CN116939709A

CN116939709A - Data transmission method, device, apparatus and storage medium

Info

Publication number: CN116939709A
Application number: CN202210343555.0A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 李芸
Original assignee: Datang Mobile Communications Equipment Co Ltd
Current assignee: Datang Mobile Communications Equipment Co Ltd
Priority date: 2022-03-31
Filing date: 2022-03-31
Publication date: 2023-10-24
Also published as: WO2023185580A1

Abstract

The embodiment of the application provides a data transmission method, equipment, a device and a storage medium, which are applied to a session management functional entity and comprise the following steps: determining a branch user plane functional entity; the branch user plane functional entity comprises one or more user plane functional entities except the anchor user plane functional entity on the coincident user plane path from a plurality of terminals to the anchor user plane functional entity in the virtual network VN group; and sending a data forwarding rule to the branch user plane functional entity, wherein the data forwarding rule is used for indicating the branch user plane functional entity to forward the data to network equipment at AN access network AN side of the branch user plane functional entity after receiving the data transmitted between terminals in a VN group. Thereby reducing the processing load of the PSA, reducing the time delay of the data transmission tunnel and improving the forwarding efficiency of the user plane.

Description

Data transmission method, device, apparatus and storage medium

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of wireless communications technologies, and in particular, to a data transmission method, apparatus, device, and storage medium.

Background

The fifth generation mobile communication (the 5th generation mobile communication,5G) local area Network (Local Area Network, LAN) technology is a technology for implementing a data transmission procedure between one or more terminals (also referred to as User Equipment (UE)) in the same 5G Virtual Network (VN) group. In the prior art, in a LAN scenario (for example, in a 5G LAN scenario), when communication is performed between terminals in a group, data is transmitted to a session anchor point (PDU Session Anchor, PSA) of a protocol data unit (Protocol Data Unit, PDU), and the PSA is used to copy or forward the data and then transmit the data to a destination terminal, so that the PSA processing load is large, and the delay of a data transmission tunnel is increased, thereby reducing the data transmission efficiency of a user plane.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the application provides a data transmission method, equipment, a device and a storage medium, which are used for reducing the processing load of PSA, reducing the time delay of a data transmission tunnel and improving the data transmission efficiency of a user plane.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a data transmission method, applied to a session management functional entity, including:

determining a branch user plane functional entity; the branch user plane functional entity comprises one or more user plane functional entities except the anchor user plane functional entity on the coincident user plane path from a plurality of terminals to the anchor user plane functional entity in the virtual network VN group;

and sending a data forwarding rule to the branch user plane functional entity, wherein the data forwarding rule is used for indicating the branch user plane functional entity to forward the data to network equipment at AN access network AN side of the branch user plane functional entity after receiving the data transmitted between terminals in a VN group.

Optionally, the determining a branch user plane functional entity includes:

determining the coincident user plane paths of the protocol data unit PDU session of the target terminal and each existing PDU session respectively;

and determining a branch user plane function entity corresponding to the target terminal according to the first user plane function entity on the AN side on each coincident user plane path.

Optionally, the determining a branch user plane functional entity includes:

and under the condition that the user plane path of the PDU session of the target terminal comprises the existing branch user plane functional entity, determining the branch user plane functional entity corresponding to the target terminal according to the existing branch user plane functional entity.

Optionally, before the determining the branch user plane functional entity, the method further includes:

and selecting the user plane function entity for the PDU session of the target terminal according to the user plane function entity contained in the user plane path of the existing PDU session.

Optionally, the sending a data forwarding rule to the branch user plane functional entity includes:

and sending a first data forwarding rule to the branch user plane functional entity, wherein the first data forwarding rule is used for indicating the branch user plane functional entity to forward the data to network equipment at AN AN side of the branch user plane functional entity after receiving data unicast by a terminal in a VN group.

and sending a second data forwarding rule to the branch user plane functional entity, wherein the second data forwarding rule is used for indicating the branch user plane functional entity to copy and forward the data to network equipment at AN AN side of the branch user plane functional entity according to the number of downlink terminals corresponding to the branch user plane functional entity after receiving the data multicast by the terminal in the VN group.

Optionally, the sending the second data forwarding rule to the branch user plane functional entity includes:

sending a second data forwarding rule to the first branch user plane functional entity and/or the second branch user plane functional entity;

the first branch user plane functional entity is one or more user plane functional entities with shortest user plane paths from the branch user plane functional entity to the corresponding anchor user plane functional entity, and the second branch user plane functional entity is other user plane functional entities except the first branch user plane functional entity.

Optionally, in the case that the target scenario includes an N19 exchange scenario, the method further includes:

and sending a third data forwarding rule to the anchor user plane functional entity, wherein the third data forwarding rule is used for indicating the anchor user plane functional entity to forward the data to a downlink user plane functional entity adjacent to the anchor user plane functional entity after receiving the data multicast by the terminal in the VN group.

Optionally, the method further comprises:

and determining a data forwarding rule corresponding to the branch user plane functional entity according to a configured timer or the data quantity passing through the branch user plane functional entity.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a data transmission method, applied to a functional entity of a branch user plane, including:

receiving a data forwarding rule sent by a session management functional entity;

and according to the data forwarding rule, after receiving the data transmitted between the terminals in the virtual network VN group, forwarding the data to the network equipment at the access network AN side of the branch user plane functional entity.

Optionally, the receiving the data forwarding rule sent by the session management function entity includes:

and receiving a first data forwarding rule sent by a session management functional entity, wherein the first data forwarding rule is used for indicating the branch user plane functional entity to forward the data to network equipment at AN AN side of the branch user plane functional entity after receiving data unicast by a terminal in a VN group.

and receiving a second data forwarding rule sent by a session management functional entity, wherein the second data forwarding rule is used for indicating the branch user plane functional entity to copy and forward the data to network equipment at AN AN side of the branch user plane functional entity according to the number of downlink terminals corresponding to the branch user plane functional entity after receiving the data multicast by the terminal in the VN group.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a session management functional entity, including a memory, a transceiver, and a processor:

a memory for storing a computer program; a transceiver for transceiving data under control of the processor; a processor for reading the computer program in the memory and performing the following operations:

Optionally, the determining a branch user plane functional entity includes:

Optionally, before the determining the branch user plane function entity, the operations further include:

Optionally, in case the target scenario comprises an N19 swap scenario, the operations further comprise:

Optionally, the operations further comprise:

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a branched user plane functional entity, including a memory, a transceiver, and a processor:

In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a data transmission device, applied to a session management functional entity, where the device includes:

a determining unit, configured to determine a branch user plane functional entity; the branch user plane functional entity comprises one or more user plane functional entities except the anchor user plane functional entity on the coincident user plane path from a plurality of terminals to the anchor user plane functional entity in the virtual network VN group;

and the sending unit is used for sending a data forwarding rule to the branch user plane functional entity, wherein the data forwarding rule is used for indicating the branch user plane functional entity to forward the data to network equipment at AN access network AN side of the branch user plane functional entity after receiving the data transmitted between terminals in a VN group.

In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a data transmission device, applied to a functional entity of a user plane of a finger user plane, where the device includes:

a receiving unit for receiving a data forwarding rule sent by a session management functional entity;

and the forwarding unit forwards the data to network equipment on AN AN side of the access network of the branch user plane functional entity after receiving the data transmitted between the terminals in the virtual network VN group according to the data forwarding rule.

In a seventh aspect, embodiments of the present application further provide a computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program for causing a computer to execute the data transmission method according to the first aspect or the data transmission method according to the second aspect.

In an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a communication device, in which a computer program is stored, the computer program being configured to cause the communication device to perform the data transmission method according to the first aspect or the data transmission method according to the second aspect.

In a ninth aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a processor-readable storage medium storing a computer program for causing a processor to execute the data transmission method according to the first aspect or the data transmission method according to the second aspect.

In a tenth aspect, embodiments of the present application further provide a chip product, in which a computer program is stored, the computer program being configured to cause the chip product to perform the data transmission method according to the first aspect or the data transmission method according to the second aspect.

According to the data transmission method, device and apparatus and storage medium provided by the embodiments of the present application, the data forwarding rule is sent to the branch user plane functional entity determined by the session management functional entity, and the branch user plane functional entity forwards the received data to the AN side network device thereof, so that the processing load of the PSA is reduced, the time delay of the data transmission tunnel is reduced, and the data transmission efficiency of the user plane is improved.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present application or the technical solutions in the related art, the drawings that are required to be used in the embodiments or the related technical descriptions will be briefly described, and it is apparent that the drawings in the following descriptions are some embodiments of the present application, and other drawings may be obtained according to the drawings without inventive effort for those skilled in the art.

Fig. 1 is one of schematic diagrams of data transmission in a unicast scenario provided in the related art;

FIG. 2 is a second diagram of data transmission in a unicast scenario provided by the related art;

FIG. 3 is a third diagram illustrating data transmission in a unicast scenario provided by the related art;

fig. 4 is one of schematic diagrams of data transmission in a broadcast/multicast scenario provided in the related art;

FIG. 5 is a second diagram of data transmission in a broadcast/multicast scenario provided by the related art;

FIG. 6 is a third diagram illustrating data transmission in a broadcast/multicast scenario provided by the related art;

fig. 7 is a schematic flow chart of a data transmission method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of data transmission in a broadcast/multicast scenario according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 9 is a second flowchart of a data transmission method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 10 is a schematic diagram of a PDU session establishment procedure in a unicast scenario provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 11 is one of schematic diagrams of data transmission in a unicast scenario provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 12 is a schematic diagram of a PDU session establishment procedure in a broadcast/multicast scenario provided by an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 13 is a second schematic diagram of data transmission in a broadcast/multicast scenario according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 14 is a schematic diagram of a PDU session establishment procedure in a broadcast/multicast including N19 scenario provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 15 is a schematic diagram of data transmission in a scenario in which the broadcast/multicast includes N19 according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 16 is a schematic diagram of data transmission in a broadcast/multicast scenario including N19 according to an embodiment of the present application;

Fig. 17 is a schematic structural diagram of a session management functional entity according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 18 is a schematic structural diagram of a functional entity of a finger user plane according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 19 is a schematic structural diagram of a data transmission device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 20 is a second schematic structural diagram of a data transmission device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

In the embodiment of the application, the term "and/or" describes the association relation of the association objects, which means that three relations can exist, for example, a and/or B can be expressed as follows: a exists alone, A and B exist together, and B exists alone. The character "/" generally indicates that the context-dependent object is an "or" relationship.

The term "plurality" in embodiments of the present application means two or more, and other adjectives are similar.

The following description of the embodiments of the present application will be made clearly and completely with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which it is apparent that the embodiments described are only some embodiments, but not all embodiments of the present application. All other embodiments, which can be made by those skilled in the art based on the embodiments of the application without making any inventive effort, are intended to be within the scope of the application.

Fig. 1 is one of data transmission diagrams in a unicast scenario provided in the related art, where a solid arrow represents an uplink data transmission path, and a dashed arrow represents a downlink data transmission path, and it can be seen from the figure that, when a source terminal (UE 1) and a destination terminal (UE 2) communicate with the UE2 in the scenario of the same radio access network (Radio Access Network, RAN), data is transmitted from the UE1, via the RAN, N3 user plane functional entity (User Plane Function, UPF), UPF1, UPF2, to the PSA, and then transmitted to the UE2 via the UPF2, UPF1, N3 UPF, RAN after being forwarded by the PSA.

Fig. 2 is a second schematic diagram of data transmission in a unicast scenario provided in the related art, where a solid arrow represents an uplink data transmission path, and a dashed arrow represents a downlink data transmission path, and it can be seen from the figure that, when UE1 communicates with UE2 in a scenario of different RANs, data is transmitted from UE1, through RAN1, N3 UPF1, UPF2, to PSA, and then transmitted to UE2 through UPF2, UPF1, N3 UPF, RAN2 after being forwarded by PSA.

Fig. 3 is a third schematic diagram of data transmission in a unicast scenario provided in the related art, in which a solid arrow represents an uplink data transmission path, and a dashed arrow represents a downlink data transmission path, and it can be seen from the figure that, when UE1 communicates with UE2 in a scenario in which a source terminal (UE 1) and a destination terminal (UE 2) are in different RANs and N3 UPFs are also different, data is transmitted from UE1, through RAN1, UPF2, UPF3, to PSA, and then transmitted through UPF3, UPF2, and RAN2 to UE2 after being transmitted to PSA.

Fig. 4 is one of data transmission diagrams in a broadcast/multicast scenario provided by the related art, where a solid arrow represents an uplink data transmission path, and a dashed arrow represents a downlink data transmission path, and it can be seen from the figure that, when UE1 communicates with UE2, UE3, and UE4, broadcast/multicast data is transmitted from UE1, through RAN1, UPF2, and UPF3, to PSA, and after three copies of data are made by PSA, one copy of data is transmitted to UE3 through UPF3, UPF2, UPF1, and RAN1, and the other two copies of data are transmitted to UE4 and UE2 through UPF3, UPF2, and RAN2, respectively.

Fig. 5 is a second schematic diagram of data transmission in a broadcast/multicast scenario provided in the related art, in which a solid arrow represents an uplink data transmission path, and a dashed arrow represents a downlink data transmission path, and it can be seen from the figure that, when UE1 communicates with UE2 to UE6, the broadcast/multicast data is transmitted from UE1, through RAN1, UPF2, UPF3, and UPF4 to PSA, after five copies of the data are made by PSA, one copy of the data is transmitted to UE2 through UPF4, UPF3, UPF2, UPF1, and RAN1, and the other copy of the data is transmitted to UE3 through UPF4, UPF3, UPF6, UPF5, and RAN2, and the other three copies of the data are transmitted to UE4 to UE6 through UPF3, UPF6, UPF7, and RAN3, respectively.

Fig. 6 is a third schematic diagram of data transmission in a broadcast/multicast scenario provided by the related art, where a solid arrow represents an uplink data transmission path, and a dashed arrow represents a downlink data transmission path, and it can be seen from the figure that, when UE1 communicates with UE2 to UE4, the broadcast/multicast data is transmitted from UE1, via RAN1, UPF2, to PSA1, and then is copied by PSA1, and this data is transmitted to UE2 via UPF2, UPF1, RAN1, and meanwhile PSA1 forwards the broadcast data to PSA2, and is copied by PSA2, and is transmitted to UE3 and UE4 via UPF4, UPF3, and RAN2, respectively.

As can be seen from fig. 1 to fig. 6, when terminal communication is performed in a 5G LAN scenario, all terminals need to transmit data to PSA, and then the PSA is used to copy or forward the data, so that the data can be transmitted to a destination terminal, which results in problems of large processing load of PSA and increased delay of a data transmission tunnel. Therefore, each embodiment of the application provides a solution for terminal data transmission in a VN group, and for data transmission between terminals in the VN group, a session management functional entity issues unicast or multicast data forwarding rules to a branch user plane functional entity, and the branch user plane functional entity forwards the received data to AN side network device thereof, so that PSA burden can be reduced, delay of a data transmission tunnel can be reduced, and user plane forwarding efficiency can be improved.

For example, although a 5G LAN scenario is described herein as an example, other LANs that are currently or later become capable of implementing the 5G LAN scenario functionality, or other networks, may be employed herein, without limitation.

Fig. 7 is a schematic flow chart of a data transmission method according to an embodiment of the present application, where the method can be applied to a session management functional entity, as shown in fig. 7, and the method includes the following steps:

step 700, determining a branch user plane function entity; the branch user plane functional entity comprises one or more user plane functional entities other than the anchor user plane functional entity on a coincident user plane path from a plurality of terminals to the anchor user plane functional entity within the virtual network VN group.

In particular, the session management function entity may be a session management function (Session Management Function, SMF) or other network element having a similar session management function, and the user plane function entity may be a UPF or other network element having a similar user plane function. Taking the example that the user plane function entity refers to UPF, the branch user plane function entity may be a UPF with non-PSA attribute (which may be understood as a normal UPF), and the anchor user plane function entity may be a UPF with PSA attribute (which may also be simply referred to as PSA).

For ease of understanding, the following description will use the session management function entity as an SMF and the user plane function entity as a UPF as examples, and those skilled in the art should understand that this is only exemplary and not limiting the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application.

In the data transmission process, each terminal in the VN group corresponds to a PSA, a plurality of terminal to PSA have a plurality of user plane paths, a part of user plane paths may overlap, and the branched UPF may refer to one or more UPFs except PSA on the overlapping user plane paths, for example, in fig. 1, three UPFs of N3 UPF1, UPF1 and UPF2 are on the overlapping user plane paths of UE1 to PSA and UE2 to PSA, and the branched UPF may include one or more of N3 UPF, UPF1 and UPF 2. The tributary UPF may be a UPF that supports data forwarding to the internal interface and supports data packet repackaging or forwarding functions from the internal interface.

In order to reduce PSA burden, reduce delay of a data transmission tunnel, and improve forwarding efficiency of a user plane, AN SMF may determine a tributary UPF first, and there are various ways to determine the tributary UPF, which will be described in detail later, for example, the SMF may determine the tributary UPF according to a first UPF on AN side on a coincident user plane path, as shown in fig. 1 and fig. 2, the SMF may search, from a downlink direction, a UPF where a PDU session of UE1 coincides with a first one in a user plane path of a PDU session of UE2, and determine that the N3 UPF is the tributary UPF.

Step 701, a data forwarding rule is sent to a branch user plane functional entity, where the data forwarding rule is used to instruct the branch user plane functional entity to forward data to a network device on AN access network AN side of the branch user plane functional entity after receiving data transmitted between terminals in a VN group.

Specifically, after determining the branch UPF, the SMF may send a data forwarding rule to the branch UPF, so that, according to the data forwarding rule, the branch UPF may forward, after receiving data transmitted between terminals in the VN group, the data to a network device (for example, RAN or UPF) on the access network AN side of the branch UPF.

In one implementation, the SMF may issue a flow entry rule to the tributary UPF indicating the rule content of the tributary UPF for data forwarding.

The forwarding of data by the branch UPF may refer to forwarding data to an internal interface and re-encapsulating a data packet, or forwarding data from an internal interface.

The network device on the AN side of the branch UPF that forwards data to the branch UPF may include both forwarding data only, or copying and forwarding data.

According to the data transmission method provided by the embodiment of the application, the SMF transmits the data forwarding rule to the branch UPF, and the branch UPF forwards the received data to the network equipment at the AN side of the branch UPF, so that the processing load of the PSA is reduced, the time delay of a data transmission tunnel is reduced, and the data transmission efficiency of a user plane is improved.

Optionally, determining the branching user plane function entity includes:

Specifically, when a PDU session of 5G LAN type of a target terminal is newly established, the SMF may select a branching UPF for all terminals of the target terminal and the current PDU session, respectively, and determine, as the branching UPF corresponding to the target terminal, the first UPF on the AN side on the user plane path where the target terminal coincides with each terminal of the current PDU session.

For example, the technical solution of this embodiment will be described by taking the network architecture shown in fig. 3 as AN example, but it should be noted that, in this embodiment, unlike the data transmission process shown in fig. 3, as shown in fig. 3, UE1 is a terminal for which a PDU session is currently established, UE2 is a target terminal for which a PDU session is newly established, and when UE2 establishes a PDU session, the first UPF on the AN side on the coincident user plane path of the PDU session of UE1 and UE2 is UPF2, so that the SMF selects UFP2 as a branch UPF of unicast transmission between the two, and issues a forwarding rule for forwarding data to UE1/UE2 to the UPF, thereby completing data transmission between UE1 and UE 2.

As another example, as shown in fig. 3, assuming that the terminal of the PDU session that is currently established includes UE1 and UE2, and the target terminal of the new PDU session is UE3, the SMF needs to select a branch UPF for UE3 and UE1 and UE2, respectively, and as can be seen from fig. 3, the first UPF on AN side on the coincident user plane path of the PDU session of UE3 and UE1 is UPF1; the first UPF on the AN side on the coincident user plane path of the PDU session of UE3 and UE2 is UPF2; it can be determined that both UPF1 and UPF2 are branching UPFs, and the SMF issues a forwarding rule for forwarding data from UE1/UE2 to UE3 and a forwarding rule for forwarding data from UE3 to UE1/UE2 to UPF1 and UPF2, respectively, so as to implement data transmission from UE3 to UE1/UE 2.

By the method for determining the branched UPF, the user plane path of the terminal communication in the group can be shortened, so that the tunnel delay is reduced, and the user plane transmission efficiency is improved.

Optionally, determining the branching user plane function entity includes:

Specifically, the existing branch UPF refers to a branch UPF that the SMF has determined when the target terminal establishes a PDU session, for example, the SMF may determine the branch UPF according to the first UPF on AN side on a coincident user plane path of the PDU session of the terminal and each existing PDU session when each terminal previously establishes the PDU session.

For example, the network architecture shown in fig. 3 is taken as an example to describe the technical solution of the present embodiment, but it should be noted that, in this embodiment, the data transmission process is different from that shown in fig. 3, as shown in fig. 3, assuming that UE1 and UE2 are terminals of a PDU session that has been established currently, if UPF2 is determined to be a branch UPF, when UE3 establishes a PDU session, UE3 determines whether the branch UPFs of UE1 and UE2 also overlap on the user plane path from UE3 to PSA, and as can be seen from fig. 3, the branch UPFs of UE1 and UE2 (i.e., UPF 2) overlap on the user plane path from UE3 to PSA, UPF2 can be directly selected as the branch UPF of UE3 to UE1/UE2, so when UE3 establishes a session, only forwarding rules for forwarding data to UE3 are issued to UPF2, and data transmission between UE3 and UE1/UE2 can be achieved.

By the method for determining the branch UPF, the terminal can select the existing branch UPF on the path of the coincident user plane as the own branch UPF, and the branch UPF does not need to be respectively selected for all the current terminals of the established PDU session, so that the utilization efficiency of the branch UPF is improved, the times of sending forwarding rules by the SMF are reduced, and the transmission efficiency of the user plane is improved.

Optionally, before determining the branched user plane functional entity, the method further comprises:

Specifically, when a PDU session of a target terminal is newly established, the SMF may first select a UPF for the PDU session of the target terminal, for example, may select a UPF for the PDU session of the target terminal according to the UPFs included in the user plane path of the existing PDU session.

Alternatively, the SMF may preferentially select one or more UPFs from the user plane paths of the existing PDU sessions, and allocate the PDU session of the target terminal, that is, try to make a coincident UPF exist between the PDU session of the target terminal and the existing PDU session, so that a branching UPF may be determined from these coincident UPFs later.

For example, assuming that after the PDU session is established by the UE1, the user plane path of the PDU session of the UE1 includes RAN, N3 UPF, UPF1, UPF2, and PSA in sequence, when the PDU session of the UE2 is newly established, the SMF may preferentially select one or more of N3 UPF, UPF1, and UPF2, and the PDU session allocated to the UE2, for example, the UE1 and the UE2 are both connected to the same RAN, the same N3 UPF as the PDU session of the UE2 may be selected, and then the N3 UPF may be selected as a branch UPF for forwarding data between the UE1 and the UE 2.

Optionally, sending the data forwarding rule to the branch user plane functional entity includes:

and sending a first data forwarding rule to the branch user plane functional entity, wherein the first data forwarding rule is used for indicating the branch user plane functional entity to forward the data to the network equipment at the AN side of the branch user plane functional entity after receiving the data unicast by the terminal in the VN group.

Specifically, in the unicast scenario, after the SMF determines the branch UPF, a first data forwarding rule may be issued to the branch UPF, and after the branch UPF receives data unicast by a terminal in the VN group, the branch UPF forwards the data to AN network device on the branch UPF, so that data transmission is completed. For example, the technical solution of this embodiment will be described by taking the network architecture shown in fig. 3 as AN example, but it should be noted that, in this embodiment, unlike the data transmission process shown in fig. 3, as shown in the unicast scenario shown in fig. 3, UE1 transmits data to UE2, in the session establishment process, after the SMF determines that the branched UPF is UPF2, a first data forwarding rule is issued to UPF2, where the first data forwarding rule may specify that the matched tunnel information is the AN-side tunnel information of UPF2, the branched UPF determines whether the data is from the AN side of UPF2, if it is determined that the data is from the AN side of UPF2, the data is encapsulated into the tunnel information of RAN2, and the data is transmitted to the destination address UE2 through the tunnel between UPF2 and RAN2, so as to complete the data transmission.

The SMF transmits the first data forwarding rule to the branch UPF, so that the forwarding times of unicast data are reduced, and the data transmission efficiency is improved.

and sending a second data forwarding rule to the branch user plane functional entity, wherein the second data forwarding rule is used for indicating the branch user plane functional entity to copy and forward the data to network equipment at the AN side of the branch user plane functional entity according to the number of downlink terminals corresponding to the branch user plane functional entity after receiving the data multicast by the terminals in the VN group.

Specifically, the downlink terminal corresponding to the branched UPF refers to a terminal connected under the network device on the AN side of the branched UPF, for example, as shown in fig. 4, the branched UPF is UPF2, and the downlink terminals are terminals UE1 to UE4 connected to RAN1 and RAN 2.

In a multicast (such as broadcast or multicast) scenario, after the SMF determines that the branch UPF is the UPF2, the SMF issues a second data forwarding rule to the branch UPF, for example, the network architecture shown in fig. 4 is taken as AN example to describe the technical solution of this embodiment, however, in this embodiment, the data transmission process is different from that shown in fig. 4, as shown in fig. 4, in the multicast scenario, UE1 transmits multicast data to UE 2-UE 4, in the session establishment process, after the SMF determines that the branch UPF is the UPF2, issues the second data forwarding rule to the UPF2, where the second data forwarding rule may specify that the matched tunnel information is the AN side of the UPF2, the branch UPF2 determines whether the data is from the AN side of the UPF2 through the tunnel information, if the data is confirmed to be from the AN side of the UPF2, and forwards the data to the internal interface of the UPF2, where the destination address is set to be the broadcast address (including UE 2-4) and encapsulates the data into the tunnel information of the UPF1 and the RAN 2. The branch UPF2 sends data to the destination address UE3 through a tunnel between the UPF2, the UPF1 and the RAN 1; the branch UPF2 sends data to the destination addresses UE2, UE4 through a tunnel between the UPF2 and the RAN 2. The UPF2 may determine, according to the number of its downlink terminals, to copy three sets of data, and send the three copies of data to the corresponding terminals through respective tunnels.

It should be noted that, in the multicast scenario, only a part of the branched UPFs may copy and forward data.

The SMF transmits a second forwarding rule to the branch UPF, so that the data copying times are reduced, and the data redundancy transmission is reduced.

Optionally, sending the second data forwarding rule to the branch user plane functional entity includes:

Specifically, the first branch UPF may be understood as a total branch UPF, and the network architecture shown in fig. 3 is taken as an example to describe the technical solution of the present embodiment, but it should be noted that in this embodiment, unlike the data transmission process shown in fig. 3, the branch UPF is determined as UPF1 and UPF2, and in these branch UPFs, the user plane path from the UPF2 to the PSA is the shortest, so that the UPF2 is determined as the first branch UPF, and the UPF1 is determined as the second branch UPF.

For another example, fig. 8 is one of data transmission diagrams in a broadcast/multicast scenario provided by an embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 8, a branching UPF may be determined as UPF2, UPF3, UPF1, and UPF5, where UPF2 and UPF3 are the UPFs with shortest user plane paths from the respective PSAs, and are determined as a first branching UPF, and UPF1 and UPF5 are determined as a second branching UPF.

In the broadcast scenario, after the SMF determines the first and/or second branch UPFs, the second data forwarding rule may be sent to the first branch UPF, or the second data forwarding rule may be sent to the second branch UPF, or the second data forwarding rule may be sent to the first and second branch UPFs at the same time. For example, as shown in fig. 8, the SMF may issue a second data forwarding rule to the first branch UPF (i.e. UPF2, UPF 3), where the UPF2, UPF3 copies a corresponding number of copies of broadcast data according to the number of respective downlink terminals, and forwards the copies of broadcast data to the network devices on the respective AN sides of the UPF2, UPF3, and further sends the copies of broadcast data to the respective terminals in the group; the SMF can also send a second data forwarding rule to a second branch UPF (namely UPF1 and UPF 5), and the UPF1 and UPF5 copy corresponding quantity of broadcast data copies according to the quantity of the downlink terminals and forward the broadcast data copies to the downlink terminals; the SMF may further send a second data forwarding rule to the first and second branch UPFs, that is, the data transmission of the partial path may be copied and forwarded by the first branch UPF, and the data transmission of the partial path may be copied and forwarded by the second branch UPF.

Specifically, the technical solution of this embodiment will be described by taking the network architecture shown in fig. 6 as an example, but it should be noted that, in this embodiment, unlike the data transmission process shown in fig. 6, taking the broadcast of UE1 to UE2 to UE4 as an example, the SMF may send a third data forwarding rule to PSA2, where the third data forwarding rule is used to instruct PSA2 to forward data to a downstream UPF adjacent to PSA2 after receiving data multicast by a terminal in the VN group, that is, UPF4, then, UPF4 may copy the data and continue forwarding in the downstream direction, or UPF4 may only forward the data in the downstream direction, and then, if any UPF between UPF4 and RAN2 (such as UPF3, any UPF of these other UPFs may also be used to copy the data), unicast data for a single UE (such as unicast data for UE3 and UE 4) are finally sent to RAN2. Thus, unlike the prior art which requires the PSA to be responsible for copying and forwarding data, the processing load of the PSA can be greatly reduced.

Optionally, the method further comprises:

and determining a data forwarding rule corresponding to the branch user plane functional entity according to the configured timer or the data quantity passing through the branch user plane functional entity.

Specifically, the SMF may send a corresponding data forwarding rule to the branching UPF through a policy to perform splitting, alternatively, the SMF may set a timer to update the data forwarding rule to the branching UPF at regular time. For example, the branched UPF may be used for forwarding for a period of time, and the PSA may be used for forwarding broadcast data for other periods of time. Optionally, the SMF may adjust the data forwarding rule issued to the branched UPF by monitoring the amount of data transmitted through the UPF, for example, may set whether to use the branched UPF to forward when the amount of data passing through the branched UPF reaches a certain threshold, for example, when the amount of data passing through the branched UPF reaches a certain threshold, if the processing capability of the branched UPF still has a margin, the branched UPF may process data forwarding, and may not forward to PSA processing; if the processing power of the branch UPF is insufficient, the branch UPF is selected to forward to other UPF or PSA processing.

By the method for flexibly setting whether to use the branch UPF for forwarding, the transmission data quantity of each branch UPF can be distributed more optimally, so that the processing load of each branch UPF is balanced, and the transmission efficiency of a user plane is improved.

Fig. 9 is a second flowchart of a data transmission method according to an embodiment of the present application, where the method can be applied to a finger user plane function entity, as shown in fig. 9, and the method includes the following steps:

step 900, receiving a data forwarding rule sent by a session management function entity.

Step 901, forwarding data to network equipment on AN access network AN side of a branch user plane functional entity after receiving the data transmitted between terminals in a virtual network VN group according to a data forwarding rule.

In particular, the session management function entity may be an SMF or other network element having a session management function, and the user plane function entity may be a UPF or other network element having a user plane function. Taking the example that the user plane function entity refers to UPF, the branch user plane function entity may be a UPF with non-PSA attribute (which may be understood as a normal UPF), and the anchor user plane function entity may be a UPF with PSA attribute (which may also be simply referred to as PSA).

In the data transmission process, each terminal in the VN group corresponds to a PSA, and the plurality of terminals to the PSA have a plurality of user plane paths, so that the situation that part of the user plane paths overlap exists, and the branching UPF may refer to one or more UPFs except the PSA on the overlapping user plane paths.

In order to reduce PSA burden, reduce delay of a data transmission tunnel, and improve forwarding efficiency of a user plane, AN SMF may determine a tributary UPF first, and after the SMF determines the tributary UPF, may send a data forwarding rule to the tributary UPF, so that the tributary UPF, according to the data forwarding rule, may forward data transmitted between terminals in a VN group to a network device (for example, RAN or UPF) on AN access network AN side of the tributary UPF after receiving the data transmitted between terminals in the VN group.

In one implementation, the branch UPF may receive a flow entry rule issued by the SMF, and instruct the branch UPF to forward rule contents of the data.

Optionally, receiving a data forwarding rule sent by the session management function entity includes:

and receiving a first data forwarding rule sent by the session management functional entity, wherein the first data forwarding rule is used for indicating the branch user plane functional entity to forward the data to network equipment at AN AN side of the branch user plane functional entity after receiving the data unicast by the terminal in the VN group.

Specifically, in the unicast scenario, after the SMF determines the branch UPF, a first data forwarding rule may be issued to the branch UPF, and after the branch UPF receives data unicast by a terminal in the VN group, the branch UPF forwards the data to AN network device on the branch UPF, so that data transmission is completed. For example, in the embodiment, unlike the data transmission process shown in fig. 3, in the unicast scenario shown in fig. 3, UE1 transmits data to UE2, after the SMF determines that the branch UPF is UPF2 in the session establishment process, a first data forwarding rule is issued to UPF2, where the first data forwarding rule may specify that the matched tunnel information is AN-side tunnel information of UPF2, the branch UPF determines whether the data is from AN side of UPF2, if it determines that the data is from AN side of UPF2, the data is encapsulated into tunnel information of RAN2, and the data is transmitted to destination address UE2 through a tunnel between UPF2 and RAN2, so as to complete data transmission.

and receiving a second data forwarding rule sent by the session management functional entity, wherein the second data forwarding rule is used for indicating the branch user plane functional entity to copy and forward the data to network equipment at AN AN side of the branch user plane functional entity according to the number of downlink terminals corresponding to the branch user plane functional entity after receiving the data multicast by the terminals in the VN group.

In a multicast (such as broadcast or multicast) scenario, after the SMF determines the branch UPF, a second data forwarding rule is issued to the branch UPF, for example, the technical solution of this embodiment is described by taking the network architecture shown in fig. 4 as AN example, in this embodiment, unlike the data transmission process shown in fig. 4, in the multicast scenario, as shown in fig. 4, UE1 transmits multicast data to UEs 2-4, in the session establishment process, after the SMF determines the branch UPF as UPF2, the SMF issues the second data forwarding rule to the UPF2, where the second data forwarding rule may specify that the matched tunnel information is AN side of UPF2, the branch UPF2 determines whether the data is from the AN side of UPF2 through the tunnel information, if the data is confirmed to be from the AN side of UPF2, then forwards the data to AN internal interface of UPF2, sets a destination address as a broadcast address (including UEs 2-4) in the internal interface, and encapsulates the data as tunnel information of UPF1 and RAN 2. The branch UPF2 sends data to the destination address UE3 through a tunnel between the UPF2, the UPF1 and the RAN 1; the branch UPF2 sends data to the destination addresses UE2, UE4 through a tunnel between the UPF2 and the RAN 2. The UPF2 may determine, according to the number of its downlink terminals, to copy three sets of data, and send the three copies of data to the corresponding terminals through respective tunnels.

The methods provided by the embodiments of the present application are based on the same application conception, so that the implementation of each method can be referred to each other, and the repetition is not repeated.

The method provided by each of the above embodiments of the present application is exemplified by the following specific examples.

Embodiment one: session establishment procedure 1 for unicast scenario

Fig. 10 is a schematic diagram of a PDU session establishment process in a unicast scenario, in which, taking UE1 establishes a PDU session and then UE2 establishes a session as an example, the main steps of SMF are as shown in fig. 10:

1. UE1 requests to establish a PDU session.

2. UE2 requests to establish a PDU session.

3. The SMF selects the UPF and looks up the branching UPF.

After receiving the session establishment request from UE2, SMF:

a. based on the data network name (Data Network Name, DNN) and the network slice selection assistance information (Single Network Slice Selection Assistance Information, S-nsai), it is determined whether the session establishment is a session of the 5G LAN type, and if the session is a session of the 5G LAN type, the process goes to sub-step b.

b. Judging whether the communication UE is in the same RAN, if so, turning to the substep c, and if so, turning to the substep d.

c. If the communicating UE is in the same RAN, the SMF selects the same N3 UPF as much as possible, if the same N3 UPF is selected, the same N3 UPF is a branch UPF, and the step 4 is skipped; if the same N3 UPF cannot be selected, the process jumps to the substep d.

d. After the SMF selects a UPF for UE2, the SMF searches for a UPF where the session of UE1 intersects with the first one of the session paths of UE2 in the downlink direction, denoted as a branched UPF (here, UPF 2).

And 4, establishing an N4 session.

The SMF issues a flow table to the branch UPF, so that the branch UPF forwards the data packet with the destination address of UE2 to the RAN or UPF where the destination UE at the AN side of the branch UPF is located after receiving the data packet.

Fig. 11 is one of schematic diagrams of data transmission in a unicast scenario provided in the embodiment of the present application, according to the foregoing concept, a main forwarding situation of user plane data is schematically shown in fig. 11, where a solid line represents a trend of data transmission from UE1 to UPF2 after the UE1 to UE2 are modified according to the foregoing method, and a dotted line represents a downlink trend of unicast data from UE1 to UE 2.

Embodiment two: session establishment procedure 2 for unicast scenario

The idea is similar to the implementation, with the following differences:

in the first embodiment, when a PDU session of 5G LAN type of a new member UE is newly built, all the current branch UPFs of the UE need to be selected once, and referring to fig. 11, for example, the following is shown:

1. When UE1 establishes PDU session first and UE2 establishes PDU session, SMF selects UFP2 as branch UPF of unicast transmission of the two, and transmits forwarding rule for forwarding data to UE1/UE2 to UPF.

2. According to embodiment one:

UE3 establishes a session of 5G LAN type, where the SMF needs to select a branching UPF (UPF 1, UPF 2) for UE3 and UE1, UE2, respectively, and then issue forwarding rules for forwarding data from UE1/UE2 to UE3 and forwarding rules for forwarding data from UE3 to UE1/UE2 to two UPFs (i.e., UPF1 and UPF 2), respectively.

3. This embodiment:

as shown in fig. 11, when the UE3 establishes a session of the 5G LAN type, the UE3 determines whether the branched UPFs of the UE1 and the UE2 also overlap on the path from the UE3 to the PSA, and if so, directly selects the branched UPF (UPF 2) of the UE1 and the UE2, so that when the UE3 establishes a session, only a forwarding rule for forwarding data to the UE3 needs to be issued to the UPF 2.

Embodiment III: session establishment procedure (N19-free) 1 for broadcast scenario

Fig. 12 is a schematic diagram of a PDU session establishment procedure in a broadcast/multicast scenario according to an embodiment of the present application; fig. 13 is a second schematic diagram of data transmission in a broadcast/multicast scenario according to an embodiment of the present application. When broadcasting is only through local exchange, taking UE1 to send data to UEs 2 to 4 as an example, the enhancement of the existing PDU session establishment procedure in connection with fig. 13 is as shown in fig. 12:

1. UE1 requests to establish a PDU session.

2. The SMF selects the UPF.

The SMF determines that this is the first UE in this 5G VN group to establish a PDU session for which a UPF (containing PSA) is selected (note: the difference from the prior art is to add a determination condition).

3. The SMF establishes tunnels (different downstream tables) between RAN1 and UPF1, UPF1 and UPF3, UPF3 and PSA 1.

4. UE2 requests to establish a PDU session.

5. The SMF selects UPF and judges UPF of the first public AN side of the UE with the established session.

The SMF selects a UPF for the UE2 session, determines the first UPF on the AN side overlapping the transport tunnels with the established PDU session within the 5G VN group as the tributary UPF (here UPF 1).

6. The SMF establishes a tunnel between RAN1 and UPF 1.

The SMF establishes a transport tunnel for RAN1 from UE1/UE2 to this branch UPF 1. And simultaneously, transmitting a forwarding rule to the branch UFP1, so that when the branch UPF1 receives the broadcast data forwarded to the UE1/UE2, the data packet is forwarded to the AN side of the UPF.

Description: if the downlink of the branch UPF is the RAN, the forwarding rule that copies the broadcast message and forwards the broadcast message to the RAN is issued to the branch UPF, and then the branch UPF is directly connected to the RAN, and the SMF processing mode is that the forwarding rule that copies the broadcast message and forwards the broadcast message to the RAN is issued to the branch UPF.

The difference with the prior art is that: 1. the judgment of SMF is increased; 2. broadcast rules are issued to the branching UPF.

7. UE3 requests to establish a PDU session.

8. The SMF selects UPF, and judges the first public UPF with the established session UE as UPF3.

The SMF selects a UPF for the UE3 session, determines the first UPF on the AN side overlapping the transport tunnels with the established PDU session within the 5G VN group as the tributary UPF (here UPF 3).

9. The SMF establishes a tunnel between RAN2 to UPF2, UPF2 and UPF3.

After the tunnel is established, forwarding rules are issued to the branched UFP (UPF 3) at the same time, so that when the branched UPF receives the broadcast data forwarded to the UE3/UE4, the data packet is forwarded to the AN side of the UPF.

Therefore, when the UPF3 receives the broadcast data transferred to the UEs 1 to 4, it transfers the broadcast data to the AN-side RAN/UPF.

A schematic diagram of data transmission established according to the above method is shown in fig. 13.

Wherein the solid arrows represent broadcast data packets of the UE initiating the broadcast and the dashed arrows represent broadcast data packets transmitted to a single UE.

Embodiment four: session establishment procedure (N19-containing) 2 for broadcast scenario

Fig. 14 is a schematic diagram of a PDU session establishment process in a broadcast/multicast including N19 scenario according to an embodiment of the present application, and fig. 15 is one of schematic diagrams of data transmission in a broadcast/multicast including N19 scenario according to an embodiment of the present application. When broadcasting/multicasting a scenario containing N19, taking UE1 sending data to UEs 2-4 as an example, enhancements to the existing PDU session establishment procedure are as follows:

1. UE1 requests to establish a PDU session.

The SMF judges that the PDU session is the first UE establishing the PDU session in the 5G VN group, and selects UPF (containing PSA) for the UE; the SMF establishes a complete tunnel for UE1 to PSA.

2. UE2 requests to establish a PDU session.

UE2 (with RAN 1) initiates a PDU session establishment request to SMF; the SMF selects UPF for the UE2 session, judges the first UPF of the AN side overlapped with the transmission tunnel of the established PDU session in the 5G VN group as a branch UPF (here UPF 1); the SMF establishes a transport tunnel for RAN1 from the UE to this finger UPF, while issuing forwarding rules to this finger UFP such that when the finger UPF receives broadcast data forwarded to UE1/UE2, the data packets are forwarded to the AN side of this UPF.

3. UE3 requests to establish a PDU session.

UE3 (RAN 1, different from UE 1) initiates a PDU session establishment request to the SMF; the SMF selects a UPF for the UE3/UE4 session, determines the first UPF on the AN side overlapping with the transport tunnel of the established PDU session in the same 5G VN group as the tributary UPF (here UPF 2).

4. Group level N4 session and issues new forwarding rules to PSA1 and PSA 2.

SMF establishes an N19 tunnel between PSA1 and PSA2 while issuing forwarding rules to each PSA (PSA 1 and PSA 2) as it receives broadcast packets from N19:

Judging whether the adjacent to the PSA is RAN, if so, directly copying the data packets of the quantity of the UE of the 5G VN group under the current PSA and forwarding the data packets to the RAN; if the adjacent packet is UPF and is not RAN, the packet is sent to the PSA, and the packet is forwarded to the downlink UPF after receiving the broadcast packet.

Based on the above procedure, the transmission procedure of the user plane is shown in fig. 15.

PSA1 and PSA2 are not RAN in downlink adjacent, so the rule of downlink is to directly forward (not copy) the received broadcast to adjacent downlink UPFs (PSA 1 downlink adjacent UPF is UPF1, PSA2 downlink adjacent UPF is UPF 2), and the UPFs 1 and UPF2 copy corresponding numbers of broadcast data copies according to the number of the respective downlink terminals and send the copies to the respective downlink terminals.

Fifth embodiment: specific flow entry rules issued to branch UPF in unicast scenario (without distinguishing local exchange from N19)

As shown in fig. 11, in the unicast scenario, taking the unicast of data from UE1 to UE2 as an example, in the session establishment process, after the SMF determines that the branch UPF is UPF2, a rule is issued to the branch UPF:

matching: tunnel info (as shown in fig. 11, this tunnel info is AN (access network) side tunnel info of UPF2, i.e. a tunnel info that matches when uplink data arrives at the left end point of UPF2 through both UPF1 and UPF2 tunnels).

The actions are as follows: forward to the internal interface of UPF 2.

UPF2 internal interface:

matching: destination address (UE 2 address).

The actions are as follows: a tunnel info encapsulated as RAN2 (here tunnel info is that of RAN2 in RAN2 and UPF2 tunnels); source_ip: IP on UPF2 AN side (outgoing from the AN side of UPF2, i.e. RAN2 and UPF2 tunnel outgoing, so here IP is the IP on UPF2 AN side); output: UPF2 AN side port.

Example six: specific flow entry rule (without N19) 1 issued to branching UPF in broadcast scenario

As shown in fig. 13 of the third embodiment, in the broadcast scenario, taking UE1 broadcasting data to UEs 2 to 4 as an example, in the session establishment process, after the SMF determines the branching UPF:

1) The SMF issues rules to the branching UPF (i.e., UPF 3):

matching: tunnel info (tunnel info of branch UPF 3).

The actions are as follows: forwarding to the internal interface.

Internal interface:

matching: destination address (broadcast address).

The actions are as follows: replication, encapsulating into tunnel info of UPF2 and UPF 1; source_ip: UPF3 AN side IP; output: UPF3 AN side port.

2) The forwarding rule issued by SMF to UPF1 is as follows:

matching: tunnel info (tunnel info of branch UPF 1).

The actions are as follows: forwarding to the internal interface.

Internal interface:

matching: destination address (broadcast address, including UE 2).

The actions are as follows: duplicate copies (1), encapsulated as tunnel info, source_ip of RAN 1: UPF1 AN side IP, output: UPF1 AN side port.

3) The SMF issues forwarding rules to the branch UPF (UPF 2) as follows:

matching: tunnel info (tunnel info of branching UPF 2).

The actions are as follows: forwarding to the internal interface.

Internal interface:

matching: destination address (broadcast address, including UE3, UE 4).

The actions are as follows: duplicate copies (2), encapsulated as tunnel info of RAN 2; source_ip: UPF2 AN side IP; output: UPF2 AN side port.

Embodiment seven: specific flow entry rule (containing N19) issued to PSA in broadcast scene

As shown in fig. 15 of the fourth embodiment, in the broadcast scenario, taking the broadcast from UE1 to UEs 2 to 4 as an example, in the session establishment process, after the SMF determines the branching UPF:

1) SMF forwards rules down PSA 2:

matching: PSA 2N 19 tunnel info.

The actions are as follows: forwarding to the internal interface.

Internal interface:

matching: destination address (broadcast address).

The actions are as follows: forwarding, encapsulating as tunnel info of UPF2, source_IP: PSA2 AN side IP, output: PSA2 AN side port.

2) SMF issues forwarding rules to PSA 1:

matching: PSA1 AN side tunnel info.

The actions are as follows: forwarding to the internal interface.

Internal interface:

matching: destination address (broadcast address, including UE 2).

The actions are as follows: forwarding, tunnel info encapsulated as PSA1, source_ip: PSA1 AN side IP, output: PSA1 AN side port.

3) SMF issues rules to UPF 1:

matching: UPF1 tunnel info (PSA 1 side).

The actions are as follows: forwarding to the internal interface.

Internal interface:

matching: destination address (broadcast address, including UE 2).

4) SMF issues rules to UPF 2:

matching: UPF2 tunnel info (PSA 2 side).

The actions are as follows: forwarding to the internal interface.

Internal interface:

matching: destination address (broadcast address, including UE3 and UE 4).

The actions are as follows: duplicate copies (2), encapsulated as tunnel info, source_ip of RAN 2: UPF2 AN side IP, output: UPF2 AN side port.

Example eight: forwarding rule modification of other non-PSA non-branching UPFs in broadcast scene

For the third, fifth, sixth and seventh embodiments, the forwarding rule when the packet UPF receives the broadcast data is mainly enhanced, and since the session establishment sequence of the same group of UEs with the PSA may be different, the selection sequence of each sub-branch UPF and the total sub-branch UPF is also different, besides the broadcast duplication performed by using each sub-branch UPF in the above embodiment, after the session is established by the existing UE, the SMF may modify the rule of the embodiment according to the N4 of the existing session of the present group, so that all broadcast duplication is performed in the total sub-branch UPF or part of broadcast duplication is performed in the total sub-branch UPF.

Examples: in this embodiment, for the second embodiment, the modified user plane data transmission path of fig. 13 is shown in fig. 16, and fig. 16 is a second schematic diagram of data transmission in a scenario where the broadcast/multicast includes N19 according to the embodiment of the present application:

in fig. 16, the first branch UPF3 is adapted to copy a corresponding number of copies of broadcast data from forwarding only the broadcast data, and send the copies of broadcast data to the second branches UPF1 and UPF2, respectively, and the copies of broadcast data are forwarded (not copied) by the UPF1 and UPF2 to the respective downlink terminals.

Example nine: flexible setting method for forwarding by using branch UPF

In a unicast scenario, the SMF may send a corresponding forwarding rule to the above-mentioned branching UPF through a policy to perform splitting, and it is necessary to enhance the UPF and the SMF:

1. the SMF may set a timer to update the flow entry to the branching UPF. Such as the use of a tributary UPF for forwarding during some time and the PSA of the prior art for forwarding broadcast data during other times.

2. In the area with high concentration of the position of the UE, the SMF can set whether to use the branch UPF for forwarding by monitoring the data quantity transmitted by the UPF and setting the data quantity passing through the branch UPF when a certain threshold value is reached, for example, when the certain threshold value is reached, the branch UPF is forwarded with larger processing load, otherwise, the forwarding is not required.

The method and the device provided by the embodiments of the present application are based on the same application conception, and because the principles of solving the problems by the method and the device are similar, the implementation of the device and the method can be referred to each other, and the repetition is not repeated.

Fig. 17 is a schematic structural diagram of a session management functional entity according to an embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 17, the session management functional entity includes a memory 1720, a transceiver 1710 and a processor 1700; wherein the processor 1700 and the memory 1720 may also be physically separate.

A memory 1720 for storing a computer program; a transceiver 1710 for transceiving data under the control of the processor 1700.

In particular, the transceiver 1710 is configured to receive and transmit data under the control of the processor 1700.

Wherein in fig. 17, a bus architecture may comprise any number of interconnected buses and bridges, and in particular one or more processors represented by processor 1700 and various circuits of memory represented by memory 1720. The bus architecture may also link together various other circuits such as peripheral devices, voltage regulators, power management circuits, etc., all as are well known in the art and, therefore, will not be described further herein. The bus interface provides an interface. The transceiver 1710 may be a plurality of elements, i.e., including a transmitter and a receiver, providing a means for communicating with various other apparatus over a transmission medium, including wireless channels, wired channels, optical cables, etc.

The processor 1700 is responsible for managing the bus architecture and general processing, and the memory 1720 may store data used by the processor 1700 in performing operations.

The processor 1700 may be a central processing unit (Central Processing Unit, CPU), an application specific integrated circuit (Application Specific Integrated Circuit, ASIC), a Field programmable gate array (Field-Programmable Gate Array, FPGA) or a complex programmable logic device (Complex Programmable Logic Device, CPLD), or may employ a multi-core architecture.

The processor 1700 is operable to perform any of the methods provided by embodiments of the present application in accordance with the obtained executable instructions by invoking a computer program stored in the memory 1720, for example:

and sending a data forwarding rule to the branch user plane functional entity, wherein the data forwarding rule is used for indicating the branch user plane functional entity to forward the data to network equipment at AN access network AN side of the branch user plane functional entity after receiving the data transmitted between the terminals in the VN group.

Optionally, determining the branching user plane function entity includes:

Optionally, the method further comprises:

Fig. 18 is a schematic structural diagram of a functional entity of a finger user plane according to an embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 18, where the functional entity of the finger user plane includes a memory 1820, a transceiver 1810 and a processor 1800; wherein the processor 1800 and the memory 1820 may also be physically separate.

A memory 1820 for storing a computer program; a transceiver 1810 for transceiving data under control of the processor 1800.

In particular, the transceiver 1810 is configured to receive and transmit data under the control of the processor 1800.

Wherein in fig. 18, a bus architecture may comprise any number of interconnected buses and bridges, and in particular one or more processors represented by the processor 1800 and various circuits of the memory, represented by the memory 1820. The bus architecture may also link together various other circuits such as peripheral devices, voltage regulators, power management circuits, etc., all as are well known in the art and, therefore, will not be described further herein. The bus interface provides an interface. The transceiver 1810 may be a number of elements, including a transmitter and a receiver, providing a means for communicating with various other apparatus over a transmission medium, including wireless channels, wired channels, optical cables, etc.

The processor 1800 is responsible for managing the bus architecture and general processing, with the memory 1820 storing data used by the processor 1800 in performing operations.

Processor 1800 may be CPU, ASIC, FPGA or a CPLD, and the processor may also employ a multi-core architecture.

Processor 1800 is operative to perform any of the methods provided in embodiments of the present application in accordance with the obtained executable instructions by invoking a computer program stored in memory 1820, e.g.:

and according to the data forwarding rule, after receiving the data transmitted between the terminals in the virtual network VN group, forwarding the data to network equipment at the AN side of the access network of the branch user plane functional entity.

It should be noted that, the session management functional entity and the branch user plane functional entity provided in the embodiments of the present application can implement all the method steps implemented in the method embodiments and achieve the same technical effects, and detailed descriptions of the same parts and beneficial effects as those in the method embodiments in the embodiments are omitted herein.

Fig. 19 is a schematic structural diagram of a data transmission device according to an embodiment of the present application, where the device is applied to a session management functional entity, as shown in fig. 19, and the device includes:

a determining unit 1900, configured to determine a finger user plane function entity; the branch user plane functional entity comprises one or more user plane functional entities except the anchor user plane functional entity on the coincident user plane path from a plurality of terminals to the anchor user plane functional entity in the virtual network VN group;

A sending unit 1910 sends a data forwarding rule to the branch user plane functional entity, where the data forwarding rule is used to instruct the branch user plane functional entity to forward data to a network device on AN access network AN side of the branch user plane functional entity after receiving data transmitted between terminals in the VN group.

Optionally, determining the branching user plane function entity includes:

Optionally, the determining unit 1900 is further configured to:

Optionally, in case the target scenario comprises an N19 exchange scenario, the sending unit 1910 is further configured to:

Optionally, the determining unit 1900 is further configured to:

Fig. 20 is a second schematic structural diagram of a data transmission device according to an embodiment of the present application, where the device is applied to a finger user plane function entity, as shown in fig. 20, and the device includes:

a receiving unit 2000 for receiving the data forwarding rule sent by the session management function entity;

the forwarding unit 2010 forwards the data to the network device on the access network AN side of the branched user plane functional entity after receiving the data transmitted between the terminals in the virtual network VN group according to the data forwarding rule.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the division of the units is schematic, which is merely a logic function division, and other division manners may be implemented in actual practice. In addition, each functional unit in the embodiments of the present application may be integrated in one processing unit, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units may be integrated in one unit. The integrated units may be implemented in hardware or in software functional units.

The integrated units, if implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as stand-alone products, may be stored in a processor-readable storage medium. Based on such understanding, the technical solution of the present application may be embodied in essence or a part contributing to the prior art or all or part of the technical solution in the form of a software product stored in a storage medium, including several instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) or a processor (processor) to execute all or part of the steps of the method according to the embodiments of the present application. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: a U-disk, a removable hard disk, a Read-Only Memory (ROM), a random access Memory (Random Access Memory, RAM), a magnetic disk, or an optical disk, or other various media capable of storing program codes.

It should be noted that, the above device provided in the embodiment of the present application can implement all the method steps implemented in the method embodiment and achieve the same technical effects, and detailed descriptions of the same parts and beneficial effects as those in the method embodiment in this embodiment are omitted.

In another aspect, embodiments of the present application further provide a computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program for causing a computer to execute the data transmission method provided in each of the above embodiments.

It should be noted that, the computer readable storage medium provided in the embodiment of the present application can implement all the method steps implemented in the above method embodiment and achieve the same technical effects, and detailed descriptions of the same parts and beneficial effects as those in the method embodiment in this embodiment are omitted.

The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium or data storage device that can be accessed by a computer, including, but not limited to, magnetic storage (e.g., floppy disks, hard disks, magnetic tape, magneto-optical disks (MOs), etc.), optical storage (e.g., CD, DVD, BD, HVD, etc.), and semiconductor storage (e.g., ROM, EPROM, EEPROM, nonvolatile storage (NAND FLASH), solid State Disk (SSD)), etc.

The technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the application can be suitable for various systems, in particular to a 5G system. For example, suitable systems may be global system for mobile communications (global system of mobile communication, GSM), code division multiple access (code division multiple access, CDMA), wideband code division multiple access (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access, WCDMA) universal packet Radio service (general packet Radio service, GPRS), long term evolution (long term evolution, LTE), LTE frequency division duplex (frequency division duplex, FDD), LTE time division duplex (time division duplex, TDD), long term evolution-advanced (long term evolution advanced, LTE-a), universal mobile system (universal mobile telecommunication system, UMTS), worldwide interoperability for microwave access (worldwide interoperability for microwave access, wiMAX), 5G New air interface (New Radio, NR), and the like. Terminal devices and network devices are included in these various systems. Core network parts such as evolved packet system (Evloved Packet System, EPS), 5G system (5 GS) etc. may also be included in the system.

The terminal according to the embodiment of the application can be a device for providing voice and/or data connectivity for a user, a handheld device with a wireless connection function, or other processing devices connected to a wireless modem, etc. The names of terminals may also be different in different systems, for example in a 5G system, a terminal may be referred to as User Equipment (UE). The wireless terminal device may communicate with one or more Core Networks (CNs) via a radio access Network (Radio Access Network, RAN), which may be mobile terminal devices such as mobile phones (or "cellular" phones) and computers with mobile terminal devices, e.g., portable, pocket, hand-held, computer-built-in or vehicle-mounted mobile devices that exchange voice and/or data with the radio access Network. Such as personal communication services (Personal Communication Service, PCS) phones, cordless phones, session initiation protocol (Session Initiated Protocol, SIP) phones, wireless local loop (Wireless Local Loop, WLL) stations, personal digital assistants (Personal Digital Assistant, PDAs), and the like. The wireless terminal device may also be referred to as a system, subscriber unit (subscriber unit), subscriber station (subscriber station), mobile station (mobile), remote station (remote station), access point (access point), remote terminal device (remote terminal), access terminal device (access terminal), user terminal device (user terminal), user agent (user agent), user equipment (user device), and embodiments of the present application are not limited in this respect.

The network device according to the embodiment of the present application may be a base station, where the base station may include a plurality of cells for providing services for the terminal. A base station may also be called an access point or may be a device in an access network that communicates over the air-interface, through one or more sectors, with wireless terminal devices, or other names, depending on the particular application. The network device may be operable to exchange received air frames with internet protocol (Internet Protocol, IP) packets as a router between the wireless terminal device and the rest of the access network, which may include an Internet Protocol (IP) communication network. The network device may also coordinate attribute management for the air interface. For example, the network device according to the embodiment of the present application may be a network device (Base Transceiver Station, BTS) in a global system for mobile communications (Global System for Mobile communications, GSM) or code division multiple access (Code Division Multiple Access, CDMA), a network device (NodeB) in a wideband code division multiple access (Wide-band Code Division Multiple Access, WCDMA), an evolved network device (evolutional Node B, eNB or e-NodeB) in a long term evolution (long term evolution, LTE) system, a 5G base station (gNB) in a 5G network architecture (next generation system), a home evolved base station (Home evolved Node B, heNB), a relay node (relay node), a home base station (femto), a pico base station (pico), etc., which are not limited in the embodiment of the present application. In some network structures, the network device may include a Centralized Unit (CU) node and a Distributed Unit (DU) node, which may also be geographically separated.

Multiple-input Multiple-output (Multi Input Multi Output, MIMO) transmissions may each be made between a network device and a terminal device using one or more antennas, and the MIMO transmissions may be Single User MIMO (SU-MIMO) or Multiple User MIMO (MU-MIMO). The MIMO transmission may be 2D-MIMO, 3D-MIMO, FD-MIMO, or massive-MIMO, or may be diversity transmission, precoding transmission, beamforming transmission, or the like, depending on the form and number of the root antenna combinations.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that embodiments of the present application may be provided as a method, system, or computer program product. Accordingly, the present application may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Furthermore, the present application may take the form of a computer program product embodied on one or more computer-usable storage media (including, but not limited to, magnetic disk storage, optical storage, and the like) having computer-usable program code embodied therein.

The present application is described with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems) and computer program products according to embodiments of the application. It will be understood that each flow and/or block of the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of flows and/or blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer-executable instructions. These computer-executable instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, embedded processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These processor-executable instructions may also be stored in a processor-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the processor-readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instruction means which implement the function specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These processor-executable instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

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 spirit or 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 data transmission method, applied to a session management functional entity, comprising:

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the determining a finger user plane function entity comprises:

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the determining a finger user plane function entity comprises:

4. A data transmission method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein prior to said determining a finger user plane function, the method further comprises:

5. A data transmission method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein said sending a data forwarding rule to said branch user plane functional entity comprises:

6. A data transmission method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein said sending a data forwarding rule to said branch user plane functional entity comprises:

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the sending the second data forwarding rule to the finger user plane functional entity comprises:

8. The data transmission method according to claim 1, wherein in the case where the target scene includes an N19 exchange scene, the method further comprises:

9. The data transmission method according to claim 1, characterized in that the method further comprises:

10. A data transmission method, applied to a branched user plane functional entity, comprising:

11. The data transmission method according to claim 10, wherein the receiving the data forwarding rule sent by the session management function entity includes:

12. The data transmission method according to claim 10, wherein the receiving the data forwarding rule sent by the session management function entity includes:

13. A session management functional entity, comprising a memory, a transceiver, and a processor:

14. The session management functional entity according to claim 13, wherein the determining a branch user plane functional entity comprises:

15. The session management functional entity according to claim 13, wherein the determining a branch user plane functional entity comprises:

16. The session management functional entity according to any of claims 13 to 15, wherein prior to said determining a finger user plane functional entity, the operations further comprise:

17. The session management functional entity according to any of claims 13 to 15, wherein said sending data forwarding rules to the finger user plane functional entity comprises:

18. The session management functional entity according to any of claims 13 to 15, wherein said sending data forwarding rules to the finger user plane functional entity comprises:

19. The session management functional entity of claim 18, wherein said sending the second data forwarding rule to the finger user plane functional entity comprises:

20. The session management functional entity of claim 13, wherein in the case where the target scenario comprises an N19 exchange scenario, the operations further comprise:

21. The session management functional entity of claim 13, wherein the operations further comprise:

22. A branched user plane functional entity comprising a memory, a transceiver, and a processor:

23. The branching user plane function entity of claim 22, wherein said receiving the data forwarding rules sent by the session management function entity comprises:

24. The branching user plane function entity of claim 22, wherein said receiving the data forwarding rules sent by the session management function entity comprises:

25. A data transmission apparatus for use in a session management function, the apparatus comprising:

26. A data transmission apparatus for use in a finger user plane function, the apparatus comprising:

27. A computer readable storage medium, characterized in that the computer readable storage medium stores a computer program for causing a computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 9 or to perform the method of any one of claims 10 to 12.