CN114287142B

CN114287142B - Communication method and device, network equipment and terminal equipment

Info

Publication number: CN114287142B
Application number: CN201980099688.4A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 许阳
Original assignee: Guangdong Oppo Mobile Telecommunications Corp Ltd
Current assignee: Guangdong Oppo Mobile Telecommunications Corp Ltd
Priority date: 2019-09-06
Filing date: 2019-09-06
Publication date: 2023-08-29
Anticipated expiration: 2039-09-06
Also published as: WO2021042398A1; CN114287142A

Abstract

The embodiment of the application provides a communication method and device, network equipment and terminal equipment, wherein the method comprises the following steps: the first core network element sends first information to the terminal equipment, wherein the first information carries address information of at least one first server, and the address information of the at least one first server is used for transmitting data between the terminal equipment and the at least one first server through a first session.

Description

Communication method and device, network equipment and terminal equipment

Technical Field

The embodiment of the application relates to the technical field of mobile communication, in particular to a communication method and device, network equipment and terminal equipment.

Background

The main function of Edge Computing (EC) is to offload data traffic to a local server. In order to achieve interaction between the terminal device and the local server, the terminal device needs to obtain the address of the local server first. At present, the terminal equipment acquires the address of the local server, and complicated interaction is required between the terminal equipment and the network side, so that extra signaling overhead is caused.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the application provides a communication method and device, network equipment and terminal equipment.

The communication method provided by the embodiment of the application comprises the following steps:

the first core network element sends first information to the terminal equipment, wherein the first information carries address information of at least one first server, and the address information of the at least one first server is used for transmitting data between the terminal equipment and the at least one first server through a first session.

the method comprises the steps that a terminal device receives first information sent by a first core network element, wherein the first information carries address information of at least one first server, and the address information of the at least one first server is used for transmitting data between the terminal device and the at least one first server through a first session.

The communication device provided by the embodiment of the application comprises:

and the sending unit is used for sending first information to the terminal equipment, wherein the first information carries address information of at least one first server, and the address information of the at least one first server is used for transmitting data between the terminal equipment and the at least one first server through a first session.

The receiving unit is configured to receive first information sent by a first core network element, where the first information carries address information of at least one first server, and the address information of the at least one first server is used to transmit data between the terminal device and the at least one first server through a first session.

The network equipment provided by the embodiment of the application comprises a processor and a memory. The memory is used for storing a computer program, and the processor is used for calling and running the computer program stored in the memory to execute the communication method.

The terminal equipment provided by the embodiment of the application comprises a processor and a memory. The memory is used for storing a computer program, and the processor is used for calling and running the computer program stored in the memory to execute the communication method.

The chip provided by the embodiment of the application is used for realizing the communication method.

Specifically, the chip includes: and a processor for calling and running the computer program from the memory, so that the device mounted with the chip executes the communication method described above.

The computer readable storage medium provided by the embodiment of the application is used for storing a computer program, and the computer program enables a computer to execute the communication method.

The computer program product provided by the embodiment of the application comprises computer program instructions, wherein the computer program instructions enable a computer to execute the communication method.

The computer program provided by the embodiment of the application, when running on a computer, causes the computer to execute the communication method.

By the technical scheme, the work of obtaining the address of the first server is realized through the first core network element, so that the terminal equipment is prevented from communicating with other servers to obtain the address of the first server, and signaling interaction is saved. On the other hand, the technical scheme of the embodiment of the application fully uses the existing flow and mechanism, has small influence on the existing network and is easy to realize.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the application and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the application and together with the description serve to explain the application and do not constitute a limitation on the application. In the drawings:

fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system architecture provided by an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 2-1 is a schematic diagram of a coverage area corresponding to a local server according to an embodiment of the present application;

Fig. 2-2 are a diagram of a network architecture according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 2-3 are network architecture diagrams two according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3 is a schematic flow chart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a first embodiment of the present application for obtaining an address of an access server;

FIG. 5 is a second flowchart of an embodiment of the present application for obtaining an address of an access server;

fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of a structural composition of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of a second structural component of the communication device according to the embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 9 is a schematic block diagram of a chip of an embodiment of the application;

fig. 10 is a schematic block diagram of a communication system provided in an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

The following description of the technical solutions according to the embodiments of the present application will be given with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present application, and it is apparent that the described embodiments are some embodiments of the present application, but not all embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be made by those skilled in the art based on the embodiments of the application without making any inventive effort, are intended to be within the scope of the application.

The technical scheme of the embodiment of the application can be applied to various communication systems, such as: long term evolution (Long Term Evolution, LTE) systems, LTE frequency division duplex (Frequency Division Duplex, FDD) systems, LTE time division duplex (Time Division Duplex, TDD), systems, 5G communication systems, future communication systems, or the like.

An exemplary communication system 100 to which embodiments of the present application may be applied is shown in fig. 1. The communication system 100 may include a network device 110, and the network device 110 may be a device that communicates with a terminal 120 (or referred to as a communication terminal, terminal). Network device 110 may provide communication coverage for a particular geographic area and may communicate with terminals located within the coverage area. Alternatively, the network device 110 may be an evolved base station (Evolutional Node B, eNB or eNodeB) in the LTE system, or a radio controller in a cloud radio access network (Cloud Radio Access Network, CRAN), or the network device may be a mobile switching center, a relay station, an access point, a vehicle device, a wearable device, a hub, a switch, a bridge, a router, a network-side device in a 5G network, or a network device in a future communication system, etc.

The communication system 100 further includes at least one terminal 120 located within the coverage area of the network device 110. "terminal" as used herein includes, but is not limited to, connection via wireline, such as via public-switched telephone network (Public Switched Telephone Networks, PSTN), digital subscriber line (Digital Subscriber Line, DSL), digital cable, direct cable connection; and/or another data connection/network; and/or via a wireless interface, e.g., for a cellular network, a wireless local area network (Wireless Local Area Network, WLAN), a digital television network such as a DVB-H network, a satellite network, an AM-FM broadcast transmitter; and/or means of the other terminal arranged to receive/transmit communication signals; and/or internet of things (Internet of Things, ioT) devices. Terminals arranged to communicate over a wireless interface may be referred to as "wireless communication terminals", "wireless terminals" or "mobile terminals". Examples of mobile terminals include, but are not limited to, satellites or cellular telephones; a personal communications system (Personal Communications System, PCS) terminal that may combine a cellular radiotelephone with data processing, facsimile and data communications capabilities; a PDA that can include a radiotelephone, pager, internet/intranet access, web browser, organizer, calendar, and/or a global positioning system (Global Positioning System, GPS) receiver; and conventional laptop and/or palmtop receivers or other electronic devices that include a radiotelephone transceiver. A terminal may refer to an access terminal, user Equipment (UE), subscriber unit, subscriber station, mobile station, remote terminal, mobile device, user terminal, wireless communication device, user agent, or User Equipment. An access terminal may be a cellular telephone, a cordless telephone, a session initiation protocol (Session Initiation Protocol, SIP) phone, a wireless local loop (Wireless Local Loop, WLL) station, a personal digital assistant (Personal Digital Assistant, PDA), a handheld device with wireless communication capabilities, a computing device or other processing device connected to a wireless modem, an in-vehicle device, a wearable device, a terminal in a 5G network or a terminal in a future evolved PLMN, etc.

Alternatively, direct to Device (D2D) communication may be performed between the terminals 120.

Alternatively, the 5G communication system or 5G network may also be referred to as a New Radio (NR) system or NR network.

Fig. 1 illustrates one network device and two terminals, alternatively, the communication system 100 may include multiple network devices and each network device may include other numbers of terminals within its coverage area, which is not limited by the embodiment of the present application.

Optionally, the communication system 100 may further include a network controller, a mobility management entity, and other network entities, which are not limited by the embodiment of the present application.

It should be understood that a device having a communication function in a network/system according to an embodiment of the present application may be referred to as a communication device. Taking the communication system 100 shown in fig. 1 as an example, the communication device may include a network device 110 and a terminal 120 with communication functions, where the network device 110 and the terminal 120 may be specific devices described above, and are not described herein again; the communication device may also include other devices in the communication system 100, such as a network controller, a mobility management entity, and other network entities, which are not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

It should be understood that the terms "system" and "network" are used interchangeably herein. The term "and/or" is herein merely an association relationship describing an associated object, meaning that there may be three relationships, e.g., a and/or B, may represent: a exists alone, A and B exist together, and B exists alone. In addition, the character "/" herein generally indicates that the front and rear associated objects are an "or" relationship.

In order to facilitate understanding of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, the following describes the technical solutions related to the embodiments of the present application.

Edge computation

A typical edge calculation is a moving edge calculation (Mobile Edge Computing, EMC), and it should be noted that the edge calculation referred to in the embodiment of the present application is equally applicable to the moving edge calculation.

The main function of the edge calculation is to shunt the data flow to the local server, and the local server has the characteristics of low data transmission delay, obvious bandwidth saving for the wired network and the like because of the close distance to the user. As shown in fig. 2-1, different areas may be covered by different local servers, such as local server-1 covering area 1, local server-2 covering area 2, and local server-3 covering area 3. When the terminal equipment moves to different areas, the local server corresponding to the area can be accessed aiming at partial service or all service. When the terminal device is not in a specific area (referred to as an area covered by a local server), the terminal device may still access a remote server (i.e., a non-local server).

For the coverage areas of the different local servers in fig. 2-1, it can be considered that the transmission data in each coverage area corresponds to one network slice, i.e. the PDU session for the transmission data in each area can be distinguished by at least S-nsai and/or DNN. Alternatively, the S-NSSAI consists of Slice/Service Type (SST) and Slice differential (Slice Differentiator, SD), which are both edge computing services, so SST values corresponding to region 1, region 2 and region 3 are the same, but SD values are different, and DNN may also be used to select the location of the egress gateway (i.e., UPF).

It should be noted that, the remote server is opposite to the local server, the local server is used for processing part of the service or all of the service in a specific area, and after the terminal device moves out of the area covered by the local server, the processing of part of the service or all of the service needs to interact with the remote server. Remote servers have no absolute relationship with distance, but in contrast general local servers will be closer to users within a particular area.

Fig. 2-2 shows a network architecture by which connection relations between a local server and a remote server and other network elements in a network can be determined, as shown in fig. 2-2, the network architecture relates to a device comprising: terminal equipment, base station, user plane function network element (User Plane Function, UPF), access and mobility management function network element (Access and Mobility Management Function, AMF), session management function network element (Session Management Function, SMF), domain name system (Domain Name System, DNS). It can be seen that the local server and the remote server are each connected to two different UPFs. The terminal device may establish a protocol data unit (Protocol Data Unit, PDU) session with the remote server and a PDU session with the local server simultaneously.

It should be noted that, the local server referred to in the embodiments of the present application may also be referred to as an access server, or an EC server or an MEC server.

UE policy

Fig. 2-3 illustrate a 5G network architecture, and as shown in fig. 2-3, the devices involved in the 5G network architecture include: UE, radio access Network (Radio Access Network, RAN), UPF, data Network (DN), AMF, SMF, policy control function element (Policy Control Function, PCF), application function element (Application Function, AF), authentication server function element (Authentication Server Function, AUSF), unified Data management element (Unified Data Management, UDM). Wherein the network elements related to the policy are mainly PCF, AMF, SMF, RAN, UE. The SMF is mainly responsible for executing policies related to session, the AMF is mainly responsible for executing policies related to access and UE policies, and policy issuing and updating on two network elements (AMF and SMF) are all managed by the PCF.

Specifically, the information related to the UE strategy is monitored between the PCF and the UE through a Container (Container), and the information comprises the content of the UE strategy, the UE strategy identification and the like. The container is sent to the AMF by the UE through NAS information in the uplink direction, and is continuously and transparently transmitted (not perceived or modified) to the PCF by the AMF, and the container is sent to the AMF by the PCF in the downlink direction opposite to the uplink direction, and the AMF is further and transparently transmitted to the UE through NAS information.

In order to be able to bind specific service data (or application data) to a specific PDU session for transmission (especially binding specific service data to a PDU session corresponding to a local server in an edge computing scenario), a UE policy needs to be used for implementation. The UE policy may be a UE routing policy (UE Route Selection Policy, urs) for determining the binding of traffic data to PDU sessions and also what PDU sessions the UE needs to establish to satisfy such binding. The urs policy may be sent to the AMF through a Container (Container) by the core network element PCF in fig. 2-2 and then transmitted to the UE through the AMF, or may be a policy configured locally by the UE.

The urs policy contains a plurality of policy rules (called urs Rule), each consisting of a traffic descriptor (Traffic Descriptor) and a set of routing descriptors (Route Selection Descriptor, RSD). The service descriptor in the urs p is used to describe a specific service, for example, the microblog service may be described by the range of ip@1-9, and for example, the IMS service may be described by IMS DNN. Then, one or more RSDs may follow a traffic descriptor. The values of the Single network slice selection assistance information (Single-Network Slice Selection Assistant Information, S-nsai) and the data network name (Data Network Name, DNN) in one RSD may be one or more, with the values of the other parameters only containing one. Thus, each RSD may correspond to one or more sets of parameter combinations, each set of parameter combinations defining characteristics of a PDU session, and traffic data corresponding to a traffic descriptor may be transmitted in the PDU session corresponding to a certain set of parameter combinations of the RSD. When the service data described by the service descriptor appears, the UE can select a set of parameter combinations according to the corresponding RSD to initiate a PDU session establishment request. Each time the UE initiates a PDU session establishment request, a set of parameter combinations is added to the request message. The relevant contents of the urs are shown in tables 1 and 2 below, wherein table 1 is the contents of the urs Rule and table 2 is the contents of the RSD:

TABLE 1

TABLE 2

The UE associates application data (or service data) to the corresponding PDU session for transmission based on the urs policy, with the following mechanism:

when the application layer generates data, the UE uses the URSP rules in the URSP policy to check whether the characteristics of the application data are matched with Traffic Descriptor of one rule in the URSP rules, the checking sequence is determined according to the priority (Precedence) in Traffic Descriptor of the URSP rules, namely, the UE checks the matching condition in sequence based on the priority sequence, and when one URSP rule is matched, the RSD list under the URSP rule is used for binding PDU session.

The above-described process of finding a suitable PDU session for application data is called "evaluation", i.e. finding or establishing a suitable PDU session binding. The RSD in the urs rules used by the UE is considered valid RSD to perform the evaluation procedure described above only if the following conditions are met:

if there is an S-nsai in the RSD and the S-nsai must belong to one of the Allowed nsai (corresponding to the non-roaming case) or Mapping of Allowed NSSAI (corresponding to the roaming case);

-if there is a DNN in the RSD and is a LADN DNN, the UE must be in the active area corresponding to the LADN;

-if there is an Access type preference (Access Type Prefrence) in RSD and Multi-Access is set, the UE has to support the ats function;

-if there is a Timer Window (Timer Window) and/or a location criterion (Location Criteria) in the RSD, the UE has to meet the required time and/or place conditions.

Otherwise the UE will not use the RSD for binding of data flows or establishment of PDU sessions. Specifically, the UE considers only valid RSDs or ignores invalid RSDs, based on which valid conditions for a specific PDU session and traffic data that can be transmitted can be defined according to the urs mechanism.

Based on fig. 2-2, in order to find the address of the local server, the terminal device generally needs to first establish a connection with the remote server to interact with the local server, and then interact with the local server after obtaining the address of the local server. Thus, the terminal device needs to establish at least two PDU sessions, one for remote server interaction and one for local server interaction. This causes additional signalling overhead, especially for interacting with the remote server to get the address of the local server, and it is very redundant for the terminal device to establish a PDU session corresponding to the remote server. Therefore, the technical scheme of the embodiment of the application provides a scheme for only establishing one PDU session and obtaining the address of the local server in the PDU session establishment or modification process.

As shown in fig. 2-2, for specific service data (or application data), the terminal device may directly communicate with the local server, which helps to improve communication efficiency. In order to enable the terminal device to obtain the address of the local server in the process of establishing the PDU session in communication with the local server, the following technical scheme of the embodiment of the application is provided.

Fig. 3 is a flow chart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 3, where the communication method includes the following steps:

step 301: the method comprises the steps that a first core network element sends first information to a terminal device, the terminal device receives the first information sent by the first core network element, wherein the first information carries address information of at least one first server, and the address information of the at least one first server is used for transmitting data between the terminal device and the at least one first server through a first session.

In an alternative embodiment of the present application, the first core network element includes an SMF and/or a UPF.

In the embodiment of the present application, the implementation of the first information may, but is not limited to, adopt the following manner:

mode one: the UE configuration update (UE Configuration Update, UCU) based procedure implementation, specifically, the first information is carried in a downlink NAS message (i.e., UCU message) sent by the first core network element.

Further optionally, the first information is carried in a first container, where the first container is sent by the PCF to the AMF, and the AMF sends the first container to the terminal device through a downlink NAS message.

Mode two: based on the session establishment or modification procedure, specifically, the first information is carried in a first response message, where the first response message is a response message after the first core network element receives a first request message sent by the terminal device, and the first request message is used for requesting to establish or modify a first session.

In an optional embodiment of the application, the first request message is a session establishment request message or a session modification request message.

In the embodiment of the application, the first session is a session which needs to be established or modified. Optionally, the first session is a PDU session.

The content carried in the first request message is described below.

Optionally, the first request message carries a first session attribute parameter, the first session attribute parameter being used for at least one of:

the first core network element determines a service type;

the first core network element determines whether address information of the at least one first server is acquired from a second server;

The first core network element determines a first route of a second server, and obtains address information of the at least one first server from the second server according to the first route.

In an alternative embodiment, the first session attribute parameter includes at least one of: S-NSSAI, DNN.

Optionally, the first request message carries first indication information; the first indication information is used for indicating whether to request to acquire the address information of the first server.

In an alternative embodiment, the first indication information is carried in a first container, and the first container is carried in the first request message; the first core network element sends (or transparently passes) the first container to the second server without any modification (or perception).

Optionally, the first request message carries a first route identifier; the first route identification is used for the first core network element to address a second server and obtain address information of the at least one first server from the second server.

Optionally, the first request message carries at least one first service identifier; the at least one first service identifier is used for determining at least one service by the first core network element, and acquiring address information of at least one first server corresponding to the at least one service from a second server.

In an alternative embodiment, the at least one first service identifier is carried in a first container; the first container is carried in the first request message; after the first core network element acquires the first container from the first request message, the first container is sent to the second server; the first core network element receives a second container sent by the second server, wherein the second container carries address information of at least one first server corresponding to the at least one first service identifier; and the first core network element carries the second container in the first response message and sends the second container to the terminal equipment.

In another optional implementation manner, after the first core network element obtains the at least one first service identifier from the first request message, the first core network element sends the at least one first service identifier to the second server, or generates at least one second service identifier based on the at least one first service identifier, and sends the at least one second service identifier to the second server; the first core network element receives address information of at least one first server corresponding to the at least one first service identifier, which is sent by the second server; and the first core network element carries the address information of the at least one first server in the first response message and sends the first response message to the terminal equipment.

It should be noted that, the content carried in the first request message may be any combination of the above. The content carried in the first request message is illustrated below in connection with several alternative examples.

Example 1: the first request message carries a first session attribute parameter.

Example 2: the first request message carries a first session attribute parameter, at least one of: first indication information and a first route identification.

Example 3: the first request message carries at least one first service identifier.

Example 4: the first request message carries at least one first service identifier and at least one of the following: first indication information and a first route identification.

The above examples are merely illustrative, and the content carried in the first request message is not limited to the above examples, but may be a combination of other contents.

In the embodiment of the present application, the first core network element addresses the second server according to at least one of the following: the method comprises the steps of a first route identifier, indication information from a second core network element, local configuration information and at least one first service identifier; and further obtaining address information of the at least one first server from the second server.

In an alternative embodiment of the present application, the second server is a dynamic host configuration protocol (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol, DHCP) server and/or a domain name system (Domain Name System, DNS) server, which may also be referred to as an external server.

In particular implementations, the network side may, but is not limited to, look up address information of the first server (i.e., the local server, or the access server, or the EC server, or the MEC server) for the terminal device in the following manner.

The operation of triggering to search the address of the first server may be performed by the first core network element (SMF or UPF) (which may occur in the case that the container is not used in the second mode), may be performed by the second server (which may occur in the case that the container is used in the second mode), or may be performed by the terminal through the user plane PDU session (which may occur in the case of the first mode), and the technical solution of the embodiment of the present application does not limit the manner of searching the address of the first server, and one possible searching manner is:

taking the first core network element triggering to search the address of the first server as an example, the first core network element queries the DHCP server (may be the DHCP server in the second server) according to the parameter in the first request message to obtain the domain name and/or the address of the first server, and if the domain name of the first server is obtained, the address (such as an IP address) of the first server may be further queried to the DNS server. Here, the DHCP server and/or DNS service may both belong to the second server, that is to say the second server may comprise two actually used servers.

Taking the address of the first server as an example, the second server triggers a lookup, which is substantially similar to the first core network element, except that the DHCP server and/or DNS server may be a server other than the second server.

Taking the example that the terminal equipment triggers to search the address of the first server, the terminal equipment inquires the second server according to FQDN information in the first information, so that the address of the first server is obtained.

In the embodiment of the present application, the first response message is a response message for the first request message, where the first response message carries address information of at least one first server. For example: the first response message carries address information of one first server or address information of a plurality of first servers.

Further optionally, the first server includes at least an edge computing server. Here, the edge computing server may also be a local server or an access server.

A) In an alternative embodiment of the present application, for at least one service case, the data stream binding of the at least one service is transmitted on the first session; accordingly, the address information of the at least one first server is used for the terminal device to transfer the data stream of the at least one service bound on the first session to the at least one first server and/or to receive the data stream of the at least one service bound on the first session from the at least one first server. B) In another optional embodiment of the application, the first response message carries address information of one first server, where the address information of the one first server is used for the terminal device to transmit part or all of the data stream bound on the first session to the one first server, and/or to receive part or all of the data stream bound on the first session from the one first server.

In an optional embodiment of the present application, before a terminal device initiates session establishment or modification, the first core network element sends a first rule to the terminal device, the terminal device receives the first rule sent by the first core network element, where the first rule is used for the terminal device to determine content carried in the first request message; wherein the first rule includes at least one of:

the first indication information is used for indicating whether the request for acquiring the address information of the first server is made or not;

and the first session attribute parameters are used for describing the first session.

For example: the first rule is a URSP rule; the service identifier is represented by a service descriptor in the urs rule; the first indication information is carried in the RSD under the URSP rule; the first session attribute parameter is carried in an RSD under the urs rule. Further optionally, the first rule further includes an validation condition, the validation condition including at least one of: effective time, effective duration and effective area.

In the technical scheme of the embodiment of the application, when the terminal equipment needs to send the service data packet, if no corresponding PDU session can be bound, a corresponding PDU session needs to be newly established (whether the corresponding PDU session can be judged by a URSP rule or a local rule), and the process of establishing the session can obtain the address of the terminal equipment (namely, the address of the session or the address of the terminal equipment). For this purpose, the terminal device also requests the address of the access server to which the service corresponds when setting up or modifying the session, so that the subsequent terminal device can communicate directly with the access server. After the session is established successfully, if the PDU session corresponding to the other subsequent service data packet is also the session, the address of the access server can also be used for communicating with the access server.

The following describes the technical solution of the embodiment of the present application by way of example with reference to the interactive flowcharts shown in fig. 4 and 5. In fig. 4 and fig. 5, the SMF/UPF corresponds to a first core network element of an embodiment of the present application, the external server corresponds to a second server (e.g., DNS server) of an embodiment of the present application, and the access server corresponds to a first server (e.g., EC server, or application server, or local server) of an embodiment of the present application. The external server is used for interacting with the core network element (i.e. SMF/UPF) to obtain the address of the access server.

Referring to fig. 4, fig. 4 is a flowchart of a first embodiment of the present application for obtaining an address of an access server, where the flowchart includes the following steps:

step 401: the terminal equipment sends PDU session establishment or modification request information to the SMF/UPF, wherein the PDU session establishment or modification request information carries PDU session attribute parameters, and optionally carries first indication information and/or first route identification.

Here, the PDU session attribute parameter is used to determine a first PDU session.

In an alternative embodiment, the PDU session establishment or modification request message only carries PDU session attribute parameters, and the SMF/UPF may determine whether the triggering step 402 is required according to the PDU session attribute parameters.

Here, the PDU session attribute parameters include, but are not limited to, at least one of: S-NSSAI, DNN. It should be noted that, S-nsai and DNN are used to select a core network gateway, and because a specific gateway corresponds to an access server, it can be determined whether the triggering step 402 is required according to the PDU session attribute parameter.

In another alternative embodiment, the PDU session establishment or modification request message carries not only the PDU session attribute parameter but also the first indication information and/or the first route identification.

The first indication information is used for indicating whether to request to acquire address information of the access server. For example, the first indication information is used for indicating that the request for obtaining the address information of the access server is needed.

The first route identifier is used for the SMF/UPF to address the external server, specifically, the first route identifier is used for notifying the route information of the SMF/UPF external server, so that the SMF/UPF can find the corresponding external server according to the first route identifier, and the external server requests the address information of the access server required by the terminal equipment. Alternatively, the first route identification may be a uniform resource locator (Uniform Resource Locators, URL), or a server address, etc. In addition, PDU session attribute parameters (e.g., DNN and/or S-NSSAI) may be identified as the first route.

It should be noted that, neither the first indication information nor the first routing identifier may be carried in the PDU session establishment or modification request message, and the SMF/UPF may determine whether the triggering step 402 is required according to the PDU session attribute parameter.

Alternatively, in the case that the PDU session establishment or modification request message carries the first indication information, the terminal device may encapsulate the first indication information in a container, send the container to the SMF/UPF carried in the PDU session establishment or modification request message, and send the container directly to the external server, i.e. the SMF/UPF does not perceive or do nothing to the container and directly transmits the container to the external server.

Step 402: and the SMF/UPF interacts with an external server according to the content carried in the PDU session establishment or modification request message to obtain the address information of the access server.

Specifically, the SMF/UPF addresses the access server according to at least one of: the PDU conversation attribute parameter, the first route identification, the indication information of other network elements and the local configuration information interact with an external server, and related information is sent to the external server to obtain the address information of an access server.

Here, the interactive form of the SMF/UPF and the external server is not particularly limited, and the purpose of the interactive form is to obtain address information of the access server required by the terminal device from the external server, so that the terminal device can directly communicate with the access server through the user plane (for example, establish an HTTP connection with the access server to perform communication).

Here, the address information of the access server includes, but is not limited to, an IP address, a MAC address, and the like.

It should be noted that, the SMF may contact the external server or the SMF may notify the UPF to contact the external server, so as to obtain address information of the access server.

Step 403: the SMF/UPF transmits a PDU session establishment or modification response message to the terminal device, the PDU session establishment or modification response message carrying address information of the access server.

Here, the PDU session establishment or modification response message may carry address information of one access server, or may also carry address information of a plurality of access servers. If the address information of an access server is carried, it means that all traffic data bound on the first PDU session need to access the access server.

Alternatively, the address information of the access server may be carried by a container that is transmitted to the terminal device through the SMF/UPF, i.e. the SMF/UPF does not perceive or modify the container at all. Further, if the external server receives the container (e.g., the terminal device sends the container in step 401), the external server replies to the container, and the SMF/UPF transparently passes the container to the terminal device through NAS messages (specifically, downlink NAS messages).

Step 404: and the terminal equipment transmits the data bound on the first PDU session between the user plane and the access server according to the address information of the access server.

Here, the terminal device establishes an HTTP connection with the access server according to the address information of the access server, and transmits data bound on the first PDU session through the HTTP connection.

Specifically, during the PDU session establishment or modification, the terminal device may obtain the PDU session address (i.e., the address of the terminal device), and may also obtain the address of the access server. In this way, the terminal device binds the service data to the first PDU session according to the UE local policy or the urs policy, and for the service data bound to the first PDU session, the terminal device uses a source address=pdu session address, and a destination address=access server address for the data packet sent by the terminal device; accordingly, the data packets received by the terminal device should normally be source address=access server address, destination address=pdu session address. Considering security and other issues, for a received data packet, if the source address of the data packet is not the address of the access server, the terminal device may discard the data packet.

And for the condition that the first PDU session corresponds to the address of an access server, after the PDU session establishment or modification flow is completed through the steps, the terminal equipment sets the target addresses of all the service data bound on the first PDU session as the address of the access server.

In an alternative embodiment, in order for the terminal device to select an appropriate PDU session attribute parameter, the terminal device receives a correspondence (i.e. a first rule) between a service identifier from the network side and the PDU session attribute parameter, as shown in table 3 below:

TABLE 3 Table 3

The first rule may be implemented by the urs rule, in an actual deployment, for services that need to access the local server, these services may be described by Traffic Descriptor in the urs rule, and specific S-nsai and DNN are configured in the corresponding RSD for the first PDU session of the local breakout. Thus, after a service establishes a first PDU session of local breakout, other service data, if any, may also be bound to the first PDU session according to matching urs rules, thereby accessing the local server. The urs rule and its corresponding RSD are shown in the following tables 4 and 5, where Traffic Descriptor in the urs rule may be used as a service identifier to describe related information of a service, and optionally, the RSD may carry first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate whether to request to obtain address information of an access server.

TABLE 4 Table 4

TABLE 5

Referring to fig. 5, fig. 5 is a second flowchart of obtaining an address of an access server according to an embodiment of the present application, where the flowchart includes the following steps:

step 501: the terminal equipment sends PDU session establishment or modification request information to the SMF/UPF, wherein the PDU session establishment or modification request information carries a service identifier, and optionally carries first indication information and/or a first route identifier.

By default, the PDU session establishment or modification request message also carries PDU session attribute parameters, where the PDU session attribute parameters are used to determine the first PDU session.

In an alternative embodiment, the PDU session establishment or modification request message carries only the service identity.

In another alternative embodiment, the PDU session establishment or modification request message carries not only the service identifier but also the first indication information and/or the first route identifier.

The SMF/UPF can know the address information of the access server corresponding to the service which needs to be requested to be obtained according to the service identifier. The service identifier may be in the form of a URL, a domain name, an IP address, an Application identifier (Application Id) defined internally by the 3GPP, etc. In addition, PDU session attribute parameters (e.g., DNN and/or S-NSSAI) may be used as the service identification.

The first route identifier is used for the SMF/UPF to address the external server, specifically, the first route identifier is used for notifying the route information of the SMF/UPF external server, so that the SMF/UPF can find the corresponding external server according to the first route identifier, and the external server requests the address information of the access server required by the terminal equipment. Alternatively, the first route identification may be a URL, or a server address, etc. In addition, PDU session attribute parameters (e.g., DNN and/or S-NSSAI) may be identified as the first route.

It should be noted that, neither the first indication information nor the first routing identifier may be carried in the PDU session establishment or modification request message, and the SMF/UPF may determine whether the triggering step 502 is required according to the PDU session attribute parameter.

Optionally, in the case that the PDU session establishment or modification request message carries the service identifier and/or the first indication information, the terminal device may encapsulate the service identifier and/or the first indication information in a container, send the container carried in the PDU session establishment or modification request message to the SMF/UPF, and send the container directly to the external server, i.e. the SMF/UPF does not sense the container or do not perform any processing on the container and directly and transparently transmit the container to the external server.

Step 502: and the SMF/UPF interacts with an external server according to the content carried in the PDU session establishment or modification request message to obtain the address information of the access server.

Specifically, the SMF/UPF addresses the access server according to at least one of: the PDU conversation attribute parameter, the first route identification, the indication information of other network elements and the local configuration information interact with an external server, and related information is sent to the external server to obtain the address information of an access server. The SMF/UPF may address the access server based on a service identifier (it should be noted that the first route identifier indicates the address of the external server more directly, and the service identifier may be used to learn the address of the external server).

Here, the interactive form of the SMF/UPF and the external server is not specifically limited, and the purpose of the interactive form is to obtain, from the external server, address information of an access server required by the terminal device (i.e., address information of the access server corresponding to the service identifier indicated by the terminal device), so that the terminal device can directly communicate with the access server through the user plane (for example, establish an HTTP connection with the access server to perform communication).

In an alternative embodiment, the SMF/UPF may directly use the service identifier sent from the terminal device, and send the service identifier to the external server to request to obtain address information of the access server; or the SMF/UPF generates a new service identifier according to the service identifier sent by the terminal equipment (such as generating a URL according to the Application ID sent by the terminal equipment), and sends the new service identifier to an external server to request to access the address information of the server.

Step 503: the SMF/UPF transmits a PDU session establishment or modification response message to the terminal device, the PDU session establishment or modification response message carrying address information of the access server.

Here, the PDU session establishment or modification response message may carry address information of one access server, or may also carry address information of a plurality of access servers.

If the PDU session establishment or modification request message carries multiple service identifiers in step 501, the PDU session establishment or modification response message may carry a correspondence between the multiple service identifiers and address information of multiple access servers; or, the PDU session establishment or modification response message carries address information of an access server, which indicates that all service data bound on the first PDU session need to access the access server.

Step 504: and the terminal equipment transmits the data bound on the first PDU session between the user plane and the access server according to the address information of the access server.

In an alternative embodiment, in order for the terminal device to select an appropriate service identifier and/or first indication information (the first indication information is used to indicate whether to request to obtain address information of the access server), the terminal device receives a correspondence (i.e. a first rule) between the service identifier from the network side and the first indication information, as shown in table 6 below:

TABLE 6

It should be noted that, the PDU Session attribute parameters related to the embodiment of the present application are not limited to S-nsai and/or DNN, and may also include SSC Mode (SSC Mode), PDU Session Type (PDU Session Type), non-seamless offload indication (Non-Seamless Offload indication), access preference (Access Preference), etc.

The first rule may be implemented by a urs rule, in an actual deployment, for services that need to access the access server, these services may be described by Traffic Descriptor in the urs rule, and specific S-nsai and DNN are configured in the corresponding RSD, which are used for the first PDU session of the local breakout. Thus, after a service establishes a first PDU session of local breakout, other service data, if any, may also be bound to the first PDU session according to matching urs rules, thereby accessing the access server. The urs rule and the RSD corresponding thereto are shown in the following tables 7 and 8, wherein Traffic Descriptor in the urs rule may be used as a service identifier to describe related information of a service, and the RSD carries first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate whether to request to obtain address information of an access server.

TABLE 7

TABLE 8

In an alternative embodiment of the present application, the terminal device may obtain the address of the access server by: the network side sends a first message to the terminal device, where the first message contains a first rule, where the first rule includes a service identifier and an address of a corresponding access server or FQDN (or URL) information of the access server, as shown in table 9 below. If the terminal equipment obtains the address of the access server, the data packets corresponding to the service identifier are all sent to the server of the address; if the terminal equipment obtains the complete domain name (Fully Qualified Domain Name, FQDN) of the access server, the terminal equipment uses the FQDN to interact with the second server to obtain the address of the access server, and then uses the address to communicate with the data packet corresponding to the service identifier.

Service identification	Address/FQDN of access server	(optional) location/time
			Service identification-1	IP Address-1	Region-1
Service identification-2	IP Address-1	Region-1
			Service identification-3	FQDN-1	Region-1

TABLE 9

After establishing the PDU session, the terminal equipment obtains the address of the access server through the PDU session according to the FQDN information, and if the address of the access server exists, the terminal equipment directly communicates with the access server according to the address of the access server. That is, the PDU session establishment or modification procedure does not need to be enhanced, but the terminal device itself communicates directly with the external server and/or the access server through the established PDU session.

In one embodiment, the address or FQDN information of the access server is added to the RSD of the urs rule, as shown in table 10 below, and the terminal device obtains the address or FQDN information of the access server by acquiring the urs rule. The "service identity" may correspond to a parameter in Traffic Descriptor in the urs rule.

Table 10

In an alternative manner, the address/FQDN information of the access server may be sent to the terminal device through a NAS message triggered by the core network side, for example, the PCF triggers the UCU message to send a urs rule containing the address/FQDN information of the access server to the terminal device. Here the urs rules are encapsulated in a container, which is sent by the PCF to the AMF, which in turn sends the container to the terminal device via a downstream NAS message.

Further, optionally, in addition to the first rule indicating an address or FQDN of the access server, the first rule may also be an address or FQDN indicating a second server, and the terminal determines the address of the access server according to the information by communicating with the second server.

The technical scheme of the embodiment of the application not only can be applied to the scene of acquiring the address of the local server (such as the EC server), but also can be applied to other scenes, namely the terminal equipment can use the technical scheme of the embodiment of the application to discover the address of the application server corresponding to any specific service which the terminal equipment hopes to discover.

The technical scheme of the embodiment of the application can be combined with a PDU session control related mechanism to control the terminal equipment to access a local server to a specific service in a specific area. For example, a control PDU session by a mechanism (such as the LADN mechanism) may only allow traffic to access a local server when a particular zone (the zone covered by the local server) is active. When the terminal device moves out of the specific area, the original PDU session will be deactivated or deleted, accessing the non-local server (i.e. the remote server) by establishing a new PDU session.

In the technical scheme of the embodiment of the application, the network side can carry the information of the port number, the protocol type and the like of the access server besides the address information of the access server in the PDU session establishment or modification response sent by the terminal equipment.

The technical scheme of the embodiment of the application not only can be used for communication with the access server under the 5G network, but also can be used for communication with the access server under the 4G network.

Fig. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 6, where the communication device includes:

a sending unit 601, configured to send first information to a terminal device, where the first information carries address information of at least one first server, where the address information of the at least one first server is used to transmit data between the terminal device and the at least one first server through a first session.

In an optional implementation manner, the first information is carried in a downlink NAS message sent by the first core network element.

In an alternative embodiment, the first information is carried in a first container, the first container is sent to an AMF by a PCF, and the AMF sends the first container to the terminal device through a downlink NAS message.

In an optional implementation manner, the first information is carried in a first response message, where the first response message is a response message after the first core network element receives a first request message sent by the terminal device, where the first request message is used to request to establish or modify a first session.

In an alternative embodiment, the first request message carries a first session attribute parameter, the first session attribute parameter being used for at least one of:

the first core network element determines a service type;

In an optional implementation manner, the first request message carries first indication information;

the first indication information is used for indicating whether to request to acquire the address information of the first server.

In an alternative embodiment, the first indication information is carried in a first container, and the first container is carried in the first request message;

the sending unit 601 is further configured to send the first container to the second server without any modification.

In an alternative embodiment, the first request message carries a first route identifier;

the first route identification is used for the first core network element to address a second server and obtain address information of the at least one first server from the second server.

In an optional embodiment, the first request message carries at least one first service identifier;

the at least one first service identifier is used for determining at least one service by the first core network element, and acquiring address information of at least one first server corresponding to the at least one service from a second server.

In an alternative embodiment, the at least one first service identifier is carried in a first container; the first container is carried in the first request message;

the sending unit 601 is further configured to send the first container to the second server;

the apparatus further comprises: a receiving unit 602, configured to receive a second container sent by the second server, where the second container carries address information of at least one first server corresponding to the at least one first service identifier;

the sending unit 601 is further configured to send the second container carried in the first response message to the terminal device.

In an optional implementation manner, the sending unit 601 is further configured to send the at least one first service identifier to the second server, or generate at least one second service identifier based on the at least one first service identifier, and send the at least one second service identifier to the second server;

the apparatus further comprises: a receiving unit 602, configured to receive address information of at least one first server corresponding to the at least one first service identifier, where the address information is sent by the second server;

The sending unit 601 is further configured to send the address information of the at least one first server to the terminal device by carrying the address information in the first response message.

In an alternative embodiment, the data stream binding of the at least one service is transmitted over the first session;

the address information of the at least one first server is used for transmitting data corresponding to the first session between the terminal equipment and the at least one first server, and includes:

the address information of the at least one first server is used for the terminal device to transmit the data stream of the at least one service bound on the first session to the at least one first server and/or to receive the data stream of the at least one service bound on the first session from the at least one first server.

In an alternative embodiment, the first response message carries address information of one first server, where the address information of the one first server is used for the terminal device to transmit part or all of the data stream bound on the first session to the one first server, and/or to receive part or all of the data stream bound on the first session from the one first server.

In an alternative embodiment, the apparatus further comprises:

an addressing unit (not shown in the figure) for addressing the second server according to at least one of: the method comprises the steps of a first route identifier, indication information from a second core network element, local configuration information and at least one first service identifier.

In an optional implementation manner, the sending unit 601 is further configured to send a first rule to the terminal device, where the first rule is used for the terminal device to determine content carried in the first request message; wherein the first rule includes at least one of:

In an alternative embodiment, the first rule is a urs p rule;

the service identifier is represented by a service descriptor in the urs rule;

the first indication information is carried in the RSD under the URSP rule;

the first session attribute parameter is carried in an RSD under the urs rule.

In an alternative embodiment, the first rule further includes an validation condition, the validation condition including at least one of: effective time, effective duration and effective area.

In an alternative embodiment, the first server includes at least an edge computing server.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the above description of the communication apparatus according to the embodiments of the present application may be understood with reference to the description of the communication method according to the embodiments of the present application.

Fig. 7 is a schematic diagram ii of a structural composition of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 7, where the communication device includes:

the receiving unit 701 is configured to receive first information sent by a first core network element, where the first information carries address information of at least one first server, and the address information of the at least one first server is used for transmitting data between the terminal device and the at least one first server through a first session.

The first information is carried in a downlink NAS message sent by the first core network element.

the first core network element determines a service type;

In an alternative embodiment, the first indication information is carried in a first container, the first container being carried in the first request message.

the first response message carries a second container, and the second container carries address information of at least one first server corresponding to the at least one first service identifier.

In an optional implementation manner, the receiving unit 701 is further configured to receive a first rule sent by the first core network element, where the first rule is used for the terminal device to determine content carried in the first request message; wherein the first rule includes at least one of:

In an alternative embodiment, the first rule is a urs p rule;

the service identifier is represented by a service descriptor in the urs rule;

the first indication information is carried in the RSD under the URSP rule;

the first session attribute parameter is carried in an RSD under the urs rule.

Fig. 8 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device 800 according to an embodiment of the present application. The communication device may be a terminal device or a network device, and the communication device 800 shown in fig. 8 includes a processor 810, where the processor 810 may call and execute a computer program from a memory to implement the method according to the embodiment of the present application.

Optionally, as shown in fig. 8, the communication device 800 may also include a memory 820. Wherein the processor 810 may call and run a computer program from the memory 820 to implement the method in embodiments of the present application.

Wherein the memory 820 may be a separate device from the processor 810 or may be integrated into the processor 810.

Optionally, as shown in fig. 8, the communication device 800 may further include a transceiver 830, and the processor 810 may control the transceiver 830 to communicate with other devices, and in particular, may send information or data to other devices, or receive information or data sent by other devices.

Among other things, transceiver 830 may include a transmitter and a receiver. Transceiver 830 may further include antennas, the number of which may be one or more.

Optionally, the communication device 800 may be specifically a network device in the embodiment of the present application, and the communication device 800 may implement a corresponding flow implemented by the network device in each method in the embodiment of the present application, which is not described herein for brevity.

Optionally, the communication device 800 may be specifically a mobile terminal/terminal device according to the embodiment of the present application, and the communication device 800 may implement a corresponding flow implemented by the mobile terminal/terminal device in each method according to the embodiment of the present application, which is not described herein for brevity.

Fig. 9 is a schematic structural view of a chip of an embodiment of the present application. The chip 900 shown in fig. 9 includes a processor 910, and the processor 910 may call and execute a computer program from a memory to implement the method in an embodiment of the present application.

Optionally, as shown in fig. 9, the chip 900 may further include a memory 920. Wherein the processor 910 may invoke and run a computer program from the memory 920 to implement the method in the embodiments of the present application.

Wherein the memory 920 may be a separate device from the processor 910 or may be integrated in the processor 910.

Optionally, the chip 900 may also include an input interface 930. The processor 910 may control the input interface 930 to communicate with other devices or chips, and in particular, may acquire information or data sent by the other devices or chips.

Optionally, the chip 900 may also include an output interface 940. Wherein the processor 910 may control the output interface 940 to communicate with other devices or chips, and in particular, may output information or data to the other devices or chips.

Optionally, the chip may be applied to the network device in the embodiment of the present application, and the chip may implement a corresponding flow implemented by the network device in each method in the embodiment of the present application, which is not described herein for brevity.

Optionally, the chip may be applied to a mobile terminal/terminal device in the embodiment of the present application, and the chip may implement a corresponding flow implemented by the mobile terminal/terminal device in each method in the embodiment of the present application, which is not described herein for brevity.

It should be understood that the chips referred to in the embodiments of the present application may also be referred to as system-on-chip chips, or the like.

Fig. 10 is a schematic block diagram of a communication system 1000 provided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 10, the communication system 1000 includes a terminal device 1010 and a network device 1020.

The terminal device 1010 may be used to implement the corresponding functions implemented by the terminal device in the above method, and the network device 1020 may be used to implement the corresponding functions implemented by the network device in the above method, which are not described herein for brevity.

It should be appreciated that the processor of an embodiment of the present application may be an integrated circuit chip having signal processing capabilities. In implementation, the steps of the above method embodiments may be implemented by integrated logic circuits of hardware in a processor or instructions in software form. The processor may be a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (Digital Signal Processor, DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (Application Specific Integrated Circuit, ASIC), an off-the-shelf programmable gate array (Field Programmable Gate Array, FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic device, discrete hardware components. The disclosed methods, steps, and logic blocks 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 embodied directly in the execution of a hardware decoding processor, or in the execution of a combination of hardware and software modules in a decoding processor. The software modules may be located in a random access memory, flash memory, read only memory, programmable read only memory, or electrically erasable programmable memory, registers, etc. as well known in the art. The storage medium is located in a memory, and the processor reads the information in the memory and, in combination with its hardware, performs the steps of the above method.

It will be appreciated that the memory in embodiments of the application may be volatile memory or nonvolatile memory, or may include both volatile and nonvolatile memory. The nonvolatile Memory may be a Read-Only Memory (ROM), a Programmable ROM (PROM), an Erasable PROM (EPROM), an Electrically Erasable EPROM (EEPROM), or a flash Memory. The volatile memory may be random access memory (Random Access Memory, RAM) which acts as an external cache. By way of example, and not limitation, many forms of RAM are available, such as Static RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double Data Rate SDRAM (Double Data Rate SDRAM), enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), synchronous DRAM (SLDRAM), and Direct 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.

It should be understood that the above memory is illustrative but not restrictive, and for example, the memory in the embodiments of the present application may be Static RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double data rate SDRAM (DDR SDRAM), enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), synchronous Link DRAM (SLDRAM), direct RAM (DR RAM), and the like. That is, the memory in embodiments of the present application is intended to comprise, without being limited to, these and any other suitable types of memory.

The embodiment of the application also provides a computer readable storage medium for storing a computer program.

Optionally, the computer readable storage medium may be applied to a network device in the embodiment of the present application, and the computer program causes a computer to execute a corresponding flow implemented by the network device in each method in the embodiment of the present application, which is not described herein for brevity.

Optionally, the computer readable storage medium may be applied to a mobile terminal/terminal device in the embodiment of the present application, and the computer program causes a computer to execute a corresponding procedure implemented by the mobile terminal/terminal device in each method of the embodiment of the present application, which is not described herein for brevity.

The embodiment of the application also provides a computer program product comprising computer program instructions.

Optionally, the computer program product may be applied to a network device in the embodiment of the present application, and the computer program instructions cause a computer to execute corresponding processes implemented by the network device in each method in the embodiment of the present application, which are not described herein for brevity.

Optionally, the computer program product may be applied to a mobile terminal/terminal device in the embodiment of the present application, and the computer program instructions cause a computer to execute corresponding processes implemented by the mobile terminal/terminal device in each method of the embodiment of the present application, which are not described herein for brevity.

The embodiment of the application also provides a computer program.

Optionally, the computer program may be applied to a network device in the embodiment of the present application, and when the computer program runs on a computer, the computer is caused to execute a corresponding flow implemented by the network device in each method in the embodiment of the present application, which is not described herein for brevity.

Optionally, the computer program may be applied to a mobile terminal/terminal device in the embodiment of the present application, and when the computer program runs on a computer, the computer is caused to execute corresponding processes implemented by the mobile terminal/terminal device in each method in the embodiment of the present application, which is not described herein for brevity.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative elements and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, or combinations of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the 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 will be clear to those skilled in the art that, for convenience and brevity of description, specific working procedures of the above-described systems, apparatuses and units may refer to corresponding procedures in the foregoing method embodiments, and are not repeated herein.

In the several embodiments provided by the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, devices, and methods may be implemented in other manners. For example, the apparatus embodiments described above are merely illustrative, e.g., the division of the units is merely a logical function division, and there may be additional divisions when actually implemented, e.g., multiple units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted or not performed. Alternatively, the coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed with each other may be an indirect coupling or communication connection via some interfaces, devices or units, which may be in electrical, mechanical or other form.

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

In addition, each functional unit in the embodiments of the present application may be integrated in one processing unit, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units may be integrated in one unit.

The functions, if implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as a stand-alone product, may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present application may be embodied essentially or in a part contributing to the prior art or in a part of the technical solution, in the form of a software product stored in a storage medium, comprising several instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, a network device, etc.) to perform all or part of the steps of the method according to the embodiments of the present application. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: a usb disk, a removable hard disk, a Read-Only Memory (ROM), a random access Memory (Random Access Memory, RAM), a magnetic disk, or an optical disk, or other various media capable of storing program codes.

The foregoing is merely illustrative of the present application, and the present application is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art will readily recognize that variations or substitutions are within the scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A method of communication, the method comprising:

the method comprises the steps that a first core network element sends first information to terminal equipment, wherein the first information carries address information of at least one first server, and the address information of the at least one first server is used for transmitting data between the terminal equipment and the at least one first server through a first session;

the first information is carried in a first response message, wherein the first response message is a response message after the first core network element receives a first request message sent by the terminal equipment, and the first request message is used for requesting to establish or modify a first session;

the first request message carries first indication information; the first indication information is used for indicating whether to request to acquire address information of the at least one first server;

Wherein, the first request message carries a first route identifier; the first route identification is used for the first core network element to address a second server and obtain address information of the at least one first server from the second server.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first request message carries a first session attribute parameter for at least one of:

the first core network element determines a service type;

the first core network element determines whether to acquire address information of the at least one first server from the second server;

the first core network element determines a first route of the second server, and obtains address information of the at least one first server from the second server according to the first route.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the first session attribute parameter comprises at least one of: the single network slice selects the auxiliary information S-nsai and the data network name DNN.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first indication information is carried in a first container carried in the first request message; the method further comprises the steps of:

The first core network element sends the first container to the second server without any modification.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first request message carries at least one first service identification;

the at least one first service identifier is used for determining at least one service by the first core network element, and acquiring address information of at least one first server corresponding to the at least one service from the second server.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the at least one first service identity is carried in a first container; the first container is carried in the first request message; the method further comprises the steps of:

after the first core network element acquires the first container from the first request message, the first container is sent to the second server;

the first core network element receives a second container sent by the second server, wherein the second container carries address information of at least one first server corresponding to the at least one first service identifier;

and the first core network element carries the second container in the first response message and sends the second container to the terminal equipment.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the method further comprises:

after the first core network element acquires the at least one first service identifier from the first request message, the first core network element sends the at least one first service identifier to the second server, or generates at least one second service identifier based on the at least one first service identifier and sends the at least one second service identifier to the second server;

the first core network element receives address information of at least one first server corresponding to the at least one first service identifier, which is sent by the second server;

and the first core network element carries the address information of the at least one first server in the first response message and sends the first response message to the terminal equipment.

8. The method of any of claims 5 to 7, wherein the data flow binding of the at least one service is transmitted on the first session;

9. The method according to any of claims 5 to 7, wherein the first response message carries address information of one first server for the terminal device to transfer part or all of the data stream bound on the first session to the one first server and/or to receive part or all of the data stream bound on the first session from the one first server.

10. The method of claim 2, wherein the method further comprises:

the first core network element addresses the second server according to at least one of: the first route identifier, the indication information from the second core network element, the local configuration information and at least one first service identifier.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

the first core network element sends a first rule to the terminal equipment, wherein the first rule is used for determining the content carried in the first request message by the terminal equipment; wherein the first rule includes at least one of:

the first indication information is used for indicating whether the address information of the at least one first server is required to be acquired or not;

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the first rule is a urs rule;

the service identifier is represented by a service descriptor in the urs rule;

the first indication information is carried in the RSD under the URSP rule;

the first session attribute parameter is carried in an RSD under the urs rule.

13. The method of claim 11 or 12, wherein the first rule further comprises an validation condition, the validation condition comprising at least one of: effective time, effective duration and effective area.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one first server comprises at least an edge computing server.

15. A method of communication, the method comprising:

the method comprises the steps that terminal equipment receives first information sent by a first core network element, wherein the first information carries address information of at least one first server, and the address information of the at least one first server is used for transmitting data between the terminal equipment and the at least one first server through a first session;

the first request message carries first indication information; the first indication information is used for indicating whether the first server is required to acquire the address information of the first server or not;

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the first request message carries a first session attribute parameter for at least one of:

the first core network element determines a service type;

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the first session attribute parameter comprises at least one of: S-NSSAI, DNN.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the first indication information is carried in a first container carried in the first request message.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the first request message carries at least one first service identification;

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the at least one first service identity is carried in a first container; the first container is carried in the first request message;

21. The method of claim 19 or 20, wherein the data flow binding of the at least one service is transmitted on the first session;

22. A method according to claim 19 or 20, wherein the first response message carries address information of one first server for the terminal device to transfer part or all of the data stream bound on the first session to the one first server and/or to receive part or all of the data stream bound on the first session from the one first server.

23. The method of claim 15, wherein the method further comprises:

the terminal equipment receives a first rule sent by the first core network element, wherein the first rule is used for determining content carried in the first request message by the terminal equipment; wherein the first rule includes at least one of:

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the first rule is a urs rule;

the service identifier is represented by a service descriptor in the urs rule;

the first indication information is carried in the RSD under the URSP rule;

the first session attribute parameter is carried in an RSD under the urs rule.

25. The method of claim 23 or 24, wherein the first rule further comprises an validation condition, the validation condition comprising at least one of: effective time, effective duration and effective area.

26. The method of claim 15, wherein the at least one first server comprises at least an edge computing server.

27. A communication device provided in a first core network element, the device comprising:

a sending unit, configured to send first information to a terminal device, where the first information carries address information of at least one first server, where the address information of the at least one first server is used to transmit data between the terminal device and the at least one first server through a first session;

28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the first request message carries a first session attribute parameter for at least one of:

the first core network element determines a service type;

29. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the first session attribute parameter comprises at least one of: S-NSSAI, DNN.

30. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the first indication information is carried in a first container carried in the first request message;

the sending unit is further configured to send the first container to the second server without any modification.

31. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the first request message carries at least one first service identification;

32. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the at least one first service identification is carried in a first container; the first container is carried in the first request message;

the sending unit is further configured to send the first container to the second server;

the apparatus further comprises: the receiving unit is used for receiving a second container sent by the second server, and the second container carries address information of at least one first server corresponding to the at least one first service identifier;

The sending unit is further configured to send the second container carried in the first response message to the terminal device.

33. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein,

the sending unit is further configured to send the at least one first service identifier to the second server, or generate at least one second service identifier based on the at least one first service identifier, and send the at least one second service identifier to the second server;

the apparatus further comprises: a receiving unit, configured to receive address information of at least one first server corresponding to the at least one first service identifier, where the address information is sent by the second server;

the sending unit is further configured to send the address information of the at least one first server to the terminal device, where the address information is carried in the first response message.

34. The apparatus of any of claims 31-33, wherein a data flow binding of the at least one service is transmitted on the first session;

35. The apparatus according to any of claims 31 to 33, wherein the first response message carries address information of one first server for the terminal device to transfer part or all of the data stream bound on the first session to the one first server and/or to receive part or all of the data stream bound on the first session from the one first server.

36. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the apparatus further comprises:

an addressing unit for addressing the second server according to at least one of: the first route identifier, the indication information from the second core network element, the local configuration information and at least one first service identifier.

37. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the sending unit is further configured to send a first rule to the terminal device, the first rule being used by the terminal device to determine content carried in the first request message; wherein the first rule includes at least one of:

38. The apparatus of claim 37, wherein the first rule is a urs rule;

the service identifier is represented by a service descriptor in the urs rule;

the first indication information is carried in the RSD under the URSP rule;

the first session attribute parameter is carried in an RSD under the urs rule.

39. The apparatus of claim 37 or 38, wherein the first rule further comprises an validation condition, the validation condition comprising at least one of: effective time, effective duration and effective area.

40. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the at least one first server comprises at least an edge computing server.

41. A communication apparatus provided in a terminal device, the apparatus comprising:

a receiving unit, configured to receive first information sent by a first core network element, where the first information carries address information of at least one first server, where the address information of the at least one first server is used to transmit data between the terminal device and the at least one first server through a first session;

42. The apparatus of claim 41, wherein the first request message carries a first session attribute parameter for at least one of:

the first core network element determines a service type;

43. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein the first session attribute parameter comprises at least one of: S-NSSAI, DNN.

44. The apparatus of claim 41, wherein the first indication information is carried in a first container, the first container carried in the first request message.

45. The apparatus of claim 41, wherein the first request message carries at least one first service identification;

46. The apparatus of claim 45, wherein the at least one first service identification is carried in a first container; the first container is carried in the first request message;

47. The apparatus of claim 45 or 46, wherein a data flow binding of the at least one service is transmitted on the first session;

48. The apparatus according to claim 45 or 46, wherein the first response message carries address information of one first server for the terminal device to transfer part or all of the data stream bound on the first session to the one first server and/or to receive part or all of the data stream bound on the first session from the one first server.

49. The apparatus of claim 41, wherein,

the receiving unit is further configured to receive a first rule sent by the first core network element, where the first rule is used for the terminal device to determine content carried in the first request message; wherein the first rule includes at least one of:

50. The apparatus of claim 49, wherein the first rule is a urs rule;

the service identifier is represented by a service descriptor in the urs rule;

the first indication information is carried in the RSD under the URSP rule;

the first session attribute parameter is carried in an RSD under the urs rule.

51. The apparatus of claim 49 or 50, wherein the first rule further comprises an validation condition, the validation condition comprising at least one of: effective time, effective duration and effective area.

52. The apparatus of claim 41, wherein the at least one first server comprises at least an edge computing server.

53. A network device, comprising: a processor and a memory for storing a computer program, the processor being for invoking and running the computer program stored in the memory, performing the method of any of claims 1 to 14.

54. A terminal device, comprising: a processor and a memory for storing a computer program, the processor being for invoking and running the computer program stored in the memory, performing the method of any of claims 15 to 26.

55. A chip, comprising: a processor for calling and running a computer program from a memory, causing a device on which the chip is mounted to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 14.

56. A chip, comprising: a processor for calling and running a computer program from a memory, causing a device on which the chip is mounted to perform the method of any of claims 15 to 26.

57. A computer readable storage medium storing a computer program for causing a computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 14.

58. A computer readable storage medium storing a computer program for causing a computer to perform the method of any one of claims 15 to 26.