CN116939008A

CN116939008A - Communication method, device and equipment

Info

Publication number: CN116939008A
Application number: CN202210320850.4A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 王亚鑫; 李岩; 杨艳梅
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2022-03-29
Filing date: 2022-03-29
Publication date: 2023-10-24
Also published as: WO2023185692A1

Abstract

The application provides a communication method, a device and equipment. The method can request to use the edge service and/or service enabling architecture layer data transmission service, and based on the information of the Edge Application Server (EAS) and/or the information of the service enabling architecture layer data transmission server corresponding to the EAS, which can use the service enabling architecture layer data transmission service, the discovery of the EAS is realized, and the discovery of the service enabling architecture layer data transmission server is realized, so that the cooperative use of the edge service and the service enabling architecture layer data transmission service is facilitated.

Description

Communication method, device and equipment

Technical Field

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

Background

An edge application (EDGEAPP) architecture scenario includes a User Equipment (UE) side and an edge data network (edge data network, EDN). Wherein the UE side is deployed with an application client (application client, AC) and an edge enabled client (edge enabler client, EEC). The EDN side is deployed with an edge enabling server (edge enabler server, EES) and an edge application server (edge application server, EAS). Wherein EAS is used to provide edge services. Specifically, the EAS is registered on the EES, and the EEC on the UE may discover the EAS through the EES. The EES registers its own information on an edge service configuration server (edge configuration server, ECS), and the EECs on the UE can query the ECS for available EES information and establish a connection with the EES. Further, the EEC obtains EAS related information through the EES, and provides corresponding EAS information for the AC. Thereby enabling the AC to use edge traffic through EAS.

One of the main functions of the service enabling architecture layer data transport (service enabler architecture layer data delivery, sea dd) enhancement layer service is to provide data transport services for multiple access/Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) services. For example, the SEALDD enhanced layer service includes functionality to provide lossless data forwarding during EAS handoffs, as well as transport layer proxies, and the like. The cooperative use of MEC service and service enabling architecture layer data transmission service is worth researching, but the distributed deployment of the SEALDD server (SEALDDServer) and the EAS is a network element, which brings difficulty to the cooperative use of MEC service and service enabling architecture layer data transmission service.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a communication method, a device and equipment. The method is beneficial to the cooperative use of the edge business and the service enabling architecture layer data transmission service.

In a first aspect, the present application provides a communication method implemented by an edge-enabled client EEC, by a component of the EEC (e.g., a processor, chip, or system-on-chip, etc.), by a logic module or software that is capable of implementing all or part of the EEC functionality. Wherein the EEC sends a request message to discover edge services to the EES. The EEC receives a response message from the EES to discover the edge service, the response message to discover the edge service including information of EAS that can use the service-enabled fabric layer data transmission service and/or information of a corresponding service-enabled fabric layer data transmission server.

According to the method, the EEC requests the EES for the edge service and also requests the service enabling architecture layer data transmission service, and the information of the EAS fed back to the EEC by the EES comprises the information of the EAS which can use the service enabling architecture layer data transmission service and/or the information of the service enabling architecture layer data transmission server corresponding to the EAS, so that the discovery of the EAS and the discovery of the service enabling architecture layer data transmission server are realized, and the cooperative use of the edge service and the service enabling architecture layer data transmission service is facilitated. In addition, the method couples the discovery and selection of the service enabling architecture layer data transmission server with the discovery and selection of the EAS, and the service enabling architecture layer data transmission service is used as an attribute of the EAS for discovery and selection, so that the method is easy to realize.

In one possible implementation, the request message to discover an edge service indicates a request to use a service-enabled architecture layer data transport service.

By this method, the EEC sends a request message for discovering an edge service to the EES, which can explicitly indicate a request for using a service-enabling architecture layer data transfer service, facilitating the EES to perform discovery and selection operations of the service-enabling architecture layer data transfer server.

In one possible implementation, the response message to discover the edge service also includes information of EAS that cannot use the service-enabled fabric layer data transmission service.

By this method, when the EEC transmits a request message for discovering an edge service to the EES without explicitly indicating a request for using the service enabling architecture layer data transfer service, the response message fed back to the EEC by the EES carries not only information of EAS that can use the service enabling architecture layer data transfer service but also information of EAS that cannot use the service enabling architecture layer data transfer service (i.e., information including all EAS acquired after the EES performs discovery and selection operations of EAS).

In one possible implementation, the EEC sends information of the first service enabling architecture layer data transfer server and/or information of the first EAS to the service enabling architecture layer data transfer client. The first EAS is one or more of EAS that may use a service enabling architecture layer data transfer service. The first service enabling fabric layer data transmission server is a service enabling fabric layer data transmission server corresponding to the first EAS.

By this method, the EEC may provide the information of the first service enabling architecture layer data transfer server and/or the information of the first EAS to the service enabling architecture layer data transfer client. The discovery and selection of the service enabling architecture layer data transmission server can be achieved based on the information of the first service enabling architecture layer data transmission server. Based on the information of the first EAS and the information of the first service enabling architecture layer data transmission server, connection between the first EAS and the first service enabling architecture layer data transmission server is facilitated to be established, so that data interaction between the first EAS and the first service enabling architecture layer data transmission server is facilitated, and cooperative use of edge service and service enabling architecture layer data transmission service is facilitated.

In one possible implementation, the EEC sends information of EAS that can use the service-enabled architecture layer data transfer service and/or information of the service-enabled architecture layer data transfer server to which the EAS corresponds to the application client AC.

By the method, the EEC can provide the information of the EAS which can use the service enabling architecture layer data transmission service and/or the information of the service enabling architecture layer data transmission server corresponding to the EAS for the AC, thereby being beneficial to the AC to determine the information of the first EAS from the information of the EAS and the information of the first service enabling architecture layer data transmission server corresponding to the first EAS, namely realizing the discovery of the EAS and the discovery selection of the SEALDD server, and being beneficial to the cooperative use of the edge service and the service enabling architecture layer data transmission service.

In one possible implementation, the EEC receives a first service request message from the AC, the first service request message indicating a request to use an edge service and a service-enabled architecture layer data transport service.

By the method, the AC can initiate an edge service request to the EEC, and the request for using the service-enabling architecture layer data transmission service is explicitly indicated in the first service request message, so that the EES is beneficial to the discovery and selection operation of the service-enabling architecture layer data transmission server.

In a second aspect, the present application provides another method of communication. The communication method is implemented by the service enabling architecture layer data transmission client, can be executed by a component (such as a processor, a chip, or a chip system) of the service enabling architecture layer data transmission client, and can be implemented by a logic module or software capable of implementing all or part of the functions of the service enabling architecture layer data transmission client. The service enabling architecture layer data transmission client acquires information of a first service enabling architecture layer data transmission server, and the first service enabling architecture layer data transmission server is used for providing service enabling architecture layer data transmission service for an application client of the terminal equipment. The service enabling architecture layer data transmission client sends a connection establishment request message to the first service enabling architecture layer data transmission server, wherein the connection establishment request message comprises information of terminal equipment, and the information of the terminal equipment is used for establishing a shunting path between the terminal equipment and the first service enabling architecture layer data transmission server.

By the method, the service enabling architecture layer data transmission client can obtain the information of the first service enabling architecture layer data transmission server for providing service enabling architecture layer data transmission service for the application client of the terminal equipment. The service enabling architecture layer data transmission client sends information of the terminal equipment to the first service enabling architecture layer data transmission server according to the information of the first service enabling architecture layer data transmission server, and the information of the terminal equipment can be used for establishing a shunting path between the terminal equipment and the first service enabling architecture layer data transmission server, so that data interaction between the terminal equipment and the first service enabling architecture layer data transmission server is realized, and data interaction from the terminal equipment to the EAS is facilitated to be finally realized. It will be appreciated that the connections described in the second aspect may be regarded as logical connections.

In an embodiment where the service enabling fabric layer data transmission client obtains information of the first EAS, the service enabling fabric layer data transmission client receives a second service request message from the EEC, the second service request message including information of the first service enabling fabric layer data transmission server.

Optionally, the second service request message further includes information of the first EAS and/or location information corresponding to the terminal device. The information of the first EAS is used to establish a connection between the first service enabling architecture layer data transfer server and the first EAS, the first EAS being used to provide edge services for application clients of the terminal device. The location information corresponding to the terminal device is used for determining the first service enabling architecture layer data transmission server.

By the method, when the EEC is taken as a decision body, the EEC can determine the information of the first EAS according to the information of the EAS which can use the service enabling architecture layer data transmission service, and send the information of the first EAS to the service enabling architecture layer data transmission client, so that connection between the first service enabling architecture layer data transmission server and the first EAS is established based on the information of the first EAS, and data interaction between the first EAS and the first service enabling architecture layer data transmission server is realized.

In an embodiment where the service enabling fabric layer data transmission client obtains information of the first EAS, the service enabling fabric layer data transmission client receives a second service request message from the AC, the second service request message including the information of the first EAS and the information of the first service enabling fabric layer data transmission server.

According to the method, when the AC is taken as a decision body, the AC determines information of the first EAS according to the information of the EAS which can use the service enabling architecture layer data transmission service, and sends the information of the first EAS to the service enabling architecture layer data transmission client, so that connection between the first service enabling architecture layer data transmission server and the first EAS is established based on the information of the first EAS, and data interaction between the first EAS and the first service enabling architecture layer data transmission server is achieved.

In one possible implementation, the service enabling architecture layer data transfer client sends a service query message to the configuration server, where the service query message includes information of the first EAS and/or location information corresponding to the terminal device, and the information of the first EAS and/or location information corresponding to the terminal device is used to determine a first service enabling architecture layer data transfer server that provides service enabling architecture layer data transfer services to the first EAS and/or terminal device. The service enabling architecture layer data transfer client receives a response message from the configuration server to the service query message, the response message of the service query message including information of the first service enabling architecture layer data transfer server.

According to the method, the service enabling architecture layer data transmission client can acquire the information of the first EAS and/or the position information corresponding to the terminal equipment through the configuration server, connection between the first service enabling architecture layer data transmission server and the first EAS is facilitated to be established based on the information of the first EAS, and therefore data interaction between the first EAS and the first service enabling architecture layer data transmission server is achieved. The configuration server can also acquire the position information corresponding to the terminal equipment, so that the first service enabling architecture layer data transmission server for providing the service enabling architecture layer data transmission service for the terminal equipment is determined based on the position information corresponding to the terminal equipment, and the data interaction between the terminal equipment and the first service enabling architecture layer data transmission server is realized.

In one possible implementation, the connection establishment request message further includes information of the first EAS.

In a third aspect, the present application provides another communication method. The communication method is implemented by the first service enabling architecture layer data transmission server, may be implemented by a component (such as a processor, a chip, or a chip system) of the first service enabling architecture layer data transmission server, and may be implemented by a logic module or software capable of implementing all or part of the functions of the first service enabling architecture layer data transmission server. Wherein the first service-enabled fabric layer data transfer server receives a connection establishment request message from the service-enabled fabric layer data transfer client. The connection establishment request message includes information of the terminal device for establishing a split path between the terminal device and the first service enabling architecture layer data transfer server. The first service enabling architecture layer data transmission server initiates an application function routing request to the core network, the application function routing request carrying information of the terminal device, the application function routing request being used for requesting establishment of a split path between the terminal device and the first service enabling architecture layer data transmission server.

By the method, an application function routing request is used for requesting to establish a split path between the terminal device and the first service enabling architecture layer data transfer server. For example, the core network may be requested to configure the offloading rule so that the data packet of the terminal device is sent to the first service enabling architecture layer data transmission server based on the offloading rule, thereby implementing data transmission from the terminal device to the first service enabling architecture layer data transmission server.

In one possible embodiment, the connection establishment request message further includes information of a first EAS for establishing a connection between the first service enabling architecture layer data transfer server and the first EAS for providing edge services for application clients of the terminal device.

By the method, when the first EAS is not coupled with the first service enabling architecture layer data transmission server, the first service enabling architecture layer data transmission server also needs to acquire information of the first EAS, so that connection between the first service enabling architecture layer data transmission server and the first EAS is established, and cooperative use of edge service and service enabling architecture layer data transmission service is facilitated.

In a fourth aspect, the present application provides another method of communication. The communication method is implemented by the application client, may be performed by a component (such as a processor, a chip, or a system on a chip) of the application client, and may be implemented by a logic module or software capable of implementing all or part of the functions of the application client. Wherein the application client sends a first service request message to the EEC. The application client receives a response message from the EEC to the first service request message, the response message of the first service request message including information of EAS that can use the service-enabling fabric layer data transmission service and/or information of a corresponding service-enabling fabric layer data transmission server. By the method, the application client sends a first service request message to the EEC to cause the EEC to perform a process of discovering an edge service.

In one possible implementation, the first service request message indicates a request to use a service-enabled architecture layer data transport service. By the method, the cooperative use of the edge service and the service enabling architecture layer data transmission service is facilitated.

In one possible implementation, the application client determines a first EAS, which is one or more EAS of the EAS that can use the service enabling architecture layer data transfer service, and/or information of the service enabling architecture layer data transfer server to which the EAS corresponds, and the first service enabling architecture layer data transfer server, which is the service enabling architecture layer data transfer server to which the first EAS corresponds. The application client sends information of the first service enabling architecture layer data transfer server and/or information of the first EAS to the service enabling architecture layer data transfer client.

According to the method, the application client can be used as a decision body, and the first EAS and the first service enabling architecture layer data transmission server corresponding to the first EAS are determined based on the information of the EAS of the usable service enabling architecture layer data transmission service and/or the information of the service enabling architecture layer data transmission server corresponding to the EAS, so that the cooperative use of the edge service and the service enabling architecture layer data transmission service is facilitated.

In one possible embodiment, the response message to the first service request message further includes information of EAS that cannot use the service-enabled architecture layer data transfer service.

By this method, the response message of the first service request message fed back by the EEC to the application client may further include information of EAS that cannot use the service enabling architecture layer data transmission service, so that the method is not only beneficial to the cooperative use of the edge service and the service enabling architecture layer data transmission service, but also suitable for other scenarios (e.g. a scenario using only the edge service).

In a fifth aspect, the present application provides another communication method. The communication method is implemented by the EES, or may be performed by a component of the EES (e.g., a processor, chip, or system-on-a-chip, etc.), or may be implemented by a logic module or software that is capable of implementing all or part of the EES functionality. Wherein the EES receives a request message from the EEC to discover edge services. The EES sends a response message to the EEC to discover the edge service, the response message to discover the edge service including information of EAS that can use the service-enabled fabric layer data transmission service and/or information of the service-enabled fabric layer data transmission server to which the EAS corresponds.

By the method, the EEC can request to find the edge service from the EES, meanwhile, the EEC can request to find the service enabling architecture layer data transmission service, the information of the EAS fed back to the EEC by the EES is the information of the EAS which can use the service enabling architecture layer data transmission service, and/or the information of the service enabling architecture layer data transmission server corresponding to the EAS can be used for the subsequent service enabling architecture layer data transmission client to establish connection with the service enabling architecture layer data transmission server. Thereby facilitating the collaborative use of edge traffic and service-enabling fabric layer data transport services. In addition, the method couples the discovery and selection of the service enabling architecture layer data transmission server with the discovery and selection of the EAS, and the service enabling architecture layer data transmission service is used as an attribute of the EAS for discovery and selection, so that the method is easy to realize.

In one possible implementation, the EES obtains the correspondence between EAS and service-enabling fabric layer data transfer servers and determines information of EAS that can use the service-enabling fabric layer data transfer service and/or the service-enabling fabric layer data transfer server corresponding to EAS according to the correspondence between EAS and service-enabling fabric layer data transfer server.

By the method, the EES can also acquire the corresponding relation between the EAS and the service enabling architecture layer data transmission server, so that the information of the EAS and the information of the service enabling architecture layer data transmission server are acquired, and the cooperative use of edge service and service enabling architecture layer data transmission service is facilitated.

In a sixth aspect, the present application provides a communication device. The communication device is configured to implement the methods performed by the EECs in the first to fifth aspects described above. The communication device comprises one or more functional units, for example a transmitting unit and a receiving unit. For example, the sending unit is configured to send a request message for discovering an edge service to the edge enabled server EES. The receiving unit is configured to receive a response message from the EES for discovering the edge service, where the response message for discovering the edge service includes information of an edge application server EAS that can use the service enabling architecture layer data transmission service and/or information of a service enabling architecture layer data transmission server corresponding to the EAS.

For a specific description of the method performed by the EEC, reference may be made to the corresponding descriptions in the first to fifth aspects, and the description is not repeated here. It will be appreciated that the communication device may also achieve the effects as may be achieved by the EEC in the first to fifth aspects.

In a seventh aspect, the present application provides another communication apparatus. The communication device is configured to implement the method performed by the service-enabled fabric layer data transmission client in the first aspect to the fifth aspect. The communication device comprises one or more functional units, for example comprising a processing unit and a communication unit. For example, the processing unit is configured to obtain information of a first service enabling architecture layer data transfer server, where the first service enabling architecture layer data transfer server is configured to provide a service enabling architecture layer data transfer service for an application client of the terminal device. The communication unit is configured to send a connection establishment request message to the first service enabling architecture layer data transfer server, where the connection establishment request message includes information of the terminal device, and the information of the terminal device is used to establish a split path between the terminal device and the first service enabling architecture layer data transfer server.

For a specific description of the method performed by the service-enabled architecture layer data transmission client, reference may be made to the corresponding descriptions in the first aspect to the fifth aspect, which are not repeated herein. It will be appreciated that the communications apparatus may also achieve the effects as may be achieved by the service enabling architecture layer data transfer client in the first to fifth aspects.

In an eighth aspect, the present application provides another communication apparatus. The communication device is configured to implement the method performed by the first service enabling architecture layer data transfer server in the first to fifth aspects. The communication device comprises one or more functional units, for example comprising a processing unit and a communication unit. For example, the communication unit is configured to receive a connection establishment request message from the service enabling architecture layer data transfer client, where the connection establishment request message includes information of the terminal device, and the information of the terminal device is configured to establish a split path between the terminal device and the first service enabling architecture layer data transfer server. The processing unit is used for initiating an application function routing request to the core network, wherein the application function routing request carries information of the terminal equipment, and the application function routing request is used for requesting to establish a shunting path between the terminal equipment and the first service enabling architecture layer data transmission server.

The specific description of the method performed by the first service-enabled architecture layer data transmission server may refer to the corresponding descriptions in the first aspect to the fifth aspect, which are not repeated herein. It will be appreciated that the communication device may also achieve the effects as may be achieved by the first service enabling architecture layer data transfer server in the first to fifth aspects.

In a ninth aspect, the present application provides another communication apparatus. The communication device is configured to implement the method performed by the application client in the first to fifth aspects. The communication device comprises one or more functional units, for example comprising a processing unit and a communication unit. For example, the communication unit is configured to send a first service request message to the EEC and receive a response message from the EEC to the first service request message. The response message of the first service request message includes information of EAS that can use the service enabling fabric layer data transmission service and/or information of a service enabling fabric layer data transmission server to which the EAS corresponds.

The specific description of the method performed by the application client may refer to the corresponding descriptions in the first aspect to the fifth aspect, which are not repeated herein. It will be appreciated that the communication device may also achieve the effects as may be achieved by the application client in the first to fifth aspects.

In a tenth aspect, the present application provides another communication apparatus. The communication device is configured to implement the method performed by the edge-enabled server in the first to fifth aspects described above. The communication device comprises one or more functional units, for example a receiving unit and a processing unit. For example, the receiving unit is configured to receive a request message from the EEC for discovery of an edge service. The transmitting unit is configured to transmit a response message for discovering the edge service to the EEC, where the response message for discovering the edge service includes information of EAS that can use the service enabling architecture layer data transmission service and/or information of a service enabling architecture layer data transmission server corresponding to the EAS.

For a specific description of the method performed by the EES, reference may be made to the corresponding descriptions in the first aspect to the fifth aspect, which are not repeated herein. It will be appreciated that the communication device may also achieve the effects as may be achieved by the EES in the first to fifth aspects.

In an eleventh aspect, the present application provides a communication device. The communication device is configured to implement the methods performed by the EECs in the first to fifth aspects described above. The communication device includes one or more processors and memory. For example, a memory is coupled to the one or more processors, the memory storing a computer program. For example, when one or more processors in a communication device execute a computer program, the communication device performs the following operations:

Transmitting a request message for discovering an edge service to an edge enabling server EES;

receiving a response message from the EES to discover the edge service, the response message to discover the edge service including information of an edge application server EAS that can use the service-enabled architecture layer data transfer service and/or information of a service-enabled architecture layer data transfer server to which the EAS corresponds.

In a twelfth aspect, the present application provides another communication device. The communication device is configured to implement the method performed by the service-enabled architecture layer data transfer client in the first aspect to the fifth aspect. The communication device includes one or more processors and memory. For example, a memory is coupled to the one or more processors, the memory storing a computer program. For example, when one or more processors in a communication device execute a computer program, the communication device performs the following operations:

acquiring information of a first service enabling architecture layer data transmission server, wherein the first service enabling architecture layer data transmission server is used for providing service enabling architecture layer data transmission service for an application client of terminal equipment;

And sending a connection establishment request message to the first service enabling architecture layer data transmission server, wherein the connection establishment request message comprises information of the terminal equipment, and the information of the terminal equipment is used for establishing a split path between the terminal equipment and the first service enabling architecture layer data transmission server.

For a specific description of the method performed by the service-enabled architecture layer data transmission client, reference may be made to the corresponding descriptions in the first aspect to the fifth aspect, which are not repeated herein. It will be appreciated that the communication device may also achieve the effects as may be achieved by the service-enabled architecture layer data transfer client in the first to fifth aspects.

In a thirteenth aspect, the present application provides another communication device. The communication device is configured to implement the method performed by the first service enabling architecture layer data transfer server in the first to fifth aspects. The communication device includes one or more processors and memory. For example, a memory is coupled to the one or more processors, the memory storing a computer program. For example, when one or more processors in a communication device execute a computer program, the device performs the following operations:

Receiving a connection establishment request message from a service enabling architecture layer data transmission client, wherein the connection establishment request message comprises information of terminal equipment, and the information of the terminal equipment is used for establishing a split path between the terminal equipment and a first service enabling architecture layer data transmission server;

and initiating an application function routing request to the core network, wherein the application function routing request carries information of the terminal equipment, and the application function routing request is used for requesting to establish a split path between the terminal equipment and the first service enabling architecture layer data transmission server.

In a fourteenth aspect, the present application provides another communication device. The communication device is configured to implement the method performed by the application client in the first to fifth aspects. The communication device includes one or more processors and memory. For example, a memory is coupled to the one or more processors, the memory storing a computer program. For example, when one or more processors in a communication device execute a computer program, the device performs the following operations:

Sending a first service request message to the EEC;

a response message to the first service request message is received from the EEC, the response message of the first service request message including information of EAS that can use the service enabling fabric layer data transmission service and/or information of a service enabling fabric layer data transmission server to which the EAS corresponds.

In a fifteenth aspect, the present application provides another communication device. The communication device is configured to implement the methods performed by EES in the first to fifth aspects described above. The communication device includes one or more processors and memory. For example, a memory is coupled to the one or more processors, the memory storing a computer program. For example, when one or more processors in a communication device execute a computer program, the device performs the following operations:

receiving a request message from an EEC to discover an edge service;

and sending a response message for discovering the edge service to the EEC, wherein the response message for discovering the edge service comprises information of the EAS (electronic article surveillance) which can use the service enabling architecture layer data transmission service and/or information of a corresponding service enabling architecture layer data transmission server.

In a sixteenth aspect, the present application provides a communication system. The communication system includes one or more of EEC, EES, service enabling architecture layer data transfer clients, AC, service enabling architecture layer data transfer servers, EAS, configuration servers. For example, the communication system may include an AC, a service-enabled architecture layer data transfer client, an EEC, a first service-enabled architecture layer data transfer server, and an EES. The detailed description of the functions implemented by the communication system refers to the descriptions in the first aspect to the fifth aspect, and will not be repeated here.

In a seventeenth aspect, the present application provides a computer readable storage medium storing a computer program for execution by a processor to implement the method of any one of the first to fifth aspects and possible implementations of the first to fifth aspects.

In an eighteenth aspect, the present application provides a chip system, which includes a processor and may further include a memory, for implementing the method according to any one of the above first to fifth aspects and possible implementation manners of the first to fifth aspects. The chip system may be formed of a chip or may include a chip and other discrete devices.

In a nineteenth aspect, the present application provides a computer program product comprising instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any one of the above first to fifth aspects, and possible implementations of the first to fifth aspects.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a service-enabled architecture layer data transport service architecture;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an EDGEAPP architecture scenario;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of an EdgeAPP enabled EAS discovery process;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a service-enabled architecture layer data transport service enhancement layer architecture;

FIG. 5a is a schematic diagram of an API setup flow;

FIG. 5b is a schematic diagram of an API query flow;

FIG. 6a is a flow diagram illustrating an implementation of application function influencing traffic routing;

FIG. 6b is a flow chart illustrating another implementation of application function influencing traffic routing;

fig. 7 is a schematic flow chart of a first communication method provided by the present application;

FIG. 8 is a flow chart of a method for establishing a connection between a SEALDD client and a SEALDD server according to the present application;

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of a specific implementation flow of a first communication method and a method for establishing a connection between a SEALDD client and a SEALDD server according to the present application in a service enabling architecture layer data transfer service architecture;

fig. 10 is a schematic flow chart of a second communication method provided by the present application;

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of a specific implementation flow of a second communication method and a method for establishing a connection between a SEALDD client and a SEALDD server according to the present application in a service enabling architecture layer data transfer service architecture;

FIG. 12 is a schematic view of an apparatus provided by the present application;

fig. 13 is a schematic view of an apparatus according to the present application.

Detailed Description

In the present application, "/" may indicate that the related objects are an "or" relationship, for example, a/B may indicate a or B; "and/or" may be used to describe that there are three relationships associated with an object, e.g., a and/or B, which may represent: there are three cases, a alone, a and B together, and B alone, wherein a, B may be singular or plural. In order to facilitate the description of the technical solution of the present application, in the present application, the words "first", "second", etc. may be used to distinguish between technical features that are functionally the same or similar. The terms "first," "second," and the like do not necessarily denote any order of quantity or order of execution, nor do the terms "first," "second," and the like. In the present disclosure, the words "exemplary" or "such as" are used to mean an example, instance, or illustration, and any or all designs described as "exemplary" or "such as" should not be interpreted as being preferred or advantageous over other or all designs. The use of the word "exemplary" or "such as" is intended to present the relevant concepts in a concrete fashion to facilitate understanding.

The technical scheme of the present application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

One of the main functions of current service-enabled architecture layer data transfer services is to provide data transfer services for multiple access/Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) services. In particular, devices providing service-enabled architecture layer data transfer services may include, but are not limited to, service-enabled architecture layer data transfer clients, service-enabled architecture layer data transfer servers, and the like. The service enabling architecture layer data transmission client is a client supporting the application program to distribute, store and transmit the application layer content or data, and the service enabling architecture layer data transmission server is a server supporting the application program to distribute, store and transmit the application layer content or data. For example, the service-enabled fabric layer data transfer server may provide lossless data forwarding and transport layer proxy functions during edge application server (edge application server, EAS) handoff. However, both the service enabling architecture layer data transmission server and the EAS are network elements deployed in a distributed manner, which presents difficulties for the collaborative use of MEC services and service enabling architecture layer data transmission services.

In order to solve the above problems, the present application provides a communication method. The method can simultaneously perform discovery selection of the SEALDD server when performing discovery selection of the EAS. The SEALDD client obtains information of the selected EAS for the service and information of the selected SEALDD server to which the information of the EAS and/or the information of the terminal device may be transmitted. The EAS information can be used to establish a connection between the EAS and the SEALDD server, thereby enabling data interaction between the EAS and the SEALDD server, facilitating the coordinated use of MEC services and service enabling architecture layer data transport services.

Among other things, the service-enabled architecture layer data transfer (service enabler architecture layer data delivery, SEALDD) service described in the present application may be referred to simply as the SEALDD service. The service-enabled fabric layer data transfer server may be referred to simply as a SEALDD server. The service-enabled architecture layer data transfer client may be referred to simply as a SEALDD client. It will be appreciated that the foregoing is merely an example, and that the SEALDD server/client may implement the service enabling architecture layer data transfer service described above. That is, the portion abbreviated as SEALDD in the present application can be replaced by service-enabled architecture layer data transmission.

The communication method provided by the application can be applied to a service enabling architecture layer data transmission service architecture (for example, SEALDD service architecture) shown in fig. 1. The SEALDD service architecture includes terminal devices (including SEALDD client (SEALDD client), application client (application client, AC, also referred to as application client APP client)), radio access network (radio access network, RAN) devices, user plane function (user plane function, UPF) network elements, SEALDD server (SEALDD server), EAS, etc. Wherein the AC and/or sea dd client may run on the terminal device as part of the terminal device in the form of software or system components. The SEALDD server is deployed between the UPF and the application server (application server, AS) in the form of a stand-alone or integrated server. For example, the SEALDD server may be a stand-alone server that may be deployed between the UPF and the AS, AS shown in FIG. 1. For another example, the SEALDD server may integrate the functionality of the SEALDD server on the UPF or on the AS. Alternatively, multiple SEALDD servers may be deployed in a distributed manner depending on the UPF and AS deployment. It should be noted that EAS in the present application may be considered AS, and the SEALDD server may be deployed to AS. Alternatively, in the case where the functionality of the SEALDD server is integrated in the AS, the SEALDD server may be considered to integrate the functionality in the EAS, i.e., the SEALDD server and the EAS integrated together (e.g., physically deployed on the same server) are used to provide both edge services and SEALDD services.

Specifically, the terminal device may be a User Equipment (UE), a terminal, a mobile phone, an internet of things terminal device (e.g., an in-vehicle device, a wearable device, etc.), a terminal device in a 5G network, a terminal device in a PLMN network that evolves in the future, or a terminal device in a next generation network (e.g., 6G), etc. The radio access network device may be a device capable of communicating with the terminal device; the radio access network device may be a Base Station (BS), a relay station, or an Access Point (AP). The base station may be evolutional NodeB (abbreviated eNB or eNodeB) in a long term evolution (long term evolution, LTE) system, a gnnode b in a New Radio (NR) network, a radio controller in a cloud radio access network (cloud radio access network, CRAN) scenario, an AP in a wireless fidelity (wireless fidelity, wiFi) network, a BS in a worldwide interoperability for microwave access (worldwide interoperability for microwave access, wiMAX) network, and the like. The AS is mainly responsible for providing application services. UPF is mainly responsible for handling user messages, such as forwarding, charging, etc.

Optionally, the SEALDD service architecture shown in FIG. 1 may further include a configuration server. The configuration server is a server capable of realizing centralized management of the SEALDD server, and can be also called as a SEALDD management server, a SEALDD configuration server, a SEALDD management function network element and the like. For ease of description, the present application is collectively referred to as a configuration server, but is not limited to servers implementing centralized management of SEALDD servers being referred to as configuration servers only. When one or more SEALDD servers are present in the SEALDD services architecture, the configuration server may manage the one or more SEALDD servers. For example, the configuration server may search the SEALDD server that matches the location information corresponding to the terminal device according to the location information corresponding to the terminal device, so as to determine the SEALDD server corresponding to the location information. Alternatively, the configuration server may look up a corresponding SEALDD server or the like based on the EAS information.

The following detailed description is provided for the purpose of facilitating understanding of the definitions of the relevant terms involved in the present application.

1. Edge Application (EDGEAPP) architecture: fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of an EDGEAPP architecture scenario. The EDGEAPP architecture scenario includes a UE-side and edge data network (edge data network, EDN). Wherein the UE side is deployed with AC and edge enabled clients (edge enabler client, EEC). The EDN side is configured with an edge enabled server (edge enabler server, EES) and EAS. Wherein EAS is used to provide edge services. Specifically, the EAS is registered on the EES, and the EEC on the UE may discover the EAS through the EES. The EES registers its own information on an edge service configuration server (edge configuration server, ECS), and the EECs on the UE can query the ECS for available EES information and establish a connection with the EES. Further, the EEC obtains EAS related information through the EES, and provides corresponding EAS information for the AC. Thereby enabling the AC to use edge traffic through EAS. It will be appreciated that the various servers or clients shown in fig. 2 may interact through different interfaces (e.g., EDGE-1 to EDGE-9 interfaces).

For example, in the fifth generation mobile communication (the 5 ^th generation, 5G) system, the EdgeAPP enabled EAS discovery flow is shown in fig. 3. The EAS discovery procedure includes the steps of:

Step 0: EECs perform ECS discovery and selection. For example, the operator may pre-configure the ECS address in the EEC so that the EEC may find the corresponding ECS according to the pre-configured ECS address. Alternatively, the ECS address may be sent to the UE by the session management function (session management function, SMF) network element via a protocol configuration option (protocol configuration option, PCO) message, provided to the EEC.

Step 1: the EEC sends a service opening request to the ECS after session establishment based on the ECS address. For example, the EEC sends a service provisioning request (service provisioning request) message to the ECS requesting the ECS to open an edge service to the EEC or query for available EES information.

Step 2: the ECS sends a service activation response to the EEC according to the information such as the UE location information. Wherein the service activation response contains a list of available EES. For example, the ECS selects, according to the location information of the UE, EES whose distance from the UE is within a preset range as the available EES of the UE. And carries the list of EES available to the UE in a service provision response (service provisioning response) message for indicating the available EES to the UE.

Step 3: the EEC selects an EES based on the received EES list and sends an EAS discovery request (e.g., EASdiscover request) message to the EES.

Step 4: the EES sends an EAS discovery response (e.g., EAS discover response) message to the EEC for indicating the available EAS addresses to the EAS.

Step 5: the EES establishes a data path from the UE to the EAS by applying a function-affecting traffic routing (application functioninfluence traffic routing) mechanism to cause the 5G core network (5G core,5 gc) to establish a offload rule. In step 5, when the EES sends a control message to the 5GC, the EES may be considered an application function (application function, AF). AF is used to provide traffic to the network, e.g. to affect traffic routing, to interact with policy control functions (policy control function, PCF) for policy control, etc. The PCF is configured to provide policies, such as quality of service (quality of service, qoS) policies, slice selection policies, etc., to access and mobility management functions (access and mobility management function, AMF) and session management functions (session management function, SMF).

Step 6: the AC in the UE transmits the service data packet with the EAS. Wherein the EAS address is forwarded by the EEC to the AC, and the data path between the AC and the EAS is established in step 5.

2. SEALDD enhancement layer architecture: fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a SEALDD enhancement layer architecture. The SEALDD enhancement layer comprises a SEALDD client and a SEALDD server. The SEALDD client operates on the UE as part of the UE in the form of software or system components. The SEALDD server shown in fig. 4 may be deployed between the UPF and the AS. The interface structure between the modules shown in fig. 4 includes: the SEALDD client communicates with a vertical industry application layer client (vertical application layer client, VAL client) over a SEALDD-C interface. The SEALDD server communicates with a vertical industry application layer server (vertical application layer server, VAL server) via a SEALDD-S interface. And data transmission of the user plane is carried out between the SEALDD client and the SEALDD server through a SEALDD-UU interface. The SEALDD-UU interface is carried on a user plane session constructed by the 3GPP network system. The SEALDD server may communicate control plane messages with the PCF via an N33/N5 interface. For example, the N5 interface is an interface of AF and PCF. N33 is the interface of the AF with the network presentation function (network exposure function, NEF). The AF may communicate indirectly with the PCF through the NEF. The sea dd server may send AF requests to the 5GC or make notification subscriptions. The SEALDD server can also carry out data transmission of the user plane with the UPF through an N6 interface. Interaction between the SEALDD servers is performed through the SEALDD-E interface, including control plane context transmission and user plane data forwarding. It is understood that the VAL client may be an AC in the UE. The VAL server may be an EAS or AS. It will also be appreciated that when the VAL does not have the capability to support the SEALDD service, the SEALDD enhancement layer architecture as shown in FIG. 4 is employed so that the VAL may implement the SEALDD service related functions. Specifically, when user plane data is transmitted in an uplink, the VAL client sends an application data packet to the sea dd client. After the SEALDD client is packaged, the SEALDD client is sent to the SEALDD server. And after being analyzed by the SEADD server, the analysis result is sent to the VAL server. It will be appreciated that the downlink transmission of user plane data is a similar procedure.

It should be noted that the AS and the AF may be mixed or replaced with each other without distinguishing the data plane or the control plane, that is, the AS and the AF may be physically disposed on the same server. Alternatively, in the case of distinguishing the data plane or the control plane, the AS and the AF are used to perform different functions. For example, the AS in 5GC may perform data transmission of the user plane with the UPF through the N6 interface. For another example, an AF in 5GC may communicate control plane messages with the PCF via an N5 interface or an N33 interface.

Optionally, the SEALDD enhancement layer architecture may also include a configuration server (which may also be referred to as a SEALDD management server, a SEALDD configuration server, a SEALDD management function network element, etc.), as shown in FIG. 4. The configuration server may manage one or more SEALDD servers in the SEALDD enhanced layer architecture. For example, assume that a configuration server and one or more SEALDD servers interact through a SEALDD-X interface. And assume that the configuration server and the SEALDD client interact through the SEALDD-Y interface. It may also be assumed that the configuration server communicates control plane messages with the PCF via the N33/N5 interface and performs data transmission of the user plane with the UPF via the N6 interface.

3. SEALDD service architecture: the SEALDD may provide service information to other functional network elements through a generic application programming interface framework (common application programming interface framework, casf) function module. The casf may also be used for other network elements subscribing to the SEALDD service.

In particular, the flow chart of the CAPPIF framework may include an API setup (publishing) flow or an API query flow. For example, fig. 5a is a schematic diagram of an API setup procedure. The API setup procedure is implemented by an interaction between an API setup function (API publishing function, also called API provider) network element and a casf core function (CAPIF core function) network element, comprising the steps of:

step 1: the API setup function network element sends a service API setup request (e.g., service API publish request) message to the caspi core function network element. The service API setup request message includes service information. The service information may include, but is not limited to, identification of the API, type, communication protocol, service area, interface information (network protocol (Internet protocol, IP) address, port, uniform resource identifier (uniform resource identifier, URI), etc.

Step 2: the casf core function network element stores the service information.

Step 3: the casf core function network element sends a service API setup response (e.g., service API publish response) message to the API setup function network element.

It can be understood that after the above API establishment procedure is completed, the caspi core function network element may acquire relevant service information.

For another example, fig. 5b is a schematic diagram of an API query flow. The API query flow is realized by interaction between an API user (API invoker) and a CAPIF core function (CAPIF core function) network element, and comprises the following steps:

step 1: the API user sends a service API discovery request (e.g., service API discover request) message to the caspi core function network element, the service API discovery request message being used to query corresponding API information. The corresponding API information queried may include, but is not limited to: identification (ID) of API user, identification of API, type, service area, etc.

Step 2: and the CAPPIF core function network element searches corresponding API provider information according to the service API discovery request message.

Step 3: the capf core function network element sends a service API discovery response (e.g., service API discoverresponse) message to the API user. The service API discovery response message includes corresponding API provider information. The corresponding API provider information is used to find servers and the like that can provide services to API users.

4. The application function affects the flow of the traffic route (AF influence traffic routing): specifically, an AF initiation request (e.g., AF request) is used to provide information of the terminal device (e.g., UE ID/address) and traffic descriptor (traffic descriptor) information, so that the core network, e.g., 5GC, locally shunts the data stream conforming to the traffic descriptor specific terminal device through the specified data network access identifier (data network access identifier, DNAI).

For example, fig. 6a is a schematic flow chart diagram of one implementation AF influence traffic routing. The flow is implemented by interactions between AMF, UPF, SMF, PCF, unified data store (unified data repository, UDR), NEF and/or AF. Before or after session establishment, the AF request is sent to the NEF by the AF and stored in the UDR. If the PCF subscribes to the corresponding notification event from the UDR, the UDR notifies the corresponding PCF of the AF request related content. The specific process comprises the following steps:

step 1: the AF generates an AF request including, but not limited to, the following information: UE ID (possibly a general public subscription identifier (generic public subscription identifier, GPSI), possibly data network name (data network name, DNN), single network slice selection support information (single network slice selection assistance information, S-NSSAI) combination, possibly external group ID), etc.

Step 2: the AF sends an AF request to the NEF. Optionally, the AF request may further include information of an application program (application).

Step 3a: the NEF queries the mapping rules of the UE ID, stores/removes/updates the content in the AF request into the UDR.

For example, the following three implementations may be included, but are not limited to:

mode one: converting the ID of GPSI etc. into a user permanent identifier (subscription permanent identifier, SUPI), and storing/removing/updating the content in the AF request into UDR with the SUPI as an index;

mode two: changing the external group ID into an internal group ID, and storing/removing/updating the content in the AF request into the UDR by taking the internal group ID as an index;

mode three: if the AF request does not include the UE ID and includes the application information, DNN and/or S-NSSAI can be determined according to the application information (such as APP ID), and the DNN and/or S-NSSAI is used as an index to store/remove/update the content in the AF request into the UDR.

Step 3b: the NEF feeds back a response message to the AF. Optionally, the response message is used to indicate a storage condition of the AF request.

Step 4: the UDR sends the related content of the AF request to the corresponding PCF according to the subscription condition of the PCF.

Step 5: the PCF receives a message from the UDR (e.g., a nudr_dm_notify message) including the relevant contents of the AF request. And instructs the SMF to update policy and charging control rules (policy and charging control rule, PCC rule) based on the related content of the AF request.

Step 6: the SMF receives a message (e.g., an SMPolicyControl Update message) from the PCF that includes information of the AF request. The SMF adjusts the splitting path of the user plane based on the smpolicy control_update message, such as configuring splitting rules to the UPF, etc.

Step 7: after the SMF adjusts the split path, the session modification condition is sent to the AMF.

It should be noted that steps 4 to 7 shown in fig. 6a are steps that are performed if the PCF subscribes to the UDR for a corresponding notification event, and may be regarded as optional steps (indicated by dashed lines in fig. 6 a). After performing steps 1-7 as shown in fig. 6a, data splitting may be achieved.

As another example, fig. 6b is a schematic flow diagram of another implementation AF influence traffic routing. The flow is implemented by interactions between the PCF, binding support function (binding support function, BSF), NEF, and/or AF. After the session is established, the AF searches the PCF through the BSF and sends an AF request to the PCF. The specific process comprises the following steps:

step 1: the AF sends an AF request to the NEF, including but not limited to the following information: UE ID/address, etc.

Step 2: the NEF queries the BSF for the PCF corresponding to the UE (e.g., via a UE address query).

Step 3: the BSF inquires the corresponding PCF according to the address of the UE and feeds back the ID/address of the PCF to the NEF.

Step 4: the NEF sends a message (e.g., an Npcf PolicyAuthorization request message) to the PCF according to the AF request, which may include SUPI, mapping adjustment of QoS information, etc.

Step 5: the PCF performs policy adjustment according to the message from the NEF and according to the SUPI included in the message, the mapping adjustment of QoS information, and the like. For example, the PCF sends SUPI, mapping adjustment of QoS information, and the like to the SMF, and the SMF may adjust a transmission path, a split path, and the like of the user plane. After performing steps 1-5 as shown in fig. 6b, data splitting may be achieved.

5. Shunt path: the shunt path can be established through AF influence traffic routing in the application. In the present application, the split path may also be referred to as a data forwarding path, a data transmission path, or the like. For example, a split path from the terminal device to the SEALDD server may be established through AF influence traffic routing, which is used for traffic data transmission from the terminal device to the SEALDD server. It can be understood that the splitting path in the present application can be regarded as a logical path, and the implementation of the splitting path is based on the splitting rule configured by the core network, so that the data packet of the terminal device can be sent to the SEALDD server, that is, the splitting path from the terminal device to the SEALDD server is established.

Further, according to the description in fig. 4, when user plane data is transmitted upstream, the VAL client sends an application data packet to the sea dd client. After the SEALDD client is packaged, the SEALDD client is sent to the SEALDD server. After analysis by the SEADD server, the analysis result is sent to the VAL server (such as the EAS in the present application). That is, when user plane data is transmitted, a data transmission path from the SEALDD server to the EAS needs to be established. It will be appreciated that the data transmission path from the SEALDD server to the EAS is also implemented based on the core network configured splitting rules.

6. And (3) connection:

(1) Connection between the SEALDD client and the SEALDD server (i.e. connection between the terminal device and the SEALDD server): the SEALDD client may obtain information of the SEALDD server to establish a connection with the SEALDD server. The connection between the SEALDD client (e.g. the SEALDD client may be a functional unit in the terminal device described in point 5 above) and the SEALDD server in the present application may be regarded as a logical connection, i.e. the SEALDD client may interact with the SEALDD server. The interaction of the SEALDD client and the SEALDD server is used for transmitting service data from the SEALDD client to the SEALDD server.

Mode one: the connection between the SEALDD client and the SEALDD server may be accomplished directly by network protocol (Internet protocol, IP) routing. For example, the address of the SEALDD client/the address of the SEALDD server is configured as the destination address/source address, thereby establishing a connection between the SEALDD client and the SEALDD server.

Mode two: the connection between the SEALDD client and the SEALDD server may be to establish a tunnel (tunnel) between the SEALDD client and the SEALDD server. The tunnel between the SEALDD client and the SEALDD server may enable signaling interactions between the SEALDD client and the SEALDD server.

(2) Connection between the SEALDD server and the EAS: the connection between the SEALDD server and the EAS in the present application may be considered a logical connection, i.e., the SEALDD server may interact with the EAS. The interaction of the SEALDD server and the EAS is used for traffic data transmission (e.g. traffic data transmission of the SEALDD service). The connection between the SEALDD server and the EAS may include, but is not limited to, the following two implementations:

mode one: the connection between the SEALDD server and the EAS may be accomplished directly through a network protocol (Internet protocol, IP) route. For example, the address of the SEALDD server/the address of the EAS is configured as the destination address/the source address, thereby establishing a connection between the SEALDD server and the EAS.

Mode two: the connection between the SEALDD server and the EAS may be to establish a tunnel between the SEALDD server and the EAS. The tunnel between the SEALDD server and the EAS may enable signaling interactions between the SEALDD server and the EAS.

The communication method provided by the application is described in detail below.

Fig. 7 is a flow chart of a first communication method provided by the present application. The communication method can simultaneously perform discovery selection of the SEALDD server when performing discovery selection of the EAS, thereby realizing cooperative use of edge service and the SEALDD service. The communication method is implemented by interaction between the edge enabling client EEC and the edge enabling server EES, and comprises the following steps:

701, the eec sends a request message to the EES to discover edge services.

Optionally, the request message to discover edge services also indicates a request to use a service-enabled architecture layer data transport service. For example, the EEC may request an edge service and/or a sea service from the EES through a request message for discovery of the edge service.

In a possible implementation, the request message for discovering an edge service carries information of the AC and the semadd service information, and the request message for discovering an edge service indicates that the use of the edge service and the semadd service is requested. For example, information of the AC is used to indicate that the request uses the edge service, and the SEALDD service information is used to indicate that the request uses the SEALDD service.

In this embodiment, the information of the AC (which may also be referred to as AC profile) is used to select EAS. The information of the AC may include, but is not limited to: an indication of the AC (e.g., ID/address of the AC, etc.), a type of the AC (e.g., type of AC is audio transmission or media transmission, etc.), an edge computing service provider (edge computing service provider, ECSP) list of AC preferences (ECSP list indicates one or more ECSPs), and/or an EAS list (EAS list indicates one or more EAS) that may satisfy the service requirements of the AC, etc.

In this embodiment, the SEALDD services information is used to request a SEALDD service (or to request a specified type of SEALDD service). The form of the sea dd service information may include, but is not limited to: by means of an indicator (e.g. a 0/1flag to indicate whether or not there is a SEALDD service information), by means of a specific SEALDD service type, etc. Wherein the representation by a specific type of SEALDD service may be, for example, a direct representation of the requested type of SEALDD service by a name of the service type (e.g., EAS seamless transitions (EAS seamless relocation), etc.), or a representation of the requested type of SEALDD service by an enumerated number (e.g., number 2 represents EAS seamless relocation traffic). That is, the request message for discovering the edge service may also carry the above indicator or the type of the SEALDD service, etc.

In another possible implementation, the request message for discovery of an edge service only carries information of the AC, and the request message for discovery of an edge service indicates that the edge service is requested. In this embodiment, the role and inclusion of the information of the AC may be referred to the foregoing description, and will not be repeated here. Note that in this embodiment, since the EAS service information is not carried, the EES may feed back the sea service as an attribute information of the EAS to the EEC according to the EAS information.

The request message for discovery of the edge service may be an EAS discovery request (EAS discovery request) message. For example, the EEC sends an EAS discovery request message to the EES, the EAS discovery request message carrying AC profile and/or sea dd service information. Alternatively, the request message for discovering the edge service may be an EAS selection request (EAS selection request) message, and the present application is not limited to the name of the message, and any message having a function of requesting the discovery of the EAS may be referred to as a request message for discovering the edge service.

702, the ees sends a response message to the EEC to discover the edge service, the response message to discover the edge service including information of an edge application server EAS that can use the service enabling architecture layer data transfer service and/or information of a service enabling architecture layer data transfer server to which the EAS corresponds.

When the EES receives the request message to discover the edge service, the EES may perform discovery and selection of EAS and may perform discovery and selection of the sealdid server. In one possible implementation, assume that EES can perform discovery and selection of EAS and sea servers based on their correspondence. That is, the EES may obtain the correspondence between EAS and sea servers to perform discovery and selection of EAS and sea servers.

Step 702 may include the following two sub-steps:

702a, the ees obtains the correspondence between EAS and sea dd servers;

702, the ees determines information of EAS that can use the sea dd service and/or information of the sea dd server corresponding to the EAS according to the correspondence between EAS and sea dd server, information of AC, and/or information of sea dd server, and sends a response message for discovering edge service to the EEC.

1. Step 702a:

the EES may obtain the correspondence between EAS and the SEALDD server from other network elements, for example, the other network elements may be the SEALDD server, or the EAS, or a network element such as a configuration server, where the correspondence between EAS and the SEALDD server is stored, which is not limited by the present application.

Wherein, the corresponding relation between the EAS and the SEALDD server is used for inquiring the SEALDD server corresponding to the EAS. For example, when EAS 1 subscribes to the SEALDD service of SEALDD server 1, it may be considered that there is a correspondence between EAS 1 and SEALDD server 1. From this correspondence, it can be determined that the SEALDD server corresponding to EAS 1 is SEALDD server 1. Specifically, the correspondence between EAS and the sea dd server, i.e., the sea dd server provides sea dd service for EAS. Specifically, the correspondence between EAS and the sea dd server may be established in a variety of ways, for example, EAS subscribes to a specified type of service of the sea dd server, or EAS configures information of the sea dd server, or the sea dd server may provide a specified type of service to EAS, or EAS generates an association with the sea dd server by requesting, etc. For example, the correspondence of EAS and service-enabling fabric layer data transfer servers may be a one-to-one correspondence, i.e., one EAS may correspond to one service-enabling fabric layer data transfer server. Alternatively, the correspondence of EAS and service-enabling fabric layer data transfer servers may be one-to-many, i.e., one EAS may correspond to multiple service-enabling fabric layer data transfer servers. Still alternatively, the correspondence between EAS and sea dd servers may be a many-to-one correspondence, i.e., multiple EAS may correspond to one sea dd server. Alternatively, the correspondence between EAS and sea dd servers may be a many-to-many correspondence, i.e., multiple EAS correspond to multiple sea dd servers, which is not limited by the present application.

Prior to step 702a, EES may store the correspondence between EAS and sea dd servers locally in advance. When the EES obtains the correspondence between EAS and service enabling architecture layer data transfer servers, the EES may directly query locally stored information. Alternatively, the EES does not store the correspondence between EAS and sea dd servers in advance, and when the EES obtains the correspondence between EAS and the service-enabling architecture layer data transmission server, the EES may obtain the correspondence between EAS and sea dd servers from other network elements (e.g., configuration server, etc.) described in the foregoing embodiments.

2. Step 702b:

EES may determine EAS that may use the SEALDD service and the EAS corresponding SEALDD server in, but is not limited to, the following two ways:

in one mode, the EES first determines EAS and then determines the sea server to which the EAS corresponds according to the correspondence between EAS and sea servers. For example, the EES obtains one or more EAS's that can meet the service requirements based on the AC information. And determining one or more SEALDD servers corresponding to the EAS according to the corresponding relation between the EAS and the SEALDD servers. That is, the EES determines information of EAS that can use the SEALDD service, information of the SEALDD server to which the EAS corresponds.

The information of EAS may include, but is not limited to, information such as an identification of EAS (e.g., an ID of EAS, or other information that may indicate the EAS), address (address) information of EAS (e.g., a network address such as an IP address of the EAS), location information of EAS (e.g., geographic location information or network topology location information of the EAS, such as DNAI), etc. Optionally, the EAS information may further include EAS loading information, EAS supported applications, and the like.

The information of the SEALDD server may include, but is not limited to, identification of the SEALDD server (for example, ID of the SEALDD server, or other information indicating the SEALDD server), address information of the SEALDD server (for example, network address such as IP address of the SEALDD server), location information of the SEALDD server (for example, geographic location information or network topology location information such as DNAI of the SEALDD server), and the like. Optionally, the information of the SEALDD server further includes load information of the SEALDD server (for example, the SEALDD server currently provides the SEALDD service for a plurality of network elements, which may be converted into a load rate of the SEALDD server), maximum service range information of the SEALDD server (for example, information of a maximum radius that the SEALDD server may provide the SEALDD service, etc.), and the like. Optionally, the information of the SEALDD server further includes a SEALDD service type supported by the SEALDD server. Wherein the type of SEALDD services supported by the SEALDD server represents all types of SEALDD services that the SEALDD server can provide. The SEALDD service types may include, but are not limited to, application context migration, transport layer context migration, and the like, among others. It will be appreciated that the types of SEALDD services supported by different SEALDD servers may or may not be the same. For example, assume that the type of SEALDD services supported by the SEALDD server 1 is application context migration only. It is assumed that the type of SEALDD services supported by the SEALDD server 2 includes application context migration and transport layer context migration.

In a second mode, the EES obtains information of EAS that can use the SEALDD service from the correspondence between EAS and SEALDD servers, and then obtains information of the SEALDD server corresponding to EAS. For example, the EES obtains information of EAS that can use the SEALDD service type from the correspondence between EAS and SEALDD server according to the SEALDD service information (including the SEALDD service type, for example) in the request message for discovering the edge service, thereby determining EAS. And determining the information of the SEALDD server corresponding to the EAS according to the corresponding relation between the EAS and the SEALDD server.

It should be appreciated that the EES may also determine EAS based on information such as AC information, and the application is not limited.

It should be noted that EAS that may use the sea dd service may include one or more EAS. For example, in step 702b, an EAS list (EAS list) may be employed to represent one or more EAS that may use the sea ldd service. For example, table 1 is exemplary of one type of EAS list provided by the present application. EAS in the EAS list shown in table 1 are EAS that can use the SEALDD service. Table 1 includes not only EAS information but also EAS-corresponding SEALDD server information.

Table 1: EAS list

For example, EAS1 shown in table 1 may associate two SEALDD servers (SEALDD servers 1 and 2). EAS2 is associated with a SEALDD server (SEALDD server 3).

When the EES determines information of EAS that can use the sea dd service and/or information of the sea dd server to which the EAS corresponds, the EES may send a response message to the EAS that discovers the edge service. The response message to discover the edge service includes information of EAS that may use the SEALDD service and/or information of the SEALDD server to which the EAS corresponds. The information of EAS that may use the SEALDD service includes an EAS identifier, location information, etc., and the information of the SEALDD server corresponding to the EAS includes an EAS identifier, location information, etc., which may be referred to the corresponding description in the foregoing embodiment, and will not be repeated herein.

For example, if the request message for discovering the edge service carries AC information and SEALDD service information, the response message for discovering the edge service, which is fed back to the EEC by the EES, includes EAS information that can use the SEALDD service and EAS corresponding SEALDD server information. It can be understood that, because the service information is carried in the request message for discovering the edge service, that is, the EEC requests to use the service of the SEALDD, the response message for discovering the edge service sent by the EES to the EEC includes the EAS supporting the service of the SEALDD, thereby realizing the cooperative use of the edge service and the service of the SEALDD.

For another example, if the request message for discovering the edge service carries AC information, the response message for discovering the edge service, which is fed back to the EEC by the EES, may include not only information of EAS that can use the sealdid service and information of the sealdid server corresponding to the EAS, but also information of EAS that cannot use the sealdid service. That is, since the SEALDD service information is not carried in the request message for finding the edge service, the EES uses the SEALDD service as an attribute information of the EAS according to the information of the EAS and feeds back to the EEC.

3. The response message for discovering the edge service only contains the information of the SEALDD server.

Alternatively, the SEALDD server may itself maintain the connection with the EAS. In this case, step 702 does not include sub-steps 702a and 702b, i.e., EES may not acquire the correspondence of EAS and sea dd servers. Assuming a connection has been established between the EAS and SEALDD servers, a connection here can be understood as a logical connection. For example, when the functionality of the SEALDD server is integrated in the EAS, i.e., a connection has been established between the EAS and the SEALDD server. The information of the sea dd server may be regarded as information of EAS (e.g. the address information of the sea dd server is regarded as address information of EAS), i.e. the response message of the discovery edge service fed back by EES to EECs only comprises the information of the sea dd server (also referred to as information of EAS). Optionally, the response message to discover the edge service may also include information of other EAS that do not use the SEALDD service. It will be appreciated that in a subsequent procedure (e.g., the EEC sending the second service request message to the SEALDD client, etc.), the address information of EAS may not be included, and the response message for discovering the edge service may not include the address information of EAS that may use the SEALDD service.

In the first communication method provided by the application, the EEC requests the edge service from the EES and also requests the service enabling architecture layer data transmission service, the EAS information fed back from the EES to the EEC comprises the EAS information of the usable service enabling architecture layer data transmission service and/or the EAS information of the corresponding service enabling architecture layer data transmission server, so that the discovery of EAS and the discovery of the service enabling architecture layer data transmission server are realized, and the cooperative use of the edge service and the service enabling architecture layer data transmission service is facilitated. In addition, the method couples the discovery and selection of the service enabling architecture layer data transmission server with the discovery and selection of the EAS, and the service enabling architecture layer data transmission service is used as an attribute of the EAS for discovery and selection, so that the method is easy to realize.

Optionally, after step 702, the subsequent flow may further include:

1. the EEC determines information of the first EAS and/or information of a SEALDD server corresponding to the first EAS according to information of the EAS which can use the SEALDD service and/or information of the SEALDD server corresponding to the EAS;

2. the EEC sends a second service request message to the SEALDD client, wherein the second service request message comprises information of the first SEALDD server;

3. The SEALDD client sends a connection establishment request message to the corresponding SEALDD server, wherein the connection establishment request message comprises information of the terminal equipment, and the information of the terminal equipment is used for establishing a split path between the terminal equipment and the corresponding SEALDD server, so that data transmission is realized.

Specific implementations of the above-described process may refer to steps 906a and 907a of the embodiment of fig. 9.

Optionally, after step 702, the subsequent flow may further include:

1. the AC receives information of EAS which can use the SEALDD service and/or information of a SEALDD server corresponding to the EAS from the EEC;

2. the AC determines information of the first EAS and/or information of a SEALDD server corresponding to the first EAS according to information of the EAS which can use the SEALDD service and/or information of the SEALDD server corresponding to the EAS;

3. the AC sends a second service request message to the SEALDD client, wherein the second service request message comprises information of the first SEALDD server;

4. the SEALDD client sends a connection establishment request message to the corresponding SEALDD server, wherein the connection establishment request message comprises information of the terminal equipment, and the information of the terminal equipment is used for establishing a split path between the terminal equipment and the corresponding SEALDD server, so that data transmission is realized.

Specific implementations of the above-described flow may refer to steps 906b-908b of the embodiment of FIG. 9.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart of a method for establishing a connection between a SEALDD client and a SEALDD server according to the present application. The method is realized by interaction between the SEALDD client and the first SEALDD server and comprises the following steps:

801, the SEALDD client sends a connection establishment request message to the first SEALDD server, the connection establishment request message comprising information of the terminal device.

It will be appreciated that prior to step 801, the SEALDD client may obtain information from the first SEALDD server. The first SEALDD server is used for providing SEALDD service for the SEALDD client of the terminal equipment.

Optionally, the SEALDD client may also obtain information of the first EAS. Wherein the first EAS is one or more EAS of EAS that can use the SEALDD service, and the first SEALDD server is a SEALDD server corresponding to the first EAS. The information of the first EAS is used to establish a connection between the first service enabling architecture layer data transfer server and the first EAS. That is, when the message sent by the SEALDD client to the first SEALDD server includes the information of the first EAS, the first SEALDD server is beneficial to establishing a connection with the first EAS, thereby facilitating data transmission.

For example, assuming that the first EAS and the first SEALDD server are coupled (e.g., deployed in the same device), the connection between the first SEALDD server and the first EAS may be considered to have been pre-established. The sealding client sends a connection setup request message to the first sealding server that may not carry the first EAS information.

For another example, assuming that the first EAS and the first SEALDD server are uncoupled, the first SEALDD server needs to obtain information of the first EAS to establish a connection with the first EAS. The sea dd client sends a connection setup request message to the first sea dd server including information of the first EAS.

In a possible implementation, the snaldd client obtaining the information of the first snaldd server may include, but is not limited to, the following two ways:

mode one: the SEALDD client receives a second service request message from the EEC, the second service request message including information of the first SEALDD server. Optionally, the second service request message further includes information of the first EAS (e.g., the first EAS and the first SEALDD server are uncoupled). The information of the first EAS is used to establish a connection between the first service enabling architecture layer data transfer server and the first EAS, the first EAS being used to provide edge services for application clients of the terminal device.

For example, after the EEC receives information of EAS that can use the SEALDD service and/or information of the SEALDD server to which the EAS corresponds fed back by the EES, the EEC determines a first EAS from among EAS that can use the SEALDD service and determines a first SEALDD server to which the first EAS corresponds. Further, the EEC may send a second service request message to the SEALDD client, where the second service request message includes the information of the first EAS and the information of the first SEALDD server, and specifically, the description of step 906a may be referred to, and will not be repeated.

Mode two: the SEALDD client receives a second service request message from the AC, the second service request message including information of the first SEALDD server. Optionally, the second service request message further includes information of the first EAS (e.g., the first EAS and the first SEALDD server are uncoupled). The information of the first EAS is used to establish a connection between the first service enabling architecture layer data transfer server and the first EAS, the first EAS being used to provide edge services for application clients of the terminal device.

For example, when the EEC receives EAS information that may use the SEALDD service and/or EAS corresponding SEALDD server information fed back by the EES, the EEC may directly forward the EAS information that may use the SEALDD service and/or EAS corresponding SEALDD server information to the AC without processing. The AC may select a first EAS from EAS that may use the SEALDD service and determine a first SEALDD server to which the first EAS corresponds. Further, the AC may send a second service request message to the SEALDD client, where the second service request message includes the information of the first EAS and the information of the first SEALDD server, and specifically, reference may be made to the descriptions of steps 906b-907b, which are not repeated.

In a possible implementation manner, the connection establishment request message sent by the dialdd client to the first dialdd server includes information of the terminal device. The information of the terminal device is used for establishing a connection between the terminal device and the first SEALDD server. Optionally, the connection establishment request message further includes information of the first EAS. For example, when the second service request message received by the SEALDD client includes information of the first EAS, the SEALDD client may send the information of the first EAS to the first SEALDD server to establish a connection between the first SEALDD server and the first EAS.

The information of the first EAS may include, but is not limited to: identification of the first EAS (e.g., ID of the first EAS, or other information that may indicate the first EAS), address information of the first EAS (e.g., address of the first EAS, which may be a network address such as an IP address of the first EAS), location information of the first EAS (e.g., geographic location information or network topology location information of the first EAS, such as DNAI), etc. Wherein information of the first EAS (e.g., including address information of the first EAS) is used to establish a connection between the first sea dd server and the first EAS. For example, referring to the description of the connection between the SEALDD server and the EAS previously described, the address information of the first EAS may be configured as the source address; and determining the address information of the first SEALDD server according to the information of the first EAS and the corresponding relation between the EAS and the SEALDD server, and configuring the address information of the first SEALDD server as a destination address. It will be appreciated that when transmitting data from the first SEALDD server to the first EAS, the address information of the first SEALDD server may be configured as the source address and the address information of the first EAS as the destination address.

The information of the terminal device may include, but is not limited to, information such as an identification of the terminal device (e.g., UE ID (UE ID may be GPSI, DNN, S-NSSAI may be a combination of S-NSSAI, external group ID may be possible, etc.), or other information that may indicate the terminal device), address information of the terminal device (e.g., UE address, may be a network address such as an IP address of the UE), location information of the terminal device (e.g., geographic location information of the UE or network topology location information such as DNAI), etc. Wherein the information of the terminal device, e.g. comprising address information of the terminal device, is used to establish a split path between the terminal device, i.e. the sea dd client, and the first sea dd server.

It should be noted that the present application is not limited to the name of the connection establishment request message, for example, the connection establishment request message may be a service enabling architecture layer data transmission connection registration (SEALDD connection register) message, or may be a service enabling architecture layer data transmission connection registration update (SEALDD connection register update) message, or may be referred to by other message names, which is not limited by the present application.

802, the first SEALDD server initiates an application function routing request to the core network.

Wherein the application function routing request carries information of the terminal device. The application function routing request is for requesting establishment of a split path between the terminal device and the first SEALDD server. That is, the application function routing request is used to make configuration of the offload rules. For example, the application routing function request is used to request configuration of the offload rules to send packets of the terminal device to the first semadd server to establish an offload path of the terminal device to the first semadd server.

For example, referring to the description of the offload path above, offload rules are configured by AF influence traffic routing so that the data packets of the terminal device may be transmitted to the first sea dd server based on the offload rules.

For example, a specific implementation of step 802 may refer to the AF influence traffic routing flow described in fig. 6a or fig. 6 b. For example, step 2 in fig. 6a and step 4 in fig. 6b initiate an AF request by AF for influence traffic routing. Specifically, the AF provides UE ID/address information (i.e., information of the terminal device) and traffic descriptor information, so that the core network (e.g., 5 GC) locally shunts the data stream in the specific UE that meets the traffic descriptor through the specified DNAI. In this example, the first SEALDD server is equivalent to the AF in fig. 6a or 6b, initiating an AF request towards the core network (e.g. 5 GC). For example, the AF request is initiated by the first SEALDD server, received by the PCF, or received by the PCF via the NEF.

The AF request initiated by the first SEALDD server includes, but is not limited to, the following information: the data flow information needed for local offloading (e.g., traffic descriptor may contain address information of the SELADD server for identifying the data packet sent to the seaadd server), UE ID/address information, and/or DNAI information corresponding to the seaadd server (which may be considered as one of the location information of the seaadd server). It will be appreciated that after performing step 802, the UPF may perform data splitting according to the configured splitting rule to implement transmission of the data packet between the terminal device and the first dialdd server, that is, the data packet may be transmitted through a splitting path. Specifically, the data packet sent to the SEALDD server is sent through the local UPF close to the SEALDD server, and the data transmission path is optimized without forwarding the data packet to the SEALDD server after the local UPF is sent to the remote UPF. Further, based on the information of the first SEALDD server and the information of the first EAS, a data transmission path from the first SEALDD server to the first EAS is established, so that data transmission service between the terminal equipment and the first EAS is realized.

In the connection establishment method provided by the application, the service enabling architecture layer data transmission client can establish the connection between the first EAS and the first service enabling architecture layer data transmission server based on the information of the first EAS, and establish the split path between the terminal equipment and the first sea dd server based on the information of the terminal equipment, thereby being beneficial to the cooperative use of the edge service and the service enabling architecture layer data transmission service.

In an example, when the communication method described in the embodiments of fig. 7 and fig. 8 are combined and applied to the dialdd service architecture, a specific execution flow is shown in fig. 9. The execution flow may be implemented by interaction among the application client AC, the service enabling architecture layer data transmission sea dd client, the edge enabling client EEC, the first service enabling architecture layer data transmission sea dd server and the edge enabling server EES, and may include the following steps:

901, the eec performs an ECS discovery operation, a service providing (service provisioning) operation, and an connection establishment operation with the EES.

1. EEC performs the operation of ECS discovery: for example, referring to step 0 in the embodiment of fig. 3, the eec performs ECS discovery. For example, the operator may pre-configure the ECS address in the EEC so that the EEC may find the corresponding ECS according to the pre-configured ECS address. Alternatively, the ECS address may be sent by the SMF to the UE via a PCO message and provided to the EEC.

2. EEC performs service provisioning operations: for example, referring to step 1 in the embodiment of fig. 3, the EEC sends a service provisioning request (service provisioning request) message to the ECS requesting the ECS to open an edge service to the EEC or query for available EES information.

3. The EEC performs an operation of establishing a connection with the EES: for example, the EES registers its own information on the ECS, queries for available EES information through the ECS, and establishes a connection with the EES.

The ac sends 902 a first service request message to the EEC.

Wherein the first service request message indicates that the request is to use an edge service and/or a sea dd service. For example, the first service request message may be an edge service usage request (edge consuming request) message. In a possible implementation, the first service request message carries information of the AC and the sea dd service information, indicating that the request uses the edge service and the sea dd service. For specific descriptions of the AC information and the SEALDD service information, reference may be made to the corresponding descriptions in the foregoing embodiments, and details are not repeated here. In another possible implementation, the first service request message carries information of the AC, and does not carry the SEALDD service information. If the first service request message sent by the AC to the EES does not carry the sealdid service information, in the following step 903, the EEC also does not carry the sealdid service information in the request message sent by the EEC to the EES for discovering the edge service. However, in step 903, the EES may feed back the sea dd service to the EEC as an attribute information of the EAS according to the EAS information, so as to facilitate the EES to perform the sea dd server discovery and selection operation.

903, the eec sends a request message to discover edge services to the EES.

The specific implementation of step 903 may refer to the corresponding description in step 701, which is not described herein. It will be appreciated that in one possible implementation, when the first service request message sent by the AC to the EEC carries the AC information and the sea dd service information, the request message sent by the EEC to the EES to discover the edge service also carries the AC information and the sea dd service information. In another possible implementation, when the first service request message sent by the AC to the EES carries information of the AC, the request message sent by the EEC to the EES to discover edge services also carries information of the AC, and does not carry the sealdid service information. It can be appreciated that in this embodiment, since the first service request message sent by the AC does not carry the SEALDD service information, the EEC may also add the SEALDD service information to the request message for discovering the edge service, which is beneficial for the EES to perform the SEALDD server discovery and selection operation.

904, the ees performs EAS discovery and selection operations and performs SEALDD server discovery and selection operations.

Specifically, the EES may perform EAS discovery and selection operations based on the correspondence between EAS and sea servers, and perform sea server discovery and selection operations. Specific embodiments may refer to the description of embodiments in which the EES discovers and selects EAS and sea servers based on the correspondence between EAS and sea servers in step 702, and will not be described further herein. It should be noted that step 904 assumes that EES can acquire the correspondence between EAS and sea dd servers. For example, the query may be available locally at the EES or by querying other network elements such as a configuration server.

905, the ees sends a response message to the EEC to discover the edge service, the response message to discover the edge service including information of EAS that can use the sealdid service and/or information of the sealdid server to which the EAS corresponds. The specific embodiment of step 905 may refer to the description of the response message for discovering the edge service in step 702, which is not described herein.

The flow after step 905:

1. when the EEC is used as a decision body, the EEC determines the information of the first EAS and the information of the SEALDD server corresponding to the first EAS according to the information of the EAS which can use the SEALDD service and/or the information of the SEALDD server corresponding to the EAS, and sends the information of the first EAS and the information of the SEALDD server corresponding to the first EAS to the SEALDD client so that the SEALDD client initiates a connection establishment procedure to the SEALDD server based on the information of the first EAS. For example, the method flow of the fig. 9 embodiment may further include steps 906a through 911a:

at 906a, the eec sends a second service request message to the SEALDD client.

When the EEC receives the response message for discovering the edge service, the EEC may determine an EAS (hereinafter, referred to as a first EAS) and a corresponding SEALDD server (hereinafter, referred to as a first SEALDD server) of the first EAS according to information of EAS that can use the SEALDD service as a decision body. Wherein the discovery and selection of the SEALDD server may be based on information of the first SEALDD server acquired by the EEC from the EES. And, the EEC may send information of the first SEALDD server corresponding to the first EAS to the SEALDD client. That is, the second service request message includes information of the first sea dd server. Optionally, the second service request message further includes information of the first EAS, and the specific implementation may refer to the corresponding description in step 801, which is not described herein. It is understood that AC and sea dd clients can be seen as two types of clients in the terminal device for implementing application functions (e.g. edge service functions) and implementing sea dd services. That is, the AC and the sea dd client are associated, the EEC may send a second service request message to the sea dd client with which the AC is associated.

Specifically, the EEC may determine the first EAS and the first SEALDD server to which the first EAS corresponds based on a selection rule for EAS. For example, the selection of EAS by EECs may be prioritized based on the ECSP configuration, with higher priority being preferred to select EAS with higher quality of service. Wherein the selection algorithm employed in selecting EAS may be configured by ECSP on the EEC side via ECS/EES. For example, assuming ECSP is operator a, operator a may configure a selection algorithm for EECs depending on which priority the user belongs to. If the user priority is higher, it may be preferable to use EAS with high quality of service, i.e., determine the EAS with high quality of service as the first EAS. And determining a first SEALDD server corresponding to the first EAS according to the information of the first EAS. In addition, the EEC may determine the first EAS according to other information such as a load, which is not limited in this regard by the present application.

In a possible implementation, when the response message of the discovery edge service fed back from the EES to the EEC includes information of EAS that can use the SEALDD service and information of the SEALDD server to which the EAS corresponds, in connection with the description in step 702, the EEC determines the first EAS from among EAS that can use the SEALDD service according to the information of EAS that can use the SEALDD service. Further, a first SEALDD server corresponding to the first EAS is determined. The EEC sends a second service request message to the SEALDD client including the information of the first EAS and the information of the first SEALDD server. Thus, through the first EAS and the first SEALDD server, a coordinated use of MEC traffic and SEALDD services may be achieved.

In another possible implementation, when the response message of the discovery edge service fed back by the EES to the EEC includes not only information of EAS that can use the SEALDD service and information of the SEALDD server to which the EAS corresponds, but also information of EAS that cannot use the SEALDD service, in conjunction with the description in step 702, the EEC determines that the first EAS includes the following two cases:

case one: the EEC determines that the first EAS is one or more EAS of the EAS that can use the SEALDD service based on information of EAS that can use the SEALDD service. Further, a first SEALDD server corresponding to the first EAS is determined. The EEC continues to perform the operation of initiating a SEALDD service request to the SEALDD client to thereby implement the cooperative use of the MEC service and the SEALDD service.

And a second case: the EEC determines that the first EAS is an EAS that is not capable of using the SEALDD service or that the first EAS is one or more EAS of the EAS that are capable of using the SEALDD service based on information of EAS that is not capable of using the SEALDD service, but subsequently does not use the SEALDD service. The EEC may continue to complete the current EAS discovery and selection procedure and no longer perform the usage procedure of the SEALDD service (e.g., no longer perform step 907a and subsequent steps). Then normal use of MEC traffic by EAS that do not use the SEALDD service may be supported.

In yet another possible embodiment, when the response message of the EES to the EEC to discover the edge service includes only the information of the SEALDD server (e.g., the address information of the SEALDD server), in conjunction with the description in step 702, the second service request message sent by the EEC to the SEALDD client may include only the address information of the SEALDD server. The connection between the SEALDD client and the SEALDD server may also be established based on the address information of the SEALDD server.

At 227 a, the SEALDD client sends a connection establishment request message to the first SEALDD server.

The second SEALDD server may send a connection establishment request message to the second SEALDD server according to the information from the second SEALDD server of the EEC, where the connection establishment request message is used to request to establish a connection between the second SEALDD client and the second SEALDD server. Wherein the connection establishment request message includes information of the terminal device. Optionally, the connection establishment request message further includes information of the first EAS. The description of the information of the first EAS and the information of the terminal device may refer to the corresponding description in step 801, which is not described herein. The SEALDD client may be run on the terminal device as part of the terminal device in the form of software or system components, the information of the terminal device also indicating the information of the SEALDD client. For example, the UE ID/address is used by the first SEALDD server to establish a split path between the UE and the first SEALDD server through the AF request.

In a possible implementation, the connection establishment request message may specifically be a service enable architecture layer data transfer connection registration (SEALDD connection register) message. For example, the SEALDD client sends SEALDD connection register a message to the first SEALDD server, the message carrying the UE ID/address and the ID/address of the first EAS. In another possible implementation, the connection establishment request message may also be a service-enabled architecture layer data transfer connection registration update (SEALDD connection register update) message. For example, the SEALDD client sends SEALDD connection register update a message to the first SEALDD server, the message carrying the UE ID/address and/or the ID/address of the first EAS.

In another possible implementation, if the connection establishment request message does not carry the ID/address of the EAS, it may be assumed that the connection between the EAS and the first SEALDD server is established when the EAS subscribes to the service of the first SEALDD server. When the first SEALDD server receives a data packet from the SEALDD client, it may determine to transmit the data packet to the corresponding EAS based on the data packet characteristics (e.g., AC information).

908a, the first SEALDD server initiates an application function routing request to the core network. The specific implementation of step 908a may refer to the corresponding description in step 802, which is not described herein.

909a, the first dialdd server sends a connection setup response message to the dialdd client.

In a possible implementation, the connection setup response message may specifically be a service enable architecture layer data transfer connection response (SEALDD connection response) message. For example, the first SEALDD server sends SEALDD connection response a message to the SEALDD client. In another possible implementation, the connection establishment request message may also be a service-enabled architecture layer data transfer connection registration update (SEALDD connection updateresponse) message. For example, the first SEALDD server sends SEALDD connection updateresponse a message to the SEALDD client.

It is to be appreciated that the connection setup response message is utilized to indicate that a split path between the UE and the first sea dd server has been established and/or that a connection between the first sea dd server and the first EAS has been established. In this case, the SEALDD client may learn that the shunting path between the UE and the first SEALDD server is established and/or that the connection between the first SEALDD server and the first EAS is established, which is beneficial to implementing the cooperative use of MEC service and SEALDD service.

910a, the sea dd client sends a response message to the EEC for the second service request message. After this step is completed, the connection of the SEALDD client to the SEALDD server is completed. In this case, the AC-EAS packet interactions may be handled by the SEALDD client.

In 911a, the eec sends a response message to the AC for the first service request message. Wherein the response message to the first service request message may include the EAS list described in step 702. For example, if the EAS list fed back by the EES to the EEC includes EAS that can use the SEALDD service, the response message sent by the EEC to the AC for the first service request message includes information of EAS that can use the SEALDD service. For another example, if the EAS list fed back by the EES to the EEC includes both EAS that can use the SEALDD service and EAS that cannot use the SEALDD service, the response message sent by the EEC to the AC for the first service request message includes information of EAS that can use the SEALDD service and information of EAS that cannot use the SEALDD service.

2. When the AC is used as a decision body, the AC determines the information of the first EAS and the information of the SEALDD server corresponding to the first EAS according to the information of the EAS which can use the SEALDD service and/or the information of the SEALDD server corresponding to the EAS, and sends the information of the first EAS and the information of the SEALDD server corresponding to the first EAS to the SEALDD client so that the SEALDD client initiates a connection establishment procedure to the SEALDD server based on the information of the first EAS. For example, the method flow of the fig. 9 embodiment may further include steps 906b through 911b:

At 906b, the eec sends a response message to the AC for the first service request message.

In a possible implementation manner, if the response message of the discovery edge service fed back by the EES to the EEC includes information of EAS that can use the SEALDD service and/or information of a SEALDD server corresponding to EAS that can use the SEALDD service, the response message of the first service request message includes information of EAS that can use the SEALDD service and/or information of a SEALDD server corresponding to EAS that can use the SEALDD service. In another possible implementation, if the response message of the discovery edge service fed back by the EES to the EEC includes both EAS that can use the SEALDD service and EAS that cannot use the SEALDD service, the response message of the first service request message sent by the EEC to the AC includes information of EAS that can use the SEALDD service, information of EAS that cannot use the SEALDD service, and/or information of the SEALDD server corresponding to EAS that can use the SEALDD service. The response message of the first service request message is, for example, an edge consumption response (edge consuming response) message, or is a response message of another name, which is not limited in the present application.

When the AC receives the response message of the first service request message, the AC may determine an EAS (hereinafter referred to as a first EAS) and a SEALDD server corresponding to the first EAS (hereinafter referred to as a first SEALDD server) as a decision body. Specifically, the AC may determine the first EAS and the first SEALDD server to which the first EAS corresponds based on a selection rule of EAS. For example, the selection of EAS by the AC may determine priority based on the configuration of the application provider, with higher priority preferably selecting EAS with higher quality of service. Wherein the selection algorithm employed in selecting EAS may be configured on the AC side by the application provider. For example, assuming that the application provider is a facilitator A, the facilitator A may configure a selection algorithm for the AC based on the user class of the facilitator user. If the user class is high, it may be preferable to use the EAS with high service quality and light load, i.e., determine the EAS with high service quality and light load as the first EAS. And then determining a first SEALDD server corresponding to the first EAS. In addition, the EEC may determine EAS based on other information such as load, which is not limited in this regard by the present application.

In a possible embodiment, when the response message of the first service request message includes information of EAS that can use the SEALDD service and/or information of a SEALDD server corresponding to EAS that can use the SEALDD service, the first EAS determined by the AC is one or more EAS that can use the SEALDD service. Further, a first SEALDD server corresponding to the first EAS is determined. Thus, through the first EAS and the first SEALDD server, a coordinated use of MEC traffic and SEALDD services may be achieved.

In another possible embodiment, when the response message of the first service request message includes information of EAS that can use the SEALDD service, information of EAS that cannot use the SEALDD service, and/or information of the SEALDD server corresponding to EAS that can use the SEALDD service, the AC determines that the first EAS includes the following two cases:

case one: the AC determines, based on information of EAS that may use the SEALDD service, that the first EAS is one or more EAS of the EAS that may use the SEALDD service. Further, a first SEALDD server corresponding to the first EAS is determined. The cooperative use of MEC services and sea services can be achieved.

And a second case: the AC determines, based on information of EAS that are not available for the SEALDD service, that the first EAS is an EAS that is not available for the SEALDD service, or that the first EAS is one or more EAS that are available for the SEALDD service, but that the SEALDD service is no longer available subsequently. Then normal use of MEC traffic by EAS that do not use the SEALDD service may be supported. In case two, the steps 907b and thereafter will not be performed any more.

At 227 b, the ac sends a second service request message to the SEALDD client.

The second service request message sent by the AC to the sealding client includes information of the first sealding server. Optionally, the second service request message further includes information of the first EAS. Specific implementation may refer to the corresponding description in step 801, and will not be described herein. For example, when the AC determines that the first EAS is one or more EAS that can use the SEALDD service and determines the first SEALDD server to which the first EAS corresponds, the second service request message includes information of the first EAS and information of the first SEALDD server to which the first EAS corresponds, as described in step 906 b.

The second service request message sent by the AC to the SEALDD client may be, for example, a SEALDD consumption request (SEALDD consumingrequest) message, or a request message of another name, which is not limited in the present application.

At 258 b, the SEALDD client sends a connection establishment request message to the first SEALDD server. Wherein the connection establishment request message includes information of the terminal device. Optionally, the connection establishment request message further includes information of the first EAS. The description of the specific embodiment of the connection establishment request message may refer to the corresponding description in step 907a, and will not be repeated here.

909b, the first sea dd server initiates an application function routing request to the core network.

910b, the first dialdd server sends a connection setup response message to the dialdd client.

The specific embodiments of steps 909b and 910b may refer to the corresponding descriptions in steps 908a and 909a, and will not be repeated here.

911b, the sea dd client sends a response message to the AC for the first service request message. The response message of the first service request message may include the EAS list described in step 702, and the specific embodiment may refer to the corresponding description in step 911a, which is not repeated herein.

The embodiments of fig. 7 to 9 described above describe determining, by the EEC or AC, the first EAS and/or the first SEALDD server corresponding to the first EAS, and notifying the SEALDD client of the relevant information (including the information of the first EAS and/or the information of the first SEALDD server corresponding to the first EAS).

As described in the embodiments of fig. 10 and 11 below, the information of EAS and/or the information of the SEALDD server are configured on the configuration server, and when the SEALDD client receives the second service request message of the EEC or AC (the second service request message includes the information of the first EAS and/or the location information corresponding to the terminal device), the SEALDD client obtains the information of the first SEALDD server corresponding to the first EAS or the information of the first SEALDD server corresponding to the location information corresponding to the terminal device from the configuration server.

For example, fig. 10 is a schematic flow chart of a second communication method provided by the present application. The communication method is realized by interaction between a service-enabled architecture layer data transmission SEALDD client and a configuration server, and comprises the following steps:

1001, the sealdd client sends a service query message to the configuration server, where the service query message includes information of the first EAS and/or location information corresponding to the terminal device.

The specific description of the information of the first EAS may refer to the corresponding description in step 801, which is not repeated herein. For example, the information of the first EAS in step 1001 includes an EAS ID/address. The location information corresponding to the terminal device (also called user equipment UE) is used to determine a sepldd server providing a sepldd service for the terminal device. That is, the location information corresponding to the terminal device may be used to match the terminal device with the SEALDD server with the closer location. It will be appreciated that, for the configuration server, the server that provides the terminal device with the service of the service is queried according to the location information corresponding to the terminal device, and the specific meaning of the location information corresponding to the terminal device does not need to be known. For example, the location information corresponding to the terminal device sent by the sealdid client to the configuration server may be location information (for example, a common service area) aggregated by a plurality of terminal devices. The location information corresponding to the terminal device does not belong to any terminal device, but the configuration server may allocate a SEALDD server to a common service area corresponding to the location information corresponding to the terminal device. The sea dd server may serve multiple terminal devices in the common service area simultaneously.

In a possible embodiment, the location information corresponding to the terminal device is location information of the terminal device (for example, location information of one terminal device). That is, the configuration server may directly search for the location information of the sealding server that matches the location information of the terminal device (e.g., the location information of the two are closest) according to the location information of the terminal device, so that the sealding server that provides the sealding service for the terminal device may be determined. In another possible embodiment, the location information corresponding to the terminal device is location information aggregated by a plurality of terminal devices (for example, a common service area). Specifically, it may be assumed that the location where the center point of the common service area is located is location information corresponding to a terminal device (where the terminal device includes a plurality of terminal devices in the common service area). The configuration server searches the position of the SEALDD server closest to the position of the center point of the public service area according to the position of the center point, and then the SEALDD server can be determined. The SEALDD server may provide the SEALDD service to a plurality of terminal devices in the common service area.

It should be noted that the configuration server may determine, according to the information of the first EAS and/or the location information corresponding to the terminal device, a first SEALDD server that provides the SEALDD service to the terminal device.

For example, assume that the service inquiry message includes information of the first EAS. If the configuration server stores the correspondence between EAS and sea dd servers in advance, and the correspondence between EAS and sea dd servers is a one-to-one correspondence, the configuration server may determine, according to the information of the first EAS and the correspondence between EAS and sea dd servers, the first sea dd server corresponding to the first EAS. If the correspondence between EAS and the SEALDD server is one-to-many or many-to-many, the configuration server may determine, according to the information of the first EAS, the location information of the first EAS, and the correspondence between EAS and the SEALDD server, a first SEALDD server providing the SEALDD service to the first EAS (i.e., the first SEALDD server corresponding to the first EAS).

For another example, it is assumed that the service query message includes location information corresponding to the terminal device. The configuration server may determine, according to the location information corresponding to the terminal device, a location of the SEALDD server closest to the location information corresponding to the terminal device, so as to determine a first SEALDD server that provides the SEALDD service to the terminal device.

It will be appreciated that the scheme in the embodiment of fig. 10 may decouple the discovery and selection of the sea dd server from the discovery and selection of EAS, so that the scheme may be applicable to other more scenarios.

Optionally, when the configuration server obtains the information of the first dialdd server, the configuration server may also obtain information such as a dialdd service type provided by the dialdd server for EAS. The type of the SEALDD service provided by the SEALDD server for the EAS may be the type of the SEALDD service requested by the EAS from the SEALDD server. For example, assume that the type of SEALDD services supported by the SEALDD server 2 includes application context migration and transport layer context migration. The type of the SEALDD service requested by the EAS to the SEALDD server is the application context migration, and the type of the SEALDD service provided by the SEALDD server to the EAS is the application context migration. Alternatively, the type of SEALDD services provided by the SEALDD server for the EAS may also be the type of SEALDD services supported by the SEALDD server (i.e., the SEALDD server may provide all types of SEALDD services supported by itself to the EAS).

1002, the configuration server sends a response message to the SEALDD client to the service query message.

In a possible implementation manner, if the configuration server queries the information of the first sea dd server, the response message of the service query message includes, but is not limited to, the following information: information of the first SEALDD server, SEALDD service types supported by the first SEALDD server, and/or information of the SEALDD service types provided by the first SEALDD server for the EAS. For example, the configuration server sends a response message of successful service query to the SEALDD client, where the response message of successful service query includes ID/address information of the SEALDD server, and information such as the SEALDD service type supported by the SEALDD server.

In another possible implementation, if the configuration server fails to query, for example, no EAS that can use the SEALDD service is queried, or no SEALDD server can service EAS. The configuration server sends a response message to the SEALDD client indicating that the service query failed and the subsequent use flow of the SEALDD service is not executed.

In the second communication method provided by the present application, the relevant information of the service enabling architecture layer data transmission server is managed by the configuration server. The service enabling architecture layer data transfer client may use the information of the first EAS and/or the location information corresponding to the terminal device to query the configuration server for a SEALDD server that may provide SEALDD services to EAS and/or terminal devices. And, the method decouples the discovery and selection of the SEALDD server from the discovery and selection of the EAS, so that the method is not only beneficial to the cooperative use of edge traffic and service-enabling architecture layer data transmission services, but also suitable for other scenarios (such as a scenario using only edge traffic or a scenario using only service-enabling architecture layer data transmission services).

Optionally, after step 1002, the subsequent process may further include:

1. The SEALDD client sends a connection establishment request message to the SEALDD server, the connection establishment request message comprising information of the terminal device.

2. The SEALDD server initiates an application function routing request to the core network.

Specific implementations of the above-described procedure may refer to steps 1109a and 1110a, or steps 1109b and 1110b, of the example of fig. 11.

In an example, when the method described in the embodiments of fig. 8 and fig. 10 are combined and applied to the dialdd service architecture, a specific execution flow is shown in fig. 11. The execution flow is implemented by interaction among the application client AC, the service enabling architecture layer data transmission sea dd client, the edge enabling client EEC, the first service enabling architecture layer data transmission sea dd server and the edge enabling server EES, and may include the following steps:

1101, the eec performs an ECS discovery operation, a service providing (service provisioning) operation, and an connection establishment operation with the EES.

1102, the ac sends a first service request message to the EEC.

1103, the eec sends a request message to the EES to discover edge services.

1104, the ees performs EAS discovery and selection operations.

1105, the ees sends a response message to the EEC to discover the edge service, the response message including information of EAS that can use the sealdid service.

It should be noted that the operations mainly performed by steps 1101 to 1105 in the embodiment of fig. 11 are discovery and selection of EAS. That is, specific implementations of steps 1101 through 1105 described above may refer to the description of the discovery and selection of EAS in the fig. 9 embodiment. For example, in step 1103, the EEC sends a request message to the EES to discover edge services, the request message indicating a request to discover and select EAS, the request message to discover edge services carrying information of the AC. For another example, in step 1105, the EES sends a response message to the EEC to discover the edge service, the response message to discover the edge service including information of EAS that can provide the MEC service. The explanation of the related terms and specific implementation will not be repeated here. It will be appreciated that only the discovery and selection of EAS operations are performed in steps 1101 through 1105, meaning that the embodiment of fig. 11 decouples the discovery and selection of the SEALDD server from the discovery and selection of EAS.

The flow after step 1105:

1. when the EEC is the decision-making entity, the EEC determines information of the first EAS from information of EAS that can use the SEALDD service and transmits the information of the first EAS to the SEALDD client. And, the EEC may also send location information corresponding to the terminal device to the SEALDD client for obtaining the SEALDD server that provides services to the terminal device. For example, the method flow of the fig. 11 embodiment may further include steps 1106a to 1113a:

At 1106a, the eec sends a second service request message to the sea dd client.

When the EEC receives the response message for discovering the edge service, the EEC may determine an EAS (hereinafter, referred to as a first EAS) according to information of EAS that can use the SEALDD service as a decision body. Wherein the EEC may determine the first EAS based on a selection rule for EAS. The specific embodiment may refer to the corresponding description in step 906a, and will not be described herein. For example, assuming that the EEC receives the indication information, and obtains the sealdid service according to the indication information, the EEC sends a second service request message to the sealdid client. The second service request message includes information of the first EAS and/or location information corresponding to the terminal device. The description of the information of the first EAS and the corresponding location information of the terminal device may refer to the corresponding descriptions in step 801 and step 1001, which are not described herein.

Optionally, the second service request message may further include application information (application information). For example, the application information may include, but is not limited to, information of a name of the application, a type of the application, an attribute of the application, and the like. The EEC does not simultaneously acquire the SEALDD service information corresponding to the EAS. The EEC may simultaneously pick up multiple EAS and send a second service request message to the SEALDD client. For example, the second service request message includes information of the first EAS, location information corresponding to the terminal device, application information, etc., and is used to query the sealdid server.

1107a, the sea dd client sends a service query message to the configuration server. The service inquiry message includes information of the first EAS and/or location information corresponding to the terminal device.

1108a, the configuration server sends a response message to the dialdd client for the service query message.

The specific embodiments of the steps 1107a and 1108a may refer to the corresponding descriptions in the steps 1001 and 1002, and will not be repeated here.

1109a, in case of querying the first sea dd server, the sea dd client sends a connection setup request message to the first sea dd server. Wherein the connection establishment request message includes information of the terminal device.

1110a, the first SEALDD server initiates an application function routing request to the core network.

1111a, the first SEALDD server sends a connection setup response message to the SEALDD client.

The sea client sends a response message to the EEC for the second service request message, 1112 a.

1113a, the eec sends a response message to the AC for the first service request message.

The specific embodiments of steps 1109a to 1113a may refer to the corresponding descriptions in steps 907a to 911a, and are not repeated here.

2. When the AC is the decision-making entity, the AC determines information of the first EAS from information of EAS that can use the SEALDD service and transmits the information of the first EAS to the SEALDD client. And, the AC may also send location information corresponding to the terminal device to the SEALDD client for obtaining the SEALDD server that provides services to the terminal device. For example, the method flow of the fig. 11 embodiment may further include steps 1106b to 1113b:

1106b, the eec sends a response message to the AC for the first service request message. Wherein the response message to the first service request message includes information of EAS that can use the SEALDD service described in step 702.

1107b, the ac sends a second service request message to the sea dd client. The second service request message includes information of the first EAS and/or location information corresponding to the terminal device.

It will be appreciated that since the operations performed primarily by the preceding steps 1101 through 1105 are discovery and selection of EAS, no information is carried by the SEALDD server. Then for steps 1106b and 1107b the eec sends a response message to the AC for the first service request message or the AC sends a second service request message to the sea dd client, again without carrying the sea dd server information. Specific embodiments of steps 1106b and 1107b may refer to corresponding descriptions in steps 906b and 907b, and are not repeated here.

At 1108b, the SEALDD client sends a service query message to the configuration server. The service inquiry message includes information of the first EAS and/or location information corresponding to the terminal device.

1109b, the configuration server sends a response message to the SEALDD client to the service query message.

Specific embodiments of steps 1108b and 1109b may refer to corresponding descriptions in steps 1001 and 1002, and will not be described herein.

1110b, the dialdd client sends a connection setup request message to the first dialdd server, the connection setup request message comprising information of the first EAS and/or information of the terminal device.

1111b, the first SEALDD server initiates an application function routing request to the core network.

1112b, the first SEALDD server sends a connection setup response message to the SEALDD client.

The specific embodiments of steps 1110b to 1112b may refer to the corresponding descriptions in steps 907a to 909a, and will not be repeated here.

1113b, the sea dd client sends a response message to the AC for the first service request message.

The response message of the first service request message may include information of EAS that may use the SEALDD service described in step 702, and the detailed description of the specific embodiment may refer to the corresponding description in step 911a, which is not repeated herein.

To implement the functions of the method provided by the present application, the apparatus or device provided by the present application may include a hardware structure and/or a software module, where the functions are implemented in the form of a hardware structure, a software module, or a hardware structure plus a software module. Some of the functions described above are performed in a hardware configuration, a software module, or a combination of hardware and software modules, depending on the specific application of the solution and design constraints. The division of the modules in the present application is illustrative, and is merely a logic function division, and there may be another division manner in actual implementation. In addition, each functional module in the embodiments of the present application may be integrated in one processor, or may exist alone physically, or two or more modules may be integrated in one module. The integrated modules may be implemented in hardware or in software functional modules.

Fig. 12 is a schematic diagram of an apparatus 1200 for implementing the communication method in the above method embodiment. The device may also be a system-on-chip. The device 1200 comprises a communication interface 1201 which may be, for example, a transceiver, an interface, a bus, circuitry, or means capable of performing a transceiving function. Wherein the communication interface 1201 is for communicating with other apparatus over a transmission medium such that the apparatus for use in apparatus 1200 may communicate with other apparatus. The device 1200 also includes at least one processor 1202. The processor 1202 and the communication interface 1201 are for implementing the methods in the method embodiments corresponding to fig. 7 to 11.

The communication interface 1201 is used for implementing the methods performed by the EECs in the method embodiments corresponding to fig. 7 to 11, for example. In this example, the device 1200 may be an EEC, a device in an EEC, or a device that can be used in match with an EEC. Wherein the communication interface 1201 is configured to send a request message for discovering an edge service to the EES. The communication interface 1201 is further configured to receive a response message from the EES to discover the edge service, where the response message includes information of EAS that can use the service-enabled fabric layer data transmission service and/or information of a service-enabled fabric layer data transmission server corresponding to the EAS. The specific execution flow of the communication interface 1201 in this example refers to a detailed description of the operations performed by the EEC in the method embodiment corresponding to fig. 7 to 11, and will not be repeated here. In this example, the steps performed by the communication interface 1201 may allow the EEC to obtain information of EAS that may use the service-enabled architecture layer data transfer service and/or information of the service-enabled architecture layer data transfer server to which the EAS corresponds, which may be used by subsequent service-enabled architecture layer data transfer clients to establish a connection with the service-enabled architecture layer data transfer server. Thereby facilitating the collaborative use of edge traffic and service-enabling fabric layer data transport services.

Illustratively, the communication interface 1201 and the processor 1202 are configured to implement the methods performed by the service-enabled architecture layer data transfer client in the corresponding method embodiments of fig. 7-11. In this example, the apparatus 1200 may be a service-enabled architecture layer data transfer client, or may be a device in a service-enabled architecture layer data transfer client, or may be a device that can be used in match with a service-enabled architecture layer data transfer client. The processor 1202 is configured to obtain information of a first service enabling architecture layer data transfer server, where the first service enabling architecture layer data transfer server is configured to provide a service enabling architecture layer data transfer service for an application client of a terminal device. The communication interface 1201 is configured to send a connection establishment request message to the first service enabling architecture layer data transfer server, where the connection establishment request message includes information of the terminal device. The information of the terminal device is used to establish a split path between the terminal device and the first service enabling architecture layer data transfer server. The specific execution flow of the communication interface 1201 in this example refers to a detailed description of the operations performed by the service-enabled architecture layer data transfer client in the method embodiments corresponding to fig. 7 to 11, and will not be described in detail herein. In this example, the steps performed by the communication interface 1201 and the processor 1202 enable the service enabling architecture layer data transfer client of the terminal device to establish a connection with the first service enabling architecture layer data transfer server based on the information of the first service enabling architecture layer data transfer server, facilitating the collaborative use of the edge traffic and the service enabling architecture layer data transfer service.

Illustratively, the communication interface 1201 and the processor 1202 are configured to implement the method performed by the first service-enabling architecture layer data transfer server in the corresponding method embodiments of fig. 7-11. In this example, the apparatus 1200 may be the first service enabling architecture layer data transfer server, or may be a device in the first service enabling architecture layer data transfer server, or may be a device that can be used in match with the first service enabling architecture layer data transfer server. Wherein the communication interface 1201 is configured to receive a connection establishment request message from a service enabling architecture layer data transmission client, the connection establishment request message including information of a terminal device. The information of the terminal device is used to establish a split path between the terminal device and the first service enabling architecture layer data transfer server. The processor 1202 is configured to initiate an application function routing request to the core network, where the application function routing request carries information of the terminal device, and the application function routing request is configured to request establishment of a split path between the terminal device and the first service enabling architecture layer data transfer server. The specific execution flow of the communication interface 1201 and the processor 1202 in this example refers to a detailed description of the operation performed by the first service enabling architecture layer data transfer server in the method embodiments corresponding to fig. 7 to 11, and will not be repeated here. In this example, the steps performed by the communication interface 1201 and the processor 1202 enable the first service enabling architecture layer data transfer server to initiate an application function routing request such that data packets sent by the terminal device to the first service enabling architecture layer data transfer server may be sent to the first service enabling architecture layer data transfer server by means of local offload rules.

The communication interface 1201 and the processor 1202 are for example used for implementing the methods performed by the application client in the method embodiments corresponding to fig. 7 to 11. In this example, the apparatus 1200 may be an application client, a device in the application client, or a device that can be used in match with the application client. Wherein the communication interface 1201 is configured to send a first service request message to the EEC, and receive a response message for the first service request message from the EEC. The response message of the first service request message includes information of EAS that can use the service enabling fabric layer data transmission service and/or information of a service enabling fabric layer data transmission server to which the EAS corresponds. The specific execution flow of the communication interface 1201 in this example refers to a detailed description of the operation performed by the application client in the method embodiment corresponding to fig. 7 to 11, and will not be described herein. In this example, the steps performed by the communication interface 1201 allow the application client to act as a decision-making body to determine the first EAS and the first service-enabling fabric layer data transfer server corresponding to the first EAS based on information of EAS of the available service-enabling fabric layer data transfer service and/or information of the service-enabling fabric layer data transfer server corresponding to the EAS, facilitating cooperative use of edge traffic and service-enabling fabric layer data transfer service.

The communication interface 1201 is used for implementing the methods performed by EES in the method embodiments corresponding to fig. 7-11, for example. In this example, the device 1200 may be an EES, a device in an EES, or a device that can be used in match with an EES. Wherein the communication interface 1201 is configured to receive a request message from the EEC to discover an edge service. The communication interface 1201 is further configured to send a response message to the EEC to discover the edge service, where the response message to discover the edge service includes information of EAS that can use the service-enabled fabric layer data transmission service and/or information of a corresponding service-enabled fabric layer data transmission server. The specific execution flow of the communication interface 1201 in this example refers to a detailed description of the operations performed by the EES in the method embodiment corresponding to fig. 7 to 11, and will not be repeated here. In this example, the steps performed by the communication interface 1201 cause the EAS to feed back to the EEC information of EAS that may use the service enabling fabric layer data transfer service and/or information of the service enabling fabric layer data transfer server to which the EAS corresponds to be used by subsequent service enabling fabric layer data transfer clients to establish a connection with the service enabling fabric layer data transfer server. Thereby facilitating the collaborative use of edge traffic and service-enabling fabric layer data transport services.

The device 1200 may also include at least one memory 1203 for storing program instructions and/or data. In one implementation, the memory 1203 is coupled to the processor 1202. The coupling in the present application is an indirect coupling or communication connection between devices, units or modules, which may be in electrical, mechanical or other form for the exchange of information between the devices, units or modules. The processor 1202 may operate in conjunction with the memory 1203. The processor 1202 may execute program instructions stored in the memory 1203. The at least one memory and the processor are integrated.

The specific connection medium between the communication interface 1201, the processor 1202, and the memory 1203 is not limited in the present application. The present application is illustrated in fig. 12 by the memory 1203, the processor 1202, and the communication interface 1201 being connected by a bus 1204, which is illustrated in fig. 12 by a bold line, and the connection between other components is merely illustrative and not limiting. The buses may be classified as address buses, data buses, control buses, etc. For ease of illustration, only one thick line is shown in fig. 12, but not only one bus or one type of bus.

In the present application, the processor may be a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor, an application specific integrated circuit, a field programmable gate array or other programmable logic device, a discrete gate or transistor logic device, or a discrete hardware component, and may implement or perform the methods, steps, and logic blocks disclosed in the present application. The general purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor or the like. The steps of a method disclosed in connection with the present application may be embodied directly in a hardware processor for execution, or in a combination of hardware and software modules in a processor for execution.

In the present application, the memory may be a nonvolatile memory such as a hard disk (HDD) or a Solid State Drive (SSD), or may be a volatile memory (RAM) such as a random-access memory (RAM). The memory is any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer, but is not limited to such. The memory of the present application may also be circuitry or any other device capable of performing the function of storing program instructions and/or data.

Fig. 13 shows an apparatus 1300 according to the present application. In one embodiment, the apparatus may include modules that perform the methods/operations/steps/actions described in the corresponding method embodiments of fig. 7-11. The module may be a hardware circuit, or may be software, or may be implemented by combining a hardware circuit with software. In one embodiment, the apparatus may include a communication unit 1301 and a processing unit 1302.

The device 1300 may be, for example, an EEC, a device in an EEC, or a device that can be used in conjunction with an EEC. Wherein the communication unit 1301 transmits a request message for discovering an edge service to the edge enable server EES. The communication unit 1301 is further configured to receive a response message from the EES that discovers the edge service, where the response message of the edge service includes information of an edge application server EAS that can use the service enabling architecture layer data transmission service and/or information of a service enabling architecture layer data transmission server corresponding to the EAS. The specific execution flow of the communication unit 1301 and the processing unit 1302 in this example refers to a detailed description of the operations performed by the EECs in the method embodiments corresponding to fig. 7 to 11, and will not be described here again. In this example, the steps performed by the communication unit 1301 may enable the EEC to obtain information of EAS that may use the service-enabled architecture layer data transfer service and/or information of the service-enabled architecture layer data transfer server to which the EAS corresponds, which may be used by subsequent service-enabled architecture layer data transfer clients to establish a connection with the service-enabled architecture layer data transfer server. Thereby facilitating the collaborative use of edge traffic and service-enabling fabric layer data transport services.

The apparatus 1300 may be, for example, a service-enabled architecture layer data transfer client, or may be an apparatus in a service-enabled architecture layer data transfer client, or may be an apparatus that is capable of being used in match with a service-enabled architecture layer data transfer client. The processing unit 1302 is configured to obtain information of a first service enabling architecture layer data transmission server, where the first service enabling architecture layer data transmission server provides a service enabling architecture layer data transmission service for an application client of the terminal device. The communication unit 1301 is configured to send a connection establishment request message to the first service enabling architecture layer data transfer server, where the connection establishment request message includes information of the terminal device. The information of the terminal device is used to establish a split path between the terminal device and the first service enabling architecture layer data transfer server. The specific execution flow of the communication unit 1301 and the processing unit 1302 in this example refers to a detailed description of the operation performed by the service enabling architecture layer data transfer client in the method embodiments corresponding to fig. 7 to 11, and will not be described herein. In this example, the service enabling architecture layer data transfer client of the terminal device of the steps executed by the communication unit 1301 and the processing unit 1302 may establish a connection with the first service enabling architecture layer data transfer server based on the information of the first service enabling architecture layer data transfer server, which is advantageous for realizing data transfer.

The apparatus 1300 may be, for example, a first service-enabled architecture layer data transfer server, or an apparatus in a first service-enabled architecture layer data transfer server, or an apparatus that can be used in match with a first service-enabled architecture layer data transfer server. Wherein the communication unit 1301 is configured to receive a connection establishment request message from a service enabling architecture layer data transmission client, where the connection establishment request message includes information of a terminal device. The information of the terminal device is used to establish a split path between the terminal device and the first service enabling architecture layer data transfer server. The processing unit 1302 is configured to initiate an application function routing request to the core network, where the application function routing request carries information of the terminal device, and the application function routing request is used to request to establish a split path between the terminal device and the first service enabling architecture layer data transmission server. The specific execution flow of the communication unit 1301 and the processing unit 1302 in this example refers to a detailed description of the operation performed by the first service enabling architecture layer data transfer server in the method embodiments corresponding to fig. 7 to 11, and will not be repeated here. In this example, the first service enabling fabric layer data transmission server may initiate an application function routing request in the steps performed by the communication unit 1301 and the processing unit 1302, so that a data packet sent by the terminal device to the first service enabling fabric layer data transmission server may be sent to the first service enabling fabric layer data transmission server through a local offload rule.

The apparatus 1300 may be an application client, an apparatus in an application client, or an apparatus that can be used in match with an application client, for example. The communication unit 1301 is configured to send a first service request message to the EEC, and receive a response message for the first service request message from the EEC. The response message of the first service request message includes information of EAS that can use the service enabling fabric layer data transmission service and/or information of a service enabling fabric layer data transmission server to which the EAS corresponds. The specific execution flow of the communication unit 1301 in this example refers to a detailed description of the operation performed by the application client in the method embodiment corresponding to fig. 7 to 11, and is not repeated here. In this example, the application client in the step performed by the communication unit 1301 may be used as a decision body to determine the first EAS and the first service enabling architecture layer data transfer server corresponding to the first EAS based on the information of EAS of the available service enabling architecture layer data transfer service and/or the information of the service enabling architecture layer data transfer server corresponding to the EAS, which is beneficial for the cooperative use of the edge service and the service enabling architecture layer data transfer service.

The device 1300 may be, for example, an EES, a device in an EES, or a device that can be used in conjunction with an EES. Wherein the communication unit 1301 is configured to receive a request message for discovery of an edge service from an EEC. The communication unit 1301 is further configured to send a response message for discovering an edge service to the EEC, where the response message for discovering the edge service includes information of EAS that can use the service enabling architecture layer data transmission service and/or information of a service enabling architecture layer data transmission server corresponding to the EAS. The specific execution flow of the communication unit 1301 in this example refers to a detailed description of the operations performed by the EES in the method embodiment corresponding to fig. 7 to 11, and will not be repeated here. In this example, the EAS information fed back to the EEC by the EES in the step performed by the communication unit 1301 is EAS that can use the service enabling architecture layer data transmission service, and/or information of the service enabling architecture layer data transmission server corresponding to EAS, which can be used by the subsequent service enabling architecture layer data transmission client to establish a connection with the service enabling architecture layer data transmission server. Thereby facilitating the collaborative use of edge traffic and service-enabling fabric layer data transport services.

The present application provides a communication system comprising one or more of the EEC, EES, SEALDD client, AC, SEALDD server, EAS, configuration server devices described in the method embodiments above. For example, the communication system may include an AC, a sea dd client, an EEC, a first sea dd server, and an EES for implementing the communication method as described in the embodiment of fig. 9. That is, based on the description in the foregoing method embodiment, the communication system may be composed of different devices, thereby implementing the communication method described in the present application.

The application provides a computer readable storage medium. The computer-readable storage medium stores a program or instructions. The program or instructions, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the communication method in the corresponding embodiment as in fig. 7 to 11.

A computer program product is provided in the present application. The computer program product includes instructions. The instructions, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform the communication method in the corresponding embodiment as in fig. 7 to 11.

The present application provides a chip or chip system comprising at least one processor and an interface, the interface and the at least one processor being interconnected by wires, the at least one processor being adapted to run a computer program or instructions for performing a communication method as in the corresponding embodiments of fig. 7-11.

The interface in the chip may be an input/output interface, a pin, a circuit, or the like.

The above-mentioned chip system may be a System On Chip (SOC) or a baseband chip, etc., where the baseband chip may include a processor, a channel encoder, a digital signal processor, a modem, an interface module, etc.

In one implementation, the chip or chip system described above further includes at least one memory having instructions stored therein. The memory may be a memory unit within the chip, such as a register, a cache, etc., or may be a memory unit of the chip (e.g., a read-only memory, a random access memory, etc.).

The technical scheme provided by the application can be realized in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, may be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer program instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the processes or functions in accordance with the present application are produced in whole or in part. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a computer network, a network device, a terminal device, or other programmable apparatus. The computer instructions may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium, for example, the computer instructions may be transmitted from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center by a wired (e.g., coaxial cable, fiber optic, digital subscriber line (digital subscriber line, DSL)) or wireless (e.g., 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 contains an integration of one or more available media. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium (e.g., floppy disk, hard disk, magnetic tape), an optical medium (e.g., digital video disc (digital video disc, DVD)), or a semiconductor medium, etc.

In the present application, embodiments may be referred to each other, e.g., methods and/or terms between method embodiments may be referred to each other, e.g., functions and/or terms between apparatus embodiments and method embodiments may be referred to each other, without logical contradiction.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the present application without departing from the scope of the application. Thus, it is intended that the present application also include such modifications and alterations insofar as they come within the scope of the appended claims or the equivalents thereof.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that it includes:

The edge-enabled client EEC sends a request message for discovering edge services to the edge-enabled server EES;

The EEC receives a response message from the EES for discovering the edge service. The response message for discovering the edge service includes information about the edge application server EAS that can use the service to enable the architecture layer data transmission service and/or the EAS corresponding The service enables the architecture layer to transfer server information.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the request message for discovering the edge service indicates a request to use the service to enable the architecture layer data transmission service.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the response message for discovering the edge service further includes information about the EAS that cannot use the service-enabled architecture layer data transmission service.

4. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, the method further comprises:

The EEC sends the information of the first service-enabling architecture layer data transmission server and/or the information of the first EAS to the service-enabling architecture layer data transmission client. The first EAS is the usable service-enabling architecture layer. One or more EAS among the EAS of the data transmission service, the first service-enabled architecture layer data transmission server is the service-enabled architecture layer data transmission server corresponding to the first EAS.

5. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, the method further comprises:

The EEC sends to the application client information about the EAS that can use the service-enabled architecture layer data transmission service and/or information about the service-enabled architecture layer data transmission server corresponding to the EAS.

6. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the method further includes:

The EEC receives a first service request message from an application client, the first service request message indicating a request to use an edge service and a service-enabled architecture layer data transmission service.

7. A communication method, characterized by including:

The service enabling architecture layer data transmission client obtains information of the first service enabling architecture layer data transmission server. The first service enabling architecture layer data transmission server is used to provide a service enabling architecture layer for the application client of the terminal device. Data transfer services;

The service-enabled architecture layer data transmission client sends a connection establishment request message to the first service-enabled architecture layer data transmission server. The connection establishment request message includes the information of the terminal device, and the information of the terminal device Used to establish an offload path between the terminal device and the first service enabling architecture layer data transmission server.

8. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that the service-enabled architecture layer data transmission client obtains the information of the first service-enabled architecture layer data transmission server, including:

The service-enabled architecture layer data transmission client receives a second service request message from the EEC, and the second service request message includes information of the first service-enabled architecture layer data transmission server; or,

The service-enabled architecture layer data transmission client receives a second service request message from the application client, and the second service request message includes information of the first service-enabled architecture layer data transmission server.

9. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that the second service request message further includes information of a first EAS; the information of the first EAS is used to establish the first service enabling architecture layer data The connection between the transmission server and the first EAS, the first EAS is used to provide edge services for the application client of the terminal device.

10. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that, the method further comprises:

The service enabling architecture layer data transmission client sends a service query message to the configuration server. The service query message includes the information of the first EAS and/or the location information corresponding to the terminal device. The information of the first EAS and /or The location information corresponding to the terminal device is used to determine the first service enabling architecture layer data transmission server;

The service-enabled architecture layer data transmission client receives a response message from the configuration server to the service query message, and the response message of the service query message includes the first service-enabled architecture layer data transmission server. information.

11. The method according to claims 7 to 10, characterized in that the connection establishment request message further includes information of the first EAS.

12. A communication method, characterized by comprising:

The first service-enabled architecture layer data transmission server receives a connection establishment request message from the service-enabled architecture layer data transmission client, where the connection establishment request message includes information of the terminal device;

The first service enabling architecture layer data transmission server initiates an application function routing request to the core network. The application function routing request carries information about the terminal device. The application function routing request is used to request the establishment of a connection between the terminal device and the terminal device. The first service enables offload paths between architecture layer data transmission servers.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the connection establishment request message further includes information of a first EAS, and the information of the first EAS is used to establish the first service to enable architecture layer data transmission. The connection between the server and the first EAS, the first EAS is used to provide edge services for the application client of the terminal device.

14. A communication method, characterized by comprising:

The application client sends the first service request message to the EEC;

The application client receives a response message from the EEC to the first service request message. The response message to the first service request message includes information about the EAS that can use the service-enabled architecture layer data transmission service and/or the EAS The corresponding service enables the architecture layer data transfer server information.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein the first service request message indicates a request to use a service-enabled architecture layer data transmission service.

16. The method according to claim 14 or 15, characterized in that the method further comprises:

The application client sends the information of the first EAS and/or the information of the first service-enabled architecture layer data transmission server corresponding to the first EAS to the service-enabled architecture layer data transmission client, and the first EAS is The service-enabled EAS of the architecture layer data transmission service may be one or more EASs.

17. The method according to claim 16, characterized in that the method further comprises:

The application client determines the first EAS and the first EAS according to the information of the EAS that can use the service-enabled architecture layer data transmission service and/or the information of the service-enabled architecture layer data transmission server corresponding to the EAS. The first service enables the architecture layer data transfer server.

18. The method according to claim 14, wherein the response message of the first service request message further includes information that the EAS of the service-enabled architecture layer data transmission service cannot be used.

19. A communication method, characterized by comprising:

EES receives the request message for discovering edge services from EEC;

The EES sends a response message for discovering edge services to the EEC. The response message for discovering edge services includes information about the EAS that can use the service enabling architecture layer data transmission service and/or the service enabling architecture corresponding to the EAS. Layer data transfer server information.

20. The method according to claim 19, wherein the request message for discovering the edge service indicates a request to use the service to enable the architecture layer data transmission service.

21. The method according to claim 19, wherein the response message for discovering the edge service further includes information about the EAS that cannot use the service-enabled architecture layer data transmission service.

22. The method according to any one of claims 19 to 21, characterized in that the method further comprises:

The EES obtains the corresponding relationship between the EAS and the service enabling architecture layer data transmission server;

The EES determines the EAS that can use the service-enabled architecture layer data transmission service and/or the service-enabled architecture layer data transmission server corresponding to the EAS based on the corresponding relationship between the EAS and the service-enabled architecture layer data transmission server. information.

23. A communication device, characterized by comprising one or more functional units, the functional units being configured to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 22.

24. A communication device, characterized by including a memory and a processor;

The memory is used to store instructions;

The processor is configured to execute the instructions so that the method according to any one of claims 1 to 22 is executed.

25. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that the computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program, and the computer program is executed by a processor to implement the method according to any one of claims 1 to 22.