandwidth of the public network carrier of the first operator is greater than or equal to the target bandwidth, in the current unit time, allocating resources corresponding to the residual bandwidth of the public network carrier of the first operator to the public network carrier of the target operator, and allowing a new user terminal corresponding to the target service to access;

4. The user access method according to claim 2 or 3, wherein if the target service is the private network service of the target operator, determining whether to allow a new user terminal corresponding to the target service to access in the current unit time according to the target bandwidth and remaining bandwidths of public network carriers of all operators, comprises:

if the target service is the private network service of the target operator, when the residual bandwidth of the public network carrier of the target operator is determined to be greater than or equal to the target bandwidth, allocating resources corresponding to the residual bandwidth of the public network carrier of the target operator to the private network carrier of the target operator in the current unit time, and then allowing a new user terminal corresponding to the target service to access;

when the residual bandwidth of the public network carrier of the target operator is determined to be smaller than the target bandwidth, judging whether the residual bandwidth of the public network carriers of other operators except the target operator is larger than or equal to the target bandwidth;

if the fact that the residual bandwidth of the public network carrier of the second operator is larger than or equal to the target bandwidth exists in the other operators is determined, resources corresponding to the residual bandwidth of the public network carrier of the second operator are allocated to the private network carrier of the target operator in the current unit time, and a new user terminal corresponding to the target service is allowed to access;

5. The subscriber access method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the determining the target bandwidth required by the target service in the current unit time according to the reserved traffic of the target service comprises:

calculating the target bandwidth according to the reserved flow of the target service and a target formula, wherein the target formula is as follows:

wherein, W^w _NTaddIs the target bandwidth of the target traffic,

for the reserved traffic of the target service,

for the reserved flow of the kth public network service carried by the access network equipment,

and W is the total bandwidth of the access network equipment.

6. An access network device, the access network device respectively configures two paths of carriers for each operator in a plurality of operators, the two paths of carriers include a public network carrier and a private network carrier, the public network carrier provides support for public network services, the private network carrier provides support for private network services, the access network device is characterized by comprising:

the acquisition module is used for acquiring the reserved flow of each service in the public network service and the private network service of each operator in the current unit time;

the processing module is used for determining a target bandwidth required by the target service in the current unit time according to the reserved flow of the target service acquired by the acquisition module when the target service exists in all services borne by the access network equipment; the reserved flow of the target service is larger than a first preset percentage of a preset unit flow of the target service, and the preset unit flow is a preset flow in unit time;

and the processing module is further used for determining whether a new user terminal corresponding to the target service is allowed to access in the current unit time according to the type of the target service and the target bandwidth.

7. The access network device of claim 6, wherein the processing module is specifically configured to:

8. The access network device of claim 7, wherein the processing module is specifically configured to:

9. The access network device according to claim 7 or 8, wherein the processing module is specifically configured to:

10. The access network device according to any one of claims 6 to 8, wherein the processing module is specifically configured to:

calculating the target bandwidth according to the reservation traffic of the target service acquired by the acquisition module and a target formula, wherein the target formula is as follows:

wherein, W^w _NTaddIs the target bandwidth of the target traffic,

for the reserved traffic of the target service,

and W is the total bandwidth of the access network equipment.

11. An access network device comprising a memory, a processor, a bus, and a communication interface; the memory is used for storing computer execution instructions, and the processor is connected with the memory through the bus; the processor executes the computer-executable instructions stored by the memory when the access network device is operating to cause the access network device to perform the user access method of any of claims 1-5.

12. A computer storage medium comprising computer executable instructions which, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform the user access method of any one of claims 1 to 5.