CN112566072B - NF-based communication method, device and storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

Embodiments of the present application provide an NF-based communication method, device, and storage medium, which are used to reduce the complexity of a service processing flow. In the embodiment of the present application, the network storage network element receives the first message sent by the NF requester, where the first message includes parameters of the service requested by the NF requester, and determines the NF provider matching the parameters according to the parameters. When the first message includes the first indication information, the network storage network element carries the first part of the description information in the description information of the NF provider into the second message, and sends the second message. The first indication information is used to indicate the network storage The network element returns the first part of the description information to the NF requester, and the network storage network element returns to the NF requester. Since only the first part of the description information is returned and the amount of returned data is small, the complexity of data transmission in the service discovery process of the network storage network element can be reduced, the service processing speed of the NF requester can be improved, and the speed of the service discovery process can be improved.

Description

NF-based communication method, device and storage medium

technical field

The present application relates to the field of communication, and in particular, to an NF-based communication method, device and storage medium.

Background technique

The 5G core network adopts a service-based architecture, the interface between each network function (Network Function, NF) adopts a service-based interface (Service Based Interface, SBI), and the communication mechanism of service invocation is adopted between NF providers. The NF provides service registration to the Network Function Repository Function (NRF) to provide services.

In a specific implementation, the terminal device sends a service request to the NF requester to request a corresponding service. After receiving the service request sent by the terminal device, the NF requester sends a service discovery request to the NRF. The NRF performs a service discovery process in order to find an NF provider that can provide the corresponding service to the NF requester. After finding one or more NF providers that can provide corresponding services through the service discovery process provided by NRF, NRF returns all the description information of all the found NF providers that can provide services to the NF requester, so that the NF requests The party determines an NF provider that will eventually provide services for it from the NF providers that can provide services. This complex process will increase the complexity of the business processing flow, and may even cause dropped calls.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the present application provide an NF-based communication method, device, and storage medium, which are used to reduce the complexity of a service processing flow.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method based on a network function NF, including: a network storage network element receives a first message sent by an NF requester, where the first message includes a request provided by the NF requester. Parameters of the service. The network storage network element determines, according to the parameter, an NF provider that matches the parameter. When the first message includes first indication information, the network storage network element carries the first part of the description information in the description information of the NF provider into the second message, and the first indication information is used to indicate The network storage network element returns the first part of the description information to the NF requester. The network storage network element sends the second message to the NF requester. Since only the first part of the description information is returned, the amount of returned data is small. Therefore, the complexity of data transmission in the service discovery process of the network storage network element can be reduced, and the service processing speed of the NF requester can be improved, and the service discovery process can be improved. speed.

In a possible implementation manner of the above-mentioned first aspect, the first indication information includes: a preset bit value carried on a preset bit of the first message. For example, when the bit value on the preset bit is set to 1, it means that the first message carries the first indication information. If the bit value of the preset bit is set to zero, or the preset bit does not carry content and is empty, it can also be said that the preset bit is default, it means that the first message does not carry the first indication information.

In a possible implementation manner of the above-mentioned first aspect, after the network storage network element determines the NF provider matching the parameter according to the parameter, the method further includes: when the network storage network element determines the NF provider If the first message does not include the first indication information, the network storage network element carries the description information of the NF provider in the second message. In this embodiment, the NF requester can decide whether to let the network storage network element return the description information or return the first part of the description information in the description information according to specific requirements, so as to increase the flexibility of the solution.

In a possible implementation manner of the above-mentioned first aspect, the first part of the description information includes: the priority of the NF provider, the weight of the NF provider, and the load of the NF provider. In this way, the amount of data returned to the NF requester by the network storage network element in the service discovery process can be reduced, and the requirement of the NF requester to select the NF provider according to the first part of the description information can be met.

In a possible implementation manner of the above-mentioned first aspect, after the network storage network element sends the second message, the method further includes: the network storage network element sends the NF provider's information to the NF requester. The second part of the description information in the description information; wherein the second part of the description information includes: all or part of the information in the description information of the NF provider except the first part of the description information. In this way, when the NF requester receives similar service requirements of other terminal devices, the information of the NF provider can be queried locally, thereby reducing the process of interaction with network storage network elements and improving the service processing speed.

In a possible implementation manner of the above-mentioned first aspect, before the network storage network element sends the second part of the description information in the description information of the NF provider to the NF requester, the method further includes: The network storage network element receives the third message sent by the NF requester, where the third message includes the identifier of the NF provider; the network storage network element sends the NF provider to the NF requester The second part of the description information in the description information includes: the network storage network element carries the second part of the description information with the NF provider in the fourth message, and sends the NF requester to the NF requester. Fourth message. The timing of sending the third message can be flexibly selected. For example, the NF requester can first perform the process of ending the service acquisition of the terminal device to provide the corresponding service for the terminal device, and then send the third message to trigger the network storage network element to return to the second message. Some descriptive information. In this way, the speed of the business process that provides the service to the terminal device can be increased.

In a possible implementation manner of the foregoing first aspect, the third message further includes second indication information, where the second indication information is used to indicate an identifier of the second part of the description information. In this way, the NF requester can specify the parameters to be returned by the network storage network element, such as the identifier of the description information in the second part. In this way, on the one hand, when a terminal requests to provide corresponding services, it can query whether the NF provider meets the requirements according to the first part of the description information and the second part of the description information, on the other hand, all the description information of the NF provider is returned to the NF request. In terms of the other side's solution, it can reduce the amount of data transmission in the service discovery process. Moreover, the first part of the description information and the second part of the description information are sent separately by two signalings. The first part of the description information has a small amount of data and is returned to the NF requester first to further speed up the process of providing corresponding services for the terminal equipment. , the second part of the description information is subsequently returned to the NF requester, so that it can be queried locally when a similar service request is received in the future, thereby improving the service processing speed.

In a possible implementation manner of the above-mentioned first aspect, the identifier of the second part of the description information is: the correspondence between the NF requester and the identifier of the second part of the description information according to the preset type identifier of the NF provider relationship, and the type identifier of the NF provider is determined. In this way, the suitable second part of the description information can be selected according to the type of the NF provider, and the solution is more flexible.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method based on a network function NF, including: the NF requester carries first indication information in a first message, where the first indication information is used to indicate the network The storage network element returns the first part of the description information to the NF requester; the NF requester sends the first message to the network storage network element, and the first message also includes the information of the service requested by the NF requester. parameter; the NF requester receives the second message sent by the network storage network element; wherein, when the first message carries the first indication information, the second message includes the NF that matches the parameter The first part of the description information of the provider. Since only the first part of the description information is returned, the amount of returned data is small. Therefore, the complexity of data transmission in the service discovery process of the network storage network element can be reduced, the service processing speed of the NF requester can be improved, and the speed of the service discovery process can be improved.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method based on a network function NF, including: when the NF requester needs to obtain the first part of the description information, carrying the first indication information in the first message, so that the The first indication information is used to instruct the network storage network element to return the first part of the description information to the NF requester; the NF requester sends the first message to the network storage network element, and the first message also Including the parameters of the service requested by the NF requester; the NF requester receives the second message sent by the network storage network element; wherein, when the first message carries the first indication information, the The second message includes the first part of the description information of the NF provider that matches the parameter. Since only the first part of the description information is returned, the amount of returned data is small. Therefore, the complexity of data transmission in the service discovery process of the network storage network element can be reduced, the service processing speed of the NF requester can be improved, and the speed of the service discovery process can be improved. In this embodiment, the NF requester can decide whether to let the network storage network element return the description information or return the first part of the description information in the description information according to specific requirements, so as to increase the flexibility of the solution.

In a possible implementation manner of the third aspect, when the first message does not carry the first indication information, the second message includes description information of the NF provider that matches the parameter; Before the NF requester sends the first message to the network storage network element, it further includes: when the network storage network element is required to return description information to the network function NF requester, the NF requester does not carry the first indication information in the in the first message. In this embodiment, the NF requester can decide whether to let the network storage network element return the description information or return the first part of the description information in the description information according to specific requirements, so as to increase the flexibility of the solution.

In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect and/or the third aspect, the first indication information includes: a preset bit value carried on a preset bit of the first message. For example, when the bit value on the preset bit is set to 1, it means that the first message carries the first indication information. If the bit value of the preset bit is set to zero, or the preset bit does not carry content and is empty, it can also be said that the preset bit is default, it means that the first message does not carry the first indication information.

In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect and/or the third aspect, the NF requesting party sending the first message to the network storage network element includes: the NF requesting party receives the service request sent by the terminal device, If it is determined that no NF provider that matches the parameters and can provide the required service for the terminal device is not found in the local storage area, the first message is sent to the network storage network element. The service request includes parameters of the service required by the terminal device. In this embodiment, when the NF requester receives the service request, it searches locally first, and only initiates the service discovery process when the NF provider cannot be found. The pressure on network storage network elements reduces the amount of network data transmission and saves network resources.

In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect and/or the third aspect, the first part of the description information includes: the priority of the NF provider, the weight of the NF provider, and the NF provider load. In this way, the amount of data returned to the NF requester by the network storage network element in the service discovery process can be reduced, and the requirement of the NF requester to select the NF provider according to the first part of the description information can be met.

In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect and/or the third aspect, after the NF requester receives the second message sent by the network storage network element, the method further includes: the NF requester receives the The second part of the description information in the description information sent by the network storage network element; wherein, the second part of the description information includes: in the description information of the NF provider except the first part of the description information all or part of the information. In this way, when the NF requester receives similar service requirements of other terminal devices, the information of the NF provider can be queried locally, thereby reducing the process of interaction with network storage network elements and improving the service processing speed.

In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect and/or the third aspect, before the NF requester receives the second part of the description information in the description information sent by the network storage network element, the method further includes: The NF requester sends a third message to the network storage network element, and the third message includes the identifier of the NF provider; the NF requester receives the description information sent by the network storage network element. The second part of the description information includes: the NF requester receives a fourth message, and the fourth message includes the second part of the description information. The timing of sending the third message can be flexibly selected. For example, the NF requester can first perform the process of ending the service acquisition of the terminal device to provide the corresponding service for the terminal device, and then send the third message to trigger the network storage network element to return to the second message. Some descriptive information. In this way, the speed of the business process that provides the service to the terminal device can be increased.

In a possible implementation manner of the foregoing second aspect and/or the third aspect, the third message further includes second indication information, where the second indication information is used to indicate the status of the second part of the description information. logo. In this way, the NF requester can specify the parameters to be returned by the network storage network element, such as the identifier of the description information in the second part. In this way, on the one hand, when a terminal requests to provide corresponding services, it can query whether the NF provider meets the requirements according to the first part of the description information and the second part of the description information, on the other hand, all the description information of the NF provider is returned to the NF request. In terms of the other side's solution, it can reduce the amount of data transmission in the service discovery process. Moreover, the first part of the description information and the second part of the description information are sent separately by two signalings. The first part of the description information has a small amount of data and is returned to the NF requester first to further speed up the process of providing corresponding services for the terminal equipment. , the second part of the description information is subsequently returned to the NF requester, so that it can be queried locally when a similar service request is received in the future, thereby improving the service processing speed.

In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect and/or the third aspect, before the NF requester sends the third message to the network storage network element, the method further includes: the NF requester according to a preset NF The correspondence between the type identifier of the provider and the identifier of the second part of the description information, and the type identifier of the NF provider, determine the identifier of the second part of the description information corresponding to the type identifier provided by the NF; the The NF requester carries the second indication information, which is used to indicate the identifier of the second part of the description information, in the third message. In this way, the suitable second part of the description information can be selected according to the type of the NF provider, and the solution is more flexible.

In a fourth aspect, a communication device is provided, including a transceiver unit and a processing unit, so as to perform any one of the above-mentioned embodiments of the communication methods of the first aspect to the third aspect. The transceiver unit is used to perform functions related to transmission and reception. Optionally, the transceiver unit includes a receiving unit and a sending unit. In one design, the communication device is a communication chip, and the transceiver unit may be an input and output circuit or port of the communication chip.

In another design, the transceiving unit may be a transmitter and a receiver, or the transceiving unit may be a transmitter and a receiver.

Optionally, the communication device further includes various modules that can be used to execute any one of the implementation manners of any one of the communication methods of the first aspect to the third aspect.

In a fifth aspect, a communication device is provided, where the communication device is the above-mentioned NF requester or a network storage network element. Includes processor and memory. Optionally, also include a transceiver, the memory is used to store computer programs or instructions, the processor is used to call and run the computer programs or instructions from the memory, and when the processor executes the computer programs or instructions in the memory, The communication device is caused to perform any one of the implementation manners of any one of the communication methods of the first aspect to the third aspect.

Optionally, there are one or more processors and one or more memories.

Optionally, the memory may be integrated with the processor, or the memory may be provided separately from the processor.

Optionally, the transceiver may include a transmitter (transmitter) and a receiver (receiver).

In a sixth aspect, a communication device is provided, including a processor. The processor, coupled to the memory, is operable to perform the method of any one of the first to third aspects, and any one of the possible implementations of the first to third aspects. Optionally, the communication device further includes a memory. Optionally, the communication device further includes a communication interface, and the processor is coupled to the communication interface.

In another implementation, the communication device is a network device. When the communication device is a network device, the communication interface may be a transceiver, or an input/output interface. Optionally, the transceiver may be a transceiver circuit. Optionally, the input/output interface may be an input/output circuit.

In yet another implementation, the communication device is a chip or a system of chips. When the communication device is a chip or a chip system, the communication interface may be an input/output interface, an interface circuit, an output circuit, an input circuit, a pin or a related circuit on the chip or a chip system. The processor may also be embodied as a processing circuit or a logic circuit.

In a seventh aspect, a system is provided, where the system includes the above-mentioned NF requester and a network storage network element.

In an eighth aspect, a computer program product is provided. The computer program product includes: a computer program (also referred to as code, or instruction), which, when the computer program is executed, enables the computer to execute any one of the above-mentioned first aspects. The method in the manner, or causing the computer to execute the method in any one of the implementation manners of the first aspect to the third aspect.

In a ninth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, and the computer-readable medium stores a computer program (also referred to as code, or instruction) when it runs on a computer, so that the computer executes the above-mentioned first to third aspects A method in any of the possible implementations of an aspect.

In a tenth aspect, a processing device is provided, comprising: an input circuit, an output circuit, and a processing circuit. The processing circuit is configured to receive a signal through the input circuit and transmit a signal through the output circuit, so that any one of the first to third aspects and any one of the first to third aspects is possible The methods in the implementation are implemented.

In a specific implementation process, the above-mentioned processing device may be a chip, the input circuit may be an input pin, the output circuit may be an output pin, and the processing circuit may be a transistor, a gate circuit, a flip-flop, and various logic circuits. The input signal received by the input circuit may be received and input by, for example, but not limited to, a receiver, the signal output by the output circuit may be, for example, but not limited to, output to and transmitted by a transmitter, and the input circuit and output The circuit can be the same circuit that acts as an input circuit and an output circuit at different times. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific implementation manners of the processor and various circuits.

Description of drawings

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

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

3 is a schematic flowchart of an NF-based communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application;

4 is a schematic flowchart of another NF-based communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 5 provides a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

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

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

Detailed ways

FIG. 1 is an example of a communication system provided by an embodiment of the present application. Referring to FIG. 2 , the communication system provided by the embodiments of the present application may generally include the following devices, network elements, and networks:

1. Terminal device 112: may include various handheld devices, vehicle-mounted devices, wearable devices, computing devices or other processing devices connected to wireless modems with wireless communication functions, as well as various forms of terminals, mobile stations, MS), terminal (terminal), user equipment (user equipment, UE), soft terminal and so on. For example, water meters, electricity meters, sensors, etc.

2. (radio access network, (R)AN) network element 113: used to provide network access functions for authorized terminal equipment in a specific area, and can use different quality according to the level of terminal equipment, service requirements, etc. transmission tunnel.

The (R)AN network element 113 can manage wireless resources, provide access services for terminal equipment, and then complete the forwarding of control signals and terminal equipment data between the terminal equipment and the core network. (R)AN can also be understood as a traditional network base station.

3. User plane network element: used for packet routing and forwarding, and quality of service (quality of service, QoS) processing of user plane data, and the like.

As shown in FIG. 1, in a 5G communication system, the user plane network element may be a user plane function (UPF) network element 114, which may include an intermediate user plane function (I-UPF) network element and an anchor user plane function (anhor user plane function, A-UPF) network element. In the future communication system, the user plane network element may still be the UPF network element, or may have other names, which are not limited in this application.

4. A data network (data network, DN) network element 115: used to provide a network for transmitting data.

As shown in Figure 1, in a 5G communication system, the data networks can be DN1 and DN2. In the future communication system, the data network may still be DN, or may have other names, which are not limited in this application.

5. Access management network element: mainly used for mobility management and access management, etc., and can be used to implement other functions in the mobility management entity (mobility management entity, MME) function except session management, for example, legal Monitoring and access authorization/authentication functions.

As shown in FIG. 1 , in a 5G communication system, the access management network element may be an access and mobility management function (access and mobility management function, AMF) network element 109 . In the future communication system, the access management network element may still be an AMF network element, or may have other names, which are not limited in this application.

6. Session management network element: mainly used for session management, Internet Protocol (IP) address allocation and management of terminal equipment, selection of endpoints that can manage user plane functions, policy control and charging function interfaces, and downlink data notification Wait.

As shown in Figure 1, in a 5G communication system, the session management network element may be a session management function (session management function, SMF) network element 110, which may include an intermediate session management function (intermediate session management function, I-SMF) network element, Anchor session management function (anhor session management function, A-SMF) network element. In the future communication system, the session management network element may still be an SMF network element, or may have other names, which are not limited in this application.

7. Policy control network element: a unified policy framework for guiding network behavior, providing policy rule information and the like for control plane functional network elements (such as AMF, SMF network elements, etc.).

In a 4G communication system, the policy control network element may be a policy and charging rules function (policy and charging rules function, PCRF) network element. As shown in FIG. 1 , in a 5G communication system, the policy control network element may be a policy control function (policy control function, PCF) network element 104 . In the future communication system, the policy control network element may still be the PCF network element, or may have other names, which are not limited in this application.

8. Authentication service network element: used for authentication service and key generation to realize two-way authentication of terminal equipment, and support a unified authentication framework.

As shown in FIG. 1 , in a 5G communication system, the authentication service network element may be an authentication server function (authentication server function, AUSF) network element 108 . In the future communication system, the authentication server function network element may still be the AUSF network element, or may have other names, which are not limited in this application.

9. Data management network element: used to process terminal device identification, access authentication, registration, and mobility management.

As shown in FIG. 1 , in a 5G communication system, the data management network element may be a unified data management (unified data management, UDM) network element 105 . In the future communication system, the unified data management may still be a UDM network element, or may have other names, which are not limited in this application.

10. Application network elements: used for data routing affected by applications, access network elements with open functions, interacting with the policy framework for policy control, etc.

As shown in FIG. 1 , in a 5G communication system, the application network element may be an application function (application function, AF) network element 107 . In the future communication system, the application network element may still be the AF network element 107, or may have other names, which are not limited in this application.

11. Network storage network element: used to maintain real-time information of all network function services in the network.

In a 5G communication system, the network storage network element may be a network repository function (network repository function, NRF) network element 103 . In the future communication system, the network storage network element may still be an NRF network element, or may have other names, which are not limited in this application.

12. Network slice selection function NE: used to provide the network slice selection function.

As shown in Figure 1, in a 5G communication system, the network slice selection function network element may be a network slice selection function (Network Slice Selection Function, NSSF) network element 101. In a future communication system, the network slice selection function network element is still It may be an NSSF network element, or may have other names, which are not limited in this application.

13. Network capability opening function Network element: used to provide network customization functions.

As shown in FIG. 1 , in a 5G communication system, the network capability exposure function network element may be a network capability exposure function (NEF) network element 102. In a future communication system, the network capability exposure function network element may still be It is an NEF network element, or may have other names, which are not limited in this application.

14. Network analysis function NE: used to provide network slice instance-level data analysis functions. For example, you can obtain data, then use the data for training and analysis, and make corresponding inferences based on the analysis results.

As shown in FIG. 1 , in a 5G communication system, the network analysis function network element may be a network analysis function (network analysis function, NWDAF) network element 106. In a future communication system, the network analysis function network element may still be an NWDAF network element , or may have other names, which are not limited in this application.

15. Service communication function network element: used to provide the communication function of selection between NFs.

As shown in FIG. 1 , in a 5G communication system, the service communication function network element may be a service communication function (SCP) network element 111. In a future communication system, the service communication function network element may still be an SCP network element , or may have other names, which are not limited in this application.

It can be understood that the above network elements or functions may be network elements in hardware devices, software functions running on dedicated hardware, or virtualized functions instantiated on a platform (eg, a cloud platform). The above network elements or functions may be divided into one or more services, and further, services that exist independently of network functions may also appear. In this application, an instance of the above-mentioned function, or an instance of a service included in the above-mentioned function, or an instance of a service that exists independently of a network function may be referred to as a service instance.

Further, the AF network element may be abbreviated as AF, the NRF network element may be abbreviated as NRF, and the PCF network element may be abbreviated as PCF. That is, the AF described later in this application can be replaced with an application network element, the NRF can be replaced with a network storage network element, and the PCF can be replaced with a policy control network element.

For the convenience of description, in this application, the device is an SMF network element, an AMF network element, and a network storage network element as an example to describe the method for UPF selection or SMF selection. For the implementation method of the chip in the AMF network element or the chip in the network storage network element, please refer to the specific description of the device being the SMF network element, the AMF network element, and the network storage network element, and the description will not be repeated.

It should be noted that the embodiments of the present application are not limited to the above-mentioned system architecture, and may also be applied to other communication systems in the future, for example, the 6th generation (6G) system architecture. In addition, the names of the network elements used in the above-mentioned embodiments of the present application may keep the same functions in future communication systems, but the names will be changed.

FIG. 2 exemplarily shows a schematic diagram of a network system architecture to which the embodiments of the present application are applied. As shown in FIG. 2 , it includes a network storage network element 131 , an NF requester, and an NF provider. There may be one or more NF requesting parties, such as the NF requesting party 132 shown in FIG. 2 . There may also be one or more NF providers, such as the NF provider 133 and the NF provider 134 shown in FIG. 2 . The NF requester can be written as NF Consumer in English, which belongs to the network function consumer. The NF provider can be written as NF Producer in English, which belongs to the network function provider.

In this embodiment of the present application, the NF requester may be the AMF network element 109, the SMF network element 110, the NSSF network element 101, and the like.

The NF provider in the embodiment of the present application may be PCF network element 104, UDM network element 105, AUSF network element 108, Charging Function (CHF) network element, SMF network element 110, UPF network element 114, and network storage Network element 103 and NSSF network element 101 and so on.

The NF provider can provide many services. For example, the UDM network element 105 can provide user subscription information, the PCF network element 104 can provide user policy control, the AUSF network element 108 can provide user authentication services, and the CHF network element can provide user accounting. For fee information statistics services, the SMF network element 110 may provide session access services, and the UPF network element 114 may provide data transmission services.

FIG. 3 exemplarily shows a schematic flowchart of an NF-based communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application, as shown in FIG. 3 , including:

Step 201, the NF requester carries the first indication information in the first message.

The first indication information is used to instruct the network storage network element to return the first part of the description information to the NF requester.

In the embodiments of the present application, there may be various implementations for the NF requester to send the first message. For example, when the NF requester needs to initiate a service discovery process, the first message sent by the NF requester carries the first indication information. For another example, in another implementation manner, the NF requester can decide whether to carry the first indication information in the first message according to actual needs. The first indication information is carried, and the first indication information is carried in the first message when only the network storage network element only needs to return the first part of the description information. The NF requester can select the NF provider based on the first part of the description information. This scheme can improve the flexibility of the scheme. Step 202, the NF requesting sends a first message to the network storage network element.

Correspondingly, the network storage network element receives the first message sent by the network function NF requester.

In an optional implementation manner, the first message may be a service discovery request, and the English of the service discovery request may be written as: NF discovery request. The NF requester can perform the service discovery process through the network storage network element to discover the NF provider that can provide services for it.

The first message also includes parameters of the service requested by the NF requester. In a specific implementation, there are many kinds of services requested by the NF requester, such as a session service request, a data transmission service request, a policy information request, a charging information request, an authentication request, and the like. In a specific implementation, the parameters included in the first message may include one or more contents. Several examples of parameters included in the first message are listed in the embodiments of the present application. The parameters included in the first message may be: The type of NF provider that provides services for the terminal device, the type of service requested by the NF requester, the information of the network slice requested by the NF requester, the type of data network requested by the NF requester, the service requested by the NF requester The location information of the user served, the identification information of the user served by the service requested by the NF requester, the session type of the service requested by the NF requester, the features that the NF provider that can provide services to the terminal device needs to support, The public land mobile network (Public Land Mobile Network, PLMN) of the service requested by the NF requester, etc.

Step 203, the network storage network element determines the NF provider matching the parameters according to the parameters.

In step 203, the network storage network element determines that there may be one NF provider matching the parameter, and the NF provider can provide the NF requester with the service requested by the NF requester.

Step 204, when the first message includes the first indication information, the network storage network element carries the first part of the description information in the description information of the NF provider into the second message.

In an optional implementation manner, the first message may be a service discovery response. The English of the service discovery response can be written as: NF discovery response.

When the network storage network element determines one or more NF providers in step 203, in step 204, the network storage network element can describe the first part of each NF provider among all the determined NF providers The information is carried in the second message. The first part of the description information of some NF providers among all the determined NF providers may also be carried in the second message. In step 204, the NF provider corresponding to the first part of the description information carried by the network storage network element in the second message may be one or multiple.

The above content is described with the concept of a set. The first NF provider set includes one or more NF providers, and each NF provider in the first NF provider determines and parameters for the network storage network element in step 203. An NF provider that matches and can provide the NF requestor with the service requested by the NF requestor. The second set of NF providers includes all or part of the NF providers in the first set of NF providers. The second set of NF providers includes one or more NF providers. And each NF provider in the second NF provider set is an NF provider corresponding to the first part of the description information carried by the network storage network element in the second message in step 204 . In the embodiments of the present application, an NF provider includes a first part of description information. Based on this, the NF provider corresponding to the first part of the description information in the embodiments of the present application refers to the NF provider that includes the first part of the description information.

Step 205, the network storage network element sends a second message to the NF requester.

Correspondingly, the NF requester receives the second message sent by the network storage network element.

Wherein, when the first message carries the first indication information, the second message includes the first part of the description information in the description information of the NF provider that matches the parameter.

FIG. 4 exemplarily shows a schematic flowchart of another NF-based communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 4 , before step 203 , step 301 may be further included.

Step 301, the NF provider sends a registration request to the network storage network element.

In step 301, the registration request is used to make the NF provider register on the network storage network element. The registration request can be written as NF register in English. In the above step 203, the network storage network element determines the NF provider that matches the parameter from the NF providers that have been registered on the network storage network element according to the parameters.

In step 301, the registration request may include part of the description information of the NF provider. For example, it can be the identity of the NF provider, the priority of the NF provider, the weight of the NF provider, the load of the NF provider, the coverage of the service, the supported service type, the supported user ID segment information, the supported session type, PLMN of the service, supported features, load status, etc. Part of the description information of the NF provider may also be sent after the NF provider registers with the network storage network element.

The description information of the NF provider in the embodiments of this application may be understood as all the description information reported by the NF provider to the network storage network element, and may also be referred to as the full description information or full description information of the NF provider.

The first part of the description information in the embodiment of the present application may be part of the description information in the description information reported by the NF provider to the network storage network element. The first part of the description information can also be called the abstract information of the NF provider, which can be written as abstract Profile in English. The first part of the description information may include part of the description information of the NF provider. For example, the first part of the description information may also include the identifier of the NF provider. For another example, it may also include any one or more items of the priority of the NF provider, the weight of the NF provider, and the load of the NF provider.

In this embodiment of the present application, the identifier of the NF provider may be an identifier (Identification, ID) of the NF provider or a type identifier used to indicate the type of the NF provider. The weight of the NF provider can be set on the system by the operator when the NF provider is deployed. Changes can also be made later. The load of the NF provider can be reported by the NF provider. Specifically, the NF provider can detect its own load according to certain rules, for example, it can periodically detect its own load, and report the detected load of the NF provider to the network storage network element.

Through the above steps 201 to 205, it can be seen that in the embodiment of the present application, since only the first part of the description information is returned, and the amount of returned data is small, the data transmission complexity in the service discovery process of the network storage network element can be reduced, Improve the service processing speed of the NF requester and improve the speed of the service discovery process.

As shown in FIG. 4, before the above step 202, step 401 may also be included:

Step 401, when the network storage network element is required to return description information to the network function NF requester, the NF requester does not carry the first indication information in the first message.

Correspondingly, after step 203, step 402 is also included.

Step 402, when the network storage network element determines that the first message does not include the first indication information, the network storage network element carries the description information of the NF provider in the second message.

That is, before the NF requester sends the first message in step 202, if the NF requester needs the network storage network element to return only the first part of the description information in the description information, the NF requester carries the first indication information in the first message. If the network storage network element needs to return all the description information, the first indication information is not carried in the first message.

Compared with the network storage network element, when the first message includes the first indication information, the network storage network element sends the first part of the description information to the NF requester, and when the first message does not include the first indication information, then The network storage network element sends the description information to the NF requester. In this embodiment, the NF requester can request to obtain the entire description information or the first part of the description information of the NF provider according to specific needs, so as to make the service discovery process more flexible and more suitable for actual needs.

The first indication information has various forms, for example, it may specifically be a preset value on a preset bit in the first message. In an implementation manner, when the first message is a service discovery request, the signaling of the service discovery request can be extended. The storage network element only needs to return the first part of the description information to the NF requester in the second message, and does not need to return all the description information of the NF provider to the NF requester in the second message. If the bit value of the preset bit is set to zero, or the preset bit does not carry content and is empty, it can also be said that the preset bit is default, it means that the first message does not carry the first indication information. The network storage network element needs to return all the description information of the NF provider to the NF requester in the second message. It can be seen that in the case where the network storage network element is required to return only the first part of the description information to the NF requester in the second message, it can be implemented by adding 1 bit to the service discovery request. There are fewer changes and changes to the service discovery process, making it more compatible with existing solutions.

Correspondingly, in another implementation manner, if the signaling of the service discovery request is not extended, it means that the network storage network element returns all the description information of the NF provider to the NF requester in the second message. It can also be described as no indication by default in the first message, which means that the network storage network element returns all the description information of the NF provider to the NF requester in the second message. It can be seen that, in this implementation manner, when the network storage network element is required to return all the description information of the NF provider in the second message, there is no need to modify the service discovery request, so that it can be more compatible with the prior art.

In the third implementation method, if the signaling of the service discovery request is extended, and when the value carried by the bit after the extension of the service discovery request is 0, it means that the network storage network element sends the message to the NF in the second message. The requester returns all the description information of the NF provider. It can be seen that in this implementation, when the network storage network element needs to return all the description information of the NF provider in the second message, it can be implemented by adding 1 bit to the service discovery request. This implementation It can also be described as: when the first indication information is not carried in the first message, the third indication information can be carried in the first message, and the third indication information is used to instruct the network storage network element to return all the information to the NF requester. Description. This embodiment makes less changes to the service discovery request and changes to the service discovery process, and is more compatible with the existing solution.

In the above content, the NF requester can also send the first message without the first indication information, and the network storage network element can determine whether to return the first part of the description information to the NF requestor or return all the information according to the parameters carried in the first message. Description.

As shown in FIG. 4 , after step 205 above, step 501 , step 502 and step 503 may also be included.

Step 501, the NF requester determines a target NF provider from one or more NF providers matching the parameters.

Step 502, the NF requester sends a service acquisition request to the target NF provider.

The service acquisition request may include the type of NF provider that can provide services for the terminal device, the type of service requested by the NF requester, the type of data network requested by the NF requester, and the user served by the service requested by the NF requester. location information, the identification information of the user served by the service requested by the NF requester, the session type of the service requested by the NF requester, the features that the NF provider that can provide services to the terminal device needs to support, the PLMN of the requested service, etc. The English of the service acquisition request can be written as service request. The service acquisition request is used to request the target NF provider to provide corresponding services.

Correspondingly, after receiving the service acquisition request, the NF provider provides the corresponding service.

Step 503, the target NF provider returns a service acquisition response to the NF requester.

The service acquisition response can include the service scope covered by the target NF provider, the service type supported by the target NF provider, the user ID field supported by the target NF provider, the session type supported by the target NF provider, and the PLMN served by the target NF provider. , the features supported by the target NF provider, the load status of the target NF provider, etc. The English of the service acquisition request can be written as service response.

After the above step 205, the NF requester can cache the received first part of the description information of the NF provider in the local storage area, so that when other similar service requests are received subsequently, it can first check whether there are any requirements in the local storage area. NF provider of . Specifically, steps 601 and 602 may be included before the above-mentioned step 201 .

Step 601, the NF requester receives the service request sent by the terminal device.

The service request can be used to request to provide a service for a terminal device, for example, a service provided by a physical network function (PNF) can be requested. The service request may include information such as terminal identification.

Step 602, the NF requester searches the local storage area, and executes step 201 or the above-mentioned step 401 if it is determined that no NF provider matching the parameters and capable of providing the required service for the terminal device is found in the local storage area.

Step 603, the NF requester searches the local storage area, and can directly execute the above-mentioned step 501 if the NF provider that matches the parameters and can provide the required service for the terminal device is found in the local storage area.

After the above step 205, step 701 may also be included:

Step 701, the network storage network element sends the second part of the description information in the description information of the NF provider to the NF requester.

Wherein, the second part of the description information includes: all or part of the information in the description information of the NF provider except the first part of the description information.

Correspondingly, after receiving the second message sent by the network storage network element, the NF requester further includes:

The NF requester receives the second part of the description information in the description information sent by the network storage network element;

Wherein, the second part of the description information includes: all or part of the information in the description information of the NF provider except the first part of the description information.

In the above step 701, the second part of the description information may be carried in the fourth message. Specifically, the above step 701 can also be described as: the network storage network element carries the second part of the description information with the NF provider in the fourth message, and sends the fourth message to the NF requester. Correspondingly, the NF requester receives the fourth message, and the fourth message includes the second part of the description information.

That is, after the network storage network element returns the first part of the description information to the NF provider through the first message, since the amount of the first part of the description information is small, the service discovery process can be accelerated. Further, continue to send the second part of the description information to the NF requester in the follow-up, so that when the NF requester receives other similar service requests in the future, it can first check whether there is an NF provider that meets the requirements from the local buffer.

There are various ways for the specific matters in the above step 701, for example, the network storage network element may be actively triggered after the first part of the description information is carried in the second message. Or the NF requester sends a message to the network storage network element to actively request to obtain the second part of the description information.

In one case, the second part of the description information may be all the information in the description information of the NF provider except the first part of the description information.

In another case, the second part of the description information may be part of the information in the description information of the NF provider except the first part of the description information. In this case, the NF may be preset in the network storage network element The correspondence between the type identifier of the provider and the identifier of the second part of the description information. The network storage network element may determine the second part of the description information of the NF provider according to the type identifier of the NF provider.

In the embodiment of this application, there are various correspondences between the type identifier of the NF provider and the identifier of the second part of the description information. For example, if the type identifier of the NF provider is UDM, the type identifier of the NF provider corresponds to The identifier of the second part of the description information is the number segment information, then the network storage network element will send the number segment information supported by the NF provider to the NF requester, that is, the second part of the description corresponding to the identifier of the second part of the description information. The information is sent to the NF requester.

When the NF request sends a message to the network storage network element to actively request to obtain the second part of the description information, after the above step 205, before the above step 701, it may further include step 702:

Step 702, the NF requester sends a third message to the network storage network element, and the third message includes the identifier of the NF provider;

Correspondingly, the network storage network element receives the third message sent by the NF requester, where the third message includes the identifier of the NF provider.

In an optional implementation manner, the third message further includes second indication information, where the second indication information is used to indicate an identifier of the second part of the description information. Correspondingly, after the above step 205 and before the above step 702, it further includes step 703:

Step 703: The NF requester determines the second part of the description information corresponding to the type identifier provided by the NF according to the preset correspondence between the type identifier of the NF provider and the identifier of the second part of the description information, and the type identifier of the NF provider. The NF requester carries the second indication information for indicating the description information of the second part in the third message.

It can also be said that the identifier of the second part of the description information is determined by the NF requester according to the preset correspondence between the type identifier of the NF provider and the identifier of the second part of the description information, and the type identifier of the NF provider.

The second indication information may be directly the second part of the description information, for example, the identifier of the second part of the description information is the number segment information of the NF provider, and the second indication information is the number segment. The second indication information may also be other information that can indicate the description information of the second part. For example, the corresponding relationship between the second indication information and the identifier of the second part of the description information can be stored on the NF requester and the network storage network element, and the NF requester queries the identifier of the second part of the description information according to the corresponding relationship. When the second indication information is: set the preset bit of the third message to 1, when the network storage network element receives the third message and finds that the preset bit of the third message is set to 1, it will start from the third message. The corresponding relationship between the second indication information and the identifier of the second part of the description information is queried: the identifier of the second part of the description information is the number segment information, so the content corresponding to the number segment information of the NF provider (that is, the content of the second part of the description information The second part of the description information corresponding to the identifier) is returned to the NF requester.

In an optional implementation manner, when the third message does not carry the second indication information, the network storage network element may return all the description information except the first part of the description information in the description information of the NF provider to the NF requester. .

The embodiment of the present application also provides an implementation, that is, the third message is implemented by extending the retrievalAttributes/unretrievalAttributes information element. For an NF provider, when the third message includes the retrieval Attributes, it means that the network storage network The meta needs to return all the description information included in the list associated with retrievalAttributes to the NF requester. When the third message includes unretrievalAttributes, it means that the network storage network element needs to return all the description information except all the description information of the NF provider included in the list associated with the unretrieval Attributes to the NF requester.

For example, when the NF requester is AMF and the NF provider is UDM. The description information included in the list associated with the retrievalAttributes carried in the third message may be: number segment information. In this case, the network storage network element needs to return the number segment information of the NF provider to the NF requester through the fourth message.

For another example, when the NF requester is AMF and the NF provider is SMF. The description information included in the list associated with the retrievalAttributes carried in the third message may be: location information. In this case, the network storage network element needs to return the location information of the NF provider to the NF requester through the fourth message.

For another example, when the NF requester is AMF and the NF provider is SMF. The description information included in the list associated with the unretrieval Attributes carried in the third message may be: priority and weight. In this case, the network storage network element needs to return all the description information of the NF provider except the priority and weight to the NF requester through the fourth message.

As can be seen from the above step 701, or as can be seen from steps 702 and 703, the network storage network element in this embodiment of the present application may return the description information of the NF provider to the NF requester twice. After returning the first part of the description information, the NF requester can select the target NF provider according to the first part of the description information, which can speed up the process of service discovery. The subsequent return of the second part of the description information to the NF requester not only enables the NF requester to cache the second part of the description information for subsequent use, on the other hand, compared to the second message, which carries the entire description of the NF provider In terms of the information scheme, the second part of the description information in this embodiment of the present application may be: part of the information in the description information of the NF provider except the first part of the description information, that is, the second part of the description information may be: Part of the specified information of the NF provider can reduce the amount of cache in the local storage area of the NF requester, and can also speed up the transmission of the information described in the second part.

According to the foregoing method, FIG. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 5 , the communication device may be an NF requester or a network storage network element, or a chip or a circuit. The chip or circuit of the network storage network element.

Further, the communication device 801 may further include a bus system, wherein the processor 802, the memory 804, and the transceiver 803 may be connected through the bus system.

It should be understood that the above-mentioned processor 802 may be a chip. For example, the processor 802 may be a field programmable gate array (FPGA), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a system on chip (SoC), or a It is a central processor unit (CPU), a network processor (NP), a digital signal processor (DSP), or a microcontroller (micro controller unit, MCU), can also be a programmable logic device (programmable logic device, PLD) or other integrated chips.

In the implementation process, each step of the above-mentioned method can be completed by an integrated logic circuit of hardware in the processor 802 or an instruction in the form of software. The steps of the methods disclosed in conjunction with the embodiments of the present application may be directly embodied as executed by a hardware processor, or executed by a combination of hardware and software modules in the processor 802 . The software modules may be located in random access memory, flash memory, read-only memory, programmable read-only memory or electrically erasable programmable memory, registers and other storage media mature in the art. The storage medium is located in the memory 804, and the processor 802 reads the information in the memory 804, and completes the steps of the above method in combination with its hardware.

It should be noted that the processor 802 in this embodiment of the present application may be an integrated circuit chip, which has a signal processing capability. In the implementation process, each step of the above method embodiments may be completed by a hardware integrated logic circuit in a processor or an instruction in the form of software. The aforementioned processors may be general purpose processors, digital signal processors (DSPs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components . The methods, steps, and logic block diagrams disclosed in the embodiments of this application can be implemented or executed. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor or the processor may be any conventional processor or the like. The steps of the method disclosed in conjunction with the embodiments of the present application may be directly embodied as executed by a hardware decoding processor, or executed by a combination of hardware and software modules in the decoding processor. The software modules may be located in random access memory, flash memory, read-only memory, programmable read-only memory or electrically erasable programmable memory, registers and other storage media mature in the art. The storage medium is located in the memory, and the processor reads the information in the memory, and completes the steps of the above method in combination with its hardware.

It can be understood that the memory 804 in this embodiment of the present application 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 read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically programmable Erase programmable read-only memory (electrically EPROM, EEPROM) or flash memory. Volatile memory may be random access memory (RAM), which acts as an external cache. By way of example and not limitation, many forms of RAM are available, such as static random access memory (SRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), synchronous DRAM, SDRAM), double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory (double data rate SDRAM, DDR SDRAM), enhanced synchronous dynamic random access memory (enhanced SDRAM, ESDRAM), synchronous link dynamic random access memory (synchlink DRAM, SLDRAM) And direct memory bus random access memory (directrambus RAM, DR RAM). It should be noted that the memory of the systems and methods described herein is intended to include, but not be limited to, these and any other suitable types of memory.

When the communication device 801 corresponds to the network storage network element in the above method, the communication device may include a processor 802 , a transceiver 803 and a memory 804 . The memory 804 is used for storing instructions, and the processor 802 is used for executing the instructions stored in the memory 804, so as to realize the network storage network element in the method corresponding to any one or any of the items shown in FIG. 2 to FIG. 4 above. related programs.

When the communication device 801 is the above-mentioned network storage network element, the communication device 801 can be configured to execute the method performed by the network storage network element in any of the solutions in the above-mentioned FIG. 2 to FIG. 4 . When the communication device 801 is the above-mentioned network storage network element, the transceiver 803 is configured to receive a first message sent by the NF requester, and send a second message to the NF requester, where the first message includes the NF requester The parameter of the service requested to be provided; the processor 802 is configured to determine the NF provider matching the parameter according to the parameter; when the first message includes the first indication information, the NF provider's The first part of the description information in the description information is carried in the second message, and the first indication information is used to instruct the network storage network element to return the first part of the description information to the NF requester.

In a possible implementation manner, the processor 802 is further configured to: when the first message does not include the first indication information, carry the description information of the NF provider in the second message in the message.

In a possible implementation manner, the transceiver 803 is further configured to: send the second part of the description information in the description information to the NF requester; wherein, the second part of the description information includes: the All or part of the information in the description information of the NF provider except the first part of the description information.

In a possible implementation manner, the transceiver 803 is further configured to: receive a third message sent by the NF requester, where the third message includes the identifier of the NF provider. The processor 802 is specifically configured to: carry the second part of the description information with the NF provider in a fourth message, and send the fourth message to the NF requester through the transceiver 803 .

In a possible implementation manner, the identifier of the second part of the description information is: the corresponding relationship between the type identifier of the NF provider and the identifier of the second part of the description information according to the preset type identifier of the NF provider, and the The type identifier of the NF provider is determined.

When the communication device 801 corresponds to the NF requester in the above method, the communication device may include a processor 802 , a transceiver 803 and a memory 804 . The memory 804 is used for storing instructions, and the processor 802 is used for executing the instructions stored in the memory 804, so as to realize the correlation of the NF requester in the method corresponding to any one or any of the items shown in FIG. 2 to FIG. 4 above. Program.

When the communication device 801 is the above-mentioned NF requester, the communication device 801 can be configured to execute the method performed by the NF requester in any one of the solutions in FIG. 2 to FIG. 4 . When the communication device 801 is the above-mentioned NF requester, the processor 802 is configured to: carry first indication information in a first message, where the first indication information is used to instruct the network storage network element to request the NF Return the first part of the description information;

The transceiver 803 is configured to: send the first message to the network storage network element, where the first message further includes parameters of the service requested by the NF requester; receive the first message sent by the network storage network element Two messages; wherein, when the first message carries the first indication information, the second message includes the first part of the description information in the description information of the NF provider that matches the parameter.

In a possible implementation manner, the transceiver 803 is further configured to: receive the second part of the description information in the description information sent by the network storage network element; wherein the second part of the description information includes : all or part of the information in the description information of the NF provider except the first part of the description information.

In a possible implementation manner, the transceiver 803 is further configured to: send a third message to the network storage network element, where the third message includes the identifier of the NF provider; receive a fourth message , the fourth message includes the second part of the description information.

In a possible implementation manner, the processor 802 is further configured to: according to the preset correspondence between the type identifier of the NF provider and the identifier of the second part of the description information, and the type identifier of the NF provider , determine the identifier of the second part of the description information corresponding to the type identifier provided by the NF; carry the second indication information used to indicate the identifier of the second part of the description information in the third message .

For concepts related to the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application involved in the communication device, for explanations and detailed descriptions and other steps, please refer to the descriptions of the foregoing methods or other embodiments, which will not be repeated here.

According to the foregoing method, FIG. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 6 , a communication device 901 may include a communication interface 904 , a processor 902 and a transceiver 903 . The communication interface 904 is used for inputting and/or outputting information; the processor 902 is used for executing a computer program or instruction, so that the communication device 901 implements the method on the NF requester side in the above-mentioned related solutions of FIG. 2 to FIG. 4 , or enable the communication device 901 to implement the methods on the network element side of the network storage in the above-mentioned related solutions in FIG. 2 to FIG. 4 . In this embodiment of the present application, the transceiver 903 can implement the solution implemented by the transceiver 802 in FIG. 5 , and the processor 902 can implement the solution implemented by the processor 802 in FIG. 5 , which is not repeated here.

According to the method provided by the embodiment of the present application, the embodiment of the present application further provides a communication system, which includes the foregoing network storage network element and one or more than one NF requester.

Based on the above embodiments and the same concept, FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a communication device provided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 7 , the communication device 1001 may be an NF requester or a network storage network element, or a chip or a circuit, For example, it can be provided in a chip or circuit of a network device.

When the communication device 1001 corresponds to the network storage network element in the above method, the communication device may include a processing unit 1002 , a transceiver unit 1003 and a memory 1004 . The memory 1004 is used for storing instructions, and the processing unit 1002 is used for executing the instructions stored in the memory 1004, so as to realize the network storage network element in the corresponding method of any one or any of the items shown in FIG. 2 to FIG. 4 above. related programs.

When the communication device 1001 is the above-mentioned network storage network element, the transceiver unit 1003 is configured to receive a first message sent by a network function NF requester, and send a second message to the NF requester, where the first message includes the NF The parameters of the service requested by the requester; the processing unit 1002 is configured to determine the NF provider matching the parameters according to the parameters; when the first message includes the first indication information, provide the NF The first part of the description information in the description information of the NF requester is carried in the second message, and the first indication information is used to instruct the network storage network element to return the first part of the description information to the NF requester.

The communication device may correspond to the NF requester in the above method. The communication device may implement the steps performed by the NF requester in any one or more of the corresponding methods shown in FIG. 2 to FIG. 4 above. The communication device may include a processing unit 1002 and a transceiving unit 1003 .

When the communication device 1001 is the above-mentioned NF requester, the processing unit 1002 is configured to: carry first indication information in a first message, where the first indication information is used to instruct the network storage network element to request the NF Return the first part of the description information; the transceiver unit 1003 is configured to: send the first message to the network storage network element, where the first message further includes parameters of the service requested by the NF requester; receive the network Store the second message sent by the network element; wherein, when the first message carries the first indication information, the second message includes the first part of the description information in the description information of the NF provider that matches the parameter .

For concepts related to the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application involved in the communication device, for explanations and detailed descriptions and other steps, please refer to the descriptions of the foregoing methods or other embodiments, which will not be repeated here.

It can be understood that, the functions of each unit in the above-mentioned communication device 1001 may refer to the implementation of the corresponding method embodiments, which will not be repeated here.

It should be understood that the division of the units of the above communication equipment is only a division of logical functions, and in actual implementation, all or part of them may be integrated into a physical network element, or may be physically separated. In this embodiment of the present application, the transceiver unit 1002 may be implemented by the transceiver 802 shown in FIG. 5 above, and the processing unit 1002 may be implemented by the processor 802 shown in FIG. 5 above.

According to the method provided by the embodiment of the present application, the present application also provides a computer program product, the computer program product includes: computer program code, when the computer program code is run on a computer, the computer is made to execute the steps shown in FIGS. 2 to 4 . The method of any one of the illustrated embodiments.

According to the method provided by the embodiment of the present application, the present application further provides a computer-readable storage medium, where the computer-readable medium stores program codes, and when the program codes are executed on a computer, the computer is made to execute FIGS. 2 to 4 . The method of any one of the illustrated embodiments.

According to the method provided by the embodiment of the present application, the present application further provides a system, which includes the aforementioned one or more terminal devices and one or more network devices.

In the above-mentioned embodiments, it may be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, it can 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, all or part of the processes or functions described in the embodiments of the present application are generated. The computer may be a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, computer network, or other programmable device. The computer instructions may be stored in or transmitted from one computer readable storage medium to another computer readable storage medium, for example, the computer instructions may be downloaded from a website site, computer, server or data center Transmission to another website site, computer, server, or data center by wire (eg, coaxial cable, optical fiber, digital subscriber line (DSL)) or wireless (eg, infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.). The computer-readable storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device such as a server, data center, etc. that includes an integration of one or more available media. The available media may be magnetic media (eg, floppy disks, hard disks, magnetic tapes), optical media (eg, high-density digital video discs (DVDs)), or semiconductor media (eg, solid state discs, SSD)) etc.

The network equipment in the above-mentioned various device embodiments corresponds to the terminal equipment and the network equipment or terminal equipment in the method embodiments, and corresponding steps are performed by corresponding modules or units, for example, the communication unit (transceiver) performs the receiving or sending in the method embodiments. The steps other than sending and receiving can be performed by the processing unit (processor). For functions of specific units, reference may be made to corresponding method embodiments. The number of processors may be one or more.

The terms "component", "module", "system" and the like used in this specification are used to refer to computer-related network elements, hardware, firmware, a combination of hardware and software, software, or software in execution. For example, a component may be, but is not limited to, 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 the computing device may be components. One or more components may reside within a process and/or thread of execution, and a component may be localized on one computer and/or distributed between two or more computers. In addition, these components can execute from various computer readable media having various data structures stored thereon. A component may, for example, be based on a signal having one or more data packets (eg, data from two components interacting with another component between a local system, a distributed system, and/or a network, such as the Internet interacting with other systems via signals) Communicate through local and/or remote processes.

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 accomplish. Whether these functions are performed in hardware or software 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.

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

In the several embodiments provided in this 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 only illustrative. For example, the division of the units is only a logical function division. In actual implementation, there may be other division methods. For example, multiple units or components may be combined or Can be integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored, or not implemented. On the other hand, the shown or discussed mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection may be through some interfaces, indirect coupling or communication connection of devices or units, and may be in electrical, mechanical or other forms.

The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separated, and 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 in this 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 alone, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit.

The functions, if implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as independent products, may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present application can be embodied in the form of a software product in essence, or the part that contributes to the prior art or the part of the technical solution. The computer software product is stored in a storage medium, including Several instructions are used to cause a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to execute all or part of the steps of the methods described in the various embodiments of the present application. The aforementioned storage medium includes: U disk, removable hard disk, read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), magnetic disk or optical disk and other media that can store program codes .

The above are only specific embodiments of the present application, but the protection scope of the present application is not limited to this. should be covered within the scope of protection of this application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application should be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims (25)

1. A communication method based on a Network Function (NF) is characterized by comprising the following steps:

a network storage network element receives a first message sent by a Network Function (NF) requester, wherein the first message comprises a parameter of a service requested to be provided by the NF requester;

the network storage network element determines an NF provider matched with the parameters according to the parameters;

when the first message includes first indication information, the network storage network element carries a first part of description information in the description information of the NF provider in a second message, and the first indication information is used for indicating the network storage network element to return the first part of description information to the NF requester;

the network storage network element sends the second message to the NF request party; the first part of description information is used for selecting a target NF provider from the NF providers corresponding to the second message, and the target NF provider provides service for the NF requester;

after the NF requester selects the target NF provider according to the first part of the description information, the network storage network element sends second part of description information in the description information of the NF provider to the NF requester;

wherein the second part of the description information comprises: all or part of the information except the first part of the description information in the description information of the NF provider.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first indication information comprises: and the preset bit value carried on the preset bit of the first message.

3. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the first portion of descriptive information includes: a priority of the NF provider, a weight of the NF provider, and a load of the NF provider.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein before the network storage network element sends the second part of the description information of the NF provider to the NF requester, further comprising:

the network storage network element receives a third message sent by the NF requester, wherein the third message comprises an identifier of the NF provider;

the network storage network element sends a second part of description information in the description information of the NF provider to the NF requester, and the second part of description information includes:

and the network storage network element carries the second part of description information of the NF provider in a fourth message, and sends the fourth message to the NF requester.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the third message further comprises second indication information, and the second indication information is used for indicating identification of the second partial description information.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the identification of the second portion of descriptive information is: the NF requester is determined according to a preset corresponding relation between the type identifier of the NF provider and the identifier of the second part of the description information and the type identifier of the NF provider.

7. A communication method based on a Network Function (NF) is characterized by comprising the following steps:

the NF request party carries first indication information in a first message, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating a network storage network element to return a first part of description information to the NF request party;

the NF request party sends the first message to the network storage network element, wherein the first message also comprises the parameters of the service requested to be provided by the NF request party;

the NF requesting party receives a second message sent by the network storage network element; when the first message carries the first indication information, the second message comprises a first part of description information in the description information of the NF provider matched with the parameters;

the NF requester selects a target NF provider from the NF providers corresponding to the second message according to the first part of the description information, and the target NF provider provides service for the NF requester;

after the NF requester selects the target NF provider according to the first part of the description information, the NF requester receives a second part of the description information in the description information sent by the network storage network element;

wherein the second part of the description information comprises: all or part of the information except the first part of the description information in the description information of the NF provider.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the first portion of the descriptive information comprises: a priority of the NF provider, a weight of the NF provider, and a load of the NF provider.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein before the NF requestor receives the second part of the description information in the description information sent by the network storage network element, the method further comprises:

the NF request party sends a third message to the network storage network element, wherein the third message comprises an identifier of the NF provider;

the NF requesting party receives a second part of the description information in the description information sent by the network storage network element, and the second part of the description information includes:

and the NF requester receives a fourth message, wherein the fourth message comprises the second part of description information.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the third message further comprises second indication information, and the second indication information is used for indicating the identification of the second partial description information.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein prior to the NF requesting party sending a third message to the network storage network element, further comprising:

the NF requester determines the identifier of the second part of the description information corresponding to the type identifier of the NF provider according to a preset corresponding relationship between the type identifier of the NF provider and the identifier of the second part of the description information and the type identifier of the NF provider;

the NF requestor carries the second indication information indicating the identity of the second partial description information in the third message.

12. A communication device, comprising:

a receiving and sending unit, configured to receive a first message sent by a network function NF requester, and send a second message to the NF requester, where the first message includes a parameter of a service requested to be provided by the NF requester;

the processing unit is used for determining an NF provider matched with the parameters according to the parameters; when the first message comprises first indication information, carrying a first part of description information in the description information of the NF provider in the second message, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating to return the first part of description information to the NF requester; the first part of description information is used for selecting a target NF provider from the NF providers corresponding to the second message, and the target NF provider provides service for the NF requester;

wherein the transceiver unit is further configured to:

after the NF requester selects the target NF provider according to the first part of the description information, sending a second part of the description information in the description information to the NF requester;

wherein the second part of the description information comprises: all or part of the information except the first part of the description information in the description information of the NF provider.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the first indication information comprises: and the preset bit value carried on the preset bit of the first message.

14. The apparatus of claim 12 or 13, wherein the first partial description information comprises: a priority of the NF provider, a weight of the NF provider, and a load of the NF provider.

15. The apparatus as recited in claim 12, wherein said transceiver unit is further configured to:

receiving a third message sent by the NF request party, wherein the third message comprises an identifier of the NF provider;

the processing unit is specifically configured to:

and carrying the second part of description information of the NF provider in a fourth message, and sending the fourth message to the NF requester through the transceiver unit.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the third message further comprises second indication information indicating an identity of the second partial description information.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the identification of the second portion of descriptive information is: the NF requester is determined according to the preset corresponding relation between the type identifier of the NF provider and the identifier of the second part of the description information and the type identifier of the NF provider.

18. A communication device, comprising:

a processing unit to: carrying first indication information in a first message, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating a network storage network element to return a first part of description information;

a transceiving unit for: sending the first message to the network storage network element, wherein the first message further comprises parameters of the service requested to be provided by the NF requester; receiving a second message sent by the network storage network element;

when the first message carries the first indication information, the second message comprises a first part of description information in the description information of the NF provider matched with the parameters;

the processing unit is further configured to: selecting a target NF provider from the NF providers corresponding to the second message according to the first part of the description information, wherein the target NF provider provides service for the NF requester;

wherein the transceiver unit is further configured to:

after the target NF provider is selected according to the first part of the description information, receiving a second part of the description information in the description information sent by the network storage network element;

wherein the second part of the description information comprises: and all or part of the information except the first part of the description information in the description information of the NF provider.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the first portion of descriptive information comprises: a priority of the NF provider, a weight of the NF provider, and a load of the NF provider.

20. The apparatus as recited in claim 19, wherein said transceiver unit is further configured to:

sending a third message to the network storage network element, wherein the third message comprises an identifier of the NF provider;

and receiving a fourth message, wherein the fourth message comprises the second part of description information.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the third message further comprises second indication information indicating an identity of the second partial description information.

22. The device of claim 21, wherein the processing unit is further to:

determining the identifier of the second part of the description information corresponding to the type identifier of the NF provider according to the preset corresponding relationship between the type identifier of the NF provider and the identifier of the second part of the description information and the type identifier of the NF provider;

carrying the second indication information for indicating the identity of the second partial description information in the third message.

23. A communication device, characterized in that the device comprises a processor and a memory,

the memory for storing a computer program or instructions;

the processor to execute a computer program or instructions in a memory to cause the method of any of claims 1-11 to be performed.

24. A communication device, characterized in that the device comprises a processor and a communication interface,

the communication interface is used for inputting and/or outputting information;

the processor for executing a computer program or instructions to cause the method of any of claims 1-11 to be performed.

25. A computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions which, when invoked by a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 11.

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