Methods, apparatus, and systems for flow control

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a method, device and system for determining a user plane device. The method comprises: receiving, by a control plane device, access information of a terminal device from an initial user plane device to which the terminal device has accessed, the access information indicating at least a service level of the terminal device; obtaining, by the control plane device, a user plane determination rule based on the service level of the terminal device; and determining, by the control plane device, a target user plane device for carrying traffic of the terminal device according to the user plane determination rule. The traffic control method can match a user plane device suitable for a terminal device by configuring a rule generated based on network service regularity, operator policy or load balancing scheme to a control plane device, thereby significantly improving user online rate and user experience.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The embodiments of this disclosure generally relate to the field of communication technology, and more specifically, to methods, apparatus and systems for flow control. Background Technology

[0002] With the continuous development of network technology and the surge in broadband users, a network architecture that separates the control plane (CP) from the user plane (UP) (also known as "user plane") has emerged (also called "control-forward separation"). This architecture employs a two-layer fully interconnected access network, where multiple UPs used for forwarding user data packets are distributed throughout the network, while the CP used for controlling and managing multiple UP devices is centrally deployed. This network architecture breaks the tight coupling between the forwarding plane and the control plane, facilitating flexible network expansion and simplifying network operation and maintenance.

[0003] The key network element for implementing control-forwarding separation in this architecture is the Software Defined Network (SDN) controller. The SDN controller centrally manages the underlying network switching devices, monitors the status of UP devices in the network, executes forwarding decisions, and schedules and migrates traffic from terminal devices among multiple UP devices according to the user's service level agreement (SLA). In a user onboarding scenario, the user's terminal device accesses the network through an initial UP and sends a user access packet to the CP. The CP reports this user access packet to the AAA server for authentication and obtains the user's SLA information. Then, the CP sends the SLA information to the SDN controller. Based on the SLA information, the SDN controller selects a suitable UP device for the terminal device from its managed set of UP devices, and then returns the selected UP device information to the CP device, which then completes the migration of the terminal device to another UP device. In practice, one or more CPs often manage up to thousands of UP devices. Since each user onboarding or migration process requires repeating the above process, it leads to a slow user onboarding experience and degrades the user experience. Summary of the Invention

[0004] In general, the exemplary embodiments of this disclosure present procedures for flow control in a network system with a separation of control plane and user plane.

[0005] According to a first aspect of the present disclosure, a traffic control method is provided. In the method, an access information of a terminal device is received by a control plane device from an initial user plane device to which the terminal device has accessed. In the context of the present disclosure, the access information indicates at least a service level of the terminal device. The method further comprises determining, by the control plane device, a target user plane device for carrying traffic of the terminal device according to a user plane determination rule based on the access information. In particular implementations, the control plane device can determine a user plane determination rule matching the service level of the terminal device from a set of user plane determination rules, each of which specifies a correspondence between a service level of a terminal device and a user plane device. Then, the control plane device determines the target user plane device for carrying traffic of the terminal device based on the determined matching user plane determination rule.

[0006] According to the traffic control method provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure, by configuring rules generated based on network traffic regularity, operator policy or load balancing scheme to the control plane device, the control plane device can match a user plane device suitable for the terminal device without reporting the service level of the terminal device to the network controller, thereby significantly improving user online rate and user experience.

[0007] In the method, before obtaining the user plane determination rule, the control plane device can determine whether there is a user plane determination rule matching the service level of the terminal device from a set of user plane determination rules based on the service level of the terminal device. If it is determined that there is no user plane determination rule matching the service level of the terminal device in the set of user plane determination rules, the control plane device sends a user plane determination request to the network controller. The user plane determination request includes the service level of the terminal device. The method further comprises receiving a user plane determination response from the network controller, the user plane determination response indicating a target user plane device for carrying traffic of the terminal device.

[0008] In this way, in the case where there is no matching user plane determination rule, the control plane device can report the service level of the terminal device to the network controller, and the network controller determines the target user plane device, thereby completing the user online process.

[0009] In the method, the control plane device receives a user plane determination rule from the network controller, wherein the user plane determination rule is generated by the network controller based on state information of at least one user plane device. The control plane device can then store the user plane determination rule.

[0010] In this way, the user plane determination rule can be dynamically generated according to real-time network conditions, such as the number of sessions and total traffic on each user plane device. In this way, network resources can be flexibly adjusted, and network load balancing can be achieved.

[0011] In the method, the control plane device can further receive a user plane determination rule input by a network administrator through a command line or a user interface, and store the user plane determination rule.

[0012] In the method, the control plane device can further send an access report to the network controller, where the access report indicates the target user plane device for carrying the traffic of the terminal device.

[0013] In this way, the network controller can then further generate, modify or delete the user plane determination rule according to the access report to adapt to the current network condition more.

[0014] In the method, if the target user plane device is different from the initial user plane device, the access report can further indicate the initial user plane device, so that the network controller migrates the traffic from the initial user plane device to the target user plane device based on the access report.

[0015] In the method, the control plane device sends a revocation indication to the initial user plane device, so that the initial user plane device deletes a user table item associated with the terminal device, where the user table item is used to guide the carrying of the traffic of the terminal device. The control plane device can also send the user table item associated with the terminal device to the target user plane device.

[0016] In the method, the control plane device receives at least one user plane determination rule updated based on the access report from the network controller. The control plane device can also update the user plane determination rule with the updated at least one user plane determination rule.

[0017] In the method, the control plane device can determine the target user plane device for carrying the traffic of another terminal device according to the updated user plane determination rule and access information of the another terminal device received.

[0018] In the method, the control plane device deletes the user plane determination rule according to a rule deletion instruction input by the network administrator through the command line or the user interface. The control plane device can also delete the user plane determination rule according to a rule deletion indication received from the network controller.

[0019] In the method, the access information can further indicate at least one of an identifier of the terminal device, location information and an access domain name, and the control plane device can select at least one candidate user plane determination rule satisfying a service level from a group of user plane determination rules. Then, the control plane device can determine the target user plane determination rule from the at least one candidate user plane determination rule based on at least one of the identifier of the terminal device, the location information, the access domain name and an access interface.

[0020] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the regularity and similarity of network traffic can be utilized to generate the user plane determination rules. In the case where there are more than one user plane determination rules that meet the service level of the terminal device, the control plane device can further utilize the access information reflecting the regularity and similarity of network traffic to select a target user plane determination rule. Such a target user plane determination rule helps to determine a user plane device that is more suitable for carrying the traffic of the terminal device.

[0021] In the detailed description, the control plane device can be a server device, and the user plane device can be a router device.

[0022] According to a second aspect of the present disclosure, a traffic control method is provided. In the method, a network controller obtains state information of at least one user plane device that carries traffic of a terminal device. The state information at least indicates the number and traffic of the terminal device carried by the at least one user plane device. The method further includes that the network controller generates a set of user plane determination rules based on the state information and a correspondence between service levels of terminal devices and user plane devices, each user plane determination rule in the set of user plane determination rules being used to determine a user plane device that carries traffic of a corresponding terminal device. The method further includes that the network controller sends the set of user plane determination rules to a control plane device of the at least one user plane device.

[0023] According to the traffic control method provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure, the network controller generates rules for determining user plane devices based on network traffic regularity, operator policy or load balancing scheme, and configures such rules at the control plane device. Thus, after receiving an access packet of a terminal device, the control plane device can directly determine a user plane device suitable for the terminal device without reporting the service level of the terminal device to the network controller, which significantly improves the user online rate and user experience.

[0024] In the method, the network controller receives an access report from the control plane device. In the context of the present disclosure, the access report indicates that a target user plane device in the at least one user plane device will carry traffic of a first terminal device. The method further includes that the network controller updates at least one user plane determination rule in the set of user plane determination rules based on the access report. Then, the network controller sends the updated at least one user plane determination rule to the control plane device.

[0025] In this way, the network controller can dynamically adjust the user plane determination rules according to the carrying of traffic of terminal devices by the user plane devices in the network. Thus, the user plane determination rules configured at the control plane device are adapted to the real-time status of the network.

[0026] In the method, the access report also indicates an initial user plane device of the terminal device different from the target user plane device. The method further includes that the network controller sends a bearer change indication to the migration device based on the access report, so as to make the migration device migrate the traffic of the first terminal device from the initial user plane device of the first terminal device to the target user plane device.

[0027] In the method, the network controller determines bearer change information of the at least one user plane device based on the acquired state information and historical state information of the at least one user plane device. The bearer change information indicates a change in the number of terminal devices or a change in traffic carried by each user plane device. The method further includes that the network controller updates at least one of the user plane determination rules in the set of user plane determination rules based on the bearer change information. Then, the network controller sends the updated at least one user plane determination rule to the control plane device.

[0028] In the method, the correspondence between the service level of the terminal device and the user plane device is pre-configured at the network controller.

[0029] In the method, the network controller receives a user plane determination request from the control plane device. The user plane determination request includes a service level of a terminal device. The method further includes that the network controller determines a target user plane device for carrying traffic of the terminal device based on at least the service level, and the network controller sends a user plane determination response to the control plane device. The user plane determination response is used to indicate the target user plane device.

[0030] In this way, when there is no user plane determination rule available at the control plane device for determining the user plane device, the control plane device sends the service level of the terminal device to the network controller, and then the target user plane device is determined by the network controller, completing the user online process of the terminal device.

[0031] In the method, the network controller acquires additional information, which includes at least one of regularity of network traffic, priority of network traffic, operator policy, identifier of the terminal device, location information, access domain name, and access interface. Then, the network controller can generate a set of user plane determination rules based on the state information, the correspondence, and the additional information.

[0032] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the network controller can generate user plane determination rules by utilizing the regularity and similarity of network traffic. Such user plane determination rules help to determine user plane devices that are more suitable for carrying traffic of terminal devices, improving user experience.

[0033] In the detailed description, the network controller can include at least one of a software-defined network control and a user plane migration function device.

[0034] According to a third aspect of the present disclosure, a control plane device is provided. The control plane device comprises a communication module, a rule obtaining module and a device determining module. The communication module can receive access information of a terminal device from an initial user plane device to which a terminal user has accessed, the access information indicating at least a service level of the terminal device. The rule obtaining module can obtain a user plane determining rule based on the service level of the terminal device. The device determining module can determine a target user plane device for carrying traffic of the terminal device according to the user plane determining rule.

[0035] According to the control plane device provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure, by using the rule generated based on network traffic regularity, operator policy or load balancing scheme, the user plane device suitable for the terminal device can be directly matched without reporting the service level of the terminal device to the network controller, so that the user online rate and user experience are significantly improved.

[0036] In the specific implementation, the rule obtaining module of the control plane device can further determine, based on the service level of the terminal device, a user plane determining rule matching the service level of the terminal device from a set of user plane determining rules.

[0037] In the specific implementation, the control plane device further comprises a processing module. Before obtaining the user plane determining rule, the processing module can determine, based on the service level of the terminal device, whether there is a user plane determining rule matching the service level of the terminal device from a set of user plane determining rules. If it is determined that there is no user plane determining rule matching the service level of the terminal device, the user plane determining request is sent to the network controller through the communication module, and the user plane determining request comprises the service level of the terminal device. The communication module of the control plane device can further receive a user plane determining response from the network controller, the user plane determining response indicating the target user plane device for carrying the traffic of the terminal device.

[0038] In this way, in the case where there is no matching user plane determining rule, the control plane device can report the service level of the terminal device to the network controller, and the network controller determines the target user plane device, thereby completing the user online process.

[0039] In the specific implementation, the rule obtaining module of the control plane device can further receive the user plane determining rule from the network controller through the communication module, and the user plane determining rule is generated by the network controller based on state information of at least one user plane device.

[0040] In this way, the user plane determining rule can be dynamically generated according to real-time network conditions, such as the number of sessions and total traffic on each user plane device. In this way, network resources can be flexibly adjusted, and network load balancing can be achieved.

[0041] In a specific implementation, the rule acquisition module of the control plane device can also receive user plane determination rules from the network administrator.

[0042] In a specific implementation, the communication module of the control plane device can also send an access report to the network controller, which indicates the target user plane device's traffic carrying capacity for the terminal device. If the target user plane device is different from the initial user plane device, the access report also indicates the initial user plane device, so that the network controller can migrate traffic from the initial user plane device to the target user plane device based on the access report.

[0043] In this way, the network controller can then generate, modify, or delete user plane determination rules based on the access report to better adapt to the current network conditions.

[0044] In a specific implementation, the communication module of the control plane device can also receive at least one user plane determination rule updated based on the access report from the network controller. The device determination module of the control plane device can also determine the target user plane device for carrying the traffic of the other terminal device based on the updated user plane determination rule and the received access information of the other terminal device.

[0045] In a specific implementation, the control plane device further includes a processing module. If the target user plane device is different from the initial user plane device, the processing module sends a revocation instruction to the initial user plane device via the communication module, causing the initial user plane device to delete the user entries associated with the terminal device. These user entries include information related to the traffic carrying capacity of the terminal device. The processing module can also send the user entries associated with the terminal device to the target user plane device via the communication module.

[0046] In a specific implementation, the communication module of the control plane device can also receive rule deletion instructions from at least one of the network administrator and the network controller. The control plane device also includes a processing module, which can delete user plane-defined rules according to the rule deletion instructions.

[0047] In a specific implementation, the access information also indicates at least one of the terminal device's identifier, location information, and access domain name. Furthermore, the rule acquisition module of the control plane device can select at least one candidate user plane determination rule that satisfies the service level from a set of user plane determination rules, and determine the target user plane determination rule from at least one candidate user plane determination rule based on at least one of the terminal device's identifier, location information, access domain name, and access interface.

[0048] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the regularity and similarity of network traffic can be utilized to generate the user plane determination rules. In the case where there are more than one user plane determination rules that meet the service level of the terminal device, the control plane device can further utilize the access information reflecting the regularity and similarity of network traffic to select a target user plane determination rule. Such a target user plane determination rule helps to determine a user plane device that is more suitable for carrying the traffic of the terminal device.

[0049] In the detailed description, the control plane device can be a server device, and the user plane device includes a router device.

[0050] According to a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, a network controller is provided. The network controller includes a state acquisition module, a rule generation module, and a communication module. The state acquisition module can acquire state information of at least one user plane device carrying the traffic of a terminal device, the state information at least indicating the number and traffic of terminal devices carried by the at least one user plane device. The rule generation module can generate a set of user plane determination rules based on the state information and a corresponding relationship between the service level of the terminal device and the user plane device, each user plane determination rule in the set of user plane determination rules being used to determine a user plane device carrying the traffic of a corresponding terminal device. The communication module can send the set of user plane determination rules to a control plane device of the at least one user plane device.

[0051] According to the network controller provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure, the rules for determining the user plane device can be generated based on the regularity of network traffic, operator policy, or load balancing scheme, and such rules are configured at the control plane device. Thus, after receiving an access packet of a terminal device, the control plane device can directly determine a user plane device suitable for the terminal device without the need to report the service level of the terminal device to the network controller, which significantly improves the user online rate and user experience.

[0052] In the detailed description, the communication module of the network controller can further receive an access report from the control plane device, the access report indicating that a target user plane device in the at least one user plane device will carry the traffic of the first terminal device. In this embodiment, the network controller further includes a processing module that can update at least one user plane determination rule in the set of user plane determination rules based on the access report, and send the updated at least one user plane determination rule to the control plane device through the communication module.

[0053] In this way, the network controller can dynamically adjust the user plane determination rules according to the carrying of the traffic of the terminal device by the user plane device in the network. Thus, the user plane determination rules configured at the control plane device are adapted to the real-time status of the network.

[0054] In an embodiment, the access report further indicates an initial user plane device of the terminal device different from the target user plane device. The processing module can further send, based on the access report, a bearer change indication to the migration device through the communication module, so as to cause the migration device to migrate the traffic of the first terminal device from the initial user plane device of the first terminal device to the target user plane device.

[0055] In an embodiment, the network controller further includes a processing module that can determine bearer change information of the at least one user plane device based on the obtained state information and historical state information of the at least one user plane device. The bearer change information indicates a change in a number of terminal devices or a change in traffic carried by each user plane device. The processing module can further update at least one of the set of user plane determination rules based on the bearer change information. In this embodiment, the communication module can further send the updated at least one user plane determination rule to the control plane device.

[0056] In an embodiment, the correspondence between the service level of the terminal device and the user plane device is pre-configured at the network controller.

[0057] In an embodiment, the communication module can further receive a user plane determination request from the control plane device, the user plane determination request including the service level of the terminal device. In this embodiment, the network controller further includes a processing module that can determine, based at least on the service level, a target user plane device for carrying the traffic of the terminal device, and send, through the communication module, a user plane determination response to the control plane device, the user plane determination response being used to indicate the target user plane device.

[0058] In this way, when there is no user plane determination rule available at the control plane device for determining the user plane device, the control plane device sends the service level of the terminal device to the network controller, and the network controller determines the target user plane device, thereby completing the user online process of the terminal device.

[0059] In an embodiment, the rule generation module can further obtain additional information, the additional information including at least one of regularity of network traffic, priority of network traffic, operator policy, identifier of the terminal device, location information, access domain name, and access interface. Then, the rule generation module generates the set of user plane determination rules based on the state information, the correspondence, and the additional information.

[0060] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the network controller can generate the user plane determination rule by utilizing the regularity and similarity of network traffic. Such a user plane determination rule helps to determine a user plane device that is more suitable for carrying the traffic of the terminal device, thereby improving user experience.

[0061] In particular embodiments, the network controller comprises at least one of a software defined network control and a user plane migration function device.

[0062] According to a fifth aspect of the present disclosure, a control plane device is provided. The control plane device comprises at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code. The at least one memory and the computer program code can, with the at least one processor, cause the control plane device to perform the method according to the first aspect.

[0063] According to a sixth aspect of the present disclosure, a network controller is provided. The network controller comprises at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code. The at least one memory and the computer program code can, with the at least one processor, cause the network controller to perform the method according to the second aspect.

[0064] According to a seventh aspect of the present disclosure, a control plane and user plane separated network system is provided. The network system comprises: at least one user plane device, which can carry traffic of a terminal device; a control plane device according to the third aspect; and a network controller according to the fourth aspect. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0065] The above and other features, aspects and advantages of embodiments of the present disclosure will become more apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. In the drawings similar elements are denoted by similar reference numerals, in which:

[0066] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of a network architecture based on Broadband Remote Access Server (BRAS) control separation is shown;

[0067] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of an architecture of Layer 2 network interconnection is shown;

[0068] Figure 3 A schematic diagram of an example network environment in which example embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented is shown;

[0069] Figure 4 A signaling interaction diagram according to example embodiments of the present disclosure is shown;

[0070] Figure 5 A block diagram of a control plane device according to example embodiments of the present disclosure is shown;

[0071] Figure 6 A flowchart of a method for a control plane device according to example embodiments of the present disclosure is shown;

[0072] Figure 7 A block diagram of a network controller according to example embodiments of the present disclosure is shown;

[0073] Figure 8 A flowchart of a method for a network controller according to an example embodiment of the present disclosure is shown;

[0074] Figure 9 A block diagram of an electronic device according to an example embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. Detailed Implementation

[0075] Some exemplary embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. While exemplary embodiments of this disclosure are shown in the drawings, it should be understood that this disclosure can be implemented in various forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided to provide a more thorough and complete understanding of this disclosure. It should be understood that the drawings and embodiments of this disclosure are for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to limit the scope of protection of this disclosure.

[0076] As used herein, the terms "control plane and user plane separation," "control-forwarding separation," and "CU separation" refer to the further physical or logical separation of the gateway in a communication system architecture into two independent planes: the control plane and the user plane. In the context of this disclosure, the terms "control plane," "control plane device," and "CP device" refer to the logical or physical entity in a communication system that implements protocol interaction, protocol message forwarding, protocol entry calculation, and routing table maintenance. As used herein, the terms "forwarding plane," "user plane," "user plane device," or "UP device" refer to the logical or physical entity in a communication system that performs data packet reception, decapsulation, encapsulation, and forwarding. After establishing routing table entries, the control plane device generates several entries, including a forwarding information base table and a fast forwarding table, and distributes them to the user plane to guide message forwarding.

[0077] As used in this document, the terms "terminal device" and "user device" refer to any suitable device that can access a broadband network to access desired services through devices such as access gateways and access nodes (ANs), including but not limited to personal computers, tablet computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), mobile phones, virtual machines, etc.

[0078] The term “comprising” and its variations as used herein signify open inclusion, i.e., “including but not limited to”. Unless otherwise stated, the term “or” means “and / or”. The term “based on” means “at least partially based on”. The terms “example embodiment” and “some embodiments” mean “at least one example embodiment”. Other explicit and implicit definitions may also be included below.

[0079] In a traditional control separation network architecture, control plane messages are sent to a CP device for processing, and forwarding plane still uses physical devices in the network, so that centralized control and management can be achieved without making great changes to the existing network environment. However, in this network architecture, the CP device needs to obtain SLA information of each online terminal device through AAA authentication and send the information to an SDN controller to determine a UP device for carrying traffic of the terminal device. Figure 1 A schematic diagram of a network architecture 100 based on a Broadband Remote Access Server (BRAS) control separation according to a conventional scheme is shown. As shown in Figure 1 In the BRAS control separation architecture, a single physical device is split into a BRAS CP device 110 and a BRAS UP device 120, where the BRAS CP device supports BRAS control plane functions and the BRAS UP device supports BRAS forwarding plane functions. The network architecture 100 includes terminal devices 101-1, 101-2 (also collectively referred to as 101) of terminal users, access devices 102-1, 102-2 (also collectively referred to as 102), a convergence switch 103, the BRAS CP device 110, the BRAS UP device 120, a RADIUS (Remote Authentication Dial In User Service) server 104, a DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) server 105, a core layer device 106, and a backbone network 107. The terminal users can be, for example, home users, enterprise users, and the like.

[0080] The network architecture 100 has a two-layer network interconnection architecture as shown in Figure 2 As shown in Figure 2 The terminal devices 101, for example, the terminal devices 101-1, 101-2, are connected to the BRAS UP device 120 through the access devices 102 of the access layer and to the BRAS CP device 110, respectively.

[0081] As described before, in the control separation network architecture, for each user online or migration process, the CP device needs to send SLA information associated with the user to the SDN controller to request the SDN controller to determine a UP device for finally carrying traffic of the user. The operation of requesting the SDN controller to determine the UP device according to the SLA information will cause a problem of slow user online perception, which is intolerable for critical users (for example, VIP users handling bank business).

[0082] To alleviate the above problems and other potential problems, embodiments of the present disclosure propose a scheme for a CP device to match a UP device based on dynamic rules. The scheme generates a set of rules based on regularity of network traffic, operator policy, or load balancing, etc. The control plane device determines a target UP device suitable for carrying traffic of the terminal device from a set of UP devices by using the set of preconfigured rules. In this way, the CP device can determine a UP device that meets SLA information and complete the user online process to the network without reporting SLA information and requesting the network controller to assign the UP device. In this way, the online message processing rate can be accelerated, and the user online efficiency can be greatly improved, thereby improving the user experience.

[0083] The example process for traffic control under the control separation network architecture according to embodiments of the present disclosure will be discussed below in conjunction with Figures 3 to 9

[0084] Reference will now be made to Figure 3 , wherein a schematic diagram of an example network environment 300 in which example embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented is shown. The network environment 300 can be a broadband network, for example, a metropolitan area network, or can also be any other appropriate network. It should be understood that the network environment 300 is for exemplary purposes only and does not imply any limitation on the scope of the present disclosure. Embodiments of the present disclosure can also be embodied in other network environments. In addition, it should also be understood that the network environment 300 can also include other elements or entities for the purpose of control, forwarding, etc., which are not shown for the sake of convenience of description, but do not mean that embodiments of the present disclosure do not have these elements or entities.

[0085] As Figure 3 shown, the network environment 300 includes a terminal device 301, an access gateway 302, an access node 303, a steering function (SF) device 304, a control plane device 310, user plane devices 320-1 to 320-4, an SDN controller 330, a UP steering function (USF) device 340, and a RADIUS server 350, and a core network 305.

[0086] The terminal device 301 is connected to the user plane device 320 through the access gateway 302, the access node 303, and via the SF device 304. In some example embodiments, in the case of initially accessing the network 300, the terminal device 301 is first connected to an initial user plane device via the SF device 304, for example, the user plane device 320-1. In the context of the present disclosure, after the terminal device 301 finally completes the access process, the target user plane device 320 carrying the traffic of the terminal device 301 can be the same as the initial user plane device 320-1, or can be different. For example, the target user plane device can be the user plane device 320-2.​

[0087] The access gateway 302 can be a home gateway, router, etc. based on PPPoE, DHCP, etc. protocols. The access node 303 can be an optical line terminal (OLT), a digital subscriber line access multiplexer (DSLAM), a switch, or any other suitable device for transparently transporting packets, traffic from the terminal device 301 to the SF device 304. To distinguish different users or terminal devices and their requested services, the access node 303 can utilize QinQ technology to add CVLAN and SVLAN tags for the accessed terminal device. For example, the access node 303 can indicate the location of the terminal device by adding a CVLAN tag to the packets of the terminal device 301.

[0088] The SF device 304 can act as an anchor point for migrating traffic from the access node 303 to the target user plane device 320. For example, the SF device 304 can transmit packets including layer two headers from the terminal device 301 to the corresponding user plane device 320 through a forwarding technology such as VLAN, VLL, virtual private local area network service (VPLS), VxLAN, or SRv6, etc.

[0089] The control plane device 310 is a device for implementing control plane functions, including but not limited to user and session management, user access control, user authentication authorization charging, address management, configuration management, etc. In some embodiments, the control plane device 310 can communicate with the user plane device 320 through the core network 305, for example, receive a user access message (e.g., a PPPoE / IPoE access message) associated with the terminal device 301 from the user plane device 320, sense the access state of the user plane device 320, establish, delete, keep alive access protocol channels, control channels, and configuration channels between CUs, etc. In addition, after the target user plane device 320 is selected, the control plane device 310 downloads a session to the target user plane device 320 to implement traffic forwarding.

[0090] User plane devices 320-1 to 320-4 (also collectively referred to as user plane devices 320 herein) are physical or virtual devices for implementing forwarding plane functions, including but not limited to traffic forwarding, quality of service (QoS), traffic statistics, etc. Each user plane device 320 can connect at least one end device 301, such as a virtual machine, a personal computer, a mobile phone, a host, etc., and provide physical resources for carrying traffic for the end device 301 accessing the network. To provide support for various broadband access types, user plane devices 320 can provide multiple interface types, such as ATM interfaces, DSLAM interfaces, fast Ethernet interfaces, frame relay interfaces, etc. In some example embodiments, user plane devices 320 receive session tables from control plane devices 310 and forward data packets of end devices, implementing traffic policies such as QoS and access control lists (ACLs), etc.

[0091] There can be three interfaces between CP devices 310 and UP devices 320, namely, Is service interface, Im management interface, and Ic control interface. When an end device 301 accesses the Internet, user access protocol packets (e.g., PPPoE and IPoE dial-up protocol packets) are received from the end device 301 by a default initial UP device (e.g., UP device 320-1) and transmitted to CP devices 310 through the Is interface for further processing. CP devices 310 issue network configurations (e.g., Netconf protocol) to UP devices 320 through the Im interface, and UP devices 320 report their running states to CP devices 310 through the Im interface. CP devices process user access packets and determine a target UP device suitable for carrying traffic of the end device according to load conditions of multiple UP devices in the network, which can be different from the initial UP device 320-1. Then, the user online process is completed, CP devices 310 issue user table entries including information related to traffic carrying of the end device to the target UP device 320 through the Ic interface, and UP devices 320 report service events (e.g., openflow protocol) through the Ic interface.

[0092] SDN controller 330 can act as a network controller, which monitors state information of user plane devices 320 in network 300, including but not limited to total traffic of each user plane device 320, number of sessions of users, etc. Based on the state information and SLA information of end device 301 obtained from CP devices 310, SDN controller 330 can determine a target user plane device, e.g., user plane device 320-2, matching the end device 301 according to load balancing policies, operator policies, network states, etc., and establish a layer 2 tunnel between SF device 304 and UP devices 320 to migrate traffic of end device 301 from the initial user plane device 320-1 to the target user plane device 320-2.

[0093] In some example embodiments, the SDN controller can generate a set of user plane determination rules based on the state information of the user plane device 320, and send the set of user plane determination rules to the control plane device 310 for locally matching the target user plane device 320 at the control plane device 310. Each user plane determination rule specifies a correspondence between the SLA of the terminal device 301 and the user plane device 320. This will be described in detail below. In other example embodiments, the SDN controller can only act as an executor of the traffic migration operation and a deliverer of the user plane determination rules, while the USF device 340 acts as a network controller to generate the user plane determination rules and determine the target user plane device 320.

[0094] The RADIUS server 350 can store a database of SLAs associated with the terminal device 301. In addition, the Radius server 350 can also implement functions such as authentication, authorization and charging of the terminal device.

[0095] It should be understood that the number of devices shown in the environment 300 is merely an example and not a limitation. For example, any appropriate number of terminal devices, user plane devices, control plane devices, and the like can be included in the environment 300.

[0096] According to example embodiments of the present disclosure, the network controller can generate a set of user plane determination rules based on one or more of a load balancing policy, an operator policy, a regularity of traffic, a network state and its historical data, and configure the set of rules at the control plane device. In this way, during the user online process, the control plane device first locally finds a matching rule based on the access information provided by the user. If there is a matching rule, the control plane device can directly determine the user plane device for carrying the traffic of the terminal device based on the correspondence specified by the rule, without the need to report the SLA information to the network controller. In addition, the present solution identifies the user plane device of the user online based on the regularity of network traffic, so that the control plane device and the network controller can guide the user access in advance, significantly improving the user online rate and improving the user experience.

[0097] Figure 4 A timing diagram of a traffic control procedure 400 according to example embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. For discussion purposes, the example interaction procedure 400 will be described with reference to the communication system 300 as shown in Figure 3 Figure 3 The procedure 400 can involve the SF device 304, the control plane device 310, the initial user plane device 320-1, the target user plane device 320-2, the network controller 330, and the RADIUS server 350 as shown in Figure 3 Figure 4 ​​The illustrated process 400 is also applicable to other communication scenarios.

[0098] In the process 400, the network controller 330 obtains (402, 404) state information of at least one user plane device 320-1 and 320-2 carrying traffic of the terminal device 301. In specific embodiments, the state information can indicate at least the number of sessions and the total traffic of the terminal device carried by the corresponding user plane device 320.

[0099] The network controller 330 generates (406) a set of user plane determination rules based on the state information and the correspondence between the service level SLA of the terminal device and the user plane device. Each user plane device can be configured to carry traffic from terminal devices with a specific SLA. The network controller 330 can determine the correspondence between the service level SLA of the terminal device and the respective user plane device by monitoring the state information of the at least one user plane device 320-1 and 320-2. In specific embodiments, each user plane determination rule specifies at least the correspondence between the service level SLA of the terminal device 301 and the user plane device 320 in the network 300. In some example embodiments, the network controller 330 can further generate the user plane determination rules based on a load balancing scheme, an operator policy, or a traffic regularity. In some example embodiments, the network controller 330 can store the state information of the user plane device 320 and determine the load change information of the at least one user plane device 320 based on the current state information and the stored historical state information. The load change information can indicate the change in the number of sessions or the change in the traffic of the terminal device carried by each user plane device 320. Then, the network controller 330 can update at least one user plane determination rule in the set of user plane determination rules based on the load change information. This will be further described below with reference to Figures 5 to 8

[0100] The network controller 330 sends (408) the set of user plane determination rules to the control plane device 310 of the at least one user plane device. In other embodiments, the user plane determination rules can also be pre-configured at the control plane device 310 by the network operator.

[0101] ​In case the terminal device 301 requests to access the network, the terminal device 301 sends an access packet, such as a PPPoE, DHCP protocol based access packet, to the SF device 304 via the access gateway 302 and the access node 303. The SF device 304 sends (410) the access packet to the initial user plane device 320-1 via a layer 2 tunnel. Upon receiving the access packet from the SF device 304, the initial user plane device 320-1 sends (412) the access packet to the control plane device 310. The control plane device 310 performs AAA authentication for the terminal device 301 based on the received access packet, and obtains access information of the terminal device 301. In the context of the present disclosure, the access information at least indicates a service level SLA of the terminal device 301.

[0102] The control plane device 310 obtains a user plane determination rule based on the service level SLA included in the access information. As an example implementation, the control plane device 310 can determine at least one user plane determination rule that matches the service level SLA of the terminal device 301 from a pre-configured set of user plane determination rules. Since each user plane determination rule specifies a correspondence between a service level SLA of a terminal device and a user plane device 320, if there is a matching user plane determination rule in the set of user plane determination rules, the control plane device 310 can determine the target user plane device based on the rule. The control plane device 310 determines (414) that the target user plane device for carrying the traffic of the terminal device 301 is the user plane device 320-2.

[0103] Upon determining that the target user plane device is the user plane device 320-2, the control plane device 310 issues (416) a user table entry (e.g., a CGN flow table) including information related to the traffic bearer of the terminal device 301 to the target user plane device 320-2. The control plane device 310 can also send an indication to the initial user plane device 320-1 to revoke the session table entry.

[0104] The control plane device 310 sends (418) an access report to the network controller 330. The access report indicates the target user plane device 320-2 for carrying the traffic of the terminal device 301. In this example, the target user plane device 320-2 is different from the initial user plane device 320-1, the access report can also indicate the initial user plane device as the user plane device 320-1. In other examples, the target user plane device can also be the same as the initial user plane device.

[0105] The network controller 330 can update (420) at least one of the set of user plane determination rules based on the access report, or generate a new user plane determination rule, and send the updated or newly generated user plane determination rule to the control plane device 310. In addition, the network controller 330 can also instruct the control plane device 310 to delete invalid user plane determination rules.

[0106] The network controller 330 sends (422) a bearer change indication to the SF device 304 based on the access report. The SF device 304 migrates (424) the traffic of the terminal device 301 from the initial user plane device 320-1 to the target user plane device 320-2 based on the bearer change indication to complete the process of user access and traffic migration.

[0107] In Figure 4 The process of completing user access by the network controller 330 in the case where there is no matching user plane determination rule in the set of user plane determination rules is shown in the dashed box. As shown, the SF device 304 sends (426) an access packet from the terminal device 301 to the initial user plane device. For the sake of distinction from the foregoing example, in this example, the given initial user plane device is the user plane device 320-2.

[0108] The initial user plane device 320-2 sends (428) the access packet to the control plane device 310. As previously described, the control plane device 310 can determine the access information of the terminal device 301 and obtain the service level SLA of the terminal device 301 based on the access packet. The control plane device 310 determines whether there is a user plane determination rule matching the service level SLA of the terminal device 301 in the set of user plane determination rules based on the service level SLA of the terminal device 301. In this example, the control plane device 310 determines (430) that there is no matching user plane determination rule in the pre-configured set of user plane determination rules.

[0109] Since the target user plane device cannot be determined locally at the control plane device 310, the control plane device 310 needs to request the network controller 330 to determine the target user plane device for the terminal device 301. The control plane device 310 reports (432) the SLA of the terminal device to the network controller 330 to request the network controller 330 to determine the target user plane device for the terminal device. For example, the control plane device 310 can send a user plane determination request including the SLA of the terminal device 301 to the network controller 330. The network controller 330 receives the user plane determination request and determines (434) the target user plane device for the terminal device 301 as the user plane device 320-1 according to the SLA of the terminal device 301. As an example implementation, the network controller 330 can also determine the target user plane device based on operator policy, network traffic regularity, or load balancing scheme, etc. when determining the target user plane device. After determining the target user plane device, the network controller 330 returns (436) a response result indicating the target user plane device to the control plane device 310. For example, the network controller 330 can send a user plane determination response indicating the target user plane device 320-1 to the control plane device 310.

[0110] After receiving the response result, the control plane device 310 issues (438) the session entry (e.g., CGN flow table) associated with the terminal device to the indicated target user plane device 320-1, similar to 416. The control plane device 310 can also send an indication to the initial user plane device 320-2 to revoke the session entry.

[0111] Since the user plane device 320-2 that the terminal device 301 finally accesses is different from the user plane device 320-1 that it initially dials in this example, the network controller 330 sends (440) a bearer change indication to the SF device 304 to make the SF device 304 migrate the traffic of the terminal device 301 from the initial user plane device 320-1 to the target user plane device 320-2. The SF device 304 migrates (442) the traffic of the terminal device 301 from the initial user plane device 320-2 to the target user plane device 320-1 based on the bearer change indication, and the user online and migration process is completed. If the user plane device that the terminal device 301 finally accesses is the same as the initial user plane device, the network controller 330 does not need to instruct the SF device 304 to perform traffic migration.

[0112] In some example embodiments, network controller 330 may be an SDN controller. In other example embodiments, such as in a network architecture where the SDN controller and the USF device are separate, the functionality of network controller 330 may be implemented by the SDN controller and the USF device together, wherein the USF device acts as a network node that formulates user plane determination rules, and the SDN controller acts as an execution node for that set of user plane determination rules.

[0113] Although the steps in the above-described interactive process 400 are described in a specific order, this order is for illustrative purposes only and not for limitation. Unless explicitly stated otherwise, it should not be construed as requiring such interactive processes to be performed in the specific order shown or in a sequential order. For example, operations 402 and 404 may be performed in parallel, operation 408 may be performed before operation 402 or 404, operation 418 may be performed before operation 416, and so on. In some cases, multitasking or parallel processing may be beneficial. Additionally, the interactive process 400 may include additional operations not shown and / or one or more operations shown may be omitted.

[0114] Figure 5 A block diagram of a control plane device 500 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. The control plane device 500 can... Figure 3 The control plane device 310 shown can also be implemented using other suitable devices. It should be understood that the control plane device 500 is for illustrative purposes only and does not imply any limitation on the scope of this disclosure. Embodiments of this disclosure can also be embodied in different control plane devices.

[0115] like Figure 5 As shown, the control plane device 500 includes a communication module 502, a rule acquisition module 504, and a device determination module 506. It should be understood that the control plane device 500 may also include other elements, modules, or entities not shown for clarity, but this does not mean that the embodiments of this disclosure do not include these elements or entities.

[0116] Communication module 502 is configured to receive access information from the initial user plane device to which terminal user 301 has already connected. The access information at least indicates the Service Level Agreement (SLA) of terminal device 301. For specific implementation details, please refer to [reference needed]. Figure 4 A detailed description of steps 412 and 428 in the illustrated embodiment, or below. Figure 6 The detailed description of step 601 in the illustrated embodiment will not be repeated here.

[0117] The rule obtaining module 504 is configured to obtain a user plane determination rule based on the service level SLA of the terminal device 301. In some example embodiments, the rule obtaining module 504 can determine, from a set of user plane determination rules, a user plane determination rule that matches the service level SLA of the terminal device 301 based on the service level SLA. Each user plane determination rule specifies a correspondence between the service level SLA of a terminal device and a user plane device 320. For detailed description of step 602 in the illustrated embodiment, please refer to the detailed description of step 602 in the illustrated embodiment. Figure 6 For brevity, the detailed description of step 603 in the illustrated embodiment is not repeated here.

[0118] The device determining module 506 is configured to determine, according to the user plane determination rule, a target user plane device for carrying the traffic of the terminal device 301. The control plane device 500 can further include a storage for storing the user plane determination rule. For detailed description of step 603 in the illustrated embodiment, please refer to the detailed description of step 603 in the illustrated embodiment. Figure 6 For brevity, the detailed description of step 603 in the illustrated embodiment is not repeated here.

[0119] In some example embodiments, the communication module 502 is further configured to receive, from the network controller 330, a set of user plane determination rules for matching the user plane devices 320, which are generated by the network controller 330 based on the status information of at least one user plane device. In other example embodiments, the rule obtaining module 504 can receive a user plane determination rule input by a network administrator, such as a user plane determination rule input by a network operator or a network administrator through a command line, a graphical user interface (GUI), or a voice instruction.

[0120] In such embodiments, the rule obtaining module 504 is further configured to determine, from the set of user plane determination rules, a user plane determination rule that matches the service level SLA of the terminal device 301 based on the service level SLA of the terminal device 301. The set of user plane determination rules can be generated by the network controller 330 based on one or more of the status information of the user plane devices in the network, the operator policy, the regularity of network traffic, the load balancing scheme. As an example, the network controller 330 can determine a set of user plane determination rules based on the correspondence between the usernames (e.g., terminal device identifiers) of the terminal devices that have logged in, the access interfaces, VLANs, location information, access domain names, etc., and the user plane devices that finally carry the traffic of these terminal devices. The set of user plane determination rules can include one or more rules as follows:

[0121] i) For the first SLA, the terminal device with access location information as Option A can access the user plane device 320-1;

[0122] ii) for the second SLA, a terminal device with device identifier B can access the user plane device 320-2;

[0123] iii) for the third SLA, a terminal device with access location information of Option A can access the user plane device 320-4, and so on.

[0124] iv) for the third SLA, a terminal device with access location information of Option A can access the user plane device 320-4, and so on.

[0125] In some example embodiments, the control plane device 500 can further comprise a processing module (not shown). Before obtaining the user plane determination rules, the processing module is configured to determine, based on the service level SLA of the terminal device 301, whether there is a user plane determination rule matching the service level of the terminal device from a set of user plane determination rules. If it is determined that there is no user plane determination rule matching the service level SLA of the terminal device 301, the control plane device 500 sends, through the communication module 502, a user plane determination request comprising the service level SLA of the terminal device 301 to the network controller 330 to request the network controller 330 to determine a target user plane device for carrying the traffic of the terminal device 301. Then, the communication module 502 can receive a user plane determination response indicating the target user plane device from the network controller 330.

[0126] In some example embodiments, the control plane device 500 causes the terminal device 301 to go online through the target user plane device and the traffic of the terminal device 301 is carried by the target user plane device according to the determined target user plane device. In this embodiment, the communication module 502 is further configured to send an access report to the network controller 330 to indicate the carrying of the traffic of the terminal device 301 by the target user plane device. The network controller 330 can update the user plane determination rules based on the access report. If the target user plane device is different from the initial user plane device, the access report further indicates the initial user plane device, so that the network controller 330 can migrate the traffic from the initial user plane device to the target user plane device based on the access report, which will be discussed in detail below.

[0127] In some example embodiments, the communication module 502 is further configured to receive at least one user plane determination rule updated based on the access report from the network controller 330. In this example embodiment, the processing module of the control plane device 500 is further configured to update the set of user plane determination rules with the updated at least one user plane determination rule. In such embodiments, the device determination module 506 can determine a target user plane device for carrying the traffic of another terminal device based on the updated at least one user plane determination rule and the received access information of the another terminal device.

[0128] In the case where the target user plane device is different from the initial user plane device, the control plane device 500 can instruct the initial user plane device to revoke the user entries stored on it that are related to the traffic of the terminal device, and issue the user entries to the target user plane device. In such embodiments, the processing module of the control plane device 500 sends a revocation instruction to the initial user plane device through the communication module 502, so that the initial user plane device deletes the user entries associated with the terminal device 301. The communication module 502 is also configured to send the user entries associated with the terminal device 301 to the target user plane device.

[0129] In some example embodiments, the communication module 502 is also configured to receive a rule deletion instruction from at least one of the network controller 330 and the network administrator, for deleting a specific one or more user plane determination rules. In response to the rule deletion instruction, the processing module of the control plane device 500 can delete the stored one or more user plane determination rules.

[0130] In some example embodiments, the access information received by the communication module 502 can also indicate at least one of an identifier of the terminal device 301, location information, an access domain name, and an access interface. In this embodiment, the rule obtaining module 504 is also configured to select at least one candidate user plane determination rule that satisfies a service level SLA from the set of user plane determination rules. Referring to the above example, assuming that the SLA of the first terminal device requesting to go online is the third SLA, the rule obtaining module 504 can select the candidate user plane determination rules (iii) and (iv) that satisfy this SLA. The rule obtaining module 504 can further determine the target user plane determination rule from the candidate user plane determination rules (iii) and (iv) based on at least one of the identifier of the first terminal device, the location information, the access domain name, and the access interface of the first terminal device. For example, the access information of the first terminal device also indicates that the location information of the first terminal device is Option A, then the rule obtaining module 504 can determine that the user plane determination rule (iv) is the target user plane determination rule.

[0131] In some example embodiments, the device determining module 506 determines the target user plane device 320-4 for carrying the traffic of the first terminal device based on the user plane determination rule (iv) determined by the rule obtaining module 504.

[0132] As previously described, after determining the target user plane device 320-4, the communication module 502 sends an access report to the network controller 330. The access report indicates the target user plane device 320-4 to bear the traffic of the terminal device 301. In some example embodiments, based on the target user plane device 320-4 determined by the matched user plane determination rule being different from the initial user plane device, e.g., the user plane device 320-1, to which the terminal device initially dials access, the access report can indicate that the terminal device 301 accesses at the user plane device 320-1 and completes the online at the user plane device 320-4.

[0133] It should be understood that the operations and features described above in connection with the user plane device 320 are equally applicable to the control plane device 500 and have the same effect, and specific details are not repeated. Figures 3 to 4 The operations and features described above in connection with the user plane device 320 are equally applicable to the control plane device 500 and have the same effect, and specific details are not repeated.

[0134] The specific implementation of the control plane device 500 includes a server device, e.g., a virtual machine configured on a server to implement the CP function, and the specific implementation of the user plane device includes a router device. The modules included in the control plane device 500 can be implemented in various ways, including software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. In some embodiments, one or more modules can be implemented using software and / or firmware, e.g., machine-executable instructions stored on a storage medium. In addition to or alternatively, part or all of the modules in the device 500 can be implemented at least in part by one or more hardware logic components. As an example and not by way of limitation, example types of hardware logic components that can be used include field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), application-specific standard products (ASSPs), system-on-a-chip (SOCs), complex programmable logic devices (CPLDs), etc.

[0135] Figure 6 A flowchart of a method 600 for a control plane device according to example embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. The method 600 can be implemented at the control plane device 310 shown and described above, and Figure 3 The control plane device 310 shown and described above, and Figure 5 The control plane device 500 shown and described above, and Figure 3 The method 600 will be described below in connection with the control plane device 500 shown and described above for convenience of discussion.

[0136] As Figure 6 indicated at block 601, the control plane device 310 receives access information of the terminal device 301 from an initial user plane device 320-1 to which the terminal device 301 has accessed. The access information at least indicates a service level SLA of the terminal device 301.

[0137] The control plane device 310 can be pre-configured with a set of user plane determination rules, each of which specifies a correspondence between a service level of a terminal device and a user plane device. In some example embodiments, the set of user plane determination rules can be generated by the network controller 330 based on the status information of the plurality of user plane devices 320-1 to 320-4 in the network 300. As an example, the network controller 330 can generate the user plane determination rules based on one or more of the status information of the user plane devices in the network, operator policies, regularity of network traffic, load balancing schemes. For example, the network controller 330 can determine a set of user plane determination rules based on the correspondence between the usernames (e.g., terminal device identifiers) of the terminal devices that have logged in, access interfaces, VLANs, location information, access domain names, etc., and the user plane devices that finally bear these terminal devices. The set of user plane determination rules can include one or more rules as follows:

[0138] i) for a first SLA, terminal devices with access location information as Option A can access the user plane device 320-1;

[0139] ii) for a second SLA, terminal devices with device identifier as B can access the user plane device 320-2;

[0140] iii) for a third SLA, terminal devices with access from interface C and domain name as D, VLAN as E can access the user plane device 320-3;

[0141] iv) for a third SLA, terminal devices with access location information as Option A can access the user plane device 320-4, and so on.

[0142] In some other example embodiments, the network operator can input, modify, and delete the user plane determination rules stored by the control plane device 310 through instructions. The specific implementation can include inputting, configuring, and deleting the user plane determination rules by the network operator or network administrator through command lines, graphical user interfaces (GUIs), or voice instructions.

[0143] In some example embodiments, before obtaining the user plane determination rules, the control plane device 310 can determine, from the set of user plane determination rules, whether there is a user plane determination rule matching the service level of the terminal device 301 based on the service level SLA of the terminal device 301. If it is determined that there is no user plane determination rule matching the service level of the terminal device 301, the control plane device 310 can report the service level SLA of the terminal device 301 to the network controller 330 to request the network controller 330 to determine a target user plane device for carrying the traffic of the terminal device 301. In this case, the control plane device 310 can send a user plane determination request including the service level SLA of the terminal device 301 to the network controller 330. The network controller 330 can determine a target user plane device for carrying the traffic of the terminal device 301 based on the service level SLA of the terminal device 301. Then, the network controller 330 sends a user plane determination response indicating the target user plane device to the control plane device 310. The control plane device 310 completes the online process of the terminal device 301 according to the target user plane device indicated in the user plane determination response.

[0144] With reference to both Figure 6 At block 602, the control plane device 310 obtains user plane determination rules based on the service level SLA of the terminal device 301. In some example embodiments, the control plane device 310 can determine a user plane determination rule matching the service level SLA of the terminal device 301 from the set of user plane determination rules. In the case where there are multiple candidate user plane determination rules matching the SLA in the set of user plane determination rules, the control plane device 310 can further determine a target user plane determination rule from the candidate rules based on at least one of the identifier of the terminal device, the location information, the access domain name, and the access interface indicated by the access information.

[0145] At block 603, the control plane device 310 determines a target user plane device for carrying the traffic of the terminal device 301 according to the obtained user plane determination rules. After determining the target user plane device, the control plane device 310 sends an access report to the network controller 330 to indicate that the target user plane device carries the traffic of the terminal device, i.e., the terminal device will complete the online at the user plane device 320-2.

[0146] In some example embodiments, the determined target user plane device is different from the initial user plane device accessed by the terminal device 301. The control plane device 310 can send an access report to the network controller 330 to indicate that the terminal device 301 accesses from the initial user plane device, will be online from the target user plane device, and its traffic will be carried by the target user plane device. In this embodiment, the access report can prompt the network controller 330 to migrate the traffic of the terminal device from the initial user plane device to the target user plane device.

[0147] In some example embodiments, the network controller 330 can dynamically adjust and update the set of user plane determination rules based on the received access report, changes in the state information of the user plane devices, changes in the operator policy. In addition, the network controller 330 can instruct the control plane device 310 to delete user plane determination rules that have become invalid or inapplicable. In this way, the control plane device 310 can update and adjust the set of user plane determination rules based on the instructions from the network controller 330 to ensure that the set of user plane determination rules stored by the control plane device 310 are adapted to the network state, operator policy and load balancing scheme. In other example embodiments, the control plane device 310 can delete user plane determination rules according to rule deletion instructions received from a network administrator.

[0148] In embodiments where the target user plane device is different from the initial user plane device, the control plane device 310 can send a revocation indication to the initial user plane device to cause the initial user plane device to delete the user table entry associated with the terminal device 301 including information related to the traffic bearers of the terminal device 301. The control plane device 310 can also send the user table entry associated with the terminal device 301 to the target user plane device. It should be appreciated that the operations and features described above in connection with the method 500 apply equally to the method 600 and have the same effect, and specific details are not repeated. Figures 2 to 5 The operations and features described above in connection with the method 500 apply equally to the method 600 and have the same effect, and specific details are not repeated.

[0149] Figure 7 A block diagram of a network controller 700 according to an example embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. The network controller 700 can be implemented at the network controller 330 or the USF device 340 shown, or can be implemented using other suitable devices. It should be appreciated that the network controller 700 is for exemplary purposes only and does not imply any limitation on the scope of the present disclosure. Embodiments of the present disclosure can also be embodied in different network controllers. It should also be appreciated that the network controller 700 can also include other elements or entities that are not shown for ease of description but do not mean that embodiments of the present disclosure do not possess these elements or entities. Figure 3 The network controller 700 can be implemented at the network controller 330 or the USF device 340 shown, or can be implemented using other suitable devices. It should be appreciated that the network controller 700 is for exemplary purposes only and does not imply any limitation on the scope of the present disclosure. Embodiments of the present disclosure can also be embodied in different network controllers. It should also be appreciated that the network controller 700 can also include other elements or entities that are not shown for ease of description but do not mean that embodiments of the present disclosure do not possess these elements or entities.

[0150] As shown, the network controller 700 includes a state obtaining module 702, a rule generating module 704 and a communication module 706. Figure 7 The state obtaining module 702 is configured to obtain state information of at least one user plane device carrying traffic of the terminal device 301. In the context of the present disclosure, the state information at least indicates the number of sessions and the total traffic of the terminal device carried by the at least one user plane device 320. As an example, the specific implementation can refer to the description of step 801 in the method 800 to be discussed in detail below.

[0151] The state obtaining module 702 is configured to obtain state information of at least one user plane device carrying traffic of the terminal device 301. In the context of the present disclosure, the state information at least indicates the number of sessions and the total traffic of the terminal device carried by the at least one user plane device 320. As an example, the specific implementation can refer to the description of step 801 in the method 800 to be discussed in detail below.

[0152] The rule generating module 704 is configured to generate a set of user plane determination rules based on the state information and the correspondence between the service level of the terminal device and the user plane device, wherein each user plane determination rule is used to determine the user plane device carrying the traffic of the corresponding terminal device. In some example embodiments, the correspondence between the service level of the terminal device and the user plane device is pre-configured at the network controller 330. As an example, the specific implementation can refer to the description about step 802 in method 800 which will be discussed in detail below.

[0153] The communication module 706 is configured to send the set of user plane determination rules to the control plane device 310 of the at least one user plane device. As an example, the specific implementation can refer to the description about step 803 in method 800 which will be discussed in detail below.

[0154] In some example embodiments, the rule generating module 704 is configured to obtain additional information by the communication module 706. The additional information can include at least one of regularity of network traffic, priority of network traffic, operator policy, identifier of the terminal device, location information, access domain name and access interface. The rule generating module 704 can generate the set of user plane determination rules based on the state information, the correspondence and the additional information.

[0155] In some example embodiments, the state obtaining module 702 is configured to determine the load change information of the at least one user plane device based on the obtained state information and the historical state information of the at least one user plane device. The load change information can indicate the change of the number of terminal devices carried by each user plane device or the change of the traffic. In this embodiment, the network controller 700 further comprises a processing module (not shown), and the processing module is configured to update at least one user plane determination rule in the set of user plane determination rules based on one of the change of the total traffic and the change of the number.

[0156] As an example, the network controller 330 can dynamically generate, adjust the user plane determination rules based on a load balancing policy, and the load balancing policy specifies that the total traffic of a single user plane device does not exceed 80% of a threshold traffic. Assume that a set of rules generated by the rule generation module 704 includes a rule “for the first SLA, the terminal device with access location information of Option A can access the user plane device 320-1”, and the state acquisition module 702 determines that the total traffic of the user plane device 320-1 has reached 80% of the threshold traffic and the total traffic of the remaining user plane devices are all lower than 80% of the threshold traffic by acquiring and monitoring the state information of the user plane devices 320-1 to 320-4 in the network. In this case, the processing module can update the user plane determination rules based on the change of the total traffic of the user plane device 320-1. For example, the above rule is updated to “for the first SLA, the terminal device with access location information of Option A can access the user plane device 320-2”. Or, the processing module can delete the above rule about the user plane device 320-1 from the set of user plane determination rules. The processing module can also send a rule deletion indication to the control plane device via the communication module to instruct the control plane device to delete the corresponding rule in the set of user plane determination rules based on the deletion of the specific rule. It should be understood that the above examples are only for illustrative purposes, and the network controller 330 can make various additions, modifications, updates, adjustments and deletions to the user plane determination rules according to the network conditions, operation policies, etc., and the scope of the present disclosure is not limited in this regard.

[0157] In some example embodiments, the communication module 706 is further configured to receive an access report from the control plane device 310. The access report can indicate that a target user plane device among the at least one user plane device is to carry the traffic of the first terminal device. In this embodiment, the processing module can be configured to update at least one user plane determination rule in the set of user plane determination rules based on the access report. In the embodiments where the user plane determination rules are dynamically updated or deleted, the processing module can send the updated at least one user plane determination rule or send a rule deletion instruction to delete the invalidated user plane determination rule to the control plane device 310 via the communication module 706.

[0158] In some example embodiments, the access report can further indicate an initial user plane device and a target user plane device of the terminal device, and the traffic of the terminal device needs to be migrated from the initial user plane device to the target user plane device, in case that the initial user plane device of the terminal device initially accesses is different from the target user plane device that finally carries the traffic of the terminal device. In other example embodiments, for an accessed terminal device, the traffic of the terminal device can also need to be migrated from a current user plane device to another user plane device, in case that one or more of the following conditions changes: a SLA of the terminal device, a status of the user plane device carrying the traffic of the terminal device, and an operation policy. In such embodiments, the processing module of the network controller 700 is further configured to send, via the communication module 706, a bearer change indication to the migration device 304 in the network 300, to make the migration device 304 migrate the traffic of the first terminal device from the initial user plane device of the first terminal device to the target user plane device, based on the initial user plane device being different from the target user plane device.

[0159] As discussed previously, in case that the control plane device 310 is unable to determine the target user plane device according to the configured user plane determination rule, the communication module 706 of the network controller 700 is further configured to receive, from the control plane device 310, a service level user plane determination request including the terminal device. The processing module of the network controller 700 determines the target user plane device for carrying the traffic of the terminal device based on at least the service level, and sends, via the communication module 706, a user plane determination response to the control plane device 310 for indicating the target user plane device.

[0160] It should be understood that the operations and features described above in connection with the network controller 700 apply equally to the network controller 700, and have the same effect, and specific details are not repeated. Figures 2 to 6 It should be understood that the operations and features described above in connection with the network controller 700 apply equally to the network controller 700, and have the same effect, and specific details are not repeated.

[0161] The network controller 700 can be implemented in a variety of ways, including software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. In some embodiments, one or more modules can be implemented using software and / or firmware, e.g., machine executable instructions stored on a storage medium. In addition to or alternatively, some or all of the modules in the network controller 700 can be implemented at least partially by one or more hardware logic components. As an example and not by way of limitation, example types of hardware logic components that can be used include Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Application-Specific Standard Products (ASSPs), System-on-a-Chip (SOCs), Complex Programmable Logic Devices (CPLDs), etc.

[0162] Figure 8A flowchart of a method for a network controller according to example embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. The method 800 can be implemented at Figure 3 the SDN controller 330 or both the SDN controller 330 and the USF device 340, or also at Figure 7 the network controller 700 shown. For convenience of discussion, the method 800 will be described below in conjunction with Figure 3 the network controller 700 shown.

[0163] At 801, the network controller 330 obtains state information of at least one user plane device 320 in the network for carrying traffic of terminal devices. The state information indicates at least a number of sessions and traffic of terminal devices carried by the at least one user plane device. The specific implementation can refer to the detailed description of the state obtaining module 702 in the above Figure 7 embodiment, which will not be described here again.

[0164] The services provided by the operator usually have regularity and commonality. For example, for key services such as banking services or some important users, they are usually allocated to separate user plane devices to ensure SLA. For another example, in order to facilitate management, ordinary broadband users from the same cell will be largely allocated to the same user plane device. Therefore, on the basis of meeting the SLA of the terminal device, the network controller 330 can further generate the user plane determination rule based on one or more of the load balancing strategy, the regularity of network services, the operator policy, and the historical data of the network.

[0165] At 802, the network controller 330 generates a set of user plane determination rules based on the state information and the correspondence between the service level of the terminal device and the user plane device, wherein each user plane determination rule in the set of user plane determination rules can be used to determine the user plane device carrying the traffic of the corresponding terminal device. In some example embodiments, the correspondence between the service level of the terminal device and the user plane device can be pre-configured at the network controller 330. The specific implementation can refer to the detailed description of the rule generating module 704 in the above Figure 7 embodiment, which will not be described here again.

[0166] In some example embodiments, the network controller 330 can obtain additional information, including but not limited to the regularity of network services, the priority of network services, the operator policy, the identifier of the terminal device, location information, access domain name, and access interface, etc. The network controller can generate the set of user plane determination rules based on the state information, the correspondence, and the additional information.

[0167] At 803, the network controller 330 sends the set of user plane determination rules to the control plane device of the at least one user plane device. Based on the set of user plane determination rules, the control plane device 310 can determine, for the first terminal device accessing, a target user plane device suitable for carrying its traffic. The detailed implementation can refer to the detailed description of the communication module 706 in the above Figure 7 The detailed description of the communication module 706 in the above

[0168] In some example embodiments, after the control plane device 310 determines the target user plane device based on the user plane determination rules, the network controller 330 receives an access report from the control plane device 310. The access report indicates the target user plane device that will carry the traffic of the first terminal device. The network controller 330 can update at least one of the user plane determination rules it generates based on the access report, and send the updated at least one user plane determination rule to the control plane device 310.

[0169] In some example embodiments, the target user plane device determined by the control plane device 310 for the first terminal device can be different from the initial user plane device of the first terminal device. In this embodiment, the access report received by the network controller 330 further indicates the initial user plane device of the first terminal device that is different from the target user plane device. The network controller 330 sends a bearer change indication to the migration device 304 in the network 300 based on the access report, so that the migration device 304 migrates the traffic of the first terminal device from the initial user plane device to the target user plane device.

[0170] In some example embodiments, the network controller 330 determines the bearer change information of the at least one user plane device based on the acquired state information and the historical state information of the at least one user plane device. The bearer change information indicates the change of the number of terminal devices or the change of the traffic carried by each user plane device. The network controller 330 updates at least one of the user plane determination rules it generates based on the bearer change information.

[0171] In the case that the control plane device 310 cannot determine the target user plane device according to the configured user plane determination rules, the network controller 330 can receive a user plane determination request including the service level SLA of the terminal device from the control plane device. The network controller 330 can determine the target user plane device for carrying the traffic of the terminal device based on at least the service level SLA. Then, the network controller 330 can send a user plane determination response to the control plane device 310 for indicating the target user plane device.

[0172] In other example embodiments, the network controller 330 can transmit updated user plane determination rules in response to the user plane determination request, to enable the control plane device 310 to determine target user plane devices based on the updated user plane determination rules.

[0173] In some example embodiments, the network controller 330 can transmit an indication to the control plane device 310 to delete the invalidated user plane determination rules, after determining that one or more rules in the set of user plane determination rules have been invalidated.

[0174] Figure 9 A block diagram of a device 900 in which certain embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented is shown. The device 900 can be used to implement the control plane device 310 shown in Figure 4 the control plane device 500 shown in Figure 5 the network controller 330 shown in Figure 4 or the network controller 700 in Figure 7 It should be understood that the device 900 is for exemplary purposes only and does not imply any limitation on the scope of the present disclosure. Embodiments of the present disclosure can also be embodied in different devices. It should also be understood that the device 900 can also include other elements or entities that are not shown for ease of description, but do not mean that embodiments of the present disclosure do not have these elements or entities.

[0175] As shown in Figure 9 the device 900 includes a processor 910 that controls the operation and functions of the device 900. For example, in certain example embodiments, the processor 910 can perform various operations by means of instructions 930 stored in a memory 920 coupled with the processor 910. The memory 920 can be of any suitable type appropriate for the local technical environment, and can be implemented using any suitable data storage technology, including but not limited to semiconductor-based memory devices, magnetic memory devices and systems, optical memory devices and systems. Although Figure 9 only one memory unit is shown in

[0176] The processor 910 can be of any suitable type appropriate for the local technical environment, and can include, but is not limited to, one or more of a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a microcontroller, a digital signal controller (DSP), and one or more of a controller-based multi-core controller architecture. The device 900 can also include multiple processors 910. The processor 910 is coupled with a communication unit 940. The communication unit 940 can enable the reception and transmission of information by radio signals or by means of optical fibers, cables and / or other means.

[0177] When device 900 acts as control plane device 500 or 310, processor 910 can execute instructions to implement the above-mentioned reference. Figures 3 to 8 The described operations and actions. (See above for reference.) Figures 3 to 8 All the features described apply to device 900 and will not be repeated here.

[0178] In addition, when Figure 5 In the illustrated embodiment, when modules such as the communication module 502, rule matching module 504, and device determination module 506 are implemented in software, these modules can be stored in the memory 920 as computer program code or instructions 930. The processor executes the program code or instructions in the memory 920 to cause the device 900 to perform the aforementioned actions. Figure 4 The processing procedures implemented by the control surface device 310 described herein, and Figure 6 The processing procedures implemented by the control surface device described herein.

[0179] When device 900 acts as network controller 700 or 330, processor 910 can execute instructions to achieve the above-mentioned functions. Figures 3 to 8 The described operations and actions. (See above for reference.) Figures 3 to 8 All the features described apply to device 900 and will not be repeated here.

[0180] In addition, when Figure 7 In the illustrated embodiment, when modules such as the state acquisition module 702, rule generation module 704, and communication module 706 are implemented in software, these modules can be stored in the memory 920 as computer program code or instructions 930. The processor executes the program code or instructions in the memory 920 to cause the device 900 to perform the above-mentioned actions. Figure 4 The processing procedures implemented by the control surface device 330 described herein, and Figure 8 The processing procedures implemented by the control surface device described herein.

[0181] In general, the various exemplary embodiments of this disclosure can be implemented in hardware or dedicated circuitry, software, logic, or any combination thereof. Some aspects can be implemented in hardware, while others can be implemented in firmware or software that can be executed by a controller, microprocessor, or other computing device. When aspects of the exemplary embodiments of this disclosure are illustrated or described as block diagrams, flowcharts, or using some other graphical representation, it will be understood that the blocks, apparatuses, systems, techniques, or methods described herein can be implemented as non-limiting examples in hardware, software, firmware, dedicated circuitry or logic, general-purpose hardware or controllers or other computing devices, or some combination thereof.

[0182] By way of example, the example embodiments of the present disclosure can be described in the context of a machine or computer-executed instructions, such as program modules including routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, processes, or the like, executed on a real or virtual processor included in a device. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, or the like, that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The functionality of the program modules can be combined or split between program modules as desired in various example embodiments. Machine-executable instructions for program modules can be executed within a local or distributed device. In a distributed device, program modules can be located in both local and remote memory storage media.

[0183] Computer program code for carrying out operations of the present disclosure can be written in one or more programming languages. These computer program code can be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the computer program code, when executed by the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, produces a device that implements the functions / acts specified in the flowcharts and / or block diagrams. The computer program code can be executed completely on a computer, partially on a computer, as a stand-alone software package, partially on a computer and partially on a remote computer or completely on a remote computer or server.

[0184] In the context of the present disclosure, a machine-readable medium or computer- readable medium can be any tangible medium that contains or stores the program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. The machine-readable medium can be a machine-readable signal medium or a machine-readable storage medium. Machine-readable storage media can include, without limitation, electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor systems, apparatus, or devices, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples of machine-readable storage media include electrical connections based on one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

[0185] Additionally, although operations can be depicted in a particular order, this should not be understood as requiring such order nor that all illustrated operations be performed, in order to achieve desirable results. In certain circumstances, multitasking and parallel processing can be advantageous. Likewise, although the above discussion includes certain specific implementation details, this should not be construed as limiting the scope of any invention or claim, but rather as describing particular examples that can be implemented in accordance with the described subject matter. Certain features described in the context of separate example embodiments can also be implemented in combination in a single example embodiment. Conversely, various features described in the context of a single example embodiment can also be implemented in a subcombination of features in multiple example embodiments. The various features described herein can be implemented in hardware, software or a combination thereof. Such features are described in the context of one or more example embodiments. The subject matter described herein can also be implemented in the context of other computer- implemented processes, methods, acts, acts of methods, acts of processes, hardware, software, firmware or any suitable combination thereof.

[0186] Although the subject matter has been described in language specific to structural features and / or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.

Claims

1. A flow control method, characterized by, include: The control plane device receives access information of the terminal device from the initial user plane device to which the terminal device has been connected, and the access information indicates at least the service level of the terminal device; The control plane device obtains user plane determination rules based on the service level of the terminal device; and The control plane device determines the target user plane device for carrying the traffic of the terminal device according to the user plane determination rules.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein, The rules for determining the user face include: The control plane device determines the user plane determination rule that matches the service level of the terminal device from a set of user plane determination rules based on the service level of the terminal device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein, Before obtaining the user face determination rules, the method further includes: The control plane device determines, based on the service level of the terminal device, from a set of user plane determination rules whether there is a user plane determination rule that matches the service level of the terminal device. If it is determined that no user plane determination rule matches the service level of the terminal device, the control plane device sends a user plane determination request to the network controller, the user plane determination request including the service level of the terminal device; and The network controller receives a user plane determination response, which indicates the target user plane device for carrying the traffic of the terminal device.

4. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, The rules for determining the user face include: The control plane device receives the user plane determination rule from the network controller, the user plane determination rule being generated by the network controller based on the state information of at least one user plane device.

5. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, The rules for determining the user face include: The control plane device receives the user plane determination rules from the network administrator.

6. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The method further includes: The control plane device sends an access report to the network controller, the access report indicating the target user plane device's capacity to carry traffic for the terminal device.

7. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that, If the target user plane device is different from the initial user plane device, the access report also instructs the initial user plane device to cause the network controller to migrate the traffic from the initial user plane device to the target user plane device based on the access report.

8. The method according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that, Also includes: The control plane device receives from the network controller at least one user plane determination rule updated based on the access report; as well as The control plane device determines the target user plane device for carrying the traffic of the other terminal device based on the updated user plane determination rules and the access information received from the other terminal device.

9. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The target user plane device is different from the initial user plane device, and the method further includes: The control plane device sends a revocation instruction to the initial user plane device, causing the initial user plane device to delete the user entry associated with the terminal device, the user entry including information related to the traffic carrying capacity of the terminal device; and The control plane device sends the user entry associated with the terminal device to the target user plane device.

10. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The method further includes at least one of the following: The control plane device deletes the user plane determination rule according to the rule deletion instruction received from the network administrator; and The control plane device deletes the user plane determination rule according to the rule deletion instruction received from the network controller.

11. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The access information also indicates at least one of the terminal device's identifier, location information, and access domain name, and the user plane determination rule includes: The control plane device selects at least one candidate user plane determination rule that satisfies the service level from a set of user plane determination rules; and The control plane device determines the target user plane determination rule from the at least one candidate user plane determination rule based on at least one of the terminal device's identifier, location information, access domain name, and access interface.

12. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The control plane device includes server devices, and the user plane device includes router devices.

13. A flow control method, characterized in that, The method includes: The network controller acquires status information of at least one user plane device used to carry traffic for terminal devices, the status information indicating at least the number of terminal devices and traffic carried by the at least one user plane device; The network controller generates a set of user plane determination rules based on the status information and the correspondence between the service level of the terminal device and the user plane device. Each user plane determination rule in the set of user plane determination rules is used to determine the user plane device carrying the traffic of the corresponding terminal device; and The network controller sends the set of user plane determination rules to the control plane device of the at least one user plane device.

14. The method according to claim 13, characterized in that, The method further includes: The network controller receives an access report from the control plane device, the access report indicating that the target user plane device among the at least one user plane device will carry the traffic of the first terminal device; The network controller updates at least one user plane determination rule in the set of user plane determination rules based on the access report; and The network controller sends the updated user plane determination rule to the control plane device.

15. The method according to claim 14, characterized in that, The access report also indicates an initial user plane device for the terminal device that is different from the target user plane device, and the method further includes: Based on the access report, the network controller sends a bearer change instruction to the migration device, so that the migration device migrates the traffic of the first terminal device from the initial user plane device of the first terminal device to the target user plane device.

16. The method according to claim 13, characterized in that, The method further includes: Based on the acquired status information and the historical status information of the at least one user plane device, the network controller determines the bearer change information of the at least one user plane device, wherein the bearer change information indicates the change in the number of terminal devices or the change in traffic carried by each user plane device. The network controller updates at least one user plane determination rule in the set of user plane determination rules based on the bearer change information; and The network controller sends the updated user plane determination rule to the control plane device.

17. The method according to claim 13, characterized in that, The correspondence between the service level of the terminal device and the user plane device is pre-configured at the network controller.

18. The method according to claim 13, characterized in that, The method further includes: The network controller receives a user plane determination request from the control plane device, the user plane determination request including the service level of the terminal device; The network controller determines the target user plane device for carrying the traffic of the terminal device based at least on the service level; and The network controller sends a user plane determination response to the control plane device, the user plane determination response being used to instruct the target user plane device.

19. The method according to claim 13, characterized in that, The rules for generating a set of user plane determination rules include: The network controller acquires additional information, which includes at least one of the following: the regularity of network services, the priority of network services, operator policies, the identifier of the terminal device, location information, access domain name, and access interface; and The network controller generates the set of user plane determination rules based on the state information, the correspondence, and the additional information.

20. The method according to claim 13, characterized in that, The network controller includes at least one of software-defined network control and user plane migration function devices.

21. A control surface device, characterized in that, include: The communication module is configured to receive access information of the terminal device from the initial user plane device to which the terminal user has already connected, the access information indicating at least the service level of the terminal device; The rule acquisition module is configured to acquire user plane determination rules based on the service level of the terminal device; and The device determination module is configured to determine the target user plane device for carrying the traffic of the terminal device according to the user plane determination rules.

22. The control surface device according to claim 21, characterized in that, The rule acquisition module is also configured to: Based on the service level of the terminal device, a user plane determination rule that matches the service level of the terminal device is determined from a set of user plane determination rules.

23. The control surface device according to claim 21, characterized in that, The control plane device further includes a processing module, which is configured to: Before obtaining the user plane determination rule, based on the service level of the terminal device, determine from a set of user plane determination rules whether there is a user plane determination rule that matches the service level of the terminal device. as well as If it is determined that no user plane determination rule matches the service level of the terminal device, a user plane determination request, including the service level of the terminal device, is sent to the network controller via the communication module; and the user plane determination request includes the service level of the terminal device. The communication module is also configured to: The network controller receives a user plane determination response, which indicates the target user plane device for carrying the traffic of the terminal device.

24. The control surface device according to claim 21 or 22, characterized in that, The rule acquisition module is also configured to: The user plane determination rules are received from the network controller via the communication module. These user plane determination rules are generated by the network controller based on the status information of at least one user plane device.

25. The control surface device according to claim 21 or 22, characterized in that, The rule acquisition module is also configured to: Receive the user plane determination rules from the network administrator.

26. The control surface device according to claim 21, characterized in that, The communication module is also configured to: Send an access report to the network controller, the access report indicating the target user plane device's traffic carrying capacity for the terminal device.

27. The control surface device according to claim 26, characterized in that, If the target user plane device is different from the initial user plane device, the access report also instructs the initial user plane device to cause the network controller to migrate the traffic from the initial user plane device to the target user plane device based on the access report.

28. The control surface device according to claim 26 or 27, characterized in that, The communication module is also configured to: Receive at least one user plane determination rule updated based on the access report from the network controller; and The device determination module is also configured to: Based on the updated user plane determination rules and the access information received from the other terminal device, a target user plane device for carrying the traffic of the other terminal device is determined.

29. The control surface device according to claim 21, characterized in that, The target user plane device is different from the initial user plane device, and the control plane device further includes a processing module, which is configured to: The communication module sends a revocation instruction to the initial user plane device, so that the initial user plane device deletes the user entry associated with the terminal device, the user entry including information related to the traffic carrying capacity of the terminal device; as well as The communication module sends the user entry associated with the terminal device to the target user plane device.

30. The control surface device according to claim 21, characterized in that, The communication module is also configured to: Receive rule deletion instructions from at least one of the network administrators and network controllers; and The control plane device further includes a processing module, which is configured to: Delete the user face determination rule according to the rule deletion instruction.

31. The control surface device according to claim 21, characterized in that, The access information also indicates at least one of the terminal device's identifier, location information, and access domain name, and the rule acquisition module is further configured to: Select at least one candidate user plane determination rule that satisfies the service level from a set of user plane determination rules; and Based on at least one of the terminal device's identifier, location information, access domain name, and access interface, a target user plane determination rule is determined from the at least one candidate user plane determination rule.

32. The control surface device according to claim 21, characterized in that, The control plane device includes server devices, and the user plane device includes router devices.

33. A network controller, characterized in that, include: The status acquisition module is configured to acquire status information of at least one user plane device used to carry traffic of terminal devices, the status information indicating at least the number of terminal devices and traffic carried by the at least one user plane device; The rule generation module is configured to generate a set of user plane determination rules based on the status information and the correspondence between the service level of the terminal device and the user plane device. Each user plane determination rule in the set of user plane determination rules is used to determine the user plane device that carries the traffic of the corresponding terminal device. as well as The communication module is configured to send the set of user plane determination rules to the control plane device of the at least one user plane device.

34. The network controller according to claim 33, characterized in that, The communication module is also configured to: The control plane device receives an access report indicating that a target user plane device among the at least one user plane device will carry the traffic of the first terminal device; and The network controller further includes a processing module, which is configured to: Based on the access report, update at least one user plane determination rule in the set of user plane determination rules; and The updated user plane determination rule is sent to the control plane device via the communication module.

35. The network controller according to claim 34, characterized in that, The access report also indicates the initial user plane device of the terminal device, which is different from the target user plane device, and the processing module is further configured to: Based on the access report, a bearer change instruction is sent to the migration device through the communication module, so that the migration device will migrate the traffic of the first terminal device from the initial user plane device of the first terminal device to the target user plane device.

36. The network controller according to claim 33, characterized in that, The network controller further includes a processing module, which is configured to: Based on the acquired status information and the historical status information of the at least one user plane device, the bearer change information of the at least one user plane device is determined, wherein the bearer change information indicates the change in the number of terminal devices or the change in traffic carried by each user plane device; as well as Based on the bearer change information, update at least one user plane determination rule in the set of user plane determination rules; and The communication module is also configured to send the updated user plane determination rule to the control plane device.

37. The network controller according to claim 33, characterized in that, The correspondence between the service level of the terminal device and the user plane device is pre-configured at the network controller.

38. The network controller according to claim 33, characterized in that, The communication module is also configured to: The control plane device receives a user plane determination request, the user plane determination request including the service level of the terminal device; and The network controller further includes a processing module, which is configured to: The target user plane device for carrying the traffic of the terminal device is determined based at least on the service level. as well as The communication module sends a user plane determination response to the control plane device, and the user plane determination response is used to instruct the target user plane device.

39. The network controller according to claim 33, characterized in that, The rule generation module is also configured to: Obtain additional information, which includes at least one of the following: the regularity of network services, the priority of network services, operator policies, the identifier of the terminal device, location information, access domain name, and access interface; as well as The set of user plane determination rules is generated based on the state information, the correspondence, and the additional information.

40. The network controller according to claim 33, characterized in that, The network controller includes at least one of software-defined network control and user plane migration function devices.

41. A control surface device, comprising: At least one processor; At least one memory including computer program code, The at least one memory and the computer program code are configured, together with the at least one processor, to cause the control plane device to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 12.

42. A network controller, comprising: At least one processor; At least one memory including computer program code, The at least one memory and the computer program code are configured, together with the at least one processor, to cause the network controller to perform the method according to any one of claims 13 to 20.

43. A network system with separate control plane and user plane, comprising: At least one user plane device is configured to carry the traffic of the terminal device; Control surface device according to any one of claims 21 to 32; as well as The network controller according to any one of claims 33 to 40.

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