WO2019196643A1 - Communication method and communication apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

Provided are a communication method and a communication apparatus. The method comprises: a first session management function (SMF) network element acquiring first control information, wherein the first control information comprises policy information, and the policy information comprises a policy by means of which the first SMF notifies a first network element to trigger the paging of the switching of a terminal device from a first state to a second state; and after the first SMF acquires a downlink data notification or downlink data, the first SMF sending a first message to the first network element according to the policy information, the first message being used for notifying the first network element to trigger the paging of the switching of the terminal device from the first state to the second state, wherein the first network element is a mobility management function (AMF) network element, the first state is an idle state, and the second state is a connection state; or, the first network element is an RAN, the first state is a radio resource control deactivation state, and the second state is a connection state of a non-radio resource control deactivation state. The embodiments of the present application can reduce signaling delay.

Description

Communication method and communication device

The present application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 201810318003.8, filed on Apr. 10, s.

Technical field

The present application relates to the field of communications, and in particular to a method and communication device for communication.

Background technique

With the rapid development of wireless communication technology, fifth generation (5G) mobile communication technology emerged. A packet data unit (PDU) session is a connection between a terminal device defined in 5G and a data network, and provides a PDU connectivity service.

In 5G, a packet data unit (PDU) session is managed by a session management function (SMF) network element. The SMF network element can be responsible for session management, including establishment, modification, and release of a PDU session.

Specifically, in actual deployment, multiple SMF network elements exist in a 5G network, and SMF network elements of a large carrier are usually divided into administrative areas, and a PDU session in an administrative area is within the administrative area. An SMF to manage.

Control of data transmission of the terminal device when the terminal device is moved from the administrative area under its jurisdiction to other administrative areas, or although the terminal device is located in the administrative area under its jurisdiction but the terminal device is far away from the one SMF The session signaling still needs to be processed by an SMF in the administrative area of the terminal device. However, the location of the terminal device farther away from the one SMF may cause the communication path of the session signaling to be longer, resulting in signaling. The delay is larger.

Therefore, how to reduce the signaling delay becomes an urgent problem to be solved.

Summary of the invention

The application provides a method and communication device for communication. This method can reduce the signaling delay.

In a first aspect, a method for communication is provided, the method comprising: a first session management network element SMF acquiring first control information, the first control information including policy information, the policy information including by the first SMF a policy of notifying the first network element to trigger the paging of the terminal device from the first state to the second state; after the first SMF acquires the downlink data notification or the downlink data, the first SMF according to the policy information Transmitting, by the first network element, a first message, where the first message is used to notify the first network element to trigger a paging of the terminal device from the first state to the second state; A network element is a mobility management network element AMF, the first state is an idle state, the second state is a connection state, or the first network element is a RAN, and the first state is a radio resource control deactivation. a state, the second state being a connected state of a non-radio resource control deactivated state.

Specifically, the foregoing solution may be applied when the terminal device moves from the location of the second SMF in the neighboring jurisdiction to the location of the other jurisdiction, or from the location of the second SMF in the jurisdiction under the jurisdiction, and the jurisdiction of the mobile The scene in the administrative area is far from the second SMF.

In the embodiment of the present application, in the case of the foregoing scenario, the embodiment of the present application avoids using the second SMF in the administrative area to manage the control plane signaling of the PDU session, and adopts the first SMF management of the neighboring terminal device. The PDU session of the terminal device. Specifically, the first SMF sends a notification message to the first network element according to the policy information, to notify the first network element to trigger paging to the terminal device. The embodiment of the present application implements management of control plane signaling of a PDU session by a first SMF. Because the location of the first SMF is closer to the UPF, the communication path of the PDU session signaling is shorter. Therefore, the embodiment of the present application can reduce the signaling delay and improve system performance.

It should be understood that, in the embodiment of the present application, one SMF in the jurisdiction of the terminal device is referred to as a second SMF, and the SMF of the neighboring device is referred to as a first SMF. Optionally, the second SMF may also be referred to as a registered SMF, a home SMF, or a remote SMF. The first SMF may also be referred to as a local SMF, a near-end SMF, or a local SMF. The application embodiment is not limited to this.

It should be understood that the embodiment of the present application may be applied to a roaming scenario, and may also be applied to a non-roaming scenario. In other words, in the embodiment of the present application, the first SMF and the second SMF may belong to the same PLMN, or may belong to different The PLMN, the embodiment of the present application is not limited thereto.

It should be understood that the embodiment of the present application provides a scheme for managing control plane signaling of a PDU session of a terminal device by using a newly determined SMF (ie, a first SMF). Optionally, the method in this embodiment of the present application may also be applied to In other scenarios, for example, the method in the embodiment of the present application may be applicable to a scenario of resource release and handover. Correspondingly, in different scenarios, the name of each network element and the name of the information exchanged between the network elements may be adapted. Variations, embodiments of the present application are not limited thereto.

Alternatively, the policy information in the embodiment of the present application may be that the first SMF processes the N1/N2 signaling processing policy, and may also be used by the second session management network element to process the terminal device from the first state to the first The strategy of the signaling of the two states, etc., the embodiment of the present application is not limited thereto.

The term "policy information" in the embodiment of the present application may also be referred to as a policy indication, an indication policy, a management policy, management information, or indication information, and the embodiments of the present application are not limited thereto.

It should be understood that, throughout the present application, A sends a message to B, for example, the message is the above embodiment or the various messages, signaling or data involved in the various embodiments below, may be directly The message is sent to B, and it may be sent by A to B indirectly. For example, A may send the message to B through C, ie A sends the message to C and then sends it to B by C. In this case, C can process the message or send the message to B without processing, and after C obtains the message, when the message is sent to B, the name of the message can be changed. Can not change. Of course, A can also send the message to B indirectly through multiple network elements, for example, indirectly sending the message to B through C and D. The embodiments of the present application are not limited thereto. The foregoing A, B, C, and D may be the network elements in FIG. 1 to FIG. 3, and those skilled in the art may understand that according to the connection relationship of each network element in FIG. 1 to FIG. 3, the transmission path of the message between the network elements may be Various modifications such as, but not limited to, the above are performed.

With reference to the first aspect, in an implementation manner of the first aspect, the acquiring, by the first SMF, the first control information includes:

Obtaining, by the first SMF, the first control information that is configured locally by the first SMF; or

The first SMF determines the first control information according to information from the user plane function network element UPF when the local policy is used; or

The first SMF sends a first request message to the policy control unit PCF, where the first request message is used to request to obtain the policy information;

Receiving, by the first SMF, the first control information sent by the PCF; or

The first SMF receives the first control information sent by the second SMF.

It should be understood that the local policy in this application may be Paging Policy Differentiation (PPD);

The information of the UPF may be the differentiated service code point (DSCP) information or the DSCP information sent by the UPF to the SMF data packet header. The embodiment of the present application is not limited thereto.

In the case that the first control information is configured locally, the first SMF does not need to obtain the first control information by using the message sent by other network elements, and the signaling overhead can be reduced.

In conjunction with the first aspect, in an implementation of the first aspect,

The first control information further includes context information of the PDU session, and/or a configuration rule of the user plane function network element UPF.

The context information includes the user plane tunnel information of the PDU session, and the configuration rule is used to configure the service offload of the UPF.

Specifically, in this application, the context information of the PDU session may include the subscription information acquired by the second SMF from the UDM or the information acquired from the PCF or the information configured on the second SMF, for example, including one of the following information. Or multiple: UE global unique identifier (SUPI), PDU session ID, N2 SM information (QoS flow identifier (QFI(s)), QoS profile(s), core network N3 interface information (CN N3 Tunnel Info), single network slice selection assistance information (S-NSSAI), paging policy indication, etc., N2 information effective area (area of validity for N2) The information, the allocation and retention priority (ARP), the paging policy indication, the 5G QoS identifier (5QI), and the like are not limited in this embodiment of the present application. In addition, the context information of the PDU session also includes user plane tunnel information, such as PSA1 tunnel information PSA2 tunnel information.

In this application, the UPF configuration rule is mainly used for the configuration of the traffic distribution rules on the UPF node, such as the uplink data distribution rule, including the tunnel information of the PSA1 and the PSA2 tunnel information (uplink forwarding rules towards Local PSA and Remote PSA including the PSA1 CN Tunnel Info and The PSA2 CN Tunnel Info.)

In conjunction with the first aspect, in an implementation manner of the first aspect, the method further includes: the first SMF sending user plane tunnel information of the PDU session to the UPF.

Specifically, the embodiment of the present application sends the tunnel information (for example, the tunnel information of the PSA1 and the tunnel information of the PSA2) to the UPF through the first SMF, and the UPF can open the user plane link of the PDU session to implement the DN and the terminal device. data transmission.

In conjunction with the first aspect, in an implementation manner of the first aspect, the method further includes:

The first SMF receives a fourth request message sent by the AMF for requesting to establish a connection,

The first SMF sends a fourth response message that sends the fourth request message to the AFM.

That is to say, the embodiment of the present application determines the first SMF by the AFM, and determining the first SMF by the AMF can reduce the complexity of the second SMF.

In conjunction with the first aspect, in an implementation manner of the first aspect, the method further includes:

The first SMF receives a third request message sent by the second SMF for requesting management of the PDU session,

Sending, by the first SMF, a third response message of the third request message to the second SMF;

The third request message carries one or more of the following information:

An identifier of the PDU session, a data network name of the PDU session, and an identifier of the AMF.

That is to say, the embodiment of the present application determines the first SMF by using the second SMF, and determining the first SMF by the second SMF can reduce the complexity of the AMF.

The second aspect provides a method for communication, including: acquiring, by the second session management network element SMF, the policy information, where the policy information includes: the first SMF notifying the first network element to trigger the terminal device to switch from the first state to the first state a paging policy for the second state;

Transmitting, by the second SMF, first control information of the PDU session to the first SMF, where the first control information includes the policy information;

The first network element is a mobility management network element (AMF), the first state is an idle state, and the second state is a connected state, or

The first network element is a RAN, the first state is a radio resource control deactivation state, and the second state is a non-radio resource control deactivation state connection state.

In the embodiment of the present application, the first SMF sends a notification message to the first network element according to the policy information, to notify the first network element to trigger paging to the terminal device. The embodiment of the present application implements management of control plane signaling of a PDU session by a first SMF. Compared with the second SMF, the first SMF is located closer to the UPF. Therefore, the communication path of the PDU session signaling is shorter. Therefore, the embodiment of the present application can reduce the signaling delay and improve system performance.

It should be understood that the method of the second SMF side described in the second aspect corresponds to the method of the first SMF side described in the first aspect, and the method of the second SMF side can refer to the description of the first SMF side, avoiding repetition, where appropriate Detailed description is omitted.

With reference to the second aspect, in an implementation manner of the second aspect, the first control information further includes context information of the PDU session, and/or a configuration rule of the user plane function network element UPF,

The context information includes tunnel information of the PDU session, and the configuration rule is used to configure service splitting of the UPF.

With reference to the second aspect, in an implementation manner of the second aspect, the method further includes:

Sending, by the second SMF, a second request message to the AMF for requesting selection of the first SMF to process control signaling of the PDU session;

Receiving, by the second SMF, a second response message of the second request message sent by the AMF,

The second request message carries at least one of the following information:

The identifier of the PDU session, the data network name of the PDU session, and the identifier of the AMF.

With reference to the second aspect, in an implementation manner of the second aspect, the method further includes: the second SMF sending, to the first SMF, a third request message for requesting management of the PDU session,

Receiving, by the second SMF, a third response message of the third request message sent by the first SMF;

The third request message carries at least one of the following information:

The identifier of the PDU session, the data network name of the PDU session, and the identifier of the AMF.

In a third aspect, a method for communication is provided, the method comprising: a mobility management network element AMF receiving a second request message sent by a second session management network element SMF for selecting a first SMF for managing a PDU session, where The second request message carries one or more of the following information:

An identifier of the PDU session, a data network name of the PDU session, and an identifier of the AMF;

The AMF selects the first SMF according to the second request message, and sends a third request message for requesting to establish a connection to the first SMF,

After the AFM receives the third response message of the third request message sent by the first SMF, the first SMF sends a second response message of the second request message to the second SMF;

In conjunction with the third aspect, in an implementation manner of the third aspect, the method further includes:

The mobile management network element AMF receives the notification message sent by the second session management network element SMF, and the notification message is used to notify the AMF to trigger the terminal device to switch from the idle state to the connected state.

The AMF triggers the terminal device to switch from the idle state to the connected state according to the notification message.

In the embodiment of the present application, the first SMF sends a notification message to the first network element according to the policy information, to notify the first network element to trigger paging to the terminal device. The embodiment of the present application implements management of control plane signaling of a PDU session by a first SMF. Compared with the second SMF, the first SMF is located closer to the UPF. Therefore, the communication path of the PDU session signaling is shorter. Therefore, the embodiment of the present application can reduce the signaling delay and improve system performance.

It should be understood that the method of the AMF side described in the third aspect corresponds to the method described in the first aspect and the second aspect, and the method on the AMF side can refer to the descriptions of the first and second aspects, avoiding repetition, and the detailed description is omitted as appropriate herein. .

In a fourth aspect, a method for communication is provided, the method includes: a policy control unit PCF generates policy information of a packet data unit PDU session, where the policy information includes triggering, by the first SMF, a first network element from a terminal device a policy of switching to a paging state of the second state; the policy control unit PCF sends the first control information, where the first control information includes the policy information, where the first network element is a mobility management network element AMF, The first state is an idle state, the second state is a connection state, or the first network element is a RAN, the first state is a radio resource control deactivation state, and the second state is a non-wireless state. The resource controls the connected state of the deactivated state.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in an implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the first control information further includes a context information of the PDU session and/or a configuration rule of a user plane function network element UPF,

The context information includes tunnel information of the PDU session, and the configuration rule is used to configure service splitting of the UPF.

In the embodiment of the present application, the first SMF sends a notification message to the first network element according to the policy information, to notify the first network element to trigger paging to the terminal device. The embodiment of the present application implements management of control plane signaling of a PDU session by a first SMF. Compared with the second SMF, the first SMF is located closer to the UPF. Therefore, the communication path of the PDU session signaling is shorter. Therefore, the embodiment of the present application can reduce the signaling delay and improve system performance.

It should be understood that the method of the PCF side described in the fourth aspect corresponds to the method described in the first to third aspects, and the method on the PCF side may refer to the descriptions of the first to third aspects, avoiding repetition, and the detailed description is omitted as appropriate herein. .

In a fifth aspect, a communication apparatus is provided for performing the method of any of the first aspect or the first aspect of the first aspect. In particular, the apparatus comprises means for performing the method of any of the first aspect or the first aspect of the first aspect described above.

In a sixth aspect, there is provided another communication apparatus for performing the method of any of the possible implementations of the second aspect or the second aspect above. In particular, the apparatus comprises means for performing the method of any of the possible implementations of the second aspect or the second aspect described above.

In a seventh aspect, a communication apparatus is provided for performing the method of any of the above-described third or third possible implementations. In particular, the apparatus comprises means for performing the method of any of the possible implementations of the third aspect or the third aspect described above.

In an eighth aspect, there is provided another communication apparatus for performing the method of any of the above-described fourth or fourth possible implementations. In particular, the apparatus comprises means for performing the method of any of the above-described fourth or fourth aspects of the fourth aspect.

In a ninth aspect, another communication device is provided, the device comprising: a transceiver, a memory, and a processor. Wherein the transceiver, the memory and the processor are in communication with each other via an internal connection path for storing instructions for executing instructions stored in the memory to control the receiver to receive signals and to control the transmitter to transmit signals The apparatus is caused to perform the method of the first aspect or any of the possible implementations of the first aspect.

In a tenth aspect, another communication device is provided, the device comprising: a transceiver, a memory, and a processor. Wherein the transceiver, the memory and the processor are in communication with each other via an internal connection path for storing instructions for executing instructions stored in the memory to control the receiver to receive signals and to control the transmitter to transmit signals The apparatus is caused to perform the method of any of the possible implementations of the second aspect or the second aspect.

In an eleventh aspect, another communication device is provided, the device comprising: a transceiver, a memory, and a processor. Wherein the transceiver, the memory and the processor are in communication with each other via an internal connection path for storing instructions for executing instructions stored in the memory to control the receiver to receive signals and to control the transmitter to transmit signals The apparatus is caused to perform the method of any of the possible implementations of the third aspect or the third aspect.

In a twelfth aspect, another communication device is provided, the device comprising: a transceiver, a memory, and a processor. Wherein the transceiver, the memory and the processor are in communication with each other via an internal connection path for storing instructions for executing instructions stored in the memory to control the receiver to receive signals and to control the transmitter to transmit signals The apparatus is caused to perform the method of any of the possible implementations of the fourth aspect or the fourth aspect.

In a thirteenth aspect, a computer program product is provided, the computer program product comprising: computer program code, when the computer program code is executed by a computer, causing the computer to perform a method in any of the possible implementations of any of the above aspects .

In a fourteenth aspect, a computer readable medium is provided for storing a computer program comprising instructions for performing the method of any of the possible implementations of any of the above aspects.

In a fifteenth aspect, a processing apparatus is provided, comprising a processor; the processor for performing the methods as an execution body of a method in any of the possible implementations of the various aspects described above.

In one implementation, the processing device may be a chip, and the processor may be implemented by hardware or by software. When implemented by hardware, the processor may be a logic circuit, an integrated circuit, etc.; When implemented by software, the processor can be implemented as a general purpose processor by reading software code stored in a memory that can be integrated into the processor and can be external to the processor.

DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an application scenario provided by an embodiment of the present application.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an application scenario provided by an embodiment of the present application.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of an application scenario provided by an embodiment of the present application.

FIG. 4 is a schematic flowchart of a communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application.

FIG. 5 is a schematic flowchart of another communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application.

FIG. 6 is a schematic flowchart of another communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a communication apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of another communication apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of another communication apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application.

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of another communication apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application.

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of another communication device according to an embodiment of the present application.

detailed description

The technical solutions in the present application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an application scenario 100 of an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 1 , the application scenario 100 may specifically include the following network elements:

The access and mobility management function (AMF) network element is responsible for access and mobility management, and has functions such as authentication, switching, and location update for users.

Network storage function (NRF) network element: responsible for saving network functions and business information, supporting the discovery function of services and network functions (that is, accepting network function query requests and providing information about discovered network functions). It should be understood that the NRF network element can be interfaced with any other network element, which is not limited by the embodiment of the present application, and thus is not shown in FIG.

Optionally, the application scenario 100 may further include: a session management function (SMF) network element, which is responsible for session management, including establishment, modification, release, and the like of a packet data unit (PDU) session.

Optionally, the SMF network element may be specifically classified into an intermediate SMF (intermediate-SMF) network element and an anchor SMF (A-SMF) network element, where the I-SMF network element The user plane function (UPF) network element (ie, I-UPF) is controlled to be connected to the access network interface, and the A-SMF network element controls the session anchor UPF network element (ie, A-UPF).

Optionally, the application scenario 100 may further include: an authentication service function (AUSF) network element, having an authentication and authorization service function, configured to be responsible for generating a key and two-way authentication with the UE.

Optionally, the application scenario 100 may further include: a unified data management (UDM) network element, where the subscription data of the user is saved.

Optionally, the application scenario 100 may further include: a policy control function (PCF) network element: responsible for user policy management, including mobility related policies, and PDU session related policies, for example, quality of service (quality) Of service, QoS) policies, billing policies, etc.

Optionally, the application scenario 100 may further include: a user plane function (UPF) network element: the UPF is a user plane function, and is responsible for forwarding user data.

Optionally, the UPF network element is specifically divided into an intermediate-UPF (intermediate-UPF, I-UPF) and an anchor-UPF (A-UPF), where the I-UPF is connected to the access network RAN, and the A-UPF The UPF is a UFP of a session anchor, and the A-UPF may be referred to as a PDU Session Anchor UPF (PSA), which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

Optionally, the application scenario 100 may further include: an application function (AF) network element.

Optionally, the application scenario 100 may further include: a data network (DN): a destination of the user's PDU session access.

It should be understood that the application scenario 100 may further include a radio access network (RAN) device and a terminal device, and the terminal device may be, for example, a user equipment (UE). The UE communicates with the AMF through the N1 interface, and the UE can access the network through the RAN. For example, the network is a 5G network, and the RAN communicates with the AMF through the N2 interface, and the RAN communicates with the UPF through the N3 interface. Specifically, the RAN passes the N3 interface and the I. -UPF communication, the UPF communicates with the SMF through the N4 interface. Specifically, the I-UPF communicates with the I-SMF through the N4 interface, the I-UPF communicates with the A-UPF (PSA) through the N9 interface, and the A-UPF (PSA) passes the N4. The interface communicates with the A-SMF. The UPF communicates with the DN through the N6 interface. Specifically, the A-UPF (PSA) communicates with the DN through the N6 interface, and the AMF communicates with the SMF through the N11 interface. Specifically, the AMF passes the N11 interface and the I-SMF. Communication, AMF communicates with AUSF through N12 interface, AMF communicates with UDN through N8 interface, AMF communicates with PCF through N15 interface, optionally, I-SMF communicates with A-SMF through N16* interface, A-SMF communicates with A-SMF through N10 interface In UDM communication, the A-SMF communicates with the PCF through the N7 interface, and the PCF communicates with the AF through the N5 interface.

It should be noted that, in FIG. 1, only the terminal device is used as an example for the UE, and the interface name between the network elements in FIG. 1 is only an example. In a specific implementation, the interface name of the system architecture 100 is also It may be other names, and the embodiment of the present application does not specifically limit this. In addition, the RAN device may also be referred to as an access device, and the access device refers to a device that accesses the core network.

A radio access network device may also be referred to as a network device, and is an access device in which the terminal device accesses the mobile communication system by using a wireless system, and may be a global system of mobile communication (GSM) or code division multiple access. A base transceiver station (BTS) in a code division multiple access (CDMA), which may also be a base station (nodeB, NB) in wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA), or may be a long term evolution Evolved base station (eNB/eNodeB) in a long term evolution (LTE), or a relay station or an access point, or a network device in a future 5G network, for example, a transmission point (TRP or TP) in the NR system a base station (gNB) in the NR system, a radio unit in the NR system, such as a remote radio unit, one or a group of base stations (including a plurality of antenna panels), and the like in the 5G system. Different network devices may be located in the same cell or in different cells, and are not limited herein.

In some deployments, a gNB may include a centralized unit (CU) and a distributed unit (DU). The gNB may also include a radio unit (RU). The CU implements some functions of the gNB, and the DU implements some functions of the gNB. For example, the CU implements radio resource control (RRC), the function of the packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, and the DU implements the wireless chain. The functions of the radio link control (RLC), the media access control (MAC), and the physical (PHY) layer. Since the information of the RRC layer eventually becomes information of the PHY layer or is transformed by the information of the PHY layer, high-level signaling, such as RRC layer signaling or PHCP layer signaling, can also be used in this architecture. It is considered to be sent by the DU or sent by the DU+RU. It can be understood that the network device can be a CU node, or a DU node, or a device including a CU node and a DU node. In addition, the CU may be divided into network devices in the access network RAN, and the CU may be divided into network devices in the core network CN, which is not limited herein.

The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technologies and specific device modes adopted by the radio access network device.

Certainly, other network elements, such as a network slice selection function (NSSF) network element, may be deployed in the foregoing application scenario 100, which is not specifically limited in this embodiment of the present application.

Optionally, the application scenario 100 shown in FIG. 1 can be applied to the 5G network and other possible networks in the future, which is not specifically limited in this embodiment of the present application.

A terminal device involved in the embodiment of the present application may also be referred to as a user equipment (UE), an access terminal, a subscriber unit, a subscriber station, a mobile station, a mobile station, a remote station, a remote terminal, and a mobile terminal. Device, user terminal, terminal, wireless communication device, user agent or user device. The access terminal may be a cellular phone, a cordless phone, a session initiation protocol (SIP) phone, a smart phone, a wireless data card, a wireless local loop (WLL) station. , personal digital assistant (PDA), handheld devices with wireless communication capabilities, computing devices or other processing devices connected to wireless modems, in-vehicle devices, wearable devices, drone devices, and terminals in future 5G networks A device, a relay user equipment, or a terminal device in a public land mobile network (PLMN) that is evolved in the future, wherein the relay user equipment may be, for example, a 5G residential gateway (RG). This embodiment of the present application is not limited thereto. For convenience of description, in the present application, the above-mentioned devices are collectively referred to as terminal devices.

It should be understood that, in the embodiment of the present application, the PDU session is a terminal device defined in the 5G, for example, a connection between the UE and the DN (data network), and provides a PDU connectivity service. The type of PDU session connection in this application may be IP, Ethernet or unstructured data. The PDU connection service supported by the 5G core network refers to a service that provides PDU exchange between the UE and the DN determined by the DNN.

It should be understood that the terminal device may provide single network slice selection assistance information (S-NSSAI) and data network name (DNN) to the AMF network element when initiating the PDU session establishment. The AMF network element determines the address of the session management network element based on the S-NSSAI, DNN, and other information (eg, the subscription information of the terminal device and the local carrier policy, etc.). The determined session management network element can establish a PDU session for the terminal device based on the S-NSSAI and the DNN.

It should be understood that, in this embodiment of the present application, a terminal device (for example, a UE) may establish multiple PDU sessions to connect to the same DN or different DNs. The UE may also establish PDU sessions served by different UPFs to connect to the same DN.

For example, as shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, the UE may connect to the first DN through the first UPF and connect to the second DN through the first UPF and the second UPF.

In practical applications, the PDU sessions of the plurality of different UPF services are managed by one SMF, for example, an SMF (hereinafter referred to as a second SMF) in the jurisdiction area of the terminal device, so that the following problem occurs: Control plane session of data transmission of the terminal device device when the administrative area under its jurisdiction moves to another administrative area, or although the terminal device is located in an administrative area under its jurisdiction but the terminal device is farther away from the second SMF The signaling still needs to be processed by the second SMF in the administrative area of the terminal device. However, the location of the terminal device farther away from the second SMF may cause the communication path of the session signaling to be longer, resulting in signaling. The delay is large.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, the second SMF in FIG. 2 is an SMF (also referred to as a remote SMF) that governs an administrative area of the terminal device, and the second SMF can manage the first UPF and the second. UPF, as indicated by the dotted line in FIG. 2, when the user equipment is located near the first DN, when the first DN (for example, local DN) sends downlink data to trigger paging, the paging triggers After the first DM sends the downlink data to the first UPF, the first UPF interacts with the second SMF located at the remote end through the data notification message (Data Notification), and the AMF is notified by the second SMF located at the remote end, and then Trigger paging (Paging). Since the second SMF is far away from the location of the first UPF, the length of the communication path causes the signaling delay to be too long.

In view of the above problem, the embodiment of the present application proposes a solution, which can avoid using the second SMF in the administrative area to manage the control plane signaling of the PDU session, and adopt the first SMF management of the neighboring terminal device. The PDU session of the terminal device. Furthermore, the embodiment of the present application can reduce signaling delay and improve system performance.

The architecture of the embodiment of the present application is as shown in FIG. 3. On the basis of FIG. 2, the embodiment of the present application may selectively insert a first SMF (for example, may be a local SMF), and subsequent mobility related session signaling may be The selection is processed by the first SMF, and the second SMF is not selected for processing, as shown in Figure 3 with a dashed dotted line indicating the triggering transmission path of the paging signaling of the present application.

Specifically, as shown by the dotted line in FIG. 3, in the embodiment of the present application, when the downlink data is triggered by the first DN (for example, localDN), the paging trigger information needs to be sent in the first DM. After the downlink data is sent to the first UPF, the first UPF interacts with the first SMF through the data notification message (Data Notification), and the AMF is notified by the near-end first SMF, and then Paging is triggered. Since the local first SMF is located closer to the first UPF, the embodiment of the present application can reduce signaling delay and improve network performance.

By way of example and not limitation, a method of communication of an embodiment of the present application is described below in conjunction with FIG. Specifically, the method shown in FIG. 4 can be applied to the scenario shown in FIG. 1 to FIG. 3 above, and the method shown in FIG. 4 is described from the perspective of network element interaction. Specifically, the method shown in FIG. 4 includes:

The first session management network element SMF obtains the first control information, where the first control information includes policy information, where the policy information includes the first SMF notifying the first network element to trigger the terminal device to switch from the first state to the first state. The policy of paging in the second state.

420. After the first SMF obtains the downlink data notification or the downlink data, the first SMF sends a first message to the first network element according to the policy information, where the first message is used to notify the The first network element triggers the paging of the terminal device from the first state to the second state.

The first network element is a mobility management network element (AMF), the first state is an idle state, and the second state is a connected state, or

The first network element is a RAN, the first state is a radio resource control deactivation state (RRC Inactive), and the second state is a non-radio resource control deactivation state connection state (non-RRC Inactive connection state) .

It should be understood that, in this embodiment of the present application, the first message may include one or more of the following information: a UE global unique identifier (SUPI), a PDU session ID, and a N2 SM information (QoS flow identifier). Identifier, QFI(s)), QoS profile(s), CN3 tunnel information (CN N3 Tunnel Info), single network slice selection assistance information (S-NSSAI), paging policy Paging policy indication, etc.), area of validity for N2 information, allocation and retention priority (ARP), paging policy indication, 5G QoS identity (5G QoS Identifier, 5QI).

In the embodiment of the present application, the connection state (Connection Management connected, CM-CONNECTED) has a sub-state of RRC Inactive. The connected state indicates that the UE is connected to both the RAN and the UPF; the RRC Inactive state is that the UE and the RAN are not connected, and the RAN and the UPF are connected; in the idle state, the UE is not connected to the RAN and the UPF. In the RRC Inactive state, if the network has downlink packets to send, it needs to initiate paging through the RAN to page the UE. In the idle management mode (CM-IDLE), if the network has downlink packets. To send, you need to initiate paging through AMF to page the UE.

It should be understood that, in the embodiment of the present application, one SMF in the jurisdiction of the terminal device is referred to as a second SMF, and the SMF of the neighboring device is referred to as a first SMF. Optionally, the second SMF may also be referred to as a registered SMF, a home SMF, or a remote SMF. The first SMF may also be referred to as a local SMF, a near-end SMF, or a local SMF. The application embodiment is not limited to this.

It should be understood that the embodiment of the present application may be applied to a roaming scenario, and may also be applied to a non-roaming scenario. In other words, in the embodiment of the present application, the first SMF and the second SMF may belong to the same PLMN, or may belong to different The PLMN, the embodiment of the present application is not limited thereto.

It should be understood that, the solution of the method implemented by the foregoing application, that is, avoiding the control plane signaling of the PDU session of the terminal device by using the remote SMF, that is, the second SMF, but managing the terminal device through the near-end SMF, that is, the first SMF. The scheme of the control plane signaling of the PDU session can also be applied to other scenarios. For example, the method in the embodiment of the present application may be applicable to a scenario of resource release and handover, for example, the first SMF processes handover signaling of the PDU session, such as RAN handover; and the first SMF processes radio resource release of the PDU session. Signaling, such as N2 connection release. That is, mobility related session signaling such as paging, resource release, and handover terminates in the first SMF and is not processed by the remote second SMF. Correspondingly, in different scenarios, the name of each network element and the name of the information exchanged between the network elements may be adaptively changed. The embodiment of the present application is not limited thereto.

Alternatively, the policy information in the embodiment of the present application may be that the first SMF processes the N1/N2 signaling processing policy, and may also be used by the second session management network element to process the terminal device from the first state to the first The strategy of the signaling of the two states, etc., the embodiment of the present application is not limited thereto.

The term "policy information" in the embodiment of the present application may also be referred to as a policy indication, an indication policy, a management policy, management information, or indication information, and the embodiments of the present application are not limited thereto.

It should be understood that the embodiment of the present application may trigger the terminal device to switch from the first state to the second state by using at least the following two situations.

Case 1: When the terminal device is in the RRC Inactive state, it is triggered by the RAN.

Case 2: AMF triggers when the terminal device is in the idle state.

Specifically, after the first SMF obtains the downlink data notification or the downlink data that is sent by the first UPF, the first SMF may directly send the first message to the AMF according to the policy information, to notify the AMF to trigger the paging of the terminal device; Or the first SMF may send a first message to the RAN according to the policy information, to notify the RNA to trigger paging of the terminal device, and implement management of the PDU session by the first SMF.

For example, when the terminal device moves from the location of the second SMF in the neighboring jurisdiction to the location of the other jurisdiction, or from the location of the second SMF in the jurisdiction under its jurisdiction, the mobile administrative jurisdiction is within the jurisdiction In the case of a scenario where the SMF is located farther away, the embodiment of the present application avoids using the second SMF in the administrative area to manage the control plane signaling of the PDU session, and adopts the first SMF management of the neighboring terminal device. The PDU session of the terminal device. Specifically, the first SMF sends a notification message to the first network element according to the policy information, to notify the first network element to trigger paging to the terminal device. The embodiment of the present application implements management of control plane signaling of a PDU session by a first SMF. Because the location of the first SMF is closer to the UPF, the communication path of the PDU session signaling is shorter. Therefore, the embodiment of the present application can reduce the signaling delay and improve system performance.

It should be understood that, as an optional embodiment, in 410, the first SMF may obtain the policy information in various manners, which will be described in detail below.

method one:

As an optional embodiment, in 410, the first SMF sends a first request message to the policy control unit PCF, where the first request message is used to request to obtain the policy information;

Sending, by the PCF, the first control information to the first session management network element;

That is, the first SMF first sends a first request message to the PCF to request to acquire the policy information. After the PCF obtains the first request, the policy information is sent to the first SMF by using the first control information.

Method 2:

As an optional embodiment, in 410, the second SMF sends the first control information to the first SMF.

Correspondingly, the first SMF receives the first control information sent by the second SMF.

It should be understood that, in this embodiment of the present application, the policy information is generally generated by the PCF. In this manner, the second SMF may first obtain the policy information from the PCF, and then the second SMF sends the information to the first SMF. The first control information of the policy information.

It should be understood that, in the case that the first control information is sent by the second SMF, the first control information may also be referred to as session management information, and the embodiment of the present application is not limited thereto.

It should be understood that only the case where the first SMF acquires the first control information from the network element PCF or the second SMF is shown in FIG. 4, but the embodiment of the present application is not limited thereto.

For example, in 410, the first SMF may also obtain the policy information in the following manner.

Method three:

As an optional embodiment, in 410, the first SMF receives the first control information sent by the AMF.

In the embodiment of the present application, the policy letter is generally generated by the PCF. In this manner, the second SMF may first obtain the policy information from the PCF, and then the second SMF sends the policy information to the AMF, and finally, the AMF. Send to the first SMF; or, the AMF directly obtains the policy information from the PCF and then sends it to the first SMF.

Method 4:

As an optional embodiment, in 410, the first SMF acquires the first control information of the first SMF local configuration. In other words, the policy information acquired by the first SMF is pre-configured by the system. The first SMF knows the policy information in advance, and the first SMF does not need to receive messages sent by other network elements.

Method 5:

The first SMF determines the first control information according to information from the user plane function network element UPF when the local policy is used.

It should be understood that the local policy in this application may be Paging Policy Differentiation (PPD);

The information of the UPF may be the differentiated service code point (DSCP) information or the DSCP information sent by the UPF to the SMF data packet header. The embodiment of the present application is not limited thereto.

Optionally, as an optional embodiment, the first control information further includes context information of the PDU session, and/or a configuration rule of a user plane function network element UPF (eg, ULCL/BP).

The context information includes tunnel information of the PDU session, and the configuration rule is used to configure service splitting of the UPF.

It should be understood that the context information of the PDU session in the embodiment of the present application is from the second SMF, and the configuration rule of the UPF is from the PCF.

The foregoing information obtained by the first SMF may be directly obtained from the corresponding network element, for example, the context information is directly obtained from the second SMF, and the configuration rule of the UPF is directly obtained from the PCF. The foregoing information may also be obtained indirectly. For example, the first SMF obtains the foregoing information by forwarding by other network elements. The embodiments of the present application are not limited thereto.

It should be further understood that, in the embodiment of the present application, the first SMF may obtain all the information in the first control information from the same network element, or may obtain the first control information from multiple different network elements, that is, say, An SMF may separately obtain partial information of the first control information from multiple network elements, for example, directly acquiring a configuration rule of the UPF from the PCF, and directly acquiring context information from the second SMF. The embodiments of the present application are not limited thereto.

Specifically, in this application, the context information of the PDU session may include the subscription information acquired by the second SMF from the UDM or the information acquired from the PCF or the information configured on the second SMF, for example, including one of the following information. Or multiple: UE global unique identifier (SUPI), PDU session ID, N2 SM information (QoS flow identifier (QFI(s)), QoS profile(s), core network N3 interface information (CN N3 Tunnel Info), single network slice selection assistance information (S-NSSAI), paging policy indication, etc., N2 information effective area (area of validity for N2) The information, the allocation and retention priority (ARP), the paging policy indication, the 5G QoS identifier (5QI), and the like are not limited in this embodiment of the present application. In addition, the context information of the PDU session also includes user plane tunnel information, such as PSA1 tunnel information PSA2 tunnel information.

In this application, the UPF configuration rule is mainly used for the configuration of the traffic distribution rules on the UPF node, such as the uplink data distribution rule, including the tunnel information of the PSA1 and the PSA2 tunnel information (uplink forwarding rules towards Local PSA and Remote PSA including the PSA1 CN Tunnel Info and The PSA2 CN Tunnel Info.)

As an optional embodiment, the method further includes:

The first SMF sends the tunnel information of the session to the UPF.

Specifically, the embodiment of the present application sends the tunnel information (for example, the tunnel information of the PSA1 and the tunnel information of the PSA2) to the UPF through the first SMF, and the UPF can open the user plane link of the PDU session to implement the DN and the terminal device. data transmission.

Compared with the prior art, the embodiment of the present application uses the first SMF to replace the existing second SMF for management of PDU session signaling. Therefore, how to select the first SMF or select the first SMF is particularly important. Specifically, the first SMF may be determined in multiple manners in the embodiment of the present application, which will be exemplified below.

By way of example and not limitation, in one implementation, the first SMF is selected by the AMF.

Specifically, as another embodiment, the method may further include:

The second SMF sends a second request message for selecting a first SMF for managing a PDU session to the AMF, where the second request message carries one or more of the following information:

An identifier of the PDU session, a data network name of the PDU session, and an identifier of the AMF;

The AMF selects the first SMF according to the second request message, and sends a fourth request message for requesting to establish a connection to the first SMF,

After the AFM receives the fourth response message of the fourth request message sent by the first SMF, the first SMF sends a second response message of the second request message to the second SMF.

Specifically, the second SMF first determines that the first SMF needs to be inserted. For example, the second SMF may determine that the control plane signaling of the PDU session needs to pass according to the movement of the terminal device or the detection of the new flow, the AF check, the report of the PCF, and the like. The second SMF is connected to the local DN, the first DN. Then, the second SMF sends a request to the AMF, and the second SMF item AMF sends a second request message, requesting the AMF to select an SMF to manage the PDU session, and then the information carried by the AFM root second request message, for example, S-NSSAI The SUMF's PLMN ID, DNN, UE location, etc. select the first SMF.

In another implementation, the first SMF is selected by the second SMF.

Specifically, as another embodiment, the method may further include:

The second SMF sends a third request message for requesting management of the PDU session to the first SMF, where the third request message carries at least one of the following information:

The identifier of the PDU session, the data network name of the PDU session, and the identifier of the AMF.

Receiving, by the second SMF, a third response message of the third request message sent by the first SMF;

Specifically, the second SMF first determines that the first SMF needs to be inserted. For example, the second SMF may determine that the control plane signaling of the PDU session needs to pass according to the movement of the terminal device or the detection of the new flow, the AF check, the report of the PCF, and the like. The second SMF is connected to the local DN, the first DN. Then, the second SMF determines the second SMF according to the S-NSSAI, the PLMN ID of the SUPI, the DNN, the location of the UE, and the like, and the second SMF sends a request to the first SMF to request the first SMF to manage the PDU session. .

Optionally, in the embodiment of the present application, after determining the first SMF, the method may further include a process of establishing a connection between the first SMF and the UPF, and the description of the specific related process may refer to the prior art, where Narration.

It should be understood that, throughout the present application, A sends a message to B, for example, the message is the above embodiment or the various messages, signaling or data involved in the various embodiments below, may be directly The message is sent to B, and it may be sent by A to B indirectly. For example, A may send the message to B through C, ie A sends the message to C and then sends it to B by C. In this case, C can process the message or send the message to B without processing, and after C obtains the message, when the message is sent to B, the name of the message can be changed. Can not change. Of course, A can also send the message to B indirectly through multiple network elements, for example, indirectly sending the message to B through C and D. The embodiments of the present application are not limited thereto. The foregoing A, B, C, and D may be the network elements in FIG. 1 to FIG. 3, and those skilled in the art may understand that according to the connection relationship of each network element in FIG. 1 to FIG. 3, the transmission path of the message between the network elements may be Various modifications such as, but not limited to, the above are performed.

Similarly, in the embodiment of the present application, E acquires certain information, for example, the information may be various embodiments, or various messages, signaling, data, etc. involved in various embodiments in the following, and the information may be From F (for example, generated by F), E may obtain the information directly from F, or may obtain the information from other network elements, for example, obtain the information from G, the information is G first acquired from F, and then E then obtains this information from G. It should be understood that the information obtained by the E may be obtained from a plurality of network elements, for example, the partial information in the information is obtained from the H, and the other information in the information is obtained from the I. The embodiment of the present application is not limited thereto. The foregoing E, F, G, and H may be the network elements in FIG. 1 to FIG. 3, and those skilled in the art may understand that according to the connection relationship of each network element in FIG. 1 to FIG. 3, the information transmission path between the network elements may be Various modifications such as, but not limited to, the above are performed.

The method of communication of the embodiment of the present application has been described above with reference to FIGS. 1 through 4. The method of communication of the embodiment of the present application will be described below with reference to specific examples of FIG. 5 and FIG. 6.

The difference between FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 is that the first SMF is determined by AFM in FIG. 5, and the first SMF is determined by the second SMF in FIG.

Specifically, FIG. 5 is a schematic flowchart of a communication method 500 provided by an embodiment of the present application. The method 500 can be applied to the system architecture shown in FIG. 1 to FIG. 3. Specifically, the method shown in FIG. 5 includes:

501. The second SMF determines that the first SMF needs to be connected.

For example, the second SMF determines that the session needs to be connected to the local DN according to the movement of the UE or the detection of a new stream or the like.

502. The second SMF sends a second request message to the first AMF.

The second SMF sends a first SMF to the AMF by the first DN (eg, Local DN) connection request to insert a second request message, the second request message carrying one or more of the following information:

The identifier of the PDU session, the data network name of the PDU session, the identifier of the AMF, and the like.

503. The AMF selects the first SMF.

For example, the information carried by the AFM root second request message, for example, S-NSSAI, SUPI's PLMN ID, DNN, UE location, etc., selects the first SMF.

504. The AMF sends a fourth request message to the first SMF.

Specifically, the AFM establishes an N11 connection with the first SMF by sending a fourth request message to the first SMF, where the fourth request message may carry one or more of the following information: SUPI, PDU session ID, first DN information, AMF. ID and other information.

505. The second SMF sends a fourth response message to the AMF.

The second SMF replies to the message sent by the AMF, indicating that the N11 connection is established.

506. The first SMF selects the UPF.

For example, the first SMF selects the UPF according to the message sent by the AMF, for example, the UPF is an Uplink Classifier (ULCL) or a BP node.

507. The second SMF establishes a connection with the UPF.

Specifically, the second SMF establishes an N4 connection with the UPF. The establishing connection process may send a connection establishment request message to the UPF for the second SMF, and the UPF replies with a response message to establish a connection between the SMF and the UPF. For a specific connection establishment process, reference may be made to the description in the prior art, and the embodiment of the present application is not limited thereto.

It should be understood that, in the embodiment of the present application, the UPF may be a ULCL/BP or a local PSA, or a network element in which the ULCL/BP is combined with the local PSA, which is not limited by the embodiment of the present application.

Optionally, as another embodiment, when the UPF includes ULCL/BP and localPSA, if the ULCL or BP node is separated from the local PSA. The method in this embodiment of the present application may further include selecting a local PSA, and then establishing a connection between the ULCL/BP and the local PSA.

508. The AMF sends a second response message to the second SMF.

For example, the second response message includes information such as a PDU session ID, a first SMF ID, etc. It should be understood that step 508 corresponds to step 502, 508 being a reply of step 502.

509. The first SMF obtains the first control information.

The first control information may include policy information, context information, and/or configuration rules. The case where the first control information is sent by the second SMF is shown in FIG. 5, but the embodiment of the present application is not limited thereto. The foregoing information in the first control information acquired by the first SMF may be directly obtained from the corresponding network element, for example, the context information is directly obtained from the second SMF, and the configuration rule of the UPF is directly obtained from the PCF. The foregoing information may also be obtained indirectly. For example, the first SMF obtains the foregoing information by forwarding by other network elements. The embodiments of the present application are not limited thereto.

It should be further understood that, in the embodiment of the present application, the first SMF may obtain all the information in the first control information from the same network element, or may obtain the first control information from multiple different network elements, that is, say, An SMF may separately obtain partial information of the first control information from multiple network elements, for example, directly acquiring a configuration rule of the UPF from the PCF, and directly acquiring context information from the second SMF. The embodiments of the present application are not limited thereto.

Specifically, the description of each information of the first control information may be referred to above, and details are not described herein again.

510. The first SMF sends tunnel information to the UPF.

For example, the tunnel information is tunnel information of PSA1 and tunnel information of PSA2.

Specifically, the embodiment of the present application sends the tunnel information to the UPF through the first SMF, and the UPF can open the user plane link of the PDU session to implement data transmission between the DN and the terminal device.

Optionally, the first SMF may also send context information to the UPF, and a UPF configuration rule.

Optionally, the UPF may also obtain the context information and the UPF configuration rule from the corresponding network element. The embodiment of the present application is not limited thereto.

It should be understood that step 508 may be located at other locations as long as 508 is located after 520, and embodiments of the present application are not limited thereto.

For details, refer to the corresponding description in the embodiment of FIG. 4 for the description of the foregoing information. To avoid repetition, details are not described herein again.

In the embodiment of the present application, the first SMF sends a notification message to the first network element according to the policy information, to notify the first network element to trigger paging to the terminal device. The embodiment of the present application implements management of control plane signaling of a PDU session by a first SMF. Compared with the second SMF, the first SMF is located closer to the UPF. Therefore, the communication path of the PDU session signaling is shorter. Therefore, the embodiment of the present application can reduce the signaling delay and improve system performance.

FIG. 6 is a schematic flowchart of a communication method 600 provided by an embodiment of the present application. The method 600 can be applied to the system architecture shown in FIG. 1 to FIG. 3. Specifically, the method shown in FIG. 6 includes:

601. The second SMF determines that the first SMF needs to be connected.

For example, the second SMF determines that the session needs to be connected to the local DN according to the movement of the UE or the detection of a new stream or the like.

602. The second SMF selects the first SMF.

For example, the second SMF selects the first SMF according to information such as S-NSSAI, SUMN's PLMN ID, DNN, UE location, and the like.

603. The second SMF sends a third request message to the first SMF.

Specifically, the second SMF establishes a connection with the first SMF by sending a third request message to the first SMF, where the fourth request message may carry one or more of the following information: SUPI, PDU session ID, first DN information, Information such as AMF ID.

604. The first SMF selects the UPF.

For example, the first SMF selects the UPF according to the message sent by the AMF, for example, the UPF is an Uplink Classifier (ULCL) or a BP node.

605. The second SMF establishes a connection with the UPF.

Specifically, the second SMF establishes an N4 connection with the UPF. The establishing connection process may send a connection establishment request message to the UPF for the second SMF, and the UPF replies with a response message to establish a connection between the SMF and the UPF. For a specific connection establishment process, reference may be made to the description in the prior art, and the embodiment of the present application is not limited thereto.

It should be understood that, in the embodiment of the present application, the UPF may be a ULCL/BP or a local PSA, or a network element in which the ULCL/BP is combined with the local PSA, which is not limited by the embodiment of the present application.

Optionally, as another embodiment, when the UPF includes ULCL/BP and localPSA, if the ULCL or BP node is separated from the local PSA. The method in this embodiment of the present application may further include selecting a local PSA, and then establishing a connection between the ULCL/BP and the local PSA.

606. The first SMF sends a third response message to the second SMF.

For example, the third response message includes information such as a PDU session ID, a first SMF ID, etc. It should be understood that step 606 corresponds to steps 603, 606 being a reply of step 603.

607. The first SMF obtains the first control information.

The first control information may include policy information, context information, and/or configuration rules. The case where the first control information is sent by the second SMF is shown in FIG. 6, but the embodiment of the present application is not limited thereto. The foregoing information in the first control information acquired by the first SMF may be directly obtained from the corresponding network element, for example, the context information is directly obtained from the second SMF, and the configuration rule of the UPF is directly obtained from the PCF. The foregoing information may also be obtained indirectly. For example, the first SMF obtains the foregoing information by forwarding by other network elements. The embodiments of the present application are not limited thereto.

It should be further understood that, in the embodiment of the present application, the first SMF may obtain all the information in the first control information from the same network element, or may obtain the first control information from multiple different network elements, that is, say, An SMF may separately obtain partial information of the first control information from multiple network elements, for example, directly acquiring a configuration rule of the UPF from the PCF, and directly acquiring context information from the second SMF. The embodiments of the present application are not limited thereto.

Specifically, the description of each information of the first control information may be referred to above, and details are not described herein again.

608. The first SMF sends the tunnel information to the UPF.

For example, the tunnel information is tunnel information of PSA1 and tunnel information of PSA2.

Specifically, the embodiment of the present application sends the tunnel information to the UPF through the first SMF, and the UPF can open the user plane link of the PDU session to implement data transmission between the DN and the terminal device.

Optionally, the first SMF may also send context information to the UPF, and a UPF configuration rule.

Optionally, the UPF may also obtain the context information and the UPF configuration rule from the corresponding network element. The embodiment of the present application is not limited thereto.

It should be understood that step 606 may be located at other locations as long as 606 is located after 603, and embodiments of the present application are not limited thereto.

After the foregoing steps, after the first SMF obtains the downlink data notification or the downlink data, the first SMF sends a first message to the AMF according to the policy information, where the first message is used to notify the AMF. Activating a paging of the terminal device from the first state to the second state.

For the specific process, refer to the description above, and details are not described herein again.

In the embodiment of the present application, the first SMF sends a notification message to the first network element according to the policy information, to notify the first network element to trigger paging to the terminal device. The embodiment of the present application implements management of control plane signaling of a PDU session by a first SMF. Compared with the second SMF, the first SMF is located closer to the UPF. Therefore, the communication path of the PDU session signaling is shorter. Therefore, the embodiment of the present application can reduce the signaling delay and improve system performance.

It should be understood that, by using the foregoing embodiment of FIG. 4 to FIG. 6 , after the first SMF is inserted in the embodiment of the present application, the embodiment of the present application can implement management of the PDU session by using the first SMF. Specifically, when there is a downlink data transmission, the embodiment of the present application can refer to the paging process defined by the standard 3GPP TS 23.502 for paging. That is, after the insertion of the second SMF and the rule configuration are completed, once the UPF node receives the downlink data and finds that there is no N3 connection, after sending the downlink data notification or the downlink data to the second SMF, the first SMF is then The first network element sends a notification message to notify the first network element to trigger the terminal device to switch from the idle state to the connected state, thereby completing the paging process.

It should be understood that the above-described examples of FIG. 1 to FIG. 6 are merely for facilitating the understanding of the embodiments of the present invention, and the embodiments of the present invention are not limited to the specific numerical values or specific examples illustrated. A person skilled in the art will be able to make various modifications and changes in the embodiments according to the examples of FIG. 1 to FIG. 6 which are within the scope of the embodiments of the present invention.

It should be understood that, in the various embodiments of the present application, the size of the sequence numbers of the foregoing processes does not mean the order of execution sequence, and the order of execution of each process should be determined by its function and internal logic, and should not be applied to the embodiment of the present application. The implementation process constitutes any limitation.

In the above, the data transmission method of the embodiment of the present invention is described in detail with reference to FIG. 1 to FIG. 6, and the apparatus of the embodiment of the present application is described below with reference to FIG. 7 to FIG.

FIG. 7 shows a communication device 700 provided by an embodiment of the present application. The device 700 may be the foregoing first SMF. The device 700 includes:

Processing unit 710 and transceiver unit 720.

Specifically, the processing unit is configured to acquire first control information, where the first control information includes policy information, where the policy information includes: the first SMF notifying the first network element to trigger the terminal device to switch from the first state to the first state a paging policy for the second state;

The transceiver unit is configured to send a first message to the first network element according to the policy information, after the processing unit acquires the downlink data notification or the downlink data, where the first message is used to notify the first The network element triggers the paging of the terminal device from the first state to the second state;

The first network element is a mobility management network element (AMF), the first state is an idle state, and the second state is a connected state, or

The first network element is a RAN, the first state is a radio resource control deactivation state, and the second state is a non-radio resource control deactivation state connection state.

Optionally, the processing unit is specifically configured to:

Obtaining the first control information of the first SMF local configuration;

or,

Determining, according to information from the user plane function network element UPF, the first control information when the local policy is used;

or,

Controlling the transceiver unit to send a first request message to the policy control unit PCF, where the first request message is used to request to acquire the policy information; and receive the first control information sent by the PCF;

or,

Controlling the transceiver unit to receive the first control information sent by the second SMF.

Optionally, the first control information further includes context information of the PDU session, and/or a configuration rule of the user plane function network element UPF.

The context information includes the user plane tunnel information of the PDU session, and the configuration rule is used to configure the service offload of the UPF.

Optionally, the transceiver unit is further configured to send user plane tunnel information of the PDU session to the UPF.

FIG. 7 can implement the various processes performed by the first SMF in the foregoing embodiments of FIG. 4 to FIG. 6. The functions of the various modules or units in FIG. 7 can be referred to the description above, and details are not described herein again.

In the embodiment of the present application, the first SMF sends a notification message to the first network element according to the policy information, to notify the first network element to trigger paging to the terminal device. The embodiment of the present application implements management of control plane signaling of a PDU session by a first SMF. Compared with the second SMF, the first SMF is located closer to the UPF. Therefore, the communication path of the PDU session signaling is shorter. Therefore, the embodiment of the present application can reduce the signaling delay and improve system performance.

FIG. 8 shows a communication device 800 provided by an embodiment of the present application. The device 800 may be the foregoing second SMF. The device 800 includes:

Processing unit 810 and transceiver unit 820.

Specifically, the processing unit is configured to control the transceiver unit to acquire policy information, where the policy information includes: the first SMF notifying the first network element to trigger the paging of the terminal device from the first state to the second state. Strategy

Sending, to the first SMF, first control information of the PDU session, where the first control information includes the policy information;

The first network element is a mobility management network element (AMF), the first state is an idle state, and the second state is a connected state, or

The first network element is a RAN, the first state is a radio resource control deactivation state, and the second state is a non-radio resource control deactivation state connection state.

Optionally, the first control information further includes context information of the PDU session, and/or a configuration rule of the user plane function network element UPF.

The context information includes tunnel information of the PDU session, and the configuration rule is used to configure service splitting of the UPF.

Optionally, the transceiver unit is further configured to send, to the AMF, a second request message for requesting selection of the first SMF to process control signaling of the PDU session;

Receiving a second response message of the second request message sent by the AMF;

The second request message carries at least one of the following information:

The identifier of the PDU session, the data network name of the PDU session, and the identifier of the AMF.

Optionally, the transceiver unit is further configured to send, to the first SMF, a third request message for requesting management of the PDU session, where

Receiving a third response message of the third request message sent by the first SMF;

The third request message carries at least one of the following information:

The identifier of the PDU session, the data network name of the PDU session, and the identifier of the AMF.

FIG. 8 can implement the processes performed by the second SMF in the embodiment of FIG. 4 to FIG. 6 above. The functions of the modules or units in FIG. 8 can be referred to the description above, and details are not described herein again.

In the embodiment of the present application, the first SMF sends a notification message to the first network element according to the policy information, to notify the first network element to trigger paging to the terminal device. The embodiment of the present application implements management of control plane signaling of a PDU session by a first SMF. Compared with the second SMF, the first SMF is located closer to the UPF. Therefore, the communication path of the PDU session signaling is shorter. Therefore, the embodiment of the present application can reduce the signaling delay and improve system performance.

FIG. 9 shows a communication device 900 provided by an embodiment of the present application. The device 900 may be the aforementioned AMF, and the device 900 includes:

Processing unit 910 and transceiver unit 920.

The transceiver unit is configured to receive a second request message that is sent by the second session management network element SMF to select a first SMF that manages the PDU session, where the second request message carries one or more of the following information: :

An identifier of the PDU session, a data network name of the PDU session, and an identifier of the AMF;

The processing unit is configured to select the first SMF according to the second request message, and control the transceiver unit to send a third request message for requesting to establish a connection to the first SMF, where

The transceiver unit is further configured to receive a third response message of the third request message sent by the first SMF, where the transceiver unit receives the third request message sent by the first SMF. After the response message, the receiving unit is further configured to send a second response message of the second request message to the second SMF;

Optionally, the transceiver unit is further configured to receive a notification message sent by the second session management network element SMF, where the notification message is used to notify the AMF to trigger the terminal device to switch from the idle state to the connected state.

The processing unit is further configured to trigger, according to the notification message, a paging of the terminal device to transition from an idle state to a connected state.

FIG. 9 can implement the processes performed by the AMF in the embodiment of FIG. 4 to FIG. 6 above. The functions of the modules or units in FIG. 9 can be referred to the description above, and details are not described herein again.

In the embodiment of the present application, the first SMF sends a notification message to the first network element according to the policy information, to notify the first network element to trigger paging to the terminal device. The embodiment of the present application implements management of control plane signaling of a PDU session by a first SMF. Compared with the second SMF, the first SMF is located closer to the UPF. Therefore, the communication path of the PDU session signaling is shorter. Therefore, the embodiment of the present application can reduce the signaling delay and improve system performance.

FIG. 10 shows a communication device 1000 provided by an embodiment of the present application. The device 1000 may be the aforementioned PCF, and the device 1000 includes:

Processing unit 1010 and transceiver unit 1020.

Specifically, the processing unit is configured to generate policy information of the packet data unit PDU session, where the policy information includes a policy for the first SMF to notify the first network element to trigger the paging of the terminal device from the first state to the second state. ;

The transceiver unit is configured to send first control information, where the first control information includes the policy information;

The first network element is a mobility management network element (AMF), the first state is an idle state, and the second state is a connected state, or

The first network element is a RAN, the first state is a radio resource control deactivation state, and the second state is a non-radio resource control deactivation state connection state.

Optionally, the first control information further includes context information of the PDU session and/or a configuration rule of a user plane function network element UPF.

The context information includes tunnel information of the PDU session, and the configuration rule is used to configure service splitting of the UPF.

FIG. 10 can implement the various processes performed by the PCF in the foregoing embodiments of FIG. 4 to FIG. 6. The functions of the various modules or units in FIG. 10 can be referred to the description above, and details are not described herein again.

In the embodiment of the present application, the first SMF sends a notification message to the first network element according to the policy information, to notify the first network element to trigger paging to the terminal device. The embodiment of the present application implements management of control plane signaling of a PDU session by a first SMF. Compared with the second SMF, the first SMF is located closer to the UPF. Therefore, the communication path of the PDU session signaling is shorter. Therefore, the embodiment of the present application can reduce the signaling delay and improve system performance.

In the embodiment of the present application, the device in FIG. 7 to FIG. 10 may also be a chip or chip system, for example, a system on chip (SoC). Correspondingly, the receiving unit and the sending unit may be transceiver circuits of the chip, which are not limited herein.

It should be understood that the apparatus in FIG. 7 to FIG. 10 of the present application may be implemented by the communication apparatus 1100 in FIG. 11 and may be used to perform various steps and/or processes corresponding to the respective network elements in the foregoing method embodiments.

FIG. 11 shows still another communication device 1100 provided by an embodiment of the present application. The apparatus 1100 includes a processor 1110, a transceiver 1120, and a memory 1130. The processor 1110, the transceiver 1120, and the memory 1130 communicate with each other through an internal connection path. The memory 1130 is configured to store an instruction, and the processor 1110 is configured to execute an instruction stored by the memory 1130 to control the transceiver 1120 to send a signal and / or receive signals.

The communication device 1100 may be the first SMF, the second SMF, the AMF, or the PCF, and may correspond to FIG. 7, FIG. 8, FIG. 9, or FIG. 10, respectively, and the embodiment of the present application is not limited thereto.

For details, the functions of the modules or devices in the communication device 1100 can be referred to the above description, and details are not described herein again.

Optionally, the memory 1130 can include read only memory and random access memory and provides instructions and data to the processor. A portion of the memory may also include a non-volatile random access memory. For example, the memory can also store information of the device type. The processor 1110 can be configured to execute instructions stored in a memory, and when the processor 1110 executes instructions stored in the memory, the processor 1110 is configured to perform various steps of the method embodiments corresponding to the respective network elements described above and/or Or process.

It should be understood that the transceiver described above can include a transmitter and a receiver. The transceiver may further include an antenna, and the number of antennas may be one or more. The memory can be a separate device or integrated into the processor. The above various devices or parts of the device can be integrated into the chip for implementation, such as integration into a baseband chip.

In the embodiment of the present application, the transceiver in FIG. 11 may also be a communication interface, which is not limited herein.

In the various embodiments of the present application, various examples are set forth for the purposes of understanding. However, these examples are merely examples and are not meant to be the best implementation of the present application.

In the implementation process, each step of the above method may be completed by an integrated logic circuit of hardware in a processor or an instruction in a form of software. The steps of the method disclosed in the embodiments of the present application may be directly implemented as a hardware processor, or may be performed by a combination of hardware and software units in the processor. The software unit can be located in a conventional storage medium such as random access memory, flash memory, read only memory, programmable read only memory or electrically erasable programmable memory, registers, and the like. The storage medium is located in a memory, and the processor executes instructions in the memory, in combination with hardware to perform the steps of the above method. To avoid repetition, it will not be described in detail here.

It should be noted that the processor in the embodiment of the present invention may be an integrated circuit chip with signal processing capability. In the implementation process, each step of the foregoing method embodiment may be completed by an integrated logic circuit of hardware in a processor or an instruction in a form of software. The above processor may be a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated crucit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or the like. Programming logic devices, discrete gates or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components. The methods, steps, and logical block diagrams disclosed in the embodiments of the present invention may be implemented or carried out. The general purpose processor may be a microprocessor or the processor or any conventional processor or the like. The steps of the method disclosed in the embodiments of the present invention may be directly implemented by the hardware decoding processor, or may be performed by a combination of hardware and software modules in the decoding processor. The software module can be located in a conventional storage medium such as random access memory, flash memory, read only memory, programmable read only memory or electrically erasable programmable memory, registers, and the like. The storage medium is located in the memory, and the processor reads the information in the memory and combines the hardware to complete the steps of the above method.

It is to be understood that the memory in the embodiments of the present invention may be a volatile memory or a non-volatile memory, or may include both volatile and non-volatile memory. The non-volatile memory may be a read-only memory (ROM), a programmable read only memory (ROMM), an erasable programmable read only memory (erasable PROM, EPROM), or an electrical Erase programmable EPROM (EEPROM) or flash memory. The volatile memory can be a random access memory (RAM) that acts as an external cache. By way of example and not limitation, many forms of RAM are available, such as static random access memory (SRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (Synchronous DRAM). SDRAM), double data rate synchronous DRAM (DDR SDRAM), enhanced synchronous dynamic random access memory (ESDRAM), synchronously connected dynamic random access memory (synchlink DRAM, SLDRAM) ) and direct memory bus random access memory (DR RAM). It should be noted that the memories of the systems and methods described herein are intended to comprise, without being limited to, these and any other suitable types of memory.

The embodiment of the present application further provides a communication system including the foregoing network elements.

The embodiment of the present application further provides a computer readable medium having stored thereon a computer program, the method of implementing the communication in any of the foregoing method embodiments when the computer program is executed by a computer.

The embodiment of the present application further provides a computer program product, which is implemented by a computer to implement the method of communication in any of the foregoing method embodiments.

In the above embodiments, it may be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, 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 instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the processes or functions described in accordance with embodiments of the present application are generated in whole or in part. The computer can be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable device. The computer instructions can be stored in a computer readable storage medium or transferred from one computer readable storage medium to another computer readable storage medium, for example, the computer instructions can be from a website site, computer, server or data center Transmission to another website site, computer, server or data center via wired (eg coaxial cable, fiber optic, digital subscriber line (DSL)) or wireless (eg infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.). The computer readable storage medium can be any available media that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device such as a server, data center, or the like that includes one or more available media. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium (eg, a floppy disk, a hard disk, a magnetic tape), an optical medium (eg, a high-density digital video disc (DVD)), or a semiconductor medium (eg, a solid state disk, SSD)) and so on.

It should be understood that the method for communication in the downlink transmission in the communication system is described above, but the application is not limited thereto. Alternatively, the above similar scheme may also be adopted in the uplink transmission. Narration.

In the present application, "at least one" means one or more, and "a plurality" means two or more. "and/or", describing the association relationship of the associated object, indicating that there may be three relationships, for example, A and / or B, which may indicate that A exists separately, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists separately, where A, B can be singular or plural. The character "/" generally indicates that the contextual object is an "or" relationship. "At least one of the following" or a similar expression thereof refers to any combination of these items, including any combination of a single item or a plurality of items. For example, at least one of a, b, or c may represent: a, b, c, ab, ac, bc, or abc, where a, b, c may be single or multiple .

It is to be understood that the phrase "one embodiment" or "an embodiment" or "an" Thus, "in one embodiment" or "in an embodiment" or "an" In addition, these particular features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. It should be understood that, in various embodiments of the present invention, the size of the sequence numbers of the above processes does not mean the order of execution, and the order of execution of each process should be determined by its function and internal logic, and should not be taken to the embodiments of the present invention. The implementation process constitutes any limitation.

The terms "component," "module," "system," and the like, as used in this specification, are used to mean a computer-related entity, hardware, firmware, a combination of hardware and software, software, or software in execution. For example, a component can be, but is not limited to being, a process running on a processor, a processor, an object, an executable, a thread of execution, a program, and/or a computer. By way of illustration, both an application running on a computing device and a computing device can be a component. One or more components can reside within a process and/or execution thread, and the components can be located on one computer and/or distributed between two or more computers. Moreover, these components can execute from various computer readable media having various data structures stored thereon. A component may, for example, be based on signals having one or more data packets (eg, data from two components interacting with another component between the local system, the distributed system, and/or the network, such as the Internet interacting with other systems) Communicate through local and/or remote processes.

It is also to be understood that the first, second, third, fourth, and various reference numerals are in the

It should be understood that the term "and/or" herein is merely an association relationship describing an associated object, indicating that there may be three relationships, for example, A and/or B, which may indicate that A exists separately, and A and B exist simultaneously. There are three cases of B alone.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative logical blocks and steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented in electronic hardware, or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. achieve. Whether these functions are performed in hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the solution. A person skilled in the art can use different methods to implement the described functions for each particular application, but such implementation should not be considered to be beyond the scope of the present application.

A person skilled in the art can clearly understand that for the convenience and brevity of the description, the specific working process of the system, the device and the unit described above can refer to the corresponding process in the foregoing method embodiment, and details are not described herein again.

In the several embodiments provided by the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, devices, and methods may be implemented in other manners. For example, the device embodiments described above are merely illustrative. For example, the division of the unit is only a logical function division. In actual implementation, there may be another division manner, for example, multiple units or components may be combined or Can be integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not executed. In addition, the mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed may be an indirect coupling or communication connection through some interface, device or unit, and may be in an electrical, mechanical or other form.

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

In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application 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.

In the above embodiments, it may be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, 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 (programs). When the computer program instructions (programs) are loaded and executed on a computer, the processes or functions described in accordance with embodiments of the present application are generated in whole or in part. The computer can be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable device. The computer instructions can be stored in a computer readable storage medium or transferred from one computer readable storage medium to another computer readable storage medium, for example, the computer instructions can be from a website site, computer, server or data center Transfer to another website site, computer, server, or data center by wire (eg, coaxial cable, fiber optic, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless (eg, infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.). The computer readable storage medium can be any available media that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device such as a server, data center, or the like that includes one or more available media. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium (eg, a floppy disk, a hard disk, a magnetic tape), an optical medium (eg, a DVD), or a semiconductor medium (eg, a solid state disk (SSD)) or the like.

The foregoing is only a specific embodiment of the present application, but the scope of protection of the present application is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art can easily think of changes or substitutions within the technical scope disclosed in the present application. It should be covered by the scope of protection of this application. Therefore, the scope of protection of the present application should be determined by the scope of the claims.

Claims (18)

A method of communication, comprising: The first session management network element SMF obtains the first control information, where the first control information includes policy information, where the policy information includes: the first SMF notifying the first network element to trigger the terminal device to switch from the first state to the second state. Stateful paging policy; After the first SMF obtains the downlink data notification or the downlink data, the first SMF sends a first message to the first network element according to the policy information, where the first message is used to notify the first The network element triggers the paging of the terminal device from the first state to the second state; The first network element is a mobility management network element (AMF), the first state is an idle state, and the second state is a connected state, or The first network element is a RAN, the first state is a radio resource control deactivation state, and the second state is a non-radio resource control deactivation state connection state. The method according to claim 1, wherein the acquiring, by the first SMF, the first control information comprises: The first SMF acquires the first control information that is configured locally by the first SMF; or, The first SMF determines the first control information according to information from the user plane function network element UPF when the local policy is used; or, The first SMF sends a first request message to the policy control unit PCF, where the first request message is used to request to obtain the policy information; The first SMF receives the first control information sent by the PCF; or, The first SMF receives the first control information sent by the second SMF. Method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that The first control information further includes context information of the PDU session, and/or a configuration rule of the user plane function network element UPF. The context information includes the user plane tunnel information of the PDU session, and the configuration rule is used to configure the service offload of the UPF. The method of claim 3, wherein the method further comprises: The first SMF sends user plane tunnel information of the PDU session to the UPF. A method of communication, comprising: The second session management network element SMF acquires policy information, where the policy information includes a policy for the first SMF to notify the first network element to trigger the paging of the terminal device from the first state to the second state; Transmitting, by the second SMF, first control information of the PDU session to the first SMF, where the first control information includes the policy information; The first network element is a mobility management network element AMF, the first state is an idle state, and the second state is a connected state, or The first network element is a RAN, the first state is a radio resource control deactivation state, and the second state is a non-radio resource control deactivation state connection state. The method of claim 5 wherein: The first control information further includes context information of the PDU session, and/or a configuration rule of the user plane function network element UPF. The context information includes tunnel information of the PDU session, and the configuration rule is used to configure service splitting of the UPF. The method according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the method further comprises: Sending, by the second SMF, a second request message to the AMF for requesting selection of the first SMF to process control signaling of the PDU session; Receiving, by the second SMF, a second response message of the second request message sent by the AMF, The second request message carries at least one of the following information: The identifier of the PDU session, the data network name of the PDU session, and the identifier of the AMF. The method according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the method further comprises: Sending, by the second SMF, a third request message for requesting management of the PDU session to the first SMF, Receiving, by the second SMF, a third response message of the third request message sent by the first SMF; The third request message carries at least one of the following information: The identifier of the PDU session, the data network name of the PDU session, and the identifier of the AMF. A communication device, comprising: Processing unit and transceiver unit, The processing unit is configured to acquire first control information, where the first control information includes policy information, where the policy information includes: the first SMF notifying the first network element to trigger the terminal device to switch from the first state to the second state. Paging strategy; The transceiver unit is configured to send a first message to the first network element according to the policy information, after the processing unit acquires the downlink data notification or the downlink data, where the first message is used to notify the first The network element triggers the paging of the terminal device from the first state to the second state; The first network element is a mobility management network element (AMF), the first state is an idle state, and the second state is a connected state, or The first network element is a RAN, the first state is a radio resource control deactivation state, and the second state is a non-radio resource control deactivation state connection state. The communication device according to claim 9, wherein the processing unit is specifically configured to: Obtaining the first control information of the first SMF local configuration; or, Determining, according to information from the user plane function network element UPF, the first control information when the local policy is used; or, Controlling the transceiver unit to send a first request message to the policy control unit PCF, where the first request message is used to request to acquire the policy information; and receive the first control information sent by the PCF; or, Controlling the transceiver unit to receive the first control information sent by the second SMF. A communication device according to claim 9 or 10, characterized in that The first control information further includes context information of the PDU session, and/or a configuration rule of the user plane function network element UPF. The context information includes the user plane tunnel information of the PDU session, and the configuration rule is used to configure the service offload of the UPF. The communication device according to claim 11, wherein The transceiver unit is further configured to send user plane tunnel information of the PDU session to the UPF. A communication device, comprising: Processing unit and transceiver unit, The processing unit is configured to control the transceiver unit to acquire policy information, where the policy information includes a policy for the first SMF to notify the first network element to trigger the paging of the terminal device from the first state to the second state; Sending, to the first SMF, first control information of the PDU session, where the first control information includes the policy information; The first network element is a mobility management network element (AMF), the first state is an idle state, and the second state is a connected state, or The first network element is a RAN, the first state is a radio resource control deactivation state, and the second state is a non-radio resource control deactivation state connection state. The communication device according to claim 13, wherein The first control information further includes context information of the PDU session, and/or a configuration rule of the user plane function network element UPF. The context information includes tunnel information of the PDU session, and the configuration rule is used to configure service splitting of the UPF. Communication device according to claim 13 or 14, characterized in that The transceiver unit is further configured to send, to the AMF, a second request message for requesting selection of the first SMF to process control signaling of the PDU session; Receiving a second response message of the second request message sent by the AMF; The second request message carries at least one of the following information: The identifier of the PDU session, the data network name of the PDU session, and the identifier of the AMF. The communication device according to claim 13 or 14, wherein the transceiver unit is further configured to send, to the first SMF, a third request message for requesting management of the PDU session, Receiving a third response message of the third request message sent by the first SMF; The third request message carries at least one of the following information: The identifier of the PDU session, the data network name of the PDU session, and the identifier of the AMF. A computer readable storage medium, comprising a computer program, when the computer program is run on a computer, causing the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 8. A computer program product comprising: computer program code, when the computer program code is executed by a computer, causing the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 8.

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