CN119521201A - Addressing method of strategy control network element, application function network element and control plane network element - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention discloses an addressing method of a policy control network element, an application function network element and a control plane network element, the method comprising: after the control plane network element establishes a service channel for the user terminal, the application function network element determines the PCC policy control of the user terminal; during the establishment of the service channel, when several user plane network elements controlled by the same control plane network element reuse the user IP address, the device identifiers of N control plane network elements configured by the control plane network element correspond to N reused user IP address pools respectively; obtain the address of the control plane network element; send an address query request of the policy control network element to the corresponding control plane network element according to the address of the control plane network element; receive the query result of the address of the policy control network element sent by the control plane network element. The technical solution of the present invention will not cause waste of software and hardware resources of the policy control network element and the control plane network element/policy binding network element, nor increase the complexity of the operation and maintenance of the policy control network element.

Description

Addressing method of strategy control network element, application function network element and control plane network element

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of mobile communications technologies, and in particular, to an addressing method of a policy control network element, an application function network element, a control plane network element, and a computer readable storage medium.

Background

In a mobile communication network architecture, the network establishes a PDU session/bearer path (referred to as "PDU session" in 5G and "bearer" in 4G) between the UE and the Data Network (DN) for the user terminal so that the user can complete the end-to-end communication. Under the current PCC architecture, when an application function network element (e.g., AF, NEF, SCEF, AAC) initiates a policy application (e.g., qos acceleration, third party charging, etc.), the policy application message is sent to a policy control network element (e.g., PCF, PCRF) related to the PDU session/bearer, and after the policy control network element receives the policy application message from the application function network element, the policy application initiated by the application function network element is associated to a corresponding existing PDU session/bearer (i.e., corresponding to an existing user service data flow), and a related PCC management policy (i.e., corresponding PCC rule) is issued.

In the service flow provided by the prior art, in the PCC flow established by PDU session/bearer of the UE, the PCF initiates a registration flow to the BSF, and needs to create "binding information" in the BSF, and update/delete "binding information" in the subsequent service flow, so that the PCF needs to configure additional processing resources, and the BSF needs to configure resources for storing "binding information" and processing resources for creating/updating/deleting "binding information" whether independently or comprehensively with other network elements, thereby causing waste of software and hardware resources of the PCF and the BSF, and meanwhile, for the case that the UE accesses an external IP network and goes through IP address conversion, the PCF needs to provide "domain" corresponding to IPv4 private address in the "binding information", so that the PCF needs to configure IP domain data of IPv4 private address of the whole network of the operator for satisfying the roaming scene of users, and thus increasing the complexity of operation and maintenance of the PCF.

Disclosure of Invention

An object of the embodiments of the present invention is to provide an addressing method of a policy control network element, an application function network element, a control plane network element, and a computer readable storage medium, which do not need to occupy additional processing capability of the policy control network element, and also do not need to occupy additional processing capability and storage resources of the control plane network element/policy binding network element, so that waste of software and hardware resources of the policy control network element and the control plane network element/policy binding network element is not caused, and the policy control network element does not need additional data configuration, and complexity of operation and maintenance of the policy control network element is not increased.

In order to achieve the above object, an embodiment of a first aspect of the present invention provides a method for addressing a policy control network element, applied to an application function network element, including:

Determining PCC policy management and control to be executed on a user terminal after a control plane network element establishes a service channel for the user terminal accessed to a mobile communication network, wherein in the process of establishing the service channel, when a plurality of user plane network elements controlled by the same control plane network element multiplex user IP addresses, equipment identifiers of N control plane network elements configured by the control plane network element respectively correspond to N multiplexed user IP address pools, and N is more than 1;

Acquiring an address of a control plane network element currently responsible for user terminal service;

sending an address inquiry request of a strategy control network element for managing a PCC strategy of a service channel currently responsible for user terminal service to a corresponding control surface network element according to the address of the control surface network element;

and receiving the query result of the address of the strategy control network element sent by the control surface network element.

Further, the method further comprises:

And sending a policy application request to the policy control network element according to the address of the policy control network element obtained from the query result, wherein the policy application request comprises an IP address of the user terminal distributed by the control plane network element, a device identifier of the control plane network element and a mobile communication network access external network identifier corresponding to a service channel of the user terminal.

Further, the obtaining the address of the control plane network element currently responsible for the user terminal service includes:

Configuring local configuration information to a mapping table of equipment addresses of control plane network elements through local static data configuration, wherein the local configuration information comprises IP addresses distributed by the control plane network elements of the user terminals, the IP addresses of the user terminals after address conversion and mobile communication network access external network identifiers corresponding to service channels of the user terminals;

And inquiring a mapping table of the equipment address of the control surface network element according to the local configuration information, and acquiring the address of the control surface network element currently responsible for user terminal service.

Further, the obtaining the address of the control plane network element currently responsible for the user terminal service includes:

Acquiring service discovery inquiry parameters, wherein the service discovery inquiry parameters comprise an IP address allocated by a control plane network element of a user terminal, a mobile communication network access external network identifier corresponding to a service channel of the user terminal and a domain name to which an IP address derived from the IP address of the user terminal after address conversion belongs;

executing a control surface network element service discovery process to a network storage function according to the service discovery query parameter, wherein the registration information of the control surface network element to the network storage function comprises an address of the control surface network element and a local terminal equipment addressing identifier;

receiving a service discovery response message sent by a network storage function based on the registration information, and acquiring an address of a control plane network element according to the service discovery response message;

and the address inquiry request comprises the IP address of the user terminal distributed by the control surface network element, the local terminal equipment addressing identifier of the control surface network element and the mobile communication network access external network identifier corresponding to the service channel of the user terminal.

Further, the obtaining the address of the control plane network element currently responsible for the user terminal service includes:

Configuring local configuration information to a mapping table of equipment addresses of control plane network elements through local static data configuration, wherein the local configuration information comprises IP addresses distributed by the control plane network elements of the user terminals, the IP addresses of the user terminals after address conversion and mobile communication network access external network identifiers corresponding to service channels of the user terminals;

Inquiring a mapping table of the equipment address of the control plane network element according to the local configuration information, and acquiring the address of the control plane network element currently responsible for user terminal service and the local terminal equipment addressing identification;

and the address inquiry request comprises the IP address of the user terminal distributed by the control surface network element, the local terminal equipment addressing identifier of the control surface network element and the mobile communication network access external network identifier corresponding to the service channel of the user terminal.

In order to achieve the above object, an embodiment of a second aspect of the present invention provides an addressing method of a policy control network element, applied to a control plane network element, including:

after a user terminal accesses a mobile communication network, distributing a user IP address for the user terminal, and initiating a PCC process to a strategy control network element by using equipment identifiers of control surface network elements which are used for interfaces between the strategy control network elements and correspond to a user IP address pool, wherein when a plurality of user surface network elements controlled by the same control surface network element multiplex the user IP address, the equipment identifiers of N control surface network elements configured by the control surface network element respectively correspond to N multiplexed user IP address pools, and N is more than 1;

receiving PCC policy rules issued by a policy control network element, and storing information related to PCC policy session of a service channel of a user terminal, wherein the information comprises a device identifier of a control plane network element, a user IP address, a device identifier of a mobile communication network access external network identifier and the policy control network element and binding data between the device identifier and the device identifier;

After the application function network element obtains the address of the control surface network element, receiving an address query request of a policy control network element which is sent by the application function network element and is used for controlling a service channel PCC policy of the user terminal service at present;

inquiring the binding data according to the address inquiring request to obtain the address of the strategy control network element;

and sending the query result of the address of the strategy control network element to the application function network element.

Further, the method further comprises:

The method comprises the steps of receiving a PCC management and control strategy issued by a strategy control network element and executing the PCC management and control strategy, wherein the PCC management and control strategy is a PCC rule strategy executed on a service channel of a user terminal after the strategy control network element receives a strategy application request sent by an application function network element, and the strategy application request comprises an IP address distributed by a control surface network element of the user terminal, a device identifier of the control surface network element and a mobile communication network access external network identifier corresponding to the service channel of the user terminal.

In order to achieve the above object, an embodiment of a third aspect of the present invention further provides an application function network element, configured to implement the method for addressing a policy control network element according to any one of the first aspect, where the application function network element includes:

The system comprises a PCC policy management and control determining module, a control plane network element and a control plane network element, wherein the PCC policy management and control determining module is used for determining PCC policy management and control to be executed on a user terminal after the control plane network element establishes a service channel for the user terminal accessed to a mobile communication network, and in the process of establishing the service channel, when a plurality of user plane network elements controlled by the same control plane network element multiplex user IP addresses, equipment identifiers of N control plane network elements configured by the control plane network element respectively correspond to N multiplexed user IP address pools, wherein N is more than 1;

The first address acquisition module is used for acquiring the address of a control plane network element currently responsible for user terminal service;

A first sending module, configured to send, to a corresponding control plane network element according to an address of the control plane network element, an address query request of a policy control network element for controlling a service channel PCC policy currently responsible for user terminal service;

The first receiving module is used for receiving the query result of the address of the policy control network element sent by the control plane network element.

To achieve the above object, an embodiment of a fourth aspect of the present invention further provides a control plane network element, configured to implement the method for addressing a policy control network element according to any one of the second aspect, where the control plane network element includes:

The PCC flow initiating module is used for distributing user IP addresses for the user terminals after the user terminals are accessed to the mobile communication network, and initiating PCC flow to the policy control network elements by using the equipment identifiers of the control surface network elements which are used for interfaces between the policy control network elements and correspond to the user IP address pools, wherein when a plurality of user surface network elements controlled by the same control surface network element multiplex the user IP addresses, the equipment identifiers of N control surface network elements configured by the control surface network elements respectively correspond to N multiplexed user IP address pools, and N is more than 1;

The PCC associated information storage module is used for receiving PCC policy rules issued by the policy control network element and storing PCC policy session associated information of a service channel of the user terminal, wherein the information comprises a device identifier of a control plane network element, a user IP address, a device identifier of a mobile communication network access external network element and the policy control network element and binding data between the device identifier and the device identifier;

the first receiving module is used for receiving an address query request of a policy control network element which is sent by the application function network element and is currently responsible for managing the PCC policy of the service channel of the user terminal after the application function network element obtains the address of the control plane network element;

The first address acquisition module is used for inquiring the binding data according to the address inquiry request and acquiring the address of the strategy control network element;

And the first sending module is used for sending the query result of the address of the strategy control network element to the application function network element.

An embodiment of the fifth aspect of the present invention further provides a computer readable storage medium, where the computer readable storage medium includes a stored computer program, where the computer program when executed controls a device where the computer readable storage medium is located to execute the method for addressing a policy control network element according to any one of the first aspect and the second aspect.

An embodiment of the sixth aspect of the present invention further provides an application function network element, comprising a processor, a memory and a computer program stored in the memory and configured to be executed by the processor, the processor implementing the method of addressing a policy control network element according to any of the first aspects when the computer program is executed.

An embodiment of the seventh aspect of the present invention further provides a control plane network element, comprising a processor, a memory and a computer program stored in the memory and configured to be executed by the processor, the processor implementing the method for addressing a policy control network element according to any of the second aspects above when the computer program is executed.

Compared with the prior art, the embodiment of the invention provides an addressing method of a policy control network element, an application function network element, a control surface network element and a computer readable storage medium, wherein the application function network element determines PCC policy control of a user terminal to be executed after the control surface network element establishes a service channel for the user terminal accessed to a mobile communication network, in the process of establishing the service channel, when a plurality of user surface network elements controlled by the same control surface network element multiplex user IP addresses, equipment identifiers of N control surface network elements configured by the control surface network element respectively correspond to N multiplexed user IP address pools, N is greater than 1, the address of the control surface network element currently responsible for user terminal service is acquired, an address query request of the policy control network element currently responsible for PCC policy control of the service channel of the user terminal service is sent to the corresponding control surface network element according to the address of the control surface network element, and the query result of the address of the policy control network element sent by the control surface network element is received. The embodiment of the invention does not need to occupy the processing capacity of the strategy control network element or occupy the processing capacity and storage resources of the control surface network element/strategy binding network element, thereby not wasting the software and hardware resources of the strategy control network element and the control surface network element/strategy binding network element, and the strategy control network element does not need to be configured with additional data, and the complexity of operation and maintenance of the strategy control network element is not increased.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a PCC system architecture according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 2 is a flow chart of a preferred embodiment of a method of addressing a policy controlled network element according to the first aspect of the present invention;

Fig. 3 is a service flow chart of an addressing method of a policy control network element according to an embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 4 is a block diagram of a preferred embodiment of a method for addressing a policy controlled network element according to the second aspect of the present invention;

Fig. 5 is a block diagram of a preferred embodiment of an application function network element according to a third aspect of the present invention;

fig. 6 is a block diagram of a preferred embodiment of a control plane network element according to the fourth aspect of the present invention.

Detailed Description

The following description of the embodiments of the present invention 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 of the present invention, but not all embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be made by those skilled in the art based on the embodiments of the present invention without making any inventive effort, are intended to fall within the scope of the present invention.

It should be noted that, in the embodiments of the present invention, all the technical terms have the meanings shown in table 0:

TABLE 0 technical term meaning List

Chinese meaning	English holonomy scale	Abbreviations
			Application access control	Application Access Control	AAC
Application function	Application Function	AF
			Access and mobility management functions	Access and Mobility Management Function	AMF
Access point name	Access Point Name	APN
			Session binding support function	Binding Support Function	BSF
Data network	Data Network	DN
			Data network name	Data Network Name	DNN
4G base station	Evolved Node B	eNB
			5G base station	(Next)Generation NodeB	gNB
Internet protocol	Internet Protocol	IP
			Internet protocol version 4	Internet Protocol version 4	IPv4
Internet protocol version 6	Internet Protocol version 6	IPv6
			Mobility management entity	Mobility Management Entity	MME
Network opening function	Network Exposure Function	NEF
			Network storage function	Network Repository Function	NRF
Policy control and charging	Policy Control and Charging	PCC
			Policy control function	Policy Control Function	PCF
Policy and charging control function	Policy and Charging Control Function	PCRF
			Protocol data unit	Protocol Data Unit	PDU
Packet data network gateway	Packet Data Network Gateway	PGW
			Quality of service	Quality of Service	QoS
System architecture evolution-gateway	System Architecture Evolution Gateway	SAE-GW
			Network capability opening function	Service Capability Exposure Function	SCEF
Service gateway	Serving Gateway	SGW
			Session management function	Session Management Function	SMF
Single network slice selection assistance information	Single Network Slice Selection Assistance Information	S-NSSAI
			Subscriber subscription database	Subscription Profile Repository	SPR
Subscribing to permanent identifiers	Subscription Permanent Identifier	SUPI
			Unified data store	Unified Data Repository	UDR
User equipment/user terminal	User Equipment	UE
			User plane functionality	User Plane Function	UPF

It should be noted that, the main network elements related to the prior art include policy control network elements (such as PCF, PCRF, PCF/PCRF), policy database network elements (such as UDR, SPR, UDR/SPR), service channel establishment control plane network elements (network functions: such as SMF, PGW-C (PACKET DATA Network Gateway Control Plane, packet data network gateway control plane), SMF/PGW-C), service channel establishment user plane network elements (network functions: such as UPF, PGW-U (PACKET DATA Network Gateway User Plane, packet data network gateway user plane), UPF/PGW-U), policy binding network elements (such as BSF), application function network elements (such as NEF, ACC, SCEF, AF, etc.) 6 types, and application platforms, wherein:

(1) In order to improve the security reliability of the network and the disaster tolerance of the network elements, the policy control network elements are deployed in a mode of group POOL, i.e. a plurality of policy control network elements form a POOL, and the policy control network elements in the same POOL are in load sharing charge of PCC services of PDU conversation/bearing of users of one (or more) number segments or services of all users of the same DNN/APN.

(2) Policy database network elements (e.g., UDR, SPR, UDR/SPR) are responsible for maintaining PCC policy data for a subscription of a subscriber.

(3) The service channel establishment control plane network element (network function: such as SMF, PGW-C, SMF/PGW-C) is responsible for PDU session/bearer establishment of user terminal (i.e. UE), including the allocation of IP address and the like to the user terminal UE according to the information (such as the location of the service channel establishment user plane network element, responsible user IP address segment and the like) of the selected service channel establishment user plane network element (network function: such as UPF, PGW-U, UPF/PGW-U) and the like, and the execution of PCC strategy for corresponding PDU session/bearer issued by the strategy control network element (such as PCF, PCRF, PCF/PCRF).

(4) The service channel establishes a user plane network element (network function: e.g. UPF, PGW-U, UPF/PGW-U) by establishing a user plane service channel for the user terminal UE connected to the external IP network under the control of the service channel establishes a control plane network element (network function: e.g. SMF, PGW-C, SMF/PGW-C) and executing the related PCC policy under the control of the service channel establishes a control plane network element (network function: e.g. SMF, PGW-C/PCEF, SMF/PGW-C/PCEF).

(5) A policy binding network element (e.g. BSF), in the PDU session/bearer establishment/modification process of the UE, the policy binding network element (e.g. BSF) records the corresponding relation between the UE information (e.g. user IP address, etc.) and the policy control network element (e.g. PCF, PCRF, PCF/PCRF), and in the process of addressing the policy control network element (e.g. PCF, PCRF, PCF/PCRF) by the application function network element (e.g. NEF, AAC, SCEF, AF, etc.), it is responsible for matching out the corresponding policy control network element (e.g. PCF, PCRF, PCF/PCRF), the technical implementation of the policy binding network element (e.g. BSF) can be in two ways, mode 1 is a technical implementation of unified specification in a 3GPP (3 rd Generation Partnership Project, third generation partnership project) 5G SA (5 gstandalone,5G independent group) network, mode 2 is a technical implementation of applying the china mobile network to a 4G network, a 5G network and a 4G/5G converged core network, wherein:

In the method 1, an independent BSF (subscriber identity module) initiates a PCC (network configuration signaling) process (N7 interface signaling process) in the process of establishing a service channel session for a user terminal (UE), a PCF selected for the PDU session of the user terminal (UE) sends information such as the correspondence between user terminal (UE) information (such as a user IP address) and a network element identifier (PCF ID) of the PCF to the BSF, the BSF stores the correspondence between the user terminal (UE) information (such as the user IP address) received from the selected PCF and the PCF network element identifier (PCF ID) until the selected PCF indicates that the BSF releases the correspondence between the user terminal information (such as the user IP address) and the PCF network element identifier (PCF ID), and during the period, the BSF receives and updates the user terminal (UE) information update information (such as the user IP address change) sent by the selected PCF. When the application function network element (such as NEF, AAC, SCEF, AF) needs to send the policy application message (N5/N30 interface signaling message), the independent BSF firstly inquires the address of the corresponding PCF (i.e. the PCF selected in the N7 interface signaling flow), the independent BSF provides the address of the corresponding PCF (i.e. the PCF selected in the N7 interface signaling flow) to the application function network element (such as NEF, AAC, SCEF, AF) in the inquiry response message (PCF ID of the selected PCF, etc.), and then the application function network element (such as NEF, AAC, SCEF, AF) sends the policy application message (N5/N30 interface signaling message) to the corresponding PCF (i.e. the PCF selected in the N7 interface signaling flow). In actual network deployment, the independent BSF may be set independently, or may be set together with network elements such as PCF, UDR, NRF, SMF.

Mode 2, the service channel establishes a control plane network element (network function: e.g. SMF, PGW, PGW-C, SMF/PGW-C) with built-in policy binding network element (e.g. BSF) function, wherein the BSF function can be a function of SMF, PGW, PGW-C, SMF/PGW-C or a logic function with independent logic. In the process of establishing a service channel session for a user terminal UE, a service channel establishment control plane network element (network function: such as SMF, PGW, PGW-C, SMF/PGW-C) initiates a PCC flow (N7 interface signaling flow of 5G network and 4G/5G converged core network, gx interface signaling flow of 4G network), and stores a policy control network element identifier (PCF ID of 5G network, PCRFID of 4G network, PCF/PCRFID of 4G/5G converged core network) selected for the current PDU session/bearer of the user terminal UE, that is, which policy control network element (PCF of 5G network, PCRF of 4G network, PCF/PCRFID of 4G/5G converged core network) is currently responsible for the PCC policy control of the current PDU session/bearer of the user terminal UE until the current PDU session/bearer of the user terminal UE is ended (deleted). When an application function network element (such as NEF, AAC, SCEF, AF) needs to send a policy application message (such as an N5/N30 interface signaling message of a 5G network and a 4G/5G converged core network, an Rx interface signaling message of a 4G network), a control plane network element (network function: such as SMF, PGW, PGW-C, SMF/PGW-C) is built in a BSF function query policy control network element identifier (such as a PCF ID of the 5G network, a PCF/PCRFID of a 4G network and a PCF/5G converged core network) is firstly established to a service channel, the BSF function matches information (such as user IP address information) contained in the query request message according to the application function network element (such as a NEF, AAC, SCEF, AF) to a PCF selected in the corresponding policy control network element (such as a 5G network and a 4G/5G converged core network N7 interface signaling flow), and an address (such as a PCF ID of a PCF selected in a 4G network Gx interface signaling flow) of a PCF selected by a 4G network, a PCF selected by a PCF PCRFID of a 4G/PCRFID and the like and sends the policy control network element (such as a PCRF) to the application function (such as a NEF, AAC, SCEF, AF) to the application function network element (such as a user IP address information) and a network interface signaling message (such as a 35G/5G network and a 4G/5G converged core network) to a network interface signaling message (such as a network 35) of a network and a network interface signaling message of a 4G/5G interface signaling element (such as a 4G interface signaling flow) selected by a network and a 4G interface signaling element (such as a network and a 4G interface signaling message of a network and a network).

(6) The platform for initiating the PCC dynamic policy management service request can be the own service platform (NEF, AAC, SCEF, capability opening platform, voLTE SBC (Session Border Controller, session border controller) and other AF, etc.) of the operator, or can be the third party Internet ICP (Internet Content Provider, internet content service provider) application platform (e.g. messenger server, etc.).

Related business processes in the prior art include:

(1) 4G service scene and 2G/3G service scene

The 3GPP international standard does not specify the BSF functions in the 4G and 2G/3G service scenes, the China mobile adopts a customized solution, namely PGW and PGW-C (note: PGW-C+PGW-U completes the function of PGW, PGW-C+PGW-U can be called distributed PGW) with the BSF functions built in, wherein the PGW and PGW-C+PGW-U can have the function of 2G/3GGGSN (GATEWAY GPRS Support Node ) at the same time, the 2G/3G service scene is satisfied, the following service flow only takes the description of the 4G service scene as an example, and the specific service flow is as follows:

Step 1, a user terminal UE accesses a core network MME through an LTE (Long Term Evolution,3GPP long term evolution) wireless network, in the process of establishing a bearer for the user terminal UE, an IPv4 private address and/or an IPv6 address are distributed for the user terminal UE by a PGW/PGW-C for the user terminal UE to access an external IP network, and the PGW/PGW-C initiates a PCC procedure, and addresses a corresponding PCRF directly or through a Diameter signaling network, in a Gx interface signaling message sent to the PCRF by the PGW/PGW-C, the PCRF comprises information such as a user IP address (IPv 4 private address and/or an IPv6 address) distributed to the user terminal UE by the PGW/PGW-C, an APN, a PGW/PGW-C equipment identifier (PGW-C ID) and the like, and after receiving a response message returned by the PCRF (directly or through a Diameter signaling network), a built-in BSF function of the PGW/PGW-C records and stores the address (PCRFID) of the PCRF in the response, namely, a device identifier (namely, a mapping relation (PCRFID) of the corresponding to the user terminal UE-carrying policy control PCRF) of the current bearer policy. The service channel User Plane of the network as the User terminal UE is UE-4G base station-SGW (or SGW-U) -PGW (or PGW-U) -corresponding external IP network (note: SGW-U is SERVING GATEWAY User Plane, representing service gateway User Plane), for the application needing User IP address conversion (such as accessing Internet application, etc.), the SGi/Gi firewall between PGW/PGW-U and external IP network completes the IP address conversion of the User terminal UE, for example, IPv4 private address allocated to the User terminal UE by PGW/PGW-C is converted into IPv4 public address, wherein SGW and PGW are generally combined as SAEGW-C, SGW-U and PGW-U are generally combined as SAEGW-U;

Step 2, when an application function network element (such as NEF, AAC, SCEF, AF) needs to send a policy application message (Rx interface signaling message), firstly deriving an address of a PGW/PGW-C responsible for the user IP address service according to user IP address information, if the user terminal UE accesses an external IP network without IP address conversion (such as IPv6 address), the application function network element can directly derive the address of the PGW/PGW-C responsible for the user IP address service, if the user terminal UE accesses the external IP network with IP address conversion (such as SGi/Gi firewall distributes the PGW/PGW-C to IPv4 private address conversion of the user terminal UE as IPv4 public address), the application function network element can derive the address of the PGW/PGW-C responsible for the user IP address (before-conversion user IP address and after-conversion PGW/PGW-C) according to the address of the PGW/PGW-C distributed to the user terminal UE and NAT (Network Address Traslation, network address conversion)/PAT (Port Address Translation, port address conversion);

Step 3, after receiving PCRF address query information initiated by the application function network element, the PGW/PGW-C retrieves PCRF equipment identification (PCRFID) responsible for PCC policy control of the user terminal UE (IP address (IPv 4 private address, IPv6 address) allocated to the user terminal UE by the PGW/PGW-C) and corresponding PCRFID according to the mapping relation (binding information) between the IP address (PGW/PGW-C allocated to the user terminal UE) of the user terminal UE recorded and stored in the step 1 by the built-in BSF function and then returns PCRFID to the application function network element in the query response information;

Step4, after receiving PCRFID in the inquiry response message, the application function network element sends a policy request message (Rx interface signaling message) to the corresponding PCRF (i.e. in step 1, the user terminal UE bears the weight of the PCRF selected in the Gx interface signaling flow in the establishment process);

And step 5, after the PCRF receives the policy request message (Rx interface signaling message) sent by the application function network element, retrieving the Gx interface session borne by the user terminal UE, executing the policy request received from the application function network element, and flowing Cheng Lve afterwards.

(2) 5G service scene (4G/5G integration network element scene)

The 3GPP international standard standardizes BSF network functions and related service flows in the 5G SA network, namely, an independent BSF logic function is introduced into the network, and the independent BSF can be specifically set, and network elements such as BSF and PCF, UDR, NRF, SMF can be combined, but because the network structure and the service flow are complex, the occupied network resources are overlarge and the like, the BSF scheme of the 3GPP international standard is not adopted for China mobile, but an SMF built-in BSF function scheme is adopted, and the two schemes are respectively introduced below.

(2.1) 3GPP International Standard BSF scheme (including BSF independent setting scheme, BSF and SMF Integrated setting scheme)

Step 1, a user terminal UE accesses a core network AMF through a 5G SA wireless network, and in the process of establishing PDU session (equivalent to 'bearer' in a 4G network) for the user terminal UE, the SMF distributes an IPv4 private address and/or an IPv6 address for the user terminal UE to access an external IP network; and the SMF initiates PCC flow, addresses to the corresponding PCF directly or through NRF/SCP (Session Control Protocol ), in the N7 interface signaling message sent to PCF by SMF, including the information of user IP address (IPv 4 private address and/or IPv6 address) allocated to user terminal UE by SMF, DNN, S-NSSAI (i.e. network slice identifier), SMF equipment identifier, etc., PCF processes N7 interface signaling information, initiates registration flow to BSF, creates "binding information" in BSF, which contains PDU session information (address (IPv 4 private address and IP domain thereof, or IPv6 address, or Ethernet address) of user terminal UE, DNN, S-NSSAI, SUPI (optional), GPSI (Generic Public Subs cription Identifier, general public user identifier) (optional)) and PCF information (PCF address (i.e. FQDN, fully Qualified Domain Name, full name or IP address), PCF INSTANCE ID (optional), PCF group ID (optional), binding)) to PCF, and the policy is mapped to PCF 7 by PCF interface after the PCF is completed, the SMF performs the subsequent procedure of establishing a PDU session for the user terminal UE. The service channel user plane of the network as user terminal UE is an external IP network corresponding to UE-5G base station- (I-UPF) -UPF (note: I-UPF is INTERMEDIATE UPF, which represents the function of relay user plane);

Step 2, when the application function network element (such as NEF, AAC, SCEF, AF) needs to send strategy application message (N5/N30 interface signaling message), firstly inquiring the corresponding PCF address (note that the application function network element directly or through NRF/SCP addresses to the corresponding BSF) with user address information (IPv 4 private address and IP domain thereof, or IPv6 address, or Ethernet address) and DNN and S-NSSAI information;

Step 3, after receiving PCF address inquiry information initiated by the application function network element, the BSF searches the PCF address responsible for PCC policy control of PDU session of the user terminal UE according to the mapping relation of PDU session information (IPv 4 private address and IP domain thereof, or IPv6 address, or Ethernet address), DNN, S-NSSAI, SUPI (optional), GPSI (optional)) and PCF information (PCF address (hostname (FQDN) or IP address), PCF INSTANCE ID (optional), PCF group ID (optional), binding level (optional)) of the user terminal UE in step 1, and then returns the PCF address to the application function network element in inquiry response information;

Step 4, after the application function network element obtains PCF address from BSF, sending strategy request message (N5/N30 interface signaling message) to corresponding PCF (namely, in step 1, PCF selected in N7 interface signaling flow in PDU session establishment process of user terminal UE), in N5/N30 interface signaling message, PDU session information of user terminal UE (address of user terminal UE (IPv 4 private address and IP domain, or IPv6 address, or Ethernet address), DNN, S-NSSAI, SUPI (optional), GPSI (optional);

Step 5, after the PCF receives the strategy request message (N5/N30 interface signaling message) sent by the application function network element, the PCF retrieves the PDU session of the user terminal UE, executes the strategy request received from the application function network element, and then flows Cheng Lve.

(2.2) China Mobile BSF scheme (SMF built-in BSF function scheme)

Step 1, a user terminal UE accesses a core network AMF through a 5G SA wireless network, and in the process of establishing PDU session (equivalent to 'bearer' in a 4G network) for the user terminal UE, an IPv4 private address and/or an IPv6 address are allocated for the user terminal UE by an SMF and an SMF/PGW-C (4G/5G converged network element) for the user terminal UE to access an external IP network; and the SMF/PGW-C initiate PCC flow, and address the corresponding PCF/PCRF directly or through NRF/SCP, and in the N7 interface signaling message sent to PCF/PCRF by SMF and SMF/PGW-C, the information such as the user IP address (IPv 4 private address and/or IPv6 address) allocated to the user terminal UE by SMF and SMF/PGW-C, DNN, S-NSSAI (network slice identifier), SMF and SMF/PGW-C equipment identifier and the like is included; after receiving the response message returned by the PCF/PCRF (directly or through the NRF/SCP), the BSF function built in the SMF, SMF/PGW-C records and stores the address (PCF/PCRF device identifier) of the PCF/PCRF in the response, which is the mapping relationship (binding information) between the PCF/PCRF device identifier responsible for the current PDU session/bearer of the UE (information such as user IP address) and the corresponding PCF/PCRF device identifier. The service channel user plane of the network as user terminal UE is UE-5G/4G base station- (I-UPF or I-UPF/SGW-U) -UPF (or UPF/PGW-U or UPF/SAEGW-U) -corresponding external IP network, for the application needing user IP address conversion (such as accessing Internet application, etc.), N6/SGi firewall between UPF/PGW-U, UPF/SAEGW-U and external IP network is used to complete the IP address conversion of user terminal UE, for example, IPv4 private address allocated to user terminal UE by SMF, SMF/PGW-C is converted into IPv4 public address;

When the application function network element (such as NEF, AAC, SCEF, AF) needs to send policy application message (N5/N30/Rx interface signaling message), firstly deducing the address of SMF and SMF/PGW-C responsible for the user IP address service according to the user IP address information, if the user terminal UE does not undergo IP address conversion (such as IPv6 address) when accessing the external IP network, the application function network element can directly deduce the address of SMF and SMF/PGW-C responsible for the user IP address service, if the user terminal UE accesses the external IP network, it has undergone IP address conversion (such as N6/SGi firewall to allocate SMF and SMF/PGW-C to IPv4 private address of the user terminal UE as IPv4 public address), the application function network element can deduce the SMF and SMF/PGW-C responsible for the user IP address (before conversion and PGIP address of user IP address after conversion) according to the address of SMF and SMF/PGW-C allocated to the user terminal UE and NAT/PAT converted user IP address;

Step 3, after SMF, SMF/PGW-C receives PCF/PCRF address inquiry information initiated by the application function network element, according to the built-in BSF function, the mapping relation (binding information) between the IP address (SMF, IP address (IPv 4 private address, IPv6 address) allocated to the user terminal UE by SMF/PGW-C) and the corresponding PCF/PCRF address of the user terminal UE is recorded and saved in step 1;

Step 4, after receiving PCF/PCRF address in inquiry response message, the application function network element sends policy request message (N5/N30/Rx interface signaling message) to corresponding PCF/PCRF (i.e. in step 1, PCF/PCRF selected in N7 interface signaling flow in PDU conversation/bearing establishment process of user terminal UE);

Step 5, after PCF/PCRF receives the strategy request message (N5/N30/Rx interface signaling message) sent by the application function network element, retrieving the PDU session/N7 interface session of the load of the user terminal UE, executing the strategy request received from the application function network element, and flowing Cheng Lve later.

The existing 3GPP international standard BSF scheme (including the independent BSF scheme, and the network element combination scheme of BSF and PCF, UDR, NRF, SMF) described in the above (2.1) mainly has the following 4 disadvantages:

(1) In PCC flow of PDU conversation/bearing establishment of user terminal UE, PCF initiates registration flow to BSF to create "binding information" in BSF, and updates/deletes "binding information" in subsequent business flow, PCF configures additional processing resource, BSF is independently set or comprehensively set with PCF, UDR, NRF, SMF network elements, etc., resources for storing "binding information" and processing resources for creating/updating/deleting "binding information" are needed to be configured, and when N7/N30/Rx interface business requirement ratio is lower, actual utilization rate of "binding information" is lower, resulting in waste of hardware and software resources of PCF and BSF and investment thereof, for example, PCC policy management requirement of only 100 ten thousand user PDU conversation/bearing in 1000 ten thousand user PDU conversation/bearing is existed application function network element, PCF and BSF only 100 ten thousand "binding information" in PCC conversation/bearing establishment flow of user terminal UE can be used, and other ten thousand "binding information" 900 "can be used, and the other ten thousand binding information" and the hardware and software resources of BSF can not be always used for establishing PDU conversation 900;

(2) For the situation that when the user terminal UE accesses the external IP network, IP address conversion is carried out (for example, an N6/SGi firewall converts an IPv4 private address of the user terminal UE into an IPv4 public address by distributing SMF and SMF/PGW-C to the IPv4 private address), the PCF needs to provide a domain corresponding to the IPv4 private address in a 'ipDomain' parameter in 'binding information' (the value of the IP domain depends on an IPv4 public address segment), so as to meet the user roaming scene, the PCF needs to configure IP domain data of the IPv4 private address of the whole network of the operator, thereby bringing greater difficulty to the operation and maintenance of the PCF, or the SMF and SMF/PGW-C need to provide the IPv4 private address of the user terminal UE and the IP domain thereof to the PCF in an N7 interface flow, but the mode needs to configure the corresponding relation between the IPv4 private address and the IP domain of the SMF and SMF/PGW-C, thereby bringing a certain complexity to the operation and maintenance of the SMF and the SMF/PGW-C;

(3) The problem of private IP address multiplexing of the user terminal UE is solved by adopting the IP domain of S-NSSAI and/or IPv4 private address in the binding information, but the scene of different DNN multiplexing IP addresses of the same user/different users under the same network slice (the same S-NSSAI) can not be satisfied;

(4) The "ipDomain" parameter is defined only for the IPv4 address in the "binding information", and for NAT/PAT conversion scenario of the IPv6 address (e.g. ULCL scenario of 5G SA), the prior art scheme does not support.

The existing china mobile BSF scheme (SMF built-in BSF function scheme) described in the above (2.2) is applicable to service application scenarios of 4G networks, 5G networks, and 4G/5G converged core networks, and mainly has the following 2 disadvantages:

(1) When the application function network element inquires the PCF/PCRF address from the SMF/PGW-C/PGW/BSF, the inquired parameters only comprise the user IPv4 private address/IPv 6 address, so that the service scene of multiplexing the same IP address (IPv 4 private address or IPv6 address) for different DNN/APN services of the same/different user terminals (UE) cannot be satisfied;

(2) The 5G core network and the 4G/5G converged core network adopt a structure that a service channel (5G PDU session, 4G bearing) control plane network element is separated from a user plane network element (namely: C/U separation SMF and UPF separation, SMF/SGW-C/PGW-C and UPF/SGW-U/PGW-U separation, 4G core network also introduces C/U separation architecture (SGW-C/PGW-C and SGW-U/PGW-U separation), the same user plane network element (UPF, UPF/SGW-U/PGW-U, SGW-U/PGW-U) can be controlled by multiple control plane network elements (SMF, SMF/SGW-C/PGW-C, SGW-C/PGW-C) at the same time, namely, one control plane network element (SMF, SMF/SGW-C/PGW-C, SGW-C/PGW-C) can select user plane network elements (UPF, UPF/SGW-U-37-U/PGW-35) of different IPv4 private address "domains" (IP domain) (which are responsible for the same private address pool of user plane access to the same public address of the same DNN/APN 4) when establishing PDU session/bearer for different user terminals UE of the same DNN/APN (Pdomain) (Pdomain name) is set up, the same as a public address of the public address 4/PATIP 4, under the control of the same network element (4) is shared by the same firewall, since the application function network element only includes the user IPv4 private address/IPv 6 address in the query parameter when querying the PCF/PCRF address from the control plane network element SMF/PGW-C/PGW/BSF, for two user terminals UE (even the same DNN/APN) that are the same in IPv4 private address and are responsible for mediation by the user plane network element that is different IPv4 private address "domains" (IP domains) and multiplexes the IPv4 private addresses, the control plane network element SMF/PGW-C/PGW/BSF cannot determine which of the PCF/PCRF addresses corresponding to the user terminals UE should be returned to the application function network element as the query result (when PDU sessions/bearers of the two user terminals UE are controlled by different PCFs/PCRFs, respectively).

Aiming at the defects of the prior 3GPP international standard BSF scheme (including a BSF independent setting scheme, a BSF and SMF network element comprehensive setting scheme) and the prior China mobile BSF scheme (SMF built-in BSF function scheme), the embodiment of the invention provides a technical scheme for addressing PCC strategy control network elements by a new application function network element (such as NEF, AAC, SCEF, AF and the like), which is mainly used for solving the problems that (1) the service scene is simultaneously applied to a 4G network, a 5G network, a 4G/5G fusion core network and the subsequent evolution of a mobile communication network, (2) the service scene is applied to the service scene that different DNN/APN services of the same user/different user terminals (UE) are multiplexed with the same IP address (IPv 4 private address or IPv6 address), and (3) the service scene is applied to the service channels which are controlled by the same service channel to establish a control plane network element (such as SMF, SMF/PGW-C, PGW-C) and the user plane network element (such as UPF/PGW-U, PGW-U) and the service binding of the same DNN/APN 4 pool is met, and the service is occupied by the service scene as little as possible.

Referring to fig. 1, a PCC system architecture provided by an embodiment of the present invention is shown, and the principles of the embodiment of the present invention are described below with reference to fig. 1, where the PCC system architecture shown in fig. 1 includes a user terminal UE, a radio access network element, an access and mobility management function network element, a service channel establishment user plane network element, a service channel establishment control plane network element (serving as a policy binding network element), a policy control network element, a policy database network element, and an application function network element; the embodiment of the invention provides a novel method for addressing PCC policy control network elements by application function network elements, which is suitable for PCC networking scenes of policy control network elements (such as PCF, PCF/PCRF and PCRF) group POOL, adopts a technology that a service channel is used for establishing control surface network elements (network functions: such as SMF and SMF/PGW-C, PGW-C) and is also used as policy binding network elements (such as BSF), returns query results of addresses of the policy control network elements (such as PCF, PCF/PCRF and PCRF) to the application function network elements, and is suitable for networking scenes such as 4G network, 5G network, 4G/5G fusion core network, subsequent mobile communication network evolution and the like. An application function network element (such as NEF, AAC, SCEF, AF) firstly establishes a policy binding network element (such as BSF) which is concurrently used as a policy binding network element (such as SMF, SMF/PGW-C, PGW-C) for a service channel where the user terminal UE is currently located (responsible for establishing/modifying/deleting the service channel) by using information such as a user terminal UE address (IP address and the like), a service channel establishment control surface network element/policy binding network element device address (device identifier), a mobile communication network access external network identifier (5G: DNN+S-NSSAI, 4G: APN) and the like, inquires an address of a policy control network element (such as PCF, PCF/PCRF, PCRF) which is currently responsible for PCC policy control of PDU session/bearer of the user terminal UE, and after obtaining the address of the corresponding policy control network element (such as PCF, PCF/PCRF and PCRF) from the inquired result, the application function network element sends a policy request to the corresponding policy control network element.

An embodiment of the first aspect of the present invention provides a method for addressing a policy control network element, referring to fig. 2, which is a flowchart of a preferred embodiment of the method for addressing a policy control network element provided in the first aspect of the present invention, where the method is applied to an application function network element, and the method includes steps S11 to S14:

Step S11, after a control plane network element establishes a service channel for a user terminal accessed to a mobile communication network, determining PCC policy management and control to be executed on the user terminal, wherein in the process of establishing the service channel, when a plurality of user plane network elements controlled by the same control plane network element multiplex user IP addresses, equipment identifiers of N control plane network elements configured by the control plane network element respectively correspond to N multiplexed user IP address pools, and N is more than 1;

Step S12, obtaining the address of the control surface network element currently responsible for the user terminal service;

Step S13, sending an address query request of a policy control network element for managing a PCC policy of a service channel currently responsible for user terminal service to a corresponding control surface network element according to the address of the control surface network element;

And step S14, receiving a query result of the address of the strategy control network element sent by the control surface network element.

In the embodiment of the invention, the control plane network element is equivalent to the service channel establishment control plane network element, and the user plane network element is equivalent to the service channel establishment user plane network element.

In combination with fig. 3, a service flow chart of an addressing method of a policy control network element is provided in an embodiment of the present invention, after a user terminal UE accesses a mobile communication network, a service channel establishment control surface network element (network functions: e.g., 5G SMF, 4G/5GSMF/PGW-C, 4G PGW) establishes a service channel for the user terminal UE (e.g., 5G PDU session, 4G bearer), in this process, the service channel establishment control surface network element starts a PCC flow, an interface (e.g., 5G PCF, 4G/5G PCF/PCRF, 4G PCRF) between the service channel establishment control surface network element and the policy control network element (e.g., 5G N7 interface, 4G/5G N7 interface, 4G Gx interface) initiates a service channel PCC session association establishment and modification flow (e.g., 5G G SM Policy Association, 4G G IP CAN Session Establishment) of the user terminal UE to the policy control network element, and the policy control network element obtains subscription rule information of the PCC from a corresponding policy database network element (e.g., 5G UDR, 4G/5G UDR/SPR, 4G terminal UE) and sends the policy control surface information to the policy control network element; a PCC policy session association is established between a service channel establishment control plane network element and a policy control network element for the current service transmission channel (such as a 5GPDU session and a 4G bearer) of a user terminal UE, through which the policy control network element can issue and update/modify PCC rules of the current service transmission channel of the user terminal UE to the service channel establishment control plane network function of the user terminal UE, the service channel establishment control plane network function of the user terminal UE cooperates with other related network elements to execute corresponding PCC rule policies, wherein on the basis of sequential existing standard specifications, the following business processing flow needs to be added:

(1) When the same service channel establishes a control plane network element (network functions: such as 5G SMF, 4G/5G SMF/PGW-C, 4G PGW-C) and controls/manages a plurality of service channels, a user plane network element (network functions: such as 5G UPF, 4G/5GUPF/PGW-U, 4G PGW-U) multiplexes user IP addresses, the service channel establishes a control plane network element corresponding to the configuration of the service channel and establishes an interface (such as 5G PCF, 4G/5G PCF/PCRF, 4G PCRF) between the control plane network element and a policy control network element (such as 5G N7 interface, 4G/5G N7 interface, 4G Rx interface) for the user plane network element, wherein the service channel establishes a device identifier (local end device identifier, such as 5G SMF device identifier (FQDN and/NF INSTANCE ID), 4G/5G SMF/PGW-C device identifier (FQDN and/NF INSTANCE ID), and the policy control network element corresponding to the policy control network element;

(2) After receiving the message returned by the policy control network element, the service channel establishment control plane network element/policy binding network element (e.g. 5G SMF/BSF, 4G/5G SMF/PGW-C/BSF, 4G PGW-C/BSF) stores the information related to the PCC policy session of the service channel (e.g. 5G PDU session, 4G bearer) of the UE, which includes the service channel establishment control plane network element device identifier for the interface between the service channel establishment control plane network element and the policy control network element, the user IP address, the mobile communication network access external network identifier (e.g. 5G dnn+s-NSSAI, 4G APN), the device address of the policy control network element (e.g. 5G PCF device identifier (FQDN and/or NF INSTANCE ID and/or IP address), 4G/5G/PCRF device identifier (FQDN and/NF INSTANCE ID/IP address), and 4G PCRF device identifier (FQDN/IP address)), as shown in table 1.

Table 1 binding data table (example)

If there is no multiplexing condition of user IP address (for example, the same service channel establishment control plane network element controls/manages a plurality of service channel establishment user plane network elements are all directly accessed to an external data network, namely, there is no NAT/PAT firewall between the service channel establishment user plane network element and the accessed external data network, and there is no condition that different mobile communication networks access to an external network identification (5G: DNN+S-NSSAI, 4G: APN) multiplexing user IP address pool), then all user IP addresses (IPv 4 addresses or IPv6 addresses) in the column of 'user IP addresses allocated to UE' will not be repeated;

If the multiple service channel establishment user plane network elements controlled/managed by the same service channel establishment control plane network element do not have the condition of multiplexing user IP addresses (for example, the multiple service channel establishment user plane network elements controlled/managed by the same service channel establishment control plane network element are all accessed to an external data network through the same NAT/PAT firewall), the parameters/columns of the service channel establishment control plane network element equipment identifiers used for interfaces between the policy control network elements are completely the same, namely the unique equipment identifiers (for example, the equipment identifiers 1) of the service channel establishment control plane network elements used for interfaces between the policy control network elements are the same;

If there is no condition that different mobile communication network access external network identification (5G: DNN+S-NSSAI, 4G: APN) multiplexes user IP address pool, the parameter/column of 'mobile communication network access external network identification' is not needed to be used as binding data;

Note 4. If there are different mobile communication network access external network identifications (5G: dnn+s-NSSAI, 4G: apn) multiplexing user IP address pool, the "mobile communication network access external network identification" parameter/column needs to be used as binding data, wherein for a 5G network with only a single network slice, the "S-NSSAI" parameter does not need to be used as binding data.

In combination with the above and as shown in fig. 3, in the embodiment of the present invention, after a service channel is established by an application function network element (e.g. NEF, AAC, SCEF, AF, etc.) in a service channel establishment control plane network element, a service channel is established for a user terminal UE accessing a mobile communication network, a PCC policy management control to be executed for the user terminal UE is determined first; in the above-mentioned description, when several user plane network elements controlled by a same control plane network element multiplex user IP addresses in the process of establishing service channels, the device identifiers of N control plane network elements configured by the control plane network element respectively correspond to N multiplexed user IP address pools, N >1, then, the application function network element acquires the address of the service channel establishment control plane network element currently responsible for user terminal service again, and according to the acquired address of the service channel establishment control plane network element, sends an address query request of the policy control network element for policy control of the service channel PCC policy currently responsible for user terminal UE service to the corresponding control plane network element, namely, queries the address of the policy control network element currently responsible for policy control of the corresponding service channel PCC policy control of user terminal UE to the service channel establishment control plane network element/policy binding network element currently responsible for user terminal UE service, so as to query the address of the obtained policy control network element currently responsible for policy control of the corresponding service channel PCC policy control of user terminal UE.

After the application function network element obtains the corresponding service channel establishment control surface network element/policy binding network element address, the application function network element sends a policy control network element address query request message to the corresponding service channel establishment control surface network element/policy binding network element address, where the query request message includes 3 parts of information, i.e. an IP address allocated by the service channel establishment control surface network element of the user terminal UE, a service channel establishment control surface network element/policy binding network element device address (device identifier), and a mobile communication network access external network identifier (5 g: dnn+s-NSSAI, 4g: apn) corresponding to the service channel of the user terminal UE. The service channel establishes a control plane network element/policy binding network element, matches the corresponding policy control network element address according to the 3-part information lookup table 1 in the query request message, and returns the matched policy control network element address to the application function network element in the query response message.

If the situation that the multiplexing user IP address does not exist in the multiple service channel establishment user plane network elements controlled/administered by the same service channel establishment control plane network element (for example, the multiple service channel establishment user plane network elements controlled/administered by the same service channel establishment control plane network element all access an external data network through the same NAT/PAT firewall), the query request message does not contain the service channel establishment control plane network element/policy binding network element equipment address (equipment identifier) ";

2, if the condition that different mobile communication networks access external network identifiers (5G: DNN+S-NSSAI, 4G: APN) multiplex user IP address pools does not exist, the query request message does not contain 'mobile communication network access external network identifiers';

if there is a condition that different mobile communication networks access external network identifiers (5G: DNN+S-NSSAI, 4G: APN) multiplex user IP address pools, the query request message needs to contain a 'mobile communication network access external network identifier', wherein for a 5G network with only a single network slice, the 'mobile communication network access external network identifier' does not need to contain an 'S-NSSAI' parameter;

Note 4, the "policy control network element address" in the query response message may contain both the "device identifier" and the "device IP address", or may contain only the "device identifier", and the application function network element may obtain the "device IP address" through other means (e.g., through DNS query, through NRF service discovery, signaling network addressing, etc.) or route the policy request message to the "device IP address".

In another preferred embodiment, the method further comprises:

And sending a policy application request to the policy control network element according to the address of the policy control network element obtained from the query result, wherein the policy application request comprises an IP address of the user terminal distributed by the control plane network element, a device identifier of the control plane network element and a mobile communication network access external network identifier corresponding to a service channel of the user terminal.

Specifically, in combination with the above embodiment and as shown in fig. 3, the application function network element queries the obtained address of the policy control network element from the service channel establishment control plane network element/policy binding network element, and sends a policy application request (such as an N5 interface signaling message of the 5G network and an Rx interface signaling message of the 4G network) to the policy control network element, where the policy application request message includes an IP address allocated by the service channel establishment control plane network element of the user terminal UE, a service channel establishment control plane network element/policy binding network element device address (device identifier), a mobile communication network access external network identifier (such as 5G: dnn+s-NSSAI, 4G: apn) corresponding to the service channel of the user terminal UE, and after the policy control network element receives the policy application request message (such as an N5 interface signaling message of the 5G network and an Rx interface signaling message of the 4G network), the corresponding PCC policy control is executed on the service channel (such as a 5G PDU session and a 4G bearer) of the corresponding user terminal UE, and the subsequent service flow complies with the existing specifications.

If the situation that the multiplexing user IP address does not exist in the multiple service channel establishment user plane network elements controlled/administered by the same service channel establishment control plane network element (for example, the multiple service channel establishment user plane network elements controlled/administered by the same service channel establishment control plane network element all access an external data network through the same NAT/PAT firewall), the policy application request message does not contain a "service channel establishment control plane network element/policy binding network element equipment address (equipment identifier)";

2, if the condition that different mobile communication networks access external network identifiers (5G: DNN+S-NSSAI, 4G: APN) multiplex user IP address pools does not exist, the policy application request message does not contain 'mobile communication network access external network identifiers';

If there is a situation that different mobile communication network access external network identifiers (5G: DNN+S-NSSAI, 4G: APN) multiplex user IP address pools, the policy application request message needs to contain a 'mobile communication network access external network identifier', wherein for a 5G network with only a single network slice, the 'mobile communication network access external network identifier' may not contain an 'S-NSSAI' parameter.

In a further preferred embodiment, the obtaining the address of the control plane network element currently responsible for the service of the user terminal includes:

Configuring local configuration information to a mapping table of equipment addresses of control plane network elements through local static data configuration, wherein the local configuration information comprises IP addresses distributed by the control plane network elements of the user terminals, the IP addresses of the user terminals after address conversion and mobile communication network access external network identifiers corresponding to service channels of the user terminals;

And inquiring a mapping table of the equipment address of the control surface network element according to the local configuration information, and acquiring the address of the control surface network element currently responsible for user terminal service.

Specifically, in connection with the above embodiment, the application function network element needs to be obtained in a certain manner, that is, an IP address (for example, an IPv4 private address or an IPv6 address allocated to the user terminal UE by the 5G SMF, 4G/5G SMF/PGW-C, or 4G PGW-C) allocated to the user terminal UE by the control plane network element allocated by the service channel (allocated to the user terminal UE in the process of setting up the service channel of the UE (for example, an N6/SGi, an SGi/Gi interface/PAT between the 5G UPF, 4G/5G UPF/PGW-U, or 4G PGW-U and the accessed internet) of the user terminal UE), a NAT/PAT firewall (for example, an IPv4 public address or an IPv6 address) between the user terminal UE service channel and the external network access identifier (for example, an NAT/PAT firewall (for example, 5G: dnn+s-NSSAI, or 4G apn) of the user terminal UE) is set up by the service channel, and the policy is optionally set up in the two manners.

In this embodiment, a first mode is adopted in which the application function network element addresses the corresponding service channel by means of local static data configuration to establish a control plane network element/policy binding network element, that is, the application function network element locally configures an IP address allocated by the service channel establishment control plane network element of the user terminal UE, an IP address converted by the NAT/PAT firewall between the service channel establishment user plane network element and the accessed external data network of the user terminal UE, a mobile communication network access external network identifier corresponding to the service channel of the user terminal UE, and configures the 3 pieces of information to a mapping table of the service channel establishment control plane network element/policy binding network element device address as shown in table 2 below.

Table 2 service channels establish a control plane network element/policy binding network element device address mapping table (example)

1, Establishing a Domain name (IP address belongs to the same NAT/PAT firewall) of an IP address section after NAT/PAT firewall conversion between a user plane network element and an accessed external data network by a service channel of user terminal UE, namely, selecting an IP Domain parameter/column;

If no service channel is established, the user plane network element accesses to the external data network through the NAT/PAT firewall, and the NAT/PAT firewall finishes the user IP address conversion, then the parameters/columns of the NAT/PAT firewall converted IP address field between the user plane network element and the accessed external data network established by the service channel of the user terminal UE, the parameters/columns of the NAT/PAT firewall converted IP address field between the user plane network element and the accessed external data network established by the service channel of the user terminal UE (the IP address belongs to the same NAT/PAT firewall) are not needed;

if there is no condition that different mobile communication networks access external network identification (5G: DNN+S-NSSAI, 4G: APN) multiplexing user IP address pool, then the parameter/column of 'mobile communication network access external network identification' is not needed;

Note 4. If there is a case that different mobile communication networks access external network identifications (5G: dnn+s-NSSAI, 4G: apn) multiplex user IP address pool, the "mobile communication network access external network identification" parameter/column needs to exist, wherein the "S-NSSAI" parameter is not needed for a 5G network having only a single network slice.

In a further preferred embodiment, the obtaining the address of the control plane network element currently responsible for the service of the user terminal includes:

Acquiring service discovery inquiry parameters, wherein the service discovery inquiry parameters comprise an IP address allocated by a control plane network element of a user terminal, a mobile communication network access external network identifier corresponding to a service channel of the user terminal and a domain name to which an IP address derived from the IP address of the user terminal after address conversion belongs;

executing a control surface network element service discovery process to a network storage function according to the service discovery query parameter, wherein the registration information of the control surface network element to the network storage function comprises an address of the control surface network element and a local terminal equipment addressing identifier;

receiving a service discovery response message sent by a network storage function based on the registration information, and acquiring an address of a control plane network element according to the service discovery response message;

and the address inquiry request comprises the IP address of the user terminal distributed by the control surface network element, the local terminal equipment addressing identifier of the control surface network element and the mobile communication network access external network identifier corresponding to the service channel of the user terminal.

Specifically, in combination with the above embodiment, addressing the corresponding service channel to establish the control plane network element/policy binding network element further includes a second mode, in which the application function network element addresses the corresponding service channel to establish the control plane network element/policy binding network element by means of dynamic query, where, for the second mode, the embodiment of the present invention also proposes 2 dynamic query modes based on a service discovery (e.g. 5G service discovery) mechanism, and the first mode is a full service discovery mode, where the implementation process is as follows:

The policy binding network element performs NF registration/NF update/NF deregistration (such as NFREGISTER/NFUpdate/NFDEREGISTER of 5G) operation on the NRF (or NRF/SCP), and the service channel establishment control surface network element/policy binding network element configures a set of code numbers (such as 5G: NF type "BSF" and corresponding NF Profile (containing NFSERVICE)) special for the policy binding network element. The service channel establishes a control plane network element/policy binding network element and immediately executes registration of the policy binding network element to NRF (or NRF/SCP) after the control plane network element/policy binding network element is on line, and executes update of the policy binding network element to NRF (or NRF/SCP) when relevant configuration changes, and executes de-registration of the policy binding network element to NRF (or NRF/SCP) when the network element is off line. The content to be included in the information that the policy binding network element registers with the NRF (or NRF/SCP) is shown in table 3 (note: 4 examples in the table apply to class 4 policy binding network elements, and only the content in 1 example exists in the registry of the same policy binding network element).

Table 3 policy binding network element registration information table (example)

If no service channel is established, the user plane network element accesses to an external data network through an NAT/PAT firewall, and the NAT/PAT firewall finishes user IP address conversion, parameters/columns of an NAT/PAT firewall-converted IP address field between the user plane network element and the accessed external data network established by the service channel of the user terminal UE and parameters/columns of an NAT/PAT firewall-converted IP address field between the user plane network element and the accessed external data network established by the service channel of the user terminal UE (the IP address belongs to the same NAT/PAT firewall) are not needed;

2, if the multiple service channel establishment user plane network elements controlled/administered by the same service channel establishment control plane network element do not have the condition of multiplexing user IP addresses (for example, the multiple service channel establishment user plane network elements controlled/administered by the same service channel establishment control plane network element are all accessed to an external data network through the same NAT/PAT firewall), the parameter/column of the 'home terminal equipment addressing identification' only has 1 value, namely the unique home terminal equipment identification of the strategy binding network element (for example, as shown in an example 1 and an example 3 in the table 3), and the application function network element can be the 'home terminal equipment addressing identification' addressing strategy binding network element and the 'equipment basic identification' addressing strategy binding network element;

If the user plane network element is in the condition of multiplexing user IP addresses (for example, the user plane network element is accessed to an external data network through N NAT/PAT firewalls by the plurality of service channel establishment control plane network element control/jurisdiction, the parameter/column of the 'home terminal equipment addressing identification' is provided with N home terminal equipment addressing identifications (for example, home terminal equipment addressing identifications 1-N) respectively corresponding to a plurality of multiplexing user IP address pools, and the application function network element is bound with the 'home terminal equipment addressing identification' addressing strategy;

if there is no condition that different mobile communication network access external network identification (5G: DNN+S-NSSAI) multiplexes user IP address pool, then the parameter/column of "mobile communication network access external network identification" is not needed;

Note 5. If there is a case where different mobile communication network access external network identifications (5G: dnn+s-NSSAI) multiplex user IP address pools, the "mobile communication network access external network identifications" parameter/column need exist, where the "S-NSSAI" parameter is not needed for a 5G network where only a single network slice exists.

In the above embodiment, the service path establishment control plane network element/policy binding network element has stored the PCC policy session association information of the service transmission path of the user terminal UE, and includes the "home device address identifier" of the policy binding network element in table 3, as shown in table 4.

Table 4 policy binding network element binding data table (example)

If the multiple service channels of the same service channel establishment control plane network element control/administration establish the user plane network element and do not have the condition of multiplexing user IP address (for example, the multiple service channels of the same service channel establishment control plane network element control/administration establish the user plane network element and all access to the external data network through the same NAT/PAT firewall), the parameter/column of the service channel establishment control plane network element equipment identification used for the interface between the strategy control network elements is completely the same, namely the unique equipment identification (for example, the equipment identification 1) of the service channel establishment control plane network element used for the interface between the strategy control network elements, and the parameter/column of the strategy binding network element local end equipment addressing identification is only 1, namely the unique local end equipment identification of the strategy binding network element (for example, the example 1 and the example 3 in the table 3) is provided, and the application function network element can address the strategy binding network element by the strategy binding network element local end equipment addressing identification and the strategy binding network element basic equipment identification addressing the strategy binding network element;

If the same service channel establishes control plane network element control/jurisdiction multiple service channel establishes user plane network element has multiplexing user IP address (e.g. the same service channel establishes control plane network element control/jurisdiction multiple service channel establishes user plane network element access to external data network through N NAT/PAT firewalls), then the parameters/columns of the service channel establishes control plane network element device identification for interface with the policy control network element should have multiple service channel establishes control plane network element device identifications (e.g. device identifications 1-N) for interface with the policy control network element respectively corresponding to multiple multiplexing user IP address pools, and the parameters/columns of the policy binding network element local device addressing identification should have N policy binding network element local device addressing identifications (e.g. policy binding network element local device addressing identifications 1-N) respectively corresponding to multiple multiplexing user IP address pools, and the application function network element needs to address the policy binding network element with the policy binding network element local device addressing identification).

The application function network element needs to obtain the 3 parts of information of the IP address allocated by the control plane network element established by the service channel of the user terminal UE, the IP address converted by the NAT/PAT firewall between the user plane network element established by the service channel of the user terminal UE and the accessed external data network, and the external network identifier accessed by the mobile communication network corresponding to the service channel of the user terminal UE in a certain mode. The application function network element needs to derive the domain name to which the IP address belongs (such as NAT/PAT firewall to which the IP address belongs) according to the IP address converted by the NAT/PAT firewall between the user plane network element and the accessed external data network established by the service channel of the user terminal UE, namely, the application function network element needs to pre-configure the mapping table shown in the table 5.

Table 5 application function network element IP address and IP address home domain mapping table (example)

The application function network element shall use the IP address allocated by the control plane network element established by the service channel of the user terminal UE, the mobile communication network access external network identifier corresponding to the service channel of the user terminal UE, the IP address converted by the NAT/PAT firewall between the user plane network element established by the service channel of the user terminal UE and the accessed external data network and mapped by the preconfigured table 5 to derive the domain name to which the IP address belongs, and the 3 parts of information are used as the service discovery query parameters, and the policy binding network element service discovery process is executed to the NRF (or NRF/SCP). According to the registration information (content in table 3) of the policy binding network element in the above embodiment, the NRF (or NRF/SCP) retrieves the corresponding policy binding network element address, and provides the information of the policy binding network element in the service discovery response message, including the device identifier and IP address of the policy binding network element, and the device addressing identifier of the policy binding network element home terminal.

If the situation that the multiplexing user IP address does not exist in the user plane network element is established by a plurality of service channel establishment control plane network elements controlled/managed by the same service channel establishment control plane network element (for example, the user plane network elements are all accessed to an external data network through the same NAT/PAT firewall by the plurality of service channel establishment control plane network elements controlled/managed by the same service channel establishment control plane network element), the 'local terminal equipment addressing identification' of the policy binding network element can not be contained in the service discovery response message;

And 2, if the multiplexing user IP address exists in the user plane network elements established by the multiple service channels controlled by the same service channel establishment control plane network element (for example, the user plane network elements established by the multiple service channels controlled by the same service channel establishment control plane network element access to the external data network through N NAT/PAT firewalls), the service discovery response message must contain the 'local equipment addressing identifier' of the policy binding network element.

Correspondingly, after the application function network element obtains the policy binding network element address, the application function network element sends a policy control network element address query request message to the corresponding policy binding network element address, wherein the query request message needs to contain 3 parts of information, namely an IP address allocated by a service channel establishment control surface network element of the user terminal UE, a policy binding network element 'home terminal equipment addressing identifier', a mobile communication network access external network identifier (such as 5G: DNN+S-NSSAI) corresponding to the service channel of the user terminal UE. The service channel establishment control surface network element/policy binding network element matches the corresponding policy control network element address and the service channel establishment control surface network element device identifier (simply referred to as service channel establishment control surface network element device identifier) for the interface between the corresponding policy control network element address and the policy control network element according to the 3-part information lookup table 4 in the query request message, and returns the matched policy control network element address and the service channel establishment control surface network element device identifier to the application function network element in the query response message.

If the multiple service channel establishment user plane network elements controlled/administered by the same service channel establishment control plane network element do not have the condition of multiplexing user IP addresses (for example, the multiple service channel establishment user plane network elements controlled/administered by the same service channel establishment control plane network element are all accessed to an external data network through the same NAT/PAT firewall), the query request message may not contain the local equipment addressing identifier of the policy binding network element, and the query response message may not contain the service channel establishment control plane network element equipment identifier;

If the multiple service channel establishment user plane network elements controlled/administered by the same service channel establishment control plane network element have the condition of multiplexing user IP addresses (for example, the multiple service channel establishment user plane network elements controlled/administered by the same service channel establishment control plane network element access an external data network through N NAT/PAT firewalls), the query request message must contain the 'home terminal equipment addressing identifier' of the policy binding network element and the query response message must contain the service channel establishment control plane network element equipment identifier;

If the condition that different mobile communication networks access external network identifiers (such as 5G: DNN+S-NSSAI) multiplex user IP address pools does not exist, the query request message does not contain 'mobile communication network access external network identifiers';

If there is a condition that different mobile communication network access external network identifiers (such as 5G: DNN+S-NSSAI) multiplex user IP address pools, the query request message needs to contain 'mobile communication network access external network identifiers', wherein for a 5G network with only a single network slice, the 'mobile communication network access external network identifier' does not need to contain 'S-NSSAI' parameters;

note 5, the "policy control network element address" in the query response message may contain both the "device identifier" and the "device IP address", or may contain only the "device identifier", and the application function network element may obtain the "device IP address" through other means (e.g., through DNS query, through NRF service discovery, signaling network addressing, etc.) or route the policy request message to the "device IP address".

In a further preferred embodiment, the obtaining the address of the control plane network element currently responsible for the service of the user terminal includes:

Configuring local configuration information to a mapping table of equipment addresses of control plane network elements through local static data configuration, wherein the local configuration information comprises IP addresses distributed by the control plane network elements of the user terminals, the IP addresses of the user terminals after address conversion and mobile communication network access external network identifiers corresponding to service channels of the user terminals;

Inquiring a mapping table of the equipment address of the control plane network element according to the local configuration information, and acquiring the address of the control plane network element currently responsible for user terminal service and the local terminal equipment addressing identification;

and the address inquiry request comprises the IP address of the user terminal distributed by the control surface network element, the local terminal equipment addressing identifier of the control surface network element and the mobile communication network access external network identifier corresponding to the service channel of the user terminal.

Specifically, in combination with the above embodiment, the second dynamic query mode based on the service discovery mechanism is adopted in the present embodiment, and the implementation process is as follows, where the service channel establishes a control plane network element/policy binding network element IP address service discovery mode.

The policy binding network element performs NF registration/NF update/NF deregistration (e.g., NFREGISTER/NFUpdate/NFDEREGISTER of 5G) operations with the NRF (or NRF/SCP). The service channel establishes a control plane network element/policy binding network element to configure a set of code numbers (e.g., 5G: NF type "BSF" and corresponding NF Profile (including NFSERVICE)) for the policy binding network element. The service channel establishes a control plane network element/policy binding network element and immediately executes registration of the policy binding network element to NRF (or NRF/SCP) after the control plane network element/policy binding network element is on line, and executes update of the policy binding network element to NRF (or NRF/SCP) when relevant configuration changes, and executes de-registration of the policy binding network element to NRF (or NRF/SCP) when the network element is off line. The content to be included in the information that the policy binding network element registers with the NRF (or NRF/SCP) is shown in table 6 (note: 2 examples in the table apply to class 2 policy binding network elements, and only the content in 1 example exists in the registry of the same policy binding network element).

Table 6 policy binding network element registration information table (example)

If the multiple service channels of the same service channel establishment control plane network element control/administration establish the user plane network element and do not have the condition of multiplexing user IP address (for example, the multiple service channels of the same service channel establishment control plane network element control/administration establish the user plane network element and all access the external data network through the same NAT/PAT firewall), the parameter/column of the 'home terminal equipment addressing identification' only has 1 value, namely the unique home terminal equipment identification of the strategy binding network element (for example, as shown in the example 1 in the table 6), and the application function network element can address the strategy binding network element by the 'home terminal equipment addressing identification', or the 'equipment basic identification' addressing strategy binding network element;

2, if the multiple service channel establishment user plane network elements controlled/managed by the same service channel establishment control plane network element have the condition of multiplexing user IP addresses (for example, the multiple service channel establishment user plane network elements controlled/managed by the same service channel establishment control plane network element access to an external data network through N NAT/PAT firewalls), the service channel establishment control plane network element/policy binding network element should be configured into N policy binding network elements (for example, policy binding network elements 1-1 to 1-N)), which respectively correspond to N multiplexed user IP address pools, as shown in example 2 in Table 6, and the application function network element needs to address the policy binding network element with a corresponding 'home terminal equipment addressing identifier' or a corresponding 'equipment basic identifier'.

In the above embodiment, the service channel establishment control plane network element/policy binding network element has stored the information related to PCC policy session of the service transmission channel of the user terminal UE, and includes the "home device address identifier" of the policy binding network element in table 6, as shown in table 4.

The application function network element addresses the corresponding service channel to establish a control surface network element/policy binding network element in a local static data configuration mode, namely the application function network element locally configures a mapping table of the IP address distributed by the service channel establishment control surface network element of the user terminal UE, the IP address converted by the NAT/PAT firewall between the service channel establishment user surface network element and the accessed external data network of the user terminal UE, and the 3 parts of information of the mobile communication network access external network identifier corresponding to the service channel of the user terminal UE to the service channel establishment control surface network element/policy binding network element equipment address, as shown in a table 7.

Table 7 service channels establish control plane network element/policy binding network element device address mapping table (example)

1, Establishing a Domain name (IP address belongs to the same NAT/PAT firewall) of an IP address section after NAT/PAT firewall conversion between a user plane network element and an accessed external data network by a service channel of user terminal UE, namely, selecting an IP Domain parameter/column;

If no service channel is established, the user plane network element accesses to the external data network through the NAT/PAT firewall, and the NAT/PAT firewall finishes the user IP address conversion, then the parameters/columns of the NAT/PAT firewall converted IP address field between the user plane network element and the accessed external data network established by the service channel of the user terminal UE, the parameters/columns of the NAT/PAT firewall converted IP address field between the user plane network element and the accessed external data network established by the service channel of the user terminal UE (the IP address belongs to the same NAT/PAT firewall) are not needed;

if there is no condition that different mobile communication networks access external network identification (5G: DNN+S-NSSAI, 4G: APN) multiplexing user IP address pool, then the parameter/column of 'mobile communication network access external network identification' is not needed;

Note 4. If there is a case that different mobile communication networks access external network identifications (5G: dnn+s-NSSAI, 4G: apn) multiplex user IP address pool, the "mobile communication network access external network identification" parameter/column needs to exist, wherein the "S-NSSAI" parameter is not needed for a 5G network having only a single network slice.

The application function network element should execute the policy binding network element service discovery procedure to the NRF (or NRF/SCP) with the policy binding network element device identifier mapped by the preconfigured table 7 as the service discovery query parameter. The NRF (or NRF/SCP) retrieves the corresponding policy binding element address according to the registration information (content in table 6) of the policy binding element in the above embodiment, and provides the information of the policy binding element in the service discovery response message, including the device IP address of the policy binding element.

Correspondingly, after the application function network element obtains the policy binding network element address, the application function network element sends a policy control network element address query request message to the corresponding policy binding network element address, wherein the query request message needs to contain 3 parts of information, namely an IP address allocated by a service channel establishment control surface network element of the user terminal UE, a policy binding network element 'home terminal equipment addressing identifier', a mobile communication network access external network identifier (such as 5G: DNN+S-NSSAI) corresponding to the service channel of the user terminal UE. The service channel establishment control surface network element/policy binding network element matches the corresponding policy control network element address and the service channel establishment control surface network element equipment identifier (simply referred to as service channel establishment control surface network element equipment identifier) for the interface between the corresponding policy control network element and the policy control network element according to the 3-part information lookup table 4 in the query request message, and returns the matched policy control network element address to the application function network element in the query response message.

If there is no condition that different mobile communication networks access external network identification (such as 5G: DNN+S-NSSAI) multiplex user IP address pool, then 'mobile communication network access external network identification' is not contained in the inquiry request message;

If there is a condition that different mobile communication network access external network identifiers (such as 5G: DNN+S-NSSAI) multiplex user IP address pools, the query request message needs to contain 'mobile communication network access external network identifiers', wherein for a 5G network with only a single network slice, the 'mobile communication network access external network identifier' does not need to contain 'S-NSSAI' parameters;

Note 3, the "policy control network element address" in the query response message may contain both the "device identifier" and the "device IP address", or may contain only the "device identifier", and the application function network element may obtain the "device IP address" through other manners (e.g., through DNS query, through NRF service discovery, through signaling network addressing, etc.) or route the policy request message to the "device IP address".

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present invention, for a service scenario in which a user plane network element multiplexes user IP addresses for a plurality of service channel setup control plane network elements controlled/administered by the same service channel setup control plane network element (e.g., a plurality of service channel setup user plane network elements controlled/administered access to an external data network through N NAT/PAT firewalls), N service channel setup control plane network elements/policy binding network elements (e.g., 5G SMF/BSF, 4G/5G SMF/PGW-C/BSF, 4G PGW-C/BSF) are configured, and the device identifiers of the service channel setup control plane network elements used for interfaces between the service channel setup control plane network elements and the policy control network elements are respectively corresponding to N multiplexed user IP address pools, and are used as an important component of policy binding information to be applied to interfaces between the service channel setup control plane network elements and the policy control network elements (e.g., 5G N7 interfaces, 4G/5GN7 interfaces, 4G/5 Rx interfaces), application function network elements and the policy control plane network elements (e.g., 5 g., 5G/5G interface/Rx interface, 5G interface) and application function network element interface (e.g., 5G/30 interface).

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present invention, for the service scenario that different mobile communication networks access external network identifiers (5G: dnn+s-NSSAI, 4G: apn) multiplex the user IP address pool, the mobile communication network access external network identifiers (5G: dnn+s-NSSAI, 4G: apn) are used as an important component of policy binding information, and are applied to interfaces between the application function network element and the service channel establishment control plane network element/policy binding network element, and interfaces between the application function network element and the policy control network element (e.g., 5G N5/N30 interface, 4G Rx interface).

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present invention, 2 technical implementation manners of setting up a control plane network element/policy binding network element by addressing a corresponding service channel by an application function network element in a dynamic query manner include:

(1) The service channel establishes a control plane network element/a policy binding network element as a policy binding network element to execute NF registration/NF update/NF deregistration to an NRF (or NRF/SCP), and the service channel establishes policy binding information stored by the control plane network element/the policy binding network element;

(2) The NRF (or NRF/SCP) matches the strategy binding network element according to the strategy binding network element registration information and sends the information contained in the strategy binding network element service discovery response message.

The addressing method of the policy control network element is suitable for all the existing service scenes (applicable to 5G networks, 4G networks and 4G/5G converged core networks, and the technical proposal provided by the embodiment of the invention can be used or referred to in the follow-up 6G mobile communication network and future generation mobile communication network), solves the technical problems that (1) the policy control network element is addressed by the application function network element under the service scene of multiplexing the same IP address (IPv 4 private address or IPv6 address) by different DNN/APN services of the same/different user terminal UE, (2) the control surface network element (such as SMF, SMF/PGW-C, PGW-C) is established by the service channels of the same service channel (such as UPF, UPF/PGW-U, PGW-U) under the service scene of the same DNN/APN multiplexing IPv4 private address pool, (3) the policy binding network element and the policy binding information stored by the same/different user terminal UE are simplified, and the policy control network element is applied by the application function network element, and the policy control network element is provided by the application function network element, and the policy control network element is automatically configured.

An embodiment of the second aspect of the present invention provides a method for addressing a policy control network element, referring to fig. 4, which is a flowchart of a preferred embodiment of the method for addressing a policy control network element provided in the second aspect of the present invention, where the method is applied to a control plane network element, and the method includes steps S21 to S25:

Step S21, after the user terminal is accessed to the mobile communication network, the user terminal is distributed with user IP addresses, and PCC flow is initiated to the strategy control network element by the equipment identifiers of the control surface network elements which are used for interfaces between the strategy control network elements and correspond to the user IP address pools, wherein when a plurality of user surface network elements controlled by the same control surface network element multiplex the user IP addresses, the equipment identifiers of N control surface network elements configured by the control surface network element respectively correspond to N multiplexed user IP address pools, and N is more than 1;

Step S22, receiving PCC policy rules issued by a policy control network element and storing information related to PCC policy session of a service channel of a user terminal, wherein the information comprises equipment identification of a control surface network element, a user IP address, equipment identification of a mobile communication network access external network identification and the policy control network element and binding data between the equipment identification and the equipment identification;

Step S23, after the application function network element obtains the address of the control plane network element, receiving an address query request of a policy control network element which is sent by the application function network element and is currently responsible for the policy control of a service channel PCC of user terminal service;

Step S24, inquiring the binding data according to the address inquiring request to acquire the address of the strategy control network element;

And step S25, sending the query result of the address of the strategy control network element to the application function network element.

In a further preferred embodiment, the method further comprises:

The method comprises the steps of receiving a PCC management and control strategy issued by a strategy control network element and executing the PCC management and control strategy, wherein the PCC management and control strategy is a PCC rule strategy executed on a service channel of a user terminal after the strategy control network element receives a strategy application request sent by an application function network element, and the strategy application request comprises an IP address distributed by a control surface network element of the user terminal, a device identifier of the control surface network element and a mobile communication network access external network identifier corresponding to the service channel of the user terminal.

It should be noted that, in the foregoing first embodiment, the specific implementation manner and the technical effects implemented by the control plane network element in the addressing method of the policy control network element provided by the second embodiment of the present invention have been described in the foregoing first embodiment, which is not repeated herein.

An embodiment of the third aspect of the present invention further provides an application function network element, configured to implement the addressing method of the policy control network element according to any one of the embodiments of the first aspect, as shown in fig. 5, which is a structural block diagram of a preferred embodiment of the application function network element provided by the third aspect of the present invention, where the application function network element includes:

The PCC policy management and control determining module 11 is configured to determine PCC policy management and control to be executed on a user terminal after the control plane network element establishes a service channel for the user terminal accessing the mobile communication network, wherein, in the process of establishing the service channel, when a plurality of user plane network elements controlled by the same control plane network element multiplex user IP addresses, device identifiers of N control plane network elements configured by the control plane network element respectively correspond to N multiplexed user IP address pools, and N is greater than 1;

a first address obtaining module 12, configured to obtain an address of a control plane network element currently responsible for a user terminal service;

A first sending module 13, configured to send, to a corresponding control plane network element according to an address of the control plane network element, an address query request for a policy control network element currently responsible for service channel PCC policy management of a user terminal service;

the first receiving module 14 is configured to receive a query result of an address of the policy control network element sent by the control plane network element.

Preferably, the application function network element further includes:

And the second sending module is used for sending a policy application request to the policy control network element according to the address of the policy control network element obtained from the query result, wherein the policy application request comprises the IP address of the user terminal distributed by the control surface network element, the equipment identifier of the control surface network element and the mobile communication network access external network identifier corresponding to the service channel of the user terminal.

Preferably, the first address acquisition module 12 includes a first address acquisition unit for:

Configuring local configuration information to a mapping table of equipment addresses of control plane network elements through local static data configuration, wherein the local configuration information comprises IP addresses distributed by the control plane network elements of the user terminals, the IP addresses of the user terminals after address conversion and mobile communication network access external network identifiers corresponding to service channels of the user terminals;

And inquiring a mapping table of the equipment address of the control surface network element according to the local configuration information, and acquiring the address of the control surface network element currently responsible for user terminal service.

Preferably, the first address acquisition module 12 includes a second address acquisition unit for:

Acquiring service discovery inquiry parameters, wherein the service discovery inquiry parameters comprise an IP address allocated by a control plane network element of a user terminal, a mobile communication network access external network identifier corresponding to a service channel of the user terminal and a domain name to which an IP address derived from the IP address of the user terminal after address conversion belongs;

executing a control surface network element service discovery process to a network storage function according to the service discovery query parameter, wherein the registration information of the control surface network element to the network storage function comprises an address of the control surface network element and a local terminal equipment addressing identifier;

receiving a service discovery response message sent by a network storage function based on the registration information, and acquiring an address of a control plane network element according to the service discovery response message;

and the address inquiry request comprises the IP address of the user terminal distributed by the control surface network element, the local terminal equipment addressing identifier of the control surface network element and the mobile communication network access external network identifier corresponding to the service channel of the user terminal.

Preferably, the first address acquisition module 12 includes a third address acquisition unit for:

Configuring local configuration information to a mapping table of equipment addresses of control plane network elements through local static data configuration, wherein the local configuration information comprises IP addresses distributed by the control plane network elements of the user terminals, the IP addresses of the user terminals after address conversion and mobile communication network access external network identifiers corresponding to service channels of the user terminals;

Inquiring a mapping table of the equipment address of the control plane network element according to the local configuration information, and acquiring the address of the control plane network element currently responsible for user terminal service and the local terminal equipment addressing identification;

and the address inquiry request comprises the IP address of the user terminal distributed by the control surface network element, the local terminal equipment addressing identifier of the control surface network element and the mobile communication network access external network identifier corresponding to the service channel of the user terminal.

It should be noted that, the application function network element provided by the third aspect of the present invention can implement all the flows of the addressing method of the policy control network element described in any one of the embodiments of the first aspect, and the functions and the implemented technical effects of each module and unit in the application function network element are respectively the same as the functions and the implemented technical effects of the addressing method of the policy control network element described in the foregoing embodiment, which are not described herein again.

An embodiment of the fourth aspect of the present invention further provides a control plane network element, for implementing the addressing method of the policy control network element according to any one of the embodiments of the second aspect, as shown in fig. 6, which is a block diagram of a preferred embodiment of the control plane network element provided by the fourth aspect of the present invention, where the control plane network element includes:

The PCC flow initiating module 21 is used for distributing user IP addresses for the user terminals after the user terminals are accessed to the mobile communication network, and initiating PCC flow to the policy control network elements by using the equipment identifiers of the control surface network elements which are used for interfaces between the policy control network elements and correspond to the user IP address pools, wherein when a plurality of user surface network elements controlled by the same control surface network element multiplex the user IP addresses, the equipment identifiers of N control surface network elements configured by the control surface network elements respectively correspond to N multiplexed user IP address pools, and N is more than 1;

The PCC associated information storage module 22 is configured to receive a PCC policy rule issued by a policy control network element, and store information associated with a PCC policy session of a service channel of a user terminal, where the information includes a device identifier of a control plane network element, a user IP address, a device identifier of a mobile communication network access external network element, and a policy control network element, and binding data between the device identifier and the device identifier;

A first receiving module 23, configured to receive, after the application function network element obtains the address of the control plane network element, an address query request 24 of a policy control network element that is sent by the application function network element and is currently responsible for service channel PCC policy management of the user terminal service;

The first address acquisition module is used for inquiring the binding data according to the address inquiry request and acquiring the address of the strategy control network element;

the first sending module 25 is configured to send a query result of the address of the policy control network element to the application function network element.

Preferably, the control plane network element further comprises:

The system comprises a policy control network element, a second receiving module, a policy control module and a control module, wherein the policy control network element is used for receiving a policy control policy issued by the policy control network element and executing the policy control policy, the policy control policy is a PCC rule policy executed on a service channel of a user terminal after receiving a policy application request sent by the application function network element, and the policy application request comprises an IP address of the user terminal and assigned by the control surface network element, a device identifier of the control surface network element and a mobile communication network access external network identifier corresponding to the service channel of the user terminal.

It should be noted that, the control plane network element provided by the embodiment of the present invention can implement all the flows of the addressing method of the policy control network element described in any one of the embodiments of the second aspect, and the actions and implemented technical effects of each module in the control plane network element are respectively the same as the actions and implemented technical effects of the addressing method of the policy control network element described in the embodiment, which are not described herein again.

An embodiment of the fifth aspect of the present invention further provides a computer readable storage medium, where the computer readable storage medium includes a stored computer program, where the computer program controls, when running, a device where the computer readable storage medium is located to execute the addressing method of the policy control network element according to any one of the embodiments of the first aspect and the second aspect.

An embodiment of the sixth aspect of the present invention further provides an application function network element, the application function network element comprising a processor, a memory and a computer program stored in the memory and configured to be executed by the processor, the processor implementing the addressing method of the policy control network element according to any of the embodiments of the first aspect when the computer program is executed.

An embodiment of the seventh aspect of the present invention further provides a control plane network element, the control plane network element comprising a processor, a memory and a computer program stored in the memory and configured to be executed by the processor, the processor implementing the addressing method of the policy control network element according to any of the embodiments of the second aspect when the computer program is executed.

Preferably, the computer program may be divided into one or more modules/units (e.g. computer program 1, computer program 2, etc.) which are stored in the memory and executed by the processor to complete the embodiments of the present invention. The one or more modules/units may be a series of computer program instruction segments capable of performing a specific function for describing the execution of the computer program in the application function network element/the control plane network element.

The Processor may be a central processing unit (Central Processing Unit, CPU), other general purpose Processor, digital signal Processor (DIGITAL SIGNAL Processor, DSP), application SPECIFIC INTEGRATED Circuit (ASIC), field-Programmable gate array (Field-Programmable GATE ARRAY, FPGA) or other Programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic device, discrete hardware components, etc., or the general purpose Processor may be a microprocessor, or the Processor may be any conventional Processor, which is a control center of the Application function network element/the control plane network element, and connects the various interfaces and lines to the various parts of the Application function network element/the control plane network element.

The memory mainly includes a program storage area, which may store an operating system, an application program required for at least one function, and the like, and a data storage area, which may store related data and the like. In addition, the memory may be a high-speed random access memory, a nonvolatile memory such as a plug-in hard disk, a smart memory card (SMART MEDIA CARD, SMC), a Secure Digital (SD) card, a flash memory card (FLASH CARD), or the like, or the memory may be other volatile solid-state memory devices.

In summary, the addressing method, the application function network element, the control plane network element and the computer readable storage medium of the policy control network element provided by the embodiment of the invention have the following advantages compared with the existing 3GPP international standard BSF scheme (including an independent BSF scheme, a combined network element scheme of BSF and PCF, UDR, NRF, SMF, etc.):

(1) The policy binding network element and the service channel are comprehensively arranged (tightly coupled), the generation and the storage of the policy binding information are completed in the normal service flow of the interface between the service channel establishment control surface network element/the policy binding network element and the policy control network element, the processing capacity of the policy control network element is not required to be additionally occupied, and the processing capacity and the storage resource of the service channel establishment control surface network element/the policy binding network element are not required to be additionally occupied. (note: only in the technical scheme of applying the functional network element to dynamically address the policy binding network element, add 1 binding information parameter and the policy binding network element carries out NF registration/NF updating/NF deregistering overhead to NRF (or NRF/SCP)) so as to realize that when the service demand proportion of N7/N30/Rx interface is lower, the invention also does not cause the waste of hardware and software resources and investment of the policy control network element and the service channel establishment control surface network element/policy binding network element;

(2) The service channel establishment control plane network element/policy binding network element completes data configuration according to the condition that the user plane network element multiplexes the user IP address according to a plurality of service channels controlled/managed by the service channel establishment control plane network element/policy binding network element;

(3) Through the flexible combination of DNN and S-NSSAI, the service scene of different DNN multiplexing IP addresses of the same/different users under the same network slice (the same S-NSSAI) can be simultaneously satisfied;

(4) The service scene (such as ULCL scene of 5G SA) of IPv6 address NAT/PAT conversion can be satisfied;

(5) The network architecture and the business flow are more concise;

(6) The 4G service scene can be satisfied.

Compared with the traditional Chinese mobile BSF scheme (SMF built-in BSF function scheme), the method has the following advantages:

(1) By introducing a method that a mobile communication network accesses an external network identifier (5G: DNN+S-NSSAI, 4G: APN) into information sent by a policy-binding query information by an application function network element to a policy control network element, service scenes of multiplexing different (DNN+S-NSSAI)/APN services of the same/different users with the same IP address (IPv 4 private address or IPv6 address) can be satisfied;

(2) The method of configuring N service channel establishment control surface network element equipment identifiers for interfaces between the service channel establishment control surface network element and the strategy control network element through the service channel control surface network element/strategy binding network element respectively corresponds to N multiplexing user IP address pools meets the service scene that a plurality of service channel establishment user surface network elements controlled/administered by the same service channel establishment control surface network element multiplexing user IP addresses;

(3) The 2 technical implementation methods for the application function network element to address the corresponding service channel by a dynamic query mode to establish the control plane network element/policy binding network element are provided, and the data configuration of the application function network element is simplified.

The foregoing is merely a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and it should be noted that modifications and variations could be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the technical principles of the present invention, and such modifications and variations should also be regarded as being within the scope of the invention.

Claims (12)

1. A method for addressing a policy controlled network element, applied to an application function network element, comprising:

Determining PCC policy management and control to be executed on a user terminal after a control plane network element establishes a service channel for the user terminal accessed to a mobile communication network, wherein in the process of establishing the service channel, when a plurality of user plane network elements controlled by the same control plane network element multiplex user IP addresses, equipment identifiers of N control plane network elements configured by the control plane network element respectively correspond to N multiplexed user IP address pools, and N is more than 1;

Acquiring an address of a control plane network element currently responsible for user terminal service;

sending an address inquiry request of a strategy control network element for managing a PCC strategy of a service channel currently responsible for user terminal service to a corresponding control surface network element according to the address of the control surface network element;

and receiving the query result of the address of the strategy control network element sent by the control surface network element.

2. The method of addressing a policy controlled network element according to claim 1, wherein said method further comprises:

And sending a policy application request to the policy control network element according to the address of the policy control network element obtained from the query result, wherein the policy application request comprises an IP address of the user terminal distributed by the control plane network element, a device identifier of the control plane network element and a mobile communication network access external network identifier corresponding to a service channel of the user terminal.

3. The method for addressing a policy control element according to claim 1, wherein said obtaining an address of a control plane element currently responsible for user terminal services comprises:

Configuring local configuration information to a mapping table of equipment addresses of control plane network elements through local static data configuration, wherein the local configuration information comprises IP addresses distributed by the control plane network elements of the user terminals, the IP addresses of the user terminals after address conversion and mobile communication network access external network identifiers corresponding to service channels of the user terminals;

And inquiring a mapping table of the equipment address of the control surface network element according to the local configuration information, and acquiring the address of the control surface network element currently responsible for user terminal service.

4. The method for addressing a policy control element according to claim 1, wherein said obtaining an address of a control plane element currently responsible for user terminal services comprises:

Acquiring service discovery inquiry parameters, wherein the service discovery inquiry parameters comprise an IP address allocated by a control plane network element of a user terminal, a mobile communication network access external network identifier corresponding to a service channel of the user terminal and a domain name to which an IP address derived from the IP address of the user terminal after address conversion belongs;

executing a control surface network element service discovery process to a network storage function according to the service discovery query parameter, wherein the registration information of the control surface network element to the network storage function comprises an address of the control surface network element and a local terminal equipment addressing identifier;

receiving a service discovery response message sent by a network storage function based on the registration information, and acquiring an address of a control plane network element according to the service discovery response message;

and the address inquiry request comprises the IP address of the user terminal distributed by the control surface network element, the local terminal equipment addressing identifier of the control surface network element and the mobile communication network access external network identifier corresponding to the service channel of the user terminal.

5. The method for addressing a policy control element according to claim 1, wherein said obtaining an address of a control plane element currently responsible for user terminal services comprises:

Configuring local configuration information to a mapping table of equipment addresses of control plane network elements through local static data configuration, wherein the local configuration information comprises IP addresses distributed by the control plane network elements of the user terminals, the IP addresses of the user terminals after address conversion and mobile communication network access external network identifiers corresponding to service channels of the user terminals;

Inquiring a mapping table of the equipment address of the control plane network element according to the local configuration information, and acquiring the address of the control plane network element currently responsible for user terminal service and the local terminal equipment addressing identification;

and the address inquiry request comprises the IP address of the user terminal distributed by the control surface network element, the local terminal equipment addressing identifier of the control surface network element and the mobile communication network access external network identifier corresponding to the service channel of the user terminal.

6. A method for addressing a policy controlled network element, applied to a control plane network element, comprising:

after a user terminal accesses a mobile communication network, distributing a user IP address for the user terminal, and initiating a PCC process to a strategy control network element by using equipment identifiers of control surface network elements which are used for interfaces between the strategy control network elements and correspond to a user IP address pool, wherein when a plurality of user surface network elements controlled by the same control surface network element multiplex the user IP address, the equipment identifiers of N control surface network elements configured by the control surface network element respectively correspond to N multiplexed user IP address pools, and N is more than 1;

receiving PCC policy rules issued by a policy control network element, and storing information related to PCC policy session of a service channel of a user terminal, wherein the information comprises a device identifier of a control plane network element, a user IP address, a device identifier of a mobile communication network access external network identifier and the policy control network element and binding data between the device identifier and the device identifier;

After the application function network element obtains the address of the control surface network element, receiving an address query request of a policy control network element which is sent by the application function network element and is used for controlling a service channel PCC policy of the user terminal service at present;

inquiring the binding data according to the address inquiring request to obtain the address of the strategy control network element;

and sending the query result of the address of the strategy control network element to the application function network element.

7. The method of addressing a policy controlled network element according to claim 6, wherein said method further comprises:

The method comprises the steps of receiving a PCC management and control strategy issued by a strategy control network element and executing the PCC management and control strategy, wherein the PCC management and control strategy is a PCC rule strategy executed on a service channel of a user terminal after the strategy control network element receives a strategy application request sent by an application function network element, and the strategy application request comprises an IP address distributed by a control surface network element of the user terminal, a device identifier of the control surface network element and a mobile communication network access external network identifier corresponding to the service channel of the user terminal.

8. An application function network element, characterized in that it is configured to implement the policy control network element addressing method according to any of claims 1-5, where the application function network element includes:

The system comprises a PCC policy management and control determining module, a control plane network element and a control plane network element, wherein the PCC policy management and control determining module is used for determining PCC policy management and control to be executed on a user terminal after the control plane network element establishes a service channel for the user terminal accessed to a mobile communication network, and in the process of establishing the service channel, when a plurality of user plane network elements controlled by the same control plane network element multiplex user IP addresses, equipment identifiers of N control plane network elements configured by the control plane network element respectively correspond to N multiplexed user IP address pools, wherein N is more than 1;

The first address acquisition module is used for acquiring the address of a control plane network element currently responsible for user terminal service;

A first sending module, configured to send, to a corresponding control plane network element according to an address of the control plane network element, an address query request of a policy control network element for controlling a service channel PCC policy currently responsible for user terminal service;

The first receiving module is used for receiving the query result of the address of the policy control network element sent by the control plane network element.

9. A control plane element for implementing the addressing method of a policy control element according to claim 6 or 7, the control plane element comprising:

The PCC flow initiating module is used for distributing user IP addresses for the user terminals after the user terminals are accessed to the mobile communication network, and initiating PCC flow to the policy control network elements by using the equipment identifiers of the control surface network elements which are used for interfaces between the policy control network elements and correspond to the user IP address pools, wherein when a plurality of user surface network elements controlled by the same control surface network element multiplex the user IP addresses, the equipment identifiers of N control surface network elements configured by the control surface network elements respectively correspond to N multiplexed user IP address pools, and N is more than 1;

The PCC associated information storage module is used for receiving PCC policy rules issued by the policy control network element and storing PCC policy session associated information of a service channel of the user terminal, wherein the information comprises a device identifier of a control plane network element, a user IP address, a device identifier of a mobile communication network access external network element and the policy control network element and binding data between the device identifier and the device identifier;

the first receiving module is used for receiving an address query request of a policy control network element which is sent by the application function network element and is currently responsible for managing the PCC policy of the service channel of the user terminal after the application function network element obtains the address of the control plane network element;

The first address acquisition module is used for inquiring the binding data according to the address inquiry request and acquiring the address of the strategy control network element;

And the first sending module is used for sending the query result of the address of the strategy control network element to the application function network element.

10. A computer readable storage medium, characterized in that the computer readable storage medium comprises a stored computer program, wherein the computer program when run controls a device in which the computer readable storage medium is located to perform the method of addressing a policy control network element according to any of claims 1-7.

11. An application function network element, comprising a processor, a memory and a computer program stored in the memory and configured to be executed by the processor, the processor implementing the policy control network element addressing method according to any of claims 1-5 when the computer program is executed.

12. A control plane network element comprising a processor, a memory and a computer program stored in the memory and configured to be executed by the processor, the processor implementing the method of addressing a policy control network element according to claim 6 or 7 when the computer program is executed.