CN112087770B

CN112087770B - Method, communication system and communication device for notifying service state

Info

Publication number: CN112087770B
Application number: CN201910511369.1A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 丁辉; 时书锋; 方飞
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2019-06-13
Filing date: 2019-06-13
Publication date: 2022-05-17
Anticipated expiration: 2039-06-13
Also published as: CN112087770A

Abstract

The first network element sends a service deregistration request message or a service updating request message including a notification strategy to the network element discovery equipment, so that the network element discovery equipment can send service state notification messages (namely, deregistration state or updating state) to a plurality of subscription network elements subscribing the service state of the first network element in a more reasonable mode according to the notification strategy, and the problems of over-heavy signaling load of a core network and network performance fluctuation are solved.

Description

Method, communication system and communication device for notifying service state

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of communications, and more particularly, to a method, a communication system, and a communication apparatus for notifying a service status.

Background

In the current fifth generation (5G) architecture defined by the 3rd generation partnership project (3 GPP), the interfaces between control plane network elements adopt a service architecture. Based on the service architecture, each control plane network element registers its own address and supported service information with a Network Repository Function (NRF) so as to facilitate the query of a third party network element. When a certain network element judges that the network element cutover needs to be executed, a service deregistration request message or a service updating request message is sent to the NRF, and the NRF informs all subscribing network elements subscribing the service state of the network element of the deregistration state or the updating state so as to trigger the subscribing network elements to initiate a request for establishing or updating a context to a new network element.

Because the NRF does not perceive the number of affected users on each subscribing network element or the reason for initiating network element cutover, it may cause the problem of excessive core network signaling load or network performance fluctuation due to an unreasonable way for the NRF to notify each subscribing network element of deregistering state or updating state.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a method, a communication system and a communication device for notifying service states, which are beneficial to solving the problems of over-heavy signaling load of a core network and network performance fluctuation.

In a first aspect, a method for notifying service status is provided, including: the network element discovery equipment receives a request message from a first network element, wherein the request message is a service deregistration request message or a service updating request message, and the request message comprises a notification strategy; and the network element discovery equipment sends service state notification messages to a plurality of subscribing network elements which subscribe to the service state of the first network element according to the notification strategy.

According to the method provided by the application, because the first network element can sense the number of users affected by the cutover of the first network element and/or the reason for the cutover initiated by the first network element, the first network element can determine the notification policy adopted by the network element discovery device when notifying the service state notification message of each subscription network element, and the first network element sends the notification policy to the network element discovery device, so that the network element discovery device can send the service state notification message (namely, the de-registration state or the update state) to each subscription network element in a more reasonable manner according to the notification policy provided by the first network element, which is favorable for solving the problems of the overweight signaling load of the core network and the fluctuation of the network performance. For example, the first network element may send the service status notification message to each subscribing network element according to the notification policy, or the first network element may determine, in combination with local configuration, a policy for sending the service status notification message to each subscribing network element, and send the service status notification message to each subscribing network element according to the policy.

Optionally, the service status notification message is used to trigger the subscribing network element to initiate a context setup procedure or a context update procedure.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the service status notification message further includes information of one or more second network elements, where the second network elements are network elements that support providing the same service as the first network element, or the second network elements are network elements having the same function as the first network element.

Based on the scheme, the subscribing network element does not need to inquire the information of the second network element from the network element discovery device first, and then initiate the process of establishing the context or update the context to the second network element, so that the signaling overhead caused by inquiring the information of the second network element from the network element discovery device by the subscribing network element can be reduced.

With reference to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the sending, by the network element discovery device, the service status notification message to the multiple subscribing network elements 120 according to the notification policy includes: the network element discovery equipment determines a plurality of sending occasions according to the notification strategy, and sends service state notification messages to corresponding subscription network elements at the plurality of sending occasions respectively. Wherein, the multiple sending occasions correspond to the multiple subscribing network elements, and one sending occasion corresponds to at least one subscribing network element.

Based on the scheme, the network element discovery device can determine a suitable sending time for each subscription network element according to the notification policy, and can avoid sending the service state notification message to the plurality of subscription network elements at the same time, thereby avoiding the problem of over-heavy core network signaling load caused by the plurality of subscription network elements initiating the context establishing process or the context updating process at the same time.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the notification policy includes an end time, where the network element discovery device needs to send the service status notification message to the plurality of subscribing network elements before the end time.

Based on the scheme, the network element discovery device can complete sending the service state notification message to the plurality of subscribing network elements before the ending time, so that the subscribing network elements can initiate a context establishing process or a context updating process to the second network element in time, and establish or update the context in time, thereby avoiding network performance fluctuation caused by the fact that the context is not established or updated in time.

With reference to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the notification policy includes information of some or all of the subscribing network elements in the multiple subscribing network elements, and a number of target users corresponding to each of the subscribing network elements in the some or all of the subscribing network elements, where the target users are users that need to perform a context establishment procedure or a context update procedure.

Based on the scheme, the network element discovery device may determine, according to the number of target users corresponding to each subscribing network element in the part or all of the subscribing network elements, processing time required by each subscribing network element in the part or all of the subscribing network elements, that is, time required by each subscribing network element to perform a context establishing (or reestablishing) process or to update a context process, and further may send a service state notification message to the corresponding subscribing network element according to the determined processing time. Thus, the network element sending device can send the service state notification message to another subscribing network element after one subscribing network element executes the context establishing process or the context updating process, so that the problem of excessive core network signaling load caused by the simultaneous initiation of the context establishing process or the context updating process by a plurality of subscribing network elements can be avoided.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the notification policy includes information of some or all of the subscribing network elements in the multiple subscribing network elements, and a ratio of target users corresponding to each of the some or all of the subscribing network elements,

the target users are users that need to execute a context establishing process or a context updating process, and the ratio of the target users corresponding to one subscribing network element is the ratio of the target users corresponding to the subscribing network element to all the target users corresponding to the partial or all subscribing network elements, or the ratio of the target users corresponding to one subscribing network element is the ratio of the target users corresponding to the subscribing network element to all the target users corresponding to the first network element.

Based on the scheme, the network element discovery device may determine, according to the ratio of the target users corresponding to each subscribing network element in the part or all of the subscribing network elements, the processing time required by each subscribing network element in the part or all of the subscribing network elements, that is, the time required by each subscribing network element to perform the context establishing (or reestablishing) process or the context updating process, and further may send the service state notification message to the corresponding subscribing network element according to the determined processing time. Thus, the network element sending device can send the service state notification message to another subscribing network element after one subscribing network element executes the context establishing process or the context updating process, so that the problem of excessive core network signaling load caused by the simultaneous initiation of the context establishing process or the context updating process by a plurality of subscribing network elements can be avoided.

With reference to the first aspect, in some implementation manners of the first aspect, the notification policy includes information of some or all of the subscribing network elements in the multiple subscribing network elements, and a processing time of each of the some or all of the subscribing network elements, where the processing time of one subscribing network element is a time required for the subscribing network element to perform a context setup procedure or an update context procedure.

Based on the scheme, the network element sending device can send the service state notification message to another subscribing network element after one subscribing network element executes the context establishing process or the context updating process, so that the problem of excessive core network signaling load caused by the fact that a plurality of subscribing network elements simultaneously initiate the context establishing process or the context updating process can be avoided.

With reference to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the notification policy includes notification time intervals corresponding to some or all of the subscribing network elements, respectively, where the notification time intervals are time intervals for sending the service status notification message.

Based on the scheme, the network element sending device can send the service state notification message to the subscribing network elements according to the notification time interval, so that the problem of heavy core network signaling load caused by the fact that a plurality of subscribing network elements initiate a process of establishing or updating the context at the same time can be avoided.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the notification policy includes a notification order, where the notification order is an order in which the network element discovery device sends the service status notification messages to the multiple subscribing network elements.

For example, the network element discovery device may notify the service status of the corresponding subscription network element according to the notification time interval and the notification sequence corresponding to each subscription network element in the plurality of subscription network elements. Wherein, the notification sequence is a sequence in which the network element discovery device sends the service state notification messages to the plurality of subscribing network elements.

In a second aspect, a method for notifying service status is provided, including: a first network element generates a request message, wherein the request message is a service deregistration request message or a service updating request message, and the request message comprises a notification strategy; the first network element sends the request message to the network element discovery device. Wherein the notification policy is used for the network element discovery device to send a service status notification message to a plurality of subscribing network elements that subscribe to the first network element.

Optionally, the first network element may determine the notification policy according to the number of users affected by the cutover of the first network element and/or a reason for initiating the cutover of the first network element.

According to the method provided by the application, because the first network element can sense the number of users affected by the cutover of the first network element and/or the reason for the cutover initiated by the first network element, the first network element can determine the notification policy adopted when the network element discovery device notifies each subscription network element of the service state notification message, and the first network element sends the notification policy to the network element discovery device, so that the network element discovery device can send the service state notification message (namely, the unregistered state or the updated state) to each subscription network element in a more reasonable manner according to the notification policy provided by the first network element, which is favorable for solving the problems of the overweight signaling load of the core network and the fluctuation of the network performance. For example, the first network element may send the service status notification message to each subscribing network element according to the notification policy, or the first network element may determine, in combination with local configuration, a policy for sending the service status notification message to each subscribing network element, and send the service status notification message to each subscribing network element according to the policy.

Optionally, the first network element may send the request message to the network element discovery device when determining that it is not available or needs to perform a service update.

In a third aspect, a method for notifying service status is provided, including: a subscribing network element receives a service state notification message sent by a network element discovery device, wherein the service state notification message includes information of one or more second network elements, the second network elements are network elements supporting the same service as a first network element, or the second network elements are network elements having the same function as the first network element, and the subscribing network element subscribes to the service state of the first network element; and the subscription network element initiates a context establishing process or a context updating process according to the information of part or all of the second network elements in the one or more second network elements.

It should be understood that the subscribing network element may only need to establish a context or update a context with a part of the one or more second network elements, or may need to establish a context or update a context with all of the one or more second network elements, which may be determined by a network deployment situation.

Based on the scheme, the subscribing network element does not need to firstly inquire the information of the second network element from the network element discovery equipment, and then initiate a context establishing process or a context updating process to the second network element, so that the signaling overhead caused by the fact that the subscribing network element inquires the information of the second network element from the network element discovery equipment can be reduced.

In a fourth aspect, a communication system is provided that includes a network element discovery device and a plurality of subscribing network elements. A network element discovery device, configured to receive a request message from a first network element, where the request message is a service deregistration request message or a service update request message, and the request message includes a notification policy; according to the notification policy, sending a service state notification message to the plurality of subscribing network elements which subscribe to the service state of the first network element; the subscription network element is configured to receive the service status notification message.

According to the communication system provided by the application, because the first network element can sense the number of users affected by the cutover of the first network element and/or the reason for the cutover initiated by the first network element, the first network element can determine the notification policy adopted by the network element discovery device when notifying the service state notification message of each subscription network element, and the first network element sends the notification policy to the network element discovery device, so that the network element discovery device can send the service state notification message (namely, the unregistered state or the updated state) to each subscription network element in a more reasonable manner according to the notification policy provided by the first network element, which is favorable for solving the problems of the overweight signaling load of the core network and the fluctuation of the network performance. For example, the first network element may send the service status notification message to each subscribing network element according to the notification policy, or the first network element may determine, in combination with local configuration, a policy for sending the service status notification message to each subscribing network element, and send the service status notification message to each subscribing network element according to the policy.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in some implementations of the fourth aspect, the subscribing network element is further configured to: and initiating a context establishing process or a context updating process according to the service state notification message.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in some implementations of the fourth aspect, the service status notification message further includes information of one or more second network elements, where the second network element is a network element that supports providing the same service as the first network element, or the second network element is a network element having the same function as the first network element; and the subscription network element is configured to initiate a context establishment procedure or a context update procedure according to the service status notification message, including: the subscription network element is configured to initiate a context establishing process or a context updating process to some or all of the one or more second network elements according to the information of the one or more second network elements.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in some implementations of the fourth aspect, the system further includes a first network element. The first network element is configured to send the request message to the network element discovery device when it is determined that the first network element is unavailable or needs to perform service update.

In a fifth aspect, an apparatus is provided that includes means for performing the method of any one of the possible implementations of the first to third aspects and the first to third aspects.

In a sixth aspect, an apparatus is provided that includes a processor. The processor is coupled to the memory and is operable to execute the instructions in the memory to cause the apparatus to perform the method in any of the possible implementations of the first to third aspects and the first to third aspects. Optionally, the apparatus further comprises a memory. Optionally, the apparatus further comprises an interface circuit, the processor being coupled to the interface circuit.

In one implementation, the apparatus is a network element discovery device or a chip configured in the network element discovery device. When the apparatus is a network element discovery device, the interface circuit may be a transceiver, or an input/output interface. When the apparatus is a chip configured in the network element discovery device, the interface circuit may be an input/output interface.

In another implementation, the apparatus is a first network element or a chip configured in the first network element. When the apparatus is a first network element, the interface circuit may be a transceiver, or an input/output interface. When the apparatus is a chip configured in the first network element, the interface circuit may be an input/output interface.

In yet another implementation, the apparatus is a subscribing network element or a chip configured in the subscribing network element. When the apparatus is a subscribing network element, the interface circuit may be a transceiver, or an input/output interface. When the device is a chip configured in a subscribing network element, the interface circuit may be an input/output interface.

Alternatively, the transceiver may be a transmit-receive circuit. Alternatively, the input/output interface may be an input/output circuit.

In a seventh aspect, a processor is provided, including: input circuit, output circuit and processing circuit. The processing circuit is configured to receive a signal through the input circuit and transmit a signal through the output circuit, so that the processor performs the method of any one of the possible implementations of the first to third aspects and the first to third aspects.

In a specific implementation process, the processor may be a chip, the input circuit may be an input pin, the output circuit may be an output pin, and the processing circuit may be a transistor, a gate circuit, a flip-flop, various logic circuits, and the like. The input signal received by the input circuit may be received and input by, for example and without limitation, a receiver, the signal output by the output circuit may be output to and transmitted by a transmitter, for example and without limitation, and the input circuit and the output circuit may be the same circuit that functions as the input circuit and the output circuit, respectively, at different times. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the specific implementation manner of the processor and various circuits.

In an eighth aspect, a processing apparatus is provided that includes a processor and a memory. The processor is configured to read instructions stored in the memory, and may receive a signal through the receiver and transmit a signal through the transmitter to perform the method of any one of the possible implementations of the first to third aspects and the first to third aspects.

Optionally, the number of the processors is one or more, and the number of the memories is one or more.

Alternatively, the memory may be integral to the processor or provided separately from the processor.

In a specific implementation process, the memory may be a non-transient memory, such as a Read Only Memory (ROM), which may be integrated on the same chip as the processor, or may be separately disposed on different chips.

The processing device in the above eighth aspect may be a chip, the processor may be implemented by hardware or may be implemented by software, and when implemented by hardware, the processor may be a logic circuit, an integrated circuit, or the like; when implemented in software, the processor may be a general-purpose processor implemented by reading software code stored in a memory, which may be integrated with the processor, located external to the processor, or stand-alone.

In a ninth aspect, there is provided a computer program product comprising: a computer program (which may also be referred to as code, or instructions), which when executed, causes a computer to perform the method of any of the possible implementations of the first to third aspects and the first to third aspects described above.

A tenth aspect provides a computer-readable medium storing a computer program (which may also be referred to as code or instructions) which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method of any one of the possible implementations of the first to third aspects and of the first to third aspects described above.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a 5G system applied to the present application;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of an architecture applied to another 5G system of the present application;

fig. 4 is a schematic block diagram of a communication apparatus applied to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 5 is a schematic flow chart diagram of a method of notifying the status of a service provided herein;

FIG. 6 is a schematic flow chart diagram of a method of notifying service status as provided herein;

fig. 7 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device provided herein.

Detailed Description

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

Based on a service architecture defined by 3GPP, for example, in a 5G system, when a certain network element determines that a network element cutover needs to be performed, a service deregistration request or a service update request is sent to the NRF, and the NRF notifies all other network elements (i.e., subscribing network elements) subscribing to the service state of the network element of the deregistration state or the update state, so as to trigger the subscribing network element to initiate a request for establishing or updating a context to a new network element.

For example, in an actual scenario, a network element cutover may affect the amount of millions of users, and since the NRF does not sense the number of affected users under each subscribing network element, the NRF may simultaneously notify the subscribing network elements of a deregistration status or an update status, thereby possibly causing the subscribing network elements to initiate a request for establishing or updating a context at the same time. Since the request for establishing or updating the context is granular in terms of User Equipment (UE) or Protocol Data Unit (PDU) Session (Session), millions of requests for establishing or updating the context are sent to the new-side network element, which results in an excessive signaling load on the core network.

For another example, if the NRF notifies the subscribing network elements of the deregistration status or the update status according to a preset time interval, and the preset time interval may not match with the number of affected users on each subscribing network element, the network performance may also fluctuate.

For another example, if Unified Data Management (UDM) needs to perform a cutover, and the UDM cutover is caused by voice data migration, if a User Equipment (UE) cannot timely and correctly register to a corresponding new-side UDM, the new-side UDM cannot find a correct access and mobility management function (AMF) when receiving a downlink voice call request, and thus a voice call failure of the UE will be caused, which may further cause network performance fluctuation.

It should be understood that the above describes a problem that may exist when the network element is cut by taking the network element cut in the 5G system as an example, and similar problems may exist in other systems, such as a future 6G system.

In view of this, the present application provides a method, a communication system, and a communication apparatus for notifying a service state, in which a notification policy is determined by a network element (i.e., a first network element) that needs to be subjected to network element cutover, and the notification policy is provided to a network element discovery device (e.g., NRF), so that the network element discovery device can notify a deregistration state or an update state to each subscribing network element in a more reasonable manner according to the notification policy, which is beneficial to solving the problems of excessive signaling load of a core network and network performance fluctuation.

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system provided in the present application. The system 100 may be used to perform the method of notifying the status of a service provided herein. It should be understood that each network element of the system 100 may be a single network element, or each of these network elements may be a functional module, or the functions implemented by any multiple network elements in these network elements may be integrated on one functional module or one network element, which is not limited in this application.

As shown in fig. 1, the system 100 includes: a network element discovery device 110 and a plurality (i.e., two or more) subscribing network elements 120. Optionally, the system 100 may further include a first network element 130 and one or more second network elements 140. Wherein each subscribing network element 120 is subscribed to the service state of the first network element 130, the one or more second network elements 140 are network elements that support the same service as the first network element 130, or the one or more second network elements 140 are network elements that have the same function as the first network element 130. When the first network element needs to make a cutover, the user on the first network element will be migrated to the one or more second network elements 140.

It should be understood that the plurality of subscribing network elements may comprise one or more types of network elements, in particular relating to the type of the first network element. For example, taking the system 100 as a 5G system as an example, and when the first network element is a UDM, the multiple subscribing network elements may include an AMF and a Session Management Function (SMF). Further, the plurality of subscribing network elements may also include a Short Message Service Function (SMSF). For another example, when the first network element is an AMF, the plurality of subscribing network elements may include the AMF, a Policy Control Function (PCF), and an authentication server function (AUSF).

In the system 100, a network element discovery device 110 is configured to: receiving a request message from the first network element 130, where the request message is a service deregistration request message or a service update request message, and the request message includes a notification policy (or, a notification policy information) for the network element discovery device 110 to send a service status notification message to the plurality of subscribing network elements 120; and sending a service state notification message to the plurality of subscribing network elements 120 that subscribe to the service state of the first network element 130 according to the notification policy. Accordingly, the subscribing network element 120 is configured to receive the service status notification message.

For example, when the first network element 130 is unavailable, for example, when the first network element fails, the first network element 130 may send a service deregistration request message to the network element discovery device 110, where the service deregistration request message triggers the network element discovery device 110 to deregister the service content (NF profile) of the first network element 130 or to deregister the service list or the user number segment registered by the first network element 130 on the network element discovery device 110. The service deregistration request message further includes the notification policy, and the network element discovery device 110 may send a service status notification message to the plurality of subscribing network elements 120 according to the notification policy to notify the plurality of subscribing network elements 120 that the first network element 130 is unavailable.

For another example, when the subscriber list supported by the first network element 130 is partially changed, a service update request message may be sent to the network element discovery device 110, where the service update request message may trigger the network element discovery device 110 to update service contents (e.g., including one or more information of a network element type, a network element address, a service list, a support number field, and the like) of the first network element 130. The service update request message also includes the notification policy. The network element discovery device 110 may send a service status notification message to the plurality of subscribing network elements 120 according to the notification policy, so as to notify the plurality of subscribing network elements 120 that the first network element 130 needs to perform service status update. It should be appreciated that the service update request message may include a list of users supported by the first network element 130 after the update.

According to the system provided by the application, because the first network element can sense the number of users affected by the cutover of the first network element and/or the reason for the cutover initiated by the first network element, the first network element can determine the notification policy adopted by the network element discovery device when notifying the service state notification message of each subscription network element, and the first network element sends the notification policy to the network element discovery device, so that the network element discovery device can send the service state notification message (namely, the unregistered state or the updated state) to each subscription network element in a more reasonable manner according to the notification policy provided by the first network element, which is favorable for solving the problems of the overweight signaling load of the core network and the fluctuation of the network performance. For example, the first network element may send the service status notification message to each subscribing network element according to the notification policy, or the first network element may determine, in combination with local configuration, a policy for sending the service status notification message to each subscribing network element, and send the service status notification message to each subscribing network element according to the policy.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the service status notification message received by the subscribing network element 120 may trigger the subscribing network element 120 to initiate an establish context flow or an update context flow. Thus, the subscribing network element 120 may initiate a setup context procedure or an update context procedure after receiving the service status notification message, so as to setup or update the context between the subscribing network element 120 and the one or more second network elements 140.

It should be noted that establishing a context as described herein may also be reconstructing a context. The subscribing network element 120 may initiate the establish context or update context flow, for example, by sending a registration request message or an initial context message. In addition, both the establish context flow and the update context flow are UE-granular. In the case that the context establishing process or the context updating process is triggered by the service update request message, the subscribing network element 120 may initiate the context establishing process and the context updating process only for other users registered in the user list of the first network element before except the user list supported by the updated first network element 130. For example, if the users previously registered in the subscribing network element 120 are users 1 to 20, and the updated users supported by the first network element 130 are users 1 to 10, the subscribing network element 120 may initiate the context establishing process and the context updating process only for the users 11 to 20.

Optionally, the service status notification message may include information of the one or more second network elements 140. For example, the service status notification message may include an identification of the one or more second network elements 140.

The subscribing network element 120 may initiate a context establishing process or a context updating process to some or all of the one or more second network elements 140 according to the information of the one or more second network elements 140.

In addition, the information of the one or more second network elements 140 may also be configured to the network element discovery device 110 by a Management plane, such as an Operation and maintenance Management (OAM). Thus, the subscribing network element may obtain the information of the one or more second network elements 140 from the network element discovery device 110.

In one possible implementation, the network element discovery device 110 is configured to send a service status notification message to the multiple subscribing network elements 120 according to the notification policy, and includes:

the network element discovery device 110 is configured to determine multiple sending occasions according to the notification policy, and send a service status notification message to the corresponding subscribing network element 120 at the multiple sending occasions, respectively. Wherein the multiple sending occasions correspond to the multiple subscribing network elements 120, and one sending occasion corresponds to at least one subscribing network element 120.

That is, the network element discovery device 110 may determine, according to the notification policy, a corresponding sending opportunity for each subscribing network element 120, and for each subscribing network element 120, the network element discovery device 110 may send the service status notification message to the subscribing network element 120 at the corresponding sending opportunity. It should be appreciated that the network element discovery device 110 may send the service status notification message to multiple subscribing network elements at the same time at one sending opportunity.

Based on this scheme, the network element discovery device 110 may determine a suitable sending time for each subscribing network element according to the notification policy, and can avoid sending the service state notification message to the multiple subscribing network elements at the same time, thereby avoiding a problem of an excessive core network signaling load caused by the multiple subscribing network elements initiating a context establishment procedure or a context update procedure at the same time.

The following is a description of what the notification policy may include.

Optionally, the notification policy may include one of the following five kinds of information, or may include several of the following five kinds of information at the same time.

(1) And (7) ending the time. Wherein the network element discovery device 110 needs to send a service status notification message to the plurality of subscribing network elements 120 at the end time.

In the case that the notification policy includes the first type of information, the network element discovery device 110 may complete sending the service status notification message to the plurality of subscribing network elements 120 before the end time, so that the subscribing network element 120 may initiate a context setup procedure or a context update procedure to the second network element 140 in time, and in time, setup or update the context.

For example, the first network element is a UDM, and the cutover of the UDM is caused by voice data migration, according to the scheme of the present application, the network element discovery device 110 can complete sending the service status notification message to the plurality of subscribing network elements 120 before the end time, so that the plurality of subscribing network elements can register the UE to the corresponding new-side UDM (i.e., the second network element) in time, and then the second network element can find the correct AMF when receiving the downlink voice call request, thereby ensuring that the voice call of the UE is successful, and avoiding network performance fluctuation.

Optionally, in a case that the notification policy includes the first type of information, the network element discovery device 110 may further determine, in combination with the local configuration, a notification time interval corresponding to each of all the subscribing network elements, and send a service status notification message to the corresponding subscribing network element according to the notification time interval.

Based on this scheme, the network element discovery device 110 may send the service state notification message to each subscribing network element in a time-sharing manner before the end time, so as to avoid a problem of an excessive core network signaling load caused by a plurality of subscribing network elements initiating a process of establishing or updating a context at the same time.

(2) Information of some or all of the subscribing network elements in the multiple subscribing network elements 120, and the number of target users corresponding to each of the subscribing network elements in the some or all of the subscribing network elements.

The target user is a user that needs to perform a context establishing (or reestablishing) process or a context updating process, or a target user corresponding to one subscribing network element is a user that is affected by deregistration or service updating of the first network element on the subscribing network element. The information of the subscribing network element may be, for example, an identification of the subscribing network element.

It should be understood that the notification policy may include information of all the subscribing network elements (i.e., the multiple subscribing network elements described above) that have interaction with the first network element, or may include only information of a part of the subscribing network elements in all the subscribing network elements that have interaction with the first network element, where the part of the subscribing network elements is, for example, a subscribing network element with a large number of affected users (e.g., greater than a preset threshold) on the subscribing network element in the multiple subscribing network elements.

In a case that the notification policy includes the second information, the network element discovery device 110 may determine, according to the number of target users corresponding to each subscribing network element in the part or all of the subscribing network elements, processing time required by each subscribing network element in the part or all of the subscribing network elements, that is, time required by each subscribing network element to perform a context establishing (or rebuilding) process or a context updating process.

Further, the network element discovery device 110 may determine, based on the processing time required by each of the partial or all subscription network elements determined by the network element discovery device, a notification time interval corresponding to each of all subscription network elements, and send a service status notification message to the corresponding subscription network element according to the notification time interval.

(3) Information of some or all of the subscribing network elements in the plurality of subscribing network elements 120, and a ratio of target users corresponding to each of the subscribing network elements in the some or all of the subscribing network elements.

The ratio of the target users corresponding to one subscription network element is the ratio of the target users corresponding to the subscription network element in all the target users corresponding to the part or all of the subscription network elements. Or, the ratio of the target users corresponding to one subscribing network element is the ratio of the target users corresponding to the subscribing network element in all the target users corresponding to the first network element. The meaning of the target user may be as described above. It should be understood that all target users for the first network element are equal to the sum of the target users for all subscribing network elements.

The first network element is a UDM, and the plurality of subscribing network elements are AMF #1 to AMF #10 and SMF #1 to SMF # 10. The partially or totally subscribed network elements are AMF #1 to AMF #5, and then for any AMF of AMF #1 to AMF #5, the ratio of the corresponding target users may be the ratio of the amount of affected users on the AMF to the sum of the amounts of affected users on five AMFs of AMF #1 to AMF #5, or may be the ratio of the amount of affected users on the AMF to the sum of all affected users on the UDM (i.e., the sum of the amounts of affected users on 20 network elements of AMF #1 to AMF #10 and SMF #1 to SMF # 10).

It should be understood that the notification policy may include information of all subscribing network elements (i.e., the multiple subscribing network elements described above) that have interaction with the first network element, or may include only information of a part of subscribing network elements in all subscribing network elements that have interaction with the first network element, where the part of subscribing network elements may be, for example, subscribing network elements with a larger ratio of corresponding target users (e.g., larger than a preset threshold) in the multiple subscribing network elements.

In a case that the notification policy includes the third information, the network element discovery device 110 may determine, according to a ratio of target users corresponding to each subscribed network element in the part or all of the subscribed network elements, processing time required by each subscribed network element in the part or all of the subscribed network elements, that is, time required by each subscribed network element to perform a context establishing (or rebuilding) process or a context updating process.

For example, the network element discovery device 110 may use the processing time required by a subscribing network element as the notification time interval corresponding to the subscribing network element.

For example, in the case that the processing time required by each of the partial subscription network elements is determined, the network element discovery device 110 may determine the processing time required by other subscription network elements in all the subscription network elements based on any mechanism, for example, the network element discovery device 110 may consider the processing time required by the other subscription network elements to be 0 or less than a certain threshold.

(4) Information of some or all of the subscribing network elements in the plurality of subscribing network elements 120, and a processing time of each of the some or all of the subscribing network elements. Wherein, the processing time of a subscribing network element is the time required by the subscribing network element to execute the context establishing process or the context updating process.

In a case that the notification policy includes the fourth information, the network element discovery device 110 may determine, based on the processing time required by each of the partial or all subscription network elements, a notification time interval corresponding to each of all subscription network elements, and notify a service status of a corresponding subscription network element according to the notification time interval.

(5) And the notification time intervals respectively correspond to part or all of the plurality of subscription network elements, and are the time intervals for sending the service state notification messages.

In a case that the notification policy includes the fifth information, the network element discovery device 110 may determine, based on the notification time intervals respectively corresponding to some or all of the network elements, the notification time interval corresponding to each of all the subscribing network elements, and may notify the corresponding subscribing network element of the service status according to the determined notification time interval.

The second information, the third information and the fourth information may be combined, but the present application is not limited thereto. The first information may be combined with any one or more of other information, so that the network element sending device may determine, according to the end time, notification time intervals corresponding to the respective subscribing network elements in all the subscribing network elements.

In a possible implementation manner, the notifying, by the network element discovery device 110, the service status of the corresponding subscription network element to the notification message according to the notification time interval corresponding to each subscription network element in all subscription network elements includes:

the network element discovery device 110 notifies the service status of the corresponding subscribing network element according to the notification time interval and the notification sequence corresponding to each subscribing network element in all the subscribing network elements.

Wherein, the notification sequence is a sequence in which the network element discovery device 110 sends the service status notification messages to the plurality of subscribing network elements.

For example, all the subscribing network elements include AMF and SMF, the notification sequence is AMF first and then SMF, and the notification time interval corresponding to SMF is 30ms, so that the network element discovery device 110 may send the service state notification message to SMF 30ms after sending the service state notification message to AMF.

Optionally, the notification sequence may be autonomously determined by the network element discovery device 110, or may be carried by a notification policy, which is not limited in this application.

Illustratively, the first network element is a UDM, and the cutover of the UDM is caused by voice data migration, then the first network element may instruct the network element discovery device 110 to send a service status notification message to the AMF first, so that the AMF may register the UE to the corresponding new-side UDM (i.e., the second network element) in time, and then the second network element may find the correct AMF when receiving the downlink voice call request, thereby ensuring that the UE is successfully called, and avoiding network performance fluctuation.

It should be understood that, the network element discovery device 110 determines the notification time interval and the notification sequence corresponding to each subscribing network element, that is, determines the sending timing corresponding to each subscribing network element.

The system 100 may be a communication system based on a service architecture, such as a fifth generation (5G) system, a New Radio (NR) or other communication systems that may be present in the future.

For example, the network element discovery device in the system 100 may be an NRF in a 5G system.

Fig. 2 shows a schematic diagram of a 5G system architecture employing a servitization architecture. As shown in fig. 2, the system 200 includes: short Message Service Function (SMSF), network open function (NEF), authentication server function (AUSF), PCF, Unified Data Management (UDM), Application Function (AF), NRF, AMF, SMF, Radio Access Network (RAN), Data Network (DN), User Plane Function (UPF), and UE. Each interface shown in fig. 2, except for N1, N2, N3, N4, and N6, includes a service interface corresponding to a corresponding network element, such as Nnef, nrf, and Npcf. For interfaces N1, N2, N3, N4 and N6, reference is made to the description of the system shown in fig. 3 below.

The main functions of each network element are described as follows:

SMSF: short message service function. The method is mainly responsible for the control functions related to the short message service, including forwarding the short message data packet between the AMF and the short message center, and executing the charging control of the short message according to the configuration of the operator and the subscription information of the user.

NEF: network open function. The method is mainly responsible for opening partial capability of a network side to a third-party application function, so that the third-party application function is supported to customize service parameters, subscribe user state events and the like to a core network.

AUSF: an authentication server function. The method is mainly responsible for authenticating users in a home network, forwarding authentication vectors between the AMF and the UDM and the like.

PCF: a policy control function. The method is mainly responsible for carrying out charging, QoS bandwidth guarantee and mobility management, UE strategy decision and other strategy control functions aiming at the conversation and service flow level. In the system, PCFs connected to the AMF and the SMF are an access and mobility control PCF (AM PCF) and a session management PCF (SM PCF) respectively, and the AM PCF and the SM PCF may not be the same PCF entity in actual deployment.

UDM: and (5) unified data management. The system is mainly responsible for functions of managing subscription data, user access authorization and the like.

AF: and (5) applying a function. Requirements of the application side on the network side, such as quality of service (QoS) requirements, are mainly transferred. The AF may be a third party functional entity, or may be an application service deployed by an operator, such as an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) voice call service.

NRF: and the network warehouse function is used for realizing the registration and discovery functions of the network element service.

AMF: access and mobility management functions. Mainly performs the functions of mobility management, access authentication/authorization and the like. In addition, it is also responsible for transferring user policy between the UE and PCF.

SMF: a session management function. The method mainly has the functions of session management, execution of control strategies issued by PCF, UPF selection, UE IP address allocation and the like.

And (4) UPF: a user plane functional entity. And the UPF is used as an interface with a data network to complete functions of user plane data forwarding, session/stream level-based charging statistics, bandwidth limitation and the like.

(R) AN: the (wireless) access network corresponds to different access networks in the 5G, and has various modes such as wireless access, wireless base station access and the like.

DN: and the data network corresponds to a corresponding network access technology.

Fig. 3 shows a schematic diagram of a 5G system architecture based on reference points in a non-roaming scenario. As shown in fig. 3, the system 300 includes: SMSF, AMF, SMF, PCF, AF, RAN, UDM, DN, UPF, UE, and a Unified Data Repository (UDR).

The access function of the type data such as the subscription data, the strategy data, the application data and the like is mainly responsible. The main functions of the other network elements can be seen from the description of the corresponding network elements shown in fig. 2.

Wherein, each interface function is described as follows:

n7: and the interface between the PCF and the SMF is used for transmitting the PDU session granularity and the service data flow granularity control strategy.

N15: and the interface between the PCF and the AMF is used for issuing the UE strategy and the access control related strategy.

N5: and the interface between the AF and the PCF is used for issuing the application service request and reporting the network event.

N4: the interface between the SMF and the UPF is used for transmitting information between the control plane and the user plane, and comprises the control of issuing of forwarding rules, QoS control rules, flow statistic rules and the like facing the user plane and the information reporting of the user plane.

N11: and the interface between the SMF and the AMF is used for transmitting PDU session tunnel information between the RAN and the UPF, transmitting control information sent to the UE, transmitting radio resource control information sent to the RAN and the like.

N1: the interface between the AMF and the UE, access independence, is used to deliver QoS control rules to the UE, etc.

N2: and the interface between the AMF and the RAN is used for transmitting radio bearer control information from the core network side to the RAN and the like.

N8: and the interface between the AMF and the UDM is used for acquiring the subscription data and the authentication data related to access and mobility management from the UDM by the AMF, registering the current mobility management related information of the UE from the UDM by the AMF and the like.

N10: and the interface between the SMF and the UDM is used for acquiring the subscription data related to the session management from the SMF to the UDM, registering the related information of the current session of the UE from the SMF to the UDM, and the like.

N35: and the interface between the UDM and the UDR is used for acquiring the user subscription data information from the UDR by the UDM.

N36: and the interface between the PCF and the UDR is used for the PCF to acquire the subscription data related to the strategy and the application data related information from the UDR.

N3: an interface between the RAN and the UPF for transferring user plane data between the RAN and the UPF. .

N6: and the interface between the UPF and the DN is used for transmitting the user plane data between the UPF and the DN.

N9: the interface between UPF and UPF, or the interface between UPF connected to DN and UPF connected to RAN, is used to transmit user plane data between UPFs.

N20: and the interface between the AMF and the SMSF is used for triggering the SMSF to initiate a short message service registration/deregistration process to the UDM by the AMF.

N21: and the interface between the SMSF and the UDM is used for the SMSF to acquire the related signing data of the short message service from the UDM, and the SMSF to register the related information of the current short message service of the UE to the UDM.

It should be understood that the present application may also be applied to a system based on a service architecture in a roaming scenario. For a 5G system architecture diagram based on a service interface and a reference point in a roaming scenario, reference may be made to the prior art, and details of the present application are not repeated.

It should be noted that the name of each network element included in fig. 2 and 3 is only a name, and the name does not limit the function of the network element itself. In the 5G network and other networks in the future, the network elements may also be given other names, which is not specifically limited in the embodiment of the present application. For example, in a 6G network, some or all of the above network elements may use the terminology in 5G, or may use other nomenclature, and so on, which are described herein in a unified manner and will not be described again below. The interfaces between the network elements like those shown in fig. 2 and fig. 3 are only an example, and in a 5G network and other networks in the future, the interfaces between the network elements may not be the interfaces shown in the figures, which is not limited in this application.

In this application, UE and user both refer to terminal equipment, which may be an access terminal, a terminal in V2X communication, a subscriber unit, a subscriber station, a mobile station, a remote terminal, a mobile device, a user terminal, a wireless communication device, a user agent, or a user device. The terminal device may also be a cellular phone, a cordless phone, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phone, a Wireless Local Loop (WLL) station, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a handheld device with a wireless communication function, a computing device or other processing device connected to a wireless modem, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, a terminal device in a future 5G network or a terminal device in a future evolved Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN), and the like, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application. The terminal device may also include a V2X device, for example, a vehicle or an On Board Unit (OBU) in a vehicle.

Wherein, (R) AN Node may be AN evolved Node B (eNB), a Radio Network Controller (RNC), a Node B (NB), a Base Station Controller (BSC), a Base Transceiver Station (BTS), a Home Base Station (e.g., Home evolved NodeB or Home Node B, HNB), a BaseBand Unit (BBU), AN Access Point (AP) in a Wireless Fidelity (WIFI) system, a Wireless relay Node, a Wireless backhaul Node, a Transmission Point (TP), or a Transmission and Reception Point (TRP), etc., or may be a gbb, or a transmission Point (TRP or TP), or may be one or a group of antennas (including multiple antennas) of a Base Station in a 5G system, or may be a Network panel, such as a baseband unit (BBU), or a Distributed Unit (DU), etc. The (R) AN may also be a wireless controller in a Cloud Radio Access Network (CRAN) scenario. The network device may also be a wearable device or a vehicle mounted device, etc.

In some deployments, the gNB may include a Centralized Unit (CU) and a DU. The gNB may also include a Radio Unit (RU). A CU implements part of the function of a gNB, and a DU implements part of the function of the gNB, for example, the CU implements the function of a Radio Resource Control (RRC) layer, a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer, and the DU implements the function of a Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, a Medium Access Control (MAC) layer, and a Physical (PHY) layer. Since the information of the RRC layer eventually becomes or is converted from the information of the PHY layer, the higher layer signaling, such as the RRC layer signaling, may also be considered to be transmitted by the DU or the DU + CU under this architecture.

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a communication device 400 according to an embodiment of the present application. The communication apparatus 400 may be any network element related to the present application, such as a first network element, a network element discovery device, a second network element, or a subscription network element, and may implement the functions that can be implemented by the network element described herein.

It is understood that the communication apparatus 400 may be a physical device, a component (e.g., an integrated circuit, a chip, etc.) of the physical device, or a functional module in the physical device.

For example, the communication apparatus 400 may be used to implement the functions of the first network element described herein. For example, the communication apparatus 400 may be the first network element, a component (e.g., an integrated circuit, a chip, etc.) in the first network element, or a functional module.

As another example, the communications apparatus 400 may be used to implement the functionality of the network element discovery device described herein. For example, the communication apparatus 400 may be a network element discovery device, a component (e.g., an integrated circuit, a chip, etc.) in a network element discovery device, or a functional module in a network element discovery device.

The apparatus 400 may be used to implement the methods provided herein, and the apparatus 400 may include one or more processors 401.

The processor 401 may also be referred to as a processing unit and may implement certain control functions. The processor 401 may be a general purpose processor or a special purpose processor, etc. For example, a baseband processor or a central processor. The baseband processor may be configured to process a communication protocol and communication data, and the central processor may be configured to control a communication device (e.g., a first network element, a network element discovery device, a second network element, or a subscription network element, etc.), execute a software program, and process data of the software program.

In an alternative design, the processor 401 may also store instructions 403, and the instructions 403 may be executed by the processor to cause the apparatus 400 to perform the method described in the method embodiment of the present application.

In another alternative design, the processor 401 may include a transceiver unit to perform receive and transmit functions. The transceiving unit may be, for example, a transceiving circuit, or an interface circuit. The transmit and receive circuitry, interfaces or interface circuitry used to implement the receive and transmit functions may be separate or integrated. The transceiver circuit, the interface circuit or the interface circuit may be used for reading and writing code/data, or the transceiver circuit, the interface circuit or the interface circuit may be used for transmitting or transferring signals.

In yet another possible design, the apparatus 400 may include circuitry that may perform the functions of transmitting or receiving or communicating in the method embodiments of the present application.

Optionally, the apparatus 400 may further include one or more memories 402, on which instructions 404 may be stored, and the instructions may be executed on the processor 401, so that the apparatus 400 performs the method described in the method embodiment of the present application. Optionally, the memory 402 may further store data therein. The processor 401 and the memory 402 may be provided separately or integrated together.

Optionally, the apparatus 400 may further comprise a transceiver 405 and/or an antenna 406. The processor 401 may be referred to as a processing unit and controls the apparatus 400. The transceiver 405 may be referred to as a transceiver unit, a transceiver, a transceiving circuit or a transceiver, etc. for implementing transceiving functions.

The apparatus 400 may illustratively be a general-purpose computer device or a special-purpose computer device. In a specific implementation, the apparatus 400 may be a desktop, a laptop, a web server, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a mobile phone, a tablet, a wireless terminal device, a communication device, an embedded device, or a device with a similar structure as in fig. 4. Embodiments of the invention are not limited by the type of device 400.

In order to make those skilled in the art better understand the present application, the method for notifying the service status provided by the present application is illustrated below with reference to fig. 5 and 6, taking the case that the UDM and the AMF need to perform cutover, respectively, in conjunction with the 5G system described herein.

Fig. 5 is a schematic flow chart of a method of notifying a service status provided herein. It should be understood that the NRF shown in fig. 5 corresponds to a network element discovery device, the old-side UDM corresponds to a first network element, the new-side UDM corresponds to a second network element, and the AMF, SMF, and SMSF are all subscription network elements. The steps shown in fig. 5 will be described in detail below.

S501, the OAM updates a mapping relationship between a UDM Group identifier (Group ID) in the NRF, a user permanent identifier (SUPI) range (range), a general public user identifier (GPSI) range, and a Routing Indicator (RI).

For example, when the old-side UDM fails, leaves the network, or needs to perform load balancing on the old-side UDM (part of subscription data is migrated to a new device), before the NRF sends a service status notification message to each subscribing network element, the mapping relationship between the UDM Group ID stored in the NRF and the SUPI range, the GPSI range, and the RI may be updated in advance.

It should be understood that the SUPI range is the user number field described above.

S502, the old side UDM sends a request message to the NRF. Wherein the request message includes a notification policy.

For example, the old-side UDM sends a service deregistration request message to the NRF to trigger the NRF to notify all the relevant subscribing network elements that the UDM is currently unavailable. For another example, the old-side UDM sends a service update request message to the NRF, where the service update request message may carry updated service information, such as a user number segment list (SUPI range, GPSI range, SUCI) supported by the updated UDM, or a service list provided by the UDM.

S503, the NRF sends a service state notification message to each subscription network element according to the notification policy so as to trigger the AMF/SMF/SMSF to send a registration request message to the new-side UDM.

It should be understood that the Registration request message may be a Nudm _ UECM _ Registration request. For the content that the notification policy may include, and how the NRF sends the service status notification message to each subscribing network element according to the notification policy, reference may be made to the above description, and details are not described here.

S504, the AMF/SMF/SMSF sends a registration request message to the new-side UDM.

After receiving the service state notification message, the AMF/SMF/SMSF may determine the affected user and obtain new-side UDM information. After the information of the new-side UDM is obtained, the AMF/SMF/SMSF resends a registration request message to the new-side UDM for the affected user so as to establish or update the context of the affected user.

As described above, the notification policy may include information of the new-side UDM, or the information of the new-side UDM may be provided to the NRF by the OAM.

And S505, carrying out subsequent registration process on the AMF/SMF/SMSF and the new-side UDM.

It should be understood that the registration process of AMF/SMF/SMSF may refer to the prior art, and is not described herein.

Based on the scheme, the NRF can send the service state notification message to the AMF/SMF/SMSF based on a reasonable mode based on the notification strategy provided by the old-side UDM.

Fig. 6 is a schematic flow chart of a method of notifying a service status provided herein. It should be understood that the NRF shown in fig. 6 corresponds to a network element discovery device, the old-side AMF corresponds to a first network element, the new-side AMF corresponds to a second network element, and the SMF, the PCF, and the AUSF are all subscription network elements. The steps shown in fig. 6 will be described in detail below.

S601, the old-side AMF sends a request message to the NRF. Wherein the request message includes a notification policy.

And when the old-side AMF determines that the cutover is required, for example, when the old-side AMF autonomously determines that the cutover is required or the OAM triggers the old-side AMF to perform the cutover, the old-side AMF sends a request message to the NRF. For example, when the old-side AMF is unavailable, the old-side AMF sends a service de-registration request message to the NRF to trigger the NRF to notify all the related subscribing network elements that the current AMF is unavailable. For another example, when the old-side AMF needs to perform an update, the old-side AMF sends a service update request message to the NRF.

S602, the NRF sends a service status notification message to each subscribing network element according to the notification policy, so as to trigger the SMF/PCF/AUSF to send a context setup request message (or a context setup request message) or an update context request message (or a context update request message) to the new-side AMF.

For the content that the notification policy may include, and how the NRF sends the service status notification message to each subscribing network element according to the notification policy, reference may be made to the above description, and details are not described here.

S603, SMF/PCF/AUSF sends request message for establishing context or updating context to AMF of new side.

After receiving the service state notification message, the SMF/PCF/AUSF determines the affected users and acquires the AMF information of the new side. After obtaining the information of the new-side AMF, the SMF/PCF/AUSF sends a request message for establishing the context or a request message for updating the context to the new-side AMF for the affected user so as to establish or update the context of the affected user.

As described above, the notification policy may include information of the new-side AMF, or the information of the new-side AMF may be provided to the NRF by the OAM.

S604, SMF/PCF/AUSF and new side AMF proceed subsequent establishing or updating context flow.

It should be understood that the establishment or update of the context flow of the SMF/PCF/AUSF may refer to the prior art, and is not described herein.

Based on the scheme, the NRF can send the service state notification message to the SMF/PCF/AUSF in a reasonable mode based on the notification strategy provided by the old-side AMF.

The method according to an embodiment of the present application is described above, and the apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application will be described below.

Fig. 7 shows a schematic block diagram of a communication device 700 according to an embodiment of the present application. The communication device 700 may include a receiving unit 710 and a transmitting unit 720. Optionally, the communication device 700 may further comprise a processing unit 730.

The communication apparatus 700 may be any network element related to the present application, and may implement the functions that the network element can implement. It is understood that the communication apparatus 700 may be a physical device, a component (e.g., an integrated circuit, a chip, etc.) of a physical device, or a functional module in a physical device.

In one implementation, the communications apparatus 700 may be used to implement the functionality of the network element discovery device described herein. For example, the communication apparatus 700 may be a network element discovery device, a component (e.g., an integrated circuit, a chip, etc.) in a network element discovery device, or a functional module in a network element discovery device.

Specifically, the receiving unit 710 is configured to receive a request message from a first network element, where the request message is a service deregistration request message or a service update request message, and the request message includes a notification policy; a sending unit 720, configured to send a service status notification message to multiple subscribing network elements that subscribe to the service status of the first network element according to the notification policy.

Optionally, the processing unit 730 is configured to determine multiple sending occasions according to the notification policy; and a sending unit 720, configured to send a service status notification message to the multiple subscribing network elements 120 according to the notification policy, where the sending unit includes:

a sending unit 720, configured to send the service status notification message to the corresponding subscribing network element 120 at the multiple sending occasions. Wherein the multiple sending occasions correspond to the multiple subscribing network elements 120, and one sending occasion corresponds to at least one subscribing network element 120.

Optionally, the service state notification message is used to trigger the subscribing network element to initiate a context setup procedure or a context update procedure.

Optionally, the service status notification message further includes information of one or more second network elements, where the second network element is a network element that supports providing the same service as the first network element, or the second network element is a network element having the same function as the first network element.

Optionally, the notification policy includes an end time, where the network element discovery device needs to send the service status notification message to the plurality of subscribing network elements before the end time.

Optionally, the notification policy includes information of some or all of the subscribing network elements in the multiple subscribing network elements, and a number of target users corresponding to each of the subscribing network elements in the some or all of the subscribing network elements, where the target users are users that need to perform a context establishing process or a context updating process.

Optionally, the notification policy includes information of some or all of the subscribing network elements in the plurality of subscribing network elements, and a ratio of target users corresponding to each of the some or all of the subscribing network elements,

Optionally, the notification policy includes information of some or all of the subscribing network elements in the multiple subscribing network elements, and a processing time of each of the some or all of the subscribing network elements, where the processing time of one subscribing network element is a time required for the subscribing network element to perform a context setup procedure or update the context procedure.

Optionally, the notification policy includes notification time intervals corresponding to some or all of the plurality of subscribing network elements, respectively, where the notification time intervals are time intervals for sending the service status notification message.

Optionally, the notification policy includes a notification sequence, where the notification sequence is a sequence in which the network element discovery device sends the service status notification message to the plurality of subscribing network elements.

In another implementation, the communication apparatus 700 may be used to implement the functionality of the first network element described herein. For example, the communication apparatus 700 may be the first network element, a component (e.g., an integrated circuit, a chip, etc.) in the first network element, or a functional module in the first network element.

Specifically, the processing unit 730 is configured to generate a request message, where the request message is a service deregistration request message or a service update request message, and the request message includes a notification policy; a sending unit 720, configured to send the request message to the network element discovery device. Wherein the notification policy is used for the network element discovery device to send a service status notification message to a plurality of subscribing network elements subscribing to the communication apparatus 700.

In yet another implementation, the communication apparatus 700 may be used to implement the functionality of the second network element described herein. For example, the communication apparatus 700 may be a subscribing network element, a component (e.g., an integrated circuit, a chip, etc.) in the subscribing network element, or a functional module in the subscribing network element.

Specifically, the receiving unit 710 is configured to receive a service status notification message sent by a network element discovery device, where the service status notification message includes information of one or more second network elements, where the second network element is a network element that supports providing the same service as a first network element, or the second network element is a network element that has the same function as the first network element, and the communication apparatus 700 subscribes to a service status of the first network element; the processing unit 730 is configured to initiate a context establishing process or a context updating process according to the service state notification message.

It should be understood that in the present embodiment, the communication apparatus 700 is presented in the form of a functional module. An "element" herein may refer to an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), an electronic circuit, a processor and memory that execute one or more software or firmware programs, an integrated logic circuit, and/or other devices that may provide the described functionality. In a simple embodiment, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the apparatus 700 may take the form shown in FIG. 4. The processing unit 730 may be implemented by the processor 401 shown in fig. 4. Alternatively, if the apparatus shown in fig. 4 includes the memory 402, the processing unit 730 may be implemented by the processor 401 and the memory 402. The receiving unit 710 and the transmitting unit 720 may be implemented by the transceiver 405 shown in fig. 4. In particular, the processor is implemented by executing a computer program stored in the memory. Alternatively, when the apparatus 700 is a chip, then the functions and/or implementation processes of the receiving unit 710 and the sending unit 720 can also be implemented by pins or circuits, etc. Alternatively, the memory may be a storage unit in the chip, such as a register, a cache, or the like, and the storage unit may also be a storage unit in the computer device, which is located outside the chip, such as the memory 402 in fig. 4, or may also be a storage unit disposed in another system or device, which is not in the computer device.

It should be understood that the processor in the embodiments of the present application may be an integrated circuit chip having signal processing capability. In implementation, the steps of the above method embodiments may be performed by integrated logic circuits of hardware in a processor or instructions in the form of software. The processor may be a general purpose processor, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic device, or discrete hardware components.

It will be appreciated that the memory in the embodiments of the subject application can be either volatile memory or nonvolatile memory, or can include both volatile and nonvolatile memory. The non-volatile memory may be a read-only memory (ROM), a Programmable ROM (PROM), an Erasable PROM (EPROM), an electrically Erasable EPROM (EEPROM), or a flash memory. Volatile memory can be Random Access Memory (RAM), which acts as external cache memory. By way of example, but not limitation, many forms of RAM are available, such as Static Random Access Memory (SRAM), Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory (SDRAM), double data rate SDRAM, enhanced SDRAM, SLDRAM, Synchronous Link DRAM (SLDRAM), and direct rambus RAM (DR RAM). It should be noted that the memory of the systems and methods described herein is intended to comprise, without being limited to, these and any other suitable types of memory.

The present application also provides a computer-readable medium having stored thereon a computer program which, when executed by a computer, performs the functions of any of the method embodiments described above.

The present application also provides a computer program product which, when executed by a computer, implements the functionality of any of the above-described method embodiments.

In the above embodiments, the implementation may be wholly or partially realized by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, may be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When loaded and executed on a computer, cause the processes or functions described in accordance with the embodiments of the application to occur, in whole or in part. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a network of computers, or other programmable device. The computer instructions may be stored on a computer readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer readable storage medium to another, for example, from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center via wire (e.g., coaxial cable, fiber optic, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.). The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device, such as a server, a data center, etc., that incorporates one or more of the available media. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium (e.g., a floppy disk, a hard disk, a magnetic tape), an optical medium (e.g., a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., a Solid State Disk (SSD)), among others.

It should be appreciated that reference throughout this specification to "an embodiment" means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present application. Thus, the various embodiments are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment throughout the specification. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. It should be understood that, in the various embodiments of the present application, the sequence numbers of the above-mentioned processes do not mean the execution sequence, and the execution sequence of each process should be determined by its function and inherent logic, and should not constitute any limitation to the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application.

It should also be understood that, in the present application, "when …", "if" and "if" all refer to the fact that the UE or the base station will perform the corresponding processing under certain objective conditions, and are not limited time, and do not require the UE or the base station to perform certain judgment actions, nor do they mean that there are other limitations.

Additionally, the terms "system" and "network" are often used interchangeably herein. The term "and/or" herein is merely an association describing an associated object, meaning that three relationships may exist, e.g., a and/or B, may mean: a exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone. "A/B" is described herein, and means A or B except SAC/AS. Herein, the term "at least one of … …" or "at least one of … …" means all or any combination of the listed items, e.g., "at least one of A, B and C", may mean: there are six cases of a alone, B alone, C alone, a and B together, B and C together, and A, B and C together.

It should be understood that in the embodiments of the present application, "B corresponding to a" means that B is associated with a, from which B can be determined. It should also be understood that determining B from a does not mean determining B from a alone, but may be determined from a and/or other information.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative elements and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware or combinations of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the implementation. 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 application.

It is clear to those skilled in the art that, for convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the above-described systems, apparatuses and units may refer to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, and are not described herein again.

In the several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed system, 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 units is only one logical division, and other divisions may be realized in practice, for example, a plurality of units or components may be combined or 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 functions, if implemented in the form of software functional units 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 or portions thereof that substantially contribute to the prior art may be embodied in the form of a software product stored in a storage medium and including instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device) 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: a U-disk, a portable hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), a magnetic disk, an optical disk, or other various media capable of storing program codes.

The above description is only for the specific embodiments of the present application, but the scope of the present application is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art can easily conceive of the changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the present application, and shall be covered by the scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A method of notifying service status, comprising:

the network element discovery equipment receives a request message from a first network element, wherein the request message is a service de-registration request message or a service update request message, the request message comprises a notification policy, and the notification policy comprises one or more of the following:

an end time, wherein the network element discovery device needs to send a service status notification message to the first network element to the plurality of subscribing network elements in service status,

information of some or all of the subscribing network elements in the plurality of subscribing network elements, and a number of target users corresponding to each subscribing network element in the some or all of the subscribing network elements, where the target users are users that need to perform a context establishing process or a context updating process,

information of some or all of the subscribing network elements in the plurality of subscribing network elements, and a ratio of target users corresponding to each of the subscribing network elements in the some or all of the subscribing network elements, where the target users are users that need to perform a context setup procedure or a context update procedure, a ratio of target users corresponding to one subscribing network element is a ratio of target users corresponding to the subscribing network element to all target users corresponding to the some or all subscribing network elements, or a ratio of target users corresponding to one subscribing network element is a ratio of target users corresponding to the subscribing network element to all target users corresponding to the first network element,

information of some or all of the subscribing network elements in the plurality of subscribing network elements, and processing time of each of the some or all of the subscribing network elements, wherein the processing time of one subscribing network element is time required for the subscribing network element to execute a context establishing process or a context updating process,

notification time intervals corresponding to part or all of the plurality of subscription network elements, respectively, where the notification time intervals are time intervals for sending the service status notification messages, or

A notification sequence, where the notification sequence is a sequence in which the network element discovery device sends the service status notification messages to the plurality of subscribing network elements;

and the network element discovery equipment sends the service state notification message to the plurality of subscribed network elements subscribed with the service state of the first network element according to the notification policy.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the service status notification message is used to trigger the subscribing network element to initiate a setup context procedure or an update context procedure.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the service status notification message further includes information of one or more second network elements, wherein the second network elements are network elements that support providing the same service as the first network element or the second network elements are network elements having the same function as the first network element.

4. A communication system comprising a network element discovery device and a plurality of subscribing network elements;

the network element discovery device is configured to receive a request message from a first network element, where the request message is a service de-registration request message or a service update request message, and the request message includes a notification policy, where the notification policy includes one or more of the following:

an end time, wherein the network element discovery device needs to send a service status notification message to the plurality of subscribing network elements of the first network element service status before the end time,

information of some or all subscribing network elements in the plurality of subscribing network elements, and a processing time of each subscribing network element in the some or all subscribing network elements, wherein the processing time of one subscribing network element is a time required for the subscribing network element to execute a context establishing process or update the context,

according to the notification policy, sending the service state notification message to the plurality of subscribing network elements that subscribe to the service state of the first network element;

the subscription network element is configured to receive the service status notification message.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the subscribing network element is further configured to:

and initiating a context establishing process or a context updating process according to the service state notification message.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the service status notification message further includes information of one or more second network elements, the second network elements being network elements that support providing the same service as the first network element, or the second network elements being network elements having the same function as the first network element;

and the subscription network element is configured to initiate a context establishment procedure or a context update procedure according to the service status notification message, including:

the subscription network element is configured to initiate a context establishing process or a context updating process to some or all of the one or more second network elements according to the information of the one or more second network elements.

7. The system according to any of claims 4 to 6, wherein the system further comprises a first network element;

the first network element is configured to send the request message to the network element discovery device when it is determined that the first network element is unavailable or needs to perform service update.

8. A communications apparatus, comprising:

a receiving unit, configured to receive a request message from a first network element, where the request message is a service de-registration request message or a service update request message, and the request message includes a notification policy, where the notification policy includes one or more of the following:

a sending unit, configured to send the service state notification message to the plurality of subscribing network elements that subscribe to the service state of the first network element according to the notification policy.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the service status notification message is used to trigger the subscribing network element to initiate a setup context procedure or an update context procedure.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the service status notification message further comprises information of one or more second network elements, wherein the second network elements are network elements that support providing the same service as the first network element or the second network elements are network elements having the same function as the first network element.