Method, device and system for accessing services

Abstract

The present application provides a method for accessing services, including: determining regional access information of a terminal device at a visited location, the regional access information including identifiers of services within the region, the policy control network element being the policy control network element responsible for access and mobility management; the policy control network element at the visited location sending the regional access information to a session management network element at the visited location, the regional access information being used by the session management network element at the visited location to enable the terminal device to access services within the region. The technical solution of the present application, through the policy control network element at the visited location responsible for access and mobility management sending the regional access information of the terminal device to the session management network element at the visited location, and the session management network element at the visited location enabling the terminal device to access services within the region based on the regional access information, can provide roaming terminal devices with access to services within the region in the visited location network without affecting the home location network.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the field of communications, and more particularly, to a method, device, and system for accessing services. Background Art

[0002] In actual commercial scenarios, commercial organizations (such as parks and museums) can offer specific regional / private network services when purchasing tickets (online or offline). Users (such as terminal devices) can sign up for the services online or offline, or before or during ticket purchase, regardless of whether they are located within or outside the regional area. When a user is within the regional area, the core network can insert an uplink classifier (UL CL) / local user plane function (UPF) network element for the user session, thereby enabling local offload of regional services.

[0003] In the above scenarios, regional services are typically only available to users within the province or country. For inter-provincial or international roaming users, since their subscription information is located in their home province or carrier, there is currently no mechanism to support the visited network subscribing to regional services for roaming users. Furthermore, international and inter-provincial roaming scenarios do not support the visited network directly performing UL CL and local UPF insertion based on local policies. Summary of the Invention

[0004] The present application provides a method, apparatus, and system for accessing services, which can provide services for roaming users (such as terminal devices) in a visited network access area without affecting the home network.

[0005] In a first aspect, a method for accessing services is provided, including: a policy control network element at a visited location determines regional access information of a terminal device, the regional access information includes an identifier of a service within the region, and the policy control network element is a policy control network element responsible for access and mobility management; the policy control network element at the visited location sends the regional access information to a session management network element at the visited location, and the regional access information is used by the session management network element at the visited location to provide services within the access region for the terminal device.

[0006] According to the technical solution of the present application, the policy control network element of the visited location can send the regional access information of the terminal device to the session management network element of the visited location. The session management network element of the visited location can provide services within the access area for the terminal device based on the regional access information, which helps to provide roaming users (such as terminal devices) with services within the visited network access area without affecting the home network.

[0007] The policy control network element determines the regional access information of the terminal device, including: the policy control network element receives the regional access information from the application function network element, the network open function network element or the unified database network element; or the policy control network element obtains pre-configured regional access information.

[0008] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes: the policy control network element determining that the terminal device has subscribed to the service.

[0009] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the above method also includes: the policy control network element obtains the location information of the terminal device; the policy control network element determines that the terminal device is within the scope of the area based on the location information of the terminal device and the area access information.

[0010] According to the technical solution of the present application, the policy control network element of the visited location can determine the services within the area that the terminal device can access before sending the area access information of the terminal device to the session management network element of the visited location, which helps to provide roaming users (such as terminal devices) with services within the visited network access area without affecting the home network.

[0011] The above-mentioned regional access information also includes identification information of regional access points, and the identification information of regional access points is used to identify available access points in the area.

[0012] Optionally, the regional access information may further include at least one of the following information: routing information of the regional access point, the routing information of the regional access point is used to indicate the routing address of the regional access point; and service area information of the regional access point is used to indicate the area range in which the regional access point is available.

[0013] According to the technical solution of the present application, the policy control network element responsible for access and mobility management at the visited location can send the regional access information of the terminal device to the session management network element at the visited location. The session management network element at the visited location can complete access for the terminal device based on the identification information of the regional access point in the regional access information, which helps to provide services for roaming users (such as terminal devices) within the visited network access area without affecting the home network.

[0014] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the policy control network element sends the area access information to the session management network element, including: the policy control network element sends the area access information to the session management network element through the access and mobility management network element.

[0015] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the above method also includes: the policy control network element sends session feature information to the access and mobility management network element, and the session feature information is used by the access and mobility management network element to determine the session management network element.

[0016] Among them, the session feature information includes the data network name DNN and / or network slice selection auxiliary information S-NSSAI.

[0017] In conjunction with the first aspect, in some other implementations of the first aspect, the policy control network element sends the zone access information to the session management network element via a direct communication interface between the policy control network element and the session management network element. This avoids impacting the session management network element in the visited network and helps reduce signaling overhead.

[0018] According to a second aspect, a method for accessing services is provided, including: a policy control network element at a visited location sends a list of DNNs to be replaced and replacement indication information to an access and mobility management network element, the list of DNNs to be replaced includes a first DNN, the replacement indication information is used to indicate that the first DNN is replaced with a second DNN, the first DNN is used to indicate the DNN requested by the terminal device, the second DNN is used to indicate the DNN selected by the policy control network element for the terminal device, the policy control network element is a policy control network element responsible for access and mobility management; the policy control network element receives the first DNN from the access and mobility management network element; the policy control network element sends the second DNN to the access and mobility management network element based on the first DNN, and the second DNN is used by the session management network element at the visited location for services within the access area for the terminal device.

[0019] According to the technical solution of the present application, the policy control network element of the visited location can replace the data network name requested by the terminal device with the data network name configured by the visited location, and send it to the session management network element of the visited location through the access and mobility management network element, which helps to provide services for roaming users (such as terminal devices) within the visited network access area without affecting the home network.

[0020] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the method further includes: the policy control network element determining that the terminal device has subscribed to the service.

[0021] Among them, the policy control network element determines that the terminal device has signed a contract for the service, including: the policy control network element determines that the terminal device has signed a contract for the service based on the contract information of the terminal device; or the policy control network element determines that the terminal device has signed a contract for the service based on information from the application function network element; or the policy control network element determines that the terminal device has signed a contract for the service based on the pre-configured access information of the area.

[0022] In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the above method also includes: the policy control network element obtains the location information of the terminal device and the area access information; the policy control network element determines that the terminal device is within the scope of the area based on the location information of the terminal device and the area access information.

[0023] According to the technical solution of the present application, the policy control network element responsible for access and mobility management at the visited location can determine the services within the area that the terminal device can access before sending the area access information of the terminal device to the session management network element at the visited location, which helps to provide roaming users (such as terminal devices) with services within the visited network access area without affecting the home network.

[0024] In combination with the second aspect, in some other implementations of the second aspect, after the terminal device accesses the service within the area, the above method also includes: the policy control network element determines that the service of the terminal device has failed; the policy control network element sends policy association update information to the access and mobility management network element, and the policy association update information is used to indicate the re-establishment of the session.

[0025] According to the technical solution of the present application, after the terminal device accesses the service in the visited area, the policy control network element responsible for access and mobility management in the visited area can instruct the access and mobility management network element to send session update information to the session management network element in the visited area after determining that the service in the terminal device area has failed. This helps roaming users (such as terminal devices) to establish sessions in accordance with regular procedures in a timely manner after the service in the visited network area has failed, which helps to improve user experience.

[0026] Among them, the policy control network element determines the failure of the terminal device service, including: the policy control network element determines the failure of the terminal device service based on the contract information of the terminal device; or the policy control network element determines the failure of the terminal device service based on information from the application function network element; or the policy control network element determines the failure of the terminal device service based on pre-configured area access information.

[0027] In combination with the second aspect, in some other implementations of the second aspect, the above method also includes: the policy control network element obtains the location information of the terminal device and the area access information; the policy control network element determines the range of the terminal device moving out of the area based on the location information of the terminal device and the area access information.

[0028] In combination with the second aspect, in some other implementations of the second aspect, the above method also includes: the policy control network element sends an indication message to the access and mobility management network element, where the indication message is used to instruct deletion of the DNN list to be replaced.

[0029] In combination with the second aspect, in some further implementations of the second aspect, after the terminal device accesses the services within the area, the above method also includes: the policy control network element determines the services within the new contract area of ​​the terminal device; the policy control network element sends policy association update information to the access and mobility management network element, and the policy association update information is used to indicate the re-establishment of the session.

[0030] According to the technical solution of the present application, after the terminal device accesses the services within the visited area, the policy control network element responsible for access and mobility management in the visited area can instruct the access and mobility management network element to send session update information to the session management network element after determining the services within the newly signed area of ​​the terminal device, which helps roaming users (such as terminal devices) to access the newly signed services in the area in a timely manner after signing a new contract for services in the visited network area.

[0031] Among them, the policy control network element determines that the terminal device has newly signed a contract for a service within the area, including: the policy control network element determines that the terminal device has newly signed a contract for a service within the area based on the contract information of the terminal device; or the policy control network element determines that the terminal device has newly signed a contract for a service within the area based on information from the application function network element; or the policy control network element determines that the terminal device has newly signed a contract for a service within the area based on pre-configured area access information.

[0032] In combination with the second aspect, in some further implementations of the second aspect, the above method also includes: the policy control network element obtains the location information of the terminal device and the area access information; the policy control network element determines that the terminal device is within the scope of the area based on the location information of the terminal device and the area access information.

[0033] In combination with the second aspect, in some further implementations of the second aspect, the above method also includes: the policy control network element sends indication information to the access and mobility management network element, where the indication information is used to instruct deletion of the DNN list to be replaced.

[0034] In combination with the second aspect, in some further implementations of the second aspect, the above method also includes: the policy control network element sends a list of DNNs to be replaced and replacement indication information to the access and mobility management network element, the list of DNNs to be replaced includes a first DNN, the replacement indication information is used to indicate that the first DNN is replaced with a second DNN, the first DNN is used to indicate the DNN requested by the terminal device, and the second DNN is used to indicate the DNN selected by the policy control network element for the terminal device; the policy control network element receives the first DNN from the access and mobility management network element; the policy control network element sends the second DNN to the access and mobility management network element based on the first DNN, and the second DNN is used for the services within the access area of ​​the terminal device by the session management network element.

[0035] In a third aspect, a method for accessing services is provided, including: a policy control network element at a visited location receives regional access information, the policy control network element being a policy control network element responsible for access and mobility management; the policy control network element determines a user routing selection policy (URSP) rule for a terminal device based on the regional access information, the URSP rule including indication information, the indication information being used to indicate that the URSP information is only used for the terminal device to access services within the visited location area; and the policy control network element sends the URSP rule to the terminal device.

[0036] According to the technical solution of this application, the policy control network element responsible for access and mobility management in the visited location can send URSP rules specific to the visited location to the terminal device, helping roaming users (such as terminal devices) access services within the visited network access area without affecting the home network. At the same time, this avoids the policy control network element directly or indirectly informing the session management network element of services within the terminal device access area, reducing signaling overhead and lowering the complexity of the method.

[0037] The policy control network element receiving the area access information includes: the policy control network element receiving the area access information from the application function network element or the network open function network element; or the policy control network element receiving the area access information from the unified database network element.

[0038] In combination with the third aspect, in certain implementations of the third aspect, the URSP rule also includes the data network identifier DNN and / or network slice selection auxiliary information S-NSSAI corresponding to the service accessed by the terminal device within the visited area.

[0039] In a fourth aspect, a method for accessing services is provided, including: a terminal device receives a user routing selection policy URSP rule from a visited location policy control network element, the URSP rule including indication information, the indication information being used to indicate that the URSP rule is used for services within an access area of ​​the terminal device; the terminal device matches the services within the area to be initiated to the URSP rule, determines that the current access network is a visited location network, and then accesses the services within the area according to the URSP rule.

[0040] According to the technical solution of this application, the policy control network element responsible for access and mobility management in the visited location can send URSP rules specific to the visited location to the terminal device, helping roaming users (such as terminal devices) access services within the visited network access area without affecting the home network. At the same time, this avoids the policy control network element directly or indirectly informing the session management network element of services within the terminal device access area, reducing signaling overhead and lowering the complexity of the method.

[0041] In combination with the fourth aspect, in certain implementations of the fourth aspect, the URSP rule also includes the data network identifier DNN and / or network slice selection auxiliary information S-NSSAI corresponding to the service accessed by the terminal device within the visited area.

[0042] In a fifth aspect, an access service device is provided for implementing the above-mentioned method. The access service device can be the policy control entity in the above-mentioned first aspect or fourth aspect, or a device including the above-mentioned policy control entity; or, the access service device can be the terminal device in the above-mentioned fourth aspect, or a device including the above-mentioned terminal device. The access service device includes a module, unit, or means corresponding to the above-mentioned method, and the module, unit, or means can be implemented by hardware, software, or by executing the corresponding software implementation by hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more modules or units corresponding to the above-mentioned functions.

[0043] In conjunction with the fifth aspect above, in some possible implementations, the access service device may include a processing module and a transceiver module. The transceiver module, also referred to as a transceiver unit, is configured to implement the sending and / or receiving functions described in any of the above aspects and any possible implementations thereof. The transceiver module may be comprised of a transceiver circuit, a transceiver, a transceiver, or a communication interface. The processing module may be configured to implement the processing functions described in any of the above aspects and any possible implementations thereof. The processing module may be, for example, a processor.

[0044] In combination with the fifth aspect above, in some possible implementations, the transceiver module includes a sending module and a receiving module, which are respectively used to implement the sending and receiving functions in any of the above aspects and any possible implementation methods thereof.

[0045] In a sixth aspect, an access service device is provided, comprising: a processor; the processor being coupled to a memory and configured to read instructions from the memory and then execute the method described in any of the above aspects in accordance with the instructions. The access service device may be the policy control entity described in the first or fourth aspect, or a device including such a policy control entity; or the access service device may be the terminal device described in the fourth aspect, or a device including such a terminal device.

[0046] In combination with the sixth aspect above, in a possible implementation, the access service device further includes a memory, which is used to store necessary program instructions and data.

[0047] In conjunction with the sixth aspect above, in a possible implementation, the access service device is a chip or a chip system. Optionally, when the access service device is a chip system, it can be composed of a chip or include a chip and other discrete devices.

[0048] In the seventh aspect, an access service device is provided, comprising: a processor and an interface circuit; the interface circuit is used to receive a computer program or instruction and transmit it to the processor; the processor is used to execute the computer program or instruction so that the access service device executes the method described in any of the above aspects.

[0049] In conjunction with the seventh aspect above, in a possible implementation, the access service device is a chip or a chip system. Optionally, when the access service device is a chip system, it can be composed of a chip or include a chip and other discrete devices.

[0050] In an eighth aspect, a communication system is provided, comprising the policy control network element described in the first aspect, and a session management network element of a visited location communicating with the policy control network element.

[0051] The session management network element is used to receive regional access information of the terminal device from the policy control network element, the regional access information including the identifier of the service within the region; and provide the terminal device with access to the service within the region according to the regional access information.

[0052] In combination with the eighth aspect, in certain implementations of the eighth aspect, the communication system further includes a mobility management network element.

[0053] Among them, the mobility management network element is used to receive session feature information from the policy control network element; determine the session management network element based on the session feature information; receive regional access information of the terminal device from the policy control network element, the regional access information includes the identification of the service within the area; send the regional access information to the session management network element, the regional access information is used by the session management network element to provide the terminal device with access to the service within the area.

[0054] In a ninth aspect, a communication system is provided, comprising: the policy control network element as described in the second aspect, and a mobility management network element communicating with the policy control network element. The mobility management network element is configured to receive a list of data network names (DNNs) to be replaced and replacement indication information from the policy control network element, the list of DNNs to be replaced including a first DNN, the replacement indication information being used to indicate that the first DNN is replaced with a second DNN, the first DNN being used to indicate the DNN requested by the terminal device, and the second DNN being used to indicate the DNN selected by the policy control network element for the terminal device; send the first DNN to the policy control network element; receive the second DNN from the policy control network element; send the second DNN to the session management network element; receive policy association update information from the policy control network element, the policy association update information being used to indicate re-establishing a session; send session update information to the session management network element based on the policy association update information; receive indication information from the policy control network element, the indication information being used to indicate deleting the list of DNNs to be replaced.

[0055] In conjunction with the ninth aspect, in certain implementations of the ninth aspect, the communication system further includes a session management network element. The session management network element is configured to receive a second DNN from the access and mobility management network element, and access services within the area for the terminal device based on the second DNN.

[0056] In a tenth aspect, a computer program product is provided, comprising: a computer program code, which enables the computer to execute the methods in the above aspects when the computer program code is run on a computer.

[0057] It should be noted that the above-mentioned computer program code can be stored in whole or in part on the first storage medium, wherein the first storage medium can be packaged together with the processor or separately packaged with the processor, and the embodiments of the present application do not specifically limit this.

[0058] In an eleventh aspect, a computer-readable medium is provided, wherein the computer-readable medium stores a program code, and when the computer program code is run on a computer, the computer executes the methods in the above aspects.

[0059] In the twelfth aspect, a chip system is provided, comprising a memory and a processor, wherein the memory is used to store a computer program, and the processor is used to call and run the computer program from the memory, so that a communication device equipped with the chip system executes the methods in any of the above-mentioned first to fourth aspects and their possible implementation methods.

[0060] The chip system may include an input chip or interface for sending information or data, and an output chip or interface for receiving information or data. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0061] Figure 1 It is a schematic diagram of a system architecture of an embodiment of the present application.

[0062] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of an example of a communication system to which the present application is applicable.

[0063] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of an example of the service-oriented architecture of the 5G system to which this application applies.

[0064] Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of an example of a home access roaming architecture applicable to this application.

[0065] Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of an example of a local access roaming architecture applicable to this application.

[0066] Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram of an inter-provincial roaming architecture applicable to this application.

[0067] Figure 7 This is a schematic diagram of an example of a roaming architecture applicable to this application.

[0068] Figure 8 This is a schematic diagram of an example of the local diversion architecture for the access service of this application.

[0069] Figure 9 This is a schematic flow chart of the application access service method.

[0070] Figure 10 This is another schematic flowchart of a specific example of the service access method of this application.

[0071] Figure 11 This is another schematic flowchart of a specific example of the service access method of this application.

[0072] Figure 12 This is another schematic flowchart of a specific example of the service access method of this application.

[0073] Figure 13 Another schematic flowchart showing a specific example of the service access method of the present application.

[0074] Figure 14 Another schematic flowchart showing a specific example of the service access method of the present application.

[0075] Figure 15 A schematic structural diagram of an example of an access service device of this application is shown.

[0076] Figure 16 A schematic structural diagram of an example of an access service device of this application is shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0077] The technical solution in this application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0078] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of a communication system provided by this application. Figure 1 As shown, the system includes a policy control network element 110 of a visited location and a session management network element 120 of a visited location. Optionally, the system 100 may further include a mobility management network element 130. The system 100 may be used to execute a method for accessing a service according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0079] The policy control network element 110 is used to determine the regional access information of the terminal device, which includes the identification of the service in the region; and sends the regional access information to the session management network element 120, which is used by the session management network element 120 to help the terminal device access the service in the region.

[0080] The session management network element 120 is configured to receive regional access information of a terminal device from the policy control network element 110, the regional access information including an identifier of a service within the region; and provide access to services within the region for the terminal device according to the regional access information.

[0081] Optionally, the mobility management network element 130 is used to receive session feature information from the policy control network 110; determine the session management network element 120 based on the session feature information; receive regional access information of the terminal device from the policy control network element 110, the regional access information including the identification of the service within the area; send the regional access information to the session management network element 120, the regional access information is used by the session management network element 120 to provide the terminal device with access to the service within the area.

[0082] Exemplarily, according to the communication system provided by the present application, the policy control network element responsible for access and mobility management at the visited location can send the regional access information of the terminal device to the session management network element at the visited location, and the session management network element can provide services within the access area for the terminal device based on the regional access information.

[0083] Figure 1 The system 100 shown can be applied to Figure 2 or Figure 3 The fifth generation (5G) network architecture shown can of course also be used in future network architectures, such as the sixth generation (6G) network architecture, etc., and the embodiments of the present application do not specifically limit this.

[0084] For example, assuming Figure 1 The communication system shown is applied to Figure 2 or Figure 3 In the 5G network shown, the above-mentioned policy control network element can be the access and mobility management policy control network element (policy control function foraccess and mobility control, AM PCF) in 5G, and the mobility management network element can be the access and mobility management network element (access and mobility management function, AMF) in 5G.

[0085] The following will be combined Figure 2 and Figure 3 , exemplifying 5G systems in different scenarios. It should be understood that the 5G systems described herein are merely examples and should not constitute any limitation to this application.

[0086] Figure 2 FIG shows a schematic diagram of the architecture of a basic 5G system 200. Figure 2As shown, system 200 includes: PCF, AMF, session management function (SMF), radio access network (RAN), unified data management (UDM), data network (DN), user plane function (UPF), UE, application function (AF), and / or unified data repository (UDR). Optionally, Figure 2 The following functions can also be included ( Figure 2 Not shown): network slice selection function (NSSF), authentication server function (AUSF), capability exposure function (NEF), or network storage function (NF repository function, NRF).

[0087] The main functions of each network element are described as follows:

[0088] 1. Terminal equipment

[0089] The terminal device in the embodiments of the present application can be: user equipment (UE), mobile station (MS), mobile terminal (MT), access terminal, user unit, user station, mobile station, mobile station, remote station, remote terminal, mobile device, user terminal, terminal, wireless communication equipment, user agent or user device, etc.

[0090] The terminal device may be a device that provides voice / data connectivity to users, such as a handheld device or vehicle-mounted device with wireless connection function. At present, some examples of terminals are: mobile phones, tablet computers, laptop computers, PDAs, mobile internet devices (MIDs), wearable devices, virtual reality (VR) devices, augmented reality (AR) devices, wireless terminals in industrial control, wireless terminals in self-driving or autopilot, wireless terminals in remote medical surgery, wireless terminals in smart grids, wireless terminals in transportation safety, wireless terminals in smart cities, wireless terminals in smart homes, cellular phones, cordless phones, session initiation protocol (SIP) phones, wireless local loop (WLL) stations, personal digital assistants (PDAs), handheld devices with wireless communication capabilities, computing devices or other processing devices connected to wireless modems, vehicle-mounted devices, wearable devices, terminal devices in future 5G networks or future evolved public land mobile communication networks (PLMNs). Mobile network, PLMN) and other terminal devices, etc., which are not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0091] As an example and not a limitation, in the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device may also be a wearable device. Wearable devices may also be called wearable smart devices, which are a general term for wearable devices that are intelligently designed and developed using wearable technology for daily wear, such as glasses, gloves, watches, clothing, and shoes. A wearable device is a portable device that is worn directly on the body or integrated into the user's clothes or accessories. Wearable devices are not only hardware devices, but also achieve powerful functions through software support, data interaction, and cloud interaction. Broadly speaking, wearable smart devices include those that are fully functional, large in size, and can achieve complete or partial functions without relying on smartphones, such as smart watches or smart glasses, as well as those that only focus on a certain type of application function and need to be used in conjunction with other devices such as smartphones, such as various types of smart bracelets and smart jewelry for vital sign monitoring. In addition, in the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device may also be a terminal device in the Internet of Things (IoT) system.

[0092] 2. Wireless Access Network

[0093] A radio access network (RAN) is an access network that implements network access based on wireless communication technologies. It manages radio resources, provides wireless access or air interface access services to terminals, and forwards control signals and user data between terminals and the core network.

[0094] As an example and not a limitation, the wireless access network can be an evolved NodeB (eNB or eNodeB) in an LTE system, or a wireless controller in a cloud radio access network (CRAN) scenario, or the access device can be a relay station, an access point, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, an access device in a 5G network, or an access device in a future evolved PLMN network, etc. It can be an access point (AP) in a WLAN, or a gNB in ​​an NR system. The embodiments of this application are not limited.

[0095] 3. Access and mobility management functional network element

[0096] The access and mobility management function network element is mainly used for mobility management and access management, etc. It can be used to implement other functions of the mobility management entity (MME) in addition to session management, such as lawful interception or access authorization (or authentication). In addition, it is also used to transfer user policies between the UE and the PCF. In the embodiment of the present application, it can be used to implement the functions of the access and mobility management network element.

[0097] 4. Session management function network element

[0098] The session management function network element is mainly used for session management, Internet protocol (IP) address allocation and management of terminal devices, selection of manageable user plane function (UPF) network elements, termination points of policy control and charging function interfaces, and downlink data notification. In the embodiment of the present application, it can be used to implement the functions of the session management network element.

[0099] 5. User plane functional network element

[0100] The user plane function network element can be used for packet routing and forwarding, or QoS parameter processing of user plane data. User data can be accessed to the data network (DN) through this network element. In the embodiment of the present application, it can be used to implement the functions of the user plane network element. For example, when establishing a session on different UPFs, the UE's service experience will also be different, so the above-mentioned SMF is required to select an appropriate UPF for the UE's session.

[0101] 6. Policy Control Network Element

[0102] The policy control network element is a unified policy framework used to guide network behavior, and provides policy rule information for control plane functional network elements (such as AMF, SMF network elements, etc.). It is mainly responsible for policy control functions such as billing at the session and service flow level, QoS bandwidth guarantee and mobility management, and UE policy decision-making. In the embodiment of the present application, the PCFs to which the AMF and SMF are connected correspond to AM PCF (PCF for Access and Mobility Control) and SM PCF (PCF for Session Management), respectively. In the actual deployment scenario, they can be the same PCF entity or two different PCF entities.

[0103] 7. Network capability exposure function network element

[0104] The network capability exposure function element is used to open the services and network capability information (such as terminal location, session reachability, etc.) provided by the 3GPP network function to the outside world.

[0105] 8. Application Function Network Element

[0106] The application function network element is mainly used to convey the requirements of the application side to the network side, such as QoS requirements or user status event subscriptions. The AF can be a third-party functional entity or an application service deployed by the operator, such as the IMS voice call service. For the application function entity of the third-party application, it can also be authorized by the NEF when interacting with the core network. For example, the third-party application function directly sends a request message to the NEF. The NEF determines whether the AF is allowed to send the request message. If the verification is successful, it will forward the request message to the corresponding PCF or unified data management (UDM).

[0107] 9. Unified data management network element

[0108] The unified data management network element is mainly used for unified data management, supporting authentication trust state processing in the 3GPP authentication and key negotiation mechanism, user identity processing, access authorization, registration and mobility management, contract management, short message management, etc.

[0109] 10. Unified data storage network element

[0110] The unified data storage network element is mainly used for accessing contract data, policy data, application data and other types of data.

[0111] 11. Data Network

[0112] The data network refers to a specific data service network accessed by the UE. For example, typical DNs include the Internet and the IP multimedia subsystem (IPMS).

[0113] In the above architecture, the functions of each interface are described as follows:

[0114] N7: Interface between PCF and SMF, used to deliver PDU session granularity and service data flow granularity control policy.

[0115] N15: Interface between PCF and AMF, used to deliver UE policies and access control related policies.

[0116] N5: The interface between AF and PCF, used for issuing application service requests and reporting network events.

[0117] N4: The interface between SMF and UPF is used to transmit information between the control plane and the user plane, including the control of the forwarding rules, QoS control rules, traffic statistics rules, etc. for the user plane and the reporting of information on the user plane.

[0118] N11: The interface between SMF and AMF, used to transfer PDU session tunnel information between RAN and UPF, transfer control messages sent to UE, transfer radio resource control information sent to RAN, etc.

[0119] N2: Interface between AMF and RAN, used to transmit radio bearer control information from the core network to the RAN.

[0120] N1: The interface between AMF and UE, access-independent, used to deliver QoS control rules to UE.

[0121] N8: Interface between AMF and UDM, used by AMF to obtain access and mobility management related subscription data and authentication data from UDM, and AMF to register UE current mobility management related information with UDM.

[0122] N10: Interface between SMF and UDM, used by SMF to obtain session management-related subscription data from UDM, and for SMF to register UE current session-related information with UDM.

[0123] N35: Interface between UDM and UDR, used by UDM to obtain user contract data information from UDR.

[0124] N36: Interface between PCF and UDR, used by PCF to obtain policy-related contract data and application data-related information from UDR.

[0125] N52: The interface between UDM and NEF, used by NEF to expose network capabilities to third-party applications. For example, third-party applications can subscribe to reachability events of all users in a specific group from UDM through NEF.

[0126] In addition, NEF also has direct interfaces with AMF and SMF, corresponding to the N29 interface and N51 interface respectively (not shown in the above figure to simplify the diagram), which are used to open the operator's network capabilities to third-party application functional entities. The former can be used by NEF to directly subscribe to corresponding network events and update user configuration information from AMF, and the latter can be used to update application configuration data on SMF / UPF, such as the packet flow description (PFD) corresponding to the Application ID.

[0127] It should be understood that the above-mentioned network architecture applied to the embodiment of the present application is only an example of the network architecture described from the perspective of traditional point-to-point architecture and service-oriented architecture. The network architecture applicable to the embodiment of the present application is not limited to this. Any network architecture that can realize the functions of the above-mentioned network elements is applicable to the embodiment of the present application.

[0128] It should be understood that Figure 2The interface names between the various network elements in the embodiment are only examples. The names of the interfaces in the specific implementation may be other names, and this application does not specifically limit this. In addition, the names of the messages (or signaling) transmitted between the above-mentioned network elements are only examples and do not constitute any limitation on the function of the messages themselves.

[0129] It should be noted that the above-mentioned network element may also be referred to as an entity, device, apparatus, or module, etc., and this application does not specifically limit this. Moreover, in this application, for ease of understanding and explanation, the description of the network element is omitted in some descriptions. For example, the SMF network element is referred to as SMF. In this case, the "SMF" should be understood as the SMF network element. The description of the same or similar situations will be omitted below.

[0130] It is understood that the above-mentioned network element or function can be a network element in a hardware device, a software function running on dedicated hardware, or a virtualized function instantiated on a platform (e.g., a cloud platform). Optionally, the above-mentioned network element or function can be implemented by a single device, or by multiple devices, or as a functional module within a single device, and this is not specifically limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0131] It should also be understood that Figure 2 In the communication system shown, the functions of each network element are merely exemplary, and not all functions of each network element are required when applied in the embodiments of the present application.

[0132] In addition, if Figure 2 The naming of each network element (such as PCF, AMF, etc.) included in is only a name, and the name does not limit the function of the network element itself. In 5G networks and other future networks, the above-mentioned network elements may also have other names, and the embodiments of this application do not specifically limit this. For example, in a 6G network, some or all of the above-mentioned network elements may use the terminology in 5G, or may have other names, etc., which are uniformly explained here and will not be repeated below.

[0133] It should also be noted that Figure 2 The communication between the various network elements of the control plane function is described by taking the non-service interface as an example, but it does not limit the protection scope of the embodiment of the present application. Those skilled in the art will understand that Figure 2 The various network elements of the control plane function can also communicate through service-based interfaces. For example, the service-based interface provided by AMF to the outside world may be Namf; the service-based interface provided by SMF may be Nsmf; the service-based interface provided by UDM to the outside world may be Nudm, the service-based interface provided by AF may be Naf; the service-based interface provided by PCF to the outside world may be Npcf, and so on.

[0134] above Figure 2 The network elements in the example are based on a reference point architecture and do not constitute a limitation to the embodiments of the present application. Figure 3 A schematic diagram of the architecture based on service-oriented interface is given. Figure 3 As shown in the figure, the architecture includes: NSSF, AUSF, UDM, NEF, NRF, PCF, AF, AMF, SMF, UE, RAN, UPF, and DN. Figure 3 In the example, the service-oriented interface provided by NSSF can be Nnssf, the service-oriented interface provided by NEF can be Nnef, the service-oriented interface provided by NRF can be Nnrf, and the service-oriented interface provided by AMF can be Namf; the service-oriented interface provided by SMF can be Nsmf; the service-oriented interface provided by UDM can be Nudm, and the service-oriented interface provided by AF can be Naf; the service-oriented interface provided by PCF can be Npcf, the service-oriented interface provided by AUSF can be Nausf, and the service-oriented interface provided by CHF can be Nchf; the interface between the control plane function and the RAN and UPF is a non-service interface. The UE is connected to the AMF through the N1 interface, and the UE is connected to the RAN through the radio resource control (RRC) protocol; the RAN is connected to the AMF through the N2 interface, and the RAN is connected to the UPF through the N3 interface; the UPF is connected to the DN through the N6 interface, and the UPF is connected to the SMF through the N4 interface. For related descriptions, please refer to the 5G system architecture in the standard. For the sake of brevity, the connection relationship of architecture 300 is not described here.

[0135] The general user registration process can be simply described as follows: the UE sends a registration request to the AMF through the AN. The AMF obtains the subscription data from the specific UDM based on the user identity. After receiving the request, the UDM obtains the actual subscription data from the UDR. In addition, the AMF can also initiate a User Policy Control Establishment Request (UE PolicyControl_Create) and an Access Management Policy Control Establishment Request (AM PolicyControl_Create) to the PCF to obtain the UE policy and access control policy, respectively. During this process, the PCF returns the access control policy to the AMF, and the AMF provides the UE policy to the UE.

[0136] The general session establishment process can be simply described as follows: the UE sends a session establishment request to the AMF via the RAN. The AMF selects an SMF to provide services for the session, saves the correspondence between the SMF and the PDU session, and sends the session establishment request to the SMF. The SMF selects the corresponding UPF for the UE, establishes the user plane transmission path, and allocates an IP address. During this process, the SMF also initiates a policy control session establishment request to the PCF to establish a policy control session between the SMF and PCF. During the policy control session establishment process, the SMF saves the correspondence between the policy control session and the PDU session. In addition, the AF can also establish an AF session with the PCF, and the PCF binds the AF session to the policy control session.

[0137] Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of an example of a Home-routed Roaming architecture applicable to this application.

[0138] like Figure 4 As shown in Figure 1, in this roaming architecture, the AMF and SMF are located in the visited and home locations, respectively. Session management is performed by the home location H-SMF, which supports interaction with the UDM / home location policy control network element H-PCF. In addition, in actual scenarios, the H-PCF connected to the visited location V-PCF and the H-PCF connected to the H-SMF can be the same PCF entity or different PCF entities.

[0139] Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of an example of a local breakout roaming architecture applicable to this application.

[0140] like Figure 5 As shown in Figure 1, in this roaming architecture, both the AMF and SMF are located in the visited location. In this case, the session management function is performed by the SMF functional entity in the visited location. Furthermore, the V-PCF to which the AMF is connected and the V-PCF to which the SMF is connected can be the same PCF entity or different PCF entities in actual scenarios.

[0141] Currently, domestic operators also use Figure 6 The inter-provincial roaming architecture shown in Figure 1 is shown. In this roaming architecture, both the AMF and SMF are located in the visited province. The PCF in the home province issues corresponding policy rules to the SMF in the visited province via the N7 interface. The AMF obtains the corresponding access and mobility management policies from the V-PCF deployed in the visited province.

[0142] As an optional application scenario, Figure 6The SMF / UPF shown in the figure can also be replaced by the intermediate session management function network element I-SMF / intermediate user plane network element I-UPF, and an SMF / UPF network element is added in the home province. The SMF / UPF deployed in the home province is responsible for performing session management services for the session. The corresponding architecture diagram can be referred to Figure 7 Among them, the I-SMF is mainly responsible for controlling the I-UPF based on the corresponding information sent by the SMF.

[0143] To reduce service access latency, operators may deploy UPF network elements near application access points so that users can access application services nearby. Figure 8 The UL CL method shown in the figure routes regional service flows directly to the regional network via the LocalUPF. This process is not perceived by the UE and is determined by the session management network element SMF based on the UE's location, the type of service currently initiated, and regional service matching information.

[0144] However, these regional services are only available to users within a province or country. For inter-provincial or international roaming users, since their subscription information is located in their home province or operator, there is currently no mechanism to support the visited network to subscribe to regional services for roaming users. Furthermore, in international and inter-provincial roaming scenarios, the visited network does not directly perform UL CL and local UPF insertion based on local policies.

[0145] It should be understood that in the above Figures 4 to 8 In the architecture shown, each network element can also communicate using a service-oriented interface. For details, please refer to Figure 2 or Figure 3 For the sake of brevity, the description in [1] is not repeated here.

[0146] Based on this, the present application proposes a method and apparatus for accessing services, which helps to allow roaming users (such as terminal devices) to access services within a visited network without affecting the home network.

[0147] Figure 9 The following is a schematic flow chart of an example of the service access method of the present application. Figures 2 to 8 In the network architecture shown.

[0148] S901: A policy control network element at a visited location determines regional access information. The policy control network element is a policy control network element responsible for access and mobility management.

[0149] The regional access information includes the identifier of the service in the region (ASP Identifier / Application ID).

[0150] Optionally, the policy control network element of the visited location may receive the area access information from the AF, NEF or UDR.

[0151] Optionally, the policy control network element of the visited location may obtain pre-configured area access information locally.

[0152] The regional access information may further include identification information of regional access points (List of availableDNAIs), where the identification information of the regional access points is used to identify available access points in the region.

[0153] Optionally, the regional access information may further include routing information (DNAI routing information) of the regional access point and service area information (DNAI service area). The routing information of the regional access point may be used to indicate the routing address of the regional access point, such as the destination address and port number corresponding to the AF server; and the service area information of the regional access point may be used to indicate the area range in which the regional access point is available.

[0154] S902: The policy control network element of the visited location sends area access information to the session management network element of the visited location. Correspondingly, the session management network element of the visited location receives the area access information from the policy control network element of the visited location and provides access to services within the area for the terminal device according to the area access information.

[0155] Optionally, before sending the area access information to the session management network element of the visited location, the policy control network element of the visited location may determine that the terminal device has subscribed to the service.

[0156] Optionally, before sending the area access information to the session management network element of the visited location, the policy control network element of the visited location may also obtain the location information of the terminal device and determine whether the terminal device is within the scope of the area according to the location information of the terminal device and the area access information.

[0157] As a possible implementation manner, the policy control network element of the visited location may send the above-mentioned area access information via a direct interface with the session management network element of the visited location.

[0158] As another possible implementation method, the policy control network element of the visited location can send the above-mentioned area access information to the session management network element of the visited location through the mobility management network element. At this time, the policy control network element of the visited location also needs to send session feature information to the mobility management network element, so that the mobility management network element can determine the session management network element of the visited location. The session feature information includes the data network name (DNN) and / or single-network slice selection assistance information (S-NSSAI). Optionally, the session feature information may also include a DNN and / or S-NSSAI that matches the user routing selection policy (UE routing selection policy, URSP).

[0159] For example, according to the communication system provided by the present application, the policy control network element responsible for access and mobility management at the visited location can send the regional access information of the terminal device to the session management network element at the visited location. The session management network element can provide services within the access area for the terminal device based on the regional access information, which helps to provide roaming users (such as terminal devices) with services within the visited network access area without affecting the home network.

[0160] In order to facilitate understanding of the method of accessing services provided by this application, the following Figure 4 The embodiments of this application are described using the inter-provincial roaming architecture described in as an example.

[0161] It should be understood that the following embodiments are not only applicable to the above Figure 4 The Home-routed international roaming scenario shown in the figure can also be applied to the other roaming scenarios mentioned above, and this application does not limit it.

[0162] Figure 10 Another schematic flowchart of the service access method of the present application is shown.

[0163] S1001: The UE initiates a registration process to the 5G core network via the AMF, where the UE is in a visited location. This process refers to the prior art and will not be described in detail here.

[0164] S1002: The AM PCF of the visited location determines the area access information of the UE, where the area access information includes an identifier of a service within the area.

[0165] In the embodiment of the present application, the AM PCF of the visited location can receive the regional access information from the AF, NEF or UDR, and can also obtain the pre-configured regional access information from the local location. Figure 9For the sake of brevity, the description in [1] is not repeated here.

[0166] S1003: The AM PCF at the visited location determines the tasks within the area to which the UE has subscribed.

[0167] The AM PCF at the visited location may determine the UE's subscription area in various ways, which are not limited in this application. For example, the AM PCF at the visited location may determine the UE's subscription service based on the UE's subscription information. In another example, the AM PCF at the visited location may receive request information from the AF, where the request information may be used to request a service within the UE's subscription area. The AM PCF may then determine, based on the request information, that the UE has subscribed to the service. In another example, the AM PCF at the visited location may also determine the UE's subscription service within the area based on a pre-configured access policy for the area.

[0168] S1004: The AM PCF of the visited location determines that the UE is within the area.

[0169] Specifically, the AM PCF of the visited location can obtain the location information of the UE from the AMF, and determine that the UE is within the scope of the area based on the location information and area access information of the UE.

[0170] After the above steps S1003 and S1004, the AM PCF of the visited location determines that the UE can access services in the area, and thus can send the area access information to the SMF of the visited location.

[0171] It should be understood that the purpose of the above steps S1003 and S1004 is to determine the services within the area that the UE can access. In actual applications or with the development of technology, it should not be limited to the implementation methods shown in steps S1003 and S1004. Other methods that can determine the services within the area that the UE can access should also fall within the scope of protection of the embodiments of this application.

[0172] There are two ways for the AM PCF of the visited location to send the area access information to the SMF of the visited location.

[0173] Method 1:

[0174] The AM PCF of the visited location can send area access information to the SMF of the visited location through the AMF. Correspondingly, the SMF of the visited location receives the area access information from the AM PCF of the visited location through the AMF.

[0175] S1005, the AM PCF of the visited location sends the regional access information to the AMF. At this time, the AM PCF of the visited location also needs to send the session feature information to the AMF to determine the SMF of the visited location. Correspondingly, the AMF receives the regional access information and session feature information from the AM PCF of the visited location. For the specific contents of the regional access information and session feature information, please refer to Figure 9 For the sake of brevity, the description in [1] is not repeated here.

[0176] As an optional implementation method, the AM PCF of the visited location can carry the above-mentioned area access information and session feature information in the establishment response (CreateResponse) message sent to the AMF, or the AM PCF of the visited location can also carry the above-mentioned area access information and session feature information in the update notification message (Update Notify Request) sent to the AMF.

[0177] S1006, AMF determines the SMF of the visited location based on the session feature information, and performs subsequent operations after receiving the corresponding PDU session establishment request.

[0178] S1007: The AMF sends the regional access information to the SMF of the visited location. Correspondingly, the SMF of the visited location receives the regional access information from the AMF.

[0179] Among them, when the target session has not been established, the AMF can send the above-mentioned area access information to the SMF of the visited location in the Create SM Context message when receiving the corresponding session establishment request; when the target session has been established, the AMF can carry the above-mentioned area access information in the Update Notify Request message.

[0180] Method 2:

[0181] S1008, the AM PCF of the visited location can send the area access information to the target SMF through the direct interface between the AM PCF and the SMF of the visited location. Correspondingly, the SMF of the visited location receives the above-mentioned area access information through the direct interface between the AM PCF and the SMF of the visited location. In this way, the AM PCF of the visited location directly exchanges information with the SMF of the visited location, which can avoid affecting the AMF in the visited location network.

[0182] After receiving the area access information of the UE, the SMF of the visited location can provide the UE with access to services in the area according to the area access information.

[0183] S1009, the SMF of the visited location determines the services within the UE access area based on the regional access information. Specifically, the SMF can insert or delete the uplink CL / local user plane function UPF network element for the UE session, or reselect the UL CL / Local UPF. For example, the SMF of the visited location can determine that the terminal is within the regional scope based on the terminal location, and then insert the UL CL / Local UPF. For another example, when there may be multiple access points for the services in the area, when the UE moves between the coverage areas of multiple access points, it is necessary to reselect the UL CL / Local UPF.

[0184] The following takes the insertion of UL CL / Local UPF as an example to describe the process in detail.

[0185] S1010: The visited SMF sends session establishment / session modification information to the UL CL. Correspondingly, the UL CL receives the session establishment / session modification information from the SMF.

[0186] S1011: The SMF at the visited location sends session establishment / session modification information to the PSA UPF. Correspondingly, the PSA UPF receives the session establishment / session modification information from the SMF.

[0187] Specifically, the SMF at the visited location can select UL CL UPF and / or Local UPF for the UE based on the UE location information, and configure corresponding diversion rules on the UL CL. For example, the service flow within the area is forwarded to the Local UPF through the UL CL, and the service flow outside the area still passes through the original PSA UPF exit.

[0188] Among them, UL CL and Local UPF can be deployed separately or deployed together, which is not limited in this application.

[0189] At the same time, the visited SMF can also configure the downlink routing information on the Local UPF and PSA UPF so that it can accurately forward the downlink service flow to the UL CL network element.

[0190] It should be understood that before executing the insertion of UL CL / Local UPF, the SMF of the visited area can also instruct the UPF to detect whether the UE has initiated the service in the area through the service identifier in the area access information, and perform the above actions after determining that the UE has initiated the service.

[0191] According to the technical solution of the present application, the policy control network element responsible for access and mobility management at the visited location can send the regional access information of the terminal device to the session management network element at the visited location. The session management network element can provide services within the access area for the terminal device based on the regional access information, which helps to provide roaming users (such as terminal devices) with services within the visited network access area without affecting the home network.

[0192] Figure 11 Another schematic flowchart of the service access method of the present application is shown.

[0193] S1101: The UE initiates a registration process to the 5G core network via the AMF, where the UE is in a visited location. This process refers to the prior art and will not be described in detail here.

[0194] S1102: The AM PCF at the visited location determines the tasks within the area to which the UE has subscribed.

[0195] S1103: The AM PCF of the visited location determines that the UE is within the area.

[0196] It should be noted that the operations performed in steps S1102 and S1103 are the same as those in Figure 10 Steps S1003 and S1004 are the same and will not be described again for the sake of brevity.

[0197] After the above steps S1102 and S1103, the AM PCF of the visited location determines that the UE can access services in the area, and thus can send the area access information to the SMF of the visited location.

[0198] It should be understood that the purpose of the above steps S1102 and S1103 is to determine the services within the area that the UE can access. In actual applications or with the development of technology, it should not be limited to the implementation methods shown in steps S1102 and S1103. Other methods that can determine the services within the area that the UE can access should also fall within the scope of protection of the embodiments of this application.

[0199] S1104: The AM PCF of the visited location sends a list of DNNs to be replaced and replacement indication information to the AMF. Correspondingly, the AMF receives the list of DNNs to be replaced and replacement indication information from the AM PCF of the visited location.

[0200] The DNN list to be replaced includes a first DNN, the first DNN is used to indicate the DNN requested by the UE, the replacement indication information is used to indicate that the first DNN is replaced with a second DNN, and the second DNN is used to indicate the DNN selected by the policy control network element for the UE.

[0201] S1105: The UE sends a PDU session establishment request to the AMF. Correspondingly, the AMF receives the PDU session establishment request from the UE. The request includes the first DNN, i.e., the DNN requested by the UE.

[0202] The AMF determines that the above-mentioned DNN list to be replaced includes the first DNN sent by the UE, and can replace the first DNN with the second DNN according to the above-mentioned replacement indication information, that is, replace the DNN requested by the UE with the DNN selected by the AM PCF of the visited location for the UE.

[0203] S1106: The AMF sends the first DNN to the AM PCF of the visited location. Correspondingly, the AM PCF of the visited location receives the first DNN from the AMF.

[0204] S1107: The AM PCF of the visited location determines a second DNN based on the first DNN and sends the second DNN to the AMF. The AMF receives the second DNN from the AM PCF of the visited location.

[0205] S1108: The AMF sends a session request message to the SMF of the visited location. In response, the SMF of the visited location receives the session request message from the AMF. The session request message includes the first DNN and the second DNN.

[0206] S1109: The SMF at the visited location provides the UE with access to services within the area according to the second DNN.

[0207] S1110, the SMF of the visited location sends an SM policy association establishment request to the SM PCF of the home location, where the request information includes the first DNN, which is used to request the SM PCF of the home location for the policy rules related to session management corresponding to the first DNN.

[0208] The SMF can also insert UL CL / Local UPF network elements for UE sessions. For example, the SMF can determine that the terminal is located within the area based on the terminal location and then insert the UL CL / Local UPF.

[0209] S1111: The visited SMF sends session establishment / session modification information to the UL CL. Correspondingly, the UL CL receives the session establishment / session modification information from the SMF.

[0210] S1112: The SMF at the visited location sends session establishment / session modification information to the PSA UPF. Correspondingly, the PSA UPF receives the session establishment / session modification information from the SMF.

[0211] It should be noted that steps S1111 and S1112 are Figure 10Steps S1010 and S1011 are consistent and will not be repeated for the sake of brevity.

[0212] S1113, the SMF of the visited location can send a PDU establishment response message to the UE. Correspondingly, the UE receives the PDU establishment response message from the AMF. This information is used to notify the UE that the target session has been established, that is, the service in the access area has been accessed.

[0213] According to the technical solution of the present application, the policy control network element responsible for access and mobility management at the visited location can replace the data network name requested by the terminal device with the data network name configured at the visited location, and send it to the session management network element of the visited location through the access and mobility management network element, which helps to provide services for roaming users (such as terminal devices) within the visited network access area without affecting the home network.

[0214] above Figure 10 and Figure 11 This mainly introduces the situation of the services in the area where the UE has subscribed before the session is established. Figure 12 and Figure 13 This section describes the situation where services in a certain area become invalid or new services are signed up after a UE session is established.

[0215] Figure 12 Another schematic flowchart of the service access method of the present application is shown.

[0216] In this embodiment, the UE has already gone through the above Figure 9 or Figure 10 The method described in the above has accessed the services in the area, that is, steps S1201 and S1202 have been completed. For the specific process, please refer to Figure 9 or Figure 10 The description in , will not be repeated here.

[0217] S1203: The AM PCF of the visited location determines that the service of the UE is invalid or the UE has moved out of the area.

[0218] Among them, the AM PCF of the visited location can determine the service failure in the UE area in many ways, which are not limited in this application. For example, you can refer to Figure 10 Steps S1003 and S1004 determine the failure of the UE's services by determining the services within the area to which the UE has subscribed. For the sake of brevity, they are not described here in detail.

[0219] It should be understood that the purpose of the above-mentioned step S1203 is to determine that the service in the UE area is unavailable. In actual applications or with the development of technology, it should not be limited to the implementation method shown in step S1203. Other methods that can determine that the service in the UE area is unavailable should also fall within the scope of protection of the embodiments of this application.

[0220] S1204: The AM PCF at the visited location sends policy association update information to the AMF. In response, the AMF receives the policy association update information from the AM PCF at the visited location, which instructs the AMF to reestablish the session. The policy association update information includes instruction information, which instructs the AMF to delete the list of DNNs to be replaced.

[0221] Specifically, the AM PCF of the visited location may carry the above-mentioned policy association update information in the update notification message (Update NotifyRequest) sent to the AMF.

[0222] S1205, AMF sends session update information to the SMF of the visited location, and correspondingly, the SMF of the visited location receives the session update information from AMF.

[0223] The information includes session release information and release reason value (REL_DUE_TO_REACTIVATION), which is used to indicate the deletion of the current session / service within the area and trigger the SMF to notify the UE to execute the PDU session reconstruction process.

[0224] S1206: The SMF at the visited location sends an SM policy association release request to the SM PCF at the home location.

[0225] S1207: The SMF of the visited location sends session establishment / session modification information to the UL CL. Correspondingly, the UL CL receives the session establishment / session modification information from the SMF of the visited location.

[0226] S1208: The SMF of the visited location sends session establishment / session modification information to the PSA UPF. Correspondingly, the PSA UPF receives the session establishment / session modification information from the SMF of the visited location.

[0227] It should be noted that steps S1207 and S1208 are Figure 10 Steps S1010 and S1011 are consistent and will not be repeated for the sake of brevity.

[0228] S1209, the SMF of the visited location sends PDU session release indication information to the UE. Correspondingly, the UE receives the PDU session release indication information from the SMF of the visited location. The indication information is used to instruct the release of the current session or service within the area. The information can also be used to instruct the UE to re-initiate PDU session establishment.

[0229] S1210 triggers the conventional PDU session establishment process, which refers to the existing technology, that is, the AMF does not perform DNN replacement, and the visited SMF does not perform the UL CL / Local UPF insertion process.

[0230] According to the technical solution of the present application, after the terminal device accesses the service in the visited area, the policy control network element responsible for access and mobility management in the visited area can instruct the access and mobility management network element to send session update information to the session management network element in the visited area after determining that the service in the terminal device area has failed. This helps to establish a session according to the normal process in a timely manner for roaming users (such as terminal devices) after the service in the visited network area has failed, thereby improving the user experience.

[0231] Figure 13 Another schematic flowchart of the service access method of the present application is shown.

[0232] In this embodiment, the UE has already gone through the above Figure 9 or Figure 10 The method described in the above has accessed the services in the area, that is, steps S1301 and S1302 have been completed. For the specific process, please refer to Figure 9 or Figure 10 The description in , will not be repeated here.

[0233] S1303: The AM PCF at the visited location determines that the UE has newly subscribed to services within the area.

[0234] The AM PCF at the visited location may determine the UE's newly subscribed area in a variety of ways, which are not limited in this application. For example, the AM PCF at the visited location may determine the UE's newly subscribed service based on the UE's subscription information. In another example, the AM PCF at the visited location may receive request information from the AF, where the request information may be used to request a service within the UE's newly subscribed area. The AM PCF at the visited location may then determine the UE's newly subscribed service based on the request information. In another example, the AM PCF at the visited location may also determine the service within the UE's newly subscribed area based on a pre-configured access policy for the area.

[0235] Optionally, the AM PCF of the visited location may also determine that the UE is within the range of the area.

[0236] Specifically, the AM PCF of the visited location can obtain the location information and area access information of the UE from the AMF, and determine that the UE is within the scope of the area based on the location information and area access information of the UE.

[0237] It should be understood that the purpose of the above-mentioned step S1303 is to determine the services within the newly signed area of ​​the UE. In actual applications or with the development of technology, it should not be limited to the implementation method shown in step S1303. Other methods that can determine the services within the newly signed area of ​​the UE should also fall within the scope of protection of the embodiments of this application.

[0238] After the above step S1303, the AM PCF of the visited location determines that the UE has newly subscribed to the service in the area, so that subsequent operations can be performed.

[0239] S1304: The visited AM PCF sends policy association update information to the AMF. In response, the AMF receives the policy association update information from the AM PCF. This information instructs the AMF to reestablish the session. The policy association update information includes a list of DNNs to be replaced and replacement instructions.

[0240] The DNN list to be replaced includes a first DNN, the first DNN is used to indicate the DNN requested by the UE, the replacement indication information is used to indicate that the first DNN is replaced with a second DNN, and the second DNN is used to indicate the DNN selected by the policy control network element for the UE.

[0241] Specifically, the AM PCF of the visited location may carry the above-mentioned policy association update information in the update notification message (Update NotifyRequest) sent to the AMF.

[0242] S1305, AMF sends session update information to the SMF of the visited location, and the SMF of the visited location receives the session update information. Figure 12 The same as S1205 in the example, for the sake of brevity, no further description is given.

[0243] S1306: The SMF at the visited location sends an SM policy association release request to the SM PCF at the home location.

[0244] S1307: The visited SMF sends session establishment / session modification information to the UL CL. Correspondingly, the UL CL receives the session establishment / session modification information from the SMF.

[0245] S1308: The visited SMF sends session establishment / session modification information to the PSA UPF. Correspondingly, the PSA UPF receives the session establishment / session modification information from the SMF.

[0246] It should be noted that steps S1307 and S1308 are Figure 10 Steps S1010 and S1011 are consistent and will not be repeated for the sake of brevity.

[0247] S1309, the SMF of the visited location sends PDU session release indication information to the UE. Correspondingly, the UE receives the PDU session release indication information from the SMF of the visited location. The indication information is used to instruct the release of the current session or service within the area. The information can also be used to instruct the UE to re-initiate PDU session establishment.

[0248] S1310, triggering the service in the access area during the PDU session establishment process. Please refer to Figure 11 As described in [1], the AMF performs the DNN replacement, and the visited SMF performs the UL CL / Local UPF insertion process.

[0249] According to the technical solution of the present application, after the terminal device accesses the services within the area at the visited location, the policy control network element responsible for access and mobility management at the visited location can instruct the access and mobility management network element to send session update information to the session management network element at the visited location after determining the services within the new contracted area of ​​the terminal device, which helps roaming users (such as terminal devices) to access the newly contracted services within the area of ​​the visited network in a timely manner after signing a new contract for services.

[0250] Figure 14 Another schematic flowchart of the service access method of the present application is shown.

[0251] S1401: The UE accesses the 5G core network via the visited network through a conventional registration process, wherein the UE is in the visited location. This process refers to the prior art and is not described in detail here.

[0252] S1402: The UE newly subscribes to tasks within the area through the V-AF (Visited-AF).

[0253] S1403, the V-AF sends the UE's area access information to the V-NEF (Visited-NEF).

[0254] Specifically, the V-AF may send the above-mentioned area access information to the NEF according to the pre-configured NEF address information, wherein the area access information includes service identification information, user (UE) identification information, and routing information. The user identification information includes a generic public subscription identity (GPSI) and a subscription permanent identifier (SUPI).

[0255] After receiving the above access information, V-NEF determines that the user is a roaming user based on the user's identification information, such as MCC and NCC, and can save the user's subscription in the network. Specifically, there are two ways:

[0256] Method 1:

[0257] The V-NEF queries the V-UDR (Visited-UDR) based on the PLMN ID.

[0258] S1404, the V-NEF sends the above-mentioned area access information to the V-UDR. Correspondingly, the V-UDR receives the area access information from the V-NEF.

[0259] S1405, the V-UDR sends the area access information to the V-PCF (Visited-PCF), and correspondingly, the V-PCF receives the area access information from the V-UDR.

[0260] Method 2:

[0261] The V-NEF queries the V-PCF based on the GPSI and / or SUPI.

[0262] S1406: The V-NEF sends the area access information to the V-PCF, and the V-PCF receives the area access information from the V-NEF.

[0263] S1407: The V-PCF determines a user routing policy (URSP) rule for the UE based on the area access information. The URSP rule includes indication information for indicating that the URSP information is only used for the UE to access services within the visited area.

[0264] The URSP rule may further include the DNN and / or S-NSSAI corresponding to the service accessed by the UE within the visited area.

[0265] In S1408 and S1409, the V-PCF may send the URSP rules to the UE through the AMF, and the UE may receive the URSP rules from the V-PCF through the AMF.

[0266] Optionally, the V-PCF may also send the URSP rules directly to the UE, that is, the UE directly receives the URSP rules from the V-PCF to avoid affecting the visited AMF and reduce signaling overhead.

[0267] S1410: The UE initiates a PDU session establishment process based on the URSP rule.

[0268] Specifically, the UE may match the service in the area to be initiated to the URSP rule, determine that the current access network is a visited network, and then access the service in the area according to the URSP rule.

[0269] According to the technical solution of this application, the policy control network element in the visited location can send URSP rules specific to the visited location to the terminal device, helping roaming users (such as terminal devices) access services within the visited network without affecting the home network. At the same time, this avoids the policy control network element directly or indirectly informing the session management network element of services within the terminal device's access area, reducing signaling overhead and lowering the complexity of the method.

[0270] It should be understood that the specific examples in the embodiments of the present application are only to help those skilled in the art to better understand the embodiments of the present application, rather than to limit the scope of the embodiments of the present application. For example, the processes in the embodiments are all described in terms of inter-provincial roaming scenarios, but are also applicable to Home-routed international roaming scenarios and inter-provincial HR roaming scenarios. Accordingly, the SMF in the process can be the V-SMF in HR international roaming, or the I-SMF (intermediate-SMF) in the inter-provincial HR roaming scenario. The specific interaction process is basically the same as the process in the embodiments, except that there will be additional interaction actions between the I-SMF / V-SMF and the SMF / H-SMF (home-SMF).

[0271] It should also be understood that the size of the serial numbers of the above-mentioned processes does not mean the order of execution. The execution order of each process should be determined by its function and internal logic, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiments of this application.

[0272] It should also be understood that in the various embodiments of the present application, unless otherwise specified or there is a logical conflict, the terms and / or descriptions between different embodiments are consistent and can be referenced to each other, and the technical features in different embodiments can be combined to form new embodiments according to their internal logical relationships.

[0273] It can be understood that in the above embodiments of the present application, the method implemented by the communication device can also be implemented by components (such as chips or circuits) that can be configured inside the communication device.

[0274] It should be noted that the above text uses the "session" in this application as an example of a PDU session, and the "terminal device" in this application as an example of a UE to illustrate the various methods. In actual applications, the PDU session can also be replaced by other sessions, and the UE can also be replaced by other terminal devices. This application does not limit this.

[0275] Above, combined Figures 9 to 14The method for accessing services provided by the embodiments of the present application is described in detail. The above-mentioned method for accessing services is mainly introduced from the perspective of the interaction between various network elements. It can be understood that, in order to implement the above-mentioned functions, each network element includes a hardware structure and / or software module corresponding to the execution of each function. Those skilled in the art should be able to appreciate that, in combination with the units and algorithm steps of each example described in the embodiments disclosed herein, the present application can be implemented in the form of hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is executed in a hardware or computer software-driven hardware manner depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Professional and technical personnel can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered to be beyond the scope of this application.

[0276] The following, combined Figure 15 and Figure 16 The access service device provided in the embodiment of the present application is described in detail. It should be understood that the description of the device embodiment corresponds to the description of the method embodiment, so that the contents not described in detail can be referred to the above method embodiment. For the sake of brevity, some contents are not repeated here.

[0277] In the embodiment of the present application, the functional modules of the transmitting device or the receiving device can be divided according to the above method example. For example, each functional module can be divided according to each function, or two or more functions can be integrated into one processing module. The above integrated modules can be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of software functional modules. It should be noted that the division of modules in the embodiment of the present application is schematic and is only a logical functional division. There may be other division methods in actual implementation. The following is an example of dividing each functional module according to each function.

[0278] Figure 15 1500 is a schematic block diagram of an access service device 1500 provided in this application. Any network element involved in any of the above methods 900 to 1400, such as a session management network element, a policy control network element, etc., can be provided by Figure 15 This is achieved using the access service equipment shown.

[0279] It should be understood that the access service device 1500 may be a physical device, a component of a physical device (eg, an integrated circuit, a chip, etc.), or a functional module in a physical device.

[0280] like Figure 15As shown, the access service device 1500 includes: one or more processors 1510. The processor 1510 can store execution instructions for executing the method of the embodiment of the present application. Optionally, the processor 1510 can call an interface to implement the receiving and sending functions. The interface can be a logical interface or a physical interface, which is not limited. For example, the interface can be a transceiver circuit or an interface circuit. The transceiver circuit or interface circuit for implementing the receiving and sending functions can be separate or integrated together. The above-mentioned transceiver circuit or interface circuit can be used for reading and writing code / data, or the above-mentioned transceiver circuit or interface circuit can be used for transmitting or delivering signals.

[0281] Optionally, the interface can be implemented by a transceiver. Optionally, the access service device 1500 can further include a transceiver 1530. The transceiver 1530 can be called a transceiver unit, a transceiver, a transceiver circuit or a transceiver, etc., and is used to implement the transceiver function.

[0282] Optionally, the access service device 1500 may further include a memory 1520. The embodiments of the present application do not specifically limit the specific deployment location of the memory 1520. The memory may be integrated into the processor or may be independent of the processor. In the event that the access service device 1500 does not include a memory, the access service device 1500 may simply have processing capabilities, and the memory may be deployed elsewhere (e.g., in a cloud system).

[0283] The processor 1510 , the memory 1520 , and the transceiver 1530 communicate with each other through internal connection paths to transmit control and / or data signals.

[0284] It is understandable that, although not shown, the access service device 1500 may also include other devices, such as input devices, output devices, batteries, etc.

[0285] Optionally, in some embodiments, the memory 1520 may store execution instructions for executing the method of the embodiment of the present application. The processor 1510 may execute the instructions stored in the memory 1520 in conjunction with other hardware (e.g., the transceiver 1530) to complete the steps of the method shown below. The specific working process and beneficial effects can be found in the description of the method embodiment above.

[0286] The methods disclosed in the embodiments of the present application can be applied to the processor 1510 or implemented by the processor 1510. The processor 1510 may be an integrated circuit chip with signal processing capabilities. During implementation, each step of the method can be completed by the hardware integrated logic circuit in the processor or by instructions in the form of software. The above-mentioned processor can be a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, a discrete gate or transistor logic device, or a discrete hardware component. The various methods, steps and logic block diagrams disclosed in the embodiments of the present application can be implemented or executed. The general-purpose processor can be a microprocessor or the processor can also be any conventional processor, etc. The steps of the method disclosed in the embodiments of the present application can be directly embodied as being executed by a hardware decoding processor, or can be executed by a combination of hardware and software modules in the decoding processor. The software module can be located in a storage medium well-known in the art, such as random access memory (RAM), flash memory, read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory, electrically erasable programmable memory, or registers. The storage medium is located in the memory, and the processor reads instructions from the memory and, in conjunction with its hardware, completes the steps of the above method.

[0287] It will be appreciated that the memory 1520 may be a volatile memory or a non-volatile memory, or may include both volatile and non-volatile memories. The non-volatile memory may be a read-only memory (ROM), a programmable read-only memory (PROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), or a flash memory. The volatile memory may be a random access memory (RAM), which is used as an external cache. By way of example and not limitation, many forms of RAM are available, such as static random access memory (SRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory (DDR SDRAM), enhanced synchronous dynamic random access memory (ESDRAM), synchronous link dynamic random access memory (SLDRAM), and direct rambus RAM (DR RAM). It should be noted that memory of the systems and methods described herein is intended to comprise, but not be limited to, these and any other suitable types of memory.

[0288] Figure 16 It is a schematic block diagram of the access service device 1600 provided in this application.

[0289] Optionally, the specific form of the access service device 1600 can be a general-purpose computer device or a chip in a general-purpose computer device, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application. Figure 16 As shown, the access service device includes a processing unit 1610 and a transceiver unit 1620 .

[0290] Specifically, the access service device 1600 can be any network element involved in this application and can implement the functions that can be implemented by the network element. It should be understood that the access service device 1600 can be a physical device, a component of a physical device (e.g., an integrated circuit, a chip, etc.), or a functional module in a physical device.

[0291] In one possible design, the access service device 1600 may be the policy control device in the above method embodiment, or may be a chip for implementing the functions of the policy control device in the above method embodiment.

[0292] For example, the processing unit 1610 is used to determine the regional access information of the terminal device, and the regional access information includes the identification of the service; the transceiver unit 1620 is used to send the regional access information to the session management network element, and the regional access information is used by the session management network element to provide services within the terminal device access area.

[0293] The transceiver unit 1620 is specifically used to receive the area access information from the network open function network element or the unified database network element; or the transceiver unit 1620 is specifically used to obtain pre-configured area access information.

[0294] Optionally, the processing unit 1610 is further configured to determine whether the terminal device has signed a contract for the service.

[0295] Optionally, the transceiver unit 1620 is further configured to obtain location information of the terminal device, and determine whether the terminal device is within the range of the area according to the location information of the terminal device and the area access information.

[0296] It should also be understood that when the access service device 1600 is a policy control device, the transceiver unit 1620 in the access service device 1600 can be implemented through a communication interface (such as a transceiver or an input / output interface), and the processing unit 1610 in the access service device 1600 can be implemented through at least one processor, for example, corresponding to Figure 15 Processor 1510 is shown in FIG.

[0297] Optionally, the access service device 1600 may further include a storage unit, which may be used to store instructions or data. The processing unit may call the instructions or data stored in the storage unit to implement corresponding operations. It should be understood that the specific process of each unit performing the above-mentioned corresponding steps has been described in detail in the above-mentioned method embodiment and will not be repeated here for the sake of brevity.

[0298] In another possible design, the access service device 1600 may be the UE in the above method embodiment, or may be a chip for implementing the UE functions in the above method embodiment.

[0299] For example, the transceiver unit 1620 is used to receive a user routing selection policy URSP rule from a visited location policy control network element, where the URSP rule includes indication information, and the indication information is used to indicate that the URSP rule is used for services within the access area of ​​the terminal device; the processing unit 1610 is used to match the services within the area to be initiated to the URSP rule, determine that the current access network is a visited location network, and access the services within the area according to the URSP rule.

[0300] It should also be understood that when the access service device 1600 is a UE, the transceiver unit 1620 in the access service device 1600 can be implemented through a communication interface (such as a transceiver or an input / output interface), for example, corresponding to Figure 13 The communication interface 1330 shown in FIG. 1 , the processing unit 1610 in the access service device 1600 may be implemented by at least one processor, for example, corresponding to Figure 15 Processor 1510 is shown in FIG.

[0301] Optionally, the access service device 1600 may further include a storage unit, which may be used to store instructions or data, and the processing unit may call the instructions or data stored in the storage unit to implement corresponding operations.

[0302] It should be understood that the specific process of each unit executing the above corresponding steps has been described in detail in the above method embodiment, and for the sake of brevity, it will not be repeated here.

[0303] It should also be understood that the device 1600 can also be used to implement the functions of network elements such as SMF and AMF in the above-mentioned method embodiments, wherein the transceiver unit 1620 can be used to implement operations related to receiving and sending, and the processing unit 1610 can be used to implement other operations besides receiving and sending. For details, please refer to the description in the above-mentioned method embodiments, which will not be listed one by one here.

[0304] In addition, in this application, the access service device 1600 is presented in the form of a functional module. Here, the "module" may refer to an application-specific integrated circuit ASIC, a circuit, a processor and memory that executes one or more software or firmware programs, an integrated logic circuit, and / or other devices that can provide the above functions. In a simple embodiment, those skilled in the art can imagine that the device 1600 can be used Figure 16 The processing unit 1610 can be Figure 15 Optionally, if Figure 15 The computer device shown includes a memory 1520, and the processing unit 1610 can be implemented by the processor 1510 and the memory 1520. The transceiver unit 1620 can be implemented by Figure 15 The transceiver 1530 shown is implemented. The transceiver 1530 includes a receiving function and a sending function. Specifically, the processor is implemented by executing a computer program stored in the memory. Optionally, when the device 1600 is a chip, the function and / or implementation process of the transceiver unit 1620 can also be implemented by pins or circuits. Optionally, the memory can be a storage unit in the chip, such as a register, a cache, etc., and the storage unit can also be a storage unit in the computer device located outside the chip, such as Figure 15The memory 1520 may also be a storage unit deployed in other systems or devices, not in the computer device. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the units and algorithm steps of the various examples described in conjunction with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented in electronic hardware, or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether these functions are performed in hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Professional and technical personnel can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered to be beyond the scope of this application.

[0305] Various aspects or features of the present application can be implemented as methods, devices, or products using standard programming and / or engineering techniques. The term "product" as used in this application covers computer programs that can be accessed from any computer-readable device, carrier, or medium. For example, computer-readable media can include, but are not limited to: magnetic storage devices (e.g., hard disks, floppy disks, or magnetic tapes, etc.), optical disks (e.g., compact discs (CDs), digital versatile discs (DVDs), etc.), smart cards, and flash memory devices (e.g., erasable programmable read-only memories (EPROMs), cards, sticks, or key drives, etc.). In addition, the various storage media described herein can represent one or more devices and / or other machine-readable media for storing information. The term "machine-readable medium" can include, but is not limited to, wireless channels and various other media capable of storing, containing, and / or carrying instructions and / or data.

[0306] According to the method provided in the embodiment of the present application, the present application also provides a computer program product, which includes: a computer program code, which, when executed on a computer, causes the computer to execute Figure 9 and Figure 14 A method according to any one of the embodiments shown.

[0307] According to the method provided in the embodiment of the present application, the present application also provides a computer-readable medium, which stores a program code, and when the program code is run on a computer, the computer executes Figure 7 and Figure 11 A method according to any one of the embodiments shown.

[0308] According to the method provided in the embodiments of the present application, the present application also provides a system, which includes the aforementioned device or equipment.

[0309] In the above embodiments, all or part of the embodiments may be implemented by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented using software, all or part of the embodiments may be implemented in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, all or part of the processes or functions described in the embodiments of the present application are generated. The computer may be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable device. The computer instructions may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium. For example, the computer instructions may be transmitted from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center via a wired (e.g., coaxial cable, optical fiber, digital subscriber line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) method. The computer-readable storage medium may be any available medium that a computer can access or a data storage device such as a server or data center that includes one or more available media integrated therein. The available medium may be a magnetic medium (eg, a floppy disk, a hard disk, a magnetic tape), an optical medium (eg, a high-density digital video disc (DVD)), or a semiconductor medium (eg, a solid state disc (SSD)).

[0310] As used in this specification, the terms "component," "module," "system," and the like are used to refer to computer-related entities, hardware, firmware, a combination of hardware and software, software, or software in execution. For example, a component can be, but is not limited to, a process running on a processor, a processor, an object, an executable file, an execution thread, a program, and / or a computer. By way of illustration, both an application running on a computing device and a computing device can be a component. One or more components can reside in a process and / or an execution thread, and a component can be located on one computer and / or distributed between two or more computers. In addition, these components can be executed from various computer-readable media having various data structures stored thereon. Components can communicate, for example, via local and / or remote processes based on signals having one or more data packets (e.g., data from two components interacting with another component across a local system, a distributed system, and / or a network, such as the Internet interacting with other systems via signals).

[0311] It should also be understood that the term "and / or" as used herein simply describes a relationship between associated objects, indicating that three possible relationships exist. For example, "A and / or B" can represent: A exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, or B exists alone. Furthermore, the character " / " as used herein generally indicates that the associated objects are in an "or" relationship.

[0312] It should also be understood that the numbers "first", "second", etc. are introduced in the embodiments of the present application only to distinguish different objects, for example, to distinguish different "information", or "devices", or "units". The understanding of specific objects and the correspondence between different objects should be determined by their functions and internal logic, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application.

[0313] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the units and algorithm steps of each example described in conjunction with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented in electronic hardware, or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether these functions are performed in hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Professional and technical personnel can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered beyond the scope of this application.

[0314] Those skilled in the art will clearly understand that, for the convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the systems, devices and units described above can refer to the corresponding processes in the aforementioned method embodiments and will not be repeated here.

[0315] In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, devices and methods can be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are merely schematic. For example, the division of the units is merely a logical function division. In actual implementation, there may be other division methods, such as multiple units or components can be combined or integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not executed. Another point is that the mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed can be through some interfaces, indirect coupling or communication connection of devices or units, which can be electrical, mechanical or other forms.

[0316] The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separate, and the components shown as units may or may not be physical units, that is, they may be located in one place or distributed across multiple network units. Some or all of these units may be selected to achieve the purpose of this embodiment according to actual needs.

[0317] In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist physically separately, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit.

[0318] If the functions are implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as independent products, they can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present application, or the part that contributes to the prior art, or the part of the technical solution, can be embodied in the form of a software product. The computer software product is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions for enabling a computer device (which can be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to execute all or part of the steps of the method described in each embodiment of the present application. The aforementioned storage medium includes various media that can store program codes, such as a USB flash drive, a mobile hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a magnetic disk or an optical disk.

[0319] The above description is merely a specific embodiment of the present application, but the scope of protection of the present application is not limited thereto. Any changes or substitutions that can be easily conceived by a person skilled in the art within the technical scope disclosed in this application should be included in the scope of protection of this application. Therefore, the scope of protection of this application should be based on the scope of protection of the claims.

Claims

1. A method for accessing a service, characterized in that: include: The policy control network element at the visited location determines the regional access information of the terminal device, wherein the regional access information includes an identifier of a service within the region. The policy control network element is a policy control network element responsible for access and mobility management. The policy control network element sends the area access information to the session management network element of the visited location, and the area access information is used by the session management network element to enable the terminal device to access the service in the area.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The policy control network element determines the regional access information of the terminal device, including: The policy control network element receives the area access information from an application function network element, a network open function network element or a unified database network element; or The policy control network element obtains the pre-configured area access information.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that The method further comprises: The policy control network element determines that the terminal device has subscribed to the service.

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that The method further comprises: The policy control network element obtains the location information of the terminal device; The policy control network element determines that the terminal device is within the range of the area according to the location information of the terminal device and the area access information.

5. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that The regional access information further includes identification information of regional access points, where the identification information of the regional access points is used to identify available access points in the region.

6. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that The area access information includes at least one of the following information: Routing information of the regional access point, where the routing information of the regional access point is used to indicate a routing address of the regional access point; The service area information of the regional access point is used to indicate the area range in which the regional access point is available.

7. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The policy control network element sending the area access information to the session management network element includes: The policy control network element sends the area access information to the session management network element through the mobility management network element.

8. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that The method further comprises: The policy control network element sends session feature information to the mobility management network element, where the session feature information is used to determine the session management network element.

9. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that The session feature information includes the data network name DNN and / or network slice selection auxiliary information S-NSSAI.

10. A device for accessing a service, characterized in that: include: a processing unit, configured to determine regional access information of a terminal device, wherein the regional access information includes an identifier of a service within the region; The transceiver unit is used to send the area access information to the session management network element of the visited location, and the area access information is used by the session management network element to enable the terminal device to access the service in the area.

11. The device according to claim 10, characterized in that The processing unit is specifically configured to receive the area access information from a network open function network element or a unified database network element, or to obtain the pre-configured area access information.

12. The device according to claim 10 or 11, characterized in that The processing unit is further configured to determine whether the terminal device has subscribed to the service.

13. The device according to claim 12, characterized in that The transceiver unit is further configured to obtain location information of the terminal device; The processing unit is further configured to determine, based on the location information and the area access information, that the terminal device is within the range of the area.

14. The device according to claim 10 or 11, characterized in that The regional access information further includes identification information of regional access points, where the identification information of the regional access points is used to identify available access points in the region.

15. The device according to claim 14, characterized in that The area access information includes at least one of the following information: Routing information of the regional access point, where the routing information of the regional access point is used to indicate a routing address of the regional access point; The service area information of the regional access point is used to indicate the area range in which the regional access point is available.

16. The device according to claim 10, characterized in that The transceiver unit is specifically configured to send the area access information to the session management network element through the mobility management network element.

17. The device according to claim 16, characterized in that The transceiver unit is further configured to send session feature information to the mobility management network element, where the session feature information is used to determine the session management network element.

18. The device according to claim 17, characterized in that The session feature information includes the data network name DNN and / or network slice selection auxiliary information S-NSSAI.

19. A communication system comprising the policy control network element according to any one of claims 1 to 9; And a session management network element at the visited location that communicates with the policy control network element, the session management network element is used to receive area access information from the policy control network element, the area access information includes the identification of the services within the area, and access the services within the area for the terminal device according to the area access information.

20. The communication system according to claim 19, wherein: It also includes mobility management network elements, The mobility management network element is configured to receive session feature information from the policy control network element, determine the session management network element according to the session feature information; and receive the area access information from the policy control network element; The area access information is sent to the session management network element.

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