CN113784286B - Paging method, device, storage medium and communication system - Google Patents

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention provides a paging method, paging equipment, a storage medium and a communication system, wherein the paging method comprises the following steps: the NWDAF network element receives a data arrival notification sent by the AMF network element, where the data arrival notification includes an identifier of a user terminal that arrives downlink data and a current time. The NWDAF network element obtains a plurality of historical position information when the user terminal is in a connection state according to the identification of the user terminal, predicts a plurality of cells in which the user terminal is likely to be located at the current time according to the plurality of historical position information, and notifies the cells to the AMF network element so that the AMF network element pages the user terminal based on the cells. Therefore, the AMF network element pages the user terminal only based on the predicted cell in which the user terminal is likely to be currently located, thereby effectively saving network signaling overhead and reducing network processing load.

Description

Paging method, device, storage medium and communication system

Technical field

The present invention relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular, to a paging method, equipment, storage medium and communication system.

Background technique

In a mobile communication system, a user terminal (User Equipment, UE for short) needs to access a base station, that is, be in a connected state, before it can send and receive normal data. If the user terminal is in the idle state, when downlink data arrives for the user terminal, the user terminal needs to be paged through a paging mechanism to convert it to the connected state, that is, to access the base station.

In the traditional paging mechanism, when downlink data reaches the core network, the core network will trigger the paging process. At this time, the Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) network element will send a message to the user terminal through the N2 interface. The base stations in all cells (Cells) included in the Tracking Area (TA) list send paging messages. Afterwards, the base stations will send paging messages on the air interface, and only in the cell where the user terminal currently resides. If the user terminal can be successfully paged within a certain period of time, the paging messages of other cells are actually invalid, resulting in large signaling overhead.

Contents of the invention

Embodiments of the present invention provide a paging method, equipment, storage medium and communication system to reduce signaling overhead for paging user terminals.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a paging method, which is applied to a network data analysis function network element in a core network. The method includes:

Receive a data arrival notification sent by the access and mobility management function network element, where the data arrival notification includes the identification and current time of the user terminal to which the downlink data has arrived;

Obtain multiple historical location information when the user terminal is in the connected state according to the identification;

According to the plurality of historical location information, predict multiple cells where the user terminal may be located at the current time;

The multiple cells are notified to the access and mobility management function network element, so that the access and mobility management function network element pages the user terminal based on the multiple cells.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a paging device, which is applied to a network data analysis function network element in a core network. The device includes:

A receiving module configured to receive a data arrival notification sent by the access and mobility management function network element, where the data arrival notification includes the identification and current time of the user terminal to which the downlink data has arrived;

A prediction module, configured to obtain a plurality of historical location information when the user terminal is in a connected state according to the identification, and predict multiple cells in which the user terminal may be located at the current time based on the plurality of historical location information. ;

A sending module configured to notify the access and mobility management function network element of the multiple cells, so that the access and mobility management function network element pages the user terminal based on the multiple cells. .

In a third aspect, embodiments of the present invention provide an electronic device, including: a memory, a processor, and a communication interface; wherein executable code is stored on the memory, and when the executable code is executed by the processor, The processor is enabled to at least implement the paging method described in the first aspect.

In a fourth aspect, embodiments of the present invention provide a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium stores executable code. When the executable code is processed by a processor of an electronic device, When executed, the processor is enabled to at least implement the paging method described in the first aspect.

In the fifth aspect, the embodiment of the present invention provides a paging method, which is applied to the network data analysis function network element in the core network, including:

Receive a data arrival notification sent by the access and mobility management function network element, where the data arrival notification includes the identification and current time of the vehicle-mounted terminal to which the driving data has arrived;

Obtain multiple historical location information when the vehicle-mounted terminal is in the connected state according to the identification;

According to the plurality of historical location information, predict multiple cells where the vehicle-mounted terminal may be located at the current time;

The multiple cells are notified to the access and mobility management function network element, so that the access and mobility management function network element pages the vehicle-mounted terminal based on the multiple cells.

In a sixth aspect, embodiments of the present invention provide a paging method, applied to a base station, including:

Receive a paging notification sent by the access and mobility management function network element, the paging notification includes the identification of the target cell, the base station is a base station installed in the target cell, and the target cell is a network data analysis function The network element responds to the data arrival notification of the arrival of downlink data from the user terminal and predicts one of the plurality of cells where the user terminal may be located at the current time, wherein the network data analysis function network element determines according to the user terminal The identification acquires multiple historical location information when the user terminal is in the connected state, and predicts the multiple cells based on the multiple historical location information;

The user terminal is paged in the target cell.

In the seventh aspect, embodiments of the present invention provide a paging method, which is applied to access and mobility management functional network elements, including:

Receive a data arrival notification, where the data arrival notification includes the identification and current time of the user terminal to which the downlink data has arrived;

Obtain multiple historical location information when the user terminal is in the connected state according to the identification;

According to the plurality of historical location information, predict multiple cells where the user terminal may be located at the current time;

A paging notification is sent to the base station corresponding to each of the plurality of cells, so that the base station paging the user terminal.

In an eighth aspect, embodiments of the present invention provide a communication system, including:

The network data analysis function network element, the access and mobility management function network element, and the session management function network element located in the core network;

The session management function network element is configured to respond to the arrival of downlink data from the user terminal and send a data arrival notification to the access and mobility management function network element. The data arrival notification includes the user whose downlink data has arrived. Terminal identification and current time;

The access and mobility management function network element is configured to forward the data arrival notification to the network data analysis function network element; and paging multiple cells based on the network data analysis function network element notification. user terminal;

The network data analysis function network element is used to obtain a plurality of historical location information when the user terminal is in a connected state according to the identifier; and predict the user terminal at the current time based on the multiple historical location information. Multiple cells that may be located; notify the access and mobility management function network element of the multiple cells.

The solution provided by the embodiment of the present invention can be applied to a mobile communication system including a 5G core network (5G Core, 5GC for short), which includes the following network elements: Network Data Analytics Function (NWDAF for short) Network element, AMF network element, Session Management Function (SMF) network element. When downlink data arrives at a user terminal and the user terminal is in an idle state, the user terminal needs to be paged so that the user terminal can access the base station and receive downlink data. In order to realize paging of the user terminal, when the SMF network element discovers that downlink data has arrived at the user terminal, it sends a corresponding notification message to the AMF network element, and the AMF network element then notifies the NWDAF network element to perform paging related to the user terminal. Processing: The NWDAF network element obtains multiple historical location information when the user terminal is in the connected state, and predicts the multiple cells where the user terminal may be located at the current time (i.e., the downlink data arrival time) based on the obtained multiple historical location information. The multiple predicted cells are notified to the AMF network element. In this way, the AMF network element only paging the user terminal based on the predicted cell where the user terminal may currently be located, effectively saves network signaling overhead and reduces network processing load.

Description of the drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention, the drawings needed to be used in the description of the embodiments will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings in the following description are some embodiments of the present invention. For those of ordinary skill in the art, other drawings can also be obtained based on these drawings without exerting creative efforts.

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of the composition of a communication system provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 2 is an interactive flow chart of a paging method provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 3 is an interactive flow chart of a paging method provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 4 is a flow chart of a paging method provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 5 is an application schematic diagram of a paging method provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 6 is a flow chart of a paging method provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 7 is a flow chart of a paging method provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 8 is a schematic structural diagram of a paging device provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of an electronic device corresponding to the paging device provided by the embodiment shown in FIG. 8 .

Detailed ways

In order to make the purpose, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present invention clearer, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention. Obviously, the described embodiments These are some embodiments of the present invention, rather than all embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art without making creative efforts fall within the scope of protection of the present invention.

Some embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The following embodiments and features in the embodiments may be combined with each other as long as there is no conflict between the embodiments. In addition, the sequence of steps in the following method embodiments is only an example and is not strictly limited.

As mentioned in the background technology section, in the traditional solution, the paging of the user terminal is TA level paging, that is, the user terminal is paged in all cells included in a TA, such as the TA where the user terminal last camped before. TA. When the user terminal switches from one TA to another TA, it will report to the AMF network element, so that the AMF network element can page the user terminal in the TA last reported by the user terminal. A TA will contain multiple cells.

In the embodiment of the present invention, in order to save the signaling overhead of the paging process, paging optimization can be performed through the NWDAF network element. The main idea is that the NWDAF network element collects the user's historical location data, and then the NWDAF network element predicts the user through a prediction algorithm. Afterwards, paging messages will only be sent to the cells where the terminal is currently camped, to effectively reduce network signaling overhead.

In contrast, the solution provided by the embodiment of the present invention is equivalent to determining the cells where the user terminal may currently camp in the TA, and only performs paging in the cells where the user terminal may camp, and does not perform paging in other cells in the TA where it is impossible to camp. The user terminal will not be paged in the cell. Among them, "current" refers to the time when downlink data arrives. Downlink data refers to the data sent by the communication peer to the user terminal.

Before introducing the implementation process of the solutions provided by the embodiments of the present invention in detail, some concepts that will be involved below are first defined and explained.

A cell, also called a cellular cell, refers to the area covered by one of the base stations or a part of the base station (sector antenna) in the mobile communication system. In this area, user terminals can reliably communicate with the base station through wireless channels.

The user terminal’s connected state (connected) and idle state (idle): From the perspective of Radio Resource Control (RRC), the user terminal has two modes: connected state and idle state. If a user terminal completes the operation in a certain cell, If the user terminal has stopped parking, it can be said that the user terminal has entered the idle state. If the user terminal subsequently completes the random access process, it is said that the user terminal has entered the connected state.

Operation, maintenance and management function network element (Operation Administration and Maintenance, referred to as OAM) refers to the actual needs of the operator's network operation. The management work of the network is usually divided into three categories: Operation (Operation), Management (Administration), and Maintenance. (Maintenance), referred to as OAM.

Identification of user terminal: In the 5G mobile communication system, each user is assigned a 5G user permanent identifier - (Subscription Permanent Identifier, SUPI for short) for use in the 3GPP system. In other words, a user terminal has a permanent identifier, namely SUPI, in the 5G mobile communication system. In addition, in the AMF network element, a temporary user terminal identification - AMF UE NGAP ID will also be allocated, which is used to identify the user terminal (ie UE) in the AMF at the N2 reference point.

Cell identifier: E-UTRAN cell global identifier (ECGI for short), used to globally identify a cell.

Measurement Report (MR): The user terminal can report some report files generated by itself to the OAM network element based on a certain period or event, including data related to the location of the user terminal. For example, at a certain moment, the user terminal locates its current location by measuring the signal strengths of several (such as three) base stations near it.

Minimization Drive Test (MDT): Its basic principle is to optimize the network based on the measurement reports of commercial terminals. In order to achieve this goal, user terminals need to have wireless environment measurements (RSRP, RSRQ, PHR), typical event measurements , the ability to measure location information, wherein the location information measurement capability of the user terminal includes GPS positioning capability.

The paging scheme provided by the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to some of the following embodiments.

The solution provided by the embodiment of the present invention can be applied to mobile communication systems such as 5G. As shown in Figure 1, the communication system includes an access network and a core network. In the process of implementing the solution, some core networks will be involved. Network elements in the core network, such as the following network elements located in the core network: NWDAF network element, AMF network element, SMF network element, OAM network element. Simply put, the access network consists of many 5G base stations (gNB). The user terminal accesses the mobile communication network through the base station to complete the transmission of data and some control signaling.

During the process of paging the user terminal, as shown in Figure 2, the working process of the above network elements is as follows:

201. In response to the arrival of downlink data from the user terminal, the SMF network element sends a data arrival notification to the AMF network element.

The data arrival notification includes the identification and current time of the user terminal where the downlink data arrives.

The current time refers to the time when the AMF network element receives the above-mentioned data arrival notification, and the identifier of the user terminal may be the SUPI mentioned above.

202. The AMF network element forwards the data arrival notification to the NWDAF network element.

In practical applications, after the AMF network element receives the data arrival notification, if the corresponding user terminal is in idle state, it needs to page the corresponding user terminal. At this time, it is necessary to use the analysis and processing function of the NWDAF network element to determine whether to page the user. Therefore, the AMF network element needs to inform the NWDAF network element which user terminal needs to analyze and process the cell where it may currently reside. The above AMF network element forwarding the received data arrival notification to the NWDAF network element is only an optional notification method. The AMF network element can also implement the above notification function by defining a new notification message.

203. The NWDAF network element obtains multiple historical location information when the user terminal is in the connected state, and predicts multiple cells where the user terminal may be located at the current time based on the multiple historical location information.

204. The NWDAF network element notifies the multiple cells to the AFM network element.

Optionally, after receiving the above notification, the NWDAF network element can query the network element entity used to store the location-related information of each user terminal based on the identity of the user terminal carried in the notification to obtain the user terminal's past settings. The location information within the time period is used as the multiple historical location information mentioned above. The set time can be set as needed, such as one day, seven days, or ten days.

Or, optionally, the NWDAF network element can also be configured to obtain the location information of the user terminal from the above-mentioned network element entity for storing location information related to each user terminal in real time and store it locally, and in order to save storage resources, You can set the storage period of information, such as 1 day, 7 days, etc. If the period exceeds this period, the corresponding location information will be deleted. Based on this, when the NWDAF network element receives the above notification for a certain user terminal, it queries the location information of the user terminal in the past set time from the locally obtained information as the multiple historical location information.

In summary, each historical location information will include a location identifier used to characterize the specific location and the timestamp when the location identifier was obtained, that is, the positioning time. In this way, the multiple historical location information obtained consists of multiple location identifiers and corresponding positioning times.

In an optional embodiment, after obtaining the plurality of historical location information, the NWDAF network element can use a pre-built location prediction model to complete the prediction of the cells where the user terminal may reside at the current time. Specifically, the NWDAF network element can input the current time, the multiple location identifiers and the corresponding positioning time into the location prediction model, so as to obtain multiple locations where the user terminal may be located at the current time through the location prediction model. cells and the corresponding confidence levels of these multiple cells. That is, it is predicted with what probability the user terminal may currently be located in which cell. The above position prediction model can be implemented using a certain neural network model structure.

It can be understood that the location prediction model has prior knowledge such as the location information of each cell, so as to complete the above prediction based on the prior knowledge.

Optionally, the prediction principle can be summarized as follows: based on multiple location identifiers and their corresponding positioning times, as well as the time difference between the current time and each positioning time, the time difference between each positioning time, and the location of each cell, the user can be predicted The moving speed and moving direction are finally predicted in the cells where the user terminal may camp at the current time and the confidence level corresponding to each cell. The confidence level is used to reflect the possibility of camping.

The NWDAF network element sends the predicted multiple cells and the confidence level corresponding to each cell to the AFM network element, and the AMF network element can page the user terminal based on the multiple cells.

In addition, in actual applications, the network element entity used to store the location-related information of each user terminal may also record the identification of the TA that the user terminal has experienced. When making the above prediction, the user terminal has experienced in the past set time period. The past TA (or the last TA camped on) can also be used as input, so that the cell in which the user terminal may currently camp in the TA can be predicted first. For example, if the time difference between the current time and the reporting time corresponding to the last resident TA is very small, it means that the user terminal has a high probability of still being located in the TA, and it is further predicted that the user terminal will be in the TA with a high probability. The neighborhood that may be located.

205. The AMF network element sends paging messages to the gNBs corresponding to the multiple cells.

206. The multiple gNBs page the user terminal.

In an optional embodiment, the AMF network element can page the above-mentioned user terminal in multiple cells predicted by NWDAF, that is, the AMF network element sends paging messages to the corresponding base stations (gNB) of these multiple cells. Each base station paging user terminals in their respective covered cells.

In another optional embodiment, the AFM network element can further filter out the target cell based on the predicted confidence levels of each of the multiple cells, and then send a paging message to the base station corresponding to the target cell, so that the base station of the target cell Paging the user terminal, where the target cell is a cell among the plurality of cells whose confidence meets the set condition, for example, the confidence is greater than a set threshold, or the ones with the highest confidence ranking.

The above describes a way to determine the cell where the user terminal with downlink data arriving may be located at the current time. In another optional embodiment, the cell currently paging the user terminal can also be determined in the following manner:

Determine a target terminal cluster containing the user terminal according to the identification of the user terminal;

Query the cells corresponding to the target terminal cluster within the set historical time, wherein the cells are obtained in advance based on cluster analysis of the cells where each user terminal included in the target terminal cluster resides;

Notify the cell to the AMF network element, so that the AMF network element paging the user terminal based on the cell.

Among them, the above set historical time can be set as needed, such as the past 1 hour, 24 hours, etc.

For example, in Internet of Vehicles application scenarios, a variety of roadside devices will be deployed on the road, such as roadside units, traffic lights, electronic signs, etc. These roadside devices can also be connected to the Internet through 5G mobile communication systems. The remote server can deliver corresponding information to these roadside devices as needed. In actual applications, there may be multiple roadside devices within the coverage of a cell. For example, traffic lights at adjacent intersections are located in the same cell.

In addition, the locations of these roadside devices are relatively fixed and will not change significantly. Therefore, cluster analysis can be performed on a large number of roadside devices that have been installed based on the location of each roadside device and the coverage of each cell. , analyze the roadside equipment clusters that will exist within the coverage of each community. The analysis results can be stored in relevant network element entities in advance, such as in NWDAF network elements.

In this way, when NWDAF needs to receive an arrival notification that a certain roadside device X has downlink data, it can query the above analysis results to determine the target terminal cluster corresponding to the roadside device community. The cell is notified to the AMF network element, and the AMF network element then notifies the base station corresponding to the cell to perform the operation of paging the roadside device X.

For another example, in some scenarios where intelligent robots are used, an enterprise may purchase multiple intelligent robots to complete tasks such as transporting items. These intelligent robots work in the physical space occupied by the enterprise. It is assumed that the physical space occupied by the enterprise is covered by two cells located in the 5G mobile communication system, that is, all or part of the physical space occupied by the enterprise is located in the intersection area of the two cells. When an intelligent robot accesses a base station in a certain community for data transmission, it can report its location information to relevant network elements, such as AMF network elements and OAM network elements. The NWDAF network element can obtain the location information reported by these intelligent robots from the AMF network element and OAM network element, and perform cluster analysis on it. During the cluster analysis process, it was found that these intelligent robots are the same type of terminal equipment (such as determined based on the device type identification included in the reported information), and the reported location information shows that these intelligent robots are all moving within the same physical range, thus It is possible to determine at least one cell corresponding to the physical range (in the above example, two cells covering the physical space occupied by the enterprise), and determine that these intelligent robots belong to the same equipment cluster. And store the analysis results locally. In this way, assuming that one of the intelligent robots has downlink data arriving, but the intelligent robot is currently idle, the NWDAF network element can determine the device cluster to which the intelligent robot belongs based on the above analysis results, and then query and determine the at least one device cluster corresponding to the device cluster. A cell notifies the AMF network element of the at least one cell, so that it can perform subsequent paging processing for the intelligent robot based on the at least one cell.

Based on the above different cell determination methods, in an actual application scenario, querying the cell where the user terminal may currently be located based on the cluster analysis results may be faster than predicting the cell where the user terminal may currently be located through the above prediction process. Because the time required for the query operation may be the time required for the phrase prediction process, therefore, optionally, you can first page the user terminal in the cell queried based on the cluster analysis results, and after obtaining the prediction results, update the paging range to predicted neighborhood.

In summary, in the above solution, the NWDAF network element collects the historical location information of the user terminal and predicts the current location of the user terminal. The AMF network element can obtain more accurate location information of the user terminal in the idle state. When the downlink data arrives At this time, the AMF network element can page the user terminal within a smaller geographical range, thereby reducing paging messages and reducing network signaling overhead.

Figure 3 is an interactive flow chart of a paging method provided by an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in Figure 3, the method includes the following steps:

301. In response to the arrival of downlink data from the user terminal, the SMF network element sends a data arrival notification to the AMF network element.

The data arrival notification includes the identification and current time of the user terminal where the downlink data arrives. The current time refers to the time when the AMF network element receives the above-mentioned data arrival notification, and the identifier of the user terminal may be the SUPI mentioned above.

302. The AMF network element forwards the data arrival notification to the NWDAF network element.

303. The NWDAF network element obtains multiple first-class location information of the user terminal from the AMF network element.

304. The NWDAF network element obtains multiple second-type location information of the user terminal from the OAM network element.

305. The NWDAF network element determines multiple historical location information based on multiple first-type location information and multiple second-category location information, and predicts multiple cells where the user terminal may be located at the current time based on the multiple historical location information.

306. The NWDAF network element notifies the multiple cells to the AFM network element.

307. The AMF network element sends paging messages to the base stations corresponding to the multiple cells.

308. The multiple base stations page the user terminal.

This embodiment introduces a specific implementation method for obtaining multiple historical location information passed by a user terminal in a connected state.

In order to comprehensively obtain the historical location information of the user terminal with downlink data arriving in the past set time, so as to accurately predict the cell where the user terminal may reside at the current time, in this embodiment, the NWDAF network element can be The location information of various dimensions of the user terminal is queried from network element entities such as AMF network elements and OAM network elements that store the location information of the user terminal. These dimensions include location information obtained by GPS positioning, location information calculated based on the signal strength of the base station, cell location information, etc.

Therefore, in summary, the NWDAF network element obtains multiple first-category location information of the user terminal from the AMF network element, and acquires multiple second-category location information of the user terminal from the OAM network element, so as to obtain multiple first-category location information of the user terminal from the OAM network element. The location information and the plurality of second-type location information determine a plurality of historical location information.

What is stored in the AMF network element is the information of each cell experienced by the user terminal. Each cell information can include ECGI, timestamp, SUPI, and the correspondence between SUPI and AMF UE NGAP ID. The timestamp in a cell information is represented by represents the time it takes to pass through the community.

When the NWDAF network element receives the data arrival notification containing the SUPI of the user terminal, it queries the AMF network element based on the SUPI and can obtain the information of multiple cells that the user terminal has passed through in the past set time period as multiple first-class locations. Information, that is to say, the first type of location information refers to the cells that the user terminal passes through.

What is stored in the OAM network element is the MR data, MDT data, AMF UE NGAP ID and timestamp reported each time by the user terminal. Based on this, the NWDAF network element can query the OAM network element based on the AMF UE NGAP ID obtained by querying the AMF network element to obtain each set of MR data, MDT data and corresponding timestamps reported by the user terminal in the past set time period. . Based on this, multiple historical location information is determined based on the multiple first-type location information and multiple second-category location information, that is, the multiple historical location information is determined by multiple first-category location information and multiple second-category location information. A collection of location information.

Through the above process, the NWDAF network element can obtain the following correspondence [SUPI, AMF UE NGAP ID, ECGI: timestamp, MR data: timestamp, MDT data: timestamp], where [ECGI: timestamp] indicates that the user terminal is in The identification of each community passed through in the past set time period and the time of each pass. Similarly, [MR data: timestamp] and [MDT data: timestamp] represent each positioning position and corresponding positioning time reported by the user terminal in the past set time period. In practical applications, MR data and MDT data contain a lot of data information. In this embodiment, for MR data, the positioning position obtained by calculating the position of the user terminal based on the signal strength of the adjacent base station at different times is mainly used. Information, for MDT data, it mainly uses the positioning location information obtained by the user terminal based on the GPS positioning device.

The paging method provided by the embodiment of the present invention can be applied to various application scenarios where downlink data arrives at the user terminal and needs to be paged, such as in automatic driving scenarios.

Figure 4 is a flow chart of a paging method provided by an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in Figure 4, it may include the following steps:

401. The NWDAF network element receives the data arrival notification sent by the AMF network element. The data arrival notification includes the identification and current time of the vehicle-mounted terminal to which the driving data has arrived.

402. The NWDAF network element obtains multiple historical location information when the vehicle-mounted terminal is in the connected state according to the identification of the vehicle-mounted terminal, and predicts multiple cells where the vehicle-mounted terminal may be located at the current time based on the multiple historical location information.

403. The NWDAF network element notifies the AMF network element of the multiple cells, so that the AMF network element pages the vehicle-mounted terminal based on the multiple cells.

As mentioned above, the multiple historical location information consists of multiple location identifiers and corresponding positioning times. Based on this, predicting multiple cells where the vehicle-mounted terminal may be located at the current time can be implemented as:

The current time, the plurality of location identifiers and the corresponding positioning time are input into a pre-built location prediction model, so as to obtain multiple cells where the vehicle-mounted terminal may be located at the current time and the corresponding information of the multiple cells through the location prediction model. Confidence.

Furthermore, the NWDAF network element sends the above prediction result to the AMF network element. The AMF network element determines the target cell for paging the vehicle-mounted terminal from multiple cells according to the confidence level, for example, determines the target cell to be all of the multiple cells, or determines the target cell to be the one with the highest confidence among the multiple cells. in the cells where the threshold is set.

In addition, as mentioned above, in an optional embodiment, the network element used to store location-related information of the user terminal (the vehicle-mounted terminal in this embodiment is a special user terminal) in the 5G mobile communication system may include AMF network elements and OAM network elements, and the types of location information stored in these two network elements are different. In order to obtain comprehensive location information, the NWDAF network element can obtain multiple information of the vehicle-mounted terminal from the AMF network element based on the identification of the vehicle-mounted terminal. first-type location information, and obtain multiple second-category location information of the vehicle-mounted terminal from the OAM network element, thereby determining the multiple historical location information based on the multiple first-category location information and the multiple second-category location information. For the specific query process, please refer to the relevant descriptions in other aforementioned embodiments and will not be described again here.

In an autonomous driving scenario, a vehicle-mounted terminal is installed in the vehicle. The vehicle-mounted terminal can be connected to the Internet through the 5G mobile communication system for data interaction, including but not limited to navigation data, acceleration/deceleration, steering, traffic status notification and other driving control-related information. data, as well as multimedia data such as audio and video.

For ease of understanding, the paging process for the vehicle-mounted terminal in the autonomous driving scenario will be exemplified below with reference to FIG. 5 .

As shown in Figure 5, the communication terminals that send the above-mentioned driving control data and multimedia data to the vehicle-mounted terminal can be collectively referred to as servers. Of course, in actual applications, different data can be provided by different servers. These servers can be deployed in the cloud.

During the movement, the vehicle may pass through various environments, and the base station to which the vehicle-mounted terminal is connected will be constantly switched. Even when driving to some places with poor network coverage, there will be temporary inability to connect to the Internet. If the vehicle-mounted terminal of a vehicle is idle at a certain time, and the server has driving-related data such as navigation data, traffic data, etc. that needs to be transmitted to the vehicle-mounted terminal, the server can send corresponding data information to the SMF network element. The SMF network element can send a downlink data arrival notification corresponding to the vehicle-mounted terminal to the AMF network element, and the notification carries the identification of the vehicle-mounted terminal. The AMF network element can then send a notification to the NWDAF network element to notify the NWDAF network element that downlink data has arrived at the above-mentioned vehicle-mounted terminal.

In addition, the vehicle-mounted terminal will also continuously report various location information collected at different times to the corresponding network element entities, such as the OAM network element and AMF network element mentioned above.

Based on this, the NWDAF network element can query the network element that stores the location information of the vehicle-mounted terminal to obtain multiple historical location information corresponding to the vehicle-mounted terminal in the past period of time. Furthermore, multiple cells where the vehicle-mounted terminal may reside at the current time are predicted based on the multiple historical location information, and the prediction results are notified to the AMF network element. The AMF network element finally determines the target cell in which the vehicle-mounted terminal needs to be paged based on the prediction result. The target cell may be all or part of the plurality of cells. Finally, the AMF network element notifies the base station in the target cell to page the vehicle-mounted terminal. The vehicle-mounted terminal can switch to the connected state based on the paging message, and then the downlink data sent to the vehicle-mounted terminal will be received and processed by the vehicle-mounted terminal.

The above only takes the autonomous driving scenario as an example to introduce an execution process of the paging solution provided by the embodiment of the present invention in practical applications. However, it is understandable that various types of user terminals, such as mobile phones and tablets, are used in various application scenarios for data transmission based on the 5G mobile communication system, such as video conferencing, live broadcast, phone calls, etc. When the user terminal has various downlink When data arrives but the user terminal is in an idle state, the solution provided by the embodiment of the present invention can be used to complete paging of the user terminal.

Figure 6 is a flow chart of a paging method provided by an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in Figure 6, it may include the following steps:

601. The base station receives the paging notification sent by the AMF network element. The paging notification includes the identification of the target cell. The base station is the base station set in the target cell. The target cell is the data arrival notification of the NWDAF network element in response to the arrival of downlink data from the user terminal. , one of the multiple cells where the predicted user terminal may be located at the current time, wherein the NWDAF network element obtains multiple historical location information when the user terminal is in the connected state based on the identifier of the user terminal, and based on the multiple historical location information The plurality of cells are predicted.

602. The base station pages the user terminal in the target cell.

This embodiment introduces the paging scheme for user terminals from the perspective of base stations deployed in the 5G mobile communication system.

Figure 7 is a flow chart of a paging method provided by an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in Figure 7, it may include the following steps:

701. The AMF network element receives a data arrival notification. The data arrival notification includes the identification and current time of the user terminal to which the downlink data has arrived.

702. The AMF network element obtains multiple historical location information when the user terminal is in the connected state based on the identifier of the user terminal, and predicts multiple cells where the user terminal may be located at the current time based on the multiple historical location information.

703. The AMF network element sends paging notifications to corresponding base stations of multiple cells, so that the base stations page the user terminal.

The above-mentioned multiple cell prediction process introduced in other embodiments above is implemented by the NWDAF network element. In practical applications, the function of the existing AMF network element can also be optimized to have the above-mentioned prediction function.

Among them, the AMF network element obtains multiple historical location information when the user terminal is in the connected state based on the identification of the user terminal, which may include:

The AMF network element queries local storage records according to the first identifier (such as SUPI) of the user terminal to obtain multiple first-type location information of the user terminal. The first-type location information may be cell information that the user terminal passed through in the past. In addition, the AMF network element may store the corresponding relationship between SUPI and the second identification of the user terminal: AMF UE NGAP ID. Accordingly, optionally, the AMF network element can also query the OAM network element through the AMF UE NGAP ID to obtain multiple second-type location information corresponding to the user terminal. The second-type location information may include, for example, GPS positioning information. Therefore, the plurality of historical position information are composed of the obtained plurality of first-type position information and the plurality of second-type position information.

The AMF network element can then input the obtained historical location information and downlink data arrival time (ie, the above-mentioned current time) into the location prediction model to complete the prediction of the above-mentioned multiple cells.

Afterwards, the AMF network element can determine the predicted multiple cells or some of the cells as target cells for paging the user terminal, and send a paging notification to the corresponding base station, so that the corresponding base station completes the operation of paging the user terminal.

For specific implementation processes that are not described in this embodiment, please refer to the relevant descriptions in other aforementioned embodiments and will not be described again here.

The paging device of one or more embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below. Those skilled in the art can understand that these devices can be constructed using commercially available hardware components and configured through the steps taught in this solution.

Figure 8 is a schematic structural diagram of a paging device provided by an embodiment of the present invention. The paging device is located in a network element with a network data analysis function in the core network. As shown in Figure 8, the device includes: a receiving module 11, a prediction module 12, and a sending module 13.

The receiving module 11 is configured to receive a data arrival notification sent by the access and mobility management function network element, where the data arrival notification includes the identification and current time of the user terminal where the downlink data arrives.

The prediction module 12 is configured to obtain a plurality of historical location information when the user terminal is in a connected state according to the identification, and predict multiple locations where the user terminal may be located at the current time based on the plurality of historical location information. community.

Sending module 13, configured to notify the access and mobility management function network element of the multiple cells, so that the access and mobility management function network element pages the user based on the multiple cells. terminal.

Optionally, the plurality of historical location information consists of multiple location identifiers and corresponding positioning times. The prediction module 12 is specifically configured to: input the current time, the multiple location identifiers and the corresponding positioning time into a pre-set In the constructed location prediction model, multiple cells where the user terminal may be located at the current time and corresponding confidence levels of the multiple cells are obtained through the location prediction model.

Based on this, the sending module 13 is specifically configured to notify the access and mobility management function network element of the multiple cells and the confidence levels corresponding to the multiple cells, so that the access and mobility management function network element The sexual management function network element determines a target cell whose confidence meets the set condition among the plurality of cells, so as to page the user terminal in the target cell.

Optionally, the prediction module 12 may also be configured to: determine a target terminal cluster containing the user terminal according to the identity of the user terminal; query the cells corresponding to the target terminal cluster within a set historical time, wherein: The cell is obtained in advance based on cluster analysis of the cells where each user terminal included in the target terminal cluster resides; the cell is notified to the access and mobility management function network element so that the The access and mobility management function network element pages the user terminal based on the cell.

Optionally, the prediction module 12 is specifically configured to: obtain a plurality of first-type location information of the user terminal from the access and mobility management function network element; obtain the operation and maintenance management network element. A plurality of second type location information of the user terminal; and the plurality of historical location information is determined based on the plurality of first type location information and the plurality of second type location information.

Optionally, the identifier of the user terminal is a first identifier corresponding to the user terminal; the prediction module 12 is specifically configured to: obtain from the access and mobility management function network element according to the first identifier. Information about multiple cells that the user terminal passes through, the cell information includes a cell identity, the first identity and a second identity corresponding to the user terminal; obtained from the operation and maintenance management network element according to the second identity Multiple positioning location information determined based on measurement report data reported by the user terminal and/or minimized drive test data.

As mentioned above, the first identifier and the second identifier of the terminal device may be: SUPI and AMF UE NGAPID respectively.

The device shown in Figure 8 can perform the steps performed by the NWDAF network element in the previous embodiment. For the detailed execution process and technical effects, please refer to the description in the previous embodiment, which will not be described again here.

In a possible design, the structure of the paging device shown in Figure 8 can be implemented as an electronic device, and the electronic device is equipped with a NWDAF network element. As shown in FIG. 9 , the electronic device may include: a processor 21 , a memory 22 , and a communication interface 23 . The memory 22 stores executable code. When the executable code is executed by the processor 21, the processor 21 can at least implement the paging method executed by the NWDAF network element in the previous embodiment.

In addition, embodiments of the present invention provide a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium stores executable code. When the executable code is executed by a processor of an electronic device, , so that the processor can at least implement the paging method provided in the previous embodiment.

The device embodiments described above are only illustrative, and the network elements described as separate components may or may not be physically separated. Some or all of the modules can be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of this embodiment. Persons of ordinary skill in the art can understand and implement the method without any creative effort.

From the above description of the embodiments, those skilled in the art can clearly understand that each embodiment can be implemented by adding the necessary general hardware platform, or of course, can also be implemented by combining hardware and software. Based on this understanding, the above technical solution can be embodied in the form of a computer product in nature or in other words, the part that contributes to the existing technology. The present invention can use one or more computer-usable storage devices containing computer-usable program codes. The form of a computer program product implemented on media (including but not limited to disk storage, CD-ROM, optical storage, etc.).

Finally, it should be noted that the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solution of the present invention, but not to limit it; although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, those of ordinary skill in the art should understand that it can still be used Modifications are made to the technical solutions described in the foregoing embodiments, or equivalent substitutions are made to some of the technical features; however, these modifications or substitutions do not cause the essence of the corresponding technical solutions to deviate from the spirit and scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention.

Claims (13)

1. A paging method, characterized in that it is applied to the network data analysis function network element in the core network, including: Receive a data arrival notification sent by the access and mobility management function network element, where the data arrival notification includes the identification and current time of the user terminal to which the downlink data has arrived; Obtain multiple historical location information when the user terminal is in the connected state according to the identification; According to the plurality of historical location information, predict multiple cells where the user terminal may be located at the current time; Notify the multiple cells to the access and mobility management function network element, so that the access and mobility management function network element pages the user terminal based on the multiple cells; The method also includes: Determine a target terminal cluster containing the user terminal according to the identification of the user terminal; Query the cells corresponding to the target terminal cluster within a set historical time, wherein the cells are obtained in advance based on cluster analysis of the cells where each user terminal included in the target terminal cluster resides; The cell is notified to the access and mobility management function network element, so that the access and mobility management function network element pages the user terminal based on the cell. 2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the plurality of historical location information consists of a plurality of location identifiers and corresponding positioning times; Predicting multiple cells where the user terminal may be located at the current time based on the multiple historical location information includes: Input the current time, the multiple location identifiers and the corresponding positioning time into a pre-built location prediction model, so as to obtain multiple cells where the user terminal may be located at the current time through the location prediction model. and the confidence levels corresponding to the multiple cells. 3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that the plurality of cells are notified to the access and mobility management function network element, so that the access and mobility management function network element Paging the user terminal based on the multiple cells includes: Notify the access and mobility management function network element of the multiple cells and the corresponding confidence levels of the multiple cells, so that the access and mobility management function network element is in the multiple cells. Determine a target cell whose confidence meets the set condition to page the user terminal in the target cell. 4. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, obtaining a plurality of historical location information when the user terminal is in a connected state according to the identification includes: Obtain multiple first-type location information of the user terminal from the access and mobility management function network element; Obtain multiple second-type location information of the user terminal from the operation, maintenance and management network element; The plurality of historical location information is determined based on the plurality of first type location information and the plurality of second type location information. 5. A paging method, characterized in that it is applied to a base station and includes: Receive a paging notification sent by the access and mobility management function network element, the paging notification includes the identification of the target cell, the base station is a base station installed in the target cell, and the target cell is a network data analysis function The network element responds to the data arrival notification of the arrival of downlink data from the user terminal and predicts one of the plurality of cells where the user terminal may be located at the current time, wherein the network data analysis function network element determines according to the user terminal The identification acquires multiple historical location information when the user terminal is in the connected state, and predicts the multiple cells based on the multiple historical location information; Paging the user terminal in the target cell; The network data analysis function network element is also used to determine a target terminal cluster containing the user terminal according to the identification of the user terminal; query the cells corresponding to the target terminal cluster within a set historical time, wherein, in the set The corresponding cells within the historical time are obtained in advance based on the cluster analysis of the cells where each user terminal included in the target terminal cluster resides; the corresponding cells within the set historical time are notified to the receiver. Access and mobility management function network element, so that the access and mobility management function network element pages the user terminal based on the corresponding cell within the set historical time. 6. A paging method, characterized in that it is applied to access and mobility management function network elements, including: Receive a data arrival notification, where the data arrival notification includes the identification and current time of the user terminal to which the downlink data has arrived; Obtain multiple historical location information when the user terminal is in the connected state according to the identification; According to the plurality of historical location information, predict multiple cells where the user terminal may be located at the current time; Send a paging notification to the base station corresponding to each of the plurality of cells, so that the base station paging the user terminal; The method also includes: Determine a target terminal cluster containing the user terminal according to the identification of the user terminal; Query the cells corresponding to the target terminal cluster within the set historical time, wherein the cells corresponding to the set historical time are based on pre-processing of the cells where each user terminal included in the target terminal cluster resides. Obtained by cluster analysis; A paging notification is sent to the base stations corresponding to the corresponding cells within the set historical time, so that the base stations page the user terminal. 7. An electronic device, characterized in that it includes: a memory, a processor, and a communication interface; wherein executable code is stored on the memory, and when the executable code is executed by the processor, the The processor executes the paging method according to any one of claims 1 to 4. 8. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium, characterized in that executable code is stored on the non-transitory machine-readable storage medium. When the executable code is executed by a processor of an electronic device, The processor executes the paging method according to any one of claims 1 to 4. 9. A communication system, characterized by including: The network data analysis function network element, the access and mobility management function network element, and the session management function network element located in the core network; The session management function network element is configured to respond to the arrival of downlink data from the user terminal and send a data arrival notification to the access and mobility management function network element. The data arrival notification includes the user whose downlink data has arrived. Terminal identification and current time; The access and mobility management function network element is configured to forward the data arrival notification to the network data analysis function network element; and paging multiple cells based on the network data analysis function network element notification. user terminal; The network data analysis function network element is used to obtain a plurality of historical location information when the user terminal is in a connected state according to the identifier; and predict the user terminal at the current time based on the multiple historical location information. Multiple cells that may be located; notify the access and mobility management function network element of the multiple cells; The network data analysis function network element is also used to determine a target terminal cluster containing the user terminal according to the identification of the user terminal; query the cells corresponding to the target terminal cluster within a set historical time, wherein, the The cell is obtained in advance based on cluster analysis of the cells where each user terminal included in the target terminal cluster resides; the cell is notified to the access and mobility management function network element so that the The access and mobility management function network element pages the user terminal based on the cell. 10. The system according to claim 9, further comprising an operation, maintenance and management network element; The network data analysis function network element is used to obtain a plurality of first-type location information of the user terminal from the access and mobility management function network element, and obtain the first type location information from the operation and maintenance management network element. A plurality of second type location information of the user terminal, and the plurality of historical location information is determined based on the plurality of first type location information and the plurality of second type location information. 11. A paging method, characterized in that it is applied to the network data analysis function network element in the core network, including: Receive a data arrival notification sent by the access and mobility management function network element, where the data arrival notification includes the identification and current time of the vehicle-mounted terminal to which the driving data has arrived; Obtain multiple historical location information when the vehicle-mounted terminal is in the connected state according to the identification; According to the plurality of historical location information, predict multiple cells where the vehicle-mounted terminal may be located at the current time; Notify the multiple cells to the access and mobility management function network element, so that the access and mobility management function network element pages the vehicle-mounted terminal based on the multiple cells; The method also includes: Determine a target terminal cluster containing the vehicle-mounted terminal according to the identification of the vehicle-mounted terminal; Query the cells corresponding to the target terminal cluster within a set historical time, wherein the cells are obtained in advance based on cluster analysis of the cells where each vehicle-mounted terminal included in the target terminal cluster resides; The cell is notified to the access and mobility management function network element, so that the access and mobility management function network element pages the vehicle-mounted terminal based on the cell. 12. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that the plurality of historical location information consists of multiple location identifiers and corresponding positioning times; Predicting multiple cells where the vehicle-mounted terminal may be located at the current time based on the multiple historical location information includes: Input the current time, the multiple location identifiers and the corresponding positioning time into a pre-built location prediction model, so as to obtain multiple cells where the vehicle-mounted terminal may be located at the current time through the location prediction model. and the confidence levels corresponding to the multiple cells; The confidence level is used to enable the access and mobility management function network element to determine a target cell for paging the vehicle-mounted terminal from the plurality of cells according to the confidence level. 13. The method according to claim 11, wherein obtaining a plurality of historical location information when the vehicle-mounted terminal is in a connected state according to the identification includes: Obtain multiple first-type location information of the vehicle-mounted terminal from the access and mobility management function network element; Obtain multiple second-type location information of the vehicle-mounted terminal from the operation and maintenance management network element; The plurality of historical location information is determined based on the plurality of first type location information and the plurality of second type location information.