CN116321211A

CN116321211A - Tenant-oriented network resource management method and device

Info

Publication number: CN116321211A
Application number: CN202111576214.XA
Authority: CN
Inventors: 曹龙雨; 王耀光; 张凯
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2021-12-21
Filing date: 2021-12-21
Publication date: 2023-06-23
Also published as: WO2023116551A1

Abstract

The application provides a tenant-oriented network resource management method and device, relates to the technical field of communication, and solves the problems that operators only support network resource allocation and management based on slice granularity and the utilization rate and management efficiency of network resources are low in the prior art. The method comprises the following steps: the method comprises the steps that first network equipment sends a first request to second network equipment, wherein the first request comprises first indication information and tenant identification, and the first indication information is used for indicating corresponding network resource allocation and management to tenants according to tenant granularity; and receiving a first response from the second network equipment, wherein the first response comprises the network slice instance identifier corresponding to the tenant and a resource allocation result.

Description

Tenant-oriented network resource management method and device

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a tenant-oriented network resource management method and device.

Background

In an operation and maintenance management system of a mobile Network, a Network Operator (NOP) is generally a provider (Communication Service Provider, CSP) of a Network communication service (Communication Service, CS) to provide a Network communication service to users of its services. To facilitate the management of clients (Communication Service Customer, CSC) of network communication services, the third generation partnership project (3rd Generation Partnership Project,3GPP) proposes the concept of a tenant (tense) for representing the role of CSC in a network management system and describing a tenant identity and network resources allocated to the tenant by means of tenant information (tenant information).

Currently, an operator may provide Network communication services for tenants through Network Slices (NS), and a Network Slice management function (Network Slice Management Function, NSMF) is used as a management function of the NS for creation, deletion, modification, and the like of Network Slice instances (Network Slice Instance, NSI). The communication service management function (Communication Service Management Function, CSMF) assigns respective NSIs to tenants based on their requests and associates corresponding tenant information (Tenant Information). In an actual network resource allocation scenario, in order to save network resources, an operator may allocate the same NSI to multiple tenants, that is, multiple tenants share the network resource of one NSI, as shown in fig. 1, and tenant a and tenant B may share the same network slice instance.

Based on the prior art, the management of NSI only supports resource isolation and management based on slice granularity, so that in the scene of multi-tenant NSI sharing, performance monitoring, network resource optimization management and the like of each tenant sharing NSI cannot be realized for a single tenant, and the utilization rate and management efficiency of network resources are low.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a tenant-oriented network resource management method and device, which solve the problems that operators only support network resource allocation and management based on slice granularity and the utilization rate and management efficiency of network resources are low in the prior art.

In order to achieve the above purpose, the present application adopts the following technical scheme:

in a first aspect, a network resource management method for tenants is provided, where the method includes: the method comprises the steps that first network equipment sends a first request to second network equipment, wherein the first request comprises first indication information and tenant identification, and the first indication information is used for indicating corresponding network resource allocation and management to tenants according to tenant granularity; and receiving a first response from the second network equipment, wherein the first response comprises a network slice instance identifier corresponding to the tenant and a resource allocation result.

According to the technical scheme, the request message for allocating or managing the network resources of the tenants is requested to the network equipment, and the request message carries the specific indication information and the tenant identification, wherein the indication information is used for indicating the corresponding network resource allocation and management of the tenants identified by the tenant identification according to the tenant granularity, so that the network resources of the network slices are allocated according to different tenants and can be associated with the tenant identification, and the multiple tenants sharing the same network slice instance NSI can be managed in an isolated mode, such as network performance monitoring, network resource optimization management and the like based on the tenant granularity, and the utilization rate and management efficiency of the network resources are improved.

Further, the resource allocation result may specifically include a network resource allocation quota of a network slice instance allocated to each tenant, where the network resource may be any one of a physical resource block PRB of a cell, a number of data radio bearers DRBs, or a number of accessible users, and the network resource quota may be a percentage of the network resource allocated to the tenant in the above network resource. This is not particularly limited in this application.

In one embodiment, before sending the first request to the second network device, the method further comprises: and the first network equipment allocates a tenant identifier for the tenant, completes information creation of the tenant, allocates a corresponding network slice instance for the tenant, and associates the tenant identifier with the network slice instance identifier, for example, establishes a corresponding relationship between the tenant identifier and the network slice instance identifier.

According to the technical scheme, before the request of network slice resource configuration management is requested to the network equipment, the corresponding network slice instance NSI can be configured for the tenant, and the network slice instance identifier is associated with the tenant identifier, so that NSI configuration management of tenant granularity, network resource utilization rate and management efficiency can be realized based on association management.

In one embodiment, before receiving the first response from the second network device, the method further comprises: receiving a second request of a third network device, where the second request includes a first set, where the second request is used to request subscription data corresponding to each tenant in the first set, and the first set includes all tenant identities corresponding to at least one network cell that serves the tenant; inquiring subscription data corresponding to each tenant according to the tenant identification in the first set; and sending a second response to the third network device, wherein the second response comprises each tenant identifier in the first set and subscription data corresponding to each tenant.

According to the technical scheme, in the process of distributing the network slice resources based on the tenant granularity, the subscription data of each tenant needs to be acquired, so that the corresponding network slice resources can be distributed according to the subscription data of each tenant, the flexibility of network resource distribution is realized, and the utilization rate and the management efficiency of the network resources are improved.

In one embodiment, the subscription data includes: at least one of requirement information of the tenant on the network resource, time delay parameter, resource isolation parameter and signed service level information.

In a second aspect, a network resource management method facing to a tenant is provided, and the method includes: the second network equipment receives a first request from the first network equipment, wherein the first request comprises first indication information and tenant identification, and the first indication information is used for indicating network resource allocation corresponding to the tenant according to tenant granularity; determining to reuse an existing network slice according to the first request, and determining a network cell corresponding to the tenant and a tenant identification list corresponding to other tenants in the network cell; sending a third request to third network equipment according to the first indication information, wherein the third request is used for carrying out configuration parameter modification on network cells, the third request comprises second indication information, a first set and identifiers of the network cells, the second indication information is used for indicating each tenant in the first set to carry out network resource allocation, and the first set comprises a set of all tenant identifiers corresponding to at least one network cell for providing service for the tenant; receiving a third response from a third network device, the third response being used to indicate a modification result, such as a modification success or a modification failure, of the configuration parameters of the network cell; and sending a first response to the first network device, wherein the first response comprises a network slice instance identifier corresponding to the tenant and a resource allocation result.

According to the technical scheme, the second network device can determine the network slice resource allocation of the tenant granularity to the tenant through the first indication information carried in the request information of the first network device, so that the configuration parameter modification to the network cell can be requested to the third network device, the request information can carry specific indication and the identification information of all tenants corresponding to all network cells needing resource allocation, the configuration parameter modification operation of the third network side to the network cell is realized, the network resource optimization management based on the tenant granularity is realized, and the utilization rate and the management efficiency of the network resource are improved.

In one embodiment, after receiving the third response from the third network device, the method further comprises: the second network device sends a fourth request to a network element (such as NSSMF) with a network slicing subnet management function, wherein the fourth request comprises the tenant identifier and the network slicing instance identifier, and the fourth request is used for requesting configuration modification of a network slicing subnet instance; a fourth response is received, the fourth response indicating a result of updating the network slice configuration.

In a third aspect, a method for managing network resources facing to tenants is provided, where the method includes: a third network device receives a third request from a second network device, wherein the third request is used for modifying configuration parameters of a network cell, the third request comprises second indication information, a first set and identifiers of the network cell, the second indication information is used for indicating network resource allocation to each tenant in the first set, and the first set comprises a set of all tenant identifiers corresponding to at least one network cell for providing service for the tenant; according to the subscription information corresponding to each tenant, determining the network resource allocation quota of each tenant in the network cell; and sending a third response to the second network device, wherein the third response is used for indicating a configuration parameter modification result of the network cell.

According to the technical scheme, the third network device can allocate the network slice resources of the network cell based on the tenant granularity according to the specific indication in the request information and the subscription information of each tenant, determine the network resource allocation quota corresponding to each tenant, and feed back the result of configuration parameter modification to the second network device, so that network resource optimization management based on the tenant granularity is realized, and the utilization rate and management efficiency of the network resources are improved.

In one embodiment, before sending the third response to the second network device, the third network device interacts with the access network device to complete the cell configuration modification process, and specifically includes: the third network equipment sends a fifth request to the access network equipment, wherein the fifth request comprises a cell identifier of the network cell, a tenant identifier of each tenant in the network cell and a network resource allocation quota corresponding to each tenant, and the fifth request is used for updating cell configuration information on the access network equipment; a fifth response from the access network device is received, the fifth response being used to indicate a cell configuration modification result of the access network device.

According to the technical scheme, after the third network equipment side performs network resource allocation with tenant granularity, interaction with the access network equipment is needed, and cell configuration information on the access network equipment side is updated or modified, so that network resource optimization management based on tenant granularity is realized, and the utilization rate and management efficiency of network resources are improved.

In one embodiment, according to the subscription information corresponding to each tenant, it is determined that each tenant is before the network resource allocation quota of the network cell, and the method further includes: sending a second request to a first network device, where the second request includes a first set, where the second request is used to request subscription information corresponding to each tenant in the first set to the first network device, and the first set includes all tenant identities corresponding to at least one network cell that serves the tenant; a second response from the first network device is received, the second response including an identification of each tenant in the first set and corresponding subscription information.

In one embodiment, the network resource allocation quota corresponding to each tenant is represented by a cell physical resource block PRB, a data radio bearer DRB number, or a number of accessible users.

In an implementation of any of the foregoing first to third aspects, the first network device is a communication service management function network element (e.g. CSMF).

In an implementation manner of any one of the foregoing first aspect to the third aspect, the second network device is a network slice management function network element (such as NSMF).

In an implementation manner of any one of the foregoing first aspect to the third aspect, the third network device is a network slice subnet management function network element (such as NSSMF), or is a network resource configuration management service provider.

In any one of the embodiments of the third aspect, if the third network device is a network slice subnet management function network element, after sending the third response to the second network device, the method further includes: receiving a fourth request from the second network device, the fourth request for requesting configuration modification of a network slice subnet instance, the fourth request including the tenant identity and the network slice instance identity; the third network equipment interacts with access network equipment to complete configuration modification of the network slicing subnet instance corresponding to the tenant on the access network equipment; and sending a fourth response to the second network device, wherein the fourth response is used for indicating a result of updating the network slice configuration.

In one embodiment, the third network device interacts with the access network device to complete configuration modification of the network slice subnet instance corresponding to the tenant on the access network device, and specifically includes: the third network device sends a sixth request to the access network device, wherein the sixth request comprises a tenant identifier of the tenant, and the sixth request is used for carrying out configuration modification on a network slice subnet instance corresponding to the tenant; the third network device receives a sixth response from the access network device, where the sixth response is used to instruct the access network device to modify the configuration of the network slice subnet instance corresponding to the tenant.

In a fourth aspect, a network resource management method for tenants is provided, where the method includes: the method comprises the steps that a first network device sends a request 1 to a second network device, wherein the request 1 comprises a tenant identifier and a network slice instance identifier, and the request 1 is used for indicating to delete network slice resources allocated to a tenant corresponding to the tenant identifier; and receiving a response 1 from the second network device, wherein the response 1 comprises a deallocation result of the network slice resource corresponding to the tenant.

According to the technical scheme, when a certain tenant needs to perform the registration processing, the network equipment needs to request to delete the network slice resources allocated to the tenant, and the request message can carry the tenant identification and the network slice instance identification associated with the tenant, so that the corresponding network resources allocated to the tenant by the NSI are released, the waste of the network resources is avoided, and the utilization rate and the management efficiency of the network resources are improved.

In one embodiment, before the first network device sends request 1 to the second network device, the method comprises: the first network equipment receives a de-registration request of the tenant; and finishing the deregistration processing of the tenant.

In a fifth aspect, a network resource management method for tenants is provided, where the method includes: the second network equipment receives a request 1, wherein the request 1 comprises a tenant identifier and a network slice instance identifier, and the request 1 is used for indicating to delete network slice resources allocated to a tenant corresponding to the tenant identifier; determining that the tenant is not the only tenant associated with the network slice instance identification; sending a request 2 to a third network device; the request 2 includes third indication information, the tenant identifier and the identifier of the network cell, where the third indication information is used to indicate that network slice resources allocated to the tenant are deleted; receiving a response 2 from the third network device, wherein the response 2 is used for indicating a configuration parameter modification result of the network cell; and sending a response 1 to the first network device, wherein the response 1 comprises a deallocation result of the network slice resource corresponding to the tenant.

According to the technical scheme, the second network equipment determines that only the NSI resources allocated to the tenant are released based on the request information, and then the request carrying the specific indication information can be sent to the third network equipment, so that the corresponding network resources allocated to the tenant by the NSI are released, waste of the network resources is avoided, and the utilization rate and management efficiency of the network resources are improved.

In one embodiment, a response 2 is received from the third network device, the method further comprising: the second network device sends a request 3 to a network element of a network slicing subnet management function, wherein the request 3 comprises the tenant identification and the network slicing instance identification, and the request 3 is used for requesting deletion of the tenant identification associated with the network slicing subnet instance; a response 3 is received, the response 3 being for indicating a result of updating the network slice configuration.

In a sixth aspect, a method for managing network resources facing to a tenant is provided, where the method includes: the third network device receives a request 2 from the second network device; the request 2 includes third indication information, the tenant identifier and the identifier of the network cell, where the third indication information is used to indicate deletion of the network slice resource allocated by the tenant; the method comprises the steps of performing interaction with access network equipment to complete cell configuration modification processing or complete cell resource release processing; and sending a response 2 to the second network equipment, wherein the response 2 is used for indicating a configuration parameter modification result of the network cell.

According to the technical scheme, the third network equipment can interact with the access network equipment based on the specific third indication information in the request information to perform cell configuration modification processing or cell resource release processing, so that network resources corresponding to the tenant are redistributed or released, waste of the network resources is avoided, and flexibility and management efficiency of network resource utilization are improved.

In one embodiment, the cell configuration modification processing is completed by interaction with the access network device, and specifically includes: the third network equipment re-allocates network resources based on the released network resources and currently associated tenants; transmitting a cell configuration modification request to the access network equipment, wherein the cell configuration modification request comprises an identifier of the network cell, a second set and a network resource allocation quota corresponding to each tenant in the second set; and receiving a cell configuration modification response from the access network equipment, wherein the cell configuration modification response is used for indicating a result of reallocating network slice resources corresponding to the tenant.

In one embodiment, the third network device re-allocates network resources based on the released network resources and the currently associated tenant, specifically including: and the third network equipment determines the network resource allocation quota of each tenant in the second set in the network cell according to the subscription information corresponding to each tenant in the second set.

In an embodiment, the network resource corresponding to each tenant may be any one of a cell physical resource block PRB, a data radio bearer DRB number, or a number of accessible users. The network resource quota may be a percentage of the network resources allocated to the tenant.

In one embodiment, the interaction with the access network device completes the cell resource release processing, which specifically includes: transmitting a cell resource release request to access network equipment, wherein the cell resource release request comprises fourth indication information, tenant identification and network cell identification, and the fourth indication information is used for indicating deletion of the tenant identification and release of network slice resources corresponding to the tenant identification; and receiving a cell resource release response from the access network equipment, wherein the cell resource release response is used for indicating a result of releasing the network slice resource corresponding to the tenant.

In an implementation manner of any of the fourth to sixth aspects, the first network device is a communication service management function network element (e.g. CSMF).

In an implementation manner of any one of the fourth to sixth aspects, the second network device is a network slice management function network element (such as NSMF).

In an implementation manner of any one of the fourth to sixth aspects, the third network device is a network slice subnet management function network element (such as NSSMF), or is a network resource configuration management service provider.

A seventh aspect provides a tenant-oriented network resource management method, the method comprising: the method comprises the steps that a first network device sends a request 1 to a second network device, wherein the request 1 comprises a tenant identifier, a network slice instance identifier and subscription data of a tenant corresponding to the tenant identifier, and the request 1 is used for indicating to modify network slice resources allocated for the tenant; and receiving a response 1 from the second network equipment, wherein the response 1 comprises a network slice instance identifier corresponding to the tenant and a resource allocation result.

According to the technical scheme, when the user registration information of a certain tenant needs to be modified, for example, subscription data modification in the registration information affects the network cell providing service for the tenant and the resource allocation condition, therefore, the second network equipment can be requested to modify the network slice resource corresponding to the tenant. The request information can carry tenant identification, network slice instance identification and updated subscription data of the tenant, so that network slice resource isolation management of tenant granularity can be realized based on the subscription data, and flexibility and management efficiency of network resource utilization are improved.

In one embodiment, before the first network device sends request 1 to the second network device, the method comprises: the first network device modifies registration information of the tenant.

An eighth aspect provides a tenant-oriented network resource management method, the method including: the second network equipment receives a request 1, wherein the request 1 comprises a tenant identifier, a network slice instance identifier and subscription data of a tenant corresponding to the tenant identifier, and the request 1 is used for indicating to modify network slice resources allocated for the tenant; determining a cell identifier of a network cell covered by NSI corresponding to the tenant; sending a request 2 to a third network device; the request 2 includes fifth indication information, tenant identification, identification of a network cell and subscription data of a tenant corresponding to the tenant identification, and the request 2 is used for indicating to modify configuration parameters of the network cell; receiving a response 2 from the third network device, wherein the response 2 is used for indicating a configuration parameter modification result of the network cell; and sending a response 1 to the first network device, wherein the response 1 comprises a network slice instance identifier corresponding to the tenant and a resource allocation result.

According to the technical scheme, after the second network equipment can determine to update the registration information based on the request, the second network equipment indicates the cell identification of the network cell corresponding to the tenant for modifying the network slice resource, so that the configuration parameter modification of the network cell is requested to the third network equipment based on the request, network slice resource isolation management of tenant granularity is realized, and the flexibility and management efficiency of network resource utilization are improved.

In one embodiment, a response 2 is received from the third network device, the method further comprising: the second network device sends a network slice subnet instance configuration modification request to a network element of a network slice subnet management function, wherein the network slice subnet instance configuration modification request is used for requesting to modify configuration parameters of the network slice subnet instance associated with the tenant, and the sent network slice subnet instance configuration modification request comprises the tenant identifier and the network slice instance identifier; a response 3 is received, the response 3 being for indicating a result of updating the network slice configuration.

A ninth aspect provides a tenant-oriented network resource management method, the method comprising: the third network device receives a request 2 from the second network device; the request 2 includes fifth indication information, tenant identification, identification of a network cell and subscription data of a tenant corresponding to the tenant identification, and the request 2 is used for indicating to modify configuration parameters of the network cell; interacting with access network equipment to complete cell configuration modification processing; and sending a response 2 to the second network equipment, wherein the response 2 is used for indicating a configuration parameter modification result of the network cell.

According to the technical scheme, the third network equipment determines to modify the configuration parameters of the tenants according to the specific indication information carried in the request information, interacts with the access network equipment and is used for updating the cell configuration information on the access network equipment, so that network slice resource isolation management of tenant granularity is realized, and the flexibility and management efficiency of network resource utilization are improved.

In one embodiment, the cell configuration modification processing is completed by interaction with the access network device, and specifically includes: a cell configuration request is sent to an access network device and used for indicating to update cell configuration information on the access network device, wherein the cell configuration request comprises a cell identifier of the network cell, a tenant identifier of each tenant in the network cell and a network resource allocation quota corresponding to each tenant; and receiving a cell configuration response from the access network equipment, wherein the cell configuration response is used for indicating a cell configuration modification result of the access network equipment.

In an implementation manner of any one of the seventh to ninth aspects, the first network device is a communication service management function network element.

In an implementation manner of any one of the seventh to ninth aspects, the second network device is a network slice management function network element.

In an implementation manner of any one of the seventh to ninth aspects, the third network device is a network slice subnet management function network element or is a network resource configuration management service provider.

In a tenth aspect, a communication device is provided, which may implement the method of any one of the possible implementation manners of the first aspect, the fourth aspect or the seventh aspect. The apparatus comprises corresponding units or means for performing the above-described methods. The unit included in the apparatus may implement the steps implemented by the first network device in the method in a software and/or hardware manner. The apparatus may be, for example, a first network device, or a chip, a system-on-chip, a processor, or the like, which may support the first network device to implement the above method.

An eleventh aspect provides a communication device capable of implementing the method of any one of the possible implementation manners of the second aspect, the fifth aspect or the eighth aspect. The apparatus comprises corresponding units or means for performing the above-described methods. The unit included in the apparatus may implement the steps implemented by the second network device in the method in a software and/or hardware manner. The apparatus may be, for example, a second network device, or a chip, a system-on-chip, a processor, or the like, which may support the second network device to implement the above method.

A twelfth aspect provides a communication device capable of implementing the method of any one of the possible implementation manners of the third, sixth or ninth aspects. The apparatus comprises corresponding units or means for performing the above-described methods. The unit included in the apparatus may implement the step implemented by the third network device in the method in a software and/or hardware manner. The apparatus may be, for example, a third network device, or a chip, a system-on-chip, a processor, or the like, which may support the third network device to implement the above method.

In a thirteenth aspect, there is provided a communication device comprising: a processor coupled to a memory for storing a program or instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to carry out the method as described in any one of the possible implementations of the first to ninth aspects.

In a fourteenth aspect, there is provided a computer readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program or instructions which, when executed, cause a computer to perform the method as described in any one of the possible implementations of the first to ninth aspects.

In a fifteenth aspect, there is provided a computer program product comprising computer program code which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method as described in any one of the possible implementations of the first to ninth aspects.

In a sixteenth aspect, there is provided a chip comprising: a processor coupled to a memory for storing a program or instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the chip to implement a method as described in any one of the possible implementations of the first to ninth aspects.

A seventeenth aspect provides a communication system comprising the apparatus of the tenth, eleventh and twelfth aspects.

An eighteenth aspect provides a communication system comprising a first network device, a second network device and a third network device,

The first network device sends a first request to the second network device, wherein the first request comprises first indication information and tenant identification, and the first indication information is used for indicating that network resources are allocated and managed correspondingly to the tenant according to tenant granularity;

the second network equipment receives the first request, determines to reuse the existing network slice according to the first request, and determines a network cell corresponding to the tenant and tenant identifications corresponding to other tenants in the network cell; sending a third request to third network equipment according to the first indication information, wherein the third request is used for carrying out configuration parameter modification on network cells, the third request comprises second indication information, a first set and identifiers of the network cells, the second indication information is used for indicating each tenant in the first set to carry out network resource allocation, and the first set comprises a set of all tenant identifiers corresponding to at least one network cell for providing service for the tenant;

the third network device receives the third request and determines the network resource allocation quota of each tenant in the network cell according to the subscription information corresponding to each tenant; and sending a third response to the second network device, wherein the third response is used for indicating a configuration parameter modification result of the network cell.

The second network device receives the third response and sends a first response to the first network device, wherein the first response comprises a network slice instance identifier corresponding to the tenant and a resource allocation result.

The first network device receives the first response.

In a nineteenth aspect, a communication system is provided, the communication system comprising a first network device, a second network device and a third network device,

the method comprises the steps that a first network device sends a request 1 to a second network device, wherein the request 1 comprises a tenant identifier and a network slice instance identifier, and the request 1 is used for indicating to delete network slice resources allocated to a tenant corresponding to the tenant identifier;

the second network equipment receives the request 1, and determines that the tenant is not the only tenant associated with the network slice instance identification; sending a request 2 to a third network device; the request 2 comprises third indication information, the tenant identification and the identification of the network cell, wherein the third indication information is used for indicating the deletion of the network slice resources allocated by the tenant;

the third network device receives the request 2; the method comprises the steps of performing interaction with access network equipment to complete cell configuration modification processing or complete cell resource release processing; transmitting a response 2 to the second network device, wherein the response 2 is used for indicating a configuration parameter modification result of the network cell;

The second network equipment receives a response 2 and sends a response 1 to the first network equipment, wherein the response 1 comprises a de-allocation result of network slice resources corresponding to the tenant;

the first network device receives response 1.

In a twentieth aspect, a communication system is provided, the communication system comprising a first network device, a second network device, and a third network device,

the method comprises the steps that a first network device sends a request 1 to a second network device, wherein the request 1 comprises a tenant identifier, a network slice instance identifier and subscription data of a tenant corresponding to the tenant identifier, and the request 1 is used for indicating to modify network slice resources allocated for the tenant;

the second network equipment receives the request 1 and determines the cell identification of the network cell covered by the NSI corresponding to the tenant; sending a request 2 to a third network device; the request 2 comprises fifth indication information, tenant identification, identification of a network cell and subscription data of the tenant corresponding to the tenant identification, and the request 2 is used for indicating to modify configuration parameters of the network cell;

the third network device receives the request 2; interacting with access network equipment to complete cell configuration modification processing; transmitting a response 2 to the second network device, wherein the response 2 is used for indicating a configuration parameter modification result of the network cell;

The second network equipment receives the response 2, sends a response 1 to the first network equipment, and the response 1 comprises a network slice instance identifier corresponding to the tenant and a resource allocation result;

the second network device receives response 1.

It will be appreciated that any of the above-mentioned communication devices, chips, computer-readable storage media, computer program products or communication systems, etc. are used to perform the corresponding methods provided above, and therefore, the advantages achieved by the above-mentioned communication devices, chips, computer-readable storage media, computer systems, etc. may refer to the advantages of the corresponding methods, and are not repeated herein.

Drawings

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

fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of another communication system according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3 is a flowchart of a method for network slice management according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4 is a flow chart of a network resource management method for tenants provided in the embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 is a flowchart of another tenant-oriented network resource management method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6 is a flowchart of another tenant-oriented network resource management method according to an embodiment of the present application;

Fig. 7 is a schematic quota diagram of tenant-oriented network resources provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8 is a flowchart of another tenant-oriented network resource management method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 9 is a flowchart of another tenant-oriented network resource management method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 10 is a flowchart of another tenant-oriented network resource management method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

The terms "first" and "second" are used below for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated. Thus, a feature defining "a first" or "a second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more such feature. In the description of the present embodiment, unless otherwise specified, the meaning of "plurality" is two or more.

In this application, the terms "exemplary" or "such as" are used to mean serving as an example, instance, or illustration. Any embodiment or design described herein as "exemplary" or "for example" should not be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments or designs. Rather, the use of words such as "exemplary" or "such as" is intended to present related concepts in a concrete fashion.

The following description of the embodiments of the present application will be made clearly and fully with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which it is evident that the embodiments described are only some, but not all, of the embodiments of the present application. All other embodiments, which can be made by one of ordinary skill in the art without undue burden from the present disclosure, are within the scope of the present disclosure.

First, a related art to which the present application relates is briefly described.

Network slice: the slicing is called as dividing a plurality of virtual networks composed of specific network functions, network topologies and network resources on a physical network, and is used for meeting the service functions and service quality requirements of different network slicing users. Through network slicing, operators can construct a plurality of special, virtualized and mutually isolated logic subnets on a general physical platform, so that different requirements of different services of users on network capacity can be met in a targeted manner. An E2E logical network is provided that meets specific traffic demands.

Tenant (Tenant): the group of consumers for which an operator provides management services may typically be business entity customers. The group of consumers is associated with management capabilities that are allowed access and use. Wherein a group of management service consumers may include one or more management service consumers. Tenant is a management object of BSS layer representation CSC (Communication Service Customer) in a Business operation support system Business & Operation Support System, BSS & OSS) of the 3GPP management system. The management functions of the OSS layer of the 3GPP management system allocate network resources for a tenant based on its service level agreement (Service Level Agreement, SLA) requirements and manage these network resources.

Management Object (MO): refers to objects of network management and typically includes network infrastructure resources, logical resources (e.g., radio cell resources, etc.), and the like.

Tenant information (tenant information): typically, an identity (tenant Id) of the tenant, a slice network identity used by the tenant may be included, for example, a network slice may be identified with S-nsai, a Managed Object (MO) corresponding to the network resource. In addition, in order to meet the requirement of the CSC client for network management, for example, the CSC client wants to view the performance status of the network allocated to the CSC client by the operator, or wants to modify the configuration parameters of the network allocated to the CSC client by the operator, etc., tenant information further includes a network management service type that can be used by the tenant, such as a network configuration management service (Provisioning MnS), a performance guarantee management service (Performance Assurance MnS), etc.

Management service (Management Service, mnS): the interface service provided externally by the management function is called a management service. The management services may include one or more of an alarm management service, a performance guarantee management service, a network configuration management service, and a heartbeat management service. The management services include management service component type A (management service component type A), management service component type B (management service component type B), and management service component type C (management service component type C).

Among them, management service component type A is network management operation and notification. Management operations may include configuration management operations (e.g., network configuration parameter modifications or network configuration parameter queries, etc.), performance management operations (e.g., performance measurement task creation or performance data reporting), and alarm management operations (e.g., alarm queries or clearing alarms, etc.), among others. The notification may include a data file notification and a management object (management object) creation notification, etc. Wherein the data file notification is used for notifying that the data file has completed preparation. The management object creation notification is used for notifying completion of creation of a management object instance, and the management object refers to an object managed by a management function in a service-oriented management architecture, and the management object includes a base station device, a wireless cell, a frequency point, or the like.

management service component type B, a network resource information model. The network resources refer to network devices (such as base station devices, etc.), network functions (such as radio network control plane functions, radio network user plane functions, etc.), and radio network resources (such as radio network cells, frequency spectrums, physical resource blocks, etc.). The network resource model is an information model after modeling the network resources based on a network resource model modeling method.

management service component type C, corresponding performance data and alert information. The performance data includes data such as service delay, jitter, bit error rate, cell physical resource block (physical resource block, PRB) utilization rate or bandwidth. The alarm information may include information of communication failure, processing error, environmental failure, equipment failure, or operation invalidity, etc.

Next, the implementation environment and application scenario of the embodiment of the present application will be briefly described.

As shown in fig. 2, the communication system includes a CSMF network element, an NSMF network element, a network slice subnet management function (Network Slice Subnet Management Function, NSSMF) network element, and an access network device, etc. The communication system may further comprise CSCs, such as tenants, for requesting network services.

Wherein the CSMF functionality includes receiving SLA requirements of CSI customers (e.g., tenants) and modeling the SLA requirements in information. Specifically, CSMF may be used to translate the SLA requirements of the tenant into detailed attribute parameters of ServiceProfile IOC, serviceProfile IOC as shown in table 1 below.

Table 1: attribute parameters of ServiceProfile IOC

Attribute name	Parameter optional feature (Support Qualifier)
		Service description file identification/serviceProfileId	M
PLMN information list/pLMNInfonList	O
		Simultaneous access to maximum number of UEs/maxNumberofUEs	O
Coverage area	O
		Time delay/latency	O
UE mobility class/usemobilitylevel	O
		Slice resource sharing indication/networkSliceHaringIndexator	O
Slice type/sST	M
		Communication service availability ratio/availability	O
Delay tolerance/delay tolerance	O
		Deterministic/deterministic comm	O
Slice-level downlink throughput rate/dLThptPerSlice	O
		UE-level downlink throughput/dhthptperue	O
Slice-level uplink throughput/uLThptPerSlice	O
		UE-level uplink throughput/urthptperue	O
Maximum packet number/maxPktSize	O
		Maximum PDU session number/maxNumberofPDUSessessions	O
KPI/KQI monitoring indication/kPIMonitoring	O
		User management capability indication/usermgmtmopen	O
V2X communication mode/V2 XCommModels	O
		User Density/termDensity	O
Simultaneous activation of UE factor/activityFactor	O
		UE movement speed/uedepeed	O
Jitter/jitter	O
		Continuous communication duration/survivinvaltime	O
Reliability/reliability	O
		Maximum downstream data traffic/maxDLDataVolume	O
Maximum upper bound data traffic/maxULDataVolume	O
		nBIot support indication/nBIot	O
Clock synchronization indication/synchronization	O
		Positioning indication/positioning	O
Slice is indicated by simultaneous use/slicesemdultaneousue	O
		Energy saving indication/energy efficiency	O

In the above table Support Qualifier indicates whether the parameter is optional, where Support Qualifier is O indicating that the parameter is optional; m represents that the parameter is an optional parameter; CM means that the parameter is a conditional optional parameter; CO this parameter is a condition selectable parameter. Similar references appearing hereinafter may be made to the above description, which will not be repeated hereinafter.

NSMF is an NS management function that includes creation, deletion, modification, etc. of network slice instances NSI. NSMF newly allocates an NSI to the CSI client or modifies an existing NSI based on network resource requirement information in ServiceProfile IOC transmitted by CSMF. The functions of NSMF further include splitting the network resource requirement information in ServiceProfile IOC into network resource requirements for the access network device and the 5G core network device, respectively. Wherein, the network resource requirement of the access network device is RANSliceSubnetProfile IOC, and the detailed attribute parameters thereof are shown in the following table 2; the network resource requirements for the 5G core network device, CNSliceSubnetProfile IOC, are shown in table 3 below.

Table 2: RANSliceSubnetProfile IOC Attribute parameters

Attribute name	Parameter optional feature/supplortqualifier
		Overlay tracking area list/overlay area list	O
uEMobilityLevel	O
		resourceSharingLevel	O
maxNumberofUEs	O
		activityFactor	O
dLThptPerUE	O
		uLThptPerUE	O
uESpeed	O
		reliability	O
serviceType	O
		latency	O
delayTolerance	O
		sliceSimultaneousUse	O
maxPktSize	O
		energyEfficiency	O
termDensity	O
		survivalTime	O
deterministicComm	O
		positioning	O
synchronicity	O

Table 3: CNSliceSubnetProfile IOC

Attributename	SupportQualifier
		maxNumberofUEs	O
latency	O
		dLThptPerSliceSubnet	O
dLThptPerUEPerSubnet	O
		uLThptPerSliceSubnet	O
uLThptPerUEPerSubnet	O
		maxNumberOfPDUSessions	O
coverageAreaTAList	O
		reliability	O
resourceSharingLevel	O
		maxPktSize	O
sliceSimultaneousUse	O
		delayTolerance	O
energyEfficiency	O
		deterministicComm	O

NSSMF is a network slice subnet management function for creation, deletion, modification, etc. of network slice subnet instances (Network Slice Subnet Instance, NSSI). As RAN NSSI is created based on information in RANSliceSubnetProfile IOC of the NSMF transmission, CN NSSI is created based on information in CNSliceSubnetProfile IOC of the NSMF transmission.

An access network device, such as a radio access network (Radio Access Network, RAN), refers to a radio access network element providing radio access functionality for User Equipment (UE), including at least one of a gNB, a gNB-CU-CP, a gNB-CU-UP, a gNB-DU, etc.

Further, the communication system of the embodiment of the present application may further include a core network device, for example, a 5G core network (fifth generation Core Network,5 GC), which refers to a 5G core network element that provides mobility management, session management, and other functions for the UE, including an access and mobility management function (Access and Mobility Function, AMF), a session management function (Session Management Function, SMF), a user plane function (User Plane Function, UPF), and the like.

It should be noted that the communication system shown in fig. 2 is only used as an example, and is not used to limit the technical solution of the present application. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that in a particular implementation, the communication system may include other devices, and that the configuration and number of network elements may be determined according to particular needs.

Alternatively, each network element in fig. 2 in the embodiment of the present application may be a functional module in a device. It will be appreciated that the above described functionality may be either a network element in a hardware device, such as a communication chip in a computer, or a software function running on dedicated hardware, or a virtualized function instantiated on a platform (e.g., a cloud platform).

As shown in fig. 3, the NSI creation procedure defined by the current 3GPP standard includes:

step 1: CSMF sends an NSI allocation request to NSMF.

CSMF models ServiceProfile IOC based on SLA requirement information of CSI clients (e.g., tenants) and determines the identity of the network slice NS, e.g., single network slice selection assistance information (Single Network Slice Selection Assistance Information, S-nsai) may be used as the NS identity.

CSMF sends an NSI allocation request to NSMF carrying ServiceProfile IOC information.

Step 2: the NSMF determines to newly create or reuse an existing NSI.

The NSMF receives the CSMF request message and determines whether the currently established NSI can meet the requirements based on information in ServiceProfile IOC (e.g., coverage area/coverage area, latency/latency, slice level downlink throughput/dLThptPerSlice, etc.), and if the currently established NSI can meet the requirements or the NSI can be modified to meet the requirements, the allocated NSI is reused. Otherwise, a new NSI is recreated.

Step 3a: the NSMF initiates an NSI modification procedure.

If it is determined in step 2 that the built NSI is reused and needs to be modified, step 3a is performed to modify the NSI by initiating an NSI modification procedure to the NSSMF. For details, the NSI modification procedure may refer to the existing related description.

If it is determined in step 2 that a new NSI needs to be recreated, the following steps are performed.

Step 3b-1: the NSMF determines the network resource requirements of the newly created NSI.

NSMF splits based on network resource requirement information in ServiceProfile IOC sent by CSMF, determines network resource requirements for access network device RAN and core network device 5GC, respectively, i.e., determines parameters RANSliceSubnetProfile IOC and CNSliceSubnetProfile IOC.

Step 3b-2: the NSMF and NSSMF interactively execute NSSI creation flow.

Step 3b-3: NSMF associates the newly created NSSI with the NSI.

And associating NSSI and NSI examples of the newly-built access network equipment RAN and 5 GC.

Step 4: the NSMF sends an NSI allocation request response message to the CSMF.

After NSMF completes NSI allocation (NSI modification or newly built NSI), an NSI allocation request response message is replied to CSMF, and parameters carried in the NSI allocation request response message may include information such as identification of NS.

It can be seen that, in the scenario that multiple tenants allocate the same NSI as shown in fig. 1, based on the above-mentioned NSI creation flow, the NOP layer and the access network device layer shown in fig. 2 identify network slices based on S-nsai and mark the network resources occupied by the network slices with S-nsai, that is, the existing management of NSI only supports network resource management and isolation based on slice granularity, and does not support network resource management and isolation based on tenant with finer granularity. Therefore, the network management system of the operator cannot realize performance monitoring and network optimization management for each tenant sharing the NSI. For example, if tenant a wishes to view the performance status of the network resources allocated to itself by the operator, the operator network management system needs to provide performance data of the network used by tenant a, but the prior art can only obtain performance data of the network with NSI granularity. As another example, if tenant B desires a network to provide a network service with a larger bandwidth in a specific area, but the prior art cannot support network resource optimization adjustment based on tenant granularity, and only network resource optimization adjustment based on slice granularity can be performed.

The embodiment of the application provides a tenant-oriented network resource management method, which can allocate and manage network resources based on network slicing according to tenant demands and provides a tenant granularity slicing resource isolation method. Specifically, in a scenario of multi-tenant shared network slicing, resources are allocated to slicing resources according to tenant granularity through subscription information and SLA requirements of tenants, corresponding tenant resource usable quota is configured to configure tenant information for coverage cells of the shared slicing, performance data statistics and monitoring of the tenants are supported, and therefore utilization rate and management efficiency of network resources are effectively improved.

The following specifically describes a communication method provided in the embodiments of the present application.

It should be noted that, in the embodiments described below, the names of the messages between the network elements or the names of the parameters in the messages are only an example, and may be other names in specific implementations, which are not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

It may be understood that, in the embodiments of the present application, network elements such as the first network device, the second network device, the third network device, or the access network device may perform some or all of the steps in the embodiments of the present application, these steps are merely examples, and other steps or variations of various steps may also be performed in the embodiments of the present application. Furthermore, the various steps may be performed in a different order presented in embodiments of the present application, and it is possible that not all of the steps in embodiments of the present application may be performed.

As shown in fig. 4, a network resource management method for tenants provided in an embodiment of the present application includes the following steps.

401: the first network device sends a first request to the second network device, the first request including first indication information and a tenant identity.

The first indication information may be specifically a performance monitoring indication, which is used for indicating that network resources corresponding to the tenant are allocated and managed according to the tenant granularity.

In one embodiment, the first request may specifically be an NSI allocation request. The NSI allocation request is used for requesting network resource allocation of tenant granularity for the tenant corresponding to the tenant identifier.

In one implementation, as shown in connection with fig. 2, the first network device may be a communication service management function network element, such as a CSMF network element.

In one implementation, the second network device may be a network slice management function network element, such as an NSMF network element.

Specifically, the CSMF may perform ServiceProfile IOC modeling based on SLA requirement information of the tenant, and send an NSI allocation request to the NSMF, where the NSI allocation request carries ServiceProfile IOC information.

When the operator needs to perform tenant-level management on the network resources used by the tenant, for example, monitoring the network performance of the tenant, the NSI allocation request includes first indication information and a tenant identifier, which are used for indicating and performing network resource allocation and management on the tenant corresponding to the tenant identifier.

Illustratively, in the signaling of the first request, the first indication information may be represented by a Monitoring indication cell, and the Monitoring indication cell may be used to indicate that the NSMF is required by the network management system to perform tenant-level network resource management on the tenant identified by the tenant ID.

In addition, in the signaling of the first request, the tenant identity may be represented by a tenant ID cell. The tenant ID is an identity of a tenant and is used to uniquely identify the tenant, and for example, in an embodiment of the present application, tenant ID1 may be used to indicate that the tenant requesting a service is tenant 1.

In one implementation, as shown in fig. 5, before step 401, the method may further include:

501: the first network equipment allocates tenant identification for the tenant, completes information creation of the tenant, and allocates a corresponding network slice instance for the tenant.

The tenant identification corresponds to a network slice instance identification allocated to the tenant by the first network device. I.e. the first network device associates the tenant identity with the network slice instance identity.

This step may be to complete registration of the tenant at the BSS layer, e.g. to complete information creation of the tenant in the CSMF, which may assign the tenant an identity, such as a tenant ID, to the tenant, and to complete other operational processes. After registration of the tenant is completed, the CSMF may perform assigning a network slice NS instance to the tenant and determining an identity of the NS instance, e.g., the NS instance may be represented by an S-nsai, while associating the S-nsai with the tenant identity tenant ID.

Thus, the first network device allocates a corresponding network slice instance for the tenant, and the network slice instance can provide a corresponding network service for the tenant.

402: the second network device receives the first request, determines to reuse an existing network slice instance, and determines a network cell and a first set.

Wherein the second network device may be an NSMF network element, and after the second network device receives the first request (e.g., the NSI allocation request), it may determine whether to reuse the built NSI according to the NSI allocation request according to the manner described above and shown in step 2 in fig. 3.

In addition, the second network device determines a network cell corresponding to the tenant and tenant identifications corresponding to other tenants in the network cell, so as to obtain a first set. The first set includes a set of all tenant identities corresponding to all network cells serving the tenant.

Specifically, the second network device determines that network service is provided for the Tenant through the created NSI according to the first request of the first network device, and confirms that the operator needs to perform Tenant-level refined resource management on the Tenant identified by the Tenant ID according to the first indication information, i.e., the performance monitoring indication (Monitoring Indicatio), which is carried in the first request, and then the second network device needs to initiate modification on NSI configuration, and triggers parameter configuration update on network cell resources corresponding to the NSI, i.e., needs to configure Tenant identification information on a network cell management object MO.

Thus, the second network device needs to determine all network cells serving the tenant, which may be one or a plurality of network cells. The second network device then determines tenant identities of other tenants in the at least one network cell that use the network cell service. For example, the first Tenant identification list, that is, the first Tenant ID list, may be generated according to the obtained Tenant identifications of the tenants other than the Tenant ID1 in the at least one network cell. The first collection can be obtained by adding the first Tenant ID list and the Tenant ID 1.

403: the second network device sends a third request to the third network device for performing configuration parameter modification on the network cell MO.

In one embodiment, the third request may specifically be a cell configuration modification request.

That is, the second network device initiates a network cell MO configuration update procedure to the third network device for performing configuration parameter modification on the network cell MO.

In one embodiment, the third network device may be a network resource configuration management service provider, provisioning MnS producer. Illustratively, the NSMF may initiate a network cell MO configuration update procedure to Provisioning MnS producer, i.e., the NSMF sends a cell configuration modification request to Provisioning MnS producer, as shown in fig. 5.

Alternatively, in another embodiment, the third network device may be a network slice subnet management function network element such as an NSSMF network element. For example, the NSMF may initiate a network cell MO configuration update procedure to the NSSMF, i.e. the NSMF sends a cell configuration modification request to the NSSMF, as shown in fig. 6.

The third request is used for modifying configuration parameters of the network cell management object MO, and the third request may include the second indication information, the first set, and the identity of the network cell.

The second indication information is used for indicating network resource allocation to each tenant in the first set, and may specifically be a resource isolation indication, which is represented by Isolation Indication network elements. The identification of the network cell is used to uniquely identify the serving cell that provides network services for the tenant, and may be represented by a cell ID.

The first set may include a set of all Tenant identities corresponding to all network cells serving the Tenant, that is, the aforementioned first Tenant identity list, that is, the first Tenant ID list, and the set of the Tenant identities Tenant ID 1.

In one embodiment, the third request of this step may be a management object attribute modification/modification moiattributes message, or may be carried in another message, which is not specifically limited in this application.

In one embodiment, the configuration parameters of the network cell MO may include NRCellDU MO (refer to table 4) and NRCellCU MO (refer to table 5). The NRCellDU MO is a configuration parameter of the cell MO that needs to be modified in the cell configuration modification request in step 403. Alternatively, the NRCellCU MO may or may not be modified together when performing step 403.

In one embodiment, the Cell ID is an attribute parameter cellLocalId in NRCellDU MO or NRCellCU MO. Tables 4 and 5 below, an attribute expression tenant identity may be added to the NRCellDU MO or NRCellCU MO.

The second indication information, isolation Indication, may be used as a management object attribute to modify the cell parameters of the modified moiattributes message. The first set may be used as an attribute parameter for NRCellDU MO or NRCellCU MO, as shown in table 4 or table 5.

Alternatively, in one embodiment, the first set may also be used as the attribute parameters of the PLMNInfo IOC, as shown in table 6, so that the configuration parameters of the NRCellDU MO or NRCellCU MO may not be modified.

Table 4: an attribute expression tenant identifier is added in the NRCellDU MO.

Table 5: adding an attribute expression tenant identifier in NRCellCU MO

Table 6: adding an attribute expression tenant identification in PLMNInfo IOC

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404: and the third network equipment receives the third request and determines the network resource allocation quota of the tenant in the network cell according to the subscription information corresponding to each tenant.

The third network device may determine, according to the second indication information, i.e. Isolation Indication, carried in the third request of the second network device, that resources of the network cell need to be configured according to the granularity of the tenant, and then the third network device needs to determine a proportion of resources that need to be configured for each tenant, so that, according to subscription information corresponding to each tenant, a network resource allocation quota, such as at least one of a maximum available network resource percentage, a minimum available network resource percentage, a dedicated network resource percentage, and the like, of each tenant in the network cell may be determined.

In an embodiment, the third network device may obtain subscription information of each tenant corresponding to the network slice in advance, and store the subscription information in the local area.

Or in another embodiment, the third network device determines subscription information of each tenant, and may obtain the subscription data of the tenant by sending a second request to the first network device.

As shown in fig. 5, step 404 in the method may specifically include the following steps.

502: the third network device receives a third request.

503: the third network device sends a second request to the first network device, wherein the second request comprises a first set, and the second request is used for requesting subscription data corresponding to each tenant in the first set.

In an embodiment, the second request may specifically be a tenant subscription information request, configured to request, to the first network device, subscription information corresponding to each tenant in the first set, where the tenant subscription information request includes the first set.

Illustratively, the third network device may be Provisioning MnS producer, as shown in fig. 5. As shown in fig. 6, the third network device may be an NSSMF network element.

504: the first network device receives the second request, inquires subscription information and sends a second response to the third network device.

The second response comprises each tenant identification in the first set and subscription data corresponding to each tenant.

In one manner, the corresponding second response may specifically be a tenant subscription information request response.

Illustratively, as shown in fig. 5, the CSMF queries the subscription information of all tenants corresponding to the tenant identities in the first set according to the tenant subscription information request of Provisioning MnS producer. And sends a tenant-subscription information request response to Provisioning MnS producer. The tenant subscription information request response comprises tenant identification of each tenant in the first set and subscription data corresponding to each tenant.

In one embodiment, the subscription data may include: at least one of requirement information of the tenant on network resources, time delay parameters, resource isolation parameters and signed service level information.

Exemplary tenant-subscription information request responses include: list [ Tenant ID, subscription data ]. The subscription data includes information about the resource requirements of the tenant, such as latency requirements, resource isolation requirements, subscribed service levels, and the like.

505: and the third network equipment receives the second response, and determines the network resource allocation quota of the tenant in the network cell according to the subscription information corresponding to each tenant.

The third network device may then allocate network resources based on the subscription information of each tenant.

For example, as shown in fig. 5, provisioning MnS producer may allocate network resources for each tenant in the network cell identified as the cell ID based on the tenant identification and the subscription data thereof received in step 504, to obtain a network resource parameter corresponding to each tenant, for example, a network resource quota (quota). Wherein the resource quota is a resource quota of the network cell that each tenant can use.

In one embodiment, the resource type for allocating the resources of the network cell may specifically be any one of a cell physical resource block PRB, a data radio bearer (Data Radio Bearer, DRB) or a number of accessible users. By way of example, the network resource quota may be represented by a maximum number of users (RRC connected users) in the RRC connected state.

In an embodiment, the resource quota may be a usage proportion allocated to the tenant in the above network resource, or a network resource parameter. The resource quota may be, for example, a maximum proportion, a minimum proportion, or a dedicated resource proportion of resource usage, as shown in fig. 7. Alternatively, it may be an absolute value of a parameter describing network resources, such as the maximum number of DRBs, the minimum number of DRBs, or the number of dedicated DRBs that can be used, etc. The method for defining the resource quota is not particularly limited.

405: the third network device interacts with the access network device to complete cell configuration modification.

Specifically, the third network device modifies the resource configuration of the network cell identified by the cell ID according to the resource quota of each tenant determined in step 404 (or 506), and sends a request for updating the cell configuration information on the access network device (such as the gNB-DU or the gNB-CU) to the access network device.

In one embodiment, the interaction between the third network device and the access network device to complete the cell configuration modification may specifically include:

step 1, third network equipment sends a fifth request to access network equipment, wherein the fifth request comprises a cell identifier of the network cell, a tenant identifier of each tenant in the network cell and a network resource allocation quota corresponding to each tenant, and the fifth request is used for updating cell configuration information on the access network equipment.

In one embodiment, the fifth request may specifically be a cell configuration modification request. The cell configuration modification request comprises a cell identifier of the network cell, a tenant identifier of each tenant in the network cell and a network resource allocation quota corresponding to each tenant.

The cell configuration modification request includes a cell ID, a list [ tenant ID, quota ], where the list [ tenant ID, quota ] is used to indicate a set of parameter pairs of the tenant identity of each tenant and a resource quota of a corresponding available cell. Wherein the number of tenant IDs in the first set is the same as the number of parameter pairs in list [ tenant ID, quota ].

In one embodiment, as shown in fig. 5, the fifth request sent by Provisioning MnS producer to the RAN network element may be a private, non-standardized interface message customized by the RAN network element equipment vendor, such as a cell resource modification request, a cell resource reallocation request message, etc. The cell parameter carried in the fifth request may be directly transferred in the message in the form of a Key-Value name Value pair.

Alternatively, the fifth request Provisioning MnS producer sent to the RAN network element may also be a modified moiattributes message defined by the 3GPP standard, similar to the foregoing steps, and the list [ tenant ID, quota ] cell parameter carried in the fifth request needs to be transmitted in the form of different information management object classes (Information managed Object Class, IOC) in the message respectively.

Specifically, the quota of the resources of the network cell is expressed in the form of RRMPolicyRatio IOC defined by the 3GPP standard, as shown in reference to table 7.

Table 7: RRMPolicyRatio IOC Attribute parameters

Attribute name	Parameter optional feature/supplortqualifier
		Maximum ratio of resources/rMPoliciyMaxRatio	M
Resource minimum ratio/rMPoliciyMinRatio	M
		Dedicated resource ratio/rMPoliciydedicatedRatio	O

Illustratively, the tenant identity set (i.e., the first set) of all tenants may be expressed in the form of RRMPolicyMember IOC defined by the enhanced 3GPP standard, as described below with reference to table 8.

Table 8: adding an attribute expression tenant identity in RRMPolicyMember IOC

Attributename	SupportQualifier	isReadable	isWritable	isInvariant	isNotifyable
						pLMNId	M	T	T	F	T
sNSSAI	CM	T	T	F	T
						TenantIdList	CM	T	F	F	T

The cell ID of the network cell may be expressed in the form of an attribute parameter cellLocalId of NRCellDU MO or NRCellCU MO.

And 2, the third network equipment sends a fifth response to the access network equipment, wherein the fifth response is used for indicating a cell configuration modification result of the access network equipment.

Correspondingly, the access network equipment updates the resource configuration of the network cell according to the resource quota of each tenant according to the fifth request. After the configuration updating operation is completed, the access network equipment sends a fifth response to the third network equipment, and indicates a cell configuration modification result of the access network equipment to complete an interaction flow of cell configuration modification.

The fifth response is used for indicating a configuration parameter modification result of the network cell MO, for example, indication information such as update success, update failure, and the like.

In one embodiment, the fifth response may be a cell configuration modification response in particular.

For example, as shown in fig. 5, after receiving the cell configuration modification request of Provisioning MnS producer, the RAN network element updates the network resource quota of each tenant, replies a cell configuration modification response to Provisioning MnS producer, and feeds back a processing result of the resource configuration update.

Or, as shown in fig. 6, after receiving the cell configuration modification request of the NSSMF, the RAN network element updates the network resource quota of each tenant, replies a cell configuration modification response to the NSSMF, and feeds back a processing result of the configuration update operation.

406: and the third network equipment sends a third response to the second network equipment, and the third response is used for indicating the configuration parameter modification result of the network cell MO.

And the third network equipment sends a third response to the second network equipment, so that the modification of the network resource configuration corresponding to the network cell by the third network equipment side is completed, and each tenant enjoying the network service in the network cell is associated with the allocated network resource quota.

The third response may specifically be a cell configuration modification response corresponding to the previous embodiment.

In one embodiment, in order to associate the NSSI with the tenant information on the NSSMF network element side, that is, associate the NSSI identifier with the tenant identifier in the NSSMF, as shown in fig. 5 and fig. 6, the method may further include:

506: the second network device sends a fourth request to the NSSMF requesting a configuration modification to the NSSI.

The fourth request includes the tenant identifier and the network slice instance identifier, and is used for indicating that the configuration modification of the network slice subnet instance NSSI is performed on the network slice instance of the tenant corresponding to the tenant identifier.

In one embodiment, the fourth request may specifically be an NSSI configuration modification request.

As shown in fig. 6, the second network device is an NSMF, the third network device is an NSSMF, and the NSMF initiates a configuration modification request for NSSI to the NSSMF, so as to associate NSSI with tenant information, that is, to associate an identification of NSSI (NSSI ID), a tenant identification (tentant ID), and a network slice instance identification (e.g., S-nsai) in the NSSMF.

The NSSI configuration modification request may be an NSSI modification/modifynsi message defined by the 3GPP standard, or may be carried in another message, which is not specifically limited in this application.

507: the NSSMF receives the fourth request and interacts with the access network device to complete the slice configuration modification.

Specifically, the interaction between NSSMF and the access network device to complete slice configuration modification may specifically include:

S1, NSSMF sends a sixth request to access network equipment, the sixth request comprises tenant identification of the tenant, and the sixth request is used for carrying out configuration modification on NSSI corresponding to the tenant.

S2: the access network device sends a sixth response to the NSSMF, wherein the sixth response is used for indicating the configuration modification result of the access network device to the NSSI corresponding to the tenant.

In one embodiment, the sixth request may be a slice configuration modification request in particular. Specifically, NSSMF sends a slice configuration modification request to an access network device RAN network element.

In one embodiment, the NSSMF may send an interface message between the NSSMF and the RAN network element, where the message carries the NS instance identifier S-NSSAI and the tenant identifier tenant ID, so that the RAN network element side may complete association between slice configuration information and tenant information (tenant identifier tenant ID).

After finishing the related processing of the slice configuration information and tenant information association, the RAN network element sends a slice configuration modification response to the NSSMF and feeds back the processing results of the slice configuration updating operation on the RAN network element, such as information of successful updating, failure updating and the like. This step may be accomplished based on proprietary non-standardized interface messages customized by the RAN network element equipment vendor.

508: the NSSMF sends a fourth response to the second network device indicating a result of the update to the network slice configuration.

In one embodiment, the fourth response may specifically include an NSSI configuration modification response.

In one embodiment, the second network device may be an NSMF network element, that is, after the NSSMF completes the configuration modification of the NSSI, reply to the NSMF with a NSSI configuration modification response message, and feed back a processing result of the slice configuration update operation on the NSSMF, such as information of success of update, failure of update, and the like.

At this time, the configuration of association between the network slice configuration information corresponding to the tenant and the tenant information on the RAN network element side and the NSSMF network element side of the core network device is completed, that is, the modification of reusing the NSI resource configuration corresponding to the existing NSI for the tenant is completed, and the network slice information corresponding to the user and the result of the corresponding resource allocation may be fed back to the first network device.

407: the second network device sends a first response to the first network device, wherein the first response is used for indicating a network slice instance identifier corresponding to the tenant and a resource allocation result.

The first response includes a network slice instance identifier corresponding to the tenant and a resource allocation result, for example, includes a network slice instance identifier S-NSAAI, and indication information such as NSI allocation success, allocation failure, or a cause of failure.

Further, the resource allocation result may specifically include a network resource allocation quota for the network slice instance allocated for each tenant in the first set. As mentioned above, the network resource may be any one of PRB, DRB number, or accessible user number, and the network resource quota may be a percentage of the network resource allocated to each tenant in the network resource, which is not limited in this application.

Corresponding to the foregoing embodiment, the first response may specifically be an NSI allocation request response.

By the embodiment of the application, the network resources of the service cell can be configured and isolated based on the tenant granularity, so that the network slicing instance and the tenant identification are associated in a scene of sharing a plurality of tenants, an operator can be supported to perform fine network management according to the tenant granularity, such as performance monitoring, network optimization management and the like, and the utilization rate of the network resources is improved.

In addition, the application also provides a network resource management method facing to the tenant, after the tenant of the operator performs the de-registration, the information of the de-registered tenant can be deleted and the network resource allocated to the tenant can be released through the following enhanced slice de-allocation flow, so that the network resource can be saved, the flexibility of the network resource configuration management can be improved, and the utilization rate of the network resource can be improved.

As shown in fig. 8, the method may include the following steps.

801: the first network device sends a request 1 to the second network device for indicating to delete the network slice resources allocated for the tenant.

In one embodiment, request 1 may specifically be an NSI de-allocation request.

In one embodiment, the first network device completes the deregistration process of the tenant prior to step 801.

Illustratively, when the contract between the tenant and the operator expires, the operator no longer provides network services for the tenant, the BSS layer needs to delete the relevant information of the tenant, and the operator completes the deregistration process for the tenant. After the de-registration process is completed, the first network device needs to perform an NSI de-allocation procedure to delete the NSI resources allocated to the tenant.

The request 1 may include a tenant identifier of the tenant, and a corresponding network slice instance identifier, for example, may be S-nsai.

In one embodiment, the first network device may be a CSMF network element.

In one implementation, the second network device may be an NSMF network element.

Illustratively, the CSMF sends an NSI de-allocation request to the NSMF, and carries an NSI identity S-NSSAI and a tenant identity (tent ID) in the NSI de-allocation request that indicates that deletion is required.

802: the second network device receives request 1, determines that the tenant is not the only tenant associated with the network slice instance identification.

The network slice resource corresponding to the tenant is the network resource quota allocated to the tenant in the foregoing embodiment. That is, after the tenant performs de-registration, the resources of the network slice instance allocated to the tenant may be released for use by other tenants, so that the de-allocation process needs to be performed on the NSI corresponding to the tenant.

Specifically, the NSMF receives the CSMF request 1, determines whether the tenant identifier tenant ID requested to be deleted is the only tenant associated with the NSI of the network slice instance identifier according to the tenant identifier and the network slice instance identifier included in the request 1, that is, determines the range of the deleted network slice resource according to whether the tenant identifier associated with the network slice instance identifier includes only the tenant identifier.

Further, if the tenant is not the only tenant associated with the network slice, it is determined that only the network slice resource corresponding to the tenant is deleted, and the following steps 803-811 are executed. If the tenant is the only tenant associated with the network slice instance, that is, the last tenant associated with the network slice instance, it is determined to delete the entire network slice instance NSI corresponding to the tenant, and steps 812-814-811 are performed.

803: the second network device sends a request 2 to the third network device for indicating to modify the configuration parameters of the network cell MO.

The request 2 includes third indication information, tenant identification and identification of a network cell. And the third indication information is used for indicating to delete the network resources, and the request 2 is used for indicating to delete the network resources allocated to the tenant corresponding to the tenant identification in the network cell MO.

In one embodiment, the request 2 may specifically be a cell configuration modification request.

Similar to the foregoing embodiment, the second network device initiates a network cell MO configuration update procedure to the third network device for modifying the configuration parameters of the network cell MO.

Specifically, the NSMF may trigger the configuration update of the network resource of the network cell by querying the network cell of at least one NSI of the tenant corresponding to the tenant identifier tentant ID, that is, deleting the tenant identifier information from the network cell management object MO, and allocating a resource quota to the tenant. Thus, NSMF initiates a network cell MO configuration update procedure.

In one embodiment, the third network device may be a network resource configuration management service provider, provisioning MnS producer. Illustratively, the NSMF may initiate a network cell MO configuration update procedure to Provisioning MnS producer, i.e., the NSMF sends a cell configuration modification request to Provisioning MnS producer, as shown in fig. 8.

Alternatively, in another embodiment, the third network device may be a network slice subnet management function NSSMF network element. For example, the NSMF may initiate a network cell MO configuration update procedure to the NSSMF, i.e. the NSMF sends a cell configuration modification request to the NSSMF, as shown in fig. 9.

The cell configuration modification request comprises third indication information, tenant identification and identification of a network cell. The Tenant identity may be a Tenant ID, and the representation of the network Cell may be a Cell ID, where the Cell ID is used to identify the network Cell MO. The third indication information may be a resource deletion indication, such as delete Indication, which is an indication information cell.

For example, the third indication information may be used to instruct the NSSMF to delete the Tenant identified by the Tenant ID associated with the NSI, and release the cell resource allocated to the Tenant.

In one embodiment, the request 2 of this step may be a management object attribute modification/modifymoittributes message, or may be carried in another message, which is not specifically limited in this application.

In one embodiment, the configuration parameters of the network cell MO may include NRCellDU MO (refer to table 4 above) and NRCellCU MO (refer to table 5 above). The NRCellDU MO is a configuration parameter of the cell MO that needs to be modified in the cell configuration modification request in step 803. Optionally, the NRCellCU MO may or may not be modified together when step 803 is performed.

Illustratively, in the request message of step 803, the Cell ID is the attribute parameter cellLocalId of NRCellDU MO or NRCellCU MO. delete Indication as cell parameters for the modifiymoiattributes message. The Tenant ID may be used as a value of a Tenant ID list of an attribute parameter of the NRCellDU MO or the NRCellCU MO, where the Tenant ID list may include only one Tenant ID. The property parameters of PLMNInfo IOC can also be used.

Next, after the third network device releases the cell resources allocated to the tenant, the third network device may reallocate the cell resource quota to the other tenant associated with the NSI (in a first manner), that is, the third network device may reconfigure the released network resources to the other tenant, so as to increase the utilization of the resources. Alternatively, the resource quota of other tenants may not be readjusted (mode two).

Mode one:

804: the third network device re-allocates network resources based on the released network resources and the currently associated tenant.

That is, the third network device determines to reallocate network slice resources based on the tenant release.

Based on the first set in the foregoing embodiment, that is, the set of all Tenant identities associated with the network cell, when the third network device deletes the Tenant identity of the Tenant ID1 in the first set based on the cell configuration modification request received in the foregoing step 803, the remaining all tenants currently associated with the NSI may obtain a second set, where the second set may be the set of Tenant identities obtained by deleting the Tenant identity Tenant ID1 in the step 803 in the first set.

The third network device may then reallocate the resource quota of the cell to the tenant in the second set based on the released network resources.

In an embodiment, the third network device may delete the content ID in the first set according to the third indication information (delete Indication) of the NSMF, and update the resource configuration of the network cell according to the granularity of the tenant, that is, reallocate the resource quota of the cell for all the remaining tenants (the second set) in the first set, where Provisioning MnS producer determines, based on the subscription data of each tenant in the second set, the resource quota of each tenant in the network cell.

805: and the third network equipment interacts with the access network equipment to complete the cell configuration modification.

Specifically, the third network device modifies the resource configuration of the network cell identified by the cell ID according to the resource quota of each tenant in the second set determined in step 804, and sends a cell configuration modification request to the access network device (such as the gNB-DU or the gNB-CU).

Similar to the foregoing embodiment, the cell configuration modification request may include a cell identifier of the network cell, a tenant identifier of each tenant in the second set associated with the network cell, and a network resource allocation quota corresponding to each tenant.

As shown in fig. 8, in an exemplary embodiment, provisioning MnS producer, according to the resource quota of each tenant in the second set determined in step 804, performs resource configuration modification on the network Cell identified by the Cell ID, and sends a Cell configuration modification request to a RAN network element (such as a gNB-DU, a gNB-CU), where the Cell configuration modification request may carry an identifier Cell ID, list [ tenant ID, quota ] of the network Cell, where list [ tenant ID, quota ] is a set of parameter pairs of the resource quota of each tenant identifier and its corresponding usable Cell in the second set.

Correspondingly, the access network equipment updates the resource configuration of the network cell according to the resource quota of each tenant according to the cell configuration modification request. After the configuration updating operation is completed, the access network device sends a cell configuration modification response to the third network device, and the interaction flow of cell configuration modification is completed.

Illustratively, after receiving the cell resource configuration modification request message of Provisioning MnS producer, the RAN network element performs a resource configuration update operation on the network cell according to the resource quota of each tenant. After the configuration updating operation is completed, a cell resource configuration modification request response message is replied to Provisioning MnS producer, and processing results of the configuration updating operation, such as information of successful updating, failed updating and the like, are fed back.

A second mode,

806: and the third network equipment interacts with the access network equipment to finish the release of the cell resources.

First, the third network device sends a cell resource release request to the access network device.

Illustratively, provisioning MnS producer deletes the Tenant information of the Tenant identifier Tenant ID1 in the first set according to the indication delete Indication of the NSMF, and initiates a cell resource release request to the access network device, so as to request the access network side to delete the Tenant identifier and release the network resource configuration associated with the Tenant.

The cell resource release request may include fourth indication information, a tenant identifier and a network cell identifier. And the fourth indication information is used for indicating to delete the tenant identification and releasing the network slice resource corresponding to the tenant identification.

Similar to the foregoing embodiment, the cell resource release request sent by Provisioning MnS producer to the RAN network element may be implemented through a private non-standardized interface message customized by the RAN network element equipment manufacturer, such as a cell resource release request, a cell resource modification request message, etc., and then the cell parameter carried in step 806 may be directly transferred in the message in the form of a Key-Value name pair. The Provisioning MnS producer message for implementing this step may also be a modifiymoiattributes message or a deleteMOI message defined by the 3GPP standard, and then the transmitted parameter is transferred as a parameter attribute of the cell MO, which is referred to in the related description of the MO parameter attribute in the foregoing embodiment, and will not be described herein.

Then, after receiving the cell resource release request of Provisioning MnS producer, the RAN network element deletes the identity of the tenant and releases the resource configuration related to the tenant identity tenant ID. After the related operation processing is completed, a cell resource release response is replied to Provisioning MnS producer, namely, the processing result of the feedback operation, such as release success, release failure and other information, is fed back.

In another embodiment, the third network device may be an NSSMF network element, and the steps 805 and 806 may specifically include: the NSSMF network element interacts with the RAN network element to complete the cell configuration modification; or, the NSSMF network element and the RAN network element interact to finish the release of the cell resources. The detailed process may refer to the foregoing embodiments, and will not be described herein.

807: the third network device sends a response 2 to the second network device.

In one embodiment, response 2 may specifically be a cell configuration modification response.

For example, provisioning MnS producer after receiving the processing result of cell resource modification returned by the RAN network element, replies a cell configuration modification response to the NSMF according to the received processing result, and feeds back the processing result of the cell configuration update operation, such as information of update success, update failure, and the like.

And the network resource allocation corresponding to the network cell is modified by the third network equipment side, so that after a certain tenant is unregistered, the associated information update of the network resource quota and the tenant identification in the network cell is completed.

Correspondingly, in order to delete the association relationship between the NSSI and the unregistered tenant information on the NSSMF network element side, namely deleting the unregistered tenant identifier corresponding to the NSSI identifier on the NSSMF side. The method may further comprise:

808: the second network device sends an NSSI de-allocation request to the NSSMF.

As shown in fig. 8, the second network device is an NSMF, which initiates an NSSI de-allocation request for NSSI to the NSSMF, so as to delete the tentant ID tenant identifier associated with the NSSI.

809: the NSSMF receives the NSSI de-allocation request, interacts with the access network equipment and completes the slice de-allocation processing.

Illustratively, NSSMF deletes the tenant ID of the slice configuration information on the RAN network element by an interface message between the NSSMF and the RAN network element, where the message carries an identifier S-nsai of the NS slice instance and a tenant identifier tenant ID. After the RAN network element completes the related processing, the RAN network element replies a request response message to the NSSMF, and feeds back the processing result of the network slice configuration de-allocation operation on the RAN network element, such as the success or failure of the de-allocation processing. This step may be based on proprietary non-standardized interface messages customized by the RAN network element equipment vendor.

810: the NSSMF sends an NSSI de-allocation response to the second network device.

After the NSSMF finishes modifying NSSI, a request response message is replied to NSMF, and the processing result of the operation of the de-allocation operation of the slice configuration on the NSSMF is fed back, such as the success or failure of the de-allocation processing.

811: the second network device sends a response 1 to the first network device.

The response 1 includes a deallocation result of the network slice resource corresponding to the tenant.

In one embodiment, response 1 may specifically be an NSI de-allocation response.

After the NSMF finishes the related processing of the NSI allocation request, an NSI deallocation response is replied to the CSMF, wherein the NSI deallocation response can carry NSI identification S-NSAAI, NSI deallocation processing results, such as successful deallocation processing, failure reasons and the like.

According to the description of the foregoing embodiment, if in step 802, the second network device determines that the tenant requesting the deallocation operation is not the only tenant associated with the network slice, the specific deallocation procedure is described with reference to the foregoing related description. Correspondingly, if in step 802, the second network device determines that the tenant requesting the deallocation operation is the only tenant associated with the network slice, that is, the last tenant associated with the network slice, the second network device determines to delete the entire network slice NSI corresponding to the tenant, and the second network device sends an NSI deallocation request to the NSSMF, which is used for indicating to delete the entire network slice NSI. Similar to steps 808-810 in the previous embodiments, the following steps may be specifically included.

812: the second network device sends an NSSI de-allocation request to the NSSMF.

Unlike in the foregoing embodiment, since the tenant is the last tenant associated with the network slice, the NSSI deallocation request is used to request deletion of the entire network slice instance NSI corresponding to the tenant, where the NSSI deallocation request only carries the network slice instance identifier.

813: the NSSMF receives the NSSI de-allocation request and interacts with the access network device to complete NSSI de-allocation processing.

Specifically, NSSMF deletes the configuration information of the network slice on the RAN network element through an interface message between the NSSMF and the RAN network element, where the message carries an NSI identifier S-nsai. After the RAN network element completes the related processing, the RAN network element replies a request response message to the NSSMF, and feeds back the processing result of the network slice configuration de-allocation operation on the RAN network element, such as the success or failure of the de-allocation processing. This step may be based on proprietary non-standardized interface messages customized by the RAN network element equipment vendor.

814: the NSSMF sends an NSSI de-allocation response to the second network device.

According to the embodiment of the invention, when the registration information of the tenant of the operator changes, the network slice resource of the registered tenant can be released in time, namely the tenant is released to configure the corresponding NSI network resource, and the network resource is saved. Furthermore, the released network slice resources can be reallocated according to a tenant sharing mechanism, so that the flexibility of network resource allocation and the utilization rate of the network resources are improved.

In addition, the application also provides a network resource management method facing to the tenant, which is applied to a scene that registration information of the tenant of an operator changes, especially the change of subscription data of the tenant, and the change of the subscription data of the tenant may affect the change of network cell resources allocated to the tenant. In the following embodiments of the present application, the adjustment of the resources allocated to the tenant may be implemented through a network slice configuration modification procedure, so that the network resource allocation may be adjusted in time, the flexibility of network resource configuration management may be improved, and the utilization rate of the network resource may be improved.

As shown in fig. 10, the method may include the following steps.

1001: the first network device sends a request 1 to the second network device for indicating to modify the network slice resources allocated for the tenant.

The request 1 may include a tenant identifier of the tenant, a corresponding network slice instance identifier, and subscription data of the tenant. For example, the network slice instance identifier may be S-NSSAI.

In one embodiment, the tenant's subscription data is updated or modified subscription data. The description of the subscription data may refer to the description of the foregoing embodiments, and will not be repeated here.

In one embodiment, request 1 may be specifically an NSI modification request.

In one embodiment, prior to step 1001, registration information corresponding to the tenant is modified on the first network device. Specifically, when the registration information of the operator for the tenant changes, for example, the subscription data of the tenant changes, or the SLA requirement of the tenant changes, the change of the cell resource allocated to the tenant may be affected, so the first network device needs to execute an NSI modification procedure, thereby modifying the NSI resource allocated to the tenant.

The NSI modification request may specifically be NSI modification request information, for example.

In one embodiment, the first network device may be a CSMF network element.

Illustratively, the CSMF sends an NSI modification request to the NSMF, and carries an NSI identification S-NSSAI indicating that modification is required, a tenant identification (tentID), and modified subscription data subscription data in the NSI modification request.

1002: the second network device receives the request 1 and determines a coverage cell of the NSI network of the tenant.

The second network device determines, according to the NSI modification request of the first network device, that parameter configuration update is performed on the network cell resource corresponding to the NSI, and needs to configure the identity information of the tenant for the affected network cell management object MO. Thus, the second network device needs to initiate a network cell MO configuration update procedure. First the NSMF needs to determine the network cell covered by the NSI of the tenant.

1003: the second network device sends a request 2 to the third network device for indicating to modify the configuration parameters of the network cell MO.

The request 2 includes fifth indication information, tenant identification, identification of a network cell, and subscription data of the tenant. The fifth indication information is used for indicating to modify network resources, and specifically, indicating to reallocate resources of the network cell used by the tenant corresponding to the tenant identification.

For example, the request 2 may include fifth indication information modify Indication, a Tenant identifier Tenant ID, parameters such as the Tenant modified subscription data subscription data and a Cell identifier Cell ID of the network Cell, where modify Indication is an indication information element, which is used to instruct the third network device to reallocate resources of the Cell ID Cell used by the Tenant identified by the Tenant ID.

In one embodiment, the third network device may be a network resource configuration management service provider, provisioning MnS producer. Illustratively, the NSMF may initiate a network cell MO configuration update procedure to Provisioning MnS producer, i.e., the NSMF sends a cell configuration modification request to Provisioning MnS producer.

Alternatively, in another embodiment, the third network device may be an NSSMF network element. For example, the NSMF may initiate a network cell MO configuration update procedure to the NSSMF, i.e. the NSMF sends a cell configuration modification request to the NSSMF.

1004: and the third network equipment receives the request 2 and determines the network resource allocation quota of the tenant in the network cell according to the subscription data of the tenant.

That is, the third network device may determine the new quota of the tenant by reallocating resources of the network cell according to the granularity of the tenant after modifying the registration information of the tenant according to the information carried in the request 2.

For example, provisioning MnS producer, as indicated by Modify Indication of NSMF, needs to reallocate the resources of the Cell ID Cell used by the Tenant identified by the Tenant ID, and Provisioning MnS producer determines, according to the subscription data of the Tenant, the resource quota of the Tenant in the network Cell identified by the Cell ID.

Specifically, the process of the third network device configuring the resources of the network cell according to the tenant granularity may refer to the description related to step 404 in the foregoing embodiment, which is not repeated herein.

And then, the third network equipment and the access network equipment interact to complete cell configuration modification, and then, a configuration parameter modification result of the network cell MO is sent to the second network equipment, and the second network equipment and NSSMF interact to complete NSSI configuration modification, namely, NSSI identification and tenant identification are associated on the NSSMF network element side, so that NSI configuration modification is finally completed.

The following process flow will be briefly described with reference to fig. 10, and the detailed interaction process may refer to steps 405-406 in the foregoing embodiment, where the steps 506-508 and the steps 1 and 2 are included.

1005: the third network device interacts with the access network device to complete cell configuration modification.

Specifically, the third network device modifies the resource configuration of the network cell identified by the cell ID according to the resource quota of each tenant determined in the step, and sends a request for updating the cell configuration information on the access network device (such as the gNB-DU or the gNB-CU) to the access network device.

1006: the third network device sends a response 2 to the second network device for indicating a result of the modification of the configuration parameters of the network cell MO.

1007: the second network device sends an NSSI configuration modification request to the NSSMF.

The NSSI configuration modification request comprises the tenant identifier and the network slice instance identifier, and is used for indicating that the configuration modification of the network slice subnet instance NSSI is performed on the network slice of the tenant corresponding to the tenant identifier.

Illustratively, the second network device is an NSMF, the third network device is an NSSMF, and the NSMF initiates a configuration modification request for NSSI to the NSSMF in order to associate NSSI with tenant information, i.e. to associate an identity of NSSI (NSSI ID), a tenant identity (tenant ID) and a network slice instance identity (e.g. S-NSSAI) in the NSSMF.

1008: the NSSMF receives the NSSI configuration modification request and interacts with the access network equipment to complete the slice configuration modification.

In one embodiment, the NSSMF may send an interface message between the NSSMF and the RAN network element, where the message carries an NSI identifier S-nsai and a tenant identifier tenant ID, so that the RAN network element side may complete association between slice configuration information and tenant information (tenant identifier tenant ID).

After finishing the related processing of the slice configuration information and tenant information association, the RAN network element sends a slice configuration modification response to the NSSMF and feeds back the processing results of the slice configuration updating operation on the RAN network element, such as information of successful updating, failure updating and the like.

1009: the NSSMF sends an NSSI configuration modification response to the second network device.

At this time, the configuration of the association between the network slice configuration information corresponding to the tenant and the tenant information on the RAN network element side and the NSSMF network element side of the core network device is completed, that is, the modification of the NSI resource configuration corresponding to the NSI updated for the tenant registration information is completed, and the network slice information corresponding to the user and the result of the corresponding resource allocation may be fed back to the first network device.

1010: and the second network equipment sends a response 1 to the first network equipment, wherein the response is used for indicating the network slice instance identifier and the resource allocation result corresponding to the tenant.

The response 1 includes a network slice instance identifier corresponding to the tenant and a resource allocation result, for example, includes a network slice instance identifier S-NSAAI, and indication information such as NSI allocation success, allocation failure, or a cause of failure.

In one embodiment, response 1 may be specifically an NSI modified response.

When the tenant registration information of the operator is sent and changed, the corresponding NSI network resource configuration can be timely adjusted, and the high efficiency and practicability of network resources (especially wireless network resources) are realized.

According to the embodiment of the invention, when the tenant registration information of the operator changes, the network slice resource configuration of the tenant can be timely adjusted, so that the network resource is reassigned based on the tenant granularity in real time and flexibly, and the flexibility of network resource assignment and the utilization rate of the network resource are improved.

Based on the embodiments shown in fig. 4 to fig. 6, the present application further provides a communication apparatus, configured to implement the steps performed by the first network device in the tenant-oriented network resource management method. As shown in fig. 11, the apparatus 1100 may include a transmitting module 1101 and a receiving module 1102.

The sending module 1101 is configured to send a first request to a second network device, where the first request includes first indication information and a tenant identifier, and the first indication information is used to indicate that network resources corresponding to the tenant are allocated and managed according to a tenant granularity.

The receiving module 1102 is configured to receive a first response from the second network device, where the first response includes a network slice instance identifier corresponding to the tenant and a resource allocation result.

In an embodiment, the apparatus 1100 may further include a processing module 1103, where the processing module 1103 is configured to allocate a tenant identifier to the tenant, complete information creation of the tenant, allocate a corresponding network slice to the tenant, and associate the tenant identifier with the network slice instance identifier.

In one embodiment, the receiving module 1102 is further configured to receive a second request from a third network device, where the second request includes a first set, where the second request is used to request subscription data corresponding to each tenant in the first set, and the first set includes all tenant identities corresponding to at least one network cell that serves the tenant.

The processing module 1103 is configured to query subscription data corresponding to each tenant according to the tenant identifier in the first set.

The sending module 1101 is configured to send a second response to the third network device, where the second response includes each tenant identifier in the first set and subscription data corresponding to each tenant.

Based on the embodiments shown in fig. 4 to fig. 6, the present application further provides a communication apparatus, configured to implement the steps performed by the second network device in the tenant-oriented network resource management method. As shown in fig. 11, the apparatus 1100 may include a transmitting module 1101, a receiving module 1102, and a processing module 1103.

The receiving module 1102 is configured to receive a first request from a first network device, where the first request includes first indication information and a tenant identifier, and the first indication information is used to indicate that network resources are allocated to the tenant according to a tenant granularity.

The processing module 1103 is configured to determine to reuse an existing network slice according to the first request, determine a network cell corresponding to the tenant, and identify tenants corresponding to other tenants in the network cell.

The sending module 1101 is configured to send, to a third network device, a third request according to the first indication information, where the third request is used to modify a configuration parameter of a network cell, the third request includes second indication information, a first set, and an identifier of the network cell, the second indication information is used to indicate network resource allocation to each tenant in the first set, and the first set includes a set of all tenant identifiers corresponding to at least one network cell that serves the tenant.

The receiving module 1102 is further configured to receive a third response from a third network device, where the third response is used to indicate a configuration parameter modification result for the network cell.

The sending module 1101 is further configured to send a first response to the first network device, where the first response includes a network slice instance identifier corresponding to the tenant and a resource allocation result.

In one embodiment, the sending module 1101 is further configured to send a fourth request to the network slice subnet management function NSSMF network element, where the fourth request includes the tenant identifier and the network slice instance identifier, and the fourth request is used to request a configuration modification of the network slice subnet instance NSSI.

The receiving module 1102 is further configured to receive a fourth response, where the fourth response is used to indicate a result of updating the network slice configuration.

Based on the embodiments shown in fig. 4 to fig. 6, the present application further provides a communication apparatus, configured to implement the steps performed by the third network device in the tenant-oriented network resource management method. As shown in fig. 11, the apparatus 1100 may include a transmitting module 1101, a receiving module 1102, and a processing module 1103.

The receiving module 1102 is configured to receive a third request from the second network device, where the third request is used to modify a configuration parameter of a network cell, and the third request includes second indication information, a tenant identifier list, and a network cell (management object) identifier, where the second indication information is used to indicate that corresponding network resources are allocated to the tenant according to a tenant granularity.

The processing module 1103 is configured to determine a network resource allocation quota of each tenant in the network cell according to the subscription information corresponding to each tenant.

The sending module 1101 is configured to send a third response to the second network device, where the third response is used to indicate a configuration parameter modification result for the network cell.

In an embodiment, the sending module 1101 is further configured to send a fifth request to an access network device, where the fifth request includes a cell identifier of the network cell, a tenant identifier of each tenant in the network cell, and a network resource allocation quota corresponding to each tenant, and the fifth request is used to update cell configuration information on the access network device.

The receiving module 1102 is configured to receive a fifth response from the access network device, where the fifth response is used to indicate a cell configuration modification result of the access network device.

In one embodiment, the sending module 1101 is further configured to send a second request to the first network device, where the second request includes a first set, and the second request is used to request subscription information corresponding to each tenant in the first set from the first network device, where the first set includes all tenant identities corresponding to at least one network cell that provides services for the tenant.

The receiving module 1102 is further configured to receive a second response from the first network device, where the second response includes an identifier of each tenant in the first set and corresponding subscription information.

In one embodiment, the first network device may be a CSMF network element.

In one embodiment, the second network device may be an NSMF network element.

In one embodiment, the third network device may be an NSSMF network element, or a network resource configuration management service provider.

In one embodiment, if the third network device is an NSSMF network element, the receiving module 1102 is further configured to receive a fourth request from the second network device, where the fourth request is used to request a configuration modification of a network slice subnet instance NSSI, and the fourth request includes the tenant identifier and the network slice instance identifier.

The third network equipment interacts with access network equipment to complete configuration modification of NSSI corresponding to the tenant on the access network equipment; the sending module 1101 is further configured to send a fourth response to the second network device, where the fourth response is used to indicate a result of updating the network slice configuration.

In an embodiment, the sending module 1101 is further configured to send a sixth request to the access network device, where the sixth request includes a tenant identifier of the tenant, and the sixth request is used to perform configuration modification on an NSSI corresponding to the tenant.

The receiving module 1102 is further configured to receive a sixth response from the access network device, where the sixth response is used to instruct the access network device to modify a configuration of the NSSI corresponding to the tenant.

Based on the embodiment shown in fig. 8 or fig. 9, the present application further provides a communication apparatus, configured to implement the steps performed by the first network device in the tenant-oriented network resource management method. As shown in fig. 11, the apparatus 1100 may include a transmitting module 1101, a receiving module 1102, and a processing module 1103.

The sending module 1101 is configured to send a request 1 to a second network device, where the request 1 includes a tenant identifier and a network slice instance identifier, and the request 1 is configured to instruct to delete a network slice resource allocated to a tenant corresponding to the tenant identifier.

The receiving module 1102 is configured to receive a response 1 from the second network device, where the response 1 includes a deallocation result of the network slice resource corresponding to the tenant.

In one embodiment, the receiving module 1102 is further configured to receive a deregistration request of the tenant, and the processing module 1103 completes the deregistration process of the tenant.

Based on the embodiment shown in fig. 8 or fig. 9, the present application further provides a communication apparatus, configured to implement the steps performed by the second network device in the tenant-oriented network resource management method. As shown in fig. 11, the apparatus 1100 may include a transmitting module 1101, a receiving module 1102, and a processing module 1103.

The receiving module 1102 is configured to receive a request 1, where the request 1 includes a tenant identifier and a network slice instance identifier, and the request 1 is configured to instruct to delete a network slice resource allocated for a tenant corresponding to the tenant identifier.

The processing module 1103 is configured to determine that the tenant is not the only tenant associated with the network slice instance identification.

The sending module 1101 is configured to send a request 2 to a third network device; the request 2 includes third indication information, the tenant identifier and the identifier of the network cell, where the third indication information is used to indicate deletion of the network slice resource allocated by the tenant.

The receiving module 1102 is further configured to receive a response 2 from the third network device, where the response 2 is used to indicate a configuration parameter modification result for the network cell.

The sending module 1101 is further configured to send a response 1 to the first network device, where the response 1 includes a deallocation result of the network slice resource corresponding to the tenant.

In one embodiment, the sending module 1101 is further configured to send a request 3 to a network slice subnet management function NSSMF network element, where the request 3 includes the tenant identifier and the network slice instance identifier, and the request 3 is configured to request deletion of the tenant identifier associated with the network slice subnet instance NSSI.

The receiving module 1102 is further configured to receive a response 3, where the response 3 is used to indicate a result of updating the network slice configuration.

Based on the embodiment shown in fig. 8 or fig. 9, the present application further provides a communication apparatus, configured to implement the steps performed by the third network device in the tenant-oriented network resource management method. As shown in fig. 11, the apparatus 1100 may include a transmitting module 1101, a receiving module 1102, and a processing module 1103.

The receiving module 1102 is configured to receive a request 2 from a second network device; the request 2 includes third indication information, the tenant identifier and the identifier of the network cell, where the third indication information is used to indicate deletion of the network slice resource allocated by the tenant.

The apparatus 1100 is configured to interact with an access network device to complete a cell configuration modification process or complete a cell resource release process.

The sending module 1101 is configured to send a response 2 to the second network device, where the response 2 is used to indicate a configuration parameter modification result for the network cell.

In one embodiment, the processing module 1103 is configured to re-allocate network resources based on the released network resources and the currently associated tenant.

The sending module 1101 is further configured to send a cell configuration modification request to the access network device, where the cell configuration modification request includes an identifier of the network cell, a second set, and a network resource allocation quota corresponding to each tenant in the second set.

The receiving module 1102 is further configured to receive a cell configuration modification response from the access network device, where the cell configuration modification response is used to indicate a result of reallocating network slice resources corresponding to the tenant.

In an embodiment, the processing module 1103 is configured to determine, according to subscription information corresponding to each tenant in the second set, a network resource allocation quota of each tenant in the second set in the network cell.

In an embodiment, the sending module 1101 is configured to send a cell resource release request to an access network device, where the cell resource release request includes fourth indication information, a tenant identifier, and a network cell identifier, and the fourth indication information is used to indicate deletion of the tenant identifier and release of network slice resources corresponding to the tenant identifier.

The receiving module 1102 is configured to receive a cell resource release response from the access network device, where the cell resource release response is used to indicate a result of releasing the network slice resource corresponding to the tenant.

In one embodiment, the first network device may be a CSMF network element.

In one embodiment, the second network device may be an NSMF network element.

Based on the embodiment shown in fig. 10, the present application further provides a communication apparatus, configured to implement the steps performed by the first network device in the tenant-oriented network resource management method. As shown in fig. 11, the apparatus 1100 may include a transmitting module 1101, a receiving module 1102, and a processing module 1103.

The sending module 1101 is configured to send a request 1 to a second network device, where the request 1 includes a tenant identifier, a network slice instance identifier, and subscription data of a tenant corresponding to the tenant identifier, and the request 1 is configured to indicate to modify a network slice resource allocated for the tenant.

The receiving module 1102 is configured to receive a response 1 from the second network device, where the response 1 includes a network slice instance identifier corresponding to the tenant and a resource allocation result.

In one embodiment, the processing module 1103 is configured to modify registration information of the tenant.

Based on the embodiment shown in fig. 10, the present application further provides a communication apparatus, configured to implement the steps performed by the second network device in the tenant-oriented network resource management method. As shown in fig. 11, the apparatus 1100 may include a transmitting module 1101, a receiving module 1102, and a processing module 1103.

The receiving module 1102 is configured to receive a request 1, where the request 1 includes a tenant identifier, a network slice instance identifier, and subscription data of a tenant corresponding to the tenant identifier, and the request 1 is configured to indicate to modify a network slice resource allocated for the tenant; and determining the cell identification of the NSI covered network cell corresponding to the tenant.

The sending module 1101 is configured to send a request 2 to a third network device; the request 2 includes fifth indication information, tenant identification, identification of the network cell and subscription data of the tenant corresponding to the tenant identification, and the request 2 is used for indicating to modify configuration parameters of the network cell.

The sending module 1101 is further configured to send a response 1 to the first network device, where the response 1 includes a network slice instance identifier corresponding to the tenant and a resource allocation result.

In one embodiment, the sending module 1101 is further configured to send an NSSI configuration modification request to a network slice subnet management function NSSMF network element, for requesting modification of an NSSI configuration associated with the tenant, where the sending NSSI configuration modification request includes the tenant identifier and the network slice instance identifier.

Based on the embodiment shown in fig. 10, the present application further provides a communication apparatus, configured to implement the steps performed by the third network device in the tenant-oriented network resource management method. As shown in fig. 11, the apparatus 1100 may include a transmitting module 1101, a receiving module 1102, and a processing module 1103.

The receiving module 1102 is configured to receive a request 2 from a second network device; the request 2 includes fifth indication information, tenant identification, identification of the network cell and subscription data of the tenant corresponding to the tenant identification, and the request 2 is used for indicating to modify configuration parameters of the network cell.

The apparatus 1100 is configured to interact with an access network device to complete a cell configuration modification process.

In one embodiment, the sending module 1101 is further configured to send a cell configuration request to an access network device, where the cell configuration request is used to indicate updating of cell configuration information on the access network device, and the cell configuration request includes a cell identifier of the network cell, a tenant identifier of each tenant in the network cell, and a network resource allocation quota corresponding to each tenant.

The receiving module 1102 is further configured to receive a cell configuration response from the access network device, where the cell configuration response is used to indicate a cell configuration modification result of the access network device.

In one embodiment, the first network device may be a CSMF network element.

In one embodiment, the second network device may be an NSMF network element.

The embodiment of the present application may divide the functional modules of the first network device, the second network device, or the third network device according to the above method example, for example, each functional module may be divided corresponding to each function, or two or more functions may be integrated into one processing module. The integrated modules may be implemented in hardware or in software functional modules. It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the division of the modules is schematic, which is merely a logic function division, and other division manners may be implemented in actual implementation.

For example, in the case where the respective functional modules are divided in an integrated manner, the communication apparatus may be a chip or a system on a chip in the first network device, the second network device, or the third network device, or other combination devices, components, or the like that may implement the functions of the network devices, and the communication apparatus may be used to perform the functions of the first network device, the second network device, or the third network device in the foregoing embodiments.

As a possible implementation, when the communication apparatus is a network device, the transmitting module may be a transmitter, may include an antenna and a radio frequency circuit, and the processing module may be a processor, such as a baseband chip, and the like. When the apparatus is a component having the above-mentioned network device function, the transmitting module may be a radio frequency unit, and the processing module may be a processor. When the device is a chip system, the sending module may be an output interface of the chip system, and the processing module may be a processor of the chip system, for example: a central processing unit (central processing unit, CPU).

All relevant content of each operation related to the above method embodiment may be cited to the functional description of the corresponding functional module, which is not described herein.

In the present embodiment, the communication apparatus is presented in a form in which the respective functional modules are divided in an integrated manner. A "module" herein may refer to a particular ASIC, an electronic circuit, a processor and memory that execute one or more software or firmware programs, an integrated logic circuit, and/or other device that can provide the described functionality. In a simple embodiment, one skilled in the art will appreciate that the communication device may take the form shown in fig. 12.

Fig. 12 is a schematic diagram of a hardware configuration of a communication device applicable to an embodiment of the present application. The communication device 1200 comprises at least one processor 01, communication lines 02, a memory 03 and at least one communication interface 04.

The processor 01 may be a general purpose central processing unit (central processing unit, CPU), microprocessor, application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), or one or more integrated circuits for controlling the execution of the programs of the present application.

Communication line 02 may include a pathway to transfer information between the aforementioned components, such as a bus.

Communication interface 04, using any transceiver-like means for communicating with other devices or communication networks, such as ethernet interfaces, radio access network interfaces (radio access network, RAN), wireless local area network interfaces (wireless local area networks, WLAN), etc.

The memory 03 may be, but is not limited to, a read-only memory (ROM) or other type of static storage device that can store static information and instructions, a random access memory (random access memory, RAM) or other type of dynamic storage device that can store information and instructions, or an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (electrically erasable programmable read-only memory, EEPROM), a compact disc read-only memory (compact disc read-only memory) or other optical disc storage, a compact disc storage (including compact disc, laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc, blu-ray disc, etc.), a magnetic disk storage medium or other magnetic storage device, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer. The memory may be independent and connected to the processor via communication line 02. The memory may also be integrated with the processor. The memory provided by embodiments of the present application may generally have non-volatility. The memory 03 is used for storing computer execution instructions related to executing the scheme of the application, and the processor 01 controls the execution. The processor 01 is configured to execute computer-executable instructions stored in the memory 03, thereby implementing the method provided in the embodiment of the present application.

Alternatively, the computer-executable instructions in the embodiments of the present application may be referred to as application program codes, which are not specifically limited in the embodiments of the present application.

In a specific implementation, as an embodiment, processor 01 may include one or more CPUs, such as CPU0 and CPU1 in FIG. 12.

In a specific implementation, as an embodiment, the communication device 00 may include a plurality of processors, such as the processor 01 and the processor 07 in fig. 12. Each of these processors may be a single-core (single-CPU) processor or may be a multi-core (multi-CPU) processor. A processor herein may refer to one or more devices, circuits, and/or processing cores for processing data (e.g., computer program instructions).

In a specific implementation, as an embodiment, the communication apparatus 1200 may further include an output device 05 and an input device 06. The output device 05 communicates with the processor 01 and may display information in a variety of ways. For example, the output device 05 may be a liquid crystal display (liquid crystal display, LCD), a light emitting diode (light emitting diode, LED) display device, a Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) display device, or a projector (projector), or the like. The input device 06 communicates with the processor 01 and may receive user input in a variety of ways. For example, the input device 06 may be a mouse, a keyboard, a touch screen device, a sensing device, or the like.

The communication apparatus 1200 may be a general-purpose device or a special-purpose device. In a specific implementation, the communication apparatus 1200 may be a desktop, a laptop, a web server, a palmtop (personal digital assistant, PDA), a mobile handset, a tablet, a switch, an embedded device, or a device having a similar structure as in fig. 12. The embodiments of the present application are not limited to the type of communication device 1200.

For example, the processor 01 in fig. 12 may cause the communication apparatus 1200 to execute the tenant-oriented network resource management method in the above method embodiment by invoking computer-executable instructions stored in the memory 03.

By way of example, the functions/implementation procedures of the transmitting module 1101, the receiving module 1102 and the processing module 1103 in fig. 11 may be implemented by the processor 01 in fig. 12 calling computer-executable instructions stored in the memory 03. Alternatively, the function/implementation procedure of the processing module 1103 in fig. 11 may be implemented by the processor 01 in fig. 12 calling computer-executable instructions stored in the memory 03, and the function/implementation procedure of the transmitting module 1101 in fig. 11 may be implemented by the communication interface 04 in fig. 12.

It should be noted that, all relevant contents of the steps related to the above method embodiments may be cited to the functional descriptions of the corresponding network elements of the communication devices 1100 and 1200, which are not described herein again.

In the above embodiments, it may be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented using a software program, it may be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer program instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the processes or functions in accordance with embodiments of the present application are produced in whole or in part. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable apparatus. The computer instructions may be stored in or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another, for example, a website, computer, server, or data center via a wired (e.g., coaxial cable, fiber optic, digital subscriber line (digital subscriber line, DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) means. Computer readable storage media can be any available media that can be accessed by a computer or data storage devices including one or more servers, data centers, etc. that can be integrated with the media. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium (e.g., a floppy disk, a hard disk, a magnetic tape), an optical medium (e.g., a DVD), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., a Solid State Disk (SSD)), or the like.

Although the present application has been described herein in connection with various embodiments, other variations to the disclosed embodiments can be understood and effected by those skilled in the art in practicing the claimed application, from a review of the figures, the disclosure, and the appended claims. In the claims, the word "comprising" does not exclude other elements or operations, and the use of "a" or "an" does not exclude a plurality. A single processor or other unit may fulfill the functions of several items recited in the claims. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in mutually different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used to advantage.

Although the present application has been described in connection with specific features and embodiments thereof, it will be apparent that various modifications and combinations can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the application. Accordingly, the specification and drawings are merely exemplary illustrations of the present application as defined in the appended claims and are considered to cover any and all modifications, variations, combinations, or equivalents that fall within the scope of the present application. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present application without departing from the spirit or scope of the application. Thus, if such modifications and variations of the present application fall within the scope of the claims and the equivalents thereof, the present application is intended to cover such modifications and variations.

Claims

1. A tenant-oriented network resource management method, the method comprising:

the method comprises the steps that first network equipment sends a first request to second network equipment, wherein the first request comprises first indication information and tenant identification, and the first indication information is used for indicating corresponding network resource allocation and management to tenants according to tenant granularity;

and receiving a first response from the second network equipment, wherein the first response comprises a network slice instance identifier corresponding to the tenant and a resource allocation result.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein prior to the sending the first request to the second network device, the method further comprises:

and the first network equipment allocates a tenant identifier for the tenant, completes information creation of the tenant, allocates a corresponding network slice for the tenant, and associates the tenant identifier with the network slice instance identifier.

3. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein prior to the receiving the first response from the second network device, the method further comprises:

receiving a second request of a third network device, where the second request includes a first set, where the second request is used to request subscription data corresponding to each tenant in the first set, and the first set includes all tenant identities corresponding to at least one network cell that serves the tenant;

Inquiring subscription data corresponding to each tenant according to the tenant identification in the first set;

and sending a second response to the third network device, wherein the second response comprises each tenant identifier in the first set and subscription data corresponding to each tenant.

4. A method according to claim 3, wherein the subscription data comprises: at least one of requirement information of the tenant on the network resource, time delay parameter, resource isolation parameter and signed service level information.

5. A tenant-oriented network resource management method, the method comprising:

the second network equipment receives a first request from the first network equipment, wherein the first request comprises first indication information and tenant identification, and the first indication information is used for indicating network resource allocation corresponding to the tenant according to tenant granularity;

determining to reuse an existing network slice according to the first request, and determining a network cell corresponding to the tenant and tenant identifications corresponding to other tenants in the network cell;

sending a third request to third network equipment according to the first indication information, wherein the third request is used for carrying out configuration parameter modification on network cells, the third request comprises second indication information, a first set and identifiers of the network cells, the second indication information is used for indicating each tenant in the first set to carry out network resource allocation, and the first set comprises a set of all tenant identifiers corresponding to at least one network cell for providing service for the tenant;

And sending a first response to the first network device, wherein the first response comprises a network slice instance identifier corresponding to the tenant and a resource allocation result.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein after receiving the third response from the third network device, the method further comprises:

the second network device sends a fourth request to a network element of a network slicing subnet management function, wherein the fourth request comprises the tenant identifier and the network slicing instance identifier, and the fourth request is used for requesting configuration modification of a network slicing subnet instance;

a fourth response is received, the fourth response indicating a result of updating the network slice configuration.

7. A tenant-oriented network resource management method, the method comprising:

a third network device receives a third request from a second network device, wherein the third request is used for modifying configuration parameters of a network cell, the third request comprises second indication information, a first set and an identifier of the network cell, the second indication information is used for indicating network resource allocation to each tenant in the first set, and the first set comprises a set of all tenant identifiers corresponding to at least one network cell for providing service for the tenant;

According to the subscription information corresponding to each tenant, determining the network resource allocation quota of each tenant in the network cell;

and sending a third response to the second network device, wherein the third response is used for indicating a configuration parameter modification result of the network cell.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the determining, according to the subscription information corresponding to each tenant, that each tenant is before the network resource allocation quota of the network cell, the method further comprises:

sending a second request to a first network device, where the second request includes a first set, where the second request is used to request subscription information corresponding to each tenant in the first set to the first network device, and the first set includes all tenant identities corresponding to at least one network cell that serves the tenant;

a second response from the first network device is received, the second response including an identification of each tenant in the first set and corresponding subscription information.

9. The method according to claim 7 or 8, wherein the subscription data comprises: at least one of requirement information of the tenant on the network resource, time delay parameter, resource isolation parameter and signed service level information.

10. The method according to any of claims 7-9, wherein the network resource allocation quota for each tenant is represented by a number of cell physical resource blocks PRB, data radio bearers DRBs, or a number of accessible users.

11. The method according to any of claims 1-10, wherein the first network device is a communication service management function network element.

12. The method according to any of claims 1-11, wherein the second network device is a network slice management function network element.

13. The method according to any of claims 1-12, wherein the third network device is a network slice subnet management function network element or is a network resource allocation management service provider.

14. The method according to any of claims 7-13, wherein, if the third network device is a network element, after the sending of the third response to the second network device, the method further comprises:

receiving a fourth request from the second network device, the fourth request for requesting configuration modification of a network slice subnet instance, the fourth request including the tenant identity and the network slice instance identity;

The third network equipment interacts with access network equipment to complete configuration modification of the network slicing subnet instance corresponding to the tenant on the access network equipment;

and sending a fourth response to the second network device, wherein the fourth response is used for indicating a result of updating the network slice configuration.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the third network device interacts with an access network device to complete configuration modification of the tenant on the access network device for the network slice subnet instance, specifically comprising:

the third network device sends a sixth request to the access network device, wherein the sixth request comprises a tenant identifier of the tenant, and the sixth request is used for carrying out configuration modification on a network slice subnet instance corresponding to the tenant;

the third network device receives a sixth response from the access network device, where the sixth response is used to instruct the access network device to modify the configuration of the network slice subnet instance corresponding to the tenant.

16. A tenant-oriented network resource management method, the method comprising:

And receiving a response 1 from the second network device, wherein the response 1 comprises a deallocation result of the network slice resource corresponding to the tenant.

17. A tenant-oriented network resource management method, the method comprising:

the second network equipment receives a request 1, wherein the request 1 comprises a tenant identifier and a network slice instance identifier, and the request 1 is used for indicating to delete network slice resources allocated to a tenant corresponding to the tenant identifier;

determining that the tenant is not the only tenant associated with the network slice instance identification;

sending a request 2 to a third network device; the request 2 includes third indication information, the tenant identifier and the identifier of the network cell, where the third indication information is used to indicate deletion of the network slice resource allocated by the tenant;

receiving a response 2 from the third network device, wherein the response 2 is used for indicating a configuration parameter modification result of the network cell;

and sending a response 1 to the first network device, wherein the response 1 comprises a deallocation result of the network slice resource corresponding to the tenant.

18. A tenant-oriented network resource management method, the method comprising:

The third network device receives a request 2 from the second network device; the request 2 includes third indication information, the tenant identifier and the identifier of the network cell, where the third indication information is used to indicate deletion of the network slice resource allocated by the tenant;

the method comprises the steps of performing interaction with access network equipment to complete cell configuration modification processing or complete cell resource release processing;

and sending a response 2 to the second network equipment, wherein the response 2 is used for indicating a configuration parameter modification result of the network cell.

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein the interacting with the access network device completes the cell configuration modification process, specifically comprising:

the third network equipment re-allocates network resources based on the released network resources and currently associated tenants;

transmitting a cell configuration modification request to the access network equipment, wherein the cell configuration modification request comprises an identifier of the network cell, a second set and a network resource allocation quota corresponding to each tenant in the second set;

and receiving a cell configuration modification response from the access network equipment, wherein the cell configuration modification response is used for indicating a result of reallocating network slice resources corresponding to the tenant.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the interacting with the access network device completes the cell resource release process, specifically includes:

transmitting a cell resource release request to access network equipment, wherein the cell resource release request comprises fourth indication information, tenant identification and network cell identification, and the fourth indication information is used for indicating deletion of the tenant identification and release of network slice resources corresponding to the tenant identification;

and receiving a cell resource release response from the access network equipment, wherein the cell resource release response is used for indicating a result of releasing the network slice resource corresponding to the tenant.

21. A tenant-oriented network resource management method, the method comprising:

and receiving a response 1 from the second network equipment, wherein the response 1 comprises a network slice instance identifier corresponding to the tenant and a resource allocation result.

22. A tenant-oriented network resource management method, the method comprising:

the second network equipment receives a request 1, wherein the request 1 comprises a tenant identifier, a network slice instance identifier and subscription data of a tenant corresponding to the tenant identifier, and the request 1 is used for indicating to modify network slice resources allocated for the tenant;

determining a cell identifier of a network cell covered by the network slice instance corresponding to the tenant;

sending a request 2 to a third network device; the request 2 includes fifth indication information, tenant identification, identification of a network cell and subscription data of a tenant corresponding to the tenant identification, and the request 2 is used for indicating to modify configuration parameters of the network cell;

and sending a response 1 to the first network device, wherein the response 1 comprises a network slice instance identifier corresponding to the tenant and a resource allocation result.

23. A tenant-oriented network resource management method, the method comprising:

the third network device receives a request 2 from the second network device; the request 2 includes fifth indication information, tenant identification, identification of a network cell and subscription data of a tenant corresponding to the tenant identification, and the request 2 is used for indicating to modify configuration parameters of the network cell;

Interacting with access network equipment to complete cell configuration modification processing;

24. A communication device, the device comprising:

a sending module, configured to send a first request to a second network device, where the first request includes first indication information and a tenant identifier, where the first indication information is used to indicate that network resources corresponding to the tenant are allocated and managed according to a tenant granularity;

and the receiving module is used for receiving a first response from the second network equipment, wherein the first response comprises a network slice instance identifier corresponding to the tenant and a resource allocation result.

25. A communication device, the device comprising:

a receiving module, configured to receive a first request from a first network device, where the first request includes first indication information and a tenant identifier, where the first indication information is used to indicate that network resources corresponding to the tenant are allocated according to a tenant granularity;

the processing module is used for determining to reuse the existing network slice according to the first request, and determining a network cell corresponding to the tenant and tenant identifications corresponding to other tenants in the network cell;

A sending module, configured to send a third request to a third network device according to the first indication information, where the third request is used to modify a configuration parameter of a network cell, the third request includes second indication information, a first set, and an identifier of the network cell, the second indication information is used to indicate network resource allocation to each tenant in the first set, and the first set includes a set of all tenant identifiers corresponding to at least one network cell that provides services for the tenant;

the receiving module is further configured to receive a third response from a third network device, where the third response is used to indicate a configuration parameter modification result for the network cell;

the sending module is further configured to send a first response to the first network device, where the first response includes a network slice instance identifier corresponding to the tenant and a resource allocation result.

26. A communication device, the device comprising:

a receiving module, configured to receive a third request from a second network device, where the third request is used to modify a configuration parameter of a network cell, where the third request includes second indication information, a tenant identifier list, and a network cell (management object) identifier, where the second indication information is used to indicate that corresponding network resources are allocated to the tenant according to a tenant granularity;

The processing module is used for determining the network resource allocation quota of each tenant in the network cell according to the subscription information corresponding to each tenant;

and the sending module is used for sending a third response to the second network equipment, wherein the third response is used for indicating a configuration parameter modification result of the network cell.

27. A communication device, characterized in that the device is adapted to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 4, or to perform the method of any one of claims 5 to 6, or to perform the method of any one of claims 7 to 15, or to perform the method of claim 16, or to perform the method of claim 17, or to perform the method of any one of claims 18 to 20, or to perform the method of claim 21, 22 or 23.

28. A communication device, the device comprising: a processor coupled to a memory for storing a program or instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 4, or to perform the method of any one of claims 5 to 6, or to perform the method of any one of claims 7 to 15, or to perform the method of claim 16, or to perform the method of claim 17, or to perform the method of any one of claims 18 to 20, or to perform the method of claim 21, 22, or 23.

29. A computer readable storage medium, having stored therein a computer program which, when executed by a computer, causes the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 4, or to perform the method of any one of claims 5 to 6, or to perform the method of any one of claims 7 to 15, or to perform the method of claim 16, or to perform the method of claim 17, or to perform the method of any one of claims 18 to 20, or to perform the method of claim 21, 22 or 23.

30. A communication system comprising a communication device according to claim 24, a communication device according to claim 25 and a communication device according to claim 26.