CN114125743A

CN114125743A - Edge calculation flow distribution method and device and storage medium

Info

Publication number: CN114125743A
Application number: CN202010889772.0A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 路安江
Original assignee: Datang Mobile Communications Equipment Co Ltd
Current assignee: Datang Mobile Communications Equipment Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-08-28
Filing date: 2020-08-28
Publication date: 2022-03-01
Anticipated expiration: 2040-08-28
Also published as: CN114125743B

Abstract

The embodiment of the application provides a method, a device and a storage medium for shunting edge calculation flow, wherein the method comprises the following steps: sending policy updating request information to a PCF network element; receiving strategy updating response information sent by the PCF network element; the policy updating response information carries a plurality of PCC rules; each PCC rule corresponds to a third party APP in one edge node; and controlling the edge UPF network element to carry out edge calculation flow distribution based on the PCC rules. The method, the device and the storage medium for edge computing traffic distribution provided by the embodiment of the application independently allocate a service processing unit with the same function as an UPF (unified power flow) to each third-party APP in an edge node for edge traffic unloading, so that the upper limit of the processing capacity of the edge UPF in the edge node is improved, the fault tolerance is enhanced, and the maintenance and the management are easy.

Description

Edge calculation flow distribution method and device and storage medium

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a method, an apparatus, and a storage medium for edge computation traffic offloading.

Background

The 5th generation mobile communication (5G) network supports the deployment of a 5G User Plane Function (UPF) network element near the edge of the network, and realizes local traffic offload, thereby reducing network delay, relieving backhaul network pressure, and reducing core network processing pressure. For a specific edge calculation flow, a 5G Core Network (5G Core Network,5GC) distinguishes and unloads the flow through flow detection and flow forwarding rules.

In the related technical solution, when an edge node has multiple third party Applications (APPs), edge traffic of the multiple third party APPs all flows in from an N3/N9 interface of an UPF network element, flows out from an N6 interface after being processed by the UPF, and then reaches each third party APP, that is, one edge UPF serves the multiple third party APPs.

When the processing capability of the edge UPF is limited, it may happen that the sum of the service flows of multiple third-party APPs exceeds the upper limit of the processing capability of the edge UPF, which eventually results in a reduction in user experience. Meanwhile, if the edge UPF fails, or the edge UPF is unavailable due to upgrading and maintenance operations performed on the edge UPF, all third-party APPs in the edge node cannot be used, and user perception is affected.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the application provides an edge computing flow distribution method, an edge computing flow distribution device and a storage medium, which are used for solving the technical problem that in the prior art, when the sum of the service flows of multiple third-party APPs exceeds the processing capacity of an edge UPF, the service cannot be performed.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an edge computation flow splitting method, including:

sending policy updating request information to a policy control function PCF network element;

receiving strategy updating response information sent by the PCF network element; the policy updating response information carries a plurality of Policy Charging Control (PCC) rules; each PCC rule corresponds to a third party application program APP in one edge node;

and controlling an edge User Plane Function (UPF) network element to carry out edge calculation flow distribution based on the PCC rules.

Optionally, according to the edge computation traffic offload method according to an embodiment of the present application, each PCC rule includes a data network access identifier DNAI cell and a route description identifier routeProfId cell;

the DNAI cell is used for representing an edge node;

the routeporofid cell is used to characterize a third party APP in an edge node.

Optionally, according to the method for offloading edge computing traffic in an embodiment of the present application, the controlling, based on the multiple PCC rules, an edge user plane function UPF network element to offload edge computing traffic specifically includes:

converting each PCC rule into a pair of packet detection rules PDR;

sending N4 conversation establishment request information to a target edge UPF network element; the N4session establishment request information carries a plurality of pairs of PDRs, so that the target edge UPF network element shunts edge calculation traffic according to the plurality of pairs of PDRs.

Optionally, according to the edge computation flow splitting method according to an embodiment of the present application, each pair of PDRs includes an uplink PDR and a downlink PDR;

the value of the Forwarding Policy cell in the Forwarding behavior rule FAR associated with the uplink PDR is equal to the value of the routeprofd cell in the corresponding PCC rule.

Optionally, according to the method for offloading edge computing traffic in an embodiment of the present application, the sending N4session establishment request information to a target edge UPF network element specifically includes:

determining the target edge UPF network element according to the DNAI cell contained in the PCC rule, wherein the target edge UPF network element is the UPF network element in the edge node indicated by the DNAI cell in the PCC rule;

and sending N4session establishment request information to the target edge UPF network element.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides an edge computation flow splitting method, including:

receiving policy updating request information sent by a Session Management Function (SMF) network element;

sending policy update response information to the SMF network element; the policy updating response information carries a plurality of Policy Charging Control (PCC) rules; each PCC rule corresponds to a third party application program APP in one edge node; and the SMF network element controls an edge User Plane Function (UPF) network element to carry out edge calculation flow distribution based on the PCC rules.

the DNAI cell is used for representing an edge node;

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides an edge computation flow splitting method, including:

receiving N4session establishment request information sent by a SMF network element; the N4session establishment request information carries a plurality of pairs of PDRs; the PDRs are obtained by the SMF network element through conversion according to Policy Charging Control (PCC) rules; each PCC rule is converted into a pair of packet detection rules PDR; the policy control function PCF network element sends the policy update request information to the SMF network element after receiving the policy update request information sent by the SMF network element; each PCC rule corresponds to a third party application program APP in one edge node;

and shunting the edge calculation flow according to the PDRs.

the DNAI cell is used for representing an edge node;

Optionally, according to the edge-computed flow splitting method according to an embodiment of the present application, the splitting the edge-computed flow according to the pairs of PDRs specifically includes:

acquiring the current edge calculation flow to be shunted;

determining a target service processing unit corresponding to a target third party APP according to a Forwarding Policy cell value in a target FAR, installing a target PDR and the target FAR to the target service processing unit, and shunting the current edge calculation flow to be shunted to the target third party APP; the target third party APP is a third party APP indicated by a Forwarding Policy information element in the target FAR; the target PDR is a pair of PDRs into which the target PCC rule is converted; the target FAR is a pair of PDR-associated FARs into which the target PCC rule is converted; and the edge calculation flow to be shunted currently conforms to the description of the target PCC rule.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a session management function SMF network element, including a memory and a processor;

the memory is used for storing a computer program; the processor is used for reading the computer program in the memory and executing the following operations:

Optionally, according to the SMF network element of an embodiment of the present application, each PCC rule includes a data network access identifier DNAI cell and a route description identifier routeProfId cell;

the DNAI cell is used for representing an edge node;

Optionally, according to the SMF network element of an embodiment of the present application, the controlling an edge user plane function UPF network element to perform edge calculation traffic splitting based on the multiple PCC rules specifically includes:

converting each PCC rule into a pair of packet detection rules PDR;

Optionally, according to an SMF network element of an embodiment of the present application, each pair of PDRs includes an uplink PDR and a downlink PDR;

Optionally, according to the SMF network element of an embodiment of the present application, the sending N4session establishment request information to the target edge UPF network element specifically includes:

In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a policy control function PCF network element, including a memory and a processor;

Optionally, according to the PCF network element of an embodiment of the present application, each PCC rule includes a data network access identifier DNAI cell and a route description identifier routeProfId cell;

the DNAI cell is used for representing an edge node;

In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides an edge user plane function UPF network element, including a memory and a processor;

and shunting the edge calculation flow according to the PDRs.

Optionally, according to the UPF network element of an embodiment of the present application, each PCC rule includes a data network access identifier DNAI cell and a route description identifier routeProfId cell;

the DNAI cell is used for representing an edge node;

Optionally, according to an UPF network element of an embodiment of the present application, each pair of PDRs includes an uplink PDR and a downlink PDR;

Optionally, according to the UPF network element of an embodiment of the present application, the shunting the edge calculation traffic according to the pairs of PDRs specifically includes:

acquiring the current edge calculation flow to be shunted;

In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides an edge computing flow splitting device, including:

the first sending module is used for sending the policy updating request information to the policy control function PCF network element;

a first receiving module, configured to receive policy update response information sent by the PCF network element; the policy updating response information carries a plurality of Policy Charging Control (PCC) rules; each PCC rule corresponds to a third party application program APP in one edge node;

and the control module is used for controlling an edge User Plane Function (UPF) network element to carry out edge calculation flow distribution based on the PCC rules.

In an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides an edge computation flow splitting device, including:

the second receiving module is used for receiving the policy updating request information sent by the SMF network element;

a second sending module, configured to send policy update response information to the SMF network element; the policy updating response information carries a plurality of Policy Charging Control (PCC) rules; each PCC rule corresponds to a third party application program APP in one edge node; and the SMF network element controls an edge User Plane Function (UPF) network element to carry out edge calculation flow distribution based on the PCC rules.

In a ninth aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides an edge computing flow splitting device, including:

a third receiving module, configured to receive N4session establishment request information sent by a SMF network element; the N4session establishment request information carries a plurality of pairs of PDRs; the PDRs are obtained by the SMF network element through conversion according to Policy Charging Control (PCC) rules; each PCC rule is converted into a pair of packet detection rules PDR; the policy control function PCF network element sends the policy update request information to the SMF network element after receiving the policy update request information sent by the SMF network element; each PCC rule corresponds to a third party application program APP in one edge node;

and the flow distribution module is used for distributing the edge calculation flow according to the PDRs.

In a tenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a processor-readable storage medium, where the processor-readable storage medium stores a computer program, where the computer program is configured to enable the processor to execute the steps of the method for transmitting an uplink inter-channel collision according to the first aspect or the second aspect.

The method, the device and the storage medium for edge computing traffic distribution provided by the embodiment of the application independently allocate a service processing unit with the same function as an UPF (unified power flow) to each third-party APP in an edge node for edge traffic unloading, so that the upper limit of the processing capacity of the edge UPF in the edge node is improved, the fault tolerance is enhanced, and the maintenance and the management are easy.

Drawings

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

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a user plane architecture of a ULCL;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an edge node architecture;

fig. 3 is a signaling interaction diagram of adding a tandem UPF;

fig. 4 is a signaling interaction diagram of adding an assigned UPF;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of an edge UPF model provided by an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of an edge computing traffic splitting method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of a signaling interaction flow between network elements according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of a policy issued by a PCF according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 9 is a diagram of a PFCP Session update Request sent to a Local Anchor according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 10 is a schematic diagram of a PFCP Session Establishment Request sent to a default ULCL according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 11 is a schematic diagram of edge UPF refinement splitting provided in the embodiment of the present application;

fig. 12 is a second schematic diagram illustrating a method for edge-computed traffic splitting according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 13 is a third schematic diagram of an edge-computed flow splitting method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 14 is a schematic structural diagram of an SMF network element according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 15 is a schematic diagram of an edge computing flow splitting device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 16 is a second schematic diagram of an edge computing flow splitting device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 17 is a third schematic view of an edge computing flow splitting device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

The 5G network supports the deployment of 5G UPF (closer to the terminal) near the network edge, and realizes the local flow unloading, thereby reducing the network delay, relieving the pressure of a return network, and reducing the processing pressure of a core network. For a specific edge calculation flow, 5GC distinguishes and unloads the flow through flow detection and flow forwarding rules. For IPv4, IPv6, and ethernet Protocol Data Unit (PDU) sessions, a Session Management Function (SMF) may decide to insert an upstream Classifier (ULCL) into the Data path of the Session. Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of the user plane architecture of a ULCL, and as shown in fig. 1, a UL CL is a function of a UPF for tapping some traffic according to a traffic filter provided by an SMF. The insertion and removal of UL CL are determined by the SMF according to the terminal position during the handover process, and when the terminal moves into a Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC) coverage area, the SMF adds a User Plane Function (UPF) of the UL CL Function and a UPF of a protocol Data Unit Session Anchor (PSA) Function through an N4 interface to complete the creation of a local traffic path, which is a separate UPF (which may also be written as "separate UL CL + PDU Session Anchor"). In addition, the UPF of the UL CL function and the UPF of the PDU Session Anchor function may be combined into the same UPF, which is a combined UPF (which may also be written as "combined UL CL + PDU Session Anchor").

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of an Edge node architecture, and as shown in fig. 2, an Edge node includes an Edge UPF (when an insert is an aggregate UPF, the Edge UPF refers to a UPF including an UL CL function and a PDU Session Anchor function, and when an insert is an add-on UPF, the Edge UPF refers to a Local Anchor), a Multi-access Edge Platform (MEP), and a third party APP. The edge UPF communicates with the MEP and the third party APP over an N6 interface. The MEP is used for Domain Name System (DNS) resolution, the APP state is checked through the MEP, and the APP is pulled up and maintained. The third party APP refers to an application program of a third party server, for example, an application program of a mail server, an application program of a game server, and the like. The edge node supports the deployment of operators or third-party services, and is deployed in edge machine rooms (such as city edges, counties or gardens) of different levels to bear the edge services, so that a terminal can access local services nearby, and the user experience is improved.

And the ULCL and the PDU session anchor point distinguish and unload the edge calculation flow according to the flow detection and flow forwarding rule provided by the SMF, and finally forward the edge calculation flow to a third party APP. When a plurality of third-party APPs are deployed in one edge node, the edge traffic of the third-party APPs is unloaded through one edge UPF, and the requirements on the performance and the reliability of the edge UPF are high.

The scenario of triggering the SMF to decide to insert a ULCL in the user session path is as follows: the insertion of the ULCL through UE movement trigger, the insertion of the ULCL during session establishment, the insertion of the ULCL initiated when the UE is in an idle state to a connected state, and the like. When the above scenario occurs, the SMF determines to insert an aggregate UPF or an individual UPF in the user session path according to a Policy of a local configuration and Policy Control Function (PCF). After the insertion is finished, the Local anchors of the combined UPF or the separately arranged UPF communicate with the third party APP in the edge node through the N6 interface, and the edge traffic is unloaded to the third party APP.

Fig. 3 is a schematic signaling interaction diagram of adding a default UPF, and as shown in fig. 3, the specific steps of adding the default UPF are as follows:

1. the UE establishes a PDU session with PSA0 as the anchor point.

2. The UE moves from Tracking Area (TA) 1 to TA2, triggering SMF to decide to increase the ulsl and PSA1 of the tandem.

3. An SMF initiates a Packet Forwarding Control Protocol (PFCP) establishment (Establish) message to a combined UPF (ULCL + PSA1) node, wherein the message carries a Packet Detection Rule (PDR) capable of identifying edge traffic and a Forwarding Action Rule (FAR) indicating Forwarding to a third party APP, and carries an indication applying UPF to allocate Full-quantity tunnel endpoint identification (Full Qualified TEID, F-TEID) information, and updates necessary information to the combined node;

4. SMF updates the N9F-TEID information of the assigned ULCL + PSA conjunctive node to PSA 0. The downstream data link will be sent from PSA0 through the ULCL and then to the Radio Access Network (RAN);

5. the SMF sends the F-TEID of the N3 side of the combined ULCL + PSA to the RAN so as to ensure that the RAN can correctly send uplink data to the specified combined ULCL + PSA;

6. upstream data, after adding the rendezvous node, may be shunted through the ULCL and according to configured data rules to PSA0 and ULCL + PSA 1. Wherein data diverted to ULCL + PSA1, i.e. edge traffic, is eventually forwarded by ULCL + PSA1 to third party APP;

7. the downlink data is converged to the ULCL and sent to the UE.

Fig. 4 is a schematic signaling interaction diagram of adding the separate UPF, and as shown in fig. 4, the specific steps of adding the separate UPF are as follows:

1. the UE establishes a PDU session with PSA0 as an anchor point;

2. SMF decides to add new ULCL and PSA 1;

3. the SMF initiates a PFCP (pulse frequency channel) optimization message to Establish a PSA1 node, wherein the message carries a PDR (packet data Rate) capable of identifying edge traffic and a FAR (failure rate) indicating forwarding to a third-party APP;

4. the SMF initiates PFCP (pulse frequency channel) optimization to Establish a ULCL node, PDR (packet data rate) capable of identifying edge traffic and FAR (forwarding instruction to PSA1) are carried in the message, and N9 FTEID of applied PSA1 is brought to the ULCL;

5. SMF initiates PFCP Modify to update ULCL N9 FTEID to PSA 1;

6. SMF initiates PFCP Modify to update ULCL N9 FTEID to PSA 0;

7. the SMF sends the FTEID at the N3 side of the ULCL to the RAN so as to ensure that the RAN can correctly send uplink data to the specified ULCL;

8. upstream data will be shunted through the ULCL and according to configured data rules to PSA0 and PSA1 after adding a distribution node. Wherein data diverted to PSA1, i.e. edge traffic, is eventually forwarded by PSA1 to third party APP;

9. after adding the distribution node, the downlink data can be converged to the ULCL and sent to the UE.

After the combined ULCL + PDU session anchor point is added, the UPF which plays the role of combined ULCL + PSA is connected to the edge node third party APP; with the addition of the separate ULCL + PDU session Anchor, connected to the edge node third party APP is the UPF that functions as the Local Anchor (i.e., PSA1 in FIG. 4).

According to the related technology, after the combined ULCL + PDU session anchor point is added, the UPF (namely the combined ULCL + PDU session anchor point) connected with the edge node third party APP presents N3 and N6 interfaces on the user surface, all edge flow flows in from the N3 interface, flows out from the N6 interface after being processed by the UPF, and then reaches the third party APP; after adding and respectively setting ULCL + PDU conversation Anchor points, the UPF (Local Anchor) connected with the edge node third party APP presents N9 and N6 interfaces on the user surface, all edge flow flows in from the N9 interface, and flows out from the N6 interface after being processed by the UPF, and then reaches the third party APP.

When the edge node has a plurality of third-party APPs, the edge traffic of the third-party APPs flows in from the N3/N9 interface of one UPF, flows out from the N6 interface after being processed by the UPF, and then reaches each third-party APP. That is, one edge UPF serves multiple third party APPs, and when the processing capability of the edge UPF is limited, it may happen that the sum of the service flows of the multiple third party APPs exceeds the upper limit of the processing capability of the edge UPF, which eventually results in a reduction in user experience. Meanwhile, if the edge UPF fails, or the edge UPF is unavailable due to upgrading and maintenance operations performed on the edge UPF, all third-party APPs in the edge node cannot be used, and user perception is affected.

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

Based on the above analysis, the embodiment of the present application provides a scheme suitable for performing refined edge shunting on an edge UPF. The main idea of the scheme is to independently allocate a service processing unit with the same function as the UPF function to each third party APP in the edge node for edge traffic offload, so that the upper limit of the processing capability of the edge UPF in the edge node is improved, the fault tolerance is enhanced, and the maintenance and management are easy. It should be noted that: the scheme can be suitable for the situation that the edge shunting is divided into ULCL + PDU session Anchor points, and mainly enhances the performance and fault tolerance of the Local Anchor UPF divided into the ULCL situation.

Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of an edge UPF model provided in the embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 5, for refined edge splitting, the embodiment of the present application provides an edge UPF model. The edge UPF consists of a global unit, several service processing units, an interface unit and an internal data transmission plane. The internal data transmission plane provides the transmission of operation maintenance data and service data among the global unit, the service processing unit and the interface unit. The global unit provides functions of configuration management, fault management, alarm management, tracking management, log management and upgrading, and provides an Operation and Maintenance (OM) interface for the connection of clients. The interface unit is responsible for terminating the N4 interface message communicated with the SMF and provides an N4 interface for the outside. The service processing unit is responsible for processing, routing and forwarding user plane data. Each service processing unit in the edge UPF works independently, and each service processing unit provides an N3 interface, an N6 interface and an N9 interface independently and externally. Each service processing unit can be connected with a third-party APP, and edge flow unloading is independently performed on the third-party APP. The number of service processing units in the edge UPF may be determined by the number of third party APPs in the edge node. The specifications (such as vCPU, memory, storage, and the number of virtualization instances used by each service processing unit) of each service processing unit in the edge UPF have preset default specifications according to different types of third-party APPs (such as game, video, picture and other types of third-party APPs), and meanwhile, the specifications of each service processing unit can also be customized according to a specific third-party APP.

The scenario of triggering the SMF to decide to insert a ULCL in the user session path is as follows: the insertion of the ULCL through UE movement trigger, the insertion of the ULCL during session establishment, the insertion of the ULCL initiated when the UE is in an idle state to a connected state, and the like. And the SMF determines to insert a combined ULCL + PDU session anchor point or separately set the ULCL + PDU session anchor point in the user session path according to the local configuration and the PCF strategy. The SMF senses that the ULCL needs to be inserted and the decision strategy of selecting the UPF as the combined ULCL + PSA session anchor point or separately setting the ULCL + PSA session anchor point to be inserted is implemented according to the existing content (namely the second step of adding the combined ULCL + PDU session anchor point in FIG. 3; and the second step of adding the separately set ULCL + PDU session anchor point in FIG. 4). Now, in order to implement refined edge offloading, the following schemes are respectively designed for PCF, SMF, and edge UPF, and it is necessary for PCF, SMF, and edge UPF to cooperate together to complete refined edge offloading. It should be noted that: the scheme can be applied to the situation that the edge shunting is divided into ULCL + PDU session anchor points, and all subsequent descriptions are explained based on the divided ULCL + PDU session anchor point situation as an example.

Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of an edge computation traffic offload method provided in an embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 6, an execution subject of the edge computation traffic offload method provided in the embodiment of the present application may be an SMF network element. The method comprises the following steps:

step 601, sending policy update request information to a policy control function PCF network element.

Specifically, fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of signaling interaction flow between network elements provided in the embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 7, when triggering the SMF to determine to insert an ULCL in a user session path, the SMF first sends policy Update request information, that is, Npcf _ SMPolicyControl _ Update request, to a PCF network element.

And the PCF network element receives the Npcf _ SMPolicyControl _ Update request sent by the SMF network element. Then, the PCF network element sends policy update response information, i.e. Npcf _ smpolicycontropdate response, to the SMF network element.

Step 602, receiving policy update response information sent by the PCF network element; the policy updating response information carries a plurality of Policy Charging Control (PCC) rules; each PCC rule corresponds to a third party application APP in an edge node.

Specifically, after the PCF network element sends the Npcf _ smpolicycontropdate response to the SMF network element, the SMF network element receives the Npcf _ smpolicycontropdate response sent by the PCF network element.

The Npcf _ smpolicycontrolled update response carries a plurality of Policy and Charging Control (PCC) rules, the PCC rules are used for refining edge distribution, and each PCC rule corresponds to a third party APP in an edge node.

In addition, the Npcf _ smpolicycontrodepressresponse may also carry a PCC rule for remote offloading, and this part of the content may adopt an existing scheme, which is not described herein again.

And 603, controlling an edge User Plane Function (UPF) network element to carry out edge calculation flow distribution based on the PCC rules.

Specifically, after receiving the Npcf _ smpolicycontrodepressate response sent by the PCF network element, the SMF network element decides whether to insert a ULCL and what ULCL to insert, and controls the edge UPF network element to perform edge computation traffic offload based on several PCC rules.

The method for distributing the edge computing traffic provided by the embodiment of the application allocates a service processing unit with the same function as the UPF independently for each third-party APP in the edge node to unload the edge traffic, so that the upper limit of the processing capacity of the edge UPF in the edge node is improved, the fault tolerance is enhanced, and the maintenance and the management are easy.

Based on any of the above embodiments, each PCC rule includes a data network access identifier DNAI cell and a route description identifier routepofid cell;

the DNAI cell is used for representing an edge node;

Specifically, in the embodiment of the present application, a policy issued by the PCF carries a plurality of PCC rules for refining edge offload, where each PCC rule corresponds to one third-party APP in the edge node, that is, the flow description information flowInfo in the PCC rule describes an IP data flow filter of the third-party APP corresponding to the flow description information flowInfo. flowInfo can be expressed as a five-tuple and the direction of the flow (five-tuple: source IP, source port, destination IP, destination port, protocol type).

Meanwhile, each PCC rule includes (associates with) one flow control data TrafficControlData cell, and traffictolocs cell is included (carried) in TrafficControlData. The routeToLocs cell includes (carries) a Data Network Access Identity (DNAI) and a routepofld. The content of DNAI requires PCF and SMF pre-agreement, and the content of routeProfId requires PCF and UPF pre-agreement.

In the embodiment of the application, the DNAI cell is used for representing the edge node. The routeporofid cell is used to characterize a third party APP in an edge node.

DNAI cells were designed as follows:

DNAI is used to represent a certain edge node. When one PCC rule carries DNAI, the pc rule is shown to be used for shunting user traffic (edge calculation traffic) which accords with the description of the PCC rule to an edge node corresponding to the DNAI. Because the edge nodes are generally deployed in specific places such as a garden, a school, a stadium, and the like, the values of DNAI may be represented visually by strings, as shown in table 1.

TABLE 1 DNAI cell usage description

The routeProfId cell is designed as follows:

routepofld is used to represent a certain third party APP in the edge node. Categories of third party APPs are games, video, pictures, etc. It is specified here that the first GAME class third party APP in the edge node is denoted by 3rdAPP _ GAME, and if there are more GAME class third party APPs in the edge node, by 3rdAPP _ GAME1, 3rdAPP _ GAME2 … …. Similarly, 3rdAPP _ VIDEO1, and 3rdAPP _ VIDEO2 … … sequentially represent the plurality of VIDEO class third parties APP in the edge node, and 3rdAPP _ PHOTO, 3rdAPP _ PHOTO1, and 3rdAPP _ PHOTO2 … … sequentially represent the plurality of picture class third parties APP in the edge node. Thus, the value of routeProfId can be represented visually by a string, as shown in table 2.

Table 2 routeProfId cell usage description

In summary, if a PCC rule carries DNAI and routeProfId, it indicates that the PCC rule is operative to offload user data that conforms to the PCC rule description to a third party APP indicated by routeProfId in an edge node indicated by DNAI.

Fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of a policy issued by a PCF according to an embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 8, how the PCF issues the policy is described by an example. For example, an edge node is deployed in a software park, and the edge node includes a game type third party APP, a video type third party APP and a picture type third party APP. The policy issued by the PCF is shown in fig. 8. Wherein the SessionRule is issued according to the existing implementation. Pccrele 1 is used for far-end forking, i.e. forwarding packets of a user accessing a core Data Network (DN) to a core UPF, where they are also delivered according to existing implementations. The PccRule2, PccRule3 and PccRule4 are used for refining edge shunting, and the specific scheme is shown in FIG. 8. It should be noted that: only the cells strongly associated with the scheme are depicted, and the cells not shown in the figure still need to be delivered according to the existing implementation according to the 3GPP protocol.

The method for shunting the edge computing traffic provided by the embodiment of the application utilizes the DNAI cell to represent the edge node, the routepofld cell to represent a third party APP in one edge node, and a service processing unit with the same function as the UPF is independently allocated to each third party APP in the edge node to unload the edge traffic, so that the signaling overhead is reduced.

Based on any of the above embodiments, the controlling, based on the plurality of PCC rules, an edge user plane function UPF network element to perform edge calculation traffic splitting specifically includes:

converting each PCC rule into a pair of packet detection rules PDR;

Specifically, after receiving the policy issued by the PCF, the SMF determines whether to insert the ULCL, and if so, inserts the combined ULCL + PDU session anchor or separately sets the ULCL + PDU session anchor. The embodiment of the application is described by taking a scene that SMF decision needs to insert a session anchor point of ULCL + PDU for edge distribution as an example, and realizing refined edge distribution on the basis of the scene.

In the embodiment of the present application, the specific steps of the SMF controlling the edge UPF network element to perform the edge calculation traffic splitting based on the plurality of PCC rules are as follows:

first, SMF converts each PCC rule into a pair of packet detection rules PDR.

The SMF converts the PCC rules in the PCF policy obtained from the PCF into cells such as PDR, FAR, QoS Enforcement Rule (QER).

And then, sending N4Session Establishment Request information to the target edge UPF network element, namely N4Session Establishment Request or PFCP Session Establishment Request, N4Session Establishment Request carries a plurality of pairs of PDRs, so that the target edge UPF network element shunts the edge calculation traffic according to the plurality of pairs of PDRs.

According to the edge calculation flow distribution method provided by the embodiment of the application, each PCC rule is converted into a PDR and sent to the UPF, so that the UPF can carry out edge flow unloading, and the upper limit of the processing capacity of the edge UPF is improved.

Based on any of the above embodiments, each pair of PDRs includes an uplink PDR and a downlink PDR;

Specifically, in the embodiment of the present application, when performing refined edge shunting, the following design is made for the PDR and the FAR:

the SMF converts the PCC rules for remote shunting into corresponding PDR and FAR, and the point is kept in the existing realization. For each PCC rule used for refining the edge shunting, the SMF converts each pc rule used for refining the edge shunting into a pair of PDRs and a pair of associated FARs, wherein a Forwarding Policy cell in a Forwarding parameter Forwarding Parameters cell of the FAR associated with the uplink PDR takes the value of the routeProfId in the corresponding PCC rule.

The UPF determines a service processing unit corresponding to the third party APP according to Forwarding Policy cells in the FAR associated with the uplink PDR, and installs a PDR pair, an FAR pair and possibly QERs, Usage Reporting Rules (URRs) and the like corresponding to the service processing unit, so as to achieve the purpose of unloading the edge calculation traffic to the corresponding third party APP.

In the edge calculation traffic offload method provided in the embodiment of the present application, each pair of PDRs includes an uplink PDR and a downlink PDR, a value of a Forwarding Policy cell in an FAR associated with the uplink PDR is equal to a value of a routeprefid cell in a corresponding PCC rule, and the UPF determines a service processing unit corresponding to a third party APP according to the Forwarding Policy cell in the FAR associated with the uplink PDR, and installs the PDR pair, the FAR pair, and possibly QER and URR, which correspond to the service processing unit, to the service processing unit for edge traffic offload, thereby improving an upper limit of processing capability of the edge UPF.

Based on any of the above embodiments, the sending N4session establishment request information to the target edge UPF network element specifically includes:

Specifically, the specific step of the SMF sending the N4session establishment request information to the target edge UPF network element includes:

firstly, the SMF determines a target edge UPF network element according to the DNAI cell contained in the PCC rule, wherein the target edge UPF network element is the UPF network element in the edge node indicated by the DNAI cell in the PCC rule.

Then, the N4session establishment request information is sent to the target edge UPF network element.

In the embodiment of the application, the SMF locally adds the DNAI and the edge UPF mapping table. Edge UPF is the UPF in the edge node. The mapping relationship between DNAI and edge UPF is shown in table 3. And the SMF inquires the table according to the DNAI in the PCF strategy and selects the Local Anchor of the divided ULCL scene. The edge UPF information in the table may be the N4 IP address of the edge UPF, or may be index other table information, but the final SMF obtains the N4 IP address of the edge UPF.

TABLE 3 DNAI and edge UPF mapping tables

When the SMF decides that the sub-design ULCL + PDU Session Anchor needs to be inserted, first, the SMF sends a PFCP Session Establishment Request message to a Local Anchor of the sub-design ULCL scenario (the Local Anchor is the UPF selected according to the DNAI as described above). The message has the effect of instructing the Local Anchor of the ULCL scene to finely shunt the data packets of the user accessing the edge node to the third parties APP in the edge node. Therefore, the PFCP Session Establishment Request message includes a plurality of PDRs and FARs for refining the edge offload, and the design of the PDRs and the FARs for refining the edge offload is the same as that of the above embodiment, and is not described herein again.

It should be noted that: the ch _ ID of the Local F-TEID of the Packet Detection Information (PDI) in the uplink N9 interface PDR for refined edge offload is not set to True, i.e., the Local Anchor of the ul cl scene is required to allocate a different N9 interface F-TEID to each uplink N9 interface PDR for refined edge offload.

Fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of a PFCP Session Establishment Request sent to a Local Anchor according to the embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 9, an SMF generates a corresponding PFCP Session Establishment Request message according to a policy issued by a PCF, and then sends the PFCP Session Establishment Request message to the Local Anchor in which an ULCL scene is allocated.

It should be noted that: only the cells strongly associated with the scheme are depicted in fig. 9, and cells not shown in the figure still need to be delivered according to the existing implementation according to the 3GPP protocol.

Then, SMF sends a PFCP Session Establishment Request message to the slave ULCL (the slave ULCL UPF is chosen according to the existing implementation). The purpose of this message is to instruct the distribution ULCL to forward packets for users accessing the core DN to the core UPF and packets for users accessing the edge node to the edge UPF. Therefore, the PFCP Session Establishment Request message includes the PDR and the FAR for remote offloading and a plurality of PDRs and FAR for refining edge offloading, where the PDR and the FAR for refining edge offloading are designed by using an existing scheme, which is different from the above embodiment, that is, the FAR associated with the uplink PDR for refining edge offloading does not carry Forwarding Policy cells of Forwarding Parameters.

It should be noted that: the CHOOSE ID of the Local F-TEID of PDI in the downlink N9 interface PDR for the refined edge offload is not set to True, i.e. the ULCL is required to be set to allocate different N9 interface F-TEIDs for each downlink N9 interface PDR for the refined offload. Other cells of the PFCP Session Establishment Request message are implemented as existing.

Fig. 10 is a schematic diagram of a PFCP Session Establishment Request sent to a distribution ULCL according to the embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 10, an SMF generates a corresponding PFCP Session Establishment Request message according to a policy issued by a PCF, and then sends the PFCP Session Establishment Request message to the distribution ULCL.

It should be noted that: only the cells strongly associated with the scheme are depicted in fig. 10, and cells not shown in the figure still need to be transmitted according to the 3GPP protocol in accordance with the existing implementation.

In the edge calculation traffic splitting method provided in the embodiment of the present application, the SMF determines the target edge UPF network element according to the DNAI cell included in the PCC rule, and determines the third party APP in the target edge UPF network element according to the routeprofoid cell included in the PCC rule, so that the target edge UPF performs edge traffic offloading, thereby improving the upper limit of the processing capability of the edge UPF.

Based on any of the above embodiments, the edge UPF adds a routeProfId locally and a service processing unit mapping table in the edge UPF, as shown in table 4. Edge UPF is the UPF in the edge node. The table provides a mapping relationship between the routeProfId and the service processing unit.

Table 4 routeProfId and service handling unit mapping table

Fig. 11 is a schematic diagram of refinement and offloading of an edge UPF provided in the embodiment of the present application, where as shown in fig. 11, the edge UPF selects a service processing unit according to a value of a Forwarding Policy cell carried by an FAR associated with an uplink PDR in a PFCP Session Establishment Request message sent to the edge UPF by an SMF. When a service processing unit is selected, the edge UPF installs the PDR pair, FAR pair, and possibly QER, URR, etc. corresponding to the service processing unit. Then the service processing unit generates an N9 interface F-TEID according to the requirement of the corresponding uplink PDR. When all the service processing units are installed and generate respective N9 interfaces F-TEIDs, the edge UPF generates a PFCP Session Establishment Response message from these results and sends it to the SMF.

How many service processing units an edge UPF needs to deploy is determined by the kind and number of third party APPs in the edge node. The third party APP kind and number also determine the pre-configuration of the edge node related policies in the PCF.

On the physical network, each service processing unit of the edge UPF is connected with its corresponding third party APP through a respective N6 interface.

Fig. 11 is supplemented with network elements at opposite ends of each interface, and helps to describe an edge UPF scheme and a refined edge offloading scheme.

The subsequent processes, i.e., the fifth, sixth, and seventh steps in fig. 4, are processed according to the existing process.

In the embodiment of the application, the edge UPF includes a plurality of service processing units, each service processing unit is connected to a third-party APP, and independently performs user data traffic splitting for the third-party APP, thereby ensuring the transmission performance of the edge bearer network of each third-party APP.

Each service processing unit works independently, and upgrading or patching operation can be carried out on one service processing unit independently without influencing the services of other service processing units.

When the edge node is added with the third party APP, the capacity of the edge UPF can be expanded to increase the processing capacity of the edge UPF. When the capacity is expanded, only one service processing unit needs to be added, and the services of other service processing units cannot be influenced.

When the edge node reduces the third party APP, the edge UPF can be reduced to save the edge node hardware resources. During capacity reduction, only the corresponding service processing unit is deleted, and the services of other service processing units are not influenced.

When a certain service processing unit inevitably fails, only the use of the corresponding third party APP is affected, and the services of other service processing units are not affected.

For the third party APPs of different types, an optimization technology may be deployed with the service processing unit corresponding thereto. For example, the service data stream of the third party APP is transmitted using a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), a TCP proxy technology may be deployed to the service processing unit corresponding to the third party APP, so as to speed up the speed of the user accessing the third party APP service.

Based on any of the above embodiments, fig. 12 is a second schematic diagram of an edge-computed traffic offload method provided in the embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 12, an implementation subject of the edge-computed traffic offload method provided in the embodiment of the present application may be a PCF, and the method includes:

step 1201, receiving policy update request information sent by a Session Management Function (SMF) network element;

step 1202, sending policy update response information to the SMF network element; the policy updating response information carries a plurality of Policy Charging Control (PCC) rules; each PCC rule corresponds to a third party application program APP in one edge node; and the SMF network element controls an edge User Plane Function (UPF) network element to carry out edge calculation flow distribution based on the PCC rules.

Specifically, an edge-computed traffic splitting method provided in this embodiment of the present application is the same as the method described in the corresponding embodiment described above, and can achieve the same technical effects, except that the execution bodies are different, and detailed descriptions of the same parts and beneficial effects in this embodiment as those in the corresponding method embodiment described above are omitted here.

the DNAI cell is used for representing an edge node;

Based on any of the above embodiments, fig. 13 is a third schematic diagram of an edge-computed traffic diversion method provided in the embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 13, an implementation subject of the edge-computed traffic diversion method provided in the embodiment of the present application may be a UPF, and the method includes:

step 1301, receiving N4session establishment request information sent by a Session Management Function (SMF) network element; the N4session establishment request information carries a plurality of pairs of PDRs; the PDRs are obtained by the SMF network element through conversion according to Policy Charging Control (PCC) rules; each PCC rule is converted into a pair of packet detection rules PDR; the policy control function PCF network element sends the policy update request information to the SMF network element after receiving the policy update request information sent by the SMF network element; each PCC rule corresponds to a third party application program APP in one edge node;

and 1302, shunting the edge calculation flow according to the plurality of pairs of PDRs.

the DNAI cell is used for representing an edge node;

Based on any of the above embodiments, the shunting the edge calculation traffic according to the pairs of PDRs specifically includes:

acquiring the current edge calculation flow to be shunted;

Based on any of the foregoing embodiments, fig. 14 is a schematic structural diagram of an SMF network element provided in this embodiment, and as shown in fig. 14, an SMF network element provided in this embodiment may perform a corresponding method in the foregoing embodiments, and includes a memory 1403, a bus 1404, a communication interface 1402, and a processor 1401; the processor 1401 is connected to the communication interface 1402 through a bus 1404; the processor 1401 and the memory 1403 are connected by a bus 1404;

a memory 1403 for storing a computer program; a communication interface 1402 for transceiving data under the control of the processor 1401; a processor 1401 for reading the computer program in the memory 1403 and for performing the following operations:

Specifically, an SMF network element provided in the embodiment of the present application can implement all the method steps implemented by the foregoing method embodiment, and can achieve the same technical effect, and details of the same parts and beneficial effects as those of the method embodiment in this embodiment are not described herein again.

In addition, the logic instructions in the memory 1403 can be implemented in the form of software functional units and stored in a computer readable storage medium when the software functional units are sold or used as independent products. Based on such understanding, the technical solution of the present invention may be embodied in the form of a software product, which is stored in a storage medium and includes instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device) to execute all or part of the steps of the method according to the embodiments of the present invention. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: various media capable of storing program codes, such as a usb disk, a removable hard disk, a Read Only Memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), a magnetic disk, or an optical disk.

the DNAI cell is used for representing an edge node;

converting each PCC rule into a pair of packet detection rules PDR;

Based on any one of the above embodiments, an embodiment of the present application provides a PCF network element, including a memory, a bus, a communication interface, and a processor; the processor is connected with the communication interface through a bus; the processor is connected with the memory through a bus;

a memory for storing a computer program; a communication interface for transceiving data under control of the processor; a processor for reading the computer program in the memory and performing the following operations:

Specifically, a PCF network element provided in the embodiment of the present application can implement all the method steps implemented by the foregoing method embodiments, and can achieve the same technical effects, and details of the same parts and beneficial effects as those of the method embodiments in this embodiment are not described herein again.

In addition, the logic instructions in the memory may be implemented in the form of software functional units and may be stored in a computer readable storage medium when sold or used as a stand-alone product. Based on such understanding, the technical solution of the present invention may be embodied in the form of a software product, which is stored in a storage medium and includes instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device) to execute all or part of the steps of the method according to the embodiments of the present invention. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: various media capable of storing program codes, such as a usb disk, a removable hard disk, a Read Only Memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), a magnetic disk, or an optical disk.

the DNAI cell is used for representing an edge node;

Based on any one of the above embodiments, an embodiment of the present application provides a UPF network element, including a memory, a bus, a communication interface, and a processor; the processor is connected with the communication interface through a bus; the processor is connected with the memory through a bus;

and shunting the edge calculation flow according to the PDRs.

Specifically, the UPF network element provided in the embodiment of the present application can implement all the method steps implemented by the foregoing method embodiment, and can achieve the same technical effects, and details of the same parts and beneficial effects as those of the method embodiment in this embodiment are not described herein again.

the DNAI cell is used for representing an edge node;

acquiring the current edge calculation flow to be shunted;

Based on any one of the above embodiments, fig. 15 is a schematic diagram of an edge-computed flow splitting device provided in an embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 15, the edge-computed flow splitting device includes a first sending module 1501, a first receiving module 1502, and a control module 1502, where:

the first sending module 1501 is configured to send policy update request information to a policy control function PCF network element; a first receiving module 1502 is configured to receive policy update response information sent by the PCF network element; the policy updating response information carries a plurality of Policy Charging Control (PCC) rules; each PCC rule corresponds to a third party application program APP in one edge node; the control module 1503 is configured to control an edge user plane function UPF network element to perform edge computing traffic offload based on the PCC rules.

Specifically, the edge-computed traffic offload device provided in the embodiment of the present application can implement all the method steps implemented by the above method embodiment, and can achieve the same technical effect, and details of the same parts and beneficial effects as those of the method embodiment in this embodiment are not described herein again.

the DNAI cell is used for representing an edge node;

converting each PCC rule into a pair of packet detection rules PDR;

Based on any of the above embodiments, fig. 16 is a second schematic diagram of an edge-computed traffic splitting device provided in the present application, and as shown in fig. 16, the edge-computed traffic splitting device includes a second receiving module 1601 and a second sending module 1602, where:

the second receiving module 1601 is configured to receive policy update request information sent by a session management function SMF network element; a second sending module 1602, configured to send policy update response information to the SMF network element; the policy updating response information carries a plurality of Policy Charging Control (PCC) rules; each PCC rule corresponds to a third party application program APP in one edge node; and the SMF network element controls an edge User Plane Function (UPF) network element to carry out edge calculation flow distribution based on the PCC rules.

the DNAI cell is used for representing an edge node;

Based on any one of the above embodiments, fig. 17 is a third schematic diagram of an edge-computed flow splitting device provided in the embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 17, the edge-computed flow splitting device includes a third receiving module 1701 and a splitting module 1702, where:

the third receiving module 1701 is configured to receive N4session establishment request information sent by a session management function SMF network element; the N4session establishment request information carries a plurality of pairs of PDRs; the PDRs are obtained by the SMF network element through conversion according to Policy Charging Control (PCC) rules; each PCC rule is converted into a pair of packet detection rules PDR; the policy control function PCF network element sends the policy update request information to the SMF network element after receiving the policy update request information sent by the SMF network element; each PCC rule corresponds to a third party application program APP in one edge node; the flow splitting module 1702 is configured to split the edge calculation flow according to the pairs of PDRs.

the DNAI cell is used for representing an edge node;

acquiring the current edge calculation flow to be shunted;

It should be noted that, in the foregoing embodiments of the present application, the division of the units/modules is schematic, and is only a logic function division, and another division manner may be used in actual implementation. In addition, functional units in the embodiments of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units are integrated into one unit. The integrated unit can be realized in a form of hardware, and can also be realized in a form of a software functional unit.

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

Based on any one of the foregoing embodiments, an embodiment of the present application further provides a processor-readable storage medium, where the processor-readable storage medium stores a computer program, where the computer program is configured to cause the processor to execute the method provided in each of the foregoing embodiments, and the method includes:

sending policy updating request information to a policy control function PCF network element; receiving strategy updating response information sent by the PCF network element; the policy updating response information carries a plurality of Policy Charging Control (PCC) rules; each PCC rule corresponds to a third party application program APP in one edge node; and controlling an edge User Plane Function (UPF) network element to carry out edge calculation flow distribution based on the PCC rules.

Or comprises the following steps:

receiving policy updating request information sent by a Session Management Function (SMF) network element; sending policy update response information to the SMF network element; the policy updating response information carries a plurality of Policy Charging Control (PCC) rules; each PCC rule corresponds to a third party application program APP in one edge node; and the SMF network element controls an edge User Plane Function (UPF) network element to carry out edge calculation flow distribution based on the PCC rules.

Or comprises the following steps:

receiving N4session establishment request information sent by a SMF network element; the N4session establishment request information carries a plurality of pairs of PDRs; the PDRs are obtained by the SMF network element through conversion according to Policy Charging Control (PCC) rules; each PCC rule is converted into a pair of packet detection rules PDR; the policy control function PCF network element sends the policy update request information to the SMF network element after receiving the policy update request information sent by the SMF network element; each PCC rule corresponds to a third party application program APP in one edge node; and shunting the edge calculation flow according to the PDRs.

It should be noted that: the processor-readable storage medium can be any available medium or data storage device that can be accessed by a processor, including, but not limited to, magnetic memory (e.g., floppy disks, hard disks, magnetic tape, magneto-optical disks (MOs), etc.), optical memory (e.g., CDs, DVDs, BDs, HVDs, etc.), and semiconductor memory (e.g., ROMs, EPROMs, EEPROMs, non-volatile memory (NAND FLASH), Solid State Disks (SSDs)), etc.

In addition, it should be noted that: in the embodiment of the present application, the term "and/or" describes an association relationship of associated objects, and means that there may be three relationships, for example, a and/or B, which may mean: a exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone. The character "/" generally indicates that the former and latter associated objects are in an "or" relationship.

In the embodiments of the present application, the term "plurality" means two or more, and other terms are similar thereto.

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

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

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

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

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

Claims

1. An edge computing flow splitting method is characterized by comprising the following steps:

2. The edge computing traffic offload method according to claim 1, wherein each PCC rule includes a data network access identifier DNAI cell and a route description identifier routepofld cell;

the DNAI cell is used for representing an edge node;

3. The method for offloading edge computing traffic according to claim 2, wherein the controlling, based on the PCC rules, an edge User Plane Function (UPF) network element to offload edge computing traffic specifically comprises:

converting each PCC rule into a pair of packet detection rules PDR;

4. The edge-computed flow splitting method according to claim 3, wherein each pair of PDRs includes an uplink PDR and a downlink PDR;

5. The method for offloading edge computing traffic according to claim 3, wherein the sending N4session establishment request information to the target edge UPF network element specifically includes:

6. An edge computing flow splitting method is characterized by comprising the following steps:

7. The edge computing traffic offload method according to claim 6, wherein each PCC rule includes a data network access identifier DNAI cell and a route description identifier routepofld cell;

the DNAI cell is used for representing an edge node;

8. An edge computing flow splitting method is characterized by comprising the following steps:

and shunting the edge calculation flow according to the PDRs.

9. The edge computing traffic offload method according to claim 8, wherein each PCC rule includes a data network access identifier DNAI cell and a route description identifier routeProfId cell;

the DNAI cell is used for representing an edge node;

10. The edge-computed flow splitting method according to claim 9, wherein each pair of PDRs includes an uplink PDR and a downlink PDR;

11. The method for splitting edge computed traffic according to claim 10, wherein splitting edge computed traffic according to the PDRs specifically includes:

acquiring the current edge calculation flow to be shunted;

12. A session management function, SMF, network element comprising a memory and a processor;

13. The SMF network element of claim 12, wherein each PCC rule comprises a data network access identity, DNAI, cell and a route description identity, routeProfId, cell;

the DNAI cell is used for representing an edge node;

14. The SMF network element of claim 13, wherein the controlling an edge User Plane Function (UPF) network element to perform edge computed traffic offload based on the PCC rules specifically comprises:

converting each PCC rule into a pair of packet detection rules PDR;

15. The SMF network element of claim 14, wherein each pair of PDRs comprises an uplink PDR and a downlink PDR;

16. The SMF network element of claim 14, wherein the sending of the N4session establishment request information to the target edge UPF network element specifically comprises:

17. A policy control function, PCF, network element comprising a memory and a processor;

18. The PCF network element of claim 17 wherein each PCC rule comprises a data network access identification DNAI cell and a route description identification routeProfId cell;

the DNAI cell is used for representing an edge node;

19. An edge User Plane Function (UPF) network element comprising a memory and a processor;

and shunting the edge calculation flow according to the PDRs.

20. The UPF network element of claim 19, wherein each PCC rule includes a data network access identity DNAI cell and a route description identity routeProfId cell;

the DNAI cell is used for representing an edge node;

21. The UPF network element of claim 20, wherein each pair of PDRs comprises an uplink PDR and a downlink PDR;

22. The UPF network element of claim 21, wherein the offloading the edge-computed traffic according to the pairs of PDRs comprises:

acquiring the current edge calculation flow to be shunted;

23. An edge computing flow splitting device, comprising:

24. An edge computing flow splitting device, comprising:

25. An edge computing flow splitting device, comprising:

26. A processor-readable storage medium, characterized in that the processor-readable storage medium stores a computer program for causing a processor to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 11.