Edge computing router and method of operation thereof

Abstract

The present invention relates to an edge computing router controlling a paging procedure of an idle terminal in order to send downlink traffic occurring in an edge application to the terminal, and an operating method thereof.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The disclosure relates to a mobile edge computing (MEC) technology, and more particularly, to a method for transmitting downlink traffic generated in an edge application to a terminal by controlling a paging procedure of the terminal in an idle state.

[0002] This application is based on and claims priority to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2020-0151084, filed on November 12, 2020, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. BACKGROUND

[0003] In the existing mobile communication network, all traffic generated in a terminal (e.g., a smartphone) is generally transmitted to a central SP-GW (SGW and PGW) for mobility management, billing, etc.

[0004] In such a centralized network structure, services such as a call (IMS), Internet access, and messaging / video through various portals / OTT, which are mainly used in terminals, are not very sensitive to delay, and have a low capacity of at most several tens of Mbps, so there is no problem in use.

[0005] However, in recent years, a wide range of terminal devices from a conventional smartphone (human) to objects including a car, a target, a sensor, a VR headset, a camera, and a robot have been connected to a mobile communication network, and services required for each terminal device require an ultra-low latency (RTT) of several ms to 10 ms and a high capacity bandwidth of several hundred Mbps to several Gbps per flow.

[0006] As a technology to meet these requirements, MEC capable of providing an edge computing service as an application service in an edge cloud site (MEC site) close to a terminal is attracting attention.

[0007] In mobile edge computing, an edge application for an edge computing service can be installed in a computation deployed in an edge cloud site, thereby providing an ultra-low latency and high capacity edge computing service for a terminal connected to the edge computing service through a base station.

[0008] In mobile edge computing, in order to provide an application service closer to a terminal, an edge cloud site where an edge application is installed is disposed in a network part between a base station and a core network, which is a back end of the base station.

[0009] However, a structure in which an edge cloud site is deployed in the back end of the base station implements an ultra-low latency service for uplink traffic generated from a terminal, but has a limitation that downlink traffic generated in an edge application cannot be transmitted to a terminal when the terminal is in an idle state.

[0010] Accordingly, an embodiment of the disclosure proposes a method for transmitting downlink traffic generated in an edge application to a terminal in an idle state. SUMMARY

[0011] TECHNICAL PROBLEM

[0012] The disclosure is made in view of the above, and an aspect of the disclosure is to transmit downlink traffic generated in an edge application to a terminal by controlling a paging procedure of the terminal in an idle state.

[0013] TECHNICAL SOLUTION

[0014] In view of the above, an edge computing router according to an embodiment of the disclosure includes an identification unit configured to identify whether a terminal is in an idle state according to generation of downlink traffic to be transmitted to the terminal in an edge application installed in an edge cloud site, and a controller configured to control a core network such that, when the terminal is identified as being in the idle state, a paging procedure for the terminal to transition to an active state is performed to transmit the downlink traffic.

[0015] Specifically, the identification unit can identify whether the terminal is in the idle state from a signaling message transmitted between a base station and the core network when the terminal enters the idle state, based on a setting characteristic of the edge cloud site deployed online in a network connection part between the base station and the core network.

[0016] Specifically, the controller can control the core network to receive a wake-up message from a different edge computing router to perform a paging procedure for the terminal in association with the different edge computing router located in a separate edge cloud site deployed in at least one location inside and outside the core network.

[0017] Specifically, the controller can transmit connection information about the terminal to the different edge computing router such that the different edge computing router transmits a wake-up message generated using the connection information about the terminal as a destination address to the core network.

[0018] Specifically, the wake-up message can include a downlink message to be transmitted to a base station to which the terminal is connected through the core network.

[0019] Specifically, the edge computing router can further include a forwarding unit configured to buffer the downlink traffic generated in the edge application when the terminal is identified as being in the idle state, and transmit the buffered downlink traffic to the terminal when the terminal is identified as transitioning to the active state.

[0020] To achieve the above aspect, an operation method of an edge computing router according to an embodiment of the disclosure includes an identifying operation for identifying whether a terminal is in an idle state according to generation of downlink traffic to be transmitted to the terminal in an edge application installed at an edge cloud site, and a controlling operation for controlling a core network such that, when the terminal is identified as being in the idle state, a paging procedure for the terminal to transition to an active state is performed to transmit the downlink traffic.

[0021] Specifically, the identifying operation can identify whether the terminal is in the idle state according to a signaling message transmitted between the base station and the core network based on a set characteristic of the edge cloud site set online in a network connection part between the base station and the core network when the terminal enters the idle state.

[0022] Specifically, the controlling operation can control the core network to receive a wake-up message from a different edge computing router to perform the paging procedure for the terminal in association with a different edge computing router located in a separate edge cloud site deployed in at least one location inside the core network and outside the core network.

[0023] Specifically, the controlling operation can transmit connection information about the terminal to the different edge computing router such that the different edge computing router transmits a wake-up message generated using the connection information about the terminal as a destination address to the core network.

[0024] Specifically, the wake-up message can include a downlink message to be transmitted to the base station to which the terminal is connected through the core network.

[0025] Specifically, the method can further include a buffering operation for buffering the downlink traffic generated in the edge application when the terminal is identified as being in the idle state, and a transmitting operation for transmitting the buffered downlink traffic to the terminal when the terminal is identified as transitioning to the active state.

[0026] Advantageous effects

[0027] According to the edge computing router and the operation method of the edge computing router of the disclosure, the edge cloud site deployed in a network part between a base station and a core network transmits a wake-up message for a terminal to the core network in association with a separate edge cloud site deployed inside the core network or outside the core network (in the back end) to enable a terminal in an idle state to transition to an active state, so that it becomes possible to normally support an ultra-low latency service not only for uplink traffic generated in the terminal but also for downlink traffic generated in the edge cloud site. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0028] Figure 1 An edge computing service environment according to an embodiment of the disclosure is illustrated;

[0029] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration of an edge computing router according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0030] Figure 3 control of a paging procedure according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is illustrated;

[0031] Figure 4 is a schematic flowchart illustrating an operation method of various components involved in controlling a paging procedure in an edge computing service environment according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; and

[0032] Figure 5 is a schematic flowchart illustrating an operation method of an edge computing router according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0033] Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0034] Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to mobile edge computing (MEC) technology for providing an edge computing service as an application service from an edge cloud site (MEC site) close to a terminal.

[0035] In mobile edge computing, an application for an edge computing service is installed in a computation deployed in an edge cloud site, thereby providing an ultra-low latency and high capacity edge computing service to a terminal connected to the edge computing service through an access network.

[0036] In mobile edge computing, in order to provide an application service closer to a terminal, an edge cloud site in which an edge application is installed is deployed in a network part between a base station and a core network, which is a backend of the base station.

[0037] However, in a network structure in which the edge cloud site is deployed in the backend of the base station, an ultra-low latency service is possible for uplink traffic generated from the terminal, but a problem can occur in a process of transmitting downlink traffic generated in the edge application to the terminal.

[0038] That is, in the existing edge computing service environment, when a terminal receiving downlink traffic generated in the edge application is in an idle state, the downlink traffic generated in the edge application can not be transmitted to the terminal until the terminal transitions to an active state.

[0039] In other words, due to the network structure in which the edge cloud site is deployed in the network section between the base station and the core network, the edge application installed in the edge cloud site can not autonomously support a paging procedure for a terminal in an idle state to transition to an active state, resulting in a limitation that downlink traffic generated in the edge application cannot be transmitted to the terminal in the idle state.

[0040] Accordingly, in consideration of the foregoing limitations, embodiments of the disclosure propose a new method for normally transmitting downlink traffic generated in an edge application to a terminal in an idle state.

[0041] Figure 1 An edge computing service environment according to embodiments of the disclosure is illustrated.

[0042] As Figure 1 illustrated, the edge computing service environment according to embodiments of the disclosure can have a configuration including an edge cloud site 30 deployed in a network section between a base station 20 and a core network 40 (e.g., a 5G core) to provide an edge computing service near a terminal 10.

[0043] In addition to the above configuration, the edge computing service environment according to embodiments of the disclosure can further include a separate edge cloud site 50 deployed inside the core network 40 or outside the core network 40 (at the back end).

[0044] Hereinafter, for better understanding of the explanation, the edge cloud site 30 deployed in the network section between the base station 20 and the core network 40 (e.g., a 5G core) is referred to as a "first edge cloud site", and the edge cloud site 50 deployed inside the core network 40 or outside the core network 40 (at the back end) is referred to as a "second edge cloud site".

[0045] An edge application (ME App) for an edge computing service can be installed in each of the first edge cloud site 30 and the second edge cloud site 50, and an edge computing router 100 and 200 for transmitting traffic for each edge application can be located in the corresponding site.

[0046] Hereinafter, the edge computing router 100 located in the first edge cloud site 30 is referred to as a first edge computing router 100, and the edge computing router 200 located in the second edge cloud site 50 is referred to as a second edge computing router 200.

[0047] In the aforementioned edge computing service environment according to the embodiment of the present disclosure, the aforementioned configuration makes it possible to transmit downlink traffic generated in the edge application in the first edge cloud site 30 to the terminal 10 by controlling the paging procedure of the terminal 10 in the idle state. Hereinafter, the configuration of the first edge computing router 100 for implementing the aforementioned is described in more detail.

[0048] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating the configuration of the first edge computing router 100 according to the embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0049] As Figure 2 illustrated, the first edge computing router 100 according to the embodiment of the present disclosure can include an identification unit 110 for identifying whether the terminal 10 is in the idle state and a controller 120 for controlling the paging procedure of the terminal 10.

[0050] The first edge computing router 100 according to the embodiment of the present disclosure can further include a forwarding unit 130 for transmitting downlink traffic to the terminal 10.

[0051] The configuration of the first edge computing router 100 can be configured in the form of a hardware module, a software module, or a combination of a hardware module and a software module, in whole or in part.

[0052] Here, the software module can be understood as an instruction for operation processing in the first edge computing router 100 executed by the processor, and the instruction can be loaded into a separate memory in the first edge computing router 100.

[0053] In particular, in addition to the above-described components, the first edge computing router 100 according to the embodiment of the present disclosure can have a configuration further including a communication unit 140 responsible for a communication function between a network part between the base station 20 and the core network 40 and the second edge computing router 200 of the second edge computing site 50.

[0054] The communication unit 140 can include, for example, but is not limited to, an antenna system, an RF transceiver, one or more amplifiers, a tuner, one or more oscillators, a digital signal processor, a codec chipset, and a memory, and can include any known circuit performing these functions.

[0055] The first edge computing router 100 according to the embodiment of the present disclosure can control the paging procedure of the terminal 10 in the idle state through the aforementioned configuration, thereby transmitting downlink traffic generated by the edge application to the terminal 10. Hereinafter, each component in the first edge computing router 100 for implementing the aforementioned is described in more detail.

[0056] The recognition unit 110 performs a function of recognizing whether the terminal 10 is in an idle state.

[0057] Specifically, when downlink traffic to be transmitted to the terminal 10 is generated in the edge application installed in the first edge cloud site 30, the recognition unit 110 recognizes whether the terminal 10 is in an idle state.

[0058] To this end, the recognition unit 110 uses a setting characteristic of the first edge cloud site 30 deployed in a network connection section between the base station 20 and the core network 40.

[0059] That is, the recognition unit 110 monitors a signaling message transmitted in conjunction with the terminal 10 between the base station 20 and the core network 40 based on a setting characteristic of the first edge cloud site 30 deployed in line between the base station 20 and the core network 40.

[0060] Here, the recognition unit 110 can monitor a signaling message regarding entry of the terminal 10 into an idle state from a signaling message transmitted between the base station 20 and the core network 40.

[0061] Since entry of the terminal 10 into an idle state can be monitored in real time, the recognition unit 110 can recognize whether the state of the terminal 10 at the time when downlink traffic is generated in the edge application is an idle state in which it is impossible to receive the downlink traffic.

[0062] In summary, when the terminal 10 enters an idle state is monitored according to a signaling message transmitted between the base station 20 and the core network 40, the recognition unit 110 can recognize that the state of the terminal 10 at the time when downlink traffic is generated in the edge application is an idle state when the downlink traffic is generated.

[0063] When the terminal 10 is recognized to be in an idle state at the time when downlink traffic is generated in the edge application, the forwarding unit 130 buffers the downlink traffic generated in the edge application.

[0064] As Figure 3 illustrated, the process can be understood as a process in which, when downlink traffic to be transmitted to the terminal 10 is generated in the edge application in the first edge cloud site 30 (①), the first edge computing router 100 in the first edge cloud site 30 recognizes an idle state of the terminal 10 and buffers the downlink traffic generated in the edge application (②).

[0065] The controller 120 performs a function of controlling a paging process of the terminal 10.

[0066] Specifically, when the idle state of the terminal 10 is recognized, the controller 120 performs a paging process of transition to an active state for the terminal 10 by controlling the core network 40 to transmit downlink traffic.

[0067] The controller 120 can control the core network 40 through the second edge computing router 200 located in the second edge cloud site 50.

[0068] That is, the controller 120 controls the core network 40 to perform a paging procedure in order for the terminal 10 to transition to an active state through direct communication with the second edge computing router 200 deployed in at least one of inside the core network 40 and outside the core network 40.

[0069] In detail, when the idle state of the terminal 10 is identified, the controller 120 transmits connection information about the terminal 10 identified as being in the idle state to the edge computing router 200 through direct communication with the second edge computing router 200.

[0070] The second edge computing router 200 generates a wake-up message using the connection information about the terminal 10 as a destination address and transmits the generated wake-up message to the core network 40, so that the core network 40 performs a paging procedure to transition the terminal 10 to an active state.

[0071] The wake-up message can include a TCP message to be transmitted to the base station 20 to which the terminal 10 is connected through the core network 40.

[0072] When the wake-up message is received from the second edge computing router 200, the core network 40 performs a paging procedure for the terminal 10 according to the destination address in the received wake-up message, thereby allowing the terminal 10 to transition from the idle state to the active state in association with the base station 20 in which reception of downlink traffic is possible.

[0073] In summary, when the state of the terminal 10 is identified as the idle state in which reception of downlink traffic is not possible when downlink traffic is generated in the edge application, the controller 120 can transmit connection information about the terminal 10 as a destination address to the core network 40 through direct communication with the second edge computing router 200, thereby controlling the core network 40 that receives the wake-up message to perform a paging procedure in order for the terminal 10 to transition to an active state.

[0074] As Figure 3As shown, the process can be understood as a process in which the first edge computing router 100 transmits the connection information about the terminal 10 to the second edge computing router 200 located in the second edge cloud site 50 (③). The second edge computing router 200 generates a wake-up message in which the received connection information about the terminal 10 is configured as a destination address, and transmits the wake-up message to the core network 40 when the connection information about the terminal 10 is received from the first edge computing router 100 (④ and ⑤), and thus, the core network 40 performs a paging process for the terminal 10 according to the destination address in the wake-up message received from the first edge computing router 200 to allow the terminal 10 to transition from the idle state to the active state in which downlink traffic can be received through the base station 20 (⑥).

[0075] The forwarding unit 130 performs a function of transmitting the downlink message.

[0076] Specifically, when the terminal 10 is identified to transition to the active state, the forwarding unit 130 transmits the downlink traffic generated in the edge application to the terminal 10.

[0077] The transition of the terminal 10 to the active state can be identified by the identification unit 110 which monitors a signaling message transmitted between the base station 20 and the core network 40 about the transition of the terminal 10 to the active state according to the wake-up message.

[0078] To this end, as described above, the forwarding unit 130 buffers the downlink traffic generated in the edge application in the idle state of the terminal 10.

[0079] When the terminal 10 is identified to have transitioned from the idle state to the active state, the forwarding unit 130 transmits the buffered downlink traffic to the terminal 10.

[0080] In the embodiment of the disclosure, since the above-described configuration of buffering the downlink traffic in the edge application until the terminal 10 transitions to the active state, even if the terminal 10 is in the idle state in which it is not possible to receive the downlink traffic when the downlink traffic is generated in the edge application, it is possible to prevent the downlink traffic from being completely lost.

[0081] As Figure 3 As shown, the process can be understood as a process in which when the terminal 10 transitions to the active state by monitoring a signaling message transmitted between the base station 20 and the core network 40 about the transition of the terminal 10 to the active state, the edge computing router 100 in the first edge cloud site 30 delivers the buffered downlink traffic to the terminal 10 in the active state (⑦).

[0082] As described above, according to the configuration of the first edge computing router 100 according to the embodiment of the disclosure, the first edge cloud site 30 deployed in the network section between the base station 20 and the core network 40 transmits the wake-up message for the terminal 10 to the core network 40 in association with the second edge cloud site 50 deployed separately inside or outside (at the back end) of the core network 40, to enable the terminal 10 in the idle state to transition to the active state. It becomes possible to normally support ultra-low latency traffic not only for uplink traffic generated in the terminal 10 but also for downlink traffic generated in the edge cloud site 30.

[0083] Hereinafter, a description will be given of an operation method of controlling each component involved in a paging procedure in an edge computing service environment according to an embodiment of the disclosure with reference to the accompanying drawings. Figure 4 An operation method of controlling each component involved in a paging procedure in an edge computing service environment according to an embodiment of the disclosure is described.

[0084] First, when downlink traffic to be transmitted to the terminal 10 is generated in the edge application installed in the first edge cloud site 30, the first edge computing router 100 identifies whether the terminal 10 is in the idle state (S110 and S120).

[0085] The first edge computing router 100 monitors a signaling message transmitted in association with the terminal 10 between the base station 20 and the core network 40 based on a setting feature of the first edge cloud site 30 deployed online in the network connection section between the base station 20 and the core network 40. Thereby, it identifies whether the state of the terminal 10 at the time when the downlink traffic is generated in the edge application is the idle state in which it is impossible to receive the downlink traffic.

[0086] In other words, when the terminal 10 enters the idle state in a state in which the downlink traffic is generated in the edge application while monitoring the signaling message transmitted between the base station 20 and the core network 40, the first edge computing router 100 can identify that the state of the terminal 10 at the time when the downlink traffic is generated is the idle state.

[0087] When the terminal 10 is identified to be in the idle state at the time when the downlink traffic is generated in the edge application, the first edge computing router 100 buffers the downlink traffic generated in the edge application (S130).

[0088] When the terminal 10 is identified to be in the idle state, the first edge computing router 100 transmits connection information about the terminal 10 identified to be in the idle state to the second edge computing router 200 located in the second edge cloud site through direct communication with the second edge computing router 200 (S140).

[0089] The second edge computing router 200 generates a wake-up message using connection information about the terminal 10 as a destination address, and transmits the generated wake-up message to the core network 40, so that the core network 40 performs a paging procedure to transition the terminal 10 to an active state (S150 to S160).

[0090] The wake-up message can include a TCP message to be transmitted to the base station 20 to which the terminal 10 is connected through the core network 40.

[0091] When the wake-up message is received from the second edge computing router 200, the core network 40 performs a paging procedure of the terminal 10 according to the destination address in the received wake-up message, thereby allowing the terminal 10 to transition from an idle state to an active state in which downlink traffic can be received in association with the base station 20 (S170).

[0092] In summary, when the state of the terminal 10 at the time when downlink traffic is generated in the edge application is identified as an idle state in which it is not possible to receive downlink traffic, the first edge computing router 100 can transmit a wake-up message to the core network 40 using connection information about the terminal 10 as a destination address through direct communication with the second edge computing router 200, thereby controlling the core network 40 that receives the wake-up message to perform a paging procedure so that the terminal 10 transitions to an active state.

[0093] When the terminal 10 is identified as having transitioned from an idle state to an active state, the first edge computing router 100 transmits the buffered downlink traffic to the terminal 10 (S180 and S190).

[0094] In the embodiment of the disclosure, since the above-described configuration in which downlink traffic is buffered in an edge application until the terminal 10 transitions to an active state, even if the terminal 10 is in an idle state in which it is not possible to receive downlink traffic at the time when downlink traffic is generated in the edge application, it is possible to prevent complete loss of downlink traffic.

[0095] Hereinafter, referring to Figure 5 An operation method of the first edge computing router 100 according to an embodiment of the disclosure is described.

[0096] First, when downlink traffic to be transmitted to the terminal 10 is generated in an edge application installed in the first edge cloud site 30, the identification unit 110 identifies whether the terminal 10 is in an idle state (S210 and S220).

[0097] To this end, the identification unit 110 uses a setting feature of the first edge cloud site 30 disposed in a network connection part between the base station 20 and the core network 40.

[0098] That is, the identification unit 110 monitors a signaling message transmitted in association with the terminal 10 between the base station 20 and the core network 40 based on the setting characteristics of the first edge cloud site 30 deployed online in a network connection section between the base station 20 and the core network 40.

[0099] Here, the identification unit 110 can monitor a signaling message regarding the terminal 10 entering the idle state from a signaling message transmitted between the base station 20 and the core network 40.

[0100] Since the terminal 10 entering the idle state can be monitored in real time, the identification unit 110 can identify whether the state of the terminal 10 at the time when the downlink traffic is generated in the edge application is the idle state in which it is impossible to receive the downlink traffic.

[0101] In summary, when the downlink traffic is generated in the edge application in a state where the terminal 10 entering the idle state is monitored from a signaling message transmitted between the base station 20 and the core network 40, the identification unit 110 can identify that the state of the terminal 10 at the time when the downlink traffic is generated is the idle state.

[0102] When the terminal 10 is identified as being in the idle state at the time when the downlink traffic is generated in the edge application, the forwarding unit 130 buffers the downlink traffic generated in the edge application (S230 and S240).

[0103] As shown above in Figure 3 , the process can be understood as a process in which, when downlink traffic to be transmitted to the terminal 10 is generated in an edge application in the first edge cloud site 30 (②), the first edge computing router 100 in the first edge cloud site 30 identifies the idle state of the terminal 10 and buffers the downlink traffic generated in the edge application (①).

[0104] When the idle state of the terminal 10 is identified, the controller 120 performs a paging procedure for the terminal 10 by controlling the core network 40 to transmit the downlink traffic to switch to the active state (S250).

[0105] The controller 120 can control the core network 40 through the second edge computing router 200 located in the second edge cloud site 50.

[0106] That is, the controller 120 controls the core network 40 to perform a paging procedure so that the terminal 10 switches to the active state through direct communication with the second edge computing router 200 deployed in at least one of inside the core network 40 and outside the core network 40.

[0107] In detail, when the idle state of the terminal 10 is identified, the controller 120 transmits connection information about the terminal 10 identified as being in the idle state to the edge computing router 200 through direct communication with the second edge computing router 200.

[0108] The second edge computing router 200 generates a wake-up message using the connection information about the terminal 10 as a destination address, and transmits the generated wake-up message to the core network 40, so that the core network 40 performs a paging procedure to cause the terminal 10 to transition to an active state.

[0109] The wake-up message can include a TCP message to be transmitted to the base station 20 to which the terminal 10 is connected through the core network 40.

[0110] When the wake-up message is received from the second edge computing router 200, the core network 40 performs a paging procedure for the terminal 10 according to the destination address in the received wake-up message, thereby allowing the terminal 10 to transition from the idle state to the active state in association with the base station 20 in which reception of downlink traffic is possible.

[0111] In summary, when the state of the terminal 10 is identified as the idle state in which reception of downlink traffic is not possible when downlink traffic is generated in the edge application, the controller 120 can transmit connection information about the terminal 10 as a destination address to the core network 40 through direct communication with the second edge computing router 200, thereby controlling the core network 40 receiving the wake-up message to perform a paging procedure so that the terminal 10 transitions to the active state.

[0112] As Figure 3 indicated, the procedure can be understood as a procedure in which the first edge computing router 100 transmits connection information about the terminal 10 to the second edge computing router 200 located in the second edge cloud site 50 (③). The second edge computing router 200 generates a wake-up message in which the received connection information about the terminal 10 is configured as a destination address, and transmits the wake-up message to the core network 40 when the connection information about the terminal 10 is received from the first edge computing router 100 (④ and ⑤), and thus, the core network 40 performs a paging procedure for the terminal 10 according to the destination address in the wake-up message received from the first edge computing router 200 to allow the terminal 10 to transition from the idle state to the active state in which downlink traffic can be received through the base station 20 (⑥).

[0113] When it is identified that the terminal 10 transitions to the active state, the forwarding unit 130 transmits downlink traffic generated in the edge application to the terminal 10 (S260 to S280).

[0114] The transition of the terminal 10 to the active state can be recognized by the recognition unit 110, which recognizes from the wake-up message, monitors a signaling message transmitted between the base station 20 and the core network 40 regarding the transition of the terminal 10 to the active state.

[0115] To this end, as described above, in operation S240, the forwarding unit 130 buffers the downlink traffic generated in the edge application in the idle state of the terminal 10.

[0116] When the terminal 10 is recognized to have transitioned from the idle state to the active state, the forwarding unit 130 transmits the buffered downlink traffic to the terminal 10.

[0117] In the embodiment of the disclosure, due to the above-described configuration that buffers the downlink traffic in the edge application until the terminal 10 transitions to the active state, even if the terminal 10 is in the idle state in which it is not possible to receive the downlink traffic when the downlink traffic is generated in the edge application, it is possible to prevent the downlink traffic from being completely lost.

[0118] As shown above in Figure 3 The process can be understood as a process in which, when the terminal 10 transitions to the active state is recognized by monitoring a signaling message transmitted between the base station 20 and the core network 40 regarding the transition of the terminal 10 to the active state, the edge computing router 100 in the first edge cloud site 30 transmits the buffered downlink traffic to the terminal 10 in the active state (⑦).

[0119] As described above, according to the operation method of each component in the edge computing service environment according to the embodiment of the disclosure, the first edge cloud site 30 deployed in the network portion between the base station 20 and the core network 40 transmits the wake-up message for the terminal 10 to the core network 40 in association with the second edge cloud site 50 deployed separately inside or outside (at the back end) the core network 40, to enable the terminal 10 in the idle state to transition to the active state. It is made possible to normally support ultra-low latency traffic not only for uplink traffic generated in the terminal 10 but also for downlink traffic generated in the edge cloud site 30.

[0120] The operational methods according to embodiments of this disclosure can be configured in the form of program instructions, which can be executed by various computer devices and can be recorded in a computer-readable medium. The computer-readable medium may include program instructions, data files, data structures, etc., individually or in combination. The program instructions recorded in the medium may be specifically designed and configured for this disclosure, or may be known and available to those skilled in the art of computer software. Examples of computer-readable recording media include magnetic media such as hard disks, floppy disks, and magnetic tapes; optical media such as CD-ROMs and DVDs; magneto-optical media such as optical floppy disks; and hardware devices specifically configured to store and execute program instructions, such as ROMs, RAMs, and flash memory. Examples of program instructions include not only machine code generated by a compiler but also high-level language code executable by a computer using an interpreter. The hardware device may be configured to operate as one or more software modules to perform the operations of this disclosure, and vice versa.

[0121] Although this disclosure has been described in detail with reference to exemplary embodiments, this disclosure is not limited to these embodiments, and those skilled in the art to which this disclosure pertains can make various changes and modifications without departing from the spirit of this disclosure as claimed in the appended claims.

Claims

1. An edge computing router, the edge computing router comprising: An identification unit is configured to identify whether a terminal is in an idle state based on the generation of downlink services to be sent to the terminal in an edge application installed in an edge cloud site. as well as A controller, configured to control the core network, such that when the terminal is identified as being in the idle state, a paging procedure is executed to transition the terminal to an active state in order to send downlink services. The controller is further configured to control the core network to receive a wake-up message from another edge computing router to perform the paging process for the terminal in association with the other edge computing router located in at least one of another edge cloud sites deployed inside and outside the core network.

2. The edge computing router according to claim 1, wherein, The identification unit is configured to identify whether the terminal is in the idle state based on the setting characteristics of the edge cloud site set online in the network connection part between the base station and the core network, according to the signaling messages sent between the base station and the core network when the terminal enters the idle state.

3. The edge computing router according to claim 1, wherein, The controller is also configured to send the terminal's connection information to the other edge computing router, so that the other edge computing router can send the wake-up message generated using the terminal's connection information as the destination address to the core network.

4. The edge computing router according to claim 1, wherein, The wake-up message includes a downlink message to be sent to the base station to which the terminal is connected via the core network.

5. The edge computing router according to claim 1, further comprising a forwarding unit configured to buffer downlink services generated in the edge application when the terminal is identified as being in the idle state, and to send the buffered downlink services to the terminal when the terminal is identified as transitioning to the active state.

6. An operating method for an edge computing router, the operating method comprising the following steps: The identification operation identifies whether the terminal is in an idle state based on the generation of downlink services to be sent to the terminal in the edge application installed in the edge cloud site. as well as The control operation controls the core network so that when the terminal is identified as being in the idle state, a paging procedure is executed to transition the terminal to the active state in order to send downlink services. The control operation further includes controlling the core network to receive a wake-up message from another edge computing router to perform the paging process for the terminal in association with the other edge computing router located in at least one of another edge cloud sites deployed inside and outside the core network.

7. The operating method according to claim 6, wherein, The identification operation includes: based on the configuration characteristics of the edge cloud site set online in the network connection part between the base station and the core network, identifying whether the terminal is in the idle state according to the signaling messages sent between the base station and the core network when the terminal enters the idle state.

8. The operating method according to claim 6, wherein, The control operation also includes sending the terminal's connection information to the other edge computing router, so that the other edge computing router can send the wake-up message generated using the terminal's connection information as the destination address to the core network.

9. The operating method according to claim 6, wherein, The wake-up message includes a downlink message to be sent to the base station to which the terminal is connected via the core network.

10. The operating method according to claim 6, further comprising the following steps: When the terminal is identified as being in the idle state, downlink services generated in the edge application are buffered. as well as When the terminal is identified as having switched to the active state, the buffered downlink services are sent to the terminal.

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