User equipment, core network, system and method for routing outgoing traffic

Abstract

Processing hardware in a user equipment (UE) communicating with a core network (CN) via a radio access network (RAN) may implement a method for routing outgoing traffic from the UE. The method includes determining a prohibited traffic descriptor that the UE is to match to a CN-defined rule that specifies routing for the outgoing traffic (602). The method also includes preventing the use of the traffic descriptor to apply the rule that specifies routing to the outgoing traffic (606).

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates generally to wireless communications and, more particularly, to applying rules at a user device for routing outgoing traffic. Background Art

[0002] The purpose of providing this background description is to generally present the context of the present disclosure. To the extent described in this background section, the work of the presently named inventors and aspects of the description that may not qualify as prior art at the time of filing are neither explicitly nor implicitly admitted to be prior art to the present disclosure.

[0003] In a fifth generation (5G) wireless communication system, a user equipment (UE) can apply a so-called UE Route Selection Policy (URSP) to outgoing traffic to determine how the UE should route traffic for a specific application executing on an operating system (OS), a specific domain, a specific network host, etc. As defined in the current 5G standard, a URSP rule includes (1) a rule priority value, (2) one or more traffic descriptors, and (3) one or more route selection descriptors. The rule priority value determines the order in which the UE applies the URSP rules, the traffic descriptor specifies how the UE should match the outgoing traffic to the rule to determine whether the rule is applicable, and the route selection descriptor specifies how the UE should route the traffic if the rule is applicable.

[0004] For example, according to a first URSP rule, the UE should route traffic related to network domain D to an established protocol data unit (PDU) session; according to a second URSP rule, the UE should establish a new PDU session for outgoing traffic addressed to host H; and according to a third URSP rule, the UE should offload all Ethernet traffic to a wireless local area network (WLAN), such as If the first rule in this example has a higher rule priority value than the second rule, the UE should apply the first rule instead of the second rule to outgoing traffic that matches the corresponding traffic descriptors of the first rule and the second rule (i.e., the traffic involves domain D and is addressed to host H).

[0005] The UE may store the pre-set URSP rules locally or receive the URSP rules from the core network (CN). According to the current 5G standard, when the UE has both the pre-set rules and the CN-specified rules, the UE applies the CN-specified rules.

[0006] In general, URSP technology provides significant flexibility to the CN. However, existing technologies also require the UE to support multiple types of traffic descriptors in order to execute corresponding URSP rules. This is difficult in some cases because the UE does not always have access to all traffic parameters of outgoing traffic. For example, if different vendors implement different UE components, the entity executing the URSP may not be able to determine the traffic parameters of all applications and services that rely on data connections at the UE. As a result, the UE is not always able to match outgoing traffic to the URSP rules, and therefore may not be able to apply the URSP rules that would be applicable if all traffic parameters were known to the UE. Summary of the invention

[0007] The UE of the present disclosure may prevent the use of specific traffic descriptors in rules that specify routing selection at the UE (such as rules that constitute a URSP or another suitable policy). The UE may identify specific traffic descriptors as prohibited or not applicable at the UE (for example, because the entity that executes the rule cannot access the prohibited traffic descriptor). For example, the UE may ignore rules that include prohibited traffic descriptors, apply rules based on non-prohibited traffic descriptors, or prioritize local configuration over rules with prohibited traffic descriptors. In some implementations or scenarios, the UE may preemptively request the CN not to provide any rules that include prohibited traffic descriptors to the UE. The UE may also combine some of these techniques.

[0008] An example embodiment of these techniques is a method of routing outgoing traffic in a UE communicating with a core network (CN) via a radio access network (RAN). The method is implemented by processing hardware and includes determining a prohibited traffic descriptor that the UE is to match to a rule defined by the CN that specifies routing selection for the outgoing traffic. The method also includes preventing the use of the traffic descriptor to apply the rule specifying routing selection to the outgoing traffic.

[0009] Another example embodiment of the techniques is a UE including processing hardware and configured to perform the above-described methods.

[0010] Yet another example embodiment of these techniques is a method in a core network for facilitating routing of outgoing traffic at a UE. The method is implemented by processing hardware and includes receiving an indication that the UE is to match a prohibited traffic descriptor to a CN-defined rule specifying routing for the outgoing traffic, and preventing the use of the traffic descriptor to apply the rule specifying routing to the outgoing traffic at the UE.

[0011] Yet another embodiment of the techniques is a core network including processing hardware and configured to perform the above methods. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0012] Figure 1 An example communication system is shown in which the routing techniques of the present disclosure may be implemented;

[0013] Figure 2 yes Figure 1 A block diagram of example rules that a UE may apply to outgoing traffic for routing selection;

[0014] Figure 3A is a message passing diagram for the example scenario, where Figure 1 a UE that determines that a particular proscribed or “forbidden” traffic descriptor is not to be used for routing outgoing traffic at the UE and ignores rules received from a core network (CN) that reference only the proscribed traffic descriptor;

[0015] Figure 3B is a message passing diagram for the example scenario, where Figure 1 a UE receiving a rule referencing a forbidden traffic descriptor as well as an allowed traffic descriptor and applying the rule to outgoing traffic using only the allowed traffic descriptor;

[0016] Figure 4A is a message passing diagram for the example scenario, where Figure 1 The UE notifies the CN of the prohibited traffic descriptor using a message of the protocol used to convey the routing policy;

[0017] Figure 4B is a message passing diagram for the example scenario, where Figure 1 The UE notifies the CN of the prohibited traffic descriptor using an indication of the UE status or a dedicated message for reporting prohibited traffic descriptors;

[0018] Figure 5 is a message passing diagram for the example scenario, where Figure 1 the UE takes precedence over local rules referencing a scope of traffic descriptors including a prohibited traffic descriptor over rules received from the CN referencing the prohibited traffic descriptor;

[0019] Figure 6 Yes, you can Figure 1 A flowchart of an example method implemented in a UE for routing outgoing traffic; and

[0020] Figure 7 Yes, you can Figure 1 Flowchart of an example method implemented in a core network of facilitating routing of outgoing traffic at a UE. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0021] Figure 1An example communication system 100 is shown in which routing techniques of the present disclosure may be implemented. Communication system 100 includes user equipment (UE) 102 , which may be any suitable device capable of wirelessly communicating with a core network (CN) 110 via a base station 104 .

[0022] In general, UE 102 can determine that certain traffic descriptors associated with rules that specify routing selection for outgoing traffic at UE 102 are prohibited (or "disabled"), and UE 102 should not use these prohibited descriptors when matching outgoing traffic to the rules. Although the present disclosure is primarily related to URSP rules, these techniques can also be applied to other rule-based routing mechanisms.

[0023] As discussed in more detail below, the UE 102 may determine that a rule includes a prohibited traffic descriptor and then ignore the rule when applying a set of URSP rules. As another example, the UE 102 may determine that a rule contains prohibited and non-prohibited (or allowed) traffic descriptors. The UE 102 may then apply the rule by ignoring the prohibited traffic descriptors and matching outgoing traffic using only the allowed traffic descriptors.

[0024] In another example implementation, UE 102 is permitted to prioritize local configuration over URSP rules received from CN 110. For example, UE 102 may apply local rules to those rules that include prohibited traffic descriptors, or may prioritize a set of local rules as a whole over URSP rules received from CN 110.

[0025] In addition, UE 102 may preemptively request CN 110 not to supply any URSP rules including prohibited traffic descriptors to UE 102. For example, UE 102 may determine that a specific traffic descriptor is prohibited and send a corresponding indication to CN 110. To this end, UE 102 may use an existing protocol to manage URSP rules or use a dedicated message to indicate prohibited traffic descriptors.

[0026] The UE may also combine at least some of these techniques. For example, if UE 102 sends an indication of a prohibited traffic descriptor to CN 110, but CN 110 still responds with a URSP rule containing the prohibited traffic descriptor (e.g., due to a race condition or because CN 110 does not support the message from UE 102), UE 102 may apply the other techniques discussed above to prevent application of any rules containing the prohibited traffic descriptors. As another example, UE 102 may ignore rules that reference only prohibited traffic descriptors, but still apply rules that reference both prohibited traffic descriptors and allowed traffic descriptors by utilizing only allowed traffic descriptors. In at least some implementations, UE 102 may consider rules that reference one or more prohibited traffic descriptors to be inapplicable.

[0027] like Figure 1 As shown, the base station 104 is communicatively connected to the core network (CN) 110 via, for example, an NG interface. In some implementations, the base station 104 is a 5G new radio (NR) base station operating as a g Node B (gNB), and the CN 110 is a 5G core network (5GC). However, in other implementations, the communication system 100 may include one or more base stations operating according to other types of radio access technologies (RATs) other than NR, and these base stations may be connected to other types of CNs. In addition, the UE 102 may also directly access other types of access networks, such as a wireless local area network (WLAN) 112, via a radio interface (e.g., via an access point (AP) 114).

[0028] Base station 104 is associated with RAN 108 and provides coverage for cell 116. Figure 1 Base station 104 is depicted as being associated with only one cell 116, but it should be understood that base station 104 may also cover cells not in the Figure 1 104 and 110. In addition, the RAN 108 may include any suitable number of base stations that jointly support one or more RATs. When operating within the cell 116, the UE 102 may be communicatively connected to the RAN 108 via the base station 104, and in turn may be communicatively connected to the CN 110 via the RAN 108.

[0029] The UE 102 is equipped with processing hardware 130, which may include one or more general-purpose processors (e.g., CPUs) and at least one non-transitory computer-readable memory 132 storing instructions executable on one or more general-purpose processors and / or special-purpose processing units. The memory 132 stores an operating system (OS) 140 of the UE 102, which may be any type of suitable mobile or general-purpose operating system. In addition, the memory 132 may also store one or more applications 142. In operation, one or more applications 142 generate outgoing traffic and receive incoming traffic. These applications may include web browsers, mail applications, messaging applications, video and audio players, game applications, etc.

[0030] To communicate with base station 104, CN 110, and various remote hosts, UE 102 implements a communication protocol stack including upper layers 136 and NAS / URSP processing layer 134. Layers 134 and 136 may be implemented using any suitable combination of hardware, software, and firmware. In one example implementation, layers 134 and 136 are a set of instructions that processing hardware 130 executes to perform the rule application techniques discussed herein.

[0031] The upper layers 136 may identify outgoing traffic at the UE and provide the outgoing traffic to the NAS / URSP processing layer 134 for routing. The NAS / URSP processing layer 134 may be a combined layer including both the NAS layer and the URSP processing layer. The NAS layer may manage the establishment and maintenance of communication sessions, such as protocol data unit (PDU) sessions. In addition, the NAS layer may receive URSP rules from the CN and configure the URSP processing layer with the received URSP rules. The combined NAS / URSP processing layer 134 may manage the application of rules for routing outgoing traffic at the UE 102, as described in further detail below. When the upper layers 136 determine that an application 142 executing on the UE 102 has queued outgoing data for transmission, the upper layers 136 may instruct the NAS / URSP processing layer 134 to apply one or more URSP rules and route the outgoing application traffic accordingly.

[0032] The NAS / URSP processing layer 134 in an example implementation includes a UE rules controller 138 that is configured to manage or control the application of rules for routing outgoing traffic and prevent the application of prohibited traffic descriptors.

[0033] The CN 110 may be, for example, a 5G core network (5GC), a less advanced core network (e.g., an evolved packet core (EPC)), or conversely, a more advanced core network. The CN 110 may be equipped with mobility management entities (such as an access and mobility management function (AMF) 122) configured to manage authentication, registration, mobility, and other related functions, as well as policy control entities, such as a policy control function (PCF) 124 for providing policies for mobility and session management. The CN 110 may also include a CN rule controller 128 configured to manage, modify, and send various rules (such as a set of rules associated with a URSP) to the UE 102 (and other UEs) for routing outgoing traffic at the UE 102. Depending on the implementation, the CN rule controller 128 may operate as a separate entity or as a component of the PCF 124. In some scenarios, the PCF 124 provides a policy to the UE 102 according to which the UE 102 should route outgoing traffic. The policy may include a set of rules in accordance with the URSP, which will be referenced below. Figure 2 Discuss in more detail.

[0034] Continue to refer Figure 1 , CN 110 connects UE 102 to various communication networks, including a wide area network, such as the Internet 150, via RAN 108 including base station 104 (typically multiple other base stations). More specifically, CN 110 can be directly connected to a data network via an access point name (APN) or data network name (DNN) gateway 152. UE 102 may include outgoing traffic with a traffic descriptor identifying gateway 152, and CN 110 may provide a rule referencing gateway 152. When UE 102 determines that the traffic descriptor referencing gateway 152 is allowed, UE rule controller 138 applies the rule and routes the outgoing traffic according to the rule. Otherwise, when UE 102 determines that the traffic descriptor referencing gateway 152 is prohibited, UE rule controller 138 ignores the rule, modifies the rule, or processes the rule according to the technology of the present disclosure. In other example scenarios, outgoing traffic and / or one or more rules may reference a domain 156, a specific host 154 (eg, by host name or Internet Protocol (IP) address), a type of traffic (eg, Ethernet), and the like.

[0035] Figure 2 yes Figure 1 A block diagram of example rules 200 for routing selection that UE 102 may apply to outgoing traffic to determine how UE 102 should route outgoing traffic. A routing selection policy (such as a URSP received from CN 110 or a local configuration stored at UE 102) includes rules that conform to Figure 2The example rule 200 includes a rule priority 212, a traffic descriptor 214, and a routing descriptor 216. In general, a rule may include one or more traffic descriptors and one or more routing descriptors.

[0036] The rule priority field 212 specifies the order in which the UE 102 applies the rule 200 relative to other rules. In some implementations, the rule priority 212 of each rule is different from the rule priority of every other rule within the URSP. The traffic descriptor specifies how the UE 102 should match outgoing traffic to the rule. For example, if the traffic descriptor 214 of the rule 200 matches the parameters of the outgoing traffic, the UE 102 will apply the rule 200 to the outgoing traffic. The URSP may include a rule with the lowest priority that has a "match all" traffic descriptor that the UE 102 can apply to any outgoing traffic.

[0037] The traffic descriptor may include, for example, an application identifier of an application 142 executed on the OS 140 of the UE 102. As another example, the traffic descriptor may also correspond to an IP descriptor, such as an IP destination and / or an IP triplet including a destination IP address or an IPv6 network, a port number, and a protocol ID. The traffic descriptor may also be a non-IP descriptor, such as a descriptor for Ethernet traffic. In some embodiments, the traffic descriptor may refer to a specific type of network traffic. In addition, as described above, the traffic descriptor may correspond to an APN or DNN gateway 152. The traffic descriptor may also correspond to various connection capabilities of the UE 102, such as an IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) capability, a multimedia messaging service (MMS) capability, or other Internet-related capabilities. In addition, the traffic descriptor may be a domain descriptor, such as a domain name (e.g., of domain 156), a host name (e.g., of host 154), or a fully qualified domain name (FQDN) consisting of a domain name and a host name.

[0038] If the rule applies, the routing descriptor 214 specifies how the UE 102 should route the traffic. For example, the routing descriptor 216 can specify that the UE 102 should route traffic matching the traffic descriptor 214 of the rule 200 to an established communication session, such as an established protocol data unit (PDU) session. As another example, the routing descriptor 216 can instruct the UE 102 to establish a new PDU session for outgoing traffic matching the rule 200. As yet another example, the routing descriptor 216 can instruct the UE 102 to offload outgoing traffic matching the rule 200 to a wireless local area network (WLAN), such as a wireless local area network (WLAN). network.

[0039] In an example scenario, the URSP includes three rules. Rule R1 may have a rule priority of 1 and a traffic descriptor corresponding to an application identifier App1. Rule R2 may have a rule priority of 2 and a traffic descriptor corresponding to an application identifier App2. Rule R3 may have a rule priority of 3 and a traffic descriptor corresponding to a "match all" option. When UE 102 has outgoing traffic, UE 102 evaluates the rules in order of rule priority. Therefore, in this scenario, UE 102 first determines whether it should apply rule R1 to the outgoing traffic by determining whether the outgoing traffic matches the traffic descriptor of rule R1 (i.e., whether the outgoing traffic corresponds to the traffic of App1). If the outgoing traffic corresponds to the traffic of App1, UE 102 applies rule R1 to the outgoing traffic and routes the traffic according to one or more routing descriptors of rule App1. If the outgoing traffic does not match the traffic descriptor of rule R1, UE 102 determines whether it should apply rule R2, and so on.

[0040] Figure 3A is a message transmission diagram of an example scenario 300, wherein Figure 1 The UE 102 determines that it should not apply a particular traffic descriptor to route outgoing traffic at the UE 102, and ignores the received traffic descriptor TD received from the CN 110 that only references the prohibited (or "disabled") traffic descriptor TD. F For simplicity, this discussion refers to the disabled traffic descriptor TD in the singular F However, UE 102 may generally identify any suitable number of disabled descriptors.

[0041] The NAS / URSP processing layer 134 identifies or determines 302 a disabled traffic descriptor TD F The disabled traffic descriptor may correspond to a type of traffic descriptor (e.g., any traffic descriptor that is an application identifier) ​​or to a specific parameter of a traffic descriptor (e.g., a specific application). The UE 102 may determine that a specific traffic descriptor is disabled because an entity operating within the UE and executing URSP rules (such as the NAS / URSP processing layer 134 or a connection manager of the UE 102) does not have access to the disabled traffic descriptor or the parameter type of the outgoing traffic to which the traffic descriptor corresponds. In some cases, the OS 140 may notify the NAS / URSP processing layer 134 of the outgoing traffic parameters that the UE 102 should not use when applying the URSP rules.

[0042] UE 102 may also determine that a particular traffic parameter is disabled based on instructions stored on or received at UE 102. Such instructions may originate from, for example, a manufacturer of UE 102, a hardware component of UE 102, a firmware or software component of UE 102, OS 140, etc. Figure 3A Event 302 is depicted as occurring before event 310, but in other implementations or scenarios, event 302 may occur after event 310. In other words, UE 102 may make determination 302 after receiving 310 the URSP rules from the CN.

[0043] Continue to refer Figure 3A , UE 102 receives 310 a message including a URSP rule from CN 110. The message may be associated with a protocol for conveying routing policy. In this example, the message is a Manage UE Policy Command. In this scenario, the URSP rule includes a traffic descriptor TD having at least one disabled F Rules of R CN In some implementations, rule R CN All traffic descriptors of may be disabled. Generally, the message of event 310 may include one or more rules with only one or several disabled descriptors, one or more rules with only one or several allowed descriptors, and one or more rules with one or several disabled descriptors and one or several allowed descriptors.

[0044] Next, upper layer 136 provides 320 the outgoing traffic to NAS / URSP processing layer 134. In response, when UE 102 is unable to match the outgoing traffic to the traffic descriptor TD F , the NAS / URSP processing layer 134 applies 330 the URSP rule to the outgoing traffic. More specifically, in this implementation, the NAS / URSP processing layer 134 applies 330 the URSP rule to the outgoing traffic by ignoring the rule R CN To prevent TD F Applies to outgoing traffic.

[0045] Figure 3B is a message transmission diagram of an example scenario 350, wherein Figure 1 UE 102 receives a rule referencing a disabled traffic descriptor and an allowed traffic descriptor and applies the rule to outgoing traffic using only the allowed traffic descriptor. Figure 3A As discussed, before or after receiving the URSP rules from the CN 110, the UE 102 determines 302 a disabled traffic descriptor TD FHowever, in this scenario, UE 102 receives 311 from CN 110 having rule R CN The URSP rules message, the rules R CN Include disabled traffic descriptor TD F and allowed traffic descriptor TD P After UE 102 detects 320 the outgoing traffic, UE 102 does not use TD F Match outgoing traffic to URSP rules. More specifically, UE 102 ignores 332 TD F , and only use TD P Match outgoing traffic to R CN Therefore, UE 102 still uses R CN Applies to outgoing traffic, but based on the allowed traffic descriptor TD P Instead of disabling the traffic descriptor TD F To do this.

[0046] Reference now Figure 4A In example scenario 400, UE 102 notifies CN 110 of disabled traffic descriptors using a message of a protocol for conveying routing policy. Events 402 and 410 are similar to events 302 and 310, respectively. In response to receiving an R message that includes only disabled traffic descriptors (or several disabled traffic descriptors), UE 102 may notify CN 110 of disabled traffic descriptors. CN (TD F ), UE 102 sends 412 to CN 110 to notify CN 110 of the disabled traffic descriptor TD F Alternatively, the message may identify the rule R CN In this example, UE 102 includes 412 TD in the Cause Information Element (IE) of the Manage UE Policy Command Reject message. F and / or R CN instructions.

[0047] In response to receiving 412 the Manage UE Policy Command Reject message, the CN 110 may modify the URSP rules and send 414 the updated URSP rules to the UE 110 (e.g., as another example of a Manage UE Policy Command message). In some implementations, the CN 110 removes the rule R from the URSP before sending 414 the updated URSP to the UE 102. CN Alternatively, CN 110 may remove TD F But retain one or more allowed traffic descriptors to modify RCN Similarly, CN 110 may remove or modify other URSP rules that reference the disabled traffic descriptor. After UE 102 receives 414 the updated URSP rules and detects 420 the outgoing traffic, UE 102 may apply 434 the received updated URSP rules (which no longer reference the TD F ). In this way, UE 102 is prevented from applying URSP rules using traffic descriptors.

[0048] Figure 4B is a message transmission diagram of an example scenario 450, wherein Figure 1 The UE 102 notifies the CN 110 of the disabled traffic descriptor using an indication of the current state of the UE or a dedicated message specifically defined for reporting disabled traffic descriptors. The UE 102 determines 402 the disabled traffic descriptor TD F , and send a 404 indicating a disabled traffic descriptor TD F The message may be, for example, a message with a specified traffic descriptor TD F As a more specific example, UE 102 may include a traffic descriptor TD in the policy class flag IE of the UE State Indication message. F In other implementations, the message sent 414 by the UE 102 may be a message specifically defined for reporting disabled traffic descriptors.

[0049] In response to receiving a traffic descriptor TD indicating a disabled 404 F , CN 110 sends 414 the URSP rule to UE 102 using a Manage UE Policies Command message or another suitable message. Later, UE 102 detects 420 the outgoing traffic and applies 434 the URSP rule to the detected outgoing traffic. Because considering event 404, the URSP rule does not reference TD F , so UE 102 has been blocked from applying URSP rules using traffic descriptors.

[0050] In some cases, CN 110 may ignore or not support messages or IEs used by UE 102 to specify disabled traffic descriptors, or CN 110 may ignore or not support messages or IEs used by UE 102 to specify disabled traffic descriptors upon receiving a TD F Sent before the instruction is prohibited with a reference TD F This effectively creates a race condition between events 404 and 414. In some implementations, UE 102 may combine Figure 4A or Figure 4BApply the techniques referenced above Figure 3A-3B Discussed or referenced below Figure 5 Techniques are discussed to prevent application of rules that are received from CN 110 and that reference disabled traffic descriptors.

[0051] Figure 5 is a message transmission diagram of an example scenario 500, wherein Figure 1 The UE 102 of the embodiment of the present invention takes local rules that reference a range of traffic descriptors including disabled traffic descriptors into account over the rules received from the CN 110. As described above, the URSP rules may generally originate from the UE 102 (e.g., from the manufacturer) or the PCF 124 of the CN 110. When available, the local URSP rules may be stored in the memory 132 of the UE 102.

[0052] In this scenario, similar to events 302 and 402, UE 102 determines 502 the disabled descriptor TD F UE 102 also retrieves 503 local rules R L , the local rule R L does not explicitly refer to a prohibited traffic descriptor, but applies to traffic that includes a prohibited traffic descriptor. For example, local rule R L The range in which traffic descriptors can be referenced Among them TD F Belong to the scope (Right now ). In one scenario, TD F can correspond to a specific application identifier, while the scope Then, UE 102 receives 510 from CN 110 a rule R CN (TD F ) of one or more URSP rules. In this implementation, UE 102 receives a Manage UE Policy Command message, but generally may receive any suitable indication. In addition, although in this scenario events 502 and 503 occur before event 510, events 502 and 503 may also occur after event 510.

[0053] After UE 102 detects 520 the outgoing traffic, UE 102 determines which URSP rule UE 102 should apply to the outgoing traffic. UE 102 applies rule R L Takes precedence over rule R received from CN 110 at 533 CN UE 102 can modify rule R L or Rule R CN The rule priority field (see Figure 2), so that the rule R L With a ratio rule R CN Higher priority (priority) to prioritize R L If UE 102 is relative to rule R CN Improved Rule R L priority, UE 102 applies rule R CN Before applying 536 rule R L , so in rule R CN Mask rule R when only one or more disabled traffic descriptors are referenced CN In other words, by changing the rule R L Applied to 536 outgoing traffic, UE 102 ignores rule R CN When R CN In addition, when one or more other allowed traffic descriptors are referenced, UE 102 still follows the rule R CN Before applying rule R L , but does not block the entire rule R CN UE 102 still applies rules R based on one or more allowed traffic descriptors. CN .

[0054] Furthermore, in some implementations, the UE 102 identifies and retrieves a local configuration including one or more local rules and prioritizes each of these local rules over all rules received from the CN 110. In other implementations, the UE 102 prioritizes only the local rules over those rules received from the CN 110 that include disabled traffic descriptors.

[0055] In some cases, the reference Figure 3A-3B and Figure 5 For example, UE 102 may receive a set of URSP rules from CN 110, which includes a traffic descriptor TD with disabled F and allowed traffic descriptor TD P Rules of R A (TD F , TD P ) and a rule R that includes only disabled traffic descriptors B (TD F ). UE 102 may refer to Figure 3B Discuss the way to apply Rule R A , i.e., by allowing traffic descriptors TD based on P Without using the disabled traffic descriptor TD F To apply R A Instead of applying R B , UE 102 may Figure 3A Ignore R as shown B , or you can change the local rule R L Takes precedence over rule R B , so that UE 102 applies rule R B Before applying R L , as in Figure 5 happened in the scene.

[0056] In general, the above reference Figure 3A-Figure 5 The discussed techniques may provide various benefits. For example, by proactively notifying the CN 110 of one or more disabled traffic descriptors, such as Figure 4A and Figure 4B As shown, in some implementations, UE 102 can reduce the size of the rule policy (e.g., URSP) provided by CN 110 to UE 102 and simplify rule processing at UE 102. On the other hand, Figure 3A , Figure 3B and Figure 5 The techniques do not require UE 102 and CN 110 to exchange messages 404 or 412, thus reducing the amount of message transmission during configuration. For example, considering network conditions, UE 102 and / or CN 110 can selectively apply these techniques.

[0057] To make it clearer, Figure 6 It shows that it can be Figure 1 Flowchart of an example method 600 for routing outgoing traffic implemented in a UE 102 of a CN. The method 600 begins at block 602, where the UE 102 determines a prohibited or disabled traffic descriptor in the outgoing traffic that the UE 102 is to match to a rule received from the CN 102 (e.g., see Figure 3A and Figure 3B Event 302 in Figure 4A and Figure 4B Event 402 or Figure 5 502 in the event).

[0058] In at least some implementations, method 600 includes block 604, in which UE 102 receives from CN 110 one or more rules specifying routing for outgoing traffic (e.g., see Figure 3A Event 310 in Figure 3B Event 311, Figure 4A Event 410 in Figure 4B Event 414 or Figure 5 UE 102 may perform blocks 602 and 604 in any order.

[0059] At block 606, UE 102 prevents one or more rules from being applied to outgoing traffic using the prohibited traffic descriptor. To this end, UE 102 may receive URSP rules from CN 110 and ignore URSP rules that include the prohibited traffic descriptor (see, e.g., Figure 3A Additionally or alternatively, UE 102 may apply the received URSP rule based solely on the allowed traffic descriptors included in the rule (e.g., see Figure 3B Additionally or alternatively, UE 102 may request CN 110 to modify the policy in view of the disabled traffic descriptor and receive a set of updated rules (e.g., see Figure 4A ), or preempting the transmission of a rule from CN 110 that references a disabled traffic descriptor (e.g., see Figure 4B Additionally or alternatively, UE 102 may prioritize local configuration or local rules over rules received from CN 110 (e.g., see Figure 5 533 in the event).

[0060] Figure 7 Yes, you can Figure 1 Flowchart of an example method 700 implemented in a CN 110 of 102 for facilitating outgoing traffic at a UE. The method 700 begins at step 702, where the CN receives from the UE 102 an indication of a prohibited traffic descriptor that the UE 102 matches to a rule specifying routing for outgoing traffic (e.g., see Figure 4A Event 412 or Figure 4B 4. Event 404 in FIG. 4. In general, CN 110 may receive a message conforming to a protocol for providing routing policy to UE 102, a message indicating the current state of UE 102, or a dedicated message specifically defined for the purpose of indicating a disabled traffic descriptor to CN 110.

[0061] At block 704, the CN 110 blocks the use of the traffic descriptor to apply the specified routing rules to outgoing traffic at the UE 102. The CN 110 may block the use of the traffic descriptor by modifying one or more URSP rules of the UE 102 to remove the disabled traffic descriptor (e.g., see Figure 4A or Figure 4B As described above, before sending the rules to UE 102, CN 110 may remove all rules referencing disabled traffic descriptors from the URSP, and / or CN 110 may modify one or more rules referencing disabled traffic descriptors by removing the disabled traffic descriptors or replacing the disabled traffic descriptors with allowed traffic descriptors.

[0062] By way of example and not limitation, the disclosure herein includes at least the following aspects:

[0063] Aspect 1. A method for routing outgoing traffic in a user equipment (UE) communicating with a core network (CN) via a radio access network (RAN), the method comprising: determining, by processing hardware, a prohibited traffic descriptor to be excluded from the application of a rule defined by the CN, the rule specifying a routing selection for the outgoing traffic at the UE; and preventing, by the processing hardware, the use of the prohibited traffic descriptor to apply one of a set of rules specifying a routing selection to the outgoing traffic.

[0064] Aspect 2. The method according to aspect 1, wherein the rule is a first rule, and wherein preventing the first rule from being applied comprises: receiving the first rule from a core network by processing hardware; and preventing the first rule from being applied at the UE.

[0065] Aspect 3. The method according to aspect 2, wherein preventing the application of the first rule further comprises: ignoring the first rule in response to determining that the first rule references a prohibited traffic descriptor and does not reference any other traffic descriptor.

[0066] Aspect 4. The method according to Aspect 2 or 3 also includes preventing the use of a prohibited traffic descriptor to apply a second rule, wherein: the prohibited traffic descriptor is a first traffic descriptor; and preventing the application of the second rule includes: determining that the second rule references the first traffic descriptor and the second traffic descriptor; and applying the second rule to outgoing traffic based on the second traffic descriptor and without using the first traffic descriptor.

[0067] Aspect 5. The method according to aspect 2, wherein preventing the first rule from being applied at the UE is performed by processing hardware in response to determining that a memory of the UE stores a local configuration referencing a range including prohibited traffic descriptors.

[0068] Aspect 6. The method according to aspect 5, wherein preventing the application of the first rule comprises assigning a higher priority to the local configuration than the first rule received from the core network.

[0069] Aspect 7. A method according to Aspect 1, wherein preventing the application of the rule includes: sending an indication of a prohibited traffic descriptor by processing hardware to the CN, wherein the CN, in response to the indication, excludes the rule from a set of rules sent to the UE, or modifies the rule to remove the prohibited traffic descriptor before sending the rule to the UE.

[0070] Aspect 8. The method according to aspect 7, wherein sending an indication to the CN comprises sending a message in accordance with a protocol for communicating routing policies between the CN and the UE, the message indicating that the UE has rejected the rule.

[0071] Aspect 9. The method according to aspect 8, wherein the message includes an information element (IE) specifying a reason for rejecting the rule at the UE.

[0072] Aspect 10. The method according to aspect 7, wherein sending an indication to the CN includes sending a message indicating a current state of the UE.

[0073] Aspect 11. The method according to aspect 10, wherein the message includes an IE specifying a prohibited traffic descriptor.

[0074] Aspect 12. The method according to aspect 1, wherein determining the prohibited traffic descriptor comprises determining that an entity operating within the UE and applying rules specifying routing selection cannot access parameter types of outgoing traffic corresponding to the prohibited traffic descriptor.

[0075] Aspect 13. A method according to any one of the preceding aspects, wherein the rule comprises a rule priority for specifying the priority of the rule relative to other rules specifying routing selection at the UE.

[0076] Aspect 14. A method according to any of the preceding aspects, wherein the rule includes a routing descriptor indicating whether outgoing traffic to which the rule applies should (i) be offloaded to a wireless local area network, (ii) be routed to an existing protocol data unit (PDU) session, or (iii) be routed to a new PDU session.

[0077] Aspect 15. A method according to any one of the preceding aspects, wherein the prohibited traffic descriptor refers to one or more of the following: (i) an identifier of an application executed on an operating system (OS) of the UE; (ii) an Internet Protocol (IP) destination; (iii) the type of network traffic; (iv) a data network name (DNN); (v) the connection capability of the UE or (vi) a domain descriptor.

[0078] Aspect 16. A method according to any one of the preceding aspects, wherein the rule complies with a UE Routing Selection Policy (URSP) format.

[0079] Aspect 17. A user equipment (UE) comprising processing hardware and configured to perform a method according to any one of the preceding aspects.

[0080] Aspect 18. A method in a core network (CN) for facilitating routing of outgoing traffic at a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: receiving, by processing hardware, an indication of a prohibited traffic descriptor to be excluded from application of a rule defined by the CN, the rule specifying a routing selection for outgoing traffic at the UE; and preventing, by processing hardware, use of the prohibited traffic descriptor to apply one of a set of rules specifying a routing selection to the outgoing traffic at the UE.

[0081] Aspect 19. The method according to aspect 18, wherein receiving the indication comprises receiving a message conforming to a protocol for communicating routing policies between the CN and the UE, the message indicating that the UE has rejected the rule.

[0082] Aspect 20. The method according to aspect 19, wherein the message includes an information element (IE) specifying a reason why the rule was rejected at the UE.

[0083] Aspect 21. The method according to aspect 18, wherein the indication to the CN comprises receiving a message indicating a current state of the UE.

[0084] Aspect 22. The method according to aspect 21, wherein the message includes an IE specifying a prohibited traffic descriptor.

[0085] Aspect 23. The method of aspect 18, wherein the rule is a first rule, and wherein preventing comprises not sending the first rule to the UE, wherein the first rule references the prohibited traffic descriptor and does not reference any other traffic descriptor.

[0086] Aspect 24. A method according to Aspect 18 or 23, wherein: a second rule in the group of rules references a prohibited traffic descriptor and at least one other traffic descriptor; and preventing includes preventing the second rule from being applied using the prohibited traffic descriptor by: modifying the second rule so that the second rule does not reference the prohibited traffic descriptor, and sending the modified second rule to the UE.

[0087] Aspect 25. The method according to any one of aspects 18-24, wherein the rule complies with a UE Routing Selection Policy (URSP) format.

[0088] Aspect 26. A system comprising processing hardware and configured to perform the method of any one of aspects 18-25.

[0089] The following additional considerations apply to the foregoing discussion.

[0090] The user equipment (e.g., UE 102) in which the technology of the present disclosure can be implemented can be any suitable device capable of wireless communication, such as a smart phone, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a mobile game console, a point of sale (POS) terminal, a health monitoring device, a drone, a camera, a media streaming software dog (dongle) or another personal media device, a wearable device such as a smart watch, a wireless hotspot, a femtocell or a broadband router. In addition, in some cases, the user equipment can be embedded in an electronic system (such as a head unit of a vehicle or an advanced driver assistance system (ADAS)). In addition, the user equipment can be operated as an Internet of Things (IoT) device or a mobile Internet device (MID). Depending on the type, the user equipment may include one or more general-purpose processors, a computer-readable memory, a user interface, one or more network interfaces, one or more sensors, etc.

[0091] Specific embodiments described in the present disclosure include logic or multiple components or modules. A module can be a software module (e.g., a code or machine-readable instruction stored on a non-transitory machine-readable medium) or a hardware module. A hardware module is a tangible unit that is capable of performing a specific operation and can be configured or arranged in a specific manner. A hardware module can include dedicated circuits or logic that are permanently configured to perform specific operations (e.g., as a dedicated processor, such as a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a digital signal processor (DSP), etc.). A hardware module can also include programmable logic or circuits (e.g., contained in a general-purpose processor or other programmable processor) that are temporarily configured by software to perform specific operations. The decision to implement a hardware module in a dedicated and permanently configured circuit or in a temporarily configured circuit (e.g., configured by software) can be driven by cost and time considerations.

[0092] When implemented in software, the various techniques may be provided as part of an operating system, a library used by multiple applications, a specific software application, etc. The software may be executed by one or more general-purpose processors or one or more special-purpose processors.

Claims

1. A method for routing outgoing traffic of a user equipment UE communicating with a core network CN via a radio access network RAN, the method comprising: determining, by the UE, a first traffic descriptor to be excluded from application of the rule specifying routing for outgoing traffic; A set of rules specifying routing is received from the CN, the set of rules comprising: a first rule that references the first traffic descriptor and does not reference the second traffic descriptor, and a second rule referencing the first flow descriptor and the second flow descriptor; as well as Application of the first rule and the second rule by the UE prevents use of the first traffic descriptor.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The first rule to block applications includes: Ignore the first rule.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising: A second rule is applied to the outgoing traffic based on the second traffic descriptor and without using the first traffic descriptor.

4. The method according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising: In response to determining that the memory of the UE stores a local configuration that references a range including the first traffic descriptor, applying a third rule in the set of rules is blocked, the third rule referencing the first traffic descriptor.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein: Blocking the application of the third rule includes: A higher priority is assigned to the local configuration than to the third rule.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 2 or 5, wherein: Determining the first traffic descriptor includes determining that an entity operating within the UE and applying rules specifying routing does not have access to a parameter type of the outgoing traffic to which the first traffic descriptor corresponds.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 2 or 5, wherein: The first rule complies with the UE Routing Policy URSP format.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 2 or 5, wherein: The first traffic descriptor is a prohibited traffic descriptor, and wherein the second traffic descriptor is a non-prohibited traffic descriptor.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 2 or 5, wherein: The second traffic descriptor refers to the connection capability of the UE.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 2 or 5, wherein: The second traffic descriptor is a match-all traffic descriptor that applies to any outgoing traffic.

11. A user equipment UE comprising processing hardware and configured to perform the method according to any one of claims 1-10.

12. A method in a core network CN for facilitating routing of outgoing traffic of a user equipment UE, the method comprising: receiving, from the UE, an indication of a first traffic descriptor to be excluded from application of a rule, the rule specifying routing for outgoing traffic of the UE; as well as A set of rules specifying routing is sent to the UE, the set of rules preventing use of the first traffic descriptor for application of a first rule in the set of rules, the first rule referencing the first traffic descriptor and not referencing the second traffic descriptor.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein: Receiving the indication includes receiving a message of at least one of the following: In accordance with a protocol for communicating routing policies between the CN and the UE, the message indicates that the UE has rejected the rule, or Indicating a current state of the UE, wherein the message includes an information element IE specifying at least one of a reason for rejecting the rule at the UE or a first descriptor.

14. The method according to claim 12 or 13, further comprising: modifying the second rule so that the second rule does not reference the first traffic descriptor, and The modified second rule is sent to the UE.

15. The method according to any one of claims 12 to 13, wherein: The second traffic descriptor refers to the connection capability of the UE.

16. The method according to any one of claims 12 to 13, wherein: The second traffic descriptor includes a match-all traffic descriptor that applies to any outgoing traffic.

17. A core network CN comprising processing hardware and configured to perform the method according to any one of claims 12-16.

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