CN114641014B - User plane entity, configuration method, system and equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention provides a user plane entity, a configuration method, a system and equipment, wherein the user plane entity comprises the following components: at least one user plane UP component, each of said user plane UP components being configured to perform at least one function of a user plane UP functional entity; and the at least one user plane UP control function is used for managing the division of at least one user plane UP component of the user plane entity and/or managing the bearing configuration of the user plane UP component. The technical scheme of the invention can reduce the functional redundancy of the user plane, improve the processing efficiency of the user plane and meet the service requirements of various applications, especially the edge low-delay application.

Description

User plane entity, configuration method, system and device

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to a user plane entity, a configuration method, a system and a device.

Background Art

In the prior art, there is redundancy in the functions between UPF (User Plane Function), CU-UP (Centralized Unit-User Plane), and DU (Distributed Unit), such as: UPF and SDAP (Service Data Adaptation Protocol) both have QoS (Quality of Service) processing modules, UPF and PDCP (Packet Data Convergence Protocol) both have security-related modules, RLC (Radio Link Control) and MAC (Media Access Control) both have retransmission function modules, and RLC (Radio Link Control) and MAC both have similar multiplexing/reorganization functions. The redundancy of functions and the stack-like protocol processing flow will directly increase the data processing time, and the large data processing delay will not meet the end-to-end delay requirements of edge services.

In order to reduce user plane latency, the method adopted by 5G networks is to sink the UPF to the access room. In addition, the industry is also considering using hardware acceleration technology to enhance the UPF processing efficiency. However, the UPF sinking method can only reduce processing time to a limited extent, and hardware acceleration technology can only make the UPF processing efficiency reach the performance of dedicated hardware devices. Therefore, how to further improve the processing speed and reduce latency is an urgent problem to be solved.

Summary of the invention

The present invention provides a user plane entity, a configuration method, a network system and a communication device, which are used to reduce the functional redundancy of the user plane and improve the user plane processing efficiency to meet the business needs of various applications, especially edge low-latency applications.

In order to solve the above technical problems, the embodiments of the present invention provide the following technical solutions:

A user plane entity, comprising:

At least one user plane UP component, each of the user plane UP components is used to perform at least one function of a user plane UP functional entity;

At least one user plane UP control function is used to manage the partitioning of at least one user plane UP component of the user plane entity and/or manage the bearer configuration of the user plane UP component.

Optionally, the user plane UP component includes at least one of the following modules:

The billing module is used to perform statistical billing based on the classification results of network messages;

Security module, used to check the validity and security of messages;

QoS module, used to map the quality of service of different types of data flows;

An encryption and decryption module, used to perform encryption and decryption operations on data packets;

Routing module, forwarding data packets;

A repeat module is used to copy data packets and send them on different links;

A retransmission module, used for repeatedly transmitting data packets;

Data packet segmentation/re-segmentation module, used to segment data packets according to their size;

A duplicate detection module is used to perform duplicate detection on data packets;

Scheduling module for awareness of available resources and/or data priority management;

A monitoring module is used to monitor the transmission of data packets. Optionally, the user plane UP component includes: a shared user plane UP component and a dedicated user plane UP component;

Wherein, the shared user plane UP component includes at least a scheduling module;

The dedicated user plane UP component includes: at least one of a billing module, a security module, a QoS module, an encryption and decryption module, a routing module, a repetition module, a retransmission module, a data packet segmentation/re-segmentation module, a duplication detection module, a scheduling module, and a monitoring module.

An embodiment of the present invention further provides a network system, including: a control plane CP control function, and also including: a user plane entity as described above;

The control plane CP is used to complete the configuration of the control information of the terminal and/or trigger the UP control function to divide the functions of the user plane entity into at least one user plane UP component.

Optionally, it also includes: a computing power control function, which is used to provide computing power resource status information to the user plane UP control function and/or receive a request sent by the user plane UP control function and send the computing power resource status information to the user plane UP control function.

Optionally, at least one of the following is also included:

Application function AF, used to trigger service flow;

Network opening function NEF, used to open network data to the outside world;

The policy control function (PCF) is responsible for providing all mobility functions.

The network storage function NRF is used to register and manage network functions.

Optionally, it also includes;

The data network DN is used to establish a connection with a successfully configured user plane UP component and provide services to the terminal based on the UP component.

An embodiment of the present invention further provides a user plane configuration method, which is applied to a user plane UP entity, and the method includes:

A user plane UP control function of the user plane entity obtains a configuration request of a UP component;

The UP control function determines configuration information of the UP component according to the configuration request and resources of the UP component;

The UP control function completes the configuration of the UP component according to the configuration information of the UP component.

Optionally, also include:

The UP control function obtains a configuration request of a bearer corresponding to the UP component;

The UP control function determines the configuration information of the bearer corresponding to the UP component according to the configuration request;

The UP control function completes the configuration of the bearer according to the configuration information of the bearer.

Optionally, the user plane UP control function of the user plane entity obtains a configuration request of a UP component, including:

The UP control function receives a user plane UP component configuration request sent by a control plane CP control function, wherein the user plane UP component configuration request is generated based on an access request sent by a terminal, and the access request carries a service identifier.

Optionally, the UP control function determines configuration information of the UP component according to the configuration request and resources of the UP component, including:

The UP control function interacts with the control plane CP control function to determine the radio resources based on the configuration request of the UP component, and determines the computing power resources with the computing power control function;

The user plane UP component configuration and bearer configuration are determined according to the wireless resources and computing power resources.

Optionally, the UP control function completes the configuration of the UP component according to the configuration information of the UP component, including:

The UP control function establishes the user plane UP component corresponding to the service identifier according to the configuration information of the user plane UP component;

The UP control function sends the information of the established UP component and the configuration information of the bearer to the control plane CP control function; and the control plane CP control function sends the information of the user plane UP component and the configuration information of the bearer to the terminal; and the terminal interacts with the UP component to complete the configuration of the user plane UP component.

Optionally, the user plane UP control function of the user plane entity obtains a configuration request of a UP component, including:

The UP control function receives a user plane UP component configuration request sent by a network opening function NEF, wherein the user plane UP component configuration request is generated by the NEF based on a user plane component request of a third-party application server, and the user plane component request carries a user plane quality of service QoS requirement.

Optionally, the UP control function determines configuration information of the UP component according to the configuration request and resources of the UP component, including:

The UP control function interacts with the control plane CP control function to determine the radio resources based on the configuration request of the user plane UP component, and determines the computing power resources with the computing power control function;

Determine the user plane UP component configuration according to the wireless resources and computing power resources.

Optionally, the UP control function completes configuration of the user plane UP component according to the configuration information of the UP component, including:

The UP control function sends the user plane UP component configuration to the NEF;

The UP control function receives a user plane UP component establishment confirmation sent by the NEF;

The UP control function establishes a user plane UP component according to the establishment confirmation.

Optionally, the UP control function completes the configuration of the user plane UP component according to the configuration information of the UP component, further comprising:

The UP control function receives a service request sent by the control plane CP control function to a third-party application server;

The UP control function interacts with the established user plane UP component according to the service request to determine the bearer configuration information of the established UP component;

The UP control function sends a service request response to the control plane CP control function, where the service request response carries the bearer configuration information.

An embodiment of the present invention further provides a user plane configuration device, which is applied to a user plane entity, wherein the user plane entity includes a user plane UP control function and at least one UP component, and the device includes:

The acquisition module is used to obtain the configuration request of the UP component;

The processing module is used to determine the configuration information of the UP component according to the configuration request and resources of the UP component; and complete the configuration of the UP component according to the configuration information of the UP component.

An embodiment of the present invention further provides a network device, including: a user plane UP control function and at least one UP component, the network device including:

A transceiver, used to obtain configuration requests from UP components;

The processor is used to determine the configuration information of the UP component according to the configuration request and resources of the UP component; and complete the configuration of the UP component according to the configuration information of the UP component.

An embodiment of the present invention further provides a computer-readable storage medium, comprising instructions, which, when executed on a computer, enable the computer to execute the method described above.

The embodiments of the present invention have the following technical effects:

The above technical solution of the embodiment of the present invention modularizes the original 5G network user plane functions and introduces user plane control functions, which can flexibly control and deploy user plane function modules; it can reduce user plane function redundancy and improve user plane processing efficiency to meet the business needs of various applications, especially edge low-latency applications.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG1 is a first schematic diagram of a network system provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG2 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a shared user plane UP component provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG3 is a schematic diagram of a flow chart of a user plane configuration method provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG4 is a first schematic diagram of a user plane configuration process provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG5 is a second schematic diagram of a network system provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG6 is a third schematic diagram of a network system provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a second schematic diagram of a user plane configuration process provided by an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In order to make the technical problems, technical solutions and advantages to be solved by the present invention more clear, a detailed description will be given below with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments.

As shown in FIG1 , an embodiment of the present invention provides a user plane entity, including:

at least one user plane UP component, each of which is used to perform at least one function of a user plane UP functional entity;

At least one user plane UP control function is used to manage the partitioning of at least one user plane UP component of the user plane entity and/or manage the bearer configuration of the user plane UP component.

The configuration of the UP component (including UP component module division, and/or UP component bearer configuration) can be triggered by other access network CP functions (such as wireless admission control module, dynamic resource allocation module, wireless bearer control module, connection mobility management module), or by core network functions such as PCF/AMF, or by a third-party application server through NEF.

Among them, different UP components can be deployed on different virtualization platforms or on the same virtualization platform. Components can also be called combinations, collections, parts, etc.;

The user plane entity may also be called a user plane functional entity.

This embodiment of the present invention modularizes the original 5G network user plane function and introduces a user plane control function, which can flexibly control and deploy the user plane function modules.

In an optional embodiment of the present invention, the user plane UP component includes at least one of the following modules:

The billing module is used to perform statistical billing based on the classification results of network messages;

Security module, used to check the validity and security of messages;

QoS module, used to map the quality of service of different types of data flows;

An encryption and decryption module, used to perform encryption and decryption operations on data packets;

Routing module, forwarding data packets;

A repeat module is used to copy data packets and send them on different links;

A retransmission module, used for repeatedly transmitting data packets;

Data packet segmentation/re-segmentation module, used to segment data packets according to their size;

A duplicate detection module is used to perform duplicate detection on data packets;

Scheduling module for awareness of available resources and/or data priority management;

The monitoring module is used to monitor the transmission status of data packets.

This embodiment of the present invention improves the user plane processing efficiency from the perspective of reducing user plane functional redundancy to meet the business needs of various applications, especially edge low-latency applications.

In an optional embodiment of the present invention, the user plane UP component includes: a shared user plane UP component and a dedicated user plane UP component;

Wherein, the shared user plane UP component includes at least a scheduling module;

The dedicated user plane UP component includes: at least one of a billing module, a security module, a QoS module, an encryption and decryption module, a routing module, a repetition module, a retransmission module, a data packet segmentation/re-segmentation module, a duplication detection module, a scheduling module, and a monitoring module.

Specifically, the dedicated user plane UP component may include: a security module, a QoS module, a charging module, an encryption and decryption module, a routing module, and a scheduling module;

The dedicated user plane UP components may include: a security module, a QoS module, a charging module, an encryption and decryption module, a packet duplication module, a retransmission module, a duplication detection module, a data packet segmentation/re-segmentation module, a routing module, and a scheduling module;

The dedicated user plane UP component may also include: a retransmission module, a duplicate detection module, a data packet segmentation/re-segmentation module, a routing module and a scheduling module.

In this embodiment of the present invention, the UP component composition must take into account both the full sharing and utilization of wireless resources and the quality of service requirements of different services and different tenants (including other operators, vertical industries, etc.). Therefore, the UP components need to be partially shared and partially proprietary.

In order to ensure that wireless resources can be fully utilized, the scheduling and priority processing modules need to be shared. Therefore, the "shared" UP components at least include the scheduling module.

For latency-sensitive vertical industries, other UP component modules may be packaged into one UP component and deployed at edge locations close to users (such as edge computer rooms). At the same time, for cost-sensitive IoT businesses, only some UP modules may be included.

For example, when a third-party application server requests the establishment of a UP component module through NEF, it will need to be isolated, and a proprietary UP component will need to be configured from both a security and performance perspective.

As shown in FIG2 , an embodiment of the present invention further provides a network system, including: a control plane CP control function, and also including: a user plane entity as described above;

The user plane entity includes:

At least one user plane UP component, each of the user plane UP components is used to perform at least one function of a user plane UP functional entity;

At least one user plane UP control function is used to manage the division of at least one user plane UP component of the user plane entity and/or manage the bearer configuration of the user plane UP component. The CP control function is used to complete the configuration of the control information of the terminal and/or trigger the UP control function to divide the functions of the user plane entity into at least one user plane UP component.

Here, the configuration of the UP component (including UP component module division, and/or UP component bearer configuration) can be triggered by other access network CP functions (such as wireless admission control module, dynamic resource allocation module, wireless bearer control module, connection mobility management module), or by core network functions such as PCF/AMF, or by a third-party application server through NEF.

Among them, different UP components can be deployed on different virtualization platforms or on the same virtualization platform.

In an optional embodiment of the present invention, the user plane UP component includes at least one of the following modules:

The billing module is used to perform statistical billing based on the classification results of network messages;

Security module, used to check the validity and security of messages;

QoS module, used to map the quality of service of different types of data flows;

An encryption and decryption module, used to perform encryption and decryption operations on data packets;

Routing module, forwarding data packets;

A repeat module is used to copy data packets and send them on different links;

A retransmission module, used for repeatedly transmitting data packets;

Data packet segmentation/re-segmentation module, used to segment data packets according to their size;

A duplicate detection module is used to perform duplicate detection on data packets;

Scheduling module for awareness of available resources and/or data priority management;

The monitoring module is used to monitor the transmission status of data packets.

In an optional embodiment of the present invention, the network system may further include: a computing power control function, used to provide computing power resource status information to the user plane UP control function and/or receive a request sent by the user plane UP control function and send the computing power resource status information to the user plane UP control function.

Specifically, the computing power control function manages the distributed computing power resources in the network, including CPU/GPU/FPGA/ASIC, etc., and is responsible for flexibly scheduling services to different computing resource nodes on demand. The UP control function may need to refer to the computing power resource status information provided by the computing power control function to combine functional modules.

The UP control function and computing power control function can include the following two modes:

1. The UP control function subscribes to the computing power resource status information provided by the computing power control function and can receive the information periodically;

2. The UP control function requests and obtains computing power resource status information from the computing power control function.

An optional embodiment of the present invention further includes at least one of the following:

Application function AF, used to trigger service flow;

Network opening function NEF, used to open network data to the outside world;

The policy control function (PCF) is responsible for providing all mobility functions.

The network storage function NRF is used to register and manage network functions.

In an optional embodiment of the present invention, the network system further includes:

The data network DN is used to establish a connection with a successfully configured user plane UP component and provide services to the terminal based on the UP component.

The above embodiments of the present invention improve the user plane processing efficiency from the perspective of reducing user plane function redundancy to meet the business needs of various applications, especially edge low-latency applications. The general idea of the proposed solution is to modularize the original 5G network user plane functions and introduce user plane control functions, so that the user plane function modules can be flexibly controlled and deployed.

As shown in FIG. 4 , an embodiment of the present invention further provides a user plane configuration method, which is applied to a user plane UP entity, and the method includes:

Step S1, a user plane UP control function of the user plane entity obtains a configuration request of a UP component;

Step S2, the UP control function determines the configuration information of the UP component according to the configuration request and resources of the UP component;

Step S3, the UP control function completes the configuration of the UP component according to the configuration information of the UP component.

An optional embodiment of the present invention may further include:

The UP control function obtains a configuration request of a bearer corresponding to the UP component;

The UP control function determines the configuration information of the bearer corresponding to the UP component according to the configuration request;

The UP control function completes the configuration of the bearer according to the configuration information of the bearer.

In an optional embodiment of the present invention, the user plane UP control function of the user plane entity obtains a configuration request of the UP component, including:

The UP control function receives a user plane UP component configuration request sent by the CP control function, wherein the user plane UP component configuration request is generated based on an access request sent by the terminal, and the access request carries a service identifier.

In an optional embodiment of the present invention, the UP control function determines the configuration information of the UP component according to the configuration request and resources of the UP component, including:

The UP control function determines wireless resources by interacting with the CP control function based on the configuration request of the UP component, and determines computing power resources with the computing power control function;

The user plane UP component configuration and bearer configuration are determined according to the wireless resources and computing power resources.

In an optional embodiment of the present invention, the UP control function completes the configuration of the UP component according to the configuration information of the UP component, including:

The UP control function establishes the user plane UP component corresponding to the service identifier according to the configuration information of the user plane UP component;

The UP control function sends the information of the established UP component and the configuration information of the bearer to the CP control function; and the CP control function sends the information of the user plane UP component and the configuration information of the bearer to the terminal; and the terminal interacts with the UP component to complete the configuration of the user plane UP component.

As shown in FIG4 , the user plane configuration process triggered by initial access may include:

The UE initiates an access request to the access network CP control function, carrying a service type indication (URLLC).

The CP function initiates a UP component establishment request to the UP control function, carrying information such as UE ID and service type indication (URLLC).

The UP control function determines the UP components and bearer configuration based on the information provided by the CP control function and the available resource status (such as computing, storage, hardware resources, etc.) provided by the computing power control function;

The UP control function establishes the UP component and bearer configuration and sends the UP component information and bearer configuration information to the CP control function. The CP control function sends the received UP component information and bearer configuration information to the UE. The UE implements information interaction with the UP component and completes the bearer configuration of the UP component.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG5 :

The first UP component is deployed in the access room, and the second UP component can be deployed in a common aggregation room, an important aggregation room, or a core room according to the computing power and network status.

The first UP component includes: a scheduling module, a packet duplication module, a duplicate packet detection module, a monitoring module, and a routing module;

The second UP component includes: routing module, security module, DPI module, QoS module, and billing module;

This embodiment of the present invention ensures the reliability of data transmission through the packet repetition function; and shortens the data processing delay by eliminating unnecessary retransmission modules, data packet segmentation/reassembly modules, etc.

In another optional embodiment of the present invention, the user plane UP control function of the user plane entity obtains a configuration request of the UP component, including:

The UP control function receives a user plane UP component configuration request sent by a network opening function NEF, wherein the user plane UP component configuration request is generated by the NEF based on a user plane component request of a third-party application server, and the user plane component request carries a user plane quality of service QoS requirement.

In an optional embodiment of the present invention, the UP control function determines the configuration information of the UP component according to the configuration request and resources of the UP component, including:

The UP control function interacts with the control plane CP control function to determine the radio resources based on the configuration request of the user plane UP component, and determines the computing power resources with the computing power control function;

Determine the user plane UP component configuration according to the wireless resources and computing power resources.

In an optional embodiment of the present invention, the UP control function completes the configuration of the user plane UP component according to the configuration information of the UP component, including:

The UP control function sends the user plane UP component configuration to the NEF;

The UP control function receives a user plane UP component establishment confirmation sent by the NEF;

The UP control function establishes a user plane UP component according to the establishment confirmation.

In an optional embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG6 , the UP control function completes the configuration of the user plane UP component according to the configuration information of the UP component, and further includes:

The UP control function receives a service request sent by the CP control function to a third-party application server;

The UP control function interacts with the established user plane UP component according to the service request to determine the bearer configuration information of the established UP component;

The UP control function sends a service request response to the CP control function, where the service request response carries the bearer configuration information.

As shown in Figure 7, specifically, the third-party application server requests the user plane module to establish through the NEF function. The request message may carry the applicable geographical scope of the third-party application server, QoS requirements (such as latency, reliability), wireless resource requirements (such as whether time-frequency resources need to be isolated, or specific frequency requirements), whether the UP component can be shared, and the time range for requesting to establish the user plane.

NEF forwards the message to PCF, which may combine other control plane functions to control the acceptance of the request message and send the determination result to the relevant control plane functions, such as indicating the corresponding data scheduling priority of the DRA module, indicating the RBC module to establish the configuration information, indicating the CMC module to connect the mobility management information, indicating the UP control function to provide UP component configuration suggestions (including: UP component quantity, UP component deployment location, UP component ID, which modules each component contains and the relationship between modules, UP component bearer configuration, etc.).

The UP control function configures and establishes the UP components based on the UP component configuration suggestions sent by the NEF. At the same time, the UP component configuration information is fed back to the third-party application server and/or related CP functions through the NEF.

When a UE initiates a request to access a third-party application server, the network connects the third-party application server to these UP components and performs UP component bearer configuration on it.

The third-party application server responds to the service request and the UP component bearer configuration is completed.

Among them, DRA refers to dynamic resource allocation; CMC refers to connection mobility management; RAC refers to wireless admission control function; NWDAF refers to network data analysis function; PCF refers to policy control function; NEF refers to network capability exposure function.

An embodiment of the present invention further provides a user plane configuration device, which is applied to a user plane entity, wherein the user plane entity includes a user plane UP control function and at least one UP component, and the device includes:

The acquisition module is used to obtain the configuration request of the UP component;

The processing module is used to determine the configuration information of the UP component according to the configuration request and resources of the UP component; and complete the configuration of the UP component according to the configuration information of the UP component.

Optionally, also include:

The UP control function obtains a configuration request of a bearer corresponding to the UP component;

The UP control function determines the configuration information of the bearer corresponding to the UP component according to the configuration request;

The UP control function completes the configuration of the bearer according to the configuration information of the bearer.

Optionally, the user plane UP control function of the user plane entity obtains a configuration request of a UP component, including:

The UP control function receives a user plane UP component configuration request sent by the CP control function, wherein the user plane UP component configuration request is generated based on an access request sent by the terminal, and the access request carries a service identifier.

Optionally, the UP control function determines configuration information of the UP component according to the configuration request and resources of the UP component, including:

The UP control function determines wireless resources by interacting with the CP control function based on the configuration request of the UP component, and determines computing power resources with the computing power control function;

The user plane UP component configuration and bearer configuration are determined according to the wireless resources and computing power resources.

Optionally, the UP control function completes the configuration of the UP component according to the configuration information of the UP component, including:

The UP control function establishes the user plane UP component corresponding to the service identifier according to the configuration information of the user plane UP component;

The UP control function sends the information of the established UP component and the configuration information of the bearer to the CP control function; and the CP control function sends the information of the user plane UP component and the configuration information of the bearer to the terminal; and the terminal interacts with the UP component to complete the configuration of the user plane UP component.

Optionally, the user plane UP control function of the user plane entity obtains a configuration request of a UP component, including:

The UP control function receives a user plane UP component configuration request sent by a network opening function NEF, wherein the user plane UP component configuration request is generated by the NEF based on a user plane component request of a third-party application server, and the user plane component request carries a user plane quality of service QoS requirement.

Optionally, the UP control function determines configuration information of the UP component according to the configuration request and resources of the UP component, including:

The UP control function determines the radio resources by interacting with the CP control function based on the configuration request of the user plane UP component, and determines the computing power resources with the computing power control function;

Determine the user plane UP component configuration according to the wireless resources and computing power resources.

Optionally, the UP control function completes configuration of the user plane UP component according to the configuration information of the UP component, including:

The UP control function sends the user plane UP component configuration to the NEF;

The UP control function receives a user plane UP component establishment confirmation sent by the NEF;

The UP control function establishes a user plane UP component according to the establishment confirmation.

Optionally, the UP control function completes the configuration of the user plane UP component according to the configuration information of the UP component, further comprising:

The UP control function receives a service request sent by the control plane CP control function to a third-party application server;

The UP control function interacts with the established user plane UP component according to the service request to determine the bearer configuration information of the established UP component;

The UP control function sends a service request response to the control plane CP control function, where the service request response carries the bearer configuration information.

An embodiment of the present invention further provides a network device, including: a user plane UP control function and at least one UP component, the network device including:

A transceiver, used to obtain configuration requests from UP components;

The processor is used to determine the configuration information of the UP component according to the configuration request and resources of the UP component; and complete the configuration of the UP component according to the configuration information of the UP component.

An embodiment of the present invention further provides a computer-readable storage medium, comprising instructions, which, when executed on a computer, enable the computer to execute the method described above.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the units and algorithm steps of each example described in conjunction with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented in electronic hardware, or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether these functions are performed in hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Professional and technical personnel can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered to be beyond the scope of the present invention.

Those skilled in the art can clearly understand that, for the convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the systems, devices and units described above can refer to the corresponding processes in the aforementioned method embodiments and will not be repeated here.

In the embodiments provided by the present invention, it should be understood that the disclosed devices and methods can be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are only schematic. For example, the division of the units is only a logical function division. There may be other division methods in actual implementation, such as multiple units or components can be combined or integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not executed. Another point is that the mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed can be through some interfaces, indirect coupling or communication connection of devices or units, which can be electrical, mechanical or other forms.

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

In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present invention may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist physically separately, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit.

If the functions are implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as independent products, they can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present invention, or the part that contributes to the prior art, or the part of the technical solution, can be embodied in the form of a software product. The computer software product is stored in a storage medium, including several instructions for a computer device (which can be a personal computer, server, or network device, etc.) to perform all or part of the steps of the method described in each embodiment of the present invention. The aforementioned storage medium includes: various media that can store program codes, such as USB flash drives, mobile hard disks, ROM, RAM, magnetic disks, or optical disks.

In addition, it should be noted that in the apparatus and method of the present invention, it is obvious that each component or each step can be decomposed and/or recombined. These decompositions and/or recombinations should be regarded as equivalent schemes of the present invention. Moreover, the steps of performing the above-mentioned series of processing can naturally be performed in chronological order according to the order of description, but it is not necessary to perform them in chronological order, and some steps can be performed in parallel or independently of each other. For those of ordinary skill in the art, it is understood that all or any steps or components of the method and apparatus of the present invention can be implemented in any computing device (including processors, storage media, etc.) or a network of computing devices in hardware, firmware, software or a combination thereof, which can be achieved by those of ordinary skill in the art using their basic programming skills after reading the description of the present invention.

Therefore, the purpose of the present invention can also be achieved by running a program or a group of programs on any computing device. The computing device can be a well-known general device. Therefore, the purpose of the present invention can also be achieved by simply providing a program product containing a program code that implements the method or device. That is to say, such a program product also constitutes the present invention, and the storage medium storing such a program product also constitutes the present invention. Obviously, the storage medium can be any well-known storage medium or any storage medium developed in the future. It should also be pointed out that in the device and method of the present invention, it is obvious that each component or each step can be decomposed and/or recombined. These decompositions and/or recombinations should be regarded as equivalent schemes of the present invention. In addition, the steps of performing the above-mentioned series of processing can naturally be performed in chronological order according to the order of description, but it is not necessary to perform them in chronological order. Some steps can be performed in parallel or independently of each other.

The above is a preferred embodiment of the present invention. It should be pointed out that for ordinary technicians in this technical field, several improvements and modifications can be made without departing from the principles of the present invention. These improvements and modifications should also be regarded as the scope of protection of the present invention.

Claims (17)

1. A user plane entity, comprising:

At least one user plane UP component, each of said user plane UP components being configured to perform at least one function of a user plane UP functional entity;

At least one user plane UP control function, configured to manage division of at least one user plane UP component of the user plane entity and manage bearer configuration of the user plane UP component;

the managing the user plane UP component bearer configuration includes:

the UP control function receives a user plane UP component configuration request sent by a CP control function, wherein the user plane UP component configuration request is generated based on an access request sent by a terminal, and the access request carries a service identifier;

the UP control function determines wireless resources based on the configuration request of the UP component and interaction of the CP control function, and determines computing power resources with the computing power control function;

And determining the configuration of the UP component of the user plane and the configuration of the bearing according to the wireless resource and the computing power resource.

2. The user plane entity of claim 1 wherein said user plane UP component comprises the following modules:

the charging module is used for counting and charging according to the classification result of the network message;

the safety module is used for checking the validity and safety of the message;

A quality of service QoS module for mapping different kinds of data flows;

The encryption and decryption module is used for encrypting and decrypting the data packet;

the routing module forwards the data message;

The repeating module is used for copying the data packet and transmitting the packet on different links;

The retransmission module is used for carrying out repeated transmission on the data packet;

the data packet segmentation/re-segmentation module is used for segmenting the size of the data packet;

The repetition detection module is used for repeatedly detecting the data packet;

The scheduling module is used for sensing available resources and/or managing data priority;

And the monitoring module is used for monitoring the transmission condition of the data packet.

3. The user plane entity of claim 2 wherein said user plane UP component comprises: a shared user plane UP component and a dedicated user plane UP component;

Wherein the shared user plane UP component at least comprises a scheduling module;

the dedicated user plane UP component comprises: at least one of a charging module, a security module, a QoS module, an encryption and decryption module, a routing module, a repetition module, a retransmission module, a data packet segmentation/re-segmentation module, a repetition detection module, a scheduling module and a monitoring module.

4. A network system, comprising: control plane CP control function, characterized by further comprising: a user plane entity as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3;

The CP control function is configured to complete configuration of control information of the terminal and trigger the UP control function to divide the function of the user plane entity by at least one user plane UP component.

5. The network system of claim 4, further comprising:

and the computing power control function is used for providing computing power resource state information for the user plane UP control function and/or receiving a request sent by the user plane UP control function and sending the computing power resource state information to the user plane UP control function.

6. The network system of claim 4 or 5, further comprising at least one of:

An application function AF for triggering a service flow;

a network opening function NEF for opening network data to the outside;

A policy control function PCF for providing all mobility it is responsible for;

and the network storage function NRF is used for registering and managing the network functions.

7. The network system of claim 6, further comprising;

And the data network DN is used for establishing connection with the UP component of the user plane which is successfully configured and providing service for the terminal based on the UP component.

8. A user plane configuration method, applied to a user plane UP entity, the user plane UP entity including at least one user plane UP component and at least one user plane UP control function, the method comprising:

a user plane UP control function of the user plane entity obtains a configuration request of an UP component;

the UP control function determines the configuration information of the UP component according to the configuration request and the resource of the UP component;

the UP control function completes the configuration of the UP component according to the configuration information of the UP component;

The user plane UP control function of the user plane entity obtains a configuration request of the UP component, including:

the UP control function receives a user plane UP component configuration request sent by a CP control function, wherein the user plane UP component configuration request is generated based on an access request sent by a terminal, and the access request carries a service identifier;

the UP control function determines the configuration information of the UP component according to the configuration request and the resource of the UP component, and the UP control function comprises the following steps:

the UP control function determines wireless resources based on the configuration request of the UP component and interaction of the CP control function, and determines computing power resources with the computing power control function;

And determining the configuration of the UP component of the user plane and the configuration of the bearing according to the wireless resource and the computing power resource.

9. The user plane configuration method of claim 8, further comprising:

the UP control function obtains a configuration request of a bearer corresponding to the UP component;

The UP control function determines the bearing configuration information corresponding to the UP component according to the configuration request;

and the UP control function completes the configuration of the bearer according to the configuration information of the bearer.

10. The user plane configuration method of claim 8 wherein the UP control function completes configuration of an UP component according to configuration information of the UP component, comprising:

The UP control function establishes the user plane UP component corresponding to the service identifier according to the configuration information of the user plane UP component;

The UP control function sends the established information of the UP component and the loaded configuration information to the control plane CP control function; the CP control function sends the information of the user plane UP component and the loaded configuration information to a terminal; and the terminal performs information interaction with the UP component to complete the configuration of the user plane UP component.

11. The method of user plane configuration of claim 8 wherein the user plane UP control function of the user plane entity obtains a configuration request of an UP component, comprising:

The UP control function receives a user plane UP component configuration request sent by a network opening function NEF, where the user plane UP component configuration request is generated by the NEF based on a user plane component request of a third party application server, and the user plane component request carries a user plane quality of service QoS requirement.

12. The user plane configuration method of claim 11 wherein the UP control function determining configuration information of the UP component according to the configuration request and the resource of the UP component comprises:

The UP control function determines wireless resources based on the configuration request of the user plane UP component and the interaction of the CP control function, and determines computing power resources with the computing power control function;

and determining the UP component configuration of the user plane according to the wireless resources and the computing power resources.

13. The user plane configuration method of claim 12 wherein the UP control function completes configuration of a user plane UP component according to configuration information of the UP component, comprising:

the UP control function sends the user plane UP component configuration to the NEF;

the UP control function receives user plane UP component establishment confirmation sent by the NEF;

the UP control function establishes a user plane UP component according to the establishment confirmation.

14. The user plane configuration method of claim 13 wherein the UP control function completes configuration of a user plane UP component according to configuration information of the UP component, further comprising:

the UP control function receives a service request sent by the CP control function to a third party application server;

the UP control function interacts with the established user plane UP component according to the service request to determine the established bearing configuration information of the UP component;

and the UP control function sends a service request response to the CP control function, wherein the service request response carries the bearing configuration information.

15. A user plane configuration device, applied to a user plane entity, the user plane entity including a user plane UP control function and at least one UP component, the device comprising:

the acquisition module is used for acquiring the configuration request of the UP component;

the processing module is used for determining the configuration information of the UP component according to the configuration request and the resources of the UP component; completing the configuration of the UP component according to the configuration information of the UP component;

The acquisition module is specifically configured to:

the UP control function receives a user plane UP component configuration request sent by a CP control function, wherein the user plane UP component configuration request is generated based on an access request sent by a terminal, and the access request carries a service identifier;

the processing module is specifically configured to:

the UP control function determines wireless resources based on the configuration request of the UP component and interaction of the CP control function, and determines computing power resources with the computing power control function;

And determining the configuration of the UP component of the user plane and the configuration of the bearing according to the wireless resource and the computing power resource.

16. A network device, comprising: a user plane UP control function and at least one UP component, the network device comprising:

A transceiver for obtaining a configuration request of the UP component;

The processor is used for determining the configuration information of the UP component according to the configuration request and the resources of the UP component; completing the configuration of the UP component according to the configuration information of the UP component;

the obtaining the configuration request of the UP component comprises the following steps:

the UP control function receives a user plane UP component configuration request sent by a CP control function, wherein the user plane UP component configuration request is generated based on an access request sent by a terminal, and the access request carries a service identifier;

the determining the configuration information of the UP component according to the configuration request and the resource of the UP component comprises the following steps:

the UP control function determines wireless resources based on the configuration request of the UP component and interaction of the CP control function, and determines computing power resources with the computing power control function;

And determining the configuration of the UP component of the user plane and the configuration of the bearing according to the wireless resource and the computing power resource.

17. A computer readable storage medium comprising instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any of claims 8 to 14.