Method and apparatus for providing data in edge computing system

Abstract

A method for relocating an application context by an edge enabler client (EEC) in an edge computing system, comprising: determining whether the application context should be relocated based on at least one of location information of a user equipment (UE) including the EEC and edge data network (EDN) service area information; based on the determination, sending a context relocation request to a source edge enabler server (S-EES); receiving a context relocation response message from the source edge enabler server indicating that the context relocation is complete; and rerouting the application data service based on the context relocation response message.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure generally relates to an apparatus and method for providing services in an edge computing system, and particularly, to an apparatus and method for continuously providing services to electronic devices in an edge computing system. Background Art

[0002] In order to use low-latency or broadband services in an edge computing system, a terminal can establish a data connection to an edge data network (EDN) located near the terminal. In addition, in an edge computing system, a terminal can receive data services by accessing an application server running in an edge hosting environment or an edge computing platform operated by an edge enabler server (EES) of the corresponding EDN.

[0003] The terminal that is expected to access the edge computing system may be a mobile communication terminal that receives mobile communication services. The mobile communication terminal may access the EDN through a mobile communication network, and may receive services from a specific edge application server operated by the EES of the corresponding EDN. The mobile communication terminal should be able to move without any special restrictions, and services should be provided continuously. The mobile communication terminal may move from a first EDN area to a second EDN area. Even in this case, services should be continuously provided to the mobile communication terminal in the edge computing system. However, a method for continuously providing services when the EDN is changed due to the movement of the mobile communication terminal has not yet been proposed.

[0004] The above information is provided as background information only to assist with understanding the present disclosure. No determination has been made, and no assertion has been made, as to whether any of the above might be applicable as prior art with respect to the present disclosure. Summary of the invention

[0005] Technical issues

[0006] The terminal that is expected to access the edge computing system may be a mobile communication terminal that receives mobile communication services. The mobile communication terminal may access the edge data network through the mobile communication network, and may receive services from a specific edge application server operated by an edge enabler server of the corresponding edge data network. The mobile communication terminal should be able to move without any special restrictions and should be provided with services continuously. The mobile communication terminal may move from a first edge data network area to a second edge data network area. Even in this case, services should be continuously provided to the mobile communication terminal in the edge computing system. However, a method for continuously providing services when the EDN is changed due to the movement of the mobile communication terminal has not yet been proposed.

[0007] Solution

[0008] The present disclosure enables solving at least the above disadvantages and providing at least the advantages described below.

[0009] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a method for relocating an application context by an edge enabler client (EEC) in an edge computing system is provided. The method includes: determining whether the application context should be relocated based on at least one of the location information of a user equipment (UE) including EEC and EDN service area information; based on the determination, sending a context relocation request to a source edge enabler server (S-EES); receiving a context relocation response message indicating that the context relocation is completed from the source edge enabler server; and rerouting the application data service based on the context relocation response message.

[0010] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a UE for relocating an application context in an edge computing system is provided. The UE includes: one or more edge application clients configured to perform client functions of services in the edge computing system; an EEC configured to provide edge computing services to one or more edge application clients; and a mobile terminal (MT) configured to communicate with the edge computing system through a mobile communication network. The EEC is configured to: determine whether the application context should be relocated based on at least one of the location information of the UE including the EEC and the EDN service area information; based on the determination, send a context relocation request to the source edge enabler server through the MT; receive a context relocation response message indicating that the context relocation is completed from the source edge enabler server through the MT; and reroute the application data service based on the context relocation response message.

[0011] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a method for relocating an application context by an S-EES for an application service provided to a UE in an edge computing system is provided. The method includes receiving a context relocation request for an application service from an edge application client of the UE; sending the application context relocation request to a target edge enabler server (T-EES); receiving an application context relocation response including target edge application server (T-EAS) information from the T-EES; sending an application context relocation command including T-EAS information to a source edge application server (S-EAS) providing an application service to the UE; when receiving an application context from the S-EAS, sending the application context to the T-EAS via the T-EES; and when receiving an application context relocation completion notification from the S-EAS, sending a context relocation completion notification to the EEC of the UE.

[0012] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a method for relocating an application context by an S-EAS for an application service provided to a UE in an edge computing system is provided. The method includes: receiving an application context relocation command for an application provided to the UE from an S-EES, the context relocation command including T-EAS information; sending an application context for the application service to the T-EAS through the S-EES; and sending a context relocation completion notification to the S-EES.

[0013] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a method for relocating an application context for an application service provided to a UE by a target edge application server in an edge computing system. The method includes: receiving a first application context relocation request for a UE from an S-EES; determining a T-EAS based on the received first application context relocation request for the UE; sending a second application context relocation request for the UE to the determined T-EAS; receiving an application context relocation response from the T-EAS; and sending the application context relocation response to the S-EES.

[0014] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a method for relocating an application context for an application client by a UE having an application client and an EEC in an edge computing system is provided. The method includes: determining whether the application context should be relocated; when application context relocation is required, determining a T-EES ID; based on the determination, sending a context relocation request including S-EAS information to the T-EES; and receiving a response from the T-EES.

[0015] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a UE for relocating an application context in an edge computing system is provided. The UE includes: one or more edge application clients configured to perform client functions of services in the edge computing system; an EEC configured to provide edge computing services to one or more application clients; and an MT configured to communicate with the edge computing system through a mobile communication network. The application client is configured to determine whether the application context should be relocated. The EEC is configured to: determine the T-EES ID when application context relocation is required; send a context relocation request to the T-EES through the MT based on the determination; and receive response information from the T-EES.

[0016] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a method for relocating an application context for an application service provided from a T-EES to a UE in an edge computing system is provided. The method includes: receiving a first context relocation request including S-EAS information from an EEC of a UE; sending a second context relocation request including UE information to a T-EAS for providing an application; when a response corresponding to approval of the relocation is received from the T-EAS, sending a third context relocation request to the S-EES; receiving a response to the third context relocation request from the S-EES; when an application context is received from the S-EES, sending the received application context to the T-EAS; and sending a context relocation response to the EEC.

[0017] Advantageous Effects of the Invention

[0018] When the method and apparatus according to the present disclosure are applied, the time required for identifying the need for application context relocation can be reduced. Therefore, services can be transmitted more quickly, and therefore, continuity of services provided in edge computing systems can be provided. In addition, by using the method and apparatus according to the present disclosure, network overhead can be reduced by minimizing the intervention of network functions in 3GPP systems. After completing the application context relocation, the terminal (e.g., the edge enabler client of the terminal) can route the application data service generated by the application client to the new edge application server.

[0019] When the method and apparatus according to the present disclosure are applied, the third-party edge application server directly negotiates with the network function of the 3GPP system to receive support for application context relocation without the need for a service level agreement for receiving a user plane (UP) path management event notification service. According to the present disclosure, the edge computing service provider can also provide application context relocation without any additional efforts from the third-party edge application server. Therefore, the third-party application server can obtain commercial profits. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0020] The above and other aspects, features and advantages of certain embodiments of the present disclosure will become more apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0021] Figure 1 A schematic diagram showing connection to a 3GPP network and an edge computing system network and movement of a terminal according to an embodiment;

[0022] Figure 2 The interaction between the EEC and the communication layer within the user equipment according to the embodiment and the interconnection with the edge computing system through the 3GPP network are shown;

[0023] Figure 3Ais a signal flow diagram illustrating a process in which a target edge enabler indicates a relocation applied to an S-EAS according to an embodiment;

[0024] Figure 3B is a signal flow diagram illustrating a process in which an S-EAS sends an application context relocation complete notification to a user equipment according to an embodiment; and

[0025] Figure 4 is a signal flow diagram illustrating a process in which an S-EES relocates an application context in an S-EAS according to an embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0026] Embodiments of the present disclosure will be described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited to specific embodiments and should be interpreted as including all modifications, changes, equivalent devices and methods and / or alternative embodiments of the present disclosure. In the description of the accompanying drawings, similar reference numerals are used for similar elements.

[0027] The terms “have”, “may have”, “include” and “may include” when used herein indicate the existence of corresponding features (for example, elements such as values, functions, operations or components), and do not exclude the existence of additional features.

[0028] The terms "A or B", "at least one of A or / and B", or "one or more of A or / and B" when used herein include all possible combinations of the items enumerated therein. For example, "A or B", "at least one of A and B", or "at least one of A or B" means: (1) including at least one A, (2) including at least one B, or (3) including both at least one A and at least one B.

[0029] Terms such as "first" and "second" when used herein may use corresponding components regardless of their importance or order; and are used to distinguish a component from another component without limiting the component. These terms may be used for the purpose of distinguishing one element from another. For example, a first user device and a second user device indicate different user devices regardless of their order or importance. For example, a first element may be referred to as a second element, and similarly, a second element may be referred to as a first element without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0030] It will be understood that when an element (e.g., a first element) is “(operably or communicatively) coupled / coupled to” or “connected to” another element (e.g., a second element), the element may be directly coupled / coupled to the other element, and there may be an intervening element (e.g., a third element) between the element and the other element. Conversely, it will be understood that when an element (e.g., a first element) is “directly coupled / coupled to” or “directly connected to” another element (e.g., a second element), there is no intervening element (e.g., a third element) between the element and the other element.

[0031] Depending on the context, the expression "configured (or set) to" when used in this document may be used interchangeably with "suitable for", "capable of", "designed to", "adapted to", "manufactured to", or "capable of". The term "configured (set) to" does not necessarily mean "specially designed to" at the hardware level. On the contrary, the expression "device, configured to..." may mean in a specific context that the device, together with other devices or components, "is capable of...". For example, "a processor configured (set) to perform A, B, and C" may mean a dedicated processor (e.g., an embedded processor) for performing the corresponding operations, or a general-purpose processor (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU) or an application processor (AP)) that can perform the corresponding operations by running one or more software programs stored in a memory device.

[0032] The terms used in describing the various embodiments of the present disclosure are for the purpose of describing specific embodiments, and are not intended to limit the present disclosure. When used in this article, the singular form is also intended to include the plural form, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. All terms used in this article, including technical terms or scientific terms, have the same meaning as those generally understood by ordinary technicians in the relevant fields, unless otherwise defined. The terms defined in commonly used dictionaries should be interpreted as having the same or similar meanings as the contextual meanings of the relevant technology, and should not be interpreted as having ideal or exaggerated meanings, unless clearly defined in this article. Depending on the circumstances, even the terms defined in the present disclosure should not be interpreted as excluding embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0033] The term "module" when used in this document may, for example, mean a unit including one of hardware, software, and firmware, or a combination of two or more of them. "Module" may be used interchangeably with, for example, the terms "unit", "logic", "logic block", "component", or "circuit". A "module" may be the smallest unit of an integrated component element, or a part thereof. A "module" may be the smallest unit for performing one or more functions, or a part thereof. A "module" may be implemented mechanically or electronically. For example, a "module" according to the present disclosure may include at least one of an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) chip, a field programmable gate array (FPGA), and a programmable logic device for performing operations that are known or will be developed below.

[0034] The electronic device according to the present disclosure may include at least one of the following, for example: a smart phone, a tablet personal computer (PC), a mobile phone, a video phone, an electronic book reader (e-book reader), a desktop PC, a laptop PC, a netbook computer, a workstation, a server, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a portable multimedia player (PMP), an MPEG-1 audio layer 3 (MP3) player, a mobile medical device, a camera, and a wearable device. The wearable device may include at least one of the following: an accessory type (e.g., a watch, a ring, a bracelet, an anklet, a necklace, glasses, contact lenses, or a head-mounted device (HMD)), a fabric or clothing integrated type (e.g., an electronic garment), a body mounted type (e.g., a skin pad or a tattoo), and a bio-implantable type (e.g., an implantable circuit).

[0035] The electronic device may be a household appliance. The household appliance may include at least one of the following, for example: a television, a digital video disk (DVD) player, an audio device (audio), a refrigerator, an air conditioner, a vacuum cleaner, an oven, a microwave, a washing machine, an air purifier, a set-top box, a home automation control panel, a security control panel, a TV box (e.g., Samsung HomeSync TM , Apple TV TM or Google TV TM ), game consoles (such as Xbox TM and PlayStation TM ), electronic dictionaries, electronic keys, camcorders and electronic photo frames.

[0036] The electronic device may include at least one of the following: various medical devices (for example, various portable medical measurement devices (blood sugar monitoring devices, heart rate monitoring devices, blood pressure measurement devices, body temperature measurement devices, etc.), magnetic resonance angiography (MRA), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT) machines, and ultrasound machines), navigation equipment, global positioning system (GPS) receivers, event data recorders (EDR), flight data recorders (FDR), vehicle infotainment equipment, ship electronic equipment (for example, ship navigation equipment and gyro-compass), avionics equipment, security equipment, car head units, robots for home or industrial use, automatic teller machines (ATMs) in banks, point of sale (POS) devices in stores, or Internet of Things (IoT) devices (for example, light bulbs, various sensors, electricity meters or gas meters, sprinkler equipment, fire alarms, thermostats, street lights, toasters, sporting goods, hot water tanks, heaters, boilers, etc.).

[0037] The electronic device may include at least one of the following: a part of furniture or a building / structure, an electronic board, an electronic signature receiving device, a projector, and various measuring instruments (e.g., a water meter, an electric meter, a gas meter, and a radio wave meter). The electronic device may be a combination of one or more of the above-mentioned various devices. The electronic device may also be a flexible device. In addition, the electronic device is not limited to the above-mentioned devices, and may include electronic devices developed according to new technologies.

[0038] Hereinafter, the electronic device will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the present disclosure, the term "user" indicates a person using an electronic device or a device (eg, an artificial intelligence electronic device) using the electronic device.

[0039] For the convenience of description, terms referring to network entities and entities of edge computing systems used in the present disclosure, terms referring to messages, and terms referring to identification information are described. Therefore, the present disclosure may not be limited by the terms provided below, and other terms indicating subjects with equivalent technical meanings may be used.

[0040] For convenience of description, the present disclosure uses terms and names defined in the 5G system standard, but is not limited to these terms and names and can be equally applied to a system complying with another standard.

[0041] Hereinafter, the present disclosure describes a method for performing application context relocation between edge application servers. In an edge computing system, changes may be required in edge application services that provide edge computing services to a terminal (i.e., a mobile communication terminal). For example, when a mobile communication terminal moves from a specific data network to another data network, or when a mobile communication terminal should access another data network from a specific data network due to a change in the wireless environment, a change may be required. In this case, a method for sending an application context from an S-EAS that initially provides services to a target edge application service that newly provides services will be described below. In addition, a method for detecting a need for a change and a method for selecting a new target edge application service when an edge application server changes will be described below. In addition, the following process will be described: in this process, application context relocation from an S-EAS that initially provides services to a target application server is performed based on the selection of a T-EAS.

[0042] The present disclosure describes in more detail a method for preserving service continuity. Specifically, the present disclosure describes:

[0043] (1) How to detect the need to reroute traffic from the edge application server instance of the service to T-EAS.

[0044] (2) How to enable the required handoffs in the connections between application clients and edge application servers while maintaining service continuity.

[0045] (3) How to transfer any required context between edge application servers within the EDN.

[0046] (4) How to transfer any required context from the service edge application server to the T-EAS (or server), regardless of its location: in the same EDN, in a different EDN, or in the cloud.

[0047] Figure 1 A schematic diagram showing connection to a 3GPP network and an edge computing system network and movement of a terminal according to an embodiment.

[0048] refer to Figure 1 , shows a service area 1 of a mobile network operator. The service area 1 of the mobile network operator may include EDNs divided into areas for providing edge computing services to electronic devices. Each EDN may have areas 10 and 20 for providing edge computing services to electronic devices. Figure 1The following situation is shown: in this situation, the service area 10 of the first EDN includes a first base station (BS) 111, a second BS 112, a third BS 113, and a fourth BS 114; and the service area 20 of the second EDN includes a fifth BS 211 and a sixth BS 212.

[0049] The service area 10 of the first EDN including the first BS 111 to the fourth BS 114 includes two different user plane functions (UPFs) 121 and 122. In addition, the service area 20 has only one user plane function 221. An EDN may have one or more UPFs.

[0050] The service area 10 of the first EDN may be an area configured by one edge enabler server 100. The service area 20 of the second EDN may be an area configured by another edge enabler server 200. As described above, the service areas 10 and 20 of the EDN may be configured as areas that may be managed by the edge enabler servers 100 and 200.

[0051] like Figure 1 As shown in the example of FIG. 1 , the edge enabler servers 100 and 200 may be connected to or may include the same or different edge application servers 101, 102, and 201. The first edge application servers 101 and 201 and the second edge application server 102 may provide different edge computing services. The first application server 201 located in the service area 20 of the second EDN, which provides the same service as the first edge application server 101 located in the service area 10 of the first EDN, may provide edge computing services to the electronic device 50 through different edge enabler servers 100 and 200. The first edge application server 101 located in the service area 10 of the first EDN may provide edge computing services to the electronic device 50 accessing one of the BSs 111, 112, 113, and 114 located in the first EDN. The second edge application server 102 may provide edge computing services to the electronic device 50 accessing one of the BSs 111, 112, 113, and 114 located in the first EDN.

[0052] The electronic device 50 can receive edge computing services and can be a terminal that can access a mobile communication network through a wireless network. The electronic device 50 can include various electronic devices that can be moved, such as smart phones, tablet computers, smart watches, game devices, vehicles, motorcycles, bicycles, airplanes and ships and / or various types of electronic devices that can provide IoT services. According to the present disclosure, the electronic device 50 can install at least one edge computing service application 53, and can include an EEC 52 and an MT 51 that perform wireless communication functions, such as a communication layer.

[0053] The installation of the edge computing service application may mean that the application for receiving the edge computing service may be installed (or stored) in the memory of the electronic device 50. In addition, the installation of the edge computing service application may mean performing an operation for loading the application installed in the electronic device 50 into at least one processor to provide the edge computing service.

[0054] The EEC 52 may be installed in the memory of the electronic device 50 in which the application for receiving edge computing services is installed. In addition, the EEC 52 (rather than the installed application) may be loaded into at least one processor and perform at least some of the operations required by the edge computing service application.

[0055] MT 51 may include a communication layer capable of communicating with a specific wireless communication network (e.g., 3GPP communication network) through a preset scheme. The communication layer may include at least one communication processor and / or model, and includes logic and at least one antenna for sending and receiving wireless signals.

[0056] Hereinafter, for convenience of description, the electronic device 50 is referred to as UE. The layers or elements within the user equipment 50 may have an interface for exchanging information / data with each other.

[0057] BSs 111, 112, 113, 114, 211, and 212 have predetermined areas for communicating with user equipment through a preset wireless communication scheme. When the wireless communication scheme is a scheme of a 3GPP mobile communication network, BSs 111, 112, 113, 114, 211, and 212 may be BSs of the 3GPP mobile communication network.

[0058] UPF 121, 122 and 221 can be used as a gateway to which user devices send and receive packets. UPF 121, 122 and 221 can be physically and / or logically located close to edge enabler servers 100 and 200 to support edge computing services. By configuring UPF 121, 122 and 221 to be physically and / or logically located close to edge enabler servers 100 and 200, data packets to be provided to users (or to be received from users) can be sent directly to the EDN without passing through the Internet, thereby reducing transmission. In other words, low-latency transmission is possible. UPF 121, 122 and 221 can be connected to edge enabler servers 100 and 200 via a data network connected by the Internet.

[0059] According to an embodiment, the edge computing system may include edge enabler servers 100 and 200, an EDN configuration server 30, and an EEC 52. The edge enabler servers 100 and 200 may construct an edge hosting environment or an edge computing platform. The construction of an edge hosting environment or an edge computing platform may mean that the edge enabler server is connected to at least one edge application server, or at least one edge application server is driven on a computing platform of the edge enabler server. Therefore, the edge enabler servers 100 and 200 may know information about edge application servers that are driven within the edge hosting environment or driven on the edge computing platform.

[0060] According to various embodiments, the edge enabler server may negotiate with the user device 50, and connect the application client 52 driven in the user device 50 with the edge application server within the edge hosting environment. According to various embodiments, as described above, the user device 50 supporting the edge computing system may have an EEC embedded or installed therein. According to an embodiment, the negotiation between the user device 50 and the edge application server may be performed by mutual interaction between the EEC 52 within the user device 50 and the edge enabler servers 100 and 200. The layer that performs mutual interaction (such as negotiation) between the EEC 52 and the edge enabler servers 100 and 200 may be an edge enabling layer.

[0061] According to various embodiments, the EDN configuration server 30 may know the deployment information of the edge enabler servers 100 and 200, and may perform a function for sending configuration information to the user device 50 to use the edge computing service. The configuration information may include at least one of EDN connection information, EDN service area, and edge enabler server connection information.

[0062] According to various embodiments, the EDN connection information may include information such as the following: a data network name and single network slice selection assistance information (S-NSSAI). According to various embodiments, the EDN service area may be, for example, at least one of a cell list, a tracking area list, and an operator's network identifier (PLMN ID), or may include two or more thereof. According to various embodiments, the edge enabler server connection information may be, for example, a uniform resource identifier (URI).

[0063] According to various embodiments, the user equipment 50 may receive information about edge enabler servers that the user equipment 50 can access from the EDN configuration server 30 based on information about a specific location (e.g., a specific BS, a specific data network, or a specific physical location). When the EDN configuration server 30 is able to know information about edge application servers driven in an edge hosting environment of a specific edge enabler server, the user equipment 50 may also obtain corresponding information through the EEC 52.

[0064] According to various embodiments, edge application servers 101, 102 and 201 can be third-party application servers driven in edge computing systems. According to an embodiment, edge application servers 101, 102 and 201 can be third-party application servers driven on infrastructure provided by edge hosting environments, and ultra-low latency services can be provided, because the service can be provided at a location close to user equipment 50. According to various embodiments, information about a higher layer provided from an edge application server to user equipment 50 can be referred to as an application context. When a user uses a real-time game application, all information required to regenerate the screen viewed by the user and the game level (stage) in the current game can be included in the application context. In order to allow user equipment 50 to seamlessly use existing services through a connection to another edge application server, the application context should be relocated in the following edge application server: in the edge application server, the user device 50 will be newly connected. In order to relocate the application context, an edge application service for providing services to an application driven in the application client 53 of the user device 50 should be available. The availability of the edge application server within the EDN may be determined based on whether the edge application server is driven within the edge hosting environment and the status of the edge application server.

[0065] According to various embodiments, the user equipment 50 may include an application client 53, an EEC 52 for linking the application client 53 with an edge computing service, and an MT 51 for accessing the mobile communication system as described above. According to various embodiments, the application of the user equipment 50 is an application provided by a third party and corresponds to a client application running in the user equipment 50 for a specific application service. Two or more applications may run in the user equipment 50. According to an embodiment, at least one of the applications may use a multi-access edge computing (MEC) service. The EEC 52 in the user equipment 50 may be a client that performs operations required to use edge computing services in the user equipment 50. According to an embodiment, the EEC 52 may perform the following operations: an operation for identifying which application can use edge computing services, and an operation for connecting to a network interface to send data of the application client of the user equipment 50 to an edge application server that provides edge computing services. According to an embodiment, the user equipment 50 may configure a radio channel with the BS through the MT 51 to use edge computing services. The configuration of the radio channel may be performed by a communication layer of the MT 51, for example, a 3GPP communication layer. The communication layer of the MT 51 may function to establish a wireless connection for data communication, register the user equipment 50 in the mobile communication system, establish a connection for sending data to the mobile communication system, and send and receive data.

[0066] As described above, the present disclosure includes a method for relocating application context between edge application servers for service continuity in an edge computing system. Figure 1 As shown, it can be assumed that the user device 50 can access the first EDN 10 and provide edge computing services from the first edge application server 101. In this case, when the user device 50 moves to the service area 20 of the second EDN, a change in the edge application server is required. A method of sending an application context from the S-EAS to a target application server is required. In addition, a method of detecting the need for a change in the edge application server is also required. In addition, a method of selecting a new edge application server and a method of relocating the application context from the source application server based on the selection method are further required.

[0067] The method for determining application context relocation may require intervention of the network functions of the 3GPP system described below. When the user equipment escapes from the EDN service area, the session management function (SMF) can detect the need for a change in the user plane (UP) path and send an UP path management event notification to the corresponding edge application server. The edge application server that receives the UP path management event notification can identify the need for application context relocation and start the relevant process.

[0068] However, in this method, it is necessary to require the edge application service that provides services to the user equipment to perform a pre-subscription for the UP path management event notification service in the SMF of 3GPP. The user equipment can detect the escape from the EDN service area in advance. However, the SMF of the 3GPP network should identify the need for application context relocation, and the SMF should identify the method to start the relevant process. In addition, the edge application server cannot start the relocation of the application context before receiving the notification from the SMF, and therefore a delay time may occur. In addition, whenever an edge application server is added to provide a new edge application service, overhead due to subscription may be generated. When a third-party application service provider installs and drives the edge application server instead of the network operator and the edge computing service provider, service level negotiation may be an overhead.

[0069] In the present disclosure, in order to quickly relocate application context without overhead, a user device should detect the need for application context relocation, and a method should be provided. Therefore, a method by which a user device detects escaping from a data network service area may be included. In addition, a method is needed by which a user device determines an EDN to be newly connected and connects to an edge enabler server and an edge application server of the corresponding EDN.

[0070] In the following, reference will be made to Figure 2 Methods for determining a need for application context relocation in an edge computing system and methods for determining a target edge enabler / application server are described.

[0071] Figure 2 The interaction between the EEC and the communication layer within the user equipment according to an embodiment and the interconnection with the edge computing system through the 3GPP network are shown.

[0072] refer to Figure 2 , the user equipment 50 may have the same Figure 1 Same configuration.

[0073] According to various embodiments, the first EDN 110 may include a first edge enabler server 100, and a first edge application server 101, a second edge application server 102, and a third edge application server 103 driven on an edge computing platform of the first edge enabler server 100. Figure 2It is shown that three edge application servers are driven in the first EDN 110, but the first data network 110 may include more edge application servers or only one edge application server. According to various embodiments, the second EDN 210 may include a second edge enabler server 200, and a first edge application server 201 and a third edge application server 203 driven on the edge computing platform of the second edge enabler server 200. Although Figure 2 It is shown that two edge application servers 201 and 203 are driven in the second EDN 120, but the second data network 120 may include more edge application servers or only one edge application server.

[0074] According to an exemplary embodiment, the first edge application server 101 driven on the edge computing platform of the first EDN 110 and the first edge application server 201 driven on the edge computing platform of the second EDN 210 may be edge application servers that perform the same function. When the first edge application server 101 driven on the edge computing platform of the first EDN 110 is an edge application server for providing a first service, the first edge application server 201 driven on the edge computing platform of the second EDN 210 may also be an edge application server for providing the first service. Similarly, when the third edge application server 103 driven on the edge computing platform of the first EDN 110 is an edge application server for providing a third service, the third edge application server 203 driven on the edge computing platform of the second EDN 210 may also be an edge application server for providing the third service.

[0075] The 3GPP network can configure a channel with the user terminal 50 through at least one of the multiple BSs (5G-(R)AN), and can send data to the user plane through the UPF. For the data of the user plane, the data path between the edge enabler server of the EDN and the user terminal can be configured through the UPF. Figure 2 It is assumed that the user equipment 50 is connected to the first EDN 110 through the 3GPP network 40 .

[0076] The second EDN 210 differs from the first EDN 110 in that the second EDN 210 does not include a second edge application server. As described above, an EDN may have edge application servers with the same corresponding functions. In addition, there may be edge application servers that exist in a particular EDN but not in a different EDN.

[0077] Each of the edge enabler servers 100 and 200 may access the EDN configuration server 30. The EDN configuration server 30 may be directly connected to the user equipment 50 through the 3GPP network.

[0078] The EEC 52 of the user equipment 50 can detect whether the MT 51 escapes from the EDN service area based on the UE location information of the 3GPP communication layer. The EEC 52 can determine (identify) the need for relocation of the application context according to the detection result.

[0079] According to an exemplary embodiment, Figure 2 As shown, the enabler client 52 and the MT 51 can interact with each other, and the EEC 52 can identify whether the EEC 52 is within the EDN service area or escapes the EDN service area based on the information about the EDN service area or the edge enabler server service area stored in the EDN configuration server 30.

[0080] According to an embodiment, when it is determined that the EEC 52 escapes the EDN service area, the EEC 52 may trigger the relocation of the application context.

[0081] Before escaping from the EDN service area, the EEC 52 can detect the possibility of escaping. In this case, the EEC 52 can trigger the relocation of the application context.

[0082] According to another embodiment, the EEC 52 may identify whether the EEC 52 is within or out of the EDN service area based on available location information within the user equipment 50 without limiting the use of the user equipment location (UE location) information of the MT 51 .

[0083] According to various embodiments, when the edge application server service area matches the EDN service area, the user device 50 may identify a need for application context relocation to the EDN service area.

[0084] According to various embodiments, when the service area of ​​the edge application server is limited to some of the EDN areas, the information about the service area of ​​the edge application server can be compared with the UE location, and the need for relocation of the application context can be identified. The information about the service area of ​​the edge application server can be stored in the edge enabler server and / or the EDN configuration server 30. The information about the service area of ​​the edge application server can be received by the EEC 52 from the EDN configuration server 30 as initial configuration information. When the EEC 52 needs the information, the information about the service area of ​​the edge application server can be obtained from the EDN configuration server 30 or from the edge enabler server by request.

[0085] According to various embodiments, information about the quality of service may be used from the MT 51 or the application layer of the user equipment 50. According to an embodiment, the EEC 52 of the user equipment 50 may detect the degradation of the quality of service generated from the MT 51 or the application layer, and identify the need for relocation of the connection and application context to an EDN that provides better quality of service.

[0086] According to various embodiments, the MT 51 in the user equipment 50 can know the service quality of the currently connected EDN through mutual interaction with the 3GPP network. In addition, the expected service quality in the connection with another EDN can be known. The MT 51 in the user equipment 50 can know the expected service quality through the network data analysis function.

[0087] According to various embodiments, the application layer may provide a quality of service for edge computing, which may be measured as application-level throughput (Goodput) to the EEC 52 , and thus, the EEC may use the quality of service.

[0088] According to various embodiments, the EEC 52 may identify a need for application context relocation based on the availability of edge application servers, and identify a target server.

[0089] According to various embodiments, when S-EES cannot use S-EAS, it may be determined that relocation of the application context is required.

[0090] According to an embodiment, when the target edge enabler service to which the application context is sent can provide an edge application service to the application client of the user device 50 is running or can be run in the edge hosting environment, the EEC 52 can perform a process for relocating the application context. The availability information can be obtained from the edge enabler server or the EDN configuration server 30.

[0091] Figure 2 The second edge enabler server 200 of the second EDN 210 is shown not driving the second edge application server. In this case, the user device 50 may not directly relocate the application context for the second application. After first identifying whether the second edge application server can be driven, the second edge enabler server 200 may provide the EEC 52 or the EDN configuration server 30 with the availability information of the second edge application server.

[0092] Hereinafter, a process in which the user equipment 50 detects a need for application context relocation and relocates the application context will be described. The subject providing the command for relocating the application context is the T-EES 200 or the S-EES 100, which will be described with reference to two different embodiments.

[0093] Figure 3A is a signal flow diagram illustrating a process in which a target edge enabler indicates relocation applied to S-EAS according to an embodiment.

[0094] refer to Figure 3A In step 300, the EEC 52 of the user equipment 50 may determine whether there is a need for relocation of the application context. According to various embodiments, the triggering subject may be determined as follows. However, the subject for triggering the relocation of the application context is not limited to the EEC 52 in the present disclosure. The service area and UE location information of the EDN may be used, and all entities within the user equipment 50 that can interact with the edge enabler server through the edge enabler layer may trigger the relocation of the application context. The application client 53 or the MT 51 may be configured to trigger the application context.

[0095] According to various embodiments, the method by which the EEC 52 within the user equipment 50 determines a need for relocation of an application may be identified as follows.

[0096] In a first approach, the need for relocation may be determined through a comparison between the EDN service and the UL location information.

[0097] When the user equipment escapes from the data network service area, the relocation of the application context may be triggered.

[0098] When the possibility of movement can be detected in advance before escaping the EDN service area, relocation of the application context can be triggered.

[0099] When it is detected that the quality of service (QoS) of the edge computing being received by the user equipment is degraded, the need for relocation of the application context can be determined and triggered. As described above, triggering the relocation of the application context is to continuously receive the service currently provided from another edge application server.

[0100] When the terminal 51 recognizes that the driver of the edge application server from which the terminal 51 is currently receiving services stops, the relocation of the application context may be triggered.

[0101] According to various embodiments, at step 302, the EEC 52 of the user equipment 50 may determine a T-EAS in which the application context is to be relocated.

[0102] According to various embodiments, the subject that determines the relocation of the application context may be the terminal 51 .

[0103] According to an embodiment, the terminal 51 may use the EDN service area included in the EDN configuration information (configuration data), such as a cell list, a tracking area list, and an operator's network identifier (PLMN ID), in order to use the edge computing service.

[0104] According to an embodiment, as EDN configuration information, initial configuration information received in initial access to the EDN configuration server may be used by the user equipment 50 to utilize edge computing services.

[0105] According to various embodiments, the user equipment may request configuration information from the EDN configuration server 30, receive the configuration information, and Figure 3A This information is used in step 302 of FIG.

[0106] According to another embodiment, when information about edge application servers running in an edge hosting environment of a specific edge enabler server is stored in an EDN configuration server, the user equipment 50 may determine the T-EAS in the user equipment 50 through this step.

[0107] According to various embodiments, the subject of the operation is not limited to the EEC 52 of the user device 50. All subjects within the user device 50 that can use the information can perform the operation.

[0108] According to various embodiments, at step 304 , the EEC 52 of the user device 50 may send a request to the sending EES 200 to relocate the application context.

[0109] The request for relocating the application context sent from the EEC 52 to the determined T-EAS may include the following information.

[0110] (1) Application information (eg, application ID): information used to determine an edge application server that provides services for an application used by the user device 50, and information that can be used to determine a T-EAS may be included in a corresponding request.

[0111] (2) may include S-EAS information conventionally connected to the user device 50 (eg, a fully qualified domain name (FQDN) or an IP address).

[0112] (3) UE information (e.g., user UE ID or UE IP address) may be included. UE information may include all information used to identify a UE within an edge computing system or edge enabler server. An identifier that is individually defined or allocated within the edge computing system may be used. UE location information may be provided as needed.

[0113] (4) A registration context for S-EES for EEC may be included. All information that can be used to register in T-EAS may be included in the registration context and sent.

[0114] In step 306 , T-EES 200 may determine the T-EAS in which the application context is to be relocated, and send a request to T-EAS 201 for relocating the application context.

[0115] The T-EES 200 may determine the T-EAS in which the application context is relocated based on the following information.

[0116] (1) Application ID, and

[0117] (2) Whether the edge application for serving the application of the user device 50 is running in the edge hosting environment.

[0118] When the edge enabler server receives a request for relocating the application context from the user device 50, the corresponding edge application server may not be running. The edge enabler server not running the edge application server may mean that the edge application server exists in the edge computing platform but is not running. In this case, the edge enabler server may run the relevant edge application server for edge computing service continuity in the edge hosting environment, and send the request for relocating the application context to the running edge application server.

[0119] The edge enabler server does not run the edge application server requested from the user device 50, and the running may not be possible in the future. In this case, the edge enabler server may determine that the relocation of the application context is not possible.

[0120] The edge enabler server may send a request to the T-EAS for relocating the application context based on the determination, including information such as:

[0121] (1) UE information, and

[0122] (2) S-EAS information (eg, information about edge application servers that provide legacy user equipment may be provided).

[0123] According to various embodiments, at step 308, T-EAS 201 may determine whether the application context may be relocated and send a response thereto to the target edge enabler server 200. T-EAS 201 may determine whether to relocate the application context based on computing resources and whether the operation continues in the future.

[0124] When the relocation of the application context is approved, target edge application information (eg, FQDN or IP address) required to receive the transmission of the application context and whether to approve the transmission may be transmitted to the T-EES 200 .

[0125] According to various embodiments, at step 310 , T-EES 200 may inquire S-EES 100 and / or S-EAS 101 whether to relocate the application context.

[0126] T-EES 200 may send queries to S-EAS 101 related to the relocation of application contexts.

[0127] According to an embodiment, the T-EES may request the S-EAS 101 to prepare for freezing and relocation of the application context.

[0128] According to an embodiment, UE information for specifying a UE corresponding to the relocation of the application context may be provided through this procedure to the S-EAS 101. Alternatively, this operation may be performed by providing an application ID.

[0129] According to various embodiments, the messages of this process may be sent directly from T-EES 200 to S-EAS 101 , and may be sent to S-EAS 101 via S-EES 100 .

[0130] According to various embodiments, at step 312 , S-EAS 101 may send a response to the query regarding the relocation of the application context to T-EES 200 .

[0131] According to an embodiment, S-EAS 101 may identify the application context relocated in T-EES 200 and perform preparation steps for transmission (eg, freezing the application context and synchronizing with the application client of user device 50).

[0132] According to an embodiment, when the application has no context to relocate due to the stateless nature, the S-EAS 101 may insert this fact into the response and send the response to the T-EES 200 .

[0133] According to an embodiment, the subject and order of executing steps 310 and 312 in which a query and a response about whether to relocate the application context are sent are not limited to this case. After determining the relocation of the application context, the EEC can directly send the query to the S-EAS. According to another embodiment, by sending the query before the EEC determines the relocation of the application context, the result of the response to the query can be reflected in the determination of the relocation of the application context. The following application context relocation command can be executed without steps 310 and 312.

[0134] According to various embodiments, at step 314 , T-EES 200 may send an application context relocation command to S-EES 100 and / or S-EAS 101 .

[0135] According to an embodiment, application context relocation may be indicated while information about T-EAS 201 is sent to S-EAS 101. According to an embodiment, if UE information or application information is not provided to AS-EAS 101 through step 310, in step 314, these two pieces of information may be inserted into a command message and sent to specify the application to be relocated.

[0136] According to an embodiment, the corresponding command may be transmitted to S-EAS 101 via S-EES 100 .

[0137] According to various embodiments, at step 316 , T-EES 200 may send an application context relocation response to EEC 52 of user equipment 50 .

[0138] According to an embodiment, whether to relocate the application context and the information on the T-EAS 201 may be transmitted to the EEC 52. After the application context is completely relocated, the information on the T-EAS may be used to route the application data traffic.

[0139] According to various embodiments, at step 318 , the S-EAS 101 may send the application context to the T-EAS 201 .

[0140] According to an embodiment, S-EAS 101 may send the application context to T-EAS 201 .

[0141] According to an embodiment, the application context may be sent via the source / target enabler servers 100 and 200 , or may be directly sent to the T-EAS 201 .

[0142] According to an embodiment, the transmission of the application context is not necessarily performed by the S-EAS 101. When the application context is stored in the user equipment 50, the EEC may directly transmit the application context stored in the user equipment 50 to the T-EAS 201. When the transmission of the application context between the S-EAS 101 and the T-EAS 201 is not possible, the application context may be transmitted by the EEC 52. A process may be performed in which the application context from the S-EES 100 and the S-EAS 101 and the registration context for the S-EES 100 are pre-stored in the EEC 52 or received by request.

[0143] According to an embodiment, T-EAS 201 may provide a confirmation indicating successful transmission of the application context to S-EAS 101. Therefore, S-EAS 101 may identify whether the application context is successfully transmitted and trigger an operation for releasing the context or resources for the corresponding application.

[0144] According to various embodiments, at step 320a, S-EAS 101 may send an application context relocation complete notification message to S-EES 100. At step 320a, S-EAS 101 may send the fact that the application context is completely relocated to user equipment 50 and reroute application data traffic.

[0145] According to an embodiment, when there is no direct reference interface between S-EAS 101 and EEC 52, in steps 320a and 320b, the sending of the corresponding notification may be performed via S-EES 100. The notification may be directly sent from S-EAS 101 to EEC 52. In addition, steps 320a and 320b may be sent to EEC 52 via EES 100 and T-EES 200. In this case, step 316b may be performed immediately before step 322.

[0146] According to various embodiments, in step 322, the EEC 52 of the user equipment 50 may perform application data service rerouting. According to an embodiment, the application data service generated by the edge application client may be routed to the T-EAS 201 in which the application context is completely relocated. The rerouting of the corresponding application data service may be performed directly by the S-EAS 101 instead of the EEC 52 through a predetermined network function of the 3GPP system (e.g., AF impact on service routing). In this case, step 320 of sending an application context relocation completion notification message may not be performed. According to another embodiment, for the application context relocation completion notification, the S-EES 100 may perform application data service routing through a method such as AF impact on service routing.

[0147] Figure 4 is a signal flow diagram illustrating a process in which an S-EES relocates an application context in an S-EAS according to an embodiment.

[0148] According to various embodiments, at step 400, the EEC 52 of the user device 50 may determine (identify) a need for relocation of an application context.

[0149] According to an embodiment, the subject for triggering the relocation of the application context in the user equipment 50 is not limited to the EEC 52. The relocation of the application context can be triggered using the EDN service area and UE location information, and all entities in the user equipment 50 that can interact with the edge enabler server through the edge enabling layer can trigger the relocation of the application context.

[0150] According to an embodiment, an example of a method of determining whether relocation of an application context is required by the EEC 52 within the user equipment 50 is described below.

[0151] According to an embodiment, whether to trigger the relocation of the application context may be determined by comparing the EDN service with the UE location information.

[0152] According to another embodiment, when the user equipment escapes from the EDN service area, the relocation of the application context may be triggered.

[0153] According to another embodiment, when the possibility of escaping the EDN service area is detected before escaping, relocation of the application context may be triggered.

[0154] According to another embodiment, when QoS degradation of edge computing provided to the user equipment is detected, relocation of the application context may be triggered. The relocation of the application context is triggered in order to receive services from another edge application server.

[0155] According to another embodiment, when it is identified that the execution of the edge application server serving the user equipment 50 stops, the relocation of the application context may be triggered.

[0156] According to various embodiments, the EEC 52 of the user equipment 50 may determine, through step 402, the T-EES in which the application context is relocated.

[0157] In order to use edge computing services, the EEC 52 can identify whether the user equipment is within the data network service area by using the EDN service area included in the EDN configuration information (configuration data), such as a cell list, a tracking area list, and an operator's network identifier (Public LAN Mobile Network (PLMN) ID).

[0158] According to an embodiment, the EDN configuration information may use initial configuration information received in an initial access to the EDN configuration server 30 for the user device 50 to use the edge computing service.

[0159] According to another embodiment, as shown in reference Figure 2 As described above, the configuration information may be received from the EDN configuration server 30 by request and used.

[0160] According to another embodiment, when information about edge application servers running in an edge hosting environment of a specific edge enabler server is stored in the EDN configuration server 30, the T-EAS may be determined in the user device 50 through this step.

[0161] According to various embodiments, the subject of step 402 is not limited to the EEC 52. All entities within the user equipment 50 that can use the information can perform this operation.

[0162] According to various embodiments, EEC 52 of user device 50 may send a request to S-EES 100 to relocate an application context.

[0163] The EEC 52 may send a request for relocating the application context to the determined S-EES 100, and the corresponding request may include the following information.

[0164] (1) Application information (eg, application ID) may be included. The application information may be information for determining an edge application server that serves an application used by the user device 50. In addition to the application information, information that may be used to determine the T-EAS may be included in the corresponding request.

[0165] (2) S-EAS information (eg, FQDN or IP address) conventionally connected to the terminal may be included.

[0166] (3) UE information (e.g., UE ID or UE IP address) may be included. According to an embodiment, all information used to identify a UE within an edge computing system or edge enabler server may be included. An identifier that is separately defined or allocated within the edge computing system may be used. UE location information may also be provided as needed.

[0167] (4) T-EES information (eg, an endpoint address such as a uniform resource identifier (URI)) may be included.

[0168] According to an embodiment, all information that helps the EEC 52 to specify the T-EES may be included. According to an embodiment, when the EEC cannot provide the endpoint address of the T-EES, information for specifying the target EDN (e.g., target EDN ID and UE location information) may be provided instead. Therefore, the S-EES may specify the T-EES.

[0169] According to various embodiments, at step 406, S-EES 100 may inquire S-EAS 101 whether to relocate the application context.

[0170] According to an embodiment, S-EES 100 may send a query related to the relocation of the application context to S-EAS 101 .

[0171] According to an embodiment, the query message may request to perform a preparation step that freezes and relocates the application context of the corresponding UE to the S-EAS 101 .

[0172] According to an embodiment, S-EES 100 may provide UE information to S-EAS 101 to specify the application context of the corresponding UE that needs to be relocated. S-EES 100 may perform step 406 by providing an application ID.

[0173] According to various embodiments, at step 408 , S-EAS 101 may send a response to the relocation of the application context to S-EES 100 .

[0174] According to an embodiment, the application context received from S-EES 100 and to be relocated may be identified, and preparation steps for sending (eg, freezing the application context and synchronizing with an application client of user device 50) may be performed.

[0175] According to an embodiment, when an application has no context to relocate due to the stateless nature, this fact may be inserted into a response sent to S-EES 100 and the response may be sent.

[0176] According to an embodiment, the subject and order of executing step 406 and step 408 in which the query about whether to relocate the application context and the response are sent are not limited to this case. According to an embodiment, after determining the relocation of the application context, the EEC 52 can directly send the query to the S-EAS 101. According to another embodiment, by sending the query before the EEC 52 determines the relocation of the application context, the result of the response to the query can be reflected in the determination of the relocation of the application context. According to another embodiment, the application context relocation command can be sent without steps 406 and 408.

[0177] According to various embodiments, at step 410 , S-EES 100 may send a request to T-EES 200 for relocating an application context.

[0178] The request of step 410 may include the following information.

[0179] (1) Application information (eg, application ID) may be included. Information for determining an edge application server that can serve an application used by the user device 50 may be included.

[0180] (2) S-EAS information conventionally connected to the user equipment 50 may be included (eg, FQDN or IP address).

[0181] (3) It may include UE information (eg, UE ID or UE IP address).

[0182] (4) A registration context for S-EES for legacy ECC may be included.

[0183] According to an embodiment, all information that can be used to register in T-EES may be included in the registration context.

[0184] According to various embodiments, at step 412 , T-EES 200 may determine an edge application server in which to relocate the application, and send a request for relocating the application context to the corresponding T-EAS 201 .

[0185] According to an embodiment, T-EES 200 may determine the (T-EAS) in which to relocate the application context based on the following information.

[0186] (1) may include the application ID, and

[0187] (2) may include whether an edge application for serving an application of a user device is executed within an edge hosting environment.

[0188] According to an embodiment, a request for relocating an application context including information may be sent to the determined T-EAS. (1) UE information may be included. (2) S-EAS information (edge ​​application server providing services to legacy terminals) may be included.

[0189] According to various embodiments, T-EAS 201 may determine whether relocation of the application context is possible, and send a response thereto to T-EAS 200 .

[0190] According to an embodiment, T-EAS 201 may determine whether to relocate the application context based on computing resources, and whether the execution should continue in the future.

[0191] According to an embodiment, when the relocation of the application context is approved, the T-EAS 201 may send to the T-EES 200 the target edge application information (eg, FQDN or IP address) required to receive the application context and whether the relocation is approved.

[0192] According to various embodiments, at step 416, T-EES 200 may send an application context relocation response to S-EES 100. According to an embodiment, whether to relocate the application context and T-EAS information may be sent to S-EES 100.

[0193] According to various embodiments, at step 418 , S-EES 100 may send an application context relocation command to S-EAS 101 .

[0194] According to an embodiment, when the edge application server information is sent to the S-EAS 101, application context relocation may be indicated.

[0195] According to an embodiment, if the UE information or the application information is not provided to the S-EAS 101 through step 406, then in step 418, these two pieces of information may be inserted into a command message and sent to specify the application to be relocated.

[0196] According to various embodiments, at step 420 , the S-EES 100 may send an application context relocation response to the EEC 52 of the user device 50 .

[0197] According to various embodiments, at step 422 , S-EAS 101 may send the application context to T-EAS 201 .

[0198] Depending on the embodiment, the application context may be sent via the source / T-EES, or may be sent directly to the T-EAS.

[0199] According to an embodiment, the transmission of the application context is not necessarily performed by the S-EAS 101. When the application context is stored in the user equipment 50, the EEC 52 may directly transmit the application context stored in the user equipment 50 to the T-EAS 201.

[0200] According to another embodiment, when the application context cannot be transmitted between the S-EAS 101 and the T-EAS 201, the application context may be transmitted via the edge enabler servers 100 and 200. As described above, the following process may be performed: in this process, the application context from the S-EES 100 and the source application server 101 and the registration context for the S-EES 100 are pre-stored in the EEC 52 or received by request.

[0201] According to another embodiment, T-EAS 201 may provide a confirmation indicating successful transmission of the application context to S-EAS 101. Therefore, S-EAS 101 may identify whether the application context is successfully transmitted and trigger an operation for releasing the context or resources of the corresponding application.

[0202] According to various embodiments, S-EAS 101 may send an application context relocation complete notification message to S-EES 100 and / or EEC 52 .

[0203] According to various embodiments, S-EAS 101 may send an application context relocation completion notification (101->100->200) to S-EES 100 and / or T-EES 200. Figure 3B Describe the situation.

[0204] Figure 3Bis a signal flow diagram illustrating a process in which an S-EAS sends an application context relocation completion notification to a user equipment according to an embodiment.

[0205] In reference Figure 3B Before, in Figure 3B At steps 340 to 344 corresponding to the dotted line portion shown in FIG. Figure 3A and Figure 3B There are differences. Figure 3B , process 9 ( Figure 3A Step 316) can be achieved by Figure 3A The step 318 is followed by a combination of the application context relocation completion notification. Figure 3B In the example, the step is divided into step 340 and step 342. In this case, in step 340 ( Figure 3A The edge application context sent in step 318) together with the application context relocation completion notification are sent in step 342 ( Figure 3A When communication between EEC 52 and S-EES 100 is not possible, in step 344, S-EAS 101 and / or S-EES 100 may indirectly send an application context relocation completion notification and T-EAS information to EEC 52 via T-EES 200.

[0206] According to an embodiment, the application context relocation completion is sent to the user equipment 50 , and the application data traffic may be rerouted to the user equipment 50 .

[0207] According to an embodiment, when there is no direct reference interface between the S-EAS 101 and the EEC 52, in steps 424a and 424b, the sending of the corresponding notification may be performed via the S-EES 100. In addition, steps 424a and 424b may be sent to the EEC 52 via the S-EES 100 and the T-EES 200. According to another embodiment, when there is a direct reference interface between the S-EAS 101 and the EEC 52, the S-EAS 101 may perform direct sending to the EEC 52.

[0208] According to various embodiments, at step 426, the EEC 52 of the user equipment 50 may perform application data traffic rerouting.

[0209] According to an embodiment, application data traffic generated by edge application clients may be routed to T-EAS 201 where the application context is completely relocated.

[0210] According to an embodiment, the routing of the corresponding application data service may be directly performed by the S-EAS 101 instead of the EEC 52 through a 3GPP system network function (e.g., application function (AF) influence on service routing). In this case, the step of sending the application context relocation completion notification of step 424 may not be performed. According to another embodiment, the S-EES 100 that receives the application context relocation completion notification may perform application data service routing through a method such as AF influence on service routing.

[0211] The above-mentioned embodiment may include the edge enabler server making the final decision and sending the application context relocation command to the S-EAS. However, in the present disclosure, the subject for sending the final application context relocation command to the S-EAS is not limited to the edge enabler server 100. The T-EES 200 may directly send the application context relocation command to the S-EAS 101.

[0212] The term "module" used herein may refer to a unit including, for example, one or more combinations of hardware, software, and firmware. The term "module" may be used interchangeably with the terms "logic", "logic block", "component", and "circuit". A "module" may be the smallest unit of an integrated component, or may be a part thereof. A "module" may be the smallest unit for performing one or more functions, or a part thereof. For example, a "module" may include an ASIC.

[0213] Various embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by software including instructions stored in a machine-readable storage medium readable by a machine (e.g., a computer). A machine may be a device that calls instructions from a machine-readable storage medium and operates depending on the called instructions, and may include an electronic device. When the instructions are executed by a processor, the processor may use other components directly or under the control of the processor to perform functions corresponding to the instructions. The instructions may include code generated or executed by a compiler or interpreter. The machine-readable storage medium may be provided in the form of a non-transitory storage medium. Here, the term "non-transitory" when used in this article is a limitation on the medium itself (i.e., tangible, not a signal), rather than a limitation on the persistence of data storage.

[0214] The methods according to various embodiments disclosed in the present disclosure may be provided as part of a computer program product. The computer program product may be traded between a seller and a buyer as a product. The computer program product may be distributed in the form of a machine-readable storage medium (e.g., a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM)), or may be available only through an application store (e.g., Play Store TMIn the case of online distribution, at least a portion of the computer program product may be temporarily stored or generated in a storage medium, such as a memory of a manufacturer's server, an application store's server, or a relay server.

[0215] Each component (e.g., module or program) according to various embodiments may include at least one of the above-mentioned components, and may omit a portion of the above-mentioned subcomponents, or may further include additional other subcomponents. Alternatively or additionally, some components may be integrated into one component, and may perform the same or similar functions performed by each corresponding component before integration. According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the operations performed by modules, programs or other components may be performed sequentially, in parallel, repeatedly or in a heuristic manner. In addition, at least some operations may be performed in different orders, may be omitted or other operations may be added.

[0216] Although the present disclosure has been shown and described with reference to certain embodiments of the present disclosure, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made in form and detail without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Therefore, the scope of the present disclosure should not be defined as being limited to the embodiments, but should be defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

[0217] Industrial Applicability

[0218] The present disclosure can be used in edge computing systems.

Claims

1. A method for relocating an application context by an edge enabler client EEC in an edge computing system, the method comprising: Determining whether relocation of the application context is required by detecting that the user equipment UE has moved or the UE is expected to move outside a service area, wherein the service area corresponds to a source edge data network S-EDN service area; Based on the determination that relocation of the application context is required, sending a context relocation request to the source edge enabler server S-EES; receiving a context relocation response message from the S-EES indicating completion of the relocation of the application context; and Based on the context relocation response message, the application data service is rerouted to the target edge application server T-EAS.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The context relocation request includes at least one of the following: UE information including at least one of a UE identifier ID or an Internet Protocol IP address, S-EAS information including a fully qualified domain name FQDN of the S-EAS, an application ID served by the S-EAS, and a target edge enabler server T-EES information including an endpoint address.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein: The T-EES information is obtained from the edge data network EDN configuration server.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The context relocation response message includes T-EAS information.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The S-EDN service area is an area from which access to the S-EDN, which provides edge computing services from the S-EAS, is allowed.

6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: A context transfer completion notification message is received from the S-EES, indicating that there is no direct reference interface between the S-EAS and the EEC.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein: Get UE location information from S-EES.

8. A user equipment UE for relocating an application context in an edge computing system, the UE comprising: One or more edge application clients configured to perform client functions of services in the edge computing system; An edge enabler client EEC, configured to provide edge computing services to the one or more edge application clients; as well as The mobile terminal MT is configured to communicate with the edge computing system via a mobile communication network, Wherein, the EEC is configured as follows: Determining whether relocation of the application context is required by detecting that the UE has moved or the UE is expected to move outside a service area, wherein the service area corresponds to a source edge data network S-EDN service area; Based on the determination that the application context needs to be relocated, a context relocation request is sent to the source edge enabler server S-EES through the MT; receiving, by the MT, from the S-EES a context relocation response message indicating completion of the relocation of the application context, and Based on the context relocation response message, the application data service is rerouted to the target edge application server T-EAS.

9. The UE according to claim 8, wherein: The context relocation request includes at least one of the following: UE information including at least one of a UE identifier ID or an Internet Protocol IP address, S-EAS information including a fully qualified domain name FQDN of the S-EAS, an application ID served by the S-EAS, and a target edge enabler server T-EES information including an endpoint address.

10. The UE according to claim 9, wherein: The T-EES information is obtained from the edge data network EDN configuration server.

11. The UE according to claim 8, wherein: The context relocation response message includes T-EAS information.

12. The UE according to claim 8, wherein: The S-EDN service area is the area from which access to the S-EDN is allowed. The S-EDN provides edge computing services from the S-EAS. Wherein, UE location information is obtained from S-EES, and The EEC is configured to receive a context transfer completion notification message from the S-EES, where the message indicates that there is no direct reference interface between the S-EAS and the EEC.

13. A method for relocating application context for an application service provided to a user equipment UE by a source edge enabler server S-EES in an edge computing system, the method comprising: receiving a context relocation request for an application service from an edge application client EEC of the UE; Sending the application context relocation request to a target edge enabler server T-EES; receiving an application context relocation response including target edge application server T-EAS information from the T-EES; Sending an application context relocation command including the T-EAS information to a source edge application server S-EAS that provides application services to the UE; sending the application context to the T-EAS via the T-EES based on receiving the application context from the S-EAS; as well as Based on receiving the application context relocation complete notification from the S-EAS, a context relocation complete notification is sent to the EEC of the UE.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein: The application context relocation request includes at least one of the following: UE information including at least one of a UE identifier ID or an Internet Protocol IP address, S-EAS information including a fully qualified domain name FQDN of the S-EAS, an application ID served by the S-EAS, and T-EES information including an endpoint address.

15. The method according to claim 13, wherein: The application context relocation request includes UE information, S-EAS information, an application identifier ID, and a registration context of the S-EES for the EEC.

16. The method according to claim 13, further comprising: A context transfer completion notification message is sent to the EEC, indicating that there is no direct reference interface between the S-EAS and the EEC.

17. A method for relocating an application context for an application client by a user equipment UE having an application client and an edge enabler client EEC in an edge computing system, the method comprising: Determining whether relocation of the application context is required by detecting that the UE has moved or the UE is expected to move outside a service area, wherein the service area corresponds to a source edge data network S-EDN service area; When application context relocation is required, a target edge enabler server T-EES is determined; Based on the determination, sending a context relocation request including source edge application server S-EAS information to T-EES; and Receive a response from T-EES.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein: The T-EES is determined by the EEC based on initial access information or information obtained from the edge configuration server ECS.

19. A user equipment UE for relocating an application context in an edge computing system, the UE comprising: One or more edge application clients configured to perform client functions of services in the edge computing system; An edge enabler client EEC, configured to provide edge computing services to the one or more application clients; as well as The mobile client MT is configured to communicate with the edge computing system via a mobile communication network. Wherein, the application client is configured as follows: determining whether relocation of the application context is required by detecting that the UE has moved or is expected to move outside a service area, wherein the service area corresponds to a source edge data network S-EDN service area, and Among them, EEC is configured as: When application context relocation is required, the target edge enabler server T-EES is determined. sending a context relocation request to the T-EES via the MT based on the determination, and Receive response information from T-EES.

20. The UE according to claim 19, wherein: The T-EES is determined by the EEC based on initial access information or information obtained from the edge configuration server ECS.

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