CN112449358B - Method and device for counting service flow - Google Patents

Abstract

The present application discloses a method and a device for counting service traffic, which relate to the field of communications and can improve the accuracy of querying and reporting traffic between SMF and UPF, and reduce signaling overhead. The method is as follows: the first user plane function receives a session establishment request sent by the session management function, the session establishment request includes at least one usage reporting rule URR information element corresponding to the session flow, and each URR information element includes a traffic threshold; the first user plane function Receive the first downlink data packet, where the first downlink data packet includes the identifier of the session flow, the first URR bitmap, and the cumulative flow of the session flow; the URR bitmap is used to indicate the URR cells involved in the cumulative flow; the first user The plane function counts the newly added traffic of the URR cell indicated by the URR bitmap according to the first downlink data packet. If the newly added traffic reaches the traffic threshold corresponding to the URR cell indicated by the URR bitmap, the first user plane function will report to the session management. Function to send URR notifications. This embodiment of the present application is used for traffic reporting between multiple UPFs.

Description

Method and device for counting service traffic

technical field

The present application relates to the field of communications, and in particular, to a method and apparatus for counting service traffic.

Background technique

The 5th generation mobile networks (5G) network is committed to coping with the huge challenges of future diversification and differentiated services. It not only needs to continue to face the challenges brought by mobile Internet services, but also needs to meet the diversification of vertical industries. business requirements, such as ultra-high speed, ultra-low latency, and ultra-high traffic. Therefore, in the 5G network architecture, uplink classifier (UL CL) or branching point (branching point, BP) functions are defined to realize flexible deployment of applications in the network, and applications and networks cooperate to select the optimal data path , to achieve the lowest transmission cost and the highest efficiency to provide bandwidth to reduce service delay.

In the specific implementation, the 5G network allows a session to have multiple user plane functions (UPF) and multiple session anchors (session anchors) at the same time, and the 5G network can control different service flows through UL CL/BP and select different sessions. anchor, so as to meet the needs of business diversity. When a session has multiple UPF scenarios, the charging function (CHF) can give all UPFs the quota management of traffic, and the session management function (SMF) is required to perform secondary management of the quota, so as to Coordinate allocation is performed among multiple UPFs, and when SMF determines that the usage of the quota of this session in multiple UPFs reaches the threshold, it reports traffic to CHF. Among them, when SMF performs secondary management of quota, it needs to coordinate and allocate among multiple UPFs. There will be multiple queries and reports between SMF and UPF. This method of multiple queries and reports makes it difficult to accurately control the quota threshold. , that is to say, the traffic finally aggregated by SMF may exceed the threshold before being reported to CHF, which makes traffic statistics and reporting inaccurate. Moreover, when the timings of the two UPFs reporting traffic are inconsistent, if the SMF actively queries the UPF for traffic, time will be lost, especially in the scenario of quota exhaustion, which increases the signaling interaction between the SMF and the UPF.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The embodiments of the present application provide a method and apparatus for counting service traffic, which can improve the accuracy of querying and reporting traffic between SMF and UPF, and reduce signaling overhead.

A first aspect provides a method for counting service traffic, including: a first user plane function receives a session establishment request sent by a session management function, where the session establishment request includes at least one usage reporting rule URR information element corresponding to the session flow, and each URR The information element includes the traffic threshold; the first user plane function receives the first downlink data packet, and the first downlink data packet includes the identifier of the session flow, the first URR bitmap, and the cumulative flow of the session flow; the URR bitmap is used to indicate the cumulative flow URR cells involved in the traffic; the first user plane function counts the newly added traffic of the URR cells indicated by the URR bitmap according to the first downlink data packet, if the newly added traffic reaches the traffic corresponding to the URR cells indicated by the URR bitmap threshold, the first user plane function sends a URR notification to the session management function, where the URR notification is used to apply for a new traffic threshold for the URR cells that reach the traffic threshold. Therefore, in this embodiment of the present application, the URR bitmap can be carried in the downlink data packet sent by the Session Anchor Point (PSA) to the first user plane function to indicate the URR cells or services that need to be counted, which can facilitate the first user The plane function conducts traffic statistics according to the URR bitmap to determine whether to send a URR notification to the SMF to apply for a new traffic threshold. In this way, by carrying the stream URR bitmap in the downlink data packet and summarizing it through the first user plane function, the power consumption caused by the multiple signaling interactions between the session anchor and the SMF can be reduced, and the traffic flow can also be reduced. Statistics are accurate in real time.

In a possible design, the first user plane function is an uplink classifier UL CL or a branch point BP; the first user plane function receiving the first downlink data packet includes: the first user plane function receiving and sending the second user plane function The first downlink data packet, the second user plane function is the protocol data unit PDU session anchor PSA.

In a possible design, each URR cell further includes a URR bitmap subscript; the URR bitmap includes at least one bit value, the bit value corresponds to the URR bitmap subscript, and the bit value is the first indicated value or the second Indication value, the first indication value is used to indicate that the URR cell corresponding to the URR bitmap subscript needs to accumulate traffic, and the second indicator value is used to indicate that the URR cell corresponding to the URR bitmap subscript does not need to accumulate traffic. For example, the first indication value is 1, and the second indication value is 0. Since the bits in the URR bitmap have two bit values, the UL CL/BP can determine the URR bitmap subscript corresponding to the bit according to the first indication value, and then can count the newly added URR cells corresponding to the URR bitmap subscript. flow.

In a possible design, each URR cell further includes a URR identifier; in each URR cell, one URR identifier is a URR bitmap subscript mapping. Alternatively, the present application may not use the URR bitmap subscript, but reuse the URR identifier to participate in traffic statistics. The use of the URR bitmap subscript takes into account that the service types subscribed by the user are less than the URR identifier, and the bit size occupied by using the URR bitmap subscript is small.

In a possible design, the first user plane function counts, according to the first downlink data packet, the newly added traffic of the URR information element indicated by the first table, including: the first user plane function obtains the information carried in the first downlink data packet The difference between the accumulated traffic and the accumulated traffic carried in the previously received second downlink data packet, the difference is the newly added traffic corresponding to the URR cell indicated by the URR bitmap. In this way, by carrying the accumulated traffic in the downlink data packets to obtain the newly added traffic, the signaling overhead caused by performing traffic statistics through multiple signaling interactions can be avoided.

In a possible design, the first downlink data packet further includes a start mark of the session flow; the start mark is used to indicate that the first downlink data packet is the first downlink data packet of the session flow; or, the first downlink data packet is the first downlink data packet of the session flow. The line data packet further includes an end mark, and the end mark is used to indicate that the first downlink data packet is the last downlink data packet of the session flow; the method further includes: if the first downlink data packet includes a start mark, the first user The plane function records the identification of the session flow; if the first downlink data packet includes an end marker, the first user plane function deletes the identification of the first session flow. In this way, by carrying the start marker and the end marker, the first user plane function can record and delete the relevant parameters of the session flow in time.

A second aspect provides a method for counting service traffic, including: a session management function sends a session establishment request to a first user plane function, where the session establishment request includes at least one usage reporting rule URR information element corresponding to the session flow, each The URR cell includes the traffic threshold; the session management function receives the URR notification sent by the first user plane function, and the URR notification is used to apply for a new traffic threshold for the URR cell in the session flow that reaches the traffic threshold; the session management function reports to the policy control function PCF Send URR notifications for new traffic thresholds. For the beneficial effects of the second aspect, reference may be made to the first aspect, which will not be repeated here.

In a possible design, the first user plane function is an uplink classifier UL CL or a branch point BP; the session establishment request is used to instruct the first user plane function when determining that the newly added traffic of the URR cell reaches a corresponding traffic threshold , which sends a URR notification to the session management function.

In a possible design, each URR cell further includes a URR bitmap subscript; the URR bitmap subscript corresponds to at least one bit included in the URR bitmap, and the bit value corresponding to the bit is the first indicated value or the second Indication value, the first indication value is used to indicate that the URR cell corresponding to the URR bitmap subscript needs to accumulate traffic, and the second indicator value is used to indicate that the URR cell corresponding to the URR bitmap subscript does not need to accumulate traffic.

In a possible design, each URR cell further includes a URR identifier; in each URR cell, a URR identifier is mapped to a URR bitmap subscript.

In a possible design, the method further includes: the session management function receives a URR response sent by the PCF, where the URR response includes a new traffic threshold; the session management function sends a URR update notification to the first user plane function, where the URR update notification includes the new traffic threshold. flow threshold.

In a possible design, the method further includes: when the session management function determines that the first user plane function is deleted, if the session management function needs to update the URR information element, the session management function sends a session update request to the second user plane function, The second user plane function is a protocol data unit PDU session anchor PSA associated with the first user plane function, and the session update request is used to instruct the second user plane function to send a URR notification to the session management function. That is, when the first user plane function (UL CL/BP) is deleted, the second user plane function (PSA) can directly report traffic to the session management function (SMF).

A third aspect provides a user plane function, where the user plane function is a first user plane function, and the first user plane function includes: a receiving module configured to receive a session establishment request sent by a session management function, where the session establishment request includes a session flow corresponding at least one use reporting rule URR cell, each URR cell includes a traffic threshold; the receiving module is also used to receive the first downlink data packet, the first downlink data packet includes the identifier of the session flow, the first URR bitmap And the cumulative flow of the session flow; the URR bitmap is used to indicate the URR cells involved in the cumulative flow; the processing module is used to count the new traffic of the URR cells indicated by the URR bitmap according to the first downlink data packet; the sending module , and is also used to send a URR notification to the session management function if the newly added traffic reaches the traffic threshold corresponding to the URR cell indicated by the URR bitmap, and the URR notification is used to apply for a new traffic threshold for the URR cell that reaches the traffic threshold.

In a possible design, the first user plane function is the uplink classifier UL CL or the branch point BP; the receiving module is configured to: receive the first downlink data packet sent by the second user plane function, and the second user plane function is Protocol Data Unit PDU Session Anchor PSA.

In a possible design, each URR cell further includes a URR bitmap subscript; the URR bitmap includes at least one bit value, the bit value corresponds to the URR bitmap subscript, and the bit value is the first indicated value or the second Indication value, the first indication value is used to indicate that the URR cell corresponding to the URR bitmap subscript needs to accumulate traffic, and the second indicator value is used to indicate that the URR cell corresponding to the URR bitmap subscript does not need to accumulate traffic.

In a possible design, each URR cell further includes a URR identifier; in each URR cell, one URR identifier is a URR bitmap subscript mapping.

In a possible design, the processing module is configured to: obtain the difference between the cumulative flow carried in the first downlink data packet and the cumulative flow carried in the second downlink data packet received previously, and the difference is the URR bit The newly added traffic corresponding to the URR cell indicated by the chart.

In a possible design, the first downlink data packet further includes a start mark of the session flow; the start mark is used to indicate that the first downlink data packet is the first downlink data packet of the session flow; or, the first downlink data packet is the first downlink data packet of the session flow. The line data packet further includes an end mark, and the end mark is used to indicate that the first downlink data packet is the last downlink data packet of the session flow; the processing module is further used for: if the first downlink data packet includes a start mark, record the session The identifier of the flow; if the first downlink data packet includes an end marker, the identifier of the first session flow is deleted.

A fourth aspect provides a session management function, comprising: a sending module configured to send a session establishment request to a first user plane function, where the session establishment request includes at least one usage reporting rule URR information element corresponding to a session flow, each The URR cell includes a flow threshold; the receiving module is used to receive the URR notification sent by the first user plane function, and the URR notification is used to apply for a new flow threshold for the URR cell in the session flow that reaches the flow threshold; the sending module is used to send The Policy Control Function PCF sends URR notifications for new traffic thresholds.

In a possible design, the first user plane function is an uplink classifier UL CL or a branch point BP; the session establishment request is used to instruct the first user plane function when determining that the newly added traffic of the URR cell reaches a corresponding traffic threshold , which sends a URR notification to the session management function.

In a possible design, each URR cell further includes a URR bitmap subscript; the URR bitmap subscript corresponds to at least one bit included in the URR bitmap, and the bit value corresponding to the bit is the first indicated value or the second Indication value, the first indication value is used to indicate that the URR cell corresponding to the URR bitmap subscript needs to accumulate traffic, and the second indicator value is used to indicate that the URR cell corresponding to the URR bitmap subscript does not need to accumulate traffic.

In a possible design, each URR cell further includes a URR identifier; in each URR cell, a URR identifier is mapped to a URR bitmap subscript.

In a possible design, the receiving module is further configured to receive a URR response sent by the PCF, where the URR response includes a new traffic threshold; the sending module is further configured to send a URR update notification to the first user plane function, where the URR update notification includes New traffic threshold.

In a possible design, the sending module is further configured to: when the session management function determines that the first user plane function is deleted, if the session management function needs to update the URR information element, send a session update request to the second user plane function, and the first The second user plane function is a protocol data unit PDU session anchor PSA associated with the first user plane function, and the session update request is used to instruct the second user plane function to send a URR notification to the session management function.

In another aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium, including computer instructions, when the computer instructions are executed on an electronic device, the electronic device can execute the program designed in the first aspect and/or the second aspect. .

In another aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer program product, which, when the computer program product runs on an electronic device, enables the electronic device to execute the method of the first aspect and/or the second aspect.

Description of drawings

1 is a signaling interaction diagram for coordinating and distributing traffic among multiple UPFs;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture provided by an embodiment of the present application;

3 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 4 is a schematic flowchart of a method for counting service traffic provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 5 is a schematic flowchart of a method for counting service traffic according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 6 is a schematic flowchart of a method for counting service traffic when UL CL/BP is deleted according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present application;

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

FIG. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of an electronic device provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of an electronic device provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the application;

FIG. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed ways

The embodiments of the present application can be applied to a 5G network architecture, in a scenario where a session has multiple UPFs, how to count and report service traffic in real time and accurately.

When a session has multiple UPFs, if CHF manages session quotas in a unified manner without distinguishing between UPFs, SMF needs to perform secondary management of quotas for each UPF. The process of coordinating allocation among multiple UPFs can be seen in Figure 1. shown.

1) The SMF sends a session management policy association (Npcf_smpolicyControl_Create) message to the PCF to the policy control function (PCF), determines that policy control and charging (PCC) authorization is required, and requests the establishment of session management (session management) with the PCF. management, SM) policy association;

2) Establish a charging context between SMF and CHF (Npcf_ConvergedCharging_Create);

3) SMF establishes PDU session anchor 1 (PDU (Protocol Data Unit, Protocol Data Unit) session anchor, PSA) 1; then SMF and PSA1 conduct business exchanges;

4) SMF establishes PSA2;

5) PSA1 reports to the SMF that the traffic has reached the threshold through the Packet Forwarding Control Protocol (PFCP) session report (PFCP session report);

6) In order to ensure a reasonable allocation of quotas between PSA1 and PSA2, SMF sends a PFCP session modification Request (PFCP session modification Request) message to PSA2, requesting PSA2 to report the traffic usage immediately;

7) SMF re-allocates traffic quotas to PSA1 and PSA2 according to the traffic reported by PSA1 and PSA2, combined with the remaining quota and other information, and sends the updated traffic threshold to PSA1;

8) SMF sends the updated traffic threshold to PSA2.

The above steps 5-8 can be repeated until the threshold/quota issued by the PCF/CHF is reached or exceeded.

It can be seen that in order to ensure the rationality of quota allocation between PSAs, there will be multiple queries and reports between SMF and PSA, and the final aggregated traffic may exceed the threshold, making it difficult to precisely control the quota threshold.

In view of this problem, the design idea of this application is to use the convergence point feature of UL CL/BP to report URR. The identification of URR is completed by PSA, and the URR list corresponding to the session flow is carried in the downlink packet, so as to achieve the traffic control. The purpose of accurate statistics and timely reporting.

The following first describes the network architecture of the present application.

The network architecture of the present application may be as shown in FIG. 2, including terminal equipment, access network (AN), user plane function, mobility management network element, session management function, policy control function, charging function and data network (data network, DN), etc.

3, the terminal equipment may be user equipment (user equipment, UE), access terminal, UE unit, UE station, mobile station, mobile station, remote station, remote terminal, mobile equipment, UE terminal, terminal, wireless Communication equipment, UE proxy or UE device, etc. The access terminal can be a cellular phone, a cordless phone, a session initiation protocol (SIP) phone, a wireless local loop (WLL) station, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a wireless communication function handheld devices, computing devices or other processing devices connected to wireless modems, in-vehicle devices, wearable devices, terminals in 5G networks or terminals in an evolved public land mobile network (PLMN) network, etc.

The access network AN may include devices capable of communicating with terminal devices. For example, the access network includes a base station, and the base station may be a relay station or an access point. The base station may be a base transceiver station (BTS) in a global system for mobile communication (GSM) or a code division multiple access (CDMA) network, or a wideband code division multiple access. The NB (NodeB) in (wideband code division multiple access, WCDMA) may also be an eNB or an eNodeB (evolutional NodeB) in LTE. The base station may also be a wireless controller in a cloud radio access network (cloud radio access network, CRAN) scenario. The base station can also be a network device in a 5G network or a network device in an evolved PLMN network; it can also be a wearable device or a vehicle-mounted device.

In the 5G network architecture, the user plane function can be UPF, which can be used for: anchor point of intra/inter-RAT mobility (where applicable); external PDU and data network interconnection session point; packet routing and forwarding (e.g., support for uplink classifiers to route traffic flows to instances of the data network, support for branch points to support multi-homed PDU sessions); packet inspection (e.g., application based on service data flow templates) Flow detection and optional packet flow description (PFD) received from SMF; user plane part policy rule enforcement (eg gating, redirection, traffic diversion); lawful interception; traffic usage reporting; user plane services Quality of Service (QoS) processing such as UL CL/DL rate enforcement, reflective QoS marking in DL; uplink traffic verification service data flow (SDF to QoS traffic mapping; uplink and downlink) transport-level packet marking in the network; downlink packet buffering and downlink data notification triggering; sending and forwarding one or more "end markers" to the source next generation radio access network (NG-RAN) node, etc. .

In the 5G network architecture, the mobility management network element can be an access and mobility management function (AMF), which can be used to: terminate a non-access-stratum (NAS) (N1), NAS Encryption and Integrity Protection; Registration Management; Connection Management; Reachability Management; Liquidity Management; Lawful Interception (interface for AMF events and LI systems; provides transport for SM messages between UE and SMF; for routing SM Transparent proxying of messages; access authentication; access authorization; providing message transport between UE and SMF; location service management of supervisory services; for UE and location management function (LMF) and between RAN and LMF Location service messages between provide transport, etc.

In the 5G network architecture, the session management function can be SMF, which can be used for: session management; UE Internet Protocol (IP) address allocation and management; selecting and controlling the UP function; configuring the transmission direction of the UPF, and routing the transmission to Correct destination; part of controlling policy enforcement and QoS; downlink data notification; configuring UPF's flow control to route traffic to the correct destination; terminating interfaces to policy control functions, etc.

In the 5G network architecture, the policy control function can be PCF, and its functions can include: supporting a unified policy framework to manage network behavior; providing policy rules for control plane functions; accessing and unified data repository (unified data repository, UDR) in the User information related to policy decisions, etc.

In the 5G network architecture, the charging function can be CHF, which can be used for converged online and offline charging. The CHF receives the charging information reported by the charging trigger function (charging trigger function, CTF) (SMF can be used as the CTF), generates a CDR or issues a quota to the CTF, and provides a charging function for the UE.

The data network DN may include various devices, such as routers, servers, and the like.

In the embodiment of the present application, by using the SMF and the UPF in the above-mentioned network architecture, the signaling interaction between the SMF and the UPF can be reduced. In this embodiment of the present application, the UPF may be an uplink classified as a UL CL, or a branch point BP. The ULCL may be an uplink traffic classifier, which supports the splitting of upstream traffic, and the BP may be a branch point of a session, which can support the merging of downstream traffic. . UPF can also be PSA, the PDU Session Anchor. There are two PSAs shown in Figure 2, PSA1 and PSA2.

The methods in the following embodiments can all be implemented in the above-mentioned network architecture. In the following embodiments, the above network architecture is taken as an example to describe the methods of the embodiments of the present application.

An embodiment of the present application provides a method for counting service traffic, as shown in FIG. 4 , including:

301. The session management function sends a session establishment request to the first user plane function, where the session establishment request includes at least one usage reporting rule URR information element, and each URR information element includes a traffic threshold.

In the embodiment of the present application, the session management function may be SMF; the user plane function may be UPF, and the UPF may be used as UL CL or BP, or may be PSA. When the SMF sends a session establishment request to the UPF, the UPF is the UC CL/BP. That is, the first user plane function is UC CL/BP, which is denoted as the first UPF.

In this embodiment of the present application, the traffic threshold carried in the URR information element may instruct the first UPF to report to the SMF when the statistical traffic reaches the traffic threshold.

302. The first user plane function receives a session establishment request sent by the session management function.

303. The first user plane function receives the first downlink data packet, where the first downlink data packet includes the identifier of the session flow, the first URR bitmap, and the cumulative flow of the session flow; the URR bitmap is used to indicate the cumulative flow involved. URR cell.

In this embodiment of the present application, the first downlink data packet may be sent by the second user plane function (second UPF) to the first UPF (UL CL/BP), and the second UPF is the PSA.

In this embodiment of the present application, the URR cell may correspond to different service types, and the bits in the URR bitmap may correspond to one URR cell. When the downlink data packet received by the first UPF carries the URR bitmap , the value of the bits in the bitmap can indicate which services corresponding to the URR cells need to count the traffic. The mapping relationship between the bits in the bitmap and the URR is sent by the SMF, so that according to the accumulated traffic in the downlink data packets can be calculated. Statistics are performed on the services that need to be counted as indicated by the URR bitmap.

304. The first user plane function counts the newly added traffic of the URR cell indicated by the URR bitmap according to the first downlink data packet.

The first UPF can obtain the difference between the cumulative flow carried in the first downlink data packet and the cumulative flow carried in the second downlink data packet previously received, where the difference corresponds to the URR cell indicated by the URR bitmap of new traffic.

305. If the newly added traffic reaches the traffic threshold corresponding to the URR cell indicated by the URR bitmap, the first user plane function sends a URR notification to the session management function, and the URR notification is used to apply for new traffic for the URR cell that reaches the traffic threshold. threshold.

306. The session management function receives the URR notification sent by the first user plane function.

307. The session management function sends a URR notification to the policy control function PCF and the charging function CHF to obtain a new traffic threshold.

Therefore, in this embodiment of the present application, the URR bitmap can be carried in the downlink data packet sent by the PSA to the UL CL/BP to indicate the URR or service whose traffic needs to be counted, which can facilitate the UL CL/BP to perform traffic statistics according to the URR bitmap. , to determine whether to send a URR notification to SMF to apply for a new traffic threshold. In this way, by carrying the flow URR bitmap in the downlink data packet and summarizing it through UL CL/BP, the power consumption caused by the signaling interaction between the PSA and the SMF can be reduced, and the traffic statistics can be accurate in real time.

The embodiment of the present application is further described below by taking the network framework shown in FIG. 3 as an example.

Corresponding to Figure 3, the session management function is SMF, the policy control function is PCF, the charging function is CHF, the first user plane function is UL CL/BP, the second user plane function is PSA1, and the third user plane function is PSA2. For example, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for counting service traffic, as shown in FIG. 5 , including:

401. The SMF calls the PCF to obtain the PCC policy.

The PCC policy is used for policy control such as QoS of packet network service data transmission and flow charging, aiming to provide differentiated services for users.

402. The SMF invokes the CHF to start charging.

After a user establishes a session connection, the SMF needs to perform services such as traffic accounting for the user, and the SMF can call the CHF to start traffic accounting for the session according to the PCC policy.

403. The SMF generates a URR cell in combination with information such as the PCC policy issued by the PCF, the charging policy of the CHF, and the locally configured policy, and establishes the mapping relationship between the URR ID and the URR bitmap subscript and the URR bitmap.

There are two types of URR cells, one is charging type, which is used when SMF reports charging to CHF; the other is policy type, which is used when SMF reports policy to PCF. In each type, URR cells can be further divided into session-level URR and service-level URR. Taking the policy-based URR cell as an example, the session-level URR can be understood as a session corresponding to one URR cell, and all flows of the session are associated with the URR cell; for its service-level URR, the service-level URR is downloaded by the PCF. The policy delivered by the PCF is associated with the URR cell, and multiple policies can be associated with the same URR cell. Taking the charging-type URR cell as an example, its service-level URR corresponds to the charging rate group/service ID (RG/SID), the policy issued by the PCF is associated with the RG/SID, and the CHF targets the RG /SID allocation quota, SMF can create URR cells corresponding to RG/SID.

In the embodiment of this application, a service-level URR is used as an example for description. Each URR cell corresponds to a service, each URR cell includes a URR identifier (URR identify, URR ID), and each URR cell further includes a URR Bitmap index (URRindex).

It should be noted that if the operator has few services and the URR is not configured locally in the SMF, and the URR is dynamically generated, the URR bitmap subscript can reuse the dynamically generated URR ID for traffic statistics; if the SMF locally If URR is configured, the bit size occupied by the URR ID is relatively large. In this embodiment of the present application, the URR bitmap subscript is used to perform traffic statistics, that is, the URR ID is converted into a number in the session, so that the number range is narrowed.

In the case where the URR information element includes the URR bitmap subscript, the present application extends the CreateURR IE (information element, information element) of the N4 interface between the SMF and the UPF, and extends the URR Index field, exemplarily, the Create URR IE (URR cell) The extended format may be as shown in Table 1.

Table 1

In Table 1, This IE shall uniquely identify the URR among all the URRs configured for this PFCP session. It means that this IE shall uniquely identify the URR among all the URRs configured for this PFCP session.

It can be known from Table 1 that a URR cell contains a URR ID and a URR bitmap subscript, that is, a URRID maps a URR bitmap subscript.

Assuming that the range of URR Index is 0-127, occupying 8 bits, a session (session) can have up to 128 URR Indexes. The specific format of the URR Index field may be as shown in Table 2.

Table 2

In Table 2, the URR Index can be represented by 8 bits, its type value is 50000, and its length can be n. For example, URRIndex can be represented as 10000000, 01000000, etc.

For the convenience of description, the present application describes the URR ID and the URR bitmap subscript in decimals 1, 2, 3, . . .

Assuming that the operator has 100 services, and each user subscribes to a maximum of 32 services, if the URR ID numbers are 1 to 100, the URR Index numbers are 0 to 31, and the session of user 1 uses URR IDs 10, 13, and 57 and 89 services, then the mapping relationship between URR ID and URR Index established by SMF can be <10, 0>, <13, 1>, <57, 2>, <89, 3>; the session of user 2 uses URR For services whose IDs are 11, 3, 5, and 8, the mapping relationship between the URR ID and the URR Index established by the SMF may be <11, 0>, <3, 1>, <5, 2>, <8, 3>.

When the mapping relationship is established, for a session, the URR bitmaps (bitmaps) corresponding to multiple URR bitmap subscripts include at least one bit value. For example, when a user subscribes to 32 services, there can be 32 bits to represent Bitmap subscript. Taking user 2 as an example, bit 0 in the bitmap actually represents URR ID 11, bit 1 actually represents URR ID 3, and so on. In the URR bitmap, the initial bit value of each URR bitmap subscript may be 0.

404. The SMF sends a first session establishment request to PSA1, where the first session establishment request includes at least one URR information element, and each URR information element includes a URR bitmap subscript.

The SMF may send a first session establishment request to PSA1 through the N4 interface. In this embodiment of the present application, the session establishment request may be a PFCP session establishment request.

When a user initiates a session, if the session of the user involves multiple services, the first session establishment request includes URR information elements corresponding to the multiple services and is sent to PSA1. See Table 1 for the format of the URR cell.

A session may have multiple session anchors. In this embodiment, the established session anchors are PSA1 and PSA2 as an example.

405. PSA1 sends a first session establishment response to the SMF.

PSA1 may send a first session establishment response to the SMF through the N4 interface.

In this embodiment of the present application, the session establishment response may be a PFCP session establishment response.

406. The SMF sends a second session establishment request to PSA2, where the second session establishment request includes at least one usage reporting rule URR information element, and each URR information element includes a URR bitmap subscript.

407. PSA2 sends a second session establishment response to the SMF.

408. The SMF sends a third session establishment request to the UL CL/BP, where the third session establishment request includes at least one URR information element corresponding to the session flow, and each URR information element includes a URR bitmap index and a traffic threshold.

The SMF may send a third session establishment request to the UL CL/BP through the N4 interface.

When a user initiates a session, if the session flow of the user's session involves multiple services, the URR information elements corresponding to these multiple services must be delivered to the UL CL/BP. The UL CL/BP can learn the mapping relationship between the URR ID and the URR Index according to the URR ID and URR Index carried in the multiple URR cells, and then in step 411, according to the mapping relationship, each URR cell carries the mapping relationship. Traffic thresholds and URR bitmaps are used to collect statistics on service traffic. See Table 1 for the format of the URR cell.

409. The UL CL/BP sends a third session establishment response to the SMF.

410. PSA1 sends the first downlink data packet to the UL CL/BP, where the first downlink data packet includes the identifier of the session flow, the URR bitmap, and the cumulative flow of the session flow; the URR bitmap is used to indicate the URR involved in the cumulative flow cell.

Taking FIG. 2 as an example, when the session anchor PSA1 corresponding to the session receives the first downlink data packet sent by the data network DN, it can be sent to the terminal device through the session anchor PSA1 and the access network AN. The first downlink data packet received by PSA1 carries the identifier (Lable Id) of the session flow, the URR bitmap, and the cumulative flow (volume) of the session flow, and PSA1 can send the first packet to the UL CL/BP through the N9 interface. Downstream packets. Specifically, the downlink PDU session information (download PDU session information) (PDU type 0) in the first downlink data packet can be extended to carry the identifier of the session flow, the URR bitmap and the accumulated flow, and the specific format can be as shown in Table 3 shown.

table 3

In Table 3, URR BITMAP LEN represents the occupied bit length of the URR bitmap; Lable Id represents the session stream ID, and the URR bitmap corresponding to a stream is fixed; URR BITMAP represents the URR bitmap; Accumulated traffic; STA represents the start marker of the stream identified by Lable Id; STO represents the end marker of the stream identified by Lable Id.

Wherein, the URR bitmap includes at least one bit value, the bit value corresponds to the subscript of the URR bitmap, the bit value is the first indication value or the second indication value, and the first indication value is used to indicate the URR information corresponding to the subscript of the URR bitmap The element needs to accumulate traffic, and the second indication value is used to indicate that the URR cell corresponding to the URR bitmap subscript does not need to accumulate traffic. For example, the first indication value is 1, and the second indication value is 0.

The STA is used to indicate that the first downlink data packet is the first downlink data packet of the session flow; or, the STO is used to indicate that the first downlink data packet is the last downlink data packet of the session flow. If the first downlink data packet includes STA, the UL CL/BP records the identifier Lable Id of the session flow; if the first downlink data packet includes STO, the UL CL/BP deletes the identifier of the session stream.

Likewise, the downstream data packet received by PSA2 is similar in format to the first downstream data packet received by PSA1.

411. The UL CL/BP counts the newly added traffic of the URR cell indicated by the URR bitmap according to the first downlink data packet.

Since the bits in the URR bitmap have two bit values, the UL CL/BP can determine the URR bitmap subscript corresponding to the bit according to the first indication value, and then can count the newly added URR cells corresponding to the URR bitmap subscript. flow.

In some embodiments, the UL CL/BP can obtain the difference between the cumulative traffic carried in the first downlink data packet and the cumulative traffic carried in the second downlink data packet received previously, and the difference is the first bit in the graph The newly added traffic corresponding to the indicated URR cell. For example, the bit value of the URR bitmap is 01011000 (bit numbering from the left end to the right end), the 0th, 2nd, 5th, 6th, and 7th bits are 0, and the corresponding URR bitmap subscripts are 0, 2, 5, 6 and 7, then the URR cells corresponding to the URR bitmap subscripts 0, 2, 5, 6, and 7 do not need to count the new traffic; the value of the 1st, 3rd, and 4th bits is 1, and the corresponding URR bitmap If the subscripts are 1, 3, and 4, then the URR cells corresponding to the subscripts 1, 3, and 4 of the URR bitmap need to count the new traffic. Wherein, for the service-level URR, when the traffic needs to be counted for the URR cell, it may also be considered that the traffic corresponding to the URR cell needs to be counted.

412. If the newly added traffic reaches the traffic threshold corresponding to the URR cell indicated by the URR bitmap, the UL CL/BP sends a URR notification to the SMF, and the URR notification is used to apply for a new traffic threshold for the URR cell that reaches the traffic threshold.

Exemplarily, when the traffic threshold corresponding to the URR cell is 100, if the newly added traffic reaches or exceeds the traffic threshold 100 corresponding to the URR cell, the UL CL/BP may notify the SMF that the traffic allocated by the URR cell has been allocated. After use, instruct SMF to apply for a new traffic threshold to PCF. For example, if the new traffic threshold is 200, then if the UL CL/BP continues to count the new traffic and reaches 200, it can send a URR notification to SMF again to apply for new traffic. threshold.

413. The SMF sends a URR notification to the PCF to obtain a new traffic threshold.

Accordingly, the SMF receives the URR response sent by the PCF, and the URR response includes the new traffic threshold.

In some embodiments, the SMF sends a URR update notification to the UL CL/BP, the URR update notification includes the new traffic threshold.

Therefore, in the above embodiment, the PSA can report the traffic to the UL CL/BP along with the data packets, and the UL CL/BP performs traffic statistics and reports the traffic to the SMF. This process of reporting the traffic along with the data packets can not only ensure the traffic The accuracy of the report can also avoid the problem of high signaling overhead caused by multiple signaling interactions between the SMF and the UPF.

In the above embodiment, the UL CL/BP implements the functions of traffic accumulation and URR reporting. In some embodiments, as the user moves, the UL CL in the above embodiment may be deleted. After the UL CL is deleted, the traffic reporting of PSA1/PSA2 will no longer be able to report traffic to the SMF through the UL CL. Traffic can be reported directly to SMF.

Exemplarily, take Figure 3 as the network architecture, as shown in Figure 6:

501. The UE establishes a PDU session, which includes multiple sessions such as UL CL/BP, PSA1, and PSA2. The UL CL/BP implements traffic statistics and traffic reporting (see the embodiment corresponding to FIG. 4).

502. When the SMF informs the UE to stop using the IPv6 prefix corresponding to PSA1 through the Internet Protocol Version 6 router advertisement ((Internet Protocol Version 6, IPv6) Router Advertisement), the UE can start to use the IPv6 prefix corresponding to PSA2 for all service traffic.

503. The SMF interacts with the (R)AN to update the (R)AN tunnel information, so that the upstream traffic is sent from the (R)AN to the PSA2 without going through the UL CL/BP.

504. The SMF interacts with the PSA2 through the N4 interface, updates the tunnel information of the PSA2, and at the same time sends a session update request to the PSA2, where the session update request is used to instruct the PSA2 to send a URR notification to the SMF.

In other words, when the SMF determines that the first user plane function (PSA1) is deleted, if the SMF needs to update the URR information element, the SMF sends a session update request to the second user plane function (PSA2), where PSA2 is the protocol data associated with the session existing with PSA1. Unit PDU session anchor PSA, session update request is used to instruct PSA2 to send URR notification to SMF.

In this way, the downstream traffic will be sent directly from the PSA2 to the (R)AN, so that the entire upstream and downstream traffic path switching is completed. That is, after the UL CL/BP is deleted, PSA2 reports traffic statistics to the SMF.

505. The SMF sends a session (PFCP session) delete message to PSA1 to instruct PSA1 to release the session on PSA1.

506. The SMF sends a session (PFCP session) delete message to the UL CL/BP to instruct the UL CL/BP to release the session on PSA1.

507. PSA2 performs traffic statistics, and reports the accumulated traffic to the SMF if the traffic threshold is reached.

For the implementation of traffic statistics by PSA2, refer to the implementation of traffic statistics by UL CL/BP in steps 411 and 412.

Therefore, in the embodiment of the present application, when the UL CL is deleted, other UPFs can report URR traffic to the SMF according to the traffic accumulation in the data packets, so as to realize the URR reporting across multiple UPFs and reduce the signaling interaction between the SMF and the UPF.

The foregoing mainly introduces the solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application from the perspective of interaction between various network elements. It can be understood that, in order to implement the above functions, each network element, such as a user plane function, a session management function, etc., includes corresponding hardware structures and/or software modules for executing each function. Those skilled in the art should easily realize that the present application can be implemented in hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software with the units and algorithm steps of each example described in conjunction with the embodiments disclosed herein. Whether a function is performed by hardware or computer software driving hardware depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality using different methods for each particular application, but such implementations should not be considered beyond the scope of this application.

In this embodiment of the present application, user plane functions, session management functions, etc. may be divided into functional modules according to the foregoing method examples. For example, each functional module may be divided corresponding to each function, or two or more functions may be integrated into one processing unit. in the module. The above-mentioned integrated modules can be implemented in the form of hardware, and can also be implemented in the form of software function modules. It should be noted that, the division of modules in the embodiments of the present application is schematic, and is only a logical function division, and there may be other division manners in actual implementation.

In the case where each functional module is divided according to each function, FIG. 7 shows a schematic structural diagram of an electronic device 70, the electronic device 70 may be the above-mentioned user plane function, or UL CL/BP, and the electronic device 70 includes: receiving Unit 701 , processing unit 702 , sending unit 703 . The receiving unit 701 is used to support the electronic device 70 to perform the processes 302 and 303 in FIG. 4 , the corresponding processes of the processes 408 and 410 in FIG. 5 , and the corresponding process of the process 506 in FIG. 6 ; the processing unit 702 is used to support the electronic device 70 The process 304 in FIG. 4 and the process 411 in FIG. 5 are performed, and the sending unit 703 is configured to support the electronic device 70 to perform the process 305 in FIG. 4 , and the processes 409 and 412 in FIG. 5 . Wherein, all relevant contents of the steps involved in the above method embodiments can be cited in the functional descriptions of the corresponding functional modules, which will not be repeated here.

In the case of using an integrated unit, FIG. 8 shows a possible schematic structural diagram of the electronic device involved in the above embodiment. The electronic device 80 includes: a processing module 802 and a communication module 803 . The processing module 802 is used to control and manage the actions of the electronic device. For example, the processing module 802 is used to support the electronic device 80 to perform the process 304 in FIG. 3, the process 411 in FIG. 5, and/or for the techniques described herein. other processes. The communication module 803 is used to support the communication between the electronic device and other network entities, for example, the communication with the functional modules or network entities shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 . The communication module 803 includes the functions of the receiving unit 701 and the sending unit 703 described above. The electronic device 80 may further include a storage module 801 for storing program codes and data of the electronic device 80 .

The processing module 802 may be a processor or a controller, for example, a central processing unit (Central Processing Unit, CPU), a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (Digital Signal Processor, DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (Application-Specific Integrated Circuit) Circuit, ASIC), Field Programmable Gate Array (Field Programmable Gate Array, FPGA) or other programmable logic devices, transistor logic devices, hardware components or any combination thereof. It may implement or execute the various exemplary logical blocks, modules and circuits described in connection with this disclosure. A processor may also be a combination that implements computing functions, such as a combination of one or more microprocessors, a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, and the like. The communication module 803 may be a transceiver, a transceiver circuit, a communication interface, or the like. The storage module 801 may be a memory.

When the processing module 802 is a processor, the communication module 803 is a communication interface, and the storage module 801 is a memory, the electronic device involved in this embodiment of the present application may be the electronic device 90 shown in FIG. 9 .

Referring to FIG. 9 , the electronic device 90 includes: a processor 912 , a communication interface 913 , a memory 911 and a bus 914 . The communication interface 913, the processor 912 and the memory 911 are connected to each other through a bus 914; the bus 914 may be a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus or an Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA) bus Wait. The bus can be divided into address bus, data bus, control bus and so on. For ease of presentation, only one thick line is used in FIG. 9, but it does not mean that there is only one bus or one type of bus.

In the case where each functional module is divided according to each function, FIG. 10 shows a schematic structural diagram of an electronic device 10, and the electronic device 10 may be the session management function involved in the above embodiment, or a possible SMF In a schematic structural diagram, the electronic device 10 includes a sending unit 1001 , a receiving unit 1002 and a processing unit 1003 . The sending unit 1001 is used to support the electronic device 10 to perform the processes 301 and 307 in FIG. 4 , the processes 404 , 406 , 408 , and 413 in FIG. 5 , and the processes 505 and 506 in FIG. 6 ; the receiving unit 1002 is used to support the electronic device 10 Process 306 in FIG. 3 is performed. The processing unit 1003 is configured to support the electronic device 10 to perform the processes 401, 402, and 403 in FIG. 5 and the processes 502, 503, and 504 in FIG. 6, wherein all relevant contents of the steps involved in the above method embodiments can be cited in The functional description of the corresponding functional module will not be repeated here.

In the case of using an integrated unit, FIG. 11 shows another possible schematic structural diagram of the electronic device 10 involved in the above embodiment. The electronic device 11 includes: a processing module 1102 and a communication module 1103 . The processing module 1102 is used to control and manage the actions of the electronic device 11, for example, the processing module 1102 is used to support the electronic device 11 to perform the processes 401, 402, 403 in FIG. 5, the processes 502, 503, 504 in FIG. 6, and /or other procedures for the techniques described herein. The communication module 1103 is used to support the communication between the electronic device 11 and other network entities, for example, the communication with the functional modules or network entities shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 . The electronic device 11 may further include a storage module 1101 for storing program codes and data of the electronic device 11 .

The processing module 1102 may be a processor or a controller, such as a CPU, a general-purpose processor, a DSP, an ASIC, an FPGA, or other programmable logic devices, transistor logic devices, hardware components, or any combination thereof. It may implement or execute the various exemplary logical blocks, modules and circuits described in connection with this disclosure. A processor may also be a combination that implements computing functions, such as a combination of one or more microprocessors, a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, and the like. The communication module 1103 may be a transceiver, a transceiver circuit, a communication interface, or the like. The storage module 1101 may be a memory.

When the processing module 1102 is a processor, the communication module 1103 is a communication interface, and the storage module 1101 is a memory, the electronic device 11 involved in this embodiment of the present application may be the electronic device 12 shown in FIG. 12 .

Referring to FIG. 12 , the electronic device 12 includes: a processor 1212 , a communication interface 1213 , a memory 1211 and a bus 1214 . The communication interface 1213, the processor 1212 and the memory 1211 are connected to each other through a bus 1214; the bus 1214 may be a PCI bus or an EISA bus. The bus can be divided into address bus, data bus, control bus and so on. For ease of representation, only one thick line is shown in FIG. 12, but it does not mean that there is only one bus or one type of bus.

The steps of the methods or algorithms described in conjunction with the disclosure of the present application may be implemented in a hardware manner, or may be implemented in a manner in which a processor executes software instructions. The software instructions can be composed of corresponding software modules, and the software modules can be stored in random access memory (RandomAccess Memory, RAM), flash memory, read-only memory (ReadOnly Memory, ROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (Erasable Programmable). ROM, EPROM), Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (Electrically EPROM, EEPROM), registers, hard disks, removable hard disks, compact disks (CD-ROMs) or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor, such that the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. Of course, the storage medium can also be an integral part of the processor. The processor and storage medium may reside in an ASIC. Alternatively, the ASIC may be located in the core network interface device. Of course, the processor and the storage medium may also exist in the core network interface device as discrete components.

Those skilled in the art should appreciate that, in one or more of the above examples, the functions described in this application may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, the functions may be stored on or transmitted over as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media includes both computer storage media and communication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. A storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer.

The above are only specific embodiments of the present application, but the protection scope of the present application is not limited thereto, and any changes or substitutions within the technical scope disclosed in the present application should be covered within the protection scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims (22)

1. A method for counting traffic flow, comprising:

a first user plane function network element receives a session establishment request sent by a session management function network element, wherein the session establishment request comprises at least one URR cell using a reporting rule corresponding to a session stream, and each URR cell comprises a flow threshold;

the first user plane functional network element receives a first downlink data packet, wherein the first downlink data packet comprises the identification of the session stream, a URR bitmap table and the accumulated flow of the session stream; the URR bitmap table is used for indicating the URR cells related to the accumulated flow;

and the first user plane functional network element counts the newly increased flow of the URR cell indicated by the URR bitmap table according to the first downlink data packet, and if the newly increased flow reaches a flow threshold corresponding to the URR cell indicated by the URR bitmap table, the first user plane functional network element sends a URR notification to the session management functional network element, wherein the URR notification is used for applying for a new flow threshold for the URR cell reaching the flow threshold.

2. The method of claim 1,

the first user plane functional network element is an uplink classifier UL CL or a branch point BP;

the receiving, by the first user plane functional network element, the first downlink packet comprises:

and the first user plane functional network element receives the first downlink data packet sent by a second user plane functional network element, wherein the second user plane functional network element is a Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session anchor Point (PSA).

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2,

each URR cell also includes a URR bitmap index;

the bit value is corresponding to the index of the URR bitmap, the bit value is a first indicating value or a second indicating value, the first indicating value is used for indicating that the URR cells corresponding to the index of the URR bitmap need to accumulate flow, and the second indicating value is used for indicating that the URR cells corresponding to the index of the URR bitmap do not need to accumulate flow.

4. The method of claim 3,

each URR cell also comprises a URR mark;

in each URR cell, one URR identifies one URR bitmap subscript map.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first user plane functional network element counting the newly added traffic of the URR cells indicated by the first bit map according to the first downlink packet comprises:

and the first user plane functional network element acquires a difference value between the accumulated flow carried in the first downlink data packet and the accumulated flow carried in the second downlink data packet received at the previous time, wherein the difference value is a newly added flow corresponding to the URR cell indicated by the URR bitmap table.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first downstream data packet further comprises a start marker for a session flow; the starting mark is used for indicating that the first downlink data packet is the first downlink data packet of the session stream; or, the first downlink data packet further includes an end flag, where the end flag is used to indicate that the first downlink data packet is the last downlink data packet of the session stream;

the method further comprises the following steps:

if the first downlink data packet includes the start mark, the first user plane functional network element records the identifier of the session stream;

and if the first downlink data packet comprises the end mark, the first user plane functional network element deletes the identifier of the session stream.

7. A method for counting traffic flows, comprising:

a session management function network element sends a session establishment request to a first user plane function network element, wherein the session establishment request comprises at least one usage reporting rule URR cell corresponding to a session stream, and each URR cell comprises a flow threshold; each URR cell also includes a URR bitmap index; the index of the URR bitmap corresponds to at least one bit included by the URR bitmap, the bit value corresponding to the bit is a first indicating value or a second indicating value, the first indicating value is used for indicating that the URR cell corresponding to the index of the URR bitmap needs to accumulate flow, and the second indicating value is used for indicating that the URR cell corresponding to the index of the URR bitmap does not need to accumulate flow;

the session management function network element receives a URR notification sent by the first user plane function network element, where the URR notification is used to apply for a new traffic threshold for a URR cell that reaches a traffic threshold in the session stream;

and the session management function network element sends URR notification to a policy control function PCF to acquire a new flow threshold.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the first user plane functional network element is an uplink classifier UL CL or a branch point BP; and the session establishment request is used for indicating the first user plane function network element to send a URR notification to the session management function network element when determining that the newly-added flow of the URR cell reaches a corresponding flow threshold.

9. The method according to claim 7 or 8,

each URR cell also comprises a URR identification;

in each URR cell, one URR identity is index mapped with one URR bitmap.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

the session management function network element receives URR response sent by PCF, the URR response includes new flow threshold;

and the session management function network element sends a URR update notification to the first user plane function network element, where the URR update notification includes a new traffic threshold.

11. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

when the session management function network element determines that the first user plane function network element is deleted, if the session management function network element needs to update the URR cell, the session management function network element sends a session update request to a second user plane function network element, the second user plane function network element is a Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session anchor Point (PSA) which is associated with the first user plane function network element in a session mode, and the session update request is used for indicating the second user plane function network element to send a URR notification to the session management function network element.

12. A user plane functional network element, wherein the user plane functional network element is a first user plane functional network element, and wherein the first user plane functional network element comprises:

a receiving module, configured to receive a session establishment request sent by a session management function network element, where the session establishment request includes at least one URR cell using a reporting rule corresponding to a session flow, and each URR cell includes a flow threshold;

the receiving module is further configured to receive a first downlink data packet, where the first downlink data packet includes an identifier of the session flow, a URR bitmap table, and an accumulated flow of the session flow; the URR bitmap table is used for indicating the URR cells related to the accumulated flow;

the processing module is used for counting the newly increased flow of the URR cells indicated by the URR bitmap table according to the first downlink data packet;

and the sending module is further configured to send a URR notification to the session management function network element if the newly added flow reaches a flow threshold corresponding to the URR cell indicated by the URR bitmap table, where the URR notification is used to apply for a new flow threshold for the URR cell reaching the flow threshold.

13. The user plane functional network element according to claim 12, wherein the first user plane functional network element is an uplink classifier UL CL or a branch point BP;

the receiving module is used for:

and receiving the first downlink data packet sent by a second user plane functional network element, wherein the second user plane functional network element is a Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session anchor Point (PSA).

14. The user plane functional network element of claim 12 or 13,

each URR cell also includes a URR bitmap index;

the URR bitmap table comprises at least one bit value, the bit value corresponds to the index of the URR bitmap table, the bit value is a first indicating value or a second indicating value, the first indicating value is used for indicating that the URR cell corresponding to the index of the URR bitmap table needs to accumulate flow, and the second indicating value is used for indicating that the URR cell corresponding to the index of the URR bitmap table does not need to accumulate flow;

each URR cell also comprises a URR mark; in each URR cell, one URR identifies one URR bitmap subscript map.

15. The user plane functional network element of claim 12, wherein the processing module is configured to:

and acquiring a difference value between the accumulated flow carried in the first downlink data packet and the accumulated flow carried in the second downlink data packet received at the previous time, wherein the difference value is a newly added flow corresponding to the URR cell indicated by the URR bitmap table.

16. The user plane functional network element of claim 12, wherein the first downlink data packet further comprises a start marker for the session flow; the starting mark is used for indicating that the first downlink data packet is the first downlink data packet of the session stream; or, the first downlink data packet further includes an end flag, where the end flag is used to indicate that the first downlink data packet is the last downlink data packet of the session stream;

the processing module is further configured to:

if the first downlink data packet comprises the starting mark, recording the identifier of the session stream;

and if the first downlink data packet comprises the end mark, deleting the identification of the conversation flow.

17. A session management function network element, comprising:

a sending module, configured to send a session establishment request to a first user plane function network element, where the session establishment request includes at least one usage reporting rule URR cell corresponding to a session flow, and each URR cell includes a flow threshold; each URR cell also includes a URR bitmap index; the index of the URR bitmap corresponds to at least one bit included by the URR bitmap, the bit value corresponding to the bit is a first indicating value or a second indicating value, the first indicating value is used for indicating that the URR cell corresponding to the index of the URR bitmap needs to accumulate flow, and the second indicating value is used for indicating that the URR cell corresponding to the index of the URR bitmap does not need to accumulate flow;

a receiving module, configured to receive a URR notification sent by the first user plane functional network element, where the URR notification is used to apply for a new traffic threshold for a URR cell that reaches a traffic threshold in the session flow;

and the sending module is used for sending the URR notification to the policy control function PCF so as to acquire a new flow threshold.

18. The session management functional network element of claim 17, wherein the first user plane functional network element is an uplink classifier UL CL or a branch point BP; and the session establishment request is used for indicating the first user plane function network element to send a URR notification to the session management function network element when determining that the newly-added flow of the URR cell reaches a corresponding flow threshold.

19. The session management function network element of claim 17 or 18,

each URR cell also comprises a URR identification;

in each URR cell, one URR identity is index mapped with one URR bitmap.

20. The element of claim 19, wherein the receiving module is further configured to receive a URR response sent by the PCF, the URR response including the new traffic threshold;

the sending module is further configured to send a URR update notification to the first user plane function network element, where the URR update notification includes a new traffic threshold.

21. The session management function network element of claim 17, wherein the sending module is further configured to:

when the session management function network element determines that a first user plane function network element is deleted, if the session management function network element needs to update a URR cell, a session update request is sent to a second user plane function network element, the second user plane function network element is a Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session anchor Point (PSA) which is associated with the first user plane function network element in a session, and the session update request is used for indicating the second user plane function network element to send a URR notification to the session management function network element.

22. A computer-readable storage medium comprising computer instructions that, when executed on an electronic device, cause the electronic device to perform the method of any of claims 1-11.

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