Method and apparatus for obtaining and managing location information of a mobile terminal in an edge computing system

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for obtaining location information of a terminal in an edge computing system, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for obtaining location information of a mobile terminal. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a method for managing the location of a UE in an edge enabler server of an edge computing system may include: an operation of receiving a location request of a UE of a mobile communication system from an edge application server, where the location request includes an identifier of the UE and a location granularity parameter; and a step of including location information of the UE based on the granularity parameter in a response message to the location request and sending the same to the application server.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for obtaining location information of a terminal in an edge computing system, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for obtaining and managing location information of a mobile terminal. Background Art

[0002] In order to meet the increasing demand for wireless data traffic since the deployment of 4G communication systems, efforts have been made to develop improved 5G or pre-5G communication systems. Therefore, 5G or pre-5G communication systems are also referred to as "beyond 4G networks" or "post-LTE systems".

[0003] 5G communication systems are considered to be implemented in higher frequency (millimeter wave) bands (e.g., 60 GHz band) in order to achieve higher data rates. In order to reduce the propagation loss of radio waves and increase the transmission distance, beamforming, massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), full-dimensional MIMO (FD-MIMO), array antennas, analog beamforming, and massive antenna technology have been discussed in 5G communication systems.

[0004] In addition, in 5G communication systems, system network improvements are being developed based on advanced small cells, cloud radio access network (RAN), ultra-dense networks, device-to-device (D2D) communication, wireless backhaul, mobile networks, cooperative communication, coordinated multi-point (CoMP), receiver-side interference cancellation, etc.

[0005] In 5G systems, hybrid FSK and QAM modulation (FQAM) and sliding window superimposed coding (SWSC) have also been developed as advanced coding modulation (ACM), and filter bank multi-carrier (FBMC), non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA), and sparse code multiple access (SCMA) have been developed as advanced access technologies.

[0006] Recently, edge computing technology for transmitting data using an edge server has been discussed. Edge computing technology may include, for example, multi-access edge computing or fog computing. Edge computing technology is a technology for providing data to an electronic device via a server (hereinafter referred to as an edge server or MEC server) separately installed at a location geographically close to the electronic device (e.g., a location inside a base station or a location near a base station). For example, an application that requires low latency among at least one application installed in an electronic device may send or receive data via an edge server installed at a geographically close location without using a server located in an external data network (DN) (e.g., the Internet). Summary of the Invention

[0007] Technical Problem

[0008] However, the application of edge computing technology to the user equipment (UE) of a mobile communication system has not been discussed. In the case where edge computing services are provided to the UE of a mobile communication system, the location of the mobile communication terminal may change. Therefore, services may not be provided, or the application server used to provide services may need to be changed.

[0009] Therefore, the present disclosure provides a method and apparatus for obtaining location information of a mobile terminal in an edge computing system.

[0010] In addition, the present disclosure provides a signaling procedure for obtaining location information of a mobile terminal in an edge computing system, as well as a network entity and its control method.

[0011] Solution to the problem

[0012] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a method for an edge enabler server of an edge computing system to manage the location of a user equipment (UE) may include: receiving, from an edge application server, a location request associated with the UE of a mobile communication system, where the location request includes an identifier of the UE and a location granularity parameter; and including, in a response message to the location request, location information associated with the UE and based on the granularity parameter, and sending the response message to the application server.

[0013] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, an edge enabler server device of an edge computing system may include: a first interface configured to communicate with at least one edge application server; a memory configured to store data; and at least one processor, where the at least one processor is configured to:

[0014] receive, via the first interface, from at least one edge application server a location request associated with the user equipment (UE) of a mobile communication system, where the location request includes an identifier of the UE and a location granularity parameter; and include, in a response message to the location request, location information associated with the UE and based on the granularity parameter, and send the response message to the application server.

[0015] Advantageous effects of the invention

[0016] According to the present disclosure, a method and apparatus for obtaining location information of a mobile terminal in an edge computing system are provided. In addition, according to the present disclosure, a signaling procedure for obtaining location information of a mobile terminal in an edge computing system, as well as a network entity and its control method, are provided.

[0017] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, an edge computing platform may provide a location application programming interface (API) for identifying the location of a terminal to a third-party application server operating in the infrastructure of an edge data network to which the edge computing platform belongs.

[0018] In addition, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the edge computing platform may expose network capabilities of the 3GPP system via an API and provide required information associated with the location API requested by the third-party application server. The location API provided by the edge computing platform to the third-party application server may bring the following effects.

[0019] First, the third-party application server can identify the reliability of the location information (e.g., GPS information) sent by the UE. The GPS information from the UE may be easily changed. If the third-party application server receives the changed information, the third-party application server may misidentify the location of the UE. Therefore, the third-party application server may be unable to provide services that need to be provided to the UE at a predetermined location, or a failure may occur, such as providing services available only to the UE at a predetermined location to the UE at a different location. Therefore, if the third-party application server can obtain the actual location of the UE from the edge computing platform, the third-party application server can verify the location information of the UE. The edge computing platform can obtain the location of the UE from the 3GPP network. This information is location information managed in the 3GPP network and is highly reliable. Therefore, the third-party application server trusts and uses this information.

[0020] Second, the third-party application server can obtain the location of the UE from the edge computing platform and can use this information for the services of the third-party application server. The third-party application server can perform operations such as identifying the location of the UE and selecting local advertisements that can currently be provided to the UE, selecting content that is allowed to be viewed at the current location (country or city) of the UE, accessing a virtual game instance so that many users at the current location of the UE can play games together, etc. Since the third-party application server can obtain the location of the UE from the edge computing platform, as opposed to the process of directly obtaining location information from the UE, the third-party application server can provide location-based services to a UE that does not have or does not use functions such as GPS or sending its own location, which is advantageous. In addition, the UE does not need to consume battery or computing power to use functions such as GPS, which is advantageous.

[0021] Third, the third-party application server does not need to negotiate directly with the 3GPP system to establish a service level agreement for network capability exposure. Instead, the third-party application server can use the location API function by only agreeing to a contract with the edge computing platform provider. Therefore, the edge computing platform provider can provide the capability exposure function without any additional effort from the third-party application server, thereby generating commercial profits. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0022] Figure 1It is a diagram showing the connection between an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure and an MEC platform structure capable of interoperating with a 3GPP mobile communication system;

[0023] Figure 2 It is a functional block diagram showing an edge enabler server according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0024] Figure 3 It is a signal flow diagram of a process of obtaining location information of a mobile terminal in an MEC network according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0025] Figure 4 It is a signal flow diagram of a process in which an edge enabler server 210 manages location information of a UE in an MEC network according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0026] Figure 5 It is a signal flow diagram of a process in which an enabler server of an edge computing platform obtains and provides location information of a UE according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0027] Figure 6 It is a control flow diagram of a process in which an edge enabler server obtains location information of a mobile terminal according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0028] Figure 7A and 7B It is a control flow diagram of a process in which an edge enabler server pre-obtains location information of a UE and provides the location information to an edge application server according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; and

[0029] Figure 8 It is a control flow diagram of a process in which an edge enabler server obtains location information of a UE and provides the location information to an edge application server according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Detailed implementation manners

[0030] Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that in the drawings, the same or similar elements are denoted by the same or similar reference numerals as much as possible. In addition, detailed descriptions of known functions or configurations that may obscure the subject matter of the present disclosure will be omitted.

[0031] When describing embodiments of the present disclosure, descriptions related to technical content well known in the art and not directly associated with the present disclosure will be omitted. The omission of such unnecessary descriptions is intended to prevent obscuring the main idea of the present disclosure and to more clearly convey the main idea.

[0032] For the same reason, in the drawings, some elements may be exaggerated, omitted, or schematically shown. In addition, the size of each element does not exactly reflect the actual size. In the drawings, the same or corresponding elements have the same reference numerals.

[0033] Advantages and features of the present disclosure, as well as ways to implement them, will become apparent by referring to the embodiments described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. However, the present disclosure is not limited to the embodiments set forth below, but can be implemented in various different forms. The following embodiments are provided only to fully disclose the present disclosure and to inform those skilled in the art of the scope of the present disclosure, and the present disclosure is defined only by the scope of the appended claims. Throughout the specification, the same or similar reference numerals denote the same or similar elements.

[0034] Here, it will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustration and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustration can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions can be provided to a processor of a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions executed via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus create means for implementing the functions specified in the (multiple) flowchart blocks. These computer program instructions can also be stored in a computer-usable or computer-readable memory, which can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to operate in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-usable or computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instruction means for implementing the functions specified in the (multiple) flowchart blocks. The computer program instructions can also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus, thereby producing a computer-implemented process, such that the instructions executed on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in the (multiple) flowchart blocks.

[0035] In addition, each block of the flowchart illustration can represent a module, a segment of code, or a portion of code that includes one or more executable instructions for implementing the (multiple) specified logical functions. It should also be noted that in some alternative embodiments, the functions recited in the blocks may occur out of order. For example, depending on the functions involved, two blocks shown in succession may in fact be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order.

[0036] As used herein, a "unit" refers to a software element or a hardware component that performs a predetermined function, such as a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC). However, the meaning of "unit" is not always limited to software or hardware. A "unit" can be configured to be stored in an addressable storage medium or executed by one or more processors. Thus, a "unit" includes, for example, software elements, object-oriented software elements, class elements or task elements, processes, functions, attributes, procedures, subroutines, program code segments, drivers, firmware, microcode, circuits, data, databases, data structures, tables, arrays, and parameters. The components and functions provided by a "unit" can be combined into a smaller number of components or "units", or divided into a larger number of components or "units". In addition, the components and "units" can also be implemented as one or more central processors within a playback device or a secure multimedia card.

[0037] The present disclosure provided hereinafter relates to a communication system, and discloses a process in which a user equipment (UE) establishes a data connection to an edge data network located close to the UE's location in order to use low-latency or broadband services. In addition, the present disclosure provides techniques associated with mobile edge computing, which is a technique for using data services by accessing a third-party application server operating in an edge computing platform operating in a corresponding edge data network.

[0038] The present disclosure provides a method and apparatus for using an application programming interface (API) that is used to identify the location of a UE and is provided by a third-party application server operating in an edge computing platform in an edge computing service. To this end, the functions of the edge computing platform may need to identify the location of the UE through interoperability with a 3GPP network and may need to provide the location of the UE to a third-party application server operating in the edge computing platform. A method for solving the above problems will be provided in the description provided by the present disclosure.

[0039] A UE can access a third-party application server operating in an edge computing platform (hereinafter referred to as an edge application server) to use edge computing services. The edge application server can use the location API provided in the edge computing platform to obtain the location information of the UE. To provide the location API, the edge computing platform can connect to the 3GPP system and can use the external network capability exposure API provided in the 3GPP system. That is, the edge computing platform may need to use the corresponding external network capability exposure API of the 3GPP system associated with the location API requested by the edge application server. 3GPP can include various methods for identifying the location of the UE. Therefore, based on this, it may be necessary to propose a method for obtaining the location information of the UE to provide a response to the location API request from the edge application server, and a method for effectively providing the obtained information to the edge application server.

[0040] Discussions are ongoing regarding the architecture for implementing edge computing services in the 3GPP next-generation communication system. Edge computing technology is referred to as "mobile edge computing" or "multi-access edge computing" and is referred to as "MEC" or "MEC system" in this disclosure for ease of description. According to MEC, various services and cached content can be extended close to the UE by installing a radio base station or a gateway (or UPF) close to the radio base station and applying distributed cloud computing technology to it. MEC is a technology that alleviates congestion in the mobile core network based on the above and enables low-latency communication in data communication with the UE, and provides new services. The MEC system provides cloud computing capabilities and an IT service environment for application developers or content providers at the edge of the mobile network. Specifically, the MEC system can enable applications to provide low latency and high bandwidth and access network information in real time. Therefore, an application providing MEC services can provide services to the UE via a 5G system (or 5G network) or a 4G system (or 4G network). In addition, the 5G system or 4G system can provide a function that enables a UE using MEC services to access the MEC system.

[0041] For ease of description, terms and names defined by the Long-Term Evolution standard of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) may be used in this disclosure. However, this disclosure is not limited by these terms and names and can be equally applied to systems according to other standards.

[0042] Figure 1 is a diagram showing the connection between an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure and the MEC platform structure capable of interoperating with the 3GPP mobile communication system.

[0043] Reference Figure 1 , network entities or network nodes according to the present disclosure will be described. According to the present disclosure, the network structure for providing MEC services to a mobile terminal may include the following elements.

[0044] First, the network architecture may include an electronic device 110 capable of accessing a mobile communication network (e.g., a 3GPP network), a 3GPP network 130, and an edge computing platform 200 for providing MEC services.

[0045] The electronic device 110 capable of accessing the 3GPP network is generally referred to as a “(User Equipment) UE” and may be any type of electronic device capable of accessing the 3GPP network 130. The electronic device 110 may be implemented as one of various types of devices, e.g., a smart phone, a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a communication device included in a vehicle, an airplane, a ship, etc., a laptop computer, a smart watch, smart glasses, etc. Hereinafter, for convenience of description, the electronic device 110 is referred to as “UE”. The UE 110 may be directly connected to the 3GPP network 130 or may be connected to the 3GPP network 130 via a radio WiFi network.

[0046] A first application (App1) 111 and a second application (App2) 112 may be installed in the UE 110, through which the edge computing platform can be used to provide NEC services. The UE 110 supporting the MEC system service may include an edge enabling layer 113 in the UE. Thus, the edge enabling layer 113 in the UE 110 may be a layer that interoperates with the edge enabler server 210 of the edge computing platform 200. The 3GPP communication layer 114 in the UE 110 may be a layer for communicating with the 3GPP network 130.

[0047] According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the edge enabling layer 113 may identify applications capable of using the MEC service such that the UE 110 uses the MEC service. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the edge enabling layer 113 may perform an operation of connecting a network interface in order to transmit data of the UE client application to the application servers 201, 202, or 203 providing the MEC service. In addition, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the edge enabling layer 113 may enable communication via the 3GPP communication layer 114 in order to establish a data connection and use the MEC service.

[0048] According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the 3GPP communication layer 114 may include a modem for using a mobile communication system and / or logic (circuit configuration) for processing wireless signals. The 3GPP communication layer 114 may establish a wireless connection for data communication, may register the UE with the mobile communication system, may establish a connection for data transmission to the mobile communication system, and may send or receive data.

[0049] In addition, the UE 110 may also include a wireless WiFi layer (not shown). When the wireless WiFi layer is included, the UE 110 may use the wireless WiFi layer to access the 3GPP network 130.

[0050] In the figure, it is shown that the UE 110 only includes applications, the edge enabling layer 113 that enables MEC services, and the communication layer 114 that accesses the mobile communication system. The UE 110 may also include other elements.

[0051] The applications 111 and 112 of the UE 110 may be applications provided by a third party. That is to say, the applications may be client application programs that operate in the first UE 110 for a predetermined application service. Therefore, multiple applications may operate in the first UE 110. At least one or two of these applications may use MEC services.

[0052] Subsequently, the 3GPP mobile communication network 130 may include the following network entities (functions).

[0053] The 5G-RAN 131 may be a base station that provides wireless communication functions to the UE. The user plane function (hereinafter referred to as UPF) 132 may act as a gateway for transmitting packets sent or received by the UE 110. The UPF 132 may be located close to the edge server to support MEC. By using the UPF 132, the data packets sent by the UE 110 can be directly sent to the edge network, and low-latency transmission can be achieved. The UPF 132 may be connected to a data network connected through the Internet. Therefore, the UPF 132 can route the data that needs to be sent through the Internet among the packets sent by the UE 110 to the Internet data network.

[0054] The access and mobility management function (AMF) 133 may be a network entity that manages the mobility of the UEs 110 and 120.

[0055] The Network Exposure Function (NEF) 134 can access information for managing UEs in a 5G network. Therefore, it can subscribe to mobility management events associated with a corresponding UE, subscribe to session management events associated with a corresponding UE, request session-related information, set charging information associated with a corresponding UE, request a change in the PDU session policy associated with a corresponding UE, and send small data associated with a corresponding UE. Although the NEF 134 is described as a function in this disclosure, it can be a network entity for implementing this function. For example, the NEF 134 can be a network entity for connecting a 3GPP network and another network. Hereinafter, for ease of description, the network entity is described as the NEF 134, but it can be implemented as a predetermined server or network device. Therefore, the NEF 134 can be interpreted as a network device.

[0056] The Policy and Charging Function (PCF) 135 can be a network entity that applies the service policies, charging policies, and policies associated with PDU sessions of a mobile communication operator regarding UEs 110 and 120. Although the PCF 135 is described as a function in this disclosure, it can be a network entity for implementing this function. Hereinafter, for ease of description, the network entity is described as the PCF 135, but it can be implemented as a predetermined server or network device. Therefore, the PCF 135 can be interpreted as a network device.

[0057] The Session Management Function (SMF) 136 can be a network entity that manages the connection of a packet data network for providing packet data to a UE 110. The connection between the UE 110 and the SMF 136 can be a PDU session. Although the SMF 136 is described as a function in this disclosure, it can be a network entity for implementing this function. Hereinafter, for ease of description, the network entity is described as the SMF 136, but it can be implemented as a predetermined server or network device. Therefore, the SMF 136 can be interpreted as a network device.

[0058] The Unified Data Management (UDM) 137 can be a network entity that stores information associated with a subscriber. Although the UDM 137 is described as a function in this disclosure, it can be a network entity for implementing this function. Hereinafter, for ease of description, the network entity is described as the UMD 137, but it can be implemented as a predetermined server or network device. Therefore, the UDM 137 can be interpreted as a network device.

[0059] A network data analytic function (NWDAF) 138 can be a function or entity that collects various data from a mobile communication network and analyzes the data to support the operation of better mobile communication services. The NWDAF 138 can collect information related to the mobility, connection mode, traffic pattern, etc. of a UE from an AMF 133, an SMF 134, a UPF 132, etc., and can analyze this information. Here, although the NWDAF 138 is described as a function in the present disclosure, it can be a network entity for implementing this function. In the following, for ease of description, the network entity is described as the NWDAF 138, but it can be implemented as a predetermined server or network device. Therefore, the NWDAF 138 can be interpreted as a network device.

[0060] In addition, the NWDAF 138 can be a function or network entity that sends analysis results to each network function (NF) to help each NF manage the UE 110 well or provide services well. Here, the network function (NF) can also be a predetermined network entity.

[0061] A gateway mobile location centre (GMLC) 139 can be a network function or network entity that supports location-based services. The GMLC 139 can obtain the location information of a UE from 3GPP mobile communication network functions, or can obtain the location information sent from the UE via 3GPP mobile communication network functions, can store the obtained location information, and can provide the location information to the outside. The GMLC 139 can interoperate with a location retrieval function (LRF) (not shown), or can be co-located with the location retrieval function (LRF). The LRF can perform the function of obtaining the valid location information of the UE, or can route the information related thereto.

[0062] The above 3GPP network 130 can allocate a UPF 132 capable of accessing the corresponding edge network to provide MEC services to the UE 110 using each entity, and the UE 110 can be connected to the edge computing platform 200 via the UPF 132 and can be capable of performing data communication with the edge application server.

[0063] Subsequently, network entities for providing edge computing services will be described.

[0064] The MEC system architecture can include a UE 110, an edge enabler server (edge enable server) 210, and edge application servers 201, 202, and 203.

[0065] The Edge Enabler Server (Edge Enablement Server) 210 can be a server included in the edge computing platform 200 of the edge data network. In addition, the Edge Enabler Server 210 can be a server that executes a network function (NF) or an application-level function (application function). Here, the network function (NF) can be implemented as an application program driven in a predetermined server, or can be implemented as an application program driven in two or more servers. As another example, two or more NFs can be driven in a single server. Associated with the NF configured as an application-level function, two or more NFs with the same function can be driven in a single server, or only a single NF can be driven in a single server. The Edge Enabler Server 210 can also perform the function of providing a capability exposure API to the Edge Application Servers 201, 202, and 203. The capability exposure API is an API that is provided so as to request UE information, information for managing the UE (e.g., identifier, mobility, etc.), or resource management information or resources required to use the edge computing platform, or to execute a request associated with providing services to the UE, which the Edge Enabler Server 210 can provide to the Edge Application Servers 201, 202, and 203 in the edge computing platform.

[0066] The Edge Enabler Server 210 can be a server to which a UE accesses to use MEC services, and can know in advance the third-party application servers 201, 202, and 203 operating in the corresponding edge computing platform 200. The Edge Enabler Server 210 can negotiate with the UE 110, and can connect the third-party application client of the UE 110 and the third-party application servers 201, 202, and 203 in the edge computing platform 200.

[0067] The Edge Application Servers (Edge Applications (app)) 201, 202, and 203 can be third-party application servers operating in the MEC system. In other words, they can be third-party application servers operating in the infrastructure provided by the edge computing platform 200. The third-party application servers can be able to provide services at a location close to the UE 100, thereby providing ultra-low latency services. The Edge Applications 201, 202, and 203 can obtain the information required to provide services to the UE using the capability exposure API provided by the edge computing platform 200, or can provide the information to the edge computing platform 200.

[0068] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the edge enabler server 210 may perform a function of managing information associated with the edge application servers 201, 202, and 203, and may manage edge applications currently driven in the edge network, as well as the FQDN or IP address required to transmit data to the corresponding edge application servers, and may notify the edge enabling layer 113 of the UE 110 thereof.

[0069] In addition, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, at least some operations of the edge enabler server 210 may be configured to be provided by a management function (not shown) that manages the edge computing platform 200.

[0070] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the edge enabler server 210 may negotiate directly or via the NEF 134 with the PCF 135 of the 3GPP network or the NEF 134, AMF 133, GMLC 139, NWDAF 138, SMF 136, etc. Through the negotiation, the edge enabler server 210 may provide the 3GPP network 130 (e.g., 5G mobile communication system) with the information required for the UE 110 to use the MEC server, or may use the exposure functions provided by the 5G mobile communication system to an external server (e.g., report the location of the UE, report UE session-related events, etc.). Using this function, the edge enabler server 210 may provide a capability exposure service to the edge application servers 201, 202, and 203 operating in the edge computing platform. For example, it may include services for identifying the location of the UE, services for identifying the connection status of the UE, etc.

[0071] According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the edge enabler server 210 may act as an agent to enable the edge application servers 201, 202, and 203 to use the exposure functions (events related to the mobility of the UE, session-related events, events for changing the traffic path of the UE, etc.) provided by the NEF 134 of the 3GPP network 130 (i.e., 5G mobile communication system). That is, in response to a request from the edge application server, the edge enabler server 210 may invoke the exposure service provided by the NEF 134 of the 5G mobile communication system, or may enable the use of the required network exposure function.

[0072] In addition, according to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the edge enabler server 210 may support the function of providing platform services provided via the 5G system to the edge application servers (e.g., reporting network conditions, requesting to change the traffic path of the UE, reporting UE location information, etc.).

[0073] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, although it is shown that the edge enabler server 210 in the edge computing platform 200 provides a capability exposure API to the edge applications 201, 202, and 203, another function in the edge computing platform 200 may provide a corresponding API. For ease of description, it is shown that in Figure 1 the embodiment, the edge enabler server 210 provides a capability exposure API to the edge applications 201, 202, and 203. However, it may be configured in such a way that another function (or another entity) in the edge computing platform 200 provides a capability exposure API to the edge applications 201, 202, and 203. In this case, the edge enabler server 210 may be used together with the name of the other function.

[0074] Although the platform function (platform functional entity) is not shown in Figure 1 it, the platform function may be an edge computing platform included in the edge network or edge computing host in which the edge computing platform operates, or may be the platform function of the system to which the edge enabler server is connected, and may be an orchestration function. The orchestration function may include middleware applications or infrastructure services, which may be used to configure the MEC system architecture. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the arrangement and distribution of each edge computing platform or host or edge enabler server and edge application data packets configured in the edge network may be injected into the edge computing platform. According to other embodiments of the present disclosure, at least one of the operations of operating an edge application server in the edge computing platform, registering the edge application server with the edge enabler server 210, or configuring information (such as IP address, FQDN, etc.) associated with the edge application server in the edge enabler server may be performed.

[0075] The above-mentioned edge enabler server 210 may be at least one network function for providing the described functions. According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the edge enabler server 210 may be a network enabling function. However, regardless of the above naming, the edge enabler server 210 in the present disclosure may be a logical device or physical network entity or network function that logically executes the functions described in the present disclosure and exists for MEC services.

[0076] Figure 2 is a functional block diagram of an edge enabler server according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0077] Refer to Figure 2, the Edge Enabler Server 210 may include an internal communication interface 211, a controller 212, an external interface 213, and a memory 214. In addition, the Edge Enabler Server 210 may include access devices or stand-alone devices required when an operator or network administrator controls the Edge Enabler Server 210. In addition, the Edge Enabler Server 210 may also include another network and additional interfaces other than the Figure 2 interfaces shown. The interfaces for performing operations according to the present disclosure are only shown in Figure 2 .

[0078] The internal communication interface 211 may perform an interface with at least one Edge Application Server or two or more Edge Application Servers based on the control executed by the controller 212. For example, the internal communication interface 211 may process data or signaling required for communication between the first Edge Application Server 201 and the Edge Enabler Server 210 based on the control executed by the controller 212. As another example, the internal communication interface 211 may process data or signaling required for communication between the second Edge Application Server 202 and / or the third-party application server 203 and the Edge Enabler Server 210 based on the control executed by the controller 212.

[0079] The controller 212 may control the overall operations performed by the Edge Enabler Server 210 and may be configured with at least one processor or two or more processors. The controller 212 may transmit / receive data with a predetermined Edge Application Server via the internal communication interface 211. In addition, the controller 212 may provide or obtain predetermined information by performing communication with the UE and / or the 3GPP network via the external communication interface 213. In addition, the controller 212 may control the operations performed by the Edge Enabler Server 210 described in the present disclosure.

[0080] The external interface 213 may include a first interface 213a, a second interface 213b, and a third interface 213c. The first interface 213a may perform communication with at least one control plane node of the 3GPP network based on the control executed by the controller 212. The control plane node of the 3GPP network may be Figure 1 at least one of the AMF 133, NEF 134, PCF 135, SMF 136, and UDM 137 of

[0081] The second interface 213b may perform communication with at least one user plane node of the 3GPP network based on the control executed by the controller 212. For example, as Figure 1As described above, the second interface 213b may perform communication with the UPF 132 corresponding to the user plane node. In addition, if the UE moves within the same edge data network and the UPF changes, the UE may perform communication with the corresponding UPF. As another example, if the UE moves to another edge data network, for example, if the UE moves from the first edge data network to the second edge data network, or if the UE moves from the second data network to the first edge data network, the UE may perform communication with the corresponding UPF.

[0082] Based on the control executed by the controller 212, the memory 214 may temporarily store data generated when performing operations and controls required for executing the control edge enabler server 210. In addition, the memory 214 may store data required when the edge enabler server 210 receives or transmits data based on the control executed by the controller 212, as described in this disclosure. In addition, based on the control executed by the controller 212, the memory 214 may store only the identification information of the UE, or may store the identification information of the UE by mapping the identification information to other predetermined information.

[0083] Figure 3 is a signal flow diagram showing the process of obtaining the location information of a mobile terminal in a MEC network according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0084] Brief description Figure 3 of the overall operation, the third-party application servers (e.g., Figure 1 the edge application servers 201, 202, 203) operating in the edge computing platform 200 request the location information of the UE from the edge enabler server 210, and the edge enabler server 210 obtains the location information of the UE using the network capability exposure provided by the 3GPP system and provides the location information of the UE to the third-party application servers.

[0085] In the present disclosure, the generic public subscription identifier (GPSI) is an identifier (ID) of the UE used in the 5G system defined by 3GPP. The GPSI may correspond to the external ID used in the 3GPP system and may correspond to the mobile station international ISDN number (MSISDN) which is a telephone number.

[0086] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the external ID may be an identifier obtained by defining an ID assigned to the UE by a third-party service provider to be recognizable in the 3GPP mobile communication network. In the present disclosure, the ID assigned to the UE by the edge computing service provider may be used as the external identifier in the 3GPP system.

[0087] According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, an edge computing service provider may contract with a 3GPP mobile communication operator, and an external identifier for a predetermined UE may be pre-agreed. Thus, this information may be stored in the subscriber information server of the 3GPP mobile communication operator. Alternatively, the edge computing service provider may use the MSISDN of the UE as an ID for identifying the UE.

[0088] According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, in operation 300, the edge application server 201 may determine to use a location API provided by the edge enabler server 210 to identify the location of the UE 100. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the location API may include the IP address of the UE 110 or the ID of the UE 110 that can identify the UE 110.

[0089] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, in operation 300, the edge application server 201 may send a request message (e.g., a one-time report) for identifying the location of the UE 110 at one time. In this case, a request message for requesting the location of the UE 110 and the ID of the UE 110 may be sent. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the edge application server 201 may include the granularity of the location information that the edge application server 201 expects to identify in the location request. The granularity of the location information in the present disclosure may be a unit of the location information. For example, this may indicate a predetermined GPS information format. For example, this may be defined by GPGGA statements, GPGLL, GPRMC, etc., or may be defined by a standard defined by the National Marine Electronics Association (NMEA). According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, the granularity may be specified in the form of a city address (civil address). This may be a format represented based on road names, city names, village names, building names, etc. in a predetermined area.

[0090] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the edge application server 201 may make a request by differentiating road names, village names, building names, city names, etc. According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, the granularity may be specified in a form for managing the location information of the UE 110 in 3GPP, such as a cell or a tracking area. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the edge application server 201 may make a request by differentiating cell IDs, tracking area IDs, etc. Based on the requested location granularity, the edge enabler server 210 may identify whether the granularity can be supported by the edge enabler server 210. If the granularity can be supported by the edge enabler server 210, the edge enabler server 210 may convert the obtained location information of the UE 110 into a format suitable for the corresponding granularity, may include the format in a response message, and may send the response message to the edge application server 201.

[0091] According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, the edge application server 201 may send a request (e.g., continuous report) for continuously identifying the location of the UE 110 to the edge enabler server 210. In this case, the request may be generated as a subscription message, where the subscription message indicates subscribing to the report of the location change of the UE 110, and may be sent to the edge enabler server 210 together with the ID of the corresponding UE 110.

[0092] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the edge application server 201 may include a granularity parameter of the location information that the edge application server 201 expects to identify in the location subscription request. The granularity of the location information in the present disclosure may be a unit of the location information. For example, this may indicate a predetermined GPS information format (e.g., standards defined by the National Marine Electronics Association (NMEA) in the United States, such as GPGGA statements, GPGLL, GPRMC, etc.). According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, the granularity may be specified in the form of a city address (civil address). This may be a format represented based on road names, city names, village names, building names, etc. in a predetermined area. The edge application server 201 may make a request by differentiating road names, village names, building names, city names, etc.

[0093] According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, the granularity may be specified in a form for managing the location information of the UE 110 in 3GPP, such as a cell or a tracking area. The edge application server 201 may request the location from the edge enabler server 210 by differentiating at least one of the cell ID or the tracking area ID.

[0094] According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the requested location granularity, the edge enabler server 210 may identify whether the granularity is supported by the edge enabler server 210. If the granularity is supported by the edge enabler server 210, the edge enabler server 210 may convert the obtained location information of the UE 110 into a format suitable for the corresponding granularity, may include the format in a response message, and may send the response message to the edge application server 201. According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, the edge application server 201 may include, in a location subscription request message, a region of interest that the edge application server 201 expects to identify.

[0095] According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the edge application server 201 may need to identify whether the UE 110 is located within a predetermined location range, or where within the predetermined location range the UE 110 is located, in order to provide a predetermined service to the UE 110 accessing the predetermined location. In this case, the edge application server 201 may send a request including an area of interest (AoI). The AoI may be specified by longitude / latitude / time range values or a list represented in GPS, or may be specified by a list of city names, road names, village names, etc. represented in the form of civic addresses. According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, the AoI may include a list of cells or tracking areas understandable by the 3GPP network.

[0096] According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, if the edge application server 201 subscribes to the location API and also sends the above AoI, then if at least one of the following conditions is met, the edge enabler server 210 that receives the AoI may determine to notify the edge application server 201 of the location information of the UE 110.

[0097] 1) If the UE 110 enters the corresponding AoI

[0098] 2) If the UE 110 leaves the corresponding AoI

[0099] 3) If a change in the location of the UE 110 within the corresponding AoI is detected

[0100] According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, if the edge enabler server 210 already knows the location information of the requested UE 110, for example, if the location information of the UE 110 is local cache information, the edge enabler server 210 may determine whether the information is up-to-date, and if the information is up-to-date, may not perform subsequent operations. In this case, in operation 314, the response may be configured based on the stored information, and in operation 316, a response message may be sent to the edge application server 201.

[0101] According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, in operation 302, the edge enabler server 210 may use the 3GPP system to obtain the location information of the UE 110. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the edge enabler server 210 may use a location reporting API, which obtains the location information of the UE 110 from the 3GPP network 130 via the NEF 134. This may be a monitoring event for obtaining the location of the UE 110 among the T8 APIs defined by 3GPP.

[0102] According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the edge enabler server 210 may make a request by including the IP address of the UE 110 or the ID of the UE 110 received in operation 300 in the location reporting API. In addition, if the edge application server 201 subscribes to the continuous location information associated with the UE 110 in operation 300, the edge enabler server 210 may subscribe to the location report associated with the UE 110 and may request the NEF 134 to send the continuous location information of the UE 110. In addition, if the edge application server 201 sends a request together with the location granularity in operation 300, the edge enabler server 210 may change its corresponding information into information understandable by the 3GPP system and may include it in the location reporting API. For example, if a request in the form of GPS information or a request in the form of a civic address is received from the edge application server 201 in operation 300, the edge enabler server may change it into a granularity form understandable by the 3GPP system (e.g., cell ID or tracking area ID) and may request a location reporting API from the NEF 134. In addition, if an AoI is received in operation 300, the edge enabler server 210 may change the AoI into a list of cell IDs or tracking area IDs and may request a location reporting API from the NEF 134. If the change to the location information understandable by the 3GPP system fails, the edge enabler server 210 may send the location granularity or AoI received from the edge application server 201 in operation 300 to the NEF 134 as it is. In this case, the NEF 134 may change the received information into information understandable by the 3GPP system and may continue the subsequent operations.

[0103] According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, in operation 302, the edge enabler server 210 may not change the request of operation 300 to a value corresponding to the request message to be sent to the NEF 134, or may not apply the request of operation 300. Instead, the edge enabler server 210 may determine to send a request message to the NEF 134 for obtaining the entire location information of the UE 110. This is because the edge enabler server 210 determines to identify the overall location information of the UE 110 and send only the required information to the edge application server 201, rather than identifying the location of the UE 110 only in association with the request sent from the predetermined edge application server 201. Therefore, the edge enabler server 210 may send a request to the NEF 134 by configuring a list of areas responsible for the edge computing platform 200 as the AoI, or may send a request to the NEF 134 by including an identifier indicating that the location of the UE 110 needs to be provided in units of cells or tracking areas or in units of GPS information. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, in operation 314, the location information of the UE 110 collected in response to the request may be reconfigured in the edge enabler server 210 into a response message suitable for the request from the edge application server 201, and in operation 316, the response message may be sent to the corresponding application server 201.

[0104] According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, if a monitoring event associated with the location of the UE 110 is received in operation 302, then in operation 304, the NEF 134 may start a process for handling the monitoring event. If the request message received from the edge enabler server 210 in operation 302 includes the IP address of the UE 110, the NEF 134 may search for the PCF 135 serving the UE 110 corresponding to the IP address.

[0105] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the NEF 134 may use a binding support function (BSF) ( Figure 1(not shown in the figure) to search for the serving PCF 134. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the NEF 134 may send the IP address of the UE 110 to the BSF, and the BSF may make a decision to use the IP address of the UE 110 as the internal IP address allocated in the 3GPP system. To this end, the BSF may support the network address translation (NAT) function in the 3GPP system, may know the NAT information, or may negotiate with a server performing the NAT function to make a decision to use the IP address of the UE 110. According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, if the BSF does not make such a decision, it is assumed that the PCF 135 knows the mapping between the external UE IP address and the internal UE IP address. This is because the IP address used by the UE 110 in the 3GPP network and the IP address of the UE 110 used outside the 3GPP network may be different from each other. This may indicate that the NAT function exists in the data connection connecting the inside and outside of the 3GPP network.

[0106] Therefore, according to various embodiments of the present disclosure, there may be a method in which the BSF or the PCF 135 negotiates with a server performing the NAT function and makes a decision to use the internal IP address of the UE 110. Therefore, although the IP address of the UE 110 included in the received request is an external IP address, the PCF 135 may negotiate with a server performing the NAT function, may obtain the internal IP address of the UE 110, and may identify the relevant information (GPSI, policy information, or parameters) associated with the UE 110.

[0107] According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, in operation 306, the NEF 134 may identify the address of the PCF 135 that serves the IP address of the UE 110, where the IP address is obtained from the BSF or obtained via local configuration or OAM operation. Subsequently, the NEF 134 may subscribe to a monitoring event that requests the location information of the UE 110 from the corresponding PCF 135. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, if a monitoring event associated with the location of the UE 110 is received from the NEF 134, the PCF 135 may send a response message to the NEF 134, where the response message includes the latest location information of the UE 110 stored in the PCF 135 and the time information when the corresponding information is identified.

[0108] According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, if the monitoring event received in operation 302 includes AoI, the NEF 134 may configure it as a list of cell IDs or a list of tracking area IDs, and may send it to the PCF 135. The PCF 135 that receives it may determine the location of the UE 110 based on the AoI, and may send a response message to the NEF 134. For example, if the UE 110 enters the corresponding AoI, if the UE 110 moves outside the AoI, or if it is detected that the location of the UE 110 has changed within the corresponding AoI, the location information for notifying the UE 110 is determined.

[0109] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, if the PCF 135 does not know the location information of the UE 110, the PCF 135 may configure a monitoring event for identifying the location of the UE 110 for the AMF 133, SMF 136, etc. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, if the PCF 135 receives the AoI from the NEF 134, the PCF 135 may configure a presence reporting area (PRA), and may include the PRA when registering the monitoring event with the AMF 133, SMF 136, etc. This may be area information associated with the area where the PCF 135 expects to identify the presence of the UE 110. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the PCF 135 may obtain the location information of the UE 110 from the AMF 133 or SMF 136, and may include the location information in the response message sent to the NEF 134.

[0110] According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, if, in operation 302, the NEF 134 receives a monitoring event associated with the location of the UE 110, then in operation 308, the NEF 134 may identify whether the ID or IP address of the UE 110 is included in the received request message in order to start the process of handling the monitoring event. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, if the ID of the UE 110 is included in the request received from the edge enabler server 210, then in operation 308, the NEF 134 may request the AMF 133 to execute the monitoring event in order to obtain the location of the UE 110 based on the ID of the UE 110. In this case, the ID of the UE 110 may be in the form of a GPSI, an external identifier, or an MSISDN (phone number). The NEF 134 may include the ID of the UE 110 in the request message sent to the AMF 133 and may send a monitoring event message requesting the location of the UE 110 to the AMF 133. Therefore, if the AMF 133 receives a monitoring event associated with the location of the UE 110 from the NEF 134, the AMF 133 may send a response message to the NEF 134, where the response message includes the latest location information of the UE 110 stored by the AMF 133 and the time information when the corresponding information was recognized.

[0111] According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, if the monitoring event received in operation 302 includes AoI, the NEF 134 may configure it as a list of cell IDs or a list of tracking area IDs and may send it to the AMF 133. The AMF 133 that receives it may determine the location of the UE 110 based on the AoI and may send a response message to the NEF 134. For example, if the UE 110 enters the corresponding AoI, if the UE 110 moves outside the AoI, or if it is detected that the location of the UE 110 has changed within the corresponding AoI, the location information of the UE 110 is determined to be notified.

[0112] According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, if the AMF 133 does not know the location information of the UE 110, the AMF 133 may send a request for identifying the location of the UE 110 to a location management function (LMF) ( Figure 1 not shown in the figure) or the like. Therefore, the AMF 133 may include the received location of the UE 110 as the recognized location information in the response message and may send the response message to the NEF 134.

[0113] According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the NEF 134 may store the location information of the UE 110 obtained in operations 304, 306, or 308 in operation 310. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, if there is another edge-enabler server 210 that requests the location information associated with the corresponding UE 110, the NEF 134 may use the same information when sending the cached information to the corresponding edge-enabler server 210.

[0114] According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, if the location information of the UE 110 obtained in operations 304, 306, or 308 is configured as information understandable by the 3GPP system, such as a cell ID or a tracking area ID, the NEF 134 may map the information to information understandable by a third-party service, such as geographical information (GPS information) or a civic address (road name, city name, village name, building name, etc.).

[0115] According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, if the NEF 134 receives a granularity via the information received in operation 302, the NEF 134 may configure a response message by performing a mapping to information suitable for the corresponding granularity. According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, if an AoI is received in operation 302, the response message may be configured based on the corresponding AoI (whether the location is within or outside the AoI, or where the location is in the AoI, etc.). In this case, if a granularity value is received together in operation 302, the response message may be configured by mapping the information to be suitable for the granularity value.

[0116] According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, in operation 312, the NEF 134 may include the location information of the UE 110 configured as described in operation 310 in the response message, and may send the response message to the edge-enabler server 210.

[0117] According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, in operation 314, the edge enabler server 210 may standardize the location information of the UE 110 received from the NEF 134 to fit the request sent by the edge application server 201 in operation 300. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, if the edge application server 201 sends a request based on AoI, the edge enabler server may check the location information of the UE 110, and may determine whether the UE 110 belongs to the AoI, whether the UE 110 has moved outside the AoI, or the location of the UE 110 in the AoI, and may convert the corresponding location information into the granularity requested by the edge application server 201 in operation 300, that is, GPS information or civic address. Operation 314 may be an optional process. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the edge enabler server 210 may determine to directly send the location information of the UE 110 received from the NEF 134 to the edge application server 201.

[0118] According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, as described in operation 314, the edge enabler server 210 may configure a response message to a request from the edge application server 201, and may send the response message in operation 316.

[0119] Through the above operations, the edge enabler server 210 may obtain the location information of the UE requested by the edge application server 201, where the location information of the UE may be obtained in the requested format or in a form provided by the 3GPP network 130 via the 3GPP network 130. In addition, the edge enabler server 210 may provide the obtained location information of the UE to the edge application server 201.

[0120] Figure 4 is a signal flow diagram according to an embodiment of the present disclosure when the edge enabler server 210 manages the location information of the UE in the MEC network.

[0121] Brief description Figure 4 Regarding the overall operation, associated with a UE accessing an edge computing platform and using computing services, the edge enabler server 210 may use the network capability exposure provided by the 3GPP network 130 to obtain the location information of the UE 110, and may cache the location information. Subsequently, if a third-party application server 201 operating in the edge computing platform requests the location information of the UE 110 from the edge enabler server 210, the edge enabler server 210 may provide the location information of the UE 110 to the third-party application server. The figure shows the signal flow when the above operations are performed.

[0122] According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, in operation 400, the UE 110 performs a process of registering with the edge enabler server 210 or the edge computing platform, or may perform a service discovery process to obtain a list of applications (app list) to be used in the edge computing platform. According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, in operation 400, the UE 110 may perform a service on-boarding process that notifies the UE 110 of the applications (apps) desired to be used in the edge computing platform and receives information related thereto. Thus, in operation 400, the edge enabler server 210 can know the UE 110 accessing the edge computing platform currently served by the edge enabler server 210, and if multiple UE 110s access, can know the list of UE 110s. Thus, the edge enabler server 210 can determine to utilize the 3GPP system to perform a process of obtaining location information associated with the corresponding UE 110.

[0123] According to various embodiments, in operation 402, if the edge enabler server 210 is able to provide a location API to the edge application server 201, the edge enabler server 210 can determine to use the location reporting API provided from the 3GPP system in order to obtain the location information of the corresponding UE 110(s) of the (multiple) UE 110s identified in operation 400.

[0124] According to another embodiment, in operation 402, in association with the edge application server 201 operating in the edge computing platform served by the edge enabler server 210, the edge enabler server 210 can determine whether the corresponding edge application server 201 makes a request, makes a discovery, or has a permission associated with the use of the location API. Thus, in operation 402, the edge enabler server 210 can determine that there is an edge application server 201 to use the location API. Thus, the edge enabler server 210 can determine to use the location reporting API provided from the 3GPP system in order to obtain the location information of the UE 110.

[0125] According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, the edge enabler server 210 may only need the location of the UE 110 in the area managed by the edge computing platform served by the edge enabler server 210. Therefore, in operation 402, the edge enabler server 210 may set the area of interest based on this information and may request the location reporting API of the 3GPP system. According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, in operation 402, the edge enabler server 210 may determine the format of the location information to be provided from the 3GPP network 130. For example, the format may be GPS information, civic address information (road name, building name, village name, city name, etc.), or may be a cell ID or a tracking area ID. The edge enabler server 210 may determine the format based on the format of the location information that the edge enabler server 210 can provide to the edge application server 201.

[0126] According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, in operation 404, the edge enabler server 210 may use the 3GPP network 130 to obtain the location information of the UE 110. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the edge enabler server 210 may use the location reporting API, where the location reporting API obtains the location information of the UE 110 from the 3GPP network 130 via the NEF 134. This may be a monitoring event for obtaining the location of the UE 110 among the T8 APIs defined by 3GPP. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the edge enabler server 210 may make a request by including the IP address of the UE 110 or the ID of the UE 110 received in operation 400 in the location reporting API.

[0127] According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, the edge enabler server 210 may subscribe to the location report associated with the UE 110 and may request the NEF 134 to send the continuous location information of the UE 110.

[0128] According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, the edge enabler server 210 may request the location reporting API in the form of GPS information or in the form of a civic address.

[0129] According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, the edge enabler server 210 may change the format to a granularity that the 3GPP system can understand (e.g., cell ID or tracking area ID) and may request the location reporting API from the NEF 134.

[0130] According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, if the AoI is set in operation 402, the edge enabler server 210 may include the set AoI in the location reporting API and may send the AoI. In this case, the NEF 134 may change the received information into information understandable by the 3GPP system and may continue with subsequent operations.

[0131] According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, the edge enabler server 210 may change the AoI set in operation 402 into a cell ID list or a tracking area ID list and may request the location reporting API.

[0132] According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, in operation 404, the edge enabler server 210 may determine to send a request to the NEF 134 for obtaining the entire location information of the UE 110. This is because the edge enabler server determines to identify the overall location information of the UE 110 and sends only the required information to the edge application server 201. Therefore, the edge enabler server 210 may configure the list of areas managed by the edge computing platform as the AoI and may send a request to the NEF 134. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the edge enabler server 210 may send a request message to the NEF 134, where the request message includes an identifier indicating that the location information of the UE 110 needs to be provided in units of cells, in units of tracking areas, or in units of GPS information.

[0133] According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, the edge enabler server 210 may request the location of the UE 110 from the NWDAF 138 or the GMLC 139. This may be performed according to the method to be described Figure 5 below.

[0134] According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, if the request received from the edge enabler server 210 in operation 404 includes the IP address of the UE 110, then in operation 406, the NEF 134 may search for the PCF 135 that serves the UE 110 corresponding to the IP address. According to an embodiment, the NEF 134 may use a binding support function (BSF) ( Figure 1 not shown in the figure) to search for the serving PCF 135. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the NEF 134 may send the IP address of the UE 110 to the BSF, and the BSF may make a decision to use the IP address of the UE 110 as the internal IP address assigned in the 3GPP system. To this end, the BSF may support the network address translation (NAT) function in the 3GPP system, may know the NAT information, or may negotiate with the server performing the NAT function in order to make a decision to use the IP address of the UE 110.

[0135] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, if the BSF does not so decide, it is assumed that the PCF 135 knows the mapping between the external UE IP address and the internal UE IP address. This is because the IP address used by the UE 110 in the 3GPP network and the IP address of the UE 110 used outside the 3GPP network may be different from each other. This may indicate the presence of a NAT function in the data connection connecting the inside and outside of the 3GPP network. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, there may be a method in which the BSF or the PCF 135 negotiates with a server performing the NAT function and makes a decision to use the internal IP address of the UE 110. Therefore, although the IP address of the UE 110 included in the received request is the external IP address, the PCF 135 may negotiate with the server performing the NAT function and obtain the internal IP address of the UE 110, and may identify the relevant information (GPSI, policy information, or parameters) associated with the UE 110.

[0136] According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, in operation 408, the NEF 134 may identify the address of the PCF 135 that serves the IP address of the UE 110, where the IP address is obtained from the BSF or obtained via local configuration or OAM operation. Subsequently, the NEF 134 may subscribe to a monitoring event that requests the location information of the UE 110 from the corresponding PCF 135. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, if a monitoring event associated with the location of the UE 110 is received from the NEF 134, the PCF 135 may provide a response to the NEF 134, where the response includes the latest location information of the UE 110 stored in the PCF 135 and the time information when the corresponding information is identified. Alternatively, if the monitoring event received in operation 404 includes AoI, the NEF 134 may configure it as a list of cell IDs or a list of tracking area IDs, and may send it to the PCF 135. The PCF 135 that receives it may determine the location of the UE 110 based on the AoI, and may send a response message including the location of the UE 110 to the NEF 134. For example, if the UE 110 enters the corresponding AoI, the UE 110 moves outside the AoI, or a change in the location of the UE 110 in the corresponding AoI is detected, the location information of the UE 110 is determined to be notified. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, if the PCF 135 does not know the location information of the UE 110, the PCF 135 may configure monitoring events for identifying the location of the UE 110 for the AMF 133, SMF 136, etc. If the PCF 135 receives AoI from the NEF 134, the PCF 135 may configure a presence reporting area (PRA) associated therewith, and may include the PRA when registering a monitoring event with the AMF 133, SMF 136, etc. This may be area information associated with the area where the PCF 135 expects to identify the presence of the UE 110.

[0137] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the PCF 135 may obtain the location information of the UE 110 from the AMF 133 or SMF 136, and may include the location information in a response message sent to the NEF 134.

[0138] According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, if in operation 404, the NEF 134 receives a monitoring event associated with the location of the UE 110, the NEF 134 may identify whether the ID or IP address of the UE 110 is included in the received request in order to start the process of processing the monitoring event in operation 410. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, if the ID of the UE 110 is included in the request received from the edge enabler server 210, in operation 410, the NEF 134 may request the AMF 133 to execute the monitoring event in order to obtain the location of the UE 110 based on the ID of the UE 110. In this case, the ID of the UE 110 may be in the form of a GPSI, an external identifier, or an MSISDN (phone number). According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the NEF 134 may include the ID of the UE 110 in the request sent to the AMF 133 and may send a monitoring event requesting the location of the UE 110 to the AMF 133. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, if the NEF 134 receives a monitoring event associated with the location of the UE 110, the AMF 133 may provide a response to the NEF 134, where the response includes the latest location information of the UE 110 stored by the AMF 133 and the time information when the corresponding information was identified.

[0139] According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, if the monitoring event received in phase 3 includes the AoI, the NEF 134 may configure it as a cell ID list or a tracking area ID list and may send it to the AMF 133. The AMF 133 that receives it may determine the location of the UE 110 based on the AoI and may send a response to the NEF 134. For example, if the UE 110 enters the corresponding AoI, if the UE 110 moves outside the AoI, or if it is detected that the location of the UE 110 has changed within the corresponding AoI, the location information of the UE 110 is determined to be notified.

[0140] According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, if the AMF 133 does not know the location information of the UE 110, the AMF 133 may send a request for identifying the location of the UE 110 to a location management function (LMF) or the like. Accordingly, the AMF 133 may send the location of the UE 110 to the NEF 134.

[0141] According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, in operation 412, the NEF 134 may store the location information of the UE 110 obtained in operations 406, 408, or 410. If there is another edge enabler server 210 that requests the location information associated with the corresponding UE 110, the NEF 134 may use the same information when sending the cached information to the corresponding edge enabler server 210.

[0142] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, if the location information of UE 110 obtained in operation 406, 408, or 410 is configured as information understandable by the 3GPP system, such as a cell ID or a tracking area ID, the NEF 134 may map this information to information understandable by a third-party service, such as geographical information (GPS information) or a civic address (road name, city name, village name, building name, etc.).

[0143] According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, if the NEF 134 receives a granularity via the information received in operation 404, the NEF 134 may configure a response message by performing a mapping to information suitable for the corresponding granularity.

[0144] According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, if the NEF 134 receives an AoI in operation 404, the NEF 134 may configure a response based on the corresponding AoI (whether the location is inside or outside the AoI, or where the location is within the AoI, etc.). According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, if a granularity value is received together in operation 404, the response message may be configured by mapping the information to be suitable for the granularity value.

[0145] According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, in operation 414, the NEF 134 may include the location information of UE 110 configured as described in operation 412 in a response message, and may send the response message to the edge enabler server 210.

[0146] According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, in operation 416, the edge enabler server 210 may standardize the location information of UE 110. For example, in operation 416, the edge enabler server 210 may convert the location information of UE 110 into GPS information or a civic address. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, when the edge application server 201 requests the location information of UE 110 in a corresponding form, the location information of UE 110 may be configured as a value suitable for that form and may be sent.

[0147] According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, the edge enabler server 210 may locally store the collected location information of UE 110 and the time value (timestamp) when the corresponding information is received. In this case, if the location information is collected based on the IP address of UE 110, the IP of UE 110 and its associated location information and time information may be stored.

[0148] According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, if location information is collected based on the ID of the UE 110, the ID of the UE 110, as well as the location information and time information associated therewith, may be stored. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, if the edge enabler server 210 requests a continuous location report associated with the location of the UE 110, the edge enabler server 210 may receive new location information from the 3GPP system whenever the location of the UE 110 changes. Accordingly, the edge enabler server 210 may update the existing location information of the stored UE 110 with the new location information and store the new location information by binding the time when the new location information is received.

[0149] According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, in operation 418, the edge application server 201 may determine to use the location API provided by the edge enabler server 210 to identify the location of the UE 110. The location API may include the IP address of the UE 110 or the ID of the UE 110 that can identify the UE 110. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the edge application server 201 may send a request (e.g., a one-time report) for identifying the location of the UE 110 at one time. In this case, the edge application server 201 may send a request message for requesting the location of the UE 110, as well as the ID of the UE 110. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the edge application server 201 may include the granularity of the location information that the edge application server 201 expects to identify in the location request. The granularity of the location information in the present disclosure may be the unit of the location information. For example, this may be a predetermined GPS information format (e.g., a standard defined by the National Marine Electronics Association (NMEA) of the United States, such as GPGGA statements, GPGLL, GPRMC, etc.).

[0150] According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, the granularity may be specified in the form of a city address (civil address). This may be a format represented based on at least one of a road name, a city name, a village name, a building name, etc. in a predetermined area. The edge application server 201 may make a request by distinguishing a road name, a village name, a building name, a city name, etc.

[0151] According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, the granularity may be specified in a form for managing the location information of the UE 110 in 3GPP, such as a cell or a tracking area. The edge application server 201 may make a request by differentiating the cell ID, the tracking area ID, etc. Based on the requested location granularity, the edge enabler server 210 may identify whether the granularity can be supported by the edge enabler server 210. If the granularity can be supported by the edge enabler server, the edge enabler server may convert the obtained location information of the UE 110 into a format suitable for the corresponding granularity, and may provide a response to the edge application server 201.

[0152] According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, the edge application server 201 may continuously send requests (e.g., continuous reports) for identifying the location of the UE 110. In this case, the edge application server may send a subscription message for subscribing to reports of location changes of the UE 110 together with the ID of the corresponding UE. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the edge application server 201 may include the granularity of the location information that the edge application server 201 expects to identify in the location subscription request. The granularity of the location information in the present disclosure may be a unit of the location information. For example, this may be a predetermined GPS information format (e.g., a standard defined by the National Marine Electronics Association (NMEA) of the United States, such as GPGGA statements, GPGLL, GPRMC, etc.). According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, the civic address format may be specified as the granularity. This may be a format represented based on at least one of road names, city names, village names, building names, etc. in a predetermined area.

[0153] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the edge application server 201 may request the location by differentiating road names, village names, building names, city names, etc. According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, a location information format used when managing the UE 110 in 3GPP, such as a cell or a tracking area, may be specified as the granularity. The edge application server 201 may make a request by differentiating the cell ID, the tracking area ID, etc. Based on the requested location granularity, the edge enabler server 210 may identify whether the granularity can be supported by the edge enabler server 210. If the granularity can be supported by the edge enabler server, the edge enabler server may convert the obtained location information of the UE 110 into a format suitable for the corresponding granularity, and may provide a response to the edge application server 201.

[0154] According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, the edge application server 201 may include, in the location subscription request, a region of interest that the edge application server 201 expects to identify. The edge application server 201 may need to identify whether the UE 110 is located within a predetermined location range, or where within the predetermined location range the UE 110 is located, in order to provide a predetermined service to the UE 110 accessing the predetermined location. In this case, the edge application server 201 may send a request including the area of interest (AoI). The AoI may be specified by longitude / latitude / time range values or a list represented in the GPS, or may be specified by a list of city names, road names, village names, etc. represented in the form of a civic address.

[0155] According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, the AoI may be configured as a list of cells or tracking areas understandable by the 3GPP network 130. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, if the edge application server 201 sends the above AoI together when subscribing to the location API, the edge enabler server 210 that receives the AoI may determine to notify the edge application server 201 of the location information of the UE 110 when the UE 110 enters the corresponding AoI, when the UE 110 moves outside the AoI, or when a change in the location of the UE within the AoI is detected. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, if the edge enabler server 210 already knows the location information of the requested UE 110, for example, if the location information of the UE 110 is local cache information, the edge enabler server 210 may determine whether the information is the latest information and may send a response message to the edge application server 201 based on the stored information.

[0156] According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, in operation 420, the edge enabler server 210 may respond to the request of operation 418 based on the data stored in operation 416. The response message may include the location of the UE 110 and the time value (timestamp) when the corresponding location was identified. For example, the edge enabler server 210 may verify the location information of the UE 11 based on the stored data in order to respond to the request of operation 418. In addition, the edge enabler server 210 may configure the response message based on the verification result and may report the response message in operation 420.

[0157] According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, in operation 422, another edge application server 202 may also call the location API to request the location of the predetermined UE 110. This may be performed in the same manner as operation 418.

[0158] According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, in operation 422, the edge enabler server 210 may generate and send a response message based on the data stored in operation 416 in response to a request in operation 422. The response message may include the location of the UE 110 and the time value (timestamp) when the corresponding location is recognized.

[0159] Figure 5 is a signal flow diagram when an enabler server of an edge computing platform obtains and provides location information of a UE according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0160] Brief description Figure 5 of the overall operation, a third-party application server operating in the edge computing platform requests location information of the UE from the edge enabler server 210, and the edge enabler server 210 obtains the location information of the UE 110 by interacting with various network functions of the 3GPP network 130 that manages information associated with the UE 110, and may provide the location information of the UE 110 to the third-party application server.

[0161] According to an embodiment, the Generic Public Subscription Identifier (GPSI) may be an ID of the UE 110 used in the 5G system defined by 3GPP. The GPSI may be an external ID used in the 3GPP network 130, or may be the MSISDN, i.e., the telephone number. The external ID may be an ID obtained by defining an ID assigned to the UE 110 by a third-party service provider to be recognizable in the 3GPP mobile communication network. In the present disclosure, the ID assigned by the edge computing service provider to the UE 110 may be used as the external ID in the 3GPP network 130. Alternatively, the edge computing service provider and the 3GPP mobile communication operator may sign a contract, and the external ID for a predetermined UE 110 may be determined in advance. In this case, the pre-agreed information may be stored in the subscriber information server of the 3GPP mobile communication operator. According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, the edge computing service provider may use the MSISDN of the UE 110 as the ID for identifying the UE 110.

[0162] Reference Figure 5 , in operation 500, the edge application server 201 may determine to use the location API provided by the edge enabler server 210 to identify the location of the UE 110. The location API may include the IP address of the UE 110 for identifying the UE 110 or the ID of the UE 110. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the edge application server 201 may send a request message (e.g., a one-time report) for identifying the location of the UE 110 at one time. In this case, the edge application server 201 may send a request message for requesting the location of the UE 110, as well as the ID of the UE 110.

[0163] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the edge application server 201 may include, in a location request, the granularity of location information that the edge application server 201 desires to identify. The granularity of location information may be the unit of location information. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the granularity of location information may be a predetermined GPS information format (e.g., a standard defined by the National Marine Electronics Association (NMEA) of the United States, such as GPGGA statements, GPGLL, GPRMC, etc.).

[0164] According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, a civic address format may be designated as the granularity. This may be a format represented based on road names, city names, village names, building names, etc. in a predetermined area. The edge application server 201 may make a request by distinguishing road names, village names, building names, city names, etc.

[0165] According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, a location information format used when managing the UE 110 in 3GPP, such as a cell or a tracking area, may be designated as the granularity. The edge application server 201 may make a request by distinguishing cell IDs, tracking area IDs, etc.

[0166] According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the requested location granularity, the edge enabler server 210 may identify whether the granularity can be supported by the edge enabler server 210. If the granularity can be supported by the edge enabler server 210, the edge enabler server 210 may convert the obtained location information of the UE 110 into a format suitable for the corresponding granularity and may respond to the edge application server 201.

[0167] According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, the edge application server 201 may continuously send requests (e.g., continuous reports) for identifying the location of the UE 110. In this case, the edge application server may send a subscription message for subscribing to reports of location changes of the UE 110 together with the ID of the corresponding UE. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the edge application server 201 may include, in a location subscription request, the granularity of location information that the edge application server 201 desires to identify. The granularity of location information may be the unit of location information. For example, this may be a predetermined GPS information format (e.g., a standard defined by the National Marine Electronics Association (NMEA) of the United States, such as GPGGA statements, GPGLL, GPRMC, etc.).

[0168] According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, the citizen address format may be specified as a granularity. This may be a format represented based on at least one of a road name, a city name, a village name, a building name, etc. in a predetermined area. Accordingly, the edge application server 201 may uniquely make a request according to a scheme based on at least one of a road name, a village name, a building name, a city name, etc.

[0169] According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, a location information format used when managing the UE 110 in 3GPP, such as a cell or a tracking area, may be specified as a granularity. The edge application server 201 may make a request by differentiating a cell ID, a tracking area ID, etc. Based on the requested location granularity, the edge enabler server 210 may identify whether the granularity is supported by the edge enabler server 210. If the granularity is supported, the edge enabler server may convert the obtained location information of the UE 110 into a format suitable for the corresponding granularity, and may provide a response to the edge application server 201.

[0170] According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, the edge application server 201 may include, in a location subscription request, a region of interest that the edge application server 201 desires to identify. Accordingly, the edge application server 201 may need to identify whether the UE 110 is located within a predetermined location range, or where the UE 110 is within the predetermined location range, in order to provide a predetermined service to the UE 110 accessing the predetermined location. In this case, the edge application server 201 may send a request including the area of interest (AoI).

[0171] According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the AoI may be specified by longitude / latitude / time range values or a list represented in GPS, or may be specified by a list of a city name, a road name, a village name, etc. represented in the form of a citizen address. As another example, the AoI may be configured as a list of cells or tracking areas understandable in a 3GPP network.

[0172] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, if the edge application server 201 sends the above AoI together when subscribing to the location API, the edge enabler server 210 that receives the AoI may determine to notify the edge application server 201 of the location information of the UE 110 when the UE 110 enters the corresponding AoI, when the UE 110 moves outside the AoI, or when a change in the location of the UE 110 in the AoI is detected.

[0173] According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, if the edge enabler server 210 already knows the location information of the requested UE 110, for example, if the location information of the UE 110 is local cache information, the edge enabler server 210 may determine whether the information is up-to-date and may not perform operations 502 to 510. In this case, in operation 512, the response may be configured based on the stored information, and in operation 514, a response message may be sent to the edge application server 201.

[0174] According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, in operation 502, the edge enabler server 210 may use the 3GPP network 130 to obtain the location information of the UE 110. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the edge enabler server 210 may obtain the location information of the UE 110 from the 3GPP network 130 via the Network Data Analytics Function (NWDAF) 138 or the Gateway Mobile Location Center (GMLC) 139. The NWDAF 138 may be a function that collects and analyzes big data generated in the 3GPP network 130 related to the UE 110.

[0175] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the NWDAF 138 may collect all information related to the UE 110 from each network function of the 3GPP network 130. For example, the location of the UE 110, the travel time of the UE 110, the distance the UE 110 has moved, the locations where the UE 110 frequently performs communication, the times when the UE 110 frequently performs communication, the amount of traffic used by the UE 110, the applications used by the UE 110, etc. may be collected. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the NWDAF 138 may collect and store the current location of the UE 110. Therefore, the NWDAF 138 may report the current location of the UE 110, the location to which the UE 110 will move in the near future, etc. to an external function. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the edge enabler server 210 may receive UE 110 location-related information via the NWDAF 138.

[0176] According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the GMLC 139 may manage the location information of the UE 110 and may report it to an external function or an external server. The GMLC 139 may interact with the Location Management Function (LMF) to obtain the location information and positioning information of the UE 110, which is performed based on the information sent from the UE 110. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the edge enabler server 210 may receive UE 110 location-related information via the GMLC 139.

[0177] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, when requesting the location of the UE 110 from the NWDAF 138, the edge enabler server 210 may include the IP address of the UE 110 or the ID of the UE 110 received in operation 500.

[0178] According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, when requesting the location of the UE 110 from the GMLC 139, the edge enabler server 210 may include the ID of the UE 110.

[0179] According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, if the edge application server 201 subscribes to the continuous location information of the UE 110 in operation 500, the edge enabler server 210 may request the NWDAF 138 or the GLMC to continuously send the location information of the UE 110.

[0180] According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, if the edge application server 201 sends a request including location granularity in operation 500, the edge enabler server 210 may change the corresponding information into information understandable by the 3GPP system 130 and may include it in the location information request. For example, if a request in the form of GPS information or a civic address is received from the edge application server 201 in phase 1, this may be changed into a granularity form understandable by the 3GPP network 130 (e.g., cell ID or tracking area ID), and a request may be made to the NWDAF 138 or the GMLC 139.

[0181] According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, in operation 502, if an AoI is received, the edge enabler server may request the NWDAF 138 by changing the received AoI into a list of cell IDs or a list of tracking area IDs. Alternatively, the AoI may be configured as a GPS range or a list of civic addresses, and a request may be made to the NWDAF 138 or the GMLC 139.

[0182] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, if the change to location information understandable by the 3GPP network 130 fails, the edge enabler server 210 may send the location granularity or the AoI received from the edge application server 201 in operation 5001 as it is to the NWDAF 138 or the GMLC 139. In this case, the NWDAF 138 or the GMLC 139 may change the received information into information understandable by the 3GPP network 130 and may continue with subsequent operations.

[0183] According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, in operation 502, the edge enabler server 210 may not change the request of operation 500 to a value corresponding to the request sent to the NWDAF 138 or the GMLC 139, or may not apply the request of operation 500. Instead, the edge enabler server 210 may determine to send a request to the NWDAF 138 or the GMLC 139 to obtain the entire location information of the UE 110. This is because the edge enabler server 210 determines to identify the overall location information of the UE 110 and send only the required information to the edge application server 201, rather than identifying the location of the UE 110 in association with the request sent from the predetermined edge application server 201. Therefore, when making a request to the NWDAF 138 or the GMLC 139, the edge enabler server 210 may make a request to the NWDAF 138 or the GMLC 139 by configuring the list of areas responsible for the edge computing platform as the AoI, or may include an identifier indicating that the location of the UE 110 needs to be provided in units of cells or tracking areas or in units of GPS information.

[0184] The location information of the UE 110 collected as a result of the request may be reconfigured by the edge enabler server 210 in the same manner as operation 512 into a response message suitable for the request from the edge application server 201.

[0185] According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, if a reporting request message associated with the location of UE 110 is received in operation 502, then in operation 504, NWDAF 138 or GMLC 139 may start the process of processing the reporting request message. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, if the IP address of UE110 is included in the request received from the edge enabler server 210 in operation 502, NWDAF138 may search among the data collected by NWDAF 138 for UE 110 corresponding to the IP address. NWDAF 138 may make a decision to use the IP address of the corresponding UE 110 as the internal IP address allocated in the 3GPP network 130. To this end, NWDAF 138 may support the network address translation (NAT) function in the 3GPP network 130, may know the NAT information, or may negotiate with the server that performs the NAT function in order to make a decision to use the IP address of UE 110. This is because the IP address used by UE 110 in the 3GPP network and the IP address of UE 110 used outside the 3GPP network 130 may be different from each other. This may indicate that the NAT function exists in the data connection that connects the inside and outside of the 3GPP network. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, there may be a method in which NWDAF 138 negotiates with the server that performs the NAT function and makes a decision to use the internal IP address of UE 110. Therefore, although the IP address of UE 110 included in the received request is an external IP address, NWDAF 138 may negotiate with the server that performs the NAT function, may obtain the internal IP address of UE 110, and may identify the relevant information (GPSI, policy information, or parameters) associated with UE 110.

[0186] According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, if the IP address of UE 110 is included in the request received from the edge enabler server 210 in operation 502, then in operation 506, NWDAF 138 may search among the data collected by NWDAF 138 for UE 110 corresponding to the IP address, and may determine whether the latest location of UE 110 is included in the collected data. This may be determined based on the time when the corresponding location information is stored.

[0187] According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, if the negotiation with the 3GPP network 130 is performed in advance to receive a report of the location of the UE 110, it is determined that the stored information is the latest location information. If the NWDAF 138 does not know the information associated with the UE 110, the NWDAF 138 may perform a process of obtaining the location information of the UE 110 via the NEF 134, AMF 133, PCF 135, SMF 136, etc. If the GPSI is included in the request at operation 502, the NWDAF 138 or the GMLC 139 may find the information associated with the UE 110 that can be identified based on the GPSI, and may perform a process of obtaining the location information of the corresponding UE 110. If the latest location information of the UE 110 has been obtained and stored in advance, the NWDAF 138 or the GMLC 139 may configure a response message to send the information as a response.

[0188] According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, at operation 508, the NWDAF 138 or the GMLC 139 may store the location information of the UE 110 obtained at operations 504 and 506. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, if there is another edge-enabled server 210 that requests the location information associated with the corresponding UE 110, the NWDAF 138 or the GMLC 139 may use the same information when sending the cached information to the corresponding edge-enabled server 210.

[0189] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, if the location information of the UE 110 obtained at operations 504 and 506 is configured as information understandable by the 3GPP network 130, such as a cell ID or a tracking area ID, the NWDAF 138 or the GMLC 139 may map the information to information understandable by a third-party service, such as geographic information (GPS information) or a civic address (road name, city name, village name, building name, etc.).

[0190] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, if the NWDAF 138 or the GMLC 139 receives a granularity via the information received at operation 502, the NWDAF 138 or the GMLC 139 may configure a response message by performing a mapping to information suitable for the corresponding granularity.

[0191] According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, if the AoI is received at operation 502, the response may be configured based on the corresponding AoI (whether the location is within the AoI or outside the AoI, or where the location is within the AoI, etc.). In this case, if a granularity value is received together at operation 502, the response message may be configured by mapping the information to be suitable for the granularity value.

[0192] According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, in operation 510, the NWDAF 138 or the GMLC 139 may include the location information of the UE 110 configured as described in operation 508 in a response message and may send the response message to the edge enabler server 210.

[0193] According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, in operation 512, the edge enabler server 210 may standardize the location information of the UE 110 received from the NWDAF 138 or the GMLC 139 to fit the request sent by the edge application server 201 in operation 500. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, if the edge application server 201 makes a request based on AoI, the edge enabler server may check the location information of the UE 110 and may determine whether the UE 110 belongs to the AoI, whether the UE 110 has moved outside the AoI, or the location of the UE 110 within the AoI, and may convert the corresponding location information into the granularity requested by the edge application server 201 in operation 500, that is, GPS information or civic address. This stage may be an optimization process, and the edge enabler server 210 may determine to directly send the location information of the UE 110 received from the NWDAF 138 or the GMLC 139 to the edge application server 201.

[0194] According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, as described in operation 512, the edge enabler server 210 may configure a response to a request from the edge application server 201 and may send the response in operation 514.

[0195] Figure 6 It is a control flowchart of a process in which an edge enabler server obtains location information of a mobile terminal according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0196] According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, in operation 600, the edge enabler server 210 may receive an API message for requesting location information of a UE from the edge application server 201. In this case, the location API request message associated with the UE 110 may be received together with the IP address of the UE 110 or the ID of the UE (e.g., GPSI or MSISDN information). In addition, as Figure 3 described, the API message that requests location information and is received from the edge application server 300 may include the granularity of the location information.

[0197] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, if the edge enabler server 210 includes the location information of the corresponding UE 110, the edge enabler server 210 may immediately provide a response. In this case, the location information of the UE 110 may be valid in terms of time.

[0198] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, if the location information is invalid, in operation 610, the Edge Enabler Server 210 may send an Nnef Event Expose Subscription message to the 3GPP network 130 to request the location information of the UE 110. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, if the Edge Enabler Server 210 is reliable in the 3GPP network 130, the Edge Enabler Server 210 may directly request the location information from an entity that knows the location information (e.g., NWDAF 138 or GMLC 139). According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, if the Edge Enabler Server 210 is not reliable in the 3GPP network 130, the Edge Enabler Server 210 may send a message requesting location information to the NEF 134.

[0199] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, in operation 620, the Edge Enabler Server 210 may receive an Nnef Event Expose Notification message from the 3GPP network 130. The message may include the location information of the UE. For example, the location information of the UE 110 may vary depending on the requested granularity.

[0200] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, this may be a predefined format of GPS information. For example, this may be provided in a format defined by GPGGA statements, GPGLL, GPRMC, etc., or defined by the standards defined by the National Marine Electronics Association (NMEA) of the United States.

[0201] According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, the location information of the UE differentiated based on road names, village names, building names, city names, etc. may be provided.

[0202] According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, the location information of the UE may be provided in a location information format (such as a cell, a tracking area, etc.) used when managing the UE 110 in 3GPP.

[0203] According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, if the AoI is set, the location information of the UE corresponding to the set AoI may be obtained.

[0204] According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, in operation 630, the Edge Enabler Server 210 may standardize the received location information to be recognizable by the Edge Application Server 201 and may generate a standardized response message. In addition, the Edge Enabler Server 210 may send the generated response message to the Edge Application Server 201.

[0205] In this case, the Edge Enabler Server 210 may map and store the location information of the corresponding UE together with the ID of the UE in the memory 214. In this case, the location information of the UE may be stored together with time information, where the time information is associated with the time when the location information is updated.

[0206] Figure 7A and Figure 7B is a control flowchart of a process in which an edge enabler server according to an embodiment of the present disclosure pre-obtains location information of a UE and provides the location information to an edge application server.

[0207] According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, in operation 700, the edge enabler server 210 may perform a service discovery process or a service join process with the UE 110. In this case, the edge enabler server 210 may determine whether to perform a process of obtaining information associated with the UE 110. In addition, information associated with the UE obtained in the above process, such as the ID or GPSI of the UE, may be mapped and stored.

[0208] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, in operation 702, the edge enabler server 210 may identify whether a location API needs to be provided to the edge application server. That is, the edge enabler server may identify whether it needs to query the 3GPP network 130 for the location information of the UE 110. Associated with the edge application server 201 operating in the edge computing platform served by the edge enabler server 210, the edge enabler server 210 may perform the identification based on the fact that the corresponding edge application server 201 makes a request, makes a discovery, or has a permission associated with the use of the location API.

[0209] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, if the edge enabler server 210 identifies that the location information of the UE 110 is needed, then in operation 704, the edge enabler server 210 may set an edge computing platform area and send a location API request message to the 3GPP network 130. In this case, if the edge enabler server 210 is reliable in the 3GPP network 130, the edge enabler server 210 may directly request location information from an entity that knows the location information (e.g., NWDAF 138 or GMLC 139). According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, if the edge enabler server 210 is not reliable in the 3GPP network 130, the edge enabler server 210 may send a message requesting location information from the NEF 134.

[0210] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, when requesting location information of UE 110, the edge enabler server 210 may request to send continuous location information of UE 110. According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, the edge enabler server 210 may request a location reporting API in the form of GPS information or in the form of a civic address. According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, the edge enabler server 210 may change the form to a granularity form that the 3GPP system can understand (e.g., cell ID or tracking area ID), and may request a location reporting API from the NEF 134. According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, if the AoI is set in operation 402, the edge enabler server 210 may include the set AoI in the location reporting API and may send the AoI. According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, the edge enabler server 210 may change the AoI set in operation 402 to a list of cell IDs or a list of tracking area IDs, and may request a location reporting API.

[0211] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, in operation 706, the edge enabler server 210 may receive the location information of UE 110 directly from a predetermined entity of the 3GPP network 130 or from the NEF 134. The location information may be information corresponding to the requested information format.

[0212] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, in operation 708, the edge enabler server 210 may map and store the location information of UE 110 received in the previous operation and the identification information of UE 110. In this case, the edge enabler server 210 may pre - standardize the message into a form that can be sent to the edge application server and may store the form. In addition, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, time information or validity time information associated with the time when the location information of UE 110 is obtained may be stored together. A timestamp may be used as the time information.

[0213] Figure 7A The flowchart of... describes the time points and methods used by the edge enabler server 210 to obtain the location information of UE 110. Hereinafter, operations of providing the obtained information to the edge application server will be described with reference to Figure 7B Describe the operation of providing the obtained information to the edge application server.

[0214] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, after operation 708 is completed, the edge application server 201 may request a location API associated with a predetermined UE 110. In this case, the edge enabler server 210 may continue operation 712. In operation 712, the [operation 708] can be used in Figure 7ARetrieve the standardized location of UE 110 using the API information pre-stored in operation 708, and a response message can be generated based on this. In this case, if the location information of UE 110 is valid, the edge enabler server 210 can continue with operation 712. If the location information of UE 110 is invalid, operations 704 to 708 can be performed, and then operation 712 can be performed.

[0215] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, in operation 714, the edge enabler server 210 can send the message generated in operation 712 to the corresponding edge application server 201.

[0216] As described above, the edge enabler server 210 can obtain the location information of the UE in advance, store the location information in a standardized state, and can immediately provide the location information when a predetermined edge application server requests the location information of the corresponding UE.

[0217] Figure 8 It is a control flowchart of a process in which an edge enabler server according to an embodiment of the present disclosure obtains the location information of a UE and provides the location information to an edge application server.

[0218] According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, in operation 800, the edge enabler server 210 can identify whether a location API check request message associated with a predetermined UE 110 is received from the edge application server 201. In this case, the edge application server 201 can include the granular location information in the location API check request message associated with the predetermined UE.

[0219] According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the granularity of the location information can be in the format of predetermined GPS information (e.g., standards defined by the National Marine Electronics Association (NMEA) of the United States, such as GPGGA statements, GPGLL, GPRMC, etc.). According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, the granularity can be specified in the form of a city address (civil address). This can be a format represented based on road names, city names, village names, building names, etc. in a predetermined area. The edge application server 201 can make a request by distinguishing road names, village names, building names, city names, etc. According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, the granularity can be specified in the form used to manage the location information of UE 110 in 3GPP, such as a cell or a tracking area. The edge application server 201 can make a request by distinguishing cell IDs, tracking area IDs, etc. According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, the edge application server 201 can include the area of interest that the edge application server 201 expects to identify in the location subscription request.

[0220] According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the edge application server 201 may continuously send requests (e.g., continuous reports) for identifying the location of the UE 110. In this case, the edge application server may send a subscription message for subscribing to reports of location changes of the UE 110, and the ID of the UE 110, to the edge enabler server 210. In addition, the edge application server 201 may include the granularity of the location information that the edge application server 201 expects to identify in the location subscription request.

[0221] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, if a location API check request message is received in operation 810, the edge enabler server 210 may generate and send a continuous location information provision request message associated with the corresponding UE directly or via the NEF 134 to the NWDAF 138 and / or GMLC 139 of the 3GPP network 130. In this case, if the edge enabler server 210 is reliable in the 3GPP network 130, the edge enabler server 210 may directly request location information from an entity that knows the location information (e.g., the NWDAF 138 or GMLC 139). According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, if the edge enabler server 210 is not reliable in the 3GPP network 130, the edge enabler server 210 may send a message requesting location information to the NEF 134.

[0222] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, in operation 820, the edge enabler server 210 may directly receive a response message including location information from the NEF 134 or NWDAF 138 and / or GMLC 139 of the 3GPP network 130.

[0223] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the location information of the UE included in the response message may be provided in different forms depending on the granularity. For example, a predetermined first UE may request continuous location, while a predetermined second UE may not require continuous location. As another example, a predetermined first UE may require GPS information, while a predetermined second UE may require a cell identifier or a tracking area identifier.

[0224] According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the edge enabler server 210 may standardize the received location information of the UE into a form that can be sent to the edge application server, and may store this form in operation 830. In this case, the location information and identification information of the UE may be mapped and stored together with time information.

[0225] According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, in operation 840, the edge enabler server 210 may send a message in a standardized form to the application server. The message sent in operation 840 may be a response message in response to operation 800. Thus, the edge enabler server 210 may generate a response message in response to operation 800 and may send the response message to the corresponding edge application server 201 in operation 840.

[0226] In addition, the embodiments of the present disclosure described and illustrated in the specification and the drawings have been presented to easily explain the technical content of the present disclosure and help understand the present disclosure, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Therefore, in addition to the embodiments disclosed herein, the scope of the present disclosure should be construed to include all changes and modifications derived from the technical idea of the present disclosure.

[0227] Industrial Applicability

[0228] The present disclosure can be applied when a mobile communication terminal provides an edge computing service.

Claims

1. A method for managing the location of a user equipment (UE) performed by an edge enabler server of an edge computing system, the method comprising: Receiving a UE location request from an edge application server, wherein the UE location request includes an identifier of the UE and a location granularity indicating a format of location information; Obtaining location information of the UE from a 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) network; Modifying a format of the obtained location information of the UE to a format indicated by the location granularity received from the edge application server; and In response to the UE location request, sending a response message including the location information of the UE modified based on the location granularity to the edge application server, wherein the location granularity indicates at least one of GPS coordinates, a cell identifier, or a tracking area identifier.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein, In a case where the location information of the UE is stored in the edge enabler server, the latest location of the UE is included as the location information of the UE in the response message.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein The response message further includes a timestamp associated with the location information of the UE.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: In a case where the location granularity indicates GPS information and the location of the UE is stored as one of a cell identifier or a tracking area identifier, modifying the cell identifier or the tracking area identifier to GPS information based on the location granularity.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein The UE location request is a one-time report request or a request indicating continuous reporting of the location of the UE.

6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: Storing the received location information of the UE in a case where the location information of the UE is received from a mobile communication network.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein, Requesting the location information of the UE via one of a network exposure function (NEF) device, a network data analytics function (NWDAF) device, or a gateway mobile location center (GMLC) of a mobile communication network.

8. An edge enabler server of an edge computing system, the edge enabler server comprising: A first interface configured to communicate with at least one edge application server; A memory configured to store data; And At least one processor, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: Receive a user equipment (UE) location request from the at least one edge application server via the first interface, wherein the UE location request includes an identifier of the UE and a location granularity indicating a format of location information; Obtain location information of the UE from a 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) network; Modify a format of the obtained location information of the UE to a format indicated by the location granularity received from the edge application server; and In response to the UE location request, send a response message including the location information of the UE modified based on the location granularity to the edge application server, wherein the location granularity indicates at least one of GPS coordinates, a cell identifier, or a tracking area identifier.

9. The edge enabling server according to claim 8, wherein, In the case where the edge enabler server stores the location information of the UE at the edge, the at least one processor includes the latest location of the UE as the location information of the UE in the response message.

10. The edge enabling server according to claim 9, wherein, The memory also stores a timestamp associated with the location information of the UE, and wherein the at least one processor is further configured to include the timestamp in the response message.

11. The edge enabling server according to claim 8, wherein, The at least one processor is further configured to: In the case where the location granularity parameter indicates GPS information and the location of the UE is stored as one of a cell identifier or a tracking area identifier, modify the cell identifier or the tracking area identifier to GPS information based on the location granularity.

12. The edge enabling server according to claim 8, wherein The UE location request is a one-time report request or a request indicating continuous reporting of the location of the UE.

13. The edge enabler server according to claim 8, further comprising: A second interface configured to communicate with a mobile communication network, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: In the case where the location information of the UE is received from the mobile communication network, store the received location information of the UE in the memory.

14. The edge enabling server according to claim 13, wherein, The at least one processor requests the location information of the UE via one of a network exposure function (NEF) device, a network data analytics function (NWDAF) device, or a gateway mobile location center (GMLC) of the mobile communication network.

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