Method and apparatus for dynamic triggering edge application server instantiation

Abstract

The application discloses a method and device for dynamically triggering edge application server instantiation, wherein the method comprises the following steps: a first device receives first information, the first information is used for requesting information of an edge application server of a first application or information of a first edge enabling server used for providing information of the edge application server of the first application; and the first device requests an edge application server management function entity to instantiate the edge application server of the first application according to the first information. According to the embodiment of the application, the edge application server is instantiated according to user demand, dynamic scheduling and flexible use of resources are improved, and the quality of experience of the edge application service is improved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to a method and device for dynamically triggering instantiation of an edge application server. Background Art

[0002] In the early days, mobile edge computing (MEC) refers to the provision of IT service environment and cloud computing capabilities at the edge data network of the wireless access network (RAN) closest to the user's mobile terminal, aiming to further reduce latency / delay, improve network operation efficiency, enhance service distribution / delivery capabilities, and optimize / improve the end-user experience. Therefore, the "edge" here refers to the edge of the mobile communication network, such as the local data network connected to the user plane functions deployed at a lower location. The mobile edge computing infrastructure deployed at the edge of the mobile communication network opens network capabilities to various upper-layer applications and services to facilitate the provision of various context-related services. Later, the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) redefined MEC as multi-access edge computing, including multi-access heterogeneous networks using LTE, 5G, fixed broadband and Wi-Fi technologies. After the expansion, not only will mobile edge computing still exist, but the heterogeneous networks can also run edge applications collaboratively. For example, at a stadium or at home, when a base station has poor signal coverage, through multi-access edge computing, the access device can use all surrounding devices that can transmit signals to provide services, including more base stations, nearby Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and even another nearby mobile phone.

[0003] In the MEC, a terminal obtains edge computing services by accessing edge application servers (EASs) in an edge data network (EDN). In the process of accessing the EASs, the terminal needs to discover information of the EASs to be accessed through an edge enabler server (EES), or also needs to access an EDN where the EASs are located through an edge configuration server (ECS) and discover the EASs. In some cases, a location where the terminal requests to access, including an EDN where the EES or the ECS is located, does not have an EAS corresponding to a terminal application, and then the EES or the ECS indicates an EAS in another location for the terminal to access. However, the EAS in the other location indicated again may not meet the needs of the terminal, and thus cannot provide a high-quality edge service experience for the terminal. SUMMARY

[0004] Embodiments of the present application provide a method and device for dynamically triggering instantiation of an edge application server, so as to instantiate the edge application server according to user needs and improve the quality of experience of edge application services.

[0005] In a first aspect, a method for dynamically triggering instantiation of an edge application server is provided. The method includes: a first device receiving first information, the first information being used to request information of an edge application server of a first application or used to request information of a first edge enabler server, the first edge enabler server being used to provide information of the edge application server of the first application; and the first device requesting an application instantiation management function entity to instantiate the edge application server of the first application according to the first information.

[0006] In embodiments of the present application, the first device receives first information sent by a second device, the first information being used to request information of an edge application server of a first application or used to request information of a first edge enabler server, so as to obtain information of the edge application server of the first application from the first edge enabler server. Then the first device instantiates the edge application server of the first application according to the first information, which realizes dynamic instantiation of the edge application server according to user needs, improves dynamic scheduling and flexible use of resources, and improves the quality of experience of edge application services. In addition, the process triggers instantiation of the edge application server by a control plane device, which improves the real-time performance of the instantiation process.

[0007] In an optional example, before the first device requests the application instantiation management function entity to instantiate the edge application server of the first application according to the first information, the method further includes: the first device determining that the edge application server of the first application is not instantiated.

[0008] In an optional example, the first device requests the application instantiation management function entity to instantiate the edge application server of the first application according to the first information, including: the first device requests the application instantiation management function entity to instantiate the edge application server of the first application in the edge data network corresponding to the first device.

[0009] In an optional example, the first device requests the application instantiation management function entity to instantiate the edge application server of the application according to the first information, including: the first device requests the application instantiation management function entity to instantiate the edge application server of the first application in the edge data network corresponding to the first edge enabling server.

[0010] In an optional example, the first device requests the application instantiation management functional entity to instantiate the edge application server of the application, including: the first device sends requirement information to the application instantiation management functional entity, the requirement information includes at least one of the following: at least one candidate location information, the candidate location information is used to indicate the edge data network of the edge application server of the instantiated application; at least one requirement description of the edge application server of the application, the requirement description includes at least one of the following: deployment mode information, required resource information, required key communication indicator information, dependent services or applications, and whether context migration is supported.

[0011] In an optional example, the method further includes: the first device receiving a notification message from the application instantiation management function entity, where the notification message indicates that the edge application server instantiation of the application is completed.

[0012] In an optional example, the method further includes: the first device receiving identification information of an edge application server that has completed the instantiation of the application.

[0013] In an optional example, the method further includes: the first device sending information of an edge application server that has completed the instantiation of the application to the second device, where the second device is the device that sent the first information.

[0014] In a second aspect, a method for dynamically triggering the instantiation of an edge application server is provided, the method comprising: when a first condition or a second condition is met, a first device determines that a first edge application server needs to be instantiated for an application in an edge data network; the first device requests an application instantiation management function entity to instantiate the first edge application server for the application.

[0015] In the embodiments of the present application, the first device determines whether to request the first edge application server of the application instantiation management function entity to instantiate the application according to whether the first condition or the second condition is met, the first condition and the second condition are conditions related to user traffic, that is, the first device triggers instantiation of the edge application server according to user demand, which improves dynamic scheduling and flexible use of resources and improves edge application service quality experience.

[0016] In an optional example, the first condition is at least one of the following: when the edge data network does not exist the edge application server of the application, the first device receives the number of times of request information greater than or equal to a first threshold, the request information is used to request information of the edge application server of the application located in the edge data network, or is used to request information of a target edge enabling server, the target edge enabling server is used to provide information of the edge application server of the application of the edge data network; when the edge data network does not exist the edge application server of the application, the first device acquires recommended information of the application from a network data analysis function (NWDAF); when the edge data network does not exist the edge application server of the application, it is determined that the number of times of requesting services of the edge application server of a second application is greater than or equal to a second threshold, the services need to be provided by the edge application server of the application; when the edge data network does not exist the edge application server of the application, it is determined that a third application needs to rely on services provided by the edge application server of the application; when the edge data network does not exist the edge application server of the application, it is determined that at least one user of the application is about to arrive at the edge data network; when the edge data network does not exist the edge application server of the application, the registration information of the edge enabling server is received, and the registration information does not have an identifier of the application.

[0017] In an optional example, the second condition is: when the edge data network exists the second edge application server of the application, and the second edge application server exceeds the service carrying capacity, the second edge application server of the application provides current edge network services for the application.

[0018] In an optional example, the second edge application server exceeding the service carrying capacity includes at least one of the following: the number of users served by the second edge application server reaches a third threshold; the user traffic served by the second edge application server reaches a fourth threshold; the resources consumed by the second edge application server reaches a fifth threshold.

[0019] In a third aspect, a control plane device is provided, and the device comprises a receiving module, a processing module and a sending module, wherein the receiving module is configured to receive first information, the first information being used to request information of an edge application server of a first application or being used to request information of a first edge enabler server, the first edge enabler server being used to provide information of the edge application server of the first application; the processing module is configured to, in combination with the sending module, instantiate the edge application server of the first application according to an application instantiation management function entity based on the first information.

[0020] In an optional example, the processing module is further configured to determine that the edge application server of the first application is not instantiated.

[0021] In an optional example, the processing module is further configured to, in combination with the sending module, request the application instantiation management function entity to instantiate the edge application server of the first application in an edge data network corresponding to the first device.

[0022] In an optional example, the processing module is further configured to, in combination with the sending module, request the application instantiation management function entity to instantiate the edge application server of the first application in an edge data network corresponding to the first edge enabler server.

[0023] In an optional example, the sending module is configured to send requirement information to the application instantiation management function entity, the requirement information comprising at least one of the following: at least one candidate location information, the candidate location information being used to indicate an edge data network in which the edge application server of the application is instantiated; at least one requirement description of the edge application server of the application, the requirement description comprising at least one of the following: mode information of deployment, required resource information, required key communication index information, dependent service or application, and whether context migration is supported.

[0024] In an optional example, the receiving module is further configured to receive a notification message of the application instantiation management function entity, the notification message indicating that the instantiation of the edge application server of the application is completed.

[0025] In an optional example, the receiving module is further configured to receive identification information of the instantiated edge application server of the application.

[0026] In an optional example, the sending module is further configured to send information of the instantiated edge application server of the application to a second device, the second device being the device that sends the first information.

[0027] In a fourth aspect, a control plane device is provided, characterized in that the device includes a processing module and a sending module, wherein the processing module is used to determine the first edge application server that needs to instantiate the application in the edge data network when the first condition or the second condition is met; the processing module is also used to combine with the sending module to request the application instantiation management function entity to instantiate the first edge application server of the application.

[0028] In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, which has the function of implementing the terminal in the above-mentioned first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect, or has the function of implementing the control plane device in any possible implementation of the above-mentioned first aspect or the second aspect.

[0029] The device may be a terminal or a chip included in the terminal. The functions of the above communication equipment may be implemented by hardware or by hardware executing corresponding software, and the hardware or software may include one or more modules corresponding to the above functions.

[0030] The device can be a network device or a chip included in the network device. The functions of the above communication equipment can be implemented by hardware or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above functions.

[0031] In one possible design, the structure of the device includes a processing module and a transceiver module, wherein the processing module is configured to support the device to execute the method in the above-mentioned first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect, or to execute the method in the above-mentioned second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect.

[0032] In another possible design, the structure of the device includes a processor and may also include a memory. The processor is coupled to the memory and can be used to execute computer program instructions stored in the memory to cause the device to perform the method in the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect, or to perform the method in the second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect. Optionally, the device also includes a communication interface, and the processor is coupled to the communication interface. When the device is a network device, the communication interface can be a transceiver or an input / output interface; when the device is a chip included in the network device, the communication interface can be the input / output interface of the chip. Optionally, the transceiver can be a transceiver circuit, and the input / output interface can be an input / output circuit.

[0033] In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a chip system, comprising: a processor, the processor being coupled to a memory, the memory being used to store programs or instructions, and when the programs or instructions are executed by the processor, the chip system implements the method of the above-mentioned first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect, or executes the method of the above-mentioned second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect.

[0034] Optionally, the chip system further includes an interface circuit for transmitting interactive code instructions to the processor.

[0035] Optionally, there may be one or more processors in the chip system, and the processor may be implemented in hardware or software. When implemented in hardware, the processor may be a logic circuit, an integrated circuit, etc. When implemented in software, the processor may be a general-purpose processor implemented by reading software code stored in a memory.

[0036] Optionally, the memory in the chip system may be one or more memories. The memory may be integrated with the processor or may be provided separately from the processor, which is not limited in this application. For example, the memory may be a non-transient processor, such as a read-only memory (ROM), which may be integrated with the processor on the same chip or provided on different chips. This application does not specifically limit the type of memory or the configuration of the memory and the processor.

[0037] In the seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium having a computer program or instruction stored thereon. When the computer program or instruction is executed, the computer executes the method in the above-mentioned first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect, or executes the method in the above-mentioned second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect.

[0038] In an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer program product. When a computer reads and executes the computer program product, the computer executes the method in the above-mentioned first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect, or executes the method in the above-mentioned second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect.

[0039] In a ninth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication system, which includes one or more control plane devices mentioned above. Optionally, the communication system may also include a management plane device, other network devices and / or terminals. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0040] In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present application or the technical solutions in the prior art, the following briefly introduces the drawings required for use in the embodiments.

[0041] Figure 1A A schematic diagram of an MEC architecture provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0042] Figure 1B A schematic diagram of an application context migration framework provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0043] Figure 1C A schematic diagram of an edge application server instantiation structure provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0044] Figure 1D A flow chart of instantiation of an edge application server provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0045] Figure 2A A flow chart of a method for dynamically triggering instantiation of an edge application server provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0046] Figure 2B A schematic diagram of a scenario in which an initial discovery of EAS triggers EAS instantiation provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0047] Figure 2C A schematic diagram of a scenario in which context migration discovers EAS and triggers EAS instantiation provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0048] Figure 2D A schematic diagram of a scenario in which an initial discovery of EAS triggers EAS instantiation provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0049] Figure 2E A schematic diagram of a scenario in which an application context migration finds that EAS triggers EAS instantiation provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0050] Figure 2F A schematic diagram of a scenario in which a terminal discovers EAS and triggers EAS instantiation provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0051] Figure 2G A flow chart of a method for dynamically triggering the instantiation of an edge application server by an edge enabling server according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0052] Figure 2H A flow chart of a method for dynamically triggering the instantiation of an edge application server by an edge configuration server provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0053] Figure 2I A flow chart of a method for dynamically triggering the instantiation of an edge application server by an edge configuration server provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0054] Figure 2JA method flowchart for dynamically triggering edge application server instantiation by a public cloud service management entity is provided for embodiments of the present application.

[0055] Figure 3A A method flowchart for dynamically triggering edge application server instantiation by a public cloud service management entity is provided for embodiments of the present application.

[0056] Figure 3B A method flowchart for dynamically triggering edge application server instantiation by a public cloud service management entity is provided for embodiments of the present application.

[0057] Figure 3C A method flowchart for dynamically triggering edge application server instantiation by a public cloud service management entity is provided for embodiments of the present application.

[0058] Figure 3D A method flowchart for dynamically triggering edge application server instantiation by a public cloud service management entity is provided for embodiments of the present application.

[0059] Figure 4 A control plane device structure block diagram is provided for embodiments of the present application.

[0060] Figure 5 A control plane device structure block diagram is provided for embodiments of the present application.

[0061] Figure 6 A hardware structure schematic diagram of a communication apparatus is provided for embodiments of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0062] The terms "first", "second", "third", and "fourth" and the like in the description and in the claims of the present application are used for distinguishing between similar elements and not necessarily for describing a particular sequential or chronological order. It is to be understood that the terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances such that the descriptive terms "first", "second", "third", and "fourth" are to be construed, at the discretion of the reader, as interchangeable, and that the embodiments described herein are amenable to modifications and / or additions of various elements in various combinations and / or permutations.

[0063] Reference herein to "an embodiment" means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with an embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the application. The appearances of the phrase "in an embodiment" in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment, nor are they necessarily all directed to the same embodiment, or to a single alternative embodiment. It is expressly understood that any of the embodiments described herein are combinable with each other.

[0064] "Multiple" refers to two or more. "And / or" describes the relationship between associated objects, indicating that three possible relationships exist. For example, "A and / or B" can mean: A exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, or B exists alone. The character " / " generally indicates that the associated objects are in an "or" relationship.

[0065] The following is an introduction to the devices involved in the embodiments of the present application with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0066] The specific scenario involved in the embodiment of this application is the MEC scenario. Figure 1A A schematic diagram of a MEC architecture provided in an embodiment of the present application is shown as follows: Figure 1A As shown in the figure, the architecture includes user equipment (UE), EDN and ECS, where the UE consists of application clients (AC) and EEC, and the EDN includes edge application servers (EAS) and EES. The UE and EDN are connected through the 3GPP core network (3GPP CN).

[0067] Multi-access edge computing (MEC) allows application users to access the required services and cloud computing functions nearby, creating a carrier-grade service environment with high performance, low latency, and high bandwidth. It accelerates the rapid download of various content, services, and applications in the network, allowing consumers to enjoy an uninterrupted, high-quality network experience.

[0068] Local DN / Local Data Network: An access point to a data network that is very close to the user's attachment point.

[0069] Data network: refers to the service network of operators or third parties, which can provide services to UE, such as operator services and Internet services.

[0070] Edge Data Network (EDN): A common understanding is that an EDN corresponds to only one data network, a special local data network (local DN) that includes edge-enabling functions. It can be identified using a data network access identifier (DNAI) and a data network name (DNN), and is a network logical concept. Another understanding of EDN is that it is a peer-to-peer concept of the central cloud, which can be understood as a local data center (geographical concept), identified using a DNAI, and can include multiple local data networks (local DNs).

[0071] Application Instance / Edge Application: An application deployed in an edge data network is called an application instance. Specifically, it refers to an instance of a server application (for example, social media software, augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR)) deployed and running on an EDN. An application can deploy one or more EASs in one or more EDNs. EASs deployed and running in different EDNs can be considered different EASs for the same application. They can share a domain name, use a single anycast IP address, or use different IP addresses. EAS can also be referred to as an edge application (server), application instance, edge application instance, MEC application (server), EAS function, etc.

[0072] Application Client (AC): The UE-side counterpart of edge applications. Application clients enable users to access application services from application servers. Application clients are client programs running on the terminal side. They can connect to application servers in the cloud or to EAS deployed and running in one or more EDNs.

[0073] Edge enabling server EES: It can provide some enabling capabilities for application instances deployed in EDN, and can better support the deployment of applications in MEC. It can support the registration of edge applications, authentication and authorization of UEs, and provide UEs with IP address information of application instances. It can further support obtaining the identification and IP address information of application instances, and further send the identification and IP address information of application instances to the edge data network configuration server. EES is deployed in EDN. Generally, EAS is registered on an EES, or the information of an EAS is configured on an EES through the management system. The EES is called the EES associated with the EAS, and the EES controls / manages the EAS registered / configured on the EES. The edge enabling server can provide enabling service APIs to EAS, and EAS can call the service APIs provided by the edge enabling server. These APIs can be EAS registration, UE location, application context migration, etc.

[0074] Edge Enablement Client (EEC): The UE-side counterpart of the EES. The EEC registers EEC information and application client information with the EES, performs security authentication and authorization, obtains the EAS IP address from the EES, and provides edge computing capabilities to the application client. For example, the EAS discovery service returns the EAS IP address to the application client.

[0075] Edge Configuration Server (ECS): Responsible for EDN configuration, such as providing EES information to UEs. It also directly provides application instance information to UEs and interacts with the application's Domain Name System (DNS) to obtain application instance information. It further obtains and stores application instance and IP address information from other functional entities. The ECS functionality is now merged into the EEC entity in the standard. This means the EEC combines the aforementioned functions of both the EEC and ECS.

[0076] Application users sign a service agreement with the application provider to provide services to the application users. Application users log in to the application client on the terminal and communicate with the EAS through the connection between the application client and the EAS. The edge enabling client is a middleware layer, generally located in the operating system or between the application client and the operating system. The application client can obtain edge enabling services from the edge enabling client in the form of an application programming interface (API).

[0077] Application context: refers to the operational status information related to one or a group of users. It may also optionally include the subscription context of the one or more users in the source EAS and the core network, such as the subscription transaction identifier. It may also optionally include the context of the one or more users on the EES, such as the transaction identifier of the source EAS subscription to the one or more users.

[0078] Application context migration: During the operation of edge applications, when the UE moves outside the current service area, such as UE movement between EDNs or UE movement between local area data networks (LADNs), the edge application server currently providing services may not be able to continue to provide services for the currently running applications, or the edge application server currently providing services is no longer the optimal application server to provide services for the UE. Other edge application servers may be more suitable for serving the application client on the UE. A new edge application server is selected to provide services for the UE. Therefore, the new edge application server needs to be used to replace the currently serving edge application server. During this process, the application service will be temporarily suspended or interrupted, and the application context needs to be migrated to the new EAS to ensure that the impact of the application operation interruption is minimized.

[0079] The application context migration framework based on the above MEC architecture can be found in Figure 1B , Figure 1B A schematic diagram of an application context migration framework provided in an embodiment of the present application is shown in FIG. Figure 1BAs shown in the figure, application context migration can be mainly divided into four stages: (1) Detection of application context migration: that is, judging whether context migration may be necessary. At this time, some events are often detected by the detection test, such as UE location change or UE user plane path update; (2) Decision-making of application context migration: The decision-making entity determines that context migration is necessary; (3) Execution of application context migration: mainly transferring the application context from the source EAS to the target EAS. It can also further include information notifying the terminal of the target EAS, notifying the network of the completion of context migration and relevant information of the target EAS (such as the address of the target EAS, the N6 routing information corresponding to the target EAS, etc.); (4) Cleanup work after application context migration: involving multiple entities, such as the application client initiating a new interface to connect to the target EAS, etc.

[0080] Before an application user requests EAS services, the edge application service management functional entity must first instantiate EAS, that is, deploy an EAS in the EDN to provide services for the user application. The edge application service management functional entity can be the management system of ETSI MEC, which includes devices such as the operations support system (OSS), multi-access edge orchestrator (MEO), and MEC platform manager (MEPM), or the edge application service management functional entity can be the global resource management functional device of the public cloud, or the distributed resource management functional device of the public cloud. Take the edge application management functional entity as the management system of ETSI MEC as an example, please refer to Figure 1C , Figure 1C A schematic diagram of an edge application server instantiation structure provided in an embodiment of the present application is shown as follows: Figure 1C As shown in Figure 1, the main functional entities that can be included in the ETSI MEC management system are OSS, MEO, MEC and VIM. The main interfaces involved are Mm1, Mm3, Mm4, Mm6, etc. For further information, please refer to Figure 1D , Figure 1D An edge application server instantiation flow chart provided in an embodiment of the present application is as follows: Figure 1D As shown in Figure 1, the process of instantiating an edge application server in this architecture includes:

[0081] 1. The OSS sends an instantiation application request to the multi-access edge coordinator MEO. The request carries the application description identifier (pointing to an application description information), the application instance name and description information (human-readable description information).

[0082] 2. MEO checks the configuration information and data of the application instance and performs an authorization check. MEO selects a MEC site (MEChost, MEP) and sends an application instantiation request to the MEPM corresponding to the MEP. If the resources corresponding to the MEP are insufficient, MEO also decides whether to preempt the resources of other MEC applications that have been instantiated on the MEP to ensure that the resources for the application instantiation are sufficient.

[0083] 3. The MEPM sends a resource allocation request to the FIM. The request includes the required resources: computing, storage, and network resources. The MEP should include the application image (e.g., the image URL or ID) in the request.

[0084] 4. The virtualization infrastructure manager (VIM) allocates resources based on the request. If the request includes an application image, the VIM loads the application image into the virtual machine. The VIM sends a resource allocation request message to the MEPM.

[0085] 5. MEPM sends a configuration request to MEP, which includes traffic rules, DNS rules, required services, and services provided by the application.

[0086] 6. The MEP configures traffic rules and DNS rules for the application instance. The MEP waits for the application instance to run normally before activating these rules. Once the application instance is running normally, the MEP provides available services to the application.

[0087] 7. The MEP sends a configuration response to the MEPM.

[0088] 8. MEPM sends an instantiation application response to MEO. The response message contains the information AppInstanceInfo about the resources allocated for the application instance.

[0089] 9. MEO sends an instantiation application response to OSS. The response message includes the instantiation result (success or failure) and the identifier of the application instance.

[0090] For the instantiated EAS, the user can discover the EAS and access it. The EAS discovery procedure provides the EES platform discovery and the application instance discovery at the application layer. The EES can be understood as its role as a local DNS server. After the UE discovers the EES platform, the UE obtains the application instance address from the platform. The architecture and function are designed using a two-level discovery mechanism: first, discover the EES platform, and then discover the EAS from the EES platform. The procedure includes the following steps: Step 1, the terminal-side EEC discovers the EES platform from the ECS, specifically including: 1a, the EEC requests / subscribe the platform EES corresponding to the UE location (and / or requests the application) from the ECS, and the EEC discovers the interested EES from the ECS. 1b, the ECS has the configuration information of the EES, which includes the identification of the EES, the access address of the EES, the service area of the EES, the DNAI corresponding to the EES, the identification of the application registered on the EES, etc. The ECS can select a suitable EES for each application according to the location of the UE or according to the further acquisition of the DNAI corresponding to the UE, in combination with the UE location or DNAI, the identification of the requested application or the identification of the application associated with the UE, and the EES information (profile). Multiple applications can correspond to the same EES. The ECS can also combine other optional filtering information when selecting the EES. 1c, the current / potential DNAI is acquired. 1d, the EEC obtains the information of one or more EESs from the ECS; Step 2, the EEC discovers the EAS application instance from the EES, specifically including: 2a, the EEC discovers the application to be accessed to the EES; 2b, the EES matches the information of the registered application. The EES matches the edge application instance that meets the user request according to the information of the locally registered / online edge application instance and the EAS discovery filtering parameter provided by the user. If multiple applications meet the requirement, multiple edge application instances can be returned, or the EES selects one EAS and returns it. 2c, the EES returns the information of the EAS to the EEC. Further, the EEC can provide the information to the application client, which is used for the client to connect to the edge application instance.

[0091] In the above procedure, when there is no UE-requested application on the EES matching the location of the UE, or on the EES matching the location of the UE-requested application (the EAS of the application is not deployed on the EES), the ECS selects another EES at a location farther away from the location of the UE or the location of the UE-requested application, and the EAS of the application is deployed on the EES. Or directly reject the request of the UE. Thus, the request of the UE fails or the accessed application is not the most optimal in location.

[0092] Moreover, during the application instantiation process (i.e., instantiation of the edge application server of the application), the application instance is instantiated by the application developer / application service provider (ASP) through the management system before the UE accesses the EAS, which may not meet the dynamic migration requirements of the UE.

[0093] Based on the above questions, please refer to Figure 2A , Figure 2A A flow chart of a method for dynamically triggering edge application server instantiation provided in an embodiment of the present application is as follows: Figure 2A As shown, the method includes the following steps:

[0094] 201. A second device sends first information to a first device, where the first information is used to request information about an edge application server for a first application, or is used to request information about a first edge enablement server, where the first edge enablement server is used to provide information about an edge application server for the first application.

[0095] 202. The first device receives the first information and, based on the first information, requests the application instantiation management function entity to instantiate the edge application server of the first application.

[0096] Application deployment in edge data networks can be categorized into two types: single-user deployment and multi-user deployment. For single-user deployment, an edge application server instance serves only one user. Typically, the edge application server instance moves with the user. For example, when a user requests an edge application server for application A at a specific location (or, in other words, a user requests an edge application server for application A at a specific location), the edge application server for application A provides service to the user at that location (the corresponding EDN where the edge application server resides). When the user moves, there is no edge application server for application A at the new location. When the user arrives, a new edge application server for application A is created (instantiated) to provide service to the user. For multi-user deployment, a single edge application server instance serves multiple users of the application. The edge application server for this type of application is typically instantiated before the first user arrives and can provide service to any user of the application at any time. For example, if a user requests application B at a specific location, the edge application server for application B at that location provides service to the user. When a user moves, they need to request the services of Application B from the new location. However, the new location may not have an edge application server for Application B. For example, the location may be a non-hotspot where Application B has not yet deployed an edge application server. In both cases, if the target application (Application A or Application B) does not exist at the requested location, the discovery request for the target application fails, or the server for the target application is selected to be located at a more distant edge or even in the cloud.

[0097] In the embodiments of the present application, a method for instantiating an application based on single-user deployment is described in detail.

[0098] For applications deployed based on a single user, since the user may turn the application on or off at any time, the EAS of the application can be dynamically turned on or off, or even dynamically instantiated. In an embodiment of the present application, a second device sends a first message to a first device, and the first message is used to request information about the edge application server of the first application, or to request information about the first edge enabling server, so as to further obtain information about the edge application server of the first application from the first edge enabling server; the first device receives the first message and, based on the first message, requests the application instantiation management function entity to instantiate the edge application server of the application. In this process, the second device can be a terminal (or EEC, the same below), and the first device can be an EES, that is, the terminal requests the platform EES to obtain the EAS information of the first application, and the platform EES triggers the edge application server management function entity to instantiate the EAS of the first application. Alternatively, the second device can be an EES, and the first device can be an ECS, that is, the source EES requests the ECS to obtain the first EES information, the source EES is the platform EES that originally provided the EAS information of the first application to the terminal, and the first EES is the platform EES that provides the EAS information of the first application to the terminal after the terminal moves. In some cases, if the ECS determines that the first EES does not include the EAS information of the first application, the ECS triggers the application instantiation management functional entity to instantiate the EAS of the first application. Alternatively, the second device may be a terminal and the first device may be the ECS, i.e., the terminal requests the ECS to obtain the first EES. In some cases, if the ECS determines that the first EES does not include the EAS information of the first application, the ECS triggers the application instantiation management functional entity to instantiate the EAS of the first application. Alternatively, the second device may be a terminal and the first device may be a public cloud service management entity, i.e., the terminal requests the public cloud service management entity to obtain the EAS of the first application, and the application instantiation management functional entity instantiates the EAS of the first application.

[0099] In the above process, the first device triggers the application instantiation management functional entity to instantiate the EAS of the first application. The application instantiation management functional entity can be the edge application service management functional entity described in the aforementioned content, or a partial functional device in the entity, that is, the edge application service management functional entity can both pre-instantiate the EAS of the application and dynamically trigger the EAS of the instantiated application based on the information sent by the control plane device. Alternatively, the application instantiation management functional entity is an independent functional device for supporting the dynamic triggering of the EAS of the instantiated application. The application instantiation management functional entity can be a functional entity such as MEO, MEPM, or a global resource management functional device of a public cloud, or a distributed resource management functional device of a public cloud. The above-described dynamic triggering of the EAS instantiation process specifically corresponds to the following application scenarios:

[0100] Scenario 1: Integration with the ETSI MEC management system - the scenario where the terminal initially discovers EAS.

[0101] See also Figure 2B , Figure 2B A schematic diagram of a scenario in which an initial discovery of EAS triggers EAS instantiation is provided in an embodiment of the present application, such as Figure 2B As shown in FIG, initial discovery of EAS refers to the process of discovering EAS and accessing EAS when the terminal has not yet connected to EAS. In this process, the function of the application management entity is implemented by the ETSI MEC management system, that is, the ETSI MEC management system is triggered according to user needs to implement EAS instantiation. The process of discovering EAS includes the following steps: 1. The terminal (specifically, the EEC in the terminal) requests the ECS to discover the platform EES. At this time, as shown in option 1, the ECS can determine that an EAS needs to be instantiated, triggering interaction with the device in the ETSI MEC management system (such as MEO or MEPM) to realize the instantiation of EAS. The interaction information may include location information such as EDN information or EES information, as well as application requirement information; 2. The terminal requests the EES to discover EAS. If option 1 is not executed, option 2 can be executed, that is, the EES determines that an EAS needs to be instantiated, and triggers interaction with the device in the ETSI MEC management system (such as MEO or MEPM) to realize the instantiation of EAS; or the EES can execute option 3, that is, the EES reports an EAS non-existence event or an EAS instantiation request to the ECS, notifying the ECS that an EAS needs to be instantiated, and then the ECS executes option 1; 3. After discovering the EAS, the terminal (specifically, the AC in the terminal) requests access to the EAS.

[0102] Scenario 2: Integration with the ETSI MEC management system - terminal mobility leads to application context migration scenario.

[0103] See also Figure 2C , Figure 2C A schematic diagram of a scenario in which a context migration finds that EAS triggers EAS instantiation is provided in an embodiment of the present application, such as Figure 2CAs shown, the function of the application management entity in this scenario is implemented by the ETSI MEC management system. The terminal moves from position 1 to position 2, resulting in the terminal being unable to obtain services from the original EAS, or the original EAS is no longer the best EAS to serve the UE. The application client on the terminal may be temporarily suspended or interrupted, and the application context is migrated to the new EAS. The terminal (specifically, the AC on the terminal) then requests access to the new EAS. Specifically, the following steps are included: 1. The source platform EES (the EES that originally provided EAS information to the terminal) requests the ECS to discover the target platform EES (that is, the new platform EES to which the application context is migrated). During this process, the ECS can execute option 1; 2. The source platform EES requests the target platform EES to discover the target EAS to which the application context is migrated. If the ECS does not execute option 1, the EES can execute option 2, or the EES can execute option 3 to trigger the ECS to execute option 1; 3. The terminal accesses the target EAS.

[0104] In the above process, the entity that instantiates EAS is the management system of ETSI MEC. In some cases, the entity that instantiates EAS may also be a public cloud management system.

[0105] Scenario 3: Integration with public cloud / edge cloud resource management functional entities - scenario where the terminal initially discovers EAS.

[0106] See also Figure 2D , Figure 2D A schematic diagram of a scenario in which an initial discovery of EAS triggers EAS instantiation is provided in an embodiment of the present application, such as Figure 2D As shown, in this scenario, the function of the application management entity is implemented by the public cloud / edge cloud resource management functional entity, and the process of discovering EAS includes the following steps: 1. The terminal requests ECS to discover the platform EES. At this time, as shown in option 1, ECS can determine that an EAS needs to be started, triggering the public cloud / edge cloud resource management functional entity to start EAS. The trigger information may include location information such as EDN information or EES information, as well as application instantiation requirement information; 2. The terminal requests EES to discover EAS. If option 1 is not executed, option 2 can be executed, that is, EES determines that an EAS needs to be started, and triggers the public cloud / edge cloud resource management functional entity to start EAS; or EES can execute option 3, that is, EES reports to ECS an event that EAS has not yet been instantiated or an EAS instantiation request, notifying ECS ​​that an EAS needs to be instantiated, and then ECS executes option 1; 3. After discovering EAS, the terminal (specifically, it can be the AC in the terminal) requests access to EAS.

[0107] Scenario 4: Integration with public cloud / edge cloud resource management functional entities - scenario where terminal mobility leads to application context migration.

[0108] Referring to Figure 2E , Figure 2E A scenario diagram for triggering instantiation of an EAS by an application context migration discovery is provided for an embodiment of the present application, as shown in Figure 2E In the present scenario, the function of an application management entity is implemented by a public cloud / edge cloud resource management function entity. The process of discovering an EAS includes the following steps: the source EES platform discovers a target platform EES (i.e., a new platform EES to which the application context is about to migrate) to the ECS. In this process, option 1 can be performed by the ECS entity. The source EES platform requests the target platform EES to discover a target EAS to which the application context migrates. In the case where option 1 is not performed by the ECS, option 2 can be performed by the EES, or option 3 can be performed by the EES to trigger the ECS to perform option 1. After discovering the EAS, the terminal accesses the target EAS.

[0109] Optionally, the control plane device (ECS) can also be implemented by a public cloud / edge cloud resource management function entity. The corresponding scenario is as follows:

[0110] Scenario 5: In edge cloud cooperation, a terminal discovers an EAS through a public cloud / edge cloud central node.

[0111] Referring to Figure 2F , Figure 2F A scenario diagram for triggering instantiation of an EAS by a terminal initial discovery of the EAS or discovery of the EAS during application context migration is provided for an embodiment of the present application, as shown in Figure 2F In a public cloud system, a platform EES and an EAS are managed by a public cloud / edge cloud resource management function entity, and the function of an application management entity is implemented by a public cloud / edge cloud resource management function entity. The process of discovering an EAS by a terminal includes the following steps: 1. The terminal requests the public cloud centralized control and management node to discover an EAS, and optionally also implicitly includes discovery of an EES corresponding to the EAS. At this time, as shown in option 1, the public cloud centralized control and management node determines that an EAS needs to be instantiated, and then the public cloud centralized control and management node instantiates the EAS, or the public cloud centralized control and management node triggers the edge cloud resource management function to instantiate the EAS. The public cloud centralized control and management node or the edge cloud resource management function can instantiate the EAS according to location information such as EDN information or EES information, and instantiation requirement information of the application; 2. After discovering the EAS, the terminal (specifically, an AC in the terminal) requests to access the EAS. During the application context migration process, the public cloud centralized control and management node determines that an EAS needs to be instantiated according to the location of the user or the load condition of the EAS currently serving the user, and then the public cloud centralized control and management node determines that an EAS needs to be instantiated to perform the aforementioned option 1.

[0112] The above scenarios are only examples of some scenarios. The methods of the embodiments of the present application can also be applied to other scenarios and are not limited here.

[0113] It can be seen that in an embodiment of the present application, the first device receives the first information sent by the second device, and the first information is used to request information about the edge application server of the first application, or to request information about the first edge enabling server, so as to obtain information about the edge application server of the first application from the first edge enabling server. The first device then instantiates the edge application server of the first application based on the first information. This process realizes the dynamic instantiation of the edge application server according to user needs, improves the dynamic scheduling and flexible use of resources, and improves the edge application service quality experience. In addition, the process is triggered by the control plane device to instantiate the edge application server, which improves the real-time performance of the instantiation process.

[0114] The specific implementation process of this method is described below for different first devices and second devices, as well as different application scenarios.

[0115] See also Figure 2G , Figure 2G A flow chart of a method for dynamically triggering the instantiation of an edge application server by an edge enabling server is provided in an embodiment of the present application, such as Figure 2G As shown, the method includes the following steps:

[0116] 211a. The terminal sends a first discovery request to the edge enablement server, where the first discovery request is used to request information about an edge application server for a first application.

[0117] 212. The edge enabling server receives the first discovery request and determines that the information of the locally registered edge application servers does not include the information of the edge application server of the first application.

[0118] 213. The edge enabling server sends a first instantiation request to the application instantiation management function entity, requesting the edge application server to instantiate the first application;

[0119] 214. The application instantiation management function entity instantiates the edge application server of the first application according to the first instantiation request;

[0120] 215. Optionally, the edge enabling server determines that instantiation of the edge application server of the first application is completed.

[0121] In the embodiment of the present application, for the terminal initial discovery EAS scenario, the first device is an edge enabling server EES, the second device is a terminal (usually specifically an edge enabling client EEC), and the first information sent by the second device to the first device is a first discovery request in the embodiment of the present application, which is used by the terminal to request EES to obtain the EAS information of the first application. The first discovery request may include a terminal identifier, which is used to characterize the terminal identity, and may also be an EEC identifier; it may also include application information, such as an application identifier, and may also include the terminal's location information such as geographic location, longitude and latitude, administrative region, or cell identifier, tracking area identifier. EES obtains the EAS information of the first application based on the information in the first discovery request, for example, by verifying whether the EAS information corresponding to the first application is included in EES through the application identifier.

[0122] The EES determines that the EAS for the first application indicated by the application identifier does not exist locally, indicating that the requested EAS information is not available on the EES, or that the information of all registered applications in the EES does not contain information about the first application. The lack of available EAS information can also be understood as the EAS for the first application not being instantiated.

[0123] After the EES determines that the EAS information of the first application does not exist locally, the application instantiation management function entity can be dynamically triggered to instantiate the EAS of the first application. Before the application instantiation management function entity instantiates the EAS of the first application, optionally, the method may also include step 216, where the EES determines whether the first application is allowed to be deployed at the edge. Specifically, the EES may also determine whether the first application can be deployed at the edge, or it may be understood as determining whether the first application can be dynamically instantiated, which may include further checking whether the first application is allowed to be deployed in the edge data network where the current EES is located. In the case where the first application is allowed to be deployed at the edge (especially the current EES), the EES may request to instantiate the EAS of the first application. The deployment of applications at the edge, including which applications can be deployed at the edge (or can be dynamically instantiated), and which edges the applications are specifically deployed at, as well as the authorization information that can be instantiated at the EES, can be pre-configured in the current EES, can be used as a policy of an ECSP, or can be obtained by the current EES from a query in the ECSP's database.

[0124] The first instantiation request sent by the EES is used to request instantiation of an EAS corresponding to a first application in an EDN where the current EES is located, and further includes a request to configure the current EES as an EES registered by the EAS. The first instantiation request can carry information of the first application, such as first application description information (parameters in the EAS profile can represent the description information of the application), a first application identifier (EAS ID) or a package name, etc. Optionally, the first instantiation request carries at least one of location information or instantiation requirement information. The location information indicates location information of the EDN where the EAS needs to be instantiated, for example, the location information can be an identifier of the EES, an address of the EES, a DNAI or other information indicating the location of the EDN. The location can be a physical location or a network topology location. Optionally, the location information can correspond to multiple EDNs, including an EDN corresponding to the current EES (the EES sending the first instantiation request) and other EDNs adjacent to the EDN where the current EES is located (the other EDNs can be pre-configured on the current EES). The instantiation requirement information, specifically, the requirement information can include an application deployment mode (one user exclusively uses one edge application server instance, or one edge application server instance is deployed on one EES, or one edge application server instance is deployed on all EESs), required resources (including required storage, computation, network, etc.), latency, bandwidth, dependent services, MEC characteristics (such as support for application migration), etc. At this time, the current EES can assume the role and function of the OSS and interact with the application instance management function entity MEO through the Mm1 interface, or the current EES can assume the role and function of the life cycle management proxy (LCM-proxy) and interact with the application instantiation function entity MEO through the Mm9 interface, or the current EES can interact with the application instantiation function entity MEPM through the Mm4 interface, or the current EES can interact with the centralized resource management entity of the public cloud or the distributed resource management entity, and the two entities are responsible for the instantiation of the application instance.

[0125] If the EES only provides one location information, the application instantiation management function entity instantiates the EAS of the first application in the EDN corresponding to the location. If the EES provides multiple location information, the application instantiation management function entity can select one or more EDNs corresponding to the location to instantiate the EAS of the first application. If the EES provides instantiation requirement information, the application instantiation management function entity selects one or more EDNs to instantiate the EAS of the first application according to the instantiation requirement information. If the EES provides both the location information and the instantiation requirement information, the application instantiation management function entity selects one or more EDNs to instantiate the EAS of the first application according to the instantiation requirement information and the location information, as well as the resource usage and communication index of the EDNs obtained by the application instantiation management function entity. Optionally, the application instantiation management function entity is a functional entity (such as MEO) in the MEC management system, and the MEC management system configures the registration address EES corresponding to the EAS of the first application, and instantiates the EAS of the first application in the specified EDN. Further, the MEC management system can configure the registration address corresponding to the EAS as the current EES (the EES sending the first instantiation request).

[0126] Optionally, the embodiment of the present application can further include step 217a: the EES sends a first response to the terminal, for indicating that the first discovery request is successfully received.

[0127] In order to avoid long waiting of the requester (the second device, the terminal in the embodiment of the present application), the EES can send a first response to the requester before obtaining the EAS information of the first application, and the first response is used to indicate that the first discovery request is successfully accepted, is being processed, and the final response will be replied later.

[0128] After the instantiation of the EAS of the first application, the EAS is registered on the current EES, and the current EES can determine that the instantiation of the EAS of the first application is completed according to the registration information; or the current EES obtains the instantiation completion notification message of the application instantiation management function entity, which can include the EAS ID of the first application, or can also include other EAS information, so as to determine that the instantiation of the EAS is completed. Further, the current EES can update the EAS ID according to the first application instantiation registration, or update the EAS ID according to the notification message.

[0129] Optionally, the embodiment of the present application can further include step 218a: the EES sends a first discovery request response to the terminal, and the first discovery request response includes the EAS information of the first application.

[0130] After obtaining the EAS information of the first application, the EES may feedback the information to the terminal that sent the request through the first discovery request response. Alternatively, the first discovery request response may not include the EAS information of the first application and is only used to notify the terminal that the EAS of the first application has been instantiated and that the terminal needs to initiate a request again to obtain the EAS information of the first application.

[0131] In an embodiment of the present application, after the edge enabling server receives the first discovery request sent by the terminal, it sends an instantiation request to the application instantiation management function entity to dynamically trigger the application instantiation management function entity to instantiate the edge application server of the first application. This process implements dynamic instantiation of the edge application server based on user needs, improving the dynamic scheduling and flexible use of resources. In addition, the instantiation of the edge application server is triggered by the edge enabling server, which improves the real-time performance of the instantiation process.

[0132] In an optional case, after the terminal moves, the edge application server that provides services for the client of the application on the terminal changes. In order to maintain the continuity of the currently running application business, the user's application context needs to be transferred from the source EAS to the target EAS. At this time, the source EES associated with the source EAS discovers the target EES corresponding to the current terminal location through the ECS. The source EES needs to request the target EES for the information of the target EAS that the application on the terminal needs to access, so as to transfer the application context and notify the edge application server of the application client on the terminal device to switch services.

[0133] In view of this situation, the embodiment of the present application may include the following steps:

[0134] 211b. The source edge enabling server sends a first discovery request to the target edge enabling server, where the first discovery request is used to request information about an edge application server for a first application.

[0135] 212. The target edge enabling server receives the first discovery request and determines that the information of the locally registered edge application servers does not include the information of the edge application server of the first application.

[0136] 213. The target edge enabling server sends a first instantiation request to the application instantiation management function entity, requesting the edge application server to instantiate the first application;

[0137] 214. The application instantiation management function entity instantiates the edge application server of the first application according to the first instantiation request;

[0138] 215. The target edge enabling server determines that the instantiation of the edge application server of the first application is completed.

[0139] The embodiment of the present application is aimed at the application context migration scenario caused by terminal movement. Except that the entity sending the first discovery request in step 211b is changed from the terminal to the S-EES, other steps are the same as the corresponding description in the embodiment of steps 211a-215, which will not be repeated here. In addition, the steps performed by the edge enabling server in the embodiment of steps 211a-215 are referred to as the target edge enabling server (T-EES) in the embodiment of the present application.

[0140] Optionally, the embodiment of the present application can further include step 217b: the T-EES sends a first response to the S-EES, indicating that the first discovery request is successfully accepted and is being processed. After the T-EES receives the first discovery request, before obtaining the EAS information of the first application, the T-EES can send a first response to the S-EES, which is used to indicate that the first discovery request is successfully accepted and is being processed, and the final response will be replied later. This can avoid long waiting of the S-EES.

[0141] Optionally, the embodiment of the present application can further include step 218b: the T-EES sends a first discovery request response to the S-EES, and the first discovery request response includes the EAS information of the first application.

[0142] After the T-EES obtains the EAS information of the first application, the S-EES sending the request can be fed back through the first discovery request response. Alternatively, the first discovery request response can also not include the EAS information of the first application, and is only used to notify that the instantiation of the EAS of the first application is completed, and the S-EES needs to initiate a request again to request to obtain the EAS information of the first application.

[0143] In an optional case, the EAS of the first application providing services for the terminal changes, and the S-EES does not know which target EAS can provide services for the user, so the S-EES can initiate a request information to the ECS to request to obtain the T-EES providing the EAS information of the first application. The process can include the following steps:

[0144] 211c, the source edge enabling server sends a first discovery request to the edge configuration server to request to obtain target edge enabling server information, and the first discovery request contains location information or DNAI of the terminal device;

[0145] 212, the edge configuration server receives the first discovery request, determines the target edge enabling server matching the location information or DNAI of the terminal device, and sends a first notification to the target edge enabling server to notify the preparation of the edge application server of the first application;

[0146] Specifically, the first discovery request may optionally carry the terminal's location information or target DNAI information. The ECS determines that the target EES is an EES that matches the terminal's location or DNAI, but the EAS of the first application does not exist on the target EES. This request triggers the ECS to send a first notification to the target EES, where the first notification is used to notify the target EES that a user is about to request access to the EAS of the first application or that the EAS of the first application is needed, or the ECS sends a request message to the target EES, in which the user requests the EES to instantiate an EAS of the first application.

[0147] 213. The target edge enabling server sends a first instantiation request to the application instantiation management function entity, requesting the edge application server to instantiate the first application;

[0148] 214. The application instantiation management function entity instantiates the edge application server of the first application according to the first instantiation request;

[0149] 215. Optionally, the target edge enabling server determines that the edge application server instantiation of the first application is completed.

[0150] Specifically, in some cases, such as when the terminal moves, resulting in a change in the EAS of the first application providing services to the terminal, and the S-EES does not know which target EAS can provide services to the user, it sends a request message to the ECS, and the ECS then sends a notification message to the EES within the management range (generally the EES that matches the location of the terminal) to obtain the EAS information of the first application. The ECS can send notification information to one or more T-EESs, and when the T-EES cannot provide the EAS information of the first application, it sends a first instantiation request to the application instantiation management function entity to request the edge application server to instantiate the first application. That is, in the embodiment of the present application, it is the ECS that receives the first information, but it is the T-EES that requests the edge application server management function to instantiate the edge application server of the first application, then the first device is a combination of the ECS and the T-EES.

[0151] If the ECS sends notification information to multiple T-EESs within its management scope, then multiple T-EESs may have sent a first instantiation request to the application instantiation management functional entity. The application instantiation management functional entity can select one or more EDNs where the T-EESs are located from the multiple T-EESs to instantiate the EAS of the first application and configure the corresponding registration address of the EAS to be the EES. If the notification information sent by the ECS to multiple T-EESs includes instantiation requirement information, the application instantiation management functional entity selects one or more EDNs where the T-EESs are located to instantiate the EAS of the first application based on the instantiation requirement information.

[0152] The embodiment of the application can further include step 217c, the edge configuration server sends a first receiving response to the source edge enabling server, for indicating that the first discovery request is successfully accepted. The long waiting of the S-EES can be avoided.

[0153] The embodiment of the application can further include step 218c, the target edge enabling server sends an instantiation completion notification to the edge configuration server, and the edge configuration server sends information of the target edge enabling server to the source edge enabling server according to the instantiation completion notification.

[0154] After the T-EES obtains the EAS information of the first application, the T-EES can feed back an available notification to the ECS, for notifying the ECS to include the EAS information of the first application in the T-EES, and specifically, the EAS information of the first application can be an identifier corresponding to the EAS of the first application. The ECS can send a first discovery request response to the S-EES according to the available notification, for informing the S-EES which T-EES can be requested to obtain the EAS information of the first application.

[0155] Please refer to Figure 2H , Figure 2H A method flowchart for dynamically triggering instantiation of an edge application server by an edge configuration server is provided in the embodiment of the application, as shown in Figure 2H The method includes the following steps:

[0156] 221a, the terminal sends a second discovery request to the edge configuration server, for requesting to obtain target edge enabling server information providing first application information;

[0157] 222, the edge configuration server receives the second discovery request, determines a target edge enabling server matching the terminal location, and the registration information of the target edge enabling server does not exist the information of the first application;

[0158] 223, the edge configuration server sends a second instantiation request to an application instantiation management function entity, for requesting to instantiate an edge application server of the first application;

[0159] 224, the application instantiation management function entity instantiates the edge application server of the first application according to the second instantiation request;

[0160] 225, the edge configuration server obtains the target edge enabling server information.

[0161] In an embodiment of the present application, the first device is an edge configuration server ECS, the second device is a terminal, and the first information sent by the second device to the first device is a second discovery request in the embodiment of the present application, which is used by the terminal to request ECS to obtain target EES information. The target EES is an EES that matches the terminal location, and the terminal hopes that the target EES can provide the EAS information of the first application. Therefore, the second discovery request includes information about the first application, such as the first application identifier, which is used by ECS to determine whether the EES includes the EAS information of the first application. Optionally, the second discovery request also includes a terminal identifier or the location information of the terminal so that ECS can find the target EES more quickly.

[0162] The ECS determines that the EES matching the requested location does not have the EAS information for the first application, indicating that the EAS information for the first application is not available on the EES, which can be understood as the EAS for the first application not being instantiated. Therefore, the ECS can dynamically trigger the application instantiation management function entity to instantiate the EAS for the first application.

[0163] Before the ECS dynamically triggers the application instantiation management function entity to instantiate the EAS of the first application, the embodiment of the present application may further include step 206, the edge configuration server determines that the first application is allowed to be deployed at the edge. The ECS can also determine whether the first application can be deployed at the edge, or it can be understood as determining whether the first application can be dynamically instantiated, and further check whether the first application is allowed to be deployed in the edge data network where the current EES is located. After determining that the first application is allowed to be deployed at the edge, the ECS executes the subsequent EAS instantiation process to trigger the first application. The deployment status of the application at the edge, including relevant information about which applications can be deployed at the edge (or can be dynamically instantiated), can be pre-configured in the ECS, or obtained by the ECS from the ECSP's database. This information can also be used as the ECSP's policy.

[0164] The ECS triggers the application instantiation management functional entity to instantiate the EAS of the first application by sending a second instantiation request to the application instantiation management functional entity. The second instantiation request includes information about the first application, such as application identification information, which is used to instantiate the EAS of the application. Optionally, the second instantiation request carries at least one of location information or instantiation requirement information. The location information may correspond to one or more alternative locations, that is, the ECS may request the application instantiation management functional entity to instantiate the EAS of the first application at the EDN determined at one or more alternative locations. The instantiation requirement information may be used to determine the location of the EAS for instantiating the first application. For the specific implementation process, please refer to the relevant descriptions in steps 201a to 206, which will not be repeated here.

[0165] If the ECS only provides one location information, the application instantiation management functional entity instantiates the EAS of the first application at the EDN corresponding to the location. If the ECS provides multiple locations, the application instantiation management functional entity can select one or more locations from them to instantiate the EAS of the first application. If the ECS provides instantiation requirement information, the application instantiation management functional entity selects one or more EDNs to instantiate the EAS of the application based on the instantiation requirement information. Furthermore, the MEC management system can configure the registration address corresponding to the EAS as the target EES, and instantiate the EAS corresponding to the application in the EDN of the target EES.

[0166] Similarly, in order to reduce latency, the embodiment of the present application may further include step 227a, where the edge configuration server sends a second response to the terminal to indicate that the second discovery request is successfully accepted.

[0167] In order to avoid long waiting time for the requesting party (the second device, which is the terminal in the embodiment of the present application), ECS can send a second response to the requesting party before obtaining the target EES information of the EAS providing the first application. The second response is used to indicate that the second discovery request has been successfully accepted and is being processed, and a final response will be returned later.

[0168] The application instantiation management functional entity instantiates the edge application server of the first application on the EDN corresponding to the target EES; since the EAS will be registered with the target EES after instantiation, the target EES can determine that the EAS of the first application has been instantiated based on the EAS registration information. As a result, the information on the target EES is updated, and the EES updates the ECS with the updated information of the first application, such as the identifier of the first application, so that the ECS can know that the target EES information can provide the EAS of the first application. Alternatively, the application instantiation management functional entity can send an instantiation completion notification to the ECS so that the ECS knows that the EAS of the first application has been instantiated and obtains the target EES information.

[0169] Optionally, the embodiment of the present application further includes step 228a, the edge configuration server sends a response to the second discovery request to the terminal, and the response to the second discovery request includes target edge enabling server information.

[0170] After obtaining the target EES information, the ECS feeds back the information to the terminal through a response to the second discovery request, so that the terminal obtains the EAS information of the first application according to the target EES information and then accesses the EAS of the first application.

[0171] In an embodiment of the present application, after the edge configuration server receives the second discovery request sent by the terminal, it sends an instantiation request to the application instantiation management function entity to dynamically trigger the application instantiation management function entity to instantiate the edge application server of the first application. This process realizes the dynamic instantiation of the edge application server according to user needs, improving the dynamic scheduling and flexible use of resources. In addition, this process is triggered by the edge configuration server to instantiate the edge application server. The edge configuration server can manage and schedule the edge enabling servers within the scope, improving the coordination of the instantiation process.

[0172] Optionally, the EES may request the ECS to obtain the target EES. For example, when the terminal moves, the EAS of the first application providing services to the terminal device changes. If the S-EES does not know which target EAS can provide services to the user, it will send a request message to the ECS, requesting information about the target EES that can provide the target EAS. The S-EES then sends a second discovery request to the ECS to request the T-EES, so as to obtain the EAS information of the first application from the T-EES.

[0173] In view of this situation, the embodiment of the present application includes the following steps:

[0174] 221b. The source edge enabling server sends a second discovery request to the edge configuration server to request information of a target edge enabling server that provides the first application information. The second discovery request may include location information of the terminal or target DNAI.

[0175] 222. The edge configuration server receives the second discovery request and determines a target EES that matches the location information or DNAI of the terminal device, and the EAS information of the first application does not exist on the EES;

[0176] 223. The edge configuration server sends a second instantiation request to the application instantiation management function entity, requesting the edge application server to instantiate the first application;

[0177] 224. The application instantiation management function entity instantiates the edge application server of the first application according to the second instantiation request;

[0178] 225. Optionally, the edge configuration server determines that instantiation of the edge application server of the first application is completed.

[0179] In the embodiment of the present application, except that the entity sending the second discovery request in 221b is changed from the terminal to the S-EES, the second discovery request sent by the S-EES to the ECS may include the terminal's location information or the target DNAI. The target EES determined by the ECS matches the terminal's location or the target DNAI. However, the EAS information of the first application does not exist on the target EES.

[0180] The other steps are the same as those described in the corresponding embodiment of steps 221a to 225 and are not repeated here.

[0181] Optionally, the embodiment of the present application may further include step 227b, where the edge configuration server sends a second response to the source edge enablement server to indicate that the second discovery request is successfully accepted.

[0182] In order to avoid long waiting time for the requesting party (the second device, S-EES in the embodiment of the present application), ECS can send a second response to the requesting party before obtaining the target EES information of the first application. The second response is used to indicate that the second discovery request is successfully accepted, and the final response will be replied later.

[0183] Optionally, the embodiment of the present application may further include step 228b, the edge configuration server sends a response to the second discovery request to the source edge enablement server, where the response to the second discovery request includes target edge enablement server information.

[0184] After obtaining the target EES information, the ECS feeds back the information to the S-EES through a response to the second discovery request, so that the S-EES requests the target EES information to provide the EAS of the first application serving the terminal.

[0185] See also Figure 2I , Figure 2I A flow chart of a method for dynamically triggering the instantiation of an edge application server by an edge configuration server is provided in an embodiment of the present application, such as Figure 2I As shown, the method includes the following steps:

[0186] 231a. The terminal sends a first discovery request to the target edge enablement server, where the first discovery request is used to request information about the edge application server of the first application.

[0187] 232. The target edge enabling server receives the first discovery request and determines that the information of the locally registered edge application server does not include the information of the edge application server of the first application.

[0188] 23X. The target edge enabling server sends an instantiation request or instantiation requirement to the edge configuration server, requesting the edge application server to instantiate the first application;

[0189] 233. The edge configuration server sends a first instantiation request to the application instantiation management function entity according to the second instantiation request, requesting the edge application server to instantiate the first application;

[0190] 234. The application instantiation management function entity instantiates the edge application server of the first application according to the first instantiation request;

[0191] 235. Optionally, the second target edge enabler server determines that instantiation of the edge application server of the first application is completed.

[0192] In the embodiment of the present application, the description of steps 211a to 215 in the aforementioned embodiment is basically the same, with the difference being that in step 23X, after the target edge enabling server (the EES requested to obtain EAS information) determines that the EAS information of the first application is not included, it does not directly request the EAS instantiation of the first application from the application instantiation management functional entity, but instead sends an instantiation request or instantiation requirement to the ECS; in step 233, the ECS determines whether to request EAS instantiation from the application instantiation management functional entity based on the target EES location based on the received instantiation request or instantiation requirement, or the ECS can also provide more alternative locations to the application instantiation management functional entity so that it can select the EDN of the EES at a suitable location from multiple alternative locations to perform EAS instantiation of the first application. Alternatively, the instantiation management functional entity can also select the EDN of one or more EES from multiple alternative locations based on the instantiation requirement to perform EAS instantiation of the first application.

[0193] Since the EAS will be registered with the EES corresponding to the EDN it instantiated when it is instantiated, the second target EES (the EAS selected to instantiate the first application) can determine whether the EAS instantiation of the first application has been completed based on the registration information. The second target EES and the target EES can be the same EES or different EESs. Alternatively, the application instantiation management function entity can notify the second target EES that the EAS instantiation of the first application has been completed. The target EES then feeds back the EAS information of the first application to the terminal.

[0194] Optionally, the embodiment of the present application may further include step 236a and step 237a, which correspond to step 217a and step 218a in the aforementioned embodiment and are not repeated here.

[0195] In an optional case, when the terminal moves, the EAS of the first application providing services to the terminal device changes. In order to maintain the continuity of the currently running application business, the user's application context needs to be transferred from the source EAS to the target EAS. At this time, the source EES managed by the source EAS discovers the target EES corresponding to the current terminal location through ECS. The source EES needs to request the target EES for the information of the target EAS that the application on the terminal needs to access, for the purpose of transferring the application context and notifying the edge application server of the application client switching service on the terminal device. Then the S-EES sends a first discovery request to the T-EES to request the EAS information of the first application in the new location.

[0196] In view of this situation, the embodiment of the present application may include the following steps:

[0197] 231b. The source edge enabler server sends a first discovery request to the target edge enabler server, where the first discovery request is used to request information about an edge application server for a first application.

[0198] 232. The target edge enabling server receives the first discovery request and determines that the locally registered EAS information does not include information of the edge application server of the first application;

[0199] 23X. The target edge enabling server sends a second instantiation request or instantiation requirement to the edge configuration server, requesting the edge application server to instantiate the first application;

[0200] 233. The edge configuration server sends a first instantiation request to the application instantiation management function entity, requesting the edge application server to instantiate the first application;

[0201] 234. The application instantiation management function entity instantiates the edge application server of the first application according to the first instantiation request;

[0202] 235. The second target edge enabling server determines that the instantiation of the edge application server of the first application is completed.

[0203] The description of the embodiment of the present application is basically the same as that of step 211b to step 215 in the aforementioned embodiment, with the difference being step 23X and step 233. This process is the same as step 23X and step 233 in the previous embodiment and will not be repeated here.

[0204] Optionally, the embodiment of the present application may further include step 236b and step 237b, which correspond to step 217b and step 218b in the aforementioned embodiment and are not repeated here.

[0205] Optionally, if the EAS of the first application providing services to the terminal changes and the S-EES does not know which target EAS can provide services to the user, the S-EES sends a second discovery request to the ECS to request the T-EES, which is used to provide the EAS information of the first application.

[0206] In view of this situation, the embodiment of the present application includes the following steps:

[0207] 231c. The source edge enabling server sends a first discovery request to the edge configuration server to request information about the target edge enabling server. The first discovery request may include location information of the terminal device or target DNAI.

[0208] 232. The edge configuration server receives the first discovery request, determines a target edge enabling server that matches the location information or DNAI of the terminal device, and sends a first notification to the target edge enabling server to notify the edge application server of information about preparing the first application;

[0209] 23X. The target edge enabling server sends an instantiation request or instantiation requirement to the edge configuration server, requesting the edge application server to instantiate the first application;

[0210] Specifically, the first discovery request may optionally carry the terminal's location information or target DNAI information, and the ECS determines that the target edge enabling server is the EES that configures the terminal's location or DNAI, but the EAS of the first application does not exist on the target EES. This request triggers the ECS to send a first notification to the target EES, where the first notification is used to notify the target EES that a user is about to request access to the EAS of the first application or that the EAS of the first application is needed. After receiving the first notification, the target EES determines that the EAS of the first application does not exist on itself, and sends an instantiation request or instantiation requirement to the ECS.

[0211] 233. The edge configuration server sends a first instantiation request to the application instantiation management function entity, requesting the edge application server to instantiate the first application;

[0212] 234. The application instantiation management function entity instantiates the edge application server of the first application according to the first instantiation request;

[0213] 235. Optionally, the target edge enabling server determines that the edge application server instantiation of the first application is completed.

[0214] The embodiment of the present application is basically the same as the description of steps 211c to 215 in the aforementioned embodiment, with the difference being step 23X and step 233. This process is the same as step 23X and step 233 in the aforementioned embodiment, and will not be repeated here.

[0215] Optionally, the embodiments of the present application can further include steps 236c and 237c, corresponding to steps 217c and 218c in the foregoing embodiments, which will not be repeated here.

[0216] It can be seen that, Figure 2I In the corresponding embodiments, the edge configuration server and the edge enabling server jointly perform the function of the first device, that is, triggering the edge application server instantiation of the first application by the application instantiation management function entity, which improves the real-time and overall performance of the instantiation process.

[0217] Please refer to Figure 2J , Figure 2J A flow chart of a method for dynamically triggering edge application server instantiation by a public cloud service management entity according to an embodiment of the present application is shown in Figure 2J The method includes the following steps:

[0218] 241. The terminal sends a third discovery request to the public cloud service management entity to request the edge application server information of the first application;

[0219] 242. The public cloud service management entity receives the third discovery request and determines that the target EES does not have the edge application server information of the first application;

[0220] 243. The public cloud service management entity sends a third instantiation request to the application instantiation management function entity to request instantiation of the edge application server of the first application;

[0221] 244. The application instantiation management function entity instantiates the edge application server of the first application according to the third instantiation request;

[0222] 245. The public cloud service management entity determines that the instantiation of the edge application server of the first application is complete.

[0223] In the embodiment of the present application, the first device is a public cloud service management entity, and the second device is a terminal. The first information sent by the second device to the first device is a third discovery request in the embodiment of the present application, which is used for the terminal to request the public cloud service management entity to obtain the EAS information of the first application. The public cloud service management entity can be a public cloud centralized control management node in scenario 5, or a public cloud / edge cloud resource management function entity. The third discovery request includes information of the first application, for example, a first application identifier, which is used for the public cloud service management entity to determine whether the information of the first application is included. Optionally, the third discovery request also includes a terminal identifier or location information of the terminal, so that the public cloud service management entity can more quickly find a possible location of the EAS information of the first application.

[0224] The public cloud service management entity determines that the EES at the matched request location does not have the information of the first application, which can be understood as that the corresponding EDN does not have an instantiated EAS of the first application, and can be understood as that there is no instantiated EAS of the first application. Then, the public cloud service management entity can dynamically trigger the application instantiation management function entity to instantiate the EAS of the first application.

[0225] Before the public cloud service management entity dynamically triggers the application instantiation management function entity to instantiate the EAS of the first application, the embodiment of the present application can further include step 246, in which the public cloud service management entity determines that the first application can be deployed at the edge. The public cloud service management entity can also determine whether the first application can be deployed at the edge, or determine whether the first application can be dynamically instantiated, and further check whether the first application is allowed to be deployed in the matched EDN. After determining that the first application is allowed to be deployed at the edge, the public cloud service management entity performs a subsequent instantiation operation. The deployment of the application at the edge includes related information that which applications can be deployed at the edge (or can be dynamically instantiated), which can be pre-configured in the public cloud service management entity.

[0226] The public cloud service management entity triggers the application instantiation management function entity to instantiate the EAS of the first application by sending a third instantiation request to the application instantiation management function entity. The third instantiation request includes information of the first application, for example, application identifier information, which is used for instantiation of the EAS of the application. Optionally, the third instantiation request carries at least one of location information or instantiation requirement information. The location information can correspond to one or more alternative locations, that is, the public cloud service management entity can request the application instantiation management function entity to instantiate the EAS of the first application in the EDN determined at one or more alternative locations. Assuming that the third instantiation request carries instantiation requirement information, the instantiation requirement information can be used to determine the location of the instantiated EAS. For specific implementation processes, reference can be made to the related descriptions in steps 201a to 206, which will not be described here again.

[0227] After the application instantiation management functional entity determines the EES at a specific location, it instantiates the edge application server of the first application on the EDN corresponding to the EES. After the EAS is instantiated, it will register with the EES. Therefore, the EES can determine that the EAS of the first application has been instantiated based on the EAS registration information. In turn, the public cloud service management entity can be informed that the EAS of the first application has been instantiated. Alternatively, the application instantiation management functional entity can send an instantiation completion notification to the public cloud service management entity so that the public cloud service management entity is informed that the EAS of the first application has been instantiated.

[0228] Similarly, in order to reduce latency, the embodiment of the present application may further include step 247, where the public cloud service management entity sends a third reception response to the terminal to indicate that the third discovery request is successfully received.

[0229] Optionally, the embodiment of the present application further includes step 248, the public cloud service management entity sends a third discovery request response to the terminal, and the third discovery request response includes edge application server information of the first application.

[0230] See also Figure 3A , Figure 3A This is a flow chart of another method for dynamically triggering edge application server instantiation provided in an embodiment of the present application, such as Figure 3A As shown, the method includes the following steps:

[0231] 301. When the first condition or the second condition is met, the first device determines that a first edge application server that instantiates an application in the edge data network is required;

[0232] 302. The first device requests the application instantiation management function entity to instantiate the first edge application server of the application.

[0233] The foregoing Figure 2A The corresponding embodiment description has been explained that the deployment of applications in edge data networks can be divided into applications based on single-user deployment or applications based on multi-user deployment. The embodiment of this application describes applications based on multi-user deployment. Similarly, the embodiment of this application can correspond to the application scenarios of the aforementioned scenarios 1 to 5.

[0234] In some cases, such as when the first or second condition is met, it may be determined that an edge application server needs to be instantiated on the edge data network, namely, the first edge application server for the application. The first or second condition may be based on user traffic. Alternatively, the first edge application server for the application may be instantiated if no edge application server exists, or a newly instantiated first edge application server for the application may be instantiated if an edge application server already exists.

[0235] After the first device determines that the first edge application server needs to be instantiated, the first device requests the first edge application server to be instantiated from the edge application server management function entity. The first device can be an edge configuration server ECS, an edge enabler server EES, or a public cloud service management entity.

[0236] It can be seen that, in the embodiments of the present application, the first device determines whether to request the edge application server management function entity to instantiate the first edge application server of the application according to whether the first condition or the second condition is met, and the first condition and the second condition are conditions related to user traffic, that is, the first device triggers instantiation of the edge application server according to user demand, which improves dynamic scheduling and flexible use of resources.

[0237] The specific implementation process of the method will be described below for different first devices and different application scenarios.

[0238] Please refer to Figure 3B , Figure 3B A method flowchart for dynamically triggering instantiation of an edge application server by an edge configuration server according to an embodiment of the present application is shown in Figure 3B The method comprises the following steps:

[0239] 311. The edge configuration server determines that the first condition or the second condition is met.

[0240] 312. The edge configuration server sends a fourth instantiation request to an application instantiation management function entity, for requesting the first edge application server of the application to be instantiated in the edge data network.

[0241] 313. The application instantiation management function entity instantiates the first edge application server of the application in the edge data network according to the fourth instantiation request.

[0242] 314. The edge configuration server determines that instantiation of the first edge application server of the application is completed.

[0243] In the embodiments of the present application, the first device is an edge configuration server ECS.

[0244] In the embodiments of the present application, the first condition is at least one of the following:

[0245] (1) When the edge data network does not exist the edge application server of the application, the number of times that the first device receives the request information is greater than or equal to a first threshold, and the request information is used to request information of the edge application server of the application located in the edge data network, or is used to request information of a target edge enabler server used to provide information of the edge application server of the application in the edge data network.

[0246] (2) When the edge data network does not exist the edge application server of the application, the recommended information of the application is obtained from the network data analysis function NWDAF;

[0247] (3) When the edge data network does not exist the edge application server of the application, it is determined that the number of times of requesting services of the second application edge application server is greater than or equal to the second threshold value, and the services need to be provided by the edge application server of the application;

[0248] (4) When the edge data network does not exist the edge application server of the application, it is determined that the third application needs to rely on the services provided by the edge application server of the application;

[0249] (5) When the edge data network does not exist the edge application server of the application, it is determined that at least one user of the application is about to arrive at the edge data network;

[0250] (6) When the edge data network does not exist the edge application server of the application, the registration information of the edge enabling server is received, and the registration information does not have the identifier of the application.

[0251] For the convenience of description, the application in the embodiment of the application which needs to obtain the first edge application server thereof is referred to as a target application, and the edge data network which performs the instantiation of the first edge application server of the application is referred to as a target EDN.

[0252] Firstly, for the above first condition, the ECS first needs to determine that the target EDN does not exist the EAS of the target application, and the user cannot obtain the services of the target application. The method for the ECS to determine that the target EDN does not exist the EAS of the target application includes: firstly, determining that the target EDN is the EDN where the EES within the range of the ECS is located. Then, the target application does not exist in the EES corresponding to the target EDN, that is, the information of the EAS of all the registered applications in the EES does not have the information of the target application; or there is no available requested EAS information on the EES, which can be understood as that there is no instantiated EAS of the target application.

[0253] For condition (1), the number of times the first device receives the request information is greater than or equal to the first threshold. The first device is an ECS, and the received request information is used to request the target EES, and the target EES is used to provide the EAS information of the target application of the target EDN. That is to say, at least one user sends a request information once or multiple times to request the EES that can provide the EAS of the same application (target application) at the same location (the target EDN corresponding to the target EES), and the total number of requests T1 is greater than or equal to the first threshold X1. The first threshold can be a preset value, such as a value set according to the application type, or a value set according to the edge data network carrying capacity, etc. In this case, it means that the target application at the target location has a large number of visits, and the ECS can trigger the application instantiation management function entity to instantiate the EAS of the target application in the target EDN to meet user needs.

[0254] For condition (2), ECS obtains application recommendation information from the network data analytics function (NWDAF) entity. NWDAF analyzes various information such as communication connections and data access in the network. ECS can subscribe to NWDAF's recommendation function, and NWDAF pushes application information to ECS. In some cases, NWDAF can recommend the target application to ECS, indicating that the target application may be needed to provide services in certain situations in the future. ECS can then trigger the application instantiation management function entity to instantiate the EAS of the target application in the target EDN to prepare for providing services in advance.

[0255] For condition (3), if the number of service requests from the edge application server of the second application is greater than or equal to the second threshold, the service needs to be provided by the edge application server of the application. The second application is an application other than the target application, and the other application needs to provide services from the edge application server of the target application. If the number of service requests T2 is greater than or equal to the second threshold X2, it means that the function implementation of the second application requires the support of the target application, and the second application has a large number of visits. In this case, the ECS can trigger the application instantiation management function entity to instantiate the EAS of the target application in the target EDN to provide support for the second application.

[0256] For condition (4), it is determined that the third application requires services provided by the application's edge application server. The third application is an application other than the target application. Other applications require services provided by the target application's edge application server. If the target application's edge application server is not instantiated, the third application cannot be enabled. The ECS can then trigger the application instantiation management function entity to instantiate the target application's EAS in the target EDN to provide support for the third application.

[0257] For condition (5), it is determined that at least one user of the application is about to arrive at the edge data network. At least one user is about to arrive at the target EDN, indicating that at least one user will request the services of the target application. In this case, the ECS can trigger the application instantiation management function entity to instantiate the EAS of the target application in the target EDN to prepare in advance for the user's needs.

[0258] Regarding condition (6), the registration information received from the edge enabling server does not contain the application identifier. The ECS has determined that there is no EAS for the target application in the target EDN. Then, the EES in the ECS receives the registration information, which also does not contain the target application identifier, indicating that the latest application instantiated in the EDN does not include the target application. Then, the ECS can trigger the application instantiation management function entity to instantiate the EAS for the target application in the target EDN to prepare in advance for providing services for the target application.

[0259] The above conditions can be used individually or in combination. For example, if the ECS determines that the target application's EAS does not exist in the EDN, and then receives a number of requests for the target EES exceeding a first threshold, and also receives a recommendation from the NEDAF recommending the target application to the ECS, then the ECS triggers the application instantiation management function to instantiate the target application's EAS in the target EDN.

[0260] Optionally, the first EAS that needs to instantiate the application in the EDN can also be determined based on the second condition. The second condition includes: when the second edge application server of the application exists in the edge data network and the second edge application server exceeds the service carrying capacity, the second edge application server of the application provides the current edge network service for the application.

[0261] For the second condition, the ECS first determines that a second EAS for the target application exists on a platform within its management scope. This means that the EAS for the target application already exists in the EDN and can provide services to users. However, the service carrying capacity of this second EAS has exceeded, and an additional EAS is needed to provide more carrying support.

[0262] Optionally, the second edge application server exceeds the service carrying capacity, including at least one of the following: the number of users served by the second edge application server reaches a third threshold; the user traffic served by the second edge application server reaches a fourth threshold; the resources consumed by the second edge application server reaches a fifth threshold.

[0263] The second EAS of the application has exceeded the service carrying capacity, which can be determined based on the number of users of the second EAS, user traffic or the resources consumed by the second EAS. The number of users is greater than or equal to the third threshold, the user traffic is greater than or equal to the fourth threshold, or the consumed resources reach the fifth threshold. It can be determined that the second EAS has exceeded the service carrying capacity by meeting any one of the conditions, or it can be determined that the second EAS has exceeded the service carrying capacity by meeting multiple conditions. The aforementioned user data volume, user traffic, and resources consumed by the second EAS can be determined by the ECS through the reporting information of the EAS, or can be determined by the reporting information of the EES, or can be determined by the resource management system information, etc. Among them, the resources consumed by the second EAS include storage resources consumed by the second EAS, or computing resources, etc.

[0264] Optionally, since the first EAS of the application is a supplement to the second EAS, the first EAS can be dynamically turned on or off. For example, when the second EAS exceeds the service carrying capacity, the second EAS can be instantiated in the EDN. After the second EAS recovers to within the service carrying capacity, the first EAS of the application can be turned off.

[0265] The ECS can trigger the first EAS to instantiate the application after determining that the first or second condition is met. Alternatively, step 315 can be performed, where the edge configuration server determines whether the application is allowed to be deployed at the edge. In other words, only applications that are allowed to be deployed at the edge will be triggered to instantiate their corresponding EAS.

[0266] After ECS triggers the application instantiation management functional entity to instantiate the first EAS of the application, because the instantiation process of the first EAS needs to be registered in EES, ECS can determine that the first EAS of the application has completed registration based on the information reported by EES, or ECS can also receive a notification message from the application instantiation management functional entity and determine that the first EAS of the application has completed instantiation based on the notification message.

[0267] It can be seen that in an embodiment of the present application, when the first edge application server of the application does not exist in the EDN, the edge configuration server can trigger the application instantiation management function entity to instantiate the first edge application server of the application according to the first condition, or when the second edge application server of the application exists in the EDN, the edge configuration server can trigger the application instantiation management function entity to instantiate the first edge application server of the application according to whether the second EAS exceeds the service carrying capacity, thereby improving the dynamic scheduling and flexible use of resources.

[0268] See also Figure 3C , Figure 3C A flow chart of a method for dynamically triggering the instantiation of an edge application server by an edge enabling server is provided in an embodiment of the present application, such as Figure 3C As shown, the method includes the following steps:

[0269] 321. The edge enabling server determines whether the first condition or the second condition is met;

[0270] 322. When it is determined that the first condition or the second condition is met, the edge enabling server sends a fifth instantiation request to the application instantiation management function entity, requesting the first edge application server to instantiate the application in the edge data network;

[0271] 323. The application instantiation management function entity instantiates the first edge application server of the application in the edge data network according to the fifth instantiation request;

[0272] 324. The edge enabling server determines that instantiation of the first edge application server of the application is completed.

[0273] In the embodiment of the present application, the first device is an edge enabling server EES.

[0274] The first condition specifically includes at least one of the following:

[0275] (1) when there is no edge application server for the application on the edge data network, the number of times the first device receives request information is greater than or equal to a first threshold, and the request information is used to request information about an edge application server for the application on the edge data network, or is used to request information about a target edge enabling server, and the target edge enabling server is used to provide information about an edge application server for the application on the edge data network;

[0276] (2) When the edge application server of the application does not exist in the edge data network, the application recommendation information is obtained from the network data analysis function NWDAF;

[0277] (3) when the edge application server of the application does not exist in the edge data network, determining that the number of service requests from the edge application server of the second application is greater than or equal to a second threshold, the service needs to be provided by the edge application server of the application;

[0278] (4) when the edge application server of the application does not exist in the edge data network, determining that the third application needs to rely on services provided by the edge application server of the application;

[0279] (5) When the edge application server of the application does not exist in the edge data network, it is determined that at least one user of the application is about to arrive at the edge data network.

[0280] For the convenience of description, the application that needs to obtain its first edge application server in the embodiment of the present application is called a target application, and the edge data network where the first edge application server of the application is instantiated is called a target EDN.

[0281] When the first device is an EES, the EES can manage the EAS of the application registered with it and determine whether the application information exists locally. If the target EDN can determine whether the edge application server of the application exists, it means that the target EDN is the EDN corresponding to the current EES (first device).

[0282] To address the first condition, the EES must first determine if the EAS for the target application does not exist in the target EDN, preventing the user from accessing the target application's services. The EES method for determining if the EAS for the target application does not exist in the target EDN includes: determining if the target application does not exist in the EES, i.e., if the target application information is missing from all registered applications in the EES; or if the requested EAS information is not available on the EES, which can be understood as indicating that the EAS for the target application is not instantiated.

[0283] For condition (1), the number of times the first device receives the request information is greater than or equal to the first threshold. The first device is EES, and the received request information is used to request the EAS information of the target application. That is to say, at least one user sends a request information once or multiple times to request access to the same application (target application) at the same location (EDN corresponding to the EES), and the total number of requests T1 is greater than or equal to the first threshold X1. The first threshold can be a preset value, such as a value set according to the application type, or a value set according to the edge data network carrying capacity, etc. In this case, it means that the target application at the target location has a large number of visits, and the EES can trigger the application instantiation management function entity to instantiate the EAS of the target application in the target EDN to meet user needs.

[0284] Regarding conditions (2) to (5), the specific description is as follows: Figure 3B Conditions (2) to (5) in the corresponding embodiments are substantially the same, with the difference being that, in condition (3), when the edge application server of the second application requests a service directly to the EES where the target EDN is located, the EES determines the number of times the second application requests the service. In the embodiment of the present application, the EES can itself trigger the application instantiation management function entity to instantiate the first EAS of the application. Figure 3B In the corresponding embodiment, the EES may report the number of times the second application requests service to the ECS, and the ECS may trigger the application instantiation management function entity to instantiate the first EAS of the application.

[0285] Similarly, for condition (4), the dependency relationship between the third application and the edge application server of the application can be determined by EES, and in the embodiment of the present application, EES performs the triggering of subsequent instantiation. Figure 3B In the corresponding embodiment, the EES reports the dependency relationship to the ECS, and the EES triggers subsequent instantiation.

[0286] Similarly, the above conditions can be used alone or in combination.

[0287] Optionally, the first EAS that needs to instantiate the application in the EDN can also be determined based on the second condition. The second condition includes: when the second edge application server of the application exists in the edge data network and the second edge application server exceeds the service carrying capacity, the second edge application server of the application provides the current edge network service for the application.

[0288] The target EDN is the EDN corresponding to the current EES (first device). The second EAS of the application can be in the target EDN or in other EDNs. Assuming that the second EAS of the application is in the target EDN, the EES can directly determine whether the second EAS exceeds the service carrying capacity. Assuming that the second EAS of the application is in other EDNs, other EESs can determine whether the second EAS exceeds the service carrying capacity, and notify the current EES if the second EAS exceeds the service carrying capacity. After the current ESS determines that the second EAS exceeds the service carrying capacity, it triggers the application instantiation management function entity to instantiate the first EAS of the application in the target EDN.

[0289] The method for judging whether the second EAS exceeds the service carrying capacity is the same as Figure 3B The corresponding embodiments are the same and will not be described again here.

[0290] It can be seen that in an embodiment of the present application, when the first edge application server of the application does not exist in the EDN, the edge enabling server can trigger the application instantiation management function entity to instantiate the first edge application server of the application according to the first condition, or when the second edge application server of the application exists in the EDN, the edge enabling server can trigger the application instantiation management function entity to instantiate the first edge application server of the application according to whether the second EAS exceeds the service carrying capacity, thereby improving the dynamic scheduling and flexible use of resources.

[0291] See also Figure 3D , Figure 3D A flowchart of a method for dynamically triggering edge application server instantiation by a public cloud business management entity is provided in an embodiment of the present application, such as Figure 3D As shown, the method includes the following steps:

[0292] 331. The public cloud service management entity determines whether the first condition or the second condition is met;

[0293] 332. When it is determined that the first condition or the second condition is met, the public cloud service management entity sends a sixth instantiation request to the application instantiation management function entity, requesting the first edge application server to instantiate the application in the edge data network;

[0294] 333. The application instantiation management function entity instantiates the first edge application server of the application in the edge data network according to the sixth instantiation request;

[0295] 334. The public cloud service management entity determines that instantiation of the first edge application server of the application is completed.

[0296] In an embodiment of the present application, the first device is a public cloud service management entity.

[0297] In addition, the first condition and the second condition in the embodiment of the present application are the same as the first condition and the second condition in the aforementioned two embodiments, and the public cloud management entity can manage EES and ECS at the same time. Therefore, the public cloud management can receive terminal requests, which can be EAS information for a specific EDN application or platform EES information. The platform EES can provide EAS information for a specific EDN application.

[0298] For other descriptions about the first condition and the second condition, please refer to the previous two embodiments and will not be repeated in the embodiments of this application.

[0299] It can be seen that in an embodiment of the present application, when the first edge application server of the application does not exist in the EDN, the public cloud business management entity can trigger the application instantiation management function entity to instantiate the first edge application server of the application according to the first condition, or when the second edge application server of the application exists in the EDN, the public cloud business management entity can trigger the application instantiation management function entity to instantiate the first edge application server of the application according to whether the second EAS exceeds the service carrying capacity, thereby improving the dynamic scheduling and flexible use of resources.

[0300] The above mainly introduces the solution provided by the present application from the perspective of the interaction between various devices. It is understandable that, in order to realize the above functions, the above-mentioned implementation devices include hardware structures and / or software modules corresponding to the execution of each function. Those skilled in the art should easily realize 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 the form of hardware or computer software driving hardware 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.

[0301] The embodiments of the present application can divide the functional modules of the terminal, the control plane device, the service function device, the management function device or other network devices according to the above method examples. For example, each functional module can be divided according to each function, or two or more functions can be integrated in one processing module. The integrated module can be realized in the form of hardware or in the form of a software functional module. It should be noted that the division of the modules in the embodiments of the present application is illustrative, and is only a logical functional division. Another division method can be used in actual implementation.

[0302] Figure 4 The control plane device 400 provided by the embodiments of the present application can be used to execute the dynamic trigger edge application server instantiation method and specific embodiments applied to the first device. Figures 2A to 2I In a possible implementation manner, as shown in Figure 4 , the device 400 includes a receiving module 401, a sending module 402 and a processing module 403.

[0303] The receiving module 401 is configured to receive first information, the first information being used for requesting information of an edge application server of a first application or being used for requesting information of a first edge enabler server, the first edge enabler server being used for providing information of the edge application server of the first application.

[0304] The processing module 403 is configured to instantiate, in combination with the sending module 402, the edge application server of the first application according to the first information.

[0305] Optionally, the processing module 403 is further configured to determine that the edge application server of the first application is not instantiated.

[0306] Optionally, the processing module 403 is further configured to request, in combination with the sending module, the application instantiation management function entity to instantiate the edge application server of the first application in an edge data network corresponding to the first device.

[0307] Optionally, the processing module 403 is further configured to request, in combination with the sending module, the application instantiation management function entity to instantiate the edge application server of the first application in an edge data network corresponding to the first edge enabler server.

[0308] Optionally, the sending module 402 is configured to send demand information to the application instantiation management function entity, the demand information including at least one of the following:

[0309] At least one candidate location information, the candidate location information being used for indicating an edge data network in which the edge application server of the instantiated application is located.

[0310] At least one requirement description of the edge application server of the application, the requirement description including at least one of the following: deployment mode information, required resource information, required key communication indicator information, dependent services or applications, and whether context migration is supported.

[0311] Optionally, the receiving module 401 is further configured to: receive a notification message from the application instantiation management function entity, where the notification message indicates that the edge application server instantiation of the application is completed.

[0312] Optionally, the receiving module 401 is further configured to receive identification information of an edge application server that has completed instantiation of the application.

[0313] Optionally, the sending module 402 is further configured to send information of an edge application server that has completed instantiation of the application to a second device, where the second device is the device that sent the first information.

[0314] Optionally, the processing module 403 may be a chip, an encoder, an encoding circuit or other integrated circuits that can implement the method of the present application.

[0315] The receiving module 401 and the sending module 402 may be interface circuits or transceivers.

[0316] Since the specific methods and embodiments have been introduced above, the device 400 is used to execute the dynamic triggering edge application server instantiation method corresponding to the first device. Therefore, the specific description of the method can refer to the relevant parts of the corresponding embodiment and will not be repeated here.

[0317] Optionally, the device 400 may further include a storage module (not shown in the figure), which may be used to store data and / or signaling. The storage module may be coupled to the processing module 403, or may be coupled to the receiving module 401 or the sending module 402. For example, the processing module 403 may be used to read the data and / or signaling in the storage module, so that the key acquisition method in the aforementioned method embodiment is executed.

[0318] Figure 5 This is another control plane device 500 provided in an embodiment of the present application, which can be used to perform the above Figures 3A to 3D A method and specific embodiment of a dynamic triggering edge application server instantiation method applied to a first device. In one possible implementation, Figure 5 As shown, the device 500 includes a processing module 503 and a sending module 502 .

[0319] A processing module 503 is configured to determine a first edge application server that needs to instantiate an application on the edge data network when the first condition or the second condition is met;

[0320] The processing module 503 is further configured to, in conjunction with the sending module 502 , request the application instantiation management function entity to instantiate the first edge application server of the application.

[0321] Optionally, the first condition is at least one of the following:

[0322] When there is no edge application server for the application in the edge data network, the number of times the first device receives the request information is greater than or equal to a first threshold, and the request information is used to request information of an edge application server for the application located in the edge data network, or to request information of a target edge enabling server, and the target edge enabling server is used to provide information of an edge application server for the application in the edge data network;

[0323] When the edge application server for an application does not exist on the edge data network, the recommended application information is obtained from the network data analysis function NWDAF;

[0324] When the edge application server of the application does not exist on the edge data network, determining that the number of service requests from the edge application server of the second application is greater than or equal to a second threshold, the service needs to be provided by the edge application server of the application;

[0325] When the edge application server of the application does not exist on the edge data network, determining that the third application needs to rely on services provided by the edge application server of the application;

[0326] When the edge application server of the application does not exist on the edge data network, determining that at least one user of the application is about to arrive at the edge data network;

[0327] When the edge application server of the application does not exist in the edge data network, the registration information of the edge enabling server is received, and the registration information does not contain the identifier of the application.

[0328] Optionally, the second condition is: when the edge data network has a second edge application server for the application and the second edge application server exceeds the service carrying capacity, the second edge application server for the application provides the current edge network service for the application.

[0329] Optionally, the second edge application server exceeds the service carrying capacity, including at least one of the following:

[0330] The number of users served by the second edge application server reaches a third threshold;

[0331] The user traffic served by the second edge application server reaches a fourth threshold;

[0332] The resources consumed by the second edge application server reach a fifth threshold.

[0333] Optionally, the processing module 503 may be a chip, an encoder, an encoding circuit or other integrated circuits that can implement the method of the present application.

[0334] Optionally, the control plane device 500 may further include a receiving module 501 , and the receiving module 501 and the sending module 502 may be interface circuits or transceivers.

[0335] Since the specific methods and embodiments have been introduced above, the control plane device 500 is used to execute the dynamic triggering edge application server instantiation method corresponding to the first device. Therefore, the specific description of the method can refer to the relevant parts of the corresponding embodiment and will not be repeated here.

[0336] Optionally, the device 500 may further include a storage module (not shown in the figure), which may be used to store data and / or signaling. The storage module may be coupled to the processing module 503, or may be coupled to the receiving module 501 or the sending module 502. For example, the processing module 503 may be used to read data and / or signaling in the storage module, so that the key acquisition method in the aforementioned method embodiment is executed.

[0337] like Figure 6 As shown, Figure 6 A schematic diagram of the hardware structure of a communication device in an embodiment of the present application is shown. The structure of the AUSF device or AMF / SEAF can be referred to Figure 6 The communication device 900 includes: a processor 111 and a transceiver 112, wherein the processor 111 and the transceiver 112 are electrically coupled;

[0338] The processor 111 is configured to execute part or all of the computer program instructions in the memory. When the part or all of the computer program instructions are executed, the device executes the method described in any one of the above embodiments.

[0339] The transceiver 112 is used to communicate with other devices; for example, obtain a fourth message from the AUSF, and send a fifth message to the UE according to the fourth message, so that the UE obtains the KID and / or the KAKMA according to the fifth message.

[0340] Optionally, a memory 113 is further included for storing computer program instructions. Optionally, the memory 113 (Memory#1) is located within the device, the memory 113 (Memory#2) is integrated with the processor 111, or the memory 113 (Memory#3) is located outside the device.

[0341] It should be understood that Figure 6The communication device 900 shown can be a chip or circuit. For example, the chip or circuit can be provided in a terminal device or a communication device. The transceiver 112 can also be a communication interface. A transceiver includes a receiver and a transmitter. Furthermore, the communication device 900 can also include a bus system.

[0342] Among them, the processor 111, the memory 113, and the transceiver 112 are connected via a bus system, and the processor 111 is used to execute instructions stored in the memory 113 to control the transceiver to receive and send signals, thereby completing the steps of the first device or the second device in the implementation method involved in this application. The memory 113 can be integrated into the processor 111 or set separately from the processor 111.

[0343] As an implementation method, the functions of the transceiver 112 can be implemented by a transceiver circuit or a dedicated transceiver chip. The processor 111 can be implemented by a dedicated processing chip, a processing circuit, a processor, or a general-purpose chip. The processor can be a central processing unit (CPU), a network processor (NP), or a combination of a CPU and an NP. The processor can further include a hardware chip or other general-purpose processor. The above-mentioned hardware chip can be an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a programmable logic device (PLD), or a combination thereof. The above-mentioned PLD can be a complex programmable logic device (CPLD), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), a generic array logic (GAL), and other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, etc., or any combination thereof. The general-purpose processor can be a microprocessor or the processor can also be any conventional processor, etc.

[0344] It should also be understood that the memory mentioned in the embodiments of the present application may be a volatile memory or a non-volatile memory, or may include both volatile and non-volatile memories. Among them, 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 RAM bus random access memory (DR RAM). It should be noted that the memory described herein is intended to include, but is not limited to, these and any other suitable types of memory.

[0345] An embodiment of the present application provides a computer storage medium storing a computer program, wherein the computer program includes a method for executing the method corresponding to the AUSF device in the above embodiment.

[0346] An embodiment of the present application provides a computer storage medium storing a computer program, which includes a method for executing the method corresponding to the AMF / SEAF device in the above embodiment.

[0347] An embodiment of the present application provides a computer program product containing instructions, which, when executed on a computer, enables the computer to execute the method corresponding to the AUSF device in the above embodiment.

[0348] An embodiment of the present application provides a computer program product comprising instructions, which, when executed on a computer, enables the computer to execute the method corresponding to the AMF / SEAF device in the above embodiment.

[0349] It should be understood that the size of the sequence number of each process described above does not mean the order of execution, and the execution order of each process should be determined according to its function and inherent logic, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application.

[0350] Those skilled in the art can realize that the units and algorithm steps of each example described in combination with the embodiments disclosed herein can be realized in electronic hardware or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether the functions are realized in hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. The skilled person can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered beyond the scope of the present application.

[0351] Those skilled in the art can clearly understand that, for the convenience and brevity of description, the specific working process of the system, device and unit described above can refer to the corresponding process in the foregoing method embodiments, which will not be repeated here.

[0352] In several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed system, device and method can be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are only schematic, for example, the division of the units is only a logical function division, and actual implementation can have another division manner, for example, a plurality of units or components can be combined or integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not executed. In addition, the coupling or direct coupling or communication connection between the units shown or discussed can be indirect coupling or communication connection through some interface, device or unit, and can be electrical, mechanical or other forms.

[0353] The units described as separate components can or can not be physically separated, and the components shown as units can or can not be physical units, that is, they can be located in one place, or can be distributed on a plurality of network units. Part or all of the units can be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the embodiment.

[0354] In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application can be integrated in one processing unit, or each unit can be physically present separately, or two or more units can be integrated in one unit.

[0355] If the functions are implemented in the form of software function units and sold or used as independent products, they can be stored in a computer readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solutions of the present application essentially or the parts that contribute to the prior art or parts of the technical solutions can be embodied in the form of a software product. The computer software product is stored in a storage medium and includes a plurality of instructions for causing 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 methods described in the various embodiments of the present application. The aforementioned storage medium includes: a U disk, a mobile hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a magnetic disk or an optical disk, and various media that can store program codes.

[0356] The above is only a specific implementation of the present application, but the protection scope of the present application is not limited thereto. Any person skilled in the art can easily think of changes or replacements within the technical scope disclosed in the present application, which should be covered within the protection scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application should be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A method for dynamically triggering instantiation of an edge application server, characterized in that: The method comprises: The first device receives first information from the second device, where the first information is used to request information about an edge application server for a first application, or is used to request information about a first edge enabling server, where the first edge enabling server is used to provide information about an edge application server for the first application; The first device requests an application instantiation management function entity to instantiate an edge application server of the first application according to the first information; The first device sends a first response to the second device, where the first response is used to indicate that the first information is successfully received and is being processed; The first device receives a notification message from the application instantiation management function entity, where the notification message indicates that the edge application server instantiation of the first application is completed; The first device sends information of an edge application server that has instantiated the first application to the second device; The second device is a terminal, and the first device is an edge enabling server; or the second device is a source edge enabling server, and the first device is a target edge enabling server.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that Before the first device requests an application instantiation management function entity to instantiate an edge application server of the first application according to the first information, the method further includes: The first device determines that there is no available edge application server for the first application or no edge application server that instantiates the first application.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that The first device requests an application instantiation management function entity to instantiate an edge application server of the first application according to the first information, including: The first device requests the application instantiation management function entity to instantiate an edge application server of the first application in the edge data network corresponding to the first device.

4. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that The first device requests an application instantiation management function entity to instantiate an edge application server of the first application according to the first information, including: The first device requests the application instantiation management function entity to instantiate an edge application server of the first application in an edge data network corresponding to the first edge enablement server.

5. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that The first device requests the application instantiation management function entity to instantiate the edge application server of the first application according to the first information, including: The first device sends demand information of the edge application server of the first application to the application instantiation management function entity, where the demand information includes at least one of the following: At least one candidate location information, deployment mode information, required resource information, required key communication indicator information, dependent services or applications, or whether context migration is supported, the candidate location information is used to indicate the edge data network of the edge application server that instantiates the first application.

6. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that The method further comprises: The first device receives information about an edge application server that has completed instantiation of the first application.

7. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that Before the requesting application instantiation management function entity instantiates the edge application server of the first application, the method further includes: The first device determines that the first application can be dynamically instantiated.

8. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The method further comprises: The second device receives information about the edge application server that has completed instantiation of the first application.

9. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The method further comprises: The second device receives the first response.

10. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The method further comprises: The second device sends the first information to the first device.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein The method further comprises: The application instantiation management function entity receives request information, where the request information is used to request an edge application server to instantiate the first application.

12. The method according to claim 1 or 11, characterized in that The method further comprises: The application instantiation management function entity sends the notification message.

13. A control plane device, characterized in that: The device includes a receiving module, a processing module and a sending module, wherein: The receiving module is configured to receive first information from a second device, where the first information is used to request information about an edge application server for a first application, or to request information about a first edge enabling server, where the first edge enabling server is configured to provide information about an edge application server for the first application; The processing module is used to, in conjunction with the sending module, request the application instantiation management function entity to instantiate the edge application server of the first application according to the first information; The sending module is further configured to send a first response to the second device, where the first response is used to indicate that the first information has been successfully received and is being processed; The receiving module is further configured to receive a notification message from the application instantiation management function entity, where the notification message indicates that the edge application server instantiation of the first application is completed; The sending module is further configured to send information about the edge application server that has instantiated the first application to the second device; The second device is a terminal, and the control plane device is an edge enabling server; or the second device is a source edge enabling server, and the control plane device is a target edge enabling server.

14. The device according to claim 13, characterized in that The processing module is further configured to: It is determined that there is no available edge application server for the first application or no edge application server that instantiates the first application.

15. The device according to claim 13 or 14, characterized in that The processing module is further configured to, in conjunction with the sending module, request the application instantiation management function entity to instantiate an edge application server of the first application in the edge data network corresponding to the device.

16. The device according to claim 13 or 14, characterized in that The processing module is further configured to, in conjunction with the sending module, request the application instantiation management function entity to instantiate an edge application server of the first application in the edge data network corresponding to the first edge enabling server.

17. The device according to claim 13 or 14, characterized in that The sending module is configured to send demand information of the edge application server of the first application to the application instantiation management function entity, where the demand information includes at least one of the following: At least one candidate location information, deployment mode information, required resource information, required key communication indicator information, dependent services or applications, or whether context migration is supported, wherein the candidate location information is used to indicate the edge data network of the edge application server that instantiates the first application.

18. The device according to claim 13 or 14, characterized in that The receiving module is further configured to: Receive information about an edge application server that has completed instantiation of the first application.

19. The device according to claim 13 or 14, characterized in that The processing module is further configured to: It is determined that the first application can be dynamically instantiated.

20. A communication device, characterized in that: The apparatus comprises at least one processor coupled to at least one memory: The at least one processor is configured to execute a computer program or instruction stored in the at least one memory, so that the apparatus performs the method according to any one of claims 1 to 7.

21. A readable storage medium, characterized in that Used to store instructions, which, when executed, enable the method according to any one of claims 1 to 7 to be implemented.

22. A communication device, characterized in that: including a processor and an interface circuit; The interface circuit is used to exchange code instructions with the processor; The processor is configured to execute the code instructions to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 7.

23. A computer program product, characterized in that When a computer reads and executes the computer program product, the computer is caused to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 7.

24. A communication system, characterized in that: The invention comprises a first device and a second device, wherein the first device comprises a processor, a memory, and a transceiver, the processor being configured to execute instructions stored in the memory to control the transceiver to receive and send signals, and to execute the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 7, and the second device comprising a processor, a memory, and a transceiver, the processor being configured to execute instructions stored in the memory to control the transceiver to receive and send signals, and to execute the method performed by the second device in the method as described in any one of claims 8 to 10.

Images