CN112566072B - NF-based communication method, device and storage medium - Google Patents

NF-based communication method, device and storage medium Download PDF

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Publication number
CN112566072B
CN112566072B CN201910917906.2A CN201910917906A CN112566072B CN 112566072 B CN112566072 B CN 112566072B CN 201910917906 A CN201910917906 A CN 201910917906A CN 112566072 B CN112566072 B CN 112566072B
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description information
provider
message
requester
network element
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CN112566072A (en
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王毓芳
郝文杰
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Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
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Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
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Priority to CN201910917906.2A priority Critical patent/CN112566072B/en
Priority to CN202210810026.7A priority patent/CN115396851A/en
Priority to PCT/CN2020/097550 priority patent/WO2021057128A1/en
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    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W4/00—Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
    • H04W4/50—Service provisioning or reconfiguring
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W88/00—Devices specially adapted for wireless communication networks, e.g. terminals, base stations or access point devices
    • H04W88/18—Service support devices; Network management devices

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  • Mobile Radio Communication Systems (AREA)
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Abstract

The embodiment of the application provides a communication method, equipment and a storage medium based on NF, which are used for reducing the complexity of a service processing flow. In the embodiment of the application, a network storage network element receives a first message sent by an NF (network connection Fair) requester, wherein the first message comprises parameters of a service requested to be provided by the NF requester, and determines an NF provider matched with the parameters according to the parameters. When the first message comprises first indication information, the network storage network element carries a first part of description information in the description information of the NF provider in a second message, and sends the second message, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating the network storage network element to return the first part of description information to the NF requester, and the network storage network element sends the NF requester. Because only the first part of the description information is returned and the returned data volume is small, the data transmission complexity in the service discovery process of the network storage network element can be reduced, the service processing speed of the NF request party is increased, and the speed of the service discovery process is increased.

Description

NF-based communication method, device and storage medium
Technical Field
The present application relates to the field of communications, and in particular, to a NF-based communication method, device, and storage medium.
Background
The 5G core Network adopts a Service architecture, interfaces among Network Functions (NF) adopt Service Based Interfaces (SBI), and NF providers adopt a communication mechanism of Service call. The NF provider registers a service with a Network Function (NRF) to provide the service.
In specific implementation, the terminal device sends a service request to the NF requestor to request a corresponding service. And after receiving the service request sent by the terminal equipment, the NF requester sends a service discovery request to the NRF. The NRF performs a service discovery procedure in order to find NF providers that can provide corresponding services for NF requestors. After finding one or more NF providers capable of providing corresponding services through a service discovery process provided by the NRF, the NRF returns all description information of all found NF providers capable of providing services to the NF requester, so that the NF requester determines one NF provider for which services are finally provided from the NF providers capable of providing services. The complex process may cause complexity increase of the business processing flow and even a call drop phenomenon.
Disclosure of Invention
The embodiment of the application provides a communication method, a device and a storage medium based on NF, which are used for reducing the complexity of a service processing flow.
In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method based on a network function NF, including: the network storage network element receives a first message sent by an NF (network connection Fair) requester, wherein the first message comprises parameters of a service requested to be provided by the NF requester. And the network storage network element determines an NF provider matched with the parameters according to the parameters. When the first message includes first indication information, the network storage network element carries a first part of description information in the description information of the NF provider in a second message, and the first indication information is used for indicating the network storage network element to return the first part of description information to the NF requester. And the network storage network element sends the second message to the NF request party. Because only the first part of the description information is returned and the returned data volume is small, the data transmission complexity in the service discovery process of the network storage network element can be reduced, the service processing speed of the NF request party can be increased, and the service discovery process speed can be increased.
In one possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the first indication information includes: and the preset bit value carried on the preset bit of the first message. For example, if the bit value on the preset bit is set to 1, it indicates that the first message carries the first indication information. If the bit value on the preset bit is set to zero, or the preset bit does not carry content and is empty, or the preset bit is default, it indicates that the first message does not carry the first indication information.
In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, after the determining, by the network storage network element, a NF provider matching the parameter according to the parameter, the method further includes: when the network storage network element determines that the first message does not include the first indication information, the network storage network element carries the description information of the NF provider in the second message. In this embodiment, the NF requester may determine to return the description information or return the first part of the description information in the description information according to specific requirements, so as to increase flexibility of the scheme.
In one possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the first partial description information includes: a priority of the NF provider, a weight of the NF provider, and a load of the NF provider. Therefore, the data volume returned to the NF requester by the network storage network element in the service discovery process can be reduced, and the requirement of the NF requester for selecting the NF provider according to the first part of the description information can be met.
In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, after the network storage network element sends the second message, the method further includes: the network storage network element sends a second part of description information in the description information of the NF provider to the NF requester; wherein the second part of the description information comprises: all or part of the information except the first part of the description information in the description information of the NF provider. Therefore, when the NF request party subsequently receives the service requirements of other similar terminal equipment, the information of the NF provider party can be inquired locally, so that the process of interaction with a network storage network element can be reduced, and the service processing speed is increased.
In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, before the sending, by the network storage network element, the second part of the description information of the NF provider to the NF requester, the method further includes: the network storage network element receives a third message sent by the NF requester, wherein the third message comprises an identifier of the NF provider; the network storage network element sends a second part of description information in the description information of the NF provider to the NF requester, and the second part of description information includes: and the network storage network element carries the second part of the description information of the NF provider in a fourth message, and sends the fourth message to the NF requester. The sending time of the third message may be flexibly selected, for example, the NF requesting party may first execute a process of ending the service acquisition of the terminal device, provide the terminal device with a corresponding service, and then send the third message to trigger the network storage element to return the second part of the description information. Therefore, the speed of the business process for providing service for the terminal equipment can be improved.
In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the third message further includes second indication information, where the second indication information is used to indicate an identifier of the second partial description information. In this way, the NF requestor may specify a parameter that needs to be returned by the network storage network element, such as an identification of the second part of the description information. Therefore, on one hand, when a terminal requires to provide corresponding service, whether the NF provider meets the requirement can be inquired according to the first part of description information and the second part of description information, and on the other hand, compared with a scheme that all the description information of the NF provider is returned to the NF requester, the data transmission quantity of a service discovery process can be reduced. And the first part of description information and the second part of description information are sent by two separate signaling, the first part of description information with small data volume is returned to the NF request side first to further accelerate the process of providing corresponding service for the terminal equipment, and the second part of description information is subsequently returned to the NF request side to meet the requirement of local query when a similar service request is subsequently received, thereby improving the service processing speed.
In one possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the identification of the second partial description information is: the NF requester is determined according to the preset corresponding relation between the type identifier of the NF provider and the identifier of the second part of the description information and the type identifier of the NF provider. Therefore, the adaptive second part of description information can be selected according to the type of the NF provider, and the scheme is more flexible.
In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method based on a network function NF, including: the NF request party carries first indication information in a first message, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating the network storage network element to return a first part of description information to the NF request party; the NF requester sends the first message to the network storage network element, wherein the first message also comprises the parameters of the service requested to be provided by the NF requester; the NF request party receives a second message sent by the network storage network element; and when the first indication information is carried in the first message, the second message comprises a first part of description information in the description information of the NF provider matched with the parameters. Because only the first part of the description information is returned and the returned data volume is small, the data transmission complexity in the service discovery process of the network storage network element can be reduced, the service processing speed of the NF request party is increased, and the speed of the service discovery process is increased.
In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method based on a network function NF, including: the NF request party carries first indication information in a first message under the condition that a first part of description information needs to be obtained, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating the network storage network element to return the first part of description information to the NF request party; the NF request party sends the first message to the network storage network element, wherein the first message also comprises the parameters of the service requested to be provided by the NF request party; the NF request party receives a second message sent by the network storage network element; and when the first indication information is carried in the first message, the second message comprises a first part of description information in the description information of the NF provider matched with the parameters. Because only the first part of the description information is returned and the returned data volume is small, the data transmission complexity in the service discovery process of the network storage network element can be reduced, the service processing speed of the NF request party is increased, and the speed of the service discovery process is increased. In this embodiment, the NF requesting party may determine to return the description information or return the first part of the description information in the description information according to specific requirements, so as to increase flexibility of the scheme.
In a possible implementation manner of the third aspect, when the first indication information is not carried in the first message, the second message includes description information of an NF provider that matches the parameter; before the NF request party sends the first message to the network storage network element, the method further includes: when the network element needing network storage returns description information to the network function NF request party, the NF request party does not carry the first indication information in the first message. In this embodiment, the NF requesting party may determine to return the description information or return the first part of the description information in the description information according to specific requirements, so as to increase flexibility of the scheme.
In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect and/or the third aspect, the first indication information includes: and the preset bit value carried on the preset bit of the first message. For example, if the bit value on the preset bit is set to 1, it indicates that the first message carries the first indication information. If the bit value on the preset bit is set to zero, or the preset bit does not carry content and is empty, or the preset bit is default, it indicates that the first message does not carry the first indication information.
In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect and/or the third aspect, the sending, by an NF, the first message to the network storage network element includes: and the NF requester receives a service request sent by the terminal equipment, and sends a first message to a network storage network element under the condition that the NF provider which is matched with the parameter and can provide the required service for the terminal equipment is not found in the local storage area. The service request includes parameters of a service required by the terminal device. In this embodiment, the NF requester initiates the service discovery process when receiving the service request and the NF provider cannot be found, so that the number of times of initiating the service discovery process can be reduced, the pressure on the network storage element can be reduced, the transmission amount of network data can be reduced, and the network resources can be saved.
In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect and/or the third aspect, the first part description information includes: a priority of the NF provider, a weight of the NF provider, and a load of the NF provider. Therefore, the data volume returned to the NF requester by the network storage network element in the service discovery process can be reduced, and the requirement that the NF requester selects the NF provider according to the first part of the description information can be met.
In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect and/or the third aspect, after the receiving, by the NF requesting party, the second message sent by the network storage network element, the method further includes: the NF request party receives a second part of the description information in the description information sent by the network storage network element; wherein the second part of the description information comprises: all or part of the information except the first part of the description information in the description information of the NF provider. Therefore, when the NF request party subsequently receives the service requirements of other similar terminal equipment, the information of the NF provider party can be inquired locally, so that the process of interaction with a network storage network element can be reduced, and the service processing speed is increased.
In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect and/or the third aspect, before the NF requesting party receives the second part of the description information in the description information sent by the network storage network element, the NF further includes: the NF request party sends a third message to the network storage network element, wherein the third message comprises the identifier of the NF provider; the NF requesting party receives a second part of the description information in the description information sent by the network storage network element, and the second part of the description information includes: and the NF requester receives a fourth message, wherein the fourth message comprises the second part of description information. The sending opportunity of the third message may be flexibly selected, for example, the NF requesting party may first execute a process of ending the service acquisition of the terminal device to provide a corresponding service for the terminal device, and then send the third message to trigger the network storage network element to return the second part of the description information. Therefore, the speed of the business process for providing service for the terminal equipment can be improved.
In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect and/or the third aspect, the third message further includes second indication information, where the second indication information is used to indicate an identifier of the second partial description information. In this way, the NF requestor may specify a parameter that needs to be returned by the network storage network element, such as an identification of the second part of the description information. Therefore, on one hand, when a terminal requires to provide corresponding service, whether the NF provider meets the requirement can be inquired according to the first part of description information and the second part of description information, and on the other hand, compared with a scheme that all the description information of the NF provider is returned to the NF requester, the data transmission quantity of a service discovery process can be reduced. And the first part of description information and the second part of description information are sent by two separate signaling, the data volume of the first part of description information is smaller and is firstly returned to the NF request party to further accelerate the process of providing corresponding service for the terminal equipment, and the second part of description information is subsequently returned to the NF request party to meet the requirement of local query when a similar service request is subsequently received, thereby improving the service processing speed.
In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect and/or the third aspect, before the sending, by the NF, a third message to the network storage network element, the method further includes: the NF requester determines the identifier of the second part of the description information corresponding to the type identifier provided by the NF according to the preset corresponding relationship between the type identifier of the NF provider and the identifier of the second part of the description information and the type identifier of the NF provider; the NF requestor carries the second indication information indicating the identity of the second partial description information in the third message. Therefore, the adaptive second part of description information can be selected according to the type of the NF provider, and the scheme is more flexible.
In a fourth aspect, a communication device is provided, which includes a transceiver unit and a processing unit to perform any implementation manner of any one of the communication methods of the first to third aspects. The transceiving unit is used to perform functions related to transmission and reception. Optionally, the transceiving unit comprises a receiving unit and a transmitting unit. In one design, the communication device is a communication chip, and the transceiver unit may be an input-output circuit or a port of the communication chip.
In another design, the transceiver unit may be a transmitter and a receiver, or the transceiver unit may be a transmitter and a receiver.
Optionally, the communication device further includes various modules operable to perform any one of the embodiments of the communication method of the first aspect to the third aspect.
In a fifth aspect, a communication device is provided, where the communication device is the NF requestor or a network storage network element. Including a processor and a memory. Optionally, the communication device further comprises a transceiver, wherein the memory is used for storing a computer program or instructions, and the processor is used for calling and executing the computer program or instructions from the memory, and when the processor executes the computer program or instructions in the memory, the communication device is enabled to execute any implementation mode of any communication method of the first aspect to the third aspect.
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 integrated with the processor, or may be provided separately from the processor.
Optionally, the transceiver may include a transmitter (transmitter) and a receiver (receiver).
In a sixth aspect, a communication device is provided that includes a processor. The processor is coupled to the memory and is operable to perform the method of any one of the first to third aspects and any one of the possible implementations of the first to third aspects. Optionally, the communication device further comprises a memory. Optionally, the communication device further comprises a communication interface, the processor being coupled to the communication interface.
In another implementation, the communication device is a network device. When the communication device is a network device, the communication interface may be a transceiver, or 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 yet another implementation, the communication device is a chip or a system of chips. When the communication device is a chip or a system of chips, the communication interface may be an input/output interface, an interface circuit, an output circuit, an input circuit, a pin or related circuit on the chip or the system of chips, and the like. The processor may also be embodied as a processing circuit or a logic circuit.
In a seventh aspect, a system is provided, where the system includes the above NF requestor and a network storage network element.
In an eighth 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 one of the possible implementations of the first aspect described above, or causes a computer to perform the method of any one of the implementations of the first to third aspects described above.
In a ninth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, which stores a computer program (which may also be referred to as code or instructions) that, when executed on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method in any one of the possible implementations of the first to third aspects.
In a tenth aspect, there is provided a processing apparatus comprising: 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, such that the method in any one of the first to third aspects and any one of the possible implementations of the first to third aspects is implemented.
In a specific implementation process, the processing device 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.
Drawings
Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a network system architecture according to an embodiment of the present application;
fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of another network system architecture according to an embodiment of the present application;
fig. 3 is a schematic flowchart of a NF-based communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;
fig. 4 is a schematic flowchart of another NF-based communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;
fig. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;
fig. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;
fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device according to an embodiment of the present application.
Detailed Description
Fig. 1 is an example of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present application. Referring to fig. 2, a communication system provided in this embodiment may generally include the following devices, network elements, and networks:
1. the terminal device 112: may include various handheld devices, vehicle mounted devices, wearable devices, computing devices or other processing devices connected to a wireless modem with wireless communication capabilities, as well as various forms of terminals, Mobile Stations (MS), terminals (terminal), User Equipment (UE), soft terminals, and so forth. Such as water meters, electricity meters, sensors, etc.
2. (radio access network, (R) AN) network element 113: the method and the device are used for providing a network access function for authorized terminal equipment in a specific area, and can use transmission tunnels with different qualities according to the grade of the terminal equipment, the service requirement and the like.
The (R) AN network element 113 is capable of managing radio resources and providing access services for the terminal device, thereby completing forwarding of control signals and terminal device data between the terminal device and the core network, and the (R) AN may also be understood as a base station in a conventional network.
3. A user plane network element: for packet routing and forwarding, quality of service (QoS) handling of user plane data, etc.
As shown in fig. 1, in the 5G communication system, the user plane network element may be a User Plane Function (UPF) network element 114, which may include an intermediate user plane function (I-UPF) network element and an anchor user plane function (a-UPF) network element. In a future communication system, the user plane network element may still be a UPF network element, or may also have another name, which is not limited in this application.
4. Data Network (DN) network element 115: for providing a network for transmitting data.
As shown in fig. 1, in a 5G communication system, the data networks may be DN1 and DN 2. In future communication systems, the data network may still be the DN, or may have other names, and the present application is not limited thereto.
5. The access management network element: the present invention is mainly used for mobility management, access management, and the like, and can be used for implementing functions other than session management in a Mobility Management Element (MME) function, for example, functions such as lawful interception and access authorization/authentication.
As shown in fig. 1, in the 5G communication system, the access management network element may be an access and mobility management function (AMF) network element 109. In a future communication system, the access management network element may still be an AMF network element, or may also have another name, which is not limited in this application.
6. A session management network element: the method is mainly used for session management, Internet Protocol (IP) address allocation and management of terminal equipment, selection of a termination point capable of managing a user plane function and a policy control and charging function interface, downlink data notification and the like.
As shown in fig. 1, in the 5G communication system, the session management network element may be a Session Management Function (SMF) network element 110, and may include an intermediate session management function (I-SMF) network element and an anchor session management function (a-SMF) network element. In future communication systems, the session management network element may still be an SMF network element, or may also have another name, which is not limited in this application.
7. The strategy control network element: the unified policy framework is used for guiding network behavior, providing policy rule information for control plane function network elements (such as AMF, SMF network elements and the like), and the like.
In the 4G communication system, the policy control network element may be a Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF) network element. As shown in fig. 1, in the 5G communication system, the policy control network element may be a Policy Control Function (PCF) network element 104. In a future communication system, the policy control network element may still be a PCF network element, or may also have another name, which is not limited in this application.
8. And the authentication service network element: the method is used for authentication service and key generation to realize bidirectional authentication of the terminal equipment, and supports a uniform authentication framework.
As shown in fig. 1, in the 5G communication system, the authentication service network element may be an authentication server function (AUSF) network element 108. In a future communication system, the authentication server function network element may still be an AUSF network element, or may also have another name, which is not limited in this application.
9. The data management network element: the method is used for processing terminal equipment identification, access authentication, registration, mobility management and the like.
As shown in fig. 1, in the 5G communication system, the data management network element may be a Unified Data Management (UDM) network element 105. In a future communication system, the unified data management may still be a UDM network element, or may also have another name, which is not limited in this application.
10. The application network element: the method is used for carrying out data routing of application influence, accessing to a network open function network element, carrying out strategy control by interacting with a strategy framework and the like.
As shown in fig. 1, in the 5G communication system, the application network element may be an Application Function (AF) network element 107. In the future communication system, the application network element may still be the AF network element 107, or may also have another name, which is not limited in this application.
11. The network storage network element: for maintaining real-time information of all network function services in the network.
In the 5G communication system, the network storage network element may be a Network Registration Function (NRF) network element 103. In future communication systems, the network storage element may still be an NRF element, or may also have another name, which is not limited in this application.
12. Network slice selection function network element: for providing network slice selection functionality.
As shown in fig. 1, in a 5G communication system, the Network Slice Selection Function Network element may be a Network Slice Selection Function (NSSF) Network element 101, and in a future communication system, the Network Slice Selection Function Network element may still be an NSSF Network element, or may also have another name, which is not limited in this application.
13. Network capability open function network element: for providing network customization functionality.
As shown in fig. 1, in the 5G communication system, the network element with an open network capability may be a network capability open function (NEF) network element 102, and in a future communication system, the network element with an open network capability may still be an NEF network element, or may also have another name, which is not limited in this application.
14. Network analysis function network element: for providing network slice instance level data analysis functionality. For example, data can be acquired, and then the data is used for training and analyzing, and corresponding reasoning is carried out according to the analysis result.
As shown in fig. 1, in the 5G communication system, the network analysis function network element may be a network analysis function (NWDAF) network element 106, and in a future communication system, the network analysis function network element may still be a NWDAF network element, or may also have another name, which is not limited in this application.
15. Service communication function network element: for providing selective communication functions between NFs.
As shown in fig. 1, in the 5G communication system, the service communication function network element may be a service communication function (SCP) network element 111, and in a future communication system, the service communication function network element may still be an SCP network element, or may also have another name, which is not limited in this application.
It is to be understood that the network element or the function may be a network element in a hardware device, a software function running on dedicated hardware, or a virtualization function instantiated on a platform (e.g., a cloud platform). The network elements or functions may be divided into one or more services and further services may exist independently of the network functions. In the present application, an instance of the above-described function, or an instance of a service included in the above-described function, or an instance of a service existing independently of a network function, may be referred to as a service instance.
Further, an AF network element may be abbreviated as AF, an NRF network element may be abbreviated as NRF, and a PCF network element may be abbreviated as PCF. That is, AF described later in this application may be replaced with an application network element, NRF may be replaced with a network storage network element, and PCF may be replaced with a policy control network element.
For convenience of description, in the present application, the method for UPF selection or SMF selection is described by taking the devices as SMF network elements, AMF network elements, and network storage network elements as examples, and for the implementation method that the devices are chips in the SMF network elements, chips in the AMF network elements, or chips in the network storage network elements, reference may be made to specific descriptions that the devices are the SMF network elements, the AMF network elements, and the network storage network elements, and a description thereof is not repeated.
It should be noted that the embodiment of the present application is not limited to the system architecture described above, and may also be applied to other future communication systems, such as the 6th generation (6G) system architecture. In addition, the names of the network elements used in the embodiments of the present application may remain the same in the future communication system, but the names may change.
Fig. 2 illustrates a schematic diagram of a network system architecture to which an embodiment of the present invention is applicable, and as shown in fig. 2, the network system architecture includes a network storage network element 131, an NF requester and an NF provider. There may be one or more NF requestors, such as NF requestor 132 shown in fig. 2. There may also be one or more NF providers, such as NF provider 133, NF provider 134 shown in fig. 2. The NF requester can be written as NF Consumer in English, and belongs to network function consumers. The NF provider can be written as NF Producer in English, and belongs to the network function provider.
In the embodiment of the present application, the NF requesting party may be an AMF network element 109, an SMF network element 110, an NSSF network element 101, or the like.
The NF provider in this embodiment may be a PCF network element 104, a UDM network element 105, an AUSF network element 108, a Charging Function (CHF) network element, an SMF network element 110, a UPF network element 114, a network storage network element 103, an NSSF network element 101, and the like.
For example, UDM network element 105 may provide subscription information of a user, PCF network element 104 may provide policy control of the user, AUSF network element 108 may provide user authentication service, CHF network element may provide user billing information statistics service, SMF network element 110 may provide session access service, and UPF network element 114 may provide data transmission service.
Fig. 3 exemplarily illustrates a flowchart of a NF-based communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 3, the NF-based communication method includes:
in step 201, the NF requester carries the first indication information in the first message.
The first indication information is used for indicating the network storage network element to return the first part of description information to the NF requester.
In this embodiment of the present application, there may be various embodiments for the NF requester to send the first message, for example, when the NF requester needs to initiate a service discovery process, the sent first message carries the first indication information. For another example, in another embodiment, the NF requesting party may determine whether to carry the first indication information in the first message according to an actual requirement, for example, the first indication information may not be carried in the first message when the network storage element is required to return all the description information, and the first indication information may be carried in the first message when the network storage element is only required to return the first part of the description information. The NF requestor may select the NF provider based on the first portion of the description information. This approach may increase the flexibility of the approach. In step 202, the NF requests the network storage network element to send a first message.
Correspondingly, the network storage network element receives a first message sent by a network function NF requester.
In an alternative embodiment, the first message may be a service discovery request, and english of the service discovery request may be written as: NF discovery request set. The NF requestor may perform a service discovery process through the network storage network element to discover the NF providers that may provide services for it.
The first message also includes parameters of the service that the NF requestor requested to be provided. In a specific implementation, the NF requester requests to provide various services, such as a session service request, a data transmission service request, a policy information request, a charging information request, an authentication request, and so on. In a specific implementation, the parameter included in the first message may include one or more items, in this embodiment, several examples of the parameter included in the first message are listed, and the parameter included in the first message may be: the type of NF provider that can provide services for the terminal device, the type of services requested by the NF requestor, information of Network slices requested by the NF requestor, the type of data Network requested by the NF requestor, location information of users served by services requested by the NF requestor, identification information of users served by services requested by the NF requestor, the session type of services requested by the NF requestor, the features that need to be supported by the NF provider that can provide services for the terminal device, the Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) of services requested by the NF requestor, and so on.
And step 203, the network storage network element determines the NF provider matched with the parameters according to the parameters.
In step 203, the network storage network element determines that the NF provider matching the parameter may be one, and the NF provider may provide the service requested by the NF requester to the NF requester.
Step 204, when the first message includes the first indication information, the network storage network element carries the first part of the description information in the NF provider in the second message.
In an alternative embodiment, the first message may be a service discovery response. English for the service discovery response may be written as: NF discovery response.
When the network storage element determines in step 203 that the NF providers are one or more NF providers, in step 204, the network storage element may carry the first partial description information of each NF provider of all the determined NF providers in the second message. The first partial description information of some NF providers of all determined NF providers may also be carried in the second message. In step 204, the NF provider corresponding to the first part of the description information carried in the second message by the network storage network element may be one or multiple.
The above content is described by using a concept of aggregation, where the first set of NF providers includes one or more NF providers, and each NF provider in the first set of NF providers is the NF provider that is determined by the network storage network element in step 203 to match the parameter and can provide the service requested by the NF requester for the NF requester. The second set of NF providers includes all or a portion of the NF providers in the first set of NF providers. The second set of NF providers includes one or more NF providers. And each NF provider in the second set of NF providers is the NF provider corresponding to the first part of the description information carried in the second message by the network storage network element in step 204. Based on that, an NF provider corresponding to the first part of description information in the embodiment of the present application refers to: a NF provider that includes the first portion of the descriptive information.
Step 205, the network storage network element sends a second message to the NF requestor.
Correspondingly, the NF requesting party receives a second message sent by the network storage network element.
And when the first message carries the first indication information, the second message comprises the first part of description information in the description information of the NF provider matched with the parameters.
Fig. 4 exemplarily shows a flowchart of another NF-based communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 4, before step 203, step 301 may also be included.
In step 301, the NF provider sends a registration request to the network storage network element.
In step 301, the registration request is used to register the NF provider on the network storage network element. The registration request may be written as NF register. In step 203, the network storage element determines, according to the parameter, an NF provider matching the parameter from NF providers registered in the network storage element.
In step 301, partial description information of the NF provider may be included in the registration request. Such as the identity of the NF provider, the priority of the NF provider, the weight of the NF provider, the load of the NF provider, the scope of the covered services, the types of services supported, the information of the number segments of the users supported, the types of sessions supported, the PLMNs of the service, the characteristics supported, the load status, etc. Part of the description information of the NF provider may also be sent by the NF provider after registering on the network storage network element.
The description information of the NF provider in the embodiment of the present application may be understood as all description information reported by the NF provider to the network storage network element, and may also be referred to as all description information or full description information of the NF provider.
The first part of the description information in the embodiment of the present application may be part of description information in description information reported by the NF provider to the network storage network element. The first part of description information may also be referred to as summary information of the NF provider, and english may be written as abstrat Profile. The first part of description information may include part of description information of the NF provider, for example, the first part of description information may further include an identifier of the NF provider. For another example, any one or more of the priority of the NF provider, the weight of the NF provider, and the load of the NF provider may be further included.
In the embodiment of the present application, the identifier of the NF provider may be an Identifier (ID) of the NF provider or a type identifier for indicating a type of the NF provider. The weighting of the NF providers may be set by the operator on the system when laying out the NF providers. Later modifications may also be made. The load of the NF provider may be reported by the NF provider. Specifically, the NF provider may detect its own load according to a certain rule, for example, may periodically detect its own load, and report the detected load of the NF provider to the network storage network element.
Through the foregoing steps 201 to 205, it can be seen that in the embodiment of the present application, since only the first part of the description information is returned, and the amount of the returned data is small, the data transmission complexity in the service discovery process of the network storage element can be reduced, the service processing speed of the NF requester is increased, and the speed of the service discovery process is increased.
As shown in fig. 4, before the step 202, a step 401 may further be included:
step 401, when the network element needing to be stored returns the description information to the network function NF requester, the NF requester does not carry the first indication information in the first message.
Correspondingly, after step 203, step 402 is also included.
Step 402, when the network storage element determines that the first message does not include the first indication information, the network storage element carries the description information of the NF provider in the second message.
That is to say, before the NF requester sends the first message in step 202, if the NF requester needs the network storage network element to only return the first part of the description information in the description information, the first indication information is carried in the first message. And if the network storage network element is required to return all the description information, the first indication information is not carried in the first message.
For the network storage network element, when the first message includes the first indication information, the network storage network element sends the first part of the description information to the NF requester, and when the first message does not include the first indication information, the network storage network element sends the description information to the NF requester. In this embodiment, the NF requester may request to obtain all or a first part of the description information of the NF provider according to a specific requirement, so that the service discovery process is more flexible and more suitable for actual requirements.
The first indication information has various forms, such as a preset value on a preset bit in the first message. In an implementation manner, when the first message is a service discovery request, the signaling of the service discovery request may be extended, and when the value carried by the extended bit of the service discovery request is 1, it may indicate that the network storage network element only returns the first part of the description information to the NF requester in the second message, and it is not necessary to return all the description information of the NF provider to the NF requester in the second message. If the bit value on the preset bit is set to zero, or the preset bit does not carry content and is empty, or the preset bit is default, it indicates that the first message does not carry the first indication information. The network storage network element needs to return all description information of the NF provider to the NF requester in the second message. It can be seen that, in the case that the network storage network element is required to return only the first part of the description information to the NF requestor in the second message, the method can be implemented in a manner of adding 1 bit in the service discovery request, and the change to the service discovery request and the change to the service discovery process are less, so that the method is more compatible with the existing scheme.
Correspondingly, in another embodiment, if the signaling of the service discovery request is not extended, it indicates that the network storage network element returns all the description information of the NF provider to the NF requester in the second message. It can also be described that if there is no default indication in the first message, it means that the network storage element returns all the description information of the NF provider to the NF requester in the second message. It can be seen that, in this implementation manner, when the network storage network element is required to return all the description information of the NF provider in the second message, the service discovery request does not need to be modified, so that the method is more compatible with the prior art.
In the third implementation, if the signaling of the service discovery request is extended and the value carried by the extended bit of the service discovery request is 0, it indicates that the network storage network element returns all the description information of the NF provider to the NF requester in the second message. It can be seen that, in this implementation manner, when the network storage element is required to return all description information of the NF provider in the second message, the implementation may be implemented by adding 1 bit to the service discovery request, and this implementation may also be described as: when the first indication information is not carried in the first message, third indication information may be carried in the first message, where the third indication information is used to indicate that the network storage element returns all description information to the NF requestor. The implementation mode has less change to the service discovery request and the service discovery process, and is more compatible with the existing scheme.
In the above content, the NF request may also send a first message that does not carry the first indication information, and the network storage network element may determine, according to the parameter carried in the first message, whether to return the first part of the description information or return all the description information to the NF request.
As shown in fig. 4, after step 205, step 501, step 502 and step 503 may also be included.
In step 501, the NF requestor determines a target NF provider from the one or more NF providers that match the parameters.
Step 502, the NF requester sends a service acquisition request to the target NF provider.
The service acquisition request may include a type of NF provider capable of providing a service for the terminal device, a type of service requested by the NF requester, a data network type requested by the NF requester, location information of a user served by the service requested by the NF requester, identification information of the user served by the service requested by the NF requester, a session type of the service requested by the NF requester, a feature that the NF provider capable of providing a service for the terminal device needs to support, a PLMN of the service requested by the NF requester, and the like. English of the service acquisition request may be written as service request. The service acquisition request is used for requesting the target NF provider to provide a corresponding service.
Correspondingly, after the NF provider receives the service acquisition request, the corresponding service is provided.
In step 503, the target NF provider returns a service acquisition response to the NF requester.
The service acquisition response may include a service range covered by the target NF provider, a service type supported by the target NF provider, a user number segment supported by the target NF provider, a session type supported by the target NF provider, a PLMN served by the target NF provider, a characteristic supported by the target NF provider, a load state of the target NF provider, and the like. English of the service acquisition request may be written as service response.
After step 205, the NF requestor may cache the received first part of description information of the NF provider in the local storage area, so that when receiving other similar service requests in the subsequent time, it may first search for whether there is an NF provider that meets the requirement from the local storage area. Specifically, step 601 and step 602 may be included before step 201 described above.
Step 601, the NF requester receives a service request sent by the terminal device.
The service request may be used to request a service provided for the terminal device, for example, a service provided by a Physical Network Function (PNF) may be requested. The service request may include information such as a terminal identifier.
In step 602, the NF requester searches the local storage area, and executes step 201 or step 401 above if it is determined that the NF provider matching the parameter and capable of providing the required service for the terminal device is not found in the local storage area.
Step 603, the NF requester searches for the local storage area, and may directly perform step 501 if it is determined that the NF provider matching the parameter and capable of providing the required service for the terminal device is found in the local storage area.
After the step 205, the method may further include the step 701:
in step 701, the network storage network element sends the second part of the description information in the description information of the NF provider to the NF requester.
Wherein the second part of the description information comprises: and all or part of the information except the first part of the description information in the description information of the NF provider.
Correspondingly, after the NF requester receives the second message sent by the network storage network element, the method further includes:
the NF request party receives a second part of description information in the description information sent by the network storage network element;
wherein the second part of the description information comprises: all or part of the description information of the NF provider except the first part of the description information.
In step 701 above, the second part of the description information may be carried in a fourth message. Specifically, the step 701 may also be described as: and the network storage network element carries the second part of description information of the NF provider in a fourth message and sends the fourth message to the NF requester. Correspondingly, the NF requester receives a fourth message, wherein the fourth message comprises the second part of the description information.
That is to say, after the network storage network element returns the first part of the description information to the NF provider through the first message, the service discovery process may be accelerated because the amount of the first part of the description information is small. Further, the second part of the description information is continuously sent to the NF requestor in the subsequent process, so that when the NF requestor receives other similar service requests in the subsequent process, the NF requestor can first search whether there is an NF provider that meets the requirement from the local buffer.
There are various specific items for the step 701, for example, the network storage element may actively trigger after carrying the first part of the description information in the second message. Or the NF requests the network storage network element to send a message to actively request to acquire the second part of the description information.
In one case, the second part of the description information may be all of the description information of the NF provider except the first part of the description information.
In another case, the second partial description information may be partial information in information other than the first partial description information in the description information of the NF provider, in which case, a correspondence between the type identifier of the NF provider and the identifier of the second partial description information may be preset in the network storage network element. The network storage network element may determine the second part of the description information of the NF provider according to the type identifier of the NF provider.
For example, if the type identifier of the NF provider is UDM, and the identifier of the second part of description information corresponding to the type identifier of the NF provider is number segment information, the network storage network element sends the number segment information supported by the NF provider to the NF requester, that is, the second part of description information corresponding to the identifier of the second part of description information is sent to the NF requester.
When the NF requests a network storage element to send a message to actively request to acquire the second part of the description information, after step 205 and before step 701, step 702 may be further included:
step 702, the NF requester sends a third message to the network storage element, where the third message includes an identifier of the NF provider;
correspondingly, the network storage network element receives a third message sent by the NF requester, where the third message includes an identifier of the NF provider.
In an optional implementation manner, the third message further includes second indication information, where the second indication information is used to indicate an identifier of the second partial description information. Correspondingly, after the step 205 and before the step 702, the method further includes the step 703:
step 703: the NF requester determines the identifier of the second part of the description information corresponding to the type identifier provided by the NF according to the preset corresponding relationship between the type identifier of the NF provider and the identifier of the second part of the description information and the type identifier of the NF provider; the NF requester carries second indication information for indicating the second partial description information in the third message.
It can also be said that the identifier of the second part of the description information is: the NF requester is determined according to the preset corresponding relation between the type identifier of the NF provider and the identifier of the second part of the description information and the type identifier of the NF provider.
The second indication information may be directly the second part of the description information, such as number segment information of the NF provider identified by the second part of the description information, and the second indication information is a number segment. The second indication information may also be other information capable of indicating the second partial description information. For example, a corresponding relationship between the second indication information and the identifier of the second part of description information may be stored in the NF request party and the network storage network element, and when the NF request party queries that the identifier of the second part of description information is a number segment according to the corresponding relationship, the second indication information is: setting the preset bit of the third message to 1, and when the network storage element receives the third message and finds that the preset bit of the third message is set to 1, querying from the corresponding relationship between the second indication information and the identifier of the second part of description information: the identifier of the second part of description information is number segment information, so that the content corresponding to the number segment information of the NF provider (i.e. the second part of description information corresponding to the identifier of the second part of description information) is returned to the NF requester.
In an optional implementation manner, when the third message does not carry the second indication information, the network storage network element may return all description information except the first part of description information in the description information of the NF provider to the NF requester.
An implementation manner is further provided in the embodiment of the present application, that is, the third message is implemented in a manner of extending a retrieval Attributes/unregisteral Attributes cell element, and for one NF provider, when retrieval Attributes are included in the third message, it indicates that the network storage element needs to return all description information included in a list associated with retrieval Attributes to the NF requester. When the unregister Attributes are included in the third message, it indicates that the network storage network element needs to return all description information to the NF requester except all description information of the NF providers included in the list associated with the unregister Attributes.
For example, when the NF requestor is the AMF, the NF provider is the UDM. The description information included in the list associated with the retrieval Attributes carried in the third message may be: and (4) number segment information. In this case, the network storage element needs to return the number segment information of the NF provider to the NF requester through the fourth message.
For another example, when the NF requestor is the AMF, the NF provider is the SMF. The description information included in the list associated with the retrievals carried in the third message may be: and (4) position information. In this case, the network storage network element needs to return the location information of the NF provider to the NF requester through the fourth message.
For another example, when the NF requestor is the AMF, the NF provider is the SMF. The description information included in the list associated with the unregievel Attributes carried in the third message may be: priority, weight. In this case, the network storage network element needs to return all the description information of the NF provider except the priority and the weight to the NF requester through the fourth message.
As can be seen from step 701 or from steps 702 and 703, in the embodiment of the present application, the network storage network element may return description information of the NF provider to the NF requester twice. After returning the first part of the description information, the NF requester may select a target NF provider according to the first part of the description information, so that the process of service discovery may be accelerated. And subsequently returning the second part of the description information to the NF requester, which not only enables the NF requester to cache the second part of the description information for subsequent use, but also, compared with a scheme that the second message carries all the description information of the NF provider, the second part of the description information in the embodiment of the present application may be: in the description information of the NF provider, part of information other than the first part of description information, that is, the second part of description information may be information of a part of specified NF provider, which may reduce the buffer amount of the NF requester in the local storage area, and may also increase the transmission speed of the second part of description information.
According to the foregoing method, fig. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided in this embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 5, the communication device may be an NF requester or a network storage element, or may be a chip or a circuit, for example, a chip or a circuit that may be disposed in the network storage element.
Further, the communication device 801 may further include a bus system, wherein the processor 802, the memory 804, and the transceiver 803 may be connected via the bus system.
It should be understood that the processor 802 may be a chip. For example, the processor 802 may be a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a system on chip (SoC), a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a Network Processor (NP), a digital signal processing circuit (DSP), a Microcontroller (MCU), a Programmable Logic Device (PLD), or other integrated chips.
In implementation, the steps of the above method may be performed by integrated logic circuits of hardware or instructions in the form of software in the processor 802. The steps of a method disclosed in connection with the embodiments of the present application may be embodied directly in a hardware processor, or in a combination of hardware and software modules within the processor 802. The software modules may be located in ram, flash, rom, prom, or eprom, registers, etc. as is well known in the art. The storage medium is located in the memory 804, and the processor 802 reads the information in the memory 804 and completes the steps of the method in combination with the hardware.
It should be noted that the processor 802 in the present embodiment 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 by instructions in the form of software. The processor described above 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, discrete hardware components. The various methods, steps, and logic blocks disclosed in the embodiments of the present application may be implemented or performed. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor or the processor may be any conventional processor or the like. The steps of the method disclosed in connection with the embodiments of the present application may be directly implemented by a hardware decoding processor, or implemented by a combination of hardware and software modules in the decoding processor. The software modules may be located in ram, flash, rom, prom, or eprom, registers, etc. as is well known in the art. The storage medium is located in a memory, and a processor reads information in the memory and combines hardware thereof to complete the steps of the method.
It will be appreciated that the memory 804 in the embodiments of the present 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 PROM (EEPROM), or a flash memory. Volatile memory can be Random Access Memory (RAM), which acts as external cache memory. By way of example, and not limitation, many forms of RAM are available, such as Static Random Access Memory (SRAM), dynamic random access memory (dynamic RAM, DRAM), Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory (SDRAM), double data rate SDRAM (DDR SDRAM), Enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), SLDRAM (synchronous DRAM), 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.
In the case that the communication device 801 corresponds to a network storage network element in the above method, the communication device may include a processor 802, a transceiver 803, and a memory 804. The memory 804 is configured to store instructions, and the processor 802 is configured to execute the instructions stored by the memory 804 to implement any one or any plurality of corresponding network storage element correlation schemes in the methods shown in fig. 2 to 4.
When the communication device 801 is the network storage element, the communication device 801 may be configured to perform the method performed by the network storage element in any of the schemes in fig. 2 to fig. 4. When the communication device 801 is the network storage network element, the transceiver 803 is configured to receive a first message sent by an NF requester, and send a second message to the NF requester, where the first message includes a parameter of a service requested to be provided by the NF requester; a processor 802, configured to determine, according to the parameter, an NF provider matched with the parameter; and when the first message comprises first indication information, carrying a first part of description information in the description information of the NF provider in the second message, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating the network storage network element to return the first part of description information to the NF requester.
In one possible embodiment, the processor 802 is further configured to: and when the first indication information is not included in the first message, carrying the description information of the NF provider in the second message.
In a possible embodiment, the transceiver 803 is further configured to: sending a second part of the description information to the NF requester; wherein the second part of the description information comprises: all or part of the information except the first part of the description information in the description information of the NF provider.
In a possible embodiment, the transceiver 803 is further configured to: and receiving a third message sent by the NF request party, wherein the third message comprises the identification of the NF provider. The processor 802 is specifically configured to: the second partial description information with the NF provider is carried in a fourth message, which is sent to the NF requestor through the transceiver 803.
In one possible embodiment, the identification of the second part of the description information is: the NF requester is determined according to a preset corresponding relation between the type identifier of the NF provider and the identifier of the second part of the description information and the type identifier of the NF provider.
In the case where the communication device 801 corresponds to the NF requester in the above method, the communication device may include a processor 802, a transceiver 803, and a memory 804. The memory 804 is configured to store instructions, and the processor 802 is configured to execute the instructions stored by the memory 804 to implement any one or any plurality of related schemes of NF requestors in the corresponding methods shown in fig. 2 to 4.
When the communication device 801 is the NF requestor, the communication device 801 may be configured to perform the method performed by the NF requestor in any of the schemes of fig. 2 to 4. When the communication device 801 is the NF requester, the processor 802 is configured to: carrying first indication information in a first message, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating the network storage network element to return a first part of description information to the NF requester;
a transceiver 803 for: sending the first message to the network storage network element, wherein the first message further comprises parameters of the service requested to be provided by the NF requester; receiving a second message sent by the network storage network element; and when the first indication information is carried in the first message, the second message comprises a first part of description information in the description information of the NF provider matched with the parameters.
In a possible embodiment, the transceiver 803 is further configured to: receiving a second part of description information in the description information sent by the network storage network element; wherein the second part of the description information comprises: and all or part of the information except the first part of the description information in the description information of the NF provider.
In a possible embodiment, the transceiver 803 is further configured to: sending a third message to the network storage network element, wherein the third message comprises an identifier of the NF provider; receiving a fourth message, wherein the fourth message comprises the second part of description information.
In one possible embodiment, the processor 802 is further configured to: determining the identifier of the second part of description information corresponding to the type identifier provided by the NF according to the preset corresponding relationship between the type identifier of the NF provider and the identifier of the second part of description information and the type identifier of the NF provider; carry the second indication information indicating the identity of the second partial description information in the third message.
For the concepts, explanations, details and other steps related to the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application related to the communication device, reference is made to the foregoing methods or descriptions related to these contents in other embodiments, which are not described herein again.
According to the foregoing method, fig. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 6, the communication device 901 may include a communication interface 904, a processor 902, and a transceiver 903. The communication interface 904 is used for inputting and/or outputting information; the processor 902 is configured to execute a computer program or an instruction, so that the communication device 901 implements the method on the NF requester side in the related schemes of fig. 2 to fig. 4, or so that the communication device 901 implements the method on the network storage network element side in the related schemes of fig. 2 to fig. 4. In this embodiment of the application, the transceiver 903 may implement the scheme implemented by the transceiver 802 in fig. 5, and the processor 902 may implement the scheme implemented by the processor 802 in fig. 5, which are not described herein again.
According to the method provided by the embodiment of the present application, an embodiment of the present application further provides a communication system, which includes the foregoing network storage network element and one or more NF requestors.
Based on the foregoing embodiments and the same concept, fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of a communication device provided in the embodiments of the present application, and as shown in fig. 7, the communication device 1001 may be an NF requester or a network storage element, or may be a chip or a circuit, for example, a chip or a circuit that may be disposed in a network device.
In the case that the communication device 1001 corresponds to a network storage network element in the above method, the communication device may include a processing unit 1002, a transceiving unit 1003, and a memory 1004. The memory 1004 is configured to store instructions, and the processing unit 1002 is configured to execute the instructions stored by the memory 1004 to implement any one or any plurality of corresponding methods as shown in fig. 2 to 4 above, and the related schemes of the network storage network element.
When the communications device 1001 is the network storage element, the transceiver unit 1003 is configured to receive a first message sent by a network function NF requester, and send a second message to the NF requester, where the first message includes a parameter of a service requested to be provided by the NF requester; the processing unit 1002 is configured to determine, according to the parameter, an NF provider matched with the parameter; and when the first message comprises first indication information, carrying a first part of description information in the description information of the NF provider in the second message, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating the network storage network element to return the first part of description information to the NF requester.
The communication device may correspond to the NF requestor in the above method. The communication device may implement the steps performed by the NF requestor in any one or any number of corresponding methods as shown in fig. 2-4 above. The communication device may include a processing unit 1002 and a transceiving unit 1003.
When the communication device 1001 is the NF requester, the processing unit 1002 is configured to: carrying first indication information in a first message, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating the network storage network element to return a first part of description information to the NF requester; a transceiving unit 1003 configured to: sending the first message to the network storage network element, wherein the first message further comprises parameters of the service requested to be provided by the NF requester; receiving a second message sent by the network storage network element; and when the first indication information is carried in the first message, the second message comprises a first part of description information in the description information of the NF provider matched with the parameters.
For the concepts, explanations, details and other steps related to the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application related to the communication device, reference is made to the foregoing methods or descriptions related to these contents in other embodiments, which are not described herein again.
It can be understood that, for the functions of each unit in the above-described communication device 1001, reference may be made to implementation of a corresponding method embodiment, and details are not described here again.
It should be understood that the above division of the units of the communication device is only a division of logical functions, and the actual implementation may be wholly or partially integrated into one physical network element, or may be physically separated. In this embodiment, the transceiver 1002 may be implemented by the transceiver 802 shown in fig. 5, and the processing unit 1002 may be implemented by the processor 802 shown in fig. 5.
According to the method provided by the embodiment of the present application, the present application further provides a computer program product, which includes: computer program code which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method of any one of the embodiments shown in figures 2 to 4.
According to the method provided by the embodiment of the present application, the present application further provides a computer-readable storage medium, which stores program code, and when the program code runs on a computer, the computer is caused to execute the method of any one of the embodiments shown in fig. 2 to 4.
According to the method provided by the embodiment of the present application, the present application further provides a system, which includes the foregoing one or more terminal devices and one or more network devices.
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 includes one or more 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.
The network device in the foregoing device embodiments corresponds to the terminal device and the network device or the terminal device in the method embodiments, and the corresponding steps are executed by a corresponding module or unit, for example, a communication unit (transceiver) executes the steps of receiving or transmitting in the method embodiments, and other steps besides transmitting and receiving may be executed by a processing unit (processor). The functions of the specific elements may be referred to in the respective method embodiments. The number of the processors can be one or more.
As used in this specification, the terms "component," "module," "system," and the like are intended to refer to a computer-related element, hardware, firmware, a combination of hardware and software, or software in execution. For example, a component may be, but is not limited to being, a process running on a processor, an object, an executable, a thread of execution, a program, and/or a computer. By way of illustration, both an application running on a computing device and the computing device can be a component. One or more components can reside within a process and/or thread of execution and a component may be localized on one computer and/or distributed between two or more computers. In addition, these components can execute from various computer readable media having various data structures stored thereon. The components may communicate by way of local and/or remote processes such as in accordance with a signal having one or more data packets (e.g., data from two components interacting with one another over a local system, distributed system, and/or network, such as the internet with other systems by way of the signal).
Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative logical blocks and steps (step) 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 technical solution. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present application.
It can be clearly understood by those skilled in the art that, for convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the above-described systems, devices 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 device embodiments are merely illustrative, and for example, the division of the units is only one type of logical functional division, and other divisions may be realized in practice, for example, multiple 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 position, or may be distributed on multiple 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 may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium if they are implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as separate products. 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: various media capable of storing program codes, such as a usb disk, a removable hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), a magnetic disk, or an optical disk.
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 think 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 (25)

1. A communication method based on a Network Function (NF) is characterized by comprising the following steps:
a network storage network element receives a first message sent by a Network Function (NF) requester, wherein the first message comprises a parameter of a service requested to be provided by the NF requester;
the network storage network element determines an NF provider matched with the parameters according to the parameters;
when the first message includes first indication information, the network storage network element carries a first part of description information in the description information of the NF provider in a second message, and the first indication information is used for indicating the network storage network element to return the first part of description information to the NF requester;
the network storage network element sends the second message to the NF request party; the first part of description information is used for selecting a target NF provider from the NF providers corresponding to the second message, and the target NF provider provides service for the NF requester;
after the NF requester selects the target NF provider according to the first part of the description information, the network storage network element sends second part of description information in the description information of the NF provider to the NF requester;
wherein the second part of the description information comprises: all or part of the information except the first part of the description information in the description information of the NF provider.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first indication information comprises: and the preset bit value carried on the preset bit of the first message.
3. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the first portion of descriptive information includes: a priority of the NF provider, a weight of the NF provider, and a load of the NF provider.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein before the network storage network element sends the second part of the description information of the NF provider to the NF requester, further comprising:
the network storage network element receives a third message sent by the NF requester, wherein the third message comprises an identifier of the NF provider;
the network storage network element sends a second part of description information in the description information of the NF provider to the NF requester, and the second part of description information includes:
and the network storage network element carries the second part of description information of the NF provider in a fourth message, and sends the fourth message to the NF requester.
5. The method of claim 4, wherein the third message further comprises second indication information, and the second indication information is used for indicating identification of the second partial description information.
6. The method of claim 5, wherein the identification of the second portion of descriptive information is: the NF requester is determined according to a preset corresponding relation between the type identifier of the NF provider and the identifier of the second part of the description information and the type identifier of the NF provider.
7. A communication method based on a Network Function (NF) is characterized by comprising the following steps:
the NF request party carries first indication information in a first message, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating a network storage network element to return a first part of description information to the NF request party;
the NF request party sends the first message to the network storage network element, wherein the first message also comprises the parameters of the service requested to be provided by the NF request party;
the NF requesting party receives a second message sent by the network storage network element; when the first message carries the first indication information, the second message comprises a first part of description information in the description information of the NF provider matched with the parameters;
the NF requester selects a target NF provider from the NF providers corresponding to the second message according to the first part of the description information, and the target NF provider provides service for the NF requester;
after the NF requester selects the target NF provider according to the first part of the description information, the NF requester receives a second part of the description information in the description information sent by the network storage network element;
wherein the second part of the description information comprises: all or part of the information except the first part of the description information in the description information of the NF provider.
8. The method of claim 7, wherein the first portion of the descriptive information comprises: a priority of the NF provider, a weight of the NF provider, and a load of the NF provider.
9. The method of claim 7, wherein before the NF requestor receives the second part of the description information in the description information sent by the network storage network element, the method further comprises:
the NF request party sends a third message to the network storage network element, wherein the third message comprises an identifier of the NF provider;
the NF requesting party receives a second part of the description information in the description information sent by the network storage network element, and the second part of the description information includes:
and the NF requester receives a fourth message, wherein the fourth message comprises the second part of description information.
10. The method of claim 9, wherein the third message further comprises second indication information, and the second indication information is used for indicating the identification of the second partial description information.
11. The method of claim 10, wherein prior to the NF requesting party sending a third message to the network storage network element, further comprising:
the NF requester determines the identifier of the second part of the description information corresponding to the type identifier of the NF provider according to a preset corresponding relationship between the type identifier of the NF provider and the identifier of the second part of the description information and the type identifier of the NF provider;
the NF requestor carries the second indication information indicating the identity of the second partial description information in the third message.
12. A communication device, comprising:
a receiving and sending unit, configured to receive a first message sent by a network function NF requester, and send a second message to the NF requester, where the first message includes a parameter of a service requested to be provided by the NF requester;
the processing unit is used for determining an NF provider matched with the parameters according to the parameters; when the first message comprises first indication information, carrying a first part of description information in the description information of the NF provider in the second message, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating to return the first part of description information to the NF requester; the first part of description information is used for selecting a target NF provider from the NF providers corresponding to the second message, and the target NF provider provides service for the NF requester;
wherein the transceiver unit is further configured to:
after the NF requester selects the target NF provider according to the first part of the description information, sending a second part of the description information in the description information to the NF requester;
wherein the second part of the description information comprises: all or part of the information except the first part of the description information in the description information of the NF provider.
13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the first indication information comprises: and the preset bit value carried on the preset bit of the first message.
14. The apparatus of claim 12 or 13, wherein the first partial description information comprises: a priority of the NF provider, a weight of the NF provider, and a load of the NF provider.
15. The apparatus as recited in claim 12, wherein said transceiver unit is further configured to:
receiving a third message sent by the NF request party, wherein the third message comprises an identifier of the NF provider;
the processing unit is specifically configured to:
and carrying the second part of description information of the NF provider in a fourth message, and sending the fourth message to the NF requester through the transceiver unit.
16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the third message further comprises second indication information indicating an identity of the second partial description information.
17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the identification of the second portion of descriptive information is: the NF requester is determined according to the preset corresponding relation between the type identifier of the NF provider and the identifier of the second part of the description information and the type identifier of the NF provider.
18. A communication device, comprising:
a processing unit to: carrying first indication information in a first message, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating a network storage network element to return a first part of description information;
a transceiving unit for: sending the first message to the network storage network element, wherein the first message further comprises parameters of the service requested to be provided by the NF requester; receiving a second message sent by the network storage network element;
when the first message carries the first indication information, the second message comprises a first part of description information in the description information of the NF provider matched with the parameters;
the processing unit is further configured to: selecting a target NF provider from the NF providers corresponding to the second message according to the first part of the description information, wherein the target NF provider provides service for the NF requester;
wherein the transceiver unit is further configured to:
after the target NF provider is selected according to the first part of the description information, receiving a second part of the description information in the description information sent by the network storage network element;
wherein the second part of the description information comprises: and all or part of the information except the first part of the description information in the description information of the NF provider.
19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the first portion of descriptive information comprises: a priority of the NF provider, a weight of the NF provider, and a load of the NF provider.
20. The apparatus as recited in claim 19, wherein said transceiver unit is further configured to:
sending a third message to the network storage network element, wherein the third message comprises an identifier of the NF provider;
and receiving a fourth message, wherein the fourth message comprises the second part of description information.
21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the third message further comprises second indication information indicating an identity of the second partial description information.
22. The device of claim 21, wherein the processing unit is further to:
determining the identifier of the second part of the description information corresponding to the type identifier of the NF provider according to the preset corresponding relationship between the type identifier of the NF provider and the identifier of the second part of the description information and the type identifier of the NF provider;
carrying the second indication information for indicating the identity of the second partial description information in the third message.
23. A communication device, characterized in that the device comprises a processor and a memory,
the memory for storing a computer program or instructions;
the processor to execute a computer program or instructions in a memory to cause the method of any of claims 1-11 to be performed.
24. A communication device, characterized in that the device comprises a processor and a communication interface,
the communication interface is used for inputting and/or outputting information;
the processor for executing a computer program or instructions to cause the method of any of claims 1-11 to be performed.
25. A computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions which, when invoked by a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 11.
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